Appoinment of Military Governor: President Rajapaksa broken his promis to CM Vigneshwaran

Appoinment of Military Governor: President Rajapaksa broken his promis to CM Vigneshwaran

Saturday, July 12, 2014 

The Northern Province Chief Minister Vikneswaran is accusing the president for the extension of the Governor Chandrasiri’s term of office as the violation of his assurance ensured by him.

The Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vikneswaran severely condemned the President for re-installation of the G.A. Chandrasiri as the Governor of Northern Province once again. This he had termed it as the violation of the pledge made by the President.

He had accused by saying this shows as for as the relationship with the Tamil Communities are concerned, the ruling party government does not want to function united, but to function with the leadership of a Military Chief, that is its prime notion.

The Northern Province Chief Minster C.V. Vikneswaran thoroughly opposed the reinstallation of Chandrasiri as the Governor of Northern Province once again by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and made the above statements by severely condemning the president for not keeping up his commitment and promises given by him.

With regard to this Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Vikneswaran has said further, “With regard to the appointment of the New Governor for the Northern Province, on 2nd of January 2014, the President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given me an assurance and promise that the moment the tenure of office of Chandrasiri comes to an end, a new Governor would be appointed at the Northern Province and he would be a person without a Military back-ground and he would be a person with a civilian-back ground only. But the President has eventually re-appointed the same old Governor, who is with the military back-ground.

The President must have searched for an Officer from his official rank, who would follow his commands blindly, and found the suitable officer for that purpose eventually. Chandrasiri was expecting to join with his family in Australia after his retirement, but since he has to obey the commands of the president, now he has no other go but to accept the president’s offer.

This incident proves the violation of the President’s pledge. C.V. Vikneswaran has said, “this shows that the ruling party government is not willing to work united with the Tamil Community and as for as the relationship with the Srilankan Tamils are concerned, to offer a Military leadership to monitor their presence always”.

President Mahinda prepares to drop big lie before nation

Sunday, 13 July 2014

If everything else fails, president Mahinda Rajapaksa is preparing to include the opposition slogan of abolishing the executive presidency in his manifesto of promises and face the presidential election, say political sources. It will only be a promise to win votes and will not be kept, the president himself has said.

Another falsehood is taking its wings these days with the full blessings of Temple Trees these days that the president is intending to hold a referendum in order to extend the term of parliament soon after his reelection. It is an attempt to keep the ruling group together. At the request of the president’s media unit, a national newspaper last Sunday published a detailed article highlighting this fallacy.

When contacted, a former head of the judiciary told us that the president can and has a mandate, even now, to abolish the executive presidency and legalize the new electoral system recognized by all parties through the Dinesh Gunawardena committee. However, the president is seeking another public mandate to abolish the executive presidency in order to commit yet another political villainy, he said.

According to reports, a slogan ‘the leader who does what he says’ has been created as part of this campaign. A minister close to the president has said that this can simply be put as “I promised to save the country from terrorism, I promised to develop the country. I did both. Similarly, I will change the constitution.” A propaganda campaign is being planned to take this false promise to the people. That minister has said that the president can start his campaign by promising, in front of either the Dalada Maligawa or Sri Maha Bodhi, to abolish the executive presidency.

UNP’s knotty bond with Executive 

Presidency -Tortuous progress on SI-CC 

pathways

Kumar David-July 12, 2014

A Single Issue (SI), Common Candidate (CC) strategy anchored on a Road Map (RM) is making progress but not without hassle that has to be sorted out step-by-step. We are not yet out of the woods nor is it assured that a SI-CC-RM challenge will materialise though trends are encouraging; I refer to the UNP-Sobitha parley where consensus was reached on many matters, the JVP’s promise to support a common candidate, General Fonseka’s consistency and Chandrika slow awakening. But first I need to bore you with an encore performance recapitulating SI-CC basics because new folks, sans background, are joining the discourse all the time. An outline of the Road Map is also needed because it has not been presented previously in the English press.

