Friday, June 30, 2017

The Northern Woman

Inside Story: New Ministers Sworn In For The Northern Provincial Council

Women’s affairs covers the educated women also. Unless Mrs. Sasitharan becomes humble enough to learn from them – and becomes the passive medium through which they would be seen as leaders Mrs. Sasitharan would fail the Jaffna Tamil Woman.

by Gajalakshmi Paramasivam-Jun 30, 2017

( June 30, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Ananthy Sasitharan was sworn in as the NPC Minister of Women’s Affairs, Rehabilitation, Social Services, Cooperatives, Food Supply and Distribution, Industry and Enterprise Promotion.

Mrs Sasitharan who is closely associated with the Militants needs to focus on developing a structure that the current Northern Women would be able to relate to and adopt at the family level. The first lesson needs to be to ‘internalize’ any shortfall in status allocated as per her past but at the same time be grateful for the contribution made by her family – especially her husband to the formation of Provincial Council that she is now part of.

Through my direct experience with the Female militants, during ceasefire, I learnt that they accepted the male dominated environment they were in but at the same time quietly went about completing their support work. As the wife of Elilan – the LTTE head at Trincomalee, one would expect Ananathi also to have played that role. Now Mrs Sasitharan is occupying the leadership role in Politics and needs to respect the Political structures and as Minister, Mrs Sasitharan needs to bow to the Administrative structures common to all folks in Northern Province. The value of Thamilini – the Women Leader within LTTE needs to be remembered and paid tribute to by Mrs. Sasitharan. The Title of Thamilini’s book – ‘Oru Koor Vaallin Nizhalil’ / ‘ In the shadow of a sharp sword’ confirms the essence of my assessment above – that the women were a support force.

There are women in Jaffna society who are led by their achievements in Higher Education. Mrs Sasitharan needs to learn from them or if they seem false – then Mrs. Sasitharan needs to renounce any benefits from that pathway that seem available to her. Otherwise, Mrs. Sasitharan is likely to submit to those who are pleasant and ‘show’ high profits from her position. The moment Mrs. Sasitharan takes for example her husband’s place or worse Velupillai Prabhakaran’s place – she would naturally disconnect from the root of the Provincial Council Act. Without that connection, Mrs. Sasitharan is likely to be influenced by the greater benefits in wider world.

Women leadership in the world based on LTTE structure, is not likely to be strong and high. The parallel has already been shown within the Sinhalese Community – through Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who was promoted by politicians to occupy her husband’s place. A woman leader must command respect – through belief or Intellectual Administration. Belief is Natural measure on Equal platform.
Intellectually, it needs to be developed by reducing the higher status that we start with through the side seeming to be our side and hence being entitled to share in our status. An intellectual measure would uphold Justice only when applied at the same level on both sides. Hence Equal Opportunity – on the claim of which we had the war. But by using arms we showed cleverness to defeat and did not sacrifice to own.

Women’s affairs covers the educated women also. Unless Mrs. Sasitharan becomes humble enough to learn from them – and becomes the passive medium through which they would be seen as leaders Mrs. Sasitharan would fail the Jaffna Tamil Woman.

Inside Story: New Ministers Sworn In For The Northern Provincial Council

JUNE 30, 2017

The new nominees by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW) to replace the sacked Ministers T. Gurukularajah (Education) and Ponnuthurai Ainkaranesan were sworn in before Governor Reginald Cooray. The new nominees are Ananthi Sasitharan and K. Sarveswaran. Ananthi was involved in making many of the complaints against the four Ministers, while Sarvesvaran’s brother Suresh Premachnadran led the street protests against the ministers in support of CVW.

C.V. Wigneswaran – Northern Chief

The hurt over CVW’s conduct in was not merely political. There was a lot of pain in the Protestant Community over Gurukularajah’s sacking as if he is a crook. Gurukularajah was the son of the late Rev. Thambyrajah who founded and lived with his children in Navajeevanam, a home for orphans in the then undeveloped lands of Paranthan which he transformed into luscious paddy fields. A brother of Gurukularajah’s joined the clergy. Another ran Navajeevanam during the war years. Gurukularajah himself served ably as Director of Education in Kilinochchi. He was, importantly, found guilty only of administrative lapses, yet his sacking was lumped with that of Ainkaranesan who was found guilty of corruption.

In an effort to put on a face of being at peace with the Federal Party (ITAK or FP), Chief Minister CVW paid a visit to the office at Martyn Road Jaffna, of his nominal party, the FP, on the 26th. Welcoming him, and as a pointed reminder of his neglected loyalties, party General Secretary Mavai Senathirajah told him, “It is my pleasure to welcome you to these premises on your first visit.” CVW insisted that he had been there before and the conversation trailed off with Senathirajah asking when and receiving no firm answer.

