Swiss investigating 53 cases of possible money laundering at Fifa

• Swiss attorney general says ‘53 suspicious banking relations’ uncovered
• Investigation into 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids could take years
• Fifa’s Sepp Blatter and Jérôme Valcke not being ruled out of investigation

Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber speaks to reporters about the investigation into alleged money-laundering at Fifa
Owen Gibson-Wednesday 17 June 2015

Swiss investigators are looking into 53 possible cases of money laundering and 104 incidents of suspicious activity in Swiss bank accounts as part of their investigation into the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

Swiss Investigating 53 Cases of Possible Money Laundering at Fifa by Thavam Ratna

Is America falling out of love with the death penalty?

Executions are at a 20-year low and conservatives are increasingly voicing their opposition to capital punishment – so is the US about to scrap the death penalty?

BY HARRY HORTON · 16 JUNE 2015
Later this month the Supreme Court will rule on whether some lethal injections are a “cruel and unusual punishment”, which would be classed unconstitutional.

It comes after three high-profile botched executions in 2014, where in one case an inmate writhed around in pain for 43 minutes after the lethal injection began. States have faced a shortage of drugs in recent years, mainly because European drug companies have refused to supply the chemicals used for lethal injections. Some states have been accused of using untested drugs and effectively experimenting with capital punishment.

America has also seen 154 death row inmates have their convictions overturned, with 11 people completely exonerated in the past 18 months.

Despite this, public opinion remains in favour of the death penalty.Research published in April showed support for the death penalty at 56 per cent, whilst 38 per cent of Americans actively oppose it.

But the trend since the mid-90s is clear: support for the death penalty is in decline.        Full Story>>>

Migrant boat allegations cast cloud over Australia

Paying people smugglers to turn back their boats could put more people in harm's way

By Marie McInerney-Melbourne, Victoria-15 June 2015

Paying people-smugglers to turn back asylum seekers may not be in breach of Australian law but it could put vulnerable people at risk of further harm and encourage more people-smuggling, according to legal experts.

Allegations emerged last week that Australian officials had paid people-smugglers who were taking 65 asylum seekers to New Zealand to return the boat and its passengers to Indonesia.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to confirm or deny the allegations but, if true, the country's international standing and its relations with Indonesia would be put at risk, say experts.

Indonesia could perhaps take action against Australia under the 2000 United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, says Australian National University law professor Donald Rothwell.

However he thinks that unlikely given it had not done so after several incursions by Australian navy vessels into Indonesian waters in recent years as part of border security policy.

"To date, Indonesia has not shown much inclination for (legal action), especially in the context of more egregious breaches of Indonesian sovereignty," he says.

Relations between Australia and Indonesia are already strained

However, paying people-smugglers to return refugees to Indonesia could put more strain on an already fractious relationship between the two countries.

Diplomatic relations sank to a new low in April after Indonesia ignored repeated Australian requests to spare the lives of two Australian drug-traffickers on death row.

Professor Rothwell says Indonesia might now be less inclined to help Australia combat people-smuggler activities.

On the domestic front, it is unclear whether such a policy would be in breach of Australian law.

The Australian Greens have written to the Australian Federal Police asking them to investigate what laws have been violated. Some experts suggest the alleged policy would be a breach of the provisions of the Criminal Code outlawing people smuggling.

However, they note that the government itself would have to initiate and investigate any charges.

But it would also depend on the circumstances, according to Professor Rothwell. He says Australian immigration and border security officials have been given "a fair degree of discretion" under wide-ranging maritime and migration laws introduced by the current government to support its "stop the boats" policy.

Australia's international standing could be put at further risk in the wake of the payments scandal

Legalities aside, the government must come clean with the Australian and international communities by confirming, denying or investigating whether Australian officials made the payments, leading refugee lawyer David Manne told the BBC.

"As a matter of fundamental democratic accountability, the government must disclose to the Australian and international communities, firstly, whether it is now Australian policy to pay people-smugglers to turn back asylum seekers and, secondly, did it do so," says Mr Manne.

"This type of conduct is likely to seriously harm Australia's reputation, credibility and authority on the international stage," he says, adding that if every country followed Australia's lead the international refugee protection framework "would collapse".

'No evidence'

Barrister, human rights and refugee advocate Julian Burnside said it would be "politically scandalous" if the allegation was correct, particularly given the government's hard-line rhetoric towards people-smugglers.

