Sri Lanka: Politicians’ assets — RTI changing the rules of the game?

The government has already shown policy commitments to reforming and empowering citizens through public access to asset declarations. This is evidenced through the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments to removing asset declaration secrecy provisions and implementing RTI. These commitments received Cabinet approval on 11 October 2016.

by Asoka Obeyesekere- Feb 5, 2017

( February 5, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Reading a MP’s asset declaration is one of the most empowering feelings a citizen can have. Larger than life characters have to disclose their worth in a document which they can be prosecuted for falsifying – it is in that sense the humbling effect of working for the people. On Monday, 23 January 2017, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) received more than half of the entire parliament’s asset declarations under a request made to the Speaker.

On receiving the asset declarations you have listed out before you all of an MP’s assets and liabilities, ranging from properties and vehicles to jewellery and fixed deposits, which have been very sensibly structured into two sections. First, the declaration from the time the given MP first became liable to submit a declaration – typically when first entering parliament. Secondly, their most recent declaration – in the case of our request their assets as at 31 March 2016.

The asset declaration provides you with a multiplicity of angles by which you can hold an elected official to account. How have they accumulated wealth between first entering parliament and now? What are their business interests? Has a position within the government allowed the individual to gain financially? How can they afford an expensive vehicle? The questions are limitless.

However MPs can falsify or attempt to structure their affairs in such a way as to avoid declaring their assets – a particular grey area covers beneficial ownership, which would not have been in the minds of the original framers of the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities law. In that regard asset declarations need to be modernised, but the policing system also needs to be strengthened. One step that can be taken is to inform CIABOC (the bribery commission) of declarations that you suspect are not in line with ‘known sources of wealth’. However, having an asset declaration in the public domain for citizens to scrutinise, share and discuss is the strongest driver of accountability and compliance.

RTI comes into force
On Friday, 3 February 2017 the Right to Information Act came into effect. Using the power vested through the fundamental right to information, any person can request an asset declaration and publish what they request. This is a revolutionary step in the accountability of elected officials, which will ensure that the healthy and essential degree of scepticism that is required in a vibrant democracy is reinvigorated.

In this sense RTI is a significant step towards recognising the social contract between those that govern and the citizens that empower them. It is supposed to put an end to the question ‘who are you’ when you request information from a public authority – as a citizen you have a right to the information held by the state – you do not need to establish your standing.

Having shown through our recent request that citizens can gain asset declarations through the existing legislation, there is still an advantage of using RTI. The legislation found under the Declaration of Assets and Liabilities Act is wrapped in archaic secrecy provisions. Whilst ‘any person’ has the right to get a certified copy of an asset declaration, if you show any other person what you request, you are liable to a two thousand rupee fine and/or two years rigorous imprisonment. Information requested under RTI can be freely disseminated. To put this beyond doubt the RTI Act provides an override that in the event of any inconsistency with other written law, the provisions of the RTI Act will apply.

The President and Prime Minister’s asset declarations
To mark the first day of enforcement of the RTI Act, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) made a public interest RTI request for the asset declaration of the President and Prime Minister. To usher in this new promised chapter of open Government, it will also provide the two highest offices of the country an opportunity to show leadership in ensuring the need for RTI Act compliance. Under the framework of RTI this information will need to be released within a maximum of 28 days. Therefore by early March we will be able to assess the commitment of both the President and Prime Minister on the same.

The government has already shown policy commitments to reforming and empowering citizens through public access to asset declarations. This is evidenced through the Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments to removing asset declaration secrecy provisions and implementing RTI. These commitments received Cabinet approval on 11 October 2016.

It is now for the government to lead by example and demonstrate Open Government in practice. It is through such actions that we can see the good governance commitment of the government in action. Using the powers under RTI, TISL will remain persistent in unlocking this information in the public interest. However, RTI will only change the rules of the game if citizens are emboldened to use their right – public access to asset declarations is just one step in the right direction.

If you want more details on how you can use your Right to Information visit www.RTIwatch.lk/process

Sample RTI Request Letter
Here is a sample RTI request format that can be used until the official application is released. This could be used as a guideline if you wish to draft your own request letter even after the official application has been released.

Sample_RTI-request_letter.pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

RTI is good, but open data is better

Thursday, 2 February 2017

The Sri Lanka Right to Information Act No. 12 of 2016 is to become effective in a few days. The act was gazetted on 4 August 2016, but embargoed for six months with an additional space of another six months allowed for all provisions of the Act to be applicable to all public authorities. The RTI Act is a great step forward by the present Government despite some definitional issues and some inconsistencies in it.

