Containing communal conflict vital for economic development

The violence at the University of Jaffna on July 16th has brought to the forefront once again the need to contain communal conflict to ensure the progress of the economy. It is imperative to nip in the bud such communal tensions that could ruin economic growth once again. Another setback to the economy due to communal violence at a time when the country is grappling with a serious crisis in its external finances could be catastrophic.

Ethnic conflict has been the most serious impediment to the country’s economic development since independence. The several ethnic clashes since 1958 and, especially the July 1983 ethnic violence and the near-three-decade war dealt a severe blow to the economy. Once again if the ethnic tensions are not contained, economic development would receive a severe setback.

Initial response

The immediate response of the Government and the responsible section of the opposition, including the TNA and the JVP, was to calm the situation. This was the immediate need as such conflicts can spread quite easily to other universities and places on the basis of rumours and half-truths. The immediate dangers appear to be defused.

However, the deeper causes behind the incident at the Jaffna University require a thorough study and investigation and lasting solutions must be found to ensure social harmony at the university. The reasons behind the violence have been justifiably downplayed. They must be looked into and resolved to prevent any repetition of ethnic tensions at universities. A strict code of conduct must be enforced to prevent such violence.

Durable solution

The underlying causes of ethnic tensions are complex and remedying them is an enormous task. First of all there must be a comprehensive inquiry into justified grievances among students in all universities. For instance, is it true that university communications are in a single language? Are there moves to exclude cultural activities of some communities in universities (not only Jaffna)? Are university faculty and administrations sowing seeds of discontent among some communities? What are the positive moves that the university administrations and students have taken to build bridges among different communities?

Ethnic harmony

Building a harmonious university community is as much a priority as imparting a good university education. The biggest obstacle to student unity and social cohesion has been the fact that most students know only one language. Even when the medium of instruction is English students hardly converse other than in Sinhala and Tamil. A common language is vital to ensure social interaction.

English

No long-term solution could be found without English as the common language. The social harmony among university students in the 1950s and 1960s was mostly due to their language commonality that ensured social interaction among students. English language proficiency has been inadequate to enhance the quality of education as well as social interaction among students of different ethnic communities.

Economic imperative

Ensuring communal harmony is imperative for economic development. No other factor has retarded the country’s economic development as much as ethnic disturbances. The economic impacts of the series of ethnic disturbances since independence, especially the nearly three decade war, are immense. Peace and harmony are particularly important at this juncture when the country is facing a crisis in its external finances.

The balance of payments could be adversely affected and the crisis aggravated if tourism that is expected to earn more than US$ 2 billion this year and grow at around 15 percent is affected badly. Foreign investment that is essential for rapid economic growth could be severely affected by any signs of violence. Sri Lanka’s capacity to borrow in international markets, too, could be affected with the country having to pay higher interest rates. These are in addition to setbacks to production that may also occur.

History of violence

Sri Lanka’s post-independent history is replete with economic setbacks owing to ethnic violence. The ethnic riots of 1958 were the initial setback to the country’s development. In addition to the physical destruction, human suffering and fatalities, it led to an exodus of talented persons in a first wave of a brain drain that was repeated with each wave of ethnic tensions. The flight of academics, professionals, scientists, technicians and qualified persons has weakened the economic capacity of the country.

Economic burdens

The most debilitating factor since 1983 has been ethnic violence and the war in the North and East. They not only absorbed considerable funds and were a burden on the public finances, but also created an inhospitable climate for investment, tourism and the establishment of hi-tech industry.

The mismanagement of the ethnic issue has been a deep-rooted cause for the country’s modest economic development. The war was a financial burden, an impediment for investment and crippled several areas of production in the economy. It set back the economic development of the country at a time when the economy was in full swing in 1982-83. Large foreign companies shunned investing in Sri Lanka and preferred more stable countries like Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam. The ethnic disturbances of 1983 and the insecurity caused by the war was the main deterrent to foreign investment.

Economic benefits

Without a durable solution to the ethnic problem, the brain drain will continue, foreign investors would be wary of political instability, the educational and skills development of the country would be stifled and the country would be continuously distracted from the tasks of economic development by communal disharmony.

The country’s economic engine cannot fire with all its pistons without all communities feeling that they belong to this Island nation as equal citizens with equal rights and opportunities. Achieving durable reconciliation and building a solid sense of nationhood is neither easy nor possible in a short period of time. What is needed is movement in the correct direction.

The violence at the Jaffna University must be looked at as an opportunity to seriously address the issues of national reconciliation. The economic gains of a united nation should spur the Government and people towards the settlement of the ethnic issue expeditiously and with consummate skill.

Opposition protest march consolidates government alliance

By Jehan Perera-August 1, 2016,

The determination with which the opposition parties pursued their protest march was not an indication of their strength. The march seemed to make little sense even as it wended its way down the hills from Kandy, the last kingdom of the Sinhalese to Colombo, the present capital of Sri Lanka. The symbolism was apposite for one of the main slogans of the protest marchers was the betrayal of the country to foreign forces. There were many onlookers though relatively few of them joined in the march. Usually such a bid to generate spontaneous public protest would come towards the end of a government’s term of office when it has over-extended its stay in power and the people are dying for a change. But a mere year and a half of a government which has four more years to go is too soon to evoke a people’s movement to overthrow, or even to destabilize, the government.

