Where Is The Miracle?

By Sharmini Serasinghe -January 26, 2013 

Sharmini Serasinghe

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest”  - Confucius

As I rapidly approach the half-a-century mark on my birthday calendar I have a choice of three ways to sum up my life; so I opt for the third “… and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Like those of my generation thirty of fifty years I have known only war, bloodshed and communal hatred. Shortly before that my school classmates and I were ripped apart and shoved into compartments labeled the Sinhala, Tamil and English stream. Somewhere during this time my mother kept complaining about bread queues, kerosene smelling fabric and everything being rationed. I also recall my parents having to pull strings, grease palms and creep through back doors to obtain the requirements of my annual school book-lists. I had no toys (I still envy those kids today) so I ended up loving books instead, which was a good thing; but I still would have loved to have had a few toys.

That more or less sums up my fifty years as a Sri Lankan and I’m still looking for the much-trumpeted but evasive Miracle Sri Lanka! I envy those who lived before me in the not-so-miraculous days of our country. It had to be better than this. So in my eternal quest to discover the miracle I have returned to fables that I loved so much as a child!

Once upon a time there was a God called Democracy who also overlooked our country. This was a time when we were governed by Men and Women of Letters who ruled according to the teachings of God Democracy. These rulers had one powerful weapon to govern with- the common ‘Word’. Word was understood and respected by all, not only the rulers. For Word had the power to reward as well as to punish or correct with no bloodletting or broken bones. Law and order prevailed as all feared and revered Word.

This was a time when Word also entertained, intoxicated, enlightened, educated etc., and God Democracy had given us the freedom of expression to use Word be it written or spoken without fear, whatever one’s views. This was also a time when guns were used, but for sport and at ceremonial events. And Kelaniya was a sacred city to which people flocked in large numbers, and not the Capital of the underworld where drug dealers, murders, rapists et al are manufactured in large numbers.

Under Word, were ‘Siblings Language’ named Sinhala and Tamil who got along well, worshipped God Democracy and respected Word. Of course Siblings Language had minor skirmishes from time to time like in any healthy family with one feeling superior to the other.

Somewhere down the line Men and Women of Letters got their letters in a twist resulting in Siblings Language taking precedence over Word. Men and Women of Letters then made the first faux pas by taking sides. Thereafter came the expected polarization with Word in the minority understood and regarded by few and Siblings Language at opposite ends.

By now God Democracy was beginning to look more and more like a wallflower displayed whenever required for International Consumption and thereafter shoved back out of sight. Mayhem was now tapping on the door of the land God Democracy was supposed to overlook. Word had lost power it once enjoyed and Siblings Language were preaching to their followers in their vernacular not understood by the other, save a few.

Into this tragic sequence along came ‘Satan Racism’ smelling blood! He had come to stay put and the peaceful country that God Democracy had once overseen was soon to become a lost civilization. With the destruction of the country as a peaceful one foremost in his mind, Satan Racism’s master plan was to eliminate all Men and Women of Letters who posed a threat to his objective – to create a breed of blundering idiots in the country who would finally destroy each other.

With both camps of Siblings Language now being educated in their vernacular and following ideologies detrimental to each other Satan Racism’s master plan was further boosted and took root in the land.

To jazz up the scene with fireworks, Satan Racism then created an army of buffoons to abide by his laws. This army came in all shapes, colours and sizes belonging to both camps of Siblings Language. The gun was no longer used only for sport and at ceremonial events but to maim and kill one’s opponent. The once mighty ‘Word’ was replaced by the gun!

With God Democracy now relegated to the Outhouse there entered on the scene ‘Clown Idiocracy’!

Before long the dregs of society embracing Clown Idiocracy entered the once sacred precincts of politics. This was obviously to result in a government of idiots, by the idiots, for the idiots such as what is felt and seen today.

However it appears that Men and Women of Letters are not a totally extinct species although in the minority. Word is still their master and God Democracy is still worshiped by some. Through such columns such as these and others, we see and hear such men and women rumbling, grumbling and complaining to each other with views and opinions thrown in for good measure. But then for whose benefit?

If it is meant to stir the conscience of the Idiocracy which has no understanding of Word it would be akin to casting pearls before swine.

Would then these Men and Women of Letters and remote-control intellectuals be willing to come forward and take on the system of Idiocracy presently running/ruining the country? Do they think that by writing columns the system will fall? Or do they think by writing columns others might take note and do something about it? I really wonder.

So I believe the sole purpose these columns serve is to provide a platform to vent frustrations as we stick our heads in the sand and make ourselves believe our hands are tied.

