Freedom of assembly in post-war Sri Lanka

Freedom of assembly in post-war Sri Lanka

Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, center,  speaks to reporters during a protest rally out side the parliament in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. Relatives, colleagues and opposition activists staged a protest rally Thursday demanding that the Sri Lanka government hold proper investigation to find out what happened to Ekneligoda who went missing in January 2010. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, via Inquirer News)

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Ruki -16 May, 2013

The war in Sri Lanka ended on 18^th May 2009. During three decades of war, civil liberties were severely curtailed, often in an arbitrary manner, without possibilities of challenging them or seeking remedies through independent bodies. The Ministry of Defense, the military and police reigned supreme. Even judicial discretion was curtailed, with the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) compelling Judges to obey wishes of the Ministry of Defense and the police through the Attorney General’s department when it came to remanding people, bail etc. The PTA remains as a dreaded legal weapon in the hands of the government to use against it’s peaceful opponents. It was strengthened after the end of the war, incorporating provisions from the Emergency Regulations that were allowed to lapse. Asath Sally, a former Deputy Mayor of Colombo and former government politician, now a prominent critic of the government, was arrested and detained under the PTA.[1] It is widely believed that he was later released due to widespread domestic and international pressure.

The provisions of the PTA directly contradict key fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution of Sri Lanka including the right to peaceful assembly protected under article 14(1) (b) of the Constitution.   The right is also protected by article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is part of Sri Lanka’s international human rights obligations. Suppression of fundamental rights and freedoms including the freedom of expression and freedom from torture during and after the end of the war has been well documented in Sri Lanka including in a recent article I wrote to mark World Press Freedom day[2].

It is pertinent to note that although the Sri Lankan constitution and the ICCPR allows restrictions to be placed on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, any such restrictions must be proportionate to the need, time bound and very importantly, be in conformity with the law and be subject to review by independent bodies such as the judiciary. Restrictions must remain the exception, unlike what Sri Lanka has seen for 30 years.

Through three decades, of war, peace talks, ceasefires and even after the war, freedom of peaceful assembly and other rights and freedoms have been severely curtailed by the Sri Lankan state.  It is important to note that the right to freedom of assembly is intricately linked to the enjoyment of other fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of movement etc. For example, restricting freedom of movement has been an effective way of restricting freedom of assembly and restricting freedom of assembly has been used as a means of restricting freedom of expression in Sri Lanka.

The annual government crackdown on small, peaceful, cultural and religious events to commemorate the end of the war by the Tamils in the North is amongst the indicators that the end of the war was not going to herald freedom of peaceful assembly. Families and friends of those killed and disappeared have had their freedom to assemble peacefully to mourn, grieve and observe cultural and religious rituals taken away from them, rejecting the government’s own reconciliation commission which recommended a national event to remember all the victims of war.[3]

Four years after the war, freedom of peaceful assembly remains a distant dream for Sri Lankans who are not supporters of the government. But freedom of assembly – peaceful and violent – is there for those who are supporters of the government and those supported by the government.

The Northern part of the country seems to be the worst affected in terms of suppression of the right to peaceful assembly. But incidents of suppression – including the suppression and attacks on mass protests by political parties, student groups, trade unions and civil society, as well as other peaceful events deemed anti – government have also been reported from the capital, Colombo, and other Southern and Central parts of the island. Police have arrested and dispersed peaceful protesters, sometimes violently and stood by watching when violent mobs attacked peaceful protestors including lawyers, religious clergy and students.[4] People have been stopped from attending gatherings;[5] and police have sought and obtained court orders to prevent or limit peaceful rallies and marches from taking place.[6] Police permission is sometimes outright refused for some peaceful protests.[7] Many protests and events which are deemed anti-government are subjected to surveillance by the state’s intelligence services.[8]Organizers and participants at peaceful events and protests have also been attacked before and after the events, by those alleged to be government groups and supporters.[9]

In the North and in the South, police and military have tried to block funerals that are considered to paint a negative image of the government, such as when political prisoners and opposition party supporters have were killed. They have ended up as “guarded” funerals under heavy military / police guard and surveillance.[10]A crying and angry mother was compelled to wait for weeks, and go to the Supreme Court, simply to bring the dead body of her son (who was killed in custody of the authorities) home for the last time and have the funeral rites in their own hometown.

