North-East grinds to a halt in protest

27 Apr 2017

Tamil and Muslim groups in the North-East have staged a hartal, with the majority of businesses in towns of the region closed in protest at continuing grievances.

Towns such as Batticaloa, Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Trincomalee saw businesses and some public services cease operations for the day in support of ongoing protests in the North-East on land issues, the disappeared and graduate unemployment.

Families of the disappeared staged a sit-in, blocking the A9 road in Kilinochchi on the 67th day of their protest.

The hartal is backed by all major Tamil and Muslim parties and civil society organisations from across the majority Tamil-speaking region, including the Tamil National Alliance, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, the All Ceylon Makkal Congress and the Tamil National People's Front.

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SRI LANKA:TAMIL PARTIES PROTEST IN NORTH AND EAST PROVINCES

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“FEDERAL UNION OF SRI LANKA”: THE WAY TO RESPECT AND HONOUR S.J.V. CHELVANAYAGAM – RAJITHA SENARATHNA

Minister Senarathana delivering his speech

Image: Chelvanayagam at the 1961 sathyagrahaya. 

Rajitha Senarathna.-27/04/2017

When we were political cubs, we knew of Chelvanayagam as one who was the “father” figure of Tamil Nationalism. He was one Tamil political leader who was affectionately called “Thanthai” – meaning ‘Father’ – Chelva. Samuel James Velupillai Chelvanayagam dominated Tamil politics in the first 03 decades in post independent Ceylon.

I would say that Chelvanayagam was fortunate. He did not live to see the agony of the Tamil people and of Sri Lanka that got dragged into a long brutal war. He was fortunate that he was not there to shoulder the heavy responsibility that his most favoured political recruit, R. Sampanthan, is burdened with now as leader of TNA.

Chelvanayagam was a man of principles. He never compromised on his convictions and principles. He differed with leaders like G.G. Ponnambalama Snr. in the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and C. Suntheralingam on the issue of disfranchising the Indian origin Tamil labour. He stood by their rights consistently, as Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole had recently confirmed.

Like both Mr. Sampanthan and Mr. Sumanthiran today, Chelvanayagam’s conviction that Tamil people need to be treated as equals in the island of Ceylon made him give up a very lucrative legal profession. This was a political position he was determined to work towards. He became a full time politician on his convictions.

It was the issue of the rights of Plantation Tamils that led to his departure from ACTC in 1950 to form the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK). ITAK is popularly known as the “Federal Party” in English. A “federal State” was the fundamental Tamil political demand that Chelvanayagam stood for. How Chelvanayagam defined federalism was written in the resolution adopted at the first national convention of ITAK in 1951 in Trincomalee.

“The I.T.A.K recommends to the Tamil-speaking people the feasibility and desirability of establishing the autonomous Tamil linguistic state within the framework of a Federal Union of Ceylon, as the rational and natural culmination of centuries of close association between these two nations it is their common motherland and with a view to promoting and maintaining national goodwill and close co-operation with the Sinhalese people.”

There’s nothing about a “separate State”. Nothing about an “Eelam”. It is about living together in a single country; a “federal Union of Ceylon”.

What is “federalism”? Federalism is the most democratic form of power sharing within a single united country. It allows people in different regions to take care of their day to day responsibilities including their cultural life, while acting together as a single Nation State.

Chelvanayagam was a man born for peace. He was ever ready to sit and talk through issues, and to negotiate.

He proved his willingness to be flexible, as long as it did not hurt the dignity of the Tamil people, when he signed the Bandaranayake-Chelvanayagam Pact in 1957. It was far less than federalism. It was for Regional Councils. Chelvanayagam dropped his idea of a merged North-East federal government for Tamil people in accepting Regional Councils.

Regional Councils were clusters of 22 administrative districts then in Ceylon. All local government body members within a region were to elect Regional Councillors.

Certainly, Chelvanayagam went a long way to settle the issue with dignity. Having very badly being let down in 1957, he was once again willing to engage with Dudley Senanayake in 1965 to sign the Dudley-Chelvanayagam Pact.

Instead of Regional Councils, the compromise in 1965 was to “establish District Councils in Ceylon vested with powers over subjects to be mutually agreed upon between the two leaders”. The two main “Left” political parties, Samasamaja and Communist parties also played a racist role in 1968 to undermine the D-C Pact.

The First Republican Constitution in 1972 was also a bad let down for the Tamil people. This compelled Chelvanayagam to consider the option of a Separate State.

After 30 years in active Tamil politics from 1944, after he resigned his KKS parliamentary seat in 1972 as a protest against the ’72 Constitution, the Coalition government postponed the due by-election for 02 years and finally held it in 1975 February. Chelvanayagam polled over 72% at this by election. This was the highest ever percentage a candidate polled. He declared to the Tamil people, that this was a mandate for a “separate Tamil Eelam”:

“I wish to announce to my people and to the country that I consider the verdict at this election as a mandate that the Tamil Eelam nation should exercise the sovereignty already vested in the Tamil people and become free.”

So, to cut short a long history of promises, negotiations, agreements, abrogation of pacts and a brutal war, we still remain without a decent, workable, power sharing system to allow peaceful and productive living in this country.

Who is to be blamed? Both major political parties and the two traditional “Left” parties have to be held responsible for this catastrophe. That does not leave me out. I am also part of mainstream politics in the South.

In the 80’s, we were in a different political formation and we sacrificed many lives in Kurunegala, Moneragala, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Kalutara, Galle, Hambantota and Matara – all Sinhala local leaders who stood for power sharing within Provincial Councils. Vijaya Kumaratunge was the popular political leader to have lost his life over Provincial Councils. Thanks to the JVP, I still carry shrapnel in my nape as proof of our commitment to have provincial councils established. I suffered this not because I raised my voice on behalf of my own community, but for the rights of the Tamil people. I consider this an honour.

