A hidden design 

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
The Second Coming, W. B. Yeats

by Sanjana Hattotuwa-July 1, 2017, 5:27 pm 

Last week I wrote and warned against a creeping saffronisation of mainstream politics and the tacit embrace of what the Bodu Bala Sena and its head, Gnanasara Thero stand for, by the sangha writ large. There has been pushback. Several senior monks have publicly disassociated themselves from the Asgiriya Chapter’s explosive statement, providing a rare but telling insight into what is a complex and enduring power-play between and within each nikaya. Strongly worded statements by civil society have been published, admonishing government for not acting against the incitement to violence by the BBS, and the hatred it spouts. Like a kindergarten bully, the BBS acts with impunity on the playground of politics and society, but when occasionally caught and placed in a corner, projects to the public a face that suggest it has been unfairly accused and punished. The cycle continues.

Arguably, the likes of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, anarchists, those who believe in and fight for ISIS, xenophobes, racists and bigots are a feature of a healthy democracy, precisely because they are on the fringe. At the margins of society and politics, shunned by mainstream media, opinion, policymaking and politicians, these grotesque groups and their frenetic followers exist only as a reminder of what a society, politics and country should never be, or aspire to follow. Though a full study is impossible to cover in a single column, there are two key reasons why in a developed democracy these groups don’t grow and infect a country writ large with their psychosis. One, the institutional fabric of governance, including the rule of law, is strong and applies to everyone without fear or favour. This provides citizens with a variety of options for the good life no matter who they are, what they do or where they live, within a democratic space - a prospect far more appealing than subscribing to the ideals of, and a sense of belonging that comes from being part of a smaller group. Secondly, more advanced democracies have institutional frameworks and a strong civil society that stem the growth of radical extremism and fascism.

Rechts gegen Rechts (Nazis against Nazis), an initiative against right-wing extremism in Germany is a key example, where residents and local businesses of villages and towns that suffer neo-Nazi demonstrations and marches, give ten euros for every meter participants in the rallies advanced to a group called EXIT-Germany, which supports those who wanted to leave fascist, right-wing groups. The idea was that the more neo-Nazis marched, the more funding would be raised to undermine their very existence. Like drops oil in a body of water, extremist groups in more developed democracies find meaning in their existence but within a very circumscribed space.

Content featuring or published by French journalist Nicolas Hénin on ISIS also offers another perspective on the likes of the BBS. Hénin, held hostage by ISIS for ten months, in an article penned in The Guardian newspaper late 2015 notes that the likes of ISIS are drawn to ugliness on social media, and "heartened by every sign of overreaction, of division, of fear, of racism, of xenophobia". He notes that central to the world view of ISIS is the belief that communities cannot live together with Muslims, and that finding supporting evidence is what they are geared towards. He ends the article with a key, strategic idea, noting that what they expect is bombing, but what they really fear is unity. In a video interview with the Independent, Hénin goes on to note that "the winner of [the war against ISIS] will not be the party that has the newest, the most expensive or the most sophisticated weaponry, but the party that manages to win over people".

It is with these points in mind that the developments last week give further cause for disquiet. The argument is often made the government and President came to power because the minorities voted for them. While electorally accurate, neither President nor government openly embrace this fact because they perceive it will somehow reduce their appeal amongst the majority community in the South. What you find as a consequence is a government with an ostrich mentality in the face of growing fascism, intolerance and violence - that hopes it will all go away if silence is maintained and its gaze averted. This author believes the situation is in fact much worse - that instead of or in parallel to strategic disengagement, there is also tacit support of what is essentially the agenda of the BBS, voices through individuals who are proxies to those higher up in power. Over the course of just one week, we have heard the kind of rhetoric from the present government that stripped of context, could be mistakenly yet easily identified as being produced under the Rajapaksa regime - a political order many of us thought we had overturned and left-behind, for all the obvious reasons, in January 2015.

NGOs are yet again to blame for everything that is going wrong in the country. This isn’t new - the same voices that rail against NGOs today earlier this year noted that the Consultations Task Force - that architected one of the most comprehensive consultations around transitional justice in any post-war context and appointed by the Prime Minister - was also not to be trusted because it consisted of individuals from NGOs. Individuals from civil society who state facts, which are openly in the public domain, are now forced into exile and hiding. Individuals who spout conspiracy theories, appear shoulder to shoulder with the BBS, who repeatedly call people lunatics and mad for being opposed to violent extremism, who say all temples are beyond the control or remit of government, are allowed to speak and act with impunity.

