Romania's left takes big lead in parliamentary election – exit polls

Social Democrats thought to have about 45% of vote, with leader Liviu Dragnea serving suspended sentence for voter fraud

 Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the Social Democracy party, arriving at party headquarters in Bucharest on Sunday. Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Sunday 11 December 2016 

Two exit polls gave Romania’s left-leaning Social Democrats a big lead in a parliamentary election, a year after a major anti-corruption drive forced the last socialist prime minister from power.

The Social Democratic party scored about 45% while the center-right Liberals came second with about 21% of the vote, according to polling institute CURS-Avangarde and the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy.

The chairman of the Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, greeted it cautiously, saying he was quite satisfied and overwhelmed by what the exit polls predicted, adding: “I hope we won’t have conflicts in the future.”

The Save Romania Union, a new party, which ran on an anti-corruption ticket, came third, which, according to the polls, will allow it to enter parliament.

“There should be no doubt who won the elections,” Dragnea said. “Romanians want to feel at home in their own country and I want Romania to be a good home for all Romanians.”

Dragnea received a two-year suspended prison sentence for voter fraud in April for inflating voter numbers at a July 2012 referendum to impeach former President Traian Băsescu. His party was pushing a populist line.

Dragnea said Romania would respect its international strategic and economic commitments. “Romania is an island of stability in the region,” he said.

Save Romania Union leader Nicușor Dan called the exit poll predictions “a victory for Romanian democracy,” noting people had left their jobs to volunteer to set up the party, which was created in February.

Early results are expected on Monday morning. The country of about 19 million people is one of the poorest in the EU and perceived as having significant problems with corruption.

Indonesia: Aceh earthquake leaves more than 43,000 homeless

Indonesian rescue workers carry a survivor from a fallen building after an earthquake in Trienggadeng, Pidie Jaya, in the northern province of Aceh, Indonesia.-Antara Foto/Ampelsa

11th December 2016

AT least 43,000 people have been displaced by the powerful earthquake that hit Aceh province, the Indonesian government said.

The estimate of the number of the homeless continues to grow as relief efforts fan out across the three districts near the epicenter of Wednesday’s magnitude 6.5 quake. At least 100 people died.

The disaster relief agency says humanitarian groups are now coordinating their efforts from a main command post in the worst affected district of Pidie Jaya.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo traveled Friday to areas of the province torn apart by the quake and vowed to rebuild communities.

Indonesian officials said on Friday search and rescue operations were nearing an end three days after the powerful earthquake hit the northern province.

The latest earthquake, which toppled dozens of buildings and injured hundreds of people, was the worst disaster to hit the region since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

“We believe we have found 99 percent of the victims,” said Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster management agency.

SEE ALSO: Indonesia quake: Search for survivors resumes as death toll passes 100

The agency revised the death toll down to 100 from 102.

Hundreds of people in Aceh’s Pidie Jaya regency held Friday prayers outside mosques that had been reduced to rubble.

Many residents of the town of 140,000 have been sleeping in shelters and relief workers have been handing out food, water, and blankets.

President Joko Widodo visited survivors, including many getting treatment for broken bones in hospitals and tent clinics.

The province of Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, has declared a two-week state of emergency and the central government has pledged aid for recovery efforts.

A Dec. 26, 2004, earthquake and tsunami killed more than 120,000 people in Aceh.

In all, the 2004 tsunami killed 226,000 people along Indian Ocean shorelines.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press and Reuters

Only 3% of women can confidently name a symptom of ovarian cancer. This must change

Pain in the pelvis or abdomen could be a symptom of ovarian cancer CREDIT: ALAMY

By Judith Potts-9 DECEMBER 2016 • 3:00PM

Iknew that ovarian cancer is notoriously difficult to diagnose, because the symptoms can mimic other conditions, but what I did not realise until recently is that for some women, no symptoms appear until the cancer has reached an advanced stage. I spoke to a young mother at the launch of Target Ovarian Cancer’s Pathfinder study whose ovarian cancer had caused no symptoms whatsoever until nine months ago, when her stomach bloated out of all proportion to her elegant size. The cancer was diagnosed and treated but, very sadly, returned within months and she has been advised that this will happen again.

