Kilinochchi farmers weep over what they sowed as Iranamadu tank dries up

The Iranamadu tank in the Kilinochchi district, from which the Government proposed to supply water to Jaffna, has dried up considerably, with no water being available even for farmers in the area.As a result, officials have decided to limit water to farmers for their cultivations this year.

However, some farmers have planted paddy in extents for which officials say they cannot provide water and such extents are deemed illegal cultivation. Farmers have questioned as to how officials could supply Jaffna with water from the Iranamadu tank, when there is no water for the paddy fields in Kilinochchi.

Iranamadu tank built in 1902, is the biggest tank in the North. During British rule, irrigation engineer Henry Parker designed the Iranamadu tank irrigation scheme in 1866, and a colony, now called Kilinochchi, was established to provide labour to build the Iranamadu tank.

The first phase of the Iranamadu tank project was completed in 1902, at a cost of Rs. 194,000. The tank’s depth was 22 feet, with a capacity of 44,000 acres feet. The second phase was completed in 1954, when its depth was increased to 30 feet and its capacity increased to 80,000 acres feet. The third phase was completed in 1977. At present, the tank is 9 km long, 2 km wide and 34 feet deep. It helped to irrigate 20,882 acres of land in the Kilinochchi district, through 32.5 km of channels.

Frogs In A Pot Of Water

Sunday, September 09, 2012

There is a facile truism about nations getting the politicians they deserve. We, in Sri Lanka certainly have the kind we deserve.  Small-minded, cliquish, corrupt, self-serving, self-indulgent and deceitful. We should have booted them out a long time ago – but have not.

As we watch the conclusion of yet another election what is evident is not that the ballot rules but that parliamentarians have shown once again that they will stoop to any level in order to cling to power.

In the run up to each election the mantra is similar. Election monitors in Sri Lanka warn that violence is likely. Last Wednesday, monitors once again, warned that violence was likely to grip the Ampara District in the Eastern Province if the law enforcement authorities fail to uphold law and order during the Eastern Provincial Council election.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) stated that Muslim-dominated Akkaraipattu in Amapara was likely to become another Kolonnawa with several Muslim parties contesting for power in the Council.

Kolonnawa turned violent last October during local government elections with a shooting incident that killed four persons including a Presidential advisor, Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and severely injured a governing party parliamentarian and thug Duminda Silva.

CaFFE Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon has said that law enforcement authorities had ignored warnings by election monitors during last year’s local government elections resulting in the violence in Kolonnawa.  No surprises there.

He has explained that the situation in Akkaraipattu was similarly tense.

According to Tennakoon, the battle between Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader, Minister Rauf Hakeem and National Muslim Congress (NMC) Leader, Minister A. L. M. Athaullah is turning out into a full-blown conflict.

While all this is happening Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP have descended to a level similar to that of the Colombo municipal administration which may be considered a creation of Wickremesinghe.

Sri Lanka faces a serious crisis of governance. More so, when President Mahinda Rajapaksa boasts to acolytes that he is constantly bombarded with appeals from opposition party parliamentarians to cross to government ranks. Bi-partisanship once again fails in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is once more at a crossroad. Trapped, by narrow-minded, uneducated leaders. Leaders, who have spat on democracy, embraced corruption and trampled on development in the truer sense. If white elephants like the Hambantota port, airport and cricket stadium can be held as examples or parallel to development projects that will help lift this island to new heights then it is no small wonder that Sri Lanka is destined to remain stuck in a political time warp. And her people forever to be treated as asses.

Corruption and the abuse of power are so utterly universal in this country that the public has become cynical to the extent that it evokes no response from them. From the dingiest alleys through the middle corridors to the highest echelons of power, corruption holds sway.

As the COPE report details, public funds have been squandered  by none other than many of those among the government parliamentarians. Some of who are today holding office as Cabinet Ministers.  It does not matter one bit to either President Mahinda Rajapaksa or anyone of the other 225 MPs that neither a lasting peace nor development projects for the greater good of this country and its people are not even being considered at this moment in time as they jostle for perks and privileges of high office.

For this low breed of politicians what is required is for their mad projects to be cheap, popular stunts.  Our continuous articles on the law banning polythene to the government’s flagrant disregard for the protection, rights, welfare and lives of civilians are good examples.

The government has failed to conduct credible investigations into alleged war crimes by security forces, dismissing the overwhelming body of evidence as LTTE propaganda. The government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), characterized as a national accountability mechanism, is deeply flawed, does not meet international standards for such commissions, and has failed to systematically inquire into alleged abuses. In August the government allowed emergency regulations in place for nearly three decades to lapse, but overbroad detention powers remained in place under other laws and new regulations. Several thousand detainees continue to be held without trial, in violation of international law.

