Hello Mr Soldier

Featured image courtesy DNAIndia

BRIAN JEGANATHAN on 02/05/2017

On the wooden bench, deep in the land of the warriors,
Your Jaipur prosthetic leg takes on a new posture;
A docile pet, sitting snugly next to you, watchfully spying.

That stump of yours, just below the knee dancing – a puppet on a string.
The rustle of the Margosa leaves straining the song of its freedom.
But all freedoms are short of a leg; we’ve learned from history’s wisdom!

Soon you’ll seize that stump, encase it and strap it tight and secure
Ensuring its incarceration, at least for another good hour
Much wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth you’ll hearBut you got to do, what you got to do brave warrior;
For your life must hobble on from one dying day to another.

Do you remember that foot? The row of toes and the arch of your heel?
Do you remember its colour and size? Were you an 8 or a 10?
Were you awake or asleep at that final severance?
The moment you let go that foot for ever; on which,
For two and a half decades, your youthful life remained perched.

Then suddenly you were among the war-heroes in a pantheon.
The thing is, you forget your foot had a ‘civilian life’ of its own
Before they found the right fit in a soldier’s boot with a soft patriotic in-sole.

How often do you reminisce the adventures you made on that foot?
Through thickets and thistle and barbs; wading rivers and bogs
Standing at ease, standing in attention; long treks and grandiose
Parades to the patriotic marshal beat rolling off the war drums

Shooting fleeing targets, foot firmly planted on the ground;
Carrying bullet riddled mates, jumping puddles of blood;
Avoiding bodies strewn around like overripe palmyrah fruits;
Most of all, on that foot, you carried the bloody weight of the killing fields.

But today, it’s a different story; behind your back they keep whispering.
No peace inside your wattle-and-daub hero’s sanctum;
They say you scream at night when the moon is maturing;
Somebody slaughtering the poor rabbit in the silver cage in heaven

You see gaping gashes appear on blood-ripe mangoes.
And the thud of falling jack fruits remind you of corpses
Flung one after another into unknown distant mass-graves.
And then you realize patriotism is not a therapeutic balm;
Memory, an over-obese maggot, chewing up your brain.

Come May, you’ll remember the patriarchs of that war machine.
The führers, who emptied the venom of patriotism
Into your youthful veins; but don’t forget, they too are sick and insane.
While every day in invisible tricklets your life-sap drains,
Their power-oozing political carcasses bloat into Michelin Men

Did anybody tell you how many times the city was on lock-down mode?
A führer’s son’s private time to flirt with the harlot of speed.
While you the hero, the half-man shuffled and hobbled
From one wretched chore to another in your hell-dark hovel,
His darling was whoring with speed in a Lamborghini’s bowel.

But the truth is, they don’t care your life is in permanent lock-down mode.
And the word speed has been bombed out of your lexicon;
Reducing the prime of your youth to a terrible living revenant.

You must be wondering why I’ve come to say all these things
From nowhere, suddenly, like a dark angel in dreams.
But, first let me make it clear that I’m no devotee of war-heroes!

I come not with a platter of gifts, but a tiny sliver of memory
Triggered by your name and address hurriedly scribbled
On my dog-eared journo’s notebook inside a dank bunker.

Inside that bunker, we had a born-again moment, remember?
Your captain intoning prayerfully a hope for a land dismembered;
He said, “War corrodes like acid, but peace flows like golden honey”

And you stood there clasping my hand in earnest hope
And we all wished for peace in our different tongues!
But, since then and now, peace has been wrung out of the dead!

You know, my mind refuses to believe you were among them,
Who treasured summary executions as war memorabilia.
But then, I can’t forget it was the grand finale of necrophilia!

When I met, you were sensitive; your ‘civilian’ heart still beating.
Remember, you showed me the mortar tube; deeply lamenting
Over the price of a mortar and the fate of your salary slip;
Cut and slashed to a pittance, bloody and unbearable to look
Fighting back tears, you talked of the unwinnable war at home

And then you spied that mosquito probing my blood vein on the neck:
“Malaria, I wouldn’t even wish upon my enemy,” you swatted it to a speck.
I was carrying a Tamil name at the end, but you did not suspect.
Even if you did, I’m sure you would’ve served that death sentence on the insect
Because, by then, the ‘patriotic heart’ transplant had not taken full effect!

So, Mr Soldier, today when I think of that crumpled salary slip
And the black hole of penury that your life has been hurled into,
I keep wondering whether you should have kept that foot!

SAITM executive director shot at..! LeN warning 4 days ago of potential Fascist blood shed proved true !

(Lanka-e-News -06.Feb.2017, 11.30PM) On 2nd February , Lanka e news warned while publishing a report in Sinhala edition under the caption ‘ Free education ‘ that ‘we will  win the first round , but in the second round , the Fascists are going to  shed blood!’ This warning turned  true today (06) when the chief executive of SAITM  medical College and teaching hospital Dr. Sameera Senaratne was fired at by two  unidentified gunmen. 

