GSP+ relief is fine if employers don’t grab lion’s share: TU leaders

January 19, 2017, 9:09 pm 

Leslie Devendra, chief secretary of Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya addresses the media in Colombo on Wednesday along with senior leaders of four other main trade unions of Sri Lanka.Photographer: Jude Denzil Pathiraja

by Sanath Nanayakkare

 

We maintain the position that people in Sri Lanka deserve to receive the benefit of GSP+ scheme of the European Union, but this time we are endeavouring to ensure that a fair share of this monetary benefit will be received by the factory workers on the production floor instead of employers grabbing the lion's share of it, five major trade unions leaders vowed in Colombo on Wednesday.

Leaders of the Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya, Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union, National Union of Metal and Migrant Workers Sri Lanka, Ceylon Mercantile Industrial & General Workers Union(CMU) and the United Federation of Labour made this comment at a news conference held to announce their position on the much talked about GSP+ scheme these days.

"During the 5-year period Sri Lanka enjoyed the EU's GSP+ benefit for its exports to the EU market, tax profit gained by exporters ended as their additional bonanza with no dividends to the workers who were the main irreplaceable element in production. For example, garment factory owners publicly admitted that their profit had gone up by 30% thanks to the GSP+ scheme, but it was known to every one that not even a small slice of their profit pie was passed on to the employees. Our fight is to ensure that same injustice won't be repeated this time around".

"Workers should benefit from the EU offer in terms of improving their workplace environment and quality of life. We hope that the EU will give due attention to labour rights as the Report on Assessment of the application for GSP+ by Sri Lanka notes,"... Under ILO Convention 87 on freedom of association there are issues related to the intimidation and harassment of trade union leaders and the use of excessive force by the police in controlling strikes and demonstrations. In relation to ILO Convention 98 on the right to organize and collective bargaining, intimidation of trade union leaders and activists, as well as acts anti-union discrimination, is seen as problematic- (No. 16)".

"Sadly the issues are still out of control. Year 2016 ended with all indications of a more problematic year ahead. The prime minister, the minister of labour and trade union relations and the BOI were continuously informed of most serious violations to date. We will therefore keep the EU Commission also informed of all labour rights violations that continue unabated through factual documentation within the next four months".

"The GSP+ scheme has still not been granted to Sri Lanka. In the next four months, the government has to win the majority of the EU Commission members to gain GSP+. This is no easy talk as politicians make jubilant remarks from platforms. They have to convince that the conditions are truly favourable for the restoration of the facility. European consumers are concerned about the workers on factory floors in GSP beneficiary countries. It won't be given on a platter. So, our struggle will go on to ensure the improvement of labour rights and that the working class will get a fair share of this gain", they said.

GSP Plus: Don’t add to the minus points

2017-01-20

While the top level Sri Lankan delegation is working out economic and foreign investment agreements with business tycoons at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, critics are pointing out various discrepancies in the processes.   

Unfortunately this has been the pattern since independence in 1948. The major Opposition party has often opposed Government plans or policies apparently on the basis of party interest and not the common good or national interest. It has been a case of party or personal interest being put before that country’s interest and this has brought about catastrophic consequences including a 30-year-war and two youth insurrections.   

Now, for the first time, the two major parties—the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) -are working together in a national Government, though there are differences of opinion and disputes. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have repeatedly stressed that the national unity government would continue at least till 2020 and perhaps even beyond to bring about reconciliation, lasting peace and sustainable economic development, which will be eco-friendly and all-inclusive.   

However, the Joint Opposition critics in recent weeks have been pointing out mainly about the General Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus concessions, which the European Union is expected to restore to Sri Lanka within the next two to four months. In practical terms this will mean that Sri Lanka could export some 7,200 value added items tax free, to the 28 countries in the EU.   

The GSP Plus concessions given in 2005 following the tsunami catastrophe were withdrawn in 2010 during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime on the basis that Sri Lank was not implementing and ratifying international treaties in relation to civil, human and political rights.   

The EU on Wednesday issued a statement saying that implementation of 27 international conventions by the Sri Lankan Government was the only criteria for the European Commission to recommend restoring the GSP Plus tariff concession to Sri Lanka. “The EU wishes to reiterate that the ratification and implementation of 27 international conventions signed by a successive Sri Lankan Governments, are the only criteria on which the Government of Sri Lanka’s application to re-join the GSP+ is assessed,” the EU said. These conventions relate to international human rights, labour rights, environmental standards and good governance.  

 
“Benefitting from GSP Plus requires the Government to undertake to make further progress in implementing the conventions and to cooperate with the EU to monitor implementation and address shortcomings,” The statement added. “More generally, the EU supports the leadership shown by this Government in committing to address historic and long-standing problems that have caused conflict and negatively affected the lives and living standards of all Sri Lankans.”   

Last week President Sirisena publicly expressed deep concern that some Opposition groups were spreading rumours that the Government had promised to allow federalism in exchange for GSP Plus concessions.   

Another rumour being circulated is that homosexuality or gay marriage is to be legalised. Government leaders have explained that what was proposed was only a decriminalization of people with different sexual orientations. But in view of protests even by some Ministers this provision also seems to have been shelved.   