The main slogans of the protest marchers related to the economic hardships faced by the people and to warnings about the threat to national sovereignty posed by the government’s constitutional reforms and war crimes trials against the security forces. The slogans regarding the economic hardships, and the much resented Value Added Tax would have evoked an empathetic feeling amongst the bystanders. But these are not issues that could move people to seek a change of government that is yet finding its feet, and has only been in power for a relatively short period of time. It is not as if the people are unaware of how the cost of living was going up during the period of the previous government. It is also much more widely known that government contracts now require more time, as they have to go through established processes, and are not granted at the discretion of those in positions of power.

On the other hand, the other main issue that the protest marchers sought to highlight, the so-called constitutional trap and sending war heroes off to international criminal courts to face trial, are too remote to be matters of public agitation at this time. The draft constitution is still far from being finalized. The opposition tried to spread the rumour that the new constitution would reduce the position of Buddhism. The government was able to explain that it has yet to receive even a first draft of the constitutional proposals. What exists at the present time is the report of the Public Representations Committee, a consultative body that was appointed by the government to obtain the views of the people on constitutional reform. This committee did not make recommendations of its own. Instead it summarized the different views and opinions that were placed before it along with the preferred choices of its individual members.

DISPELLING MISCONCEPTIONS

Even as the Joint Opposition protest marchers were wending their way down from Kandy, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera was briefing civil society and media on the government’s roadmap for implementing the promises it made to the international community in Geneva at the last two sessions of the UN Human Rights Council. It is a pity that instead of engaging constructively and critically with the government on issues such as VAT, constitutional reform and the reconciliation mechanisms, the Joint Opposition is going on to protest mode and trying to discredit what the government is doing. What the Joint Opposition is doing is to no avail, as the general public is unlikely to be impressed by their antics. The sight of leaders of the protest march dancing on the highways was neither edifying nor educative.

At the briefing, Minister Samaraweera explained how in September 2015 the government promised the UN Human Rights Council to set up four mechanisms to deal with post-war transitional justice. This was in place of the international inquiry into war crimes that the UN had been pressing for in the previous five years. The government’s alternative solution has been a truth commission, an accountability mechanism, an office of missing persons and an office of reparations. The legislation for the office of missing persons has been approved by the cabinet and is pending before parliament. If the opposition had engaged with the government on the issues of transitional justice and the reconciliation mechanisms that are being designed, such as the Office of Missing Persons, it might have been able to improve the legislation and claim the credit for it.

The Office of Missing Persons is for all people, not only for the Tamil people, but also for the Sinhalese and Muslim people who have also had their relatives and loved ones go missing. There is no time frame for this proposed institution which will be a permanent one, and not one with a short or temporary life span. Therefore the 35,000 people who went missing during the second JVP insurrection, and whose relatives or loved ones came before previous commissions to register their names, could take the matter up again with the Office of Missing Persons. So could the families of soldiers and police personnel who went missing during the war. There were also several misconceptions about the office of missing persons that were dispelled in the dialogue with the Foreign Minister. These include the confidentiality clause and the powers of the OMP to visit places of suspected detention.

REVERSING POLICIES

In the meantime the Consultation Task Force set up by the government to ascertain the views of the general public on these reconciliation mechanisms has commenced its work and is conducting consultations with the people. The legislation for the truth commission is being finalized and is expected by September this year. The most controversial of the mechanisms, the special court for accountability, will probably be prepared by March next year, when the deadline for Sri Lanka’s commitment to the UNHRC will be up. These mechanisms will be finalized after the consultations with the general public on them have taken place. Apart from this, the government has been returning land taken over by the military, reducing the role of the military in the former war zones, and has restored law and order so that acts of impunity are much less in the past.

One of the key factors that kept alive the hope of a quick regime change was the two year alliance of the SLFP with the UNP which would end next year. There was a hope in the supporters of the former president that with the end of the two year period the UNP and SLFP would part ways, opening the door to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to stake his claim to form an SLFP headed government headed by himself. It is ironic that the joint opposition’s premature bid to get rid of the government has consolidated the government alliance at a time it is addressing the most controversial issues. The opposition’s success in retaining the support of a significant proportion of SLFP parliamentarians seems to have convinced President Maithripala Sirisena that he had to do something to strengthen himself and his grip over the SLFP which he heads.

However, the decision of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to lengthen the period of their alliance from two years to five years has dealt a blow to the hopes of the former president and his supporters of a quick return to power. They need to come back soon to power if only to stall the ongoing investigations into the allegations financial corruption and abuse of power that took place during their period of rule. With the police and court system enjoying greater independence from the political authorities under the 19th Amendment enacted by the present government, these investigations will go on. The only way these investigations can now be stopped is through a political decision at the highest level to reverse the policies of good governance and accountability. This can only happen by a re-take of the government, which is the reason so much was at stake in the protest march.

Difficult Issues, Strategic Choices: Crafting a Coherent Sri Lankan Transitional Justice Process

Image courtesy Sangam.org. Text of speech made at the 17th Neelan Tiruchelvam Memorial Lecture, 31st July 2016 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. 

PROF. RONALD SLYE on 08/01/2016

It is one of the greatest honors of my professional life to be asked to deliver this lecture in honor of Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam.  Neelan embodied all of the virtues of what makes a great human rights advocate, lawyer and statesmen.  In his life and work he straddled boundaries – boundaries between the academy and the street; between the law and other social sciences; between scholarship and activism; between the ideal and the pragmatic.  He was deeply committed to and embedded in Sri Lankan society, but also contributed to and learned from experiences in other countries.

