Are We Heading In The Right Direction?

| by Upul Jayasuriya 

Your Lordship Justice Sisira De Abrew is a product of Dharmashoka College, Ambalangoda.

(May 20, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Your Lordship excelled at Law College and obtained classes at the Preliminary and the Final exams. Thereafter you took oaths as an Attorney at Law in 1981 and joined the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel in 1982. You were promoted to the rank of Senior State Counsel in 1996. During this period you conducted prosecutions before courts in almost every province. You have also prosecuted numerous jury and non Jury trials. Whilst at the Department you were extensively exposed to both Civil and Criminal fields in the original Courts and in appellate Courts. In addition you had the privilege of supervising such matters as a Senior State Counsel and handled matters of complexity, as well as opinions regarding the constitutionality of Bills.

Are We Heading in the Right Direction by Thavam Ratna

Things Seem Better, No?

by Guy Gunaratne 

- on 05/20/2014 

The mind tends to disconnect well tread passages during travel. It’s a wonder the simple things that stay with you, things you only notice once you’ve left. To be fair, it was only interesting to me for a moment when I read of the anger of the monks in Colombo. A peculiar thing. Passive faces turned fierce and ugliness marred ground down certainties in my memory. Monks don’t shout, I thought. But it passed. I was only in Sri Lanka for a few weeks with a group of Finns and some British friends. The usual rounds sure. Colombo — Kandy — Negombo, I’d have my foreign friends see the nearest sights, wonder at the golden temples and still water, finger sun baked books and ease into platitudes and service. Nothing too cultural — not that kind of holiday.

But that image. It was of an orange robed, portly sadu, eyes fixed and the arm blurred and fleeting. He was holding a book aloft to throw down upon a cowering young man, white shirt and dark arms raised in protest. Just so jarring wasn’t it? Just so jarring and seemed to stain the place. I remember hiding it away from my friend’s mother as we toured the temples and the market stalls. I was barely tethered to Colombo now, having made a life in London but something in that image stalked the tourism for me. Every newspaper outlet bore his face, the orange man, he kept finding me. Snarled at me, prompting unsightly tremors in me. Why so resonant, that image?

The reason came to me on the flight out. We were headed to Singapore by way of KL. I had a copy of The Economist with me and had been lightly reading while listening to some faded, crackling music on the headset provided. That’s when it came. It occurred to me that this was the first time things had changed since I was there last. I mean to say, genuine, visible, front facing change, the kind you pass on a motorway and glimpse rushing past the window. It was the steel girders set up around fading billboards. There were miles of stretching road. Moving traffic, proper moving. I had never felt that before, not in Sri Lanka. Never had I sat like I had always done, in a six-seater van, packed with water bottles and family and have long grey road peeling past and new cars flash at speed. Funny. It made me smile sadly. The motion was different — the fact that there was motion was different — and in that motion lay the change. I remembered a conversation I had had with my uncle. He had told me about the economic spurt the country had been showing since the war had ended. People of poverty in the South can now enjoy work. Long distances had become less long. Son, he said, you must quickly come and buy a house, maybe Negombo or here in Colombo. Somewhere nice. Otherwise the prices will be ten times, no, when you come back? Must act quickly, he said.

All this – the motion, the road, the steel scaffolding of new high rising things. It made my mind return once again to that furious monk. It was late into the flight. The attendants had switched off the lights and the passengers around me were lulled into a mile high doze. I could not sleep. I kept picturing the colours of the orange man and his beating hand. With all the change I thought, with all the urgency and the encouraging will forward, what happens when the old things struggle to keep up? Where the ancient marrow of the country looks on and begins to see the rapid movement about them? What happens when the flux begins to threaten them? I suppose, the same thing that happens all over when civility and understanding becomes cornered by a different, changing pace. The people stamp and turn inward. The mild become on edge, the civil unrested. They begin to cherish deeper and become nostalgic about what they think is being swept away. They feel more and hurt more. Love becomes obsession and now all fights everywhere could bring the end. And so they fight harder.

This country I knew once. It was a place that stayed the same throughout my youth and remained unchanged as I changed. Those orange men, the monks were smiling, piety was trusted. All was Bata sandals and dust flying up into my eyes. Newspapers drew funny cartoons. And it used to be that the road from the airport to the city was a maddening, sweaty abusive route. Now it has been replaced by a straight, clean and sterile stretch. Of this I am glad. Buildings are renewing, structures are being carved in the countryside. Yes, it seems that things, things, things everywhere seem to be getting better.

It’s not the things however, but the people, that I worry for. Never have I worried so much while listening to people who seem so happy.

