Shame curbs bad behavior

Shame can be used to focus attention on some “bad apples”, especially when it comes to major collective problems. It’s helps to be creative and focused when choosing targets. Companies, such as British Petroleum or SeaWorld, do not feel guilt. However, the people working in these corporations do. Their thoughts and behavior can be influenced by public disapproval and even mortify them.

by Michael R. Czinkota and Shuo Zhang

( March 20, 2016, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) In China, no one is safe on March 15th, World Consumer Rights Day. An Evening Gala is hosted every year by CCTV, China Central Television since 1991. The purpose is to name and shame companies for their misconduct against consumer interest.  In decades past, firms like Starbucks, LG and Hewlett-Packard have been called out when offering poor products or irresponsible customer service. Many Chinese companies and state-owned enterprises like China Mobile have been inducted in this Hall of Shame as well.

This year, the Evening Gala aimed mainly at the misconduct in E-Commerce and Social Media. Elema, a billion-dollar food delivery company, was shamed for making food under unsanitary conditions; Yipai (Easy Pass), China’s leading online automobile marketing platform, was accused of hurting consumers by providing personal   information to outsiders; Taobao, the biggest online shopping website founded by technology giant Alibaba, was  named for fraudulent consumer reviews which influenced product  rankings.  The Gala quickly became a battle cry for corporate PR teams, who had to come up overnight with explanations and damage control.

Will these allegations curb bad behaviors in companies and individuals? The answer seems to be “yes”. A new law prohibits indoor smoking in Beijing.  Individuals breaking these regulations can be fined $30, restaurants up to $155. In addition to the fines, repeat offenders see their names posted on a government website for one month, alongside a list of their offenses. Witnesses to infractions are urged to notify the government. Social shaming pressure is expected to make the new law more effective – and it works!

Shame can be used to focus attention on some “bad apples”, especially when it comes to major collective problems. It’s helps to be creative and focused when choosing targets. Companies, such as British Petroleum or SeaWorld, do not feel guilt. However, the people working in these corporations do. Their thoughts and behavior can be influenced by public disapproval and even mortify them. Public opinion can be essential for companies, especially if they are producing consumer brands, such as IPhones or agile Orcas. Reputational risks are a concern, and public shaming can be most effective if targeted at ”friendly” corporations and their employees.

One must ponder the question: can “shame” really work in implementing government policy? Jennifer Jacquet, author of Is Shame Necessary?, claims success for a website run by the state of California that lists the names of people who have not paid their taxes. The site targets only the top 500 delinquents, and the state has retrieved more than US$395 million in back taxes since it was launched in 2007.

Former presidential candidate Jeb Bush suggested that shame should be used to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies. He believes that since people don’t feel ashamed of single parenting, it has become acceptable for young women to give birth out of wedlock and young fathers to walk away from their paternal obligations, with major drawbacks for the child. He thinks that shaming might change that.

Another possible and very helpful area for “shame policy” is immunization of a country’s population. Typically, 90 percent of people need vaccination for there to be true immunity. People can opt-out and get a “free-ride”, since everyone around them is taking the needle for them. However, with reduced compliance, immunization doesn’t work anymore. That’s where shaming can help encourage participation.

Another example is the Rainforest Action Network and its shaming campaign against banks which financed coal companies doing mountain-top removal in the Appalachia region. After a five-year campaign, two of the nine banks have changed their policy of lending to coal companies. Two out of nine may seem like limited success, but every march starts with the first step.   Shaming can act as a stop-gap for the period when people are concerned about something and when actual change comes about.

Working to avoid shame can lead to better weights and measurements. Who wants to be ridiculed by competitors or lose a long-developed fine reputation. Particularly in fields such as marketing, where the brand and personal perceptions are paramount, shaming can become a major influence if not the rationale for the curative marketing approach which aims to heal relationships between business, government and consumers. Avoiding shame by reducing, eliminating and making up for past mistakes, can strengthen a company’s unique selling proposition and let it emerge as a seasoned competitor.