As a tribute to Neelan and his legacy, my lecture today draws upon both my academic reflections on, as well as my practical experience with, the field of transitional justice in a number of countries.  As Neelan would have recognized, drawing solely upon academic reflection and scholarship risks missing the unique circumstances of a particular moment in time; while drawing solely upon experience risks acting without reflection, purpose or plan.  Both risk irrelevancy.  My intent is to channel Neelan and to draw upon both my academic reflections and experience to provide what I hope are helpful observations on some of the difficult questions facing Sri Lanka today.  My hope is that what I have to say today will assist you in crafting a coherent, strategic, and comprehensive transitional justice plan that will ensure a more unified, pluralistic, just, and stable Sri Lanka.

I am a relative newcomer to the Sri Lankan context.   I do not come here pretending to have answers for you as you navigate an important period in Sri Lankan history.  Instead I come here to give you, I hope, some useful insights from the perspective of an outsider.  While I am an outsider to the Sri Lankan situation, I am not an outsider with respect to transitions and transitional justice.  I have worked directly with transitional processes in South Africa, Cambodia, and Kenya, and have been engaged with similar processes in other parts of the world, including Burundi, Rwanda, Tunisia, Colombia, and the United States.   My most intensive and engaged experience was the four years I served as a Commissioner with the Kenyan Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC).  I will draw upon what I have learned from these experiences to make some observations about important issues that should be addressed in any transitional context, and to suggest some approaches to addressing those issues.

First, the importance of developing a transitional plan that is tailored to the needs of Sri Lankan society at this point in time.

Too often societies adopt a check-the-box mentality when navigating a transition – checking the box of creating a new constitution; checking the box of creating a special court to prosecute those responsible for gross violations of human rights; checking the box of creating a truth commission.  In addition, too often societies look at what has worked in another country and assume that adopting the same approach will work in their own country.  Taking an easy path, by unthinkingly checking boxes or blindly adopting what was used in other places, is almost always a recipe for failure, and may in more extreme cases risk disaster.

FULL STORY>>>

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM: FIVE SUB COMMITTEE REPORTS DUE NEXT WEEK

( Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne ©s.deshapriya)

01/08/2016

The reports of the five sub-committees on Fundamental Rights, Judiciary, Law and Order, Centre Periphery Relations, Public Finance is due in the first week of August says Constitution Steering Committee member and MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne.

The parliamentary Steering Committee on the new constitution, will begin discussions on the alternative option for the executive presidency shortly.

In the backdrop of President Maithripala Sirisena reiterating his stance that the Executive Presidency must be abolished during his term in office, recently, the steering committee has decided to take it up for discussion soon.

Constitution Steering Committee member and MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne said, the President’s statement was welcome news. “Earlier there was some ambiguity but now the stance is clear and the two main political parties have come on board to support it,” he said

Refuting allegations that there is a secret draft of the new constitution which accommodates Western dictates, he said, “Not a single Article of the constitution has been drafted. Even a formal drafting committee is yet to be appointed.”

One of the key pillars in the constitution-making process, Dr.Wickremaratne said without the preliminary agreements on the basic structure it was not possible to move on to the drafting stage.

He said deliberations on the ‘nature of the state’ has been put off for the last stages since they did not want to be bogged down by contentious issues and therefore it was wrong to say the government was conniving to create a secular state or a federal state. He said however, there is definite progress on the subjects of electoral reforms and the devolution of powers to the peripheries with minor and major parties willing to find common ground.

Wickremaratne said most likely there will not be a national list in a future electoral system.

Parliament was converted into a Constitutional Assembly(CA) early this year to deliberate on a new Constitution, scrapping the executive presidency and the first sitting of the CA was held in April. All political parties in Parliament were represented in the Steering Committee and the five Sub Committees on the new constitution.

(Original Caption: ‘National List, Executive Presidency out’)

By Manjula Fernando /Sunday Observer

Examining Sri Lanka’s Current Political Situation

Jehan Perera is the executive director of the National Peace Council, a Colombo-based nongovernmental organization (NGO).

Taylor Dibbert - 07/31/2016

Would you tell us a little bit about the National Peace Council? What sorts of projects is the organization currently working on?

Since its establishment in 1995 the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka (NPC) has been committed to strengthening grassroots and community level support for a political solution to the country’s ethnic conflict and a constitutional settlement based on interethnic power-sharing. Currently its key projects include building interreligious and interethnic bonds by working with local level NGOs and interreligious groups in 16 of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts, and with women’s groups to identify how women would want the transition from post-war to peace to be mapped out. NPC also has a people-to-people exchange program in which youth groups are the focus.

President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015. What are the biggest challenges facing the current government?

The government needs to address the economic livelihood concerns of the people. Economic progress remains slow and the anticipated foreign investment and economic aid from the West has not materialized. The government is in a debt trap, due to the profligate borrowings by the previous government on unproductive investments. There is international pressure to address the ethnically divisive issues of finding a power-sharing solution between the ethnic nationalities and ensuring a transitional justice process that meets international standards of accountability.

How has Sri Lanka’s foreign policy changed over the past eighteen months?

The previous government began to rely heavily on China for both economic assistance and to protect it from the demands of the international human rights community for wartime accountability. It went into confrontation with Western countries on the latter issue. The new government has given priority to mending its relations with the West and accommodating the demand for a post-war transitional justice process. It is closer to the West in terms of political values.

What has surprised you most about the new government’s performance?