Find a way Oh Men and Women of Letters and remote-control intellectuals and we shall follow you!

*Sharmini Serasinghe was Director Communications of the former Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) under Secretary Generals Jayantha Dhanapala and Dr. John Gooneratne. She counts over thirty years in journalism in both the print and electronic media.

Emergency Action Group meeting to discuss Sri Lanka before April? 

Sajin Vass in UK on "damage control mission"

January 26, 2013, 7:08 pm 

By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London-January 26, 2013,

Monitoring MP for the Ministry of External Affairs Sajin Vass Gunawardane arrived in London last week on what was widely viewed as a "damage control mission" following disturbing reports that Sri Lanka could lose the right to host the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

The Sunday Island exclusively reported last week that this key parley hangs in the balance as Canada is pushing the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to discuss Sri Lanka in their next Group meeting to be held in London in April.  

Canada has already reported Sri Lanka to the CMAG following the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and  it is reliably understood that there is a possibility of calling an emergency meeting of CMAG to discuss Sri Lanka rather than waiting for their normal meeting in April. 

Accompanied by Chief Protocol Officer Majintha Jayasinghe,  Gunawardane met with Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma on Thursday for a lengthy discussion.

However, if CMAG decides to take action against Sri Lanka, the  Secretary-General would not be in a position to bail out the country, observers said.  Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and Maldives are in the CMAG.

 Gunawardane also met with British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alistair Burt and about 15 other British MPs at the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, London on Wednesday evening to seek their support. 

Both Alistair Burt and Kamalesh Sharma are due to visit Sri Lanka shortly. When The Sunday Island contacted the Commonwealth Secretariat to ascertain the latest developments, an official replied, "We can only say that at this point consultations are ongoing".

PS MEMBER’S BROTHER DIES IN CLASH OVER MONEY

January 27, 2013 

The brother of a Ja-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha member was killed and another five persons were injured following a clash between two groups in the Nedagamuwa area in Gampaha.

The cause for the clash which occurred last evening was due to a dispute over money, said police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody.

The UNP Pradeshiya Sabha member was also injured in the brawl while the remaining wounded persons have been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital.

Two men have been arrested in suspicion over the incident, police said. 

‘Balu Veda’ Of The Regime: Some Tips On Defeating Dicatorship

By Kumar David -January 26, 2013 

Prof Kumar David

Liberal-democracy in the Intensive Care Unit: Some tips on defeating dicatorship

On two previous fateful occasions democracy was pronounced dead, or all but dead, in our post-independence history – on certain occasions duringJR’s Bonapartist authoritarianism, one moment was when he mendaciously cancelled elections and wrongfully extended parliament’s tenure by a further term, and second in 1989-91 when state and society were in chaotic breakdown. If we take a step back and survey the political wreckage all around, the debacle is no less disquieting today. In some ways it is the worst of times; but at the same time, public outrage is so aflame that, with determination and patience, trouncing the treacherous plans of theRajapakses has greater than fifty-percent prospect. Old Khayyam was a fatalist, and some may be loosing hope, seeing sense in the poet’s verse.

‘Tis all a Checker-board of Nights and days

Where Destiny with Men for Pieces plays:

Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,

And one by one back in the Closet lays.  

But great battles still lie in the future, the war is by no means even half done, the biggest battle of all, the fight for public opinion – the heart’s and mind’s of the people – has hardly been joined. What has emerged with limpid clarity is the implacable determination, bottomless cunning and iniquitous intentions of the regime. What we must saturate ourselves with is the profoundest and clearest understanding of this reality. As Sun Tze says many times “Know your enemy”; know his craft and his cunning, his tenacity and his doggedness. Then you can prepare yourselves, with patience and diligence, for the long battles ahead. There are no short-cuts on the steep incline out of this hell-hole.

Vasudeva not only sent “the judiciary to hell”, he also threatened to “disrobe” it, knowing full well that the central figure was a woman. When in the Kaurava Court, in ancient times, Duryodhana (Thamil: Thuriyothanan) and his 99 brothers endeavoured to disrobe and dishonour Draupadi, paradoxically it was none other than Krishnan (an avatar of Vasudevan or Vishnu) who protected her honour, making her cloth endlessly, seamlessly long. Has Krishnan met his match in the rapists of Delhi and his loud mouthed alias in our parliament? The people will be judges, and time will tell.

Quo vadis liberal-democracy? 

