Govt. Muslim MPs mum on Casino Bill

By Dinouk Colombage-Sunday, 27 Oct 2013

The controversial Casino Bill (Regulations under Strategic Development Projects Act), which has been withdrawn from Parliament Order Paper, has left the Muslim political circles divided.

Central Provincial Councillor, Azath Salley, has lashed out at the Muslim political figures in the government, accusing them of turning their backs on their religion. "This Casino Bill, and all forms of gambling, goes against the teachings of our religion. On religious grounds we must all stand together and oppose this Bill. It is haram to support such a project," he said.

While Salley went on the offensive, the Muslim members of the ruling coalition used the withdrawal of the Bill from parliamentary debate as an opportunity to avoid commenting. A.H.M. Fowzie, Senior Minister of Urban Affairs, refused to comment on the Bill stating, "There is no need to speak about this since it has been withdrawn from Parliament."

However, Fowzie admitted that if the Bill was taken up again in Parliament for debate with the amendments, then he would comment. "How can I make my stance known until I have seen the Bill? Once it is seen, then only will I comment," he said. The minister refused to comment on whether or not his religion would play a role in his decision to support or oppose the bill.

When contacted, many other Muslim MPs in the government declined to comment and requested not to even mention their names in the story.

According to Quran, gambling is considered to be a sin and is strictly forbidden, while accepting there are benefits to mankind the sin of it outweighs them.

On the back foot?

Editorial-October 26, 2013, 6:08 pm 

The government is clearly on the back foot regarding the controversial casino issue and the decision to review the ill-fated gazette notifications which it had expected to steamroll through parliament last week is clearly the result of three members of the ruling coalition taking a hard line against making this country a casino hub. Neither the JHU, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress nor Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s National Freedom Front have the numbers to rock the government boat in parliament. No political punditry is required to say that their numbers in the legislature would have been much fewer than now if they had run on their own steam rather than under the UPFA umbrella. Yet it is obvious that the president does not wish to have a confrontation with his allies, however small they may be, at this point of time. Therefore a way out is obviously being looked for.

As we said in this space last week, if big time casino operators are being welcomed to Sri Lanka, the country must tax them properly and not offer sweetheart deals. Dr. Harsha de Silva, the UNP National List MP, who has done yeoman service exposing many details of the casino deal that would have remained submerged but for his efforts, has said that the intended taxes are much lower than in other countries in the region. We do not know whether he is right or wrong but Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene is on record saying that foreign investors are not crazy to come here without incentives. True, we are not the only girl on the beach. Countries like Singapore which had earlier shied away from the gaming industry have now changed their minds and are earning a pretty penny from tightly regulated casinos. Our track record of regulation is weak at best and whether we will do better this time round is moot.

Backpedaling can prove costly in the matter of attracting the foreign direct investment we badly need. James Packer would not have gone as public as he has on what he proposes to do in Colombo unless he had firm assurances of the deal he was getting. The signs are that this will change, though to what extent we do not know. But Packer has not actually put money on the ground and the physical construction of the `mixed development’ of which casinos will be part had not yet begun. So he will not lose much if he pulls out because the deal is lesser than what was originally offered. Not so John Keells Holdings which has begun demolition work on the properties on which the company’s Waterfront Development Project will stand. The conglomerate had vacated its corporate headquarters at Glennie Street and its people are camping out in offices scattered around the city. The last day for payment on the JKH rights issue, raising a substantial cash tranche to pay for the project was Friday. By all accounts the issue was fully subscribed. Investors, no doubt, factored the casino/casinos this project will host into their calculations on the potential earnings from the Waterfront Development; if there is any radical change of plan such calculations can go awry.

