Green accounting for sustainable development: Much to be done to convert hype to reality
Keynote address delivered at Wayamba University’s research symposium
To be of use, green accounting has to be accepted by global community as the framework for measuring output at firm as well as national level 
Two meanings of sustainable development

Monday, 3 July 2017

Sustainable development generally has two meanings.

One is associated with sustainability of development through proper market practices. In this sense, a sustainable development is one which, once started, will continue on its own without the need for external support. For instance, a poor man may cross the poverty line with the initial state support. His development will be sustainable only if he could continue his journey to prosperity even after the state support is withdrawn. For this, an essential requirement is the presence of an appropriate incentive system to motivate him to work hard and smart through the market mechanism.

Green accounting for sustainable development Much to be done to convert hype to reality.docx by Thavam on Scribd

‘Demons In Paradise’: An Irreparable Miscarriage

By Purujoththaman Thangamayl –JULY 3, 2017

Purujoththaman Thangamayl

A peepal tree/Bodhi tree is shown being cut down in the last scenes of the documentary film ‘Demons in Paradise’. The Director of the film, Jude Ratnam seemed intent on making the audience feel that when the last branch of that peepal tree was cut down that similarly the “Tamil people’s dream for a separate Eelam” had also been completely cut down. To some extent he has succeeded in creating that feel.

Although he does that, he goes past questions as to why did the dream of a ‘separate Eelam’ come into being, or whether it was the dream of only a select few people, by using just a few surface level conversations and instead moves towards speaking about the internecine killings between militant groups during the early war period. Through that he has wished to write an epilogue that the armed struggle should necessarily be defeated. The problem arises here.

Jude Ratnam begins ‘Demons in Paradise’ from his own experience as the 5 year old son of a family fleeing (from Colombo to Jaffna) the 1983 ethnic riots which deliberately targeted the Tamil community.  He mentions in the film that that the riots and the days that followed made him realise the necessity of a separate Eelam.

The dream for a separate Eelam and the journey towards that did not begin with the 1983 ethnic riots. The struggle for a separate Eelam followed in the course of the political struggle that fought against the oppression of the Tamils in independent Ceylon/Sri Lanka. The failure of non-violent (Ahimsa) struggles gave rise to the armed struggle. The need for that struggle was brought home to the Tamils in the South through the 1983 July ethnic riots. The Director instead stands atop the debris caused by the last phase of the war and aims his criticisms at the armed struggle while staying away from these essential facts. Questions arise regarding the fundamentals of the product when it is a wholesale criticism of one side.

No struggle for the political rights of the Tamil people can be considered as being beyond criticism. The writer of this article as a son of a community which had engaged in a long drawn armed struggle, and a person who has lived in conflict areas has continuously opined that the consequences of that struggle should be subject to decisive discussion. But, the writer also wishes to point out that a creator’s freedom cannot be said to be one free from any kind of criticism.

This is because, the scenes shown in the film and the former rebels who are the main characters in the film are seen speaking mainly about the internecine killings. There is no completeness in their talk. Some of their words have been cut off midway. What are the issues spoken there? Why have they been cut midway?

Further, why has the film shied away from speaking about the occupation and the destruction caused by other parties including the Sri Lankan Armed forces and the IPKF? The issues raised in ‘Demons in Paradise’ are incomplete when the film completely ignores the days in which thousands were mercilessly massacred at Mullivaikkal. It raises the suspicion as to whether the film was made to meet to needs of some other basis.

In the end scenes of the movie Jude Ratnam states, ‘I wished that the Tamil Tigers be defeated, even if people (members of my community) were killed I wanted the war to end.’ He has expressed his opinion as someone who has observed the war from Colombo, but is such an opinion one that is truly ethical?

The writer here does not express the wish for war to go on for a long period and large levels of destruction to occur, instead he deeply despises war as a Tamil who had been born into this war and who faced war as a living reality till the year 2000. But, the writer stumbled and was shaken when faced with the thought process put forward in the film that finishing the war could come at the cost of killing many people. 

After the screening of the film was over, the Director was asked by a member of the audience whether he still agreed with his statement in the movie that the war should be ended even if people were killed, he had no hesitation in replying with an ‘Yes’.