Professor Michael R. Czinkota (czinkotm@georgetown.edu) presents international marketing and business at Georgetown University. He was Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Presidents Reagan and Bush.

Ms. Shuo Zhang (sz372@georgetown.edu) is a master candidate in the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University

Exiled Tibetans vote for government shunned by China

An exiled Tibetan woman casts her vote in Dharamsala, India, Sunday, March 20, 2016. Tens of thousands of Tibetan exiles are voting around the world Sunday to elect a new prime minister and parliament for a second time since the Dalai Lama stepped down as head of the government in 2011 to focus on his role as a spiritual leader. (AP Photo /Ashwini Bhatia)

By ASHWINI BHATIA, Associated Press-March 20, 2016

DHARMSALA, India (AP) — The prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile called Sunday for China to engage in dialogue on autonomy for his people's homeland, as tens of thousands of Tibetans around the world voted for new leaders of a government that Beijing does not recognize.

Buddhist monks in crimson robes lined up along with hundreds of Tibetan men and women in schools, government buildings and the courtyard of the Tsuglakhang Temple in India's northern city of Dharmsala, where the exiled government is based, to cast their votes for prime minister and parliament.

They started to line up early Sunday, carrying their "Green Books" — passport-size booklets that record their paid taxes and are mandatory for Tibetans to be eligible to vote.

The voters stood patiently, at times for more than an hour, as they waited for their turn to mark their choices on ballot papers printed with the images of the two prime minister candidates. Elderly Tibetans carrying walking sticks and rosaries were assisted by government officials in voting.

The ballot boxes were fashioned out of painted tin boxes with hinged lids. Separate boxes were marked in Tibetan for the election of the prime minister and for parliament.

It was the second election since the Dalai Lama stepped down as head of the government-in-exile in 2011 to focus on his role as the Tibetans' spiritual leader. Some 80,000 voters were registered, and results are expected next month.

Lobsang Sangay, the incumbent prime minister, arrived with his young daughter to cast his vote at a polling booth in a government building.

"The dialogue (with China) will be the main initiative," Lobsang, who is running for re-election against parliamentary speaker Penpa Tsering, told reporters.

"I hope Chinese President Xi Jinping in his second term in 2017 will look at the Tibetan issue and take the initiative" to hold talks with Tibetan exiles, he said.

Lobsang added, however, that the reality on the ground "is repression."

China says Tibet has historically been part of its territory since the mid-13th century, and the Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since 1951. But many Tibetans say that they were effectively independent for most of their history, and that the Chinese government wants to exploit their resource-rich region while crushing their cultural identity.

The Dalai Lama and his followers have been living in exile in Dharmsala since they fled Tibet after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

China doesn't recognize the Tibetan government-in-exile, and hasn't held any dialogue with the representatives of the Dalai Lama since 2010.

"We never recognize this so-called government-in-exile," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular news conference Thursday in Beijing. "We hope that all countries in this world, especially those that want to maintain friendly relations with China, will not provide facilities or venues for any anti-China, separatist activities by the so-called Tibet independence forces."

Both prime minister candidates support the "middle way" approach advocated by the Dalai Lama, which calls for seeking regional autonomy under Chinese rule.

Some Tibetan groups advocate independence for Tibet, since little progress has been made in dialogue with China. But their representatives couldn't win enough support in the first round of voting last year to be in the running for the prime minister's post.

"There has been little discussion about the future of Tibet," said Bhuchung D. Sonam, a Tibetan writer. "For example, how the two candidates would approach the issue of Tibet in terms of talking to China."

Lobsang said he wants India's government to recognize Tibet as a core issue of its policy. New Delhi considers Tibet as part of China, though it is hosting the Tibetan exiles.

He said that Tibet has become more of an issue for India, and mentioned New Delhi's concerns over the falling water levels of the Brahmputra River, which flows from Tibet into India, as well as plans for a railway link.

