Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council: The saga continues

By Gibson Bateman-By Asian Correspondent Apr 08, 2013 

Another US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka – the second in 12 months – was passed recently at the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. Twenty-five countries voted in favor of the resolution and 13 voted against it. There were 8 abstentions. Importantly, the resolution also had 41 cosponsors.

Indian Tamil activists protest ahead of last month's UNHCR resolution. Pic: AP.

This resolution is similar to the one that was passed in March 2012. It calls on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations and to address the (very credible) allegations of international humanitarian and human rights law which occurred during the civil war’s final phase. And, like the previous one, this resolution encourages GoSL to work with the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to fulfill these objectives. The resolution also calls for OHCHR to present an “oral update” at the HRC’s 24^th session which is to be followed by a “discussion” of the implementation of the resolution at the HRC’s 25^thsession. It’s good that the US was able to get something through the HRC again, but this doesn’t look like a resolution with teeth. Rather, the entire process looks like a holding pattern.

(READ MORE: UN rights body urges tougher Sri Lanka probe)

Just like last year, India voted in favor of a resolution that it had worked diligently to water down – in spite of all the drama in Tamil Nadu and DMK’s departure from the UPA government. In a direct response to political pressure from Chennai, India did attempt to bring forth seven amendments which would have made the resolution stronger. Not surprisingly, the US rejected all of them.

At venues like the HRC, there is usually an inherent tension between a resolution’s strength and its ability to get a wide backing from a range of countries. (In spite of Sri Lanka’s deplorable human rights right record and nearly complete noncompliance with the previous resolution (19/2) – getting a strong resolution through the HRC this time would have been much more difficult, if not impossible).

Yet, in spite of another diplomatic marker condemning the autocratic Rajapaksa administration, it remains to be seen whether this type of pressure will force the regime to change its behavior. The passage of this resolution is a clear sign that the international community is not buying the GoSL’s inaccurate story about the progress the country has made post-war. Yes, there has been progress when it comes to infrastructure and economic development, but all other trends are overwhelmingly negative.

The GoSL continues to lie about matters related to human rights, reconciliation and its implementation of the LLRC recommendations. There’s no sign that a credible investigation into wartime atrocities will materialize in the near-term.

The Year Ahead

The GoSL must have known that this resolution was going to pass. However, when it comes to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this November, there is still much to be decided.  Many people have already raised concerns about Sri Lanka hosting such a gathering. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has already said that, if the situation in Sri Lanka doesn’t improve, he won’t be attending.

(READ MORE: Commonwealth struggles for unity amid Sri Lanka HR concerns)

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) will hold a meeting in April and the GoSL is (justifiably) concerned that it will be placed on CMAG’s formal agenda. As others have suggested – given the current situation in Sri Lanka – allowing the Rajapaksa administration to host the summit would be an embarrassment to CHOGM and tarnish itsinternational credibility.

In a way, this new HRC resolution resets the clock for the regime in Colombo; they’ve been given another year to make some progress on the above-mentioned issues and reverse negative developments related to human rights, the centralization of power, judicial independence,  disappearances, extrajudicial killings, land rights, sexual violence, militarization and media freedom, among other issues. For the time being, this is an important moment because it means that Sri Lanka will not fall off the HRC’s formal agenda. If that were that to happen, it would be extremely difficult for members of the international community to regain their momentum and keep the pressure on.

Disregarding this resolution would be risky because it would leave the regime open to real diplomatic isolation and the possibility of more unpalatable consequences that could include economic sanctions, travel restrictions for certain members of the regime or a shift in military and/or intelligence cooperation with other countries. However, those types of outcomes would likely fall outside the scope of the HRC. Nearly four years since the civil war’s tragic end, it remains to be seen whether the HRC can help turn things around in Sri Lanka.

Life And Times In Old Jaffna: A Review

By R.S.Perinbanayagam -April 8, 2013 

Prof. R.S.Perinbanayagam

The Yaal Players by Vimala Ganeshananthan (Colombo: Kumaran Books Ltd)2013
Life and Times in Old Jaffna. A Review.

This work contains notes written by a woman, Emily Gnanam, who lived in Karativu, an islet off the coast of Jaffna in the early years of the last century. It is also interspersed with commentaries by her daughter Vimala Ganeshananthan who also is the editor of the volume. Emily Gnanam,it appears, spent her early life in a large farm in Karativu before getting married and moving to Trincomalee. Her descriptions of her life in the farm reveals the existence of a semi-feudal system in Jaffna with various castes living in or around the farm and providing services to the landowners and receiving compensation in kind and cash.