There is a dangerous design weaved into what is seemingly chaos and a lack of coordination. Just like Trump’s manic tweets, inflammatory statements by powerful voices in government generate a lot of short-term attention and opposition, but a larger design around majoritarianism’s creep seems to be going unnoticed. In February 2015, at the height of the euphoria around yahapalanaya and its promise, one of the first decisions of the incumbent President was to appoint Rakitha Rajapakshe, the son Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, as Media Secretary in the Ministry of Defence. And while the Cabinet of Ministers and the Prime Minister spoke against intolerance and the rise of extremism, the President has remained largely silent. In the company of MP Rajapakshe, the President last December railed against social media for maligning judges. MP Rajapakshe in Parliament last month launched a diatribe against UN Special Rapporteur Monica Pinto’s report on Sri Lanka, which reflecting the current state of affairs, was far from rosy. The President last week placed the blame on Facebook and social media as impediments in building national unity and reconciliation, forgetting perhaps that not unlike the time of his own Presidential campaign, one of the only open and free spaces available for civil society to actually strengthen both is social media, and Facebook in particular. A terrible tag-team, this, but a telling one at that.

The government, if it is really serious about reconciliation, national unity and suchlike, needs to win people over. Right now, it’s not. Coupled with an economy in a mess, it is haemorrhaging public support. What one arm says, another disavows. What one person says, another undoes. What one person promises, the actions of another undermine. What ONUR wants, the Minister of Justice undermines. What the Prime Minister says, isn’t what the President echoes. What the Foreign Ministry promises the international community, isn’t what is actually delivered or given life to on the ground. What the BBS wants, however, is what is being slowly but surely mainstreamed. Note the silence of Gnanasara Thero, after his both defiant and prescient last words outside court. A larger community of sangha and politicians, from within government, partial to the concerns of the BBS, powerful and predatory, are making their presence felt. President Lincoln said that a test of a man’s character was gaining power. The narrative when the President and this government were desirous of power is markedly different to the narratives they give life to when in power. Which is stronger and which endures remains to be seen, but with heavy heart, I wouldn’t bet against saffron.

Honorary doctorate (PhD) Scam in Sri Lanka!

by Our Correspondent in Colombo- Jul 2, 2017

(July 2, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Some of the university officials in Sri Lanka have been engaging in highly damaging scam for awarding honorary doctorate to corrupted, inappropriate, unsuitable, undesirable, unfit, and incapable candidate driven by personal advantages, reliable sources in the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the University insiders particularly at the University of Peradeniya have revealed.

Senior staff members of some of the universities along with their external associates are scheming to award such corrupted crooks with honorary doctorate so then they can become beneficiaries of the promises made by the candidate such as foreign trips and financial assistances.

“This sort of manipulative activities are likely to seriously damage the status quo of the university and then we will lose the educational reputation of the institutions”, a reliable source in the University Grants Commission told the Sri Lanka Guardian.

There were series of incidents reported where some highly corrupted local and regional Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), as well as some of the individuals, were urging to nominate them for honorary doctorates by the universities through some of the senior staffs by promising them for various beneficiaries. If this modus operandi is successful, it will not only damage the reputation of the university but also is likely to decrease the respect of entire education system in Sri Lanka.

“ There is no doubt that of our Universities have the authority to award an Honorary Doctorate to a person who has made exceptional or reasonably valued contribution to the subject that he or she is involved in. But, the most important aspect must concern the reputation the person has earned and how he or she has achieved the available achievements. We believe all universities and other relevant authorities must establish the serious screening system to cross check the candidate’s claim independently”, a reliable source at the University of Peradeniya said.

Compared with other universities in the region, the universities in Sri Lanka are still maintaining high standards and they have taken all precautions to protect the code of ethics to maintain the reputation earned by others in the past.

However, it is indeed sad to learn that some of the bugs in the universities are trying to destroy the dignity and are tarnishing the image by engaging in such activities.

We urge vice chancellors and higher officials at the UGC to take immediate action to monitor, evaluate and prevent such unethical and awkward schemes involved in, by certain parties in the university system in Sri Lanka, before it causes damage the country.

SAITM Is Not A Private Medical College But A Private Monopoly!

By Hema Senanayake –JULY 2, 2017

Hema Senanayake

It is true that capitalistic system of economy has been relatively successful than any system of economy so far. It has uplifted the living standards of millions and millions of people around the globe even though it cannot resolve all the economic issues faced by the human race. Milton Friedman once intimated that an average woman living today commands many labour hours for her consumption than was commanded by possibly a Queen in the middle ages of our civilization.

The foundation of capitalism is the acceptance of free enterprise system and competition. Both these characters are vital for the efficient allocation of social resources among various production processes and to establish a very efficient price mechanism. Monopolies distort these two efficient mechanisms of the economy and hence the world of free enterprises out rightly rejects private monopolies – And the SAITM is a monopoly.

The Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne being a former socialist has come to the realization that free enterprise system is a worldwide phenomenon now including China and Vietnam. It seems that he has learned it by observation. It is good but since he is a new convert to capitalism, I may suggest to him to learn it by theory mentioned above. If he did, he would not have missed the monopolistic nature of the SAITM.