"A person with any sense of decency will not provide money to someone they regard as 'scum of the earth'," he says.

He warns such a policy could backfire on the government's efforts to stop people-smuggling "because they would reckon they would be in with a chance to get paid by the Australian government as well as by their passengers".

Mr Burnside says he has no evidence beyond what is in the public domain about whether the allegations are true. But he says that "as a person familiar with the forensic process of deciding facts, the prime minister's repeated refusal to come to grips with the question suggests strongly it was done".

"[The prime minister] was asked again and again and again whether it happened and he never directly answered it. Instead, he said: 'We've stopped the boats, we'll do anything 'by hook or by crook to stop the boats' ... If that was in front of a jury, the jury would find 'yes, it happened'."

Has Xi Jinping’s Anti-Corruption 

Campaign Been Derailed?

 

By Hu Ping, published: June 15, 2015

“Anti-corruption is a double-edged sword: while it strikes Party cadres who violate discipline and the law, it hurts the Party organization, and damages the image of the Party. For every official that’s punished, the hurt he personally suffers is nothing compared to the harm done to the Party organization.” – CCDI

Recently someone asked me when Zhou Yongkang would be tried. I said: no reports, no idea. Then on June 11, the news appeared—though upon closer inspection, it turned out he was actually tried and sentenced on May 22. So it took 20 days for the Chinese media to report the news.

For the Zhou Yongkang affair, which has attracted the attention of the world, to be wrapped up in such hasty manner makes one thing very clear: the authorities want to play down the “beat the tiger,” or the anti-corruption, campaign, signaling a significant change in the campaign. The two remaining tigers in custody, Ling Jihua and Guo Boxiong, are the dregs—awkward to sentence, awkward not to sentence; the most likely scenario is a lenient punishment while Party Central beats a hasty retreat.

As I’ve written previously, the first thing the opponents of Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan’s purge want to do would be “eliminate those who have been given bad counsel to the emperor” (“清君侧”) — that is, weaken the power of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. And this has already begun.

As People’s Daily Online reported on June 10, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) recently published three analysis pieces on discipline work: “When dealing with politics, think of the bigger picture,” “Stress the enforcement of discipline,” and “Innovative methods in supervision and investigation.” These three essays were first published on the website of the CCDI, but their contents were a clear attack on the disciplinary apparatus, and in particular the central disciplinary apparatus. The articles criticized a small number of Party disciplinary officials, accusing them of violating procedures, punishing cadres before establishing guilt, unduly pressuring those senior to them, and sternly warning the CCDI not to become an “independent fiefdom.” The articles said that the CCDI mustn’t become the Party’s internal “police, prosecutor and judge,” and that it should get back to the business of taking care of cadre discipline, not incessantly trying to mount “big cases,” catching more “tigers,” and so on and so forth. If this isn’t an attack on the CCDI and Wang Qishan (王岐山), then what is?

The articles even seemed intent on raising a revolt against the anti-corruption campaign. The article “Stress the enforcement of discipline” goes so far as saying: “Anti-corruption is a double-edged sword: while it strikes Party cadres who violate discipline and the law, it hurts the Party organization, and damages the image of the Party. For every official that’s punished, the hurt that individual suffers is far outstripped by the damage inflicted upon the Party organization.”

Quite the “double-edged sword!” Going by this logic, the anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan, while ostensibly meant to protect and save the Party, is actually at the same time harming and ruining the Party, and doing more of the latter than the former. That is tantamount to saying that the anti-corruption campaign is actually an anti-Party campaign.

Last year a rumor appeared online that Jiang Zemin once reprimanded Wang Qishan: “What on earth are you doing? Do you care at all about the Party’s image? Do you want to tell the whole world about our conflicts here in Party Central?” This story has a ring of truth to it: Jiang Zemin could very well have put this to Wang Qishan, and facing that sort of questioning, what could he say?

When all this started, Xi and Wang’s campaign of “smashing tigers and swatting flies” seemed to be rather high-sounding and dignified, righteous and strict, secure in taking the moral high ground. And of course, the entrenched opposition naturally opposed it, in part with reason. Chinese people for a long time have been saying: “Opposing corruption will bring the Party ruin.” This is also the reason why Xi and Wang’s internal rivals oppose the anti-corruption campaign. But the opposition never actually dared spell it out. They were passive. Now, they’ve actually brought the argument into the public, no doubt a forced and desperate counterattack. With arguments like “corruption is a double-edged sword,” and the claim that “the harm done the Party is greater than the harm to the corrupt official,” just how is the anti-corruption campaign going to continue?

