Singapore: Another 2 BSI bank officials charged amid probe into Malaysian state fund

10th October 2016 

AUTHORITIES in Singapore have charged two former senior private bankers at BSI Singapore in connection with city-state’s probe into the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) sovereign state fund belonging to its neighbouring country.

According to Channel News Asia, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) sent Yak Yew Chee, 57, and Yvonne Seah Sew Fong, 45, to the Public Prosecutor after they were found to be among six accused of “serious misconduct”.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) on Monday said the two were charged with various criminal offenses.

“Most of the offences relate to (1MDB-linked businessman) Low Taek Jho’s accounts with BSI Singapore. Both employees had been senior private bankers in BSI Singapore,” was quoted as saying in a statement.

The AGC said the duo have been accused of failing to disclose information on suspicious transactions to a Suspicious Transaction Reporting Officer, leading to them being faced with seven charges: three charges under the Penal Code for forgery offences; and four charges under the Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes (Confiscation of Benefits) Act.

The two were also released on SG$35,000 bail and their pre-trial conference is scheduled to be held on Nov 24.

Earlier, the AGC had also charged Yeo Jiawei as the first BSI Singapore employee who faced 11 charges for various offences.

SEE ALSO: Singapore: BSI Bank to be shut down due to ‘gross misconduct’ amid 1MDB scandal

The AGC added it was still investigating other employees named by MAS. The probe into the 1MDB-related fund flows through Singapore, it said, are also ongoing.

In May, the MAS shut down BSI Bank for a series of grave offences, and has referred six members of staff to the Public Prosecutor to determine if they have committed crimes.

The monetary authority investigated the bank for alleged serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of bank’s operations, and gross misconduct by some of the bank’s staff.

The closure came amid the Swiss financial regulators opening criminal proceedings against the bank in connection with allegations of corruption against controversial Malaysian state fund. BSI Bank Singapore is owned by BSI Ltd in Switzerland.

SEE ALSO: Swiss prosecutors say $800m embezzled in Malaysian state fund ‘Ponzi scheme’

1MDB, an investment company fully-owned by the Malaysian government, was created in 2009 by Prime Minister Najib Razak to promote economic development projects.

But following numerous exposés by foreign media and local opposition lawmakers, it was revealed that billions of dollars from the firm had been misappropriated.

According to U.S. prosecutors, fund officials have diverted more than US$3.5 billion through a web of shell companies and bank accounts abroad.

Despite the allegations, Najib and his administration have vehemently denied any wrongdoing in their handling of 1MDB, from which hundreds of millions of dollars were found deposited in the prime minister’s personal bank accounts.

Malawi Chief annuls 330 child marriages

Date: 17 September 2015

In a country where half of girls are married before age 18, UN Women played a key role in lobbying for a new law that raises the legal age to wed, while raising awareness and working with traditional leaders to annul marriages.

Date: 17 September 2015

In June 2015, Senior Chief Inkosi Kachindamoto annulled 330 customary marriages – of which 175 were girl wives and 155 were boy fathers – in Dedza district, in the Central Region of Malawi. The objective was to encourage these youth to return to school, and continue a healthy childhood.

Senior Chief Inkosi Kachindamoto supports the UNiTE to End Violence Against Women Campaign in Malawi. Photo: UN Women

Bernadetta Matison, 17, was among them. Married at 15, she became pregnant the same year. “I dropped out of school because I got pregnant,” she said. “I’ve seen the evils of getting married at a young age. When I think about it now, I realize that getting married at such a young age isn’t a good thing. At the end of the day, we still lack the things that brought us into the marriage in the first place, like soap and lotion and other basic items. Some even get beaten, which isn’t right.”

Child marriage and pregnancy remain the main causes for their high dropout rates. The many young girls who have left school have few opportunities to earn a living, which leaves them exposed to various forms of gender-based violence. Though there are an equal number of boys and girls in lower grades of Primary School in Malawi, only 45 per cent of girls stay in school past standard eight (8^th grade).

While civil marriages can only be terminated under civil law, customary marriages are regulated by custodians of culture. Therefore, UN Women Malawi has engaged with traditional leaders, including Chief Kachindamoto, to fight the cultural and religious practices that have allowed child marriages.

“I don’t want youthful marriages,” said Chief Kachindamoto. “They must go to school… no child should be found loitering at home or doing household chores during school time.”  The Chief clearly states that opportunities that the youth have today, were not readily available for her. Marrying early in her time was a norm.

In Malawi in 2012, one in every two girls was married before the age of 18 and according to the UN Population Fund, it has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, ranked 8^th out of 20 countries considered to have the highest rates.