Emily Gnanam’s notes give us a fascinating account of the lives of the various people of the household as well as the life of the village in rich detail. She describes the procedures and customs observed in everyday life as well as the nature of the marriage alliances contracted by the members of the household. It describes the ceremonies connected to the weddings, the nature of the arrangements that were made to consummate these contracts etc. It appears that cross-cousin marriage was still the preferred form. Further, since the family were Christians living among Hindus, and having of course inherited some Hindu customs as well, had to make various amalgamations in their rituals. For example a Christian wedding was conducted in church but nevertheless they also used the Hindu ritual of tying the golden chain with the sacred pendant—the thali kodi– around the neck of the bride by the groom. In the Hindu customs the pendant was inscribed with sacred Hindu symbols but Christians inscribed the image of the Bible on it. She describes the clothing and the jewelry worn respectively by the young girls as well as the different styles worn by the more mature ones and their grooming before the wedding ceremony and so on.

All in all, it’s the work of an astute observer of the social scene, and has given us, without much aforethought, a wealth of information about the life of a particular segment of Jaffna society at a particular time: a wealthy, landowning, socially and culturally dominant and high-caste segment, that is. Equally significantly they were Christians living in harmony in a Hindu culture and with a deep commitment to education. Further, it is written in a very simple style without unnecessary elaborations and ponderous analysis. The teachers at Vembady High School for Girls,where Emily Gnanam studied, do seem to have taught her a thing or two about writing too.

It is however the sociological and economic implications of the life of the family as an index of the Jaffna community that is the most valuable contribution of the work. The Gnanam family were converts to Protestant Christianity but seems to have had many Hindu relatives with whom they had not only cordial relations and even at times intermarried with them. They appear to have taken full advantage of the increasing opportunities provided by the schools that were opened by Christian missionaries. Emily Gnanam’s father was in fact a teacher in the school run by the American mission in the neighborhood after having been educated in one such school earlier. Emily Gnanam herself studied here and then transferred to Jaffna town to study in the school run by the Methodist missions called Vembady School for Girls. She didn’t just study and learn the feminine and domestic styles of life that the Christian missionaries tried to impart to their women students but went on to pass the Cambridge senior examination. She was perhaps one of the first among women in Jaffna to have obtained that distinction. The family in fact moves to Jaffna town so that she and her siblings could be educated in the city schools, she and her sisters at Vembadi, and her brothers at Jaffna Central College. The architectural styles of houses in Jaffna town favored by Dutch over that of the Portuguese too merits the attention of Emily Gnanam. These two occupying powers, besides their architecture,left their genetic footprints too in the light skin and blue eyes that some people in Jaffna sport and even this does not escape comment from the Gnanam!

While that the girls were given an education uncommon at the time in Jaffna society was significant enough, it is the story of her brothers and cousins that is of distinct sociological and economic significance. They were educated in these Christian schools–either at Central College or at Jaffna College, the premier school established by the American mission, and they seem to have obtained various qualifications: the Cambridge Junior certificate or the Cambridge Senior certificate or what was called the first-in arts –later to be called, I believe, the intermediate in arts, which was a prelude to the bachelor of arts degree. It not clear from her notes however which of these qualifications were obtained by which member of her family but they all seem to have dedicated themselves to getting an English education.

With one or more of these qualifications in hand the brothers and cousins went forth looking for jobs and wealth to the south of Ceylon but above all to Malaya and Singapore. These qualifications that the young men obtained made them eligible for service in the bureaucracies of the far-flung British Empire as well as in its railway systems. Some of them as far as I can fathom from Emily Gnanam’s notes also went on to become doctors and lawyers too.

The young men of the Gnanam household seem to have taken full advantage of the educational opportunities and made good in Malaya. However once they settled in Malaya they don’t seem to have settled for good. There was a constant traffic between Malaya and the homeland and the hometown. The young men came home to get married or brides were sent to Malaya to get married to eligible young relatives. Some young boys were also invited by their relatives in Malaya for further education and they too settled in Malaya but they returned to get married to one cousin or another. Furthermore, the older relatives seem to have gone on long visits to Malaya too. These were no doubt arduous journeys: there was the boat ride from the island of Karativu (there was no causeway between the island and the mainland at the time and after the causeway was built it changed its name to Karainagar!), and then a ride in a bullock cart on rough terrain to the city. From there they had to take a trip in a cargo boat to reach Malaya. Yet many seem to have gone back and forth: the call of kinship-loyalties on the one hand and the call from hometown on the other seem to have been too strong to be offset by the difficulties of the journey.