This where the government can or indeed must be faulted. Policy must be clear cut and agreements must both be transparent and honored. There should be no room for changing gears midstream for whatever reason. The arguments that are now being raised against admitting big casino operators are not new. The relatively small casinos that have been around for some years are taxpayers, we are told, although the actual laws under which they operate are a grey area. We have heard it said that entry into these establishments is for foreigners only but the authorities, if they are worth their salt, would well know that locals too patronize these casinos. The various ladies of Chinese and East European descent seen around these places late in the nights and the wee hours of the mornings are perceived to be part of the service they offer in addition to free food and drinks on the house. So nobody should be taken by surprise about the vices that such gaming establishments are likely to spawn. There is now talk that the casinos will be for foreigners only and, according to one report, Minister Weerawansa is comfortable with this arrangement.

There is no doubt that activities like gaming, if easily accessible to locals, will have wide ranging social implications. But gambling is very much a part of the national scene with bookies present in every nook and corner of the country. We banned horse racing in the country decades ago but many of our people back horses and greyhounds in England. Bookmaking is obviously profitable given the number of ``turf accountants’’ we see around our towns and one of them is a government Member of Parliament. Booruwa and asking hitting plus not so surreptitious drinking is common in poor funeral houses. As we pointed out last week, the existing two casino license-holders, one of whom is the Secretary to the Transport Ministry, hold a valuable concession given the president’s declaration that no new licenses will be issued. How the ongoing drama will play out is anybody’s guess. We tilt in the direction that while some cosmetic changes will be made, there will be no radical changes in the decisions already taken. Some of the opposition parties are smelling blood but how potent they will be given the dismal track record of particularly the UNP remains to be seen.

Hypocrisy is an ever-present part of human nature and there is an overabundance of that quality in this island of ours. Despite Mathata Thitha we are among the bigger boozers in the world with an illicit liquor industry going great guns competing with tax paying manufacturers contributing a major slice of government revenue. Liquor is certainly not banned in official entertainment going up to the highest levels and the taxpayer pays for most of it. The UNP whose record on casinos (remember Joe Sim who was sent away after a change of heart?) now sees evil it was blind to in the past. We are building a great many hotels and plan to make tourism a lead industry, if not the lead industry, in the country. All these rooms have to be filled and practical measures, however morally repugnant to some, will have to be taken to ensure the great leap forward. Though not inclined to betting, we’d place our money on the proposition that whatever the changes that will be made to the original plan will be merely cosmetic.

”Bring them Home”

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Ex-LTTEers demanding war cemeteries will be arrested – Gota

By Ravi Ladduwahetty--Sunday, 27 Oct 2013

Any living ex-LTTE cadres, who demand for the setting up of cemeteries to serve as memorials for their dead in the 30-year war, will be arrested, Defence Secretary, Retired Colonel Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, told Ceylon Today. He was responding to a question from this newspaper as to what the reaction of the government would be to the demand of the ex-LTTE cadres that such a war cemetery be erected to remember the LTTE cadres, who were killed in the war, amid a resolution passed by the Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha towards this end.

"The LTTE is a banned organization, both locally and internationally and they have no legitimacy in the first place.

They have no right whatsoever to ask for war cemeteries to commemorate the dead. Anyone who does that, will be arrested," Rajapaksa said.

"We will do the same thing that we did to the other ex-LTTE cadres, by arresting them and rehabilitating them as they are misguided youth, who were a part of a banned organization and who wreaked havoc over three decades," the Defence Secretary said.

He also said the cemeteries could not be located and constructed at anyone's will but they were located in certain specific areas.

Responding to a question as to what the reaction of the government was, on the statement made by recently-appointed Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, that he and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Councillors of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), were working towards getting land and police powers to the North, Rajapaksa said that it was not possible.

He said the fact that there was a Supreme Court Judgment given to the effect that there would not be land powers devolved to the Provinces, should make the Chief Minister and the Council realize the impossibility of the NPC having land powers to themselves.

Commenting in police powers, he asked why the NPC should be given special police powers when all the other Provincial Councils did not have separate police powers. He also reminded that President Mahinda Rajapaksa too had spelt out the government would not be devolving police powers to the NPC.

"Why should the NPC have special privileges on police powers?" the Defence Secretary queried and added, "The core function of the police is to maintain law and order and that is the function of the Central Government and the mandate of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Defence Minister and Commander-in- Chief of the Armed Forces.