41 per cent of women have to visit their GP three times or more before being referred for diagnostic tests

For her it was not a question of having to nag the GP but for women whose cancer does show signs, some GPs are not recognising symptoms soon enough.  Figures released by Target Ovarian Cancer, the research and support charity, in its Pathfinder 2016 report show that a shocking 41 per cent of women have to visit their GP three times or more before being referred for diagnostic tests.  However – in defence of the GPs – I remember an eminent ovarian cancer consultant explaining to me that this is not a cancer which will be seen that often in a GP’s working life.

Each year 7,000 women are diagnosed with the disease, of which there are different types of tumours ranging from the slow growing borderline tumours to the most common type, called the epithelial ovarian tumour. The highest risk factors which increase a woman’s chance of developing ovarian cancer are age (over 50) and family history – although 80-85 per cent of ovarian cancer cases are not inherited.

Target’s figures also show that only three per cent of women in the UK feel very confident about naming an ovarian cancer symptom.

To this end Target Ovarian Cancer, working with Macmillan Cancer Support, has produced two ‘10 top tips’ leaflets – one for GPs and one for patients - which aim to help both sides of the GP’s desk to communicate more effectively with each other about the symptoms of this cancer. Especially for GPs, Target has also produced free-to-access online learning modules with up-to-date information about ovarian cancer – which includes ‘The Family History of Ovarian Cancer’.

Ovarian cancer on a CT scan CREDIT:  CULTURA RM / ALAMY

The particularly significant symptoms are pain in the pelvis or abdomen, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, needing to wee more urgently or more often than usual and persistent bloating.  There can be other symptoms too – such as changes in bowel habits, extreme fatigue, unexplained weight or appetite loss and any post-menopausal bleeding should always be investigated by the GP.

Unlike breast cancer, there is no screening available for ovarian cancer.  The CA125 test - used to determine the level of this particular protein in the blood – is the only ‘first base’ test that there is, at the moment. However, it cannot be said to be totally reliable because a rise in the level – taking it over 35 - can be caused by other factors, such as endometriosis, menstruation, or ovarian cysts.  More confusingly, some women with ovarian cancer will have readings below 35. Should the reading be above 35, the GP will arrange for an ultrasound scan of the pelvis and tummy.

Without screening, it is inevitable that far too many women will find themselves with stage 4 cancer before they even knew they had stage 1. Finding a reliable test must be the priority

Target launched its Pathfinder 2016 study (conducted with funding by the Peter Sowerby Foundation) at the House of Commons, hosted by Sharon Hodgson MP, who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ovarian Cancer, a long-standing and staunch supporter of the work of Target.  The 17 recommendations in the report cover awareness, diagnosis, treatment, support, genetics, clinical trials, mental wellbeing and body image. David Mowat MP (the new Minister for Community Health and Care) gave his commitment to Annwen Jones, CEO of Target, that he would meet to discuss the next steps.

There is a great need for more specialised cancer nurses to ensure that patients feel supported all through treatment; more awareness of this type of cancer; and more research for better drugs and therapies. Mr Mowat needs to make his start very soon.

Late diagnosis is a major problem but, without screening, it is inevitable that far too many women will find themselves with stage 4 cancer before they even knew they had stage 1. Finding a reliable test must be the priority.

In the UK, the Medical Detection Dogs’ charity, supported by many cancer consultants, is working on early diagnosis of breast cancer and prostate cancer. Using the power of the dog’s nose to detect the cancer volatiles in samples of breath (for breast cancer) and urine (for prostate cancer), the results surpass those of the current tests by a very high margin.

The Medical Detection Dogs CREDIT:  JOHN WATTS ROBERTSON

I asked Dr Claire Guest of MDD whether or not a similar project could be used for ovarian cancer.  Her answer was yes but, due to lack of resources and funding in the UK, MDD would not take it on.  However, her colleagues at Penn Vet University in the USA have taken up the challenge.  It is early days but the Penn team is ‘looking at odours emanating from blood samples of patients with ovarian cancer’. The aim is to identify what specifically distinguishes diseased from healthy samples and to determine which sample type (serum, vaginal secretions, urine or exhaled air) is most effective and accurate for screening.
I do hope that one day there will be at least one dog in each surgery, which will use his or her nose - the simplest, cheapest and quickest of tests – to detect the very earliest stages of a range of cancers.