Remember the Expropriation Bill? The rationale for this wave of nationalisation was to reform under-performing or under-utilized assets, but if that is the goal the government has no further to look than Mihin Airlines or the Ceylon Electricity Board, both perennial money losers.However, there are pet projects and those with less emotional attachment. Some of the companies being nationalized have had a history of mismanagement, including the Hilton Hotel holding company. Some have not. It is possible that the government (or their cronies could run them better), albeit unlikely.  What is more troubling is the precedent this Bill set. The government said this is a one-time thing, but if you have to give that assurance, perhaps you should question why you are doing it even this one time. As the knock-on effect at the BOI shows, this is actually a change in policy, passed with a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

While Mahinda Rajapaksa could perhaps be commended for going the legalistic route rather than simply ramming the changes through, (the Supreme Court ruled the Bill was constitutional) he should be condemned for warping the legal system by pushing such a dubious Bill through. It makes the Supreme Court seem nakedly partisan, completely circumvents the usual Bill drafting and gazetting procedure, and, most importantly, sets a precedent. While this circus is enacted before a weary nation, fed-up to the gills with such antics, both the government and opposition is yet to come up with any strategy to find a political solution that will move Sri Lanka away from the machinations of a select few with a perverted sense of patriotism.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is good at making the right noises and a past master at playing good cop while he allows his siblings and henchmen to play bad cop by giving them a free hand at the same time.

But it is a catch 22 situation.  We desperately need leaders who are committed towards the betterment of the country.  Men and women of integrity, principle and ethics.

The Myth Of The Rajapaksa-Supermen

“We were given a King; Come, Rally, All as One.”

(UPFA Propaganda Song)

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

Last week Sri Lanka won her first Paralympic Medal.
Sooner, or later, the credit for that triumph would be laid at some Rajapaksa-door, though Lankan Paralympic-entrants were left to fend for themselves even more than Lankan Olympic-entrants. As the winner of that lonely Bronze told the BBC, “I have to buy all the equipment, shoes and clothes, everything from my own salary. I did not get sponsorship for my training…” (Colombo Telegraph – 4.9.2012).

That unpalatable truth would be lost in a country where official propaganda labours with Herculean effort to credit the Ruling Siblings with every triumph; and to advance the counterfactual claim that the Rajapaksas (and the Rajapaksas alone) hold the wellbeing of the land and the happiness of the people in their mightily competent grip.           Read More »

Tamil civil society cautions UNHRC to safeguard reputation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2012, 14:58 GMT]
Civil society activists of Eezham Tamils are worried about possibilities of Sri Lanka manipulating the visit of the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) team to the island next week. In a letter addressed to HE Navanetham Pillai, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the civil society has cautioned the team against Sri Lanka buying more time to continue and complete its agenda of Sinhalicisation of the North and East. The civil society expressed its fear based on past instances where the GOSL had been able to manipulate visits by members of the International and UN community so as to benefit its agenda. The letter requested the team to have its own agenda for assessment of the situation, to get guarantees from GOSL for that freedom and to let the public know on the terms of reference as well as restrictions.

As there are no indications of any real change in the situation since the Geneva resolution, the visit of the OHCHR team is likely to be used only as a procedure to endorse Sri Lanka’s LLRC implementation with further time, which in real terms means continuation and completion of Sinhalicisation of the North and East, the letter pointed out. 

“As people on the ground we are afraid that nothing concrete has materialised in terms of real change for the war affected Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka since the passing of the March 2012 Resolution,” the letter signed by prominent members of the civil society said.

“We fear that your mission’s visit may be used by the Government of Sri Lanka as part of their campaign in November 2012 and March 2013 before the UN Human Rights Council to impress upon the International Community.” 

“We are afraid that the November 2012 Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka and the March 2013 review of the Resolution will result in the endorsement of the GOSL’s National Action plan on implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, thus giving more time to the GOSL to continue and complete its agenda of Sinhalisation of the North and East,” the letter came out with the main concern of the civil society on the possible course of affairs.

Allowing such a course would “put at stake the reputation of the UN Human Rights Council,” the Tamil civil society cautioned.

Full text of the letter follows:

H.E. Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland.

Your Excellency, 

UN OHCHR Mission to Sri Lanka

We write to you as concerned Tamils from Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka, regarding Your Excellency’s decision to send a team of three officials led by Mr. Hanny Megally, Chief of the Asia, Pacific, Middle East and North Africa Branch to visit Sri Lanka next week (September 14th onwards) and assess the situation in Sri Lanka particularly following the passing of Resolution A/HRC/19/2 at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council in March 2012.