"What the NPC should do is to help the police to maintain law and order and they could assist the police in the prevention of crime. There could be a system of community policing where the politicians – the Members of Parliament and the Provincial Councillors, the business community and the members of the public could assist in the prevention of crime.

"Therefore, there was no need for a separate police force for the NPC. All the stakeholders could cooperate with the police and that is what they should be doing," he said.

Asked how he sees the development and the administration of the North in the light of the NPC being dominated by the TNA, he said the TNA will have to cooperate with the government in terms of decisions taken to develop the North.

"The TNA can utter their rhetoric on election platforms, but they will have to consult the government on key issues. That is because the North is not some other country, but it is a part of Sri Lanka. The North also comes under the aegis of the government and Sri Lanka too," he quipped.

If they do not cooperate with the government and engage in development work that the people and the voters expect of them, the Northerners will undoubtedly reject them, Rajapaksa added.

Anti-Indian Gota Heading To New Delhi

Gota

October 27, 2013 

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has repeatedly criticised India over its responsibility in the Sri Lankan war

and the 13th Amendment is expected to leave for New Delhi this week for talks with the Indian Government.

Gotabaya will address bilateral security issues and the Tamil Nadu fishermen issue during his visit, Colombo Telegraph learns.

The Secretary MOD has been vocal of New Delhi’s role in fostering the LTTE and the conflict in Sri Lanka.

Gota Gives Tech Evaluation Committees 24 Hours To Review Defence Purchases, Blames Academics When Corruption Allegations Occurred

October 26, 2013 |

The Ministry of Defence calls on academics to sit on Technical Evaluation Committees for defence purchases, gives them less than 24 hours to review documentation and then finally blames academics when things begin to go wrong, an ex-senior academic at the University of Moratuwa has claimed.

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence

In response to a statement made in a speech by Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa who said that many national professionals leave Sri Lanka for higher paying jobs abroad, Dr.Thrishantha Nanayakkara, a senior lecturer at the Moratuwa University between 2003-2007, said he and fellow academics were often called to sit on TECs of the Ministry of Defence. Dr. Nanayakkara said often those committees were chaired by Defence Secretary himself. “

“Very often the documents to be reviewed were delivered on the same day the TEC meeting was held depriving us of enough time to do a credible review. Very often, I had only the time during the ride from Moratuwa to ministry of defense to review the documents. Due to the urgency of many such purchasing decisions, we signed those documents based on complete trust in Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the chair of the committee,” he explains.

But Dr. Nanayakkara notes that it was very unfortunate that the Ministry of Defence itself took to exposing the names of professionals and the recommendations of those TECs whenthings went wrong. “It seemed to us that the professionals who were kept in the darkness whole throughout the TEC process were just used as a cleansing shield in the event things go wrong. I am not alone in this concern. One can check with any academic in the University system in Sri Lanka on this,” he explains.

Responding to the fraud said to have taken place when purchasing MIG 27 fighters for Sri Lanka Air Force, the Ministry of Defence exposed the names of the Technical Evaluation Committee.

According to the MOD the members of the MIG TECs were, Air Marshal Roshan Goonethilake (Chairman), Air Commodore EGJP de Silva (Director Aeronautical Engineering SLAF),  a Senior Lecturer from the University of Moratuwa, Mr. HD Weerasiri (Accountant- Ministry of Defence), Mr. VJ Premarathne (Deputy Director Airworthiness- Civil Aviation Authority), and Mrs. KDR Olga (Accountant-Department of National Budget).

Child Abuse In Vavuniya?

By Nirmala Kannangara

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Following the latest sordid episode of child molestation reported from Vavuniya where a young man in robes is accused of committing the crime, questions have been raised as to whether there are loopholes in the law in the country that prevents or delays action being taken against the perpetrators.

Sumithra Fernando, Attorney-at-Law, Women-in-Need (WIN) said that the laws are in place and added that the laws cannot be implemented against the suspects because of the workload in courts.