Should you be suffering from any of the symptoms listed, please consult your GP and insist on having a CA125 test.  If you need support, please call Target Ovarian Cancer’s Helpline – 020 7923 5475 – or enter your postcode on the website to find support groups in your area.

Families of missing demonstrate in Jaffna on Human Rights Day

10 Dec  2016

Families of the missing demonstrated in Jaffna town on Saturday marking international Human Rights Day. 

Holding photographs of their missing loved ones, demonstrators called on the government to provide answers about the whereabouts of their relatives. 

Sinhalese & Tamils: The Widening Gulf

By Rajan Hoole –December 10, 2016

Dr. Rajan Hoole

Southern Perceptions Mid – 1983

What became increasingly conspicuous in the run up to the 1983 holocaust was the widening divergence in Sinhalese and Tamil perceptions. A common standard seemed to have become out of reach. Among the Sinhalese, as seen in press editorials and letters to the editor, the drift was that the Tamils were passively or otherwise supporting the terrorists, and to meet such a situation, anything goes. Perhaps without fully realising where it was leading them to, the Government too encouraged this. It diverted attention from the rigged Referendum of December 1982, the Government’s lack of legitimacy, the violence at the bye-elections of May and its cavalier attitude to democratic norms. There was a two way relationship in extremism in public sentiment as articulated by the media on the one hand and by the Government on the other. Each seemed to feed the intemperateness of the other. By mid-July the obsession with terrorism as Tamil terrorism seemed to supersede everything else. President Jayewardene’s interview to the Daily Telegraph of London (Sect. 4.5) about his no longer being able to take into account the lives of Tamils or ‘their opinion about us’, had the effect of raising the flag for a showdown. The Press and even the SLFP seemed to have swallowed the bait, and were rallying to the standard either vocally or passively. The UNP Government of Jayewardene’s had thus silenced opposition in the South and had secured temporary conformity; but at a disastrous price.

As for Tamil opinion, it seemed to have largely opted out of trying to find expression in the mainline media. The Jaffna-based Saturday Review was perhaps the most spirited exponent of the Tamil point of view. The fact that it was sealed under the PSO on 2nd July 1983 with hardly a whimper of protest from the Southern media was a sign of what the country was sliding towards. It is also notable that on the eve of the July holocaust, Amirthalingam pointed out that the English Press had in recent times failed to publish his letters written to the President in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition. In those times these letters accurately detailed events in the North-East, and offered a different perspective.

We first give a few examples that point to the two-way interaction between public opinion as represented in the media and the rulers.

The Island of 19th May 1983 carried a letter by A. de Silva of Wadduwa on suggestions to stop terrorism in the North. His main suggestions were the following:

Declare Emergency in the North and East. Send Army and Police reinforcements to hunt terrorists and kill at sight. Colonise the so-called Traditional Tamil Homelands with Sinhalese. Declare once and for all that under no circumstances will Eelam ever be given. The cost of maintaining the security forces in the North must be recovered by a special tax on the residents. Pay no compensation to the victims of terrorism [presumably civilian victims of counter-terrorist actions] as the former [i.e. civilians] refuse to give information.

It may be noted that some of the key suggestions became more or less open government policy from mid-1984 under Lalith Athulathmudali as National Security Minister.
Just after the commencement of relatively small scale communal violence in Trincomalee, Colombo and elsewhere, the Sun of 4th June carried an editorial that showed genuine alarm at the prospect of spreading communal violence and the upsurge of lawlessness:

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Human Rights Day, Transitional Justice and the Reform Agenda in Sri Lanka: What Next?

Photograph courtesy ‘Sampur’ documentary, featured on TJ Sri Lanka

BHAVANI FONSEKA on 12/10/2016

10^th December marks international human rights day. While we should respect, promote and protect human rights regardless of a special day, 10^th December ideally should be when we revisit and reflect on our human rights obligations, their relevance and how best to fully realize them. On this day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), providing a common standard and facilitating members of the international community to develop binding human rights guarantees and obligations. 

Human Rights Day.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

PM, Sampanthan discuss constitutional reforms with MR

2016-12-10

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, joined by Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, met a joint opposition’s delegation led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday and discussed constitutional reforms. 

The meeting took place days after President Maithripala Sirisen assured the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that he would ask the Prime Minister to discuss constitutional reforms with Mr. Rajapaksa who is now an MP representing the Kurunegala district .