The Director, who raises ethical questions about the internecine killings during the armed struggle in the 1980s and 1990s and tries to prove that the dream of a separate Eelam has been cut down, stays aloof from discussing the ethical issues that arise regarding the last phase of the war.  He fudges away from responding to that. This increases one’s suspicion about him. The suspicions raised in this article do not try in any way to deny the right of freedom of expression and creation to Jude Ratnam. Instead, they should be seen as those raised by the son of an affected community.

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Elle Gunawansa Thera receives Rs. 5 m from Port City!

Jul 02, 2017

Well-known Buddhist monk Elle Gunawansa Thera, who does a great deal for the furtherance of Sinhala Buddhism, has received a Rs. five million payment from the Colombo Port City project, say Central Bank sources. This questionable payment came to light during an auditing by the CB’s internal audit division of the massive amount of money received during the previous regime for the project.

A total of nearly one billion rupees had been paid to individuals and institutions in a questionable manner. The bank’s special investigation unit has handed over the investigations to the CID, as ministers of the ‘Yahapaalana’ government had interfered with its investigations. We know the identities of those ministers, but we refrain from revealing them with the hope that they would not go to interfere with the CID investigations. The CID is presently obtaining statements from businessmen who had close links with the previous regime.

10 acres of Port City for Mahinda?
Before these investigations began, Mahinda Rajapaksa has told a businessman friend of his that the Chinese Harbour Engineering Corporation, the main investor in the project, had agreed to grant 10 acres from the Port City to him and his family. The two sides have an agreement for that and it will be made public at the right time, Mahinda has said.

The ultimate beneficiary revealed in information pertaining to the questionable transactions handed over by the CB for investigation to the CID are Mahinda and his family.

SAITM and the Privatisation Push

2017-07-03

The protests calling to close SAITM and their violent repression raise several questions. Is the Government’s insistence on legitimising SAITM merely a move about one private medical college? Is it the first move towards increasing privatisation of education and healthcare? Or is it about a larger agenda of privatising the many public services that the state was historically responsible for?
 Privatisation in its creeping form and in bursts and spurts has been on the agenda now for four decades since the launch of open economy reforms in 1977. On the other hand, resistance to such privatisation has been built on the postcolonial legacy of free education and health and other essential public services over the last six to seven decades.
 The question is whether there is a shift in the push for privatisation at the current moment? If so, what is at stake and what are the consequences for the people? 
Long-term agenda

"Two and a half years into the term of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government, the increasing repression and brutal attacks against the student movement opposing SAITM, signify a larger push for privatisation including an ideological battle for the support of the public, which may decide the fate of state services and SOEs in the country."

The first wave of privatising State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) on a large scale were initiated by the Premadasa Government starting in 1989 and then again by the Kumaratunga Government starting in 1996. They focused on select state sectors such as estates, telecommunications, and bus and air transport. They brought financial proceeds to the governments and capitalised the Colombo Stock Exchange, which the financial classes were promoting. Furthermore, healthcare and higher education have been privatised by stealth, with the emergence of private clinics and hospitals and private higher educational institutions established under the Board of Investments. 
Privatising SOEs, including through Public Private Partnerships (PPP), and commercialisation of health and education, were very much on the agenda of the Rajapaksa regime. Indeed, SAITM itself was initiated by the Rajapaksa Govt, even as it unveiled visions of medical and educational tourism.
 While successive governments and powerful class interests mounted efforts to reshape the economy through privatisation for decades, I would argue that we are currently at the cusp of a possible shift that raises the stakes of the debate and struggles around privatisation. Two and a half years into the term of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime, the increasing repression and brutal attacks against the student movement opposing SAITM, signify a larger push for privatisation including an ideological battle for the support of the public, which may decide the fate of state services and SOEs in the country. 