UNP’s Knotty Bond With Executive Presidency -Tortuous Progress on SI-CC  Pathways by Maria Anderson

Rajapaksa Regime’s Two-Faced Approach To Ramaphosa Visit Dents UPFA Credibility

July 13, 2014

Reports in Sri Lanka’s weekly English newspaper, Sunday Times have exposed the Rajapaksa regime’s two-faced policies with concern to proceeding with the reconciliation process, following events that expired alongside South African Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa’s visit to the island last week.

Mahinda

The ST editorial and the Political Column have shed a critical light on the government’s cagey and contradictory takes on Ramaphosa’s visit to Sri Lanka.

The ST Political Column titled ‘UPFA loses friends and influences disasters’ reveals that Ramaphosa had maintained a firm stance on his purpose of visiting Sri Lanka, during his meeting with President Rajapaksa. “Your Excellency, we are here at the invitation of your Government. If you don’t like our role, we are prepared to withdraw. We have to protect the dignity of our country,” the column quotes Ramaphosa telling the President.

The paper’s editorial also says that during his meeting with Northern Chief Minister, Ramaphosa had said stated the South African initiative was to ‘complement the Geneva UNHRC agenda on Sri Lanka and the Indian process aimed at pushing for further devolution’.

But his statements seem to be in complete contradiction with the claims made by government Ministers on the accounts they have related as reasons for Ramaphosa’s Sri Lankan visit. Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella painted the picture of Ramaposa being nothing but a ‘tourist’ without any official program or agenda and Deputy Minister of External Affairs Neomal Perera stated in parliament that Ramaphosa was in Sri Lanka to ‘to share South Africa’s experience of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process in order to explore the possibility of Sri Lanka adopting a similar mechanism’, making it clear that there was no ‘mediator role’ for South Africa.

The ST editorial points out that these contradictory stances of the Rajapaksa regime are attempts to water-down the impression that the South African Acting President is interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka – particularly against the backdrop of the upcoming presidential elections – a fact, which the President himself had requested Ramaphosa to take into account, according to ST.

ST points out that it is ironical that the Sri Lankan government is desperately seeking to make Ramaphosa’s visit appear like a routine and a non-controversial one while they maintain the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation on Sri Lanka is ‘intrusive’.

Further criticising government actions with regard to Ramaphosa’s visit the ST has stated that the process so far has ‘lacked transparency, is misleading, will cause acute embarrassment and further dent the UPFA Government’s credibility’ while pointing out it is yet another policy decision of the Rajapaksa regime where Sri Lankans and the outside world have been made to believe one story whilst the reality is another.

Ramaphosa visit: What’s really happening?

Editorial-Sunday, July 13, 2014

The visit of the Acting President of South African is shrouded in mystery; and the more the Government tries to explain the visit, the more curious it gets.

They say that foreign experts usually rush in to find out and then leave just as quickly before they are found out. Foreign correspondents who come to the ‘Third World’ with pre-conceived notions are nick-named ‘Running Johns’ — or ‘Running Janes’ as the case may be. What can one say then about the visiting South African Acting President Cyril Ramaphosa?

The Sri Lankan Government was coy with what he was doing here. The Minister of External Affairs was at pains to say Ramaphosa was neither a ‘mediator’ nor a ‘facilitator’. The Minister said what Ramaphosa was not, not what he was, except to say he was here ‘for an exchange of views’. We may ask, what views?
The Minister also put a gag order on the South African High Commissioner in Colombo preventing him from speaking about the visit. What was there to hide if it was merely to exchange views? It appears that the entire episode is being down-played by the Government. Even the official statement made in Parliament in response to a query from the Opposition did not reveal much.

What the Sri Lankan Government is straining to do is not to give the impression that the South African Acting President is interfering in the internal affairs of this country, and that his visit here was just a routine non-controversial one. It is ironic, however, that while the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigations team is being labelled as intrusive, the South African VIP’s visit is not.

No doubt there is a difference in the two, but the Government must come clean with the objectives of the South African dignitary’s visit. The South Africans themselves seem to want to downplay the importance of the visit and thereby deflect the hype by saying their main purpose was to see their national cricketers wallop the locals. But in Jaffna, Mr. Ramaphosa has told the Northern Chief Minister that the South African initiative was to complement the Geneva UNHRC agenda on Sri Lanka and the Indian process aimed at pushing for further devolution.

