U.N. Security Council Set to Crown António Guterres Next U.N. Secretary General

The world's big powers are rallying behind the former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief to lead the United Nations.


BY COLUM LYNCH-OCTOBER 5, 2016

Former Portuguese Prime Minister António Guterres is poised to be selected as the next secretary general of the United Nations when Ban Ki-moon steps down at the end of the year.

Washington and Moscow rallied behind the former socialist politician and U.N refugee chief, offering a rare show of unity between two major powers who have been bitterly divided over a range of issues from Syria to Ukraine. It appears unlikely that the agreement will fundamentally reverse the downward spiral in U.S. and Russian relations or lead to an end to the Syrian war.

But it sets the stage for the emergence of a new U.N. leader who enjoys the trust of the key U.N. powers, including China, Britain, and France. And it shows that despite their differences, the U.S. and Russia can still find areas to agree.

Guterres secured 13 votes in favor of his candidacy in a closed-door straw poll, with two countries offering no opinion over whether he should pursue the job as the world’s top diplomat. But the secret poll made it clear that the five veto-wielding powers — who cast red ballots in contrast to the white ballots cast by non-permanent members — were unanimous in their support for Guterres.

Guterres emerged in the early stages of the campaign for secretary general as the front-runner, maintaining a clear edge on a slate of 13 candidates through five informal straw polls. But there were persistent questions about whether Russia would drop its insistence that the next U.N. leader be recruited from an Eastern European country.

But Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, who serves as this month’s president of the Security Council, put those suspicious to rest Wednesday. “We have a clear favorite and his name is António Guterres,” Churkin said.

Churkin emerged from the council to address the press flanked by ambassadors of the full council, including Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The council, he said, would hold a formal vote tomorrow and that he hoped Guterres would be elected by acclamation. If, as expected, the council selects Guterres, it will send a resolution to the 193-nation General Assembly to approve the selection.

After the poll, Power told reporters that the selection of Guterres proved “remarkably uncontentious, uncontroversial.”

“I think that speaks to the fact that each of us … knows how fundamentally important this position is,” she added. “People united around a person who impressed throughout the process and has impressed on multiple axes: in his service in Portuguese politics and then of course at the helm of UNHCR.”

The outcome marked the end of an international campaign to elect the first female secretary general. A late entry, Bulgarian national Kristalina Georgieva, a well-regarded European Commission official, could not build enough momentum to mount a serious challenge to Guterres.

Photo credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Thailand confirms Hong Kong’s Joshua Wong deported on China’s request

Pro-democracy leader Joshua Wong. Pic: AP.

 5th October 2016

A THAI official confirmed Wednesday that Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was detained and sent back to his home country on China’s request.

According to The Nation, Pol Col Pruthipong Prayoonsiri, deputy commander of the Suvarnabhumi Airport immigration office, said China had sought the Thai government’s help to deny Wong’s entry into the kingdom ahead of his visit.

“As a result, the Immigration Bureau blacklisted him and held him for deportation. When officers informed him, Joshua Wong did not oppose it,” Pruthipong was quoted saying.

A South China Morning Post report earlier quoted Hong Kong officials as brushing off claims that China had played a role in blocking Wong’s entry into Thailand.

According to the report, an official claimed it was purely a domestic decision.

SEE ALSO: New era for Hong Kong with big wins for young, anti-China activists

“On reports about Thailand being under pressure from China, first I have absolutely no information, and second, I personally do not believe such a matter would be an issue that requires international pressure,” Secretary of Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung was quoted saying.

The matter, he reportedly added, was “purely Thailand’s own handling” of an individual’s entry into the kingdom and that such a practice was common for any country.

Earlier Wednesday, members of Wong’s political party Demosisto confirmed that the activist was taken by Thai immigration authorities upon his arrival in Bangkok where he was due to give a talk at a university.

The group said Wong was due to arrive in Bangkok at about 11.45pm local time on Tuesday, but they were unable to contact him until 4.18am Hong Kong Time.

It added Netiwit Choltiphatphaisal, a leading Thai pro-democracy student, was expected to meet Wong at the airport but was then notified of the Hong Kong activist’s detention.

According to Netwit, Wong, who is a key leader of Hong Kong’s umbrella movement and Demosistō secretary general, was taken shortly after he landed at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the early hours of Wednesday.

He added that this was after local authorities received a letter from the Chinese government about his visit.

“Joshua Wong has been confined at the immigration in Thailand because there’s a request from Chinese government to Thai authority,” Netiwit wrote on his Facebook status, as quoted byPrachatai English.

SEE ALSO: Hong Kong court finds student activist Joshua Wong guilty of taking part in illegal protest 

Demosistō also denounced his detention by Thai authorities.

According to Prachatai English, Wong was invited to give a talk on new generation’s politics at the faculty of political science, Chulakongkorn university.

The activist was due to give a talk at an event commemorating the 40th anniversary of the massacre of over a hundred pro-democracy students and bystanders at Thammasat University in 1976 by military and paramilitary forces.

Wong travelled to Japan and Taiwan prior to arriving in Thailand for the Oct 6 event, Netiwit said. At the time of writing, Wong was reportedly deported back to Hong Kong.

Poland's abortion ban proposal near collapse after mass protests

Parliamentary committee urges MPs to vote proposal down as minister says wave of protests ‘taught us humility’

Poland signals U-turn on total abortion ban after protests

Christian Davies in Warsaw-Wednesday 5 October 2016

A controversial proposal to ban abortion in Poland appears to have collapsed after senior politicians from the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) backed away from it after a parliamentary committee urged MPs to vote it down following mass protests.

