Stock Market Regulator: Making It A “Toothless Tiger” No Good Sign

By W.A. Wijewardena -

Dr. W.A. Wijewardena

The peculiar Colombo Stock Market

 Colombo Stock Market is a peculiar place. It doesn’t create just plain news. It creates scary news.

First, it was agitations by a group of market participants, known as high net-worth investors, for the removal of the Chief Executive Officer of its watchdog,Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC, from his post. His crime: getting too tough on investors who have been alleged to have practised the crime of engaging in ‘market manipulation for personal gain’ and ‘insider trading’ at the cost of other market investors. After a do or die battle for a few weeks, they succeed and the CEO is asked to step down by authorities who are supposed to protect the watchdog. This writer analysed the story in a My View published in this paper under the title “Share Market Game: Play it According to Rules” (available here ).

The pressure on stock market regulator

Even before this hot news got cool, the Chairperson of SEC became the target of attack by the same group of investors and once again, authorities yielded to them by allowing her to leave the place, of course this time, with dignity. Then, there was a long period of uncertainty in the stock market without a CEO or a Chairperson in SEC to steer the market’s regulatory arm. The market began to show its discontent by moving down the prices, but wiping out billions of wealth belonging to investors in the process. This is because when a market is temporarily driven up by a few investors, all others rally round them like a ‘herd’ as proposed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky in their famous prospect theory. As a result, when they are active, the market goes up and when they withdraw, it slides down fast. This phenomenon was captured by this writer in a subsequent My View published in this paper under the title “Controversy over the efficiency of share markets” (available here ).

The choice before the head of SEC: yield or quit                                Read More               

Study Links Kidney Disease in Sri Lanka’s Farm Belt to Agrochemicals

By Amantha Perera

New research on the high prevalence of kidney disease in Sri Lanka's farming areas mentions a possible link to heavy metals in the water, associated with fertiliser and pesticide use. Credit: Amantha Perera/IPS

COLOMBO, Aug 21 2012 (IPS) - A new report links the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka’s main agricultural production regions with the presence of heavy metals in the water, caused by fertiliser and pesticide use.

Over the past two decades, dozens of studies have been conducted on the large number of kidney patients in Sri Lanka’s agro-rich north-central region. However, none had conclusively identified a clear cause.

But on Aug. 14, a group of Sri Lankan doctors released a report that they said was compiled as part of an ongoing joint research project by the Sri Lankan government and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The report states that: “Exposure to a combination of factors that are toxic to the kidneys (rather than one single factor) seems to cause this kidney disease. Toxic factors identified up to now include nephrotoxic agrochemicals, arsenic and cadmium.”

Full Story>>>

Z – Score Fiasco – Minister at Parliment
Wednesday, 22 August 2012

Back ground

• Using the aggregate of raw marks of A’Level subjects for University Admission is an unreliable and obsolete method, not used by other countries or systems of education. This is because of the variance and discrepancies that exist between the variety of subject combinations offered at the A’level , and therefore the element of subjectivity between different examiners during marking. Apart from a few instances where objectivity can be maintained  to a degree (e.g. in MCQ and in certain components of the Maths papers), in most other situations the variance is significant. More recent research has corroborated this position.
• In the case of A’Level students offering Arts subjects (about 75% of students), traditionally ‘easy’ subjects (e.g. Buddhist Civilization, Sinhala, Political Science) are chosen. But with such subject combinations usually employment is not easily obtained. However, with the more difficult subject combinations (e.g. Maths, Food Technology, Languages, IT), through standardization the Z-Score value becomes higher. Consequently more Arts students with the ‘better’ subject combinations gained university admission during the past several years. In fact the use of raw marks in such instances proved to be  a grave injustice to students.

Read more...

French tourists guilty in Sri Lanka over Buddha photos

By Charles Haviland
A Sri Lankan court has given suspended jail terms to three French tourists for wounding the religious feelings of Buddhists by taking pictures deemed insulting.

Two women and one man were detained in the southern town of Galle after a photographic laboratory alerted police.

The pictures show the travellers posing with Buddha statues and pretending to kiss one of them.