The main thrust of the government’s campaign against those in the former government (who are now part of the opposition) was their corruption and abuse of power. But the probes into these, and the legal actions against those accused of such wrongdoings, are proceeding slowly. In the meantime, they are using their ill gotten resources to mobilize street protests against the government. There is an appearance of surprising laxity on the part of the government.

There have been concerns that the government has done a poor job of communicating its agenda to the public. What’s your view? In terms of public messaging, have there been any improvements over the past couple months?

The problem of communications is in relation to the transitional justice process. Issues of post-war accountability, war crimes and power-sharing are ethnically divisive. They are not popular with the ethnic majority. Politicians do not wish to publicly take positions on controversial issues in which majority sentiment is in the opposite direction. It seems that the dominant thinking within the government is to get the building blocks in place without too much fanfare. Both the transitional justice and constitutional reform processes are ultimately public processes. So far the government appears to be subcontracting that mission to civil society groups.

Transitional justice is arguably the most controversial part of the government’s reform agenda. How much progress has been made on this front?

In September 2015 the government promised the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to set up four mechanisms to deal with post-war transitional justice. These were a truth commission, an accountability mechanism, an office of missing persons and an office of reparations. The legislation for the office of missing persons has been approved by the cabinet and is pending before parliament. The legislation for the truth commission is being finalized and is expected by September this year. The government says that the most controversial of the mechanisms, the special court for accountability, will be prepared by March of next year, when the deadline for Sri Lanka’s commitment to the HRC will be up. Apart from this, the government has been returning land taken over by the military, reducing the role of the military in the former war zones, and has restored law and order so that acts of impunity are happening much less than they did in the past. All of this could be faster, but it is going in the right direction.

How involved should international actors be in Sri Lanka’s transitional justice process?

Three-fourths of the population are Sinhalese, whose thinking on issues of transitional justice is quite the opposite of Tamils. Most of them think that eliminating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and ending the civil war by whatever means was justified. This thinking is not shared by most Tamils. But as they are a minority, their views tend to be disregarded. A democratically elected government has to be deferential to majority public opinion if it is to continue in office through elections. In this context, international pressure in favor of meeting international standards in the transitional justice process is necessary to make up for the imbalance in internal political pressure.

Regarding the judicial mechanism to deal with alleged wartime abuses, do you think it’s important to include foreign judges?

There is a need for a credible and independent mechanism to ensure that justice is done and seen to be done. Initially the new government seemed agreeable to having foreign judges sit on the special court as judges. This would give the Tamil people more confidence in the accountability process. But there is strong public opinion from the Sinhalese people that the security forces and political leaders who won the war should not be tried by foreigners. Any government has to be mindful of majority opinion, especially if it is underpinned by nationalism. There could be international technical support and monitoring.

What do you expect to happen in terms of a political solution? In your view, is a federal system of devolution on the table?

The representatives of the Tamil people have long demanded federalism. The representatives of the Sinhalese people have equally long opposed it as paving the way for separation. The positive feature of the present time is that the leaders of the government and of the ethnic minorities, both Tamil and Muslim, are on the same page with regard to their willingness to be mutually accommodative. They appear to be understanding each other’s problems and there is a meeting of hearts and minds. But this goodwill and spirit of accommodation does not necessarily encompass the larger society. There is a need for enhanced devolution of power to the provinces to enable Tamils and Muslims to exercise a greater measure of self-determination. There also needs to be checks and balances that ensure that the possibility of abuse of power is structurally curtailed and that power-sharing happens at all levels, including the central government.

How can the international community help Sri Lanka?

There will be a continuing long-term need for international pressure to counterbalance the unequal ethnic proportions within the country, which cause politicians to give greater weight to the fears and aspirations of the ethnic majority. International monitoring will be important to keep the pressure on the government. In addition, the international community could do more to support civil society groups who champion the unpopular but rightful causes that politicians shy away from.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Follow Taylor Dibbert on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylordibbert

On (free) education, issues and disparities

Uditha Devapriya-2016-08-02

Sri Lanka takes pride in being a bastion of free education. There's a whole load of statistics, percentages and numbers put out as evidence for this. Statistics, however, are meaningless if they aren't used to adjust for the future. This week's column is about Sri Lanka's education system, more specifically its primary and secondary sectors. It is an attempt at pointing out disparities, flaws, inefficiencies and solutions which continue to ail the system and what's more, stare at us and demand redress.

Before delving into them at once though, there is a key point to note. When it comes to identifying systemic flaws, the focus should be on the institutions fostered by the system. In particular, schools.
Sri Lanka currently has four kinds of state schools: Type 1AB, Type 1C, Type 2, and Type 3. The first two have classes until the A/Levels, with Type 1AB offering science subjects and Type 1C offering non-science subjects (the latter of these, for reasons which will be pointed at shortly, predominate). Type 2 schools go on until the O/Levels, while Type 3 schools don't proceed beyond Year Five or Eight.

Type 3 schools

Not surprisingly, Type 3 schools are in the majority. They are located everywhere and are not just concentrated in urban areas. They tend to attract those who can't "make it" to the top tier, while the brightest among them are sent up through either the Year Five scholarship exam or the Year Eight final exam. Naturally, both these exams (together with the O/Levels) are considered very competitive and are seen as stepping stones to the top tier, which is why Type 3 are sometimes colloquially referred to as "feeder schools."

The fact that some of these schools, even within the Colombo District, don't teach English as a subject until Year Three (at which point the student ironically is taught from the Year Three textbook, the assumption being that he would have gone through Years One and Two on his own) indicates certain glaring resource-deficiencies.The top tier, conversely, consists of Type 1 and Type 2 schools, which, in a manner of speaking, have the best and get the best.