In 1978, then President J. R. Jayewardene proposed sweeping economic reforms, which could have put Sri Lanka on par with Singapore and other countries in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). But the war and the second youth insurrection prevented the implementation of these economic reforms. Now with the war over, we hope all parties and people will cooperate in the sustainable economic strategy, which if it works well, will provide hundreds of thousands of new and creative job opportunities while going a long way towards poverty alleviation.

Union demands CB probe on bond scam

Friday, 20 January 2017

Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy speaks with Voice Against Corruption Convener Wasantha Samarasinghe after protestors were allowed inside – Damith Wickramasinghe   

• Hundreds march in Fort calling on Governor to initiate internal probe 
• Dr. Coomaraswamy requests one week to respond to questions on possible EPF impact
• Outlines new steps taken to avoid transgressions  

By Shanika Sriyananda

Trade unions stepped up the battle for accountability yesterday with hundreds of members staging a demonstration at Fort calling on the Central Bank Governor to initiate an internal investigation into the alleged bond scam under his predecessor Arjuna Mahendran.

The employees representing the JVP-backed Inter Company Employees’ Union (ICEU) and belonging to 200 private sector companies defied police to demonstrate at Fort and marched to the Central Bank to meet Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy where eight members of the union were allowed inside.

These included Voice Against Corruption Convener Wasantha Samarasinghe and ICEU General Secretary Janaka Adhikari.

During the half hour discussion union members requested the Governor to assist in clearing the name of the Central Bank and initiating an investigation and push for legal accountability.

“We asked him whether he was given the task of delaying taking legal action during his tenure. He asked us to submit evidence for the allegations. But we refused his request urging him to answer the questions that we raised in our last letter,” Samarasinghe told the Daily FT.

Samarasinghe accused Dr. Coomaraswamy of trying to protect the culprits, including Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius.

“We will not let them ignore this Bond Scam which incurred an estimated loss of Rs. 145 billion during the last two years and a loss of over Rs. 15 billion to the Employee’s Provident Fund (EPF). They cannot simply play with the hard-earned money of EPF members,” he said.

The Central Bank Governor has been requested to provide answers to a series of questions from the union. These include details of the total amount of investments made by the EPF from 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2016, the total amount of investments in Treasury Bills and Bonds in the Primary Market made by the EPF during the same period, the necessary approvals obtained for each of those bond investments from the Investment Committee of the EPF and a list of mitigating actions taken by Dr. Coomaraswamy.

In response, Dr. Coomaraswamy had informed the members of a slew of checks and balances put in place by him to prevent transgressions.  According to Samarasinghe, the Governor had requested the ICEU to give him a week to respond to their list of queries.

“We hope that he will answer these simple questions within the week. If not, we will look into the possibilities of taking legal action over the alleged bond scam.” 

CB sells $ 225 m bonds 

The Central Bank this week sold $ 225 million worth of bonds at one-year, two-year and 38-month maturation, it said in an announcement yesterday.

Sri Lanka sold $ 30 million of 12-month development bonds at a six-month LIBOR + floating rate of 300 bps, $ 118 million of 38-month development bonds at a six-month LIBOR + floating rate of 375.55 bps and $ 85 million of 24-month development bonds at a six-month LIBOR + floating rate of 335 bps.

The amount offered for bids was $ 225 million and accepted the same number of bids.  

Yahapaalanaya Lapses: Is Mahinda the option for Muslims?

Featured image courtesy Ishara Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

HILMY AHAMED on 01/19/2017

Former Minister, Speaker and National List nominee Parliamentarian A H M Azwer along with a few other Mahinda loyalists claim that Yahapaalanaya under President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has betrayed minorities, especially the Muslim community. I have no reason to disagree and fully subscribe to their opinion, but I also totally disagree with their proposal that the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa is the better option for the Muslims. From 2009 to 2015 Rajapaksa was seen as not minority friendly President and unwilling to address minority grievances. His total disregard of minorities had nothing to do with the war victory, which was supported by the majority of Sri Lankans including the Muslims. Today, in the continued racist agenda, the Muslim community has become the “Girayata ahuwetchcha puwak gediya”.

Azwer claims that there are 38 complaints from Muslims about damage to their mosques, harassment and threats that have been recorded during the last two years of yahapaalanaya, (agreed), but fails to mention the 538 incidents between 2013 and January 2015 under the Mahinda Rajapaksa Presidency which has been documented by the Secretariat For Muslims, a well recognized civil society initiative, set up to provide technical assistance in research and advocacy for policy and legislative reform. Azwer highlights the shabby treatment meted out to the 21 Parliamentarians by President Sirisena when they signed a Muslim Council petition demanding action against Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero for insulting Almighty Allah, but does not remember the treatment given by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the 18 MPs who flew to Badulla to demand action against Buddhist extremism and the Aluthgama violence. He probably doesn’t even remember that he and Abdul Cader of Kandy were the only two Muslim Parliamentarians who did not sign the petition demanding action against the Aluthgama violence. Regretfully, the Muslim political leadership have very short memories. When elections come, it is the winning wagon they board.

Mahinda is known to have used strong-arm tactics to close down mosques, the Mahiyangana and Grandpass ones being good examples. Where were these SLFP Muslim warriors from 2005 to 2015? Where were they when Aluthgama burned? Even though Fashion Bug is a commercial entity, the Buddhist extremists backed by monks burned down their main stores and warehouse.