"In that sense, I think Tibet is becoming an important issue not just simply for human rights, but also from a geopolitical point of view, an environment point of view and from a climate change point of view," he said.

Exiled Tibetan officials say at least 114 monks and laypeople have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule over their homeland in the past five years, with most of them dying. U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia puts the number of self-immolations at 144 since 2009.

Beijing blames the Dalai Lama and others for inciting the immolations and says it has made vast investments to develop Tibet's economy and improve quality of life.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to control govt as party head - party spokesman

National League for Democracy (NLD) party leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at the Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar March 15, 2016.REUTERS/SOE ZEYA TUN

 BY HNIN YADANA ZAW- Sun Mar 20, 2016

Myanmar democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi will steer the incoming government of her National League for Democracy (NLD), staying on as party head, and is unlikely to take a formal position in the government, the party said on Sunday.

Myanmar's parliament last week elected Htin Kyaw, a close friend and confidant of the Nobel peace prize laureate, as president, making him the first head of state since the 1960s who does not hail from a military background.

Suu Kyi led the NLD to a historic landslide election win in November, but a constitution drafted by the former junta bars her from the top office because her two children and her late husband do not have Myanmar citizenship.

Suu Kyi has vowed to defy the constitution described by senior NLD members as "ridiculous", pledging to run the country from "above the president".

The party has not clarified how such an arrangement would be implemented, fuelling speculation about possible positions Suu Kyi might assume after the government takes office on April 1.

"Taking positions is not that important any more...In the United States there are many famous lawmakers in the parliament who are very influential, but they don't take any position in the cabinet," Zaw Myint Maung, the NLD spokesman and one of its leaders, told Reuters late on Sunday.

"It's the same here. She will lead the (ruling) party so, she will (by extension) lead the government formed by that party," said the spokesman, in the most detailed remarks on the issue by a senior NLD politician to date.

He did not elaborate on the party's plans.

Win Htein, another top NLD leader and Suu Kyi confidant, told Reuters in November Suu Kyi could be "something like Sonia Gandhi". Suu Kyi herself said in October that her plan was not "quite like that", but she did not provide details on her plans.

Gandhi is the Italian-born widow of the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. As leader of the Congress party, she dominated the government of former Prime Minister Mahmohan Singh before it fell from power in 2014.

Myanmar's powerful military holds a quarter of parliamentary seats and the constitutional right to nominate one of the three presidential candidates. Its candidate, retired general Myint Swe, last week became the country's first vice president.

Relations between the armed forces and Suu Kyi will define the success of Myanmar's most significant break from military rule since the army seized power in 1962.

The NLD spokesman said that on Monday president-elect Htin Kyaw would speak in parliament about reducing the number of government ministries. Last week the NLD said it would slash the number of ministries by about a third to 21.

(Editing by Stephen Powell)

Obama Begins Historic Visit to Cuba

President Barack Obama, right, shakes hands with Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez

U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle approach Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez as they arrive at Havana's international airport, March 20, 2016.

March 21, 2016

President Barack Obama has arrived in Cuba, becoming the first American president to visit the island nation in almost 90 years while still in office.

Moments after the president’s plane landed at Jose Marti airport in Havana in the rain, he sent a Tweet that said “¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.” “¿Que bolá?” is an informal Cuban expression that means “How are you?”

Follow

President Obama 

✔‎@POTUS

¿Que bolá Cuba? Just touched down here, looking forward to meeting and hearing directly from the Cuban people.

4:22 PM - 20 Mar 2016

At the airport, American and Cuban officials met Obama. CNN reported that some of the Cuban officials who greeted Mr. Obama had been forced to leave the United States after being accused of spying for Cuba. Cuban President Raul Castro did not welcome President Obama at the airport.

Michelle Obama and their two daughters joined the president for the three-day-visit.