This family’s story is in fact a fine microcosm of what happened to Jaffna society once the Christian missionaries began arriving in the peninsula. It nicely particularizes some general features of Jaffna society of a particular time. The Americans came first to be followed by the Methodists and the Anglicans. Catholics too had established their own outpost. In any case the Protestant missionaries, for one reason or the other, seem to have converged on Jaffna and opened up schools in practically in every nook and cranny of the territory. Originally they were meant to educate only the Christians but eventually they accepted Hindus and the schools soon became institutions that educated mostly Hindus. Again, for one reason or the other, that I don’t want to go into here, the local population, after some reluctance, took to these schools with enthusiasm and soon–at least, in a few decades — Jaffna was awash with young men educated in English looking for employment and careers both within the island and in the far-flung British Empire, mainly in the Malay Peninsula but also in Burma and some of them even went to Madras to work. The American mission established the premier educational institution in English in the remote and dusty village of Vaddukoddai and called it, somewhat arrogantly “Jaffna College” the Methodists built Jaffna Central College and the Anglicans had St.John’s College” andS the Catholics St. Patrick’s College. The education of women was not neglected either: the Americans established the Uduvil Girls School, the first of its kind in South Asia, the Methodists started Vembady soon after and the Anglicans started a school for girls in Chundikuli–all in the 19 century. The Hindus, not willing to be outdone by the Christians started their own institutions. This proliferation of educational opportunism in the peninsula accounts for the large presence of Jaffna Tamils in the administrative services and the professions not only in Ceylon but in Malaya too and not because the British rulers favored them in some way– as some ignorant scribes and racist propagandists and internet charlatan have claimed. They were given employment because they obtained the necessary qualifications. These young men worked outside their ancestral villages but came home to marry and build houses and buy land and contributed immensely to the prosperity of the peninsula. These moneys they brought back or sent home trickled down to the carpenters and blacksmiths and the masons who built the houses as well the goldsmiths and silversmiths who made the jewelery and so on and so forth. Indeed the economic impact of the work of the Christian missionaries on Jaffna society is yet be explored by scholars.

The work depicts a way of life of the old north that has gone with the wind, never to return. It has been lovingly edited by Ganeshananthan. It however is not without a major flaw: the commentaries that Ganeshananthan has inserted between her mother’s narratives. These comments, while adding some context to the narrative, should have been separated from the Emily Ganam notes, either typographically or put in as an appendix. Indeed they are quite unnecessary and we should have been allowed to enjoy Emily Gnanam’s words by themselves. I may add that a genealogical table of the family and dates of birth etc would have enhanced the value of the work.

Still, this book is of great value to the social historians of Jaffna and one must thank Ganeshananthan for giving it to us.

*R.S. Perinbanayagam is Professor (Emeritus) of Sociology at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Trichy gathering condemns “US–Indian betrayal” of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 April 2013, 02:05 GMT]
Addressing a mass gathering of students and common people in Trichy (Thiruchchi) district, Tamil Nadu, student leaders, youth activists, and veteran political activists condemned the betrayal of the Eezham Tamil nation by the US-Indian axis, further accusing them of abetting the genocidal Sri Lankan state, on Sunday. Not only India, but the entire world has turned its attention on the mass struggle waged by our students in Tamil Nadu over the last month, said the organisers of the gathering. If the Indian government does not pay heed to the just demands put forth by the student protestors across Tamil Nadu, the students will begin and intensify civil disobedience campaigns, student activists from Thiruchchi told TamilNet. 

The students would begin by handing over their voter IDs, ration card to district collectors, sources said, adding that they widen protests to exert moral pressure on the Indian government. 


Student leaders across Tamil Nadu are also considering intensifying protests against the policies of the International Community of Establishments.

As a result of the student protests, a historic resolution was passed in Tamil Nadu State Assembly demanding UN referendum for the independence of Tamil Eelam. Now, this resolution should be also passed in the Indian Parliament and proceed with the same in the UN Assembly, declared the student leaders vowing that the fire set ablaze by the student upsurge in Tamil Nadu will not go away till the formation of Tamil Eelam in a release. 