From the time Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected in November 2005, most of the minority communities did not see him as the President of the entire nation. The population of the Northern Province was disenfranchised in 2005 with the support of LTTE fanatic Velupillai Prabaharan with a Rs. 600 million cash bribe. The majority of them would have voted for Ranil Wickremesinghe and elected him President. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s racist approach to alienate the minorities and appease the Sinhala Buddhists was evident early on during his Presidency. His Sinhala chauvinism and use of the military to end the war brought him great support amongst the Sinhala Buddhist community. He also generated considerable support from the Muslims for his efforts at ending the terror of Velupillai Prabaharan, particularly due to the LTTE harassment and eviction of the Northern Muslims. This led to the unprecedented mandate he received at the 2010 Presidential Elections. This victory probably made him believe that he did not need the minorities to get elected to the Presidency for a third term, a feat which he laid the groundwork for by changing the Constitution. It was a fatal miscalculation that sent him home to Medamulana in Weeraketiya in January 2015. Now he is attempting to appease minority voters and stage a comeback to take over as the Prime Minister. There seem to be many actors at play to this end, and there is strong suspicion that President Maithripala Sirisena may have been coaxed into believing in a fairytale ‘wedding’ where the former SLFPers could form a Government, ousting Ranil Wickremesinghe for the second time by a SLFP conspiracy. President Sirisena may become a willing stakeholder to save his skin from the humiliation of a defeat at future elections if he contested under the SLFP and Mahinda Rajapaksa takes the saddle of a new coalition.

It is true that President Sirisena has elevated the hate-mongering leader of the Bodu Bala Sena, Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero on par with the most respected Mahanayakes of Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters, a folly he was tricked into supposedly by Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksa who probably did it to win over his Sinhala Buddhist Maharagama/Homagama voters.

The extreme racism of the Rajapaksa administration and the impunity offered to such extremist groups will not fade away from the minds of the Muslims for a long time. A few, who have not been able to join the yahapaalanaya bandwagon, may band together to whitewash Rajapaksa crimes, but the Muslim community is in no mood to forgive them.

The Muslims of Sri Lanka have been sandwiched between the Sinhala majority and the Tamil community. During the 30-year-old ethnic conflict, the majority of the Muslims supported the Government and paid a heavy price. Many were murdered including 147 who were gunned down while praying Isha (the late evening prayers) at the Kattankudy Jumma mosque. The entire population of the Northern Province was forcibly evicted. Some were given only 2 hours notice and the rest 24 hours. They left with a mere Rs 500 and no personal belongings apart from a few documents. They languished in refugee camps in Puttalam and other parts of the country for over 22 years. Azwer is correct when he says that he supported the IDPs when they arrived in Puttalam. It was not just him but thousands more who supported these unfortunate victims of terror. They paid this price because they refused to support the LTTE. Some Buddhist extremists and misguided environmentalists are now terrorising them. They claim that the former lands of the Muslims, which they abandoned due to their evictions, belong to the Wilpattu National Park, the boundaries of which are now being extended to include the lands of IDPs, for which they have deeds and Government permits dating back a hundred years. What a travesty of justice.

The GOTA Factor

Gotabhaya has been accused of being the creator of the monstrous Bodu Bala Sena (BBS). The labeling came because he provided impunity to racist extremists and also inaugurated the short-lived Bodu Bala Sena office in Galle. I asked the former Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, as to why he went for the opening of the Galle office of Bodu Bala Sena. His answer was simple and spontaneous. He said that Venerable Kirana Vimalajothi was their family priest from Weeraketiya. One day, he had come with Milinda Moragoda and had asked him to open a Buddhist Centre in Galle. He hadn’t known that it was a BBS Centre. As a Buddhist, he did not see any harm in opening a Buddhist Centre. If I remember right, he further said, “Please listen to my speech at the opening, I made it clear that all communities will have to live together, while practicing their different religions”. Having worked with him on the “Grease Yaka” and Halal crisis, I have no reason to disbelieve him.

There are rumors that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will enter the fray at the next elections. There are also rumors that he will spend some time in China, studying International Diplomacy. Is the Chinese grooming him for the top seat by taking him away to train him to rule? Their massive investments in this country would need to be protected, and what better way than to have one of the Rajapaksas?

In the coming months, Sri Lanka is predicted to face the worst ever drought since 1948, but I see a much bigger threat to the stability of the Nation with imminent political divorces and new partners living together. President Sirisena is causing a major rift by taking unilateral decisions, an example being the reduction of the lottery tickets to 20 rupees after Ravi Karunanayake increased it to 30. If he were following good governance principles, he would have asked Ravi to review and reduce without insulting the Minister of Finance through a unilateral declaration. This is not the first time the President has been lacking in tact and statecraft. The UNP on the other hand has made enough blunders from the bond scam to the Volkswagen scandal. It is time that the political leaders sat together and decide either to continue the marriage or go for an immediate divorce before the next Local Government Elections. That would give the country an opportunity to send a strong signal as to who should continue till 2020.

Those who enjoyed this article might find “Wijedasa Rajapaksa: Unfit for the job of Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister” and “Sinha Le politics and Socio-cultural persecution” enlightening reads.