At that meeting, CVW told Senathirajah of his intention to offer Ananthi the portfolio on women’s affairs. It is noted that Ananthi, widow of disappeared LTTE-er Sasitharan (a.k.a. Elilan), contested for her seat at the NPC on the FP’s nomination but was suspended from the FP after she burnt the effigy of M.A. Sumanthiran, MP. It is said that at the next election, she will contest under the Tamil Congress’s Bicycle symbol as she is sure not to be given the FP’s nomination.

Senathirajah told CVW that he has to follow party discipline and not boost a suspended member. CVW is on record as saying elsewhere that he was nominated by all constituents of the TNA and not just the FP, and that his use of the FP’s House symbol is accidental because the TNA as an unregistered political party was merely using the FP’s symbol as a matter of convenience.

Upon seeing CVW’s adamancy, Senathirajah promised to get back after consulting his colleagues. Subsequently it was suggested to CVW on the telephone that Provincial Council member Emmanuel Arnold be made the minister. But no agreement was reached. Arnold, said a Jaffna Roman Catholic resident,

“is immensely popular as head of the St. John’s College Old Boys’ Association and among Roman Catholics in the old Jaffna Electorate. He has high potential to be MP if the First Past the Post system is reintroduced with electorates. I am sure this is part of Senathirajah’s thinking. I commend Senathirajah for his long-term thinking”

However CVW did not accept Senathirajah’s recommendation.

Such well-publicized peace-pipe-smoking meetings between Senathirajah and CVW were belied by press reports that CVW on the 28th late evening met with the Federal Party’s detractors. That evening saw a gathering at CVW’s home to which only those who supported CVW in this spat were invited. NPC Member M.K. Sivajilingam forcefully said that he wanted a Mullaitivu man to be a minister and that is why he had declined the portfolio offered to him first by CVW. NPC member from Mullaitivu, Kandiah Sivanesan, echoed these views reminding CVW that while speaking at the NPC on the current dispute on 14 May, CVW himself had voiced the need for a Minister from Mullaitivu. In the event, however, that did not happen and not one of the five members from Mullaitivu was appointed. Nonetheless, Sivajilingam accompanied the new ministers to their swearing in. Unconfirmed reports say that CVW too took some oaths because of the additional portfolios he has taken on.

Be that as it may, the two new Ministers’ period of office is to be just three months. Openings for peace-making as well as revolting will remain as CVW’s supporters vie for office and the new inquiry against the two ministers who escaped CVW’s guillotine is prolonged.

“With this, CVW is more firmly obligated to the Tamil Makkal Peravai and Suresh Premachandran’s Mandayan Group,” noted an analyst who recently organized a discussion on the corruption scandal.

Signs of the impending eruption were seen as CVW readied for the new inquiries he is launching against Fisheries Minister Balasubramaniam Deneeswaran and Health minister Dr. P. Sathiyalingam who had both been cleared by CVW’s initial inquiry. CVW justifies this seeming double jeopardy on the grounds that witnesses did not show up.

Testified one of Dr. Sathiyalingams, supporters

“Tackling Dr. Sathiyalingam would be a tough-sell because of his leadership during the Mullivaikal massacres when he as the government medical officer treating the wounded drew attention to the killings through bombings of hospitals by the government.”

However, that high reputation is presently eclipsed by the new charges of corruption against the good doctor. Thundered CVW at the meeting with his supporters last night, “Even if the two ministers do not show up at the inquiry, the inquiry will proceed and I will take firm action according to the report.”

M.A. Sumanthiran fired a counter-salvo in an interview on 16 June 2017 with the Nation:

“The matter all started with allegations against one Minister. The Council passed a resolution calling for an inquiry to be conducted into the allegations against the said Minister. Wigneswaran … instead appointed a committee of inquiry to look into corruption allegations against all the Ministers even though there were no allegations against the other three. He picked the inquiry panel members.

“He then published advertisements in the newspapers calling on the public to make allegations against the Ministers. In the subsequent inquiry report, the committee found one Minister guilty of nine or 10 charges of corruption, another Minister of circumventing administrative regulations and exonerated the other two. The committee recommended the removal of the two found guilty. All he had to do was implement the recommendations.

“Yet, he kept the matter hidden for two weeks … and decided to take action against all four Ministers, when two were clearly found guilty and two were not. …

“He has since asked the two found guilty to resign and he has suspended the other two. He has taken action against all four. All five Ministerial portfolios are now brought under him. …

“He is trying to cover up the wrongdoing of the two found guilty by attempting to take all four out.”