When Dr. Senaratne after concluding his duties at SAITM  , and was travelling to his home at Rajagiriya  , two individuals who arrived on a motor bike wearing full face helmets had shot at him when he was driving along   Chandrika Kumaratunge mawatha, and fled . Dr. Senaratne has had a close shave , and escaped but his vehicle driving seat front side  and  rear door had been  damaged following the gun shots.

Senaratne who suffered from  grave shock is  under treatment in hospital .  

It is specially worthy of note that this violence was launched after the JVP leader announced  today that the JVP shall extend support to the  terror organization of Padeniya and Soysa.

It is well to recall some decades ago , the JVP terrorists  who  joined with the terror organization of doctors against the private medical Colleges bombed the Ragama medical College administrative building, and destroyed it . Because the members of the Ragama administrative board were threatened with death , they even had to leave  the country . During that period the Vice chancellor Professor Stanley Wijesundara of Colombo University and Vice chancellor Professor Chadraratne Patuwatavitharne of Moratuwa University , two most valuable  intellectuals were killed like dogs.

Lanka e news on the 2 nd issued the dire warning ‘ For sure these terrorists are going to unleash a blood bath ‘,   based not only on the violent antecedence and murderous history when two terrorist organizations were together then, but because currently , even the brutal discarded  Rajapakses who introduced the white Van murder culture , and the Peratugami  terrorists who are opposing  not only the 19 th amendment but even the national drugs bill have joined hands opposing the court order .

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by     (2017-02-06 18:58:09)

‘Hora Upadi Kade,’ medical mafia and contempt of court

Tuesday, 7 February 2017

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), the Medical Faculty Students’ Union, and Inter University Students Federation are probably in contempt of court over their continued protests and trade union action against the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the registration of students of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) with the Sri Lanka Medical Council.

The landmark judgment delivered by the Appellate Court on Tuesday 31 January confirmed that the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) is legally eligible to grant medical degrees to its students.

The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has been directed by the Appellate Court to grant provisional registration to medical students passing out from SAITM’s medical degree program. This verdict of the Court of Appeal was announced when the Writ Petition filed seeking an order questioning the decision of the SLMC on SAITM, was taken up for hearing before a bench headed by Justice Vijith Malalgoda. A MBBS graduate of SAITM filed the petition as the Sri Lanka Medical Council refused to register medical students who had passed out from the SAITM last year.

The University Grants Commission had granted approval and registration to SAITM on 30 August 2011 to conduct the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) program, yet hundreds of medical students of SAITM were deprived registration by SLMC, citing inadequate clinical training.

The Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (NFTH)was rejected by the SLMC as unsuitable for clinical training. In December 2015, at the hearing of an application filed in the Supreme Court by the SAITM students, the Health Ministry gave an undertaking to provide clinical training to the students of the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) at the Avissawella Base Hospital and the Kaduwela MOH.

Medical mafia

The medical mafia, the university students who benefit from taxpayers’ money through free education, and political opportunists have continued to protest the SAITM University’s medical degree program as a threat to free education. They ignore or fail to protest over the hundreds of other degree awarding programs undertaken by various private educational institutions. Why is it that only the private medical degree program is seen as a threat to free education?

The medical mafia of the GMOA, which holds the sick to ransom every time the Government takes any decision which benefits the majority of the citizens of the country, is spearheading a campaign against the verdict of the Appeal Court. It is time the Government addressed this menace through proper legal action against those destabilising its democratic actions.

I am reminded about the rumours floating around during the premiership and presidency of Ranasinghe Premadasa. Every time the doctors took trade union action and staged strikes, he would send his goons who would go before the protesting doctors, swing a few bicycle chains and tell them, “Dostara mahattayo, wedata giyanam hondai neda?” (‘Dear doctors, won’t it be good if you got back to work?’), and it always worked.

It is time the Government took the bull by the horns, not with the bicycle chain but through proper legal means to stop these medical professionals who have benefited from free education from holding the sick to ransom. Yes, they will resort to trade union action and cripple the health sector for a while, but for how long can they sustain it?

The Government should immediately ban private practice of medical doctors who are in Government service, if they strike or take other trade union action and deprive the poor of medical care. After all, it is mostly the poor who are forced to seek treatment at Government facilities.

In case of an emergency, there are plenty of doctors in India who could be hired to provide decent medical services if required. The Government should strip these striking doctors of their medical registration if they are not honouring their Hippocratic Oath. (The modern version of the oath is annexed at the bottom of the article for easy reference.)

Private higher education in medicine

Thousands of students who pass with above average results are denied their choice of medical education due to the dearth in State medical colleges. Some seek universities abroad at considerable cost, while others give up on their dream of treating the sick.

Private higher education in medicine was first introduced by the Government of J.R. Jayewardene as part of the open economy concept at the North Colombo Medical College (NCMC). It started with the admission of 100 local and 20 foreign students. The first batch of students was enrolled in 1990.

With similar protests as SAITM, the NCMC was nationalised in 1989 and it became the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. The first batch of students of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Kelaniya completed their five-year course and graduated with the MBBS degree in September 1996. They were provided registration with the Sri Lanka Medical Council.