Through consistent advocacy efforts, UN Women and its partners have played an integral part in raising awareness on this issue and lobbying for legislative change. Efforts by UN Women included lobbying and training parliamentarians, engaging with traditional leaders and mobilizing civil society to advocate for the enactment of a law. More than 12 years in the making, Malawi’s Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act, was passed by Parliament in February and enacted in April 2015. It raises the minimum age of marriage without parental consent to 18, but has no impact on young women and men already married.

Chief Kachindamoto’s decision was initially met with resistance from other community and opinion leaders, young couples and their parents—especially in marriages where a dowry had been involved—but she continued door-to-door campaigning  in the community with mothers’ groups, members of the Village Development Committee, faith-based leaders and NGOs-- lobbying, sensitizing and even annulling marriages.

Chief Kachindamoto also suspended village heads that had consented to child marriages, as the community’s bylaws forbade it, even before the new Marriage Act. Now that Chiefs have been recognized for their role in the new Act, it makes it easier for the suspensions to be regulated under this law.

“I talk to the parents. I tell them: if you educate your girls you will have everything in the future,” said Chief Kachindamoto.

The new Act, and annulments have opened a new realm of possibilities for young women like 21-year-old Stella Kalilombe, who was married at 16 and endured an abusive relationship for many years. “I suffered, but I survived,” she says. “Which is why I decided to go back to school, to shape that future, a future of hope, peace and happiness for my family and I.”

UN Women will continue to support traditional leaders, as well as the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare to ensure that the recent changes in marital law are fully understood and implemented, and that the Ministry is able to move forward with future work on gender equality.

his article is part of a special "In Focus" editorial package in which UN Women examines how women are affected by—and can affect—each of the 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals.

Off-Grid Renewables to Tackle Africa's Energy Woes

Photo: Solar panels outside Strathmore University Energy Research Centre. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) - Nestled in the dry Kajiado County, one and half hour drive from Kenya’s capital Nairobi is the Oloishibor Community Energy Project, an oasis of light in a remote hamlet. It was started in 2009. A brainchild of a community based organisation established by the local pastoral Maasai Community.

Simon Parkesian, the Energy Project’s manager says the community had been facing a myriad of problems ranging from poor health, education to economical. The situation was compounded by lack of electricity.

As a result, members decided to start a cost sharing programme of installing solar panels on roofs of their houses. With institutions such as a schools and a dispensary being put up at Oloishibor, the community sought help initially from United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to put up solar panels and wind turbines for large scale use. Support also came from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which installed more wind turbines and solar panels.

The community was able to provide electricity to the local primary school, a dispensary and a church. It also provides power to a rescue centre for girls from the community fleeing Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and forced early marriages rampant among the pastoralists in Kenya.

“The project has been of tremendous help to the community. We do phone charging, some 50-70 phones every day, offer photocopying, printing services and internet service. The performance of pupils in the local is good owing to availability of light which enables them to read at night,” says Parkesian. At the same time the local dispensary uses the power not just for lighting but also keeping vaccines under refrigeration.

Houses near the energy project are also connected with power and owners pay a monthly fee that foots salaries and general running of the project. “Households pay Kenya shillings 500, while the institutions pay Kenya shillings 1,500,” says Parkesian. Women groups in area also use the power to do craftwork for export.

The solar panels generate six KW with the wind turbines generating another six KW. Parkesian however observes that high cost of maintenance, lack of spare parts, unavailability of technicians within the locality are challenges that the project faces.

He says the project’s future is bright. They have started training youth in the community on renewable energy. The community is also considering installing a milk coolant given to preserve milk, which goes to waste for lack of storage facilities especially during the rainy season.

Some 12,000 people benefit both directly and indirectly from the project. The Oloishibor Community Energy Project is just but one of the many successful off grid renewable projects harnessing solar and wind energy to improve the lives of communities not reached by national power grids in Africa. The energy project is a partner of Kenya’s Strathmore University’s Energy Research Centre, a leading institution in promotion of off grid renewable power adoption.

Izael Pereira Da Silva, Kenya’s Strathmore University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor and a renewable energy specialist says the university established the renewable energy research centre four years ago and is keen to transform it into centre of excellence in Africa.

He says the centre collaborates with Kenya’s Energy Regulatory Commission Authority (ERC) and has lobbied for policy changes to encourage growth of the renewable energy sector in Kenya. The centre trains technicians on installation of hybrid power systems (wind, solar and even fossil fuel powered ones). Da Silva says they intend to expand their services to the East African region.

Anne Macharia, an engineer at Strathmore University Energy Research Centre says the university is already heavily investing in solar energy research and development.  

The lab’s main role is research and testing the quality of solar appliances. “Kenya and most Sub-Saharan countries lack capacity to test the quality of solar equipment. Tests are done for a fee against manufactures settings in line with KEBS standards and reports are published.

They also undertake on-site tests for already installed solar units for customers. Anne says the centre will test large units in future for currently its capacity is small. The centre is the only one in the region undertaking solar energy equipment testing.