Debt and ideological battle

 The Govt in its policy statements and successive budgets has promoted privatisation claiming it will bring private investment, increase efficiency, better and expanded services, and relieve losses incurred by SOEs. However, the urgency with which the Govt is seeking to promote privatisation in recent months betrays a different set of reasons. Central to the privatisation push of the current Govt is need for it to sell state assets to pay back the large state debt accumulated over the last decade. Having failed at prudent policies to manage such debt since it came to power, its fall-back position is to sell state assets. 
The mounting debt-driven crisis, the difficulties of attracting Foreign Direct Investment and the failure to increase state revenues through progressive taxes on the wealthier classes, have pushed the Govt into a corner. It is now seeking a one-time boost to state finances through privatisation.
Given public, and particularly trade union, resistance to such a fire sale of state assets, the Govt and certain allied classes forces are waging an ideological battle along the lines of efficiency and profits. These ideological moves are full of contradictions, including claims that cut throat profit seeking enterprises will provide better essential services to the public. Furthermore, the Govt disparages the state and its very institutions that it commands, instead of 
strengthening them.

SOE losses and PPPs

A central argument pushing for privatisation of SOEs are their losses. However, there are varied reasons for such losses, including the provision of free and affordable essential services to the public. Just as education and health essential for a democratic and healthy society should be free, the public should not be expected to deal with massive market fluctuations in the prices of services such as water, electricity and transport. And it is the role of the state to redistribute wealth in the country towards social and economic stability and in the public interest.
In reality, a regressive tax policy with extremely high indirect taxes; such as VAT and the increasing cuts to essential services, is further burdening the working people. Thus financing and strengthening SOEs through greater taxation of the wealthy is a much needed process of redistribution.

The Government’s push for privatisation is centred on PPPs, after all a partnership like friendship between the public and private, is ideologically hard to oppose. In reality, the history of PPPs around the world point to the private partner taking the profits and the public left with the risk. With PPPs, governments often build the infrastructure, while the private partner makes strategic investments, but once the high profits are exacted and losses emerge, the private partner exists, leaving the state to worry about the essential services to its citizen. Alternatively, the PPP eventually becomes completely private, and the public pay exorbitant prices for essential services.
For the Govt, PPPs have become its route to offload state responsibilities. However, the history of many East Asian countries including Japan, reflect state direction and investment by development banks resulting in long-term sustained economic development and growth. Sri Lanka’s strategy of inviting speculative global finance, and firms run by short-term stock owner interests have only proven to destroy economies.

Crisis as opportunity

SAITM is the current platform of ideological struggle, and whether we like it or not, we are all participants in a debate on privatisation of higher education and healthcare. There are also the powerful financial interests, including the healthcare and insurance industries, waiting on the massive profits to be made. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the large scale privatisation of state services in water, electricity and railways, to name a few. But that full assault of privatisation may only unfold after the economic crisis deepens. 
During such a crisis, the Govt and its neo-liberal ideologues, the IMF and the World Bank, will seize the crisis as an opportunity and claim there is no option but to cut state services, sell state assets and pay back the debts to the foreign financiers. That was the message to the Greek people, as with many other countries around the world, with mounting economic crises. Such proponents of privatisation from the global financiers backed by international financial institutions to the local financial elite, are not concerned about efficiency or services, but about rent seeking. They are waiting to buy state assets for a song and make windfall profits.
 Those who oppose SAITM, from the students to the GMOA,do it for different reasons. The current controversy over SAITM, addresses free education and health, as well as their regulation and private provision.The meaningful solution if we are to draw from our history would be expansion of free education and healthcare. The struggles and debates around SAITM have even larger stakes for our country and our people. We owe it to the students, for reminding us of the dangers facing our economic future, and the obligations of the state to its citizens.

SAITM crisis:A brief history

By Shamindra Ferdinando-July 2, 2017, 10:11 pm 

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has challenged Health Minister and co-cabinet spokesman Dr. Rajitha Senaratne’s recent declaration that the SAITM (South Asian Institute of technology and Medicine), Malabe, won’t be nationalized under any circumstances.

Responding to Dr Senaratne, newly elected GMOA Secretary Harith Alutge emphasised that remedial measures taken to resolve SAITM crisis should lead to its nationalisation.

SAITM crisis A brief history.docx by Thavam on Scribd

“Touch-savvy” HR leaders: Caring, daring and sharing
Monday, 3 July 2017

The National HR Conference (NHRC) 2017, organised by the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM), Sri Lanka was a thriving success with loads of positive feedback received. With participation exceeding one thousand, the conference focused on possible high-tech and high touch harmony for future leaders, particularly in the field of HR. My session was after several “tech-savvy” sessions and I focused on the “touch-savvy” requirement for future leaders.
Figure 1. HR Professional as a Paradox Navigator


Overview 

The term “touch-savvy” is relatively unknown. It highlights the complementary dimension to being “tech-savvy”. HR Professionals need to ensure proper harmony between being “tech-savvy” and “touch-savvy”. You need to be responsive in embracing new technology on one hand. You also need to be receptive to others’ actions and reactions in engaging in human interactions. The essential requirement is to be “emotionally intelligent”.

