Budget of 2017-18: A History of the People of Bangladesh

by Swadesh Roy-May 25, 2017

( May 25, 2017, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) The finance minister of Bangladesh, Mr. Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, will present the next fiscal year’s budget in the parliament on 1st June. It will be more than Four thousand billion Bangladeshi Taka (BDT), the biggest budget in the history of Bangladesh. The country is going to make another history through this budget because Bangladesh is going to produce a budget by almost their own wealth for the first time.

Bangladesh is going to propose a big budget wholly by its own wealth when it reaches the status of a middle income country. Besides, it is a country of five hundred million young workers, it is a country of ten million female garment workers, it is a country where maternity mortality is less than India (the biggest economy in South Asia), and it is a country where the sanitation facility is a hundred percent.

Bangladesh has prepared the budget for this fiscal year when the country will open the Padma Bridge (the longest bridge in the country) at its own cost, after cancelling the fund of World Bank in this project. But, last year World Bank invited the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to give a speech in their Bank on “How she is making this economy”; in addition, the chief of the Word Bank has visited Bangladesh to understand its economic progress.

The Sheikh Hasina led government is running the country for the last eight years and a half. In this tenure, this government has made a new Bangladesh, even a new economy which is not only developing the country but also has become a model for the developing countries. In the current fiscal year with regard to the the world, only Bangladesh has achieved 7.2% Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country has achieved food sufficiency for seven years in their main food rice. Moreover, the country holds the fourth position in the fish producing sector in the world.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, this country was the eastern part of the Bengal. During that time, its total revenue was more than the total budget of the then European countries. Then it was a part of India; and India was ruled by the Mughal Emperor. This eastern part was one of the treasuries of the crops of the Mughal Emperor. No Emperor is for the people, so the people did not get the facility of their wealth accordingly. After the Mughal Emperor, Bengal was occupied by the British. In the regime of the British, some infrastructures were built up in Bengal and even in India. Because, after occupying Bengal the British within a hundred years occupied the whole of India. However, a portion of the revenue was spent here only for production, but a lion’s part of it was being sent regularly to Britain. People never got the benefit of that.

In the middle of August 1947, the British left India and then this part of Bengal became a part of Pakistan, which was created in the name of religion majority. It was a man-made disaster for Indian subcontinents because fifty million people were displaced and millions of people were killed in the name of the religion based partition. The Eastern part of Bengal was one of the main victims in Indian subcontinents. After this bloody- death and forced –displacement of people, the people of this area did not get their right to run their country and build up their economy; rather as a part of Pakistan, it became another colony. A colony of Pakistan.

So, from the very first stage, the people of this country started to protest against Pakistan; after one and a half decade, their leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman clearly said that the people of this area could not live as a colony people and they wanted their economic right in their own hands. Fighting for this economic- right reached to a freedom -fight of a country. In 1971, the eastern part of Pakistan was born by a bloody birth as Bangladesh, sacrificing three million people lives. That was the first time in its five hundred years’ history when people got their right in their own hands. But, the misfortune of the people of Bangladesh is that they did not get time to enjoy it. Within three and a half years, Sheikh Mujib was killed by the military government with the help of Pakistan. From then, the country was again run by the military ruler as it was ruled in the Pakistan era by the Pakistani military ruler.

So, it is true that in its five hundred years’ history, only last eight years and a half, it was governed by a strong hand of a people’s representative-who is for the people. This people’s representative is the Sheikh Hasina government. In these last eight years and a half, economic and social development cut a remarkable and extra-ordinary mark in the country’s five hundred years’ history. In this eight years and a half’ development history, the next budget is the biggest in the country’s five hundred years’ history. It has been prepared by Sheikh Hasina’s government and will be presented in the parliament by an Octogenarian, learned Economist and Historian, Abul Mal Abdul Muhith, the Finance Minister of Bangladesh.

Swadesh Roy, Executive Editor. The Daily Janakantha, Dhaka, Bangladesh. He is a highest state award winning journalist; and can be reached at swadeshroy@gmail.com

Is this a time of living dangerously for netizens in Indonesia?

Indonesian hardline Muslims react after hearing a verdict on Jakarta's first non-Muslim and ethnic-Chinese Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's blasphemy trial at outside court in Jakarta, Indonesia May 9, 2017. Source: Reuters/Beawiharta

By Harry Febrian | 26th May 2017

WEDNESDAY morning. It was just like any other ordinary working day… until I flipped open my laptop and got online.

“Someone” showed me an old photograph from when I was still doing my graduate study about media and journalism.

It was a picture of me during a presentation about the case of Alexander Aan, the 33 year-old former civil servant who went to jail because he had done something very dangerous: sharing his thoughts through social media.