Most of Sri Lanka's majority ethnic Sinhalese are Theravada Buddhist.

Mistreatment of Buddhist images and artefacts is strictly taboo in the country. The incident is alleged to have taken place at a temple in central Sri Lanka.

Website posting

Police spokesman, Ajith Rohana, told the BBC the French party had visited the laboratory to get pictures printed.

The images were impounded after the owner of the photographic laboratory alerted police, but they were later posted on a Sri Lankan website.

On Tuesday a magistrate sentenced the trio to six months in prison with hard labour, suspended for five years - which means they will not actually serve any time in jail. The court also levied a small fine on them.

They were convicted under a section of the Penal Code which outlaws deeds intended to wound or insult "the religious feelings of any class of persons" through acts committed in, upon or near sacred objects or places of worship.

Last month there were reports that five Arabs visiting the island were arrested for distributing "literature insulting to Buddhism".

In 2010 two Sri Lankan Muslim traders were given suspended jail sentences for selling keyrings containing an image of Buddha.

That same year Sri Lanka denied a visa to the R&B star Akon, who had been due to perform a concert. It happened after public protests over one of his music videos which briefly showed scantily-clad women dancing in front of a Buddha statue.

There is currently widespread excitement in Sri Lanka as the Kapilvastu Relics - believed to be bones of Lord Buddha - have been brought to the island from India for a two-week tour of temples.

SRI LANKA: Complainant of human rights violation case is illegally arrested and severely tortured at the SP’s office of Negombo Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Dilshan Suran Janz (27) was severely tortured by police officers of the Negombo police because he refused to withdraw an earlier complaint of police brutality. He has been threatened with a fabricated charge of the possession of illegal substances if he continues to refuse to comply. Dilshan’s mother was also severely abused during the attack. This is a typical case of the police, particularly those from the Negombo district taking matters into their own hands to protect their own. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country. CASE NARRATIVE: Mr. Dilshan Suran Janz (27), of No: 35, St. Sebastian Mawatha, Katuwapitiya, Negombo in the Gampaha District is a bachelor and a three wheeler diver. He lives with his parents and younger brother in his parent’s house. On 14 July 2012 at 2 am while he was sleeping at home suddenly five persons illegally trespassed into his house by breaking the window of the rear side of the house. Then these five people approached the place where Dilshan was sleeping and started to beat him with. Dilshan was able to identify that the persons attacking him were police officers and they did so without asking his identity or informing of the reason for their assault. At that time Dilshan’s parents, younger brother also were sleeping together with him. While police officers were beating Dilshan his mother, Ms. Kumarasinghe Hettiarachchige Greta Esmi (58), got up and inquired the officers for the reason for beating her son and pleaded the officers not to assault him. But the officers shouted at her with obscene language and chase her away. Then again one officer came to her and dragged the bed sheet which she wore around her body; they twister her neck causing her enormous pain. Then the other officer dragged her away by her hair. Ms. Greta was able to identify two police officers as police officers, Sugath and Perera as the two officers attached to the office of the Superintendents of Police (SP), Negombo as those who severely tortured Dilshan. . Read More…

Bring back Katchatheevu, DMK urges Manmohan

August 21, 2012

A delegation of members of Parliament from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, led by its parliamentary party leader T.R. Baalu, met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday and urged him to bring back Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in 1974 as a goodwill gesture by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to the control of India.

This would help in stopping the continued attack on the Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan naval personnel on high seas in Palk Strait. They also urged Dr. Singh to establish an Indian Naval Unit at Dhanushkodi or Mandapam (in Ramanathapurm district of Tamil Nadu) to stop such attacks and protect local fisher folk.

Even on Tuesday, six fishermen from Rameswaram were attacked near Katchatheevu, they said and referred to the resolution passed in the recent Tamil Eelam Supporters’ Conference (TESO) held in Chennai, under the auspices of the DMK, for bringing back the island under India’s control.

The delegation also highlighted to Dr. Singh, the letter written by DMK president M. Karunanidhi to him, asking India to bring a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly and the UNHRC for bestowing rights to Sri Lankan Tamils to decide a political solution by themselves, as Colombo had failed on this account.