The next attempt at a private medical university was the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), a brilliant concept and the brainchild of Dr Neville Fernando, a visionary social investor. This investment was undertaken in collaboration with the Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy, Russian Federation.

The final year students were offered entrance to the Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy in Russia, which was recognised by the Sri Lanka Medical Council, thereby allowing its graduates to practice medicine in Sri Lanka after passing the Examination for Registration to Practice Medicine (ERPM) in Sri Lanka.

SAITM also launched a local MBBS program six years ago, which was approved by the University Grants Commission. As a teaching hospital is a basic requirement for a medical degree awarding institution to provide clinical support, Dr. Neville Fernando invested heavily in setting up the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital, a 1,002-bed facility (a bed more than the Japanese grant of the Sri Jayewardenepura hospital to J.R. Jayewardene in recognition of his support at the Treaty of San Francisco or San Francisco Peace Treaty). The NFTH claims that their hospital services are affordable to the greater majority of the local population who are average or lower middle income earners, but do not compromise on service standards or the quality of medical care.

SAITM controversy

The SAITM medical college has been one of the most controversial educational institutes since the GMOA, undergraduates from local Government medical colleges, and the SLMC banded together and made every attempt to close down this institution and deprive these undergraduates of their degrees.

The irony is that these medical students and doctors who benefit from their free education are protesting against students who are paying for their education; they are even paying for the clinical training provided by the Government.

As for the SAITM students and parents, justice has prevailed. Their heavy investment from their hard-earned savings without shipping them off to a foreign land never to return permanently to their motherland, has been rewarded.

Even today, thousands of students are studying in many overseas universities, most of which has facilities far less than SAITM. Some of these universities in China, Russia and in the former Soviet Republics, Philippines, etc. have received accreditation with the Sri Lanka Medical Council after some of SLMC inspectors have been taken on inspection tours by these universities.

How is it that the Government Medical Officers Association or any other institution did not challenge the approval of these substandard universities, but call the SAITM degree as a ‘Hora Upadi Kade’? How are these foreign universities recognised by the SLMC? Did anyone benefit personally?

During a conversation I had with the Head of the Sri Lanka Medical Council, Prof. Carlo Fonseka, I tossed the question as to why the SAITM degree has been blocked. His response sounded reasonable. He said "The SAITM students do not have exposure to forensic medicine” and hence cannot complete their clinical training. My immediate question was why the Government could not provide that training, even for a fee. His response, surprisingly, was that it was for the Government to take that decision.

It is left to be seen if the medical mafia continues to deprive the right of a private medical education in Sri Lanka for our youth, or if they will be hauled in for contempt of court.

The grouping together of the Joint Opposition, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the GMOA and the students unions does not auger well for the Government’s investment plans not just in the education sector, but will affect every other. It is important that the Government and the Judiciary takes a firm stand and deals with these saboteurs.

Privatization Of Education: Fight Should Not Only Be About SAITM

By Anushka Kahandagama –February 6, 2017

Anushka Kahandagama

SAITM has been an issue for a considerable time and was seen as the icon for privatizing education in Sri Lanka. The debates around this issue are varying. One of the arguments drawn was that, this is the end of free education and this might badly affect the quality of the country’s health care. Private hospitals and privately owned dispensaries are on the rise. It doesn’t matter whether public hospitals provide quality health care or not, most of the people prefer private health care. Most of these doctors who do private practice are attached to a Government hospital.

They use the off-time to serve for the people who come to get their service for money. Then, these doctors are no doubt burdened with overwork, which definitely affects the quality of the service they provide. Although not commissioned by this particular factor, past events suggest that, there were many medical negligence which led to loss of limbs of people and sometimes loss of life.

Another argument is that, while all the other disciplines have been privatized over these past years, it is ironic only to resist the privatization of medical education. Although this logic seems fair in abstraction, there should be a higher ideal for medicine as medical education directly deals with the lives of the people.

The argument against SAITM as an attempt to privatize Sri Lankan education is lacking in strength as the privatization did not start yesterday. Private tuition classes are the un-talked of yet mostly prevalent and obvious privatization of education in the country. The common understanding is that, the students who enter into the Government University System are a sole product of Government Schools, which is not true. Some of them are from international schools and some of them spend much time in private tuition classes rather than the schools. Furthermore, most of the teachers who are Government teachers do teach in private tuition classes. The problem of privatization intersects with many other socio-economic and political factors, which cannot be taken out of the context and analyses. However, when it comes to the point of private tuition classes, some of the students take many classes for one subject and get through their A/L and O/L. How can one ignore this fact completely and fight for the protection of the free education in Sri Lanka?

Sri Lanka provides free health care and education. Against this background, Sri Lanka managed to achieve a better position in the Human Development Index. Establishing SAITM is not only an attack on free education, but also an indirect influence on free health care system in the country as it might further encourage the privatization of health care.