The breakdown of post-independence liberal-democracy in Lanka is twofold. The dream of fashioning a liberal, plural and multi-ethnic state ended in a 30-year civil war drowned in the shallow waters of Nandikadal. This is not the occasion to draft a dissertation on why the liberal project, that is a state that despite imperfections such as in India can unify its people in a national ideology and consensus, failed in Lanka. Our karma has been an ethically splintered state where majoritarian hegemony keeps minorities sullen and angry. The collapse of the liberal part of the liberal-democratic project is not my subject today, but I note that the involvement of prominent Tamils at this moment, in the fight to save the second part of the project, the democratic component, may be balm to sooth these wounds. Once upon a time, long ago, Ponnambalam Arunachalem did the same.

The second event in the breakdown of post-independence liberal-democracy in Lanka, my subject today, is the disintegration, whether irreversible or not remains to be seen, of the democratic piece of the project. As I said at the beginning, democracy was pronounced terminal in Lanka twice but struggled in the intensive care unit and survived. The 1989-91 lunacy is not relevant to this essay, but the difference between the JR and the Mahinda Rajapakse versions of an authoritarian state is. The JR regime was defined as, and the descriptor remains valid in hindsight, Constitutional Bonapartism prosecuting a Neo-Liberal economic agenda. If we are to choose a descriptor with equal care for the Mahinda Rajapakse version, it is Klepto-Nepotistic Autocracy pursuing a Corporatist Statestrategy. This careful differentiation of features is not merely a matter of scholastic concern – who cares for social science – but is needed because it motivates a different approach in organisation, education and mobilisation of the people. Any protest strategy that omits clarity in understanding will drown in shallows and in miseries.

Some elements in the differentiation require comment; JR, however hidebound, attempted to remain, to a degree, within constitutional bounds; Rajapakse tramples on the constitution. JR was the father of unabashed neo-liberal economics and wildly irresponsible open market practices. The Rajapakse project seeks a corporatist state (authoritarian soft dictatorship, overarching interference and control) and a dynastic economic package; kleptocracy skewed for the benefit of family and political fellow travellers. The difference is important because it explains why JR retained the loyalty of capitalists, educated middle classes and the professionals to the end, but the Rajapakses have lost these social layers in perpetuity. The educated middle class is the stuff of social cohesion, the glue of society; without it the Rajapakse project will crumble within the internal walls of the state itself. This is the phase that we have just entered. The distinction between one who exploits the constitution as a weapon of power and another who undermines it in a power grab is an important difference in sizing-up and challenging the enemy.

Secondly, JR’s Bonapartism was intended to be inclusive paternalism, it sought to draw society under a father figure. It failed only in relation to the Tamils, more specifically the LTTE, for reasons that I cannot digress into here. Rajapakse is not an inclusive and paternalist Bonaparte, rather his regime comes across as seamy and seedy. God save, there was squalor and corruption in JR’s government, but an image of kleptocracy did not come across as its prime imprimatur. Kleptocracy is the trade mark of this lot as never before; it reeks from the top and from all sides. The ways in which to fight a powerful Bonaparte and a cheap Marcos-like autocrat are different.

Since the strangulation of democracy, not the deficit of liberalism and pluralism is the topic of this essay, I have spent time distinguishing between the two would be dictators, a Constitutional Bonaparte and a Klepto-Nepotistic Autocrat. Next I wish to develop a few thoughts on how people need to think and act in the battles ahead.

Foresight and mobilisation

There are four aspects that I would like to spend a paragraph or two apiece on; the middle and professional classes in the state, second the working class and the Sinhala petty-bourgeoisie, next the regime’s own likely stratagems, and finally the international side. I have not yet come across serious strategic thinking on this or similar lines (I have no idea what is going on inside the JVP, but Lanka needs open public discourse), so I hope to motivate others to reflect on these matters.

There cannot be a revolt in the educated middle and professional classes in the national domain without a likeminded process going on among counterparts in the public service and the forces (police and military). Hence I am of the view that the employees of the state are in their hearts as disillusioned with the Rajapakse regime as their non public sector counterparts. All these branches must be getting increasingly fed up with having to do the balu veda of the regime. Do lawyers in the Attorney Generals Department and the lower judiciary not see what the lawyers across the profession see? Does the police force and the military like being used to push lawyers and judges around while protecting thugs and goons? The more these services learn but constitutionalism, respect for law, simple decency, and the division of power in the liberal-democratic system, the better for the citizens of Lanka. Deepening this understanding is a task the opposition needs to shoulder.

Most people know about the threats and targeting of high profile critics of the regime such as opposition activists, journalists and lawyers, but are too cowardly to stand up and register a strong protest. This cowardice is absurd since “they” cannot target everybody and robust public protests will stop even the current intimidation and violence against democratic activists.

