The Impeachment And The Independence Of Judiciary

By Sumanasiri Liyanage -December 17, 2012

Sumanasiri Liyanage

Many are trying to interpret the attempt by the UPFA members of the Parliament to impeach the Chief Justice as a blow for the independence of judiciary, a highly valued element of democracy. Judiciary if operates independently, is posited as the last bastion of democracy in which people can seek justice when the two branches of the government, the legislature and the executive, wittingly or unwittingly, take unjust decisions affecting the citizens. Since the impeachment motion was presented to the Speaker of the Parliament, almost all have argued that it has been an attempt to scotch the independence of judiciary as some of the determinations of the Supreme Court affected adversely some of the bills the UPFA government wanted to pass quickly. It has also been mentioned that powerful politicians were unhappy over some of the decisions of the Judiciary Service Commission. The Secretary of the JSC was attacked by an unidentified gang in Sunday morning just prior to the handover the impeachment motion. The Sri Lankan police that are highly efficient in uncovering cases of non-political nature have so far failed to arrest or to identify the perpetrators. So I shall agree fully and unconditionally with the argument that the impeachment is undoubtedly an attempt to attack the judiciary. Nonetheless, I beg to differ in using the adjective, independent. Was the Sri Lankan judiciary independent of the legislature and the executive in the past? Was it independent, at least in relative sense, from the dominant social forces that include hegemonic Sinhala nationalist as well as economically dominant rich? Hence I would suggest that the impeachment discourse should be broadened if we really seek to understand the inner logic that operate beneath the surface. As my friend, journalist Kusal Perera (the Editor of Subhavitha), puts it in a private conversation, we should distant ourselves from ‘Hulsdorf Mentality’ in our attempt to theorize what is happening today.

Let me begin with my conclusion that is in fact an extension of the argument advanced in my previous article, ‘Systems are Collapsing, So What?’. Then I will try to substantiate it. My submission is that the systems and institutions that have been created and modified by the Second Republic Constitution of 1978 have now evolved and transformed into parts of totally undemocratic, unjust and exploitative machine. Judiciary is no exception. It is also another decadent rotten and moribund institution that has been constantly making an attempt to negotiate with the executive in order to reach a ‘better deal’. It showed a semblance of independence when it had failed to reach such an agreement. One may say that the pre 1978 history was relatively better as far as the relationship between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary was concerned. Three branches of the government enjoyed relative independence from each other. However, even then, judiciary was not independent from the dominant and hegemonic social forces. As Selvakumaran and Edrisinghe have argued, post-independence judiciary acted with strong Sinhala nationalist bias in giving its views and verdicts. I do not here intend to harp on how the Supreme Court and lower courts made their determinations when it comes to laws and regulations affecting workers and other poor masses.

Focusing on the recent past, let me pose some questions that would help in unraveling the true nature of the judiciary. Was the appointment of Dr Shirani Bandaranayake as a supreme court a result of a political decision? Was the appointment of Sarath Nandasiri Silva as Chief Justice a political decision? Was the SC determination to imprison S B Disanayaka a political decision? Was Sarath Fonseka given a fair and just trial following the due process? Was the decision to reverse SC decision on P B Jayasundara an independent one? One may add many questions of similar nature to the above list and come to his or her own conclusion.

To witness the decadence of the system in its worst form, one may see what is happening in lower courts. How many years do people have to be under remand custody before cases were filed against them? How Tamil prisoners are waiting in prisons/ open camps to know what would be the charges eventually filed against them? As far as I am concerned these are much more important issues. It is totally unwarranted to put the issue independence before these issues since those issues have serious impact on poor, marginalized people. Once again journalist Kusal Perera reminded me of budgetary allocation of some 600 mn rupees in 2011 to improve court condition to make the execution of justice expedient. What happened to this money? Were there any follow-up actions? Was there a mention of this in 2012 budget?