While we welcome the visit of the team, we are concerned that the team might not be given the access that would enable an independent assessment of the Government of Sri Lanka’s performance of its obligations under Resolution A/HRC/19/2. Our concern is rooted in past experiences where the GOSL had been able to manipulate visits by members of the International and UN community so as to benefit their agenda. We fear that your mission’s visit may be used by the Government of Sri Lanka as part of their campaign in November 2012 and March 2013 before the UN Human Rights Council to impress upon the International Community that they have seriously given heed to their obligations under the Geneva Resolution.

To avoid giving the GOSL the opportunity of appropriating the UN OHCHR team’s visit for their propoganda purposes we consider it important that your office seeks guarantees from the GOSL that the mission will have sufficient freedom in being able to devise their own agenda in assessing the situation in Sri Lanka, particularly during their visits to the North and East parts of the country. We also believe that your office should make public the exact purpose and terms of reference of the mission and further make public any restrictions that the GOSL may have imposed on the UN OHCHR mission.

As people on the ground we are afraid that nothing concrete has materialised in terms of real change for the war affected Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka since the passing of the March 2012 Resolution. The purpose and objective of the resolution still remains a distant dream and the trajectory of the GOSL does not indicate by any means that the situation will improve. We believe that this experience will put at stake the reputation of the UN Human Rights Council. We are afraid that the November 2012 Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka and the March 2013 review of the Resolution will result in the endorsement of the GOSL’s National Action plan on implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, thus giving more time to the GOSL to continue and complete its agenda of Sinhalisation of the North and East. We consider it very important that your mission has the opportunity and time to understand this dire situation on the ground in the North and East. If the mission is given adequate access to assess for themselves the situation in the North and East we have no doubt that they will arrive at the same conclusion that we have described above.

We are aware that Your Excellency closely and keenly monitors the development in Sri Lanka with regard to post-war reconicliation and accountability and are also confident that you sufficiently understand the manipualtive tactics of the GOSL that it employs in its engagement with the UN and International Community. We trust that you will take necessary action to make your mission’s visit to Sri Lanka a success in terms of its contribution to bettering the lives of the war affected Tamil people in this country. 

[signed by civil society representatives]

Arrest Illegal Imprisonment!

By Malinda Seneviratne -September 9, 2012 

Malinda Seneviratne

‘Prisoners are also human beings’ is the large-lettered legend that decorates the wall of the Welikada Prison.  The Sri Lankan prison system recognizes the fact and has space for many programs that affirm it.  Prisoners, especially those serving long sentences, learn new trades, prepare for and sit examinations, put together all manner of cultural events, participate in meditation programs and through these and other measures obtain meaning for their otherwise monotonous lives.

Of course, those entering prison find themselves in some half-way house to enlightenment, heaven or blissful state of being of course.  A lot of seedy things happen in prison.  Hardcore criminals are known to direct criminal activity from their cells.  Some prison officers are said to work hand-in-glove with these criminals.

And yet, prisoners are human beings and when the term ‘Prisoners’ Rights’ is brought up, what is conjured is the notion that even while serving sentences there are non-negotiable privileges that they have the right to enjoy and therefore need to have access to.  Forgotten in this is the most fundamental of all rights guaranteed to citizens who for whatever reason is made part of legal processes.  Justice.

Justice is the most fundamental of prisoner-rights.  Wrongful arrest is not new. Conviction on thin or false evidence is also not uncommon.  All kinds of injustices are wrought by special laws, such as Emergency Regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act.  The law is silent in times of war, they say.  That’s hard to swallow for the law abiding citizen and the champion of democracy, but what is most unpalatable is the screw ups that have nothing to do with extraordinary circumstances, the injustices in routine legal processes and the immense violence done to human beings consequently.

The case of Loku Vithanage Ratnapala, Prisoner No. P7834 in the Mahara Prison is one of many where justice has slipped, most of which have been examined thoroughly by rights advocate Kalyananda Thiranagama and his team of civil conscious citizens.

Ratnapala is now 61 years old, has spent 29 years in prison and is to complete his sentence(s) on March 31, 1953 at which time he would be 102.  His family has abandoned him.  His wife last visited in 1992 and his son in 2003, which was his first and last visit.  He does not get any letters from anyone.  He was sentenced to 84 years rigorous imprisonment in 3 cases by the Morawaka Magistrate’s Court in 1988.  He had already being service sentences imposed in other cases and did not have legal representation. He pleaded guilty.  The charges: a) causing simple hurt by assaulting with hand and robbery of a repeated gun, b) unlawful assembly, house breaking and retention of stolen property, and c) unlawful assembly, house breaking, robbery of goods worth Rs. 4,900 and retention of stolen property.