There is no denying that Sinhala working class and petty-bourgeoisie are tainted by narrow minded majoritarian nationalism. (Two-bit Marxists, who don’t know, should learn that Marx never idolised the working class in silly ways. He knew full well it was capable of stupid behaviour at times). However, psychological explanation alone for why these classes remain loyal to Rajapakse is inadequate; they know as well as anyone else about the regimes corruption and abuse of power. What I mean is there is a short-term economic basis as well for the popularity of the regime. There was an economic boom of sorts in 2010 and 2011, which stabilised the regime among these two class actors, as I sketched out in a paragraph last week (Colombo Telegraph, 20 January, “From Nandikacal to Impeachment and Beyond”).

This window is closing and Muttukrishna Sarvanathan’s “Waning Economic Euphoria”  is a handy guide for the political analyst. Verite Research put out a report after the 2013-Budget (excellent I am told), but at $40 it is intended for the bourgeoisie, not impecunious Marxists. Anyway, the point is that there is an economic side to weigh up when discussing mass mobilisation; and these economic conditions are changing for the worse.FUTA, the lawyers and the city elite, however passionate, cannot take control of the streets (poor Ranil’s call to insurrection notwithstanding) until the trade unions and the petty-bourgeoisie come pouring out. The opposition has work to do, aided by the regimes own economic messing-up.

Not only has this government trashed the Constitution, it now wishes to abrogate it; it has done this to a degree through the Eighteenth Amendment. This is a most alarming gambit for two reasons; first because the new version will be a straight Mussolini (Corporatist State) package, but second, and far more dangerous, is that the campaign will be dyed in scarlet populist rhetoric. The nation will be told that the 1978 JR Constitution is evil (which it is) and that a new one is essential (but not the one they intend to propose). However, unless the democratic opposition, which has long campaigned against the 1978 Constitution and the Executive Presidency, handles itself with utmost intelligence, it will be caught with its pants down and its nuts exposed. “You are the ones who rejected the old constitution; how ridiculous that when we offer you a new one you rebuff it like spoiled children!” will be the cry. Do not underestimate the guile and craftiness of this regime. JR’s celebrated shrewdness is insipid in comparison with Rajapakse cunning.

This piece is longer than I usually fancy so as to avoid straining the attention span of my readers beyond what I deserve; but I need to touch on the international side before signing off. It is true that the international community (IC) is all piss and wind, has done nothing, and will not lift a finger to help the people of Lanka circumvent the slide to Corporatist dictatorship. But the democratic opposition can do more to help itself in the international arena. Making an effort to meet and explain and systematic canvassing is needed. Persuading the IC that the “There is no credible alternative” type of reasoning is leaving Lanka up the gum tree with a rum incumbency at the helm, can be useful. More attention has to be given to this since the IC holds strong trump cards in its pack.

Training barred in America. Reason war crimes

Reports states, trainings for Sri Lanka forces in America are denied as a reiterate over war crime charges against Sri Lanka forces.

According to the American Lehi law category, America has ceased opportunities to the high level officials from the Sri Lanka forces for commanding training courses.

This law is prohibited from American military assistance to the foreign forces accused of war crimes by violating human rights.

Through this law, all the military assistance given to Sri Lanka could be ceased; hence the names which are only accepted by American government were requested from Sri Lanka government for providing the training is according to information.

Regarding this issue, Defense Secretary Gottabaya Rajapakse had informed that he would hold discussions with South and Central Asian Regional Affairs, Deputy State Secretariat Additional Deputy Secretaries James Moor, Vick ram Singh and Jane Zimmerman the American diplomats who had reached Colombo.

Sunday , 27 January 2013

US officials hold talks in Sri Lanka

by F wire Jan 27, 2013

Colombo, Jan 27 (IANS) A high-level delegation from the US State Department Sunday held talks with the Sri Lankan government and opposition members regarding post-war developments in the island nation.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State James Moore, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vikram Singh and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jane Zimmerman arrived in the island Saturday, Xinhua reported.

The delegation met a key Tamil minority political party and discussed issues concerning Tamils in the north and east of the country.

A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) official told Xinhua that issues including the resettlement of people displaced due to war and an upcoming session at the UN Human Rights Council where the Sri Lankan issue is expected to be raised were discussed.

Moore is a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs since September 2010. He was previously the deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in Colombo 2006-2009.

Zimmerman is a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, responsible for South and Central Asia, the Western Hemisphere, and International Religious Freedom.

Singh is deputy assistant secretary of defense for south and southeast Asia within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.

The Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in 2009 after 30 years of war but still continues to face pressure over human rights allegations from several countries including the US. Colombo denies the allegations.