No Ending: Touching Muslim Shops Goes To Mawanella

By Rifai Naleemi -May 19, 2014

Dr. Rifai Naleemi

Muslim hardware shop was burnt down last night in Mawanella

It is reported that a hardware shop belonging a Muslim man was set on fire last night by unidentified people in Mawanella town.  Muslims in the area believe that this was done deliberately by some anti- Muslim elements. This follows series anti- Muslim attacks and anti- Muslims campaign started byBBS two years ago. These continuous attacks on Muslim properties and Muslim places of worship are aimed at destroying Muslim business and Muslims livelihood in Sri Lanka.

It is a worrying trend. This government is deliberately ignoring this anti- Muslim campaign of BBS.  It has not taken any action against it.  It is generally believed that government is perpetrating all these attacks behind the scene. JVP leader recently said this openly and yet, our Muslim MPs knowing or unknowing do not take any actions.  They do not have courage to crossover from this ruling party and sit down with opposition as a protest.

I personally believed that ineptitude and incompetence of our politicians is one of the main reasons for this pathetic situation of Muslims today. I understand that BBS has put them in a difficult situation and yet, what is the point in sitting with this government that does not care what is happening in the country and what is point in sitting with this government that perpetrates this mayhem.                                    Read More 

Money extorted for Vesak using president’s name!

 

Monday, 19 May 2014 

Several Tamil businessmen of Colombo told Lanka News Web that they had been threatened and nearly Rs. 10 million collected from them, saying the president needed money to spend for Vesak festival.

Trustee of Mayurapathi Kovil at Wellawatte, Colombo 05, by the name Sundaralingam was behind the extortion of these businessmen.

He had fraudulently suceeded former Customs officer Vallipuram to the Kovil position.

Only Rs. 6.2 million out of the money, forcibly collected from the businessmen who are in dire straits due to a lack of business, had been handed over to the president before Vesak. The president had summoned his additional secretary Gamini Senarath and handed him over the parcel containing the money.

Sundaralingam is in the habit of swindling money from Tamil businessmen several times a year in order to be in the good books of the president. He and his son had been exporting phosphate to Russia, and he has been telling all and sundry visiting the Kovil that MP Namal Rajapaksa had cheated them out of that business and obtained the export order for himself.

Sundaralingam and his cronies organized a reception at a five star hotel in Colombo last year to mark Army commander Daya Ratnayake’s assumption to that office, and Tamil businessmen were ordered to buy a ticket for Rs. 2,500 and attend the function.

It is Little Asia Raja alias Kudu Raja and Ganesha Murthi alias Powder Murthi, both of whom had become millionaires overnight, who give ideas to Sundaralingam to deceive the president, the army commander and other VVIPS, Colombo Tamil businessmen say further.

SLMC threatens to quit the government

 

Monday, 19 May 2014 

Governing party ally, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) has threatened to quit the ruling UPFA government over several issues.

SLMC Leader, Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem has said there are accusations that the SLMC only wanted posts in the government.

However he has been quoted in the media saying that the party is not focused on government positions and added that the SLMC will not hesitate to resign.

Hakeem and the SLMC have had several rifts with the government which have been reported in the media.

Last month Hakem had said he stood by a decision to submit a report to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay related to reconciliation issues and issues faced by minorities in the country.

Engaging issues of caste – the forbidden subject 

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar,-May 18, 2014, 9:16 pm

By Dr. Devanesan Nesiah

Caste is observed by the overwhelming majority of Sinhalese and Tamils but the subject remains virtually taboo in public discussions. If it is mentioned in public, it is often either to hurl abuse or to negotiate a marriage. The latter is because for many of us caste is the most important factor in marriage. The former is because caste is yet widely accepted as a measure of social status; the latter because for many caste is the most important factor in marriage, even more important than character. I am not suggesting that the individuals should be identified by caste but I do think that the subject should be freely discussed as is done in India, although caste oppression there is much more severe than in Sri Lanka.

Engaging Issues of Caste – the Forbidden Subject by Thavam Ratna

Iran selling oil to Sri Lanka again - Official

May 19, 2014 

Iran has started exporting crude oil to South Africa and Sri Lanka following the easing of sanctions against Tehran as a result of the Geneva nuclear deal, a senior Iranian oil official says.

Oil exports to the two countries are carried out under “single-shipment” contracts for the time being, said Mohsen Qamsari, director for international affairs at the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC).

Nevertheless, he added, “Iran has no problem with signing long-term contracts with Sri Lanka and South Africa on oil exports.”

