Israeli court extends Palestinian MP's detention by another six months

Khalida Jarrar has been in prison since July, but has not been charged and 'nothing concrete' has been produced against her, says lawyer

Khalida Jarrar arrives at Israel's Ofer military court during a different prison stay in 2015 (AFP)

Thursday 28 December 2017

An Israeli court has extended the prominent Palestinian politician and rights campaigner Khalida Jarrar's administrative detention for another six months, her lawyer has confirmed.

When Jarrar was first taken into custody in July, Israeli authorities said she was arrested for her involvement with the banned Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Israel considers the Marxist party to be a terrorist group and many of the group's leaders are currently in prison.

Jarrar, however, has not been formally charged and has been held through administrative detention, an Israeli policy which allows suspects to be held without trial or charge and renewable every six months. 

Mahmoud Hassan, Jarrar's lawyer, told MEE that Israeli authorities have claimed she is a danger to the West Bank, but have not produced any evidence or charges. 

"There is nothing concrete against her," Hassan said. "This is why they are using this tool of the administrative detention to keep her away from the political square."

"The Americans have opened the door for the Israelis to do what they want from settlements and Jerusalem and targeting the [Palestinian] leadership. They are not interested in anyone speaking against the policies."

In a statement released late on Wednesday, the PFLP said, "We consider this to be a new occupation crime: targeting the leadership inside Palestine and getting them away from the national popular movement."

"This will not break her will, nor her attention to her role resisting the occupation and standing on behalf of her people."

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Q&A with Khalida Jarrar

Jarrar, 54, a legislator in the largely defunct Palestinian parliament, is known for her fiery speeches against the Israeli occupation. She has been jailed multiple times in recent years.

There are six other MPs also in prison, including Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Sa'adat.

According to a PLO spokesperson, Jarrar played a leading role in cementing the Palestinian Authority’s 2015 bid to join the International Criminal Court.

At least 500 Palestinians out of the 6,400 currently held in Israeli prisons are being held under administrative detention, according to official Palestinian statistics.

The PFLP called on the international community and the Red Cross to speak out against the policy of administrative detention and also to end solitary the confinement of Palestinian prisoners and protect Palestinian women prisoners in Israeli jails.

O Jerusalem!

By N. Sathiya Moorthy-2017-12-27

Much has already been written about US President Donald Trump's overnight recognition of all of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, and on the subsequent UN debate and resolution, criticising Washington, to the point of condemning its 'unilateral' decision, which has larger consequences to the immediate West Asia/Middle East neighbourhood and even beyond. It also goes beyond the veritable media/analysts' criticism of US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley for using 'Cold War' era language at member-nations and continuing with the post-Cold War American attitude and behaviour towards international organizations starting with the UN.

True, Trump's Jerusalem announcement might have flowed from a US congressional resolution of years and also his own poll promise of the previous year – and may thus be 'justified' though unexpected still. Nikki Haley also offered justification for the decision while addressing the UN and threatening funds-cuts, saying that the US had a 'responsive government' unlike some member-nations and the administration was answerable to public opinion. It again boils down to the all-American administration hobby of 'domesticization' of foreign policy issues whenever an incumbent President is threatened with a possible poll-loss nearer home, or a few more points than the inevitable anti-incumbency would justify in opinion polls.

Yet, Trump's decision wreaks of the all-time American temptation to invent and re-invent troubles where none may exist or erupt afresh and then act all-out the flames that it had ignited, inadvertently or otherwise, and cry foul at others, and cry out 'Help' at all-comers, to try and create a new alliance that it can vaguely market to a local constituency, already steeped in their own domestic issues and household problems of health insurance and the like. Predecessor Bush, Jr., did it with Iraq and Afghanistan (the former more unjustified than the latter, where the 9/11 cried for pro-active and punishing American action without fail and in quick time).

After respected ex-Army veteran, Gen. Colin Powell, had misled the UN and US allies alike on the Bush Administration's claims that Saddam Hussein had a stockpile of WMD, it was time for a new Republican President to try and redeem the party's international image, if not to levels that existed under President Ronald Reagan, decades earlier. But the present Haley shot, that too when Europe does not have a loyal ally like then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, can make cross-Atlantic NATO nations take a fresh look at their own geo-strategic priorities.

Turbulent region

If nothing else, the Trump declaration has brought back turbulence, and possible violence and war (the latter, if only if a relatively distant future), to a region that was already finding new internal problems of the Saudi-Qatar and reviving old ones like the Saudi-Iran sectarian kind, and could do well without a return to the Arab-Israeli conflict which had got itself into the back-burner over the past years of American action – or, inaction.

Incidentally, the US' Jerusalem decision may help America's unsure friend, Saudi Arabia, to try and carve out a new leadership niche for itself in West Asia, going beyond the tradition of playing second-fiddle to Washington even while wanting to be seen as being 'assertive' about its Islamic leadership role the world over in private conversations with Washington. Given however the 'reformist' agendas that self-imposed new Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin-Salman, or MBS for short, has been imposing on what is still considered an 'orthodox' society, mandated to protect not only the holy shrines of Islam but also the 'mandated' Islamic lifestyle in the Wahhabi ways, going beyond the Sunni style that Saudi Arabia flags whenever Shiite Iran is on the other side, apart from massive corruption nearer home, the nation and the region could anticipate internal strife in the coming weeks, months and years, even without the 'Jerusalem' kind of American help.

Maybe, the US can do without Saudi/West Asia-Middle East oil, they having found a substitute in shale-oil, but much of the rest of the world still looks up there for quenching their energy-thirst. The US should be acknowledging this, but for which the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) does not hold the same geo-strategic attraction for Washington, and thus for an emerging Chinese rival and an unforgettable Russian replacement for the collapsed Soviet Union, not to mention Europe, which keeps looking for a new place and role for itself in the post-Cold War world.

'Sovereignty' questions

At the UN, Nikki Haley is reported to have cautioned nations voting against the US on Jerusalem, by declaring that the "President is watching..." Leaving aside the visible threat in the tone, the tenor of her observations makes one conclude that at least Establishment America wants the rest to believe that Trump was the 'president of a non-existent global government' than of the US of A – both a contradiction and misnomer from what Haley had said of responsive America that had to answer its people, 'unlike some other nations here'.

However, this time round, more than any time in the past, American domestic 'responsiveness' of the kind is more removed from its international responsibilities. Even the Bush Administration, even while preparing and launching a massive war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, was only using the UN and other international fora and friends to convince all, take all with it, not distance the self from the rest, and threaten others, as now.

The 'Haley threat' thus questions the 'sovereignty' of nations, big and small, to take political, diplomatic and strategic decisions as they feel necessary in their own 'supreme self-interest' as American may have theirs – and not decide for America and on America's say-so. If one thought that jack-boot diplomacy died possibly with the collapse of the Soviet Union, and contributing in a big way to the collapse, it does not seem to be so. Better or worse, such behaviour also reminds smaller nations, which have only 'sovereignty' to call their own, to ask how and why their equations and relations with bigger powers that continue courting them, keeps faltering all the time, despite their own best intentions and behaviour. Leave aside their immediate 'Islamic compulsions' nearer home as US may have theirs though of a diametrically opposite nature under President Trump, at least from now on, these nations are often reminded that big power equations flounder, not because they are falling off-line, but because the other invariably always took unilateral decisions and announced them unilaterally, too, expecting strict and unwavering compliance, as if their own domestic compulsions and historic compulsions of little or no consequence!