War Euphoria Waning, Minorities And Dissidents Targeted For Electoral Gain

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole -January 26, 2013

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Speaking Up Together

My bishop, the Rt. Revd. Dhiloraj Canagasabey, did us proud declaring today that there has been a complete collapse of democracy in the CJ’s impeachment and that we “as a Christian Church cannot remain silent in this situation. Such silence will be dishonoring to our Lord and a betrayal of our identify as His people.” Similarly UNHCR’s  Navenetham Pillay described it as a “calamitous setback for the rule of law” and warned that Sri Lanka would have serious repercussions at the UNHCR in March. Many Tamils saw these as hopeful signs of escaping from the clutches of the Rajapaksas. When the US dropped Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe from a US military programme because of his being in command where war crimes occurred, the Government’s impolitic response that they will go to China, also gave hope that riling the US so would make retribution in Geneva more likely.

The Matale mass grave from 1987-89 with 70 skulls, it is hoped, will convince the Sinhalese that that the massacres 70,000 in Mulivikal and 60,000 from the JVP by our government are but different sides of the same coin and until there is accountability and punishment of those responsible, no one is safe.

Ruki remarks in her chapter on the disappeared cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda that Sandya Ekneligoda has shown increasing concern about Tamils’ problems, and is working with several families of disappeared northern persons. Her efforts have also exposed the new purported CJ who was forced to withdraw before at court his statement to the UN Committee against Torture that Prageeth was living abroad. For her efforts a Deputy Solicitor General has accused Sandya of the “crime” of bringing the country into disrepute! Let us all then be criminals like her. With minorities under attack, Tamils need to make common cause with Sinhalese and Muslims. For minorities include not just other communities but also Sinhalese in exclusion.

Information

We need think-tanks to gather and analyse information and create opinion, whereas now on matters like multi-storey buildings in Jaffna and water from Iranaimadu, opinions we like are stated as fact. The TNA’s website tnapolitics.org is to be welcomed but it needs improvement – news is stale, links do not work and that to donate by bank transfer has no SWIFT code. At the university, holding arts faculty midterms has forced students to return although only two of the four arrested students were released. These students remain adamant that they will not attend lectures after the exams. Their talents may be productively tapped when given trust and autonomy.

Kabir Hashim

Kabir Hashim, Senior VP-UNP, says the Government is turning on minorities and whipping up communalism for electoral gains because the euphoria from winning the war is running out. Again on Tuesday TNA MP Sritharan’s Kilinochchi office was searched and a computer confiscated. TNA sources attribute this harassment to EPDP organizers in Kilinochchi who are vying with him for votes. The name of EPDP MP Chandrakumar repeatedly comes up.

The Sinhalese language is thrown around freely in Jaffna, even by commercial establishments. Advertisements by banks targeting women, children et al. use words like Sisu, Kantha, Jeyasiri. When banks do not care whether their target audience understands, the real message is not commercial but that the Sinhalese are our rulers.  Most offensive are the popular Gunasekera luxury buses from Colombo to Jaffna carrying Sinhalese slogans by Buddhist Sakthi Force proclaiming, “This is our Sinhalese Empire.”

There is also a move to give supposedly historical names to all Tamil villages and they have begun in the East, renaming villages while gerrymandering boundaries to create Sinhalese majority local government councils.

The US-based International Policy Digest, advocating for NGOs, has listed 367 Hindu temples destroyed in Sri Lanka and gives a translation of a notice in Sinhalese by “Sathumeya Communication Mathumeya” that is terrifying the people of Kantharodai. It claims that “Kathurgoda” is the burial site where 60 Buddhist monks died “under” Sankilirajah, that Tamils are forcefully occupying land belonging to the Archeological Department and “It is our utmost duty to reclaim this place” in order to “safeguard Sinhala Buddhist heritage.”

Gunatilleke and Daily News Attack Tamil Academics

A most offensive tirade has been launched by Susantha Gunatilleke (CDN 21st), and an editorial (CDN 22nd), attacking Jaffna academics. They claim that northern academics are complicit in the falsification of archaeological discoveries that cast light on ancient place names; they went into paroxysms of feigned righteous anger against the restoration of law and order in the North; and they never tire of talking of the army seeking to regiment the views of the intellectual community.

The Daily News and Gunatilleke do not want any academic discussion on Tamil Buddhism. Their goal is to suppress knowledge of Tamils having been largely Buddhist and Jain (until  the Saivite crusade of the Thevaram period from the seventh century, vitalized by the Cholas), with our own Epics Manimehalai and Silappathikaram. For then they can argue that anything Buddhist in Sri Lanka is Sinhalese. Gunatilleke is against autonomy for Jaffna’s SLAAS and instead wants Jaffna social scientists to present in Colombo where Gunatilleke and cronies can harangue them into silence.