The justice and human rights committee, which reviews proposed legislation, recommended that parliament reject the bill following a wave of protests earlier in the week that appear to have caught the rightwing government off guard.

In a humiliating climbdown, PiS members who had referred the legislation to the committee less than two weeks ago threw it out.

The Liberal MP and former prime minister Ewa Kopacz told reporters the PiS had “backtracked because it was scared by all the women who hit the streets in protest”.

Tens of thousands of people boycotted work and classes on Monday to protest against the proposals, which if enacted would impose a blanket ban on abortion, including in instances of pregnancy as a result of rape or incest.

About 30,000 people, many dressed in black, gathered in wretched weather in Warsaw’s Castle Square, chanting “We want doctors, not missionaries!” and carrying placards bearing messages such as “My Uterus, My Opinion” and “Women Just Want to Have FUN-damental Rights.”

Jarosław Gowin, the minister of science and higher education, said on Wednesday that the protests had “caused us to think and taught us humility”.

“The protest was bigger than anyone expected. People were astonished,” said Agnieszka Graff, a commentator and activist. “Warsaw was swarming with women in black. It was amazing to feel the energy and the anger, the emotional intensity was incredible.”

The so-called “black protests” appear to have shifted public opinion on the issue, with recent polls suggesting not only near-overwhelming opposition to the proposed ban, but increasing support for the liberalisation of existing laws.

Polls also suggest that support for the government has dropping to its lowest levels since elections last year.

 Protesters gather at the Wroclaw’s Square during the nationwide ‘Black Monday’ protests. Photograph: Maciej Kulczynski/EPA

Parliament will now have the opportunity to throw out the legislation altogether, or to refer it back to committee.

The Liberal broadsheet Gazeta Wyborcza reported dramatic scenes from the Polish parliament on Wednesday evening. There were “screams and chaos” as PiS members submitted a request to reject the legislation, while pro-choice campaigners were prevented from entering the committee room and advocates of the ban complained that the session had been convoked illegally.

Among the PiS committee members to vote to reject the bill was Krystyna Pawłowicz, who before Monday’s protest denounced opponents of the abortion ban as “fans of killing babies” who should be ashamed of themselves.

PiS did not initiate the proposal. It was brought before parliament by a citizens’ initiative – a petition that has received at least 100,000 signatures – submitted by the hardline conservative advocacy group Ordo Iuris and the Stop Abortioncoalition.

Many, however, regard the ruling party as having taken ownership of the proposals once its MPs voted unanimously in favour of passing them to the next stage of the legislative process, scrutiny by a parliamentary committee. PiS MPs also voted down an alternative, liberalising measure proposed by the pro-choice Save Women coalition.

The prime minister, Beata Szydło, and the PiS leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, had signalled support for the Stop Abortion proposals, but the government appears to have reconsidered its position following the protests.

Szydło had said on Tuesday that the government “has not worked and is not working on any law amending the current legislation on abortion”. She also implied, however, that she had admonished the foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, for widely derided remarks on Monday in which he had said of the protesters: “Let them have their fun”, and stated that by “dressing up, screaming silly slogans and vulgarities”, they were “making a mockery of very important issues”.

The senate speaker, Stanisław Karczewski, said on Wednesday that Poland’s upper house would not initiate work on a bill to further restrict Poland’s law, which already outlaws abortion, except in cases of rape, incest, severe foetal abnormalities or the mother’s life being at risk. In practice, though, some doctors refuse to perform even legal abortions, citing moral objections.

Polish women seeking abortions typically go to Germany or other neighbouring countries or order abortion pills online.

Kaczyński has suggested that the government might accept a new compromise whereby terminations carried out because of a congenital foetal disorder would be banned, but those as a result of rape or incest would still be permitted.

Campaigners say that is unlikely to be acceptable, and that protests will continue. “In previous anti-government protests, it was our parents’ generation on the streets,” says Aleksandra Włodarczyk, 28, a bank administrator who participated in Monday’s protest. “But with this, they have managed to mobilise the young, and we are very angry.”

Urine test for CJD 'a possibility'

Image copyrightSPL

4 October 2016

Urine could potentially be used for a quick and simple way to test for CJD or "human mad cow disease", say scientists in the journal JAMA Neurology.

The Medical Research Council team say their prototype test still needs honing before it could be used routinely.

Currently there is no easy test available for this rare but fatal brain condition.

Instead, doctors have to take a sample of spinal fluid or brain tissue, or wait for a post-mortem after death.

What they look for is tell-tale deposits of abnormal proteins called prions, which cause the brain damage.

Building on earlier US work, Dr Graham Jackson and colleagues, from University College London, have now found it is also possible to detect prions in urine.

This might offer a way to diagnose CJD rapidly and earlier, they say, although there is no cure.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD):

CJD is a rare, but fatal degenerative brain disorder caused by abnormal proteins called prions that damage brain cells.

There are several forms of the disease:

• sporadic, which occurs naturally in the human population, and accounts for 85% of all CJD cases
• variant CJD, linked to eating beef infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)
• iatrogenic infection, caused by contamination during medical or surgical treatment

In the 1990s it became clear that a brain disease could be passed from cows to humans.

The British government introduced a ban on beef on the bone.

Since then, officials have kept a close check on how many people have become sick or died from CJD.

There is no known cure.