Da Silva is highly optimistic about off grid renewable energy prospects. He states that in five years time, renewable energy sector in the East African region will be booming. “In Kenya a new bill on renewable energy stipulates that 60 percent of water heating should be done using solar energy. Opportunities are thus immense,” says Da Silva. He adds that the worse aspect of poverty is energy poverty; it affects education, agriculture and industrial growth.

During the third International Off-Grid Renewable Energy Conference (IOREC) organised by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in Nairobi on October 1-2, 2016, it emerged that power cannot be extended to everyone solely through national electricity grids.

Participants noted that off-grid renewable energy solutions are crucial to achievement of universal access to electricity in Africa and other developing regions of the world.

According to IRENA about 80 percent of those lacking modern energy access live in rural areas, which also host more than 70 percent of the world’s poor. With Africa having a large population of rural dwellers, it thus has a disproportionally high number of those without access to electricity.

IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin said to attract private investment in renewable mini-grids, policy makers need to select the right policies and create an effective regulatory framework. Amin said since 2009, cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) has reduced by 80 percent.

He said technical innovation and innovation in business models and finance will result in a 60 per cent decrease in the cost of producing electricity from renewable mini-grids in the next 20 years. Off-grid renewable energy solutions, he noted are suitable for delivering of energy in an affordable, secure and environmentally sustainable way.

According to IRENA, falling technology costs of solar PV are likely to result in increase in the number of off grid solar units across Africa. A report released by IRENA in September 2016 titled Solar PV in Africa: Costs and Markets indicated that declining technology costs of solar PV are likely to result in an installation boom on the continent.

The report’s authors noted that the costs for power generated by utility-scale solar PV in Africa have decreased by 61 percent since 2012 to the current rate of $1.30 per watt in Africa, compared to the global average of $1.80 per watt.

Citing the case of Ghana, Michael Opam, Executive Secretary General, Energy Commission, and Ghana said political commitment is key to growth of renewable energy in Africa. These include sound policies.

He said the government of Ghana is keen to see 200,000 roof top solar projects undertaken and is hence focusing on prudent and judicious coordination of the projects as well as putting in place strong regulatory mechanisms.

Participants in the conference lamented the lack of skilled personnel in Africa to take off grid renewable energy to the next level. Safiatou Alzouma Nouhou, IRENA, Manager Africa Programme, also in charge of West said demand for training is tremendously growing.

She said IRENA has started a pilot capacity building programme involving training of youth in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. They work with local institutions identified as centres of excellence. The centre’s offer tailor made courses. IRENA is also exploring ways of partnering with financial institutions. The programme if successful will be expanded to rest of Africa.

The third International Off-Grid Renewable Energy Conference took place at a time when ministers and heads of delegation from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group had welcomed a new initiative designed to scale up renewable energy and energy efficiency for least developed countries. The Ministerial meeting was held on 28 September during the gathering of LDC negotiators in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, in preparation for COP22, the 22nd Climate Change Conference.

The initiative, called the "LDC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Initiative (REEEI) for Sustainable Development", will be launched at the next UN climate change conference to be held in Marrakech this November 2016.

Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu, Democratic Republic of the Congo’s ‎Climate Change Specialist and Chair of the LDC Group said the initiative would enable LDCs to transit from fossil fuel based energy. He said the initiative will provide modern, clean, resilient energy systems a sustainable future and generate prosperity.

During the 2016 IOREC, some 500 participants shared experiences and discussed best practices on the design and implementation of enabling policies, tailored financing schemes, innovative business models, and technology applications to boost off-grid systems development. [IDN-InDepthNews – 08 October 2016]

Note: This report is part of a joint project of the Secretariat of the ACP Group of States and IDN, a flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate.

Photo: Solar panels outside Strathmore University Energy Research Centre. Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Doctors grapple with best use of potent new cancer drugs

A scientist prepares protein samples for analysis in a lab at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Britain, July 15, 2013.REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/Files-Protein analysis tubes are seen in a lab at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Britain, July 15, 2013. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/Files

Sample analysis tubes are seen in a lab at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Britain, July 15, 2013. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/Files

By Ben Hirschler -Mon Oct 10, 2016

Evelyn O’Flynn still has lung cancer. But after going straight on to a new immune system-boosting drug more than a year ago, rather than traditional hard-to-tolerate chemotherapy, she is feeling great. "It’s like a miracle," said the 72-year-old ex-smoker, who is about to become a great-grandmother.

As a patient being treated with Merck & Co's immunotherapy drug Keytruda, O’Flynn is one of the lucky ones.

Data presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) congress suggest her early treatment with immunotherapy, as part of a clinical trial in Britain, will become standard for a growing number of patients.

But there is a catch: it doesn't work for all.