Their complaints about LTTE thought-police and a few academics joining the LTTE to advance LTTE hegemony are legitimate. But recall that the vast majority of Tamil academics were disengaged and many went so far as to help UTHR gather information and sheltered them as needed. Many others saved Federal Party archives and Amirthalingam’s documents and photographs when the LTTE went about burning these. It is absolutely vulgar for a national newspaper to editorialize as if all Tamil academics worked for the LTTE when many were heroic and some paid the supreme price.

Eating Tamil Meat and Neelan

The Editor and Gunatilleke become exactly like the LTTE when they call Neelan Tiruchelvam an “alleged ‘moderate’,” because in Finland Gunatilleke was asked “at dinner why Sinhalese Buddhists ate Tamil meat,” which he traced “to a book published by the TULF.” That is evidence against Neelan? Mano Ganeshan in a Lakbima interview (15.11.2009) has said there are Sinhalese government politicians who had “gone to the level of eating Tamil flesh,” and certain “Tamil politicians wanted to swim” in Sinhalese blood.” Hijacker Sepala Ekanayake was seen at Welikada  running around with a massacred Tamil prisoner’s head. Other reports say the prisoners were feasted on. There were many savageries in that war with Muslim infants having their heads smashed against a wall by the LTTE and 70,000 civilians directed to shelters and massacred. Photos indicate Sinhalese troops engaged in necrophilia. But what I find unbelievable is that Finns are so insensitive as to ask Gunatilleke if Sinhalese eat Tamil flesh. They are too well-mannered for that; I do not believe him.

Tirade on SK Sitrampalam

Professor Sitrampalam is also virulently attacked for remarks of polemical value he made such asPrabhakaran wanting what Chelvanayagam wanted. Senior VP-FP, he has written extensively on Tamil Buddhism. As an academic he will condemn iniquities whatever their source. Today since it is Rajapaksa who is doing terrible things to Tamils, he will attack Rajapaksa. Likewise in 2006 he was a rare person standing up to the LTTE. When I was appointed VC and LTTE stooges moved a resolution at Jaffna’s University Teachers’ Association to condemn my appointment, Sitrampalam stood up and explained why mine was a legitimate and desirable appointment. The resolution failed. His house was stoned that night and his name-board at the university broken. It is men like Sitrampalam with backbone who hinder the government’s oppressive intents. Hence the attacks.

Elephant Pets

In the midst of these calamities, a farmer in the Mankulam-Mallavi area who has not lost his humor grumbled about his new problem added by the government “as if the war atrocities he suffered are not enough.”The Wildlife Department has released some 18 domesticated elephants with the intention of returning them to the wilds. But they trample his fields and fell his coconut trees and even when he lights crackers to chase them off as he does with wild elephants, they lumber into his compound for food.

KEMA SWARNADIPATHI THE NEXT JSC SECRETARY?

January 27, 2013 

Kema Swarnadipathi is tipped to be appointed as the next Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), informed sources told Ada Derana. 

Swarnadipathi is currently serving as the Gampaha Magistrate and will replace incumbent JSC Secretary Manjula Tilakaratne.

Tilakaratne was at the center of controversy last year when he was assaulted by unidentified men amid heightened tension between the government and the judiciary.

 The senior judge was hospitalized after being stabbed and badly wounded by four armed men in Mount Lavinia on October 07, 2012.

The attack came in the wake of an announcement by the JSC that it was being subjected to “threats and intimidation”.

Tilakaratne had issued a statement prior to the attack claiming the JSC, which is responsible for the administration of Sri Lanka’s justice system, was being targeted for criticism.

‘Miracle’ government couldn't construct a single house for flood victims – Vijitha Herath

SATURDAY, 26 JANUARY 2013 

The government that boasts it is a ‘miracle’ has not been able to construct a single house to replace the number of houses that were destroyed due to floods in Chilaw area says the Information Secretary of the JVP Vijitha Herath.

He said despite not having state power or power in the Pradeshiya Sabha, the JVP was able to build 4 houses for the benefit of the people at Elivitiya in Arachchikattuwa.

Mr. Herath made these observations participating at a ceremony held yesterday (25th) to hand over one of the houses to a resident whose house had been destroyed by floods.

Government Can Easily Exist Without Law, But Law Cannot Exist Without Government

By Elmore Perera -January 27, 2013 

Elmore Perera

The Judicial Interpretation of Article 107(3)

A rational person (whether natural or juristic) is deemed to intend the logical consequences of his/her/its acts. Any other person who refers to such acts without express disapproval is also deemed to endorse such intentions.