This fourfold differentiation, in the final analysis, has tended to increase social and economic inequalities in a way that was not intended by those who scripted such a differentiation into our education system. There are reasons for it, obviously.

The 1971 and 1988 insurrections showed structural flaws in our education system. They included the lack of any visible connection between qualifications and employability. In the years following Independence, for instance, a liberal arts curriculum (with an emphasis on unemployable and un-professional subjects from the Arts stream) could be sustained by amenable economic conditions, but an education of that sort couldn't flourish in a context where the country needed to be industrialized to keep up with the rest of the world.

Regional disparities
Have we realised this even now? Regional disparities would suggest that we have not. Urban schools are better equipped. Rural schools, on the other hand, are not. Consequently, non-urban schools suffer when it comes to "hard" subjects such as Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Maths, which means that students outside urban areas rarely go for such subjects. Even if they do, one can contend, they don't have enough facilities to get through exams.

And in a large way, this explains certain sobering statistics. In 2014, nearly 10,400 failed their O/Levels. The highest failure rate was in the Moneragala District, reputed to be one of the most unequal in the country. In the previous year, for instance, it recorded a Ginicoefficient (the standard measure of economic inequality today) of 0.53, the highest in the country. Free education would seem not to have done away with disparities and would seem to have a link with the income gap.

Not that there isn't a flipside, of course. Free education has its merits. Our transition rate, or proportion of students enrolled in Grade Six against those enrolled in Grade Five, is commendably high for a developing country (at 102 per cent), as is our literacy rate. The government provides nearly everything, from textbooks to uniforms to scholarships to even food (whether these are adequate quality-wise is debatable). Structures and policies have done away with gender differentials to a discernible extent (whereby girls are actually less likely than boys to "drop out"). And above everything, the system has emancipated the most underprivileged in our society and encouraged social mobility.

Going by this therefore, the problems in the sector don't lie with the student alone. They lie with the teacher and administration as well.
Influential book
In his influential book "My Larger Education" Booker T. Washington observed that an education system which catered to an "elitist" minority would eventually hinder the ability of a community to advance socially in the long term. He also observed that the liberal arts tradition, with its emphasis on the arts over more practical subjects such as agriculture and carpentry, falsely promised students a future they couldn't claim owing to the mismatch between qualification and employment in what they studied.
The other day I was talking to a teacher who more or less affirmed what Washington said more than a century ago. The teacher, a principal and a veteran with 28 years behind her, began by arguing that her profession lacks qualified graduates today. I prompted her to explain.
"Before teachers are appointed, they must be 'qualified', by which I am not talking about Diplomas only. They must be productive and must be capable of teaching more than one subject. In my day, for instance, we were required to enter what was called the 'purvasevya guru puhunuwa' or Pre-Service Teacher Training, where we picked up several disciplines and because of which we were able to look through any syllabus and absorb it quickly. That was unfortunately done away with later on, a pity by all accounts."

Unreceptive to demands
I asked her as to whether this explains why teachers today are felt to be unreceptive to the demands of the student, and she agreed. "We come across teachers who are unable to identify the needs and abilities of their students. That's a problem, because we can't salvage this profession if we aren't alert to those we teach."

What about the curriculum? "I'd say that it's obsessed over injecting knowledge into the student. There's little to no room for anything else. The teachers, in their rush to finish an overwhelming syllabus, are consequently unable to pay enough attention to the student. This does away with the relationship between the two so much that the student is forced to resort to tuition. True, there's less emphasis on rote studying now, but despite that we still see a gap between a subject and its employment potential in terms of skills obtained."

What of the dichotomy between popular and non-popular schools, a virtual motif in our education discourse? "That has sustained disparities between the rural and the urban student, which is undesirable. I can see two ways of engaging with this. One, you can set up new schools. Two, you can restructure existing schools. I believe in the first method. Build more science labs, computer labs, even playgrounds and swimming pools. Build them in a meaningful way and disparities will eventually crowd out. The issue, let's not forget, is largely to do with inputs: facilities, classrooms, and teachers."

The Ministry of Education recently unveiled a new programme titled "Langama Pasala, HondamaPasala" (the nearest school is the best school). It speaks for itself, but would it make sense without a corresponding drive to provide facilities and labs to existing Type 2 and Type 3 schools?

Combating elitism
The government should take stock of lessons learnt in the past, no matter how well intended their programmes may be at present. To give one example, despite its attempts at combating the elitism spawned by the differentiation of our schools, the most that past administrations could do was open up schools categorized as "Navodaya" and "Isuru", which as that teacher cautiously argued did very little in achieving the goals set for them. Clearly then, officials and administrators must think beyond programme-name if they are to obtain tangible results.

No industry or sector "owned" by the government (and owned by the people) can hope for perfection. There are degrees of perfection, however. There are a number of points we can be proud about and a number of points we can be humbled when it comes to our education system.

What of the "free" in free education, though? Some will argue that it's a misnomer. What's free in a system where economic disparities have become a norm, they'll ask. The argument is stark and lends itself to easy simplification, but at one level it makes sense.
And it's not hard to see why. The differentiation of schools into four broad categories did as much harm as good. The top tier has and gets the best. The bottom tier does not. Factoring in the tendency of teachers and parents to "target" the best and the discernible trend of "outstation" schools and students to opt out of employment-oriented subjects such as science means that the system has managed to sustain disparities while maintaining a façade of equality (whereby the top tier is as freely provided for as the bottom in terms of "education at no cost"). This is an irony and an indictment on us, I believe.

