Testing the limits of American democracy

Trump: Idiosyncratic harum-scarum or cunning impostor?

Moderns and primevals, whites and coloureds, will grate
Trumple-thin-skin is my name

by Kumar David-November 19, 2016, 8:46 pm 

"Come fly with us to America while you are still allowed to"

Actual advertisement by Royal Jordanian Airlines

This tongue in cheek spoof by Jordanian Airlines would be funny but that America has elected a "pinch me, this can’t be true" wacko to the Presidency. The other side of the matter is that the guy is cunning, a compromiser who at least on this issue turned tail when he saw the obstacles. His aides have said that the threat to suspend entry visas for Muslims is passé, no longer relevant, and would be taken down from the Trump website.

Likewise on Obamacare he seems to have turned tail and capitulated on "pre-existing aliments" and "children under 25 on parent’s policies". He will not dare touch the 20 million newly covered people unless he wants the streets to ignite. By conceding these he has capitulated on the core medical elements of Obamacare, whatever disguise he employs to con his base. There will be changes to the institutional aspects (Health Insurance Exchanges) by 2019 but this was overdue and had to done, Clinton or Trump.

There is more on the cards if one believes that what his aides say reflects what the big bad wolf thinks. One of his aides explained that the Wall was not intended as a physical structure but a "conceptual reference" to tighter immigration and border controls. Another leak is that a message had been sent to Japan not to worry about defence and the nuclear umbrella; "it will be business as usual". A third is a specific campaign promise on which I reckon Trump will not dare to go forward, his threat to deport non-criminal undocumented Mexicans including children born in the US. If his Gestapo goes after millions of Mexicans, some have lived and worked without papers for years, there will be blood on the sidewalk. Having taken his faithful for a ride he now hopes to fool the liberals and the educated by playing softly-softly. The ruse won’t work; demonstrations are spreading and so far show no sign of abating. Isn’t it the winning side that should take to carnivals and rallies?

Dig in or capitulate?

An interesting dichotomy is will Trump compromise and capitulate so much that he seems like a continuation the last eight years with cosmetic variations, or will he persist with a sufficient number of his idiosyncrasies to plunge America and the world into uncharted waters? Apart from the points on which I see signs of capitulation (Obamacare, no visas for Muslims, deporting Mexicans and backing-off on the threat to Japan) there are others to a keep an eye on. If we tick this list as we go along the answer should be evident by mid-2017. Here is the check-list:

* Erecting trade barriers against China, Mexico and "foreigners who are robbing us".

* Revoking the "worst trade deal in history" NAFTA, with Mexico and Canada; ending the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP); calling off trade deal negotiations with the EU (TTIP).

* Annulling the multilateral nuclear arms elimination agreement with Iran forthwith.

* Withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement within 100 days.

You won’t need to wait 100 days, it will be palpable a lot earlier whether Trump rocks the boat or chickens out when he sees he is constrained by reality. For example a trade war with China and Asia will hurt US consumers, set off turmoil in Mexico and evoke retaliation from others. This will tip the world into recession more quickly than 2018-19, the prediction of sober economists. A knock-on consequence of recession will be that the dollar will come under pressure as the medium of global payments and the repository of global savings. There will be hard-landings, as the economists say, all round.

Trump is so intemperate and ill-disciplined that having swung from ‘damn Obamacare’ to ‘retain chunks of Obamacare’ he is capable of a reverse somersault. It is ditto on other matters. Republicans have the presidency and control of both houses of Congress and, this is important, this is the most reactionary right-wing Republican caucus in 25 years. The muddle doesn’t end there; Trump is a Mussolini style populist, an outsider, a pariah in GOP elite and inner circles. Conflict between the political elite on one side, and on the other side populism and the coterie of buddies and family members he has chosen to pull the levers of power, will pan out. His imagination is vivid Mussolini-infrastructure grandiosity, the GOP soul is "small government and non-intervention economics". Prosaic GOP and quixotic Donald will grate against one another. Jekyll and Hyde; Preibus and Brannon!

Trump’s economic populism is at odds with the GOP’s staple diet. He plans to invest $1 trillion in a pseudo-Keynesian splurge, eliminate an annual budget deficit of $1 trillion in a neoliberal gasp and cut taxes – 7.5% for everyman, 15%+ for the rich and the corporations – all at the same time. Incredibly he says he will also erase the government debt which stands at $ 19.8 trillion. He promises to push the GDP growth rate, now a miserable 1.5%, up to 5% by the end of his term. And what is the number of jobs he has promised to create? 25 million! And these absurd promises are pronounced at a time when the economy is likely to tumble into recession within three years. America is on the cusp of tumultuous times!