The DMK also asked the Prime Minister to initiate all possible “diplomatic strategies” to bring other member countries to support the resolution.

Meanwhile, CPI Rajya Sabha member and party Secretary D. Raja urged the Centre to protect Indian fishermen from being attacked by the Sri Lankan navy. He also sought a review of India-Sri Lanka agreement on Katchatheevu so that the fishing rights of Indian fishermen were restored.

As per the India-Lanka agreement, which was signed amid controversy that it had not been done with the nod of the Parliament, Indian fishermen have no right to fish near the Islet but they can visit it for taking rest and drying nets. The Indians also have the right to attend the annual festival of St. Xavier’s church situated in Katchatheevu.

Secret is out : Norochcholai power plant is second hand !!

(Lanka-e-News -21.Aug.2012, 11.55PM) It has by now come to light that the Norochcholai power plant is not a brand new one , and that the SL officials have been taken for a ride as this is a second hand plant used by China , and after giving it a new look to the equipments by refurbishment for the most nefarious reasons ,it had been installed in SL, according to reports. 

A senior electrical Engineer who wished to remain anonymous , but could not disguise his patriotic spirit unlike the other hypocrites of the Govt., revealing this to the Lanka e news said, this truth is being hidden from the nation by the bunglers and deceivers.

He added , any fool will understand that if the plant was brand new , it will not run into trouble this early since its installation. Based on a subsequent inspection it is now clear that old Chinese equipments have been refurbished and presented as a brand new plant , he pointed out with concern. In other words the olden ‘Konde Chinese’ had taken the ‘modern’ meda mulana Rajapakanese up the garden path to the detriment of the nation.

It is learnt that this fraud had been facilitated because this power plant is from China on a loan of US $ 460 million taken from the Exim Bank of China , and installed too by Chinese nationals , meaning that the entire deceitful operation had been entrusted to a single group. The ‘modern’ Medamulana Rajapakanese had ignored their grave responsibilities in such a serious project which compromised country’s economic development , due to their overriding illicit commission greed in this debacle. Consequently , the olden ‘konde Chinese’ ( olden days Chinese with a lock of hair on their head behind ) had been able to exploit this greed and fix their konde on the so called modern Rajapakanese , patriotic sources pointed out.

Moreover , at the time of signing this agreement , the dollar value was Rs. 100/- , and the rate of interest was fixed at 2 % , but now the dollar value had shot up to Rs. 135/- ,and continuing to rise . No provision was made in the agreement to ward off the losses to SL due to these adverse trends which were clearly perceivable even at the time of signing of the agreement suggesting that other ulterior motives have been the driving force for the SL Govt.to conclude this agreement. Mind you , for the next 20 years SL has to continue to pay this loan burden absorbing all these adverse factors revolving around this loan . In addition , in the event of the power plant failure (being a second hand stuff) , the losses incurred thereby are also to be borne by SL , as nothing had been mentioned in the agreement to pass that responsibility to China. Also , whether the period of closure of the power plant in case it collapses , is to be exempted from loan payment is also not made mention in the agreement. Hence that loss too has to be borne by SL.
Right now, restoring this plant has become a major issue . It is the view of the senior engineers that in future , the accessories for this plant have to be obtained from European countries manufacturing them.

Meanwhile another senior engineer speaking to Lanka e news said, the Chinese stone coal that is used for this plant is not used anywhere else in the world , and they are of inferior quality (high sulfur) containing more compound .

The senior Engineer speaking further stated , three Solar powered plants now used in America could have been installed out of the sum of US dollars 460 million wasted on this Chinese plant ; and those plants are founded on a technology where there is no need for maintenance for 20 years.

90 thousand widows in Elam region - TESO Speech made by Vickramabahu Karunaratne

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

I am very thankful to the organizers of TESO, in particular to Mr. Radhakrishna for giving this opportunity to participate in this event and to explain the sufferings in my country.