Social inequalities
On the other hand however, no one can contend that free education was misplaced. It did away with many of the social inequalities perpetuated by colonial administrations. In the end it helped the country clinch literacy rates, transition rates, and retention rates which surpass our neighbours. The only problems we can point out, hence, are structural flaws that can be dealt with in two ways: by reforming our schools and by reforming our curriculum. The solution lies somewhere there. I hope.

Sri Lanka: From Mavilaru to Moragahakanda

Most of the major rivers flow through two or more provinces before reaching the ocean. The same goes for some irrigation canals. If provincial councils start staking claims to such waterways there will be chaos. It behoves the government to solve this problem once and for all without resorting to prevarication and procrastination.

by Prabath Sahabandu

( August 1, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The so-called Eelam War IV, which lasted nearly three years, had both its beginning and end in water, so to speak. In 2006, a cocky Prabhakaran closed the Mavil Aru anicut, thereby depriving thousands of people of water and throwing down the gauntlet. The conflagration that ensued snuffed out many lives before ending in the shallows of the Nandikadal lagoon, where the LTTE leader met his Waterloo in 2009.

The Mavil Aru incident which plunged the country into a bloodbath is now almost forgotten. But, seven years on, we are likely to face another water dispute, fraught with the danger of leading to a political war of sorts between northern hardliners and their southern counterparts.

The JVP has dismissed, as unacceptable, NPC Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran’s call for signing an MoU between his council and the government on the Moragahakanda water. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has deemed the NPC move to share ‘ownership of water’ a severe blow to the fragile national reconciliation process. Taking moral high ground, he has launched into a tirade against Wigneswaran, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Opposition leader R. Sampanthan, Rauff Hakeem and A. Thondaman. He is of the view that all of them don’t believe in reconciliation and are promoting racism to further their political interests. (Interestingly, according to what has been reported of the JVP leader’s recent speech in Colombo he has stopped short of bracketing President Maithripala Sirisena, who also leads the SLFP, with the aforesaid politicians!)

It is a supreme irony that the JVP has a history of co-habiting with all the parties led by the aforesaid politicians at different times during the last two decades or so.

The 13th Amendment has become part of the problem it was intended to solve. The provincial council system which India whimsically crafted to solve its own problems rather than Sri Lanka’s has become a white elephant, gobbling up taxpayers’ money without giving anything in return. Provincial Councils spend almost all their funds to maintain themselves and they, save one, are mere appendages of the ruling coalition and, therefore, avoid conflicts with the centre. The TNA-controlled NPC is a different kettle of fish; antagonising the government seems to be its raison d’etre. It never misses an opportunity to give expression to its antipathy towards the state and that practice has put paid to the country’s reconciliation efforts under the new government.

Unacceptable as the NPC’s call for signing an MoU anent the Moragahakanda water may be, irrigation––water storage and management, drainage and embankments, flood protection, planning of water resources etc––is on the Concurrent List, which is a constitutional grey area. The 13-A says: ‘Every provincial Council may, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, make statutes applicable to the Province for which it is established, with respect to any matter on the Concurrent List, after such consultation with Parliament as it may consider appropriate in the circumstances of each case.’ The NPC is apparently trying to invoke this constitutional provision through its call for an MoU. This No-man’s List, as it were, is problematic as it gives rise to confusion and confrontation. It has been suggested in some quarters that powers listed thereon be clearly divided between the Provincial Councils and the government. But, such action alone won’t help reconcile the centre and the NPC which is becoming increasingly belligerent towards the state.

Most of the major rivers flow through two or more provinces before reaching the ocean. The same goes for some irrigation canals. If provincial councils start staking claims to such waterways there will be chaos. It behoves the government to solve this problem once and for all without resorting to prevarication and procrastination.

( The writer is the chief editor of the Island, where this piece first appeared as an editorial )

Question mark over Najib’s donation to Sri Lankan Tamils

If the Tamil Forum members can openly and frankly divulge the information about the status of the donation then there is a possibility the matter could be brought to a close.

from: P Ramasamy, via email

July 30, 2016

In 2012 the government of Najib Razak was quite generous in giving out donations to many NGOs in the country including the Indian ones.

Whether this generosity had anything to do with the funds amounting to RM2.6 billion that he received in his private accounts is yet to be established. However some reliable sources indicate that it was quite likely that donations to NGOs and other organisations could have been derived from the funds received in Najib’s private accounts.

In 2012 the government through the MIC donated US$1 million to the Malaysian Tamil Forum in Malaysia. The money was meant to assist Tamils in Sri Lanka who have been terribly affected by years of the civil war that ended in May 2009.

A few days ago, Ananthy Sasitharan, an elected representative of Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council, raised some questions about the donation.

First, whether the donation to the Malaysian Tamil Forum was properly channelled to those affected by the war. Second, who were the beneficiaries and whether the Tamil Forum could provide the necessary information. Third, when were the funds distributed in Sri Lanka and who acted on behalf of the Tamil Forum.

Sasitharan is upset that the leaders of the forum, considered as professionals, did not even bother to consult the elected Tamil representatives in the distribution of funds from the Malaysian government for a noble cause.

The matter apparently has been reported to the Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, Wigneswaran. He, in turn, has promised to raise the matter with the Sri Lankan government to make representation to Malaysia.