Aan was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on June 2012. He was released from prison in January 2014 after serving more than 19 months.

But what exactly was that “very dangerous thing” Aan had done?

He had posted a status update on his Facebook page questioning the existence of God.

“God does not exist,” he had written. “If God exist why do bad things happen?” Aan continued, according to The Daily Telegraph. “There should only be good things if God is merciful.”

Yeap. That’s it. That’s all he wrote.

Although this is happened back in 2012, the photograph made me think about how much Indonesia – a nation known for humility and kindness – has progressed since then, in terms of tolerance and free speech on social media.

But as the recent Jakarta gubernatorial poll has shown, I guess it is safe to conclude that things have only gone from bad to worse.

It’s been over a month since polls closed, but you can still see its effects on social media.

SEE ALSO: What’s next after the bitter Jakarta election? A time to laugh, apparently

Just look at what happened to Afi Nihaya Faradisa, a high school student from Banyuwangi.

On her Facebook account, which has more than 460,000 followers, she often writes about diversity and religious harmony in Indonesia. People typically praise her for her mature views, although many also condemn and bully her.

But when she aired her opinions about the Jakarta election, the resultant backlash was alarming. Her account was even suspended because people who disagreed with her reported her views to Facebook. She even received a death threat from unknown people who disliked her writing on Facebook.

The case of Willis Canteen in Australia is worth a ponder too.

The owner of the eatery, accused of spewing racist and offensive remarks about the Jakarta contest, was forced to face the wrath of netizens who disagreed with his views. They called for a boycott and started posting negative reviews on his restaurant.

Talk is that the outlet may even be facing bankruptcy because of this. But here’s the unfortunate irony: Some clients say the Willis Canteen’s operator is warm and polite in person to those of different races and religions.

Daniel Goleman describes this increase in inappropriate or uncharacteristic online behaviours as “cyberdisinhibition“. Cyberdisinhibition, he says, occurs mainly because of the anonymous nature of the Internet. Individuals may behave in ways that contradict normative behavior when they do not identify with a particular online community and are free to leave without desire to return (Zimmerman, 2012).

SEE ALSO: No laughing matter: Indonesians could be jailed for insensitive memes soon

But there’s a problem with this: We’re never really anonymous when we’re online. You can never completely erase your digital footprint. Somewhere out there in the world wide web, something you said or did years ago still remains on record.

Maybe, just maybe, if more of us understood this, we could be wiser in how we use social media.

We don’t have to be angry or offensive towards opinions we disagree with.

There’s no need for prison for the next Aan or a death threat to another Afi or even bankruptcy for the next Willies Canteen.

Perhaps if this is how we approach social media, the Internet will become a less hostile and dangerous place.

On Wednesday, as I finished my work for the day, I found myself wondering: Should I close all my social media accounts? Or should I leave them be and take extra care not write something that would land me in prison?

But then I realised, as a writer, I rely heavily on reading and understanding the thoughts and words of others.

Social media is, therefore, an extremely valuable tool for me. I am, like much of the world today, admittedly dependent on it.

So maybe next time, I guess.

After all… guess who was that “someone” who showed me the old photograph that prompted this essay?

It was Facebook.

** This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not reflect the views of Asian Correspondent

Portrait of Myanmar's 'Buddhist Bin Laden' Wirathu chills Cannes

Critics at the Cannes film festival have praised Swiss filmmaker Barbet Schroeder's documentary "The Venerable W" featuring Wirathu, a Buddhist monk who has been accused of inciting attacks on Myanmar's Rohingya minority.VIDEO: YOUTUBE/SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

PUBLISHED-MAY 24, 2017

CANNES, France (AFP) - Barbet Schroeder spent months with Ugandan dictator Idi Amin at the height of his power, when corpses would wash up every morning on the shores of Lake Victoria and Kampala was rife with rumours that he was eating his opponents.

But in his decades of documenting evil, the veteran Swiss film-maker says he has never been as scared by anyone as he was by a Burmese Buddhist monk named Wirathu.

"I am afraid to call him Wirathu because even his name scares me," the highly acclaimed director told AFP. "I just call him W."

"The Venerable W", his chilling portrait of the monk who has been accused of preaching hate and inciting attacks on Myanmar's Muslim Rohingya minority, has been hailed by critics at the Cannes film festival as a "stirring documentary about ethnic cleansing in action".

What dismays Schroeder is that Wirathu, whom Time magazine dubbed "The face of Buddhist terror" in a 2013 cover, is utterly unfazed by the chaos and suffering he has unleashed.

Buddhism is supposed to be the philosophy of peace, enlightenment and understanding, he thought.