RTI is good, but open data is better.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

What Is The Real Problem Of Private Medical School?

By Bruce Tamilson –February 5, 2017

Bruce Tamilson

The court has instructed to Sri Lankan medical council to recognize the private medical school. There is ambiguous opinion among public but all the Sri Lankan doctors vigorously oppose this move. No one has the absolute ability to predict how it will affect and whom it will affect. We need to wait and see.

Medical profession is no more a service or charity oriented. It is almost business-oriented. Most of the doctors do private practice and are money oriented. I am not going to deny that there is handful of doctors who are service minded. The main fear for doctors already in practice is increased competition in private practice. In Addition, in Sri Lanka, to become a doctor you need to be super talented in memorizing and, accordingly well respected. If there is easy way to become doctor within the country, the respect towards the doctors may fade. Only outsiders and public can feel the selfishness and jealous of doctors who refuse alternative entry into SLMC register.

Will the quality of care be affected? I do not think that will be the case. The role of SLMC is to maintain the standard of doctors. Therefore, SLMC can introduce common exam for all the candidates. The similar system is operated in USA and now UK is adopting that system. There are plenty of ways that SLMC can ensure standard of Doctors is maintained. If someone experience or witness malpractice, they need to notify SLMC and it can investigate, resolve and prevent the incidents. Therefore, Private medical studies will downgrade the quality of care is not a convincing argument.

In UK, only consultants or GP [independent practitioner] can do private practice. The juniors who are in training are not allowed to practice independently. This phenomenon makes sure the patients are safe. In contrast, in SL, any junior doctor who has full SLMC registration can open his or her own private practice. Obviously, juniors do not have enough training and therefore not safe to practice independently.

In Sri Lanka, some Doctors use the private practice to charge the patient for treatment in government hospital. This is ridiculous. They use all the facilities of government hospital and charge the patient out side the hospital. They find a hole in the law and ingeniously earn money. “If you pay money, I will do the surgery otherwise, my junior will do it.” This is how materialized in private practice. This is why doctors ruined the public support and respect.

How many doctors who are trained for free in Sri Lanka escaping to overseas? Well, a significant numbers of doctors go to UK, USA and Australia. I am not going to state this is wrong. Everyone should have the right to work wherever they want but Sri Lankan government can put some restriction such as mandatory service for certain numbers of years to the country before leaving. It is easy to implement because arrival country always request document from SLMC, thus this can be used as tool of controlling.

We do not want anyone to become a doctor by paying Money. This could be quite right but not completely if the doctors march against private tuitions and private schools. Those who enter into medical studies are studied in well famous schools and had lots of private tuition. There are students who cannot afford tuitions. So the money plays a role in selecting medical candidates in conventional system. Definitely, the money play roles for certain extend.

Other argument of doctors is People who have low grades in Advance level are allowed to study medicine in private universities. Anyone passed relevant subjects and if the university board allows that he or she is fit for further education, they can study any subject in University. This is norm but Medicine is competitive field therefore, usually people who get higher grade get seats. Also, you may have noticed, people who get low grades from deprived areas can enter medicine and some one with higher grade from another district may not enter into medicine. In nutshell, higher results are not vital for medicine; you just need results that meet the eligibility criteria.

Read More

Expose` : Good governance commander in chief completes two years but MR ‘s control still within army !

(Lanka-e-News -05.Feb.2017, 4.40PM)  It is an unequivocal  fact that the  good governance president the commanding chief of the forces was elected on the 8 th of January 2015 with the full and fervent  hope that a good governance administration would be installed sans vindictiveness , corruption, nepotism , cronyism and atrocities which raged under the Mahinda Rajapakse reign.

Unfortunately however , under the incumbent president Maithripala Sirisena’s rule , still it is the administration of the people discarded and despised Rajapakse’s that is riding high  within the army  with or without the knowledge of Maithripala. 

Following examples bear testimony…..

Army Officers for foreign courses are  selected by the army commander and the board of selection for  the courses. The majority of members of this board is constituted of army officers who are  lickspittles of Rajapakses and on the verge of retirement. These members therefore select their cronies and stooges of the Rajapakses .

