What Is Sajith?

By Rasika Jayakody -October 13, 2013 |

Rasika Jayakody

If Sajith Premadasa is to replace Ranil Wickremesinghe as the leader of the main opposition party of Sri Lanka, the ‘what’ of Sajith should constitute the leadership material for the United National Party. It is clear that Sajith relies heavily on the Premadasa factor embedded in his name as he is the only son of the late President Ranasinghe Ranasinghe, the man who successfully spearheaded one of the most important individual revolutions in Sri Lankan politics, rising to presidency from the lowest rung of the society as far as the hierarchy of castes is concerned.

As a result of the revolution he spearheaded, the Premadasa factor became something that could make a huge impact on the mindset of the grassroots level of the society which constitutes a sizable proportion of the vote-base of Sri Lanka. Some of the rural empowerment programmes carried out by him benefited the poorest sections of the society to a great extent and that – despite the state sponsored violence unleashed by him during the dark era of 1989 – elevates him in the history as a leader who had a genuine intention towards serving the poor.

It is important to realize that the Premadasa factor alone is not enough for Sajith to rise to the leadership of the party. Apart from what he inherited from his father, it is interesting to see what he has cultivated over the past 20 years in his own capacity as a politician who represented the opposition for the most part of his political career.

Apart from his lackluster performance as a Deputy Minister of the United National Front government from 2001-2004, Sajith has not held national level responsibilities of any government since 1994. National level responsibilities, one might argue, would not play a decisive role in determining one’s rise to the leadership of a political body as the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter Chandrika Bandaranaike made inroads into power without holding any national level responsibility in any government.

The biggest obstacle to Sajith’s emergence as a national level leader is the parochialism he adopted as a politician, confining his activism mainly to the district he represented. He hardly raised his voice in an emphatic manner when it came to issues of national importance and maintained a stolid silence over the Tamil problem. Although he attempted to project himself as a ‘patriot’ vis-à-vis obtuse remarks by Ravi Karunanayake and Lakshman Kiriella over the achievements of the Army, Premadasa failed to impress the patriotic camp and his bona fides was always a question.                                 Read More

Gota orders Deshabandu to lock up Mangala at least for one day!

Sunday, 13 October 2013

According to sources at Matara police, Defence Secretary Nandasena Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday (12) ordered Matara division SSP Deshabandu Tennakoon thus: “Why did you let Mangala off? If you want to remain in your seat any further, you must lock up Mangala for at least one day. Do that immediately.”

For nearly half an hour yesterday afternoon, the Defence Secretary lectured SSP Tennakoon, also saying, “Although you are having a picture of mine at your office, I know that you are an UNPer. I also know that when you were a SI, you had stayed in the room of Abeysekara of Sirikotha. I know that it was Gamini Jayawickrama Perera who had promoted you as an ASP. Therefore, it is clear by your letting Mangala off that you are more faithful to the UNP than to us. If you want to remain in your seat, lock up Mangala for at least one day. If human rights cases come up, I will take care of them through the CJ. You do as I say.”

As per these instructions, SSP Deshabandu Tennakoon is due to employ a new plan in a matter of days to corner Matara district MP, head of the UNP communication unit Mangala Samaraweera.

With Hemal’s entry, signs that Dullas will be discarded!  

Sunday, 13 October 2013

Following last week’s swearing-in of Matara district MP Hemal Gunasekara as the Deputy Minister of Internal Trade and Cooperatives, signs are there that Minister Dullas Alahapperuma is losing his domination as the district’s leader of the ruling UPFA.

Mr. Hemal Gunasekara is a politician much senior to Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and hails from a traditional SLFP family in the southern province. Minister Alahapperuma always treats Mr. Hemal Gunasekara as his opponent and up to now has been able to confine him to the area politically, without allowing him to go up the political ladder. Everybody in the south knows it to be the truth that every time Hemal Gunasekara become politically noticeable, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma hastens to cut him down.

The only person from the south to openly challenge Minister Dullas Alahapperuma is Mr. Hemal Gunasekara, who has nicknamed the former as ‘Kota Jeewithe’ (shorty). Just like Mr. Dullas Alahapperuma, Mr. Hemal Gunasekara is a closest relation of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. As a cold war is brewing between Messrs. Namal Rajapaksa and Dullas Alahapperuma for the Youth Affairs Ministry, the president has decided to bring Mr. Hemal Gunasekara to the fore. As a result of that decision, the president has brought Mr. Hemal Gunasekara to the scene by appointing him as a deputy minister, after being sidelined thus far due to the tales being carried against him by Minister Dullas.