It was Daniel Goleman who first wrote about the link between emotional intelligence and business results. He argued that leaders have to be 70% more emotional intelligent than the others. Whether we see this in the Sri Lankan scenario is a big question.
Figure 2. Yin and Yang for HR Leaders 


Revisiting Emotional Intelligence 

There are many myths about emotional intelligence (EI). Some say it has been invented by Daniel Goleman. In fact, it existed with human beings since time immemorial. All great religious leaders were obviously emotionally intelligent.

Take the case of the Buddha, who kept on meditating whilst three wild women (Thanha, Rathi, Raga) were doing a luring dance in front of him. Same with Jesus when self-pity was overcame in carrying the cross to Calvary. Great leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa amply demonstrated EI in many ways.

It was Charles Darwin who first wrote about emotions from a Western perspective. He published a book titled ‘The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals’ way back in 1872, highlighting genetically determined aspects of behaviour.

The way I see, EI was re-packaged in the West as a management concept. “People high in EI are expected to progress more quickly through the abilities designated and to master more of them,” so said John Mayer of New Hampshire University and Peter Salovey of Yale University, who are regarded as the co-founders of EI in its new form.

Credit should go to Daniel Goleman for bring the sharing the concept of EI to a wider audience. His several books on EI have shed a lot light. “Rational intelligence and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership,” opined Goleman.

As he comprehensively mentions, “EI can be viewed as a capacity for recognising our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships”. Initially, there were five key components of EI advocated by Goleman. They are self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy and effective relationships. In a recent article to Harvard Business Review, he speaks of EI elements within broad four areas connect to self and others.

Self-awareness: This refers to the awareness of one’s emotional state. It means the ability to recognise and understand your emotions and their effects on others. As Goleman observes a high degree of self-confidence and a realistic self-assessment can be considered as hallmarks of people having high level of self-awareness. I think it is directly relevant to mindfulness. “Sathiya” or “Sihiya” in local vernacular could be the best descriptors.

Self-management: This is logically the second step. It refers to the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses, in taking charge of you. It highlights emotional self-control, achievement orientation and a positive outlook.

Social awareness: This includes empathy and organisational awareness. It is the ability to understand the emotional makeup of other people. Empathy, in essence, it involves walking with “their shoes on”. Stephen Covey in his popular Seven Habits of Highly Effective People refers to this as “seek first to understand and then to be understood”. In fact, he says it is one of the often neglected aspects of managerial behaviour around the world.

Relationship management: It refers to building lasting relationships. Being friendly, trustworthy and genuine may result in good social networks and solid teams. The acid test of EI is how good you are in successful and sustained relationships.


Challenges for HR leaders 

As much as it had in the past, and having in the present, the function of HR will have many challenges in the future. It reminds me of seven Gs of HRM in relation to talent, the framework I used in my textbook, ‘HRM for Managers: A Learning Guide’. They refer to goal, get, give, grow, glue, glow and guard, each representing a specific function of HR.

The world of HR is full of jargons. My attempt is not to complicate it by adding more terms. As Shakespeare vividly wrote in Romeo and Juliet, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.” Whether we call critical competencies or core capabilities or by any other name, the reality is the need to deliver promptly. That is where HR professionals have to act as “thinking performers”, in taking the profession forward.

There had been numerous discussions on why HR professionals are “at the tap” and not “at the top”. Prof. Dave Ulrich and his team of researchers have been working on an evolving model on the cutting-edge competencies required by the HR professionals. They started identifying the need to play the roles of strategic partner, employee champion, administrative expert and change agent. The seventh revision that came last year which was termed as HR Competency Model of 2016 is revolving around “paradox navigation”. Figure 1 contains the details.