They had to under go many difficulties fight hard and over come many obstacles to organise this meeting. I also faced difficulties to come here. Though many TNA MPs were willing to come they could not cross the barriers. However this is a victory and we must go forward. This huge crowed before me, reminds me of the remembrance meeting that I addressed in London few years back. At that time we were emerging from a defeat. That meeting gave strength to go forward. I am sure this meeting will increase our courage to go forward to win freedom for the Tamils in Elam home land in our country.

As many speakers said the war was a disaster. The genocidal war of President Mahinda brought misery to not only to the Elam Tamils but also to the southern masses too. It destroyed the entire Vanni civilization. Over hundred thousand are unaccounted and there are 90 thousand widows in Elam region. Still there is a military rule there, and even Tamil MPs are unable to do politics freely. Resources in the area land, earth resources and mineral resources are grabbed and given to alien forces mainly MNCs, without any consultation of Elam Tamils. Sinhala-nisation is also a problem. Mahinda concentrated power through 18th amendment and terrorized the southern masses too. Even the global masters who supported the war had to intervene and say that some thing has to be done. Under all these pressures Mahinda regime came out with LLRC and the report was accepted by the UN and President Mahinda agreed to implement it. Though this report was made by a committee appointed by Mahinda, it contains very important recommendations which are very similar to the resolutions approved by TESO. Also it goes further to propose devolution beyond 13th amendment, with power over law and order, land and taxes. Thus it spells out a devolution that could go towards an accepted solution.

However Mahinda has not done any thing to implement the recommendations, particularly which is politically important. He promised Indian leaders several times that LLRC recommendations will be implemented. But those are broken promises. Still the Indian government supports Mahinda regime. Why? They supported and gave every help to conduct the war. So much so, at that time President Mahinda said that he is conducting the war of India against the LTTE. Mahinda has signed agreements with global powers too and he is surviving while attacking worker, peasants, fishers and students who are fighting against rising prices, cuts in social welfare and elimination of subsidies. Not only the working people but also industrialists and merchants are turning against the government.

We of the Nava Sama Samaja Party and other left parties have joined hand with the other oppositional parties, UNP, TNA, DPF to press the government to implement the LLRC recommendations. It is a successful many sided campaign which is going on. Mahinda says he is implementing, but he is obstructed by the chauvinist within the government. He has become a prisoner of this chauvinist war mongers. Our campaign exposed the internal divisions within the ruling regime. We believe that TESO campaign here will be a parallel to what we are doing there. TESO could become an international campaign in addition to becoming an all India movement for justice for Elam Tamils; with justice to live in a united Lanka. Already there was a suggestion in the morning to have a TESO campaign in Argentina. That shows the interest that is growing among those who are sympathetic to the suffering masses in my country. Let us get together and go forward.

Video: Education blunders led to terrorism - Ranil

United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said today education blunders in the North was one of the main reason that led to terrorism in Sri Lanka.

He told a news conference the government should keep in mind that the arms struggle in the North began with students being unable to enter universities.
“This happened in 1973, 1974 and 1975. The government should keep this in mind,” he said.

TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran said the northern students were highly disturbed and distressed when they were unable to enter university. He said well-to-do parents sent their children to Britain for higher education.

“The first student organisations happened to be the General Union of Eelam Students (GUES) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS). They became the first two armed groups. Till then the Tamil struggle was handled by the political leadership. The youth did not get involved,” he said and added that his colleague and EPRLF leader Suresh Premachandran was also one of those educated in Britain and had abandoned his studies to gain military training in Palestine.
Mr. Wikremesinghe said the opposition had suggested a parliamentary select committee to probe the Department of Examination to determine the causes of the present crisis with regard to the GCE A/L Examination.

Former High Court Judge W.M.P.B. Warawewa said education blunders in this country were not only highlighted by opposition political parties but was a burning issue faced by the people.