Giving immunotherapy on its own only seems to work better than chemotherapy in previously untreated lung cancer patients who have high levels of a protein called PD-L1, which makes them more receptive to immunotherapy.

From now on, oncologists in Copenhagen have been told, lung cancer patients should be routinely tested for this biomarker.

However, only a quarter to a third of non-small cell lung cancer patients have tumours with at least 50 percent of cells producing PD-L1, leaving the majority unserved and around 70 percent of the market still up for grabs.

The inability to treat everyone with monotherapy using one single drug is a blow for Bristol, which tried to make treatment with its Opdivo drug work across the board, only to fail comprehensively in a major clinical trial.

But it has opened up the field to rivals like Merck, Roche and AstraZeneca, which own what could be among the biggest-selling drugs of all time, and all companies are now racing to find smart ways to combine treatments.

Oncologists poring over immunotherapy trial results at Europe's biggest cancer meeting have learnt one thing: finding optimal treatments for different patient groups will take more research.

"I think the future of immunotherapy will be defined over the next 10 or 15 years," said lung cancer specialist Solange Peters from Lausanne University Hospital, one of the organisers of the Copenhagen meeting.

Despite immunotherapy successes and the prospect of a potential market worth up to $40 billion in sales, veteran cancer experts urge caution.

"In oncology, we see these kind of waves from cosmic pessimism to over-optimism, so we have to be cautious," ESMO President Fortunato Ciardiello said.

Investors, though, were quick to position themselves as shares in Bristol fell 10 percent in early trade on Monday, while Merck hit its highest level since 2001.

FIGHTING BACK

By taking the brakes off the immune system and allowing the body's natural killer cells to home in on tumours, immunotherapy offers a different approach to toxic chemotherapy treatment, which causes collateral damage to healthy tissue.

It is not without side effects but it is a kinder option, which also promises much longer-lasting efficacy.

Bristol, Merck and Roche have U.S. approval for immunotherapies, while Bristol and Merck also sell their drugs in Europe. China, however, has yet to licence them.

Lung cancer, the world's biggest cancer killer with an annual death toll of 1.6 million, will account for by far the largest portion of future prescriptions, although immunotherapy is used additionally in melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and cancers of the bladder, kidney, head and neck.

With Merck set to sweep the board in lung cancer monotherapy, doctors are looking to the next phase of the story and there is a growing consensus that combination treatments are the future for remaining patients with lower PD-L1 levels.

"Clearly, the race is on," said Jean-Charles Soria, a professor of medicine at France's Institut Gustave Roussy, of the looming battle for dominance in the combination market.

In theory, researchers believe, it should be possible to get more people to respond by adding other drugs to the mix in order to coax the immune system to fight back against cancer cells.

Most attention so far has been on combining two immunotherapies, although this raises questions over cost, with each medicine typically priced at $100,000 to $150,000 a year.

The strategy creates an opportunity for AstraZeneca, which has lagged rivals so far but hopes to jump ahead with a drug cocktail that should report clinical results early next year. Bristol is chasing the same idea, although its double-immunotherapy trial is not expected to have results until 2018.

But the ESMO meeting has also raised the prospect of another approach -- successfully combining immunotherapy and chemotherapy.

A lot of scientists have been sceptical of this idea in the past, and there are still questions over whether patients will have a long-lasting response, but positive data from a mid-stage study at ESMO suggests the concept has real promise. Roche and Merck are both enthusiastic.

Steering a path through all these permutations is going to be a challenge and ESMO's Ciardiello says the cancer community must await more clinical trial results over the next few years.

"I think we live in great times for rendering cancer a curable disease but it will take time because the more we learn, the more we understand that it is hugely complex," he told Reuters.

$30-40 BILLION SALES

While nobody yet knows what the "gold standard" treatment regimen is going to be, it is already clear this new generation of drugs is going to be big.

"Every time we come back to the immunotherapy market we are amazed at just how large the opportunity is," said Leerink analyst Seamus Fernandez, who sees combined annual sales of $30 billion to $40 billion for drugs like Keytruda and Opdivo, as well as rivals from Roche, AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

How the market will ultimately divide between companies is still unclear but Merck certainly emerges from the past weekend in Copenhagen as the main winner.

That underscores a shift in expectations that has been evident since August, when Bristol first revealed its monotherapy trial had failed.

British patient O'Flynn, whose tumours shrunk dramatically, is just glad she has a chance to try something new.

"My brother had cancer and he had chemotherapy, which was very gruelling. But I haven't experienced any real side effects, apart from a bit of tiredness."

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler, editing by Peter Millership)

Judicial upholding of the right not to be violated

Sunday, October 09, 2016

Last week’s affirming by the Supreme Court of a female school teacher’s constitutionally protected right to talk to the media in the face of prolonged sexual harassment and intimidation at a leading educational establishment in Colombo calls for a multipronged deterrent approach to an all-pervasive problem in Sri Lanka.