Openly issuing a challenge to Dullas that “If you can, contest and get elected to parliament”, Hemal Gunasekara has requested the president to appoint him as the Kamburupitiya organizer, in place of Dullas Alahapperuma. Accordingly, Hemal Gunasekara will, very soon, be given the Kamburupitiya SLFP organizer position, and Dullas, along with his wife Pradeepa, will have once again to leave for America, singing “Kolom Thotin Nev Negga Apey Ratey Manussakama” along the way, political sources say.

Fulbright Days And A Plea To Leadership

By H.L.Seneviratne -October 13, 2013 

H.L. Seneviratne - Professor, Emeritus

Letters to our Presidents by Sri Lankan and US alumni of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission 1952-2012, commemorating 60 years of the Fulbright Programme. Edited by Tissa Jayatilaka. Published by the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission, 2013.

This volume of 20 letters by former Fulbright scholars, half of them Sri Lankan and the other half American, addressed to their respective presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Barack Obama, constitutes part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Exchange Programme. All writers do a splendid job of what they were asked to do — to comment on how the experience enriched their personal and professional lives, and to urge the two presidents to continue to support the programme.

The Sri Lankan letters are distinguished by a third message, which we might consider the sub text of the volume, reminding President Rajapaksa of the need for good governance within which alone a sound system of education and a truly free intellectual life can flourish. It needs hardly to be stated that this message is irrelevant for the American writers, whose president needs no reminders about good governance, accountability, dissent and other ingredients of democracy.

The longest piece in the volume is the introduction by the editor Tissa Jayatilaka, the present Executive Director of the US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission (US-SLFC) in Colombo. Mr. Jayatilaka emphasises the unique nature of the Commission. As he informs us, the Commission was established in 1952 by an Agreement between the two countries for purposes of promoting mutual understanding between the two peoples through an exchange of scholars. While the Commission is managed by a board of directors appointed by the two governments, and receives “funds, policy guidance and counsel” from both governments, it is an agency of neither. This remarkable autonomy has enabled it to maintain its integrity throughout its six decade long history.

Read More

PETITION: Russia Must Free Greenpeace Activists

Oct-12-2013

On September 18th, Greenpeace activists attempted to peacefully occupy an off-shore oil platform owned by Russian oil giant Gazprom . But when they arrived, the Russian Coast Guard fired warning shots and threatened the activists' lives.

Courtesy: greenpeace.org

(WASHINGTON DC) - On September 18th, Greenpeace activists attempted to peacefully occupy an off-shore oil platform owned by Russian oil giant Gazprom. But when they arrived, the Russian Coast Guard fired warning shots and threatened the activists' lives. Then, Russian Coast Guard officers illegally boarded and seized the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise via helicopter.

After nearly two weeks since the action started, the Russian authorities charged 28 international activists, one independent photographer and one independent videographer with piracy.  They are to be detained on these charges for two months. Appeals have been filed for all 30 charges. We're mounting an international effort to get them back safely along with the release of the Greenpeace ship. And it starts with people around the world putting pressure on the Russian government.

Greenpeace offices around the world have already sent 500,000 global petitions to the Russian government, and they're receiving them daily.  Join this symbolic moment to protect our planet and our right to peacefully protest the actions of those who threaten to destroy it.

Please join our activists in becoming an Arctic Defender. Sign our petition to Russia's US ambassador demanding Russia release the activists, the immediate withdrawal of the Russian Coast Guard from the Greenpeace ship, and an end to offshore oil drilling in the Arctic for good.