Image copyrightSPL

The study looked at urine samples from 162 people. Of these:

• 91 were healthy controls
• 34 had neurological disease that was not thought to be caused by CJD
• 37 had a diagnosis of CJD (20 of these were sporadic CJD)

The urine test gave no "false-positive" results - meaning it did not falsely suggest there was CJD in any of the patients known not to have the disease.

But it was less reliable when it came to detecting actual cases.

It accurately detected just under half of the sporadic CJD patients and even fewer of the vCJD patients.

The researchers hope they will be able to improve the test further so it can reliably detect all types of CJD.

Dr Jackson said: "Although there is currently no cure for this disease, an accurate and early diagnosis is extremely important for patients and their families.

"In the future, as trials of potential therapies become available, the earlier a patient can be diagnosed the more effective any treatment is likely to be.

"This test could be a critical step forward."

To date, more than 2,000 UK people are thought to have died from CJD.

In the UK, a person's lifetime risk for developing sporadic CJD is about one in 5,000.

The government spends £5.5m a year on CJD surveillance and research.

Sri Lanka: Tamils in the North-East protest at last

By: Brian Senewiratne- Oct 04, 2016

On the 24th September 2016, there was a massive protest in Jaffna, in the Tamil North, where some 15,000 Tamils took part in the biggest protest since the end of the armed conflict 7 years ago. The protest called ‘Ezhuka Thamizh’ (Let Tamils rise), saw thousands of Tamils from all eight provinces in the North and East come to Jaffna. It was a long overdue protest.

Sri Lanka Tamils in the North-East protest at last.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Are We Exercising Our New-Found Freedom Responsibly?

By Gamini Jayaweera –October 5, 2016 

Gamini Jayaweera

Dream of a new era was realized in Sri Lanka on the 8 January 2015. We have placed our trust and pinned our hopes that the newly elected President and the Prime Minister would work tirelessly towards re-building a Democratic, Peaceful, Law abiding and Sovereign nation in the coming years in accordance with the rules of good governance. In this article I will briefly discuss some issues about the new-found freedom which is one of the main benefits we have reestablished under the new regime.

The State We Were In

It is important that we cast our minds back to the state we were in prior to 8 January 2015 to highlight the ways in which the previous regime abused the power and violated the mandate given by the people of Sri Lanka for winning the war. The independent media personnel such as Lasantha Wickrematunge, Ekneligoda, and many others were either murdered or disappeared, White vans were in operation inflicting fear in people who voiced their opposition to the previous regime, Bribery and corruption were at an unprecedented level, Family rule was visible almost at every level destroying the independence of public institutions to non-existence, Allegations about assault on some Trade Union leaders, Killing and wounding protestors in public demonstrations, Freedom of speech was suppressed, Democracy was in peril, and the signs of a dictatorship were visible. The so called economic “Boom” was built on huge amount of borrowed money with a very weak industrial base. The rulers of the previous regime and their relatives & friends were having a “jolly good time” with the borrowed money. They have created huge debts which cannot be paid back in the foreseeable future. The country was virtually bankrupt. That was the state we were in.

New-Found Freedom

Although after twenty months in power the new government has not performed to the expectations of the nation, we have to admit that the new regime has allowed us to enjoy the freedom of speech without intimidation, exercise the workers’ right to take industrial actions for their rightful demands, stage peaceful and legitimate protests without fear, and publicly expose the fraudsters irrespective of their status or the political affiliation.

It appears that some of the Free Press, Trade Unions, Independent Citizen Groups, and “Rabble Rousers” from the North and the South are exhibiting their destructive behaviors to destabilize the democratically elected government for personal and political gains. Similarly, we have to admit that some of the activities that have been carried out by the “Yahapalanaya” government during this period are also not in line with the promises given by the President and the Prime Minister during their election campaigns. It is time for us to ask these various forces whether they are exercising their new-found freedom in a rational and responsible manner to rebuild our nation?

Read More

HEED THE VOICE FROM THE NORTH AND ANSWER ALLEGATIONS

Oct 04, 2016

The protest march and mass rally organized by the Tamil People’s Council in Jaffna has been criticized by the government and generated misgivings in the rest of the polity.  The TNA, which is the main Tamil party in North has disavowed the protest.  It has said that launching a protest march like Eluga Thamil (Rise Up Tamils!) is not beneficial to the Tamil people at this time when discussions are being conducted for a new constitution.  

On the other hand, the protest has the support of Tamil parties and groups that are outside of the present constitutional talks and other government-led reconciliation processes.  The large number of people who attended the rally, estimated to be 10-15,000 indicates a substantial degree of public participation and support for the protest.

 

The issues highlighted at these events reflect long standing Tamil grievances, aspirations and fears.  They include the demand that Tamil aspiration for a federal solution be recognized in the new constitutional reforms, that an international inquiry be conducted on the closing stages of the war, the pull-out of military units from the Nothern province, the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and the release of Tamil detainees. There were also allegations about the government’s allegedly intentional moves to reduce Tamil population density in the region and promote Buddhism.

 

The National Peace Council is hopeful that the draft constitution currently being developed by a Parliamentary Committee headed by the Prime Minister and comprising elected representatives of the Tamil and Muslim people, will meet the aspirations and concerns of all communities. We believe that Sri Lanka has entered into a period of conflict transformation.   There is a new relationship between the government and the main Tamil and Muslim parties so that the issues at hand can be addressed at a different level which offers the chance to resolve the problem in a new way.  At the same time we also believe that the voice from the North needs to be heeded and not ignored or rejected, as it represents the grievances, aspirations and fears of a substantial number of people who are also stakeholders in a peaceful and reconciled country.