 JO parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardane who also attended the meeting told Daily Mirror Mr. Rajapaksa did not agree to commit himself to anything in this regard because the government, as a coalition of different parties, was yet to come out with its stand on the proposed constitution.

 He said the JO members who served in the subcommittees that worked out constitutional proposals raised concerns that their views were disregarded and noted that the JO would stand by the 14 proposals it had submitted earlier. 

The protection of the country's unitary nature, the foremost place accorded to Buddhism and new electoral reforms are among the proposals submitted by the JO.

 “We remain concerned over the non-recognition of the JO in Parliament despite it being the largest group in the opposition,” Mr. Gunawardena said. 

JO MPs Lohan Ratwatte, Bandula Gunawardene, Vidura Wickramanayake and Shehan Semasinghe also attended the meeting. (Kelum Bandara) 

Only oppose illegal erection of Buddha statues - Wigneswaran



December 11, 2016

The Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C.V. Wigneswaran, has issued a statement refuting Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse’s allegation that he and the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) have demanded a ban on Buddha’s statues being erected in the Northern Province. 

The Chief Minister said that he and the Northern Provincial Council had only objected to the illegal erection of Buddhist statues and the building of Buddha Viharas in areas where there are no Buddhists. He also said that the objection was to the erection of these illegally on forcibly seized privately owned lands and that statues of the Buddha and the construction of Buddhist temple are being done without consulting the elected Provincial Council. 

Wigneswaran clarified that neither he nor the Council is against the building of Buddhist places of worship, provided it serves the people around, is done with the sanction of the local council and on land which is not seized from private owners. 

Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse said in parliament recently that the Northern Provincial Council had no constitutional authority to ban the construction of Buddhist places of worship. 

 According to the Governor of the Northern Province Reginold Cooray the threat from the construction of Buddhist places of worship is being blown up as there are only 15 Buddhist places of worship in the entire North in contrast to hundred so Hindu temples and Christian churches. 

But Wigneswaran said that the whole controversy had arisen from a misunderstanding of the Tamil case. No one in the North would object to construction of Buddhist temples there if it can be justified in terms of the population around, and if it is done as per the law of the land. But the fact was that there had been illegalities and absence of consultation, he pointed out. 

Source: The New Indian Express -Agencies

LGBTQI Rights In Sri Lanka: Long Way Ahead

By Chamindra Weerawardhana –December 10, 2016

The 2016 world conference (#ILGA2016BKK) of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA) was held in Bangkok last week. ILGA carries out a great deal of work regionally (Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Oceania, Pan Africa and Asia), and the world conference brings together all the regional bodies. The 2016 conference included some 700 delegates from 98 countries. In sum, it happened to be a microcosm of global LGBTQI advocacy and activism. ILGA also has secretariats specifically dedicated to women’s trans and intersex issues, and the caucuses of each of the secretariats provided insights into ongoing challenges, strategic priorities and trends in the influx of funding. The conference was especially significant in the backdrop of the UN’s increased attention to what is referred to as SOGI (sexual orientation and gender identity). In June 2016, the UN HRC adopted Resolution A/HRC/32/L.2/Rev.1

Photo – Dr Chamindra Weerawardhana and Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne at the #ILGA2016BKK Commonwealth side event.

which provided provision to appoint an independent expert on SOGI. The independent expert, Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, a law professor at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, a senior academic with a strong advisory track record in the UN system, was personally present on the first day of #ILGA2016BKK.

#RepresentationMatters?

At the 2016 conference, an effort to think along intersectional lines, and to provide spaces for voices from indigenous peoples and the global South/s was apparent. Yet, it was also clearly apparent, when seeing things from a global south/s perspective, that there is a long way ahead to reach a semblance of a balance between the ‘north’ and the ‘south’. ILGA World did make considerable strides in this direction at last week’s conference, by providing spaces for people from the global South (including this writer) to attend, present, chair conduct workshops and be wholesomely included in their global platform. It was also commendable that people of colour (based in the global North as well as in the global South) and most importantly, indigenous communities from Turtle Island, Aotearoa and several other places were also accorded the possibility of chairing panels and conducting workshops.