According to a report in Caijing on June 10, after a county-level disciplinary official from Qing’an in Heilongjiang traveled to Beijing in early April to report the corruption of leading cadres there, he was soon beaten to within an inch of his life by a gang of masked men. Hospitalized, he died 28 days later.

The beating was carried out in broad daylight, in the street. Clearly, the thugs were not concerned in the least. The official’s family said that he had no personal grudges. After the matter was reported to the police, county Party leaders established a special investigation team to crack the case. But over two months later, there’s been no progress.

In the latest development of the case, Xinhua on June 11 announced that Suihua City (a prefecture-level city with jurisdiction over Qing’an County, where the crime took place) in Heilongjiang has opened an investigation.

But “once the arrow has left the bow, there’s no getting it back.” Such is Xi Jinping’s predicament: If you don’t succeed in taking down the tiger, the tiger’s going after you. It’s not hard to tell that inside the Chinese Communist Party right now an undercurrent is surging forth, and we’re entering a season of strife.

Hu Ping (胡平) is the chief editor of Beijing Spring, a long-running New York-based Chinese-language magazine. Mr. Hu has been one of the best known Chinese liberal thinkers and commentators since early 1980s, and his essay On Freedom of Expression influenced many intellectuals and students in China in the 80s when he was a graduate student of philosophy at Peking University.

———–

Also by Hu Ping:

How the Tiananmen Massacre Changed China, and the World, June 2, 2015.

(Translated by Matthew Robertson)

Chinese 《胡平：周案落幕 打虎告停 纪委削权 内斗方酣》

Rice fields dry up as North Korea suffers worst drought in a century

Rice plants grow from the cracked and dry earth in Ryongchon-ri, North Korea. Pic: AP.

By Asian Correspondent Staff Jun 17, 2015

North Korea says it has been hit by its worst drought in a century, resulting in extensive damage to agriculture.

The official Korean Central News Agency said the drought caused about 30 percent of its rice paddies to dry up. Rice plants normally need to be partially submerged in water during the early summer.

The news agency reported that  rice planting had finished in more than 441,560 hectares of paddy fields “but at least 136,200 hectares of them are parching up”.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry said precipitation in North Korea was abnormally low in May, and that food production could decline significantly if the shortage of rainfall continues.

North Korea suffered a devastating famine during the 1990s that is believed to have killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The reclusive state regularly faces food shortages and about one third of the country’s children are believed to be malnourished.

South Korea and other countries regularly send food aid to North Korea, even as heavy sanctions remain in place over its nuclear program.

In April the United Nations released a report saying humanitarian aid for North Korea was facing “significant underfunding” with about 70 percent of the population facing food insecurity.

The report acknowledgeed the sharp restrictions that North Korea’s government imposes on aid operations, saying the ability of U.N. agencies to freely access communities “is still out of reach.”

The U.N. asked the international community for $111 million for North Korea operations in 2015, its lowest such funding appeal since at least 2009.

Additional reporting from Associated Press

Daily vitamin D supplement may prolong remission from Crohn’s disease, study finds

By Melinda Carstensen-

Published June 16, 2015

Crohn’s disease, a condition marked by inflammation in the lining of the digestive tract, can cause diarrhea, fatigue, weight loss and malnutrition, and affects an estimated 201 out of 100,000 American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC. While there’s no single treatment for Crohn’s disease (CD), and its exact causes are unknown, a study published Monday in the United European Gastroenterology journal suggests taking a daily vitamin D supplement may help prolong CD remission.

“For a long time, we’ve know that people with Crohn’s disease have a high risk of developing bone disease, like osteoporosis … there’s strong evidence now, including experimental work, that vitamin D affects the immune system and basically has anti-inflammatory effects,” senior study author Maria O’Sullivan, associate clinical medicine professor at the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences at St. James Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, told FoxNews.com.

Previous research has suggested that vitamin D may impact gut barrier function—determined in part by intestinal permeability— a factor thought to predict flare-ups and relapse from CD.

“It’s an interesting step if you could predict [CD] and reverse it, this could have a lot of therapeutic potential,” O’Sullivan said. The current pilot study is the first to use a randomized, placebo-controlled model to analyze vitamin D’s effect on gut barrier function, she added.