Emphasizing two broad principles of value

It is common knowledge that the complaint upon which the Court acted this time around is not rare. Indeed, this country ranks disgracefully high in South Asia when it comes to sexual harassment in the workplace. A mandatory code within the work place in general and the educational system in particular needs to be enforced with efficacious and independent inquiry mechanisms. The legal framework in this regard also needs to be revised. Clearly, penalising sexual harassment has not been a deterrent given the reluctance of many to undergo the traumatic ordeal of the criminal justice system.

Let us see exactly what the Court said. Two broad principles of equal importance were emphasized, namely the constitutional right to expression and information and the right to equality together with the constitutional regime of affirmative protections. Here, Manohari Pelaketiya, a female school teacher had petitioned the court alleging that a fellow teacher and the principal of Mahanama College had attempted to force unwanted sexual favours on her.

Upon refusal, she was subjected to constant harassment including the deprivation of increments. Unable to bear the strain and with no immediate relief forthcoming, she had aired her grievances on a television channel after which she was interdicted for infringing the Establishments Code which expressly prohibited such public utterances.

Deploring long and oppressive sexual harassment

Defending themselves, the authorities argued that her interview included allegations that the Ministry of Education had not taken measures to punish those responsible whereas, shortly before that interview, an internal inquiry had recommended that the offending school principal be compulsorily retired and the fellow teacher be interdicted.

It was also forcefully argued that if the Court was to rule in the petitioner’s favour, this would amount to a precedent that would make it impossible for government institutions to prevent public officers from disclosing information on internal disciplinary matters when such matters are being inquired into. However, the severity of the harassment to which the petitioner had been subjected to, clearly dominated the mind of the Court.

In the words of Justice Anil Gooneratne writing for the Court (with K. Sripavan CJ and Upali Abeyratne J. agreeing), the petitioner had ‘snapped’ under ‘the stress and strain occasioned by oppressive and burdensome conduct under colour of executive office,’ carried out for a long time. Indeed, the Court’s outrage in this regard is quite remarkable. Thus, it was opined that ‘it is not possible for a female to resist such abuses unless she is a strong personality who could react and retort to such abuses and harassment and make the abuser to shamelessly withdraw, being exposed to the public at large of his indecency.’

Echoing liberal jurisprudence of the nineties

Consequently, it was held that, even if she acted contrary to the Establishments Code, that would not deprive her of her constitutional protection. Quoting precedents of the Indian and US courts, the petitioner’s freedom of expression was ruled to ‘trump’ the Establishments Code.

Manohari Pelaketiya

There is firm domestic precedent supporting this view, though not explicitly quoted as such by the Court. Thus, in a norm-setting decision during the mid nineties, Justice MDH Fernando declared that the arbitrary stopping of the Non Formal Educational (NFEP) programme of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) that it ‘caused public unrest’ was unconstitutional. The Court asserted that “…. it is well to remember that the media asserts, and does not hesitate to exercise, the right to criticise public institutions and persons holding public office…such criticism must be deplored when it is without justification, (but) the right to make and publish legitimate criticism is too deeply  ingrained to be denied.’

The September 2016 decision of the Court thus reflected its sweepingly liberal jurisprudence in the mid to late nineteen nineties before it became entangled in the ugly politicization of the Office of the Chief Justice.

Affirming the right to equality

Of equal importance is the second principle emerging from the Pelaketiya Case which emphasizes the right to equality of a female school teacher who became helpless ‘in the hands and control of indecent public servants within the school premises.’ As Justice Gooneratne observed, ‘sexual harassment or work place stress and strain occasioned by oppressive and burdensome conduct under colour of executive office,’ amounts to unconstitutional action infringing the right to equality. Here too, it was held that the right to equality as well as the regime of affirmative rights in the Constitution cannot be restricted or limited by the provisions of the Establishments Code

Undoubtedly this is a judicial salutation of the exemplary courage of a female school teacher in employing the media to stand up to the male establishment and against conduct that, (in the words of the Court), ‘would be unacceptable to any decent society.’ This stands as a categorical assertion of the fact that if internal procedures are futile, then public complaints are justified.

In this instance, the offender was an educational institution. Yet a warning is implicit therein for other organizations, including those of the private sector and the non-governmental sector. Taking disciplinary action against an individual on the basis that ‘internal institutional grievances’ are ventilated to the media where there is no other option available, will now be frowned upon. Even though such action may not be constitutionally challenged given that the constitutional remedy is limited to executive or administrative action, the unequivocal judicial stance reflected in the Pelaketiya Case remains of general legal importance.