Thiranagama contends that the sentences of 15 years and two of 34.5 years each are illegal, exceeding the powers and jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Courts.  He cites the proviso to S 16 of the Code of Criminal Procedures Act according to which a Magistrate’s Court can impose a sentence exceeding two years only where a person is convicted of several trials at one trial.  A person with previous convictions can be sentenced to two additional years, under the provisions of the Prevention of Crimes Ordinance, with the condition that the fact must be stated.  The maximum that Ratnapala could have been given is 12 and not 84 years as per the upper limits of jurisdiction.  Add the other convictions and Ratnapala ought to be serving 40 years.

When one considers that prisoners serving long sentence are required to serve only two-thirds of the term, Ratnapala should have been released in May 2012, not counting in other term-reductions usually dispensed on special occasions.

‘Any sentence of imprisonment exceeding 4 years imposed by a Magistrate’s Court is illegal, incompetent and lacking in validity.  A prisoner is not bound to serve such an illegal sentence and prison authorities are not legally obliged to enforce such manifestly illegal jail sentences.’

Thiranagama, above, faults the Magistrates’ Courts of imposing many other such illegal sentences and dubs them as flagrant violations of law and gross infringement of fundamental rights of prisoners.

The question is, what is the Attorney General, the higher judicial authorities and the Human Rights Commissions doing about it?

Results of polls will shape Govt. policy on vital issues

By Our Political Editor

= Monitors say widespread violations of election laws and violence marred polls
= HR groups hit out at Govt. report to UNHRC, Minister Samarasinghe now likely to go to Geneva

While, UPFA and UNP candidates were battling it out at the provincial council elections, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe were having a friendly conversation at Gangaramaya yesterday when they visited the temple for the exposition of the sacred Kapilavastu relics. Pic by Romesh Danushka

The UPFA government’s popularity, both in Sri Lanka and abroad, will be measured today by an unusual yardstick — the outcome of yesterday’s polls for Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern Provincial Councils.

The main thrust of the government has been to demonstrate, both here and to the outside world, that despite criticism on a multitude of issues, the UPFA continues to enjoy the confidence of the people. Towards this end, the alliance’s seven-week campaign, where an entire cabinet of ministers had been deployed, was to ensure that it win a larger volume of votes, perhaps higher than previous polls.

There is little doubt that victory is on hand for the ruling coalition in at least Sabaragamuwa and the North Central provinces. Whilst a similar win cannot be ruled out in the Eastern Province, there is also the strong likelihood of a hung council with a strong edge for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). The plum in the three polls yesterday is the one for the East. Barring the predominantly Tamil speaking north, the only other area in the country with a large minority concentration is the East. The voter strength is divided roughly in equal parts of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. That it is the first polls after the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas over three years ago adds significance because the Government’s reconciliation efforts are yet to get under way. A convincing victory there could be interpreted also as an endorsement of UPFA policy on Tamil issues. In equal measure, a defeat would deliver a different message.

A hung council will naturally mean a lot of political horse trading. With the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), an alliance partner of the UPFA, fielding its own candidates, the issue could become more contentious. Many questions arise. Will the SLMC back the UPFA or choose to close ranks with the TNA in forming a council? On the other hand, will the SLMC relent and make amends with the UPFA? The polls campaign has seen some bloody clashes with government backers engaging SLMC factions in cut throat battles. The bitterness of the UPFA leadership was reflected by Minister Dullas Allahapperuma. He declared publicly that his ministerial colleague and SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem said one thing to the cabinet and another to voters in the East. He was alluding to Hakeem’s remarks that some mosques had come under attack under the UPFA Government, a charge which President Mahinda Rajapaksa bluntly refuted during the polls campaign in Muslim-dominated Kinniya in the Trincomalee district. The polls outcome in the East notwithstanding, Hakeem’s own political future with the UPFA also becomes a critical issue.

Read More

Jackals And The Mafia Of Crooks

The Sunday Times Editorial -September 9, 2012

Sinha Ratnatunga - Editor Sunday Times

The news that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) which regulates the stock market is investigating 17 alleged manipulators is in the public domain now. This was revealed in this newspaper three weeks ago and remains un-contradicted.
No doubt, these 17 remain innocent until proven guilty, but the question is why the Government – or Parliament, is maintaining a deafening silence on the issue.