It is absurd to portray this rotten system as independent and the guardian of ‘final’ justice. Of course, one may quote some of the decisions that were given by the judiciary as independent verdict. When a large number of Tamil prisoners were forcefully and arbitrarily transported to Vavunia somewhere in 2007, the Supreme Court gave a verdict that action was illegal and ordered those people should be brought back to Colombo. When I filed petition against the non-appointment of Constitutional Council set up by the 17^th Amendment, the SC even declared that none is above the law so that petition can be filed making even the President a respondent. How do we explain these phenomena? These things happen when the SC especially the Chief Justice had engaged in a battle with the executive branch of the government. However, it is incorrect to portray these decisions as a result of the Judicary exercising its independence. The system of bribe does not always run smoothly. It faces fissures and contradictions that should not be depicted as positive aspects of the system although outcome may be beneficial to the people. What we are witnessing to days is not an attack on pure and clean branch of the system by a dirty and authoritarian branch of the government. It is a conflict between two parts of the same corrupt and rotten machine. All the parties involved seem to have vested interests created by the system. Hence this reminds me a saying by Spinoza that Leon Trotsky prefers to quote many a time: “not to laugh, not to cry, but to understand’. Only such understanding will assist us to build a system that is just, democratic and humane.

*The writer is co-cordinator of Marx School, Colombo, Kandy and Negombo and teaches Political Economy at the University of Peradeniya.

Why this Urgency to Impeach the CJ

Why this Urgency to Impeach the CJ

by Upasiri de Silva.-Monday, December 17, 2012

( December 17, 2012, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) The purported inquiry against Chief Justice Hon. (Dr) (Mrs) Shirani Bandaranayake was conducted by a Kangaroo Court using the civilised name Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), to make it legitimate.  This Kangaroo Court consisted of Jokers without any decency or iota of knowledge in natural justice or Rule of law. Four of them happened to be   lawyers (or clowns if any one goes through their past activities) with one Joker who used to staged a death fast opposite the UN building, after giving up his usual profession of Drum Beating at Temples and funeral houses. Other two jokers have no shame and will do anything to keep King Kekille happy. The decision they reached after the Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and her learned lawyers withdrew from the hearing is questionable and any reasonable lawmaker will never allow anyone to reach such a decision.. The four opposition member MPs resigned from this Kangaroo Court after refusing to be a part of this uncivilised group after witnessing the inhuman way they treated the Chief Justice. These court jesters concluded this inquiry without allowing the Chief Justice’s lawyers to cross-examine the witnesses is a violation of all norms of natural justice and any establish law in Sri Lanka...

The story of King Kekille is in our folk stories for many centuries, as the then rulers wanted  to educate their subjects, that Law and Order and application of Rule of law is an essential factor in governing a country in a democratic environment. This folk story is very much applicable to the present day rulers as modern day King Kekille has lost his way in governing this country.

 Are these  court jesters serving under the present day King Kekille, is trying to impeach the Chief Justice in an unnecessary haste to cover the sins King Kekille committed using his Presidential powers by forcing the Judiciary to imprisoned the former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka on framed-up charges?   

Why are they so eager to impeach the Chief Justice without a proper and legitimate inquiry? Is there any hidden agenda behind this impeachment?  King Kekille wants the Chief justice to resigned or leave her position before a certain date, so he may be able to appoint some one else who can do his biddings. Who is this person waiting to sit on this Chief Justices Chair?

One of the Kangaroo Court or PSC member, MP Nimal Siripala De Silva, a lawyer by profession and famous for sex romps in his office and getting thrashed by his wife, announced in the Parliament that the Chief Justice is guilty of three purported offence 1, 2 and 3 even without a proper and impartial hearing after the opposition members of the PSC withdrew from the hearing.

MP Nimal Siripala De Silva’s announcement is similar to the hilarious judgement of King Kekille after the parapet wall collapsed due to bad construction killing a passerby, and every one responsible for the crime including the Mason passing the blame to a person who had nothing to do with ths collapse of the wall, after the wife of the man who got killed complaint to the King. The PSC findings to prove that the Chief Justice is guilty as charge may be similar to many judgements given by King Kekille.