 

Allegations that give emotive interpretations about the reforms that are taking place are made in the South of the country as well, and not only in the North.  The possible resurrection of the LTTE due to the actions of the government and the division of the country by the international community are some of the propaganda  claims.  Unless countered effectively this can lead to a loss of trust and confidence and back to a negative cycle of renewed conflict.  The perception that the people of the North are rejecting the government’s approach to peacebuilding can strengthen the extremist forces in the rest of the polity.  We call on the government to answer each and every one of the allegations made against its reconciliation process and to take this message to the people through an effective communication strategy.

Wigneswaran’s Eluga Tamil remarks raised in Parliament 

• JO wants Govt to tell Parliament what action will be taken against Chief Minister for violating constitution
• Sampanthan says Wigneswaran’s speech did not contain some remarks attributed to him 
• Kiriella claims JO trying to stir up nationalism by raising Chief Minister’s remarks 

• By Dharisha Bastians -Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Joint Opposition Legislators demanded an official Government response condemning statements made by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran in Parliament yesterday, saying his remarks at a controversial rally in Jaffna had been in violation of the constitution he was sworn to protect.

Raising a question in the House last afternoon, Joint Opposition Convenor and UPFA MP Dinesh Gunewardane said the Chief Minister’s statements at the Eluga Tamil (Rise, Tamil!) rally were dangerous because they were harmful to the country, endangered the peace and violate the constitution.

Gunewardane claimed Wigneswaran was demanding that the construction of Buddhist places of worship in the North was discontinued and seeking the removal of all Buddhist statues already in place in the region. He was also calling for the removal of Sinhalese families living in the North and wants to prevent any further Sinhalese settlements in the area, Gunewardane charged.

“We want the Government to officially condemn the statements by the Northern Province Chief Minister and tell this House what steps it would take to prevent the Chief Minister from violating the constitution,” Gunewardane charged. The Chief Minister’s demands were in violation of the freedom of movement and protection of Buddhism guaranteed by the constitution, the Joint Opposition Convenor claimed.

Responding in the absence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to whom Gunewardane posed his question, Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella noted that it was unjust to raise Wigneswaran’s remarks in Parliament when the Chief Minister had already denied making the statements.

“The Joint Opposition will seize upon anything that will stir up nationalism,” Kiriella told the House.  Opposition Leader and TNA Chief R. Sampanthan also defended the Chief Minister, saying he had read Wigneswaran’s speech at the rally in Tamil and found that many of the statements attributed to him were not in the transcript of the speech.

“I don’t think he said all the things that are being attributed to him. In fairness to him, he is not here. He is a very responsible person and Chief Minister of the Northern Province, duly elected by a substantial majority. He was a judge of the Supreme Court. When he says he did not make the statement attributed to him, before he is hauled over the coals, one should verify and try to ascertain the true positions,” the Opposition Leader said.

Sampanthan told the House that the TNA had ‘good reason’ not to participate in the Eluga Tamil event, since they were presently engaged in discussions with the Government on various matters on which they hoped to reach consensus.

However Sampanthan said the people of the Northern and Eastern Provinces had undergone immense difficulties, over a long period of time and had various grievances that needed to be addressed urgently.

“I have complained in this very house on a number of occasions that I am dissatisfied with the pace of this Government in addressing these issues and that the Government must do those things more expeditiously.

Amid protests by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya that Parliament was not scheduled to have a debate on the issue, UPFA MP and Joint Opposition Member Wimal Weerawansa who rose to speak, said the Chief Minister was yet to issue a denial to the press for the statements that received wide publicity.

“The TNA can’t say these are the Chief Minister’s private opinions. He is a candidate that contested on the TNA ticket and he represents the positions of the TNA. The TNA should either make it clear officially that Wigneswaran’s remarks don’t represent the party position, or they must remove the Chief Minister from their party,” he charged.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran has denied making the statements Gunewardane and other media reports attributed to him at the rally on 24 September.

In a statement he read out in Sinhalese at the National Sports Festival in Jaffna at which President Maithripala Sirisena was also in attendance, the Chief Minister however denied he had demanded the removal of Buddha statues in the North in his speech at the Eluga Tamil rally,  but only pointed to the injustice of Buddhist statues and shrines being arbitrarily constructed in the Northern Province with the assistance of the military, completely bypassing approvals by the provincial authorities.

But a letter from the Chief Minister on the eve of the Eluga Tamil rally, urging people to participate, said the protest would highlight alleged Sinhala colonization and the construction of Buddhist shrines in the Hindu dominated Northern Province. 

ITAK wants investigation into alleged plot to assassinate Wigneswaran

• ITAK General Secretary seeks more police protection for Chief Minister in wake of Wigneswaran’s revelation about threats to his life

The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) leadership is urging protection for its Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, in the wake of his own claims that there was a plot to assassinate him.

ITAK General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah told Daily FT he has urged TNA Leader R. Sampanthan to inform the President and request the IGP to investigate the threats and provide additional police protection to the Chief Minister. In a message that was read out at a book launch in Jaffna last Saturday (1) Chief Minister Wigneswaran revealed that his life was under threat.

“I have been receiving information continuously that there are efforts being taken to kill me and to put the blame on the LTTE,” he said, in the message that was read out at the Saraswathy Hall.

Senathirajah told Daily FT that Chief Minister Wigneswaran was a responsible person and a retired Supreme Court judge, who had indicated that there was a plot to murder him in writing. “This must be taken seriously,” the ITAK General Secretary said. He said that the Chief Minister had signed nominations papers as a candidate of ITAK and as such the party had a responsibility to ensure his safety and request an investigation. “We have urged Mr. Sampanthan to take the matter up,” Senathirajah noted.