Sumanthiran added just today 29th, upping the ante, “There are complaints against departments directly under the Chief Minister. That is why the ITAK has asked for an investigation into complaints against all the five members of the Board of Ministers including the Chief Minister.” Some Tamil newspapers wrote that there are 38 charges against CVW himself.

Said a Tamil American associated with Wigneswaran’s visit some time back to the US that he could not understand CVW’s erratic ways of seeking funds and inexplicable loyalties to one staffer:

“I am surprised at his play for power. He could make excellent speeches but is too poorly organized to run any administration. He missed many appointments and even a flight, messing up an important meeting in Boston. It is his administrative inability that makes him so dependent on the Australian Nimalan Karhtigesu.”

Sri Lanka: Jiggery-pokery Drama in Army

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

by Our Defence Correspondent- Jun 29, 2017

( June 29, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When you can’t win a person on merits or performances in duties then you must play the game of monkey politics while spoiling the principles and the managing rules in the institution you are responsible for. Often, those who live with inferiority complex tend to play with rhetoric with rhythms of egos. They are afraid of the merit-based system. They are afraid of systems based on transparency and accountability. But they talk loud, about justice and other noble ideas to con the external parties who feed them. What a world we live in!

The cheap propaganda to achieve the dream of appointing the next Sri Lankan Army Commander is somewhat showing a jiggery-pokery drama in higher circles at the present.

As the Commander in Chief, President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed the Lt. Gen. Crisanthe De Silva to head the Office of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) while promoting him as a four Star General. The CDS seat has been vacant since 16 June, after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal (Retired) K A Gunatilleke.

We wish our new CDS all the best for his service during the next two years. Despite some difficulties and less-appropriate action as the Army Commander, General Crisanthe De Silva played a significant role in course correction in the Sri Lanka Army as an institution.

Subsequently, the appointment of new CDS, the Commander of Army will be vacant unless President gave orders to the CDS to overlook the Sri Lanka army till his retirement scheduled to be in third week of August this year.

However, many Media and social webs are on rampage attacking senior army officers who are on the line of expectation to be next commander. This, unfortunately, is not a new trend or an exception in the Army as the largest state organ in the country, but in fact, well spread among other institutions as well. Therefore, one against another came into this kind of common habitual attitude in many institutions.

a well-informed source within the President’s Secretariat told the Sri Lanka Guardian, that the President himself expressed displeasures and agony over the internal “greedy struggle” for grabbing the chair of next Army Commander. That is indeed highly disturbing to the President.

On the one hand some senior officers are engaging in mudslinging attacks on their competitors while using their mouthpieces websites and other tools; On the other hand, some senior officers are using their proxies to convince the President, so then they assume they can bend the President’s decision. The bottom line is that this kind of behaviour is confirming the depth of deterioration of state apparatus in the country.

Meanwhile, there was a very interesting text message received by the President Maithripala Sirisena two days ago when the Mockingbirds declared war among themselves. The extract of the message says;

Regarding appointing the Army commander;

Best advice is to allow present Army commander General Crisanthe De Silva to continue till 21 August 2017.

What would be the consequences the President has to face if Major Gen. XXXX (name withheld) is appointed, these are the consequences for President.

1. President will lose his credibility
2. All religious leaders will go against him.
3. Majority of the members of the army will be unhappy for a wrong decision
4. President will create a very bad presidency in the Army for violating army procedures (detail of this item withheld by Sri Lanka Guardian as we find contents are highly sensitive)
5. Breaking and violating good governance policy.
6. President will be blamed (by educated people) that merit and seniority have no place in this government.

After seeing the message on his device President Maithripala Sirisena had given the usual light smile with deep thought, Sri Lanka Guardian learns.

The battle is on its edge. The most important factor is how the winner is going to implement his task for the benefits of the institution and the public of this nation in general.

Nothing could be better than recalling the sage words of the song by Johnny Cash when we are experiencing moments like this ;

There’s a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won’t be treated all the same
There’ll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around
…

Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the Man comes around
….

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts
And I looked and behold, a pale horse
And his name that sat on him was Death
And Hell followed with him.

Enjoy the song here;

Former ISI chief pledges support to Rajapaksa

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON-2017-06-25

There is no secret about President Maithripala Sirisena looking up to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in many instances, be it doing yoga to mark International Yoga Day or following his dress-code during pre-election campaign. This time it was about ministers using mobile phones during Cabinet meetings.