Child Abuse in Vavuniya by nelvely

Are Graduates Unemployable? The Answer Is ‘No’

By Milton Rajaratne -October 27, 2013 |

Prof. Milton Rajaratne

Many including Minister of Higher Education and his officials such as the Secretary and the UGC Chairman, many Vice-Chancellors, lecturers and politicians are puzzled with an issue coined as ‘graduate unemployability’. Research data published in the UGC bulletins show that the ‘graduate unemployability’ prevails across all the disciplines taught at the universities that fall within the UGC purview.

‘Ceylonese Bulldozers’ at work: Marcus Fernando Hall site, Peradeniya, University of Ceylon (1954)

The Ministry of Higher Education has shouldered the burden of joblessness of graduates for which otherwise the Ministries of Economic Development and Finance & Planning should have been blamed. Instead of producing learned graduates and elevating the quality and meaning of higher education, the Ministry of Higher Education is devoted to resolving the ‘graduate unemployability’ problem. Thus at every workshop, seminar and conference organized by the Ministry, the higher ranking officials spend much of their time to work out remedies for the ‘graduate unemployability’. The frequently prescribed medicine for the ‘unemployability ailment’ is production of graduates in new vocational fields such as management, beauty culture, tourism etc.

                                                            Read More  

Way Forward For Sustained Growth

By W.A Wijewardena -October 28, 2013 |

Dr. W.A. Wijewardena

Way forward for sustained growth: Challenging but can be tackled with correct policies

SLEA Annual Sessions 2013

The Sri Lanka Economic Association or SLEA in its 2013 Annual Sessions held last week had a very important topic as its theme: ‘The Way Forward for Sustained Growth’. At the inaugural sessions, two eminent economists, Professor A.D.V. de S. Indraratna and Dr. G. Usvattearatchi, made a microscopic dissection of the current state of the economy and came up with some important suggestions which the Sri Lankan authorities may consider if they are interested in a sustained economic growth.

Growth driven by borrowings

Professor Indraratna delivering the Presidential Address noted that Sri Lanka was able to reverse the low economic growth which the country had had prior to 2009 after the third quarter of the same year. But that growth had come not by using the domestic savings and thereby investing the domestic savings but by borrowing and allowing the trade deficit to deteriorate with increasing pressure on the exchange rate.

What Indraratna meant by this is the setting up of a vicious circle of economic malady through deliberate policy action. This can be explained as follows: When the exchange rate is under pressure for depreciation due to the domestic inflation rising significantly above that of competitor countries, the rate has to be depreciated to maintain the country’s competitiveness, promote exports and discourage imports. If the rate is not depreciated, it gets overvalued bringing about the opposite results. Thus, the trade deficit becomes bigger, leading to a similarly big current account deficit of the balance of payments reducing the country’s domestic savings.                                 Read More        

Left to Right, Decline of Communism in India

Oct-24-2013

“Left to Right” is a basic reference book that should be read by all practitioners or students of revolution, of socialism-communism, of Marxism.

Asfar Faridy, Associate Editor India Next Hindi Daily Addressing - Left to Right Book Release at Delhi 14 Apr 2013 popularfrontindia.com

(COPENHAGEN) - T.G. Jacob, an Indian scholar and former Maoist activist, has written a tour de force about the century-long history of India’s many communist parties. Left to Right, Decline of Communism in India’s main contribution is its description and analysis of these parties’ failures and it does so without stooping to anti-communism or in pandering to the capitalist class. (1)

Jacob’s well researched book is honest, courageous, and challenging. Nor does he beat around the bush. Jacob contends that the “dismal failure” and decline of most communist parties into social democracy is partly a consequence of colonised mindsets that facilitated communists to become lackeys of the Soviet-led Comintern and the British Communist party.

Left to Right, Decline of Communism in India by nelvely

Israel Benefits as World Loses

Dr. Paul Balles-Oct-26-2013 

Is there any point in public debate in a society where hardly anyone has been taught how to think, while millions have been taught what to think? --Peter Hitchens

(MANAMA, Bahrain) - What started off as Arab Spring has turned morbidly into Arab Fall. What began as a seasonal description became directional and self-destructive.