Commonwealth Side Event

One of the most important and significant side events of #ILGA2016BKK was a Commonwealth side event, organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat. This event included three eminent MPs from Seychelles, Kenya and Sri Lanka. The event, chaired by the Head of Human Rights at the Commonwealth Secretariat, shed light upon the legislative challenges and hurdles that parliamentarians face in promoting LGBTQI equality legislation. It also demonstrated the extent to which cisnormativity, and to be more precise, cis-heteronormativity and a very narrow understanding of gender and sexuality continue to oppress and exclude a large number of people across the world.

Sri Lanka at #ILGA2016BKK

This writer, a Sri Lankan trans woman living in the island of Ireland, was among several other Sri Lankan activists and human rights advocates who attended and presented at #ILGA2016BKK. Although Sri Lankan representation at ILGA should have been much higher, this nonetheless suggests that despite the obstacles and Victorian (im)moralities of a cis-heteronormative lobby, Sri Lanka is home to brave and courageous LGBTQI activists and advocates. International organisations, on occasion, happen to see us, and give us platforms for self-expression. Our own elected government, however, has a tradition of looking down upon us, if not, not seeing us at all. 

Photo – Commonwealth side event at the 2016 ILGA World Conference

At the Commonwealth side event, the presentation by Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne MP (entitled ‘Sri Lanka: Using the constitutional review process to advocate for equality and non-discrimination’) on the efforts to include an equality clause in the proposed new constitution of Sri Lanka was simultaneously promising and, to say the very least, inviting ‘concern’. The veteran jurist made an excellent presentation on the legislative and ideological challenges involved. Dr Wickramaratne’s talk also brought to light the difficulties of familiarising MPs with LGBTQI equality and justice.

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‘Government is breaking its promises’ -National Movement for Just society expresses its displeasure for first time (Video)

(Lanka-e-News -10.Dec.2016, 11.45PM) For the first time the National  movement for just society which made a major contribution to install the good governance government in power made an official statement expressing its disappointment over the continuous dishonoring of its pledges made to the people by the government of good governance .

This official statement was made  by Professor Sarath Wijesuriya , the convener of the movement  during a media  briefing held last 8th noon .

Working committee members of the movement , Saman Rathnapriya , lawyer Namal Rajapakse (not the synthetic criminally involved  lawyer) and several others attended the meeting.
 
The video footage of the statement made by the professor and his answers in response to the questions posed by the journalists is hereunder. It were the Sirasa journalists as usual who raised stupid questions. The statements made by others are published elsewhere. 

Video footage below 

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by     (2016-12-11 01:09:37)

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa: An influential figure in post-Congress India, she was mercurial on Sri Lanka

by Rajan Philips-December 10, 2016, 7:44 pm 

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who passed away last week was a much maligned figure throughout her political life, but she evoked as much love and adoration among her followers as she provoked ridicule and hate among her detractors. Her political epitaph could well be that she was a very influential Tamil Nadu Chief Minister in post-Congress India. Jayalalithaa wielded remarkable influence for nearly thirty yearswhile the Indian Union and its constituent Stateskept jostling towards a new equilibriumeven as the once dominant Congress Party kept losing power at the centre and in state after state. That she did not always use this influence quite properly and productively would be a reasonable qualifier to her epitaph. In fact, her biggest political achievements were in climbing back to political power and reckoning, time after time, after suffering electoral defeats and political irrelevance through her own follies and the traps set by her adversaries.

Death bridges divisions in political life, perhaps more than it does in personal lives. So it did in Tamil Nadu, as tributes flowed in from across the political divides, with her relentless adversary and the grand old patriarch of Dravidian politics, 92 year old M. Karunanidhi, lamenting her death at so young an age (she was 68, which is 38 as 70 is the new 40) and reiterating the Tamil adage that her fame will far outlive her death. Tributes across India, the condolence sessions at the two houses of parliament in Delhi, and Prime Minister Modi flying to Chennai for the funeral were indicative of the political respect that Jayalalithaa had earned at the national level. And thousands thronged the funeral procession from the historic Rajaji Hall to Chennai’s long Marina beech.