Foreign Relations

Never before has the victory in an American presidential candidate been greeted so icily by its closest allies. Angela Merkel congratulated him and said "I offer the new President close cooperation on the basis of these values" and lectured that these values are "democracy, freedom and racial equality". Her choice of words and stern tone put Trump on notice. Jean-Claude Junker, EU Commission President was downright rude: "He is upsetting EU-US ties fundamentally and structurally; we need to teach him what Europe is and how it works; two years will be wasted while Trump tours a world that he does not understand". NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg warned Trump not to "go it alone". So the era of easy US-European consensus seems to have ended unless Trump backs off.

Those who cheered his victory and exulted in Hillary Clinton’s defeat included French far-right leader Marine Le Penn, Philippine maverick Rodrigo Duarte, British far-right anchor Nigel Farage the first foreign visitor greeted with open arms, and of course his buddy Putin. This is strange territory for the Republican Party and complicates its relationship with a president who is not a Republican at heart or by habit. Better relations with Russia is good but Putin will drive a hard bargain with hither and thither Trump – ease sanctions, pull back nuclear deployment and back-off on Crimea and Syria’s Assad, he will say. Actually America has little room for manoeuvre beyond realities that constrained Obama. My money is that the policy framework in place for Syria-Iraq, Iran Nuclear Deal, South China Sea and NATO will be retained. There will also an ugly turn towards supporting the far-right everywhere and some dictators.

The anti-Trump America

Up to now everybody has been talking about the alienation and anger of white workers and the frustration and neglect of swathes of rural America. Mark my words, in the coming years the centre of discourse will shift to the revolt of the educated, the liberals and the technology engendered new working classes. The wave of demonstrations sweeping NY, LA, SF, Denver, Austin TX, Miami, West Palm Beach, Portland, Columbus, Minneapolis, Madison and Milwaukee is an upsurge of revulsion. It is deeper than rejection of an unsavoury individual; it is ignition of a divide in American polity. This wave may peak on 20 January and taper off and quieten for a while. However the deeper dynamic is that we have entered an era of conflict between modernised America, not just the liberals, and Trump’s Administration, unless he backs-off from his trade mark threats and policies.

Nationwide protests give notice that a divided nation is arming for a long war. It is not impossible that there will be blood on the sidewalks if Trump prunes wages, welfare or benefits, or goes ahead with unpopular measures like an abortion ban, deporting Mexicans, or curbing imports causing prices to rise. Another Vietnam War- Civil Rights Movement era in campuses and cities may be the Trump legacy. A fringe group called for independence for California; an anachronistic absurdity. But what this does point to is that there are in reality two Americas in economic structure, educational attainment and intellectual ethos. I do not contest that Trump has been constitutionally elected; my point lies elsewhere. A fraction more votes were cast for Hilary than Trump, his bizarre policies rejected by the modernised half of society, and his moral right to lead spurned. Crucially this has happened in an election like no other. It is this extraordinary dynamic that is now playing itself out.

Zimbabwe’s Currency Hail Mary

Faced with a crippling cash crisis, the southern African country has designed a solution that nobody thinks will work.


BY SIMON ALLISON-NOVEMBER 21, 2016

HARARE, Zimbabwe — It’s late morning in the Zimbabwean capital, and there are already 63 people waiting in line outside a suburban branch of the Central Africa Building Society (CABS) bank. Kudzai Moyo, a 28-year-old graphic designer, isn’t one of them.

“What’s the point?” he says. “If you’re not there early enough, you can forget it. They don’t even have enough cash for the people waiting already.”

Zimbabwe is in the throes of a crippling cash crisis. The southern African country has been using U.S. currency since April 2009, when hyperinflation that reached 500 billion percent caused the Zimbabwean dollar to collapse.

But the solution to that disaster contained the seeds of the next one: Zimbabwe imports far more than it exports — a problem that has been exacerbated this year by one of the worst droughts in recent memory — meaning that those precious U.S. dollars are all flowing out of the country.

Today, there is simply not enough hard currency for banks to meet customers’ demands. As a result, the economy is slowly grinding to a standstill: People don’t have enough money in their pockets to pay for basic goods while businesses struggle to pay for imports.

To stave off economic collapse, the Zimbabwean government plans to introduce so-called “bond notes” denominated in U.S. dollars this month. The pseudo-currency, supposedly backed by a $200 million loan from the African Export-Import Bank, will be put into circulation through a 5 percent export credit (essentially a $5 bonus in bond notes for every $100 worth of goods exported by Zimbabwean companies).

But in a country still reeling from the last economic crisis and where few people trust the government, economists fear the bond note plan will only make things worse.

“The bond note is as good as a leaf in my garden. What a load of rubbish,” Tendai Biti, the former finance minister credited with overseeing Zimbabwe’s impressive economic recovery between 2009 and 2013, told Foreign Policy. “In failed states, economies die because of a lack of trust. The bond note is going to be introduced in a sea of huge distrust.”

The current crisis is in some ways a mirror image of the last one, which was caused by President Robert Mugabe’s decision to print money to fund his 2008 re-election bid. Back then, there was too much money sloshing through the economy whereas now there’s not enough. But the consequences are similarly painful: Savings evaporated, businesses collapsed, supermarket shelves were empty.