Keeping health care and education free in a system where all the other sectors have succumbed to neo-liberal economic policies are pointless. All the other factors which are market driven and based on neo-liberal economic policies would certainly drive health care and education towards privatization. But, the only difference would be these forms of privatizations are subtle, hidden and sometimes beyond the boundaries of the nation state.

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Dissimilarities of views at Nugegoda rally!

Feb 06, 2017

Reports from certain factions of the joint opposition after the people’s rally which was held in Nugegoda on the 25th of January have revealed that according to dissimilarities of views there are definite signs of rupturing the party.

In particular the leaders of the joint opposition have time and again proposed to the former president the Member of Parliament for the Kurunegala district Mahinda Rajapaksa to target the president Maithripala Sirisena continuously by slandering him. But this had not happened instead what has been done had been protecting him in defence for actions taken by the government.In this context on the platform itself at Nugegoda several leading members of the joint opposition had been criticized over it for not accepting and acceding to the proposed tactic.

At the end with the intervention of the next leader and successor to be Professor GL Pieirsthe former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been influenced to make such a speech. However the leaders of the joint opposition Vasudeva Nanayakkara,Dinesh Gunawardena,Mahindananda Aluthgamage,Dullas Alahapperuma,Kanchana Wijesekera,Bandula Gunawardena and group had opposed the decision of criticizing the President Maithripala Sirisena but were of the view to condemn the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and other UNP members in parliament.

It is learnt from the members of the joint opposition that this rally had been organized by Dullas Alahapperuma, Rohitha Abeygunawardena and Mahindananda Aluthgamage while no support had been rendered by the Rakapksa family. It has been said that in comparison to the joint opposition rally that was held in February last year also in Nugegoda this had been less successful. In addition the focus of the media too had been drawn to that extent..

The rally of last year had been organized by Member of Parliament Wimal Weerawansa.It is learnt that Mahinda Rajapaksa had disliked the recorded speech of Wimal Weerawansa who had made in parliament having come from the remand prison to be relayed at the rally.It is also reported that Member of Parliament Prasanna Ranatunga who is a loyalist of Mahinda Rajapaksa had attempted to enter the stage with fifteen of his loyal members of provincial councils. This attempt had been foiled by the organizers. Hence these loyal provincial councillors have had to stay away from the stage.
However the members of the joint opposition against the wishes of Mahinda Rajapaksa had expressed views.The other day at a media briefing Dullas Alahapperuma had added that the intention and course of action should be the protest against the United National Party. From the year 1951n the challenge for the SLFP was how to defeat the UNP. However when the members of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party are in two factions on views it is in a dilemma. This has been shown by the leaders of the joint opposition party.In this context according to Dullas Alahapperuma the strategy should be one group has to be within the government and the other outside it to defeat the UNP.He had added that the Prime Minister and the government should be protected until the next election.He also had cautioned the Members of Parliament ,Wimal Weerawansa,Udaya Gammanpila who represent the joint opposition in refraining from criticizing president Maithripala Sirisena. He also had added that the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s confession that the joint opposition would be contesting the forthcoming provincial and local government elections is only his personal opinion. Dullas Alahapperuma has quipped that he would not take such a drastic decision. This has been disclosed by the sources of the joint opposition.

However the majority of the members of the joint opposition are of the view that they would not remain under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa any longer and the leadership should be bestowed on Gotabhaya Rajapaksa or Chamal Rajapaksa..But it is reliably known that Mahinda Rajapaksa is totally not in favour of this.

In the meantime it is reported from sources of the joint opposition that Mahinda Rajapaksa had called personally those who attempt to bring Gotabhaya Rajapaksa into politics advising them to stop this campaign. This had been conveyed as somewhat like an order. He had said that joining with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is like binding together in prison which was told to him by a professor .One Mahinda Rakapaksa had told a head of a television media institution a close associate of his not to ‘bloat” Gotabhaya.In this manner several facts have been put forward by Mahinda Rajapaksa preventing the emergence of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as a political personality..

MPs’ duty-free car permits racketThree dozen members, new buyers named-Case before SC on Feb 13

Kodituwakku

By Shamindra Ferdinando-February 5, 2017, 9:53 pm 

Attorney-at-law Nagananda Kodituwakku yesterday said that thanks to the Right to Information (RTI) Act that had been endorsed unanimously by parliament, he had been able to obtain information from the Motor Traffic Department pertaining to those who had transferred vehicles imported on duty free permits especially made available to members of parliament.

Kodituwakku emphasized that none of those who had bought expensive vehicles were legitimately entitled to obtain duty free facilities. In accordance with the RTI Act as well as the much touted 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the public couldn’t be denied their right to access crucial information, Kodituwakku said. In case, some institution withheld such information, the parliament had the right to intervene, the attorney at law said.

Responding to a query, the former head of the Revenue Task Force of Sri Lanka Customs said that some parliamentarians had transferred vehicles to unauthorized persons close on the heels of the Supreme Court being moved against the failure on the part of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) to take meaningful measures to stop what he called a corrupt practice.

