சமூக நீதிக்கான மலையக வெகுஜன அமைப்பினரின் பதுளை ஆர்ப்பாட்ட பேரணி

12/25/2014

மலையக மக்களுக்கான 20பேர்ச் காணி,வீட்டுரிமையை வென்றெடுக்க 21.12.2014 அன்று பதுளையில் பேரணியொன்றை , சமூக நீதிக்கான மலையக வெகுஜன அமைப்பின் பதுளை செயற்பாட்டாளர்கள் ஏற்பாடு செய்திருந்தனர். பதுளை வீல்ஸ் பார்க் மைதானத்திலிருந்து, , வேண்டாம் ,வேண்டாம் ,லயத்து வாழ்க்கை வேண்டாம்,மாடி வீடு வேண்டாம், 20பேர்ச் காணி,வீட்டுரிமையை உறுதிச்செய்,மனிதர்தான் மனிதர்தான் நாங்களும் மனிதர்தான், போன்ற கோசங்களுடன் பேரணி ஆரம்பித்து பிரதான பஸ் தரிப்பிடத்தில் நிறைவடைந்தது.அப்பேரணி தொடர்பான படங்களைக்காணலாம்.

From dreams and visions to realities and hope: A Christmas Reflection

by Bishop Duleep de Chickera 

- on 12/25/2014 

We keep Christmas this year amidst manifestoes, dreams and visions.

Politicians want power; they resort to lofty manifestoes. People long for sincere governance and bread at affordable prices; they persist in dreaming dreams. Prophets resent deceit; they dare to see visions. Some scheme, most dream and others see visions; this is the gist of our political realities.
From Dreams and Visions to Realities and Hope a Christmas Reflection by Thavam Ratna

Presidential Election Slogans of Simple Life, 

Social Justice, Accountability and Good 

Governance

This is what much Maligned Islam is all about
By Latheef Farook

The opposition presidential candidate Maithripala Sirisena pledges simple life, Ven Sobitha Thero calls for social justice and Ven Athuraliya Thero struggles for good governance and accountability Maithripala Sirisena says” on elected as the president he would not move into official residence Temple Trees but would live in his own simple house. He has also declared his assets for everyone to see. He is keen on leading a simple life and serving the people of all communities.

Presidential Election Slogans of Simple Life, Social Justice, Accountability and Good Governance by Thavam Ratna

Desperate Medamulana MaRa ‘s dastardly plan to arrest Maithripala – Full Report

(Lanka-e-News-25.Dec.2014, 11.00PM) The Rajapakse regime has made a most dastardly plan to arrest common opposition candidate Mathripala Sirisena on a frame up that he had in his possession foreign exchange in millions from an undisclosed Tiger diaspora group , based on concrete information received by Lanka e news inside information division.

This frame up is based on fabrications and falsehoods detailed below :

That Maithripala received many millions rupees worth Swiss Francs and Euro dollars in Singapore from the Tiger diaspora , and these funds were given to Tharindu Chandravasa to be kept concealed, by a friend of the father of the fiancee of the son of Maithripala, and that Chandravasa had made a confession to that effect.

Of course, Tharindu Chandravasa is a well noted henchman of the Rajapakse regime. A spurious drama is to be enacted by the Finance Intelligence Unit (FIU) of the Central bank under its notorious and infamous governor Nivard Cabraal with the assistance of the CID that Chandravasa was arrested along with the Swiss francs and the dollars which were in custody (which in fact are given to him by the Rajapakses)

At the CID in charge of this criminally bogus operation is IP Saman Dissanayake who is also a MaRa’s bootlicking lickspittle .

Tharindu Chandravasa was produced before the Mt. Lavinia magistrate on the night of 22 nd at about 8.30 PM. The Mt.lavinia magistrate Rangajeewa Wimalasena has already been exposed by Lanka e news in its earlier reports as the chief of the judges mafia of the Rajapakses. However , Chandravasa was produced on the 22 nd night not before Wimalasena but before the acting magistrate , a lawyer of the regime.

At that time all those involved in this plot have got together and prepared a bogus confession. In that confession , Chandravasa makes those aforementioned declarations, that is ,these monies were given to him to be kept in his custody by a friend of the father of the fiancée of Maitripala Sirisena’s son.