What was thus applicable to the Soviet Union yesterday and continues to be applicable to the US today may be true of an emerging China in the years and decades to come. For now however, Beijing is showing itself as defending the sovereignty of friends among small nations in the world, but come another time, another issue of the South China conflict kind, they may feel choked by China, too...
The writer is Director, Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, the multi-disciplinary Indian public-policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi.
email:sathiyam54@gmail.com

Burma ‘feels sad’ over fresh US sanctions amid Rohingya crisis

An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh Sept 11, 2017. Source: Reuters

28th December 2017

BURMA’S (Myanmar) government said it “feels sad” over the United States’s decision to impose sanctions on a military general who was said to be linked to abuses against the Rohingya Muslim minority.

“This targeted sanction is based on unreliable accusations without evidence, as we have repeatedly said, so we feel sad for that,” Zaw Htay, spokesman for Burma’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, told Reuters by phone late on Tuesday.

The Trump administration announced on Dec 21 that it was sanctioning Major General Maung Maung Soe, who was in charge of a crackdown on the Rohingya minority in the western state of Rakhine.

SEE ALSO: China offers 3-step solution to end Burma’s Rohingya crisis

The US, as well as the United Nations, have called the crackdown “ethnic cleansing”. About 655,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine state and sought shelter over the border in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations.

The US said American officials had “examined credible evidence of Maung Maung Soe’s activities, including allegations against Burmese security forces of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and arbitrary arrest as well as the widespread burning of villages”.

The military and the civilian government of Suu Kyi have denied allegations of widespread abuse in Rakhine.

The testimonies of Rohingya refugees were only “talking stories”, Zaw Htay said, adding that Burma would act if it received “reliable and strong evidence” that its troops committed crimes.

“We have told international governments and human rights groups including the UN that the current government is committed to protecting and promoting human rights,” said Zaw Htay.

The US Treasury said Maung Maung Soe, former chief of the army’s Western Command, would have his US assets frozen and Americans could no longer deal with him.

Reuters was unable to determine if Maung Maung Soe had business interests in Burma or elsewhere.

Maung Maung Soe was transferred from his post in Rakhine and “put in reserve”, an army spokesman told Reuters on Nov 13. No reason was given, but the military said the same day action would be taken against officials who were “weak in acquiring information” and who allowed the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) to spread through Muslim villages in Rakhine.

Reuters was unable to contact Maung Maung Soe. Major General Tun Tun Nyi of the military’s public relations division, the True News Information Unit, said he had no comment on the sanctions and declined to answer questions on Maung Maung Soe.

Sanctions could ‘worsen’ Rakhine crisis

In a report issued on Dec 7, the International Crisis Group, a global think tank warned that any move to impose sanctions on Burma over the Rohingya crisis would be unlikely to produce positive change and could exacerbate the situation.

It said the country’s political direction over the crisis should be noted as set and was “extremely difficult to change”.

“The strength of the national consensus is hard to overstate: the government, military and almost the entire population of the country are united on this issue as on no other in its modern history. This will make it extraordinarily difficult to move official policy,” the ICG said, as quoted by Frontier Myanmar.

“Any imposition of sanctions thus requires careful deliberation: they can help send a welcome signal that might deter others around the world contemplating similar actions, but they are unlikely to produce positive change in Burma and, depending on what precisely is done, could make the situation worse,” it said.

Rohingya children refugees stand in front of their temporary shelters at the Kutupalong refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on Dec 19, 2017. Source: Reuters/Marko Djurica

Modern Force

As well as dominating the country’s politics for decades, Burma’s army – known as the Tatmadaw or “Royal Force” – has gained notoriety for brutal counter-insurgency tactics employed against rebels seeking autonomy in the borderlands since independence from Britain in 1948, according to historians and human rights monitors.

But since it began ceding power in 2011 – albeit under a constitution that keeps soldiers in key posts – the army has sought to burnish its image as a modern fighting force.

It has defended its actions in Rakhine, with military investigators concluding that troops adhered to rules of engagement and sought to minimise civilian casualties while responding to “terrorist” provocations.

SEE ALSO: Burma arrests two Reuters journalists covering Rohingya crisis

But the spiralling Rohingya crisis has dashed hopes of expanding engagement with Western armies, Andrew Selth, an academic who has researched Burma’s armed forces, wrote in September.

“This is a significant loss for the Tatmadaw, which is keen to learn about foreign military policies and practices,” Selth wrote on the website of the Sydney-based Lowy Institute. “Such contacts would have also helped its officers learn about international norms of behaviour and the role of armed forces in democracies.”

Clearances

Burma’s military does not provide detailed biographies of senior officers.

In February last year, a state media report said Maung Maung Soe was a brigadier general in the far south of the country, near the border with Thailand. He was referred to as a major general in charge of the military’s Western Command in October 2016, shortly after ARSA attacked three border posts there, killing nine guards.

In the weeks after the attacks, Rohingya villagers told Reuters of gang rapes by soldiers and extrajudicial killings.

Two military sources told Reuters that Maung Maung Soe oversaw battalions Nos. 352, 551, 564 and 345, which led the so-called “clearance operations”, and he reported directly to a Bureau of Special Operations in the capital Naypyitaw.

His forces were again in combat following more widespread ARSA attacks on Aug 25, although troops from elite units that report straight to Naypyitaw were airlifted into Rakhine ahead of those attacks.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said in October that Battalion 564 was identified by villagers as taking part in an alleged massacre of scores of people in the village of Maung Nu, close to the unit’s base in the Buthidaung area.

The day Maung Maung Soe’s replacement as the commander in Rakhine was announced, the military released a report saying its own internal investigation had exonerated security forces of all accusations of atrocities, including in Buthidaung.

Additional reporting by Reuters

Shaping Nationalism, Secularism and Democracy

Nationalism is a historically specific concept that arises at a particular point in the modern history of many societies. It is not to be found in ancient times. It relates to the change in the identities of a society from those that existed in earlier times to a new identity born of historical change.

( December 26, 2017, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Romila Thapar talks about “Shaping Identity: Nationalism, Secularism and Democracy” as part of the Azim Premji University 5th Dabholkar-Kalburgi Memorial Lecture. November 15, 2017

About the Talk

Nationalism is a historically specific concept that arises at a particular point in the modern history of many societies. It is not to be found in ancient times. It relates to the change in the identities of a society from those that existed in earlier times to a new identity born of historical change. The earlier identities were determined by links to a community determined by religious, caste-based or linguistic connections. These gradually give way to recognising the new identity of the citizen incorporating the rights and duties of the citizen viz-a-vis the state. This calls for a re-orientation of what is required from the state. This change is closely linked to secularism and to a democratic polity.

About the Speaker

Dr Romila Thapar is Professor Emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Born in 1931 at Lucknow, after graduating from Punjab University, Dr Thapar earned her Ph.D. from School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 1958. In her vast body of work are included books on Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations, The Aryan: Recasting Constructs, The Past before Us: Historical Traditions of Early North India, The Past As Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History and a recent book based on a long interview with her Talking History. While she accepts awards and Fellowships from academic institutions/ peers, Dr Thapar is known to have refused awards from the Government in 1992 and 2005.