The common belief, however, is that Mr. Ramaphosa’s assignment is to kick-start stalled talks between the Government and the Tamil National Alliance, or to cajole the TNA to attend the Parliamentary Select Committee meetings on the subject of devolution. But will a new ‘salesman’ selling the same product succeed?
The Government arguably sees this with the twin objective of fending off Indian pressure to implement the 13th Amendment “and more” as promised to them by the President on the one hand, and to buy time with the international community, to give the impression that it has taken its demands for greater autonomy to the minority Tamils in the North seriously – at least till the next election.

What is unfortunate, to say the least, is that after 66 years of political Independence, Sri Lanka has to look to a relatively new nation to solve its domestic problems. What is even more unfortunate is that given the opportunity to right several wrongs, and get back on track, through the recommendations of the LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission), the political will to do so was absent and the opportunity squandered. This has put the country in the plight it is in now.
To expect the South African initiative to save the day for the Government is to expect too much. The South Africans are heavily influenced by the Tamil lobby in that country. We saw glimpses of this from one individual – the outgoing UNHRC chief. Additionally, the South Africans have it in their psyche that the minorities are being oppressed. This apparently stems from their experience during the apartheid era.

It is not that one must not seek outside assistance to solve what has become chronic domestic problems. In today’s globalised world, this is not uncommon or unusual. Sri Lanka is surely independent enough to open its windows to outside experiences without being blown away by the wind. If the South African initiative is the bridge between the TNA and the Government, so be it.

However, what is in question is the Government’s credibility. This question arises after it was discovered that despite the Government-sponsored brouhaha at home and the vituperative attacks on the Darusman (UNSG’s) Report as an interference in the country’s internal affairs, the same Government sent a delegation secretly to New York to meet Darusman and company to argue Sri Lanka’s case.

The question therefore is; what is the South African Acting President’s real brief. The President is reported to have told the visiting VIP that he expects to solve the political question in Sri Lanka with continued assistance from India’s new Government and that he was confident the northern issues can be settled as well. He, however, said he was open to ideas from countries with similar experiences. But why then is the Government unable to make its position clear to the people.

Politicians handcuff the police
The recent incident involving a traffic policeman, his run-in with a Deputy Minister and his subsequent resignation from service together with the Police Department’s feet dragging in probing the entire saga paint a sorry picture of the law enforcement agencies in the country.
The Police have long been at the receiving end of public wrath for their sheer inefficiency on the one hand and their heavy handed repression on the other. The good they do often gets submerged as a result.

In the villages, the people have begun taking the law into their own hands as they have lost confidence in the Police. In recent years, we saw this at the Katunayake Free Trade Zone and at Rathupaswela. The more recent case is that of Aluthgama where mayhem could have been nipped in the bud had the local Police acted swiftly.

The Independent Police Commission under the 17th Amendment of the Constitution was aimed at arresting this trend and putting back the backbone in the khakied gentry. Sadly, the 17th Amendment has been done away with. The politician, now the rural thug, is being allowed again to ride roughshod over the police.
The traffic incident on the Southern Expressway is a case of a police officer fighting back, the way he can. Many others may not have the ability to do so the same way, but the resentment must surely exist.

Karuna, Pilleyan and Douglas likely to be summoned 

 



By SulochanaRamiah Mohan- July 13, 2014 
Former Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Ministers Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan (Karuna) and Douglas Devananda would be summoned for inquiry if there is concrete evidence against them, over missing persons in the North and East, as claimed by the complainants, the Presidential Commission on Disappearances said.

This was in response to a Ceylon Today query about Tamil media claiming there were complaints, made to the commission, against these politicians.
 
Chairman of the Commission, Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama, admitted to Ceylon Today there were complaints against them. He said, "If there is concrete evidence against these politicians, they would be summoned for inquiry."
The Chairman, a retired High Court Judge, said inquiries into disappearances will need a separate team to investigate the claims where there is concrete evidence on what happened to the missing persons and the Attorney General would act on the Commission's final report.
 