The plan is to arrest Maithripala Sirisena on the ground that an investigation is to be conducted in connection with this frame up , while also using Wimal Weerawansa prior to this to wildly sling mud at Mathripala .

May we recall that General Sarath Fonseka who contested the Presidential elections in 2010 was also arrested on the accusation that he had in his custody foreign exchange so acquired .

Sri Lanka customs seizes Rs154m worth foreign currency

Reported by: `Customs Today Report December 24, 2014

RATMALANA: The Criminal Investigations Department, Customs and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has raided on a complain at Ratmalana and grasped a briefcase containing foreign currency including US dollars and Swiss Frank worth Rs 154 million in local currency.

The briefcase was opened in the presence of the Magistrate. Some 20 bundles of foreign currency in the denomination of US $ 200 and US $ 1000 as well as Swiss Franks were found in the briefcase. The briefcase was sealed before the Magistrate to conduct further investigations.

A briefcase containing Rs 154 million worth foreign currency in dollars and Swiss Frank, was seized by a team of officials from due to a complaint from a person at Ratmalana.

The complainant said that his uncle handed over the briefcase to him with instructions to keep it safe in his house. He had felt suspicious and complained about it to the CID.

The officers conducting the investigation, produced the briefcase before the Mount Lavinia Court on Saturday.

Officials said the value of the foreign currency is about Rs. 154 million. The Magistrate instructed to keep the sealed briefcase in the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department and conduct a compressive investigation to find its owner. Police are investigating whether the foreign currency was brought to be spent for the forthcoming Presidental election or to deposit in a private or state bank.

Warrant issued on Muthuhettigama

December 24, 2014

The Baddegama Magistrate’s Court issued an arrest warrant on Deputy Minister Nishantha Muthuhettigama, this morning.

 In a previous occasion, three supporters of the Deputy Minister were arrested and remanded for allegedly torching and damaging a venue of common candidate Maithripala Sirisena’s election stage in Wanduramba.

An unidentified group damaged a stage and some decorations of Common Candidate Maithripala Sirisena in Wanduramba area in Galle on 17 December. The armed gang arrived in two defenders had damaged and attempted to set the stage on fire, it was reported.

Brazen Violation Of Election Laws And Bullying By UGC Chairman And Jaffna VC

December 25, 2014 

In a letter signed and dated 23 Dec. 2014 by Jaffna VC Vasanthi Arasaratnam to all Deans and Head Siddha Medicine she has written;

“I have received the annexed list from University Grants Commissions [sic.]. Please circulate this among the staff of your Faculty/Section and get their signatures. On the request of the Chairperson UGC [who is Prof. Kshanika Hrimimburegama] we have to forwarding [sic.] this to University Grants Commission again [sic.] on or before 29.12.2014.”

We may note that academic staff members have to sign – “get their signatures” orders Prof, Hrimburegama.

The document to be circulated reads as follows in Tamil:

“To get more knowledge without obstacles, and to march towards development without hindrance, our best wishes for the victory of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa”

That is is followed by a table for signatures.

“This is a clear violation of our Election Laws. Just one more! We may also note from the quality of the VC’s writing the use by this government of useless persons who will obey for lack of alternative career paths. We may also assume that Prof. Hrimburegama has sent out similar letters to other universities – or is it only Tamils who are to be bullied like this?” a university teacher told Colombo Telegraph.

“This itself is a good reason not to vote for Mahintha Rajapaksa.” he further said.

INFOGRAPHIC: Findings from second online survey on Sri Lanka’s Presidential Election 2015

Published on December 24, 2014 by Centre for Policy 

24 December 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The second online survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives saw 76% of the respondents stating that a stronger democracy is more important to them than a stronger economy. When asked if the Constitution should limit a President to a maximum of two terms, irrespective of how popular he or she is, 86% of respondents agreed with this statement and only 6% of respondents said that there should be no Constitutional limit on how many terms the President can serve in order to allow strong Presidents to serve the country.

A key issue that is being discussed at present is whether or not the Tamil community should vote in the upcoming elections. 94% of respondents believe that the Tamil community should in fact vote. Given a list of five priorities that are considered important for Sri Lanka’s future and asked which one they believe is the most important, Rule of Law was selected by most respondents (43.5%) as a top priority, followed by independent judiciary (35.4%) and improved economic conditions (17%).