The lack of understanding of any subject may lead to make wrongful decisions. This lack of understanding in regard to the private medical education is quiet clear in the thinking of the government as a whole. This thinking was revealed to the parliament by a recent speech made by the Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. Especially this revelation was quite clear from the purported solutions that are being considered by the government as told by Dr. Senaratne.

First solution is that the government is considering to take over the teaching hospital of SAITM and functioning of the medical college would continue as it is. This is an outright fraud. This would further strengthen the monopolistic nature of this business. According to Dr. Senaratne the teaching hospital of the SAITM has been constructed with having all the necessary medical equipment, amenities and laboratories. Yet, according to him, there is a problem. This problem is significant. That problem is that this hospital has no enough patients for clinical practices of the medical students. It is clear that no good medical doctor would be produced without proper clinical practices. So, the solution is fraudulently simple. Nationalize the hospital, so there will be enough patients for SATM students – And leave the medical school intact. The profit center of the monopoly will remain as it is. The nation should reject this fraudulent solution. 

The second solution is to run SAITM as non-profit educational organization. Before, we consider this proposal we must first look into the ultimate proposal put forward by the GMOA. They want to nationalize the Malambe Medical School. This too is not a reasonable proposal because economically the nationalization would reduce total national proceeds and reduce capital accumulation in this sector of the economy. If we left this to happen, the country will only be able to talk about the past relative glory of our public medical education not about the future glory. Hence, I think, GMOA must be open to dialogue in this subject and must do their homework with the support of a few talented economists before they issue an ultimate solution to the government.

It is true that even under capitalism the common interests must be produced by the government. But at the same time a greater prudent effort must be made to increase the national proceeds from which most of the capital and consumption money are allocated. Tax money which is the core income of the government that used to produce common interests is also a part of the consumption money allocated by enterprises. Without enterprises there will be no production of common interests by the government under capitalism.      

However, medical education is not a common interest that should be produced completely by the government. GMOA has accepted this. Even without SAITM, in the broader sense the medical education will continue as a partial common interest produced by the government. That is why Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) and the GMOA accept the registration of foreign educated medical students subject to certain parameters. Since, I do not think that GMOA should be against for the increase of national proceeds and local capital accumulation of this vital sector. If social justice is a concern in private medical education then there are numerous market based solutions with a few macroeconomic adjustments to resolve such problems. .

Read More

Sri Lanka out of viable political options Prof. Siri Hettige

2017-06-30

Professor Siri Hettige secured his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Monash University, Australia in 1980. He functioned as the Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Colombo for nearly ten years, since 1987. After the establishment of the current government in 2015, he was appointed as the Chairman of the National Police Commission, but he tendered his resignation in January, 2017. In an interview with the Daily Mirror, Professor Hettige discussed the current political situation in the country, the crisis between private and public medical health sectors and the education system. He said Sri Lanka was in a serious situation as the country had also run out of viable political options.  

• The government seems to have lost direction.
• You can’t clap with one hand. It is a complex environment where I worked.
• Why doesn’t the GMOA urge the government to strengthen the public health system?
• There is a long way for a social revolution.
• Having a high literacy rate is not very impressive unless it shows in the development and public welfare.
• Education system has been politicized so much.
• There appears to be reluctance on the part of the authorities to have knowledgeable people around the table to address big problems.
• There are gender issues within the Sri Lanka Police.
• Country is not making any headway in development.
• Taxation needs to be reformed.

Q What made you resign as Chairman of the National Police Commission?

The immediate reason was that I had to go to Germany to accept a professorial post for one semester. As I couldn’t take leave for such a long period, I had to resign. On the other hand, I am a bit of an idealist who likes to do things in the best possible manner. If I find some difficulty, I have second thoughts.   

Q You didn’t receive much support to perform your duties. Am I right?

You can’t clap with one hand. These are collective efforts. It is not like your own organization that you try to improve. It is a complex environment where I worked.   

Q  What did you identify as the shortcomings of the Sri Lanka Police?

 I can’t pinpoint them and there are many issues. We initiated many programmes that in the long run would address most of the issues. We had to understand the present situation before bringing about a change. We initiated a study on the whole organization, with the purpose of identifying structural problems within the Sri Lanka Police. Based on that analysis, we tried to make the required reforms. The identifying process is done. We realized that there were issues regarding women in the police service as well. We identified gender issues within the organisation.   

We proposed a programme where people would comment on the performance of the police. Proposals were also made to digitize the system more as it would help improve the transparency and accuracy of the investigations. These things are underway. They are not known to people. In the long term, they will have a positive outcome.

  
Q  Do you see the government going anywhere with their concept of good governance?

 There is so much confusion in the country. The government seems to have lost direction. They may not be able to do everything. But there are some areas you have to pay attention to without any hesitation. Things are not easy. Nevertheless, we have to make an attempt. For instance, there are three big issues in governance. The first is reconciliation. People want to see peace among ethnic groups in this country which went through a thirty-year war. That is the bottom line. There must be some consensus on that. The government can’t really avoid that responsibility which is a major issue in the country at the moment.   