The eligibility requirements of an officer to follow the National defense course (NDC) are as follows:

1.The candidate should have served as a brigadier for two years
2.The Potential G.O.C. Board shall have selected him.
3.He must have  displayed talents in the sphere –in the battle field etc. 

In addition , if there are 4 vacancies , three of those shall be filled each from the infantry and supporting regiments; Engineering ;  and signals regiment .However, during the years 2015 and 2016 , officers who were henchmen and lackeys  had been chosen for the NDC based on the whims and fancies of the army commander and the   members of the board of selection who are stooges   sans proper fair or legal procedures.   

How were these undernoted officers without the basic qualifications selected for  the special course must be explained by those responsible. Were these selections made according to good governance or Rajapakse governance  ? Answers to these must be provided to the army  by the Commander in chief of the forces  Maithripala Sirisena   and the army commander  .

1. Brigadier Jagath Gunawardena (Engineering)
He had not fulfilled any of the eligibility requirements. He was an officer who was removed from all his posts because he was mentally unfit  due to his incapacity to endure the pressures of his work during the war .

2. Brigadier Neville Weerasinghe (Engineering)
He did not  have any of the aforementioned requisite qualifications, and never held a commander post during the war. 

3. Brigadier P.K.Peiris (Engineering)
An officer who had none of the required qualifications

4. J.J. Nanayakkara (Engineering) 
An officer who was qualified , but four officers of the engineering regiment  cannot be selected at the same time based on the rules.
 
5. A.R. Dharmasiri (Singha)   
An officer who secured  the necessary qualifications after the war . However being a Rajapakse stooge  when he was discharging duties in Trincomalee , joining hands with Major general Lal Perera ,and  along with a woman by the name Ari akka engaged in politics publicly to defeat Maithripala Sirisena

6. N. Hettiarachi  (Signal)
An officer who performed only administrative tasks and hadn’t the necessary qualifications . However he was chosen for the HDMC ( Higher defense management course) course because he was  a close friend of the army commander and an old boy of Royal College – the alma mater of  the army commander . 

7. B.D.N. Demavanpitiya (Signal)
Held staff posts serving in  peaceful areas during the war .He was serving in an advisory capacity only , and secured  the necessary qualifications after the war ended.

8. H.P. Seneviratne (Signal) 
Held staff posts during the war. Secured  the necessary qualifications after the war.

9. P.Chandrasekera (Signal)
He held staff posts during the war. Secured  the necessary qualifications after the war .

10. P. S. Bansajaya (Gemunu)
He was serving in the diplomatic service in China and returned six months ahead without completing  his  two  year term. He was  sent again to China to follow a course.  He is a bootlicking lackey of Gotabaya .

11. Brigadier K.J .Jayaweera (infantry) 
He was a media spokesman of the forces, and a noted stooge of ex army commander Daya Ratnayake . While there were more qualified  and suitable officers than he , yet the latter was chosen and sent to England to follow the RCDS course . 

12. Brigadier H.R. Fernando ( Gajaba) 
He secured the necessary qualifications after the war.

13. Brigadier Mudalige ( infantry) 
Secured  the necessary qualifications after the war. While he was performing duties as an  intern under the government of Haiti, he collected funds from the soldiers and committed a fraud . A bootlicking stooge of ex army commander Daya Ratnayake. 

14.Brigadier Jayashantha Gamage (Gajaba) 
Yet another  bootlicking lickspittle of Gatabaya Rajapakse. He was sent to Philippines for the National defense course (NDL) 

15. Brigadier K.H.P. Fernando (Signal) 
An officer who served as a faithful stooge of ex major general Shavendra Silva. He was sent to Indonesia to follow the NDL course.

16. Brigadier Shantha Hewavitharane (Artillery)
He was sent to India to follow the National defense course  on the pressures exerted by Major General Sumith Balasuriya despite there being more senior officers .

17. Brigadier J.C. Gamage (Engineering) 
An officer who secured the qualifications after the war. He was selected   to follow the National defense course (NDC ) in England.

The copious  information afore-stated have clearly and cogently brought to light that the good governance government has provided positions , privileges, perks as well as  foreign travel to follow courses only  to the officers who were serving the sordid aims and agendas of the Rajapakse reign. The officers who did not kowtow to and who did not do the sordid biddings of the Rajapakses , but had all the eligibility requirements and duly discharged their duties were not done justice to  by the good governance government . 