A new beginning

The president says the trip will be a new beginning in the relationship between the former Cold War enemies. At the State Department last week, he said “diplomacy -- including having the courage to turn a page on the failed policies of the past -- is how we’ve begun a new chapter of engagement with the people of Cuba.”

In Havana, workers put up American and Cuban flags along with a new coat of paint in Old Havana.

Cubans have eagerly awaited the president’s visit as a sign of change for the country.

Yohana is a 45-year-old lab specialist in Havana. She says that the embargo has caused much damage to the Cuban health system. Jan Carlos, a 14-year-old student, hopes the visit will lead to improved communications between countries and better access to the internet and social media.

Hector Artigas is a 70-year-old retired worker in Havana. He says Cuban should be alert despite improved relations with the U.S.

Obama hopes his visit to Cuba this week will strengthen efforts between the two countries to improve their diplomatic and economic relations 55 years after they ended.

The two countries restarted diplomatic relations eight months ago.

Obama believes the restarting of relations with Cuba is one of the most important foreign policy decisions of his presidency. He has said that the policy of trying to isolate Cuba has failed.

Obama to meet Raul Castro and to address Cuban people

​On Monday, the president is to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro. He will then meet with Cubans who are operating their own businesses to talk about economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba.

Tuesday morning, he will speak to the Cuban people on state-run television. He will tell them how he wants the relationship between the two countries to develop.

Ben Rhodes is the president’s deputy national security advisor. He told reporters that the speech will also be a chance for the president to discuss the difficult history of relations between the United States and Cuba. Rhodes said the president will tell “how the United States and Cubans can work together (and) how the Cuban people can pursue a better life.”

Obama will meet with human rights activists during his trip. The Cuban government opposes the meetings, but the Obama administration said it refused to negotiate with Cuban officials about who the president would meet and what they would talk about.

​​The Cuban government recently released some political prisoners and has let some people use the Internet. But in 2015, Human Rights Watch reported that Cuba “continues to rely on arbitrary detention to harass and intimidateindividuals who exercise their fundamental rights.” The rights group said detentions had increased since the two countries restarted diplomatic relations.

Continued opposition at home

Some of President Obama’s political opponents also say Cuba is guilty of rights abuses. They have strongly criticized the president’s visit to the Communist nation.

Representative Ed Royce is the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In a statement, he said canceling the embargo “will further prop up a communist regime in Cuba that has a long record of brutal human rights abuses.”

On Friday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said “this is a regime that provides safe harbor to terrorists and fugitives."

Because the president’s political opponents control both the House and Senate, experts say it is not likely that Congress will approve the cancellation of the embargo.

But five Republican lawmakers are traveling to Cuba with Obama. And at least 15 Republican senators have said restrictions on travel to and trade with Cuba should be eased.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

VOA Correspondents Mary Alice Salinas, Kathryn Gypson and Michael Bowman contributed reporting. JC of the Havana Medical University contributed information from Havana. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the story for VOA Learning English. Hai Do was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

Sanders Should Do Next (VIDEO)

Chomsky says meaningful change will only come from popular movements that "don’t pay attention to the election cycle."

Photo Credit: Duncan Rawlinson/Wikimedia

By Alexandra Rosenmann -March 18, 2016

Noam Chomsky sees a lot more in the Bernie Sanders campaign than just a presidential run. “Bernie Sanders is doing courageous things and organizing a lot of people,” Chomsky told Abby Martin on Telesur’s "The Empire Files."

“That campaign ought to be directed to sustaining a popular movement which will use the election as an incentive," said Chomsky. "And unfortunately, it’s not. When the election's over, the movements will die. The only thing that’ll ever bring about meaningful change is ongoing, dedicated popular movements which don’t pay attention to the election cycle. It’s an extravaganza every four years but then we go on.”

Watch: Chomsky and Martin discuss the impact of the Sanders campaign:

Alexandra Rosenmann is an AlterNet associate editor. Follow her @alexpreditor.