The inconsistency and opportunism that she was often criticised for were seen in full measure in the positions she took on the Tamil question in Sri Lanka. After becoming the chief denouncer of the LTTE after it assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in 1988, she swung through 180 degrees to become the chief advocate for Tamil Eelam after the LTTE was decimated in 2009. On both occasions, her primary motive was to gain electoral advantage by discrediting her political opponent and DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, who too flip-flopped on the Sri Lankan question for electoral advantage. That said and with the benefit of hindsight, I would suggest in this obituary that of the three Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers (Karunanidhi, MG Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa) after 1977, Jayalalithaa was the one person who could have played an intermediary role in developing a consensus between the Sri Lankan government, Tamil political organizations and New Delhi. This suggestion is based entirely on my reading of the background and attributes that Jayalalithaa brought to her politics. Seen that way, it was a missed opportunity for Sri Lanka even though it was not anyone’s fault that it turned out to be so.

Political obituaries are invariably balanced articulations of the personal attributes of political leaders, their style of leadership, the sociopolitical forces they mirrored and mobilized, and the consequences they generated. In this brief obituary, I am inclined to focus on the dialectic between Jayalalithaa’s background and attributes, on the one hand, and the sociopolitical forces in Tamil Nadu that she mobilized to engineer electoral success in the State and exercise influence in Delhi, on the other. It is not my purpose to offer judgement on her achievements or her failures, but to reflect onwhat it was for India and Tamil during Jayalalithaa’s time in politics and what was missed in regard to Sri Lanka.

The parpaththi who led an

anti-Brahmin movement

"Nan oruParpaththi (I am a Brahmin woman)", Jayalalithaa would declare without hesitation early on in her political career to deny her detractors in the Dravidian movement the caste cudgel that they would have gladly used to put her on the defensive. Instead, she went on the offensive in a deeply religious, caste ridden and tradition laden society and won its acceptance as a political leader despite her being a convent-educated, never married and single Brahmin woman, and taking over the leadership of an organization that at its core stood for rationalism, atheism and ending Brahmin domination in Tamil Nadu. That she was a popular film star and was inducted into politics by her film-world and life partner-mentor, MG Ramachandran (MGR) after he became Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, certainly gave her a strong beginning. But everything after the induction was her earning, and she owed nothing to anybody for all her political achievements just as she alone was responsible for all her political failures.

I am inclined to emphasize the gender aspect of Jayalalithaa’s politics in light of America’s inability to elect its first female president in the November presidential election. Even without the patriarchy of traditional societies, the immigrant American society put on anappallingdisplay of male vulgarity and chauvinism to attack and discredit Hillary Clinton. The emergence of women leaders in South Asiansocieties has been attributed to the practice of residual inheritance – where women become ‘residual heirs’ of family property in the absence of male heirs. From Sirimavo Bandaranaike to Sonia Gandhi, widows, daughters and daughters- -in-law became political successors in South Asian countries, although in the case of Sonia Gandhi the succession was vicarious and indirect. But residual inheritance could only be one explanation, for in every South Asian country where women became political successors there were other country-specific reasons that enabled their succession as well as their downfalls.

Jayalalithaa, on the other hand, broke convention in that she was not the traditional successor to MGR. Socially, it could be argued, that it was not unconventional for men of power and wealth in Tamil Nadu to possess two houses, if not more, the big house and the small house. After MGR’s death in 1987, there was a tussle between MGR’s wife, Janaki Ramachandran, and Jayalalithaa and their followers over political succession, and Jayalalithaa prevailed. It was even reported that Jayalalithaa apparently considered sati (widow immolation) at MGR’s funeral. Mercifully, she did not carry out that dreadful and dead tradition. More to the point, Jayalalithaa brought to her politics attributes that resonated well but differentially with different sections of the people of Tamil Nadu.

South Indian Tamil society is not a monolithic entity, but a society of nearly 80 million people who are vibrantly divided by region, religion caste and class, and who have learnt to co-exist administratively and economically while differing politically and socially in a modern state since it was first established by the British in 1653 as the then Madras Presidency. The Tamilian bourgeoisie is pan-Indian and multi-lingual, and Chennai one of India’s three major port cities, has always been a cosmopolitanand multi-lingual city, not so much in terms of westernization but in being the settled home to merchants, professionals, academics and artists from practically every state in India.