Not only have movements that looked promising failed to benefit anyone but Israel, they have drawn their sponsors exorbitantly toward bankruptcy.

The Israelis and their lobbyists in the United States laugh quietly when they hear someone complain about the $3 billion in annual gifts America sends to Israel.

Why is that funny? Because it only represents a tiny portion of what Israel really costs America. Add the total costs of all the wars the US has fought for Israel.

The Iraq war alone has cost America $815 billion and it's still not over. It has benefitted no one but Israel--not America and certainly not Iraq.

The number of Iraqis slaughtered in the US war and occupation of Iraq: 1,455,590.

Nearly half a million people have died from war-related causes in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003, according to an academic study by a research team from the Universities of Washington, Johns Hopkins, Simon Fraser and Mustansiriya (Oct.2013).

Anyone with a few hours of work as an investigative journalist and a calculator would know that Israel has been the sole beneficiary of Iraq's near-total destruction.

One must ask the same question about the other imbroglios that America has been supporting in the Middle East: Who has benefited?

Support for the uprising in Egypt: America echoed protesters chanting “Down with Mubarak” in favour of democracy, until democracy elected Mursi, the wrong man for Israel.

Whatever happens in Egypt, Israel is determined to be the beneficiary.

Repeated bombings of Libya were designed to get rid of Muammar Gaddafi so that Israel wouldn't have to worry about what Libya’s madman would do with Libya's petro dollars.

The Pentagon spent $1.1 billion in 2011 to launch attacks to destroy that country's air defences and established a no-fly zone. America and NATO paid. Only Israel benefited.

Syria - controlling chemical weapons: More than $1 billion per month. No-fly zone another &1 billion a month Already cost 100,000 lives. Refugees cost $7.5 billion.

Shimon Peres acknowledged the benefit to Israel of the death and destruction in Syria: "Today the Syrian President Basher al-Assad is punished for his refusal to compromise with Israel and the Syrian people pay for it."

The Syrians, America and Saudi Arabia pay. Israel benefits.

Led by Israel, Iran is currently Israel's major objective of death-dealing slaughter in the Middle East.

The efforts Israel makes to convince the world that Iran has nuclear weapons or wants to develop them have been non-stop. Israel's propaganda campaign is as constant and effective as anything Herr Goebbels put together in Nazi Germany.

Currently, Iran and the P5+1 nations are looking for a way to avoid the fates of the countries suffering from Arab spring becoming Arab fall.

Until a fair and reasonable solution can be negotiated Iran will suffer from undeserved sanctions while Israel benefits.

Palestine continues to be the major victim of Israel's perfidy, as it has been for the past 50 years.

Total Cost of Wars Since 2001:$1,500 trillion
The war in Afghanistan: $667 billion
The War in Iraq: $815 billion

Trillions of dollars in monetary costs; millions of lives lost and impoverished--monstrous unjustifiable expenses dictated by Tel Aviv.

The world loses. Israel remains the only real beneficiary.

2.6 MILLION ACRES AND COUNTING

It's what we did in the past, and what we do in the present, that defines our future. Since 1962, theNature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) has secured over 2.6 million acres of land that will forever provide a home for wildlife, an escape from the city, and a vital resource that cleans the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Toshiba is working alongside the Nature Conservancy of Canada to help ensure that those lands and the rich biodiversity within them remain protected for future generations to enjoy.

Chandrasiri must go

By Ananth Palakidnar-Sunday, 27 Oct 2013

Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC), C.V. Wigneswaran, yesterday at the inaugural session of the NPC reiterated his call for the removal of Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri from his post as the Governor of the Northern Province. Gen. Chandrasiri was in the audience when the Chief Minister delivered his inaugural speech.

“The people in the Northern Province do not want a military official serving as the Governor of the Province,” he said.  Prior to the commencement of the inaugural session, the new building constructed to house the Council was jointly declared open at 8 a.m. by Governor Chandrasiri and Chief Minister Wigneswaran.