Rathane Thera had secret discussions with Gota before his somersault to ‘independent’

-National list M.P. cannot become ‘independent’ –should resign first !

(Lanka-e-News -19.Jan.2017, 1.30AM) When someone  is appointed as a member of parliament  through the national list on the wishes of a party leader sans the wishes of the people , and when that individual does not concur with that party’s views , he cannot describe his move as ‘becoming  independent’ . On the contrary what that individual should do in such circumstances  is bow to the wishes of the people , and resign first . 

Rathane Thera had secret discussions with Gota before his somersault to.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Sri Lanka: The Rajapaksas Rise Again

Disillusionment with the Sirisena regime is running high, giving the Rajapaksa clan a chance to reclaim lost glory.

Sri Lanka's former President Mahinda Rajapaksa (C) waves at his supporters at the end of the five-day protest march against the incumbent government in Sri Lanka (August 1, 2016).Image Credit: REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

“We’re not the same guys who used to tell you various things and then forget about it three days later… We want the world to know that we’re different—that we’re going to do what we say we’re doing.”
–Harsha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, to National Geographic (November 2016)

By SinhaRaja Tammita-Delgoda-January 20, 2017

Politics is shaped by leaders’ ability to deliver. It is all about doing and achieving, “doing what you say what you say you are going to do,” to paraphrase Dr. Harsha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s current deputy minister of foreign affairs. It is not about good intentions; it is about getting results. It is not about pleasing outsiders; ultimately it is about keeping your own people happy, satisfying their aspirations, reassuring them, protecting them, and advancing their interests. This is the fundamental truth that is beginning to dawn on Sri Lanka’s body politic.

Sri Lanka The Rajapaksas Rise Again.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Sri Lanka: Threat of a Rajapaksa’s Return is Real

Already, the Chinese presence is more visible across the island. Many of the Chinese one sees are tourists, but a significant number are working and living here. But, it is widely believed that R&AW, the Indian intelligence agency, helped in putting together the victorious coalition government.

by Irfan Husain-Jan 19, 2017

Jan 19, 2017

(January 19, 2017, Islamabad, Sri Lanka Guardian) Hambantota, a district capital 240 kilometres south of Colombo, is almost surreal. A small, sleepy town of around 11,000 souls, I have watched it acquire all the outward aspects of a large, modern city. It has a new port, an airport, a cricket stadium built to international specifications, a huge conference centre and a modern administrative complex. It is also surrounded by a cobweb of wide motorways and elevated roads.

The problem is that all these expensive structures are barely utilised. The city’s population is still 11,000, and it has no features to attract tourists. The development of the semi-arid region was ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s bizarre brainchild, and the current government has come up with an innovative way to pay back the Chinese for their help in creating this $1.4 billion white elephant.

The controversial deal negotiated with China Merchants Port Holdings will give the Chinese firm 80pc of Hambantota Port, while the Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) will retain 20pc. Combined with this joint venture is an even more unpopular move to give the Chinese 15,000 acres of land around the city on a 99-year lease for an industrial zone.

White elephants in Sri Lanka

The current employees of the SLPA are up in arms at the prospect of the Chinese takeover, and have staged several protests to prevent it from happening. One act of sabotage involved forcibly delaying a Japanese and a South African ship, sending insurance rates up.

The opposition, led by the socialist JVP, has led local farmers in their protest. Although most of the 15,000 acres to be handed over to the Chinese belong to the state, there are villages and farms included in the package. The government has offered to compensate these villagers with land elsewhere. 

Understandably, the locals are unhappy, and their cause is being supported, among others, by nationalist monks. Magama Mahanama of the Monks’ Organisation to Protect National Assets expressed fears of Hambantota becoming a Chinese colony. The protest turned violent when the prime minister and the Chinese ambassador came to witness the launch of the industrial zone.

Oddly, Rajapaksa, the populist leader who created the whole mess to begin with for his political ends, has come out against the Chinese deal, insisting that he would have negotiated a better one. When he was in power, I recall asking a senior official in his planning cell how these extensive facilities would ever pay for themselves, given the low population in the area. He replied that the plan was to shift certain government departments from Colombo to force government employees to move to Hambantota. The reason for all this huge expenditure is that Rajapaksa is from the area, and wanted to consolidate his grip. He remains popular in the south, and large posters bearing his grinning face are plastered on many walls.

In an effort to sell the joint venture, Ranil Wickramsinghe, the Sri Lankan prime minister, promised locals that the industrial zone would create many jobs. But watching how the port was built, I somehow doubt this. For one, there are few qualified people around, and secondly, the Chinese prefer bringing labour and managers from China. When the port was being built, I used to wonder why we didn’t see any Chinese workers in the area.

Wickramsinghe’s Economy

The reason became clear when we drove past pre-fabricated barracks behind a wire fence: prison workers had been brought in by the construction company from China, and they were taken to the construction site every morning and brought back in the evening. Hardly any locals were employed. I suspect this is what will happen once China Port Holding takes over. There’s a lesson here for those who think the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will create a large number of jobs.