“

I am writing to you with a request for your attention and action. As you may know, 28 Greenpeace activists (as well as a freelance photographer and a freelance videographer) took part in a peaceful protest at Gazprom's drilling platform Prirazlomnaya on September 18th. Two of the activists tried to climb the side of the platform and attempted to stage a safe, peaceful protest. More than 24 hours later, Russian security services descended from a helicopter onto the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, seized the ship at gunpoint and detained the crew. This took place outside Russia's territorial waters. These activists and freelancers are now being held in detention centers in and around Murmansk. I am very concerned by the response of Russian authorities. The charge of piracy, which carries a maximum 15 year sentence, is disproportionate. Yet this is the charges our activists face. You have an important voice in this matter. Please use your position to promote fairness and reason. The crew of the Arctic Sunrise were protesting at the Prirazalomnaya for purely unselfish reasons. As the ice is retreating, oil companies are moving north to drill for the fuels that are causing the ice to melt. The Arctic 30 were acting out of a deeply held conviction that this is a risky enterprise, when an oil spill would be catastrophic for the entire region. They should not be charged with such a serious crime as piracy for taking peaceful, safe action to protest the dangerous industrialization of the Arctic. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Nobel peace prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel have joined hundreds of thousands of people across the globe calling for the release of the Arctic 30. I am writing to add my voice. I am asking for your help. Please join me in calling for: Piracy charges to be dropped and the immediate release of the 28 activists and two freelancers who have been detained by Russian authorities in Murmansk. A commitment that the activists and freelancers will have access to full legal representation of their own choice, as well as consular services, translators, and human rights inspectors. An investigation into the destructive and secretive activities of oil companies in the Arctic, and a ban on offshore oil drilling in the region. I urge you to relay these requests to the Russian government in Moscow immediately. Please join me in calling for the swift release of the Arctic 30. Signed, Greenpeace Sign the Petition Here

”

Special thanks to Merton Palestine Solidarity-Campaign

Australian Labor Party Elects a New Leader! Bill Shorten

| by Laksiri Fernando

( October 13, 2013, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Just before the public announcement this afternoon, I received the email signed by Chris Bowen, Acting Leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), saying, “With a Caucus vote of 63.95% and membership vote of 40.08% which totals 52.02%, the new Leader is Bill Shorten.” I received this email not as ALP member, but as a Labor supporter.

Australian Labor Party Elects a New Leader! Bill Shorten by nelvely

Commonwealth summit mired in row over Briton shot in Sri Lanka

Khuram Shaikh, from Rochdale, was murdered on Christmas Day 2011, after complaining about harassment of his girlfriend. Photograph: Observer

Peter Beaumont-13 October 2013

Prince Charles offers his help as allegations against political fixer and calls for boycott cast shadow over heads of government meeting

Prince Charles offered to help in the effort to win justice for a British man who was murdered in Sri Lanka – allegedly by a close political ally of the country's prime minister.

Commonwealth Summit Mired in Row Over Briton Shot in Sri Lanka by nelvely

Unsubstantiated war crimes allegations reiterated New Delhi confab:

By Shamindra Ferdinando-October 11, 2013, 

Adam Roberts

The South Asia Bureau Chief of The Economist, Adam Roberts, last Tuesday (08) alleged that the Sri Lankan Army had executed LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s youngest son, Balachandran (12), during the final phase of the conflict in early May 2009.

Having accused the SLA of executing Prabhakaran’s son, the New Delhi based Adam claimed that the execution of prisoners of war with hands tied to their backs wouldn’t have come to light if not for the perpetrators, in this case SLA personnel releasing video footage of the executions, at the conclusion of the conflict.

Roberts was addressing a group of journalists from India, Pakistan, Australia, Iran, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Singapore, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal, at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, in New Delhi.

The Economist regional chief also referred to Western troops releasing pictures and videos of atrocities committed by them at Baghdad’s Central Prison, known as Abu Ghraib, as well as other places following US-led military interventions.

Responding to allegations, Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya alleged that since the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, interested parties had been propagating lies in support of a project to tarnish the country’s image. He pointed out that there was evidence to prove that pictures released by pro-LTTE outfits, of Prabhakaran’s son before and after the alleged killing, were in fact not authentic.

The British journalist stood for Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who was in Jaffna on that day for talks with newly elected Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council C. V. Vigneswaran. Khurshid, accompanied by a group of Indian journalists flew into Jaffna after having had talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees.

The two-day conference jointly organised by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), AJK Mass Communication Research Centre and Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution attracted a sizeable group of students.