I have always stood for the rights of the Tamil people. And the more I stood for this, the more my vote bank in the South increased. That is because we have stayed consistent in our position, and the people trust us because of this.

We have failed despite all those sacrifices to convince the Sinhala South to agree to power sharing. My question is, “where did we go wrong”? I firmly believe, we in the South have approached the issue of “Federalism” in a very wrong way. We were only supporting “federalism” as a demand by Tamil people. Therefore the Sinhala South was made to understand that “federalism” is a path to a “separate” State. We have to talk of “federalism” as a democratic model for national development.

We should have asked, “Why only for Tamils? We in the South also need federalism”. We need “federalism” because centralised power from the Parliament of 1947 to that of 2017 – for 70 years – have failed to develop the rural Sinhala society. Every Constitution – the Soulbury, the First and the Second Republican Constitutions – have centralised power in Colombo. The poor rural South has been left out. Even my district Kalutara, though within Western Province, is lagging behind the Colombo and Gampaha districts. We have not been telling the South they are poor because political power is centralised in Colombo.

According to the Central Bank, in 2012/2013 the per capita income in the Western Province was Rs.16,124. But in the South it was Rs.10,973, in the North Central province it was Rs.9,877 and in Uva it was Rs.9,382. The per capita GDP in the Western Province in 2015 was Rs.771,117 when it was Rs.453,714 in the South, Rs.446,138 in Uva and Rs.392,913 in Sabaragamuwa. This disparity can be seen in all Sinhala rural areas. For 70 years with a centralised power structure, rural society both in Sinhala and Tamil areas have not gained any economic benefit and social development.

It is therefore time, I believe, that we change our approach in politics to achieve national development within a stable and a peaceful Nation State. It is time for the South to go with Chelvanayagam’s formula – to have provinces “within the framework of a Federal Union” of Sri Lanka. That, I think, is how we in the South can respect and honour this great democratic, Tamil leader – S.J.V. Chelvanayagam – in post independent Sri Lanka.

(S.J.V. Chelvanayagam Memorial lecture – delivered by Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine on 26th April 2017)
Thank you.

University Admission Process Needs Urgent Review: A Proposal

By R.P. Gunawardane –April 26, 2017

Prof R.P. Gunawardane

Undoubtedly, higher education is the only path to upward mobility for most of our youth. Thus, university admission is extremely competitive in Sri Lanka and as such it remains a very sensitive national issue for many decades. Only about10% of those who sit GCE A/L are admitted to 14 state universities leaving out almost 90%. The fraction of students who are fortunate enough to receive free university education comes to about 17% of those who qualify for university admissions, leaving out 83%. This means that a very large number of deserving students are denied admission to our universities every year. As a result, many students are seeking admission to foreign universities particularly because alternative avenues are not available in most disciplines. They are also our citizens, who have been denied free university education. Thus, they also deserve opportunities and at least the freedom of choice for university education in our democracy.

Since the university admission is extremely competitive, it is essential to formulate a very fair, reasonable and a foolproof system for university admissions. This article deals with the deficiencies of the current university admission process, which includes both the admission policy and the admission procedure, and some specific suggestions for its improvement.

History and the present status

Prior to 1970’s university admission was purely based on merit as practiced all over the world. After the failure of a short-lived ethnicity based admission, a district quota system with a smaller all island merit component was introduced in 1972 for university admissions. Since then this policy remained almost unchanged except for minor adjustments to the different quotas.

There were some additional changes took place during the period 2000-2002. From the year 2000, all students applying to universities were required to take 3 subjects instead of 4 subjects at the GCE A/L. This change was combined with introduction of an additional Common General Test for university admission. It was expected that this test is an aptitude test like SAT in USA, but it was far from it. Furthermore, it is only a qualifying test and the pass mark is 30%, making this test very ineffective in the selection process. The other more significant change introduced in the year 2002 was to rank students for admission on the basis of a standardized mark, the Z-score instead of aggregate raw marks. This method is considered as an effective method of removing inconsistencies arising out of the level of difficulty in scoring marks in different subjects.

Currently, the district quota system is applicable to all streams (Commerce, Biological Science, Physical science and Technology streams) other than the Arts stream where all island merit based admission operates. Even in the Arts stream some categories such as music, dance, drama and theatre, visual arts etc. are excluded. For these disciplines district quota system operates. In the present district quota system, 40% of the available places are filled on all island merit basis while 55% of the places in each course of study are allocated to the students from 25 districts in proportion to the population ratio. In addition, a 5% of the places in each course of study are allocated to the students from16 educationally disadvantaged districts. The distinct feature here is that it gives more weightage to the admission based on district quotas rather than island wide merit. This has affected a large number of students from urban areas who have performed better at the GCE A/L exam while at the same time a group of students from the ‘educationally underprivileged districts’ has benefitted from this scheme over a period of several decades.

Defects in the system and need for change

Current 40-60 quota system has been in operation continuously for about 4 decades. No serious attempts have been made to improve facilities in the schools in educationally disadvantaged districts during this period. High weightage (60%) given to district quota in a highly competitive university admission process appears to be excessive and unfair. The quota system has many defects, and it has been extensively and openly abused by many students/ parents. The policy is based on the assumption that educational facilities are not uniform throughout the island to adopt the island wide merit scheme. It also assumes that all schools in the same district are equivalent and have equal educational facilities. However, it is important to note that the discrepancy in the facilities is visible even more within a given district. Each district, whether it is Colombo, Matara, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura or Jaffna, has well equipped good schools as well as poorly equipped bad schools. Therefore, it is hard to justify the basis of this scheme.