Limits on cash withdrawals have been in place for months, but banks, running out of cash themselves, keep making the limits smaller. At some banks, customers are only allowed to withdraw $20 per day, regardless of how much is in their accounts. And there are no guarantees that even this sum will be available.

Edward, a 40-year-old security guard who asked to be identified only by his first name, is in the CABS queue. He’s number 37 in line and has been there since 4:30 a.m. The day before, he had arrived slightly later, but when his turn finally came — more than four hours later — the ATM had run out of money.
Edward’s salary is deposited electronically into his bank account, but like most Zimbabweans he needs cash to pay for basic living expenses like rent and groceries. “When you work, you expect to receive your salary. But when the cash is not there, you get nothing for it. Now I have to talk to my landlord; maybe he will wait for me,” he said.

At other banks across the country, Zimbabweans are sleeping outside to guarantee their spot in line. A cottage industry of food and drink vendors has arisen to cater to them while the unemployed but enterprising are making a few bucks by holding people’s places when they need a break. Rumor has it that bank tellers are making a small fortune by providing information — for a fee — on which branches will receive cash deliveries and when.

Others are trying to avoid the problem entirely by using electronic transfers and mobile money applications, but such solutions are not available to everyone: Internet penetration stands at just 48.1 percent, whereas the large informal economy — worth an estimated $7.5 billion or more than half of Zimbabwe’s $13.9 billion GDP in 2015 — relies mainly on cash.

Talk of new bond notes has injected additional uncertainty into the mix. Zimbabweans don’t even know what they will look like, let alone how they will function in practice. Few believe that the new pseudo-currency will be restricted to exporters; a recurring fear is that bank balances denominated in U.S. dollars will be replaced overnight with bond notes.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has offered only convoluted explanations, denying this is an attempt to introduce a new currency but at the same time claiming the notes will be considered legal tender, with businesses legally obliged to accept them.

“Bond notes are not a surrogate Zimbabwe dollar for they are not currency but a financial instrument, issued at par with the U.S. dollar,” the Reserve Bank said in a statement in early November. The notes will initially be available in denominations of $2 and $5.

The man behind the bond notes plan is Reserve Bank Gov. John Mangudya, who has been on a whirlwind campaign to reassure the skeptical populace in recent weeks. It’s a tough sell: Although Mangudya comes from a commercial banking background, he has been dogged by reports that his doctorate in business administration is from a so-called “diploma mill” — an unrecognized university that offers fake degrees for a fee.

The man pushing the bond notes has a “bond degree,” the local joke goes.

Piers Pigou, a Zimbabwe expert for the International Crisis Group, says the plan might have worked if it weren’t for widespread distrust of the government. “In a normal situation, the bond notes may be a reasonable project to put forward. But the problem we have here is that Zimbabweans simply do not trust their government. We see the queues at the banks, and people want their money out, because they don’t want it in the system,” he said.

“After the destruction of the Zimbabwe dollar, anyone who believes that funny money bond notes will hold their value is delusional,” said Todd Moss, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. “If the bond notes are truly backed by U.S. dollars, there’s no reason not to just put those dollars into the economy. Obviously, the goal is to reintroduce a local currency that can be manipulated for political purposes.”

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the political opposition, agrees. “It’s not an economic problem. It’s a political issue. And once you resolve the political madness, you will be in a position to restore the necessary confidence,” he told FP in an interview.

That madness, according to Tsvangirai, is the result of the government of nonagenarian Mugabe, who has been in charge of Zimbabwe for 36 years and counting. In that time, Zimbabwe has gone from being the “breadbasket” of southern Africa to a net food importer, with endemic economic mismanagement forcing it to abandon its national currency.

“This government cannot resolve the economic crisis,” Tsvangirai said.

Mugabe’s government has faced mounting popular unrest in recent months, fueled in part by the deteriorating economy. The introduction of bond notes could add fuel to the fire. Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesman for Tajamuka — a popular youth movement responsible for several high-profile anti-government demonstrations this year — said his and other civil society organizations are planning a series of protests against the introduction of the bond notes in the coming weeks and months.

“We believe you can’t have any reforms with Mugabe still there. You need to have the people’s confidence, and without that, bond notes cannot work. We believe Mugabe must leave,” he said.

Edward, still waiting in line at the bank, is worried that when he finally gets his turn at the ATM, it will spit out bond notes instead of greenbacks.

“Ah! That won’t do,” he says. “We won’t like that.”