The final question asked respondents if there was an issue that they felt was not being discussed or was not being discussed enough. Issues related to minority rights, ethnicity and the Tamil community, education and unemployment was what was most mentioned by respondents.

The survey was conducted in Sinhala, Tamil and English and was completed by 584 people during the survey period 19 – 23 December 2014.

The objective of the survey was not to predict election results but to gather public opinion on the elections and contribute to ongoing discussions. As the survey was conducted online and not with a random sample, the findings cannot be generalised to Sri Lanka.

Download the infographic below as a high resolution image from here.

Fraud at Elections commissioner’s secretariat ! 12000 postal voters at Anuradhapura duped -Franchise denied

(Lanka-e-News- 25.Dec.2010, 9.05PM) Hereunder is the letter addressed to the Elections Commissioner by the President of the National trade union pertaining to a calculated election fraud denying the right to franchise of 12000 government servants who went to cast their postal votes at Anuradhapura

The Elections commissioner

Elections secretariat

Rajagiriya

The Elections Commissioner,

01.The rejection of 12000 postal vote applications of government servants in Anuradhapura is a denial of their right to franchise. The rejection of 12000 application s out of the 55000 applications for voting of the government servants of Anuradhapura district , without prior notification when they came to cast their votes yesterday (23) has caused grave embarrassment and harassment to them when they came to cast their votes .

02. We wish to point out that this rejection of 12000 applications to postal vote of the government servants without due notification to them has subjected them to a grave injustice , and through the relevant elections secretariat , these voters have been deliberately discriminated .

03. The elections officer has explained that this rejection is because the information provided in the applications made in that regard were faulty. This explanation of the elections officer merits most ridiculous contempt because these data were provided by none other than the computers of the election secretariat when the applicants were perfecting the applications

04. Hence the reason for the rejection of these applications is the wrong data provided by the elections secretariat . It is therefore most suspicious while such errors were there ,why no action was taken to notify the rejection of their applications.

05. The Elections department must hold itself fully responsible in these circumstances for the harassment and embarrassment caused to these postal voters who braved the present inclement weather and many odds faced by them in Anuradhapura ,and trekked to the polling centers to cast their postal votes.

06. We therefore request you take into consideration the grounds cited above , and make alternative arrangements to grant them an opportunity to all these governments servants to cast their votes , who are going to be engaged in election duties shortly .Thanks .

Yours truly,

K.D.Lalkantha

President

National Trade unions headquarters .

Not The People But MR Should Pay Gratitude For Tolerating All Abuses  

By Nagananda Kodituwakku -December 25, 2014 

Nagananda Kodituwakku

Whilst seeking people’s mandate in the 2005 Presidential Election, MRpromised to be the trustee of the people (Mahinda Chintana 2005 – page 2) and pledged to eradicate the drug menace (page 4). But what people of this country witnessed since then, was completely the opposite.

He promised to abolish the Executive Presidency with a new Constitution put in place reverting to Westminster style of governance, upholding the social, cultural, political, economic and civil rights of all Sri Lankans (Chintana page 97, 98). What he did was simply abusing the office with scant respect to the Rule of Law and paralyzes all other organs of governance covering himself with the veil of ‘war victory’

It is common knowledge that no patriot would disagree with the fact that MR stood firm against the West and gave the right leadership to the nation at its hour of need. He did what other leaders failed to do. But he cannot be allowed to use it as a license to destroy the fundamental elements of democracy, the Good Governance the Rule of Law.Read More

Use And Abuse Of Trust Of The Nation

By Gamini Jayaweera -December 25, 2014 

Gamini Jayaweera

It is more than 5 years ago Sri Lankan armed forces led by PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa defeated the most ruthless terrorist organisation world had ever known to liberate all Sri Lankans from bombs, bullets, fear, anxiety, murder, and continuous curfews and emergency regulations. We, Sri Lankans of all races Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays, Burghers and of all religions Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Catholics, Anglicans are grateful to the government and the armed forces for achieving the peace that we all wished for. We thank the government, and armed forces for defeating the murderous terrorists who tried to destroy Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan people for nearly three decades. We, Sri Lankans have shown our gratitude to the President for winning the war by electing him as our leader in 2009 to rule the country for a second term.