Since there is disparity in the educational facilities within a district, it would be more appropriate to use a quota system based on school groups rather than districts. In such a scheme, number of places allocated will be determined in proportion to the number of students sitting the A/L exam.

However, in the district quota system, admission numbers are determined in proportion to the total population. Former method is more appropriate for the allocation of places for university admission.

It is disheartening to note that 16 out of 25 districts (64%) in Sri Lanka are declared as educationally disadvantaged areas. These 16 districts are Nuwara Eliya, Hambantota, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Mulllativu, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticoloa, Ampara, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Badulla, Monaragala and Ratnapura. Similarly, out of 9 provinces four entire provinces (Northern, Eastern, North Central and Uva) have been declared as educationally disadvantaged. If one considers the whole provinces only the Western province is educationally advantaged. This classification needs reexamination. If this is the reality after 70 years of achieving independence from British rule, there should be something seriously wrong with our national policy.

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Voices from Musali: The real story behind the ‘Save Wilpattu’ Campaign

RAISA WICKREMATUNGE on 04/27/2017

The adhan call resonates. The residents of Marichchukkaddi in Musali stop speaking and bow their heads in prayer. For five minutes, peace prevails. The only sound is that from the green banners fluttering in the breeze. A sign, inked in on bright yellow cardboard, says “28.”

For 28 days, this group has sat in this shed by the side of the road in Musali, demanding that their voices be heard.

Voices from Musali The real story behind the ‘Save Wilpattu’ Campaign.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Ravi K predicts foreign reserves will reach $ 10 b by end 2017 

 

• Govt. goes for $ 1 billion long-term sovereign bond in May 
• Appoints seven lead managers, including two Chinese financial institutions

By Charumini de Silva-Friday, 28 April 2017

With no international bond maturities due from 2019 to 2021, the Government is looking to tap the global capital market for a very long-term $ 1 billion through an international sovereign bond (ISB) by the end of May.

“We are rectifying the error created previously by looking at the short term. Now we are looking at a sounder, long-term facility, 15-30 years where there is no cost on the opportunity,” Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake told journalists in Colombo.

With the International Monetary Fund (IMF) having expressed further confidence in Sri Lanka for moving its economy in the right direction, Karunanayake said there was a growing appetite for long-term instruments.

He said a total of seven lead managers have been appointed to raise $ 1 billion through ISB by the end of May.

“Apart from the regular banks and investment houses such as Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank, the Government has selected Morgan Stanley and two Chinese institutions namely IDBI Bank and CITIC Bank,” he added.

Highlighting the successful inflow of various syndicated loans almost up to $ 1 billion on the cards and the Hambantota Port deal with China, the Minister expressed his confidence that the country’s foreign reserves would comfortably reach $ 10 billion by the end of the year from about $ 5 billion at present.  

He said the Government’s intention was to create value addition to the reserves and not to have “hot money”.

“There is no point having hot money which is off borrowed funds. The previous regime pushed Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and NDB to collect on their balance sheet and brought reserves into the country, which is all hot money,” he added.

Karunanayake stressed that these reserves were not just for consumption-oriented payments and assured that there were no loans adding on to the non-productive expenditure of the economy.

“Remember, this (2017) is the first time that Government is heading where income is sufficient to pay recurrent expenditure,” he noted.

Further, he emphasised that the proposal to bring in the Voluntary Declaration Act would allow Sri Lankans keeping their money outside to bring it back into the economy, which were 100% collateral-free reserves.

However, the Minister said these prospects were subject to world economic turbulences, adding that Sri Lanka had been able to weather the storm and go through the worst of times to the best of its ability.

The Minister claimed that despite the fact that some parties were trying to show that foreign reserves outflow was significant in the economy in the latter part of last year, with Templeton Investment Group pulling out of the market, the inflow has started to pick up.

“Templeton, which brought in $ 3 billion when they wanted a fixed rate at 14.85%, decided to move out. They thought that this will help to destabilise the economy, which was politically-driven. But they did not know that we are tougher and wiser in acting before. Now everything of that has gone out but the reserves have remained stable. There is a surge in foreign direct inflows and stock market portfolio investments,” he pointed out.

Ravi K happy with economic management

in 2016

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake yesterday said that fiscal operations registered a notable improvement on both the revenue and expenditure fronts, resulting in the containment of the overall budget deficit within the envisaged level of 5.4% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016.

He said that the favourable response was a reflection of the financial discipline brought into the system by the coalition Government and he believed that things could be improved in the future.

“We predicted a budget deficit of 5.7%, but due to prudent economic management we ended up at 5.4%. This is a tremendous improvement,” he added.

The Minister highlighted that the improved revenue was not a result of increasing taxes but was due to revenue slippages from the Excise Department, Inland Revenue Department and Customs Department.

“I want these results increased, but there is a tremendous increase that is taking place. Those were the contributory factors to increasing the fiscal space. As a result the fiscal deficit has reduced and consolidation is taking place,” he stressed.

In terms of the expenditure, the Minister said that they were able to bring it into a meaningful and more controlled level by introducing cost benefit analysis, internal rate of return (IRR), economic return and so on.

Karunanayake acknowledged that the improvement in the fiscal policy was also commended by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at recent meetings.

“The World Bank and IMF did accept there was a tremendous improvement. However, on the monetary side certain rectifications are needed; but I am sure we both can work together,” he stated.