About the Dabholkar-Kalburgi Series

According to the Indian constitution, every citizen has the duty to promote scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of enquiry and reform. Dr.Narendra Dabholkar (1945-2013) and Prof MM Kalburgi (1938-2015), true advocates of this spirit, fell prey to the bullets of assassins. To remember the brave efforts of these rationalists and to commemorate their work, Azim Premji University started the Dabholkar-Kalburgi lecture series in 2013.

11 Stories You May Have Missed in 2017

Logging a primeval forest, Mexican murders, Arctic pathogens, the Russian hack you didn’t hear about, and more.

A man reads a newspaper in Perth, Australia, on Dec. 18. (Paul Kane/Getty Images) 

BY ROBBIE GRAMER, EMILY TAMKIN-

DECEMBER 28, 2017, 9:14 AM
Avid news consumers this year suffered a near-daily whiplash of bombshell stories, many of which involved U.S. President Donald Trump and his star-crossed administration. His surprising election win, and hectic first year in office, so dominated the news cycle that a Balkan war criminal downing a vial of poison on the stand at The Hague went almost unnoticed. Here are some other big stories from around the world you might have missed.

The Central African Republic is on the precipice of collapse: Since 2013, the Central African Republic has been mired in a vicious civil war that few people have paid attention to. This year, the CAR inched its way closer to becoming a failed state as new waves of brutal violence swept across much of the country. The government has little authority outside of the capital, Bangui, and experts say more than half the country is controlled by armed militants. Nearly 500,000 people are internally displaced, and the U.N. peacekeeping mission there trying to maintain some form of peace is outnumbered, outgunned, ineffective, and plagued by sexual abuse scandals, with little or no justice for the victims.

The corruption trial of Sen. Bob Menendez: Team Trump wasn’t the only one in the hot seat for scandals in Washington this year. Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, went on trial for corruption over allegations he abused his power on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a dramatic trial that flew largely under the radar. It was the first time in nearly four decades a sitting U.S. senator faced trial for federal bribery. The drama ended in a mistrial, which was a big blow to federal prosecutors and an even bigger setback for future public corruption cases.

Gender-based violence: Some experts say gender-based violence killed more women than armed conflicts did in parts of Asia. Think about how many times you read about armed conflicts. Now think about how many times you read about gender-based violence.

India and China stood at the brink: An on-again, off-again dispute over a border on a Himalayan plateau was back “on” in a big way in 2017. The two nuclear-armed countries began a new wave of tense confrontations in June when India moved to block the Chinese construction of a road in the Doklam region in Bhutan. Both India and China claim the other is occupying its territory (complicating things, it isn’t the same piece of territory). They agreed late in the year to try to resolve the border dispute at their 20th meeting on the issue since the 1980s. As the cliché goes, the 20th time’s the charm!

Mexico’s deadliest year on record: If Mexico made headlines this year, it was usually in relation to Trump’s plan to build a wall or tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement. But 2017 was also Mexico’s deadliest year in recorded history amid a surge in drug violence. The country registered a record-breaking 23,101 murder investigations in the first 11 months of the year, surpassing the previous record of 22,409 total in 2011 — the largest since this type of macabre record keeping first began in 1997. Reporters are also caught in the crossfire of Mexico’s drug wars; Mexico was also the deadliest country in the world for journalists outside of conflict zones this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Physicists found we’re not living in a simulation: Sorry, fans of the multiverse or the bad place or whatever other pop culture alternate universe you used to get through the year. Theoretical physicists found that we can’t model the physics we know and love on computers. Which means, essentially, that you are not Neo. Another bummer — or, perhaps, relief — of 2017.

Poland has been logging a primeval forest: The ancient Bialowieza Forest, one of the last remaining bits of the huge forests that once covered Europe, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was also where the Polish government decided to start logging, violating habitat protection rules and incurring the wrath of the European Court of Justice. Twice, the court ordered Poland to stop logging immediately and warned of fines of up to 100,000 euros a day. Jan Szyszko, Poland’s environment minister, said the logging was “aimed at protecting the site’s biodiversity.” Poland’s new prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said his country would respect the final decision of the European Union’s top court. It did not, however, respect the order to stop logging immediately.

Romania is possibly undermining its own judiciary: While much of the world was watching rising illiberalism in Poland, Hungary, and elsewhere, Romania also tried to take a walk on the autocratic side. In the winter, Romania’s legislature tried to pass a bill in the dead of night that would decriminalize official corruption, sparking the country’s largest protests since 1989. More recently, Romanians have taken to the streets once again, this time because of legislation that would give the parliament greater control over the judiciary and check the independence of judges and public prosecutors.

Russia may have hacked a U.S. nuclear site: It was hard to avoid Russian hacking stories in the first year of Trump’s presidency. But one big story seemed to slip through the cracks: In July, reports emerged that hackers had breached at least a dozen U.S. power plants, including a nuclear facility in Kansas. Officials say the hackers worked on behalf of foreign governments, and Russia is the prime suspect. The attack could open vulnerabilities in the country’s power supply and electricity grid.

A thawing Arctic leads to new (old) disease risks: That the Arctic is being ravaged by warming temperatures is no secret. But a scary new knock-on effect is emerging. As the Arctic and sub-Arctic thaw, the melting permafrost is unlocking bacteria, viruses, and other scary pathogens that have been lying dormant, some for thousands or even millions of years. These pathogens don’t pose a global health risk just yet, but scientists received a grisly preview last year of what could come, when 13 people in Siberia were hospitalizedafter contracting anthrax that emerged from melting permafrost. Scientists warn this could be the start of a worrying new trend.

The unraveling crisis in Yemen: Yemen’s ongoing civil war, a geopolitical showdown between Saudi Arabia and Iran, gets less attention than the prospect of war with North Korea. But caught in the crossfire are Yemenis themselves, who’ve been hammered by a Saudi-imposed blockade of food and humanitarian aid on the country’s key ports. Some 7 million civilians have been pushed to the brink of starvation, and on Dec. 21, Yemen surpassed a grim milestone of 1 million suspected cholera cases, making it the largest cholera epidemic in recent history. Saudi Arabia has eased the blockade on Yemen in recent weeks, due to quiet pressure and politicking in Washington, but civilian suffering continues unabated.

 

Exclusive: Federal agents found fetuses in body broker's warehouse

FILE PHOTO: Arthur Rathburn is pictured at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. in November 1988. REUTERS/Peter Yates/File Photo

John Shiffman, Brian Grow-DECEMBER 26, 2017

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal agents discovered four preserved fetuses in the Detroit warehouse of a man who sold human body parts, confidential photographs reviewed by Reuters show.

The fetuses were found during a December 2013 raid of businessman Arthur Rathburn’s warehouse. The fetuses, which appear to have been in their second trimester, were submerged in a liquid that included human brain tissue.

Rathburn, a former body broker, is accused of defrauding customers by sending them diseased body parts. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set for January.

How Rathburn acquired the fetuses and what he intended to do with them is unclear. Rathburn’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, and neither the indictment nor other documents made public in his case mention the fetuses.