It would seem that Jayalalithaa was able to relate to this Tamilian diversity as well as, if not better than, any of her male political contenders. On the one hand, the ‘haughty aloofness’ that she became noted for during her first term (1991-1996) as Chief Minister, could be attributed to her Tamil Brahmin family roots. Her maternal grandfather was the principal surgeon in the princely state of Mysore (now Karnataka) and her paternal father was aeronautical engineer who moved from Tamil Nadu to Mysore.On the other hand, like MGR, she used the medium of her film popularity to empathize with the marginalized sections of the Tamil society – the poor, the rural peasants, unorganized workers and urban underclasses.

Jayalalithaa was multilingual, with fluency in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi and English, and acted not only in hundreds of Tamil films but also quite a few Telugu and Kannada films. She was born in Mysore, had her early education in Bangalore’s Bishop Cotton Girl’s School. She later studied in Tamil Nadu, becoming first in the state in the Grade 10 examination, before joining Stella Maris (university college) run by Catholic nuns in Chennai. She lost her father when she was two years old and it was their family circumstances that moved first her mother and then, on mother’s insistence, Jayalalithaa into dancing and acting giving up her studies. Perhaps in her own mind, surveying the field of her Dravidian political contenders, she would have felt an edge of superiority over every one of them. And they did make her pay a hefty price for it.

Given her multi-lingual fluency, MGR made her the Party’s ‘propaganda secretary’ and in 1983 got her elected to theRajya Sabha in Delhi, the upper house in India’s parliament. That was the beginning of Jayalalithaa’s Delhi and Rajya Sabha connections that would serve her well throughout her political life. Since 2014, she has been providing the Modi government its lifeline in the Rajya Sabha where the BJP lacks a majority, and the support will certainly continue under the new Chief Minister Panneerselvam. On her route to becoming Chief Minister in 1991, she became the first female Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly in 1989. It was then the DMK government with more than a nod from Chief Minister Karunanidhi physically attacked Jayalalithaa in the assembly, tearing up her saree and forcing her to leave the legislature shaken but defiant. She theatrically, although not unjustifiably, compared her humiliation to the humiliation of Draupathi in the Mahabarataepic, and vowed political retribution.

And retribution did come to the DMK with a vengeance when Jayalalithaa led an AIADMK alliance to victory and her first term as Chief Minister in 1991. From becoming Tamil Nadu’s youngest ever Chief Minister until her death, she became the state’s alternating contender with her rival Karunanidhi. But she did better than her much older rival, winning a greater number of state and national elections and holding office for longer periods than Karunanidhi. Her terms were often marred by real and alleged corruption. She found herself on the wrong side of the law, not without trumped up charges, and disqualified from office on more than one occasion. But every time she was reinstated after winning her appeals. And she came back to haunt her opponents.

Jayalalithaa leaves behind a mixed record as Chief Minister, but what is remarkable are some of her initiatives for women in Tamil society. In 1992, she started the "Cradle Baby Scheme" to support abandoned female babies in a country that places a premium on male newborns and has even bent medical ethics to abort female fetuses. She gender-transformed the state’s police force, introducing a 30% quota for women in the state overall while starting up women-only police stations to cater to women’s needs and concerns. She established the first women police commando force in India, including all the aggressive training that male commandos go through. Gender segregation has been a curious feature in Indian buses to minimize the harassment of women. Jayalalithaa took a different turn and established libraries, banks and co-operative outlets of women, for women and by women.

(To be continued: Jayalalithaa’s Opportunism in Delhi and Missed Opportunity for Sri Lanka)

Sri Lankan Lobby & Foreign Policy

By Asanga Abeyagoonasekera –December 9, 2016

Asanga Abeygoonasekera

“No foreign policy – no matter how ingenious – has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.” ~ Henry A. Kissinger

Sri Lanka was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement with the first women Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike depicting her courageous leadership to the entire world not being a spectator but playing an active role in global arena. Her foreign policy outcomes can be explained only when interests, values and power are combined, a rich understanding of her beliefs. It was a period when small nations had to commit allegiance between US or Soviet power blocs.