The dire consequences of the clearly unjust acts being perpetrated at will, do not permit us to sit back and leisurely enjoy the “free entertainment” provided by the strenuous efforts being made by usually sensible Sri Lankans. Many of them are falling over each other in a maddening scramble to interpret Constitutional Provisions so as to “justify the unjustifiable”.

Article 107(3) reads “Parliament shall by law or by Standing Orders provide for all matters relating to the presentation of such an address, including the procedure for the passing of such resolution, the investigation and proof of the alleged misbehaviour or incapacity and the right of such judge to appear and to be heard in person or by representative”. (The “address” referred to is the address to be presented to the President for removal of a Superior Court Judge on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity).

Notwithstanding the mandatory requirement to do so contained in Article 107(3), Parliament had failed to provide for any of the relevant matters by law or by Standing Orders until after the motion to impeach Chief Justice Samarakoon was received by the Speaker on 3^rd April 1984. A Parliamentary Select Committee was appointed to inquire into the allegations and report. Standing Order 78A was hurriedly adopted on 4^th April 1984 and another PSC was appointed to consider the findings of the first PSC and report. The six Government MPs on the Select Committee appointed under S.O. 78A unanimously held that the alleged (and admitted) conduct of the Chief Justice did not amount to proved misbehaviour, and the PSC process was duly terminated in spite of the 5/6^th majority of the government in Parliament. The three Opposition Members on the PSC viz. Anura Bandaranaike, Dinesh Gunawardena and Sarath Muttetuwegama, went one step further and, in a separate report

1. stated that seeking to inquire into whether or not the Chief Justice was guilty of “proved misbehaviour” was violating the provisions of Article 4(c) of the Constitution,
2. urged the House to amend S.O. 78A to provide for the process of inquiry preceding the resolution to remove a Judge be conducted by Judges chosen by the Speaker from a panel appointed for this purpose, and
3. urged the President to refer this matter to the Supreme Court for an authoritative opinion thereon, under Article 129(1) of the Constitution.

Article 129(1) reads “If at any time it appears to the President of the Republic that a question of law or fact has arisen or is likely to arise which is of such nature and of such public importance that it is expedient to obtain the opinion of the Supreme Court upon it, he may refer that question to that Court for consideration and the Court may, after such hearing as it thinks fit, within the period specified in such reference or within such time as may be extended by the President, report to the President its opinion thereon”.

However, neither President Jayawardena, nor President Premadasa, nor President Wijetunga, nor PresidentKumaratunga, nor President Rajapaksa cared to refer this matter to the Supreme Court for an authoritative opinion. This was in spite of the fact that two resolutions for impeachment of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silvawere both thwarted by the President by resorting to the Executive powers vested in her.

Even when the question of impeaching Chief Justice Bandaranayake was first mooted, President Rajapaksa did not seek the authoritative opinion of the Supreme Court, and deliberately left it to his minions in Parliament to interpret the relevant provisions of the Constitution in a manner that he indicated and to act according to such interpretations which were in clear violation of the provisions of Article 125(1) of the Constitution.

Article 125(1) reads “The Supreme Court shall have sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution, and accordingly, whenever any such question arises in the course of any proceedings in any court or tribunal or other institution empowered by law to administer justice or to exercise judicial or quasi-judicial functions, such question shall forthwith be referred to the Supreme Court for determination. The Supreme Court may direct that further proceedings be stayed pending the determination of such question”.

The validity of the hurriedly arrived at purported findings of the Parliamentary Select Committee, appointed under Standing Order 78A as adopted in 1984, was challenged in the Court of Appeal. The question arose in the Court of Appeal as to whether or not S.O. 78A was consistent with the provisions of Article 107(3) of the Constitution. In terms of Article 125(1) the Court of Appeal was specifically divested of any power to determine that question and forthwith referred same to the Supreme Court for determination as required by the said Article 125(1).

Either genuinely unaware of, or deliberately suppressing any knowledge of the fact that the “Supremacy of the Legislature” which existed during the brief period of five years from 1972 had been abolished with the promulgation of the 1978 Constitution, the Speaker, all Government MPs including the Deputy Speaker and PSC Members and even some Opposition MPs, arrogated to themselves the power to interpret the Constitution on the entirely false premise that “Parliament was Supreme”. Unaware of, or in callous disregard of the clear provision in Article 125(1) of the 1978 Constitution that the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine any question relating to the interpretation of the Constitution was vested in the Supreme Court, supporters of President Rajapaksa from all walks of life, propounded their own theories supporting the Rajapaksa regime’s interpretation of the Constitution. This support was based on the singularly false premise that “Parliament was Supreme” and therefore Parliament’s determination necessarily superseded any interpretation that the Supreme Court may choose to make.