“This needs to be reviewed,” said U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee who recently chaired a special U.S. House committee on the use of fetal tissue.
Blackburn recoiled when a Reuters reporter showed her some of the photographs, taken by government officials involved in the raid.

In four of the photos, a crime scene investigator in a hazmat suit uses forceps to lift a different fetus from the brownish liquid. In three other photos, a marker that includes a government evidence identification number lies beside a fetus.

“The actions depicted in these photos are an insult to human dignity,” said U.S. Representative Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. A Republican from Virginia, Goodlatte said that if individuals “violate federal laws and traffic in body parts of unborn children for monetary gain,” they should be “held accountable.”

Blackburn said the discoveries in Rathburn’s warehouse raise questions about the practices of body brokers across America. Such brokers take cadavers donated to science, dismember them and sell them for parts, typically for use in medical research and education. The multimillion-dollar industry has been built largely on the poor, who donate their bodies in return for a free cremation of leftover body parts.

The buying and selling of cadavers and other body parts — with the exception of organs used in transplants — is legal and virtually unregulated in America. But trading in fetal tissue violates U.S. law.

In most states, including Michigan, public health authorities are not required to regularly inspect body broker facilities. As a result, it’s impossible to know whether body brokers who deal in adult donors are acquiring and profiting from fetuses.

Blackburn’s call for action came in response to a Reuters series that exposed abuses in the human body trade and what Blackburn called “lax oversight” and “lax enforcement” of the industry.

Photos from inside Rathburn’s warehouse offered a stark example of government failures to police the industry. They include images of rotting human heads, some floating face up in a plastic cooler. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has been investigating Rathburn and other body brokers, declined to comment.

Blackburn said she found other Reuters stories about the body trade disturbing.

As part of the news agency’s examination of the industry, for example, a Reuters reporter was able to purchase two human heads and a cervical spine from Restore Life USA, a broker based in Blackburn’s home state of Tennessee. The deals were struck after just a few emails, at a cost of $900 plus shipping.

“It is sickening” how easily Restore Life sold the parts to Reuters, Blackburn said.
Told of Blackburn’s concerns, Restore Life owner James Byrd said his company has “invited her to tour our facility and to review the policy and procedures we have in place.”

வெள்ளை வேனில் கடத்­தப்­பட்­ட­வர்கள் 'கன்சைட்' முகாமில் வதைக்கப்பட்டனரா.?

by RasmilaD on 2017-12-26

கொழும்பு மற்றும் அதனை அண்­டிய பகு­தி­களில் இடம்­பெற்ற வெள்ளை வேன் கடத்தல் சம்­ப­வங்கள், காணாமல் ஆக்­கப்­பட்ட சம்­ப­வங்­க­ளுடன் முன்னாள் கடற்­படைத் தள­பதி வசந்த கரன்­னா­கொட, முன்னாள் கடற்­படை பேச்­சாளர் டி.கே.பி. தஸ­நா­யக்க மற்றும் தற்­போது மரண தண்­டனை கைதி­யாக உள்ள முன்னாள் பிரதிப் பொலிஸ் மா அதிபர் வாஸ் குண­வர்­தன ஆகியோர் ஒன்­றி­ணைந்து செயற்­பட்­டுள்­ள­மையை குற்றப் புல­னாய்வுப் பிரி­வினர் விசா­ர­ணை­களில் வெளிப்ப­டுத்­தி ­கொண்­டுள்­ளனர்.

கொழும்பு மற்றும் அதனை அண்­டிய பகு­தி­களில் கடத்தி காணாமல் ஆக்­கப்­பட்ட 5 மாண­வர்கள் உள்­ளிட்ட 11 பேர், கேகா­லையைச் சேர்ந்த சாந்த சம­ர­விக்­ரம, இப்­பா­க­மு­வையைச் சேர்ந்த பிரதீப் ஆகி­யோரின் கடத்­தல்கள் தொ­டர்பில் வெளிப்­ப­டுத்­தப்பட்­டுள்ள தக­வல்­க­ளுக்கு அமை­வா­கவே குற்றப் புல­னாய்வுப் பிரி­வினர் இம்­மூ­வ­ருக்கும் இடை­யி­லான தொடர்பு குறித்து மேல­திக விசா­ர­ணை­களை முன்­னெ­டுத்­துள்­ளனர். அத்­துடன் இவ்­வாறு கடத்­தப்­பட்­ட­வர்கள் கன்சைட் எனும் நிலத்­தடி சிறைக் கூடங்­க­ளி­லேயே தடுத்து வைக்­கப்பட்டு காணாமல் ஆக்­கப்­பட்­டி­ருக்­கலாம் எனவும் குற்றப் புல­னா­ய்வுப் பிரிவு சந்தேகிக்கின்றது.

குறிப்­பாக 5 மாணவர் கடத்தல் விவ­கா­ரத்தில் கடற்படை முன்னாள் ஊடகப் பேச்­சாளர் தஸ­நா­யக்க, முன்னாள் தள­பதி கரன்னாகொட ஆகியோர் பொறுப்புக் கூற­வேண்டும் என்­ப­தற்­கான சான்­று­களை குற்றப் புல­ன­ய்வுப் பிரி­வினர் ஏற்­க­னவே கண்­ட­றிந்­தி­ருந்­தனர். இந் நிலையில் கேகாலை மேல் நீதி­மன்றில் இடம்­பெறும் வழக்­கொன்றின் பிர­தி­வா­தி­யான சாந்த சம­ர­விக்­ரம, இப்­பா­க­முவ பகு­தியை சேர்ந்த பிரதீப் ஆகியோர் கன்சைட் முகாமில் இருந்­த­மைக்­கான ஆதா­ரங்­களை குற்றப் புல­ன­ாய்வுப் பிரிவு கண்டு­பி­டித்து கோட்டை நீதி­வா­னுக்கு அறிக்­கையும் சமர்ப்­பித்­துள்­ளனர்.

இதில் கேகாலை சாந்த சம­ர­விக்­ரம, அலவ்வ பொலிஸார் கைது செய்­யப்பட்டு வைத்­தி­ய­சா­லையில் சிகிச்சை பெறும்போது தப்­பி­யோ­டி­ய­தாக பொலிஸ் தரப்பில் அப்­போது கூறப்­பட்­டது. எனினும் தற்­போது காணாமல் போயுள்ள சாந்த எவ்­வாறு வைத்­தி­ய­சா­லையில் இருந்து தப்பி, அதி பாது­க­ப்பு வல­ய­மான கன்சைட் நிலத்­தடி முகா­முக்குள் வந்தார் என கேள்வி எழுப்பும் குற்றப் புல­னா­ய்வுப் பிரிவு அது தொடர்பில் விசா­ரணை செய்­கின்­றது.

 அத்­துடன் கன்சைட் முகாமில் இருந்­த­தாக கூறப்­படும் தற்­போதும் காணாமல் போயுள்ள பிரதீப் என்­பவர் யார் என்­பதை அண்­மையில் குற்றப் புல­னா­ய்வுப் பிரிவு கண்­ட­றிந்­துள்­ளது. 