The Iranian official also said that major Asian oil refineries, including those in India, China, South Korea, Japan and Turkey have renewed their oil import contracts with Iran.

On May 16, Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country’s crude oil exports had reached 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd).

Zanganeh had earlier said that Iran would accept no limitations to its oil exports, adding, “The volume of Iran’s oil export is the same as it is supplied in the oil market.”

Under the interim deal of November 2013 between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, Britain, France, China and Russia – plus Germany, the six countries agreed to ease some of the existing sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for Iran agreeing to limit certain aspects of its nuclear activities during a six-month period. The deal took effect on 20 January this year.

World oil giants, including Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Malaysia’s Petronas, Spain’s Repsol, Russia’s second largest oil producer Lukoil, France’s Total and Italy’s Eni, have shown interest in returning to Iran following the partial sanctions relief. – Press TV

Second breakdown in Norochcholai second phase

 

Monday, 19 May 2014

The newly commissioned second phase of the Norochcholai coal power plant has suffered a second breakdown. 

The breakdown this time was reportedly caused by a leak in the boiler. The first breakdown in the second phase was during the testing period of the plant on January 25.

The second phase of the coal power plant was handed over to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) by the plant’s contractor, China Mechanical Engineering Corporation last Thursday.

The breakdown in the second phase of the coal power plant has affected the finances of the CEB.

Power and Energy Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando told the media that the CEB is likely to face a massive financial crisis since the CEB had to purchase power from private suppliers at a high cost.

Sri Lanka’s empathy deficit has risen to critically dangerous levels

Monday 19th May 2014

Barack Obama: Empathy deficit among Americans is more dangerous than budget deficit
In 2006, Barack Obama, then a Senator of the US Senate, left an important message with the students when he delivered the commencement speech at USA’s Northwestern University. He said that what was more dangerous in USA was not the Federal Budget Deficit but the emerging ‘Empathy Deficit’ among Americans. Then he defined what he meant by empathy deficit by using an aphorism. That was failure to get into the shoes of another person and see the world through his pains (available at: http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2006/06/barack.html).

Sri Lanka’s Empathy Deficit Has Risen to Critically Dangerous Levels by Thavam Ratna

India’s Modi Wave And Lanka’s Moda (Foolish) Wave

By Shyamon Jayasinghe -May 19, 2014 

Shyamon Jayasinghe

Sharp on the heels of the Modi electoral phenomenon that swept mighty India, Sri Lankan leaders from their humble podium have had the guts to add their two cents’ worth. Inasmuch as these imbecilic utterances did not generate serious response from anyone it did add to the unending fodder for comic relief and wind- release that ordinary powerless people in Lanka have been experiencing over the whole period of the current regime: what with the antics of Dr Mervyn, Maranthika Upawasage Wimal Weerawansa, and the High King himself.

Yes, BJP leader Modi won a landslide sending home most of the Congress parliamentarians and their kith and kin; bag and baggage. Indians have such a luxury which we Sri Lankans lost after JR introduced the Executive Presidency and the PR system and Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) executed the Bahubootha Vyawasthawa to its logical end. That logical end has been so bizarre and ugly and dysfunctional that there is massive public demand for reverting to the old system. Modi has ample power to rule sans coalition restrictions. His only real-politic limitation would be Jayalalitha in Tamilnadu who will rule that state with less discretion and more rough muscle. Of course Vaiko is mercifully gone but that is because Jayalalithaa stole the latter’s constituency.

How possibly sinister the combination of a formidable central government and forbidding Tamilnadu could be for our little island has not been detected by the Lankan government. The stage is set for another Rajiv Gandhi-type threat of invasion if Lanka fails to toe the Indian line.  Yet our ruling class prefers to see no evil and hear no evil. President Mahinda Rajapaksa went on record stating that it would be easier to deal with the new dispensation in India than it was with the former. Yes, in a sense and no in a stronger sense.                                    Read More

Hambantota mayor back to his usual self!

 

Monday, 19 May 2014 

Hambantota mayor Eraj Ravindra Fernando, armed with a toy pistol and ran all the way from Hambantota beach where he had been playing, to welcome the UNP MPs touring Mattala, has once again shown his true self at a popular casino in Colombo.

He had placed chips for Rs. 500,000 on a bet, and a woman player at the same table had placed chips for Rs. 01 million. Angered by that, Eraj Fernando had exchanged words with her, and eventually pushed her aside. Another notorious character ‘Karaoke Wasantha’ who had been in his company, had begun beating the woman up.