Already, the Chinese presence is more visible across the island. Many of the Chinese one sees are tourists, but a significant number are working and living here. It was thought that after Maithripala Sirisena defeated Rajapaksa in 2015, the new government would distance itself from China and become closer to India. In fact, it is widely believed that R&AW, the Indian intelligence agency, helped in putting together the victorious coalition.

But as the new government has discovered, Chinese loans and direct investments have penetrated deep into the economy. Thus, the ties forged by Rajapaksa have proved hard to break, and in most cases, existing contracts have had to be honoured. Despite the local unrest caused by the Hambantota deal, most educated people accept the economic necessity of the joint venture.

The port and the other new facilities were always seen as a herd of white elephants with zero economic viability. And so it has proved. To provide the port with some activity, the government has decreed that all ships carrying cars should deliver them to Hambantota from where they are transported to Colombo by road. This has only raised prices. The airport is even more of a lost cause. The Economist’s correspondent once described the airport as having more lizards than passengers.

Ploy which fooling nobody

Several years ago, I went to see the Pakistan cricket team play against Kenya in a World Cup encounter at the new Chinese-built cricket stadium, and can confirm that there were far more security staff than spectators. Hardly any matches are played there, a situation unlikely to change unless the Chinese take up cricket. Similarly, the conference centre lies unutilised, and the modern motorways are empty. All in all, this is a classic case of building infrastructure for political, not economic, reasons.

As the Sirisena government heads into its third year in power, the threat of a Rajapaksa comeback is very real. Given his enduring popularity, the government has continued to delay the local council elections on the grounds that the electoral boundaries have to be redrawn. But this ploy is fooling nobody: whenever these elections are held, Rajapaksa’s anointed nominees are expected to do well, providing the government with a loud wake-up call.

Sri Lanka Braces for Trouble Ahead

Forecast

• This year will bring more political infighting in Sri Lanka as former President Mahinda Rajapaksa tries to stir discontent ahead of local elections and constitutional reform.
• The disarray will continue to cause headaches for China, which invested in strategic and lucrative development projects in the country at a more placid time.
• Tamil nationalism will further complicate matters as nostalgia for the defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam insurgency inreases among members of the ethnic minority.

Analysis

 JANUARY 18, 2017

Sri Lanka's raucous political scene is poised to become even more tumultuous in the coming year. Once notorious as the home of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant group better known as the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka resolved its decadeslong civil war in 2009. But in the years since the government's victory over the Tamil Tigers, the underlying tension between Sri Lanka's Buddhist ethnic Sinhalese majority (75 percent of the country's population) and the Hindu ethnic Tamil minority has persisted. Now, Tamil and Sinhalese leaders in Sri Lanka are at odds over the country's political future, complicating President Maithripala Sirisena's plans to enact constitutional reforms.

To make matters more difficult for the current administration, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa — who lost power in a 2015 electoral upset — promised in late December to "topple" Sirisena's government this year. Already, Rajapaksa has proved a formidable political foe as the leader of a movement that has forced the government in Colombo to rethink a development deal with China. Though the central government and Parliament still have a few years before the next general elections, the upheaval in Sri Lankan politics — and a round of local elections later this year — will test the sustainability of Sirisena's administration.

Despite its small size, Sri Lanka holds substantial strategic value by virtue of its geographic position: It is at the center of Asia's busiest maritime routes and has a wealth of natural deep harbors. Over the years, the country has attracted the interest of nearby India, which intervened periodically in Sri Lanka's civil war, brokering a peace deal in 1987 and dispatching troops to enforce it. The civil war also afforded China the opportunity to establish a footprint on the island nation. In 2005, when India — along with Western powers concerned with human rights issues — left Colombo to deal with the conflict on its own, Beijing stepped in and offered the Sri Lankan military $1 billion in aid. China continued to lend the country financial assistance even after the war's end, providing loans for development projects such as hydropower dams, roads and port infrastructure. Today, the Sri Lankan government owes Beijing $8 billion, more than 12 percent of its total $64.9 billion debt. Over one-third of the country's government revenue goes to servicing that debt.

An Inopportune Development

Much of the political tumult in Sri Lanka stems from China's growing influence in the country. On Jan. 8, 21 people were injured and 52 arrested after protests broke out at a ceremony marking the first brick laid at the Hambantota Industrial Zone, a 6,000-hectare (15,000-acre) industrial park near southern Sri Lanka's Hambantota port. At the same time as the Hambantota demonstration, members of the Ceylon Ports General Employees Union staged sympathy protests at the ports of Galle and Colombo. Adding further weight to the civil action, lawmakers from the Joint Opposition, a parliamentary coalition still loyal to Rajapaksa, also participated in the demonstrations. Choosing his moment carefully, the former president then called for a meeting with China's ambassador to Sri Lanka to discuss concerns about the project, an initiative Rajapaksa himself proposed while in office. Members of the opposition object to the terms of the original agreement, which offers China Merchants Port Holdings Co. Ltd. a 99-year lease on the industrial park in exchange for granting Sri Lanka $1.1 billion in debt relief. (Activists have described the project as the beginning of a "Chinese colony" on the island.) Rajapaksa, meanwhile, opposes the appropriation of local village land under the agreement, insisting that the original deal leased only about 300 hectares on a shorter term.