The SC will take up the case on Feb 13. Several members of parliament, including Joint Opposition heavyweight Bandula Gunawardena are on record as having said that the members enjoyed the right to transfer duty free vehicles since the time of President Jayewardene’s regime and it was certainly not a matter to move court against them.

An irate Kodituwakku told The Island that had there been resolute action by the CIABOC in late 2015 when the first illegal transfer of a vehicle imported on a duty free car permit was brought to its notice, members would have been discouraged. Kodituwakku said that he was compelled to seek Supreme Court intervention to stop a practice that had been implemented for several decades at the expense of the national economy.

According to a list made available to Kodituwakku by the Motor Traffic Department the following MPs had transferred their vehicles to persons/companies mentioned within brackets: S. Sridharan (Paththage R.A. Fernando), S. Gnanamuttu (Premadasa Jewelery Private Limited), Sisira Jayakody (A.D.A.K. Kavinda), S.C. Muthukumarana (H.M.S. Jayaratna), Chamal Rajapakse (R.P. Amarasooriya), S. Sivamohan (S.W.I.T. Sandaruwan), Buddhika Pathirana ( B.A.J.C .Abeyratne), Janaka B. Tennakoon (Central Finance Company Limited), Vasantha Senanayake (Alliance Trust Private Limited), Wasantha Aluwihare (Menasha Pvt Limited), K.S.N. Perera (King Aqua Services), Romesh Pathirana (Finite Lanka Private Limited), D.T.W.W.Dissanayake (D.G.D.I. Silva), Nishantha Muthuhettige (Colombo Logistics World Private Limited), Sujeewa Senasinghe (Ali Akbar Salehbhai), Kanchana Wijesekera (People’s Lanka Micro Credit Limited), Mohan Lal Grero (Lyceum International Private Limited), Palitha Thewarapperuma (Kotuwe Kade Private Limited), H.M.N. P. de Silva (W.D.A. Hemantha), Imran Maharoof (L. U. R. Liyanage), S. Senathirajah (Migel Indra Mallika), R.M. K.A.S. Jayaratne (Araliya Green Hills Hotel Private Limited), Dilum S. B. Amunugama (Cosmic Technologies Private Limited), Lohan Ratwatte (Don Yasapala Jayasuriya), Lakshman Kiriella (A.D.R. Cristie Leonard), Udaya Gammanpila (Mel Wire Rolling Private Limited), Ven. Athureliye Rathana (P.A. Ajith Panditharatne), B.H. Wijepala (Samaranayake and Company Limited), S. Premaratne (Ambilipitiya Tool Makers Limited), P.S. Fernandopulle (Certis Lanka Security Solutions), Vadivel Suresh (Perumal Palaniappan), V. Maheswaran (Wanniyage Roshan), D.V.C. Dinushan (Mohammed S. Mistak Mohammed) and J.P. R. K. Wijeratne (Abeywardene Distributirs Private Limited).

Kodituwakku said that the actual number of vehicles sold to unauthorised persons and companies was much higher than the nunber registered. The attorney at law said that the vas majority of those who had availed the duty free facility ordered state of the art Land Cruisers. According to informatoon made available by the Customs, each Land Cruiser importer had received a staggering tax excemption amounting to nearly Rs 35 mn. Other vehicle owners had received tax exception amounting to Rs 30 mn to Rs 44 mn.

Kodituwakku said that he would pursue the matter in the Supreme Court as he believed no other institution could inquire into the matter due to political interference.

With the vast majority of people struggling to make ends meet and the country facing unprecedented balance of payments crisis, lawmakers under any circumstances couldn’t help themselves to such extragavent tax concessions, he said. The attorney-at-law said that he intended to inform the Brtish High Commission of the situation as the UK government soon after the change of government in January 2015 promised to work closely with the CIABOC as well as the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to combat corruption.

Pasgoda district secretary commits arson..! A minister is aiding and abetting : Whither laws ?

(Lanka-e-News -06.Feb.2017, 11.30PM)  It is with deep regret we report  another incident in which  a private booth  was set on fire ruthlessly and lawlessly by the Pasgoda district secretary. This arson was shockingly committed in broad daylight and right at  the center  of the Town disregarding laws of the country and trespassing on the  rights of a law abiding  citizen.

We wish to  ask from those individuals who are taking to the streets against Ranjan , what have they to tell against this demented demon of a district secretary who is conducting herself with maniacal  pomposity and  pride abusing her official position  in excess of her powers  described in detail  hereunder ?

An owner of a land situated near the roundabout of Oorabokke  town coming within the purview of Pasgoda district secretariat was acquired by the government about a year ago without any compensation being paid. The name of that land owner  is Miyuranga Edirisinghe. The latter decided to open a  stall  on the 22n d, after investing Rs. 40,000.00 in  goods  for the shop. On the 18th however he received a sudden telephone call summoning him to the stall he was proposing to open. 