The Minister said the 2016 Annual Report will be presented to Parliament within the next two weeks.

Indian Plantation Workers Overseas: Introduction & Malaya

By Charles Ponnuthurai Sarvan –April 27, 2017

Prof. Charles Sarvan

Recently, as a result of articles relating to Professor C. Suntharalingam, there has been mention of the Plantation workers. As a student of Literature, my interest has not been in broad, impersonal, happenings but, rather, on ordinary folk who experience and endure history; not on law-makers but on those at the receiving end of laws and statutory changes: as Thomas Paine urged in his Rights of Man, governments (and people) must be taught humanity. The approach here is primarily through literary texts. Most of what I have written on the Plantation workers is collected in my Sri Lanka: Literary Essays & Sketches from which the following essay is taken. At the request of the Editors, the article has been broken up into three parts. Readers are reminded of the Marxist phrase, “commodity fetishism”. For example, pictures of tea-leaves being plucked almost invariably show women smiling brightly, in bright sunshine, wearing bright clothes, healthy and happy. Poverty and wretchedness can excite contempt rather than compassion and conscience.

“We have taken

Too little care of this.”

(King Lear 111. iv.32-33)

The slave trade in Africans is perhaps the worst blot on recorded human history, given (a) the trade’s duration, (b) the numbers involved and, above all, (c) its appallingly cruel nature. The effects of the trade persist in various forms into the present, not least in the presence and experience of Africans now native to the United States and the Caribbean. Ironically, the trade has been enabling in that it has generated numerous studies, autobiographies, memoirs and fictional works, the last not only by Africans (Toni Morrison, Caryl Phillips and others) but also by non-Africans: for example, Barry Unsworth’s ‘Sacred Hunger’, Graeme Rigby’s ‘The Black Cook’s Historian’ and the Indo-Guyanese-British writer, David Dabydeen’s ‘A Harlot’s Progress’ (See, Sarvan, ‘Paradigms of the Slave Trade in Two British Novels’, International Fiction Review, vol. 23, 1996.)

The exodus of Indians, voluntary or otherwise, to labour on British plantations under the indenture system, some heading East to Malaya and further to Fiji, others West through the Suez Canal (opened 1869) to the distant Caribbean, was a newer form of slavery, but it has not drawn the attention of researchers nor inspired writers as much as the “trade” in Africans has done. This article examines some of the available work. I regret I have been unable to trace primary material from Mauritius, but I am sure others will fill in this, and other, gaps. The title specifies, “Indian” because many Chinese also went, or were taken, as coolies; “plantation” because Indians who slaved other than on estates were also derogatorily known as “coolies” – don’t visit Colombo harbour, for it is full of sweaty, smelly coolies (see Part 3, ‘Works Cited’: Carl Muller 1993, 19) – and “overseas” because “coolie” exploitation featured within India too: see ‘Works Cited’ for Mulk Raj Anand). Why the indentured labourers themselves haven’t left a substantial body of literature is not difficult to understand: most were illiterate, work was exhausting, housing squalid and they were segregated, trapped within the confines, physical and mental, of the plantation. No doubt, there were songs expressing their suffering and their longings; their yearning for a distant home made attractive by immediate misery, by time and distance, but these songs appear not to have been translated into English. I fear most are lost even in their original languages.

Historically, the African Slave trade and the system of indenture are linked in that it was the emancipation of the slaves in the nineteenth century that made Britain look to its teeming Indian possession for replacement labour. As with Africans, the descendants of Indian “coolies” now form part of the population of certain countries, leading, in some cases to racial attacks: Guyana in the early 1960s and Sri Lanka ever since independence in 1948 with the departure of the British who had introduced Indian labour into the Island. “In 1964, a few years before independence, racial clashes took place on an unprecedented scale… [For example] at Wismar… hundreds of East Indian residents were attacked and killed. The men and children were locked up in their houses which were then set afire. The women and young girls were raped, mutilated and then dumped in the river to die” (David Dabydeen, ‘Slave Song’ 1986: 46). To cite recent examples, the year 2000 saw increased tension in Mauritius between Indians and “Creoles”; parliament in Fiji was stormed and its Indian Prime Minister taken hostage by Fijian “nationalists”; and in November (so-called) “Indian Tamils” in Sri Lanka were attacked in various towns and four youths held in a rehabilitation centre, murdered by a mob which was allowed entry and incited by the security forces, the latter being drawn almost entirely from the majority group. In short, the effects of the British indenture system persist: indenture is not ‘history’ in the popular sense of being over and done with.

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TUs criticize SF’s appointment

2017-04-28

A move to appoint Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka as the Army Commander or the Overall commander for two years, claiming to instill discipline in the country was highly criticized by several leading state trade unions including the GMOA, teachers’ unions and labour unions.

“We were forced to go for an alliance with all trade unions with the government’s decision to appoint Sarath Fonseka to discipline the country,” they said.

The trade union alliance said the government had strengthened the TUs by moving their pawn Fonseka to the battlefield which gave them more courage to get together and reverse the government policy on SAITM and other efforts to privatize state education.

Addressing a media conference held in Colombo, GMOA Additional Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said the association had discussions with most of the key TUs in the country to work towards defeating what it called the government’s alleged double standards over private education institutions.

“It is the government that powered TUs toward this major move. Authorities will witness a series of protests and several other trade union actions paralyzing the country’s whole sectors. All trade unions have agreed unconditionally to support us to ensure the country’s education,” he said. (Thilanka Kanakarathna)

China fear stalls India-Lanka deal

Apr 27, 2017

India is in no hurry to complete the economic and technical cooperation agreement (ETCA) with Sri Lanka. Officially, India has said it would proceed "at a pace comfortable for Colombo". But there are other, bigger reasons for India to guard its flanks while negotiating a second generation free-trade agreement (FTA) with Sri Lanka.