Speaking to Daily FT, Opposition Leader and TNA Chief R. Sampanthan confirmed Senathirajah had communicated this position to him and added that the matter was under consideration.

(DB)

Good governance president must halt bathing and cuddling Rajapakse rabid dogs ;otherwise SL will be an ownerless fowl coop !

(Lanka-e-News -04.Oct.2016, 5.00PM) Asanka Abeygunasekera yet another stray rabid  dog of the nefarious decade who is still living among those contagious fleas , while  functioning as the advisor to the nerve center -  Sri Lanka (SL) defense ministry , and pandering to the criminal and corrupt interests of the Gotabaya clan , has earned for the government the bitter displeasure and disillusionment of the foreign diplomatic missions .

This  came to light when the defense secretary Karunasena Hettiarachi on the advice of Asanka made pro Gotabaya utterances before the foreign diplomatic divisions ,which were diametrically opposed to the policies of the government of good governance. The foreign diplomatic division representatives who  listened to his obnoxious speech  were rudely shocked beyond measure . They have started wondering  why such a defense secretary was appointed by the government of good governance ,who instead of promoting  good governance   is speaking in eulogies about  the antiquated policies of an administration that was not once but twice defeated by the people.

When inquiries were made into this by Lanka  e news , it was revealed , the present defense secretary Karunasena Hettiarachi still a lapdog of Rajapakses who had played a major role to appoint Asanka as the advisor despite many people advising  him against it.

The defense secretary has not even given consideration to the fact that Asanka was a scoundrel who was by then holding  a post under  the government of good governance , and chased out subsequently. The president had appointed this scoundrel as the advisor based  on the intense  pressures mounted by Hettiarachi, it is learnt.

Asanka Abeygunasekera is the son of Ossie Abeygunasekera and Surangie. Following the murder of Vijaya Kumaratunge , Ossie was the ‘ rotten egg’ who took over the leadership of the Leftist camp of which Vijaya was the leader . It is well to recall Vijaya Kumaratunge was the only leader who united those Leftist forces of the South and the North that agreed to a joint solution   in an era when the Sinhala and Tamil extremists were in armed conflict virtually eating each other alive .Following the cruel murder of Vijaya , it was Ossie Abeygunasekera the ace opportunist who for his selfish benefits betrayed the leftist unity to the right wing politician R. Premadasa wholesale. 

Though Ossie  died falling victim to an attack of the extremists ,it  cannot be forgotten Premadasa who was led by the  advice of   Ossie died before the latter. Political opportunists   like Abeygunasekera invited disaster not only to themselves but  others too ,and only spread evil  in the political arena. Hence they are not worthy of any special mention.

It is a well and widely known fact that Asanka during the nefarious decade was with the corrupt ,criminal ,crooked Medamulana family rule bootlicking them and fanning the flames of their vices and vile actions. He was a lapdog of Namal Rajapakse . When the Rajapakses were on a rampage devastating  the country Asanka was deaf and blind though he was right in the middle stoking the fire of destruction  . Like his father , he too is a most selfish self seeking opportunist .

Asanka was the chief executive at the Kadirgamar Institute . His only  contribution was tying that academy to the curled crooked tail of the Rajapakses  ,and destroying the academy.  Being a lackey and lickspittle of GL  Peiris , he did absolutely nothing in favor of the good governance campaign that emerged against the moribund corrupt Medamulana brigand during the last elections 

In order to establish  good governance in the country , and to overthrow the odious Rajapakse regime , it was Maithripala Sirisena who had to be  chosen from among them.. We don’t think he knew the true  egregious corruption , violence , and brutality that prevailed all along under the despotic Rajapakses. If he  did know , surely he ought to have joined hands with the opposition much before. Anyway   he did not. He could gauge the nefarious decade of the Rajapakses only when he was personally persecuted. 

May be , it is because of that , president Maithripala Sirisena the minister of defense had appointed Asanka the Rajapakses’  bootlicking stooge as the advisor to the defense ministry of the government of good governance.

Maithripala Sirisena is by now best known for appointing the worst scoundrels to most responsible positions. We have still not witnessed one instance in which he had gained even a cent  via such appointments during the past one year  . Sadly , he had only courted disaster through those , and not gained anything. 

The defense secretary Hettiarachi too appointed by Maithri  is a notorious crook. He is facing a number of charges in connection with a fraud committed by him when he was at the Water supply division, and even now the FCID is conducting an investigation into this. 

Under such circumstances If another pro Gota villain like Asanka is appointed on the advice of a scoundrel like Hettaiarachi  , the individual who is making such appointments must be either raving mad or an incorrigible  moron. If not he has to be an alien  from another planet.

In conclusion , let us emphasize  one salient fact :The masses can defeat dictators , but if the individual who is appointed by the victorious people through their sweat and toils  is persistently behaving like a clown wearing a gown committing grave indiscretions and  blunders  , the masses will not be able to  rectify his mistakes . In that event , if he is himself voluntarily putting on the crown of self destruction , not only himself but the entire popoulation of the Island will have to face annihilation sooner than later. 

Unless the good governance government stops bathing and cuddling the Medamulana rabid dogs even at this belated stage , the fate of the consensual government is written on the wall . When that disaster strikes, we think  it will be more interesting  to write about the ownerless hen coops rather than writing about the Island where the disaster struck.