Top image: ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP/Getty Images

Government allows farmers to buy seeds with old 500 rupee bills - statement

A farmer smokes while sitting on sacks of paddy crops as he waits for customers, one week after the Indian government withdrew the circulation of high denomination banknotes, in Sanand village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, November 15, 2016. REUTERS/Amit Dave/File photo

Mon Nov 21, 2016

The Indian government has allowed farmers to purchase seeds with old 500 rupee banknote from state-run outlets, the finance ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's shock move to cancel 500 and 1,000 rupee bills as legal tender has left millions of farmers with little cash to buy seeds and fertilisers for winter crops, threatening production of key commodities and hurting rural communities only just recovering after two years of drought.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

The Dalai Lama’s Visit to Mongolia Indicate Shape of Things to Happen

The bold action of Mongolia in receiving the Dalai Lama is bound to become a trend setter in the coming days, with more countries emboldened to encourage the visit of the Dalai Lama.

by N.S.Venkataraman-Nov 20, 2016

( November 20, 2016, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Dalai Lama’s recent visit to Mongolia has been followed by bitter outburst from China , which demanded that “Mongolia not allow the visit by the Dalai Lama and do not promote any facilitation for the separatist activities by the Dalai clique”

Inspite of the fact that Mongolia is heavily dependent on trade with China and does not have economic and military might to face any confrontation with China, the government of Mongolia has shown rare courage to allow the visit of the Dalai Lama, in spite of knowing that China would vehemently criticize and oppose this action. Though Mongolia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had said that the Dalai Lama’s visit has no connection to the government, it is very clear that the government of Mongolia has defied the dictate of China , for the sake of a cause.

The action of the Mongolian government is in sharp contrast to the action of a few other countries like Sri Lanka and USA.

Inspite of being a country with large Buddhist population, Sri Lankan government refused visa to the Dalai Lama and denied opportunity to Buddhist citizens of Sri Lanka to receive and honour the Dalai Lama . Sri Lankan government took this unprincipled stand fearing opposition from China.

President Obama received the Dalai Lama through the back door fearing criticism from China. By this ill advised move, President Obama , who received the Nobel prize for peace ,humiliated himself affecting his reputation and making people think that he is a person who does not have the courage of conviction. 

Further, the claim of USA that it is champion of freedom and liberty was blown into pieces by this single act of President Obama ,which many people thought amount to belittling the Dalai Lama, the venerable leader of the Buddhist community.

Certainly, the world conscience remain disturbed due to the aggression of China by occupying the Tibet forcibly and suppressing protest in Tibet violently. Even after several decades of China entering Tibet, large section of the people around the world are demanding that Tibet should be liberated. China clearly knows this and this is why it is demanding that no country should entertain the Dalai Lama.

The bold action of Mongolia in receiving the Dalai Lama is bound to become a trend setter in the coming days, with more countries emboldened to encourage the visit of the Dalai Lama.

The fact that hundreds of monks and worshippers waited for several hours in biting temperature in Mongolia for a glimpse of 81 year old Dalai Lama reflects the desire and aspiration of Buddhists around the world . It should give greater confidence to all Tibetans in Tibet and across the world as well as the freedom lovers to continue the struggle for the liberation of Tibet with re doubled vigour.

With Donald Trump becoming the President of USA, Tibetans all over the world and freedom activists should appeal to Donald Trump to make his stand very clear towards the cause of freedom of Tibet.

In his pre election campaign ,Donald Trump has shown that he can think out of the box and reverse the policies of the US government on many matters. There is no doubt that US has been following the policy of appeasing China as far as Tibetan issue is concerned .

Tibetans should utilize the break given by Mongolia by receiving the Dalai Lama and they should inject more dynamism and impetus to the campaign for freedom of Tibet.

Tibetans should appeal to Donald Trump to receive the Dalai Lama through the front door rather than the back door that President Obama did , clearly sending a signal to China that the cause of Tibet is dear to USA.

Australia: Rights lawyers urge govt to press China over ‘forced’ organ transplants

Canadian lawyer David Kilgour addresses Falun Gong practitioners demonstrating outside Australia's Parliament House in Canberra, Australia Monday, Nov. 21, 2016. Pic: AP

21st November 2016

AUSTRALIA has been urged to apply pressure on China to cease the practice of what human rights activists say is organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience.

Canadian human rights advocates David Kilgour, a former prosecutor and Canadian secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, and David Matas, a human rights lawyer, went to Australia’s Parliament House to persuade lawmakers to approve a motion urging China to immediately end the alleged practice.

The two have published evidence they say shows China performs an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 transplants a year, with organs primarily taken from Falun Gong practitioners, Muslim Uighurs, Tibetan Buddhists and Christians.

Kilgour said the Australian government was reluctant to accept evidence of large-scale, forced organ harvesting in China. Kilgour blamed Australia’s close economic ties with China, its largest trading partner.

“The greatest amount of skepticism seems to be in Australia,” Kilgour said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Kilgour and Matas first published a report on organ harvesting in China in 2006, which became the basis of their 2009 book “Bloody Harvest. The Killing of Falun Gong for their Organs.”

SEE ALSO: China calls alleged organ harvesting from political prisoners ‘groundless accusations’

China says it performed 10,057 organ transplants last year and stopped harvesting organs of executed prisoners since January 2015.