The original King Kekille was not an educated person, but the modern King Kekille supposed to be a learnered Lawyer. According to someone who was close to the Guru under whom, King Kekille did his internship of six months to learn how to practice and apply the Law, and  the Rule of law to practice law. King Kekille was never interested in learning the basic requirements of the law  other than  preparing tea for the Guru and other Lawyers and cleaning the kitchen after completing his task. This may be a reason why King Kekille is behaving in this manner by throwing the Law and Order and Rule of Law  from the window and apply his own ‘Kekille’s’ rules to punished  innocent people.

The other Lawyers (or liars) working in King Kekille’s courts also behave just like  King Kekille, and try to punish the innocent without any proper inquiry about the charges.

The story of King Kekille is in our folk stories for many centuries, as the then rulers wanted  to educate their subjects, that Law and Order and application of Rule of law is an essential factor in governing a country in a democratic environment. This folk story is very much applicable to the present day rulers as modern day King Kekille has lost his way in governing this country.

In this regard, the shot gun terrorist who turned King Kekille’s Andare, known as ‘Thadi Priyantha aka Chandraprema’ is seeking solace with the American Democratic Senate system to solve the present impasse where King Kekille, who is trying to establish a Dictatorial power with a divided judiciary, as he  has got stuck between a hard rock and the Devil, while charging Americans for every un-democratic action of the King Kekille’s government. He further argues about Hon.(Dr)(Mrs) Shirani Bandaranayake holding the post of Chef Justice when her lawful husband Mr. Suraj Kariyawasam is charge before a magistrate court, (case not yet even heard) arguing that Chief Justice will use her powers to pressure the Magistrate if the Magistrate  take a decision not to the liking of the Chief Justice.

This shot gun terrorist is thinking about King Kekille’s modus operandi in solving problems by shooting the messenger and influencing the Judiciary, Police and the other Defence Forces to achieve what he wanted to achieve. This man who eats the left over’s at the King Kekille’s Palace has no brain to think how democracy works.  

This joker has forgotten how King Kekille’s brother who was elevated by him in the Gota’s war, as the man who did every thing to win the LTTE war, allowed junior Officers to sit in two Court Martials to pass Judgement on their former Commander, when these junior Army Officers were Court Marshalled and reprimanded by the then Army Commander Sarath Fonseka for crimes punishable under the Army Act.. Gota and his brother King Kekille forced them to bring a guilty verdict on him using framed up charges using the Army Act of 1949 which was not in used since 1990,  as the Army Act 1949 was revised in 1990.

Is there any connection between the removal of the Chief Justice from her position and the appeals of Sarath Fonseka the former Army Commander and the re-introduction of the Constituently default DIVINEGUMA BILL and the ‘Z’ score case which helped to undress the two Ministers responsible for that debacle, allowing the poor HSC students to have a fair go?

King Kekille and his band of jokers in the Parliament including his Policeman brother should thank Hon. (Dr) (Mrs) Shirani Bandaranayake, for dismissing the Election petition filed by Sarath Fonseka the 2010 Presidential candidate using his Presidential powers (under duress), when all the dices were cast on favour of Sarath Fonseka, to regain the LOST election and to occupy the position of elected President of Sri Lanka, prudently taken from him by the King Kekille and his brothers and other stooges.

Not only on this case, King Kekille used his Presidential powers to forced the present Chief Justice Hon (Dr) (Mrs) Shirani Bandaranayake and other Judges including the then Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, to declare the ‘Court Martial’ usually headed by Staff Sergeants and other NCOs’ elevating them to the position of Judges without an iota of Legal knowledge,   as a ordinary court to prevent Sarath Fonseka retaining his Parliamentary seat and all lost benefits including his Ranks.

King Kekille must thank Chief Justice Hon.(Dr) (Mrs)( Shirani Bandaranayake for dismissing all the appeals of Sarath Fonseka using undue Presidential powers creating  duress and forcing an impartial judiciary to deviate from the normal judicial process to make Sarath Fonseka a prison under their authority.