இப்­பா­க­முவ பிரதீப் என அறி­யப்­பட்ட குறித்த நபர், கொக­ரல்ல பொலிஸ் பிரிவில் தேவ­வ­ரம, யக்­கல இப்­பா­க­முவ எனும் முக­வ­ரியில் வசித்த விதா­ரன ஆரச்­சிகே தொன் பிரதீப் நிஷாந்த என்­பதை குற்றப் புல­னா­ய்வுப் பிரிவு கண்­டு­பி­டித்­துள்­ளது.

அவ­ர் காணாமல் போனமை தொடர்பில் கொக­ரல்ல பொலிஸ் நிலை­யத்தில் முறைப்­பாடு உள்ள நிலையில், ஜீப் வண்­டியில் வந்­தோரால் அவர் கடத்திச் செல்­லப்பட்­ட­தாக அவ­ரது குடும்­பத்­தினர் குற்றப் புல­னா­ய்வுப் பிரி­வுக்கு வாக்கு மூலம் வழங்­கி­யுள்­ளனர்.

அளவ்வை, கொக­ரல்ல பொலிஸ் நிலை­யங்கள் குரு­ணாகல் சிரேஷ்ட பொலிஸ் அத்­தி­யட்சர் காரி­யா­ல­யத்­துக்கு உட்­பட்டு நிர்­வாகம் செய்­யப்­பட்ட நிலையில் இக்­க­டத்­தல்கள் இடம்­பெற்ற போது, முன்னாள் பிரதிப் பொலிஸ் மா அதிபர் வாஸ் குண­வர்­த­னவே குரு­ணாகல் மாவட்­டத்­துக்கு பொறுப்­பான பொலிஸ் பிர­தா­னி­யாக செயற்­பட்­டுள்ளார்.

அத்­துடன் 5 மாணவர் கடத்தல் விவ­காரம் வெளி­ப்ப­டுத்­தப்­பட கார­ண­மாக இருந்த, முன்னாள் கடற்­படை தள­பதி வசந்த கரன்னாகொட தனது தனிப்­பட்ட விவ­காரம் தொடர்பில் லெப்­டினன் கொமாண்டர் சம்பத் முன­சிங்­க­வுக்கு எதி­ராக முதலில் முறை­யிட்­டதும் வாஸ் குணவர்­த­ன­வி­ட­மாகும். பின்­ன­ரேயே அது பொலிஸ் மா அதி­பரால் சி.ஐ.டி.க்கு மாற்­றப்­பட்­டி­ருந்­தது.

இந் நிலை­யி­லேயே கரன்­னா­கொட, தஸ­நா­யக்க மற்றும் வாஸ் குண­வர்­தன ஆகியோர் ஒன்­றாக இந்த வெள்ளை வேன் கடத்­தல்கள் தொடர்பில் செயற்­பட்­ட­னரா, அவ்­வாறு வெள்ளை வேனில் கடத்­தப்­ப­டுவோர் கன்சைட்  நிலத்­தடி முகாமிம் தடுத்து வைக்­கப்­பட்டு காணாமல் ஆக்­கப்பட்­டுள்­ள­தாக குற்றப் புல­ன­ாய்வுப் பிரிவு சந்தேகிக்கின்றது.

இந் நிலையில் இது குறித்த மேல­திக விசாரணைகளை, குற்றப் புலனாய்வுப் பிரிவின் சிரேஷ்ட பிரதிப் பொலிஸ் மா அதிபர் ரவி செனவிரத்ன, பிரதிப் பொலிஸ் மா அதிபர் சுதத் நாகஹமுல்ல ஆகியோரின் மேற்பார்வையில் குற்றப் புலனாய்வுப் பிரிவின் பணிப்பாளர் சிரேஷ்ட பொலிஸ் அத்தியட்சர் ஷானி அபேசேகரவின் வழி நடத்தலின் கூட்டுக் கொள்ளை பிரிவின் பொறுப்பதிகாரி பொலிஸ் பரிசோதகர் நிஷாந்த சில்வா தலைமையிலான குழுவினர் முன் னெடுத்துள்ளனர்.

Sri Lanka: Failure of the judiciary

Violation of the Government’s commitment to the UN Resolution  and the failure of the judiciary to combat corruption

The following article based on the submission made by the author before the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais des Nations, Geneva

by Nagananda Kodituwakku-Dec 27, 2017
Dec 27, 2017
( December 27, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Government of Sri Lanka is a representative democracy but the corruption in the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary undermines the Constitution and the rule of law leading to violation of human rights, compelling the people to seek justice from the international community. As a result, Sri Lanka is now in the forefront of the index of corrupt states, which has compelled the UN system to intervene and pass the resolution A/HRC/RES/30/1.

Yet, in spite of the UN Resolution, government continues to violate its obligations and undermines the independence of the Judiciary. Unfortunately, there is no culture in the legal profession and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (the professional body of lawyers) to rise and defend the Judiciary and the rule of law and also lacking a commitment to combat corruption in the three organs of the government.

Right now, the author is the only lawyer who fights corruption in the three main organs of the government through the public interest litigation in the Supreme Court and presently there are 10 such cases instituted against those holding public office in the Legislature and Executive (MPs, Cabinet Ministers, Attorney General) and also in the Judiciary (4 former Chief Justices and 2 other serving judges of the Supreme Court).

Each of these 10 cases was first reported to the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC)which is the national anti-graft body. Yet, no credible investigations were undertaken by the Commission, compelling the author to initiate action against the three Commissioners and the Director General of the CIABOC for condoning corruption. This is the first instance that all organs of the government and the Government’s anti-graft body have been challenged in the Supreme Court for corruption.

As a direct result of these anti-corruption initiatives, there are three contempt cases initiated against the author in the Supreme Court by the Attorney General with the objective of disbarring the author from the practice, contravening the following international obligations.

a) Commonwealth Latimer House Principles (2003) – The criminal law and contempt proceedings should not be used to restrict legitimate criticism of the performance of the judicial functions (Accountability mechanism [paragraph vii (b)]

b) United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers – Governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference (Rule 16)

Patent Violation of the co-sponsored UN Resolution A/HRC/RES/30/1 by all three organs of the Government

A brief of five major cases (cited below) out of the 10 Supreme Court actions referred to above is presented in the annexures attached hereto illustrating the dismal failure on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to honour its obligations under the co-sponsored UN Resolution A/HRC/RES/30/1.

a) Annexure I : Abuse of office by the Attorney General to disregard the ruling given by the Supreme Court and to pass a legislation by fraudulent means usurping the people’s sovereign right of franchise (SC/ Writs/ 05/2017)

b) Annexure II : Judicial Corruption cases involving four former Chief Justices and two serving Judges in the Supreme Court (SC/Writs/3/2016) and SC/Writs/3/2017

c) Annexure III : Appointment of rejected candidates to the legislature through a clause fraudulently introduced to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which has not been approved by the Parliament (SC/Writs/5/2015)

d) Annexure IV: Abuse of Tax-free car permits by the Members of the Cabinet and the MPs, defrauding over 7 Billions of Government tax revenue (SC/Writs/7/2017)

e) Annexure V : Abuse of judicial power to conceal a Petition filed in Court of Appeal challenging the candidacy of the then Executive President Mahinda Rajapakse in 2015 (CA/Writs/434/2015).
Reasons for the failure to combat corruption and to establish the Rule of Law

Reasons identified for the failure to combat corruption and to restore the rule of law are cited below. These issues have never been exposed, discussed and addressed in any forum to date.