The commander in chief of the forces president Maithripala Sirisena who inspected the guard of honor of the army independence day must therefore  take a crucial decision on this momentous day of  independence vis a vis the glaring fact that a majority of superior officers of the army  openly and outrageously engaged in politics against  good governance and in favor of Rajapakses. 

Whereas it were the honest lower rung officers in the army who toiled to propel Maithripala Sirisena to the post of president even defying orders of the superior officers. Sadly however , today it is not the lower  rung honest officers who are being pleased and reciprocated   by the president and treated well , instead it is the  Rajapakse stooges and corrupt  officers who are   overestimated   by the president as ‘war heroes’ . In the circumstances we are constrained to wonder whether we moved heaven and earth to appoint  an apparition of Rajapakses. In any event  honest law abiding army officers are still earnestly awaiting the day justice will be done  

-Soldadu Unnehe - (Soldier of the Army) 

---------------------------
by     (2017-02-05 11:19:58)

‘Independence’

 

 

Editorial-February 3, 2017, 9:17 pm 

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka celebrates its 69th ‘Independence Day’ on a grand scale today. We are sure to be treated to fiery oratory by glib politicians who will wax eloquent on what they may call achievements of the country under their watch. They will also blabber about our glorious past and invariably wrap themselves in the flag in a bid to cover up their failures, which are legion. This, we have witnessed for the last so many decades under successive governments.

We wish we could pen something positive on a day like this when patriotism spills over into streets, but we can’t bring ourselves to be so hypocritical. How can a country which is subjugated in all but name justify making a grand show of its ‘Independence’? Sri Lankan leaders shamelessly grovel before the functionaries of international lending institutions, begging for loans, and tug their forelock to foreign governments in a bid to regain trade concessions which come at a price. They have no qualms about subjugating the national interest to their economic needs and political expediency.

The two main parties, the UNP and the SLFP, which had taken turns to misgovern the country until two years ago caused a severe erosion of public faith in democracy. Today, they are doing that together! The JVP’s two abortive yet bloody insurrections and the total capitulation of the traditional left to the SLFP have made the people fed up with socialism as well. No wonder the country is neither democratic nor socialist! People are even denied their right to give vent to their pent-up anger in the form of street demonstrations without being assaulted and arrested by the long arm of the law subservient to governments in power. Protests are crushed ruthlessly and it looks as though the judiciary had become a malleable tool in the hands of the ruling politicians hell bent on suppressing dissent.

Sixty nine years on, we are still without a proper constitution, to begin with. So much for the country’s achievements under successive governments!

The ‘Independence Day’ has long lost its meaning. The country has come to such a pass that family silver is being disposed of to shore up the crumbling economy. The national legislature is full of political rejects and no different from a fish market characterised by frequent brawls and the liberal use of raw filth. Rogues masquerade as ministers and some judges are mere marionettes.

Foreign powers are acquiring national assets and precious land for a song. Ports and airports are up for sale and at this rate not even Sigiriya, Sinharaja and Sri Pada will be safe. It is widely feared that the day may not be far off when the country is cut like a melon and chunks thereof handed over to China, the US and India, perhaps, along the same ancient boundaries as Ruhunu, Maya and Pihiti.

Time was when foreigners had to use force and fight hard to grab land here but today it is being offered on a platter to them by a bunch of failed leaders in the name of investment promotion and in return for kickbacks. They are the very ones who once made elaborate arrangements, albeit in vain, to celebrate the quincentenary of the arrival of the Portuguese here!

A protracted war was thankfully brought to an end about eight years ago, but reconciliation continues to evade us and the blame for this situation should be apportioned to all political parties which use communalism to create ethno-religious block votes. Western members of the international community have been fishing in troubled waters on the pretext of helping bring about ethnic harmony.

The national economy remains growth retarded and the country spends most of its earnings to service its foreign debt. Leaders flaunt even foreign loans obtained at high interest rates as achievements and unconscionably splurge on super luxury vehicles and junkets.

Meanwhile, the corrupt continue to be protected by the very champions of good governance who captured power by promising to rid the country of bribery and corruption. The bank of the bank has been robbed in broad daylight and the robbers are protected by the powers that be. They cock a snook at the law of the land and the judicial process. There have been various rackets which have cost the state coffers billions of rupees but they have gone uninvestigated and whistleblowers are being hounded out of their jobs. The multi-billion-rupee fraudulent coal tender which even shook the conscience of the Supreme Court, the mega paddy racket and the Customs SUV fraud are only a few of them. The self-proclaimed guards who undertook to probe and punish crooks have become robbers themselves. As a local saying goes, when the ridge and the fence eat one’s paddy plants whom can one turn to for relief?

Let the present-day yahapalana rulers who abuse power, suppress dissent, indulge in corruption, shield crooks, manipulate police and the judiciary and postpone elections indefinitely on some flimsy pretext be warned that the day may not be far off when Sri Lankans emulate their Romanian counterparts. Romanians who got rid of a dictator and pinned their hopes on Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu’s government which promised them a radical break from the past and a better deal, have taken to the streets against the incumbent administration’s partiality to corrupt public officials.

The need for a truly national movement to liberate this country from the clutches of crafty crooks in the garb of politicos representing all political parties and achieving economic and political independence cannot be overemphasised.

Sri Lanka: Yet Another Looter Yet Again Exposed — Neither Him Nor the Rulers Have Shame!

( February 5, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It has been revealed that former Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Arjuna Madhendran, during whose tenure the controversial bond scam was committed, has defrauded Rs.66 million of public funds on 163 occasions. This is revealed in an internal audit carried out by the internal audit department of the CBSL.

He has defrauded funds exceeding the credit card limit a governor could spend officially. According to the audit report Mr. Arjun Mahendran has also spent Rs.2 million to buy valuable suits. He has spent funds from CBSL as if he was spending from his business earnings. He has produced bills of expenditure for two hotels for the same day when participating in a summit in India.

The audit report reveals very high monthly credit card expenditure, not producing invoices for payments, producing unacceptable invoices, delaying personal payments, absence of audit evidence for official spending, not settling personal spending in Singapore, not settling stamp duties, over-the-limit fees for credit cards, claiming official spending for personal spending, violating CBSL regulations when spending, staying in places closer to the official residence of the Governor, submitting contradictory costs, violating excise regulations are some of the instances mentioned in the report.

There are also violations of travel allowances, producing bills for several hotels for stays on the same day, variance in dates and times of entry and exit, ordering board in hotels for extra guests, contradiction in hotel bookings and travel claims, over spending committed by Mahendran according to the audit report. He has also violated regulations in entertainment.

As a result of serious irregularities committed by Arjun Mahendran CBSL has incurred a loss of Rs.66280616 reveals the internal audit report.

The convener of Voice Against Corruption (VAC) Wasantha Samarasinghe said a complaint would be lodged at the Anti-Corruption Committee Secretariat against former Governor of CBSL Arjun Mahendran who has destroyed people’s funds as a plundering villain.

Audit reports follow;

Arjun-Mahendran-Doc-1 (1).pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Arjun-Mahendran-Doc-2.pdf by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Dayan’s Outrage

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –February 4, 2017

Shyamon Jayasinghe

“I am accustomed to sleep and in my dreams to imagine the same things that lunatics imagine when awake.” ~ Rene Descartes

There isn’t any doubt that Dayan Jayatilleka has been hungry for a top political slot in our country. The highest point that he has been able to reach all these years was when he opted to suck up to Varatharaja Perumal, yesteryear Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, in a provincial government run by the Eelam Peoples’s Revolutionary Front.

Since those quirky days, Dayan has been down and down. Outcast by Ranil Wickremesinghe for reasons best known to the sharply discerning Ranil, Dayan smiled when Mahinda Rajapaksa took hold the reigns of power. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a seasoned wheeler-dealer of Mahinda’s family camp and so Dayan could not make a political materialisation. Instead, he looked for a top billing in the Foreign Service where he would have an opportunity to impress at global level and thereafter, perhaps, retry a subsequent political space. Dayan is arrogant and was overly conscious of his intellectual ability to cast a spell on Mahinda Rajapaksa via a diplomatic masterpiece. But his stars had not yet been good and Dayan was suddenly removed without notice and brought back to ground. Unfortunate for that to have happened because this man had a considerable diplomatic potential, which even his critics like me will not be mean enough to deny. However, to Mahinda Rajapaksa abilities hardly mattered. Lucrative linkages were.

Now where does Dayan lie? No chance with Ranil Wickremesinghe as he burnt his boats with the latter. No chance with Mahinda Rajapaksa as the latter has burnt himself out by his own appalling deeds in government. He has to hang on to a dream-only a dream. Dayan Jayatilleka is pathologically prone towards hallucination and he simply dreams of what he describes as an incoming ‘revolution,’ that would bring back Mahinda Rajapaksa. The tragedy is that even if the recapture does occur there isn’t a ghost of a chance of Dayan getting to where he wants to. Something Dayan doesn’t realize is that Mahinda is capricious and Machiavellian. Dayan isn’t up to that knowledge of the former President.