It was this female devil incarnate, the Pasgoda district secretary Koshalya Kumari  who  made her appearance  at the venue along  with a group of  Urabokke police officers including  S.I. Premasiri .This district secretary had ordered Miyuranga to immediately remove the stall .Miyuranga has however explained that since no compensation has been paid so far , and he  has no income , to please allow him to run the stall to earn his livelihood. 

This district secretary who is apparently suffering from acute  dementia based on her overweening arrogance has snarled at Miyuranga , and addressed him in most disdainful language ‘ I wont tell you (umba) again. Hence, immediately remove that stall’.
 No sooner she said that using contemptible language   in keeping with her low breed , than an individual carrying a can of petrol emerged from the Cab vehicle while the  district secretary was still seething with fury and screaming like a demon let loose. Even  disregarding the police around , she had issued an illegal warning   ‘I shall set fire to this place if you (umba) do not remove this booth by 7.00 tonight  ‘.

After her violent conduct ,she has left along with her group in typical gangster style. In fact by standers who witnessed her rowdy behavior had wondered whether the district secretary was trying to imitate the gang leaders of the old wild West .

On the 19 th at about 11.00 a.m . the district secretary alias the devil  incarnate has come again with  SI Premasiri , and set fire to the shop after pouring petrol right before the eyes of a large crowd in broad daylight .

This being  a most high handed and unlawful action, and specially because a responsible  district secretary was involved  , it is  a most pertinent question , who vested this demon by birth with such illegal powers ?

 How come she is still free enjoying complete  impunity  even after committing such a  crime ?  Why is the Matara district secretary dumbfounded and paralyzed despite a complaint lodged with him ? Why did the Matara SSP ‘s office refuse to accept Miyuranga’s complaint ? 

Unbelievably , the complaint  was accepted only after the intervention of the ASP. The latter  has asked for an explanation right in front of  the complainant via phone from SI Premasiri who accompanied Koshalya  when she went  on the rampage in a fit of devilish rage with the illegal determination to destroy the stall .

Premasiri’s explanation was , he accompanied Koshalya  to provide security to her. He also  confirmed it is true  arson was committed right before him  and he was an eye witness to that crime.  

It is significant to note that the minister himself  in charge of the police is from Matara .This outrageous crime was committed in Matara , and there  are eye witnesses to this episode –the  high handed action of Koshalya who took  the law into her hands with complete impunity.

The victim on the other hand  is desperate and helpless despite the fact he is innocent while  the criminal who was responsible for the  arson is free . Mind you , being a district secretary it is her paramount duty to set an example to others via her  lawful conduct. The Minister too is duty bound to prove his mettle  because he has now found  the best opportunity to demonstrate he is a man (at least among women)  and  dispel the popular view among men that he is  effeminate,   by taking appropriate action , for this female devil incarnate  has committed the offence in his own native town  - Matara . 

The criminal cannot therefore be allowed to enjoy impunity no matter the rank or position , or  be permitted  to go scot free  for  this can  inspire others too to take the law into their hands . In that event even  if the minister takes the  matter seriously to hand at that belated stage , it will serve no purpose and only prove the  efforts   are impotent.  Therefore it is now or never he must act, and act fast . He must clearly demonstrate he is a man  ,and the district secretary  is a woman because the general public are harboring doubts in this regard following this episode.

It is the consensus among the residents of the area ,  a political bigwig of the district , minister Lakshman Yapa is aiding and abetting this devil incarnate  in her villainy and wrongdoings ( as always is the case – in every crime in Sri Lanka  a political scoundrel  is behind generally)   .  Mind you this moronic demon was transferred out following   public protests , but because of the  support and protection provided by  this minister  for inscrutable reasons she is staying put. Intriguingly the entire media too is silent on this .  

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by     (2017-02-06 19:26:54)

Dubai Bhai imports cars from money given by Yoshitha

Feb 05, 2017

During the Rajapaksa regime, it was a Muslim businessman by the name Mustaq who had supplied biriyani to Temple Trees. He also runs a vehicle importing business, and after the defeat of the Rajapaksas, he has turned to his business on a major scale, reports say.

Like the Philippine dictator Marcos fled after his defeat, Mahinda and his family had to flee Temple Trees when the day dawned on 09 January 2015, even before the final result of the election was announced. At the time, our man Mustaq was there weeping over what had happened to his masters.

The second prince in the Rajapaksa family, Yoshitha, taking out what was in a safe, handed over Rs. 150 million in cash to Mustaq. This was no secret as the handover of the money took place before the eyes of everyone present.

Even during the Rajapaksa rule, Mustaq imported super luxury vehicles from Europe and other countries, by undervaluing and misleading the Customs and paying less taxes. According to information received by the FCID, he has doubled his vehicle imports in the past two years. That is by investing the Rs. 150 million he received from Yoshitha. Therefore, the biriyani supplier for Rajapaksa, Mustaq alias Dubai Bhai, is to be arrested soon. Also, those who bought the super luxury vehicles from him at low prices will have to explain.

What do railway’s ‘foreigners only toilets’ tell about 69th Independence Day?