The Australian Health Department said at least 53 Australians traveled to China for organ transplants between 2001 and 2014.

About 200 Falun Gong practitioners demonstrated outside Parliament House against forced organ harvesting on Monday as Matas and Kilgour addressed a meeting of lawmakers from several political parties.

In June, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling on the country to end the alleged practice, requiring the State Department to report to it annually on the implementation of an existing law barring visas to Chinese and other nationals engaged in coercive organ transplantation.

China says the move by the U.S. is based on a “groundless accusation”.

In 2014, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee endorsed a resolution calling on China to immediately end the state-sanctioned harvesting of human organs from prisoners.

Human rights groups have long criticized China for taking organs for transplant from executed prisoners and contend that the practice continues.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

Olive killer disease arrives on Mallorca

EPPO--Image captionThe invasive pathogen has affected thousands of hectares of olive plantations in Puglia, southern Italy

By Mark Kinver-21 November 2016

A disease that poses a "very serious threat" to the EU's olive industry has been recorded on the Spanish island of Mallorca for the first time.

Island officials said a movement ban covering 15,000 hectares had been imposed and measures had been taken to "contain and eradicate its spread".

Experts describe Xylella fastidiosa as one of the "most dangerous pathogens worldwide".

It was first recorded in the EU in 2013, and has since spread westwards.

'Ebola of olives'

Spanish newspaper El Mundo dubbed the bacterium the "Ebola of olive trees".

Officials from the Balearics' Department of Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries said the subspecies of the pathogen had been detected in three cherry trees at a garden centre during a routine check.

They added that the subspecies found on the island has only been recorded infecting cherry and oleander plants, but measures were being taken to eradicate it.

The Xylella fastidiosa bacterium invades the vessels that a plant uses to transport water and nutrients, causing it to display symptoms such as scorching and wilting of its foliage, eventually followed by the death of the plant.

Since it was first detected in olive trees in Puglia, southern Italy, in October 2013, it has been recorded in a number of other locations, including southern France.

Experts warn that should the disease, which has numerous hosts and vectors, spread more widely then it has the potential to devastate the EU olive harvest.

Globally, the EU is the largest producer and consumer of olive oil. According to the European Commission, the 28-nation bloc produces 73% and consumes 66% of the the world's olive oil.

Reports suggested that the X. fastidiosa outbreak led to a 20% increase in olive oil prices during 2015.

Mass Media Ministry to launch yet another investigation against Derana



November 20, 2016

The Ministry of Parliamentary Reform and Mass Media Sunday announced that an investigation would be launched against TV Derana on the allegation of ‘maliciously’ initiating a media ‘mission’ against the Ministry while ‘misusing media freedom’.

 In a statement, Nimal Bopage, the Secretary to the Ministry, stated he witnessed ‘a massive’ campaign against him, the Ministry and the Government via Derana’s TV, radio, websites and social media platforms, instead of conveying a respond with respect of a letter that he sent requesting to make representation within seven days with regard to allegedly distorting and broadcasting a speech made by the President during an event at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on October 12. 

The statement added the investigation would be launched ‘with immediate effect’ against the ‘illegal’ and ‘unethical’ behavior of Derana for violating the terms of the media license and disobeying the fact that a media organization is obliged to convey educational, knowledge and entertainment to its viewers while upholding ‘accuracy’ and precision. 


TV Derana has also been notified last week by the Ministry of Parliamentary Reform and Mass Media to make representation with regard to allegedly distorting and broadcasting the speech made by President Maithripala Sirisena. 

The statement further stated this was the ‘normal’ procedure that the Ministry acts against any media organization and it witnessed ‘an official’ respond to such an event before but not ‘an illegal media pageant.’ 

Judicial Process Used For Tax Collection

By Somapala Gunadheera –November 20, 2016

Somapala Gunadheera

Listening to the budget speech, I was surprised to hear a proposal to increase traffic fines included it. The Government claims to be compelled to impose more and more taxes to meet the extravagant and wasteful expenses incurred by the previous regime. The opposite claim is that the increases are caused by mismanagement and corruption.

It is not my purpose here, to decide between these two claims. I make no bones about the Government collecting funds for its survival. My concern, as a lawyer, pertains to the legality of the method of collection. It is common knowledge that road offences are a part of the criminal law of the land. They are provided for by legislation introduced by the Ministry of Justice, no doubt under advice from the Judiciary and experts in Jurisprudence.

The prime purpose of Criminal Law is to regulate behavior, never to collect revenue. A problem arises when an instrument intended to collect taxes proposes to achieve its purpose by collaterally changing the criminal law process, reminiscent of the famous Aesop’s tale about the dog and the donkey. When the move is made by the national budget, it becomes a clear usurpation of the judicial process for financial gain.