If this impeachment goes through every Sri Lankan who is doing ‘sakkili work’ for the King Kekille and his family should realise that they may get the same treatment as the present Chief Justice and the former Army Commander who eliminated the LTTE for them to rob the country at will.

“Labbata thiyapu Atha Pulata nothiyaida” is an appropriate Sinhala saying to describe the present situation.

SRI LANKA: Requirements for the removal in Australia -- the views of two Australian experts

December 17, 2012

Two Australian experts, Laureate Professor Cheryl Saunders AO Sugath Nishanta Fernando Professor Adrienne Stone, Director, Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies, have submitted a paper at the request of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) based in Hong Kong explaining the requirements for the removal of judges in Australia.

The AHRC has referred the paper to the lawyers who are making presentations against government's move for the impeachment of the Chief Justice.

After giving a summary of the Australian experience regarding this matter the two experts sum up their position in Australia regarding the removal of judges as follows:

Judicial removals are treated by the vast majority of governments with the utmost seriousness. As extraordinary decisions that must only be made in extraordinary circumstances, judicial removals must be treated with that level of seriousness.

Australian and international standards on the removal of judges from office clearly reflect a requirement that prior to any consideration by a parliament to remove a judge, a thorough, cautious, fair and independent investigation into alleged misconduct or incapacity by former judicial officers must take place.

Any procedure which does not fulfil that standard is inimical to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, and no government that refuses to afford its judicial officers these standards of protection can claim to legitimately represent its constituent people, or act with the legitimate authority which only the people may bestow upon their governors.

They also state:

Australia forms a good comparator jurisdiction for Sri Lanka. Both nations share the same English common law arid parliamentary heritage. The rule of law forms the fundamental basis entrenched in the Australian Constitution. The stability of the Australian polity, its economic growth and prosperity, and the wellbeing of its people depend upon respect for the rule of law. Central to the realisation of that ideal is that the independence of the judiciary be beyond question. Australian courts, and not Parliament, have the final say on the interpretation of the law. The High Court has general authority to determine the meaning of Australia'sConstitution, and its interpretations bind Australian legislatures and executives at all levels of government.¹ The Court's power of judicial review prevents any law or executive action from transgressing the principles and limits to government laid down in the Constitution. The Justices of the High Court of Australia are highly respected as the guardians and guarantors of Australia's democracy: like all judges, they cannot fulfil these vital tasks without complete independence; in practice as well as principle.

These are the hallmarks of all successful and lasting constitutional democracies. Such a state cannot be achieved without entrenched safeguards to ensure judicial independence, chief among which is proper standards preventing the arbitrary or baseless removal of judicial officers.

The full text of the expert opinion may be viewed at:http://www.humanrights.asia/resources/pdf/removal-of-judges/view

¹Australian Communist Party v Commonwealth (1951) 83 CLR 1.

The President’s Step Backwards

By C. A. Chandraprema -December 17, 2012

C. A. Chandraprema

The president’s announcement that he will be appointing an ‘independent panel’ to look into the merits of the impeachment motion after the parliamentary process is over and it has been referred to him, has drawn mixed reactions. Some opponents of the impeachment exult that their claim that parliament is not ‘supreme’ has been vindicated by the president’s declaration that he will be appointing an independent panel to scrutinise the parliamentary process. Others say that this indicates that the president himself has accepted that the parliamentary select committee process is flawed. Yet others of a more cynical bent say that this is just a typical Rajapaksa ploy to head of protests during the constitutionally mandatory month-long ‘nonagathaya’ before parliament can act on the recommendations of the PSC.  Be that as it may, the president does have much to think about. This will be the first time in post independence Sri Lanka that any high official in this country is being impeached and it is he who will in the final analysis take the step of signing the decree sacking the CJ.