Can't sleep? Welcome to the Insomniac Club 

•  

•  BY Suzanne Moore -
20 MARCH 2016

The first rule of Insomniac Club is you don’t talk about Insomniac Club. It’s as boring talking about how you can’t sleep as it is retelling your strangely uninteresting dreams. I know. I have been there many a long night, and actually once a week at a place where my doctor sent me to learn how to sleep. It wasn’t called a club but sleep training or therapy, or something. Forgive me if I am vague on the details, I was just so tired.

I had gone to the doctor four years earlier begging for sleeping pills. I am too old to lie. I announced that if he didn’t give them to me I would procure them anyway. Sense and legality may be an issue for some but not for the permanently knackered. Besides which, all I wanted was a good night’s sleep, and the more I wanted it the more elusive it had become. Trying too hard for oblivion is a thankless task.

My sleeplessness, the medics said, was probably peri-menopausal. Or menopausal. I never really got the difference. It is a common symptom and in a way I was lucky as I didn’t have hot flushes or hives or any dried up unmentionables. No, I was just unhinged by not being able to fall asleep. This has happened to me before.

'Insomnia often happens at this stage of life because of the overproduction of cortisol as the levels of oestrogen fall'

All my life I have had sleep envy and slightly resent those who can just drop off, abandoning me to wakefulness. This covers just about everyone I have ever ‘slept’ with. But this midlife insomnia was worse than anything I have ever been through. Worse than the comedowns after days on speed, worse than the tiredness I felt when my babies were breastfeeding. This felt like the end of the world, an ongoing low-level panic.

When people ask you how you are, you don’t say, ‘I am so tired I could cry.’ That when the drawer in the kitchen got stuck, you thought you may just leave home and never come back. You don’t tell them that on the edge of your peripheral vision you can see black creatures that could be dogs but you know aren’t really there. You don’t say, ‘If I don’t get a proper sleep I can no longer cope.’

You are a middle-aged woman. Your job is to cope. Plus, you are already spending most of your energy trying not to appear mad and buying concealer. When I mentioned it to other people I found that as isolated as you feel when it’s 4am and you still have not dropped off, you are far from alone. A YouGov survey of more than 4,000 British adults published in January found that 46 per cent of women have trouble sleeping, compared to 36 per cent of men: this is an especially big issue for women. 

46 per cent of women have trouble sleeping, compared to 36 per cent of men CREDIT:ALAMY

Many suffer in silence. Feeling exhausted is apparently just how we think life is. Lack of sleep, though, may lead to or indicate serious conditions, from stroke to diabetes. One doctor prescribed me old-style antidepressants (tricyclics) just to take at night. They didn’t touch me even though I trebled the dose. She explained how insomnia often happens at this stage of life because of the overproduction of cortisol as the levels of oestrogen fall.

Certainly this sleeplessness did feel absolutely physical. It would descend on me, a soup of dullness. If this was depression it was a new beast to me because it could be cured by that elusive one night of rest. The drugs didn’t work. I dabbled with HRT but soon knew it was not for me. So I ended up at this sleep training course at a local hospital. Basically, this is cognitive behaviour therapy, the current NHS panacea for all kinds of problems.

I made my daft jokes about this club for insomniacs but the two shrinks who ran the joint did not laugh. Indeed, one of the things I was meant to learn was how to reframe my thinking and never to refer to myself as an insomniac. Off I trotted to this over-intimate group therapy. Now I was with a group of strangers ‘sharing’ my experience. Was this helping at all? Was I even one of them? Was my insomnia special anddifferent to theirs?

'What middle-aged women wants to tell her boss she is simply deranged with lack of sleep?'

There was one man who said he had not slept for more than two hours a night for 10 years. He believed this was connected to his pineal gland and would discourse about this at length in the tea breaks.
There was a silent goth who, as far as I could ascertain, slept fairly normally but was worried that in the future he could develop seasonal affective disorder.