Enforcing compliance to a policy of deterrence

In a wider sense, Sri Lanka may do well to look across the Palk Strait where the celebrated ‘Vishaka’ case (1997) did not merely result in token legislation but gave rise to country-wide awareness and anger against sexual harassment in the Indian workplace, forcing policy makers into reluctant compliance.

If Sri Lankan authorities fail to give serious attention to this issue, others who have been similarly violated should publicly discuss what they have faced. This would be a welcome ‘opening of the floodgates’ as it were.

In sum, the Pelaketiya Case must not be allowed to rest as one lonely judicial view. Given its singular value, it must attract a critical mass to propel compliance to reformed policy and legal standards, ensuring the right of both Sri Lankan men and women not to be violated in the workplace and to publicly protest thereto if needed. This is crucial.

Constitution does not help cultivate moral values

Moral values are brought about by moral transformation of individuals from lower self to higher self. If this cannot be done by a religion, then religion has failed. Type of Constitution has nothing to do with it.

2016-10-10

I refer to Kelum Bandara’s  Interview with Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka Thera in the Daily Mirror of October 5, which is a stage-managed one for propaganda purpose. Being a “foremost placed” person, he  enjoys the privilege and the prerogative to express his views. But our counter views, contradictions and rebuttals will not find a place in the pages of this newspaper. Nevertheless, I wish to do so, with reference to a few points expressed by him.

Secular State

He says “ Secularism “will erode moral values of all Religions.” Moral values have already eroded, not under a Secular State, but under a Constitution tilted in favour of a theocratic State. That is under a non-secular State. We have had a Constitution with the ‘foremost place for Buddhism” since 1978 (38 years). Instead of a regeneration and enhancement of moral values, there is a marked degeneracy of moral values, despite the prominence given to the Buddhist religion under a non- secular State. So, his argument is a complete negation of his views.
In the course of 38 years, with the place given to it in the Constitution, Buddhism has failed to uplift the moral values of at least the Buddhist people, if not the non-Buddhists. On the contrary, it is the religious supremacy given to Buddhism in the Constitution, which has caused this moral decay and degeneracy. This encompasses not only the society at large, but visibly the Politicians as a class and the majority of the members of the Buddhist Sangha.
On the one hand governing the country is marred by religious consideration and less on technical, professional and managerial considerations, and on the other hand Religion and their custodians, the Sangha, has lost its piety and become politicized.
In fact Buddhists priests have become leaders of political parties and engaging in street protests and demonstrations than abandoned practising true religion. Politicians spend more time visiting Buddhist temples than attending Parliamentary business. The priests are not holy men, who have renounced attractions of mundane life but overtly express its affirmation in the pursuit power, position, privileges and luxuries of life and act as Chanakyas to political leadership.  The Ven. Thera has shown a strange love for Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, because he favours the inclusion of  the foremost place for Buddhism in the Constitution. Even the devil quotes the scriptures, when it suits him. At other times it is not love but hate of Christians and attacks on Churches and Evangelists for engaging in conversion.

" What the Ven. Thera seek by NRO is the freedom to do whatever we want, such as jettison Human Rights, War Crimes, disregard International Humanitarian Laws, genocide, torture, extra- judicial killings, enforced disappearances, abduction and “white van culture” and murder those critical of government and subvert the Rule of Law, which were the trademarks of the last regime."

The widespread  crimes,  murders, Rape, extra-judicial killings, abductions and killings of  those critical of the regime, like journalists, theft of public funds, bribery and corruption, being partners of drug and heroin mafias, and a host of other crimes and vices have manifold  increased, statistically, rather than enhanced the moral values of the people, contrary to the lofty ideal of the Ven. Priest, who says that a non-secular State will  safeguard and enhance the moral values ,and a Secular State will erode moral values. Constitutions with a religious clause in it, would not create moral values; nor would the absence erodes.
Moral values are brought about by moral transformation of individuals from lower self to higher self. If this cannot be done by a religion, then religion has failed. Type of Constitution has nothing to do with it. Entrenching a religious clause in the Constitution is only to satisfy the supremacist ego of the Buddhist clergy.
Ven. Thera says that there are hardly any secular States. That is because countries with more or less homogenous population do not explicitly state that it is secular. Some are theocratic, and do not say so, like Arab countries. Only countries with complex diversity of races, religions and languages explicitly state it is secular e.g- India. Being so, has the moral values, culture and religion of India eroded?
Despite the complex diversity and Regional States, everyone thinks and behave as an Indian first. This is because of the Constitutional recognition of various States and sharing of political/administrative power. The Ven. Thera says if a Constitution is secular, there is no religion. Nonsense. Does he think that there is no religion in India? Religion occupies a far greater place in India than in Lanka. Because in India, Hindu religion by its nature is not an organized, institutionalized priest craft, like Buddhism in Lanka.