Last October, in a move to prevent leakage of sensitive information on important policy matters and decisions, Prime Minister Modi issued a directive to his ministers not to carry smartphones and other mobile phones to Cabinet meetings. The fear of those being hacked was also involved when taking the decision.

Banning the use of mobile phones during Cabinet meetings in last October due to security reasons was the first such instance in India while Britain has banned using mobile phones at Cabinet meetings since long ago.

Using mobile phones during Cabinet meetings was the topic from time to time since the time President Chandrika Kumaratunga chaired the meeting as she accused her senior ministers of leaking information to 'some' journalists by getting them to hear the discussions as and when it happened. It did not take long for President Mahinda Rajapaksa also to ban his Cabinet Ministers from bringing in mobile phones to Cabinet meetings, due to reasons well known.

However, President Sirisena's directives to keep mobile phones switched off during Cabinet meetings has got nothing to do with an apparent security threat like in India, but was made to end a pure nuisance. It was said, the decision was taken to make sure that every minister pays attention to what is being discussed.

"The President took this decision after observing that most ministers were either on phone calls or logged on to social media platforms like Facebook, twitter or instagram," a well-informed source claimed.

UL trumped by ministers

President Sirisena decided to take a 'decisive decision' against the controversial Board of Directors of the national carrier SriLankan Airlines in the near future when the Board of Directors were summoned to a crucial meeting after the weekly Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Secretariat.

Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the government also decided to implement in full, the recommendations by the Board of Inquiry led by J.C. Weliamuna.

The Board of Directors were summoned to clarify and explain the situation with the allegations of them acting in an arbitrary manner and SriLankan accumulating continuous losses. SriLankan currently has 25 aircraft, 360 pilots and 7,200 employees.

Commenting on the issue a week before, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Senaratne said that the airline has accumulated a loss of Rs 22 billion after the present administration came into power. He added that the SriLankan Airlines is being administered observing in the breach all regulations and ignoring all instructions issued by the line minister, Minister of Public Enterprises Development, Kabir Hashim.

"1,300 people have been recruited without the minister's knowledge. Those who were appointed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa to top positions have not been removed and they are running the show," he said.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the national carrier has pointed out that about 1,400 employees have resigned and to fill those vacancies, they recruited 1,250 afresh.

Minister Senaratne had argued with proof that what the CEO was stating with regard to the recruitments was in fact not accurate.

Ministers Rajitha Senaratne, Sarath Fonseka and Ravi Karunanayake had pointed out corruption and shortcomings of the Board of Directors, at length. According to sources four members of the director board have also levelled accusations against the conduct of the CEO.

While President Sirisena emphasized that the accusations levelled against the director board by ministers were true, and that it is evident the board is divided, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had noted that the national carrier has been able to reduce the losses under current management despite having shortcomings. Minister Kabir Hashim, under whose purview the SriLankan falls, had also endorsed accusations that recruitments were carried out without his knowledge.

Docs lock horns

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne was having lunch at his residence after returning from the weekly Cabinet media briefing when he got a call informing that his ministry has been stormed by university students causing colossal damage to properties.

He quickly gave instructions to top officials and informed of the situation to President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

It was later informed that despite security would be beefed up at the surrounding area of Town Hall in Colombo and Ministry of Higher Education when university students are holding protests, authorities were clueless about the Health Ministry coming under attack. Though in a normal situation, the intelligence services would inform relevant authorities to take precautionary action, it was revealed that the students had outsmarted the intelligence services.

After turning Town Hall area into a virtual battle field as students clashed with the STF members, it was alleged that doctors had refused to treat the STF members who were admitted to Colombo National Hospital along with the 80 students.

An individual identified as Mahinda Rathnayake has written to the President of Sri Lanka Medical Council to conduct a proper investigation against the doctor who refused attending to STF personnel citing the medical officer has breached his oath as a doctor.

In addition to this, the Government Medical Officers' Association (GMOA) called a strike - which they called off after two days, last morning- in support of the anti-SAITM struggle by university students and to condemn the police attack.

However, the GMOA made headlines as a fellow medical officer who came for a discussion held at the Sri Lanka Foundation leaving behind hundreds of patients who came seeking treatment was sent back to the hospital, to taste bitter medicines, with a broken nose.

Doctors discussing the current crisis over private medical education were later found exchanging fisticuffs as one member hit the other one on the face using a ceramic cup.

MR in Pakistan

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa left to Pakistan last Monday afternoon to participate, as the guest speaker, at an event held at the Pakistan National Defence University.

Speaking at an event organized by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Global Village Space (GVS) Rajapaksa said terrorism is against the spirit of humanity and no country can prosper if people are compelled to live their lives under fear.