“It is not a problem faced by a few. It hurts the whole country. If this continues, universities, schools and the whole education sector will have to close down,” he said and added that as a move towards resolving these issues a ‘sathya kriyawa’ will be organized. (Yohan Perera & Nishan Casseem) (Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana) 

I Blew The Whistle On Torture Of The CIA And MI6, I Was In Consequence Immediately Charged With Extortion For Sexual Purposes – A Former British Ambassador

Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a whistleblower, delivered a speech in support of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange just before Assange gave his speech from the balcony of the Ecuador embassy in London, Kevin Gosztola writes for The Dissenter.

Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a whistleblower, delivered a speech in support of WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange just before Assange gave his speech from the balcony of theEcuador 

embassy in London

“We should not foreget what this is about,” he began. “This is about the persecution of an individual who has made life much more simple and more productive for whistleblowers in the Information Age and in an age where, as Western governments become increasingly authoritarian and civil liberties are diminished, we need whistleblowers now more than ever to protect the rights of others.”

He highlighted how WikiLeaks had not only shined a light on the illegal war in Iraq but also revealed “individual war crimes carried out withing that war.” They’d shown how governments had colluded on the rendition and torture of individuals. To Murray, there was a parallel.

“I blew the whistle on torture and extraordinary rendition and the collusion of the CIA and MI6. I was in consequence immediately charged with extortion for sexual purposes and blackmailing people into sex in exchange for British visas.”

He said it took him one and a half years to clear his name of those charges because “they routinely charge and try to beat up whistleblowers and that is what is happening to Julian Assange just as it happened to me.”

He mentioned the case of Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who blew the whistle on the fact that “she had seen documents signed personally” by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorizing torture at Abu Ghraib. The “very next day” she was charged with shoplifting.

Whistleblowers or dissidents are always “immediately charged with offensives which don’t relate to whistleblowing at all.” Why is this? Because in the United States, in the United Kingdom and now, apparently, in Sweden, “just as it seems to always happen in authoritarian and totalitarian countries, dissidents are not charged with political offenses. They are fitted up with criminal offenses.”

“How likely is it that when I was engaged in a bitter struggle, an internal struggle with my own government that were trying to sack me over the torture and I was trying to prevent the use of torture, did I then think, oh, that’s a good idea. I’ll go and bed someone tomorrow while I am in the middle of this. Was Julian Assange, while conducting the campaign of WikiLeaks, so distracted that he decided to get into incidental and coincidental criminal activity?” He also asked if Rumsfeld would be exposed as a man who authorized torture by Karpinski only to have her the very next day “pop out” and engage in “shoplifting.”

“Only our disgustingly, complacent and spoon-fed mainstream media would accept such a narrative for one single moment. It is obviously to nonsense to anybody with half a brain,” he added.”

And, to the British Foreign Office’s threat against the Ecuador embassy by the UK, he said it was but another example of the “total abandonment of the very concept of international law by the neoconservative juntas that are currently ruling the former Western democracies.” He recounted his experience as a British diplomat and suggested if police were sent into the Ecuadorean embassy to get Assange they would be subject to Ecuadorean law for committing crimes.

US should help to grant solution for Tamil people: MP Sridharan

[ Tuesday, 21 August 2012, 06:13.17 AM GMT +05:30 ]

Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian C. Sridharan and the members of the Tamil national People’s Front met US state officials at a hotel in Jaffna peninsula yesterday.

During the time of discussion Lankan MP brief officials about the present situation of the country. Especially they brief about military activities in the North, resettlement of Sinhala nationals in Tamil lands, they urge international community stop such illegal activity and prove their stance on this issue. Tamil National Freedom Front stresses before solving the ethnic issue international community should approve the recognition on Tamil country. Commenting on the discussion parliamentarian C.Sridharan went on to say, We provide clear evident towards officials on military interference since end of the war in this country. We also point out parties which supported the war of this country owns responsibility to grant proper solution for ethnic issue of Tamil people of this country. In such situation this discussion help to brief the stance of Tamil community towards international, said the parliamentarian.

The LLRC And The Prospects Of Reconcilation In Sri Lanka

By Kumar Rupesinghe -August 21, 2012

Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe

It is now over three years since the LTTE was decisively defeated by the Government of Sri Lanka. Since then the government and the international community have been grappling with the issue of winning peace, addressing the causes which gave rise to the deadly conflict, issues of accountability, and reconciliation. These issues have dominated the Sri Lankan debate in the last few years.