He said, "If there is concrete evidence on who was behind the abductions and disappearances, they would be summoned for inquiries when the final report on investigations to be carried out is ready," and added that there were different claims in the North and East, with some pointing the finger at politicians and the military, while others pointed at the LTTE.
 
Paranagama said they are in the process of listing all the complaints and then will sort out the claims after which the investigation would begin.
He also said the State Counsel, appointed to the commission, also questions the complainants and the final report on war crimes with the concrete evidences will be taken for investigation.
 

The Commission is at the moment sending complaints that need investigation to the Attorney's General Department, he said, adding there would be cases, with concrete evidence of some surrendering to the Forces during the last phase of the war. Those too were being submitted to the AG for further investigation.
"We have not yet sorted the list as we are progressing with the preliminary round and had only held five sittings, in Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Mullaitivu," he said.
 
Paranagama also said the Commission began sittings last August and has to end by this August, but it needs more time to complete the process as there are fresh complaints reaching their office.
"So far around 750 odd complaints have been dealt with, while there are about 19,000 (exceeding now) complaints left for inquiries and we may have to go back to Jaffna and other places for another two to three rounds of inquiries. The Commission will also travel to Mannar, Trincomalee, Siyambalanduwa, Welioya and Vavuniya in the future to hold inquiries on missing persons.
 
He said every complaint is in the file and the file will not be closed till definite conclusions are reached.
He also said the final report would be handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he would decide whether to go public with it or not. He said there are 5,600 complaints by the parents of personnel in the three Forces about their sons gone missing.

GL Explains ‘Dangers’ Of Internationalising The Aluthgama Incident To Muslims

July 13, 2014

Justifying the deliberate distortion of facts concerning the anti-Muslim riots that erupted in Southern Sri Lanka during a statement by the Sri Lankan delegation before the 27th UNHRC sessions recently, External Affairs Minister Professor G. L. Peiris has explained the dangers of ‘internationalising’ the Aluthgama incident at a meeting with the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (MCSL).

A press release issued by the MCSL on the discussion between External Affairs Minister and Ministry officials and MCSL officials on July 7 on the statement made at the UNHRC regarding the Aluthgama incident, states that Prof. Peiris while explaining the government version of the incidents that expired in Aluthgama had stated that vested interests are attempting ‘to blow it out of proportion’.

While assuring the MCSL representatives that such incidents will not recur, Prof. Peiris had also warned them of the dangers of internationalising the incident, stating that such actions can have similar repercussions as that of the Tamil issue and the TNA that sought to internationalise their cause.

Meanwhile, the MCSL Vice President Hilmy Ahamed who has issued the statement on behalf of the MCSL says they raised concerns over holding Muslims at fault for the Aluthgama riots during the statement by the Sri Lankan delegation at the recent UNHRC sessions.

The MCSL had pointed out that by projecting a distorted picture on the events that expired in Aluthgama on June 15, the government in fact has missed out on a golden opportunity to assure the international community that Sri Lanka respects the rights of all minorities, that would have had a strong impact on the process that is being moved to carry out an international probe on Sri Lanka.

During their meeting with the External Affairs Minister, the MCSL had also raised objections on the extremist group Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) being allowed to continue its hate speech targeting Muslim community and had also agreed to address certain issues within the Muslim community that were of concern to the majority community.

Rumours Of The Next Pogrom?

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…full of a fanatical tension that knows no respite or peace.”

Italo Calvino (Collection of Sand)

( July 13, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Minister Rauff Hakeem has warned of the existence of a ‘big project’ aimed at putting Lankan Muslims ‘in their place’ by crippling them economically .

Rumours of the Next Pogrom by Maria Anderson

“Enough, Already…”

By Emil van der Poorten -July 13, 2014

Emil van der Poorten

While the title of this column might seem strange for one with pretensions of representing opinions from rural Sri Lanka, I couldn’t think of a title more apt than the one I am using for the simple reason that the tired old North American expression speaks more than eloquently to our being sick and tired of the murder and mayhem that is being visited upon all in this country, save a ruling elite and their hangers-on, some with continuing pretensions to represent “civil society.”