The student leaders had invited veteran leaders Pazha Nedumaran and R. Nallakannu as special guests to their gathering to celebrate the struggle. 

“Mr Nedumaran as a honest and committed Tamil nationalist leader beyond politics and Mr Nallakannu, as a veteran leader who took part in the peoples struggle against British colonialism are invited to address the event,” a note by the Students Federation for Liberation of Tamil Eelam said. 

“We have invited these two leaders in their capacity as personalities beyond politics to address in our gathering,” the note said.  

The resolution tabled by the USA at the UN Human Rights Council is a hollow one. India further watered it down, the students observed. Only an independent international investigation on the genocide-accused Sri Lankan state and a comprehensive economic boycott would bring any justice to the Eezham Tamils, they said. 

They also condemned the Congress politicians in Tamil Nadu for having launched violence against the peaceful protests of the students. 

The event celebrated the Tamil Eelam liberation struggle with Tamil cultural events, including Therukoothu, mimes, and street plays.

Harsh Reality Of Anticipated Northern Elections

By Jehan Perera -April 8, 2013 

Jehan Perera

The passage of the second US-sponsored resolution at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva appears to have served as a wake-up call to the government. One aspect of the government’s response has been to hire a new public relations company in the United States. This PR effort seeks a favourable revision of US policy through a more professional approach than the previous PR effort. The mandate of the new public relations initiative is to positively project the government’s achievements in post-war rebuilding to those that matter in the US policy making circles. It is also to obtain more space and time to achieve reconciliation on the ground.

The international community and diplomats in Sri Lanka, are watching for progress on the ground. Changing the messenger matters little when the message from the ground is a negative one. Therefore, the implementation of the constructive recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, as called for by both the first and second US-sponsored resolutions in Geneva, are of great importance. In particular, the implementation of the government’s LLRC action plan will be a visible manifestation of its sincerity. An easily verifiable indicator of achievement would be to hold the provincial council election for the Northern Province, as promised by government leaders at various forums, and also in the LLRC.

The government would also be concerned about the cauldron of hate that is being brewed a mere 30 kilometers across the northern seas. The agitation in Tamil Nadu gets its political backing from across the Indian political spectrum from the Sri Lankan government’s failure to honour its promises to the Indian government. The government’s war-time promise to improve on the devolution contained in the 13th Amendment and make it “13th Amendment plus” was a basis on which the Indian government gave the government its support during the war against the LTTE. The least that the government can do is to implement the 13th Amendment in the Northern Province, as it has in the rest of the country. The best that the government could do is to ensure that the elections to the Northern Provincial Council are free and fair and not in contempt of those ideals.

GOVERNMENT CONCERN

Unfortunately, the reason for the upsurge of organized violence in the North in recent weeks is almost certainly due to the provincial elections that are expected to be held for the Northern Provincial Council by September this year. The target of the violence has been the TNA. First, a political meeting organized in Kilinochchi by four leading MPs from the TNA was attacked by a mob in the vicinity of a police station and in a town with a large number of military personnel. The inaction of the security forces on the scene together with the inaction of the MPs own official security detail is suggestive of tacit governmental approval of the disruption of the meeting. This attack was followed by one on the Sudaroli newspaper office in Kilinochchi. Staff members were severely assaulted. As the attackers got away without being apprehended by the security forces, and this newspaper is owned by a TNA MP, it is not difficult to perceive a governmental hand in this attack as well.

Government spokespersons have denied a government hand in it. At a media conference Minister Dullas Alahapperuma denied that the government was behind the two attacks and said that they condemned the attacks and had appointed police teams to investigate them. The government routinely denies any role in perpetrating extra-legal violence. More significantly, however, the Minister had admitted that the government coalition had not won the majority of votes at local government elections held in the Northern Province, but added that it was the government’s achievement that elections there could be held at all. He is reported to have said that “Whoever wins the Northern provincial council election, it is our victory that created the situation to conduct the poll in the province.”