Later, the Governor hoisted the national flag as the Chief Minister hoisted the flag of the Provincial Council.
As the NPC Councillors convened at the main auditorium at 9:30 a.m., the inaugural session began with the selection of C.V.K. Sivagnanam as the Chairman of the Council.

Anton Jeyanathan was selected as the Deputy Chairman. A large number of dignitaries, including Leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R. Sampanthan, M.A. Sumanthiran, along with other NPC Councillors and members of various local government bodies, were present at the inaugural session.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran, delivering his inaugural speech in the presence of Governor Chandrasiri said, “The people in the Northern Province do not want a military official serving as the Governor of the province. As the NPC Councillors, we respect the stance of the people. The NPC and the people of the North want a senior civil servant, who can understand the problems faced by the people, as their Governor. I believe, President Mahinda Rajapaksa will take into consideration the expectations of the people in the North and appoint a civil official as Governor.”
Referring to the military presence in the North, he said, the Army should be confined to the barracks in order to continue the post-war development activities.

Commenting on the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Wigneswaran said, “We knew there were several loopholes in the 13th Amendment, but still we came forward to contest under the amendment to stabilize the North.”
The Chief Minister also emphasized the need of the TNA and the government working together, in order to build on the peace and to carry out development activities.
The new NPC building at Kaithady, Jaffna is built at a cost of Rs 450 million with modern facilities.

Noble start in north!

• At historic inauguration, Chief Minister Wigneswaran says TNA has rejected separatism but calls for removal of troops from north, stresses land rights
• Governor, CM inaugurate new NPC complex with National Flag raising ceremony
• NPC will push for Police powers to be devolved to provinces
• NPC Opposition Leader pledges cooperation
• Good beginning, says Sampanthan

By Dharisha Bastians in Jaffna-October 26, 2013
The Northern Provincial Council met for the first time in Jaffna yesterday, with Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran making a passionate call for demilitarisation in the region and citing serious lapses in the 13th Amendment, but pledging to use his huge electoral mandate to push for reconciliation in the former conflict zone.
The inaugural session of the first-ever Northern Provincial Council (NPC) was held at a newly-constructed building in Kaithady, Jaffna, that was opened earlier in the morning by Northern Province Governor, retired Major Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri and Chief Minister Wigneswaran. The pair hoisted the National and Provincial Flags and participated in a colourful ceremony before the Council was scheduled to meet at 9:30 a.m.
“The 13th Amendment is a vessel full of holes. Its powers are not sufficient to deliver all the aspirations of the Tamil people and offers no independence for the provincial councils,” Wigneswaran said, making his maiden speech to the Council.
He said the provincial government would do its best to ensure Police powers as set out in 13A are devolved to the province. “We need Tamil-speaking Police personnel who can be sensitive to the language, culture and aspirations of the people,” he said.
The retired Supreme Court Judge said his provincial government would however use the overwhelming victory handed to them by the people at last month’s historic election held on the basis of 13A to push for peace, reconciliation and democratic governance. “We hope the Government will cooperate,” he noted.
The Chief Minister made a strong case for the removal of troops from the Northern Province, suggesting the surplus soldiers could be absorbed into the UN Peace Keeping Force or integrated back into civilian life.
“There will be no civil administration here if one in every five people is a soldier,” Justice Wigneswaran charged. He said the presence of a Military Governor in the region as the President’s representative also hampered civilian administration.
Reaching out to the Muslim and Sinhala communities in his maiden assembly speech, the Chief Minister said Muslims evicted from the region must be resettled and urged the Sinhalese to believe that the TNA had rejected separatism.
Striking a note for good governance, Justice Wigneswaran said there would be no room for corruption in the Council and every councillor would be subject to periodic performance review, the results of which would be made public.
Also addressing the Council for the first time, NPC Opposition Leader K. Kamaleindran of the EPDP pledged to cooperate with the TNA-led Council. “For 30 years, there was destruction. The war tore everything apart. Here we now have a chance to rebuild,” he said.
Before the session began, Secretary to the NPC G. Krishnamurthy read out the proclamation by the Northern Governor, constituting the Council. Kandasamy Sivagnanam was unanimously appointed Council Chairman.
“Everything went well. The Government seems inclined to cooperate. The beginning is good,” TNA Leader R. Sampanthan told reporters at the conclusion of the session.
Sampanthan and TNA MPs Marvai Senathirajah, M.A. Sumanthiran, E. Saravanabhavan and Suresh Premachandran attended the inaugural session. Senior lawyer Kanag-Iswaran also was in attendance.