There’s little to wonder why. Colombo being a relatively small city with a ‘chattering class’, it is common tattle that meny of, the 17 ‘suspects’ are closely linked to the ruling elite. This linkage extends to the level of financing the political campaigns of the rulers, and even more, acting for them as front men.

This talk is allowed to remain in the public domain, and spread. The inaction on the part of the Government only reinforces these theories swirling around. But given Hobson’s choice, the Government opts for the ‘talk’ than the ‘walk’ to smother it. For it just cannot afford to put such manipulators in jail.

The signs were ominous when the earlier SEC chairperson resigned some months back. Being in the position she was in, as the wife of the President’s Secretary, she could not say why she was resigning, but again, the reasons were known to those in the city. To offset the bad media at the time, the President appointed someone who has been a politician and therefore quite familiar with the media. His credentials stood drooping ‘market confidence’ in good stead, but even then, one felt he was a brave, if somewhat nave man to have gone into that cesspit thinking he could clean it up. The stock market is just a vignette of what is happening in the country in general. Graft is rife, anyone who is someone in the Government sector is trying to put his hand in the till and the Bribery Commission is kept impotent. This may be the buzz in the city, or among the more urbane sections, but that does not mean that it is not happening.

So much so, that it seems the Government has lost control of what is going on around it. “The jackals have taken over,” said one of the more straightforward insiders of the administration. And once those at the lower levels realise that the top is corrupt there’s no stopping them either. Take the case of the Police. It has been listed as the most corrupt public institution in the country. One of the reasons for this is because they have been given the powers to enforce the law, the power to interpret it and discretion over it, which leads to breaking it. The corruption in the Police is widely seen on the roads.

Not just that they take bribes from errant motorists (who also give knowing the chances of arrest for inducing a public officer is nil), but see the way private buses ply the road caring two hoots for the Highway Code. Why? Because some of these buses are owned by senior police officers while the middle level officers own vans and the sergeants own three-wheelers. Some of them are parked inside police stations at night and constables drive them for hire during their off hours.

This is the trend that has spread to all sectors of the Government. The private sector then is quick to play according to these new rules.

The Bribery and Corruption Commission has adopted the path of least resistance. It keeps complaining that the laws are insufficient; that it has no ‘teeth’; that it has no vehicles; that it has no staff and that it cannot initiate an inquiry without a complaint being made. That is a fanciful excuse to do nothing. The Opposition Leader put it aptly, without giving all those things the Commission is asking for, just give the Commission beds to sleep on. The PIU (Presidential Investigations Unit) has sent the Commission files the Unit claims. Yet, the Commission is sitting on them.

Ask any investigator who is serious about the work he does, and he will see that ‘if there is a will, there is a way’. They point out to the Commission asking a police officer to take cognizance of an unchallenged news item in the newspapers, or even an anonymous but credible petition and lodge a formal complaint. Clearly, there is no will in the first place and therefore no way that the Bribery and Corruption Commission in Sri Lanka will clean the Augean stables of the Government.

In recent times, the ‘development economy’ that this Government boasts about is replete with complaints of inflated tenders, tender-fixing, cut backs and a lot of give and take between private individuals and government authorities. The amassing of undeclared wealth and assets, money-laundering through the stock market is mind-boggling. The Department of Inland Revenue is competing for first place in sleeping with the Bribery and Corruption Commission.

We also see the Government’s inaction to punish wrongdoers in the contaminated fuel scandal. The President does not want to admit anything is wrong with his administration by sacking the Minister. Earlier, those who caused huge losses in the petrol hedging cases went scot-free. He has been fed stories about the Greek bonds scandal. It is almost as if the President is easily gullible to con-artists in the higher echelons of his administration.

In the media, there are advertisements calling for people to invest in apartments in Paris and for billion-rupee projects. Sober economists would say that these are not signs of a burgeoning and robust economy, but one of a ‘bubble economy’ waiting to burst. It is an economy of the noeveau riche, the beneficiaries of crony capitalism, as the last SEC Chairman Thilak Karunaratne called it, a mafia of crooks.

The President will have to look sharp if the ‘Jackals’ are not to start dictating terms – even to him.

Arnestad’s ‘Silenced Voices’ documentary gains momentum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2012, 14:27 GMT]
Even as the GoSL tightens its vice through different means to gag democratic voices in the island from expressing the truth about the genocide of the Eezham Tamils, award-winning Norwegian documentary filmmaker Beate Arnestad’s ‘Silenced Voices - Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’ has been steadily gaining momentum at acclaimed film festivals and screenings across the world, exposing the truth about media repression by the Sri Lankan state. After a grand pre-première in Oslo in February 2012, a world premiere in Hague at the prestigious International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in March, screenings at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York in June, Arnestad’s documentary received a salubrious welcome at public screenings in Australia this week. 