The typical dictionary meaning of paradox is that it is “a seemingly absurd or contradictory statement or proposition which when investigated may prove to be well founded or true.” Navigation on the other hand means “the process or activity of accurately ascertaining one’s position and planning and following a route”. This is the acute need in front of HR professionals.

As Prof. Ulrich explains, “navigating paradox means accepting, exploring, and dealing with the inevitable tensions in a business. They have to help the business to be both short and long term, top/down and bottom/up, global and local, divergent and convergent, strategic and operational, etc. By navigating these paradoxes, organisations are more able to respond to the demands of change in today’s business context.”

In essence, “paradox navigation” is the ability to steer amidst the many embedded tensions in complex organisational operations. We can raise a few vital questions here. Does the HR professional effectively manage the tensions between high-level strategic issues and operational details? Does he/she effectively manage the tensions between internal focus on employees and external focus on customers and investors? Does he/she effectively manage the tension between taking time to gather information and making timely decisions? Does he/she effectively manage the tensions between global and local business demands? Does he/she effectively manage the tensions between the need for change (flexibility, adaptability) and stability (standardisation)?

The reality is that the HR professionals are constantly wrestling with embedded tensions that must be resolved in some circumstances and cultivated in other circumstances in order to help the business move forward. Wisely navigating through these surrounded strains becomes one of the central challenges for modern HR professionals.

In digging deeper, I see a parallel between paradox navigation by western HR researchers and the Yin-Yang concept of eastern wisdom. In simple terms, yin is characterised as slow, soft, yielding, diffuse, cold, wet, and passive; and is associated with water, earth, the moon, femininity and night-time. Yang, by contrast, is fast, hard, solid, focused, hot, dry, and aggressive; and is associated with fire, sky, the sun, masculinity and daytime.

To put even more precisely, yin and yang are complementary opposites that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. Everything has both yin and yang aspects, but either of these aspects may manifest more strongly in particular objects, and may ebb or flow over time. This is the nature of HRM in reality, where managing employee concerns as well as employer concerns need to take place with synergy and harmony. Figure 2 contains the details.

In other words, showcasing paradox navigation is one way of accepting the eastern duality. This is very much pertinent in the context of change where we are increasingly moving into a Volatile, Uncertain, Chaotic and Ambiguous (VUCA) World. Paradox navigation can in fact move beyond HR. In practical sense, every manager has to do so in some way or the other. In other words, it is challenge of balancing the harmony between yin and yang.


Way forward 

Having discussed all above details, the emerging need of HR leaders to be “touch-savvy” is evident. It is essential for HR professionals to play the key role of paradox navigation with yin and yang balance. It is a clear way of demonstrating the emotionally intelligent leadership in being a servant, synergist and a strategist. The need of the hour is that they respond proactively in caring, sharing and daring with much needed confidence and competence.
(Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri can be reached through director@pim.sjp.ac.lk, president@ipmlk.org, ajantha@ou.edu or www.ajanthadharmasiri.info)

Total Privatization – Only Solution For SriLankan Airlines

By Rajeewa Jayaweera –JULY 2, 2017

Rajeewa Jayaweera

In terms of publicity, last Sunday was a bad day for the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, its Board of Directors and the major shareholder, the state of Sri Lanka. Articles were published in all major English language Sunday publications and Colombo Telegraph. They all contained the many negative aspects of the lossmaking airline besides condemnation of the Board of Directors and CEO. Wide publicity was given to the meeting between the Chairman, Directors and CEO of the airline with the President, Prime Minister and several cabinet ministers.

The only exception was the state-owned English language Sunday publication. Chairman Ajith Dias was quoted stating “A restructuring program of our own is needed, if there is no foreign interest in this airline. We want to propose steps on how to bring the company back to profitability in two years, by consolidating the airline’s operations, shedding lossmaking routes and focusing on profitable ones.” It is pertinent to question, what was the airline doing during the last two and half years whilst waiting for PPP to happen? Was there no Plan B in case Plan A failed? Foresight and proactiveness seems to be alien to the carrier.

The Chairman has further stated, “If we take the political interference out, and commit to implement this (restructuring plan) over the next two years, it will be possible to make it a profitable airline again.” His close relationship with the Prime Minister being no secret, it is difficult to understand how ‘political interference’ can be taken out when his own appointment was for the purpose of carrying out political directives, as observed in his many decisions, at times even over-ruling decisions by a majority of Board members.

Dias is being disingenuous in promising profitability in next two years. This writer, in an essay titled “Brighter or Darker skies over SriLankan Airlines’ published in Sunday Island and Colombo Telegraph last Sunday wrote of Net Operating Profit (Surplus) / Loss (Deficit) derived from the airline’s core business activity. During the two financial years under his stewardship, the airline suffered Net Operating Losses (deficit) of USD 87 million in 2015/16 and USD 111 million in 2016/17, a 26% increase, despite more favorable fuel prices from previous year. Cost of loan servicing, penalty charges for cancelled aircraft and exchange losses does not apply to calculation of Net Operating Profit / Loss in USD.

Nevertheless, abusing and mismanaging the national carrier is not the sole prerogative of the Board and a few staff as evidenced in the Weliamuna Report. The major shareholder as well as various other interest groups carry their share of blame. 

When the decision was eventually made to discontinue traditionally loss-making flights to Paris, Frankfurt and Rome, several interest groups protested, especially the travel community. Some stated, French, German and Italian tourist markets to Sri Lanka would collapse as a result.

Given below are tourist arrival figures from the said three countries, obtained from Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority website.It is a comparison of tourist arrivals during winter months of November to April immediately before and after discontinuation of flights. Readers please note, figures from Italy are those of 2014/15 and 2016/17 as flights to Italy were discontinued in March or April 2016 whereas Paris and Frankfurt flights were discontinued in October 2016. Rather than collapsing, all markets have shown a positive growth, a clear indication other carriers have filled the void created by the national carrier’s withdrawal.  Had flights continued, losses in 2016/17 would have been greater. It is a win win situation with the national carrier reducing losses and the country not losing tourist markets from France, Germany and Italy. Had the withdrawal been implemented shortly after the unity government took office, losses too could have been reduced earlier.

It is understood, Minister for Public Enterprises Development, line minister for SriLankan Airlines had taken exception to the carrier’s failure to keep his ministry informed of the agreement signed by SriLankan Airlines on October 4, 2016 to terminate the purchase agreement for three Airbus A350-900 aircraft. However, in view of the decision taken by Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) chaired by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on September 28, 2016 to cancel the three aircraft (one had been cancelled previously with a penalty charge of USD 17 million) and related correspondence between Prime Minister’s office and the airline being copied to the line ministry, the line minister cannot claim being kept in the dark. His broadside of being “kept in the dark” is of extreme pettiness. If feeling aggrieved, he should rightfully take up the issue with his Prime Minister, the head of CCEM for communicating directly with an institution under his ministry.

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Dhammika now manipulates ‘Yahapaalanaya’ after using Mahinda!

Jul 02, 2017

Notorious casino businessman Dhammika Perera had close dealings with Mahinda Rajapaksa and his sons during the ex-president’s rule. Unconfirmed sources say Dhammika has the possession of a sizeable amount of ill-gotten wealth of Namal and Yoshitha. It is no secret that during that regime, Dhammika used the two Rajapaksa sons to manipulate the law according to his wishes.

The best example is Bellagio Colombo casino at no. 430, R.A. de Mel Mawatha (Duplication Road).  The Betting Act requires the location of casinos at least 500 metres away from schools and religious places. However, this casino is located in front of Mahanama College, Kollupitiya, and within a 500 m distance of Valukarama Temple.

After the JHU and Buddhist monks pointed this out in 2010, Mahinda summoned Dhammika and ordered him to immediately close it down. He pleaded that he be given six months. During that period, what he did was not closing it down, but getting the support of Namal and Yoshitha to ensure the continuation of the casino. Due to the pressure of his sons, Mahinda had to keep silent. Until 2015, Dhammika managed to run that casino without any trouble.

Thereafter the Yahapaalana government came to power, and he immediately went to see the late Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera, who played a key role in that government’s formation, and said he would voluntarily close down Bellagio Colombo Casino. He appealed to the prelate that he be given between six months to one year in consultation with the government leaders to do that. During that period, what he did was not to relocate it, but tried to find someone to use as the cat’s paw just like he did during the Rajapaksa rule.