Delivering his speech on the topic of the talk which was 'Sri Lanka's Struggle for Peace and its Lessons for Pakistan and the Region,' Rajapaksa said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka's mutual relationship is sustained by cultural heritage, economies, and common stand on international issues.

"We are grateful for the unconditional and steadfast support we received from Pakistan. It is a matter of deep satisfaction that I was able to raise Sri Lanka's voice with Pakistan. They have stood by us through thick and thin," he said. Rajapaksa added there is no distinction between terrorists, mirroring the good versus bad Taliban debate in Pakistan.

He also said that in the case of Sri Lanka, armed forces provided unrelenting support, backed by actual and concrete actions on part of the government.

The former President said that successful anti-terrorism operations depend as much on internal factors as they do on external factors. Public education and support is necessary to thwart any sympathy or help for the enemy. There is no room for hypocrisy or double-dealing, he stressed.

In his concluding remarks, Rajapaksa stressed: "We must learn from one another, be productive and provide practical solutions."

He further stressed on the need for more such dialogues and platforms to better understand the menace of terrorism and employ measures to combat it and achieve peace in the region.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that stronger Pak-Sri Lankan partnership was key to promoting greater cooperation in the region and also a bulwark against the challenges facing the region including the issue of terrorism and poverty besides warding off any self-assumed notion of hegemony in the region, Pakistan's 'The Nation' reported.

"This he said while talking to former President of Sri Lanka Rajapaksa, Percy Mahendra, at Punjab House in Pakistan on Thursday when the latter called on him along with his delegation," says a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.

According to Pakistan media, Lt. Gen. (Retd.), Asif Yasin Malik has said, Pakistan has a lot to learn about peace-building from Sri Lanka, and there are a lot of parallels between the situations in the two countries vis-à-vis terrorism.

Former Pakistan High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Seema Baloch has stated that the Sri Lankan Government took decisive action against terrorism.Following its success, Sri Lanka began to open its routes and increasingly integrate with the international community.

Speaking on the issue of human rights, she has blamed the international community for its double standards.

"In some cases we describe the lives of others as collateral damage and in other cases we emphasize it as civilian casualty," she said.

Former Chief of Pakistan's powerful spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar who now heads the National Defence University while commending Rajapaksa has said that they do not find the accusations levelled against Rajapaksa when commanding the country towards peace by defeating terrorism as fair and just.

"Pakistan will stand by you at any given time," he had said.

Taming that lunatic fringe

2017-06-30

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka in his reply to my column last week points out certain ontological and ideological inaccuracies I made. In particular, he takes me to task over my categorising him as a nationalist and a moderate federalist, though I placed those terms in a certain context which, yes, can be mischievously reconfigured by someone against him. Point taken, point conceded. I apologise for the mistakes and I sincerely hope he wasn’t inconvenienced by them. This week’s column, however, is not about Dr. Dayan, but about the responses he and his group got courtesy of my article.
I have come to believe that no constructive debate in this country is possible without two fundamental premises: the ability to accommodate opposing view points and the ability to constructively critique those view points. The problem is that we don’t know how to accommodate and we don’t know what “constructive” means. So we pin the you’re-biased tag on those we cross swords with, forgetting that we are no better and in fact are in certain respects worse than them.

I have come to believe that no constructive debate in this country is possible without two fundamental premises: the ability to accommodate opposing view points and the ability to constructively critique those view points. The problem is that we don’t know how to accommodate and we don’t know what “constructive” means

I neither support nor oppose Gotabaya Rajapaksa. I believe that he did something during his tenure at the UDA, though what he did was badly tempered by what he failed to do and/or unfortunately let slip through his hands. I believe that despite his authoritarian streak, he got Colombo (and nearly every other suburb, this writer’s home town being one of them) cleaned and adorned. But I also believe that he is, like every other political figure we hedge our bets on, flawed. Taken by itself, this means nothing: we are all flawed, and doting on the man’s perceived goodness is no worse than doting on those who are virulently opposed to him.

Getting back to my earlier point, in as much as the likes of Dr. Dayan will be pivotal in bringing together those aforementioned two camps by 2020, it is true also that Gotabaya himself will be instrumental in reconciling them to one another. It’s a circle that goes around both ways: the theoretician uniting two broadly similar movements via a figure who concurrently by his very presence brings them together.

Underlying that, incidentally, is another point. As important, as relevant.