Interestingly , even the appointment of heroin kingpin's adviser Hemantha Warnakulasuriya as a Director of SLT regulatory commission is another abominable act of bathing and cuddling the rabid dogs of the Rajapakses. 

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by     (2016-10-04 11:44:37)

Missionary Oblates promote National Unity in war hit Sri Lanka

 Oct 04, 2016

Oblate Institute of Higher Learning (OIHL) commenced a Diploma Course for expedite National Unity and Reconciliation.

Sri Lanka has been ravaged by three decades civil war, due to ethnic tensions between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority. The conflict cost the lives of an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 citizens and hundreds of thousands of civilians were displaced. Although the war ended in May 18, 2009, ethnic division remains entrenched and human rights abuses are widespread.
 
Addressing the inaugural session of the "Diploma Course in National Reconciliation and Peace Building,” Professor Shirley Lal Wijesinghe of University of Kelaniya said that this initiative of conducting a regular academic program will enable many of those who are engaged in post-war peace building in this country in particular and in Asia in general to formulate a solid frame of reference an d it will be a ready resource for strengthening their engagement and commitment.
 
“I wish that the program becomes an encounter between those involved I peace endeavors.” Said Wijesinghe at the inauguration ceremony of the OIHL Diploma Course held at the auditorium of the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) in Colombo on October 01, 2016.
 
He added, “While there are many who are committed to the cause of peace, there aren’t many spaces for all those engaged in peace building after the deadly war too come together irrespective of their ideological positions.”
 
The Diploma course consist of four certificate courses such as Conflict Mitigation and Transformation, Inter Religious Dialogue for cultural Integration and Peace and Reconciliation, Psychological Counseling for Peace and Reconciliation and Social Engagement for Peace and Reconciliation.
 
OIHL is an institute runs by the Oblate Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation in Sri Lanka which started their missionary works since November, 1847. OMI priests work in field of social works such as activities of dialogue among religions and ministries for justice, peace and environment.

Meanwhile Ranil-Maitri government has been taken some steps to heal the wounds of war victims and established the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) which have a broader vision such as “a strong, stable, progressive, inclusive and peace-loving nation where all Sri Lankans co-exist in harmony and unity, while diversity and national identity is respected and celebrated with a guarantee of equal opportunity in economic, social, cultural and political spheres for every citizen.”

 Talking (Through email) to Lanka News Web Northern Province Chief Minister, C. V. Wigneshwaran said that the government has put the cart before the horse.  

“It is going at snail's pace on the War Crimes, it has not withdrawn the Military from our areas, it continues to take decisions pertaining to our people unilaterally, have not released the PTA prisoners against whom the only evidence often is a confession extracted from them, have not stopped building unauthorized Buddhist Temples and Statues with the help of Army in areas where no Buddhists live, have not taken steps regarding the Army actively supporting Southern Fishermen coming illegally and taking permanent residence on our sea shore in Mullaitivu and other areas, have not seven years after the war, still told us what happened to those taken into custody and are said to be missing still.
 
Under the circumstances without creating the proper ambience and political climate it is useless indulging in the reconciliation process. It would amount to trying to buy us up.” said Northern Province Chief Minister.
 By Lawrence Ferdinando, Colombo.

SRI LANKA: The Minister of Justice wants to add a joke into the statute book as an amendment to the criminal procedure code

Basil Fernando-October 3, 2016

A new dimension was added to the debate on the proposed amendment to the criminal procedure code when the Minister of Justice attempted to defend the amendment on the basis that it is required to enable investigations into crime.

The proposed amendment is that lawyers would not be able to represent people at police stations until investigations into crime and recording of statements is over. It then adds that if the suspects cannot pay for the lawyers, legal aid would pay for it.

The immediate question that comes up is: what is the purpose of paying the lawyers at all if they are to serve no purpose on behalf of the suspects at the time of criminal investigations and at the time statements are recorded? Why was that second part added to this amendment if the sole purpose of the amendment was to stop the lawyers from representing suspects at the police stations? Why talk about paying them?

The obvious reason is to create an impression that a piece of progressive legislation has been passed in Sri Lanka allowing lawyers to attend police stations, while at the same time making sure that their attendance is of no purpose at all.

If the purpose of the amendment was not to allow lawyers to attend police stations to represent suspects, then what is its purpose at all? The criminal procedure code as it is now is silent on lawyers’ representation during criminal investigations and during the recording of statements from suspects. The amendment would have been required if, for example, the right of lawyers to represent clients was already part of the criminal procedure code, and then if, for policy reasons, the Minister of Justice wanted it to be removed. Since there is nothing to be removed, why is this amendment necessary at all?

If it enters into the statute book at all, this amendment will only enter as a joke. You don’t need to make laws to deprive the rights of lawyers to represent suspects at police stations. It would have been reasonable to have an amendment if its purpose was to grant the right to lawyers, as a matter of law, to represent clients during criminal investigations. You do not make laws in order to deprive a professional group the right to represent people. It would be one of the most retrogressive laws that has ever entered the statute books.

If there was any doubt as to who is the author of this crooked amendment, the Minister of Justice has admitted its authorship. It is not some mischief played by some draftsman. The mischief maker here is the Minister of Justice himself.

Here, the Minster of Justice has intervened in order to take away the rights of a profession, the legal profession, under the pretext that crime prevention requires taking away such rights. Is it, then, the view of the Minister of Justice that the legal profession is a crime-promoting agency?

This is the first law to be introduced into Sri Lanka that is a direct attack on the legal profession itself.