There was a twitchy young woman who was always too hot or too cold and seemed to me to need some other kind of help, and a chilled unemployed guy who could not sleep at night because he slept all day.

• Six buys for a better night’s sleep

I think I did use the phrase peri-menopausal at one point but it drew a blank. Our motley crew was made to keep sleep diaries and to learn ‘sleep hygiene’. There was a lot of blah about mindfulness. When isn’t there these days? Telling someone to be mindful combines sadism with sanctimony much of the time. It is absolutely unhelpful for certain conditions but it is as cheap as it is rigid.

The main component of sleep hygiene is to learn to associate your bed with nothing but sleep. (Also sex, but no one wanted to dwell on that.) You must not watch TV in bed, use your phone, eat, use your laptop or even read a book. If you can’t sleep, you get out of bed.

We were then told we must maximise our sleep windows – so, for instance, if you have been functioning on an average of three or four hours’ sleep a night and you have to get up at 7am, you go to bed at 3am.

The main component of sleep hygiene is to learn to associate your bed with nothing but sleep CREDIT: GETTY

There is something counter-intuitive about this, but what it does is stop you lying in bed beating yourself up because you are awake. So there were some takeaways from all of it, though I couldn’t get with the not reading in bed thing. And there is nothing I like more than nesting in my bed with my kids and watching a movie. Was this all to be sacrificed because I was making the wrong associations?

The menopause isn’t exactly glamorous at the best of times, though currently 1.9 million women in Britain will be in its throes. Not all of them will experience insomnia, but many will and such symptoms can last on average for four years. Some will use HRT, though more and more I see women being prescribed antidepressants and it makes me edgy. Being tired is not the same as being depressed, though it can feel that way.

All of this would be made more bearable if we could talk about it, but what middle-aged women wants to tell her boss she is simply deranged with lack of sleep? Things improve as menopause passes or one alters one’s habits or scores some sleeping pills online or from private doctors, but we all know they are highly addictive.

‘Many high-achievers have claimed to need very few hours’ sleep a night. Let me tell you this is not so’

I have tried everything – from lavender sprays to hypnosis where whale music drove me mad. A few things I’ve also found that do work for me: not eating or drinking straight before bed. Massage, exercise – all the obvious stuff. The symptoms of the menopause passing. It still happens from time to time, but what helps most somehow is knowing all things will pass… And knowing rest and sleep are two different things but not to get too hung up on the difference.

We have developed a mythology about lack of sleep that says to do without makes us powerful and important. Donald Trump, Tom Ford, Martha Stewart, Margaret Thatcher… many high-achievers have claimed to need very few hours’ sleep a night. Let me tell you this is not so. One does not lie in bed having amazingly creative thoughts. Instead one’s mind dwells on rearranging the furniture, the inevitability of death and the dread that again the light is breaking and you ache with fatigue.

No one is too interesting to go to sleep. As Leonard Cohen once said, ‘The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.’ That refuge is not restful. To enter the sleeping world freely and easily is still what so many of us dream of. 

Disappearances in Sri Lanka & Role of Civil Society

Featured image courtesy ICMP

by Ruki Fernando 

 

- on 03/19/2016

 

This is an expanded text version of a talk at a forum organized by the Law & Society Trust (LST) on “Recognizing the Struggle: State’s responsibilities towards families of the disappeared”, on Friday 18 March 2016.

It is significant for me to talk about civil society’s role on disappearances at an event organized by Law and Society Trust (LST) because it was at LST that I was thrust into working with families of disappeared persons. Families have always been and will remain central to the struggle against disappearances. They remain my primary inspiration, perhaps the reason I have not been able to give up, even when I often felt like giving up.