Significant cases since May 2012 in the North and East

Stranded in Dubai: Tamil refugees live in ‘constant fear’ of deportation

16 MAY 2013

BY FRANCES HARRISON

So desperate for clothing, they fashioned dresses from bed sheets, pulling out individual threads to use as cotton and improvising a needle from pins nailed to wooden crates. Men, women and children live in the searing desert heat in a camp used for unloading aluminium, where everyone else has a safety mask for protection against the metal dust. There’s only one bathroom for all of them and it’s impossible to sleep because of the noise of trucks arriving around the clock. These are survivors of a brutal civil war who’ve been locked up since October; a baby was even born during this time. Shockingly they’re in one of the wealthiest city-states in the world – Dubai. And they’ve also been recognised as refugees by the United Nations.

Far worse than the dreadful physical conditions is the uncertainty. Human rights groups have received assurances that the refugees are in no danger of deportation but they’re currently in limbo until a third country accepts them. This is little comfort to people for whom fear has become a constant companion. They allege they’ve been told they are to be re-interviewed and if their stories change they will be deported. “We live in constant fear that we would be sent back at any time,” explained one of the men contacted by clandestine mobile phones, which they are not allowed in the camp.

Several members of the group allege the Dubai police previously threatened them with forcible deportation if they refused to sign papers agreeing to go quietly. ‘If you are not going to sign, we will put you in chains and send you back,’ the refugees were reportedly told. They’re alarmed because six members of their group who were not accepted as refugees have already been deported

Human rights groups have confirmed the refugees are at risk of torture and persecution if sent home – three individuals say they were already tortured in Sri Lanka in 2011. News from relatives back home also suggests that the Sri Lankan authorities have already started tracking down family members and asking questions about the refugees.

The Tamils are the remainder of a larger group of 45 who boarded a boat in southern India heading for Australia. When the vessel broke down and started taking in water, they panicked that they were all going to drown and used the satellite phone on board to contact Australia. After five hours of drifting, they were saved by a ship in the area, the Singapore-registered Pinacle Bliss, which brought them to Dubai. Twenty-four refugees have been accepted by the United States, Sweden and Finland for settlement and one young man is technically stateless because he was born while his Sri Lankan mother was illegally in India and she’s no longer alive.

Talking to journalists abroad, one elderly man broke down in tears on the phone. The stories of escape are quite harrowing – one man who feared imminent arrest in India boarded the smuggling boat in such a rush he left behind one of his children: “The agent assured that if we get into the boat, the rest of the people who are also supposed to join us will bring my daughter. I trusted his word. So, I got into the boat with my wife and the youngest daughter. Until the boat left no one brought our daughter. My wife started to cry. At the same time, we could not go back as police were waiting”.

The couple had left their eldest child asleep and it haunted them to think how she must have felt when she awoke and found herself alone. For four hellish months they had no news. Then they learned she was being looked after by her uncle, also in India. Another man was separated from his wife while fleeing Sri Lanka for India. “It was terrible to get separated after surviving a massive war; I looked for her all these months without any success,” he explained. Only recently he learned that she was back in Sri Lanka but still didn’t dare return to his country.

Among the 15 is also a former Tamil Tiger TV presenter, Rathimohan Lokini, who has given interviews saying how terrified she is that she could be raped and killed like another well known colleague, Isaipriya, who was identified among the half naked female bodies in trophy photographs taken by the victorious soldiers at the end of the war.

© Asian Correspondent

---

Frances Harrison is a former BBC Correspondent in Sri Lanka and the author of Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka's Hidden War, published by Portobello Books (UK), House of Anansi (Canada) and Penguin ( India).