I dare say that vehicle drivers often violate the rights of road users though negligent and rash driving. The Government has a duty to intervene by being alive to the situation and taking legislative measures to correct it. But there is a lawful process prescribed for the purpose. As pointed out above, it is principally, a matter for the Ministry of Justice which has the duty and the right to change the criminal law in the interest of civic life but not to make money in the process. In fact the same amount could have been lawfully collected if the imposition was made under the motor traffic law.

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New Constitution may have 240 seats: RW

2016-11-20


The Constitutional Assembly was looking at the possibility of increasing the number of MPs in the legislature to 240, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who was speaking at the Junior National Law Conference in Negombo, said the government was looking at 240-seat Parliament, where 60 percent would be elected under the First Past the Post (FPP) system and the remaining 40percent on a list. 

“We are looking at a mixed system similar to one in New Zealand. It is similar to the German system as well. But according to the German system, 50 percent of the MPs are elected under a list and other 50 percent on the First Past the Post system. This will help Opposition parties to get more seats. 

“We will stick to 240 MPs. We are looking at introducing an electoral system where 60 percent of the members in Parliament will be elected under the FPP First Past the Post system, while 40 percent on a list,” the Premier said. (Yohan Perera)

Sri Lanka: 13 journalists killed during 2006 – 2015

87 journalists had been assaulted and 20 had been taken into custody during the period

( November 20, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thirteen journalists have been killed during the period January 2006 to January 2015, parliament was told yesterday.

Responding to a question raised by Kalurara District JVP MP, Dr Nalinda Jayatissa, Law and Order and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayake said one journalist had gone missing during that period.

The minister said that 87 journalists had been assaulted and 20 had been taken into custody during the period.

Four media institutions had been attacked five times during the same period, the minister said adding that the then government officials had destroyed evidence with regard to those incidents.

He said that investigations into incidents of journalists harassed and suppressed were being resumed and evidence restored with great difficulty.

He said that legal action would be taken against those who destroyed the evidence. Several persons who had been involved in destroying evidence pertaining to those incidents are now under the remand custody, he said.

Extremists Are Running This Country; Yet Again

By Lukman Harees –November 20, 2016

Lukman Harees

“The dangerous enemies of your species are fundamentalism, intolerance, separatism, extremism, hostility and prejudicial fear, be it religious, atheistic or political.” ― Abhijit Naskar

The hate filled events which Sri Lanka has been witnessing these days are both shameful and dramatic belying the grandiose promise of promoting national reconciliation and denying oxygen to the destructive forces of hate and racism. Tell-tale signs are obvious and their slogans are just hollow pretensions. The extremist Sinhala Buddhist forces led by rogue elements among the Maha Sangha, appeared to have joined hands and on a united spree to demonise, stigmatize and hurt the Muslims on all fronts – socially, politically and economically. These vicious forces of hate still continues to enjoy a near free reign despite a change of government which came to power by promising tough action against them and on a platform of promoting National Reconciliation and equal treatment to all communities. BBS and their likes with their new found cousins Sinhaley have begun to re-enact many episodes which the country saw in the MR era. –street protests, boycott calls, attacking Muslim places of worship and businesses. Nay, they have even found a patron saint in this government too, who speak their language; then it was the Defence Secretary and now it is the Justice Minister.

It is however not surprising that the well –orchestrated anti-Muslim hate campaign in Sri Lanka which had a upward swing during the MR Regime, has once again begun to surface in full ferocity, having had a illusionary dip during the early stages of the Yahapalana rule. Firstly, the climate of fear and cultural mistrust, which has becomes one of the grim aspects of our present day society did not happen by accident. Secondly, it is also a grim reality that at a time when Muslim bashing has become a cottage industry on a global plane, it needs no rocket science to discern that many vested interests and highly organized networks as part of a million dollar industry which preach the virulent Islamophobia, have their local agents too in this country.

Video – Yesterday’s anti-Muslim campaign in Kandy

It should be kept in mind that extremist Buddhist monks who are thankfully still a minority, are confounding; they directly contradict a canonically nonviolent religion often perceived as apolitical. Like radical monks in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan hard-liner post-war hate movements reserve special ire for Muslims. In the last decade, activism by Buddhist monks has grown more overtly political, consolidating their political power to lobby for a majoritarian state ,thus placing minorities in a dependent and a subservient situation. As Analyst Jayadeva Uyangoda argued, many tragic events that transpired in post-independence Sri Lanka could be attributed to Buddhist leaders and Buddhist monks campaigning for policies that exacerbated ethnoreligious violence. It was a matter of shame that the successive governments do not seem to learn lessons from history of the dangerous consequences of pampering to these hate lobbies for political gains, which are hell-bent on making a bogeyman of Muslims – a community which has had a rich history of over 10 centuries of standing up for territorial integrity and unity of this country .

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 RAJAPAKSA WHO UNLEASHED AN UNPRECEDENTED MEDIA SUPPRESSION IN SRI LANKA NOW SPEAKS OF PRESS FREEDOM

Image: A poster of Rajapaksa era media suppression.