It helped centre Schroeder's own life when he made a pilgrimage to India to follow on the path of the Buddha 50 years ago to "cure myself of my jealousy".

But the hate speech and fake news that Wirathu spreads from his Mandalay monastery, accusing Muslims - barely four per cent of the country's population - of trying to outbreed the majority Burmese, made Schroeder's head spin.

'DEVILISHLY CLEVER'

"He is much more intelligent and in control of himself that I thought, devilishly clever in fact," said Schroeder, who shot his film secretly in Myanmar until he attracted the attention of the secret police.

"It was like being faced by a good Jesuit or some very clever communist leader back in the day," he said.

Rather than "question him like a journalist", Schroeder just let the monk talk as he did with the other subjects of his "Trilogy of Evil", which began with "General Idi Amin Dada" in 1974 and includes his 2007 film "Terror's Advocate" about the French lawyer Jacques Verges, who defended Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

"If you wait long enough, slowly the truth would come out," Schroeder said. "That is what I did with Idi Amin and Jacques Verges." "When he lied I'd say, 'Tell me more, how interesting... So the Rohingya burn their own houses so they can get money from the United Nations...'"

"For me one of the most shocking moments is when he says they destroy their own houses, and then you see a crowd of maybe 3,000 people fleeing their burning homes. It's nightmarish."

In another telling scene Wirathu, leader of the Buddhist nationalist 969 movement, is shown watching Muslims being beaten to death in Meiktila near Mandalay in 2013, a month after he gave an anti-Muslim speech there.

HATE SPEECH 'ESCALATING'

Schroeder said the monk had returned "all peace and love" to the town to call for calm, "but he was at least indirectly responsible for what was happening."

"Wirathu said all this happened because a monk was killed by the Muslims. But I read the pamphlet that sparked the riots and it sounded very much like his speeches and that he could have written it."

This month, Wirathu - who has been called the Buddhist Bin Laden - stirred tension by touring Muslim areas in troubled Rakhine State despite Myanmar's top Buddhist body banning him from preaching in March.

Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims died in 2012 when sectarian violence ripped the state apart, and tens of thousands still languish in fetid displacement camps.

More than 70,000 have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh since October after the military launched a months-long crackdown that UN investigators say cost the lives of hundreds of the persecuted minority and may amount to crimes against humanity.

Last week a United Nations envoy criticised the government of Aung San Suu Kyi for not clamping down on "hate speech and incitement to discrimination" which she claimed "appear to be drastically escalating".

In the film Schroeder, 75, seems to trace Wirathu's Islamophobia to the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by a Muslim in his hometown of Kyaukse.

But in person he is not so sure. "Another theory is that his mother left his father and married a Muslim, or because his monastery was burned when he was 14. But every time I checked I was never sure," he said.

"Why was Hitler like he was? We will never know how this garbage collected in his mind."

Fitness trackers 'poor at measuring calories burned'

Do I really deserve that ice cream or not?

25 May 2017

Most fitness trackers are good at measuring heart rate but poor at measuring calories burned, a study suggests.

As a result, people should be cautious about using them to judge what to eat, Stanford University scientists said.

The study recommended that companies release data showing how their devices work out measurements.

The accuracy of seven wrist devices were tested while 60 volunteers were asked to walk, run and cycle.

Researchers found that six out of seven of the fitness devices were good at estimating the heart rate of the person wearing it, with an error rate under 5%.

They were the Apple Watch, Fitbit Surge, Basis Peak, Microsoft Band, PulseOn and Mio Alpha 2 - but the Samsung Gear S2 had the highest error rate of 6.8%.

'Rough estimates'

However, when it came to keeping track of energy used during exercise, the five devices that performed this function were all a long way out.

Not one of the devices had an error rate below 20% - and some, such as the PulseOn, were much more inaccurate, the US research team found.

Dr Euan Ashley, co-author of the study from the department of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University, said the public should be aware of the strengths and limitations of fitness devices worn on the wrist.

"People need to know that on energy expenditure they give rough estimates.

Image copyright

"If you go to the gym, and you think you've lost 400 calories, then you might feel you've got 400 calories to play with," he said.

That could be an issue if people were basing their diet on what they thought they had burnt off, he said.

Technology for measuring heart rate had moved on quickly over the past five or six years, but on energy expenditure "it's not quite there yet", he added.

It may be that companies are not using heart rates in their calculations. There is also a very wide difference in calories burnt between one person and another.

For example, 10,000 steps could equate to anything from 400 kilocalories to 800 kilocalories lost, depending on a person's height and weight alone, the study said.

Sharing plea

Dr David Ellis, lecturer in computation social science at Lancaster University, said working out the number of calories burnt was a tricky business and relied on many different factors such as height, weight, percentage of body fat, heart rate and more.