In the wake of the protests, the Sri Lankan government deferred signing the agreement, delegating the matter to a special parliamentary committee — much to Beijing's dismay. This is not the first time China has weathered a political firestorm sparked by its development projects in Sri Lanka. In March 2015, the $1.4 billion Colombo Port City project, which Chinese President Xi Jinping personally inaugurated six months earlier, came under criticism in Sri Lanka for appearing to grant the Chinese military potential control of the country's airspace. After repeated delays, the Sri Lankan government finally gave the go-ahead to resume construction on the project, now known as the "Financial City," in March 2016. (On Jan. 5, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe announced that Sri Lanka's air force and navy would be handling the project's security.) The Chinese government struck both deals as part of its Maritime Silk Road Initiative back when Rajapaksa had a tight hold on power. Since his defeat in 2015, the projects have become a source of growing contention between the current administration and Rajapaksa's supporters in the opposition.  

The President's Predicament

The discord in Sri Lankan politics looks unlikely to abate anytime soon. Sirisena, a rival from Rajapaksa's own Sri Lanka Freedom Party, owes his surprise victory in the 2015 elections in large part to the support of minority parties. Many voters in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated northeastern regions pulled for the current president, likely motivated by distaste for Rajapaksa's role in the bloody assault on Tamil Tiger territory that ended the civil war — killing thousands of civilians in the process. In addition, Tamil voters objected to Rajapaksa's attempts to centralize power in Colombo. The Tamil National Alliance, a coalition of Tamil parties that picked up 16 seats in Parliament during the 2015 vote, has put greater regional autonomy at the center of its platform. If the current government does not honor its demands, Sirisena may well lose the Tamil National Alliance's backing in the next national elections.

Sri Lanka's Geographic Challenge

In fact, the coalition threatened Jan. 15 to rescind its support for the president's constitutional reforms if the government does not heed its calls for a federalist model and a merger of the country's Northern and Eastern provinces. But doing so would jeopardize Sirisena's standing among his Sinhalese supporters, who staunchly oppose granting Sri Lanka's Tamil areas more power. For Rajapaksa, Sirisena's loss would be his gain, since the former president has positioned himself as the champion of the anti-federalist cause. Though Sirisena has staked his political future on constitutional reforms to reverse Sri Lanka's "executive presidency" system and reform the electoral process, he has little room to maneuver.

Mounting Opposition

At the same time, signs of growing grassroots opposition to the central government are cropping up in Tamil areas, mostly in response to the enduring presence of Sri Lankan forces there and their continued occupation of land. (Since the civil war's conclusion, the military has returned only 5.2 percent of the private land it seized from Tamils following the conflict.) Members of the Tamil minority have even become less restrained in their expressions of nostalgia for the Tamil Tiger insurgency, long considered a taboo in the country. An official in Jaffna district caused national uproar Dec. 28 by stating that Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran would have made an excellent lawmaker or president. Students in the district even dragged out Tamil Tiger memorabilia and military headstones to celebrated a Tamil holiday.

Notwithstanding the mounting turmoil in Sri Lanka, Sirisena's rule is not in any immediate danger. His National Unity government holds 155 of the 225 seats in Parliament, while the pro-Rajapaksa faction has only 50 seats. Furthermore, Parliament cannot be dissolved until mid-2019, and the next presidential election will not take place until 2020. But in the meantime, Rajapaksa and other elements of the opposition will have opportunities to resist the current administration, for instance by continuing to undermine the constitutional reform process. Some opposition politicians have even called for a referendum on the proposed amendments, and if the recent referendums in the United Kingdom, Colombia and Italy are any guide, such a vote could bode ill for the government. The opposition will continue galvanizing dissent against various development projects to stymie the government and frustrate Beijing. Later this year, local elections will shed light on the success of their efforts against Sirisena and on the president's future prospects. Upsets in these races could tip public opinion across Sri Lanka and prompt the country's leaders to reassess their alliances ahead of the national votes.

Lead Analyst: Evan Rees

Fact checking politicians and pundits

 

Friday, 20 January 2017

The ascendance of the master of “truthful hyperbole” to the US presidency has focused attention on the need for fact checking. The practice of persons in authority uttering falsehoods in public is nothing new to Sri Lanka.

As recently as last month, our former President was reported in Sinhala newspapers as saying that the Hambantota Port and Mattala Airport made profits under his Government.These lies went unchallenged other than in social media.

The widely-publicised on-camera refutation by a journalist of a lie uttered by Bandula Gunawardene, MP, indicates that fact checking may be catching on in Sri Lanka as well.The journalist’s action was highly commendable, but we need a systemic solution for television, which is still the most popular source of news.