Context:

I remember that on this day, exactly two years ago, I was in detention at the Terrorism Investigation Division with another friend, Fr. Praveen. The nearest trigger for our arrest appeared to have been our efforts to look into the arrest of a mother of a disappeared child, Balendran Jeyakumary (who was also a vocal campaigner seeking truth and justice for disappearances) and other Tamils in the North. More than a year after “good governance”, Jeyakumary. Fr. Praveen and me are still being investigated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Ironically, at the same time, I have been invited for various meetings of the government and to be part of an Expert Advisory Committee related to Transitional Justice (which I didn’t accept due to various other reasons), despite still being a “terrorist suspect” and having a court order restricting my freedom of expression.

Although Jeyakumary was conditionally released two months after President Sirisena took office, she was re-arrested last year under “good governance”. She also faces serious social isolation due to this and struggles to find livelihood and has been compelled to keep her young daughter in a hostel. There has been no news about her disappeared son, who she claims has appeared in a photo taken at a government rehabilitation facility.

We are also no closer to the truth or justice in relation to the disappearance of Lalith and Kugan, two campaigners against disappearances, who disappeared in Jaffna in December 2011.

Continue Reading →

Mahinda threatens independent judiciary..! The true aim of Hyde park rally revealed

(Lanka-e-News- 19.March.2016, 7.45PM) It is by now  a well acknowledged and widely  known fact that  Mahinda Rajapakse no doubt was the most brutal murderous ruler ever and a byword for corruption and crimes in Sri Lanka ‘s history .  This murderous ruler was responsible for the abduction and murder of Prageeth Ekneliyagoda because the latter  allegedly drew cartoons about the Rajapakse  family,  as well as for   setting  fire to Lanka e news website Portal because it reported about his taking  treatment for cancer in a hospital in America . In addition , this cruel ruler in order to be in power forever driven by an imaginary  notion tried to rob Sapumal Kumaraya’s sword from the Rajamaha Viharaya, Kotte . During that attempt two monks of that Viharaya were ruthlessly killed . Since it was feared that his  hired assassin who murdered these monks would be exposed when the case is heard sunbsequently , he sent the members of the forces into the prison  and killed the assassin after summoning the criminal by name. These indelible ghastly crimes of this killer ruler are still lingering in the minds of all. 

On the 17 th , this same Mahinda Rajapakse who was thrown out lock , stock and barrel democratically by the masses held a rally at Hyde park . After filling the venue with crowds brought in bus loads from remotest corners after spending for them , he tried desperately to  show that there are still supporters for him despite the fact that he is presently discarded and despised by one and all. However according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division , this whole drama was enacted on the advice proffered to the embattled erstwhile  ruler to frighten the judges and police officers -the only option left under the circumstances.  He was also advised to  get down his henchmen and stooges to the rally and pose threats to those of the police and judiciary who are taking action duly and legally against Mahinda and his family. Incidentally , already an own  brother of his and his own  son were in remand custody following arrests on charges of monumental corruption and frauds including a most heinous crime – money laundering . 

Having no escape route for the crimes committed  , and with jail sentences staring in the faces of his crimninal brothers , sons and even his wife , this killer ruler has sought the only option in his utter desperation – that is make an effort (though vain and futile) via   gathering  crowds by hook or by crook  in order to offer veiled as well as direct threats with a view to frighten   the judges and police officers . It is at the residence of lawyer Romesh Fernando  , this counselling has been proferred to him.

The secret discussions in this regard have been held during two nights recently , and the discussions have gone late into the night until about 2.00 , according to reports reaching Lanka e news inside information division. Mahinda Rajapakse , G.L. Peiris , Dallas Alahaperuma and Wimal Weerawansa have participated in these secret  discussions. 

In pursuance of this advice , Mahinda at the rally threatened the courts in a loud voice, ‘I am telling the leaders not to jail people and inflict sorrow on  their families . I am also telling this to the courts in most clear terms.’ It is to be noted that Mahinda is making these threats to the independent judiciary, mind you  even when he is out of power. 