"However, because manufactures do not share the algorithms [which are constantly updated] used to determine calories burned, it is almost impossible to know the exact source of error at this stage," he said.

Fitness trackers can have a very positive effect on people's activity levels, so complete 100% accuracy may not be vital if the devices are encouraging more exercise.

But recent trials have suggested that wearing them doesn't always result in a positive outcome, or improve the chances of losing weight.

The researchers urged companies to be more transparent and publish the results of their own accuracy tests.

They said this would ensure the public and clinicians were aware of the devices' limitations.

The Stanford team has set up their own website to share this kind of data with others.

JOINT STATEMENT: THE RIGHT TO MEMORIALISATION OF TAMILS & HARASSMENT OF TAMIL ACTIVIST LEADING MEMORIALISATION

Image: Preparations for the memorialisation includes carving names of the dead relatives on stones.

Fr’. Elil Rajan

25^th May, 2017.

We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, strongly condemn the continued police harassment of Rev. Fr. Elil Rajendram, a Tamil Catholic Priest belonging to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), based in Mullaithivu, Northern Sri Lanka.

Many of us have met and know of Fr. Elil through his human rights activism. He has been working with Tamil war survivors and families of victims, supporting their struggles and advocating for their rights. He is known for his engagement and collaboration with Sinhalese activists from other parts of Sri Lanka, inviting and hosting them in the North, and often travelling down to Colombo for dialogues. He has also been engaging with the international community and the government. Last year, he had served as the district Chairperson of the Zonal Task Force of the Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, an initiative of the Sri Lankan government.

Fr. Elil was instrumental in organizing a memorial service in Mullivaikkaal on 18^th May, the day and place Sri Lanka’s three decade long war came a to a bloody end.  This year, the memorial involved families carving names of their loved ones who had been killed in the war on stones, and placing them by a monument that was placed there on the 18^th of May last year. Carving of names on stones was a way for family members to remember their killed loved ones, especially as most had no grave.

During the preparations, the organizers were subjected to regular surveillance and intimidation. Fr. Elil and the youth hired to inscribe names on the stones, were then summoned and questioned by the Police on 16^th and 19^th May respectively. He was summoned to the Police again on 22^nd May, but was told by a senior police officer not to report to the police, but that the investigation would continue, implying that he would be subjected to continued scrutiny. A consistent demand of the police has been a full list of the names that were, and were to be carved on the stones. In the meantime, on 17^th May, the police had obtained a Court Order stopping Fr. Elil and others from holding the memorial event at the pre-planned site in Mullivaikkaal. Though the Order was challenged in the court, the courts didn’t allow the event to go ahead as planned, and only allowed a memorial event to be held in the nearby church.

At the same time, the Sri Lankan government had organized a memorial service for “war heroes” on 19^th May, in Colombo, with the patronage of the President. This was following a series of such events throughout the country, during the month of May, which had been named “War Heroes Month”.

The policy and practice of the present and former governments towards remembrance of the war dead and memorialisation is blatantly discriminatory towards Tamils, both dead and alive. This is a real obstacle towards peace and unity, and if continued, would only add to further polarisation and mistrust.

We affirm that all persons and communities have a right to cry and grieve for family and community members killed, to erect monuments, privately and publicly, individually and collectively. For many families and friends whose loved ones were killed, this is a way to heal their painful past, and move towards the future.

Thus, we appreciate and fully support the work of Fr. Elil and others, towards the realisation of this universal right, which is a crucial element of transitional justice and reconciliation. We express our solidarity to them in the context of intimidation, threats and reprisals from the government that they are current facing. We see their work as crucial towards reconciliation and co-existence, and commit to support them.

We call on the government to ensure the right to remember and memorialisation of all communities, and stop the persecution of Fr. Elil and others working to realise and promote this right. We condemn the anti-reconciliation policies and actions of the government, extend solidarity and stand by Fr. Elil and others facing persecution, and extend our fullest support to them to continue their important work.