Ms. Arnestad, who has over twenty years of experience producing and directing content for departments at Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, was most known for her first independent and award- winning documentary ‘My Daughter the Terrorist’ (2007) that was focussed on the Black Tigers. 

The pre-première screening of her latest documentary ‘Silenced Voices’ to a jam-packed hall in Oslo on February 2012 gave viewers a powerful account of the situation of media freedom in a militarized state and the numerous personal and political hurdles that committed journalists from the island had to surpass to bring out the truth to the world. The commitment to ethical journalism shown by Bashana Abeywardane, former editor of Hiru weekly, his wife Sharmila Logeswaram, Sonali Samarasinghe, the wife of slain journalist Lasantha Wikrematunge, and A. Lokeesan, TamilNet’s Vanni wartime correspondent, were poignantly shown in the documentary which also featured the escape of Lokeesan to Norway. 

  Full story >> 

Let’s Rate The Rajapakse Regime

By Kumar David -September 8, 2012

Is this the worst of all possible regimes? Let’s rate the Rajapakse Regime

Prof. Kumar David

What I do not want this to be is an occasion for venting my spleen at theRajapakse Regime (RR); I have many openings for that. I would like it to be an opportunity for framing a level headed response to the oft posed question: “Is RR the worst government Lanka has had in 65 years of self-government?” This is not an exercise in idleness as the query crops up at street corners, in three wheelers and in drawing rooms, and if not said, it is implicit in the gossip. To be rational, we have to be comparative and bear in mind that every previous government (or for that matter every government everywhere in the world) is hugely flawed. Governments are mammoth machines with joints out of kilter and loose nuts screwing around all over. Hence only a comparative viewpoint is reasonable.

I will choose six dimensions to make an appraisal; the first three are simpler to define: financial corruption (graft), abuse of power (curbing democracy, crushing dissent, interference with judiciary, independent statutory bodies and the police) and third, family patronage (nepotism, dynastic ambitions). The next three are more complex but cannot be shirked if the rating game is serious; clear policies, especially socio-economic (at issue is not whether one approves, but whether it visibly exists); fifth, the integrity of leadership (free of fraud and malevolence; the dichotomy often quoted is Lee Kwan Yew versus Ferdinand Marcos), and sixth, special to these times, we must give thought to the ability to sort out Lanka’s national question.

OK that’s enough for definitions; let’s get down to business.

Graft, power abuse and nepotism                              Read More

Connections | September 03, 2012

by Young Asia Television

Academic Action on the State of Higher Education

In Sri Lanka: Leymah Roberta Gbowee, Liberian peace activist, Nobel Peace Laureate

Connections | September 03, 2012 from Young Asia Television on Vimeo.

Over the past few months and weeks in particular- the state of State education has made headlines. In July this year the FUTA (Federation of University Teachers Associations) recommenced its trade union action which was suspended in July 2011 following discussions with the Government. The academics have been making several demands – from increased allocation on Government spending on education, better salaries to the de-politicization of the state education system.

Here’s a report on the trade union action –which includes views from academics, students, the public and Government officials.

* Post-War Developments and Women’s Concerns
In post-war Sri Lanka there are many challenges to overcome-particularly for women living in the war affected regions of the North and East.
2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee’s visit to Sri Lanka during the third week of August, was to highlight some of these concerns byextending her support to “A Sri Lankan Women’s Agenda on Peace, Security and Development” led by the Association of War Affected Women(AWAW). Following this another discussion was organized by another group of women to highlight in particular “Sri Lankan Women’s Human Rights in Post-war andthe Growth Economy”.

Here’s a report on some of the findings made by these women’s organizations and what they are doing to improve the situation.

* Thanga Sewal – Peace Building through Drama
A talented group of children from the Eastern province are being encouraged to pursue drama as a tool for peace building in their communities.

The Myth Of The Rajapaksa-Supermen

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -September 8, 2012 

“We were given a King; Come, Rally, All as One.”
(UPFA Propaganda Song)

Last week Sri Lanka won her first Paralympic Medal. Sooner, or later, the credit for that triumph would be laid at some Rajapaksa-door, though Lankan Paralympic-entrants were left to fend for themselves even more than Lankan Olympic-entrants. As the winner of that lonely Bronze told the BBC, “I have to buy all the equipment, shoes and clothes, everything from my own salary. I did not get sponsorship for my training…” (Colombo Telegraph – 4.9.2012).