The people of Sri Lanka had placed their trust and expected our President to re-build a democratic, compassionate, peaceful, law abiding, and sovereign society. The people also expected the President and his government to work towards the advancement of social, religious, cultural, economic, and technological developments in the country during his second term in office. As the new presidential election has been announced to be held on 8^th January 2015, it is vitally important that we remind ourselves and cast our minds on the question of the type of development that have been achieved during President Rajapakse’s second term of administration. In this article I would like to briefly discuss the Road Development Programme, Bribery & Corruption, Law & Order, Political Appointments, Diplomatic Service & International Relations, the state of our “Booming Economy”, and Reclaiming our Dhammadeepa since our President and his government defeated the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists in May 2009. It is also important to find out whether the President and his government have used or abused the mandate given by the people of Sri Lanka for winning the war.Read More

Name any price, govt. ready to buy Fonseka!

 Thursday, 25 December 2014 

The government has ‘sought a price’ from Democratic Party leader, former Army commander Sarath Fonseka, to get him to join its ranks, a very reliable source reports to ‘Lanka News Web.’

In response to common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena’s public declaration that he would restore, within 24 hours of his election, the positions and privileges lost by the ex-Army chief, the president has expressed agreement to return Fonseka everything the government has taken from him.

Agreement is for Fonseka to be restored civic rights, his general ranking and pension, ownership of the plot of land at Kirimandala Mawatha in Nawala, release of the frozen money in several banks and withdrawal of fabricated court cases against him.

However, it has been stressed that minister or secretary position of the defence ministry will not be given to him.

As the first step, the government has given a green light by granting bail to Dhanuna Tilakaratne, Fonseka’s son-in-law. Fonseka is presently under tremendous pressure from his wife and two daughters to join the government, say sources close to the family.

He is today (25) having a lengthy discussion with former president Chandrika Kumaratunga regarding this matter, and in the event of failure of the talks, Fonseka is likely to dissolve his party and join the government within the next few days, the sources say.

Furthermore, unconfirmed sources say Fonseka’s representatives who are holding talks with the government have requested an advance payment.

Military Coup In Sri Lanka?

| by A Concerned Citizen

Letter to the Editor

(December 24, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There has been a gossip between some people that Sri Lanka would descend into a military coup scenario after this election. It has been argued that Mahinda Rajapaksa would not concede his defeat even if he is defeated. People predicted that Gotabya Rajapaksa, an US citizen and a brother of the President, who is holding defence portfolio, may have a greater influence on three forces of Sri Lanka to use military in their favour. It is argued that Mahinda Rajapaksa may use military to cling to power if he is defeated.

We need to gauge the pros and cons of this argument.

Of course today the Rajapaksa family has got great influence over military. Why is this? Since the defeat of LTTE, the relation between military and ruling family got stronger. As thanks giving for defeating of LTTE some high ranking military personals have been rewarded and promoted. Some of them even posted to some high level diplomatic posts in some European countries at the expanse of our senior diplomatic services. These are just political appointments with the discretion of MR. These appointments do not bring any material or diplomatic benefits for Sri Lanka. It is done as a favour for some of higher ranking army officials who made some sacrifice for the country. No doubt some section of high level military officials have benefited from this government. Yet will they support this MR and family to stay in power? It would be unconstitutional and unethical as well.

I dispel such argument for many reasons. Firstly we did not have military coup in our history since the independence. We have had many elections in Sri Lanka and defeated people conceded the defeat and handed over power without any trouble making. Once a political party has been defeated power has been transferred smoothly without any grudge in winning party. This is our democratic tradition we have maintained for the last 60 years. It would be great danger to create instability in this country through any military interference. Moreover, Sri Lanka is not like Pakistan or any other African countries People are literate and we have a strong opposition parties. Rajapaksa would not be able to play around them for a long time. Already some of his crafty stratagems are known to many. Some of his own party members deserted him because of his cunning trick to stay on power.

Moreover Sarath Fonseka still has greater influence on army and he is still with opposition. Any attempt to fix military coup will make some division among army. That would be disaster for our nation. If such steps are taken JVP will come to the streets once again and country would go back to a chaotic situation as it was in late 1980’s.

However, Rajapaksa is dreaming for the victory of this election by any means. For that it is reported He has planned to do a lots of forgeries in bullet boxes and voting. It was reported that more 200000 ID cards are made in the name of some migrant workers to cast their votes. It is widely expected a huge amount of frauds in this election.