The second issue is development. I think the country is not making any headway in that respect. There is a degree of confusion in the sense that there is no direction in which the economy of Sri Lanka is moving towards. There must be some effort to have industrial development in this country, because not every citizen can be packed into the service sector. Unfortunately, that is what we have been doing. Everybody is moving into the service sector. Capital is basically circulating within the service sector. However, at the end of the day, people need commodities. If there are no commodities, the country has to import them. That is exactly what Sri Lanka is doing right now. In my opinion, that is a huge problem in the economy. There appears to be reluctance on the part of the authorities to have knowledgeable people around the table to address big problems. The third area is equality. I don’t believe we can sustain that kind of equality in this country. We should have a policy to rake the excess capital circulating within the economy. It is unbelievable that millions are spent to buy cars for politicians. We have one of the lowest tax rates in the world. Taxation needs to be reformed. Inequality will not exist if taxation is reformed in a beneficial manner. I don’t know why this is not obvious to so-called economists in the country.  

 
If the law is not implemented and if corruption is tolerated, there is no chance a country can move forward. In the case of Sri Lanka, we say we don’t want corruption but at the same time there is corruption everywhere.   

Q  What areas do you expect the government to consider in drafting the new constitution?

As far as I am concerned, a lot can be done even before drafting a constitution. Though we have had proposal after proposal regarding the devolution of power to local government bodies, we have not done anything. We have seen how difficult it has been for local councils to deal with issues like the garbage problem and the recent natural disasters. Local councils are riddled with corruption. A country can have the best constitution in the world. Yet, if the principles and legal provisions in the set of documents are not put into practice, we are living in a fantasy world. Have we prosecuted a single politician for corruption charges? Of course, you could say we were on the way to doing so. We are talking about corruption deals and incidents that have taken place, but we have failed to bring a single culprit to book. The laws that are already in the country should be implemented. We can’t wait any longer.

If the law is not implemented and if corruption is tolerated, there is no chance a country can move forward. In the case of Sri Lanka, we say we don’t want corruption but at the same time there is corruption everywhere.     

Q What kind of political changes would the country experience in future other than tribal party politics?

 I think currently we are facing a serious situation. We have run out of viable political options in the country. People say they will go out and start a social revolution. But we know there is a long way for that kind of transformation to take place. In the meantime, we have to bring hope to people and give them direction. Unfortunately, the elections will come and certain people will be elected. We have no control of it.

  
QSri Lanka boasts of a high literacy rate in the South Asian region. Does this demonstrate the real state of education?
Having a high literacy rate is not very impressive unless it shows in the development and public welfare of a country. Attention should be paid to identify what kind of impact it has towards the country. In fact, we can’t boast of the education system in this country at all.  

 
Q What is your take on the existing education system in Sri Lanka? 

The existing system does not produce inquisitive citizens. There was something called the ‘diploma disease’ way back in the early seventies. We have not been able to leave that behind. We are still living with the diploma disease. Our younger generation is very much affected by it. They basically collect certificates to carry to job interviews. When asked questions during interviews, they are sometimes clueless. However, the point is that education has become an instrumental activity these days.   

Young people are not knowledge-seekers, as they have no thirst for knowledge. It is important that we change the situation because education should serve a wider space in society. Unfortunately, we have deprived our young generation of having access to different viewpoints spreading around the world. It is partly because we have not cultivated their minds to be curious. The motivation for young people to learn is at a very low level now. The younger generation should be able to become independent learners with certain skills. The internet is full of sources of knowledge. The youth should be able to capture at least a small part of it. They lack the language skills and motivation to do so. They should locate themselves in a much wider canvas. But that is not happening in Sri Lanka.   

Q What kind of changes should be made to develop the state of education in Sri Lanka?

 You have thirteen years to do so. This period starts from Grade 1 and goes up to Grade 13 and is a very important period as far as the form of identity is concerned. You can use that opportunity to build up modern society using education as the vehicle of information, knowledge and ideas. There might be a few people within the system who really want to do this. Yet, the vast majority are products of the same system. Therefore, they don’t feel the need to do so. But, of course, they have to find ways and means of bringing about change. We have more than 264,000 teachers who can be motivated and mobilized for this task.   

Nevertheless, educational changes are already there in documents. The National Education Commission functions with academics and educationalists. However, they have not been able to implement what was in the documents due to the fact that the system has been politicized so much.   

Q  How do you see the storming of the Health Ministry by university students during a recently held protest against the SAITM?

It is a manifestation of a larger crisis. It should not be considered an isolated incident. It is just a tip of the iceberg. We all know there was a major controversy relating to the private medical faculty established in Ragama in 1980. It was similar. State sector medical students, medicos and other university students came out in protest, which resulted in a major calamity. In fact, we had a lot of trouble at the University of Colombo. The Vice Chancellor of the Colombo University, Stanley Wijesundera, was also gunned down.

  
Q Can you explain the crisis between private and public medical faculties? 

 This is a very strange situation. If you take the health system into account, it is not entirely public anymore. We have a private health sector in the country with flashy private hospitals popping up everywhere. They also offer a very good health service attracting many people who go to these hospitals, not just for medical tests, but even for consultation. Well-to-do people naturally rely on such private hospitals. The point is that marginalized people who are poor naturally have to rely on the public health system. This has created a huge anomaly between the public and private health systems.   

However, the so-called progressive medical people are not even able to address these issues. There is not a single parent today who does not pay for their child’s private education. Recently, while conducting a class, I asked my students whether they had ever gone to a tuition class. A hundred percent said yes. Yes, we have free education but it is utter nonsense. It is hard to find a single student who has passed his or her GCE Ordinary Level or Advanced Level without going for private tuition classes. There is a plethora of private institutions in villages and towns ranging from various private certificate courses to international schools in and around Colombo. Some schools are even run by politicos.

  
Basically, the gap between the rich and poor has rapidly widened within the education and health sectors, despite the public health and free education systems. The factor of the matter is that there are a number of people who have been marginalised. They are furious. They have absolutely no future. This is a deep-rooted problem.   

Q How should the issue be addressed?

 Nobody is talking about it in Parliament. It is a very serious situation. The state refuses to address this issue. We are not the only country with issues in health and education. There are countries that have addressed these issues very effectively. But we don’t want to learn from the countries that have succeeded. We just talk about countries where nothing has improved. Northern European countries like Norway, Denmark and Sweden should be taken as examples. Their politicians know what they are doing. Here, we hold a microphone to politicians and they just utter all kinds of nonsense. That is the unfortunate state of Sri Lankan democracy.   

First, we have to strengthen the public system. We must spend public money on improving it so there won’t be a marginalisation of the underprivileged. The rich can do whatever they like. What the rich do with their money is none of our business. We don’t have progressive taxation in this country. We leave most of our money in the hands of the rich. What is the rate of taxation here? It is just 17%. Nowhere in the world do you find this kind of low taxation. You can’t have 17% of taxation and leave 83% of income in the hands of the rich. This is merely nonsense.   

Why doesn’t the GMOA urge the government to strengthen the public health system? The point is whom you are going to ask it for. The rich will send their children to local and overseas private education centres. They would also go abroad for medical care at public expense.
Pic by Kithsiri de Mel     

President to get tough with striking doctors: minister

Rajitha-July 1, 2017, 7:08 pm 

ECONOMYNEXT – The government has ruled out further discussions with government doctors over private higher education as public anger mounted against striking medical officers, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

It has been suggested to the government that the authorities withdraw the concessionary duty facility to import motor vehicles for government doctors who are also engaging in private practice.

Declaring the health sector an essential service and confiscating property of striking medical officers is also on the cards, authoritative government sources said.

The cabinet of ministers discussed the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) trade union action last week and President Maithiripala Sirisena noted that he made no concessions whatsoever to the strikers, the minister said.

"The President made it very clear even before he sat down to the meeting (on June 24) that it was an unofficial, informal meeting, purely at the request of the doctors," Senaratne said. "The doctors had come for the meeting after ending their strike."

The cabinet was told Tuesday that the president would not show "any mercy" to the striking doctors who risked the lives of patients seeking free medical treatment at state hospitals.

The GMOA said a statement issued by the Presidential secretariat went against what the President had promised them, but the President’s office insisted that the statement was not a result of the meeting with the doctors’ union.

The then President’s Secretary P. B. Abeykoon went as far as to issue a correction on Tuesday denying a Sinhalese newspaper report which had said the government was going to re-draft a statement in favour of the GMOA demands.

Minister Senaratne said the GMOA had been desperate to end their strike because there was pressure building from within the rank and file against a prolonged work stoppage which also hurt their lucrative private practice.

GMOA members from the Western, Southern, North-Western, North-Central and the Northern provinces were unhappy with the current GMOA leadership and were in talks with the minister to form a breakaway trade union.

A consumer rights group said it believed that the doctors’ decision to call of the strike late last month came a day before they were due to invoke the wrath of gods on strikers who jeopardised the lives of patients in state hospitals.

"Whatever the GMOA leadership says, they were worried that there were going to be demonstrations outside their homes to invoke curses on them," a consumer rights activist said.

Consumer rights group, the National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection (NMCRP), was about to visit schools and meet teachers of striking doctors seeking the ostracise them.

NMCPR leader Ranjith Vithanage said the ostracizing campaign had huge public support and they were about to launch it when the GMOA decided to call off their strike.

A split in the GMOA turned violent last month when one doctor smashed a cup on the face of another breaking his nose. Ironically, the injured doctor had to be rushed to the National Hospital Colombo where his own colleagues were on strike.

GMOA spokesman Samantha Ananda said the President had agreed to take "positive steps" to resolve issues surrounding the private South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM).

"The president agreed to take steps to improve standards of medical education and the quality of the medical service," Ananda told reporters in Colombo, but later the GMOA changed its stance accusing the government of going back on promises allegedly made to them.

The SAITM was established in 2008 under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, but the GMOA began pressing action to scrap the SAITM only recently under the new government of President Sirisena.

GMOA members have said they did not protest earlier fearing physical violence during the Rajapaksa administration.

The GMOA argues that the education at SAITM is substandard and that many of its students do not have minimum qualifications for higher studies, a position challenged by the private college.

Austin Fernando Presidential Secretary

Sunday, July 02, 2017

Senior civil servant and Eastern Province Governor Austin Fernando will assume duties as Presidential Secretary from Tuesday.

He will replace P.B. Abeykoon who stepped down from the post of Presidential Secretary on Friday. Mr. Abeykoon cited personal reasons for stepping down.

Mr. Fernando confirmed to the Sunday Times yesterday that he had accepted the post and would resign from the Governor’s post tomorrow.

Mr. Fernando had also served as the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence in the UNP-led government of 2001-2004 and was appointed as advisor to President Maithripala Sirisena when he was elected in January 2015.

Exorcising Demons In Paradise: Remarks On Jude Ratnam’s Movie Screened At Cannes

By Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka –JUNE 30, 2017

This evening at the ICES Colombo we saw a very powerful movie: DEMONS IN PARADISE, directed by Jude Ratnam. I am so very grateful that the director invited us to attend its first screening in Sri Lanka. I hope it gets shown and discussed everywhere.

Dayan Jayatilleka always said that the healing process and reconciliation will start not with accountability hearings a la Geneva, but with the arts.

This movie holds a mirror before us all. It forces one to look squarely at the violence that each of these island’s communities is capable of inflicting, supporting and enabling, not only on other communities but on each other, within one’s own community.

Starting with July ’83, via a train journey of escape to Jaffna from mob violence in the capital city which the government of the day did nothing to stop, Jude Ratnam ‘turns the searchlight inwards’ and confronts the horror that the LTTE visited on other Tamil militant groups and innocent civilians, and the Tamil community’s tolerance, and even support of it. A former Tiger, now a middle aged man says in bewilderment, “I can’t understand our community. How could they give us Coke while we were killing our own people?”

It is a courageous self-examination of a dark past which has not been attempted before.  

The movie also features an interview with the photographer who took the iconic photo of a naked Tamil man just before he was beaten to death by a laughing Sinhala mob. He was asked what he felt as a Sinhalese when he took the photo. The photographer says that he knew right from wrong, and all he could do at that time was to take the picture so he could tell that story to society at large. 

The movie shows emotional moments of great humanity that humbles and offers hope.  

Read More

The monk who loves nature !

- Jul 01, 2017

Right now, speaking about Buddhist monks should be done carefully. Certain Buddhist monks behave in a very unfortunate manner on the pretext of religion. Not only them, but also all the extremists are trying to sow the seeds of racism and religious extremism in this land to serve someone’s needs. Facing such instances should be done intelligently.

The monk who loves nature !.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Palestine in Pictures: June 2017

A newborn is seen inside an incubator at the neonatal intensive care unit at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, 27 June. The Gaza health ministry accused the Palestinian Authority of blocking patients in the coastal territory from receiving urgently needed treatment in Israel, causing the deaths of two newborns.
 Mohammed AsadAPA images

 1 July 2017

Nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during the month of June, which marked 50 years of occupation in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syria’s Golan Heights.

Nouf Infayat, 16, was shot and fatally wounded after she stabbed and lightly injured a soldier outside an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Video from the scene showed the injured girl lying on the ground as Israelis curse and taunt her, calling for her death.

Palestinian protesters hurl stones towards Israeli forces during confrontations following a demonstration against the blockade on the Gaza Strip, east of Jabaliya refugee camp, 5 June.Ashraf AmraAPA images--A protester waves the Palestinian flag during confrontations with Israeli forces following a demonstration against the siege near the boundary fence, east of Jabaliya refugee camp, 7 June.Mohammed DahmanAPA images

Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of Fadi al-Najjar, killed by Israeli soldiers during a protest along the Gaza boundary fence in Khan Younis, 7 June.Ashraf AmraAPA images--A relative mourns over the body of Palestinian Ayed Jumaa at a hospital morgue in the northern Gaza Strip on 9 June after the 35-year-old was shot in the head and killed by Israeli soldiers during a protest east of Jabaliya refugee camp.Mohammed AsadAPA images

A soldier later faced dismissal after video showed him running away from the girl during the incident.

Three youths from the West Bank village of Deir Abu Mashal – Adel Hassan Ahmad Ankoush, 18, Baraa Ibrahim Salih Taha, 18, and Usama Ahmad Dahdouh, 19 – were shot and killed during an attack in Jerusalem that left an Israeli Border Police combatant fatally wounded.