While we haven’t been directly affected (yet!) by events such as those inAluthgama and Beruwala, the people I speak with around here, almost without exception village folk, have had their fill of the rampant violence in our country and believe that it is just a matter of time before this kind of lawlessness accelerates from its current levels in our own neighbourhoods.  For those living in the rarefied atmosphere of Colombo 7 or intoxicated by the carbon monoxide of “performance cars” in night races we have a simple admonition: please don’t assume that those of us who traverse unpaved footpaths do so because we are stupid and without any sense of decency or intelligence!

The racist violence unleashed on the Muslim minorities of Aluthgama, Beruwala (and goodness knows where else by the time this piece sees print) are, unfortunately not without precedent in this self-styled land of the Triple Gem.  Even more unfortunately, one may be justified in falling back on another old North American chestnut to predict the immediate future, that being “You ain’t seen nothing yet, buddy.”

Enough of the endless stream of contradictory statements from members of this government with the simple intention of covering every base and providing, among the plethora of lies and half truths, the one that best fits the need of the hour of a politically and morally bankrupt government.

Enough of such superficial communications as Twitter to “engage” the public and claim that some Twit (or several of them) shares the official opinion on some issue and that, therefore, a politically and morally bankrupt government is practicing “populist governance!”

Enough of a government controlling assault-weapon- armed troops only too ready to shoot people demanding clean water and resisting attempts to rob their Provident Fund savings, but refusing to deploy one of the largest armed forces in Asia in the protection of unarmed civilians whose only crime was belonging to the “wrong” community and the “wrong” religion.                                                    Read More

Not even ‘sufficient remorse’ from Govt for Aluthgama riots says Hakeem

 July 12, 2014

•  Justice ministers claims ‘inhibition’ at top Govt levels to arrest anti-Muslim trend

• Vows to stay in UPFA and ‘struggle from within’

• Legal system will work if there is political will: Hakeem

Nearly a month after the worst religious violence Sri Lanka has seen in decades, Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem has warned of a ‘virtual holocaust’ against the country’s Muslim community unless Islamophobia and hate speech by radical monks were nipped in the bud.
Minister Hakeem, who also heads the country’s largest Muslim Party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, told foreign correspondents yesterday that there was a ‘bigger project’ at work to cripple the Sri Lankan Muslim community economically and ‘put them in their place.’
“It is bigger than any election. They want a virtual holocaust against the Muslims,” Minister Hakeem said at his party’s Daru Salaam Headquarters last evening.
He expressed concern about what he called ‘a culture of impunity’ for radical monks and their hate speech in the country. “These radical groups are given licence to operate that is befuddling to us,” the Minister remarked.

“The way things are going it is a time bomb, and we have a duty by the nation to arrest the situation,” Hakeem noted.
He said that when a community is repeatedly pushed against a wall, it creates a breeding ground for external elements to exploit the situation.
Hakeem said there was “inhibition” at the top levels of Government to arrest the trend.
Sri Lanka’s legal system would work if there was sufficient political will, Minister Hakeem noted. “Law and order and law enforcement cannot work if there is no political will. The guardians of the law cannot permit a cultural impunity to grow,” he charged.
“In the first place there hasn’t even been sufficient remorse expressed from the Government about Aluthgama. Not even that,” Minister Hakeem said.
He charged that the Muslims remained aghast and upset at being told they were to blame for the violence.
“The Government cannot keep apportioning blame, and telling us you people are also wrong, correct yourself,” the Justice Minister asserted.
Similar events had happened in the lead up to the anti-Tamil riots in 1983, Minister Hakeem observed.
The Minister said the country’s intelligence community is now five times what it was during the war and should have foreseen the violence at Aluthgama last month, following a meeting in the town by the Bodu Bala Sena.
The Muslim Minister acknowledged that his own community needed to engage in some retrospection in the aftermath of the riots. “Our people may be partially to blame, for our lack of interaction, or for allowing our cultural trappings to make us seem introverted,” he noted.
Asked if he would continue to stay within the ruling alliance, Minister Hakeem responded that he believed in the art of the possible, and would continue to ‘struggle from within.”
“When I stay in this position and say the things I say, it has a certain impact,” the Justice Minister explained.
He said that having quit Governments and been sacked from Governments, he was wiser by hindsight.