The government’s concern is that a TNA led provincial council could take actions that are at cross purposes with the plans and visions of the central government. It is undoubtedly concerns of this nature that has led Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to argue that a hostile provincial administration in the Northern or Eastern provinces could be detrimental to the national reconciliation process. In a media interview he has even said that “such an administration could be as intimidating as the conventional military challenge posed by the LTTE.” The Defence Secretary has also said that the ongoing crisis in Tamil Nadu on issues relating to Sri Lanka is an example of how the devolution of powers can be abused.

TWOFOLD STRATEGY

The problem for the government is that the Northern Provincial Council election is one that it feels it cannot afford to lose. To a government that wishes to concentrate power in itself, the idea of losing power over a provincial council is not something that they find acceptable. The recent electoral verdicts in areas where Tamils are a majority have invariably been in favour of the TNA, which is the main Tamil opposition party. A provincial government would provide more legitimacy to the TNA when it speaks to the country and to the world. At the moment the TNA members can only speak as MPs who are a small minority in a Parliament in which the government holds a 2/3 majority. But if they win the provincial council elections, the TNA will speak as an elected government, and with greater authority.

Despite these misgivings, it now appears that the government has decided to take the plunge and hold the provincial council elections for the Northern Province as promised. Too much is at stake for the government to falter on the promise it has made. The alternative would be a possible follow-up to the two UN Human Rights Council resolutions that could go so far as to call for sanctions against Sri Lanka or for an independent international commission to probe into human rights violations and war crimes in the last phase of the war. Further, the government may feel that it can pull off a surprise victory at the Northern Provincial Council election, just as it did at the Jaffna Municipal Council election in 2009 using the economic and other resources at its disposal.

On the other hand, it may be premature for the government to bank on victory at the polls in the North at this time when the wounds of war have still to heal. It would be a tragedy if strong arm tactics, such as those that are now being practiced in the North, serve to alienate the Northern voter and their representatives even more. The TNA must not be seen as an enemy, to be defeated by any and all means as in the war. Instead they should be seen as another democratic political party and beneficiary of the war’s end. It is also important for government leaders to consider that unjust victory breeds hatred in the minds of those defeated, and the higher good for them and for the country is reconciliation.

Public Entertainment Minister in a hotel room in Japan with mahout

Monday, 08 April 2013 

Public Entertainment Minister Jayaratne Herath had received step motherly treatment during his recent visit to Japan with the President. The Lanka News Web learns that the Minister had to finally share room at a hotel in Japan with the mahout who was looking after the two baby elephants that were gifted to Japan by the President.

The President’s entourage had stayed at the Imperial Hotel in Japan. It was the President’s confidential financial secretary Sajin Vass Gunawardena who was in-charge of coordinating all affairs including lodging facilities in Japan. However, he had not booked a room for Minister Herath saying he would not be included in the President’s entourage.

Before the visit to Japan, the External Affairs Ministry had requested that the director of the national zoological gardens, secretary of the Public Entertainment Ministry and the mahout to visit Japan with two baby elephants to be gifted to the country. Ministry Secretary Willie Gamage, who has fallen out of the President; favour, is now looking after a baby elephant in Mattala and said, “I always go overseas, so ask the minister to visit Japan.”

The secretary had then informed the Japanese embassy in Sri Lanka to organize an invitation for the minister to visit Japan to gift to baby elephants to the Japanese zoo. After making several requests, the Japanese embassy at the last moment had granted a visa to Minister Herath to visit Japan. However, Sajin Vass Gunawardena had told the Minister at the Imperial Hotel, “We cannot provide lodging facilities to you since you are not part of the official delegation.” He had asked the Minister to find his own lodging.

Helpless after Sajin’s lowly actions, the Minister was seen walking around the hotel lobby with the mahout and a group of Sri Lankans who had seen this had inquired what had happened. The Minister had explained to them their plight and requested them to help him and the mahout find a place to stay. Realizing the difficulty faced by a minister from their motherland in a foreign country, the group of Sri Lankans have collected money and got the Minister and the mahout a room in an ordinary hotel in Japan.

The Minister had thanked the Sri Lankans whole heartedly and said, “Do you see brother how we are treated by our own government? This is the plight of every SLFP er.”

Implications Of The Geneva Vote

By Rajiva Wijesinha -April 8, 2013 

Prof Rajiva Wijesinha MP

The recent vote at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva was upsetting, and it would make sense for Sri Lanka to assess what happened and work towards ensuring that such a situation does not occur again. However there seems little chance of that, since the same was obvious a year ago, but nevertheless nothing was done, except to sit back and hope disaster would not strike twice.