The woman, who had been assaulted by Eraj Fernando and ‘Karaoke Wasantha’, is one Tharuka Wijesinghe, who is a gambling addict. She is a former close confidante of ‘Karaoke Wasantha,’ but fell out over a personal dispute.

After admitting herself to hospital, Tharuka had complained to police. To escape police, ‘Karaoke Wasantha’ fled the country and phoned a DIG in charge of Colombo and told him to give Rs. 05 million to the woman in order to settle the matter.

In a similar incident previously, Tharuka had received Rs. 05 million from Ever Green Shipping managing director Prashan Nanayakkara, and the sergeant and the constable, who had investigated the incident, each received Rs. 01 million. After obtaining the money, the woman complained to the IGP, and the two policemen were suspended. The case is still pending in court. The person who related this story to us said it is Tharuka’s habit to make trouble with wealthy men and cheat money out of them in this manner.

Anyhow, Hambantota mayor Eraj Ravindra Fernando, who is having connections with the Rajapaksa family, has not even given a statement to police regarding the incident. ‘Karaoke Wasantha’ too, is having close links with the Rajapaksa family. Recently at Carlton House, he had gifted a valuable gem-encrusted necklace and a ring to the president, who had given both to the first lady, said sources at Carlton House.

German national killed, another critical after collision

A German national was killed while another was critically wounded after the motorcycle they were riding on collided with a bus in Unawatuna, Galle this evening. 

A bus traveling from Colombo to Middeniya had collided with the motorcycle killing one of the German men on the spot. The other was rushed to the Karapitiya Hospital.

Iran is at breaking point under US sanctions – and its leaders feel the heat

Despite talk of a defiant 'resistance economy', the consequences may be dire if a nuclear deal with the west does not come soon

A woman buys fruit from a street vendor in central Tehran. Signs of improvement in Iran's economy after Rouhani came to office have given way to renewed gloom. Photograph: Behrouz Mehri/AFP/Getty Images

Simon Tisdall in Tehran

 Sunday 18 May 2014

At the car repair shop on Soreana Avenue in central Tehran, Homayoon is happy to talk; after all, there is not much else to do. Business is bad, he says, as he wipes his hands with an oily cloth. It's the same for everybody.

Iran is at Breaking Point Under US Sanctions – and Its Leaders Feel the Heat by Thavam Ratna

Chinese military unit charged with cyber-espionage against U.S. firms

By Ellen Nakashima, William Branigin and William Wan, Updated: Monday, May 19, 1:20 PME-mail the writers

Chinese Military Unit Charged With Cyber-espionage Against U.S. Firms by Thavam Ratna

Villagers protesting Thai gold mine ‘attacked by armed and masked men’

Villagers claim the mine has devastated the local environment. Pic: YouTube/Isaan Record.

By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices May 19, 2014

Large groups of masked and armed men have reportedly attacked locals blocking a road to a disputed gold mine in the northern Thai province of Loei last week, detaining and injuring several dozen villagers. While the numbers of assailants and victims vary in news reports, the descriptions do confirm a lot of common traits in the attackers:

Villagers Protesting Thai Gold Mine ‘Attacked by Armed and Masked Men’ by Thavam Ratna

Pakistan's Radio Mullah: news and chat from the Taliban

The intense battle for radio listeners in the Swat region of northwest Pakistan is being fought between state-run stations offering the usual fare and a rather more eclectic offering …

A radio fan near Islamabad, Pakistan. Photograph: Muhammed Muheisen/AP

Posted by Owen Bennett-Jones Sunday 18 May 2014 

A battle of the airwaves in Pakistan's lawless northwest border region is pitting firebrand sermons by radical clerics against a mix of music, chat and celebrity gossip offered by young, state employed DJs.

The clerics in northwest Pakistan use mobile transmitters on vans and motorbikes to broadcast programmes known locally as Mullah Radio. The preachers hold forth about a range of things they find objectionable, such as elite corruption, women's education and televisions, which they have declared unislamic because they show the human image.

"It started back in 2009," says Mohammed Aqib, director of Suno Pakistan, a growing network of state channels set up to counter Mullah Radio. "The terrorists are misinterpreting religion, giving messages of jihad. So we are just correcting them."

The Taliban's first broadcasts were made by Mullah Fazlullah as part of his successful campaign to take over the Swat Valley north west of Islamabad. Fazlullah, who has gone on to become overall head of the Pakistan Taliban, used to have a terrifying effect on his audience. He would read out the names of suspected informers, forcing them to flee Swat or risk being murdered.

Today, because of the army's campaigns against the Pakistan Taliban, Mullah Radio is less of a force than it used to be. The state won back control of Swat and, more generally, the Taliban have far less territory in northwest Pakistan than they did four years ago.