Is BBS the new face of Buddhist revivalism?

by Ayesha Zuhair 

- on 07/13/2014

This is a response to an article written by Udaya Gammanpila which appeared in the Ceylon Today newspaper (6 July 2014). This response was emailed to Ceylon Today two days later (08 July 2014), but it has not been published to date.

Is BBS the New Face of Buddhist Revivalism by Maria Anderson

Report from Eran

Editorial-July 12, 2014

It was widely reported in the press that President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who last week attended Parliament, had requested UNP National List MP Eran Wickremaratne to send him a report about Ministry Secretaries sitting on the boards of private companies. We can’t believe that the president would be unaware of the fact that billionaire tycoon Dhammika Perera, who is Transport Secretary, sits on the boards of dozens of companies in which he has extensive financial interest. He is the chairman of many of these companies and serves several in an executive capacity. Secretaries of Ministries are appointed by the president and it is only the extremely naïve who would believe that the appointing authority would have been unaware of the much publicized other interests of Perera when he made the appointment. Assuming that the president knew of these at that time, it will be reasonable to presume that he saw nothing wrong in making such appointments. If that is the case, it behooves on Rajapaksa to say so publicly and defend this position.

We report today that Wickremaratne intends to comply with the president’s request and will send him whatever information he can gather once he has completed his checking. While criticism leveled against the UNP is legion, and there is a lot of justification in what many people including long standing supporters of that party feel about its ineffectiveness and failure to do its job, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe deserves credit for his choice of National List MPs like Eran Wickremeratne and Harsha de Silva who have done excellent work in Parliament and outside. A former CEO of the National Development Bank, Wickremaratne has an intimate knowledge of the working of the private sector. Over and above that, he has also made substantial financial sacrifices by quitting his banking career for politics. We hope that the president, in addition to picking the brains of the opposition MP, will also get his own officials to go into this matter and provide him with a detailed briefing. There may very well be other senior public servants holding private sector appointments and it is necessary to establish how prevalent this practice is.

Before Mr. Dhammika Perera became Secretary to the Transport Ministry, he was Chairman and Director General of the Board of Investment. There is no doubt that at least some companies in which Perera has financial interests, and on whose boards he serves both in executive and non-executive capacities, would have dealings with the BOI. That would naturally throw up conflict of interest issues. It could be said, and indeed it must have been said, that the Chairman/DG does not participate in decisions relating to his companies and such business is conducted ``at arms length.’’ Nevertheless officials and other BOI functionaries would have been well aware of the connections between their boss and matters they are evaluating. In such cases the old maxim that justice must not only be done but seem to be done must apply. There is also the matter of how much time a businessman like Perera can afford to give to the Transport Ministry of which he is Secretary. While he may very well be trying his best to find the necessary time, there are only 24 hours in a day and sixty minutes in an hour. The annual reports of listed companies in which Perera is a board member gives information of positions he holds in quoted companies. Apart from these, he also has interests in many unquoted companies and these also, surely, must be taking up quite a bit of his time.

Perera is not the only public official serving on the boards of companies. It was recently reported that University Grants Commission Chairperson Shanika Hirimburegama, is on the board of a private medical college. She has justified the appointment saying that the UGC has an interest on how these private higher education interests are run and sitting on the board provides an opportunity on offering necessary guidance on such matters. The UGC, apart from its responsibilities regarding disbursement of funds to universities, surely has at least some regulatory functions over higher educational institutions. In such a situation it is useful to carefully examine whether it is wise to permit persons holding high office in such bodies to wear other hats in commercial enterprises that are run for profit. Back scratching for mutual benefit, after all, is not unknown in this country which certainly does not have a monopoly of that. Many developed western countries that project themselves as holier than thou do very much the same under a shroud of hypocrisy.