Commenting on the recently concluded Northern Provincial Council polls, Roberts said that ordinary Tamils living in Jaffna, whom he had the opportunity of talking to during his recent visit to cover the PC polls, lived in fear due to the presence of Sri Lankan intelligence services. Based on his interviews with civilians in northern Sri Lanka, Roberts asserted that the conflict wasn’t over, though the war ended in May 2009.

Referring to the recent massacre of men, women and children by al Shabab in Nairobi, Kenya, Roberts said that the senseless massacre had been carried out only to capture global media attention. He cited the case of a Tibetan monk setting himself ablaze with the intention of manipulating the international media.

The ICRC’s regional head, Mary Werntz said: "Media do not just report news, they also form opinion – and that, in turn, shapes events." "It will be interesting to discuss with top professionals from South Asia how reporting can help address humanitarian consequences of violence and conflict," Werntz said in her brief address during which she referred to thousands of medical evacuations carried out under the auspices of the ICRC mission in Sri Lanka at the height of Eelam war IV.

Addressing the first session of the two-day confab, veteran journalist M. R. Narayan Swamy said that he had never had faith in the LTTE as he had known that Prabhakaran would one day take the Tamil community to its grave. Swamy, who had authored three books on the Sri Lankan conflict, asserted that the situation faced by Sri Lankan Tamils on the Vanni front was worse than the July 1983 riots.

Although Swamy said that due to time constraints he couldn’t relate stories from the past, he agreed to discuss one story following an intervention by Wing Commander Praful Bakshi, who functioned as the Defence Ministry spokesperson during the deployment of the Indian army in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. Bakshi was speaking in his capacity as a consultant to the ICRC.

India deployed troops on July 29, 1987 in accordance with Indo-Lanka peace accord. Fighting broke out in early Oct 1987 causing thousands of deaths among combatants as well as civilians. India ended its mission in March 1990.

Swamy recollected the Indian army surrounding a hotel in Vavuniya, where he was staying at the onset of Indian operations in northern Sri Lanka. According to him, Indian troops had used a masked informant to identify those with the LTTE, regardless of the collaborator making a mistake. At the behest of the Indian army, those who had been forced out of the hotel, including Narayan, were paraded before the masked man. After the masked man had cleared Swamy, he had introduced himself to the Indian army officer in charge of the counter insurgency operation. A smiling Swamy recollected how the young Indian officer stared at him with an open mouth.

WC Bakshi explained difficulties experienced by the Indian military as well as the media alike due to the External Affairs and Defence ministries pulling in different directions.

SC Ruling Part 2: Battle Over Land Turns Into Battle Of The Chief Justices?

By Rajan Philips -October 13, 2013

Rajan Philips

In what seems to be becoming the battle of the Chief Justices, former Chief Justice Sarath Silva has publicly disputed the factual foundation of the so called landmark Supreme Court ruling whose main consequence might be to prop up political claims denying provincial powers over land.  One is left to wonder if Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranaike will also enter the fray.  As the only academic who vaulted to the bench, she might be better placed in adding to the knowledge of the law than delivering judicial opinions in op-ed articles.

Save for drawing some prurient satisfaction, the situation is really a sad state of affairs, and disgracefully so.  The three Heads of State who monkeyed with the judiciary, JR Jayewardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, have a lot to answer for.  JRJ is beyond answerability.  Will the conscience of the other two, their advisers and their appointees keep all of them restless at night? “Fat hopes”, whispers the realist.

What we can learn from this mess is that if the central government and the Provincial Councils are to discharge their obligations in using land for sustainable economic use and protecting it as an environmental resource, they have to turn to alternative policy, technical and administrative resources rather than turning to legal resources and the courts for interpreting the constitution.  If at all the constitution is a compass, not a road map; a weather vane, and not an agricultural tool.

From British times, elaborate mechanisms have been put in place for alienating land with a hierarchy of officials exercising legislatively assigned powers according to clear criteria. There was political interference and the system was not entirely foolproof against administrative malpractices.  But there were checks against them within the system, as well as parliamentary oversight and an independent court system as the final external arbiter.  The system worked.  We can debate, as I did last week, the economic benefits and the political fallout of the dry zone colonization project, but the project processes worked.  There was no need for a constant recourse to the constitution or the courts.                                             Read More

New UNHCR Representative for Sri Lanka

 Saturday, 12 October 2013 

The newly-appointed UNHCR Representative in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Mr. M Golam Abbas, presented his Letter of Credentials to Honourable Minister for External Affairs, Professor G.L Peiris (M.P.) on Friday.