Peace in the conflict literature is not the absence of war. There are three kinds of violence that are defined in the literature of conflict transformation. Johan Galtung, suggests that these three types of violence are direct violence, i.e. deadly violence used by both sides, structural violence, which is defined as structures which perpetuate poverty, inequality and discrimination, and cultural violence, defined as the denial of identity and the denial of the other. Whilst direct violence has been used extensively by both sides in Sri Lanka, this phase has now come to an end. However structural violence remains, with inequality and discrimination experienced not only by the Tamils, but also Sinhalese, Muslims, Christians and other minorities, through discrimination due to ethnicity, caste or class. The Tamils in the plantations experience structural violence due to super exploitation of their labour. Cultural violence also continues to dominate the narrative in Sri Lanka, in different manifestations such as the denial of identity, myths perpetuated such as the “Chosen People” narrative in the Mahavansa, the concept of a “homeland”, which requires a separate state, contestation as to the mythos of origins of peoples residing in Sri Lanka. Self-fulfilling prophesies, chosen traumas fill the folklore of the peoples living in the island. In winning peace, these narratives ,myths and ideologies have to be taken into account. It is in such a landscape that we have to examine the role of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) as a vehicle for winning peace but also as a symbol of contestation

The Lessons Learn and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was a response to the concerns expressed by the western powers, India and the Tamil Diaspora in the aftermath of the war. It was to be just another Commission, condemned to the dustbin of history, which was the fate of so many other commissions, in the past. A distinguished panel was appointed by the President, and its members were seen as those favourable to the Government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and did not think that it would be given serious attention. In short it was seen by the detractors of the government, as an eye wash, an attempt to cover a multitude of sins and omissions.

It is undoubtedly the efforts of the USA and later India through the resolution introduced in the UN. Human Rights Council that the LLRC took centre stage.. However, Sri Lanka was defeated at the UN Human Rights Council and it was a clear indication as to the will of the international community.

After the defeat of Sri Lanka at the UNHRC good sense prevailed and a strategic shift was taken by the President, to renew relations with the USA, and the western powers and India. The efforts of the Weeratunge Committee, and the tireless work of its members, produced an implementation plan, provides a measuring rod with key performance indicators on the performance of the government, where the more contentious issues would be taken up with the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee. Sri Lanka is now under the radar screen of the U.N. and the measuring rod will be the government’s own home grown implementation plan. The Tamil Diaspora would continue with its agitation calling for an international inquiry into war crimes but its efforts to draw the international community into this strategy would lose momentum, if the government implements the plan. Whether the Government has taken a strategic shift to win over the western powers upon whom Sri Lanka is dependent for its markets or is a tactical shift to buy time is yet to be seen.

However, India expects Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment and as a first step it requires that elections are held in the north as soon as possible. Having elections in the North makes good sense, as it will be a major instrument in the reconciliation process. The Tamil National Alliance and other Tamil parties must be given the opportunity to govern the regions where they command a majority, and checks and balances have to be developed with regards to police and land powers. Such a step will relax pent-up frustrations and a sense of humiliation that the peoples of the north experience. The argument that we must wait till 2013 for the elections is based on a wrong premise-i.e. that the North must be developed, with infrastructure and development so that a grateful Tamil population will vote against the TNA. This is an erroneous theory based on fallacious arguments that the economy can shift people’s identity through economic and infrastructure developments. Further, the delay must not be interpreted as a way of changing the demographic balance. It is important that we heal the wound and remove the sense of humiliation of a beleaguered people. Humiliation is “about putting down and holding down.” It is the “enforced lowering of any person or group by a process of subjugation that damages their dignity.

To remove the sense of humiliation, and heal the wound, the people and their lenders must be co-partners in building the country with a shared vision and value for all. Here the leaders of the country, not only the Sinhalese but also the leaders of other communities, must work towards a process of accommodation and trust. For this to happen the mindset of all the parties, relics of the past, must be discarded to rebuild a new Sri Lanka. The challenge is how such a paradigm shift can be achieved.