China has evinced interest in an FTA with Sri Lanka as well. This has given India pause, as it wants to see the details of that deal. This could include, according to sources, Chinese companies setting up manufacturing bases in Hambantota and Monaragala areas of Sri Lanka and using the India-Lanka FTA to push Chinese goods into India. "We have to be careful," said sources familiar with developments.

The ETCA has also run into trouble in Sri Lanka with some opposition building up against it. India's nontariff barriers, bureaucratic delays etc have not endeared it to Lankan business.

Chinese companies are apparently being given 15,000 hectares in Hambantota, a fact former foreign minister G L Peiris told TOI in an interview was nothing short of a "bad deal". If the deal had been done the way former president Mahinda Rajapakse had intended, Peiris said, Hambantota would have been a sustainable entity .

"There was no agreement to hand over 15,000 hectares to a Chinese company .The agreement as structured at the time did not involve the wholesale leasing of the port,but only a terminal of the port," Peiris said.

Answering questions on the huge debt that Rajapakse left behind, Peiris said, "Loans taken by this government is far in excess of what Rajapakse had taken. There was something to show then -today there is nothing. The government has admitted that the money to be paid by China for the port ($1.4 billion) is not to be used for retiring this debt.So the government argument of doing this (giving the land) to pay off the debt doesn't stand."

Instead, India will focus more on infrastructure development in Sri Lanka.New Delhi is working on projects in roads, railways, ports etc. In this, Japan may prove to be a valuable ally for both India and Sri Lanka. Japan will work with India on the Trincomalee port, while Singapore is expected to help develop Trincomalee city .

Peiris said the payment scheme as set out by the Sirisena government is unsustainable. "In the proposed agreement, the Chinese company will not pay any money for the next 15 years.At the end of 15 years, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will get money from the Chinese company only if a dividend is declared," he said.

- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com-

Meethotamulla: A Tribute To All Who Helped & Lessons Learnt

By Mass L. Usuf –April 27, 2017

Mass Usuf

Firstly, a gracious tribute acknowledging the Sri Lankan army, the other forces, the Police, the health authorities and several of those who were and still are engaged at the Meethotamulla graveyard. Though I lost nothing, I felt that I was one with those who lost their loved ones or their possessions.

The stories recounted were wide and varied. Sithy Fahima a resident and a survivor whom I met recently said, “I felt the earth shaking and I ran up to the gate. I saw the front house lady standing outside her home and screaming ‘gewal kadan wetenawa’ (houses are falling apart). I told her ‘Akke’ (elder sister) come to our house. She shouted, ‘duwanna, duwanna’ (run, run) and I ran for my life. While running, I heard others behind me also screaming and running but not for long. After a few seconds the screams were silenced by the garbage.” 

Fahima in tears told me that Akka had been inquiring after her and her children everywhere including the Grama Sevaka. When she saw Fahima both hugged and cried out of joy. Fahima said, “during the recent floods Akka and her family were in our house for a day or two. Her house was in a lower elevation”. Later, even Fahima’s house was flooded. This neighbourly affection made Fahima to invite Akka to her home when the ground was shaking. It was sheer gratefulness that made Akka, a Sinhalese lady, desperate to find out if Fahima had survived.  What a display of pure humanity by both?  As white as snow.

A friend of mine lost his mother and two nephews aged 14 and 18. My friend told me later that when he saw the house buried deep, he lost hope of finding them alive. He had told the Army to leave it and go further down probably they may find survivors there. I was thinking of his humane gesture even at a time when hit by tragedy. I was there at the Kolonnawa Mosque to participate in the prayers for the dead. I heard that the bodies had been recovered the next day.

Sealed Caskets

After the funeral prayer, the mosque authorities announced that the recovered remains of the Sinhalese victims have been kept in the Kolonnawa temple and near the CTB depot. They urged the Muslims to go and pay their last respects. 

Absolutely dejected and overwhelmed by intense sadness, along with others I visited the place near the CTB Depot and then went to the Kolonnawa temple. Remains of the victims were kept in a row of sealed caskets. The young and old and, the not so old. A framed photograph of the victim on top of it. I can see in the face of the grief-stricken family members an expression of incredulity. Their minds refusing to believe that they are standing looking at the dead body of their loved ones. My mind told me that to console them at a time of disbelief is not sensible.

Touching and Humane

I saw a video clip in the social media which showed several people around a Back Hoe.  The clip shows a heap of garbage collected in the bucket and a human body precariously hanging from it.  There was a spontaneous commotion as they had recovered another body. In the excitement, everyone was giving the back-hoe operator instructions – “slow down”, “lower it”, “do it gradually” “a little more to this side”. I heard someone saying, “gehenu lamayek neda” (a girl isn’t?).  It was really painful to see that sight. It ripped my heart apart. 

The bucket was lowered and they delicately extracted the body from the dirt. I think, I saw the words ‘commando’ printed in the back of their dresses. They placed her in a stretcher and the clip shows one of them covering the private part of this girl with whatever cloth that was remaining on her body. It was so touching, humane and extremely compassionate.

Flashback

A white cloth was spread over the body and when it was about to be carried away someone shouted, “hold on, the leg has been found”. This statement immediately took my thoughts back to 39 years before.

Wonder how many remember the Icelandic Airlines Douglas DC-8 plane crash off the Katunayake airport, in 1978. The flight was enroute to Surabaya, Indonesia, with a scheduled stopover in Sri Lanka to refuel. One hundred and seventy-five passengers and 8 crew members died in the crash.