More articles by Frances Harrison:

Sri Lankan newspaper attacked for 37th time
Priests demand tougher action on war crimes
Sri Lanka's killing f

Radhika Coomaraswamy Under Consideration For UN Women

May 16, 2013 |

Radhika Coomaraswamy‘s name is among the nominations for the Executive Director of UN Women.  Yesterday was the deadline for nominations for Executive Director of UN Women. The candidates will succeed the organization’s first head, Michele Bachelet, who resigned suddenly in March to return home and stand for election to Chile’s presidency. At least six candidates are rumored to be under consideration, according to the Global Memo. Global Memo which covers the processes and actors involved in the selection of high-level multilateral leadership named them as follows;

Radhika Coomaraswamy

Rebeca Grynspan is considered a strong contender and possibly the front runner for the post. Grynspan is the former Vice President of Costa Rica and currently serves as an Associate Administrator at UNDP. An elections official at the Costa Rican permanent mission in New York stated to Global Memo that the Latin American and Caribbean region is eager to keep the post.

Lakshmi Puri is the current Acting Executive Director, stepping in shortly after Bachelet’s resignation. A source with a leading U.S. human rights group however suggests that few women’s rights groups see her as preferred successor to Bachelet. In December, her husband, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, wrapped up his presence on the UN Security Council as India’s 2-year term on the body concluded. What impact his influence will have his wife’s candidacy and the selection is of particular interest.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the former special advisor to the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict, is looked upon more favorably by women’s groups, according to the same source. She had been under consideration in 2010. From Sri Lanka, she is currently a visiting scholar at New York University’s Center for Constitutional Transitions.

Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland, is also rumored to be a nominee. Like Coomaraswamy, she had also been nominated in 2010, but was not seriously considered as the Secretary General was reportedly seeking a woman from the Global South to head up the new agency initially.

Kim Campbell, the former and first female Prime Minister of Canada, confirmed she has been nominated by her government in mid-April after its leaked in Azerbaijani media reports. Ms. Campbell was the former board chair at the International Women’s Forum and the Council of Women World Leaders. She now sits on the board of the International Crisis Group.

Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda is currently the General Secretary of the World YWCA. She is a trained human rights lawyer from Zimbabwe with extensive experience in conflict resolution and mediation, including 20 years experience on issues of women and children’s human rights, with a special focus on crisis countries.

If the process unfolds as it did in 2010, the Secretary General’s senior appointment team will vet the nominees and present to Mr. Ban a short list of three candidates. Following interviews with each, Ban will make the final decision on whom he will appoint to take over the post. The 2010 vetting process and selection was wrapped up in 7 weeks, in part to have the first Executive Director in place before the General Assembly convened. Last month, John Hendra, Associate Executive Director at UN Women, noted that a new search could take up to three months.

But if this year’s process is less competitive, i.e. fewer than 25+ candidates as in 2010, we may see a nominee before the body’s Executive Board meets at the end of June or shortly thereafter.

Unlike in 2010, women’s groups have been very unengaged in regards to the transparency of the Secretary General’s selection or qualifications of any of the candidates. Women Thrive is not active on the race this year, nor is the GEAR campaign, which spearheaded efforts in ensuring the 2010 candidates were highly qualified for the post.

The only NGO known to be engaging in any meaningful way this year is theAssociation for Women in Development (AWID), which plans to interview each candidate. William Pace, Executive Director of WFM/IGP, stated that “it would be best if the SGs process were more transparent.”

As expected, the Secretary General’s office is officially tight-lipped on the candidates, refusing even to confirm the final number of nominees received.

Short film featuring Isaippiriya reproduced

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2013, 06:18 GMT]
Remembering the heroes of the Tamil cause, civilians and journalists, who sacrificed their lives this week in 2009, TamilNet reproduces a short film featured by the slain journalist Ms Isaippiriya. 

The short film titled "Veali" appeared in an album released by the LTTE in 2008. 

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Three Judges absent at ceremonial sitting

THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2013 

Three Supreme Court judges were absent at the ceremonial sitting held to welcome the newly appointed Supreme Court judge, Justice Rohini Marasinghe at the Supreme Court yesterday (15th) say reports.