2017-02-07

Unlike during the decades back when patriotism was forced down the throat, these days there is a degree of circumspection when Sri Lankans mark Independence Day -- the 69th, which was celebrated last Saturday. It would be demeaning to say our post-independent history is a flop. In fact, viewed in absolute terms, Sri Lanka has become better over the past seven decades; social indicators have improved considerably on the back of extensive social welfare measures and they were, in most cases, beyond the scope of what our mediocre economic development levels would have allowed.
However, a more accurate comparison would be in relative terms, with other countries of the world; where were they then and now? That is when our post independent record is laid bare as hollow. Much has been said about how a host of South-East and East-Asian countries which were dirt poor then leapfrogged to prosperity within a generation or two. They did not have pampered social welfare systems during their sweatshop era of economic take off, often under repressive regimes, however, when the growth trickled down to the bottom, those changes were reflected in their social, political and economic lives.  

Our decent achievements of social indicators were a product of a welfare system that predated  independence. We were generally better off in most social measures, when compared to most Asian states even when the British left our shores. Our social development levels remain acceptable at present. However, at independence, our economy was also on a sound footing, and it is no longer the case now.  
One who would take a closer look at the success or the failure of states would find the driver of that process is not democracy, human rights or god, but the economy. Differential economic growth rates of states over time determine their place in the world, and their people’s standards of living. All other factors affect the process to the extent that they are allowed to interfere with. That is however a function of state power. Some authoritarian states had more state autonomy from society than ours did, which could be either good or bad depending on how that power was wielded.  
There is a general consensus about the sorry mismatch of our post-independent promise and reality. However, school text books that teach children about the glory of independence and politicians who spout its virtue do so without acknowledging that grim reality and the factors that led to our gradual decline. That is dangerous because that continues to feed into a vast reservoir of feel good fantasy which continues to blind us. Kids when growing up encounter the reality in the job market, or when in the absence of employment at home, are forced to go to toil under sub-human conditions in some Middle Eastern country.  

Every new state that emerged in any time of history had that primary task of forging a national identity, generally representative of all spheres of the nation’s life; economic, social, political and external. It was that choice and its implementation that shaped the destiny of those nations for many generations to come. The era during which our new nations emerged was swept with a new sense of liberating ideology that was twisted with an anti-hegemonic world view. Thus the West was viewed as reactionary, the Soviet Union, though Stalin killed 20 million of its own people, was romantic; Capitalism was immoral, Socialism was viewed as the path to economic emancipation
Until 1956, Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was nonetheless undisturbed by wider trends and by and large trod the path paved by the British. The so-called people’s revolution of 1956 followed a wholesale borrowing of the popular anti-hegemonism that was making waves across the former colonies at the time. It may have been done with sincere intentions for the good of average folks though political opportunism itself played a part. However, those policies proved to be a disaster in the long run. Much has been said about the language policy, which was controversial, and over  time had disastrous ripple effects, and was made worsened by the Tamil political strategy and emphasis on Tamil exceptionalism, which chose to fight to the bitter end.   

"There is a general consensus about the sorry mismatch of our post-independent promise and reality. However, school text books that teach children about the glory of independence and politicians who spout its virtue do so without acknowledging that grim reality and the factors that led to our gradual decline"

The real damage that the 1956 policies caused was for the economy and national competency. Warning shots of which were fired in the first year itself when the economic growth plummeted for the first time since independence and remained so until the end of the decade. Early attempts of nationalization were followed by Statism in the 70s. Those efforts continually stifled the economic spirit of people. A democracy cannot be sustained over the long-run in the absence of economic freedom. Economic freedom generates social freedom as richer the people get, they begin to exercise and expand their rights. Those two freedoms feed in to political freedom and vice versa. Our long term decline was more than anything else because of lofty and often misplaced economic policies that began to be adopted since 1956. Now so much for freedom, as the Sunday Times reported on the anniversary of our 69th independence Day, even toilets in the Fort Railway Station are now segregated. Foreigners are offered separate washrooms while the locals have to use smelly dirty toilets.   

This institutional decline also stems from the long term effects of misplaced social engineering efforts. One function of the changes in the 1956 was to enable the upward mobility of the masses, which was a salutary deed. However, it took place without the exposure to ideological sophistication: Now you have senior public officers who defend segregated toilets. This decline was exacerbated by the Swabasha education policy and politicization of public service. Long-term effects of those policies are now omnipresent in our universities, civil service, foreign service, Parliament and also in media.
This incompetency and inefficiency breed a sense of complacency since when you are a frog in the well, you compare yourself, at best, with those who inhabit the same well. Bringing down the walls of the insular social, economic, political edifice that loomed large over the past six decades will take another generation.  

Xi Positions China for Global Economic Leadership

by Kumar David-February 6, 2017, 8:42 am 

President Xi Jinping veritably let the cat out of the bag with his speech at Davos (World Economic Forum) in January. As Trump’s America abandons the international scene and retreats into fortress America, it is clear that the Chinese have decided that it is a golden opportunity to fill the vacuum and take pole position. Trump has overreached and the US is scampering to recover some mileage with post-Brexit Britain and Japan but overall it has lost the plot, at least for now.