The NRO

Ven. Thera has formed a National Rights Organisation as a ‘counter to Human Rights Organisation.’
This he says is a unique concept. It is a substitute, or supersede or even reject Human rights. Nation’s rights are its Constitution which gives legitimacy to it. It is expressed in its territorial integrity and Sovereignty. National Rights according to him are its’ landmass, people, air space, territorial waters, culture and history.  A  Nation’s sovereignty encompasses all these .Thus a separate  National Rights organization is a superfluity. Then, even Sovereignty is not absolute. It is limited and restrictive. It cannot transcend International Laws, Covenants,  Human Rights Charter of the UNO, which are binding on member Nations. Nations have to forego some Sovereignty for the sake of the world order.
Otherwise world will be a chaotic place. What the Ven. Thera seeks by NRO is the freedom to do whatever they want-such as jettisoning of  Human Rights, War Crimes, disregard International Humanitarian Laws, Genocide, Torture, Extra-Judicial Killings, Enforced Disappearances, abduction and “white van culture” and murder those critical of Government and subvert the Rule of Law, which were the trademarks of the last regime.
The Ven. Thera  seems to be innocent of the truth that the “human being” is the core or heart of all religions. The only goal of all religions is for human perfection and liberation. To subordinate that central goal to a set of insentient national Rights and lower it to a secondary level is a degradation religion.

Buddhism to all

The Ven. Thera’s self-proclaimed and a presumptuous claim  is that Buddhism belongs to all. Not only to the Buddhists. He is equating Buddhism to a universal religion. One can preach for all, but those who accept its doctrines and practise it are only Buddhists and not others.
The Christians, Hindus and Islamists will not say Buddhism belongs to them. That would be a denial of their own  religious beliefs. Ven. Thera is conferring ownership of Buddhism to non-Buddhists. None of the religions , such as Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, founded by a human personage and on whose authority their religions rests, can claim the status of a Universal Religion.
No religion will accept the authority of a person other than their own. If there is a religion which has the requirements and characteristics for a claim for Universality, it is Hinduism. Because ,Hinduism is based on principles and Eternal Truths and not on a person. It is thus called the Religion of Eternal Truths- Sanatana Dharma.  Only such a religion can belong to all; because it does not rest on the authority of one personality.

Media vs Good Governance

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaking to several Tamil journalists

by Easwaran Rutnam-Sunday, October 09, 2016

@easwaranrutnam

It came as a bit of a surprise last Friday when State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene accused a private newspaper of misreporting the facts over a document he tabled in parliament.

His accusation then led to more ministers rising from their seats saying even their image had been tarnished as a result of the contents of the report as reported by the media.

The media however defended what they had reported, and its stakeholders went and met Speaker Karu Jayasuriya after the matter was raised. Some journalists who met the Speaker told The Sunday Leader that they insisted what was reported was exactly what was said in the document. After going through the original document, Jayasuriya has also conceded that what the media reported was what the document said.

He told the journalists that a mistake made by officials of the Ministry was the cause of the whole issue and the media could not be blamed.

The Speaker also assured that the issue over the media reporting was not recoded as a privilege issue in parliament.

The journalists also spoke to Media Minister Gayantha Karunatillake, who said that the error by the Defence Ministry officials will be raised with the government.

The whole issue was over the use of Air Force helicopters by ministers.

The opposition had asked the government to make statement in parliament on the use of Air Force helicopters by ministers and if the trips were paid for.

State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene tabled his response on Thursday and the media obtained a copy of the response and reported on it the next day.

Media lambasted for Ministry error

The news item published by some of the English and Sinhalese newspapers however came as a shock.

It said that several ministers had not paid for the use of the Air Force helicopters and some of the ministers were also named.

During parliament proceedings on Friday when Wijewardene raised the issue, some ministers, including Rajitha Senaratne, Gayantha Karunatillake, and Wijeydasa Rajapaksha said that they had been wrongly accused of not paying for the use of Air Force helicopters.

Senaratne said that it seemed someone had given the wrong information to the media as it was not a mistake made by just one newspaper.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also spoke here, said that the media should be advised on how to report parliamentary proceedings.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake however said it was unfair to blame the media for reporting what was in a document tabled in parliament.

Media vs Good Governance

This is not the first time the media has come under a verbal attack by the government, which came into to power assuring full media freedom.

In July this year, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had warned private media institutions who are critical of his government.

The Prime Minister said that he was not prepared to leave room for the media to attempt to overthrow the government.

“Do not try to play with us,” the Prime Minister warned while speaking at a public event in Kandy in July.

He said that one newspaper had called for the removal of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera while another had attempted to destabilise the economy of the country.

The Prime Minister had said that the government will remain in power for five years and the newspapers which question the government can also remain only if the public want them to.

“Newspapers can be critical of a government but if they try to remove that government and replace it with crooks, that cannot happen,” he said.