Mr. Abbas, a Bangladeshi national, has worked with the UN Refugee Agency since 1987 in a number of countries including Bangladesh, Thailand, Uganda, Liberia, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Iran, Jordan, Somalia and Sudan, as well as at UNHCR Regional Representation in Central Europe in Hungary and Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Upon assuming office, Mr. Abbas said, "I am delighted to be in Sri Lanka, a country rich in culture and natural beauty and look forward to maintaining an effective working relationship with the Government of Sri Lanka, members of the diplomatic community, UN Agencies, non-governmental organizations and all other major stakeholders and interlocutors in the refugee programme in Sri Lanka.”
Since 2009, UNHCR has assisted over half a million IDPs and refugee returnees in Sri Lanka. The agency also carries out a range of other protection and assistance programs for its persons of concern.

UNHCR’s work in Sri Lanka also includes providing protection and assistance to over 1,400 urban refugees and asylum seekers, helping to determine their status and ways and means to find a sustainable solution.

Mr. Abbas arrived in Sri Lanka on 22 September 2013. He will be joined by his wife.

Philip Baldaeus Didn’t See A Big Ethnic Difference In Ceylon

By Laksiri Fernando -October 12, 2013 

Dr. Laksiri Fernando

Both Robert Knox and Philip Baldaeus are important in studying and understanding the history, people and culture of Ceylon in the 17^th century, with possible insights for today, but the scholars have so far given less attention to Baldaeus than to Knox for various reasons. Baldaeus was a Protestant Priest who came to the country as a missionary when the Dutch were taking over the Maritime Provinces from the Portuguese. He probably came to Ceylon in 1657 and left the country in 1665. In between, he was also in Malabar and Coromandel for missionary work.

His “A Description of the Great and Most Famous Isle of Ceylon,” of 162 pages and 52 short chapters, was part of a larger work of 829 pages on “Malabar, Coromandel and Ceylon,” published in 1671in Amsterdam, in fact ten years before Robert Knox’s book, and translated and published in English in 1703 from High Dutch. The main focus of the historical description, of course from his official point of view, was Raja Singa II. Nevertheless, it traces the history from the arrival of the Portuguese and gives a fair description of diplomacy and political intrigues and the treatises between the Dutch and the Kandyan King/s. There are also important details about the conventions, state structures and political customs of what he has called the ‘Empire of Ceylon.’ While some of these details might be of interest to political analysts who grapple with the issues of devolution today, the focus of this article is on some of his comments on the Sinhalese, the Tamils and also the Muslims as ethnic or national groups from a reconciliation point of view.

Robert Knox gave an elaborate description of society, family, occupations, customs and religion, among other matters, of what he called the Chingulays (Sinhalese) in his An Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon in East-Indies (1681) as he was living in Kandy areas for 19 years. He commented on the Tamils or Malabars as he had roamed around some parts of Vanni but he was not well aware of Jafnapatnam. (It should be noted that Malabars is the term many European writers used to describe the Tamils both in South India and Ceylon until the 19^th century). This gap is filled by Philip Baldaeus with greater clarity, however, one need to keep in mind that by this time the Jaffna society had largely been Christianised which he admits and explains. Baldaeus lived both in Jaffna and Galle; and in Jaffna he learned Tamil and even translated the Lord’s Prayer into Tamil.

Jafnapatnam                                                   Read More

DIVISION OF MINISTRIES OF THE NORTHERN PROVINCIAL COUNCIL & SUBJECTS FOR COUNCILLORS

Eye Sri Lanka

     The Tamil National Alliance Media Office issued a press release detailing the  Portfolios Allocated for Northern Chief Minister and Four Provincial Ministers and  subjects for councillors. The Ministers who took their oaths today are.

P. Aingaranesan Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Water Supply and Environment
T. Kurukularajah Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs
P. Sathyalingam Minister of Health
P. Deniswaran Minister of Fisheries, Transport and Rural Development

C.V. Kandiah Sivagnanam was appointed Chairman of the NPC while Antony Jeganathan was appointed Vice Chairman.

The TNA Council members and Ministers took oaths before NPC Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran.