The point is that the wrongdoing that the CJ has been found guilty of by the PSC is not as clear cut as say, a judge being found to have murdered somebody or caught trying to smuggle gold into the country. The CJ has been found guilty of three charges:  1) Taking over and hearing a case involving among other properties, Trillium Residencies in which she had on a power of attorney bought a flat for her sister and brother in law thus creating a conflict of interest. 2) That she had not declared a large amount of money in her bank accounts in the annual declaration of assets. 3) That she continued to be the CJ and the Chairperson of the Judicial Services Commission in a context where her husband was a suspect in a case before a magistrates court and as the CJ and the ex-officio Chairperson of the JSC, she had powers over the transfer, dismissal or career advancement of the magistrate who was trying her husband as well as the power to examine all the records of that magistrates court – another conflict of interest.                                                     Read More 

Unidentified group trailing behind a Website Editor resident in UK

(Lanka-e-News -15.Dec.2012, 11.30PM Our news providing source had confirmed that an unidentified group is trailing behind a Website Editor resident in the UK . It is the objective of this group to somehow silence this Editor of the website which has been labeled as a mudslinging website and banned in Sri Lanka . This group had gone to the UK after garnering information for a long time , and it is believed based on information that there are two males and a female in that group. This group had left for UK about two weeks ago. In order to silence this Editor , assistance of several residents in Britain have been enlisted , according to our source providing news . -Courtesy Janarala newspaper – 14 th Dec. 2012 Another source of information reporting in relation to this same news stated that the website that is being hounded had in the past published news on the Rajapakse family ailments , which had triggered the wrath and fury of the Rajapakse family members. In this connection , there had been a discussion in the Ministry of a grade 8 qualified Minister .

One of the Ministers who is in the medical profession had told at the discussion , ‘already arrangements have been made to give him the treatment ’ . This blabbering Minister had blurted out , ‘it will be similar to the killing of the LTTE leader in France’ At the time when that murder occurred , there arose suspicions that our State intelligence service was linked to it. Courtesy – SL X News 14 th Dec. 2102.

SRI LANKAN EMBASSY COLLECTS ALMOST RS.2B IN COMPENSATION

Sri Lankan Expatriates Society President Ravika De Silva, left, presents a memento on behalf of his society to Sarath Kumara Weerasinghe.

December 16, 2012

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh has collected SR 56 million (close to Rs.2 billion) in compensation for Sri Lankan workers in the Kingdom during the past three years, a diplomat told his countrymen at a reception held in Riyadh recently.

Sarath Kumara Weerasinghe, deputy chief of the Sri Lankan mission in Riyadh, made the statement at a farewell accorded to him on the eve of his departure from the Kingdom.

The send-off was arranged by the Sri Lankan Expatriates Society (SLES) in Riyadh in cooperation with a good number of community groups based in the capital and in Dammam.

More than 400 community members gathered with their family members at the mission’s premises to say good-bye to the diplomat who had rendered services to the welfare of the Sri Lankan community living in the Kingdom and as well as on the island. 

Weerasinghe, who officiated as a minister at the embassy, said that he had collected these large sums as compensation for the island’s workers who died here in the Kingdom or who became disabled due to industrial accidents. “We were able to achieve this target solely because of the unstinted cooperation rendered by the Saudi officials,” Weerasinge said, thanking the security and medical authorities and the officials at the Foreign Ministry. 

The diplomat, who was in charge of prisons, death and compensation during his tenure at the embassy, said that during this period he was able to clear a backlog of 600 cases and brought it down to 24 at the time of his departure. 

He said a fair number of Sri Lankans are in 11 jails that came under his purview. He hoped that they will be released in the course of time since most of them are convicted of petty offenses. 

He explained that there are some 550,000 Sri Lankans working in the Kingdom, which is the largest concentration of workers in the Middle East. “We get only two deaths per week and on average 10 runaway housemaids,” he noted. He also said that during his period no Lankan was sentenced to death.
 
“When compared to the Sri Lankan population in the Kingdom, the volume of complaints is negligible,” he noted. 