Wickremesinghe had said that he will not allow any media to push former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to power.

Then in September President Maithripala Sirisena told media heads that the media should not mock or ridicule a noble concept like reconciliation as that would give a wrong interpretation about a positive concept to the younger generation.

“There is media freedom today and it is up to you to crticise anybody. However, the media should not ridicule noble concepts like reconciliation by stating that reconciliation is an international conspiracy to divide the country. Such misinterpretations will give a wrong twist to the real meaning of reconciliation and mislead the younger generation,” he said while addressing Media Heads and Newspaper Editors at the President’s House last month.

MR gets close to Tamil media

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa met Tamil journalists in an attempt to build a bridge between him and the Tamils.

During the war, Rajapaksa mostly got negative publicity in the Tamil media since he was seen by the Tamils as being anti-Tamil.

The image he built eventually led to him losing the last presidential elections, mostly because the minorities voted against him.

Rajapaksa seems to feel he needs the support of the minorities; so he is now on a mission to rebuild his image with the Tamils.

As part of that mission to get close to the Tamils, Rajapaksa told the Tamil journalist that Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran is not a racist.

Wigneswaran continued to come under fire by the opposition and others over a statement he allegedly made at a rally in Jaffna recently.

Last Thursday the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution seeking an investigation into Chief Minister C.V.Wigneswaran’s charge that he has been continually receiving information about a plot to assassinate him and put the blame on the LTTE.

“The resolution asked the Inspector General of Police to investigate the complaint and, if necessary, increase security for the Chief Minister,” the Chairman of the NPC, C.V.K. Sivagnanam, told the New Indian Express.

On Tuesday, the Secretary General of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mavai Senathirajah, had said that he had asked TNA chief R. Sampanthan to discuss the matter with President Maithripala Sirisena, and seek enhanced police protection for Wigneswaran.

SRI LANKA: RALLY AGAINST BANNING FILM ‘USAVIYA NIHANDAI’ – SOCIETY OF SOCIALIST ART

( Screen shot from the ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ (Silence in the Courts trailer)

09/10/2016

The temporary ban on Prasanna Vithanage’s film ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ (Silence in the Courts), at a time when it is necessary to have a productive dialogue in the society regarding the political environment of our country and more and more artistic creations should be presented to the society, as a denial of the artistes’ right to create; an obstruction on the freedom of expression states a communique issued by the Society of Socialist Art.

The communique signed by Chandrasoma Binduhewa, Deepani Silva and Premaratna Tennekone states, “Anyone can get the assistance of the judiciary on behalf of their rights. However, the issue is the danger of making use of such decisions by the government as precedents to censor the right of expression of artistes.”

Full text of the communique:

Rally for the rights of all artistes

“In the dark times

Will there also be singing?

Yes, there will also be singing.

About the dark times” wrote Bertolt Brecht.

We consider the temporary ban on Prasanna Vithanage’s film ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ ((Justice is silent), at a time when it is necessary to have a productive dialogue in the society regarding the political environment of our country and more and more artistic creations should be presented to the society, as a denial of the artiste’s right to create; an obstruction on the freedom of expression. Many artistes including Prasanna Vithanage are awakening the hearts of the society against the present dark era through their imaginative creations

Throughout the past we stood for and struggled for freedom, democracy and specially the right of expression of artistes. We were not concerned whether we struggled on the streets, Parliament or in Courts. The struggle is not over yet.  Despite an approval had been given by the Public Performance Board for ‘Usaviya Nihandai’ film, a temporary enjoining order has been taken. We see this as a boost for the censorship of the right of expression of artistes. Anyone can get the assistance of the judiciary on behalf of their rights. However, the issue is the danger of making use of such decisions by the government as precedents to censor the right of expression of artistes. We call upon all intellectuals, artistes, civil organizations and the people of this country to rally against such moves.

Signed by Chandrasoma Binduhewa, Deepani Silva and Premaratna Tennekone.

– lanka truth

Indo-Pak tensions spillover into SL

*     Joint Opposition deplores govt’s ‘servile’ foreign policy
*     Elaga Tamil and the succession stakes in the TNA

October 8, 2016, 6:44 pm 

Speaking in parliament on Friday Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that contrary to reports published in the media, Sri Lanka had not pulled out of the SAARC summit which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad on 9 and 10 November and that the Sri Lanka foreign ministry had put out a statement saying that the environment in the region was not conducive to holding the SAARC summit only after four other nations had pulled out of the Summit and that according to the SAARC charter, the summit could not be held even if one country pulls out and by the time SL issued its statement the SAARC summit could not be held anyway. Despite this explanation offered by the foreign minister, the statement that the foreign ministry issued did indicate a pullout without mentioning the word.

Indo-Pak tensions spillover into SL.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd