World weirdness quotient is rising fast

January 5, 2017, 9:35 pm 

If I were a woman I would draw one eyebrow WAY higher than the other and spend my whole life looking wildly skeptical about everything.

Wait. That might make me unpopular in church.

Still, that might be worth it. News stories sent in by readers indicate that Destiny has run out of believable plot lines and fallen back on extreme stereotypes. I can predict the end of every tale readers send me.

Example: After a child custody deal recently, a little boy was set to be handed from one grandma to another. In most places, that would be straightforward—but this took place in America, in the state of Texas no less. You can guess what’s coming.

Both grandmothers carried loaded weapons as they entered the chosen transfer site, a Walmart parking lot. Both shooting. Police got involved, the area was sealed off, blood was spilled, violent grannies had to be subdued, hundreds of people were inconvenienced and a global nuclear war started. Well, maybe the last thing didn’t happen but everything else did.

"America can no longer be parodied, as it is already a ridiculous version of itself," said Marie Kan, who sent me the link.

True, Marie. The same is true of China. That country’s reputation for bureaucratic obtuseness reached a new pinnacle. A reader from that country, in which fingerprints are often used instead of signatures, sent me a tale about a man with no arms who tried to get a bank loan.

You can guess the rest.

"We’ll need your fingerprints," said bank officials. "I have no arms," said Wu Jianping, 25, of Henan province. "Refusing to co-operate, huh? The deal’s off," said bankers.The same thing happened at every bank he tried.

I wonder what the bankers would say if you put a decapitated corpse in front of them? "So, you refuse to talk, or even stay upright in the seat? The deal’s off, Mr. Headless Corpse."

Even in placid, drama-free places like Canada, irrationality is the new norm. Officials in Torontorecently decided to discuss the importance of making facilities accessible for wheelchairs—and you guessed it, they chose a venue only reachable by stairs.

Perhaps, the saddest recent tale in this regard was that of Shoga Takeda, a Japanese man of 24 who wanted to get his life together. He applied for a job. Halfway through the interview, the boss left the room for a moment, and Shogo stole his wallet. And following the dumb criminal stereotype, he left behind his application form, complete with his name, address and numerous ways to contact him.

My colleague has a theory that Destiny has upped the weirdness quotient of real life so as to combat all that fake news circulating these days. "That couldn’t happen in real life," we will say to each other as we scan the clickbait headlines. "It’s not weird enough."

Meanwhile, if any female reader will draw one eyebrow higher than the other on her face and kindly report back to me on the general effect, I will be grateful.

But just don’t try to get a bank loan in China. "So, you’re skeptical about everything, applicant? The deal’s off."

***

Send ideas and comments via the author’s Facebook page.

Ravi calls CB Governor a hospital attendant

2017-01-05

If Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy has said the economy is clearly in the hospital today, it was in the ICU during the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government and governor Coomaraswamy was an attendant to it, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake today said.

 Addressing a news conference held at the Ministry, the minister said he believed that Dr. Coomaraswamy hadn’t made such a comment but said if he had done so, Dr. Coomaraswamy should understand that he had played the role of a hospital attendant when the economy was in the ICU.

 “I’m surprised that the governor has made a comment like that. Maybe the media has misinterpreted or distorted what he said.

 As the finance minister, it’s my responsibility to correct wrong reports,” he said. He said the government’s monetary and fiscal policies were clear and the government was making measures to salvage the economy and to bring it to the Out Patients Department (OPD) of the hospital.

 Delivering a speech on ‘Monetary and Financial Sector Policies for 2017 and Beyond’ Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy on Tuesday has said Sri Lanka was the only country, other than Afghanistan, in the Asia-Pacific region with an IMF programme and having an IMF programme is the economic equivalent to being in hospital.

 “We are not in the ICU but clearly in hospital. The remedial treatment is known and it is encouraging that it has commenced,” he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla and Thilanka Kanakarathna)

FOREIGN POLICY OPTIONS looking IMPRESSIVE

WINSTON DE VALLIERE-2017-01-06

It was not immediately clear exactly what reporters asked Ministers Malik Samarawickrema and Ravi Karunanayake at yesterday's media briefing on the temporarily postponed signing of the Hambantota Port Partnership Agreement that had the cumulative effect of the two of them abruptly walking out of the briefing, apparently angered at the media's pressure for an acceptable explanation about the postponement. That word 'acceptable' is used guardedly because what's acceptable to one is not necessarily acceptable to another. And we know too well that the so-called media objectivity in this country is not all that it is made to appear. This is a very relative word or term.

I have often drawn attention to the fact that in today's fast changing geopolitical expediencies, a small country such as Sri Lanka needs to drum up its best potential for political foresight when entering into such agreements chiefly because of the hidden agendas that larger countries shield from public view in such projects and which turn out to be Trojan horses at a later date. Such agreements are hence potentially volatile in the emerging geopolitical dimensions taking shape in the immediate Indian Ocean region and the greater Asia-Pacific Expanses. In that context, any section of the media, kept or not, bought up or free, is entitled to reasonable answers at briefings and not walkouts however bothersome such briefings might turn out to be. Especially to do with the China-related, funded or involved southern development projects it is only too well known that the Joint Opposition has clung to it like a drowning man to the nodules of a mine laid out at sea. Such things have a nasty habit of blowing up in the drowning man's face. One fears that to the Joint Opposition that exactly is what the Hambantota Port project and other projects are all about. Mind you, these projects , embodying more potentially dangerous factors than those mooted in the amended projects of this government, were begun by the very people who are now drumming up protest demonstrations against them.

I said several months ago that politics has just turned dirtier. It's now dirtier still. Should the southern projects succeed, they would strike the death knell for the collective political aspirations of the Rajapaksas because the development spin-offs of such projects will mean the government will have to draft in people from the southern unemployed workforce into new jobs created by these projects. Translate that into votes and one understands why the future of these projects under better planning by the government drives fears into the Joint Opposition and its plethora of leaders including Dinesh Gunawardena, G.L. Peiris, Mahinda Rajapaksa and pretenders of the ilk of Weerawansa, not forgetting Gotabhaya and Basil. Then there's the China factor that will hedge its 'political investments' by financing the JO antics while strolling along with whatever Colombo can offer it now. They're hedging their bets in case Rajapaksa makes a comeback.

All of this of course is against the all important backdrop of the big picture as we say it in journalism. The players involved in all these economic and military – you read that right – military – projects are the key players China, India, the US and Japan being predominant in what's unfolding in Sri Lanka's geopolitical stakes. Run through the Central Bank's reports and you will see what I mean. They're full of the aid, grants and technology agreements this country receives in addition to heightened military and related agreements to do with specialized military training and assistance.

Singaporean company

Mid-year in 2016 the Government decided to hire a Singaporean company which worked out the Western Region Megapolis Master Plan, to formulate a master plan for the development of the Trincomalee metropolitan and surrounding areas.

On 22 December Minister Malik Samarawickrama confirmed Government's plans to open up Trincomalee to India to a massive development zone there, that will be on an even larger scale than the China dominated Southern zone development plan. While Hambantota features high on the security scales vis a vis sensitive commercial and military shipping passing the South of Sri Lanka, India feels safer controlling the North in Jaffna and Trincomalee, including the militarily significantly huge Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm. Similar oil tanks in the South might not be allowed to China above and beyond any strictly commercial need.

Meanwhile, the government retains the right to permit military use of the North, East as well as Hambantota where agreements strictly rule out any use of facilities and land there for any military purpose or objective.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed with Surbana Jurong of Singapore for this purpose last July by the Secretary to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs and the Chief Executive Officer of the company. For the India-driven massive Trincomalee development zone where the strategic harbour remains open to the US, UK, Japanese, Bangladeshi, Indian and Australian Navies and Air Forces. Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama and Minister of Trade and Industries of Singapore S. Iswaran witnessed the signing of the MoU.

This means that the military strategy of the government is heavily loaded in favour of these nations and not China as it was under Rajapaksa.

It is part of the government's plan to develop cities in different parts of the country. Hambantota and Jaffna are two other areas earmarked for development in a similar fashion.

Trincomalee is to be developed as a growth centre mindful of its strategic military significance.

So, the government's hopes are that while Hambantota flourishes as a centre for manufacturing industries with investments from South China relocated to Sri Lanka's South, the North and East will be developed along military oriented lines as major military cum economic zones.

This will be backed by State and commercial banks which have already begun negotiations with foreign funding organizations for credit lines to boost small and medium industry growth in the North and South. That ETCA will hence metamorphose into a major factor in Indian economic interests in the North and East of Sri Lanka is a foregone conclusion. Five to ten years down the line we can hence expect to see a massive topographical and maritime transformation in the North and East as the Philippines limits US opportunities in Subic Bay and elsewhere, triggering a likely shift to the North of Sri Lanka.

The government might seem to be well in control of a rational mix of foreign and economic policies.

Ten Years: The Rise of the Average Sri Lankan ‘Netizen’

Photo by Anushka Wijesinha/The Picture Press, via 30 Years Ago

SENEL WANNIARACHCHI on 01/03/2017

As Groundviews turns 10, there appears to be a global sense of disillusionment in the values of equality, liberty and human freedom. The results of the US Presidential election came just months after the people of Britain voted to leave the European Union and the Colombian people rejected a hardly worked out peace deal bringing a decade long conflict to an end. There is widespread radicalization of young people in the Middle East and the world over while here in Sri Lanka, people are increasingly looking at the Yahapalanaya government, which came to power with a reformist agenda, as old wine (arrack?) in new a bottle. In such a landscape, the internet, for many of us, has become the greatest democratic defense of our time.

A ‘netizen’ is a citizen of the internet — one who actively uses the internet to as a platform for civic and political engagement. While citizens exercise their fundamental rights offline, netizens do so online. When citizens exercise their freedom of assembly at the Lipton Circus or the Galle Face Green, netizens assemble on Facebook or Whatsapp groups. The nature of these assemblies range from the mundane and the good-humored to pointless babble and shameless self-promotion to the extremely political. In these spaces, netizens express their freedoms of speech and expression via blog posts, tweets and Facebook updates. Now, the internet is also shaping how citizens share, access and consume information i.e. exercise their (now) constitutional right to information. Netizens also exercise their freedoms of religion and worship online. In the same way citizens congregate at temples, churches, kovils and mosques; netizens come together online to discover their spirituality, pray and worship, fostering discussions between people of different faiths.

The following are a few observations by the writer, about the rise of the average Sri Lankan netizen as an influential player in Sri Lankan statecraft.

Technology use is Sri Lanka is growing

In 2004 3.8% of households in Sri Lanka had a computer. By 2014, the figure has grown to 22%, with over 25% of Sri Lankans being computer literate.[1] However, disaggregated data points to some stark disparities. For instance, only 4.6% of households in the estate sector had access to a computer.[2] There are also many gender, age and class based disparities, among others. However, this ‘digital divide’ is receding with the popularization of the mobile phone. Today, there are more mobile phone subscriptions in the country than there are people. There are mobile phones in the hands of tuktuk drivers who use them to connect with networks such as PickMe & Uber, market vendors who use them to promote their businesses and many others across different communities.

With the introduction of unicode fonts people can now browse and read content in Sinhala and Tamil albeit the content in the vernacular languages are still limited. Data points to between 5 and 6 million Internet users in the country – about 25% of the total population. In terms of social media- Facebook is the clear favorite with over 2.5 million accounts by the end 2014.[3]

While the proliferation in these technologies has had profound impacts on everyday communication transforming our social lives, it has also influenced the civic and political landscapes of the country in more ways than one by allowing citizens to express themselves, mobilize citizen movements and crowd-source funds for causes they are passionate about. In many ways, it has changed the way citizens interact with each other and also how citizens interact with their government and exercise their fundamental rights.

Citizen journalism is the counter narrative

The Sri Lankan public is getting increasing disillusioned by mainstream media outlets which are seen as standing for partisan or corporate interests. It’s public knowledge that each of the major media houses are owned and funded by politicians or close aids of politicos who are pumping in money to stand for their interests. In this context, social media (not without exceptions) offers a counter narrative. This is why the role played by platforms such as Groundviews, Vikalpa and Maatram are ever so crucial- for they threaten the monopoly that the ruling class has over the media and access to information and has provides ordinary citizens with platforms to express ourselves.

Social Media as a Space for Advocacy and Activism

Social media has become a platform not only document violations of human rights but netizens are using online tools to plan offline actions such as protests, sit-ins and demonstrations – The Rally for Unity, Occupy the Square, and Save Wilpattu are a few examples. Human rights defenders and civil society movements in the country are utilizing social media to gain support for their causes and even raise funds to support their work. Political analysts have also pointed out that social media played an important role particularly, in the mobilization of votes amongst a younger demographic during both the Presidential and Parliamentary elections of 2015.

The Growth of the Smart Phone and the “Podi Malli” Effect

American essayist Walter Kirn in a New York Times opinion piece highlighted that as opposed to an omnipotent state which is ‘the Big Brother’, today, all citizens have the opportunity of being ‘a little brother’ (i.e. podi malli) by holding each other’s accountable by way of taking a picture or recording a video clip of incidents of rights violations and posting it online. As such, social media has become a platform to bring attention to incidents of injustice.  The footage from the railway station in Wariyapola where a young girl who was subjected to street harassment is seen slapping the perpetrator, or the security officers at the Independence Square who asked a young couple of move out from the premises are some recent examples. As such, videos and images on social media have brought attention to incidents of everyday injustice which may otherwise have gone unnoticed and have also provided a torrent of potential evidence.

There were some 3.5 million smartphone users in Sri Lanka by end 2015[4] each with a palm size devise with an inbuilt camera that could hold themselves and others accountable to their action.  This has transformed the dynamics of human rights in the country in more ways than one.

Access to technology is no longer a privilege, it’s a human rights issue

The efforts by the government to appoint a designated ministry for Telecom and Digital Infrastructure is welcomed. However, there needs to be a paradigm shift in the way the digitization initiatives in the country are framed. Technology and especially the internet today, has become an enabler of rights such as the right to information and the freedoms of expression and assembly. It has become a driver of social, economic and political change. Denying certain communities access to these technologies, is to systematically exclude them from spaces to exercise to these rights.

As such, it’s important to identify those communities which have the lowest access to these resources and skills: especially those belonging to the most marginalized communities such as plantation sector, rural women and the elderly and ensure that they have access as well as the required resources and skills. Furthermore, it’s imperative that these technologies are affordable to all. If we can recognize that the internet has now become a space where citizens exercise key fundamental rights such as the freedoms of assembly and expression, to make these technologies unaffordable is to deny certain communities a space to exercise these rights. When successive governments increase prices of these technologies, such as the recent surge in data prices, it needs to be viewed as not simply a price hike in commodities but as a barrier to accessing certain rights, including those civil and political rights that were discussed.

Of course it would be naïve to claim that social media is only a force for good. While I have consciously left out instances where these very platforms have been used to spread hate, radicalize young people and generate support various extremist ideologies; it is clear that that social media has democratized decision-making, thereby giving ordinary citizens a platform to raise their voices and get engaged politically. It has allowed ordinary citizens to pressure their governments to act in ways they would otherwise not do. While governments still remain the decision-takers, the average citizen has a new easy-to-access space to influence these decisions as politicians whose very survival depends on keeping his/her constituents happy, are is likely to respond to demands made on social media which have the potential to “go viral”.

In the year 1976, when the internet as we know it was, for the most part, only a concept; British Sri Lankan Science futurist Sir Arthur Clarke was at a conference on futurism and technology; where he, predicted the rise of technological advances such as the internet, email and social media. Sir Clarke said, people in future, would have communication devices that would include a “high definition TV screen and a typewriter keyboard” and that with this device, people would be able to “exchange any type of information… You’ll tell the machine, I’m interested in such and such item of sports, politics and so forth, and the machine will hunt the main central library and bring all this to you.”

With the exponential speed at which these technologies are proliferating, it’s much easier to predict that these developments will continue to have profound implications on human life, transforming our civic and political landscapes. Here in Sri Lanka, as in elsewhere in the world, the average internet user is slowly emerging as a force capable of influencing statecraft and policymaking.

[1] “Computer Literacy Statistics – 2014.” www.statistics.gov.lk. Department of Census and Statistics Sri Lanka, 01 Jan. 2014. Web. 05 Feb. 2016

[2] Ibid

[3] “Rebuilding Public Trust -An Assessment of the Media Industry and Profession in Sri Lanka.” Media Support.

[4]  Ibid

SriLankan Airlines: Over 300 Flight Attendants To Storm In Flight Services Due Corruption At Crew Scheduling

January 6, 2017

A group of 300 plus Flight Attendants of SriLankan Airlines are scheduled to congregate at the premises of their In Flight Services office in Katunayake today, in protest of their flight schedule rosters being manipulated, plus to put an end to the notorious corruption enforced by the airline’s Crew Scheduling Department.

Members of the Flight Attendants Union, especially all Flight Attendants off on the day will also be protesting that none of them will help out the airline by flying on their off days until this issue is resolved.

Even the Manager Crew Scheduling Nalaka de Soyza’s wife’s roster is completely different at the end of the month | Photo Nalaka de Soyza and his wife Anudewni Perera

The airline over the last year was helped immensely by its existing Flight Attendants who flew continuously on their off days and helped the airline save a whopping sum of US $ 8 million by helping to juggle its operation.

This ploy enforced by the airline over the years to maintain an under staff requirement has now finally taken its toll.

Flight Attendant Union members who have had enough of being bounced around by the airline’s management as well, have now decided to take this stance.

A member of FAU speaking on the condition of anonymity as she is barred from speaking to the media told Colombo Telegraph “Nalaka de Soyza the Manager Crew Scheduling has now decided to reduce our standard 12 hour stand by duty to 6 hours, due to the maintenance work carried out at the airport over the next three months. By reducing the standby hours he is merely extending our duty times, if in the event we get called out on stand by to operate any flight. We have had enough of this nonsense. Our lay over flights, majority of which is to the Gulf, have now been stopped. Even our lay over in Singapore is stopped. They have one rule for the pilots and one rule for Flight Attendants. Our CEO Capt. Suren Ratwatte who boasted of being a Crew Resource Management (CRM) specialist, does nothing about it. When he was at Emirates Airline he jolly well adhered to CRM principles that were enforced there. Mind you during his brief stint as the Manager CRM at Emirates, even he enforced certain rules to be applied then. The Pilots and Cabin Crew at Emirates Airline during his tenure always met at every pre – flight briefing, traveled together in the same crew transport and always stayed in the same crew hotel on lay overs. Now he suffers from amnesia after rejoining SriLankan Airlines. Attempts by our FAU President Sakvithi Senadheera to contact our airline’s Head of Service Delivery Chanaka Olagama to resolve this matter was not possible, as Olagama avoided answering his phone calls “.

The airline’s ploy of paying extra monies to Flight Attendants to fly on their off days in order to continue in not recruiting the required cadre, has also largely encouraged corruption within the Crew Scheduling Department headed by Nalaka de Soyza.

With an inefficient Crew Scheduling system named ‘Sabre’, where millions are paid monthly for the usage of its programme, Crew Scheduling Officers on duty have been known to demand monies, gifts and other benefits from Flight Attendants in order to manipulate crew flying rosters. It has become a common secret that Flight Attendants are asked to bank colossal sums of monies in Crew Scheduling Officers’ personal accounts, purchase perfumes, alcohol and cigarettes in exchange for favours.

“A planned roster issued at the beginning of the month looks fine on paper. However one needs to look at the completed rosters of the crew to find out the jugglery that has taken place during the month. Even the Manager Crew Scheduling Nalaka de Soyza’s wife’s roster is completely different at the end of the month, as opposed to what was printed at the beginning. There are other crew scheduling officers who are married to Flight Attendants too. Check their rosters and you can identify the nonsense these guys get up to. Don’t forget to check their bank account details too” said another member of the FAU.

Meanwhile somewhere in the year 2004, a leading airline in the Gulf got their Group Security Department to monitor and tap the telephone lines of their Crew Scheduling Department for over a month. The recorded details of many of the conversations that took place between their Crew Scheduling Officers and Crew, eventually resulted in the termination of services of many staff for manipulation and corruption.

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Ongoing drought; Sacred duty to save water


2017-01-05

Rice has been Sri Lanka’s staple diet for thousands of years and our country was once known as the rice bowl of the region. But the Agriculture Department has warned that due to the lack of rain Sri Lanka may face a rice crisis by June this year and we may have to import our ‘buth patha’.  

  Agriculture Director General Rohan Wijekoon has said the lack of water for paddy cultivation is expected to drastically reduce rice production by June this year. According to him, there has already been a sharp drop in paddy cultivation during the current season. Paddy farmers had hoped to cultivate about 800,000 hectares yet they were able to cultivate only about 300,000 hectares last year. The Agriculture chief says that last year, Sri Lanka had a paddy harvest of 2.7 million metric tons — higher than our requirement of 2.2 million metric tons. As a result the buffer stocks will be sufficient till next month. The lack of rain has also reduced water levels in the tanks or ‘wewas’. The Irrigation Department has told the Agriculture Department that it will stop or cut down the amount of water provided to the paddy fields, because it needs to preserve water for drinking and other essential purposes. 

  Mr. Wijekoon says that farmers who expect to cultivate paddy during the Yala Season from April to September this year may not get enough water from the Irrigation Department as the tank levels are low.   

According to the Irrigation Director General S.S.L. Weerasinghe, the water levels of the tanks had gone down to about one-third of the capacity. He says some tanks are filled with mud and silt. Therefore retaining water even during heavy rain is difficult. 

  Whoever or whatever is responsible for this crisis, whatever the mess up or mismanagement, we need to look at the possible solutions where not only the government but also eco-friendly and responsible citizens could get proactively involved. 

 For instance the people need to voluntarily and willingly save fresh water. This is not just to reduce our water bills but more so to participate actively in an eco-friendly move to save fresh water at a time when the supplies are running low and we do not have sufficient water for paddy cultivation.  
  During the past two decades the United States and other big powers have gone to war in Afghanistan and Iraq not just to curb terrorism but more so to gain control of oil and natural gas supplies. World political analysts have warned that in the coming decades worldwide fresh water supplies will be so low that big powers may even go to war to gain control of fresh water resources. Sri Lanka with so many big rivers and may be one of the targets.  

   While taking measures to prevent any such move to grab our fresh water resources, we also need to take steps to conserve water. If every responsible citizen could consciously save about 10 litres of water a day the overall saving will be millions of litres daily.  

  Going beyond that, more people need to go for the eco-friendly practice of rainwater harvesting. The internet has details of organisations where rain water experts rainwater could help families to install the equipment at a low cost.  

Ages ago our great king Parakramabahu told us that not a single drop of rainwater should be allowed to go waste without using it for cultivation, drinking and other essential purposes. But today millions of litres of rainwater go waste while in times of drought the lives of farmers and others are severely affected. While responsible families need to act on the rainwater harvesting process the government also needs to revive an earlier plan to restore about 10,000 ‘wewas’ which have been acclaimed as marvels of ancient engineering.  

   This year being the year of poverty alleviation and the launching of the sustainable development strategy, the provision of water for drinking or other household purposes and for agriculture is vital. We urge the national government to provide incentives including tax concessions for household rainwater harvesting and also to give priority to the restoration of the ‘wewas’.   

The world ahead

Uditha Devapriya-2017-01-03

The beginning of a year always calls for some reflection. Reflection, it must be added, not only on the good but also the bad, the mediocre, and the downright nauseating aspects of the old year that passed by and must never come back. For 2016 was just that: an epoch in itself, a year in which (for the most) things we never hoped for nor wished materialized. It would not, I suppose, do to blame fate, because gods often play tricks on us. After all there are good times and bad times. This is not the time for dishing out blame. This is the time for reflection.

If the mid-fifties saw the rise of socialism in Europe and progressivism in the United States, and if the late seventies saw the rise of neoconservatism and neoliberalism in (much of) the West and, lest we forget, Sri Lanka, then it's safe to say that the latter part of this decade will see the rise of populism. We are entering, some commentators (like John O'Sullivan of 'The Spectator') want us to believe, a post-democratic world, where the ballot wins representation for the privileged who feel marginalized. To a large extent, I agree: this past year, and the year preceding it, saw demagogues in Europe and the US, liberally sprinkling their speeches with racist invective even as the incumbent governments of the countries tried to preach the gospel of tolerance to the East.

One lesson 2016 left us with was that democracy, as with every other form of political representation, has its qualifiers. On 16 December 2015, Michael Moore stood holding a placard declaring 'We are all Muslim' in front of Trump Tower, tweeting later that more than 80 per cent of America were "female, people of colour, or young people between the ages of 18 and 35." The fact that not even such a statistic could save America from Trump speaks volumes about where representative democracy is headed in that part of the world.

Bracing for disaster

Naïveté and idealism, one is forced to concede, are therefore horrendously misplaced in a context where the world seems to be bracing for disaster. Realpolitik would dictate that the Global South pick on a side to wade through the next few crucial months and years, but the realpolitik of yesterday has become, or is fast becoming, outmoded today. The far right has never, in recent history, been this aligned with the far left: both are against free trade, both want closed borders, and both, to varying degrees, pander to emotion. The politics of the West may well be shaped by fringe movements, from both sides of the political spectrum.

We are now living in a world where nationalism, not patriotism (the latter moderate, the former militant), rules. We live in a world where a decade of idealism, of lounge suits, statesmanship, and gentleman politics, can be replaced by amateur politicos through tweets and Facebook posts. A world where borders are returning, and quickly, and transnational cooperation is being replaced by fierce, sometimes psychotic, manifestations of sovereignty. Our world used to be interconnected, more globalized. That will now, at least to a mild extent, be a thing of the past. By that, however, I am not regretting much.

And there's nothing much to regret anyway. The demagogues in the West have eroded, for better I should think, the hypocrisies in the way Washington maintains relations with our part of the world. Two years ago, the very idea that a foreign adversary might have tampered with your country's elections would have compelled horror. In America, or rather Donald Trump's America, such a threat is trivialized, and trivialized to such an extent that the most the President-elect can do (one can't blame him) is play the blame-game and attack Hillary Clinton. In the meantime, the anti-Westerners here are having a field day: Washington actively or passively manipulate electoral outcomes in other countries, so it's only fair that it gets a mild dose of its own medicine.

No stranger to referendums

Before 2015, policy was largely left to the Legislature. The process was simple: the people choose, the elected decide. Sri Lanka is no stranger to referendums but the West, particularly the US and much of Europe, never felt the need to opt for them. Fast-forward to 2016 and what do you get? A referendum forced on the British public to opt out of the EU, in arguably the most precarious situation the continent has faced since the EU was first formed after the holocaust.

What the demagogues of the West are doing, in other words, is forcing down the throats of the establishment the hopes, the fears, and the aspirations of the numerical majority in their countries. In other words, there has been a shift of power from bodies that were traditionally vested with authority to people and personalities. Nowhere else in these few decades, after all, would you have seen people proudly sporting swastikas and pledging allegiance to the KKK in the US. That was not the result of that country's polity. It was the result of Donald Trump and Donald Trump only.

Brexit transferred a politically partisan issue from the populists to Parliament. In other words, unprecedented for our time, an issue that could have been sorted through the Legislature and the Judiciary was first resolved by the far right before being submitted to those bodies. The world, they say, moves with the West, but I wonder: in this instance, the West is being besieged by the very demons they force our part of the world to combat. In such a context, laden with irony as it is, I suppose it would not do for us to ignore the implications of a year that (in all likelihood) will define and spell out an entire era.

Nationalism

What are the lessons we can draw from all this? Simply, that nationalism, whether you like it or hate it, will continue to thrive and flourish. In Sri Lanka, the far right and the economic right have never really coincided. The forces that represent the far right (the militant clergy and fringe, racialist movements) are at odds with those that represent the economic right (the United National Party (UNP) and a section of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). The West is now seeing a coincidence of these two forces. I predict that sooner, rather than later, the global south (particularly in the more religiously inclined, socially conservative countries) will see them coincide.

In this precarious context, our politicians will do well to take note of fringe movements here. Leaving the door open to them, to come in and define the State and its stance on race, religion, and identity, will do more harm than good if the government is seen as pandering to outmoded forces in the West.

Let me put that into perspective for you. Our blue-eyed idealists in power, at least a great many of them, were associated with the likes of Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, David Miliband, and all those who play golf with sympathizers of separatism over there. These are failed personalities, those who came with promises of social change but couldn't quite deliver the goods. They are now busy lamenting the revolutions that have uprooted them from their own parties (particularly, of course, in the case of Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party). To continue paying deference to them and the interventionism they championed while they were in power is to ignore the devil when he's in your backyard.

Year of the expedient

The year 2016 was the year of the expedient. Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen: these are all essentially demagogues. They 'court' the people and win votes. They inflate rhetoric with racism. They are not ashamed of wooing the ignored majority (predominantly White, Christian, and male) bemoaning the invasion of other identities and ethnicities.

Given the West's zeal for forcing the rest of the world follow its script when it comes to multiculturalism and tolerance, one should be surprised that the most powerful nation in the world is now led by a man who not only promotes isolationism (which is, all in all, not that bad) but also chooses to promote his civilization through peaceful means. ("Instead of trying to spread universal values that not everybody shares or wants, we should understand that strengthening and promoting Western civilization and its accomplishments will do more to inspire positive reforms around the world than military interventions.") In this he is miles away from not only Hillary Clinton, but also George Bush (both father and son).

How long will it be before the year of the expedient collapses into an era of war? Sooner than later, the cynics will inform you. But then, 2016 wasn't just the year of the expedient, it was also the year of reconciliation and dialogue. The conventional wisdom was that the median voter wins in the end. The Founding Fathers of the US were adamant that their Constitution neither pandered to the majority nor flouted them. Given that the Founding Fathers correctly implied that extremism can't linger for long, I therefore propose that 2017, instead of being a year of conflict, will keep the racists happy long enough for the moderates (by whom I am thinking of the likes of Bernie Sanders) to capture power.

UDAKDEV1@GMAIL.COM

Benjamin Netanyahu questioned again by Israeli police over gifts

Israeli PM is alleged to have accepted ‘favours’ from businesspeople but denies wrongdoing

Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned by police at his official residence. Photograph: Dan Balilty/AP

Associated Press in Jerusalem-Thursday 5 January 2017

Israeli police have questioned the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for the second time over allegations that he improperly accepted gifts from wealthy businesspeople.

Israeli media said investigators had arrived at Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Thursday. Questioning on Monday lasted more than three hours. Police had no immediate comment.

Few details of the allegations against Netanyahu have been officially released, with Israel’s justice ministry disclosing only that the prime minister was being questioned “on suspicion of receiving benefits from businesspeople”.

Israeli media have reported that Netanyahu accepted “favours” from businesspeople in Israel and abroad.

Netanyahu has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, portraying the accusations as a witch-hunt against him and his family by a hostile media opposed to his hardline government.

Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu. Photograph: Reuters

He has pointed to previous suspicions raised against him, none of which resulted in any criminal proceedings, as a sign that he has done nothing wrong in this most recent allegation as well. “There won’t be anything because there is nothing,” has been his refrain.

Serving his third consecutive term with a stable coalition government, Netanyahu is on track to become Israel’s longest-serving leader, should he complete his full term in office in 2019. He does not appear to have any serious foreseeable challenger to his rule.

While the investigation is still in its infancy, it could put pressure on Netanyahu to step down. His predecessor, Ehud Olmert, did so in 2008 just months before he was formally indicted on corruption-related charges. Olmert is now serving a prison sentence after being convicted of accepting bribes.

After eight years in office, in addition to an earlier term in the 1990s, Netanyahu has garnered a reputation as a cigar-puffing socialite who is as comfortable rubbing shoulders with international celebrities as he is making deals in parliament.

Scandals have dogged him and his wife, Sara, over their lavish tastes. There have been investigations into the alleged misuse of state funds and an audit of the family’s spending, even including sums spent on laundry and ice-cream. They have denied any wrongdoing.

Nepal: In a Messy State?

Another crisis may soon arise in April when the Nepali Congress should get the chance to take over the Prime Ministership from Prachanda. It was only an informal understanding and it is not clear whether Prachanda would be willing to give up without achieving anything so far!

by Dr. S. Chandrasekharan-Jan 6, 2017

( January 6, 2017, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is more than a year and a half that the new constitution was promulgated. Yet there has been no progress at all in implementation as the parties are still quarreling over reconfiguration of different provinces.

The local body elections that are to precede other regional and national elections before January 2018 are bogged down firstly in the demarcation of the boundaries and secondly by two major groups opposing the conduct of the elections. The Madhesi Groups are insisting on the constitutional amendments before the elections, while the second largest political party- the UML is insisting on going ahead with the elections without the constitutional amendments.

In fact the UML sensing that it has an upper hand in the events, is now calling for Parliamentary polls directly to “remove any possibility of a constitutional vacuum.” What democratic credentials can they boast of when they have been systematically stalling the proceedings in the Parliament since November 29? I will not be surprised if they turn around and say that the same thing had happened in India too!

There has been no progress on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for the earthquake victims are moving at a snail’s pace though no politics is involved. Another surprising development is that the Government is unable to spend the bulk of its budget allotment this year so far.

Almost all stake holders in Nepal are responsible for this sorry state of affairs and it is unfortunate that India had also contributed a little to the mess! It is not surprising that former King Gyanendra who had generally kept away from politics should make an open statement that he is concerned with the developments in Nepal.

The blame should first be placed at the door of the Nepali Congress who were in power when the new constitution was promulgated. There was no urgency when many years had already been wasted to produce a constitution that was not inclusive and what was worse, over 30 percent of the population- the Madhesis who were affected by the new constitution were not consulted at all. The explanation that over 90 percent of the members of the interim parliament endorsed the new constitution does not hold water when a large proportion of the populace was ignored!

Too late in the day, the Indian government sent an emissary to delay the promulgation and go for a more inclusive constitution. There were two flaws in this approach. This was an open and active intervention and no country however small it is, would accept such an advice that would be an affront to their sovereignly and self respect. Second, it should have been done quietly behind doors much before the promulgation and people who should know and did know that such a non inclusive constitution coming out in a hurry would adversely affect the Madhesis and the stability of the region!

The Nepali Congress is riven by factions now and their time is spent more on dividing the spoils rather than concentrating on good administration. It was expected that after the exit of “dynastic politics’, the party would do better. On the other hand, it is getting worse with four groups openly declaring their separate identity within the party.

It is important that from a long term point of view for India that the Nepali Congress with it high democratic credentials survives and strengthens itself. For this, it would need a strong leader with charisma and this is lacking. Much hope was placed on younger leaders to take over the party and revive its old glory, but this has not happened. Even a potential charismatic youth leader like Gagan Thapa has not distinguished himself well in running the Health ministry!

One party that gained most at the expense of other parties is the UML led by former Prime Minister K.P. Oli who is riding high on a “nationalist plank” (read anti Indian). If the elections are held now there is no doubt that his party would get through in larger numbers at the expense of the other two parties- the Nepali Congress and the Maoists led by Prachanda. It is believed that Prachanda would not have gone for toppling the UML and its PM Oli, had it not been for the fear that he and his party were steadily losing against the UML. Prachanda’s frantic efforts to reconcile with those who had left him is a pointer. The call to Baburam Bhattarai recently is another case in this point. His efforts to bend backwards to please the Nepali Congress is not his style but he is doing it for his survival!

For many who have been following the developments in Nepal, it was surprising that K.P.Oli should have turned totally against India. Today, leaving the Terai, anti Indian sentiment is sweeping in a large section of Nepali populace. Oli is being credited for standing up to India during the informal blockade that has caused havoc to the country’s economy. The blockade was conducted in the “No Man’s Land” by the agitating Madhesi groups, but it was widely believed that India had actively supported those groups. People in the valley refused to believe even today that Oli was toppled by the Maoists and the Nepali Congress and not at the behest of India!

The Madhesi leaders have not conducted themselves well in their agitation against the new constitution. After over fifty deaths and scores injured and with economy in shambles they have caused immense harm to the ordinary people. So far they have nothing to show by way of gain to the people and I am sure that many of them cannot go back to their villages without getting the constitution amended to some extent.

The Madhesi groups should have been satisfied when proportional representation in the legislature and in the state apparatus was agreed to by the government soon after the constitution was promulgated. Instead they focussed more on the reconfiguration of the provinces and forced the government to create another controversy by reconfiguring provinces 4 and 5 that were not called for by the people!

Another crisis may soon arise in April when the Nepali Congress should get the chance to take over the Prime Ministership from Prachanda. It was only an informal understanding and it is not clear whether Prachanda would be willing to give up without achieving anything so far!

What needs to be done now? :

1. The Madhesi Groups should for the present give up their demand for reconfiguration of the provinces and leave it to a high-powered Commission to review the boundaries of the provinces. The more they agitate, the more would be the UML gain at the expense of other parties. There is a danger of the country being polarised not by the Madhesi groups but by the UML.

2. Allow the local bodies elections to take place with either the old configuration or the new one recommended by the LBRC. (744 from 507). The latter would have been preferable but it should not at any rate delay the elections.

3. Allow the TRC to function without fear or favour and deal with the cases expeditiously. The country cannot claim to be at peace with itself until the war wounds are settled.

4. Expedite the reconstruction and rehabilitation work. Very little has been done so far though two winters have gone by.

Yemeni charity worker murdered, sparking fears of targeted campaign against women

Women rally in Taiz on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Ali Abdullah Saleh on February 11, 2016 (AFP)

Thursday 5 January 2017 

TAIZ, Yemen - A female charity worker, who campaigned to improve women's literacy in Yemen, has been murdered in a drive-by shooting in central Taiz, sparking fears of a campaign of targeted assassinations against women by "extremists".

Amat al-Aleem al-Asbahi was shot dead on 25 December by two motorcycle riders as she walked on the busy 26 September Street. Her death sent shockwaves through Taiz's activist community, who say they can no longer operate in the war-torn city in safety.

All sides in Yemen's ongoing conflict condemned the attack, while blaming each other claiming multiple motives. But no one has been arrested and Asbahi's death was little reported locally as journalists fear retribution by those responsible.

Asbahi, who was in her 30s, is a relative of the pro-Houthi governor of Taiz Abdu al-Ganadi, leading to claims by family members she was killed by "extremists" from the anti-Houthi group known as the "Popular Resistance Committees".

The area where she was murdered is controlled by the Popular Resistance, leading to further claims Asbahi was killed not for her work, but for her family's links to the Houthis.

However, last year women activists said they feared for their lives after a fatwa was issued by noted Islamic scholar Abdullah al-Odaini banning them from mixing with men. Many female charity workers, such as Asbahi, had already been forced to cut their activities due to fighting in Taiz province.

MORE: Fatwa forbids work of female activists in Taiz

Shatha Nageeb, a fellow charity worker who, like Asbahi, was forced to stop her work, told MEE: "The assassination of Asbahi is a clear indication that extremists can kill women with impunity, so we have to reduce our work and postpone any social activities until the end of the atrocious war. 

"I thought all sides would defend women, but I am shocked to see that only few people have talked about the assassination of Asbahi, as they fear the extremists and there is no organisation that supported Asbahi."

Asbahi's family was reluctant to speak on record, fearing reprisals from those behind the murder. However, a relative speaking on condition of anonymity told Middle East Eye blamed members of the Popular Resistance.

"There are no courts in Taiz and we cannot follow the killer, but all of us know that they were supporters of the resistance, and want to send a message to some people by killing a woman," the relative said.

They added that the internationally recognised government of President Abd Rabbuh Hadi must investigate this crime before similar attacks take place.

"All political sides, organisations and activists have to condemn this assassination, and Hadi has to form a committee of investigation, but organisations fear the Resistance," the relative said.

"Amat al-Aleem has been killed, but if the organisations and political sides do not support her issue, we will no doubt see similar attacks in future in Taiz." 

The Houthis, who control large areas of Yemen and oppose the Hadi government, accused the Popular Resistance of the murder.

"The mercenaries assassinated Asbahi while she was walking in a busy street, and this created a huge development in their strategy," read the Houthi-affiliated newspaper 21 Sept on 26 December.

The General Popular Congress Party (GPC), led by Houthi ally and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, also pointed the finger at the Popular Resistance.

Popular Resistance denies involvement

The Popular Resistance, however, denied any involvement in Asbahi's death, and blamed "extremists" in Taiz. 

A source said: "It is not one of our morals to kill a woman in the street, and the assassination of Asbahi is a dangerous development by extremist groups in Taiz, and we condemn this assassination," he told MEE. 

"The investigation is ongoing in this issue, but definitely the killer is not a member of the Resistance, as it is not in the Resistance's interests to create chaos in areas under its control."

Ahmed Noaman, a sheikh in the al-Asabeh area in provincial Taiz, said Asbahi's death signalled an unravelling of the fabric of Yemeni society.

"Asbahi's assassination is only a sign of the coming chaos in Taiz," he said. "The assassination of a woman is against Yemeni traditions and culture, and against Islam, and we do not hear in Yemeni history about such things.

"This is a black stain on the history of our country, and history will curse Hadi and his government, which paid no attention to such a big issue."

However Nageeb, the Taiz charity worker, said it was not important whether Asbahi was a supporter or opponent of the Houthis - the most important thing was that a woman had been assassinated, and no one was prepared to act.