I suggested a few weeks ago that the dividing line between those two camps is based on what each of them privileges. With respect to the Yuthukama Sanwada Kavaya and Jathika Chinthanaya camp, it’s an almost mythical idealisation of the Sinhalese and the Buddhists, which brings them closer to the likes of Anagarika Dharmapala and the failed (or stalled) project of finding a successor to him.With respect to Project Gotabaya, it’s a largely economistic, rationalistic, and cosmopolitan idealisation of the man at the centre of their movement. The only difference between the cosmopolitanism of this second camp and that of those opposed to them (i.e.supporters of the present regime) is that the latter are, I dare say, culturally apathetic.

The yahapalanist liberals continue to conflate it with majoritarianism. They are only partly correct: the truth is that the BBS scrounged up barely 0.2% of the votes at the 2015 General Election, compared to the 4.87% the JVP got. The majoritarians were voting in large numbers for their preferred candidates: they didn’t care about the lunatic, racialist, neo-fascist fringe

And not for no reason. The truth is that many of those liberals (yahalapalanist or ex-yahapalanist) are blind to the need for a government, any government, to legitimise historical realities. Some of them (I should think many of them) seem to believe that the best way to shut out majoritarian dissent is by (what else?) shutting it out altogether. This is risky, if not dangerous: it erases away any democratic space for the majoritarian right to vent out its frustration.

To be sure, it’s difficult to think of a rational, cohesive, and “just” way of opposing the Bodu Bala Sena and those complicit in its political rise. The yahapalanist liberals continue to conflate it with majoritarianism. They are only partly correct: the truth is that the BBS scrounged up barely 0.2% of the votes at the 2015 General Election, compared to the 4.87% the JVP (which by the way was in a rather disadvantaged position owing to its vaguely articulated stances) got. The majoritarians were voting in large numbers for their preferred candidates: they didn’t care about the lunatic, racialist, neo-fascist fringe. But in what those liberals are correct, they are correct all the way, almost unconditionally: the BBS is opposed by everyone, and by everyone I include supporters of the Joint Opposition, the SLFP, and the UNP.

If 1956 is anything to go by, folks, constricting such an outlet will do more harm than good.

Going by comments I have obtained from hardcore anti-yahapalanist majoritarians, I can verify that their (mild) support for the BBS has not transformed into votes, or a sizeable electorate, to be reckoned with. It doesn’t take a political scientist to figure out that the more anti-Buddhist the “mainstream” parties are perceived to be, the more likely it is that such a dangerous situation will become a reality. And it doesn’t take a political scientist to figure out what the government must possess to prevent that risk from turning into a reality. Not irrational frenzy, but sober decisiveness.
Project Gotabaya believes in Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the epitome of sober decisiveness. The man’s occasional outbursts in the past, however, point at anything but sober decisiveness. But that is not my issue. My issue is that by idealising and depending on a single “role model” (for the lack of a better term), we are feeding into complacency. Complacency won’t get us anywhere. Only constructive debate will.The tragedy here is that the oppositional space needed for such a debate is being denied to the spokespersons of Project Gotabaya. It’s a tragedy because the Jathika Chinthanaya and Yuthukama Sanwada Kavaya, an extension of the Nalin de Silva and Gunadasa Amarasekera led coterie of nationalists, have congealed into a class and an oppositional space of their own, courtesy of their more reckonable history when it comes to combating their opponents, the “anti-nationalist” right and left.
Now you may agree or disagree with some of the key figureheads behind this movement: with Nalin de Silva, Gunadasa Amarasekara, Manohara de Silva, Gomin Dayasiri, and Gevindu Cumaratunga. I won’t say that I disagree (indeed I find myself agreeing with many of their contentions) but I will concede that they compel from those yahapalanist liberals the same sobriquet that Dr. Dayan, in a series of debates conducted with their movement in the eighties, bestowed on them: intellectual protectionists. Yes, they are intellectual protectionists to most. But these intellectual protectionists have been fighting their intellectual skirmishes for over three decades. That’s something Project Gotabaya will take time to equal, though in equalling it. I think there is a major role that they, in particular Dr. Dayan, will get to play.