1. Intimidation and interference with the judiciary by the Executive and the Legislature (Annexure VI)

2. Controlling of the 10-member Constitutional Council that makes appointments to the Superior Court System by corrupt elements in the Legislature and Executive.

The process adopted by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution (passed by the present government in May 2015) permitted 7 MPs in the Council after doing away with the former practice introduced by the 17th Amendment (October 2001), that permitted 7 people with eminence and integrity with only 3 MPs to the Council. The current process permits the corrupt elements in the Legislature and the Executive to deny upright people being considered for the Superior Court System, patently violating the doctrine of separation of powers and the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles (Annexure VII)

3. Dominance of political considerations over merits and seniority concerning judicial appointment to the Superior Court System by the Executive President whereas the role of the Constitutional Council is strictly limited only for recommendations [Article 41C (1) of the 19th Amendment enacted after the new government came into power]

4. The abuse of the office of the Attorney General to defend the corrupt elements in the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary, whereas the law requires the office to represent and act for the people who exercise sovereignty in the Republic which include the Legislative, Executive and Judicial power (Annexure VIII)

5. Adopting of a flawed Practice of appointing public officers serving in the Government’s prosecution service (Attorney General’s Department) to the Judiciary.

It is observed that the judges who were former officials of the Attorney General’s Department favouring the Attorney General and disregard the failure of the Attorney General to comply with the rules that is place to arrest delays in the dispenses of justice. Such an irregular practice is never adopted in the democracies like in the UK, where no officer serving in the Crown Prosecution service is considered for Judicial Appointments.

6. Absence of accountability mechanism for the judiciary that violates its constitutional obligations.
This is the fundamental reason for laws delays effectively denying justice to the people and resulting in people losing confidence in the justice system. Whereas the Constitution dictates that right violation Petitions [Article 126(5)] and Election related Petitions (Article 104H) shall be heard and determined within two months of filing such Petitions, such cases have been dragged on for well over 5 years due to the total lack of an accountability mechanism in the administration of justice.

7. Abuse of public office by the Attorney General to initiate contempt proceedings to discourage and reprimand those fights corruption in the government business.

The author, the only public interest litigation activist who fights corruption in the three organs of the government has already been persecuted for refusing to compromise integrity and to condone corruption.

8. Abuse of office by the Commissioners of the CIABOC to destroy the integrity of the Judiciary and to whitewash corrupt MPs and Ministers (Annexure XI)

9. Departing of its constitutional responsibility by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, that has pledged its membership to uphold the rule of law with a commitment to combat corruption and abuse of public property (Annexure X)

Therefore, unless the UN System stresses the government of Sri Lanka to abide by the UN Resolution A/HRC/RES/30/1 along with the implementation of a program to address the issues mentioned herein, an independent and upright judiciary can never be put in place in Sri Lanka. Such an initiative will only ensure the enforcement of the rule of law against any person holding any public office, whilst protecting the good judges from any intimidation. It will also do away with the burden on the UN System to bring in foreign judges to try human right violation cases. This is the way forward to regain the trust and confidence of the people in the justice system in the Republic of Sri Lanka.

Nagananda Kodituwakku is a public Interest Activist, Attorney-at-Law (Sri Lanka) & Solicitor (UK)

Tamils in North-East remember tsunami victims

26Dec 2017

Tamils in the North-East held memorials for the 35,000 people that perished during the catastrophic tsunami that hit the coasts of the North-East and South of the island of Sri Lanka, thirteen years ago.

The United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said five days after the disaster that almost two thirds of those killed across the island were in the Tamil homeland of the North-East.

Tamils in North-East remember tsunami victims.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Changing the voting system and unfortunate realities

  The Citizens’ Movement for Good Governance (CIMOGG) refers to the article titled “LET’S THROW OUT THE COMPLEX ‘MIXED VOTING’ SYSTEM FOR GOOD” by Bernard Fernando that appeared in the DAILY MIRROR on 7 December. “Mixed voting” was, in fact, only one of the matters discussed by him in his contribution whereas he has made useful suggestions on other Constitution-related issues as well.   

2017-12-28

There are probably thousands of Sri Lankan citizens who have their own strong views on what particular provisions they would like to see included in the proposed new Constitution. Among them, Fernando has been particularly persistent in presenting to the public certain key features that he favours. Whilst CIMOGG does not concur with him unreservedly, it does support in principle a number of his recommendations that are similar to those that CIMOGG has advocated over many years. Stated in the briefest of terms, we believe the public should study the following list and press for the inclusion of these terms in the Constitution: 

1. Recognising the equality of all citizens bereft of considerations such as race, religion or caste. This would be the only permanently reliable way of encouraging every citizen to contribute to the realisation of an all-inclusive Sri Lankan identity that will eliminate much of the primitive emotions and wasted resources that racial, religious and similar conflicts involve. 

2. Introducing the ‘Grama Rajya’ or equivalent concept and de-politicising elections to the relevant peripheral assemblies by allowing good quality candidates to come forward without the sponsorship of political parties. Thus, they would gain the opportunity of earning for themselves a personal reputation for honesty, competence and hard work and not rely vicariously on the popularity of party leaders. 
3. Ensuring the administrative effectiveness of local bodies by assigning clearly specified functions to them and providing them with funding from the Centre without allocating any funds directly to MPs, who would tend to use such funds to promote their own private interests. 

4. Making party election manifestos legally binding to whatever extent may be practicable. 

5. Reducing the numbers of elected representatives drastically and specifiying clearly their duties and attendance requirements. For example, there is no use in having 225    MPs, as we do at present, and being told that only about eight of them had attended the recent meeting of the Constituent Assembly (of which all of them are mandatory members) to consider the report of the Steering Committee regarding the writing of a much-needed new Constitution. It would be infinitely more preferable, instead of having such a worthless bunch of irresponsible and unscrupulous layabouts, to elect a much smaller number of conscientious people’s representatives who are pre-qualified by a suitable selection process as persons possessing a good reputation for honesty and social responsibility, as well as a reasonable practical knowledge of the law, accountancy and other specialised areas of knowledge such as agriculture, exports, engineering, information technology etc. 

6. Requiring that the President should be non-executive and prohibiting his participation in party politics. 

These are just a very few of the important ingredients that should be included in a new Constitution. However, the unfortunate reality is that these and other progressive ideas have virtually no chance of being included in any Constitution that is required to be approved by a Parliament, such as the present, of which most members have not even passed the Ordinary Level examination and have not previously worked in reputable organisations that have a logical structure, strict administrative procedures and little room for dishonesty or blatantly immoral behaviour. Our MPs know that, if they agree to the making of a strong Constitution, over 90 per cent of them would have to say good-bye to their undeserved political careers soon thereafter. What then can the public do to remove this self-perpetuating obstacle to improving governance? 

One must try to take advantage of these brief periods of wakefulness because it is at these moments that voters become sufficiently active to make an effective impact by sending the right message through their votes

Ever since we gained independence, the progressively increasing ineptness and criminal dishonesty of too many of our elected representatives can be most readily traced to the deeply-entrenched passivity and inertia of Sri Lankan voters.

The only times that large numbers of citizens rouse themselves from their slumber is when election nominations are announced. One must try to take advantage of these brief periods of wakefulness because it is at these moments that voters become sufficiently active to make an effective impact by sending the right message through their votes. 