Yet, we see Dayan Jayatilleka on the Nugegoda stage twice-once in 2015 and next in 2017. Looking at the 2015 crowd Dayan exclaimed about the “ the rise and rise of Mahinda Rajapaksa.” Knowing Mahinda’s superstitious nature, the latter will believe in bad mouth or ‘kata waha,’ and soon shriek at Dayan not to make such prophetic predictions. Why? Because after the 2015 “huge crowd,” Mahinda lost. In his homegrown verbiage Mahinda might reprimand Dayan Jayatilleka: “Kata wahapan yako!” That, if not anything saucier like son-of a bitch in choice Sinhala.

In his article about Nugegoda 2017 Dayan acknowledges the roles of Wimal Weerawansa and Gammanpilla in having- planned the ‘patriotic fight-back/MR comeback.’ I listened to a video doing the rounds where Gammanpilla had virtually wept about the absence of Wimal at the recent Nugegoda meeting. In that video, Gammanpilla asks the audience rhetorically: ‘Why is Wimal in jail?’ he supplies the rhetorical answer: “because he has fought patriotically to save our beautiful motherland.”

Oh! What a beautiful thought Dayan and Gammanpilla! What a tribute to the great and pure patriots! Weera Puran Appu was a joke! Wimal is under arrest not for patriotism but for treachery to his country as the charges related to open stealing of public property. Wimal has allegedly given government-owned vehicles to his relatives to run on government-supplied petrol. His brothers, sister, in-laws and even his cook were running around in over 79 official vehicles that cost millions to the country’s treasury. Can a Minister who steals public money be anyone resembling a patriot? This is not to mention of the misallocation of houses to kith and kin.

This shows that Dayan has sunk into a mode of being obtuse and unaware of his surroundings. To him, alleged rogues are patriots. Wonder how he would describe Duminda who is now in gallows? Also a patriot?

Dayan Jayatilleka, while extolling seedy characters as patriots, has a nasty attack on Professor Nailn Silva by calling the latter, “that Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist ideologue.” Dayan even charges that Nalin is a liar. In which site has Dayan camped? He has forgotten his whereabouts so much? Dayan’s ‘revolutionaries,’ are in the Sinhala Buddhist camp as that is Mahinda’s battle cry.

Unfortunately, Dayan Jayatilleka is ever unable to conceal his consuming hate of Ranil Wickremesinghe and in this piece he repeats the hack again. I am sure Ranil has read and heard of these puerile attacks but is singularly unconcerned about them. This is the comic aspect.

Read More

Former Sri Lanka president intensifies efforts to resume power

By K. Ratnayake -3 February 2017

Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has urged his supporters to help him topple the government. Addressing a January 27 rally of tens of thousands in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda, Rajapakse denounced the government as “corrupt” and declared he was “ready to lead the force” to bring it down.

Promoted as “The beginning of the struggle,” the event was part of intensifying efforts by Rajapakse, a group of sitting parliamentarians, known as the Joint Opposition (JO), and their supporters to return him to power.

The escalating conflict between the Rajapakse-led JO and the administration of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is an expression of deepening political instability within the ruling elite. Colombo faces escalating balance of trade and foreign debt problems and growing struggles of workers and the poor against its social austerity measures.

Currently 45 members of parliament, including Rajapakse, back the former president, and sit on the opposition benches. The group includes a faction of Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the SLFP-led United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). Sirisena has the support of just 50 MPs. Wickremesinghe heads the United National Party (UNP).

Rajapakse told last week’s rally his faction would oppose the government’s “fraudulent new constitution,” which he claimed would “break up the country.” “The motive of the new constitution,” he declared, “is to appease the Tamil minority in their quest for political independence.”

Referring to the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) under his government in 2009, Rajapakse said, “we have to safeguard our victory” and prevent Sri Lanka’s breakup. Fighting against the division of the country is a slogan used by Sinhala chauvinist groups and the ruling class parties, including the SLFP and the UNP, to divide Sinhala and Tamil workers and the poor along ethnic lines.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, in fact, has not presented any new constitution.