The only efforts at analysis we saw from the Ministry of External Affairs were leaks to the effect that the vote engineered by the United States had put Sri Lanka back on track to working with what were described as its traditional allies.

Dayan Jayatilleka and Tamara Kunanayagam were denigrated as having tried to turn us towards what were described as virtually rogue states such as North Korea and Cuba.

That juxtaposition revealed very clearly where the thinkers in the Ministry of External Affairs, if that is an appropriate word, were coming from.

Cuba, loathed by the United States, is a model as far as foreign relations are concerned, and we would do well to try to understand why internationally it gets support from almost all countries in the world except for the United States and its absolute dependents.

North Korea is a different phenomenon, and the idea that Dayan or Tamara would advocate getting ourselves into that particular category is absurd.

But, as far as the mandarins in the Ministry are concerned, there is no need to make distinctions; as J R Jayewardene advocated when he turned to the West after 1977, we should be even more bitter than the West is in denigrating its opponents.

That philosophy underscored his appalling attitude to India. The attitude of the United States to India then explained however our attempts to take on India, even though we should have realized – and the United States indeed make this clear to us – that they would not come to our rescue in the event of conflict.

What is astonishing however is that, despite the rapprochement between the United States and India, our Cold Warriors still continue to denigrate the latter. The vicious misrepresentation of the very positive attitude of the Indian Opposition Leader (working in terms of the bipartisan approach to international relations that India manages to sustain however bitter political rivalries are) made clear what was going on.

However, even though, as suggested by the President, I wrote to the Foreign Secretary asking that the prevailing destruction of our international image be investigated, nothing has happened. Clearly the persistence of the attitudes of the eighties is condoned, despite the world having moved on.

This absurdity extends to the failure to build up alliances in areas where we had so many advantages four years ago. The manner in which Tamara Kunanayagam, as our ambassador in Brazil and then Cuba, built not just positive relations but even admiration and affection for this country throughout South America, has been forgotten.

Instead we have entrusted Cuba to an envoy who seems to think what it has achieved in the last half century is as nothing compared to the joys of being within the American sphere of influence.

For me perhaps the most significant aspect of the latest vote in Geneva is the fact that Brazil voted against us. Our apologists will claim that Brazil was under pressure from the United States, but it was under pressure in 2009 and voted with us.

Its ambassador was one of Dayan’s most affectionate allies, who gave us advice on how we should move forward, but supported us in the belief that we intended to do this expeditiously.

Instead then of getting angry with Brazil for voting against us, we should rather consider as to whether we should not be doing more to win support from a country that should be a natural ally.

The point is, the efforts the United States is making have very little to do with human rights, but reflect an effort to change the architecture of international relations. Sri Lanka is a convenient guinea pig for this, as we saw five years ago, when Gareth Evans and his ilk were trying to turn us into the first stamping ground for the enlarged version of his infamous doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect. The manner in which he twisted the provisions of that doctrine as approved by the United Nations, to suggest that unilateral actions were acceptable, is not something we should treat lightly, given what happened in Iraq and Libya, and what is happening now in Syria.

Brazil, like India, is not a country that would approve of such adventurism. But instead of making the point about the principles involved, we have simply, as one erudite Indian journalist put it, simply been asking for votes, with no efforts to explain and illustrate our position in between sessions of the Council.

I still recall the manner in which one South American diplomat, who was given the paper that Tamara and I prepared to show the importance of Reconciliation, when I went against my will to Geneva in March 2012, said that had he seen these arguments earlier, his country’s position might well have been different.

The petticoat diplomacy that destroyed us in Geneva between Dayan and Tamara did not bother to explain, perhaps because the intellectual capacity to explain was lacking in someone who got into the Ministry through the back door.

It simply pleaded, and then engaged in abuse when things did not work out, as was seen in the extraordinary letter sent to Navanethem Pillay recently. The fact that this came from the same Ministry that had let down Tamara when she objected on principle to what Navy was up to some months back makes clear the complete absence of either thought or policy planning in the Ministry.

This must change if we are not to be destroyed soon. But it seems that no one cares.

Strengthening innovation in Sri Lanka: In conversation with Anushka Wijesinha

Strengthening innovation in Sri Lanka: In conversation with Anushka Wijesinha

Groundviews-7 Apr, 2013

Anushka Wijesinha is a Research Economist at the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka and is one of the most prominent voices in Sri Lanka today championing innovation.