We now live in a Multiplex world. After the fall of Berlin Wall a unipolar world order was created by US and then gradually moved to a multipolar world with emerging China and many other nations acquiring nuclear capacity. According to Prof. Amitav Acharya at Yale University, the causation of a multiplex world includes many powerful individual groups apart from governments. On Dec 7th this year marks the 75th anniversary of Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour which killed 2400 Americans, the day US declared war against imperial Japan and fascist movement. After this the second biggest attack was 9/11 which got US to fight the present day Al-Qaeda and IS.US foreign policy could take dramatic adjustments with President elect Donald Trump. He has already proven from a recent phone call to Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen which has not been standard practice since 1979. China was threatened by this and expressed their displeasure over the incident. Trump’s advisor clearly explained he was well briefed and was aware of what he was doing.

In a threatened neo-liberal world order, Sri Lanka should craft our foreign policy to suite the present day environment to benefit the nation. President Sirisena’s Government has clearly balanced the West and the East. The Asia centric foreign policy spelled out by the President is clearly looking first towards Asia since we are a nation in Asia and balancing the rest. It is an equidistant foreign policy with global powers including the neighboring India, China and US .While we gain support from foreign nations at Governmental level we should work towards gaining support from 3 million Sri Lankan diaspora which includes Sinhalese, Tamils and all other ethnic groups overseas.

“The Lobbyʺ is a term for the loose coalition of individuals and organizations who actively work to achieve a positive outcome for their nation of birth. The use of this term is not meant to suggest that ʺthe Lobbyʺ is a unified movement with a central leadership, or that individuals within it do not disagree on certain issues. Such as certain sections of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora who are yet engaged in lobbying for a separate homeland “Eelam”. Diaspora could bend the residing nation’s policy and view, so that it advances Sri Lanka’s interests. From voting for candidates, writings, financial contribution and supporting individuals who could contribute to achieve the goals are among its key functionalities.

This is pivotal for three reasons. First, the Sri Lankan diaspora may be re-aligned with the county which will help to project both the State and groups image. What we require is a re-alignment strategy opening strong communication channels for whoever is disconnected from Sri Lanka due to various reasons. Second, the diaspora could act as a powerful lobby for the challenges Sri Lankan diaspora is a huge asset untapped to lobby for the nation. Third, Diaspora could be a huge support to achieve economic prosperity if we open the doors to expats with professional expertise to join the ailing government enterprises and assist other sectors of the economy and bring investment.

The Israeli diaspora who is a much powerful larger group which receives the largest donations and assistance from US and influence US foreign policy is a good example but with a different magnitude in terms of population percentage. This was clearly explained by Chicago School Scholar John Mearsheimer and Stephen M.Walt of Harvard JFK School in their brilliant thesis “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy”, a paper worth revisiting. “Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is roughly one‐fifth of America’s foreign aid budget. In per capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy worth about $500 per year. This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain.” this was possible because of the strong Israel lobby in US. The overseas Indian diaspora is a further example of a group who contributed immensely to support Indian economy especially Indian ICT sector. The second largest student population in US is from India with 165918 and China the largest 328547 students.

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Tug of war between Governor and Finance Minister

 Dec 09, 2016

The talk in the Financial sector is that Governor Kumaraswamy is finding it extremely uncomfortable with the Finance Minister who is a go getter getting the better of him.

The Governor is trying to take a total independent line from the government and not cooperating with the Finance Ministry to address some of the very serious structural issues.

He is ably supported by Crysantha Perera an ex Chairman of Forbes and Walker Tea. He was appointed to the Monetary Board by Charitha Rathwatte .

Another parachutist in the Yahapalana government. In fact it is well known that UNP supporters had visited Rathwatte's house to canvass his vote. Crysantha Perera only has his O/L.

The Monetary Board usually has people who are qualified. It was during his tenure that the notorious Bond Scam happened.

Crysantha Perera should have resigned like the ex Governor and gone home. But shamelessly he stayed on. His conflict of interest is well known. He is Chairman of Tea Service Ltd. A company owned by Capital Alliance buying and selling government  bonds. Crysantha was Chairman of Capital Alliance until very recently. Capital Alliance is owned by Jetwing.

The Coorays owners of Jetwing Group, Hiran and Shiromal were close associates of Basil Rajapaksa. It was touted around in 2012 that Basil Rajapaksa was a silent investor in Jetwing . Hiran Cooray supported Mahinda Rajapakse by speaking at the business forum to support Mahinda Rajapaksa and openly canvassing for him.

All these companies should be fully investigated to make sure Rajapaksa money was not laundered during their reign through these companies.