With first study author Tara Raftery, a PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, O’Sullivan recruited 27 study participants in clinical remission from CD. Thirteen patients received an active 2,000 IU vitamin D supplement and 14 patients received a placebo, and each group took two tablets every day for three months. Researchers collected the participants’ daily urine samples throughout the study period, and assessed their biomarkers associated with CD, inflammation, and gut barrier function at baseline and at the end of the study.

At the end of the study, Raftery and O’Sullivan saw reduced inflammation in patients who took the vitamin D supplement, and they observed that while intestinal permeability deteriorated in the placebo group, permeability levels were maintained in the supplement group.

“We saw the vitamin D group stayed the same; the ones who had the placebo got leakier guts. That’s why we’re clearly following this,” said O’Sullivan, who noted her team’s findings are limited due to the study group size and the three-month study period. “Anything in a small study needs to be approached with a degree of caution. It’s interesting for future work.”

O’Sullivan said her team has completed a follow-up interventional study examining vitamin D’s role in prolonging relapse from CD in 120 patients over a year, and they plan to announce their results in the next few months.

“I think from a clinic perspective, at the minimum we should be preventing deficiency. Beyond that, we can’t recommend it for treatment levels at the dose we used— we need to have a sufficient amount of evidence,” she said. “But we should be identifying deficiency and maintaining optimal levels [of vitamin D.]”

According to the Mayo Clinic, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin D is 600 IU for healthy people ages 1 to 70 and pregnant or breastfeeding women, and 800 IU for people over age 71.  For osteoporosis patients, 100-200,000 IU of vitamin D2 or D3 is recommended by mouth daily or every two months for six months.

Contrast between ‘Inquiry’ and ‘Investigation’

Their long experience of denial of justice, reprisals, assassinations of witnesses, journalists, human rights defenders and others, are deeply engrained in their memories and their hearts. In short, they are not easily fooled.

by S. V. Kirubaharan

( June 16, 2015, Paris, Sri Lanka Guardian) Robert Jackson, the Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremburg Tribunal in his opening speech said: “The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils ….”

Contrast between ‘Inquiry’ and ‘Investigation’.odt by Thavam Ratna

US-agenda Tamils fail sabotaging Asia-Pacific Greens resolution on Genocide

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2015, 21:24 GMT]
The 3rd Congress of the Asia-Pacific Greens Federation, held in Wellington, New Zealand, between 12-14 June has successfully resolved urging international investigations on the allegations of genocide, war-crimes and the ongoing human rights abuses in the island of Sri Lanka, despite reluctance coming from a section of Australian Green Party, influenced by US-agenda Tamils against such a resolution, informed sources in New Zealand told TamilNet. For their ‘reluctance’, Australian Green Party sources privately cited ‘conflicting messages’ coming from Tamil activists. The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC), which is a member of the so-called Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the GTF ‘strategic initiative’ director Mr Suren Surendiren and TNA's nominated parliamentarian Mr M.A. Sumanthiran have met the Australian Greens in March to influence them towards their agenda, the sources further said. 

Catherine Delahunty MP of the Green Party of New Zealand proposed the resolution on Tamils in the island. 

A section of the Australian Green Party was reluctant to accept the terms Genocide and Self-Determination in the resolution. 

However, after much debate, the following resolutions succeeded in getting passed at the conference: 

Catherine Delahunty MP from the Green Party in New Zealand

• Notes the ongoing violence against the Tamil community in Sri Lanka, and concerns about military presence in the North, self determination, land rights, and human rights abuses;
  
• Notes the deadline of the twenty-eighth session of the UNHRC for tabling of the report into human rights and accountability in the Sri Lankan civil war, and urges the timely release of this report;
  
• Recognises the need for an international investigation into the Sri Lankan civil war, including allegations of genocide, human rights abuses, and war crimes, and ongoing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
  
• Condemns the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers, including Tamils, and call on international governments, in particular Australia, to uphold their obligations under international law.

While all the other resolutions of the Congress were passed unanimously, only the resolution on Eezham Tamils was put to much debate, thanks to the Tamil elements influencing the Australian Greens, the sources in New Zealand told TamilNet. 

The Australian Green Party has always been steadfast in showing justice to the cause of Eezham Tamils. The present signs of reluctance come after the so-called regime change in Colombo and the position taken by some ‘articulators’. 