Signatories:Individuals

1. Ainslie Joseph – Convenor/Chief Animator, Christian Alliance for Social Action (CASA)
2. Ajayakumar M. K. – India
3. Anandaraj L. Ponnambalam – New York, USA
4. Annemari de Silva
5. Anthony Mary Bastian Coonghe
6. Anthony Row – General Secretary, Methodist Church in Malaysia
7. Anthonyaiah Everest Dias CMF
8. Antony Arulraj – Chennai, India
9. Gowthaman
10. Bishop Duleep de Chickera
11. Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe
12. Kangatheran
13. Caryll Tozer
14. Chandrika de Silva – Writer
15. Crystal Fernando
16. Damaris Wickremesekera
17. Deanne Uyangoda
18. Deekshya Illangasinghe
19. Deshakeerthi Dr. Muhammed Muzzammil Cader – Chairperson, Zonal Task Force – Central Province
20. Deshamanya Godfrey Yogarajah
21. Dinal Edirisinghe
22. Joe William
23. Maureen Ernest
24. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu
25. Dylan Perera – South Asian Centre for Legal Studies (SACLS)
26. Jayasree – India
27. Emil van der Poorten – A supporter of human and civic rights for ALL
28. Farah Mihlar
29. Frances Harrison
30. Francis Xavier – India
31. Fred Carver
32. Freddy Gamage – Editor, Meepura
33. George Mathen – India
34. George Pulikuthiyil – India
35. Hamshi Karunarajah
36. Herman Kumara
37. Hilary Wirasinha – Diocese of Colombo
38. Yardsan Figurado
39. A.N. Neil Priyantha Fernando – Activist for Social Justice
40. Jacob Thacharattil – India
41. Jake Oorloff – Artist
42. Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala
43. Jeanne Samuel
44. Jey Iyadurai
45. Joanne Senn
46. John Kavalakkatt – India
47. Johnson Ainikal – India
48. Aingkaran – Attorney-at-Law
49. J. Brito Fernando
50. Kalani Subasinghe
51. Kochurani Abraham – India
52. Kolitha Bandara
53. Kumaran Nadesan
54. Kusumam Joseph – India
55. Lakshan Dias – Christian Rights Front
56. Leslie Augustin
57. Logan Rasiah
58. Lourdes Joseph
59. Lucille Abeykoon
60. L. Rohan Peries
61. Manju Kulappuram – India
62. Mario Arulthas
63. Mario Gomez
64. Marisa de Silva
65. Melani Manel Perera – Journalist
66. Melisha Yapa
67. Mohammed Majeed Jansila – Women Activists, Mullaithivu
68. Mohammed Thahir Kubais – Social Activists, Mullaithivu
69. N. Gokuldas – India
70. Nagulan Nesiah
71. Nigel Nugawela
72. Nilshan Fonseka
73. Nirmanusan Balasundaram
74. Nishanthini Stalin George – Women Activist
75. Selvaratnam
76. Sunilkumar – India
77. J. Williams
78. M. Mujeebur Rahman – Journalist and Human Rights Defender
79. N. Singham – Activist
80. Parakrama Niriella – Dramatist
81. Paul Joseph Kattookaren – India
82. Prathibha Perera
83. Jayantha Seneviratne
84. Kumar David – LSSP (MG) – Signing in a personal capacity
85. Ralston Weinman
86. Bro. Jurinesz R. Shadrach – Church of Ceylon, Diocese of Colombo
87. Bro. Marious Croos
88. Bro. Shabilaash
89. Dr. Jayasiri T. Peiris – Principal, Theological College of Lanka, Pilimatalawa
90. E.C. Handy
91. Fr. A.A. Surendrakumar, CMF
92. Fr. Aloysius Pieris, SJ
93. Fr. Chandran Crispus
94. Fr. F.J.G. Croos (Nehru)
95. Fr. J.C. Paul Rohan
96. Fr. Jeevantha Peiris
97. Fr. Jeevaraj Thangarasa, SJ
98. Fr. Jeyabalan Croos
99. Fr. Lionel Peiris, SSF (Society of St. Francis – Anglican Franciscans)
100. Fr. M. V. E. Ravichandran
101. Fr. Manoj Rasanjana, OP (Order of Preachers)
102. Fr. Nandana Manatunga
103. Fr. Nandana Saparamadu
104. Fr. Niroshan de Mel
105. Fr. Oswald Firth, OMI
106. Fr. Pan Jordan
107. Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando
108. Fr. Rohan Dominic
109. Fr. S.D.P. Selvan
110. Fr. Sarath Iddamalgoda – Christian Solidarity Movement
111. Fr. Sherard Jayawardane
112. Fr. Terence Fernando
113. Jason J. Selvaraja – Assembly of God, Chavakachcheri
114. Maxwell Doss
115. Sr. Beatrice Fernando, SDS
116. Sr. Jenita Ragel
117. Sr. Jeyam
118. Sr. Matilda Lazarus
119. Sr. Naomi
120. Sr. Nichola
121. Sr. Noel Christine Fernando
122. Sr. Patricia Sandana Savary, SDS
123. Sr. Rajeswary Arokianathar, SDS
124. Sr. Rasika Pieris
125. Rex Bowie
126. Richard Gowing
127. Rohini Hensman – Writer and Activist
128. Revd. Dan Kgomosotho Dd(Hc) – Bishop of Mpumalanga, South Africa
129. Ruki Fernando
130. C.C. Elankovan
131. Sampath Samarakoon – Editor, Vikalpa
132. Sarah Arumugam – Attorney-at-Law
133. Sebastian K. Jose – India
134. Selvaraja Rajasegar
135. Selvy Thiruchandran
136. Shayma Silva
137. Sheila Richards
138. Shenali De Silva
139. Shiran Illanperuma
140. Shreen Abdul Saroor
141. Sinthuka Vivekananthan – Youth Activist
142. Sivasanthirabos Sureshkumar
143. Sivasaravanabavan Sunthareswaran – Civil Society Activist, Tamil Civil Society
     Forum (TCSF), Jaffna
144. Sunanda Deshapriya
145. Suren D. Perera
146. Suresh Babu – India
147. Balamurukan
148. Theepa So
149. Thomas Htang Shan Mong – Director, Justice and Peace Commission (CBCM),
     Yangon, Myanmar
150. Thyagi Ruwanpathirana
151. Udaya Kalupathirana
152. Jemstan Loga
153. Perera
154. Yasmin Sooka