Which in a brief, pithy sense is as follows. In a context where most of the yahapalanist liberals are opposed to the Bodu Bala Sena because of their veiled anti-Buddhism and anti-intellectualism, we need a force that is at once sensitive to the collective being wooed by racialist outfits and also opposed to those outfits. The one doesn’t negate the other, I believe: the fact that one is sensitive to Sinhala Buddhists doesn’t mean that one is hell-bent against other collectives. To contend otherwise would be to say that all Sinhala Buddhists are complicit in the rise of the BBS. They are not.
On the contrary: until we sort out this contradiction, which is really an artificial and simplistic dichotomy, there won’t be any hope for any oppositional outfit to legitimately challenge the status quo, by which I am referring not to this regime, but rather to the anti-majoritarian elite who are denying any democratic outlet for the majority to resolve their grievances. If 1956 is anything to go by, folks, constricting such an outlet will do more harm than good. For everyone. And I think Project Gotabaya, at least to a certain extent, will be assessed by how well it drives home that point. Personally speaking, I don’t think it’s doing a bad job there. At least, not yet.
UDAKDEV1@GMAIL.COM

Why do agricultural value chains fail? Part VI: Incentives for certification

Introduction

Friday, 30 June 2017

Things that did not matter earlier seem to have gained an important consideration. We are now increasingly talking about certification of agricultural produce. Certifications provide comparative advantage in trading. Therefore a country that puts a lot of emphasis on agricultural exports certifications was not something new to our producers. However with increasing considerations on healthy food consumption, Environmental Goods and Services (EGSs), responsible and sustainable farming emphasis on certification has become prominent.

Why do agricultural value chains fail Part VI Incentives for certification.docx by Thavam Ratna on Scribd

Govt. of good governance pays for past sins of ‘curse of the shawl’ Rajapakses – Bandarawela residents protest against Uma Oya project !

(Lanka-e-News- 29.June.2017, 11.50PM) Most unfortunately it is the present government which has to pay for all the past sins , crimes , and perfidies committed by the corrupt murderous deposed Rajapakse regime which indulged in all the sinister and traitorous activities with gay abandon during its reign while not caring for the country and the people , as long as those activities served their corrupt and crooked aims and agendas.

Hambantota port , Mattala Airport , the white elephants and SAITM a festering sore are legacies of the deposed discarded Rajapakse regime , and the present government is only an unfortunate inheritor of those , and not the creator .

Yet when the present government is taking meaningful and tangible measures to resolve those issues , the evil villainous Rajapakses are mounting opposition and seeking to force the government to withdraw those salutary efforts. While SAITM is one example , yesterday (28), another protest was staged in Bandarawela. That was the protest staged in Bandarawela Town by the JVP with the Rajapakses taking advantage of the various hardships faced by the victims of the Uma oya scheme disaster that was initiated for diversion of water to Hambantota- the Rajapakses’ fiefdom . It is significant to note the disastrous Uma Oya scheme was inaugurated by the Rajapakses themselves without obtaining an appropriate environmental report .

Yesterday’s protest was organized against ‘Uma Oya multiple disaster scheme’ . This protest was held with the participation of Bandarawela traders association , wholesale trade association and private bus owners association . The groups that fell victims due to the scheme from Bandarawela, Welimada, Ella, HaliEla, and Wellawaya district secretarial divisions also attended this protest. In addition, shops and schools were closed and black flags were hoisted. The protestors also held a rally in Hambantota town (photos depict the demonstrations) .

These protests were aimed at mounting opposition against the government and popular UNP leader Harin Fernando , but the irony of it is , this destructive and disastrous Uma oya scheme was launched by the Rajapakses and none other ,who did not obtain the environmental report duly at that time. During that period it was Harin Fernando who led the protests against the odious Uma oya scheme of the Rajapakses when UNP was in the opposition. Many of the rascals who are today masquerading as heroes were never there to oppose the Rajapakses who originated that disastrous scheme at that time.

The fake environmental report was prepared by Champika , and the foundation stone for the disastrous scheme was laid by Nimal and Chamal.

In fact when the foundation stone was laid in 2008 for this Uma oya scheme , among those who participated were Nimal Siripala De Silva , Chamal Rajapakse and DilanPerera , but now they have vanished from the scene and are pretending they are innocent.

It was none other than Champika Ranawake the then environment minister who prepared an absolutely bogus environment report amidst pressures brought to bear on him by the Rajapakses. The other culprit who was associated with this spurious environment report was Charitha Herath who pompously and boastfully calls himself as a scientist (so called) , who was the then environment ministry secretary.

What the selfish self seeking Rajapakses who knew next to nothing about environmental science wanted to achieve by this scheme was , somehow divert the water to Hambantota even if that scheme was environmentally detrimental and dangerous to the residents , and thereby show off to the country they are great heroes to hide all their villainy .Towards this scheme , funds as large as US dollars 578 million were raised from Iran the country that was boycotted by the whole world. This expenditure in respect of this useless purposeless scheme exceeded that spent for the construction of the Hambantota Port. It is to be noted this Uma Oya scheme was launched depending on Iran’s outdated technologies.