It becomes increasingly clear that the whole exercise of ‘solutions hoodwink’ talking of crumps, pivots around the point of ‘closing files’ on international investigation, genocide and self-determination questions, thus erasing even traces of diplomatic balance of Eezham Tamils, commented Tamil political observers in Australia and New Zealand. 

M.A. Sumanthiran [right] and Suren Surendiran [left] meeting the then Australian Green Party leader Christine Milne (April 2012 - May 2015) in March 2015.

CTC urges OHCHR to ensure the September report reveals the full force and mandate of the April 2014 resolution

For Immediate Release:

June 15, 2015

CTC urges OHCHR to ensure the September report reveals the full force and mandate of the April 2014 resolution

In March 2014, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted resolution 25/1 entitled “Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka.” This resolution requested the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “to undertake a comprehensive investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of Human Rights and related crimes by both parties in Sri Lanka." As the HRC sits June 15, 2015 for its 29th regular session, Tamils from Sri Lanka and around the world are hopeful that this session will be used to strengthen the report.

Though the report was due to be released in March 2015 at the 28th session, In February 2015, HRC Chief His Excellency Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, recommended the deferral of the report until the September ‎session. While acknowledging it was a difficult decision to defer the report “one time only”, the High Commissioner stressed the possibility that new information may emerge which would strengthen the report. We understand that since then, new information has been provided by various parties. Stating also that he has received a clear commitment from the newly elected Sri Lankan government to cooperate with the office on a whole range of Human Rights issues – which the previous government absolutely refused to do – the High Commissioner was keen on engaging with the new government to ensure those commitments translate into actions.

We take note of the following in the High Commissioner’s release in February: “I am acutely aware that many victims of human rights violations in Sri Lanka, including those who have bravely come forward to provide information to the inquiry team, might see this is as the first step towards shelving, or diluting, a report they have long feared they would never see. I fully understand those fears and deep anxieties, given the history of failed or obstructed domestic human rights inquiries in Sri Lanka, and the importance of this international investigation being carried out by my team at the UN Human Rights Office.”

“There should be no misunderstanding,” the High Commissioner continued. “I give my personal, absolute and unshakable commitment that the report will be published by September. Like my predecessors, I believe that one of the most important duties of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is to act as a strong voice on behalf of victims. I want this report to have the maximum possible impact in ensuring a genuine and credible process of accountability and reconciliation in which the rights of victims to truth, justice and reparations are finally respected.”

While there has been doubt cast by a few as to whether the report will be postponed, the Canadian Tamil Congress feels that the Commissioner will stay true to his word and release report come September. ‎In that same vein, we strongly request the OHCHR to do its utmost to ensure the September report reveals the full force and mandate of the April 2014 resolution.

For more information, please contact CTC at (416) 240-0078 

Published on: 06/15/15 12:03

Sri Lanka Takes Action Against Traffickers

June 16, 2015

“Sri Lanka in order to prevent all forms of irregular migration, trafficking in persons and smuggling of human beings, is taking action against those traffickers under due processes, while treating the migrants as victims of smugglers”. On the issue of migrants in Sri Lanka, “Sri Lanka is aware of the importance of looking at the issues related to irregular migrants into Sri Lanka in a nuanced manner and the need to develop a coherent national policy, as well as the additional capacity and resources required as a developing country, to handle matters related to migrant welfare”.

Ambassador Aryasinha

Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva and Leader of the Sri Lanka Delegation Ravinatha Aryasinha made these observations during an Interactive Dialogue on the opening day ( 15 June 2015) of the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, following Mr. François Crépeau, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants presenting his report, pursuant to a visit to Sri Lanka from 19-26 May 2014.

In his report the Special Rapporteur, had noted that during his visit he was able to have access to a variety of interlocutors including civil society organizations, families of migrant workers and returned migrants, and that the Government of Sri Lanka extended full cooperation to the Special Rapporteur “prior to, throughout and after the visit”. Ambassador Aryasinha said “the visit contributed to focusing on best practices already in place in Sri Lanka for safeguarding the rights of migrant workers, and also to identify areas which required further attention”.

We publish below the ambassador’s speech in full;

Mr. President,

Thank you for this opportunity to share our views on the report (A/HRC/29/36/Add.1), presented to this Council by Mr. François Crépeau, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, pursuant to his visit to Sri Lanka, from 19 to 26 May 2014.

We thank Mr. Crépeau for accepting the invitation extended to him by the Government of Sri Lanka and undertaking a visit to my country.