Organisations

155. Centre for Police Alternatives (CPA)
156. Families of the Disappeared (FoD)
157. Human Rights Office, Kandy (HRO)
158. INFORM Human Rights Documentation Centre
159. International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP)
160. Mannar Social and Economic Development Organization
161. National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL)
162. National Fisheries Solidarity Organization (NAFSO)
163. Sri Lanka Campaign (SLC)

Human Rights Commission recommends measures to address Salawa explosion victims' complaints 

Thu, May 25, 2017

May 25, Colombo: The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has recommended a series of measures to address the complaints lodged by the victims affected by the explosion of army ammunition dump in Salawa nearly a year ago.

The complaints lodged by groups of individuals refer to the nonpayment of reasonable compensation for the damages caused to fixed and mobile assets owned by the complainants, due to the conflagration and explosion that took place in the Army Camp in the area of Salawa, Kosgama on 5th June 2016.

The petitioners identified the Secretary - Ministry of Disaster Management, Secretary - Ministry of Finance, Chief Valuer - Valuation Department, Commander - Sri Lanka Army, District Secretary - Colombo District Secretariat and Divisional Secretary - Seethawaka Divisional Secretariat.

Subsequent to the disaster the complainants have put forward a series of problems faced by them to the Human Rights Commission.

Accordingly after a preliminary inquiry the commission has made several interim recommendations and communicated to the respondents while full investigation is continuing.

The HRCSL has recommended following measures:

• to establish an Appeals Committee consisting of representatives of all respondents mentioned above;
• to draft a suitable appeals form by the relevant District Secretary and the Divisional Secretary for the purpose of collecting details of damages caused to fixed and mobile properties from the victims (with views and assistance obtained from the remaining respondents, if necessary);
• to distribute the form prepared as per 02 above among the victims in a suitable manner and maintain a register of details pertaining to the distribution of the form and the recipients thereof;
• to afford an opportunity also to victims in addition to those who have already appealed (and who are eligible to re appeal) and the possibility of appeal/re appeal be given wide publicity;
• to collect information within 14 days of the distribution of the form;
• to re-compute the assessment in respect of each application so that the assessment as made for each item could be clearly and separately identified;
• to report back to the HRCSL as to why the payment of the monthly allowance of R.50,000.00 made as per the Cabinet decision of (for business community or other aggrieved parties) has since been discontinued;
• to publicize the closing date for appeals and introduce a fair system to consider such appeals; including obtaining relevant technical expertise and
• to inquire into the requirements of aggrieved students and children among the victims and examine the manner in which due relief could be granted.

Respondents are required to report back with steps taken to comply with recommendation by 5th June 2017.

RECLAIMING IDENTITY: A SRI LANKA WAR SURVIVOR’S QUEST

One of the mural paintings created by the pupils.

25/05/2017

To escape the horrors of war, Thanuja shed her identity. Now, she’s reclaiming it — and building a society that looks past ethnic differences.

Born to a Tamil father and a Sinhalese mother, Thanuja directly experienced the suffering caused by the Civil War in Sri Lanka. At age four, in an effort to protect her from the devastation of the conflict, her father decided to move the family from Thanuja’s native village, a Sinhalese-majority community, to a nearby city, where her mixed heritage would have better chances to go unnoticed. She dropped her paternal Tamil surname and begun to associate with the Sinhalese — until her previous identity became an unspoken memory.

“Except for very close friends, no one in our village knew that we were Tamil,” said Thanuja. “I went to a Sinhala school [and] all my friends were Sinhalese. I even went to Sunday School at the village temple.”