Paying rich tributes to the outgoing diplomat, SLES President Ravika De Silva said that Weerasinghe was one of those diplomats who worked round the clock for the welfare of his countrymen. “His mobile phone was never off and he used to answer every call to help Sri Lankans in any part of the Kingdom,” he said, adding that Weerasinghe’s services will be written in golden letters in the annals of the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh. 

Members from various religious groups also expressed their sentiments about the outgoing diplomat. – Arab News

Missing and forgotten: The disappearance of an academic

POST 15 DECEMBER 2012

BY SHABNAM FAROOK

'Everything and nothing
one within and between all,
gentle, loving, pervading,
the eternal silence falls'    -    'The Great Eternal Silence' - Aquinas T. Duffy

Six years ago, on the 15th of December, the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka was abducted within a high security zone in Colombo 7. Prof. Sivasubramaniam Raveendranath was on his way to attend a conference of the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS), when he went missing. 'Since he was in an area tightly controlled by the military, it seems likely that his captors are an armed group operating with the tacit support of the security forces' said Amnesty International, in a statement on the 20th December.

Within  four days, a global appeal,  supported by 67 academics around the world, was launched. "As colleagues, friends, and, in some cases, academic partners of Eastern University we urgently appeal for the swift and safe release of Professor Raveendranath" they appealed. But no investigations conducted and no perpetrator has been brought to justice.

Six years after, for many, it's a forgotten matter shrouded in the past. But for his family, the pain endures. The following article was written one month after after he was abducted. - Editors

---

Professor Ravindranath: A man with a vision

By Shabnam Farook

There is no God, there is no God if he doesn't come back" lamented Professor Ravindranath's grief stricken daughter Dushyanthi who has learnt to cope up with the pain of not knowing how, or where her father is but there are visible signs that she is grieving.

It is exactly one month and one week since Prof. Sivasubramanium Ravindranath the vice chancellor of the Eastern University was abducted in broad day light when he was attending a conference at BMICH.

His abduction caused wide spread condemnation and was also highlighted internationally.

Though his family is trying hard to carry on their lives in spite of his disappearance, not knowing his whereabouts has taken a toll on everyone, specially the Professor’s wife Jegadeeshwari who is his shadow.

"My mother depends on my father for everything, she wont, even go the market without him, he does everything for us, she is really upset and worried, she is a diabetic patient and this has affected her health" says his concerned daughter.

A husband and a father

Dushyanthi says that her mother's health is slowly deteriorating as she is reluctant to take her medication or have proper meals.

The world knows Prof.Ravindranath as a renowned scholar and as the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University, but what was he like as a husband? and a father ?

"He was a very kind and soft spoken man who wouldn't harm anybody, that is why this took us by surprise, and we are very upset, I'm 26 and he hasn't used a harsh word on me even once, he treated every body alike from his academic staff to the youngest students at the university" said teary eyed Dushyanthi Malawaran.

While most of us spend our free time idling he used every ounce of his energy to do some good for others specially children who were poor, deprived and victims of the tsunami in the Batticaloa district.

A man of simplicity

Prof. Ravindranath shied away from indulgence and enjoyed simple pleasures.

"He wouldn't even where socks and shoes and always used slippers, he was comfortable in them, if you see him on the road, you wouldn't know he was a Vice Chancellor”, sobbed Dushyanthi.

Dushyanthi took me through the unfortunate day her father was abducted causing shock waves around the country……..

"From the 11th he was going to the conference continuously and always came home for lunch, that day it was 2.45 and he hadn't returned I was worried so I called his mobile but it was switched off, I called the driver but I couldn't get through to him. At 4 o'clock I went up to the top of the road looking for him, but at around 6 o'clock I knew something was wrong and something had happened to him because he had threats. Later I contacted my husband and we went to the police, to file an entry at the police station."

"We are trying everything possible to find him, the police haven't got any clues as yet, but they are doing everything they can, my husband and I have gone to the police and every other person we know, hoping for the best".