Almost 12 years ago, when I still used to watch talk shows, I proposed a solution (quoted verbatim below):

nConduct intensive training courses for young journalists on the use of the internet for political, economic and investigative journalism. The resources for this kind of training are easy to obtain.

nAssign a young journalist the task of preparing an internet segment of 5-10 minutes on the topic of the day for that station’s political talk show. If the segment is longer, run it for the moderator and the participants while they are preparing for the show, perhaps even in the make-up room. Show an edited version at the beginning of the show and possibly at several other junctures in the program. The purpose here is framing the issues and introducing some facts into the discourse.

nWhile the show is going on, have that same journalist/researcher do real-time searches on the issues being brought up in the show. As possible, as relevant, feed the results to the moderator. In a more advanced version, these findings can be shown on a screen that can be seen by the audience. In the West, forms of this are common in media and other settings, as anyone who googles the terms can easily ascertain. The “researcher” is humorously described as a “googling monkey” to signify the simplicity of the task usually performed using the most popular search engine, Google. The journalist’s work should not end with the end of the show; he/she should continue on what now becomes a verification of the statements made by the politicians on the show.

nInstead of the current, somewhat peculiar practice of showing excerpts of talk shows on the news, consider the practice of showing the results of internet-based verification exercises on the news or at the start of the subsequent talk show.

Some form of the above solution would stanch the damage being caused to our body politic by politicians and pundits who pollute public discourse with fake facts.

But these are symptoms.The causes are deeper and more difficult to address.It appears that even senior Sri Lankan academics don’t let facts get in the way of the ideological conclusions they are peddling at the moment.

A Professor from the country’s oldest Department of Mass Communication was asked to make some comments from the floor at a recent panel discussion I participated in.I was shocked to hear him say that the country needed an industrialisation policy because we were importing vehicles that needed tyres manufactured abroad while we still exported raw rubber.

He appeared to be unaware that most of Sri Lanka’s rubber has been exported in value-added form as gloves, tyres, etc. for several decades and that their total value exceeded $ 1.7 billion in 2014.He was ignorant of the facts that Sri Lanka is the world’s leader in solid rubber tyres and actually imports rubber to meet the demand for the tyre factory.This was just one of the misstatements the Professor made.

Why would such egregious errors be made?Was it because the main point the Professor was making about the need for promotion of domestic manufacturing overrode the need to support it with actual facts?That ideology trumped truth?Or was it that the Professor had not bothered to refresh his knowledge from what he heard while still in school in the 1970s?

When persons in authority in our official knowledge-production system pay scant regard to facts, what hope do we have in shifting public discourse to a truth-based plane?Has it become necessary to hire fact checkers for university professors too?Or is it time to rethink the credibility of our universities as well as of the people our universities appoint to professorships?

SLFPers joined government to conceal their crimes – Range Bandara

January 19, 2017 by

Most of those SLFP members who have joined the present government have done so to conceal investigations being carried out against them says State Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training Palitha Range Bandara.

He said a person who had dishonestly taken 6 plots of lands that ahad been reserved to be distributed among the landless resigned from a ministerial post and Wimal Weerawansa, former Minister of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime who is in remand at present, is directly responsible for the land fraud said Mr. Range Bandara.

He said this at a ceremony held to commence carpeting Andigama – Kiriyankalliya road.

Mr. Range Bandara said the plots of land were partitioned and were given to former Minister Priyankara Jayaratna on orders from Wimal Weerawansa when he was a minister.

Ex-DG of civil aviation deceived Priyankara Jayaratne!

Jan 19, 2017

The FCID and the Bribery Commission have resumed investigations against Priyankara Jayaratne, civil aviation minister in the Rajapaksa regime and the former state minister of local government in the ‘Yahapaalana’ government. The probe relates to his having abused state money, vehicles and fuel. The institution directly involved in this is the Civil Aviation Authority, whose director general H.M. Chandrasena Nimalsiri faces many accusations of corruption and irregularities.

According to what Jayaratne’s side says, he has received many things from the Authority with the proper permission of its DG. Employees of the Authority say he had fulfilled all requests of the minister without hesitation in order to be in his good books. A minister may make many requests from institutions under their control, but the responsibility of the public servant is to understand the real situation and inform the minister about it, and not to betray the institution for personal gain. It is unfortunate that the Authority’s chairman had resorted to this in order to be in the minister’s good books.

The State Audit Department has informed Jayaratne about this on several occasions. Government audit reports have stressed that the official responsible is the DG of the Authority. However, after the ‘Yahapaalana’ government came to power, he had reversed his attitude. He has told the audit and all other committees that Jayaratne had threatened him and other officials of the institution to get his work done. He is citing a complaint lodged at Slave Island police by the Authority’s head of finance at the time, Harischandra. Nimalsiri is publicly saying that he had lodged the complaint with the understanding that things would develop to a situation as of now.

The DG has cunningly trapped Jayaratne after staying near him then to obtain foreign trips, promotions and payments for fake licenses. It is said that he has leaked to several media institutions what he had said and done then to appease the minister. Or else, the possibility is minimal that what the minister had done at the time could get leaked to the media. As employees say, the ex-minister now has to pay for his sins.