Out of the ten existing Supreme Court judges, only seven judges graced the sitting with their presence.  Justices R. A. N. Gamini Amaratunga, Chandra Ekanayake and Eva Wansundera PC  were not present at the event.

Ms Rohini Marasinghe, who was a judge of the Court of Appeal, was promoted to the Supreme Court on 26th April by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka Bar Association had opposed the appointment and had not been invited for the ceremonial sitting.

The consequences of political representation or the lack of it

The consequences of political representation or the lack of it

Image from AsiaNews.it

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Devanesan Nesiah-16 May, 2013

The focus of  my article in the Sunday Leader of 5 May was on the need for Northern Provincial representation. It now looks as if those elections may be held in September 2013. I will elaborate on the likely consequences of representation, or the lack of it, drawing on past experience in Sri Lanka, India and the USA.

All over Sri Lanka the bulk of the Muslim population are Tamil speakers. It was so almost 100%  at every socio- economic level when the Official Language Act was enacted in 1956. But at that time the political leader ship of the Muslims were mostly Members of Parliament representing Sinhalese majority electorates. All these voted for Sinhala only, as desired by their mostly Sinhalese voters, even though they were themselves Tamil speaking.  The Muslim MP’s representing Eastern Province electorates voted against the Bill, as desired by their voters, nearly all of them Tamil speaking. In the Senate, AMA Azeez, who was not elected by Sinhalese voters, not only opposed the Bill but quit his party on this issue. One of the objectives in forming the SLMC, much later, under the leadership of Ashroff, based in the Eastern Province, was to ensure the election of Muslim MPs responsive to the wishes of the Muslim population.

In India, the Dalits / Harijan /Untouchables and Tribals have enjoyed quota reservations in political bodies and public institutions at all levels for close to a century. The practice had been that the reserved seats had been rotated from election to election with only Dalits standing for elections in the seats reserved for them.  In the 1930s, about the same time as the Donoughmore Commission in Sri Lanka, a dispute arose between the Dalit leader Dr.B.Ambedkar    and Mahatma Gandhi as to whether electorates should hitherto be purely territorial or whether Dalits should have separate electoral registers. Gandhi wanted the former, and Ambedkar the latter, but there was no dispute regarding the need for reservations. Under Gandhi’s proposal even in electorates for Dalits, the majority of the voters would be non- Dalits. Dr.Ambedkar argued that the Dalit candidates would then tailor their manifestos to suit the majority non- Dalit voters. In fact Dalit candidates seeking High Caste Hindu votes would often stand respectfully outside the house, declining any invitation to enter the house or to sit on a chair or to accept a cup of tea. Such practices helped to win High Caste votes.  Dr.Ambedkar wanted Dalit candidate to adopt radical manifestos for 100% Dalit electorates. The British Colonial Government suspended progress towards independence till this issue was solved. Gandhi started a fast to death and was close to death when Ambedkar caved in, and agreed to purely territorial electorates with both Dalit and Non-Dalit voters in exchange for increased quotas for Dalits. It is this compromise that was embodied in the Indian Constitution drafted two decades later under the Chairmanship of Dr.Ambedkar.

In the USA, Governor Wallace of Alabama, perhaps the most racist of the Southern leaders, had Presidential ambitions. His state was Black majority but he had ensured that, as in most Southern states, most of the Blacks were denied voting rights on some pretext or the other, such as illiteracy. The Whites all over the South were fearful of being swamped by Blacks if they gained voting rights. His 1962 campaign slogan was, “From the cradle of the Confederacy, this very heart of the great Anglo- Saxon Southland … Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever! He bitterly and violently opposed the Voting Rights Act, but when he found that he could not stop it, he did a U-turn on many issues. He there after supported many Black causes because his vote base was now more Black than White, though he remained as racist as ever.

Hopefully the NPC elections will not only bring about changes in the administration of the Northern Province, but also compel Colombo to take into account the NPC leadership, which may be why these elections have been long delayed. The elections and their likely outcome will surely have a positive impact on the politics of Colombo and also on National Reconciliation.