It is now well known that state controlled funds like the EPF and ETF have made investments in quoted private sector companies in several of which they hold substantial stakes. Along with such stakes, claims for board seats have been made and granted. This is another means for government to offer patronage to its supporters because many of these companies pay even non-executive directors handsome remuneration that sometimes run to over a lakh of rupees a month. It can be argued that just as much as a private investor with a sizable interest in a company can rightfully claim representation on its board of directors, it would be also true for the state sector. While we have no quarrel with the principle, there have been occasions when less than suitable appointments have been made. This is even truer of state owned enterprises to which successive government have appointed incompetents for political reasons. Let us hope that President Rajapaksa’s request for a report from Eran Wickremaratne on Ministry Secretaries serving on private company boards will lead to a thorough examination of the big picture and necessary reforms.

Foreign travel advisories updated after Aluthgama riots

13 July 2014

Australia, the UK and the US have updated their travel advisories on Sri Lanka following the violence against Muslims which hit Aluthgama last month.

Australia called on tourists to “exercise a high degree of caution” due to the “unpredictable security environment” and warned that demonstrations and public gatherings may turn violent or become a target for politically-motivated violence.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office recommended tourists to avoid demonstrations and highlighted Aluthgama’s proximity to tourist resorts.

“There were violent disturbances in Aluthgama (near Bentota) and Beruwala (about 60km south of Colombo) in mid June which resulted in 4 reported deaths and many injuries, as well as damage to buildings and local businesses. Both areas are near to tourist resorts on the coast. There have been isolated incidents and disturbances elsewhere around the country. You should take care and avoid demonstrations.”

The US also warned against travel to the area and advised travellers to use the main highway when travelling in the south.

“Both locations are common vacation spots for local and international visitors. Local authorities have issued an indefinite curfew that is being strictly enforced by the police and have warned that anyone violating the curfew will be arrested and charged. The U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka is monitoring the situation closely and strongly advises all American citizens to avoid travel to these areas until the curfew has been lifted. We also advise the use of the Southern Expressway for southbound travel beyond these areas.”

Triangular battle in presidential election

 

Sunday, 13 July 2014 

There are signs of the presidential election turning into a triangular battle as all three leaders from the main three parties in South are to stand in for the presidential election.

According to 'Irida Divaina' newspaper, the current President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe from United National Party, Anura Kumara Dissanayake from Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna are to stand in for the presidential election.

The political sources report that since two leaders from opposition are standing in for the election there would be no common candidate and the Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero who expected to contest as the common candidate is to support the candidate who is ready to implement his suggestions.

Expressing his views with regard to the election the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has told 'Divaina Irida Sangrahaya' that he is to stand in for the presidential election as a true alternative for the two camps of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sailing South And Meeting The North

By Darshanie Ratnawalli -July 13, 2014

Darshanie Ratnawalli

Gautama Buddha, the pride of the Sakyas, c. 460-380 BC according to the latest consensus[i], was no empiricist. He lived in a wondrous world populated by myriad fantastic beings of the Indo-Aryan myth pool. A passage in the Chullavagga, an early text in the Pali Cannon gives us the Buddha’s eye view of the deep sea. According to Him, the great ocean, awe inspiring, astonishing and curious is “the dwelling place of mighty beings, among which are the Timi, the Timingala, the Timitimingala, the Asuras, the Nagas and the Ghandharvas” with the whole lot so constituted as to “stretch from one to five hundred leagues”.-(p32, Jean Philippe Vogel:1926^[ii] -full text) 

Going to the beach would have been such an adventure in the Buddha’s time.  How exciting then to have been a long distance trader from the north of India sailing to new, distant lands in the south. What marvelous travelers’ tales would have been brought back about what new creatures! Er… no. No new creatures. A northern trader sailing south would encounter the same old familiar creatures of the Indo Aryan myth-pool; the Yakshas, Nagas, Suparnas, etc. It’s very like that old science fiction plot device; when you are escaping the Earth, you are really flying back to it.

To come back to Earth Watson, don’t you see what happens? Northern traders sailing south are agents widening the geographical horizons of their known universe. After they have discovered the south, so to speak, the northern storytellers step in and start locating stories in the new southern settings, which they populate with creatures they have grown up with; Yakshas, Yakshanis, Nagas, Suparnas. Thus, they annex the south, make it part of their cultural universe where familiar creatures of their own myth-pool walk.                    Read More