For a start, voters should be persuaded to forget about Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Ranil Wickremesinghe and those parties for which most voters have been blindly casting their votes in previous years. Instead, they should be urged to cast their votes during the forthcoming Local Government Elections for the most honest and competent of the candidates in their small electoral units irrespective of their political allegiances. If the public heeds this appeal, there would be a remarkable enrichment of the pool of able persons of integrity from which the candidates for election to Provincial Councils and Parliament could be nominated subsequently. 

Dr A.C.Visvalingam 
President, CIMOGG 
www.cimogg-srilanka.org
acvisva@gmail.com

Local Government election dynamics in the North and East

Photo courtesy Dhaka Tribune

HARIM PEIRIS-12/26/2017

Despite the year end holiday season, the political focus is on the upcoming local government elections scheduled for February 10th next year. With nominations closing by end December, January will witness the campaigning by the candidates and the political parties for the sovereign Sri Lankan people’s vote. The election has clear ramifications beyond the local bodies, as nationally there is a redrawing of political lines as the government and opposition factions of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), led by President Sirisena and by former President Rajapakse contest the elections separately for the first time.
A relevant factor in the political dynamic is the politics of the North and East, which though important and impactful on Sri Lankan national life is often not taken into consideration in the political discourse. In the Tamil majority Northern Province and in the Batticalo District in the Eastern Province, the TNA dominate the political landscape. Often polling well over seventy percent in their constituencies, the truth of the matter is that the TNA, its leader and Leader of the Opposition, the veteran Rajavarothian Sambanthan has a lock on the Tamil electorate that far exceed even the mid sixty percent which Mahinda Rajapakse hit at the zenith of his post war popularity in 2010, a political high which had dissipated by end 2014.

Making the news a couple of weeks ago was the formation of a new Tamil political alliance, created supposedly to challenge the dominance of the ITAK led TNA, between the TULF of Mr. Anandasangari and the EPRLF faction of Suresh Premachandra, who finally decided to try his political luck outside the TNA. It is noteworthy that the TNA leadership have still left the door open for a post-election return to the fold by the EPRLF (Suresh faction) but not taking in the EPRLF faction led by Sugu and other more left oriented political moderates. A fairly sober assessment of the prospects of the TULF / EPRLF combine would likely indicate that the TULF which has no representation in the Sri Lankan Parliament but nonetheless, the Anandasangari family having more electoral fortune in Canada, with son Gary Anandasangari being elected to the Canadian Federal Parliament from the Scarborough area of Toronto for the governing Liberal Party. The EPRLF (Suresh faction) succeeded in electing Shivashakthi Anandan at the August 2015 election from the Vanni, though Suresh himself was unsuccessful in retaining his seat from Jaffna. Similarly, Suresh’s brother, now a Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, after the ITAK decided on principle to move away from the Provincial Administration of Chief Minister Wigneswaren, was barely elected to the Northern PC, coming in one but the last in a long list of elected TNA members, basically 29th out of 30 elected counselors. This does not augur well for the ELRLF chances in Jaffna, their pocket boroughs in the Vanni likely to provide their combine with the TULF, with some elected local representation but not much.

The other factor in the Northern and especially Eastern Province is of course the Muslim political dynamics and in this regard, the traditional Muslim leadership of the Sri Lankan Muslim Congress (SLMC) has been under some pressure in recent years from its breakaway the Sri Lankan People’s Congress of Minister Rishard Bathurdeen. The SLMC’s former General Secretary Hassen Ali, who rather acrimoniously departed from the SLMC has tied up with Rishard Bathurdeen and will likely pose a very tough challenge to the SLMC. In fact, in certain constituencies, the Bathurdeen / Hassan Ali combine will overtake the SLMC. However, in the context of national politics, this is unlikely to cause any effect as both Muslim alliances remain firmly within the national unity government. In the case of both the Muslim parties, they will run some candidates in partnership with the national parties, mostly the UNP, while in some areas, generally the Muslim majority urban councils and pradeshiya saba’s, they will run independently. An election to watch in terms of Muslim politics would be the impact that State Minister Hisbulla can make in his pocket borough of Kathankudy for the SLFP, the votes from there being insufficient for his own parliamentary election and hence the need for an SLFP national list slot for him, but nonetheless polling well.

This brings us to the electoral prospects of the national parties in the North and East. Likely to standout from among the national parties is the UNP, which has a parliamentary representation from every district including Jaffna, which is more than the SLFP led UPFA can boast of after the 2015 elections or before. Now when contesting separately as the SLFP / UPFA and the SLPP / JO, the reality is that with the minority support base of the SLFP / UPFA is solidly with President Sirisena. The SLFP effort in the North is led by its young national list MP, Angajan Ramanathan, whose either brawn or brains should deliver some SLFP votes in Jaffna, drawing deep from an old tradition of Alfred Duraiappa, the last SLFP mayor of Jaffna, whose assassination was the launch of the LTTE’s armed challenge to the Sri Lankan state.

It is however the SLPP and the JO which in the North and East will lay bare its political limitations and lack of attraction outside a section of the majority Sinhala Buddhist community. Should the good Professor Peiris and brother number two (no pun intended) Basil Rajapakse, succeed in running SLPP lists in the North, they would be fortunate to get back their candidate deposits. It was an academic and colleague from the Kumaratunga Administration days who coined the phrase the Sinhala National Alliance (SNA) as a better term for the Rajapakse comeback project, rather than the SLPP. However, it is not desirable that an aspirant for national political power has no political appeal in the North and East. The dynamics of the North and East, completes the national political landscape and any serious analysis and discourse would be incomplete without its inclusion.

 

Wanted: a well-focused investment strategy

A carefully focused/concentrated investment strategy, particularly for attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is needed by Sri Lanka as much time is wasted on less important programs, politics, and ways of robbing the tax payer.

Wednesday, 27 December 2017

One of the main reasons for this proposal is the massive external debt of $ 64 billion (2016) that has to be paid up by earning the required foreign exchange by investing to produce goods and services for export, since an adequate capacity for such production does not seem to be available, and of course by reducing unnecessary imports. The other reason is the urgency to create sufficient employment opportunities to reduce poverty and destitution, which has been estimated to be 32% of the population in 2012/13 by the World Bank.

Foreign direct investors avoiding Sri Lanka

However, investors, especially FDI which can bring in technologies, skills, and global market access besides capital, have been mostly avoiding SL due mainly to the ethnic conflict that gave rise to a 30-year war. Why is the FDI continuing to avoid the country even after the war ended in 2009? The reason is that although the war was won, the leaders of the country and the people have failed to remove the causes of the conflict. FDI, therefore, may fear history may repeat itself and clashes or even damaging war may break out again; such clashes really did occur even recently. So what has to be done?

Risk to investment 

Let us first examine the types of FDI that could be attracted: a) market seeking, b) natural resource seeking, c) efficiency seeking and d) strategic asset seeking. SL’s domestic market is too small to attract the first market seeking type. What has prevented the other types from entering the country? It is the negative investment climate that includes a strong security risk of investment, (OECD Country Risk Classification 2017, SL previously six and currently six, Afghanistan seven and seven); even prospective local investors may have been discouraged by it.