UNIVERSITIES CLOSED INDEFINITELY DUE TO LECTURERS’ STRIKE

August 21, 2012 
All universities except Medical Faculties will be closed from today until further notice due to the strike action by university lecturers, the Ministry of Higher Education said. 

Therefore all faculties except Medical Faculties in 21 universities including Colombo, Peradeniya, Sri Jayawardenapura, Kelaniya, Moratuwa, Jaffna, Ruhuna, Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa and Wayamba universities will be closed down.

The Ministry, however, said the reopening date of the universities will be announced as soon as possible. 

University lecturers had resorted to strike action since July 04, over demands such as wage hikes, paralyzing education activities of the university system. 

Resolve education chaos or face armed insurrection, says TNA

August 20, 2012

by Zacki Jabbar

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) yesterday warned that unless the chaos in the country’s education system was resolved expeditiously, it could lead to another armed insurrection.

The Tamil uprising had actually begun in London in the 1970’, long before LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran entered the scene; Tamil students who were affected by the standardisation policy had been forced to go to England to pursue higher studies after their parents sold whatever assets they had, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran told a news conference in Colombo.

He said that the youth were bitter about what had happened to them in their motherland and it became one of the primary reasons for the ethnic conflict that had been dragging on for decades.

EPRLF leader, Suresh Premachandran, was a living example of a Tamil who had abandoned his studies in London and gone to Palestine for military training, Sumanthiran said, adding that the pioneering General Union of Eelam Students and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students comprised many like minded persons.

A countrywide protest would be launched before the next budget to ensure that sufficient funds were allocated to provide ample educational opportunities up to university level, the MP said.

Sumanthiran said that the current budgetary allocation for education was a joke when compared to the monies being wasted by the Rajapaksa government on propaganda activities.

The seeds of conflict had been sown once again with the Z-Score crisis and other related problems. History could repeat itself unless urgent remedial measures were implemented, Sumanthiran noted.

The UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was also of the view that one of the main reasons for terrorism in Sri Lanka was the mistakes that had been committed in the education sector.

When avenues for academic progress were closed, the youth got frustrated and violent. The government should immediately constitute a Parliamentary Select Committee to do a thorough analysis of the drawbacks in the educational system before it was too late, he said.

Education Policy And FUTA’s Mandate: Some Thoughts

By Jayadeva Uyangoda -August 20, 2012

Prof.Jayadeva Uyangoda

Some people have made an argument that FUTA has exceeded the mandate of a trade union when it demands the government to allocate 6% of the GDP to education. This argument emanates from the position that trade unions have no business with government’s fiscal policy. According to the advocates of this position, deciding priorities and policies of allocating government expenditure is entirely the job of the government and its policy-making officials.

This essay is only supplementary to the excellent response earlier circulated by Shamala Kumar of Peradeniya.

To begin with, the argument of FUTA exceeding its mandate emanates from a narrow, minimalist, and sorry to say, outdated, understanding of trade unionism. Although trade unions have often focused their struggles on wage demands, trade unionism in general has not been confined to wage-related demands alone. Those who have the slightest understanding of the history of trade unionism in Sri Lanka would know that even during the colonial times, Sri Lanka’s trade unions combined economic demands with social and political demands as well. It is wrong to suggest that trade unionism by definition is concerned exclusively and only on wage demands.

What the critics of FUTA’s demand for increased allocation of government expenditure on public education want from FUTA is to confine its concerns to a narrow and minimalist framework. But, neither the FUTA nor many of the trade unions in Sri Lanka or elsewhere are minimalist in their orientation, agendas and demands.

This wage-related minimalism in trade union agenda is a position advocated at present in Sri Lanka by two groups of FUTA critics. The first group represents the interests and policies of the government and the Ministry of Higher Education. The second group consists mostly of economists who appear to share the view that fiscal policy decisions are the exclusive prerogative of the economists at the Treasury, and not the lesser mortals, the proletariat, organised in trade unions. The latter position gives rise to the wrong notion that ‘economists and the Treasury know best.’ Read More