For that, he was assisted by a man who owns massage clinics at Kollupitiya. Through him, Dhammika got friendly with Dudley Sirisena, the businessman brother of president Maithripala Sirisena. He sent Rs. five million, as pocket money, to JAIC Hilton Apartment, owned by Dudley. Accepting it, Dudley inquired from Dhammika through the massage clinic owner as to what he needed the government to do.

Dhammika did not ask for anything in return, and only requested him to visit his casino at his convenience and play a game. He has ordered the casino management to give Dudley any amount of chips free of charge if he came to play there. An addict to casinos, Dudley kindly turned down Dhammika’s request, saying “A real gambler cannot play with free chips. If the bet is to be enjoyed, he should spend his own money. Now, I cannot waste time at casinos like I did, when I was the health minister’s brother. Now, I am the president’s brother. I cannot tarnish my elder brother’s name by doing that. When I want, I go to Singapore to play casino.”

However, Dudley has ensured that Bellagio Casino continues at its present location. Dhammika has been able to manipulate Dudley as well as top UNP figures. However, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe does not know anything about this. Recently, this matter came up in his presence. A surprised PM inquired, “That casino is still in front of Mahanama College?” Without the president and the PM knowing it, the art of striking deals continues unchanged. People who voted for Yahapaalanaya are looking on open-mouthed and open-eyed at the SAITM, GMOA, IUSF and the dengue menace, while striking deals happens under their eyes.

Palestinian human rights groups accuse Israeli government of 'smear campaign'

Claim comes as Norway demands return of funds for women’s centre named after Palestinian woman who led an attack that killed 38 civilians

Banners in Ramallah portray Fatah member Dalal Mughrabi, who led a 1978 attack on an Israeli bus near Tel Aviv, killing 38 people (AFP).

Jacob Burns-Sunday 2 July 2017

A joint Israeli government and civil society campaign to cut off foreign government funding for Palestinian human rights groups is employing smear tactics and misinformation, according to the groups targeted.

The campaign, involving the Israeli government and an Israel-based organisation called NGO Monitor, scored a high-profile success last month when Denmark announced it was freezing funding to the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (WATC) - a grouping of local women's organisations - pending a review. NGO Monitor says it works for transparency in NGO funding.

It alleges that the Palestinian NGOs are not really advocating for human rights but work to "delegitimise" Israel and have links to "terrorist" organisations, charges the groups deny.  

This move came in the wake of reports last month that some foreign government money had been used to fund a controversial youth centre in the West Bank, opened by the WATC.

In honour of the Coastal Road Massacre?

The centre was named after Palestinian woman Dalal Mughrabi, who took part in a 1978 attack on Israeli civilians in which 38 civilians and one solider were killed in what became known as the "Coastal Road Massacre". 

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that he had called directly on the Norwegian government to stop funding the WATC, which it then did.

Oslo also called for the removal of the country's logo from the centre, demanded a return of funds, and said it won't back future projects under current conditions, according to the Times of Israel. 

Netanyahu welcomed the decision, and the Danish government then also cut its funding – and demanded its money back – from the WATC. A total of 24 Palestinian and pro-Palestinian NGOs were affected by the Danish decision to freeze as much as $8mn in funding, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The funding is organised through the umbrella organisation of the Al-Bireh, West Bank-based Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Secretariat, the Post said.

The general freeze in Danish funding for the NGOs came as a surprise, according to four organisations affected by it. All four representatives said that they had learned of the move only from the media. 

Netanyahu had lobbied the Danish foreign minister, Anders Samuelsen, to take this step when he visited Jerusalem on 17 May, according to Danish media reports.

Israeli pressure was partly responsible for the move, the foreign minister said. 

The Danish foreign ministry did not respond to requests for further information on the move, the affected NGOs said.

It is a step which has been welcomed by the pro-Israeli NGO Monitor. 

"The Danish decision to freeze funding to the Secretariat is a significant milestone for European governments that blindly channel tens of millions annually to radical NGOs," Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor, said in a statement. 

'They are trying to silence us'

Shawan Jabarin, the director of al-Haq, a human rights NGO that is headquartered in Ramallah and has been impacted by the freeze, said that he saw the action as only the latest step in a long history of harassment by the Israeli government and its supporters. 

"Their main aim is to silence us," he told MEE.