The disconnect between the two sides of her ancestry opened up Thanuja’s eyes. She began to question the idea that the two groups couldn’t mix. “I remembered my childhood – how I had the rare opportunity of being exposed to both Sinhala and Tamil cultures,” she recalled. “In my experience, I knew that no race or ethnicity [is] superior to the other.”

Today, at 31, Thanuja is a mother, married to a Tamil man. She is starting to re-identify as Tamil, but not without concern.  “Although the war is over, I sometimes fear for [my husband], about his future as a Tamil in this country,” she confessed.

After her marriage, Thanuja moved to Digana, a town in central Sri Lanka. Though the families living there have very different backgrounds, there is little interaction between the Sinhalese, Muslim, and Tamil communities, and tensions are still high. Many children have never even met someone from another ethnic group.

“This was deeply unsettling for me; I was worried about what would become of our child,” she said. “I feared [for] my son’s future – that he too would have to grow up in fear of others – as he would not get an opportunity to get to know them.”

Thanuja during a facilitated discussion.

Frustrated with the problems in her community and anxious to make a difference, Thanuja joined a local women’s group. Eventually, that led her to Search. She became a participant in the TOUR Project (Team Outreach for Reconciliation), launched by our Sri Lanka team in 2016.

The goal of TOUR is to improve relationships between ethnic groups, especially those that were most affected by violence during the Civil War. The project is led in close collaboration with local women and youth associations. Activities include leadership and communications training, mentorship programs, road shows of our local TV drama Sikka Team, and more.

After attending one discussion led by our facilitators, Thanuja and the other participants submitted proposals for local initiatives designed to tackle the mistrust among people in their villages. Her project Hiru Sandhu Yata Hinahemu (“Let Us Unite As One”) was one of the 29 approved for implementation.

Thanuja launched into the initiative with excitement. She knew that her story could bring a unique perspective to the process. “I was hopeful that I might be able to talk about the issues and find a solution,” she said. “I was enthusiastic about the opportunity to freely discuss very sensitive matters.”

Thanuja’s project focused on bringing together children from different ethnic backgrounds to collaborate through art. Thanks to her leadership, 25 students from Digana interacted for the first time with their peers from another ethnicity. Together, they painted murals on each other’s religious buildings and places of worship. During the project, the number of students quickly grew from 25 to 70, many of whom were accompanied by their parents.

Now, long after the end of Thanuja’s project, those same children and their families have built ongoing friendships that, for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, span across the boundaries of one’s community and ethnicity. Other schools in Sri Lanka, inspired by the event, are looking into hosting similar initiatives.

“After the completion of the project, I see a lot of improvement in our community,” said Thanuja. “The transformation the children have gone through is simply wonderful. Their parents too have taken an interest in involving and interacting more with others belonging to different ethnicities. They have realized that they have more things in common than they initially thought.”

Today, Thanuja doesn’t have to hide who she is anymore. She’s steadily creating a culture of participation, tolerance, and acceptance, in which people like her can feel comfortable to celebrate their identity. “The murals depicts children of different ethnicities coming together, holding hands. This is what I want for the future – putting our differences aside and being united,” she said.

“It’s a new beginning. It helps us imagine what does not exist and give it shape. I believe it has transformed us.”

The Common Ground Blog 

Remembering Sivaram

Featured image courtesy Tamil Guardian

AMNA JATOI on 05/25/2017

His biographer speaks of the unimaginable cultural consequences of living continually under the gun. Although this comment was made about Tamil communities living in Sri Lanka more widely, it provides the basis for understanding Dharmaretnam Sivaram’s core beliefs about the role of intellectuals, or those with knowledge (and privilege) in public life. It is these beliefs that the writer pays homage to in the weeks after his 12th death anniversary, and at a time when more than ever before; speaking the truth, and speaking it to power, is a revolutionary act.

Sivaram came early to the conclusion that life is inherently political. Even a cursory look at his explains why. Sivaram lived through the most part of the open armed struggle of Tamils against the Sri Lankan state. He witnessed Black July. He lost friends and family in the conflict. Long before picking up a gun, Sivaram spent time in the custody of security forces where he was regularly beaten – his crime it appeared was being a young Tamil man in the early 1980s. By his own confession, he discovered nationalism through his love for Tamil language and history, and his desire to see it protected, not destroyed by the state. In short, the cruelty of war and the politics of divisiveness were a large part of his lived experience.

If life is inherently political, for Sivaram then, any analysis or theory of society, as well as any actions taken and words spoken, must also be so. And with this closely held belief he joined a league of thinkers (in which for example Edward Said is found) who are acutely aware that in information and the understanding of it are the keys to social change – hence the desire of any power-seeking group to control and manipulate information. By extension, for Sivaram, the selection, interpretation and presentation of information becomes a political act, and if and when the stakes are high, a deeply political act.