Mr. Crépeau’s contributions during the visit, especially in sharing his views and experiences on ‘recruitment practices’, at a workshop organized by the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, during the visit, with Government officials and recruitment agency representatives is appreciated.

As acknowledged by the Special Rapporteur, he was able to have access to a variety of interlocutors including civil society organizations, families of migrant workers and returned migrants, during his visit. The Government of Sri Lanka extended full cooperation to the Special Rapporteur “prior to, throughout and after the visit”, demonstrating commitment to engage constructively and meaningfully with the Special Rapporteur.
Mr. President,

As you are aware, Sri Lanka is predominantly a migrant sending state. The number of migrants to Sri Lanka is negligible. Nearly 10% of Sri Lanka’s population are overseas as registered migrant workers. In this context, a visit by the Special Rapporteur on Migrants was important to focus greater attention on the human rights of Sri Lankan migrant workers.Read More

No to 20A in Present Form; Minority Parties Adamant

(Leaders and representatives of at least 18 minor political parties meeting at the SLMC Head Quarters “Darussalam” on Sunday night. )

16/06/2015 

Fear minorities will be left in the lurch, Advocate double ballot paper system.

Leaders and representatives of at least 18 minor political parties meeting at the SLMC Head Quarters “Darussalam” on Sunday night.

At least 18 minor political parties have agreed to stick to their demands for the introduction of a dual ballot paper method and holding the next general election under the prevailing electoral system.

The minor parties have threatened to withdraw their support to the 20th Amendment to the Constitution if their concerns are not addressed.

Also, the minor parties want a discussion to be held with them to iron out differences, before the 20 Amendment is gazetted.

SLMC General Secretary Hassen Ali yesterday said that his party will have no other option but to seek legal action if the 20A is gazetted without addressing their concerns.

These have been the main issues during a minor party meeting held at “Darussalam” the headquarters of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress on Sunday night. According to Ali, the meeting had been attended by representatives of by more than 18 political parties.

According to Ali many minor parties at the meeting have said that they would go before the Supreme Court if the government goes ahead with gazetting the 19A without addressing their concerns.

“The President when presenting the latest proposal on the 20A said that he wanted a Parliament member for every electorate and he also wanted the much maligned proportional representation system abolished.

We too support these moves fully, however by doing so we cannot allow minority representation in parliament to be diluted”Ali added.

Minor political parties as well as government ministers of minority parties Rauf Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and Palani Digambaram have objected to the proposed electoral reforms saying that the minorities would not be adequately represented in Parliament under the approved system.

The introduction of two ballot papers one for the candidate and other for the party, Ali said was a practice adopted by a majority of countries which have a mixed electoral system. However, the Cabinet while approving a new 237- parliament as a new electoral system for the 20thAmendment recently rejected the SLMC’s demand for a dual ballot paper system. Meanwhile, the leader of the Democratic Peoples Front (DPF) Mano Ganeshan explaining matters further on the dual ballot said “ the double vote will enable the voters to use one vote to elect his or her candidate and use the other vote to select his or her preferred party ”.

“The vote to a candidate will immediately be calculated to choose the MP of the polling division while the vote to a party will be calculated on a national basis”. The voters are at peace selecting the right and capable person of their choice for their electorate while expressing their loyalty to their party. This is an exercise which will add more meaning to the electoral process” Ganeshan further said “We have decided to refrain from supporting the 20A in the current format if it is minus the double vote element”.

Ganeshan went on to say that the Assembly of Minor Parties (AMP) which met on Sunday will push for the 20A with the necessary reforms.

He also dismissed claims that minority parties were sabotaging the 20A as absurd and misleading.

He said the minority parties were for electoral reforms and will extend their fullest support to President Maithripala Sirisena to enact them. Sunday’s meeting was attended by over 18 political parties. The JVP represented by MP Vijitha Herath, Tissa Vitarana, the LSSP,.Ananda Mamaduwa, Democratic Party,, the SLMC, DPF, SLMC, ACMC, NUW, UPF and a host of other parties attended.
Rasika Somarathna /CDN

Proposal for the 20th amendment from a LeN reader

(Lanka-e-News -16.June.2015, 7.30 PM)

Dear E news  Readers,

I have  Some suggestion  on new 20th amendment. I think you can send this to society and have a debate with better outcome.

I am a Sri Lankan citizen and a Scientist worked in Sri Lanka  New Zealand and then in Australia. But I am not a political scientist nor a politician. There fore this method may have weakness I may not seen. However it is open for the debate.