US$1 million or RM4.2 million might not constitute a major donation. However considering the tragic plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka such a donation might make a significant difference.

This is the main reason that elected Tamil representatives in the north are upset or frustrated. When one of the foundation representatives remarked that they owed no explanation to Sasitharan about the disbursement of the money, matters have been escalated to no purpose.

If the Tamil Forum members can openly and frankly divulge the information about the status of the donation then there is a possibility the matter could be brought to a close.

However if the whole matter is shrouded in secrecy then the controversy might be around for some time with unforeseen implications.

If the Sri Lankan government takes up the matter, then the MIC, which handed over the donation, has to answer. The fact that the donation might have been derived from 1MDB funds might complicate matters.

Sasitharan’s husband was abducted by the Sri Lankan security forces in 2009. He is feared to have been killed by the security forces.

In a press release from Jaffna yesterday, Sasitharan remarked that the Tamil people would not have been taken for a ride if the LTTE’s supremo was still around.

P Ramasamy is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang.

With a firm belief in freedom of expression and without prejudice, FMT tries its best to share reliable content from third parties. Such articles are strictly the writer’s personal opinion. FMT does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions given by any third party content provider.

Satire – An Effective Tool To Fight Hatred & Political Hypocrisy!

By Lukman Harees –July 31, 2016

Lukman Harees

‘Satire is traditionally the weapon of the Powerless against the Powerful’ –Molly Ivins

Satire is a technique employed by writers to expose and criticize foolishness and corruption of an individual or a society by using humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule. Political satire is ridicule dedicated to exposing the difference between appearance and reality in public life. The justification for this mockery, going back to Aristotle, is that by holding bad behavior up to ridicule we might, as it were, “laugh folly out of existence.” . Although satire is usually meant to be humorous, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit to draw attention to both particular and wider issues in society. Satire is nowadays found in many artistic forms of expression, including literature, plays, commentary, television shows, and media such as song lyrics.

In the Western world, satire is being put to effective use in exposing political hypocrisy, stupidity and corruption and it works. In Sri Lanka too satire plays a similar role through medias such as theatre dramas, newspaper columns, cartoons and songs to highlight many social evils, but comparatively in lesser blatant ways perhaps for reasons of fear of reprisals. Ranjini Obeysekere in her book ‘Sri Lankan Theatre in a time of terror: Political Satire in a permitted space’ says : In Sri Lanka, satirical performances were not traditionally considered to be politically disruptive. Rather, they were read as comic interludes in ritual performances… Sinhala performers have always been able to express satire, ridicule, lampooning, by means of ritual…Theatre in modern day Sri Lanka satirizes contemporary politicians who behave like despotic kings of the past. Theatre people gets a reprieve that is denied to other activists working outside the theatre..’

In current times, making fun of those wielding power in newspaper columns can however be especially dangerous when big egos are bruised or vested interests feel threatened. Precise the reason why very few of our satirists directly take on the incumbent head of state, whoever is holding office! Political cartoonists venture a bit further, while however observing self-imposed limits. Never mind the notorious MR regime when political satire was really hazardous due to white van syndrome and other caveats, even after Yahapalanaya came to power , despite many improvements it was awful to see PM Ranil warning the journalists about what they should and should not write.

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Kaveendra Nanyakkara the play boy magazine twilight model who insulted the AG and overturned all professional ethics and sacred judiciary !

Judge Ms. Kaveendra obstructs commemoration of the dead at Rathupaswela and insults AG : This ‘twilight judge’ shall be punished!

(Lanka-e-News -31.July.2016, 11.05PM) A cruel brutal judge Kaveendra Nanyakkara  denied the residents of Rathupaswala to commemorate the deaths of the unarmed victims ruthlessly killed by the erstwhile despotic rulers who were also responsible for permanently maiming some others too , when   the residents asked for some pure drinking water .  This refusal  by this heartless judge thereby depriving  the residents to commemorate the dead victims who are no longer among them is something most reprehensible and abominable specially  among a society for good governance.

The Rathupaswala murders and violence  committed by the previous regime took place on the 1 st of August 2013 , that is three years ago as at 1 st of August 2016.  The residents have been commemorating this tragedy every year.  This year too the villagers have got ready to commemorate their dear ones and relatives who lost their lives , and with this in view they have pasted posters, and had hoisted black flags in the usual manner to signify mourning in their  village. 

While these usual arrangements were in place , because the murderers of these victims who  were staging a march were going through that village on that day , the police and the judge (female) who had acquired a notoriety based on her perverted ways of life and living   have obstructed their ceremony.

The police fearing that there could  be a clash had requested an injunction order from the Gampaha chief magistrate Ms. Kaveendra Nanayakkara .The latter however issued a most bizarre order. 

The order was , the residents should put in abeyance their ceremonies and should be conducted either two hours before or after the march is staged by  the heartless murderers of the three Rathupaswala  residents .That is the murderers shall be allowed to march without any encumbrance. In addition pasting of  posters were disallowed and even hoisting black flags were banned by her. Based on this ridiculous court order , even a poem in memory  of the dear ones who died  cannot be written and pasted on the walls. What is the justice in this judge’s order and what is the civilized norm  followed by her?   

This order is not only bizarre but also contemptibly preposterous   because she had all the room  to give an order requesting  the marchers (murderers)  to take another route without interrupting the commemoration ceremony which cannot be held in another place. Yet , this callous judge chose to ban even the pasting of posters  on behalf of the dead to allow the murderers to march freely.  She had in her villainy  mixed up the priorities.