The situation is even worse when we consider that the Inspector General of Police has, by notification published in the gazette, instructed the police officers and the officers in charge of police stations to treat lawyers attending police stations with courtesy and provide all the assistance needed to carry out their duty.

Is the purpose of the new amendment to tell police officers and officers in charge of police stations that they can now ignore the gazette notification made by the Inspector General of Police and that they should not allow any lawyer to represent suspects during the investigation stage? Does that mean that the Inspector General of Police’s gazette notification was an attempt to help criminals and that now the Minister of Justice is attempting to help the police officers against the notification made by the head of their institution?

From every point of view, this amendment is ridiculous. It should be rejected because it is, first of all, a ridiculous amendment. The statute book is not created for various miscellaneous purposes like putting a few jokes in now and then as laws.

If the Minister of Justice cannot even understand the basic purpose of a law, a question arises as to the Minster’s own credibility to hold his post.

If the Minister wanted to look for the causes of the increase of crime, he could have easily found it out by looking around and seeing the very system of justice that we have. He would have seen that prolonged delay in trials is a major cause for criminals to lose the fear of the law. The criminals, who often have more intelligence than those who are in charge of matters relating to the administration of justice, see quite clearly that if the law is unable to punish them in the near future, it is quite safe for them to engage in crimes. Besides, having a long period of freedom after committing a crime, they also know that they can use that time to buy off or dissuade complainants and witnesses. Nothing encourages corruption in the justice system as much as the delays. If the Minister wanted to curtail crime, that was one of the areas he should have thought about. After all, that is what the Minstry is for: to deal with policy matters intelligently and to make changes in order to make the administration of justice effective and rational.

Further, if the aim was to curtail crime, he should have asked the policemen themselves as to what would have helped. Most senior policemen would have answered that it is the lack of proper training in conducting scientific investigations that causes the lack of proper criminal investigations. This is an issue that the National Police Commission, as well as senior policemen, has stated quite openly. They have stated that there is a need for a qualitative improvement in the criminal investigation capacity of policemen. It is this that the Minister should have gotten engaged in as a member of the cabinet.

Quite clearly, dealing with crimes is not the purpose of the present amendment. It is merely trying to create an impression to some policemen that the Minster is favouring them over lawyers, and trying to create the impression that the increase of crime in the country is a result of lawyers interfering into the investigations into crime and the recording of statements.

This kind of reasoning could be further extended by saying that lawyers’ interference at the stage of trial is also another cause of the inability to curtail crime. Therefore, punishing suspects without criminal trials would be a better course to achieve the kind of aim that the Minister of Justice is trying to achieve through this amendment.

This amendment is an insult to the intelligence of the cabinet. It is an insult to the people of Sri Lanka. It is also an insult to the legal profession.

Added to this, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has also clearly pointed out the status of the amendment in terms of international law on human rights. Does the Minister of Justice believe that violating human rights is the way to achieve the curtailing crime? Is he of the opinion that respecting human rights is the cause of rising crime? There have been people who thought that way, and those people were called fascists.

Anyone who stands against human rights in the modern period is a person who stands against justice. 

Justice and the respect for human rights cannot be separated. If someone is trying to create such a separation, the government must look into the matter seriously because this will affect the credibility of the government and the claims it has made locally and internationally about all the matters relating to the rule of law, constitutionalism and reconciliation.

Assuring representation for dispersed minorities in a new electoral system

In an ideal world, voters would vote for the best individual irrespective of ethnicity, but, with the country slowly emerging from the aftermath of a bitter ethnic war and continuing ethnic tensions, we cannot impose such egalitarian concepts on minorities

Wednesday, 5 October 2016

Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Vignesawaran may call for a ‘rise up’ of Tamils in the Northern Province, but the fact of the matter is that 56% of the Tamils in Sri Lanka live outside of the Northern Province. If you add Indian-origin Tamils to the mix, 68% of the Tamils live outside of the Northern Province dispersed in the other eight provinces. Similarly Muslims are concentrated in the Eastern Province, but 70% of the Muslims live outside of that Province.

The real ethnic issues in Sri Lanka is the ability of any ethnic community to live peacefully anywhere in Sri Lanka, including Muslims and Sinhalese living in the Northern Province. Due representation for dispersed communities in local or provincial councils and in the Parliament is essential for making such communities feel safe and accepted in their home environments.

The percent of minorities returned through the direct vote to the current Parliament is less than the percent of minorities in the population. However, the total minority representation in Parliament is more or less proportional to their percentage in the population thanks to an overrepresentation in the National List.

In the 2015 general election, for example, 40 out of 196 ‘district MPS’ returned were minorities, for a 20% rate of return for minorities, but 10 out of 29 National List MPS returned were minorities for a 34% return rate in the National List. The final minority count in the current Parliament is at 22%, closer to the rate of 25% of minorities in the population as per the Census of 2012.

Proposed MMP system

Under the proposed MMP or Mixed-Member Proportional system, 231 Seats in the Parliament will be allocated to qualifying Parties proportionate to the percent of votes received by each at the provincial or national level. The seats will be filled first by individuals who are returned first-past-the-post from 140 constituencies which are yet to be demarcated. The rest of the seats due to a Party are to be filled from closed and ranked Party Lists submitted as part of the nomination process.

The ballot will be of two parts. In the first called the Party Ballot, one would vote for a Party as we do now. In the second ballot called the Constituency ballot, a voter is able to vote for a representative for his/her Constituency out of a list of candidates from each political Party. Individuals too may submit nomination for any given electorate as independent candidates.