A Reply To Minister DEW’s Question

By Hema Senanayake -May 16, 2013 

Hema Senanayake

Rajan Philips observed that the regime is fast becoming a victim of its own. This is more so in the management of economy. Minister DEW Gunesekera openly acknowledged that this was the case at present.

“DEW has warned that “the SLFP-led alliance could become a victim of its own propaganda unless tough corrective measures were taken instead of boasting of unprecedented growth in the post-war era. The country is in peril due to economic mismanagement rather than international conspiracy.” (The Island, May 11, 2013).

It has been reported that the Treasury Secretary Dr. Jayasundera took the visiting IMF delegation to meet with Minister DEW Gunesekera who is the Chairman of COPE. The minister posed an interesting question to the IMF delegation.

He had asked IMF economists to explain “why the GDP and per capita income increases were not being reflected in state income”.

According to Central Bank figures, the GDP rose by Rs. 1 trillion in 2012 … while the per capita income rose from Rs. 313,000 to Rs. 373,000. At the same time the government’s revenue has fallen to 13% of GDP. In 1978 the state revenue was 24% of GDP. According to the Minister the current revenue is barely sufficient only to pay salaries of 1.4 million public sector workers and 510,000 pensioners, and pay interest on loans and pay subsidies.

In this context, it seems, the Minister’s question is very valid. I am not sure whether the IMF economists have answered the question duly because their answer/s had not been reported.

Therefore, I thought it will be appropriate if I can provide a credible answer to the Minister’s question. This essay is to serve for that purpose.

Some people might think that the correct answer is that the Central Bank had manipulated its statistics in order to show an economic progress that was non-existent. Rajan Philips writing an article to The Island had questioned the credibility of the Central Bank. Referring to the independence that the Central Bank enjoyed under Dr. N.M. Perera in early 1970s Rajan wrote “His period in office was also remarkable for the healthy distance between the government and the Central Bank. Quite frequently, NM would question the periodical assessments of the economy by the Central Bank. NM attributed the Bank’s negative assessments to its orthodox ideology but never tried to coerce or co-opt the Bank to fall in line with the government’s political direction. The Bank was left alone and, right or wrong, it was able to maintain its independence and credibility. How things have changed.” (The Island, May 11, 2013).

Yet my reply has a different dimension. There is no correlation between government tax revenue and GDP growth. This means tax revenue may go up or may go down but that has no bearing on GDP growth. Republicans in the United States are fighting a losing battle that tax cuts spur growth. But the statistics point out that there is no such correlation and sometimes GDP had grew considerably when high income earners pay more than 60% income tax. What affects to GDP growth is the positive change in the economic system’s healthy demand for consumption. (Some economists may rush to argue here that it is not the consumption but the investments that matters to GDP growth. I reject this notion because healthy demand for consumption creates the due demand for investments. I leave this subject for another day if any reader envisages so).

I said above that there is no correlation between tax revenue and GDP growth; and also said that from empirical data this lack of correlation has been proved. But this does not explain why there is no correlation between tax revenue and GDP growth. Let me explain this point as simple as possible.

An economic system allocates certain amount of funds (money) for the use of consumption from all entrepreneurial activities. This allocation is done by the revenue generating business entities. These entities may be private owned or government owned. Most of the households get their consumable income directly from businesses. And now some of these households pay income taxes to the government. In turn the government uses that money to pay the rest of the households as wages, salaries (of government employees) and subsidies.

The government employees produce products and services for the common interests of the society but these services are not sold. For an example the government produces judiciary service which cannot be sold. Therefore judicial service is, economically “consumption” and produced by tax money which is part of the already allocated consumption money in the economic system. Therefore if taxes are increased or reduced that won’t change the total money allocated for the consumption. If taxes are increased (and properly used) then the government would produce more things for the common interest and private consumers consume less. On the flip side, if taxes are reduced then the government produces lessor amount of things for the common interest and private consumption might go up.