Is preference to be given to an annual event that is taking place regularly or to a sudden event which involved idlers who have nothing better to do than staging marches  idly  on  the streets? Isn’t it the duty of the magistrate to first and foremost study the cherished traditions and practices of the residents of the area?

Under the circumstances , surely Kaveendra Nanayakkara the demon cannot be a human daughter  who is born to a Sri Lankan  mother because only animals obstruct the sacred ceremonies commemorating the dead relatives and dear ones.

In the circumstances the people should  know what category of ‘saleable  good’ she belongs to ….

‘Professional cutie’ alias illicit pleasure provider

Kaveendra is one of those many ‘keeps’ of infamous ex chief justice notorious Silva. She reached this official position not by demonstrating her academic attainments or talents rather by these illicit relationships , the direction in which Silvas and Jilmals turn their erections.  Earlier on she stooped even to the level of being a  mistress of a senior lawyer  which status she enjoyed more than that of judge. 

Having such disgraceful and despicable traits , it is unsurprising that she was shamelessly ready to do any sordid bidding and unlawful activity for the Rajapakse regime . Lanka e news is revealing this taking full responsibility because she in her face book account  criticized  the Attorney General   casting away the legal  and sacrosanct legal traditions  to the garbage bin during the time elephant rogue Thilina Gamage’s controversial case was being heard . Moreover she is a member of the brigand  of crooked judges alias elephant robbers.

If a chief magistrate had berated and castigated an Attorney General the way she did via the face book, in any other country she/he  would have been sacked from her post then and there. In Sri Lanka however , she was summoned by the Judicial Service commission (JSC) and given a dire warning only , and ordered to withdraw those posts . May be because they saw in her a rose bud invisible to others  , apart from her rose complexion.  (a copy of her most  insolent and reprehensible  post made by her in the face book is herein)

When one accesses her face book  one is led to believe that she is more a debauched model after vulgar values rather than a judge of moral values. Since the face book is not confined only to personal contacts and is accessible to all , and based on the comments made by the viewers  it is obvious she has no concern for the lofty official position she holds-the position  in which dignity , morality and integrity count most. She had even used photo shop to enhance her cosmetic look so much so that a viewer was titillated  to make the following comment 

 ‘You are very beautiful but your forehead has turned black  ?’

The frustrated judge’ s  answer was fascinating ..

‘Hey hey , that is a shadow because my hair had fallen on my forehead . Were you misled ?’

This is the caliber  of conversation that is exchanged by her, and those  are many. These conversational  exchanges carried out  publicly is not  by a body peddler , but by a chief magistrate of Gampaha court though those exchanges are usually expected between a whore and a prospective client - a  method adopted by such women to  advertise themselves and solicit clients. In other words she is telling ‘I am a professional cutie.’ Some of her photographs in different  poses ( thank god ,not in compromising positions ) are herein.

Kaveendra who views Rathupaswala case with a vengeful eye ..

Interestingly, the Rathupaswala murder  probe is being conducted before Kaveendra the judge , who conducted herself in a  savage manner and most partially unbecoming of a judge.

After the advent of the good governance government , on the second round , when it was taken up , , on the very first day she remarked , ‘the Rathupaswala killings do not appear to be murders’

The crucial question is , can a magistrate  before the case is over make such a comment although a lawyer can ?

From her comment it is abundantly clear this whore of a judge must be thinking that the killing of two students and an  employed  youth in cold blood who were all unarmed,  died just  in an accident. It is surprising why on that very day , a protest was not staged against her based on her incompetence and ignorance of the law over her comment. Since that day , this frustrated playboy magazine  ‘model’ had been impeding the CID investigations most unashamedly. 

Let us without wasting time on a useless worthless judge by  trying  to expose every putrid aspect  of hers , confine ourselves only to the obstructions and obstacles she placed on the final day of the case on 28 th.

She declared  , the CID  investigations have not  impressed her , and the reason cited by her to substantiate that  was most intriguing and rudely shocking. 

When  CID that conducted this investigation during the Rajapakse regime , it was only the firearm 98 that was used during the conflict which was sent to the government analyst for investigation although the video footage clearly showed many more firearms were used .  This was clear to any fool. 

After the new government came to power the investigations were entrusted to the CID . Earlier the CID told court the army and the police STF appeared on the scene during the conflict.

 It  was revealed in court the army comprising 289 members in  several  small groups , the police STF comprising 134 members , as well as about  16 unarmed members of the army and 7 unarmed members of the police  were present , and everyone else also had weapons in their possession . Hence all the weapons shall be investigated and be dispatched to the government analyst department , the CID told court. This revelation of the CID is what irritated Kaveendra the playboy magazine  frustrated model.

Kaveendra who performs  better as a model for a playboy magazine rather than as a magistrate , nursing a grudge against the Rathupaswala residents , even obstructed the ceremonies to commemorate those who died in the Rathupaswala tragedy. Hence she  deserves a place not on the sacred bench hearing the Rathupaswala case , but outside among those roaming  the streets at twilight. She should therefore  be immediately taken out from the case  as a judge.

This Kaveendra who publicly insulted the A.G. , publishing photos of her ‘modeling’, engaging in cheap low grade conversational exchanges via the face book , cannot be condoned any more . As it is  the duty of the JSC to take action immediately to interdict her , it will be best  if the JSC is pressurized to  take action.

By Lanka  e news courts inside information service
Translated by Jeff

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by     (2016-07-31 17:36:43)