TNA News NPC Division of Ministries 10-10-2013 by nelvely

And Then What?

By Emil van der Poorten -October 13, 2013 |

Emil van der Poorten

This is a piece that I wrote for the December 15th, 2007 – January 15^th, 2008 issue of the now-defunct Montage Magazine. I’m leaving it with no effort at editing or updating for readers to decide what, if anything, has changed in Sri Lanka in very nearly six years.

And Then What?

With the Sri Lankan armed forces’ juggernaut seemingly on an unstoppable march and the prospect of the LTTE being vanquished (read Tamils of the North and East being reduced to abject fear and misery), what is in store for the country as a whole?

There have already been ominous signals of the emergence of robber gangs armed with sophisticated light arms running loose, it has been suggested, with the connivance of the local security personnel.  In fact, in one small town in the North Western Province, there was a symbolic shop closure and protest by local merchants who had seen about two dozen break and enter thefts of their premises within a very short period of time.  Their contention was that there was no way that this could have happened without the local constabulary, at the very least, turning a blind eye.  What emerged from this attempt to obtain redress is anybody’s guess, because the climate of fear prevailing in the area has prevented the discussion of the issue any further, a general consensus appearing to be that to exceed the one symbolic gesture would be tempting the fates in a country where the law of the jungle enforced by white-van-driving Sri Lankan Ton Ton Macoutes prevails.

If the prospect of armed gangs running rampant wasn’t enough, the lack of discipline of elements of the security forces should give us pause.  The better-than-a-hundred troops sent back from the UN Peace Keeping Force in Haiti for what one paper called “being naughty” should make us sit up and pay attention.  The alleged sexual misconduct, inclusive of sexual assault of minors by members of an army that the President very recently proclaimed as being the most disciplined armed force in the world hardly merits additional comment.

A recent newspaper defined Sri Lanka’s response to anything resembling question, criticism or censure from sources outside the country as simply, “Deny” and “Defy.”  Whether within the triumphalism that will be reinforced in spades after the subjugation of the LTTE (read Tamil people) even this response would be felt necessary, is anybody’s guess.  After all, once you have established absolute power, it would hardly be necessary to fall back on Richard M. Nixon’s exhortation to his troops when the chickens came home to roost: “Deny, deny, deny.” In such a situation the ability of external forces to influence events in Sri Lanka is not something to wager on.                                    Read More

More Balanced Foreign Policy & Capable Diplomats Needed, Allowing Casino Is Not Bad – Dr. Saman Kelegama

October 13, 2013 |
“It is very important to have capable and eloquent diplomats in Sri Lanka’s embassies, in order to be able to canvass issues and economic interests more successfully. It is important to bear in mind that the West is an important market, and have a balanced foreign policy towards Western countries, in Sri Lanka’s best interests” says Dr. Saman Kelegama.October 13, 2013 

Dr. Saman Kelegama

Delivering a lecture on the topic “Economic Dimensions of Sri Lanka’s Foreign Policy”, last evening at the BCIS (Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies) in Colombo, today (Oct 12, 2013), the Executive Director of the Institute of Policy Studies and a well-known economist in Sri Lanka said; “ allowing of casinos is not a bad thing, because gambling is a matter of choice, in the world casino rankings, Macau is number 1, Las Vegas is at number 2 and Singapore is now at number 3,  the present government policy of letting in casinos is not a bad thing for Sri Lanka overall.

Dr. Kelegama spoke of how economic policy agendas of Sri Lanka have influenced its foreign policy under various countries, at multilateral, regional and bilateral levels.

He said that from 1948 to 1955, the foreign policy was influenced by the market economic models that were inherited from the colonial regime that existrd before. The market for key exports (more than 90% plantation items) was the West. Thus, foreign policy was dictated by a tilt towards the West. Commonwealth membership and the initiation of the Colombo Plan (1951) were with Western support for the economy.                                         Read More                                    

Guest Post: Media Repression and Tamils in Sri Lanka

by Daniel Kitts Friday October 11, 2013

We recently interviewed Sri Lankan journalist Sanjana Hattotuwa from the organization Groundviews on the many questions surrounding press freedom in Sri Lanka. This week, one where Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced he would not be attending a major heads of government meeting in Sri Lanka, the group Tamils Against Genocide asked to contribute a piece to our website that laid out their conclusions on the situation for Sri Lankan journalists, and which journalists are the most vulnerable to violence and why.