Current Proportionate method is a good system as it is try to represent all community and try to give a value for each vote. But to get votes or preferential (Manapa)   from  a entire  district  would create  more damage than the benefit we get out of it.

Therefor  in short  we can mix both  system together. 

Each electorate can go on previous system . So  Candidates go to election in previous system. 

For example Party  A  Mr X, Party B Mr Y  Party C Mr Z.
A and B Big parties and C is a small  party.
In previous system if  A win,  Votes voted  for C and B  does not have any value. Some time A wining with a small majority and total for B and C more than the A.

Current system after 1977 , when it take whole District even in same distribution in  entire district  Party B can have representation in district by addition of all electorates B voters and party c  can have adding entire  country by national list. Otherwise C never get any representation in parliament.

 Proposed system (open for debate)

1 Election  conduct under  previous system.  X,Y and Z compete.

2 Counting doing as in current system but no "Mnapa".

Votes for X is consider as vote for Party A
Y is for Party B and
Z is for party C

Add all other electorates in District together. Then can decide number of seats in district for each party in the district. And finally each electorate standardized to 100000 and decide wining MPS.
 
For  Example I took  2010 election in Matale  District in random. ( I  am from Matale)  Calculation is attached. 

NB subject to Good mathematician can alter my calculation.

In my calculation matale in 2010 election will get 1 MP from  Matele  for UNP and 4 from UFPA   non for DNA but DNA votes can count decide national list.

If no bonus seat counts  this will give 3 UFPA and 1 unp  (as per before 1977 all 4 from UFPA and non from UNP)

By - Saman Warnakulasooriya 

spkwarna@hotmail.com

---------------------------
by     (2015-06-16 15:28:32)

Jumbos right

Editorial-June 15, 2015

The UNP has, after some dilly-dallying, decided against a bigger Parliament. This is a welcome move. It does not make either economic or political sense to have more MPs.

Some political observers are of the view that the number of parliamentary seats should go up in keeping with the increase in population since 1978, when the present Constitution came into being. They, however, do not take into consideration the large number of provincial councillors (457) including ministers (45) we are burdened with thanks to the 13th Amendment. People are well represented at the local government, provincial and national levels.

In India with a population of 1.28 billion, the maximum strength of the Lok Sabha is 552 members elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage. (The Rajya Sabha consists of not more than 250 members.) So, it defies comprehension why Sri Lanka with a tiny population of a little over 20 million should have a bigger Parliament.

The present-day MPs have proved beyond any doubt that the country can do without most of them. Parliament, more often than not, is unable to have quorate sessions as most of its members are absent. It is half empty even when crucial debates take place and vital laws are passed. Many are the intellectually challenged and horizontally gifted legislators who make no significant contribution to the parliamentary process. So, the number of MPs can be reduced drastically without the functions of the national legislature affected at all.

It has taken the government so long to wise up to the fact that under the proposed mixed system the number of MPs could vary. We pointed this out more than 20 years ago when the need for electoral reforms was first discussed seriously, and again in April this year. In Germany constituencies numbering 299 return one half of the Bundestag (parliament) members while others are elected through party lists from states. A voter casts two votes, one for a candidate in his or her constituency and the other for a party of his or her choice. Although about 598 Bundestag members are supposed to be elected this way for an electoral term the number of representatives varies due to ‘overhang seats’ and ‘balance seats’.

The UNP has proposed to keep the number of parliamentarians constant at the expense of the National List slots. However, there are bound to be some practical problems in this respect and it is advisable to study the proposed system carefully to see whether it is going to work. Reforms, electoral or otherwise, mustn’t be rushed through Parliament if they are to stand the test of time. The current Constitution is riddled with flaws because its architect was in a mighty hurry to promulgate it, having become the head of government too late in the day. He was racing against ‘the time’s winged chariot hurrying near’. The Old Fox is now pushing up daisies and we are left holding the baby! Writing or amending Constitutions is not something to be done the way rotis are baked.

Meanwhile, minor and minority political parties have taken exception to some aspects of the proposed electoral system. Their demand for two ballots each for voters is nothing but fair. Serious thought should be given to adopting it. Fears and apprehensions of those parties need to be addressed. Electoral reforms must be an inclusive, consensual process and no stakeholder should be railroaded into accepting a fait accompli.