DAP wants Malaysia to boycott CHOGM in Sri Lanka in protest of the deaths of Tamils

Saturday October 26, 2013

PETALING JAYA: DAP wants Malaysia to join Canada and India in boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Colombo in protest of Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses.

“Malaysia must boycott this as a humanitarian protest against The recalcitrant Sri Lankan government’s stubborn refusal to account for the deaths of tens of thousands of Tamils during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war.”

DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said in a press statement Saturday that the party’s central executive council agreed to call for the boycott of CHOGM scheduled to take place in Colombo Nov 15-17.

DAP regarded CHOGM as an important forum to articulate and highlight a wide range issues such as human rights, democracy, justice, and governance and had supported earlier initiatives to oppose the apartheid regime in South Africa and military interventions in Fiji and Pakistan, he said.

“In this respect, DAP thinks that holding of CHOGM in Colombo is not an appropriate thing to do.

“To date, the Sri Lanka government has not taken any initiative to investigate and prosecute those responsible for crimes against innocent Tamils during the civil war in 2009.

“Beyond the killings, hundreds and thousands of Tamils who disappeared during the civil war have not been accounted for by the government. Those responsible for the rapes against Tamil women and girls have not been brought to justice."

International human rights organisations, including the United Nations, have issued serious warning to the Sri Lanka government to investigate allegations of murders, rapes and disappearances. But the government has not been forthcoming with any form of investigations into these allegations, he said.

Recently, United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, Naveen Pillay, issued a serious warning to the Sri Lanka government to address the pressing human rights concerns, failing which the UN would order an international investigation into the conduct of the government, he said.

Given these gross violations of human rights and deterioration of democracy in Sri Lanka, Canada and India have said they would boycott meeting and Kenya was considering, Lim said.

“By boycotting this function, Malaysia would be able to send a strong message to Colombo that the international community, including Commonwealth, will not tolerate human rights violations,” he said.

CHOGM 2013: Challenge or Opportunity for Sri Lanka?
The government needs to seize the opportunities offered by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

By Salma Yusuf

October 24, 2013

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) comes to Sri Lanka in November 2013 for the first time. The event is also historic for another reason: It is the second largest summit of world leaders to gather in Sri Lanka since the country gained independence, behind only the Non-Aligned Summit in 1976.

Yet even with preparations for this milestone underway, the challenges that Sri Lanka faces in the international arena continues.

It is beyond dispute that Sri Lanka’s three-decade conflict was externalized through the combination of factors that ranged from the presence of an active diaspora, the involvement of foreign facilitators in the peace process, and the presence of foreign peacekeeping forces in 1987. By the end of the war, Sri Lanka wasvery much on the international radar. This international attention has spilled over into the country’s postwar phase as well, but now has taken on new meaning.

Most of the country's postwar bilateral and multilateral engagements are haunted by the specter of reconciliation and human rights concerns. Yet human rights and inter-communal harmony are not alien to Sri Lanka, the values of which are enshrined in its shared history, its cultures and its legal frameworks. But the country will need to capitalize and draw on these strengths to forge a robust system of governance that can function with independence and credibility. It must have the structures and norms in place to respond domestically to every allegation made. Acting on the outcomes of the two national processes – the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and the National Human Rights Action Plan – would demonstrate that homegrown mechanisms can credibly provide solutions, while improving foreign relations and prospects.