However, if the GDP is increased as a result of the increase of revenue generating activities then the total allocation of tax revenue must go up. If we assume that tax structure did not change and the efficiency of tax collection did not change, then if the government’s tax revenue is not increased with increase of GDP we can conclude that increase of GDP has not been resulted from the revenue generating activities of the economy. This means there should be some other reason for the increase of GDP. That reason is the government’s deficit spending or in other words the government’s spending over the budget. I will try to explain this point as simple as possible.

Let us first see how GDP is calculated. GDP = C+I+G+NE. In this simple equation “C” is consumption, “I” is Investments, “G” is government expenditure and “NE” is for net exports (Exports-imports). Accordingly any expenditure of the government except the repayment of loans and interest will represent in GDP. Government expenditure consists of (1) tax revenue and (2) deficit spending (the amount borrowed and spent).

Let us now assume that the government’s revenue is Rs. 100. In the above we have already discussed that this amount of tax revenue is consumable income already allocated by the system, hence spending of this amount will not change GDP. But if the government borrows another Rs 100 and spends then that amount is extra and will represent in the variable of “G” in GDP equation. As a result of deficit spending, now the GDP will go up by Rs.100.  But as we noticed above the government’s spending in macroeconomic terms is consumption and hence will not contribute to increase the revenue generating activities; as a result the real consumable income does not increase. Without the increase of the total consumable income allocated from the revenue generating activities of the economy, the tax revenue can’t go up but the GDP has gone up due to deficit spending.

What does this mean? This means if the increase of GDP is equal or close to the deficit spending (budget deficit) then the government revenue will not go up even if GDP is increased. I think this is the answer to Minsiter DEW Gunasekera’s question.

This is theory. Now readers are invited to compare the percentage of the GDP increase and the percentage of deficit spending for the past few years. For example in 2011 GDP growth was around 8% and the deficit spending was almost 8%. I think in 2012 GDP growth is 6.5% and the deficit spending is 6.5% (I am not sure). If both figures are equal or close then you may realize the accuracy of my answer. This is the very reason that I am not against if the government spends to facilitate revenue generating businesses than spending by it; but IMF may disagree. Convincing the IMF is partly the job of the Treasury and the Central Bank in the today’s world.

VIDEO: UNITED AGAINST THE ELECTRICITY TARIFF..

May 16, 2013 

The protest march organized by the People’s Movement Against Increased Electricity Tariff took place this afternoon (May 15) at 2pm at Campbell Park in Borella. Several political parties and trade unions came together to protest the recently increase electricity tariff and demanded the government to reduce the tariff immediately. (Pics by Sanjeewa Lasantha)

Paralyzed by protests
By a Staff Reporter- Thursday, 16 May 2013

Colombo, the nerve-centre of commercial activity in the country, was totally paralyzed yesterday for several hours as people swamped the streets from Borella to Fort and Lake House Roundabout to Fort, in a series of protests.

More than 10,000 people, representing some 200 trade unions, marched from Borella to Fort under the banner of the People’s Movement Against the Increased Electricity Bill (PMAIEB) and the pro-government trade unions held another march from Lake House to Fort.

PMAIEB protesters said the march was the first step towards abolishing the recently introduced electricity tariff plan and threatened to topple the government, if it failed to address the concerns of the people.

Pro-government protesters claimed they were marching to question those who try to destroy the progress of the country.

The government-sanctioned protest, which commenced at the Lake House Roundabout, ended at the same destination as the anti-government protest.

Confrontation was avoided by the police, who managed to prevent the two protest bodies from meeting in front of the Fort Railway Station by ensuring that they arrived there at separate times.

Earlier attempts made by the police to restrict the anti-government protest march to the Maradana Technical Junction failed, as the masses continued to march towards Fort.

Addressing the crowd in front of the Fort Railway Station, President of the Government Workers’ Trade Union Federation (GWTUF), D.M.D. Abeyratne, said the union will have another meeting today (16) to decide on the future course of actions to abolish the new tariff.

“We tell the government the people of this country have taken to the streets to abolish this electricity plan. The GWTUF will continuously work toward achieving this goal,” he said.