We begin by Anushka explaining what innovation means to him in a Sri Lankan context, and why it is so important to support it in post-war Sri Lanka. In talking about innovation as a system, he talks about the differences between Research and Development and innovation. Anushka is then asked whether he sees enough of that which he champions and sees as innovative policies, products and practices in Sri Lanka today.

We then talk about the nature and indeed crisis within Sri Lanka’s tertiary education system – from ossified curricula to outdated pedagogy – as stymieing the growth and potential of innovation. Anushka then looks at how failure can be instructive for innovation, and whether cultures and countries that embrace failure are more innovative than those, like Sri Lanka, which censure and look down on those who fail. Talking about the culture and context of fear that haunted Sri Lanka for 27 years during war, and still endures, Anush looks at whether there is any positive correlation between innovation and societies that are more democratic as opposed to more autocratic or authoritarian regimes.

Anushka gives a number of examples of innovation from across Sri Lanka that addressed social problems in communities, as opposed to inventors and innovators from Sri Lanka attempting to build the next Apple. Referring to a piece written by Anushka looking at the value of merely adopting innovative practices of other countries to benefit economic growth, he is asked whether merely copying constitutes innovation, or whether innovation is more about adaptation.

We then talk about how an individual like Suranga Chandratillake, President and Chief Strategy Officer of Blinkx.com could contribute to strengthening Sri Lanka’s innovation, and what it would take for the country to attract back into our shores individuals like him in the diaspora.

We then talk about what the Government of Sri Lanka has done, and is doing to support innovation in Sri Lanka, and how strategy documents drawn up in this regard are being mainstreamed into policy making, as well as what more needs to be done. We also talk about the need for more and better private-public partnerships in support of innovation.

We end the programme by looking at the significant corpus of work Anushka, IPS and others have already produced on innovation, and why this isn’t more widely known both within and outside the country. We talk about how success stories of innovation can be more widely promoted, and how these stories can in turn strengthen innovation in the country, and the investment in all areas needed for it.

Local Media Promotes The Racist Elements Against Muslims

By Latheef Farook -April 8, 2013 

Latheef Farook

Hundreds of articles have been written in all three languages during the past few months analysing from every possible angle the United States sponsored United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution against Sri Lanka on alleged human rights violations during the final days of the government’s war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam-LTTE.

However there was hardly an article dealing with the role played by Muslim countries in supporting Sri Lanka. Most of these countries are actually American allies. This happened last year too when the resolution calling on Sri Lanka to investigate alleged human rights violations was passed by 24 votes to 15 with 8 abstentions.

This year as well, of the 13 countries that supported Sri Lanka, seven were Muslim nations. The media both print and electronic recorded the Muslim countries’ support only in passing. Some print media    stated that 13 countries supported Sri Lanka and this included Pakistan. They failed to appreciate Muslim countries’ support with the prominence it deserves in view of the island’s difficult situation in Geneva.

The print media fared no better. They too published numerous articles discussing from different facets the negative vote of India, but failed to highlight Muslim countries’ support to Sri Lanka. Perhaps this may be due to the inherent mindset of taking the island’s Muslims and the Muslim countries for granted.

This   has been a common practice in the local media for decades.

For example Muslim countries, traditionally good friends of Sri Lanka had stood by the island throughout the 30 year ethnic carnage. The West, led by the US, protected and promoted the LTTE while even Buddhist countries hardly came to Sri Lanka rescue. Throughout the war, especially during its peak   in   2009, Muslim countries such as Iran, Libya and oil rich Gulf countries assisted Sri Lanka in more ways than one .Pakistan even took part in crushing the LTTE. President Mahinda Rajapaksa spoke about Pakistan’s crucial rule in this war.

However this crucial role has never been appreciated by the mainstream media.

In yet another example around a million Sri Lankans, most of them Sinhalese, are working, earning and leading quite a happy life in the oil rich Gulf countries while taking care of their loved ones back home. These employment opportunities, besides brightening their economic prospects, also brought the people of the Gulf region and Sri Lanka closer to the benefit of the island.

These workers remit annually around US $ 6 billion which helps sustain the island’s tottering economy .However rarely an article appears in the mainstream media highlighting the positive side of these workers’ presence in the Gulf region. Of course, as it always happens in any society, there have been unfortunate cases when some come across various problems.