The ethnic conflict is not the only cause of the risk to investment in SL. The other causes are a) economic and political instability, b) the very poor quality of public institutions due mainly to politicisation, c) cumbersome rules and regulations relating to approvals/registration of projects, import of inputs, and exports of outputs (Ease of Doing Business Index , 2017, Sri Lanka 111, Singapore two and Malaysia 24 out of 189 countries, World Bank), d) the complexity of labour laws, e) the failure of the system of education to produce the technical/hard and soft skills required by businesses, f) inadequacies of physical infrastructure like frequent power outages and the traffic congested roadways, and g) the poor law and order situation. All of these have been made worse by the utter failure on the part of the leaders to make the people aware that poverty in the country is mainly due to the absence of adequate investments to create jobs and produce goods and services for export , since they have been busy with robbing the tax payer, (Corruption Perception Index 2016, SL rank 95 and Singapore seven out of 176 countries, Transparency International) and trying to gain short term political advantages especially by arousing tribal animosities.

Failure to reform

the system of education 

A serious failure on the part of successive governments, including the current administration, has been the inability to reform the system of education to develop SL’s major resource base – human capital – by way of producing the hard and soft skills demanded by businesses; even though it is in the third year of assuming power, the Government is resorting instead to costly gimmicks like supplying computer tabs to school-going children. The curricula have still not been changed to teach the hard or technical skills imparted normally by the STEM subjects or science, technology, engineering and mathematics (not medicine as mentioned in the Budget 18 [B18]) and the soft skills; of the soft skills, 73% of SL businesses want training and experience, 63% want English and ability to communicate, 45% emphasise on team work and interpersonal skills, 42% demand IT skills, 21% want leadership and decision-making ability, and 21% demand problem-solving and analytical skills (Economic Intelligence Unit, British Council Report, 2015). In the absence of these hard and soft skills, investors, both FDI and local, may fear to start a business.

Ways of reducing risk

Now we can talk of ways and means of reducing the risks to investment, particularly FDI. The very first requirement is the acknowledgement by the leaders that SL is a conflict-affected country and that the reasons that gave rise to it should be removed as a first step; the leaders should then talk about it openly and also convince the people of the benefits that solutions to the problem, like a new Constitution (giving equal rights for all citizens irrespective of race or religion and granting devolution of powers to the regions), as well as measures to address the grievances felt by the minorities will bring, such as better employment opportunities created by the investment (it must be stated that a sign of success of such a program will be the appearance in the country of the Sri Lankan diaspora as investors ,professionals and skilled technicians ). It is, however, important to remember that such a good governance program is not a short term solution to the problem.

Short term measures

The leaders therefore must evolve short term measures that could improve the investment climate and reduce risk. These reforms include the simplification of cumbersome regulations, the relaxation of the complex labour laws, and reduction of corruption. If such measures also embrace improving the efficiency of and co-ordination among public institutions, protection of property rights and introduction of dispute settlement mechanisms etc., they would signal change to rule-based decisions and reduce the potential for corruption/politicisation; these would also improve transparency, predictability and lead to build up of confidence among investors.

Informal to formal 

One of the effects of too much regulation and corruption is described as ‘going under the radar’ in some literature or becoming informal; roughly 60% of firms in SL are supposed to have gone informal or not registered or approved; unfortunately these may therefore find it difficult to obtain assistance from the institutions concerned for their development e.g. for training of personnel, access credit, technology, markets, and so on. Even large formal firms are reported to be resorting to employing casual labour to avoid the complex labour laws. Reduction and simplification of regulations and laws may give the informal enterprises the confidence to become formal ; the state may benefit by way of tax revenue, the workers by better pay and stable employment, pension benefits etc., and the country by more jobs and goods and services.

Local firms have a higher tolerance of risk

Another short term measure is the extension of incentives such as those that were proposed in the B18 to local firms, as they have a higher tolerance of risk unlike the FDI. In this connection, it is the large scale local enterprises which should be enabled to take on the task of exports as their productivity and competitiveness could be higher; a special scheme has to be devised to incentivise them along with an investment promotion scheme to target selected FDIs; in parallel there should be a plan to reduce the high import tariffs/duties in a controlled manner so that firms will not try to seek protection and concentrate on the domestic market instead of the global market.

Special industrial/export zones

Still another short term solution is addressing the security problems and deficiencies of physical infrastructure by setting up special industrial/export zones closer to the capital of Colombo so that they can be supervised by security personnel. Skill shortages in such zones could be dealt with by vocational training schemes and temporary importation from nearby countries while connecting producers to markets. Another advantage of such zones is the possibility of exempting the taxes and duties on imported inputs for export production. The institution supervising the zones could also build the value chains of the enterprises occupying the zone to improve their productivity, i.e. reduction of unit costs and increasing the value of outputs; for example, if there is a firm producing a primary product in a zone, firms to produce secondary value added products and tertiary products and even services like marketing could be introduced to the zone and vice versa in the opposite direction, if only service firms operate in the zone; the institution managing the zone could also encourage the firms in the value chain to collaborate with each other to improve productivity further. The institution could also promote tie- ups with large foreign investors in selected product areas.

Policies to make

firms competitive

It must be mentioned such improvement of the investment climate alone is not sufficient to enable businesses to go global and earn foreign exchange. Policies to make them competitive are important. According to a recent press report, a shocking revelation is that SL has dropped from 71st in 2016/17 to 85th place in 2017/18 out of 140 countries in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum, Switzerland. Where policies for competitiveness with the rest of the world are concerned, an essential policy measure is the breaking down of the high import tariff/duty walls that we have erected around the country (to protect domestic firms from global competition), apart from the para tariffs that have been abolished by the B18. It is also quite necessary to improve the productivity of all factors of production such as land, labour, capital etc. (average growth of Total Factor Productivity of SL in 2010 to 2014: -1.48%, Conference Board Data Base), besides reducing the deficits in the government budgets, to decrease unit costs and raise outputs or improve the overall efficiency in the economy.

Export competitiveness

can bring about a ‘trickledown’ effect

It has to be noted that investment for production of goods and services particularly for export could only bring about a trickledown effect that will take long years to reach the rural areas, where about 17 million people live, as stated in my book ‘Export Competitiveness and Poverty Alleviation in South Asia, with special reference to Sri Lanka’. The remedy recommended in the book is raising the productivity of factors of production, especially of land, by giving ownership of land to farmers for motivating owners of un-remunerative subsistence units to sell off to lead to an increase of the size of holdings as well as undertaking re-plotting to bring the normally scattered holdings closer together and construction of paved roads, to reduce the cost of using machinery.

Thus the main problem with the SL economy is the utter inadequacy of investments, particularly FDI, to produce jobs as well as goods and services. That is due to the high risk to investment which in turn can be attributed mainly to the conflict associated nature of the economy, the high level of cumbersome regulations made worse by corruption, poor law and order conditions, and the low quality of social and physical infrastructure. Therefore, there should be a well-focused strategy to overcome these constraints. Good governance as an item of this strategy could take long time to take effect. Therefore, short term strategies that include incentivising local investors, whose tolerance to risk could be high, have to be adopted. Even these could fail if the people are not made aware of the benefits of investment, such as job creation and poverty alleviation, as they would not in such circumstances oppose these strategies.