The afternoon news over the radio carried it. I rushed from Colombo. At that time, it was out of sheer curiosity. I did not know the approach road to the crash site and I still remember inquiring from a middle-aged person on a bicycle. He kindly offered me a ride to near that spot as he was passing that place. He told that he was in the army returning home after duty.

The scene of the crash was indescribable. My curiosity turned into humaneness. I saw some volunteers. I spoke to them and volunteered.  In contrast to the stink in Meethotamulla, here it was the stench of decomposing human flesh, half burnt bodies and fully charred bodies. I can still remember the putrid smell that enveloped the area. The recovered bodies were placed on stretchers and transported to the Negombo hospital morgue. The charred bodies were taken to an aerodrome where a mortician was in attendance. We were working throughout the night. I also remember sleeping, dead tired, on the tarmac, under the shade of the Indonesian military transport plane, the next day. This had come to Sri Lanka to transport the bodies to Indonesia.

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Are we being responsible citizens? The story of the green bag 

Friday, 28 April 2017

Due to the amount of attention the Meethotamulla garbage dump collapse has given to garbage management and waste reduction, I thought this is a good time to relate the following. 

It was way back in 2006 when I was visiting a Whole Foods store in North Carolina, USA that I saw this lovely green bag that they were packing the groceries in and I saw that the shoppers were bringing several of the same bags with them from home to take their groceries in. I thought what a simple idea and I bought one for myself at the checkout. It was only $1 if my memory is right.

At that time, I was working for Cargills Ceylon Ltd, the largest privately owned retail chain in Sri Lanka as a Group Director – Strategic Planning & Business Development. While I was in the US itself, while in my hotel room, I Googled about this bag and found out details about this bag, how it is made, of what type of material and the rationale for the design etc. Further, to my surprise, the makers of the bag say at the end ‘please copy us, because we want to save the planet’. That hit a cord in me!

I wanted to introduce the ‘Green Bag’ to Sri Lanka through the retail chain that I was working at. My research into the bag material found out that the bag is made out of ‘a 100% bio-degradable material’ that will completely degrade once thrown to the soil with no harmful residue. Immediately upon my return to Sri Lanka, I contacted Prof. Ajith de Alwis of the University of Moratuwa and told him that I want to know the details of this material and I need to find a company in Sri Lanka who can make it. The materials management department of the university quickly found out the material and I was able to find a company called ‘Celcius’ which was willing to manufacture the bag.

When I read about the design of the bag (which was also on the original website) I was even more thrilled to go ahead with the same exact design. The bag that we introduced at Cargills in 2006/7 had a broad base that would stay upright on a check out table at the super market cashier. It was designed to make it stay like that so that the bagger at the checkout can easily pack the items into the bag and also arrange them neatly in a way to use the space to the maximum. That’s not all, the bags handles have been designed so that the weight of the bag is equally spread to both sides so that it will not upset the shoppers shoulders or back when carrying it. I was really amazed at how much they have thought into this!

So my instructions to Kamal the CEO of Celcius was to make the exact same bag with the exact same material and design. They sold the bag to us at Rs 40 at that time.

Challenges

When we introduced the bag to the supermarket, the immediate barrier was having to pay for the bag and the second barrier was that Sri Lankans were not used to bringing their own bag when going shopping. I used to nostalgically remember how I used to go shopping with my mother to the Marketing Department (MD) or to the Jathika Pola carrying a cane bag (kuude) full of other small bags to put the groceries in. However, with the introduction of the ever so convenient ‘sili-sili’ bag, the idea of carrying your own bag everywhere was unthinkable!

So the first challenge was to develop the habit of bringing their own bag, since actually the price of the bag was not a big thing to the supermarket consumer. We calculated the average number of bags for the average basket and found out that each customer will need at least three to four bags of these bags to put all their weekly groceries. So we introduced another concept, ‘BYOB’ which stands for ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ stemming from the ‘Bring Your Own Bottle’ parties concept! We had to figure out how to encourage the customers to get into ‘BYOB’.

So we introduced a promotion to ‘earn a point every time you bring your own green bag, and when you have earned 10 points you will get another bag free’. This was introduced by way of having a card tagged to the bag, and every time the consumer uses it at the cashiers, the cashier will put a seal on the card, at the end of the card (or 10 seals) you receive another bag and so on. After sometime, we went further and took a bold action to charge about 0.50c for every ‘sili-sili’ bag that the consumer uses, in order to encourage them to ‘BYOB’. The cost of this to the consumer was no more than Rs. 3-5 per visit, since on average about seven to 10 bags were used by a consumer as per our calculations, if you are buying your weekly groceries, otherwise it was even less.

However, one smart(?) citizen went to courts against the super market chain, saying that charging for the bag is a violation of their rights! So much so for this self-righteous consumer who could not see the bigger picture of what we were trying to do. Anyway, so we gave up charging the consumer and instead we started offering the cost of the bags as a discount to the consumer if he/she adopts BYOB.

Growing popularity

As a result of all these, we definitely saw a decrease in the amount of bags used by the supermarket chain. I am not sure for how long that was continued since I left Cargills around that time to join the government. The bag became very popular, and consumers were using it to go anywhere and everywhere, because it was a hardy bag with ample space and easily foldable and hardly weighs anything when empty. Every time I see this bag carried by a person on the street I felt so proud and happy.