 ‘If you are thinking of chasing me out of politics , it is only a mirage’ , Mahinda went on to say. It is a pity that Mahinda had forgotten so soon that he was chased out not once but twice by the people . Perhaps , senile decay has taken toll of him so much so that his memory too is affected.  He must understand neither hanging himself by the tes…..cles under the pretext of performing Yoga nor dabbing the face with powder and covering with cosmetic creams to  rid wrinkles are  going to make him live forever . Shakespeare said ‘ all golden lads and gals like chimney sweepers must come to dust’ . In Mahinda’s case , it will be a justifiable modification , if it is said ‘all old shrunken ‘lads’ must also come to dust sooner than later ’  

May we recall ,Mahinda who was chased out from the post of president on 8 th January 2015 , most shamelessly tried to become the prime minister despite the fact it was a disgraceful comedown for him . On 17 th August 2015 , he was once again chased away which even destroyed  his dream to become the prime minister . 

When Mahinda said without an iota of shame , ‘if I am given the reins I shall show how it should be done,’ didn’t  he know what he did during his 9 years  reign ? Doesn’t he know it is because of what he did (or rather undid) that the people delighted in chasing him out lock ,stock and barrel twice  in quick succession. 

Mahinda who could not succeed when the whole SLFP was intact  with him , today trying to win with one quarter of the SLFP is based on a  deception .His  whole and sole aim is not to defeat the government which he knows is indefeasible, but to instil a  psychological fear among the judges and the police , and thereby prevent and preclude his kith and kin , and his crooks and cronies from being jailed, which he knows is now imminent and almost inevitable,  political experts opine. 

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by     (2016-03-19 14:28:19)

New Constitution & Religious Freedom

By Wijayananda Jayaweera –March 20, 2016

Wijayananda Jayaweera

On religious freedoms and introducing a rights based approach to development in the new constitution

In his set of proposals for a new constitution, Dr. Laksiri Fernando has rightly pointed out the need to include fundamental rights in a much more comprehensive manner. However, in the area of religious freedoms he seems to go overboard by proposing an additional constitutional guarantee which says that ‘’No one should be prohibited or discriminated for wearing attire by one’s own religion or belief.’’ While I have no quarrel in assuring freedom to believe and practice a religion in a peaceful manner, it is totally inappropriate to provide a guarantees in a secular constitution to safeguard various contested beliefs within a religion. In regard to the attire the very words “prescribed by one’s own religion’’ are problematic as authenticity as well as the relevancy of such prescriptions, if they exist, could be contestable. To understand this point, one should watch the award winning film Timbuktu (2014) directed by Abderrahmane Sissako in which a female Muslim fishmonger offers her hand to be cut off because she can’t sell fish with hand glows when religious extremists prescribe hand glows as a part of the religious attire of Malian Muslim women.

One’s attire is entirely a matter of personal choice and no religious authority should be given a constitutional power to determine on what a person should wear in his or her day to day life. But what is proposed by Dr. Fernando legitimises the desire of certain religious authorities to enforce their specific interpretations of attire among the followers who might have different interpretations on the same subject. Therefore, providing a constitutional safeguard to specific believes and customs within the religions is a misconceived idea.

What the constitution say about the religious freedom should also include the rights of those who do not want to believe a religion. It could be captured in a statement which says that ‘’Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change one’s religion or belief, or not to believe a religion at all.’’

Nonetheless, Dr. Fernando has raised a very important issue as to how we might be able to include socio-economic and cultural rights in the constitution in a manner which can be truly realised in practice. Unlike the civil and political rights, inclusion of socio-economic and cultural rights in a constitution has not attracted sufficient attention of the constitutional pundits. President Franklin de Roosevelt one time publicly recognised this deficiency in the American Constitution and wanted to compensate it by adopting a Bill of Economic Rights, which unfortunately was conveniently shelved by his successors. But one important element we have to keep in mind is that there is an obvious interdependency between the two rights groups, namely the civil and political rights and socio-economic and cultural rights. Therefore, both groups of rights should be treated as equally important.

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