Though altogether tragic, it was indeed hilarious to see and hear, on the electronic media, the pontifical assertions of the Constitutionality of every single act of the Parliamentary Select Committee made by persons who were apparently not even aware of what the relevant Constitutional provisions were. Statements reported in the print media were no less hilarious but were couched in less offensive language.

The authoritative determination of the Supreme Court in respect of the aforementioned “reference” was announced in the Court of Appeal on 3^rd January 2013. The Supreme Court, acknowledged by the Speaker in October 2012, as having the sole and exclusive jurisdiction in interpreting any and all matters relating to the Constitution, unequivocally declared that the PSC and the proceedings therein were unconstitutional and therefore illegal. The Deputy Speaker was extensively reported in the print media to have stated categorically that, in accordance with relevant constitutional provisions, the PSC was only mandated to investigate and report, but not to arrive at a finding of guilt, in respect of the allegations. As expected, he thereafter made valiant, and apparently effective statements to reinterpret the Constitution to override his spontaneous assertion aforementioned.

A Writ of Certiorari was issued by the Court of Appeal quashing the findings of the PSC. The all-powerful combine of the Executive, the Legislature, the sycophants in the Judicial arm of the State and the hordes of those who could neither see nor hear of any wrong doing by the Regime, would have none of this and worked overtime to nullify and even ridicule the “authoritative decision of the Supreme Court” and the Court of Appeal order quashing the PSC findings.

On the 22^nd of January 2013 the Island Newspaper gave great prominence to an article on “the judicial interpretation of Article 107(3) which gave prominence to several non-issues, viz.

1. The Supreme Court carried out the duty cast on them by the Constitution to authoritatively interpret the Constitution whenever the need to do so arose. (The Legislature refused to abide by this and proceeded to act in violation of the Constitution by asserting an imagined jurisdiction to do so).
2. A possible consequence of the interpretation of the Supreme Court determination is that it may need a revision of the Constitution to reflect the wording in the SC Interpretation. (The interpretation of the Supreme Court is strictly limited to the existing Constitutional provisions and does not extend to possible amendment).
3. Judiciary trespassed the domain of the Legislature. (The provisions of Article 129(1) only required the Supreme Court to provide the President with an authoritative opinion on Article 107(3) as presently in the Constitution and certainly NOT to advise on any amendment of the Constitution. It would be going outside its domain if in fact it did so. That would have been trespassing into the domain of the Legislature).
4. A clear understanding of what constitutes misbehaviour, as referred to in Article 107, does not exist. (That is precisely the reason that a forum capable of defining it objectively, is necessary).
5. Since appointments of Superior Court Judges are dependent on good behaviour, the threshold needed to satisfy ‘good behaviour’ should in fact be low (This will only perhaps qualify rapists, murderers, robbers and cheats who have successfully evaded the long arm of the law to be appointed to the Judiciary. How that will fulfil the appearance of justice defies understanding).
6. The last citadel of Rule of Law is an independent judiciary and an important aspect of good behaviour is the ability of the Judiciary to resist interference from any quarter. (He seems to be blissfully ignorant of the fact that it was the Chief Justice’s strenuous efforts to protect the judiciary from interference by the Executive when the Executive was ‘knocking at its gates’ that sparked off this entire dark episode).
7. The Judiciary had no jurisdiction to precipitate revisions to the Constitution which it is committed to uphold under oath. If revisions are not needed the Supreme Court should advise Parliament on how to accommodate its determination under Article 129 or RE-VISIT its determination to fit within existing Constitutional provisions. (The only duty cast on the Supreme Court by the Constitution is to interpret the existing provisions of the Constitution as at that time. It is for the legislature to abide by that authoritative interpretation in that instance, and, if so desired, for the legislature to amend the Constitution for the future).

There is a set procedure to review or “re-visit” the determination of the Supreme Court. That was the only valid option lawfully available to the Executive or the Legislature. Rejecting it with disdain and acting in flagrant violation of it was certainly not an available option.

It is abundantly clear that we have a problem because the legislature that makes the law has assumed the exclusive right to decide whether or not they themselves have broken the law.

How accurate Bertrand Russel was, when he observed that “Government can easily exist without law, but law cannot exist without government”.

*Elmore Perera, Attorney-at-Law, Founder CIMOGG, Past President OPA