The government previously indicated it was considering a new constitution for “reconciliation” with the Tamil parties. It would provide the provincial councils with limited capacities, mainly involving land and police powers, but they would still be under the dominance of the central government. The proposal was shelved in response to increasing agitation from the Rajapakse group and various Sinhala- and Buddhist-chauvinist organisations supporting him.

Rajapakse attempted to posture as an anti-imperialist at the rally, declaring, without specifically mentioning the US, that some countries wanted him removed from power “because we were not kneeling before imperialism.” These claims are utterly hypocritical.

Just after last year’s US presidential election results were announced, Rajapakse sent a message to president-elect Donald Trump praising his victory. He said Washington, under Republican President George W. Bush, had good relations with Rajapakse’s government and supported its war.

Rajapakse also appealed to Trump to not support war crime charges against Sri Lanka for abuses committed during the military offensive against the LTTE. When Trump was sworn in on January 20, Rajapakse tweeted, congratulating him and welcoming his “non-interventionist foreign policy.”

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe also sent congratulations to Trump, further indicating the subservience of every faction of the ruling elite to US imperialism.

Rajapakse denounced the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government for the high cost of living, burdening the country with huge debts and selling state properties to foreigners. He accused it of rampant corruption, as well as destroying the “independence” of the judiciary and jailing its political opponents.

Rajapakse appears to think the population is suffering from amnesia. The conditions he blames on the current government also existed under his rule. Rajapakse, for example, sacked the chief justice because she nullified a bill designed to take back some powers of the provincial councils.

Rajapakse’s speech to the rally cautiously avoided any criticism of the government for implementing the International Monetary Fund’s austerity measures. His regime slavishly imposed previous IMF demands.

Rajapakse’s opposition group has no sympathy for the democratic rights or living standards of workers and the poor. His government used its war against the separatist LTTE to suppress the basic rights of workers and unleashed ruthless attacks on their living standards and social conditions.

The former president is now attempting to exploit the growing popular anger by whipping up communalism. His real target, however, is not the government but the working class and the poor.

Sections of the media—the Daily Mirror, Lankadeepa and Hiru TV—that supported Sirisena during the US-backed 2015–16 regime-change operation that installed him, are now providing propaganda support to Rajapakse’s campaign.

While Rajapakse declares that he wants to change the government, no presidential election is due until 2019, followed by a general election in 2020. Rajapakse and his group are directing their attacks against the UNP and putting pressure on Sirisena’s supporters in the SLFP to break from the government.

Last week, provincial council chief ministers loyal to Sirisena met with Rajapakse, urging him to unite the SLFP and contest the local government elections, which are supposed to be held in the coming months. These elections were due a year ago, but Sirisena and Wickremesinghe keep postponing them, fearing electoral defeat. Sensing the government’s weakness, Rajapakse refused the request and demanded that the SLFP defect from the government.

Rajapakse was ousted in the presidential election in January 2015 amid mass opposition to his government. Sirisena, who was a senior minster in Rajapakse’s regime, was installed via a US-backed operation orchestrated with the assistance of Wickremesinghe and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Those backing Sirisena insisted that his administration would improve the living conditions of the masses, defend their democratic rights and end government corruption. A host of middle-class groupings, including the pseudo-left, promoted these bogus claims and worked to cover-up the fact that Rajapakse was removed because of his close political and economic relations with China, and in order to advance Washington’s geo-strategic interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

Over the past two years, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government’s promises have been exposed as lies. Colombo is implementing all the IMF’s demands, ruthlessly increasing taxes, slashing expenditure on health, education and vital subsidies to farmers, and privatising state-owned enterprises.

Further, it is handing out huge concessions to big business and foreign capital to attract investment. Government ministers have also been discredited by corruption allegations.

The explosive social conditions that existed before Rajapakse’s ouster have reemerged. Not a single day passes without reports of protests by workers, students or the rural poor. Telecom and electricity board temporary workers recently demonstrated and took strike action for several days until a court order banned their protests. Hundreds of students marched in Colombo early this week—the third time in the past two weeks—against the privatisation of education.

While the government is increasingly using the courts, police and military to suppress these actions, the capitalist elite is becoming nervous about the explosive situation. The crucial question is the development of an independent movement of the working class, hostile to all factions of the ruling elite and fighting on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program to end the capitalist profit system.

Who says Gota is anti-Muslim?

Feb 05, 2017

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is a key accused among those blamed for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat at the 2015 presidential election. The accusation is based on his having an anti-Muslim stand in cohorts with Bodu Bala Sena to deny Muslim votes for Mahinda. However, an investigation by Lanka News Web did not found anything to support that accusation. Rather, we found evidence to the contrary.