President Maithripala Sirisena is torn between the UNP which wants the number of MPs to remain the same and the SLFP which is for a bigger Parliament. A tug of war between the two main parties over electoral reforms will further delay the dissolution of Parliament much to the consternation of the UNP. The President is faced with the uphill task of pleasing everybody. This is the price one has to pay for opting for political polygamy.

Democratically Defeated Leader and his LTTE bogey

Mahinda Rajapaksa may be having the subject of national security closest to his heart but as a former head of state he should guard against making sweeping statements. Or is this a build up to the Geneva sessions in September where the “sell out” claim would sound more authentic and a boost to his political project?

by Lalith Alahakoon

(June 16, 2015, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has done it again. Issuing a message that was read out at the Matara rally Rajapaksa accused the Government of removing 59 military camps in the Jaffna Peninsula and endangering national security. This was refuted by UNP General Secretary Minister Kabir Hashim who said the camps were in fact removed during the tenure of the previous Government and went on to challenge the former President to name the camps and the dates they were removed.

Hashim also charged Rajapaksa of twisting a recent statement of Jaffna Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Nandana Udawatte where he had said out of the 152 camps in the North 59 were removed with the gradual improvement of the security situation .The Jaffna Commander also said 50 percent of the land in the Palali HSZ were released during the previous Government.

Mahinda Rajapaksa may be having the subject of national security closest to his heart but as a former head of state he should guard against making sweeping statements. Or is this a build up to the Geneva sessions in September where the “sell out” claim would sound more authentic and a boost to his political project?

It is obvious that Mahinda Rajapaksa is fast running out of ideas and reverting to his pet subject of resurrecting the LTTE bogey, oblivious to the fact that this tactic backfired on him at the last Presidential election. Then too accusations were made of a “sell out” with the state media giving full play to an Al-Jazeera interview that featured Dr Harsha de Silva and TNA MP. M Sumanthiran where some comment made by the former was construed as being pro- LTTE. But the sophisticated voters did not buy into the wild claims such as pacts with the TNA to dismantle army camps or secret meetings with the pro- LTTE diaspora.

Rajapaksa would do well to refresh his memory and recall his 2005 Presidential campaign where he expressed his willingness to meet Prabhakaran the Leader of the LTTE which he now claims is still endangering national security though the outfit was vanquished six years ago. It is thanks to this self same LTTE that he won that election, through the enforcement of a voter boycott that killed the chances of his main rival. Wasn’ t Rajapaksa mollycoddling the likes Karuna Amman responsible for the massacre of 600 policemen ,attack on the Dalada Maligwa and the Bhikkhu massacre in Aranthalawa? Did not Rajapaksa know that KP who provided arms to the LTTE was not only a threat to national security but also a real threat leading to the division of the country when he was accommodated as a special guest of the state?

Rajapaksa it appears has a childlike faith on the effects of a resurgent LTTE on the voter and hence his harping on this theme at every turn. The LTTE is no longer currency as an election slogan and Rajapaksa most of all should have realized this from the results of January 8. The minorities who might have voted for him were completely put off by his majoritarian rhetoric and what is more is continuing to be alienated. His post defeat speech in Medamulana that he was defeated by LTTE votes, forgetting that he assiduously campaigned in those parts FOR THE LTTE VOTE not only exposes him as a poor loser but also a rabble rouser. Only 39 percent of the white vote went to Barrack Obama at the last US Presidential race but no white claimed that Obama was elected by the black vote and he is President only of the blacks. In contrast Rajapaksa is banking on the vote of the majority but in doing so is playing a dangerous game attempting to drive a wedge between the two main communities just when things are looking bright for prospects of reconciliation.

Besides, does Rajapaksa want the North to be perpetually under siege by the military? Now that he has passed on the baton, is any protégé of Rajapaksa who may one day aspire to the throne also going whip up the ghost of the LTTE, making the Tamils forever a condemned race? The former President is well within his rights to criticise the Government but his comments should be backed by facts. Making sweeping statements of a perceived risk to national security is unbecoming for a former head of state and conduct which could stoke the embers suspicion and distrust. Rajapaksa it may be recalled was among the first to speak of an LTTE revival in the face of the mob violence in the North in the aftermath of the gang rape of a school girl. It looks as if the former President is hell bent on seizing upon even a semblance of an opportunity that will help drive his political project, especially if this has a LTTE flavour.

( The writer is the editor in Chief of the Daily News, a daily newspaper based in Colombo, in where this piece was originally appeared.)