That unpalatable truth would be lost in a country where official propaganda labours with Herculean effort to credit the Ruling Siblings with every triumph; and to advance the counterfactual claim that the Rajapaksas(and the Rajapaksas alone) hold the wellbeing of the land and the happiness of the people in their mightily competent grip. True, there are a few problems in this near paradisiacal land: inflation, a crumbling education system, child rape, disappearances… But we must not harp much on these issues, according to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, because “improper reporting of crime related reports would have a negative impact on tourism and investments to the country…” (Colombo Page – 23.8.2012). Our patriotic task is to believe that life is good and getting better, all thanks to the Rajapaksas.

Those who fail to embrace this ‘correct perspective’ are pawns of national and international conspirators who lurk under every stone and behind every bush, eternally plotting to destroy Lankan security and happiness. Like the Emperor’s New Clothes, only patriots can see this Perennial Threat; and only the Rajapaksas, as the Sole Patriotic Leaders, can deal with it, Adolf Hitler observed, “If popularity and force are combined, and if…they are able to survive for a certain time, an authority on an even firmer basis can arise, the authority of tradition. If finally, popularity, force and tradition combine, an authority may be regarded as unshakable” (Mein Kampf). A tradition of Rajapaksa Rule cannot be created without implanting the mythical image of the Ruling Siblings as a Trinity of Supermen capable of any feat and essential for our wellbeing.

It is a belief which is counter to provable facts. And it vitiates our sense of self as citizens and as human beings. A Übermensch cannot be, without countless Untermenschen; a Superman to be a superman needs his fellow men to be less than men. Super-leaders do not need intelligent and responsible citizens with critical faculties. Super-leaders need an infantile-populace which can be taught to embrace its inequality and love its subjugation. The Rajapaksas cannot become Supermen unless they can make us believe that we are a nation of political-minors in need of their wise counsel and vigilant protection. The Rajapaksas cannot dominate the SLFP without downgrading fellow SLFP leaders (their peers or superiors of not so long ago) into servile acolytes.
The Rajapaksas can ennoble themselves only by diminishing the rest of us.

The Labours of the Rajapaksas                                    Read More

All should defend free education and free health
Sunday 09 September 2012
A minister had said that pressure by FUTA to compel the government to allocate 6 % of GDP amounts to a terror action. If similar demands are made by doctors for the maintenance of the free health system and Buddhist monks for the upkeep of pirivena education, then according to the minister, the system could shut down. This is said by a government that spends large sums of money for various projects and elite entertainment. It is perfectly OK for the rulers to dish out money from the government coffers to satisfy the new-rich gangs that hang on to the regime but the demand of university teachers to safeguard and maintain the national education system amounts to a terror attack. 
Education and health are the most important areas of the welfare system which promises equity with development. The equalizing effect of free education and free health is obvious and needs no explanation. In Sri Lanka this had been tested by several generations and except the cynical rich, the rest are satisfied with the end result. If we have problems then certainly it is not because we have free education and free health; certainly not! On the contrary, we are civilized and cultured in spite of poverty because we had these facilities for so many generations.

Dismantling of welfare system
Poverty amidst growth is a much debated issue. The poverty paradigm has shifted from poverty reduction to what is now known as inclusive growth. This is because the process of rapid capitalist economic growth has left out large numbers of people from meaningful participation in social activities. Inclusive growth concerns not merely income inequality but with all dimensions of poverty. It embraces both income and non-income dimensions of well-being. This discussion is very relevant to the Lankan situation. The IMF has given the green light to the government to go ahead with to dismantle the welfare system. They wanted the government to transfer the burden of education and health to the private sector to make these sectors profit-oriented, and save money to   balance the budget. While the IMF has taken that attitude in relation to welfare measures in Lanka, the ADB has taken a critical view in relation to growth of poverty. The ADB goes on to say: “While poverty and living standards have improved in the region, more than 900 million people in Asia and the Pacific still live on less than $1.25 a day. In terms of economic benefits and access to social services, large numbers of people are being left behind or left out. In many developing countries, economic inequality has increased in the past decade. Without steps to address these disparities, the risks this trend poses, including social instability, will continue to grow.”
Key word here is social instability. Social instability may express as youth unrest and urban mass actions that obstruct normal life of city dwellers. On the other hand it could lead to national and communal violence with continuous terror actions. We have already seen such developments in this country in the recent past. Even the liberals have recognized the problem and they have suggested several changes in the development paradigms.The new paradigm of inclusive growth emphasizes that the process of rapid economic growth should not leave out large numbers of people from meaningful participation in economic, social and political life in their societies. Increasing economic inequality has followed economic growth in Lanka and in several other South Asian countries. Thus the main reason for the persistence of poverty was the skewed distribution of assets and capabilities. Unequal assets, wealth and opportunities in turn breed inequality. Also inadequate opportunities lead to inadequate income.