20/11/2016

Former president Rajapaksa who unleashed an unprecedented media suppression in Sri Lanka has issued  a press statement accusing present government of media suppression. Under Rajapaksa dozens of news websites were blocked, media institutions attacked, dozens of journalists were abducted and killed with total impunity. Rajapkasa regime controlled by various means  all most all electronic and print media institutions in the country.

So far present government has failed to complete any of the investigation of Rajapaksa era media attacks and none of the culprits have been brought to the justice. On the other hand press freedom organizations in the country has failed to oppose anti media statements of the present government.

Under this context Rajapaksa is trying to be the saviour of press freedom of Sri Lanka.

We publish full text of the ex-President Rajapaksa’s statement below.

“While the people’s attention remains focused on the budget and on constitutional reform, the government has launched a repression campign against the media. The secretary to the media ministry wrote to Derana TV last Friday asking them to explain the alleged distortion of a speech made by the president in one of their news bulletins before ‘further action’ is taken against the news channel. Earlier, on 25 October, the same official had written to Derana TV informing them that an inquiry is being conducted into this matter. The speech referred to was the one made by the President on 12 October at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute where he had said among other things that the CID, FCID and Bribery Commission were working to a political agenda and that he was opposed to the manner in which the former defence secretary and three former commanders of the navy were taken to courts.

“The following day (26 October), Derana TV replied to the media ministry saying that in any TV news bulletin anywhere in the world, only a one or two minute segment of a  speech lasting 30 or 45 minutes would be broadcast. They had also pointed out that there was no difference between the segment of the speech they had broadcast and the content of a statement issued by the presidential media division on the same day. Despite this response, the media ministry secretary has once again called for an explanation from  Derana TV.

“On 25 October the same day on which Derana TV was informed that an inquiry was being made against them, the media ministry secretary issued a letter revoking the broadcasting license of the CSN Channel. The three charges made against CSN was that the change of address of the channel had not been notified to the media ministry, that directors of the channel were members of a political party and that the annual accounts of the channel had not been filed with the media ministry. CSN has rejected all three charges stating that their address has remained the same since the inception, that none of their directors past or present had been a member of a political party and that annual accounts are not submitted to the media ministry by any media organisation. In any case, none of the charges made against CSN can justify an action as serious as the revocation of a broadcasting license.

“Even though the letter sent to CSN by the media ministry secretary had stated that an inquiry had been held, CSN has informed the media that none of their directors or employees had been called for an inquiry.  Some time ago, a website critical of the government called ‘Lanka News Web Today’ was blocked by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission. This government has arrested and jailed several young people for making posts critical of the government in their face book accounts.  On one occasion a youth returning from overseas was arrested at the airport for allegedly making death threats against the president on his face book account.  One of those arrested and jailed for making face book posts critical of the president was the deputy chairman of the Southern Provincial Council Sampath Atukorale.

“All this is a part of a concerted effort to prevent the media from reporting anything detrimental to the government and to strike fear into young people so that they will not share critical thoughts about the government even on their private face book pages. The people have seen the manner in which the prime minister routinely issues threats to media organisations and to individual journalists. The action taken against Derana TV and CSN shows that the government has started following through with those threats. Last Saturday, the prime minister speaking in parliament in the presence of the President once again stressed the need to bring the media under their control.

“Media repression is now a cornerstone of this government’s policy.  Not a day goes by without a major demonstration against the government. The government is avoiding holding the long overdue local government elections due to the fear of defeat. They are now trying to intimidate and control the media so as to prevent the people from being informed about what is going on in the country. We unreservedly condemn this attempt to stifle the media and to destroy the last vestiges of democracy in this country.”

Tongue-in cheek Budget

By  I.P.C. Mendis-November 20, 2016 

"The mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse " goes the famous saying. Finance Minister Ravi Karunayakes's pre-budget inspiratory  assurance of a budget that would jolt the people with "Holman" (Ghosts), proved to be a damp squib and much before the people realised it, some Members of Parliament were seen non-plussed, yawning, otherwise pre-occupied or simply dozing ! Such an incoherent budget, the country had not seen. Much of it would have been relevant for a Throne Speech and not a Budget Speech which is normally expected to detail the state of the economy and how best it is proposed to tackle problems, how to bridge the deficit between revenue and expenditure and what the future holds. Gone are the days when Budget Speeches were excellent material for students. The rot set in when President Premadasa found no use of such time-consuming thesis and wanted the speech restricted to 45 minutes. The debate itself was fixed for the following day leaving practically no time for front-liners in the Opposition to study. Minister Karunanayake seems to have realised the importance of the budget speech as of old but failed miserably in its art and substance. The Finance Minister needs to realise that in a situation where some 31 of his proposals in Budget Speech 2016 have not seen the light of day, he must necessarily be circumspect in his euphoria for 2017. He appears very thick-skinned to risk another set, most of which have the potential of suffering the same fate. A Finance Minister who had assured senior citizens last year that an additional Rs.500,000 would be available for investment at 15% interest (in addition to the one million already authorised)  must be very bold  to repeat it without so much as an apology. A Minister who had already taxed Ceylon Tobacco at 90% and crowed about it  must be shameless to make a "request" of the company to fork out Rs. 500 mn.  to the President’s Fund in the bid to fight cancer. Quite apart from the ethics of it and the cynicism to get the company to virtually fasttrack its own demise what prospective investors both local and foreign will make of it is another matter.