It ought to be remembered that for all the flak Sri Lanka has attracted, CHOGM 2013 presents enormous opportunities, directly flowing from hosting the summit itself and deriving from the international credibility the event can restore to Sri Lanka more generally. The government must take seriously the opportunities that CHOGM brings to the country and its peoples, who have suffered brutally from the three-decade conflict that concluded in May 2009.

As is customary, Sri Lanka will take up the mantle of leadership of the Commonwealth for the two years following CHOGM 2013, until the next CHOGM in Mauritius in 2015. This opportunity, if embraced, could also reap enormous dividends for the country’s international relations and positioning.

Moreover, among the forums that will accompany CHOGM, the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) is a unique gathering of business leaders from developed and emerging markets that aims to promote trade and investment. CBF 2013 will focus on the theme, “Partnering for Wealth Creation and Social Development: The Commonwealth, Indian Ocean, Pacific and SAARC.” That presents a tremendous opportunity for Sri Lanka to look for new partnerships and opportunities. Typically, at every CBF the host country benefits most; for instance, $10 billion in deals were sealed for Australia at CBF 2011 in Perth. For Sri Lanka, a $2 billion opportunity is projected for CBF 2013.

The global private sector looks for certainty of policy and broad governance structures for enabling investment. Sri Lanka has demonstrated consistency in these two aspects, hence private sector investment ought to be forthcoming, notably from the country’s diaspora.

Another forum, the 9th Commonwealth Youth Forum (CYF9) will run from November 10 to 14, 2013 in Hambantota, bringing together over 200 young people from around the Commonwealth. The CYF9 forum will mark the formal beginning of the Commonwealth Youth Council as the official voice for young people in the Commonwealth and will host the first General Assembly of the Council. The forum will also be a stepping-stone for the World Conference on Youth to be held in Sri Lanka in May 2014. This is an exciting time to be a youth advocate in the Commonwealth.

Channel 4 Receives CHOGM Accreditation Hours After Campaign On Twitter

October 26, 2013 

Britain’s Channel 4 Television, persona non grata for the Sri Lankan Government since it aired the first documentary it claimed was evidence Colombo had committed war crimes in the final phase of the war against the LTTE, complains it took nearly nine weeks to receive accreditation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting next month.

Channel 4 Editor Ben De Pear tweeted that Channel 4 had suddenly received confirmation that its applications had been received one hour after reporters and editors at the broadcaster engaged Sri Lankan Media Ministry Secretary Charitha Herath.

Channel 4 Editor Ben De Pear/Photograph: Felix Clay for the Guardian

Herath tweeted yesterday that Media Accreditation for the summit in Colombo next month was nearly complete. October 25 was the deadline for applications from media seeking registration to cover the summit.

Channel 4′s Jonathan Miller tweeted that they had applied for accreditation in August 2013, but were yet to receive any notification. Last night, Miller tweeted that he had finally received confirmation that his application had been received. Addressing Herath on Twitter yesterday, Miller said: @charith9#lka media accreditation for  #chogm  mostly done? Channel 4 News still waiting. What’s the problem?

Channel 4 Editor de Pear said Channel 4 was the first to apply for media accreditation for CHOGM in Sri Lanka but it was yet to receive accreditation even though every other broadcaster in Britain had obtained their official notice of summit accreditation.

One hour after Channel 4 began a campaign of sorts of Twitter, the Editor reported that ‘as if by magic’ they had received confirmation that their applications for accreditation had been received. A few hours ago, De Pear reported on Twitter that accreditation had finally been received, but the channel would now commence the wait to have its visas approved for attendance.

Accreditation remains pending for applicants Frances Harrison – journalist and author of Still Counting the Dead, recounting atrocities in the final phase of the war and Callum Macrae, director of the No Fire Zone, a third documentary on atrocities in the last days of the civil war. Macrae was also formerly with Channel 4.

Sri Lanka will retain the right to reject visa for any delegate or media personnel seeking entrance into the country for the summit. All CHOGM media accreditation was scrutinised intensely by the Military Intelligence Unit and not the immigration authorities, Colombo Telegraph learns.