Setback to social mobility
Sri Lanka has improved income distribution owing to its past welfare programmes of free health and free education. Free education is an intergenerational lever to reduce poverty. Many have moved upward socially and economically owing to education facilities provided by the state. It is precisely because of that, that the university academics’ strike has highlighted the need for higher investment in education that would make society more egalitarian. Public expenditure on education had fallen to 1.47 per cent of GDP, the lowest in many years. This reduction in educational expenditure could be a setback to social mobility. Reduced expenditure on public health facilities too could deprive the poor of good health.
It is government’s priorities that determine the allocation of expenditure on various sectors. When the government spends large amounts of money on defence, there are inadequate funds for social welfare policies that are egalitarian in their outcomes. It was pointed out that defence expenditure had a component of egalitarian income distribution, as the majority of soldiers came from poor rural households. However, all that happened did happen within the Sinhala community; many died and many others were disabled. 
The large sums of defence expenditure on wages would have improved incomes and livelihoods of Sinhala rural households in particular, while the war brought poverty and misery to the victims of war. The time has come for all Lankans to get together and fight to defend free health and free education. This is a common struggle against the chauvinist, reactionary regime.

Hostility Towards Indians In Sri Lanka And Hostility Towards Sri Lankans In India

By Namini Wijedasa -September 8, 2012

Namini Wijedasa

For the first time ever, Colombo last week issued a travel advisory requesting Sri Lankans not to travel to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu “until further notice.” And across the Palk Strait, the Indians were rather taken aback.
“Travel advisory” is a dirty term in Sri Lanka. While some governments take it at face value, here it is viewed as a political tool used predominantly by the West to penalize regimes it doesn’t like. Now Colombo is using the same tool “against” India.
New Delhi did not issue a travel warning when Indian spectators were repeatedly harassed during the India-Sri Lanka cricket series in July-August.R.K. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu newspaper’s Colombo-based correspondent, tweeted widely about hostility towards Indians (including obscenity-strewn verbal assaults and objects being thrown at them) during four of the cricket matches.

Cricket matches 

But officials from Sri Lanka’s Ministry of External Affairs said earlier in the week that the advisory was temporary. The warning followed several developments in Tamil Nadu. Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram in August asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop training Sri Lankan service personnel in her state. She then ordered out two Sri Lankan schools’ football teams from Tamil Nadu saying their presence “hurt the sentiments of the Tamil people.”
The immediate trigger, however, was the mobbing on Monday of 184 Sri Lankan pilgrims visiting the ancient Poornimatha Church in Thanjavur. Despite heavy police security, protestors later stoned the buses that were taking them to the airport for an early flight home.
Indian media then reported that some demonstrators on Thursday tried to barge into a hotel in Madurai alleging it employed Sri Lankans – and calling for their immediate expulsion. While diplomats downplay these incidents so as not to exacerbate tensions, it is not yet certain which way the pendulum will swing.
There will be disagreement on whether what transpired at the cricket matches in Sri Lanka was as serious (or as organized) at what is happening now in Tamil Nadu. But one concern is this: The animosity displayed against Indians during the ODI series preceded the unpleasant events in New Delhi. This means that anti-Indian sentiment in Sri Lanka is a deeper phenomenon not connected exclusively to Tamil Nadu politics.
Diplomatic sources said there is concern in India that its subjects would be similarly treated when they visit Sri Lanka for the T20 World Cup from September 18 to October 7. Whether or not New Delhi takes the path of travel advisories remains to be seen.
But one thing the Central Government in India must do is to rein Tamil Nadu in.
Violence against ordinary citizens is a deliberate act of provocation. Surely it would be easier to stop such criminal activity than to reverse the damage caused by it to bilateral relations? The attacks on Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu – whatever the ideologies that might be fuelling them – are acts of aggression against foreign nationals on Indian soil.
Indians have condemned the acts, carried out mainly by “small” Tamil political outfits such as Naam Tamizhar Iyakkam and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi. The first is led by Seeman, a film director and actor; the president of the second is Thirumavalavan, a Chennai lawyer. Editorials have criticized Tamil Nadu politicians for their short-sightedness and called on the centre to act.

Three wise monkeys                                 Read More