Very soon, two other retail chains, Keells and Arpico followed suit and Keells introduced a ‘Red Bag’ and Arpico introduced a ‘Blue Bag’. They were going with their corporate colours, but did not probably know the idea of the ‘Green Bag’ was to remind people that using a re-usable bag is about ‘Going Green’ and protecting the environment. Later on, I saw that even Cargills introduced bags of all colours. So now I am told there are many suppliers who have got into the business of making these bags, which is good. Regardless of the colour, I do hope that the material is bio-degradable because otherwise a big part of this Green Concept is lost.

I am glad that something that I managed to introduce is been continued to some extent, but it has definitely not reached the full potential of the concept to bring a significant impact. Now when I go to the super market, and the cashier asks me, ‘Madam, do you have a Red Bag or Green Bag?’ I feel so proud and I ask them, ‘Why do I need to have the bag?’ just to test out to see whether they know the reason, most of them talk about the points I can earn but a few explain correctly. I listen with a smile, sometimes feeling very guilty that I have left my bag in the car and feel lazy to go and bring it.

Why I thought of writing this story now is, I think even in the backdrop of the terrible tragedy that happened at Meethotamulla, I feel we have an opportunity of getting the attention of the Sri Lankan consumer to contribute to ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ at this stage. A supermarket chain had this vision almost 10 years ago, and the bags have been there for that long. Think to yourself, have I done even a small effort like this to reduce, reuse, recycle? Most Sri Lankans are frustrated and desperate and thinking what can I as a Responsible Citizen do to help the country get out of this mess? So here’s your opportunity to play a part, and start from today, to not to use any sili-sili bags hereafter and instead carry your own re-usable bag!

(The writer is the Founder, Chairperson of Mother Sri Lanka Trust, a charitable foundation focusing primarily on developing Responsible Citizenship and Chairman of Go Green Solutions. She is also a former Chairperson – Sri Lanka Tea board, Chairperson – Regional Development Bank, Director – Cargills Group and MD – Nielsen Lanka.)