I do not think that army or forces would support Rajapaksa this election. Most of ordinary army members are not happy with Rajapaksa. He promised them a lots after army had won the war and yet, a little has been done for Army to improve their quality of life. Disable armed forces have not been looked after well. Some of them are promised houses and other facilities yet, they have not got anything. Only handfuls of high ranking members are supported by Rajapaksa. I do not think that the majority of armed force will support Rajapaksa in any coup attempt if he is defeated.

Moreover, He will risk his life he attempted to fix any coup in Sri Lanka. Of course he has got his extended family support and yet, he would not date to fix any coup in case if it is failed it would backfire on him and on his family as well. I do not think that he would take such unwise steps. Yet, it can be said that he will use his hooligans and thugs to intimidate voters and sabotage opposition election victory.

Bathiudeen complains to IGP about threats 

Thursday, 25 December 2014 

 

Leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress, former Minister Rishard Bathiudeen has made a complaint to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) claiming that the Police should take the responsibility of his life as threats have been levelled against his life as well as his political career.

Meanwhile, Bathiudeen speaking to the media yesterday said the government has spread religious hatred in the country and failed to build peace among communities.

However, Bathiudeen’s ACMC has split following the decision to back the opposition at next month’s Presidential election

Enemies Of The President’s Promise – Doc 2

By Rajiva Wijesinha -December 25, 2014

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha MP

In 2011 I had personal experience of how diffident Lalith could be. After theDarusman Report came out, with its excessive attack on the manner in which Sri Lanka had dealt with LTTE terrorism, I thought it necessary to warn the President about what was going on. I saw him in his office and said we had done nothing to fulfil our own commitments. When he asked me what I meant, I cited two clear examples.

The first was the negotiations with the TNA, which had shown no progress. He understood immediately what I meant, and acquiesced straight away with the suggestion that I be put on the negotiating team. Ordinarily I would have been wary of putting myself forward, but there seemed to be no alternative, and the President seemed to agree.

The second point I made was that there had been no progress whatsoever on implementing the interim recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. He evinced surprise when I said this, and declared that he had appointed a Committee which was doing its job. But I told him I thought that Committee had never met, and that he should put me on it.

He agreed again, and immediately rang Lalith and told him to appoint me to both positions. He also told the Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, who he thought knew about the work of the Committee, to send me all relevant papers, since I told him that I should see the minutes of meetings and find out what had been going on, if I were to contribute.Read More

The tsunami: 10 years on

by Groundviews 

- on 12/26/2014 

Groundviews commissioned The Picture Press to capture through photography the tsunami that hit Sri Lanka on Boxing The tsunami took a dramatic toll Day, 2004. As journalist Amantha Perera notes,

on unsuspecting Sri Lankans – 35,322 were killed, half a million were displaced, and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed. Half of the damage struck areas had been hard-hit by a 21-year armed conflict, making access complex and politically charged. The country was left with a reconstruction bill of over US$3 billion and an unprecedented humanitarian challenge.

The 2004 tsunami keeps coming up as a key turning point in Sri Lanka and TPP was asked to interrogate to what extent it really influenced how ​the country deals with hazard warning and disaster risk recovery. Echoing more academic writing on ‘building back better’ TPP was also asked to look at how, and to what degree, we had recovered and learnt lessons from the 2004​ tsunami, going to the field and speaking with a range of individuals.

The first dozen photos from this project are published today. Another set will follow in the first quarter of 2015.

Best viewed in full screen, click here to see the photo story, or engage with it below. Click on photos for larger version.

The photo essay uses Microsoft’s new Sway platform, which is completely responsive and tailors the content to the device you are viewing it from.

Remembering The Tsunami Disaster, 10 Years Later

| by Ruwan M Jayatunge

( December 25, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The massive earthquake off the west coast of Indonesia on December 26, 2004, registered a magnitude of nine on the Richter scale. The effect of this earthquake made massive tidal waves that destroyed the costal belt of the northern and southern Sri Lanka. Perhaps this must have been the most catastrophic natural disaster ever experienced by Sri Lankans in their recent history. The damage was colossal. Tsunami had killed over 50,000 people in Sri Lanka. A number of villages have been wiped off and more than 100,000 houses were destroyed.

Remembering the Tsunami Disaster, 10 Years Later by Thavam Ratna