Attorney-at-Law, Chandrapala Kumarage, representing the Lawyers for Democracy said, “This is just the first step against a government that has suppressed the people of the North as well as the South for so long.”

President of the Government Nursing Officers’ Association (GNOA), Saman Ratnapriya, charged, “Under the pretext of providing relief against the increased bill for a section of society, the government stood to make a further Rs 214 million for themselves.”

Referring to the simultaneous protest march organized by the pro-government trade unions and organizations, he said, “We taught the henchmen of the government a valuable lesson, and they haven’t been able to interfere in our protest actions, as was hoped.”

Ministers, Dinesh Gunawardane and Kumara Welgama, and Western Province Governor, Alawi Maulana, were among the politicians who addressed the crowd that marched in support of the increased electricity bill.

Vesak: What The So Called Buddhist Balavegaya Is Doing In Sri Lanka?

By Basil Fernando- May 16, 2013

Basil Fernando

The people in Hong Kong will be celebrating what they call Buddha’s Birthday tomorrow (May 17). The term ‘Buddha’s Birthday’ is similar to what is referred to in Sri Lanka as Vesak. However, the overall emphasis here is on birth and it is a sober celebration of life.

The Chinese are imbibed with the philosophy of Confucius who helped them to develop their moral principles. These principles are very deeply embedded in the Chinese mind. In Buddha‘s Birthday too, what they see are the important teachings relating to morality.

Hong Kong is one of the very few places in Asia which was able to overcome bribery and corruption. Perhaps one of the reasons that enabled such a radical transformation may be their attachment to moral values.

In India a similar approach to Buddhism was taken up by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar who, more than anyone else contributed to the revival of Buddhism in India which was wiped out by Brahmanism many centuries ago. Before that, for several centuries the most widespread philosophy was Buddhism.

For Dr. Ambedkar, whose sole aim in life was to eradicate the caste system of India the revival of Buddhism signified the creation of a moral foundation for liberty, equality and fraternity. As the chief of the drafting committee of the India constitution, he made every attempt to incorporate these values to have a practical meaning to Indians who were deeply divided and fragmented due to the caste system which had been entrenched for centuries.

Dr. Ambedkar as a young and emerging leader in India declared in 1936 in a famous speech to enlightened Hindus that he was born a Hindu but would not die a Hindu. By this he gave an indication of his wish to abandon the Brahmanical philosophy in its totality. On Buddha Jayanthi Day in 1956 he openly declared that he would embrace Buddhism. On October 14 of the same year with about 500,000 adherents he embraced Buddhism in a public ceremony.

In a radio broadcast made the same year he declared his fundamental philosophy thus:

“My Personal Philosophy”

“Every man should have a philosophy of life, for everyone must have a standard by which to measure his conduct. And Philosophy is nothing but a standard by which to measure.

“Negatively, I reject the Hindu social philosophy propounded in the Bhagvat Geeta based as it is, on the Triguna of the Sankhya philosophy which is in my judgement a cruel perversion of the philosophy of Kapila, and which had made the caste system and the system of graded inequality the law of Hindu social life.

“Positively, my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: Liberty equality and fraternity. Let no one, however, say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French revolution. I have not. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha. In his philosophy, liberty and equality had a place but headed that unlimited liberty destroyed equality and absolute equality leaves no room for liberty. In his philosophy, law had a place only as a safeguard against the breech of liberty and equality; but he did not believe that the law could be a guarantee for breaches of liberty or equality. He gave the highest place to fraternity as the only real safeguard against the denial of liberty or equality or fraternity which was another name for brotherhood or humanity, which was again, another name for religion.

“Law is secular, which anybody may break while fraternity or religion is sacred which everybody must respect. My philosophy has a mission. I have to do the work of conversion: for, I have to make the followers of the triguna theory to give it up and accept mine. Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. The political ideal set out in the preamble to the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodies in their religion denies them.”

Dr. B R Ambedkar

(All India Radio broadcast of speech on Oct. 3, 1954).

During the public ceremony of his conversion to Buddhism he and his followers took 22 vows. They are as follows:

I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor shall I worship them.