Professor Ravindranath had arrived in Colombo last October to hand in his resignation, when unknown abductors who claimed to have kidnapped the Dean of the Arts faculty of the Eastern University Mr. Bala Sukumar on September 30 had called the Professor the very next day and offered to set the dean free in exchange of the professor’s resignation. However his resignation was not accepted as it was based on mere threats.

Since then the Professor, his wife and their youngest daughter have been living in Dushyanthi's flat amidst the great objection of the Professor who found life in Colombo boring and wanted to be with his beloved University.

His only vision in life is to develop the Eastern University and see to grow by stature - a vision that he worked with untiring dedication.

Missing 'Ammappa'

"He used to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and spend all his time browsing through the computer collecting funds for the people of Batticaloa, he also found lectures and prepared notes for MA students, which Vice Chancellor actually takes time to find notes for the students?” questions his daughter who is clearly surprised at the turn of events.

Dushyanthi who is worried about her father's health condition says that he suffers from high blood pressure, and hopes that he is in good health, a hope that is fading with every passing day.

Professor, Ravindranath, was the perfect grandfather who showered little Kaniska Dushyanthi's 2 year old daughter with all the love he could give and she too understands that something bad had happened to her 'Ammappa' (grand father).

All Mrs.Ravindranath, Dushyanthi and her sister want is to see him safe and with them enjoying the little moments that he made a difference in their lives and many others’ lives he touched with his kindness.

A ray of hope is seen in Dushyantih’s eyes when she sighs" The Chairman finally accepted his resignation, we are hoping that this will make a difference and he will be returned to us as soon as possible."

On the 30th of this month Prof.Ravindranath will celebrate his 56th birthday and they can do is hope and pray that he would celebrate this milestone of his life with their family, friends and loved ones. As Martin Luther King, Jr once said - "we must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope"

Their Paradise; Our Pandemonium

By Tisaranee Gunasekara -December 16, 2012

“Please. How will we live if you steal from us?” Dave Eggers (What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng)

The price of petrol went up, again, as Colombo was being geared up, on presidential orders, by the military for the Night Races – a pet project of Namal Rajapaksa.

Colombo, this weekend, is a microcosm of the Rajapaksa present afflicting us and an omen of the Rajapaksa future awaiting us. The Night Races are symbolic and symbiotic of Rajapaksa Sri Lanka, a land in which the very worst features of capitalism and feudalism commingle in a toxic concoction, sweetened with generous doses of populist nationalism.

The Night Races ensure an evening of exhilaration for the few, bought at enormous inconvenience for the many and immense cost to the country. The Night Races promote a sport which is non-democratic by nature (motor-racing is the antithesis of most other sports which are open all citizens; any child can play cricket with a few sticks and a rubber ball; a toy racing car is beyond the means of most Lankan families). The Night Races are also utterly incompatible with Lankan geographic and demographic realities such as small towns/cities with dense populations.

The Night Races have no national fan base; most Lankans are unaware of their existence. Their purpose is not to showcase Lankan talent or to satisfy Lankan sporting palate but to satiate a whim of some of the younger Rajapaksas. The Presidential offspring in particular seem to nurture quite a passion for fleet cars and for racing. In and of itself, this is a perfectly comprehensible phenomenon, something common to youth across countries and cultures, and across time. Unfortunately, the very nature of familial rule has turned that perennial, and essentially harmless, youthful desire into a national malaise. That is because in patrimonial oligarchies such asSri Lanka, the youthful passions of a ruler’s progeny inform and shape national policies, consume national income and discommode the nation.

The Night Races constitute a crasser manifestation of a development model which is motivated not by national needs or capacities, but by Rajapaksas interests and desires. Billions are being spent on unnecessary highways while lack of funds has turned 900 railway crossings into death traps. There is no profit and no glory for the Rajapaksas in building rail gates. Rail gates can save ordinary lives, but that saving ordinary lives, Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim, is not a Rajapaksa priority. The only reason Sri Lanka entered the ‘space age’ is because the youngest presidential offspring wants to become the country’s first and the world’s youngest astronaut. Again in and of itself there is nothing wrong in forming such mountainous ambitions. The young must dream, including impossible dreams. The problem is when presidential fathers gut national wealth to satisfy the outlandish whims of their sons.