But the contest to win over radio listeners is still on.

"We are spreading a positive message to keep the peace and the harmony," says Suno Pakistan DJ Ahmed Khan, as he broadcasts the Bond-movie song Skyfall to some of Pakistan's most turbulent and contested areas. In a neighbouring studio, DJ Andy introduces Bowie's Let's Dance. "As always, I'll be enjoying myself this weekend," he tells his listeners. "And I hope all of you have some party plans up your sleeves."

Suno Pakistan broadcasts in a range of languages from Pashtu to English. Callers phoning in often thank the DJs for giving them a welcome sense of community. And their conversational topics reveal concerns far removed from the clerics' austere edicts. Just like their peers elsewhere in the world, they talk about movies, social media etiquette, mobile phone technology and their essay crises.

"We give much better content than Mullah Radio," said Mohamed Aqib. "The young people here just want some fun. We give them that."

Defeated Congress party rejects Gandhi resignation offer

BY SANJEEV MIGLANI AND NIGAM PRUSTY

Mon May 19, 2014

(Reuters) - Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul on Monday offered to step down as leaders of the Congress party after it suffered its worst ever election defeat, but in a bid to snuff out dissent against the country's leading political dynasty, party bosses declined.

Congress, which has ruled India for most of its 67 years of independence including the last decade, is reeling from a humiliating reverse to bitter rival Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But rather than single out the Gandhis, who led a lacklustre campaign in the face of Modi's barnstorming performance, Congress leaders facing at least five years in opposition rallied around the family.

"Sonia and Rahul offered to resign but the CWC rejected it unanimously," said Amrinder Singh, a senior party leader from Punjab, referring to the elite Congress Working Committee which met at party headquarters in New Delhi.

Congress leaders adopted a resolution authorising Sonia to take steps to revamp the party.

Television channels showed grim-faced party leaders led by Sonia, the Italian-born widow of assassinated prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Next to her was Rahul, who has been singled out as failing to check Modi's meteoric rise to power.

He admitted at the meeting he failed to meet expectations, party spokesman Janardan Dwivedi told reporters at a briefing.

The scale of defeat was devastating. Congress won 44 seats in the 545-member lower house of parliament - less than the one-tenth required to be recognised as the main opposition group. The BJP's tally was 282.

Sonia and her son won their seats in Uttar Pradesh, although Rahul did so with a vastly reduced majority.

A source in the Congress said that Sonia offered her resignation as soon as the meeting began.

"But the CWC said that we need you very much. We need a strong opposition to take on the BJP, we need a strong party to keep a check on the government," said the source, who attended the meeting but declined to be named.

The reaction suggests that Congress is not about to break its historic bond with the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, which has towered over politics for the best part of a century.

Over the years, party members who have raised the spectre of revolt against the Gandhis have been hounded out.

SISTER TO THE RESCUE?

Outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also spoke up at the meeting, saying resignations of the two leaders was not a solution to the crisis facing the Congress, arguably its most serious in decades.

The Congress rout has deepened doubts about the leadership qualities of Rahul, who failed to connect with voters, particularly the young.

During the election, Modi challenged Rahul to name 10 villages in his home constituency of Amethi. He also repeatedly played on his humble roots as the son of a tea-seller, contrasting those with the Gandhis' privileged upbringing.

Rahul also appeared cut off from the party rank-and-file, choosing to operate through a clique of mostly unelected advisers who are now under pressure following election defeat.

Ahead of the CWC meeting, Congress leaders sought to shift the blame on to Rahul's advisers.

"It was a complete failure of our communication strategy, our media strategy," said Ashwani Kumar, a former federal minister.

While party bosses were closing ranks behind Rahul, some Congress members lower down the chain of command revived calls for a greater role for his sister Priyanka, seen as a more natural politician.

Priyanka, a year younger than her brother, campaigned in the family's home districts, mounting an aggressive challenge to Modi's high-decibel show that took the country by storm.

But the mother-of-two, who bears a resemblance to grandmother Indira Gandhi, has confined herself to family bastions in each election. The party says it is up to her to decide on what political role, if any, she wants.

That hands-off approach is what many independent observers believe has been the party's undoing.

"The family is the Congress's life source, its oxygen. But just by being present at the top, the family prevents the emergence of any young and dynamic leadership," The Hindu, a broadsheet daily, commented in an editorial.

"One fleeting indication in the aftermath of the election was that the Congress may turn to Priyanka Gandhi for rescue. But will that change anything, when the verdict is emphatically against the family itself?"