The proposed system fulfils the promises made by the two major Presidential candidates at the 2015 Presidential election or by the two major Parties at the 2015 general election to bring about reforms that reduce intra-party rivalry and the cost of elections and make MPs more accountable to the voters. However, the proposed system poses problems for dispersed minorities.

Minority representation – present v. proposed

Twenty-two out of the 50 minority MPs in the current Parliament were returned from preferential votes received by them through their candidacy within the two major political Parties. Their success is largely due to the fact that minority voters per district would give at least one of their preferential votes to a candidate of the same ethnicity. Therefore the current electoral district averaging about 680,000 voter per district is advantageous to minority candidates in the two major Parties.

In the proposed system, present electoral districts will be sub-divided into smaller constituencies with an average of 107,000 voters per unit. If the number of constituencies or electorates due to the Kandy district, say, is ten, mock demarcations carried out by us show that the population of minorities in each of 10 constituencies will be in the range of 10%-29%.

Since only one MP per Constituency is to be returned by popular vote, it will not be possible to return any Tamil or Muslim MPs on a FPP basis from the Kandy District unless the major Parties are able to find candidates of sufficiently cross-ethnic appeal. In the event no minorities are presented as FPP candidate by the two major Parties, a Tamil voter in Delthota or a Muslim voter in Nawalapitiya, say, is likely to be presented with a ballot paper with no viable choices in terms of ethnicity. This would be the same for the Badulla district in the Uva province where 27% of the population is non-Sinhalese.

In an ideal world, voters would vote for the best individual irrespective of ethnicity, but, with the country slowly emerging from the aftermath of a bitter ethnic war and continuing ethnic tensions, we cannot impose such egalitarian concepts on minorities. The long term view would be to make the integrity of a candidate and polices represented by his or her Party matter more than ethnicity. Until such time minorities should have the choice of voting along ethnic identities if they so choose.

Space for minorities in Party Lists

The Party List is indeed the space for candidates representing minorities. If we take the unit of PR calculation to be the Province, then the Central Province as a whole, for example, is expected to receive 36 Constituency seats or FPP seats and 24 Party Ballot seats or List seats, more or less. In order to give dispersed minorities their due representation, it is important that we pay special attention to the manner in which these List seats are filled.

We already have a provision in the Constitution that pays attention to ethnicity. For example, Article §99A of the Constitution ‘prescribes’ that:

“The Commissioner of Elections shall before issuing the aforesaid notice [regarding the returning of 29 National LIST MPs] shall determine whether the number of members belonging to any community, ethnic or otherwise, elected to Parliament under Article 98 is commensurate with the national population ratio and request the Secretary of such recognised political party or group leader of such independent group in so nominating persons to be elected as Members of Parliament to ensure as far as practicable, that the representation of all communities is commensurate with its national population ratio.”

It is not clear whether the Commissioner of elections ever sent back a list for its lack of representation, but as stated before, the major political Parties have always given over representation to minorities in the National List of 29 MPs. With the number of List MPs increased to 91, it is now more important than ever to have a mandatory rather than a prescriptive language regarding the ethnic distribution in the selection of List MPs.

If we apply the proposed new electoral method to the pattern of votes received by each Party in the general election of 2015 in the Central Province say, we can envision a scenario where the UNP wins 16 seats in PR but 15 seats in FPP contests, allowing the Party to return only one candidate as a List MP. In contrast, the UPFA would have won 12 PR seats of which only three would be filled by FPP winners, leaving 9 List seats for UPFA.

In theory, a closed and ranked list would give due representation to minorities, but the small number of List seats available makes the situation tenuous for minority candidates included in the List. Sorting the list into ethnic groups with ranking within each group, and making it mandatory that ‘National’ Parties meet ethnicity based targets in each province, one would assure minorities their due place in the Parliament. A working definition for national party would be any Party that contests in 3 or more provinces.

An inclusive ballot paper too is needed

Preliminary calculations show that ethnic quotas for Parliament is indeed implementable, but the minority voter may still feel alienated from the electoral process. For example, a Tamil or Muslim voter in the Kandy district in the central province on entering the voting booth is likely to get a ballot paper with a list of Parties in the Party Ballot and a list of mostly Sinhala candidates in the Constituency ballot.

One solution would be to require all national Parties to include the names of highest ranked List candidate from each of the three major communities in the Party Ballot. The three communities would Sinhalese, Tamils (including both Sri Lankan and Indian-origin categories) and Muslims. Such a requirement would induce political Parties to present minorities with local appeal in their Lists, and voters would get a chance to see the names of the highest ranks minority candidates in the ballot paper itself. The ballot papers in Germany has a provision for listing the top three List candidates in the ballot paper, but ethnicity is not a concern in that country.

Sunset clause for ethnicity-based provisions

Above proposals require that candidates for public office identify themselves by their ethnicity. In the long term, the objective of constitutional reforms including electoral reforms would be a population with a Sri Lankan identity that goes beyond ethnic identities. Therefore, it would be best to put a sunset clause on these ethnicity based mandates.

An advantage of the FPP component in Mixed Member electoral methods is the fact that a candidate would ignore minorities in a Constituency at the peril of losing their votes to the opponent and losing the FPP contest. On the other hand minority candidates too have a chance of representing an electorate if they demonstrate ability to serve the electorate as a whole. Therefore, we can expect more and more racial harmony in an MMP system, but we need to ensure that minorities do not feel excluded on our way there.

Minority issues are too important to be left to minorities. A wider discussion involving all stakeholders is needed.