I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.

I shall have no faith in ‘Gauri’, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.

I do not believe in the incarnation of God.

I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.

I shall not perform ‘Shraddha’ nor shall I give ‘pind-dan’.

I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.

I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.

I shall believe in the equality of man.

I shall endeavour to establish equality.

I shall follow the ‘noble eightfold path’ of the Buddha.

I shall follow the ‘paramitas’ prescribed by the Buddha.

I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.

I shall not steal.

I shall not tell lies.

I shall not commit carnal sins.

I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.

I shall endeavour to follow the noble eightfold path and practise compassion and loving kindness in everyday life.

I renounce Hinduism which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.

I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.

I believe that I am having a re-birth.

I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.

For Dr. Ambedkar the rejection of every aspect of Brahmanism was essential to embracing Buddhism. Perhaps it is in this that the Buddhism he understood and the so called Sinhala Buddhism differs. What the so called Buddhist Balavegaya is doing in Sri Lanka is only a demonstration of how much Sinhala Buddhism rejects the most fundamental aspects of Buddhism and how much the Sinhala Buddhist mentality is rooted in the Brahmanical tradition.

On the very last day of his life the last thing Dr. Ambedkar did was to dictate a preface to his book on Buddha’s teachings. After dictating the preface he went to sleep and the following morning he was found dead by his wife. When his book Buddha and His Dharma was published, Mahabodi Society in Madras stated that the book represented Dr. Ambedkar’s ideas and not Buddhism. The Society was run by Sri Lankan Buddhists,

FUTA condemns all acts of intimidation and aggression against the academic community including students.

Thursday, 16 May 2013 

The Federation of Peradeniya University Teachers’ Associations (FPUTA), comprising eight sister unions, was profoundly disturbed by the report that the President of the Peradeniya Student Union (PSU), Mr. Janaka Nilanga Madushan, was threatened with his life by a group claiming to be of the CID yesterday, May 14th, 2013, at 6:30pm.

According to the statement made by Mr. Janaka Nilanga Madushan to the police, the individuals first made contact with him while he was meeting with his father in Kandy town. He was subsequently taken to an empty room above a shop where he was interrogated and told to refrain from engaging in union related activities. If not, they threatened, he would meet the same fate as `Mathalan' (Mr. Janaka Bandara), the Kelaniya University union leader who was killed in a roadside accident last year while engaged in a protest march.

We see the reported incident as a serious threat to fostering a democratic ethos fundamental to the creation of a vibrant academic environment at the University of Peradeniya. Further, because such threats thwart social movements and activism, which are a part of any democratic society, we are concerned that they will further harm the social fabric of Sri Lanka. Finally, we are concerned about the safety of Mr. Janaka Nilanga Madushan.

In light of these concerns we ask that the university authorities and the police, who have been informed of this incident, prevent such incidents from taking place in the future and ensure that swift action is taken to investigate and charge those involved. In light of these events, we stress that it is the responsibility of the police and the authorities of the university to ensure the safety of Mr. Janaka Nilanga Madushan

Video: UNP says no abolishing of Executive Presidency

THURSDAY, 16 MAY 2013
The UNP said today that they would present a draft Constitution which includes an Executive President, although the UNP previously were vehemently campaigning for the abolition of the Executive Presidency.

Responding to a question raised by the media at a news conference held to introduce a draft Constitution UNP MP Wijeydasa Rajapkshe said that in the proposed draft Constitution of the UNP, the executive presidency would feature.

“It will not be an only ceremonial president unlike in some countries. The president will also be liable and responsible when making decisions. However, the executive power vested on present presidency will be curtailed,” he said.

The UNP proposed draft Constitution is to present to the public in order to seek public opinion and ideas on May 29 after having discussion with party leaders in the Parliament regarding the draft.

According to the proposed draft Constitution a person would have to end his\her political career and be independent once elected as the president and would not be able to hold any Cabinet portfolios.

The Prime Minister and the Cabinet would take a major part when making political decisions according to the draft Constitution. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

 

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