UNP, SLFP intoxicate members, make it a tamasha to insult May Day

April 27, 2017

The UNP and the SLFP serve liquor to their members to make the May Day a tamasha on the road and insult the May Day says the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva.
He said this at a press conference held at the head office of the JVP today (26th). The Information Secretary of the party Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath was also present.
Speaking further Mr. Tilvin Silva said, “The May Day this time is important to the working masses in this country as well as for the JVP. At the moment the government and the society are confronted with economic, cultural and social crisis. As such, the country and the people expect a change at this moment. It is a moment that needs a change in the administration. The JVP has organized the May rally this time with the intention of rallying people’s forces for such a change. This time the JVP has organized two May rallies. One would be held as usual in Colombo and the other will be held in Jaffna. The rally to be held in Colombo will be held under the theme “Red May Rally to Build People’s Power for Economic Development, Social Justice & National Unity” and will be held at BRC Grounds. The demonstration will commence from S. de S. Jayasinghe Grounds at 12.00 noon. The May Day Rally in Jaffna will be held at Mutraveli Grounds in Jaffna on 30th April at 3.00 p.m. The demonstration will commence from Jaffna Railway Station at 1.00 p.m.
Fishermen’s and farmers’ organizations, university dons, artistes and several civil organizations are expected to join the rally and the rally will be held under the theme “Socialism for National Unity’.
Today, a main issue is distorting the International Workers’ Day by certain political parties and use it for their petty interests and for election projects. These parties distort the May Day, violates its principles. It is an insult on the working masses. The same political parties that exploit working masses have made it a tamasha. The UNP gets its members to wear green and the SLFP members are made to wear blue, supply them liquor and get them to dance on the streets. They wear t-shirts and caps with ministers’ and organizer s’ names to distort the May Day. Only symbols of the working masses should be displayed on the May Day. The leaders who represented the working masses should be remembered. We call upon the downtrodden masses not to contribute to distort the true meaning of the International Workers’ Day.
May Day is not just another day. The Valentine’s Day could be commemorated without any party differences. It is the same with the ‘Mothers’ Day. However, May Day doesn’t belong to everybody. It belongs to the working masses and the political parties and organizations that struggle to win rights of the working masses.
The May Day was created with the demonstrations and agitations that arose with the development of the capitalist system in the 1880s.
Workers had to work in factories for 12 to 14 hours. They did not have time to spend their lives properly. Workers took to the streets against these conditions. They demanded an eight hour working day. On 1st May, 1886 40,000 workers took to the streets and held a demonstration. The police attacked the workers. About 9 workers were killed. Several others were arrested. They were tried on false accusations and were hanged. May Day is held to commemorate the workers’ leaders who shed their blood to win an eight hour working day. The colour of the May Day is Red. On 1st May, 1886 workers took to the streets holding high the white flag, the symbol of peace. The police shot at the workers and the white flags of the workers were soaked in red blood of the workers. The colour of the May Day is the colour of the blood shed by the workers. The likes of Ranil try to make it green while the likes of Maithri want to make it blue.
Some say May Day doesn’t belong to political parties. It is not a complete truth. Capitalist political parties have no right to commemorate the May Day. However, the left movement has a right. It is the Communist parties in the world that took the initiative to name the May Day. It is the 2nd International of Communist Parties that was held in 1889 that decided to commemorate the May Day from 1st May, 1890. Hence, it is not a day that belongs to the capitalist class.
Today the UNP talks of commemorating the May Day. The SLFP has been divided into two and talks of holding the May Day at two places. People are asked to wear green. Others are asked to wear blue. The parties that grab rights of the working masses are attempting to commemorate the May Day. How could the government that attempts to slash and abolish workers’ pension commemorate May Day? How could the previous government that gambled with EPF funds of the 6 million private sector employees and the present government that used EPF funds for bond scams commemorate the International Workers’ Day? How could the government that is dumb when workers in the estate sector ask for a Rs.1000 daily wage commemorate the May Day? Working masses are attacked when they agitate for their rights, assaulted and sacked. How could such a government commemorate the May Day? Aren’t the UNP and the SLFP ashamed to commemorate the May Day?
Due to the moves of this government agitations and protests increased. Instead of finding solutions for agitations the government is trying to impose laws to suppress agitations and protests. They are trying to name a date and places to agitate and protest. The government is attempting to suppress agitations as it cannot confront agitations and protests. The government that attempts to deny the right of the working masses to agitate and demonstrate trying to commemorate the May Day is outrageous.The May Day is not a day of a tamasha to consume liquor and dance on the streets. May Day should be saved from political parties that make it a tamasha. The attempt to distort the objectives of the May Day should be defeated.
This May Day is special for the JVP as well as the people in this country. There is a socio-economic-political crisis in the country. The government has not been able to protect rights of the people. The production sources of the country that bring income have been broken down. Tea, rubber and coconut do not bring income as we were taught at school. The expenditure has increased but the income has gone down. The country has been trapped in a debt trap that several generations would not be able to repay. The debt mountain is larger than the Meethotamulla garbage dump. Meethotamulla garbage dump collapsed on the heads of Meethotamulla people. The debt mountain is above the heads of 20 million people. It is the same people who amassed the garbage dump who amassed the debt mountain as well. However, it is the people in this country who are being harassed due to the garbage dump and the debt trap. The government’s solution to save itself from the debt trap is selling Hambanthota Harbour, handing over 15,000 acres of land to foreign companies, give India the very valuable oil tank farm at Trincomalee, selling graphite mines and selling whatever valuable resources of the country. This bankrupt economy cannot go forward further.
Our country needs an alternative economic system. For that a new government must be formed. This government wastes money of our country. Money is wasted for ministers’ vehicles, buildings and ceremonies. Hence, a better economic system should be established in the country. This is why we selected our theme. The country that doesn’t have any economic development should have a system that brings economic development. Our country that doesn’t have social justice should have social justice. Also, national unity should be established. For that people’s forces should be made ready. A massive people’s power should be developed.
The JVP May Day is not a day where intoxicated people dance on the streets with photographs of ministers and electoral organizers. It is the JVP that commemorates May Day with the most disciplined, organized and the most colourful manner. This time too we are commemorating the May Day in the same manner. We are going to commemorate this May Day with a massive crowd unprecedented in the history of May Days in our country. The biggest trade union in the country consisting of trade unions in the state, private and estate sectors, the biggest farmers’ organization, the organizations of fisher folk, youths, students, women will join our May rally. Also, a most number of international Communist organizations will join the JVP May rally. Representatives of Communist parties in Cuba, India, UK and representatives of left movements in Europe would join JVP May rally this time. Also, we have taken measures to give the May demonstration a new appearance.
We make an open invitation to all downtrodden masses, youths, women, students, artistes, journalists and all those who struggle against injustice to come to BRC Grounds. We invite them to join forces that could change this country.
As usual the governing parties are attempting to come up with various dialogue when the May Day approaches. Discarding the objectives of the May Day they are trying to draw the attention of the masses in a bid to consolidate their power. Hence, it is essential to draw the attention of the masses to the real objectives of the May Day. We, of the JVP, join the working masses in Sri Lanka as well as the whole world to commemorate May Day.”
Responding to questions raised by journalists Mr. Tilvin Silva said, “This government can never solve issues of the people. This is why they are trying to suppress people’s agitations, That’s why they come up with various laws, a date and a place to agitate and push agitations and protests to a corner. When the UNP confronts crises, people like Sarath Fonseka are used to see whether they could come out of it. We warn this government. Don’t try to cure diarrhea with loin clothes. If they try to stop agitations a new agitation will have to be carried out to win the right to agitate. The people and the JVP would not withdraw from agitating just because the government tries to suppress them. In 1977 when the UNP came to power its party members, municipality employees were given weapons to attack agitators and protesters. This government has neither the right nor the strength to do such acts now. This is an impotent government. Also, this government should remember the mandate it received. This government was given power to have good governance. If it tries to suppress masses it would learn a lesson like the previous government did.
We have cleaned the grounds where our May demonstration commences and where the rally is held before the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump. When the JVP ruled the Tissa Pradeshiya Sabha a project to recycle garbage was carried out. Farmers were given fertilizer at low prices. Such projects are good for the whole country. However, we should be given power to commence such projects. We cannot remove garbage when others are in power. For, we would have to remove government’s filth. Garbage that has been made a tragedy could be made a valuable resource. We cannot intervene in this issue when the government is not interested. What the government does is to dump garbage from one place to another to evade the issue. Whether the people like it or not it is the reality. The people must decide whether they live with garbage or remove garbage and the rotten government with it.”
Mr. Vijitha Herath talking about the simultaneously telecast TV programme on SAITM said, “During Mahinda Rajapaksa regime TV channels were pressurized to carry out the point of view of the government. This government repeats what Rajapaksa regime did. Those who participated – Rajitha, Kiriella, Grero and the Chairman of the UGC are all SAITM fans that participated in the programme. They used journalists in several media institutions to tell their partiality to the country. This government, like Mahinda did then, is pressurizing media institutions. One journalist suggested that it would have been better if government representatives who oppose SAITM too participated in the programme. If it happened people could have known the views of both sides without any bias. This ‘yahapalana’ government has no respect for media ethics. It interferes in the media directly. The JVP condemns these interventions. Organizations that are against the SAITM too should get an opportunity to express their views.”