The highlights of Xi’s presentation were:

* Globalisation is good; it is not the problem. ("The problems troubling the world are not caused by economic globalization"). 

* Globalisation promotes prosperity and makes for win-win relations between countries. (Globalization has powered growth and facilitated movement of goods, capital, and advances in science, technology and civilization").

* Economic autarchy and turning inwards is passé. ("Cutting the flow of capital, technology, products, industries and people and channelling the ocean’s waters into isolated lakes is not possible; it runs counter to history").

* New relationships are needed. ("The global governance system fails to embrace recent developments and falls short in representation and inclusiveness"). 

* The gap between rich and poor is obscene. ("There is growing inequality and widening gap between return to capital and return to labour. The richest one percent of the world owns more wealth than the 99 percent. Over 700 million people in the world are living in extreme poverty"). 

* Development models must be socially driven - implying it can’t be untrammelled capitalism. ("A sound development philosophy and model is essential for balanced development and ensure that people have equal access to opportunities and share in the benefits").

* Without saying it in so many words, Xi is saying that China is ready to step in where Trump’s US is pulling out. ("China provided 400 billion Yuan of foreign assistance, undertook 5,000 foreign assistance projects, and held 11,000 training workshops for 260,000 people from developing countries. China has attracted $1.7 trillion foreign investment and made $1.2 trillion direct outbound investment, a huge contribution to global economic development"). 

* China is committed to action on climate change. ("Global climate change must not be allowed to fail").

These remarks alone give the game, if you call it that, away. China is priming itself to take global economic leadership. An ideological tilt is also evident; Xi is phrasing things in ways unthinkable for any US President to mouth. China cannot match the US in military clout or diplomatic influence – except on the Taiwan issue where China will even go to war. Economic power is where it will assert dominance over an ailing America. Add in things like the new ‘One Belt – One Road’ dream of a new land and sea Silk Road which is well underway and the new Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, and you get a picture of the game plan.

One of our Deputy Ministers misunderstands all this and imagines that Xi is a recent convert to the classical economics of Smith and Ricardo. This is not the case, and as I argue in the accompanying piece, liberal economics is passé anyway. Xi’s play is to make China the world’s premier economic power and displace the US, not to espouse liberalism. His internationalism could just as well be out of Karl Marx ("Communists are reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality; workers have no country").

The Chinese economy is state-capitalist, not market capitalist, though it uses the market for efficient resource (capital) allocation and distribution of consumption goods. Economists who imagine that a high percentage (over 50%) of the economy is in the hands of the private sector are guilty of oversimplification. A huge part of "private enterprise" is underpinned and controlled by central and provincial governments. I can quote chapter and verse but one obvious example must suffice. The booming property market, the apparently private housing and real-estate sector, is underpinned literally in state-owned land and financially in how developers are funded; a façade for state supervised economic activity. The same is true of larger "private" manufacturing enterprises. The Communist State dictates terms to the whole economy.

Speaker Bercow: Trump should not speak in Parliament

Donald Trump Parliament visit opposed by speaker Bercow

6 February 2017

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has said he would be "strongly opposed" to US President Donald Trump addressing the Houses of Parliament during his state visit to the UK.

Mr Bercow told MPs "opposition to racism and sexism" were "hugely important considerations".

He was applauded by SNP MPs after his comments.

President Trump was invited to make a state visit after meeting Theresa May in Washington last month.

• Brexit bill debate and reaction to Bercow on Trump

A petition to withdraw the invitation will be debated by MPs on 20 February after attracting 1.8m signatures.

Responding to a point of order in the House of Commons, Mr Bercow set out his opposition to a Parliamentary address as part of the state visit.

He told MPs addressing the Lords and the Commons was "an earned honour" not an "automatic right".

'Pay grade'

He said he was one of three "key-holders" for Westminster Hall, and referred to the US president's controversial travel ban.

"Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall," he said.

"After the imposition of the migrant ban I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall."

The Speaker said he would also be involved in any invitation to address Parliament's Royal Gallery.

GETTY IMAGESImage caption--Donald Trump was invited to make a state visit to the UK after Theresa May's trip to Washington

He added: "I would not wish to issue an invitation to President Trump to speak in the Royal Gallery.

"We value our relationship with the United States. If a state visit takes place, that is way beyond and above the pay grade of the Speaker.

"However, as far as this place is concerned, I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons."

Mr Bercow's intervention was welcomed by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has called for the state visit to be postponed, while Lib Dem leader Tim Farron said Mr Trump was "not welcome".

But former UKIP leader Nigel Farage said the Speaker "should be neutral".

Prime Minister Theresa May, who has criticised the president's travel ban affecting people from seven mainly Muslim countries, has defended the decision to invite him to make a state visit.

An address to Parliament has not been formally proposed, and no date has been set for the visit.

In recent years, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Chinese President Xi Jinping have addressed both Houses during their state visits.