It was rejected in 1991

The plan to divert the water of Uma Oya to Lunugamwhera reservoir was first conceived in 1991, and that proposal was formulated by the Central engineering advisory bureau . When the report of the proposal was presented to the Asian development bank to obtain financial grants , the scheme was rejected on the grounds that the rights of the people to free water are being violated when water is being diverted from one water basin to another.

Yet the murderous Medamulana morons who had not even heard of such ethical customs and practices , commenced the project out of funds from the Iranian development bank .The contribution by Sri Lanka was US dollars 400 million . The Rajapakses during their tenure of office itself released that sum . Out of the funds collected from Iran , and after the illicit commissions were pocketed , about half the project was completed by the time the government of good governance captured power.

What is hard to believe and baffling is , is the transport of water arrangement via a 15 kilometer long tunnel . 10.2 kilometers of it was completed, but unfortunately for the good governance government which took over in 2015, when digging the tunnel with the use of the outdated equipment of Iran , the water bed boundary layer got split due to the vibrations owing to which there followed a ground water leakage . The leakage was so enormous , 978 gallons of water leaked per second , that is 58000 gallons of water for a minute . At the same time , the water meant for consumption of residents in the vicinity of Bandarawela began to disappear from the ground, and wells dried up , consequent upon which the water necessary for cultivation became scarce. In the end , Rajapakses by trying to enrich Hambantota with nefarious aims and agendas impoverished Bandarawela , and plunged its residents into dire problems and predicament, including potential deaths.

The use of outdated equipment of Iran which caused huge vibrations and quakes , while the earth below cracked and disintegrated on a massive scale . Not only the quakes even the water leakage mentioned earlier , led to the soil above to crumble . The houses that were on top of the soil also began to show cracks , and collapsed.

Prior to this Rajapakse debacle , under the upper Kotmale irrigation scheme too the tunnels were built but those were under the Tea estates . The brutal Rajapakses on the contrary who never ever cared for the lives of the masses and least respected the value of human life all along , decided to dig the tunnel under the most populous districts .That was why damage to houses was monumental when the buildings cracked and collapsed . Already 3800 houses have suffered damage.

Is the 70 % completed project to be abandoned ?

Soon after the good governance government was installed in power , with the intervention of Harin Fernando , the Uma Oya project was halted , but by that time 50 % of the project was complete . Halting a project which has been 50 % completed is not in the best interests of the nation. Now , about 70 % of this project is complete.

When the good governance government did a survey , it was found the number of people affected by the disaster is about 10,000. The government has taken steps to provide relief to these people. It has also set aside Rs. 500 million to pay compensation for the houses that were damaged.

Over 70 % of those occupying the government official houses in Bandarawela are occupants who were displaced and were given free houses. To another group of residents rents were paid by the government to find temporary shelters elsewhere. But, those officers who went to make an evaluation of the damage could not finish their assignment because the number of damaged houses is rising daily . With the number of damaged houses on the rise daily , the funds allocated are also fast becoming inadequate.

The present government however has initiated another project to provide drinking water to the 2800 families who have fallen victims . Towards that a sum of Rs . 378 million has been allocated and every two days a Bowser is supplying drinking water . Since the number of families that are without drinking water is on the increase , the water supplied to the people is fast becoming insufficient.

The government has also taken steps to grant compensation to the cultivators who are adversely affected due to scarcity of water . But the fact of the matter is many of them have done their cultivation on lands illegally, with the result the evaluation officers are in a quandary. Much worse , the people who lived without any problems hitherto , are now in distress and in dire plight - even to keep their life intact is a struggle for them . Owing to this dire situation , thousands of people arrived in Bandarawela yesterday to join in the protest casting aside their party differences.

You ask , I shall give you whatever you want

At the cabinet meeting held day before yesterday (27) this was the hot topic of discussion. The president told Harin Fernando the M.P. of the province , ‘ ask whatever you need , I shall grant them .‘ Now the Uma Oya scheme cannot be stopped. Neither can it be carried on.

In any event a cabinet sub committee was appointed to resolve the issue. By a cruel twist of fate , Champika Ranawake who gave a deceptive environmental report to Rajapakses then under pressures exerted by the Rajapakses has also been included in this sub committee.The other members of the committee are Vijith Vijithamuni Soysa and Mahinda Amaraweera.

An engineer answering queries raised by Lanka e news in this connection revealed, after the ground water leak at the bed ceases and the sub way gets filled with water , the situation will return to normal as before, in about two years. No matter what, the government of good governance should do everything possible to provide relief to the suffering victims from their present distress and despair. The masses must be extricated from the spell of the Rajapakses’ ‘curse of the shawl’ cast on them !