In holding steadfastly to this view, Sivaram could not take seriously those in the knowledge and information trade, of any type, and at any level, who are unable to see clearly their role as transmitters, shapers, and perpetuators of social discourse, and more importantly, of injustice. For him, this inability or unwillingness made them invaluable to, and ultimately actively nurtured by, the status quo. Sivaram commented also on those who seek ideological neutrality by staying above the realms of information that they seek to know, create and manipulate as those who are captured by their own escape. Why? Because as Howard Zinn, put it, you can’t be neutral on a moving train.

It was in contempt of such individuals and the system of oppression that they propped up, but more importantly his need to take action to counter them, that Sivaram took on the project of creating a body of knowledge and understanding that made oppression, in this instance the oppression of Tamils, untenable. He did this through the medium of journalism i.e. his work with TamilNet and his other writing, and this broke the monopoly that the Sri Lankan state and Western media had on information and analysis on the Tamils, Tamil issues, and the warfare waged against them. In accomplishing his goal, Sivaram earned accolades (for his thorough, rigorous professionalism and for his exceptional ability to place the Tamil struggle in the wider context of world history and politics), but also exclusion, often from the very people with whom he shared ultimate goals and who he had tried to unite. In the end, it earned him death; something it seems he knew was coming but that in the spirit of a true paticca aal, he couldn’t, and wouldn’t, back down from.

So it seems appropriate to not let this death anniversary pass without pausing on the thought that Sivaram’s life spoke bravely and fundamentally to a pressing, perennial question. That question is this: if we have the privilege of not living in war, of not living in injustice, of not living in crippling poverty, what are we doing to make sure that others enjoy the same freedoms, as they are basic and necessary? In other words, what are we doing with all this time? For time is short. Sivaram’s precious, instructive life proves this with painful clarity, and the great tradition of resistance that he furthered in looking for his successors.

Editor’s Note: The author can be contacted on Twitter 

Readers who enjoyed this article might find “Remembering Taraki” and “Continued impunity: Journalist killings unresolved in 2016.”

Mad monk Gnanassara on the rampage again : attacks mosques in Kurunegala and Matugama !

(Lanka-e-News 25.May.2017, 10.20AM) Extremist  mad monk Gnanassara  the robed dipsomaniac and his supporters who after visiting Kurunegala incited racial and religious hatred among the people  attacked a mosque at Mallawapitiya with petrol bombs . This incident occurred on 20 th night.

The mosque where religious classes are conducted was damaged. However so far no arrests have been made. 

It is being said , when mad monk Gnanassara was in Kurunegala provoking the people to engage in religious violence  , the police went to arrest him. The media that is pro Gnanassara however  revealed , neither the law and order minister nor minister of justice were aware of the arrest of Gnanassara.  To arrest a criminal , there is no necessity anywhere under the law that ministers should be informed  prior  or later , even if it is to arrest a fanatic or a lunatic who has escaped from the mental asylum, let alone a robed eccentric.  If any minister entertains such a notion he /she should be  admitted first to the lunatic asylum for treatment .

Meanwhile 20th night again , an attempt was made to set fire to a shop of a Muslim businessman at Matugama . The front iron door of the shop was damaged in that violence.

It is well to recall these  robed extremist monks during the corrupt Rajapakse era  even  contested elections  . But  to their utter consternation they could poll less than a thousand votes only.  These monks  who are failures in their own faith and religion (Buddha never preached violence or religious extremism ) , and rejected even by the people   again seeking to unleash violence clearly stems from  their mental imbalance and frustration. It is therefore little wonder their cravings are anti Buddhism and based on  selfish self seeking ambitions. 

It is the consensus it is   to gratify  the  blood and power lust of Rajapakses these  extremist monks are on the rampage. It is unforgettable the Rajapakses  even when they were  ruling  survived on killings , plundering the  country, and fomenting religious and racial hatred . 

During the last few weeks , mosques in Panadura, Kohilawatte and  Thopur were attacked and damaged. 

The government must realize what can be nipped in the bud being allowed to reach alarming proportions is not in the best interests of the nation . Whether it is a  Buddhist extremist , Muslim extremist or a Christian extremist ,  none can be permitted to commit crimes , worst of all under the name of religion . No religion preaches or advocates violence , murder or mayhem . These rascals whether they are committing those crimes wearing the robes or without  should be duly punished . Or if they are mentally deranged they should be admitted  to the mental asylum , and treated even if it takes many years to cure them. Otherwise , the civilized law abiding citizens will have no solution .

(photographs depicting the attacks launched in Mallawapitiya and Matugama)

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by     (2017-05-25 04:49:39)