The Night Races are not only being held in the country’s busiest city; they are being held in a manner which maximises public inconvenience, unnecessarily. Half the roads leading into and out of Colombo are closed, this weekend; and Friday’s road-closure, at the time the city’s working population was heading home, created mammoth traffic jams. If the Rajapaksas are intent on having night races, they could have done so in a less populous suburb, thereby minimising public inconvenience. But public convenience or inconvenience would have never figured in the Rajapaksa calculations. Their sole consideration is their power and their interests, their needs and their wants.

The most destructive Rajapaksa meme is not sadism (though that impulse too is not absent) but indifference. The Rajapaksas are as indifferent to public welfare in the South as they were indifferent to public safety in the North. They do not care. They did not care how many innocent Tamils they killed, in their pursuit of military victory; they do not care what hardships they impose on their own Sinhala-Buddhist base, in their pursuit of power and glory.

A pathological indifference to repercussions (and to the consequent plight of the poor and the powerless) is the deadly thread which connects many a Rajapaksa deed, from the ‘humanitarian operation’ to theColombobeautification programme, from the impeachment to the Night Races.

Pathological Indifference

Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s commitment to Tiger Eelam was rock-solid. And in his pursuit of Tiger Eelam he did not hesitate to sacrifice Tamil lives and Tamil interests and undermine Tamil future. His single-minded commitment to a Tiger Eelam under his sole control not only made him indifferent to the horrific plight of ordinary Tamils; it made him deaf and blind to the harm he was causing to the Tamil nationalist project. For him Tamils were pawns, to be used and discarded, in propelling his megalomaniacal project forward.

Only a leader who is pathologically indifferent to the wellbeing of his people could have turned his own people into human hostages.

The Rajapaksas too regard the Sinhalese the same way Mr. Pirapaharan regarded the Tamils. The Rajapaksas need the Sinhalese the same way Mr. Pirapaharan needed the Tamils. The Sinhalese are the main pawns in the Rajapaksa project of familial rule and dynastic succession, and in that capacity, the Sinhalese are indispensable to the Rajapaksas. But the safety or wellbeing of Sinhala people is of no consequence to the Rajapaksas.

This dissonance between Rajapaksa rhetoric and Rajapaksa action is clearest in the indifference the Siblings display to the actual welfare of flesh and blood military personnel, even as they venerate the war-hero in the abstract. For instance, even according to official sources, nearly 400 soldiers have committed suicide, post-war. “A majority of soldiers who committed suicide were suffering from Adjustment Disorder (AD). Only five of them were those under treatment for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), military Spokesman Brig. Ruwan Wanigasooriya said” (The Island – 24.12.2012). Though the army is said to be taking remedial measures, for many it will turn out to be too little too late. If the inevitable psychological issues were acknowledged and dealt with as soon as the war ended, most of those 400 lives could have been saved. But for the regime building victory monuments and holding victory parades were more important than attending to the human needs of the men and women who made that victory possible. For the Rajapaksas, lionising the army in the abstract will always be more important than helping ordinary soldiers in real life.

The maximalism of fanatical leaders includes a visceral unwillingness to contemplate a life without them. Adolf Hitler believed that aGermanydestroyed was better than aGermanydefeated. Vellupillai Pirapaharan tried to take as many Tamils as possible down with him to the grave.

The Rajapaksas are taking the same annihilationist path. They are clearly determined to destroy any institution which stands in their way, including the most august. In their pursuit of power, nothing is inviolable, nothing is sacrosanct. This annihilationist mindset is evident in their orchestrated attacks on the entire judiciary, in the dangerous talk about a Hulftsdorf-coup, and in their attempt to cause a devastating schism in the Bar Association.

For the sake of Rajapaksa power, the Rajapaksas will not hesitate to undermine/destroy anything, including the unitary state they purport to venerate.