Given below is how he showered his generosity on the ‘suffering’ Muslim multimillionaires during the period he was the secretary to the ministry of defence and urban development:

 

1. Handing over a two-acre plot of land from near Galle Face Green in Colombo for the construction of Shangri-La Hotel. The local agent for the Shangri-La international hotel network is a Muslim businessman by the name Sajad Mowjoon.

 

Something has to be said of this Mowjoon. Until 08 January 2015, he was Sajad Mowjoon ‘Rajapaksa’, but from then on he became ‘Sajad Mowjoon ‘Samaraweera’. That is – he had not even answered a telephone call by Mangala Samaraweera during the Rajapaksa regime, but was at the foreign affairs minister’s Bolgoda home on the morning of January 09. Now he is the right hand of Samaraweera and whenever the minister makes a trip overseas, he is already there as the advance party.

 

2. Granting of an eight acre plot of land from Slave Island to Tata Lifestyle Company. The recipient of the land is a ‘suffering’ multimillionaire Muslim businessman Sampras.

 

3. Handover of valuable plots of land from Bambalapitiya for Pearl Grand and Pearl City Hotel, owned by the Muslim businessman Faris. Presently, a five-star hotel is under construction in one of those plots of land. Furthermore, permission has been granted to interconnect three of his hotels with flyovers (construction of such flyovers is prohibited in Sri Lanka)

 

4. Granting of three plots of land extending over 30 perches at Kollupitiya, Colombo 03 facing Galle Road, to the Muslim businessman Miswar, where a hotel, Mandarin, is under construction.

 

Many more examples of Gotabhaya’s generosity to Muslims can be given. But, that will only lengthen the list. Whatever the self-proclaimed anti-Muslim Sinhala stooges believe, that is how Gotabhaya’s anti-Muslim policy works. Gota might have come out in the open with the likes of Gnanasaras, but on the sly, he had cohabited with Sajads, Sampras, Faris and Miswars.

 

What we wonder about is the UDA not getting even a cent for the plots of land given to these multimillionaire businessmen. Therefore, what Gotabhaya had practiced with state assets was not ‘give’, but ‘take.’

Ruhunu University students and villagers’ conflict erupts again – father of 2 children attacked ! (Video)

Students are a scourge –a mother complains

Feb 05, 2017

(Lanka-e-News -05.Feb.2017, 4.50PM)  A mother complained that about 20 to 30 students of Ruhunu University had attacked her son  with clubs saying ,like the people around Universities in other areas  are living in fear of the University students , the neighborhood of Ruhunu University should also be in fear of the students.  ‘ This campus has become a scourge of the village , even a young girl cannot go on  the road,’ the mother bemoaned . 

The conflict between students of Ruhunu University located in Matara – Wellamadama and the villagers had been raging for some time. Since the conflict erupted between the parties again , the University had to be closed indefinitely from the 4 th. The five faculties of the University had been closed. 

The students had launched the attack in the vicinity of the Ruhunu University  on the 3 rd on a father of two children residing at Janaraja mawatha . The victim has been admitted to Matara General hospital. On the 4 th the victim  had left the hospital and come home. However , his most serious  accusation  is despite the police having the photographs of the assailants , so far the police has not initiated an investigation. The victim reported this to Lanka e news Matara correspondent Indunil Kelum Jayaweera 

---------------------------
by     (2017-02-05 11:27:50)

Bimal smashes slanders against JVP & its Leader

February 3, 2017

The slander published by a website belonging to Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, now being remanded for distributing state owned vehicles among his family members, relatives, friends and his party members and certain other websites stating that the Leader of the JVP Anura Dissanayaka possessed a house in Ireland and also used to mudsling at the JVP was demolished by Mr. Bimal Rathnayaka at ‘Balaya’ programme telecast yesterday (2nd) night by Hiru TV. Mr. Rathnayaka exposed the vicious conspiracy being carried out by reactionary elements to spread slanders against the JVP and its leaders.

The JVP committee in Ireland has been able to find out the land and the house at the address given in the mudslinging websites as belonging to Mr. Dissanayaka is actually a property belonging to a 70 year old Irish citizen. Mr. Rathnayaka was able to produce, at the programme, all the documents connection with the property to prove that the information given in the relevant websites were blatant lies.