Following the incident, Israeli forces raided the village, blocked all its entrances, confiscated property and surveyed the homes of the slain assailants in preparation for their punitive demolition. Israel also revoked permits from an estimated quarter of a million Palestinians, preventing them from visiting family in Israel during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, after the attack.

Family rejects Israel’s claims

The family of Bahaa al-Hirbawi, who was shot dead by soldiers in the central West Bank, rejectedIsrael’s claim that he was attempting a stabbing attack when he was killed. No soldiers were injured.

Iyad Munir Arafat Ghaith, 23, was shot twice in the head at close range by Israeli commandos disguised as civilians during a raid on the West Bank city of Hebron. The army claimed that Ghaith was armed and had fired towards soldiers, none of whom were injured.

A Palestinian citizen of Israel, Muhammad Taha, 28, was shot and killed by a security guard in Kafr Qasim during confrontations with police after they arrested the head of a volunteer civil guard committee in the town.

Two Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers during protests along the Gaza-Israel boundary. Fadi Ibrahim al-Najjar, 25, was shot in the stomach east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza and Ayed Jumaa, 35, was shot in the head east of Jabaliya refugee camp in the north of the territory.

Thirty-five Palestinians, including a Jordanian national of Palestinian origin, have been killed by Israeli forces and armed civilians so far this year. Seven Israelis, all but one of them soldiers, and a British national were killed by Palestinians during the same period.

Also during the month of June a Hamas military leader was killed in an accidental explosion at a “resistance site” in the southern Gaza Strip and two men from Gaza were reported to have been killed while fighting with the Islamic State group in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Permits for medical treatment denied

Israel denied Khalid Ghamri, 17, an exit permit to travel from Gaza to Jerusalem for medical treatment after he was shot and critically wounded by soldiers during a protest the previous month.
Two newborns in Gaza died after requests to pay for medical treatment in Israel submitted by their parents to the Palestinian Authority went unanswered.

The health ministry in Gaza stated that nine patients had died since the beginning of the year due to delays in financial commitment from the Palestinian Authority to pay for treatment, required by Israel in order for those patients to receive care at its medical facilities.

Physicians for Human Rights-Israel warned that slashes in the Palestinian Authority’s budget for Gaza had resulted in the worst medication crisis in the territory in years, putting hundreds of patients in mortal danger.

Israel sharply reduced its supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip, exacerbating chronic shortages and leaving most households with fewer than three hours of power per day. Egypt made an emergency delivery of diesel fuel to Gaza’s power plant later in the month, allowing households to receive electricity for five to six hours a day – a short-term fix that is not expected to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Meanwhile, Rafah crossing, the sole point of exit and entry for the vast majority of Gaza’s 2 million residents, remained closed throughout the month. More than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza are registered and waiting to cross into Egypt via Rafah. Closed with only rare exception since late October 2014, Rafah crossing has been opened only 16 days so far this year.

“Death to the Arabs”

A mob of far-right Israels was shown on video attacking three Palestinians in downtown Jerusalem while police did nothing beyond asking the assailants to leave. Israeli extremists vandalized cars in Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, spray painting messages such as “Death to the Arabs,” multiple times during the month.

Muslim worshippers were assaulted by Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City as Israeli extremists toured the site. Video showed Israelis touring the holy site under heavy militarized police guard. The compound was briefly put on lockdown during the month after an Israeli was struck by a rock while touring the site.


The Action Group for Palestinians in Syria recorded the deaths of 14 Palestinians as a result of the ongoing fighting in the country during June. Several were killed during fierce battles in the area of Daraa in southern Syria.

Read More

Alarming deterioration of Muslims’ condition in India



Saturday, 1 July 2017

As a wave of spontaneous people’s protest was sweeping India’s metros over the lynching of Muslims in various parts of North India with the tacit backing of the Government, London-based Minority Rights Group International (MRG) came out on Friday with a disturbing report on the deteriorating condition of India’s Muslims since Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in May 2014.

The report entitled ‘A Narrowing Space: Violence and Discrimination against India’s Religious Minorities,’ pointed out that in 2016 alone, there were 86 deaths in over 700 violent communal incidents in India. Most of these were between Hindus and Muslims and most of the dead were Muslims.

“Government data released in 2013, for example, estimated that between January and mid-September that year, there had been 479 separate incidents of communal violence, resulting in the death of 66 Muslims and 41 Hindus. In addition, 1,647 people were injured, including 794 Hindu and 703 Muslim civilians, the remainder being the police,” the report said.

“Similarly, analysis 62 incidents of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims during 2016, covered in the mainstream Indian media, found that Muslims appeared to have been most affected. Out of four incidents which resulted in deaths, where disaggregated data was included, 7 out of 8 reported deaths were Muslim.