Sri Lanka’s LGBTIQ Equality Stalemate & Victorian Hangovers: Reflections On A Decolonizing Approach To Sexual And Gender Justice

By Chamindra Weerawardhana –January 19, 2017

Dr. Chamindra Weerawardhana

The week of the 16th of January 2017 carried bad news for Sri Lanka’s LGBTIQ community. At the weekly meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, a number of ministers had vehemently opposed the abrogation of Articles 365 and 365A of the Penal Code. This also implies vehement opposition to the inclusion of a constitutional clause on equality to all Sri Lankan citizens, irrespective of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation. In other words, this cabinet decision, reached by a cabinet of ministers that describes itself as advocates of ‘yahapalanaya’ (good governance) does not recognize the fundamental rights of Sri Lankan citizens who are not heterosexual in terms of their sexual orientation. Although regulations have been slightly altered with regards to the tedious process of ‘correcting’ the civil service documentation of Transgender citizens, this cabinet decision also amounts to a rejection of Transgender (and indeed other gender-plural) Sri Lankan citizens, as it clearly hints at a reluctance at the highest levels of government to ensure the fundamental rights of citizens irrespective of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. In other words, the government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and its President, whose election was described as the dawn of an era of good governance, does not recognize non-heterosexual and non-cis-hetero-normative Sri Lankans. Despite the tremendous contributions they make to society home and abroad, the highest levels of government have concluded that LGBTIQ people, due to their sexual orientation and gender identity, as a second, if not third class, pariah category. This writer, for instance, a Sri Lankan citizen and a multilingual Trans woman with a Franco-British education plus an International Politics PhD, is, to go by the cabinet decision, of zero relevance or interest to the government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. 

The media portrayals of the cabinet decision demonstrate a major problem, a substantive lack of representation, and ‘local’ role models and prominent LGBTIQ personalities, if not local LGBTIQ leaders, who are strong sexual and gender justice activists and advocates, who can command a high level of regard, influence and appreciation in local society. This enables media houses to take a ‘tabloid’ path of shamelessness. When one newspaper carries a headline on the Cabinet’s refusal to decriminalise non-heterosexual sexualities and relationships, another newspaper highlights that the decriminalisation effort was a ‘surreptitious attempt’ that was part of the Human Rights Action Plan, which was primarily spearheaded by the Ministry of External Affairs. Another state-owned newspaper, in a remarkable move to avoid mentioning LGBTIQ rights and to ‘counter’ the emphasis on ‘non-heterosexual sexual activity’ in other media outlets, quotes officials at the EU Mission in Colombo, in order to refute the claim that the EU laid down 58 preconditions for the GSP+ trade benefit to be re-granted to Sri Lanka.

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Did war crimes summons force Tzipi Livni to cancel Brussels trip?

Belgian prosecutors planned to question former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni over war crimes in Gaza. (Flickr)

Ali Abunimah-19 January 2017

Israel’s former foreign minister Tzipi Livni has canceled a visit to Brussels scheduled for next week.

The news comes as Belgian prosecutors confirm that Livni was due to be questioned in an ongoing investigation for war crimes.

Livni was expected in Brussels on 23 January for a conference at the European Parliament, but she pulled out citing illness.

Israeli officials, including Livni, have a history of cancelling foreign visits if they fear arrest.

Thierry Wertz, a Belgian prosecutor, told the newspaper Le Soir that federal judicial authorities “planned to take advantage of Tzipi Livni’s visit to try to move the investigation forward.”

According to Le Soir, Wertz’s comments indicate that prosecutors planned to formally summon Livni for questioning.

Evading justice

Livni is the subject of a complaint by victims filed in Brussels in 2010 for war crimes during “Operation Cast Lead” – Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

Association Belgo-Palestinienne, a Palestine solidarity group, said in a press release that the complaints have been brought against several Israeli leaders in connection with the attack on Gaza.

It notes that Livni was a full participant in decision making at the time of the assault.

Livni herself told Israeli media in January 2009: “Israel demonstrated real hooliganism during the course of the recent operation, which I demanded.”

The Goldstone Report, the independent UN-commissioned inquiry into the assault, also quotes Livni stating: “Israel is not a country upon which you fire missiles and it does not respond. It is a country that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild – and this is a good thing.”

Israel claims that the assault on Gaza was a response to missiles fired by Palestinian armed groups, but the Israeli government’s own chronology shows that an agreed ceasefire that had been effective for months only collapsed after Israel broke it by launching several deadly attacks on Gaza in early November 2008.

It then carried out its major assault on Gaza that had been in the works for six months.

Association Belgo-Palestinienne says that under Belgian law, some of Livni’s statements constitute war crimes in their own right. It called for her to be arrested on arrival.

The Goldstone Report states that where a country does not investigate and prosecute war crimes on its own, “international justice mechanisms must be activated to prevent impunity.”

Livni has evaded justice at least four times while traveling in Europe in recent years.

Last July, UK police summoned her for questioning over war crimes, but she escaped accountability on that occasion due to the complicity of the British government, which granted her special diplomatic immunity.

Discouraging dissent

The Brussels conference Livni was due to attend aimed to counter the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.

It is sponsored by the Israel lobby group Europe Israel Public Affairs (EIPA) and the Israeli mission to the EU.

Along with other Israeli officials, it is due to feature Ioan Mircea Pascu, the vice-president of the European Parliament.

The event organizers appear to be actively discouraging attendance by anyone they fear may ask critical questions.

The Electronic Intifada’s David Cronin noted on EIPA’s Facebook page that he had received no response to his registration request.

The group answered that “this event is for supporters of Israel and those who oppose the BDS movement as divisive and fundamentally anti-Semitic. As a contributor to The Electronic Intifada and a well known anti-Israel activist, we have no idea why our event would be of interest.”

EIPA suggested that Cronin attend an alternative “pro-BDS event” scheduled for the same time.