This week Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed he will stay away from the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) meeting in Sri Lanka, citing Canada’s deep concerns including “The absence of accountability for the serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian standards during and after the civil war” and a lack of freedom of expression among others.

Sri Lanka has gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists alongside Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea and North Korea. By way of preview of a forthcoming Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) report on media violence in Sri Lanka, we'd like to share our perspective. 

The silencing of dissenting media voices in Sri Lanka has a history, dating back decades. Since the current regime, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), came into power in 2004, the relationship between state and media has deteriorated sharply.

Yet considering that much of Sri Lanka’s post-independence period has been entrenched in ethnic violence, the central question of race has been absent in the analysis of media attacks. Indeed, often ethnicities of attacked media workers remain unspecified in the reporting of human rights and news organisations. With the erosion of ethnic labels in the reporting of violence against media personnel, some core reasons for the Sri Lankan states repression of media personnel elude us. 

Our analysis shows that some journalists are more vulnerable to state-backed attacks than others in Sri Lanka. A primary motive for attacks is to perpetuate the "absence of accountability" noted by the Canadian government.

Since 2004, Journalists for Democracy (JDS), an exiled group of Sri Lankan journalists from all ethno-religious backgrounds, reported 44 murders or disappearances of journalist and media personnel. As many media workers went missing during the final stages of the war in Mullivaikaal, Vanni Region, in 2009, JDS’s data remains incomplete to date. In corroboration with data on non-lethal violence against media personnel and interviews with Sri Lankan journalists, it however provides significant quantitative and qualitative indicators for the nature of violence inflicted upon the media.

Of all murdered or disappeared journalists listed by JDS since 2004, 37 are media workers of ethnic Tamil origin while 4 are ethnic Sinhalese and 2 Sri Lankan Muslims. Given that approximately 87 per cent of the victims of state repression against the media have been Tamil, one can speak of the appliance of ethnically discriminate violence by the state. Thus State repression of the media mirrors the state’s wider ethno-chauvinist policies. The rate of assassinations and/or abductions of Tamil media workers to that of non-Tamils is almost nine-to-one, yet the island’s Tamil population only makes up approximately 12 percent of the country’s inhabitants, according to Sri Lanka’s last census (2012).

Sri Lanka may be one of the most dangerous countries for journalists, but it is far from spatially evenly dangerous: of the lethal attacks and/or abductions of media personnel that happened since 2004, approximately 75 per cent have taken place in the majority Tamil-speaking regions of the island. Most of those occurred in the Mullaithivu (approximately 33 per cent) and Jaffna District (approximately 26 per cent) respectively.* Of the killings and/or abductions that occurred outside of the majority Tamil-speaking regions, the majority took place in the Colombo District (approximately14 per cent), which similarly has a significant, and for the region disproportionate, Tamil-speaking population. Tamil-dominated spaces thus emerge as the prime site of media crimes.

In brief, we find the threats to life amplify vastly if one is a media employee of Tamil origin working in a majority Tamil-speaking region of the country. Being critical of the government of Sri Lanka is less pertinent as a risk factor than being critical of the government’s conduct pre, during and post the conflict, with regards to the Tamil population. We contend that violence against the media contributes to the denial of justice for crimes committed against the Tamil population in Sri Lanka.

As a Tamil journalist reflected, for members of Tamil media organisations the stakes were always higher. Sinhalese journalists who openly advocate for Tamil rights and criticize the state with regards to its treatment of Tamils are, however, also vulnerable to state violence.

This ethnic dynamic has contributed as a significant block to the accountability that Prime Minister Harper speaks of in reference to the last phase of the 2009 war in the Tamil dominated North: indeed the war has been often described in the media with a cliché as a war without witness. 

*JDS data analyzed number died/disappeared by region (percentage): 16 in Mullaithivu (33%), 13 in Jaffna (26%), 7 in Colombo (14%), 3 in Batticoloa (6%), 3 in Kilinoichchi (6%)1 in Trincomalee (2%), 1  in Mannar (2%), 1 in Vavuniya (2%), 1 in Anuradhapura (2.%), 1 in Kebithigollewa (2%), 1  in Matupula (2%).

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