“Out of five incidents, where disaggregated data was available, 46 Muslims were injured compared to 11 Hindus. And in the three incidents where disaggregated data was available for attacks on houses, 67 Muslim homes had been attacked compared to one Hindu home.

“Of the 12 incidents where disaggregated data was available, 178 Muslims and 75 Hindus were arrested – meaning that Muslims were also primarily targeted by law enforcement agencies,” the MRG report said.

The disproportionateness of the suffering of the Muslims can be seen starkly if one considers the fact that they are only 14.2% of the Indian population of 1.2 billion. And they are only 19% of the population of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, which also had the largest number of violent Hindu-Muslim incidents.


BJP’s impact 

The MRG report makes no bones about the fact that communal violence has increased since the BJP, headed by Narendra Modi, came to power at the Centre in 2014 with its “exclusivist agenda” aimed at the marginalisation of the minority religious groups, particularly, the Muslims.

As per the BJP’s Hindu nationalist view, Muslims are typically proxies of the neighbouring Muslim country, Pakistan, which had broken away from India in 1947 after bloody riots across North India and Bengal.

The Modi regime has the dubious distinction of stepping up the use of “lynching” to subdue the Muslims. A study by the website IndiaSpends found that Muslims were the target of 51% of violence centred on the cow protection issue between 2010 and 2017. Among the 28 Indians killed in 63 incidents, 86% were Muslims.

As many of 97% of attacks on Muslims were reported after Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014. About half the cow-related violent incidents (32 of 63 cases) were from states governed by the BJP when the attacks were reported.

In the first six months of 2017, 20 “cow-terror” attacks were reported – more than 75% of the figure for 2016. More than half (52%) of these attacks were based on rumours, the IndiaSpend analysis found.

According to Amnesty International, India has been suffering a wave of vigilante murders, with at least 10 Muslims killed by mobs since April this year.


Cow vigilantes on rampage

The Modi Government had given Gau Rakshaks, or cow protection vigilantes, an unofficial license to choose their targets and lynch them. Given the fact that the Gau Rakshaks are affiliated to one or the other bodies of the BJP’s Sangh Parivar (Hindu nationalist organisations allied with the BJP), law enforcement agencies generally looked the other way, or let the murderers off, and booked the victims.

To reinforce anti-Muslim feelings among the Hindus, and give these feelings sanction at the highest level, Prime Minister Modi stopped the time-honoured practice of Indian Prime Ministers hosting an Iftar party for Muslim leaders and personalities once during Ramadan every year.

Modi has also scrupulously avoided the customary Iftar hosted by the President of India. Taking the cue from him, his ministers also avoided the Iftar hosted by President Pranab Mukherjee this year. Modi had also refrained from greeting Muslims on Eid.

Taking the cue from the Supremo, Sangh Parivar leaders started making hate speeches against Muslims. Sadhvi Saraswati told the Hindu Reawakening should stock weapons to fight “Love Jihad”. “Love Jihad” refers to Muslim men allegedly wooing Hindu women to marry and convert them to Islam.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a Muslim leader in the BJP and a junior Central government minister, said that Muslims who want to eat beef should migrate to Pakistan. Hindus are allowed to cheer Pakistan in a cricket match, but if Muslims do, they are dubbed “anti-Indian” and arrested for “sedition”. Scores of Muslims were arrested for cheering Pakistan in the recent Champions’ trophy finals.

Recently, the Modi Government brought a law to prevent the sale of cattle for slaughter. This has hit the beef business which is largely in the hands of Qureishi Muslims. It has also affected the eating habits of Muslims and Christians.

58-year-old Mohammad Akhlak of Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, was stoned to death by fellow villagers allegedly for keeping beef in his refrigerator. 15-year-old Hafiz Junaid of Haryana was stabbed to death by fellow passengers in a train as they suspected that the food packet he was carrying contained beef.

Slaughter of milch cattle is banned under the Indian constitution and seven Indian provinces have passed laws banning cow slaughter and prescribed a range of punishments including life imprisonment, as in Gujarat. Maharashtra has banned bull slaughter also. Cow vigilantes, who have mushroomed, take shelter under these laws and the inactive and partisan police also use them to let the murderers off the hook and book the Muslim victims.



Modi breaks silence 

Young Junaid’s coldblooded murder this month awakened the conscience of India’s silent majority. The social media was used to condemn lynching and a spontaneous movement named “Not in My Name” organised demonstrations in all big cities which got wide media coverage both at home and abroad.

Modi, who was on tour in the US and the Netherlands, through the latest incidents, was obviously embarrassed. Forced to break his two-year silence on the killings, he said on Thursday: “Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti (devotion to the cow) is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve. No person in this nation has the right to take the law into his or her own hands. Violence has never solved any problem.”

It is noteworthy that Modi expressed only a mild disapproval. His statement had no condemnation or warning to the wrong doers. Nor was there any hint that action will be taken against them. It is likely that there will be a pause in the heinous campaign against the Muslims, but it is unlikely to end.