Nor does it appear that sufficient attention has been paid to making it prohibitive for illicit hooch manufacture and the possibility of it being controlled through heavy taxes on some raw material used in its manufacture. Make no mistake - the "request" to CTC is not an innocent one. The CTC is faced with a "Hobson's Choice". It looks more in retaliation for what is said to have happened in the past which  has now been made common knowledge through TV coverage. This comes from a government which pledged to eradicate inter alia, thuggery, intimidation and corruption. The Finance Minister (by implication the government)  has in desperation done a Marie Antoinette by proposing to replace three-wheelers with electric cars gradually! As a first step the import duty has been increased. An encouragement for organized transport of another hue to benefit people with capital, edging out the poor man.

The Icing on the Cake

The icing on the cake comes from the Finance Minister himself in blaming the media

for allegedly mis-interpreting the proposal to impose a minimum fine of Rs.2500/- for traffic offences. The day before he issued a statement refusing to retract. Never did he mention then about a mis-interpretation. Gemunu Wijeratne the private bus boss when asked by the media what the correct interpretation was, sarcastically replied that the question needs to be answered by the Minister. The Minister’s recourse to the Cabinet on this issue, per se, is sufficient evidence that there was no such mis-interpretation.

Some comments on selected

proposals are as follows -

Para 144 - Paying wards in state hospitals to be run together with private sector. Also, private medical testing laboratories to be permitted in state hospitals. - Indeed, a step to legitimize the already prevalent practice of getting patients to patronize private laboratories. While specialist doctors are entitled to private practice only outside working hours, they will henceforth be quite happy utilizing duty time also using state facilities - the non-paying category being the poorer by their studied absence in wards. The malady is bound to spread among all doctors and will lead to unrest among other categories working in non-paying wards. It seems a first step to privatise para medical services.

Para 177 - Five-year multiple visas to be issued to foreign investors and their skilled expatriate labour. This comes ill from a government which heavily criticised the employment of skilled expatriate labour, particularly related to Chinese and Korean contracts. It forebodes an opening into the provisions of the ETCA Agreement proposed despite protestations to the contrary. It is also significant that the budget speech is strangely silent on the prospects of the ETCA Agreement which it is hell-bent on signing.

Paras 204 to 207 - Proposal to set up a Maritime Authority. Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. Faced with great odds from international big business, including the all- powerful Conference Lines, the 1970 government of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike succeeded in establishing two vital legal entities, namely, the Ceylon Shipping Corporation and the Ceylon Freight Bureau. The government did not fund the purchase of vessels and the CSC resorted to commercial loans guaranteed by government. The Freight Bureau ensured the equitable allocation of cargo and it was such a success that certain other countries interested themselves in the institutional framework – Came the 1977 government, and they were both deliberately run down. With all its good intentions the present government needs to get its priorities correct. National interests cannot be ensured with untrammeled "laissez faire" . The dockyard was part of the then Colombo Port Commission and the 1970 government carved it out from an Advance Account facility to a government/private sector (S.P. Tao of Singapore) company and this bold decision has made Colombo Dockyard to stand on its own and be proud of its achievements.

Para 245 - The Minister places emphasis on the importance of expressways and takes pride on reducing costs by 22%. He does not comment on the alleged reduction of lanes from six to four which will contribute to congestion in the future as already experienced during some seasons, even in the Southern and Katunayake expressways. He also does not compare the comparative costs between the already constructed ones and new tenders entered into by the present government.

Para 485 - Fee on filing a court case. This is most unjust and unfair. It erodes the freedom of the individual to seek justice. The citizen is not to blame for the inefficiency and mishandling by the State. The laws delays were consciously and deliberately enhanced by the actions of the UNP government of 1977 by, inter alia, restoring testamentary proceedings held by the Public Trustee back to District Courts and upsetting other arrangements introduced by the UF government of 1970 which benefited litigants and reduced delays. Delays are also due to most lawyers living on dates. It is up to government to strengthen the judicial set-up by revising some of the archaic legislation and procedures without squeezing the public dry.

The stoic silence on the effects on the economy on the stoppage of work on the Port City and some other important projects and the causes for exchange rate fluctuations is deafening !

(The author was a former Addl. Director (Budget) in the General Treasury and a former Deputy Director, Merchant Shipping in the Ministry of Ship[ping & Tourism)