This was not something unexpected especially in a region where only five decades ago the people, cut away from modern civilization struggled hard to eke out a living in the extreme weather conditions under medieval style tribal nomadic life, blessed suddenly with unprecedented wealth.

The media screams and screeches whenever a Sri Lankan is ill treated by an Arab. They go all out to paint a distorted picture of the entire Gulf population as the Western media has been doing. They then demonize the entire people in the region as cruel and barbarous.

This overall mindset of the media is even extended to international scene, especially the Middle East which was turned into a killing field ever since the Zionist Jewish state of Israel was planted in Palestine in 1948 after evicting the Palestinians- the sons and daughters of Palestine- into refugee camps where they languish for more than eight decades ignored by the world.

Rarely does an article appear in the mainstream media highlighting the plight of the Palestinians and the daily routine Israeli crimes against an occupied people! This has been the tradition of the local media for decades.

The late Prime Minister Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike’s fiercely independent policy of supporting the Palestinians had its own impact in the mainstream media which started highlighting the plight of the Palestinians.

This policy, though not practiced at present, continued until   Israel, expelled time and again by the island, sneaked into the country in the aftermath of Sri Lanka’s military victory over the LTTE in May 2009.

Capturing the media by any means has been one of the prime targets of Zionists to fool the people by hiding their crimes and demonizing the Palestinians, Arabs and now Islam and Muslims worldwide.

They didn’t waste their time in Sri Lanka. It’s believed they have penetrated sections of the media quite successfully and   started    promoting Israel. In the rush of things the Palestinian were abandoned even though it’s well established that they are indeed victims of neo colonialism run by a an apartheid called Zionism .

At first the Israelis entered the local media through their mouth pieces in the West such as Daily Telegraph and Washington Post and the Daily Mail of the UK reproducing distorted articles in favour of Israel aimed at removing the stigma attached to Israel as an international pariah.

Today’s situation is such that it is almost impossible to get an article highlighting the daily Israeli crimes on Palestinians or the sufferings of the Palestinians into most mainstream media in all three languages.

Sri Lankan media in general depends on western news agencies for foreign news. These are mostly owned by Jewish companies with a Zionist bent of mind. Some of them have diversified into the media from the weapons industries and other war mongering business establishments. They use the media to mislead their consumers to suit their political and military agenda.

Under such circumstance readers in Sri Lanka were not given information on the proper developments in the Middle East. As a result the United States led European and Israel invasion and destruction of Muslim countries in the Middle East and massacre of millions of people there since the collapse of the West almost went, and still go, virtually unreported.

Often the misguided journalists and people alike tend to think that any article highlighting the American atrocities in the Muslim countries during the past two decades is regarded as anti American.  They fear that such articles would antagonize the Americans   who could be of use in times of crisis to flee the country.

About a month ago an article on the rising  hate Muslim campaign unleashed  by the Sinhala extremists such as Jathika Hela Urumaya, Bodu Bala Sena and Sinhala Ravaya was to all Sunday English papers .It was an article from the country’s point of and not from Muslim  point of view. No paper published it. Instead one Sunday English paper published two articles, each half a page, on Israel giving the impression that Sri Lanka is an extension of Israel.

Similarly no Sunday paper published a write  up on a  book titled “ America’s New World Order” EXPORTING WARS which focuses and comments on the atrocities that the American led European invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya Yemen and Somalia apart from  killing more than two million Muslims. No paper published this review either due to the fear of antagonizing the United States and being identified as unfriendly to US.

As we all know Sinhala extremists have unleashed a vicious and dangerous ethno fascist violent campaign against the island’s Muslims especially during the past few months. Throughout this period the Sinhala language, both print and electronic media, gave wide publicity to these fascists open call for Sinhalese to rise against Muslims.   In fact Sinhala media almost became the mouth piece of BBS and other racist organizations .It entertain no Muslim point of view and continue to incite   Sinhalese against Muslims not realizing the inherent danger involved to all communities.

This is not something new. This happened in 1968 August when late Prime Minister Dudley Senanayakeintroduced the white paper on   district council. The now defunct independent group of companies unleashed a fierce anti Tamil campaign inciting the Sinhalese against Tamils. What had subsequently is common knowledge.

Not learning any lesson from the past the local media is promoting the racist elements against Muslims .It will not be long before country face the consequences of the current wave of racist outbursts.