His staff have previously received death threats and the organisation's computer systems have been hacked into in what appeared to be an effort to disrupt the organisation's work, he said. 

While al-Haq believes the death threats came from Israeli authorities, the government has previously called the allegations "preposterous".

"They are nervous and crazy because they are aware that we are bringing scrutiny to their crimes. So, they try to create fear, to create self-censorship, and to make us busy with false claims," Jabarin said. 

He said that NGO Monitor was making and spreading false claims about his organisation, and that this was responsible for mistrust from donors. 

"They take the focus away from your work and put you on the back foot." 

NGO Monitor has accused al-Haq of having links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a banned political organisation with an armed wing. 

NGO Monitor cites a 2007 Israeli High Court decision in which the court said that it was satisfied that Jabarin had ties to the group. 

That ruling was based on an in camera review of secret evidence. Jabarin denied the links at the time and maintains that denial now.

"If I am a member of the PFLP, then why don't they bring me to trial?" asked Jabarin. 

Membership of a banned organisation is a criminal offence, and one with which Palestinians are commonly charged under Israel's military court system in the West Bank, which was reported in 2011 to have a conviction rate of above 99 percent. 

Another Palestinian NGO that is accused of having links to the PFLP is Addameer, a prisoners' rights organisation also based in Ramallah. 

NGO Monitor cites a 2012 post on the website of Fatah – another banned Palestinian organisation with an armed wing – that lists "Addameer" as an official affiliate of the PFLP.

A spokesperson for Addameer denied the accusation, saying that the post does not list the organisation's full name, and there is more than one organisation with the name Addameer, which means "the conscience" in Arabic. 

"It is a clear attempt to smear our organisation," the spokesperson said. 

A spokesperson for NGO Monitor told MEE: "Our information is based on extensive research and is fully source-based. If we are presented with verifiable evidence that our information is incorrect, then we promptly update our website and issue a correction." 

The organisations that MEE spoke to, however, said that they were disturbed that attacks by the Israeli government and its supporters had moved to a higher-level, and focused not on the content of their work, but what they considered distortions about the organisations themselves.  

"The prime minister is playing the role of lobbyist directly, and that's new," said one senior staff member in a prominent Palestinian human rights organisation. 

The staff member asked for anonymity to discuss the issue frankly. "He's now willing to go out to the media and boast about his ability to influence governments. 

"We are always being described as a terror organisation, working with Hamas. Which is funny to us, because we are secular and we criticise Hamas – we are at odds with them, and they have never been happy with us. 

"Yet now when someone Googles us, they find all this false information, and it is something we do not have the resources to follow up on."

A strong message to terrorism

Emmanuel Nahshon, a spokesman for Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that he categorically rejected the accusation that Israel was working to impede the activities of human rights NGOs. He said, however, that the government was sending "a strong message to EU governments that no money should go to terrorism, incitement, or to the glorification of violence." 

While affirming that NGO Monitor was an independent group, Nahshon said that, "we work closely together with them. There is a level of coordination and we share information. The aims of the Israeli government are no secret in this instance ... and when NGOs have pertinent aims and objectives, then we are happy to cooperate."

NGO Monitor, for its part, denied that it coordinates its actions with anyone, and said that it works independently of the government on every issue, pointing to the fact that it has opposed legislation on NGO funding proposed by the Israeli government. 

All organisations MEE spoke to said that they were working to address any potential funding shortfalls the freeze might cause, and said that they would continue their work in any case. 

Jabarin, however, said that the events were making him question how the Israeli government and its supporters wanted Palestinians to defend their rights, if not through what he called "peaceful means according to international law". 

"Can you imagine if tomorrow we go to our people, who we tell all the time about international law and human rights, and say: 'We failed, we can't do anything, the EU do not want us to respect the rule of law in this way.' What message would that send to the young generation?"

Three car bombs target Damascus, 20 killed

Children look at the wreckage of vehicles at a blast site in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City of Damascus, Syria July 2, 2017.---A man operates a front loader to clean a blast site in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City of Damascus, Syria July 2, 2017.

A man operates a front loader to clean a blast site in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City of Damascus, Syria July 2, 2017.

JULY 2, 2017

BEIRUT/DAMASCUS (Reuters) - A car bomb killed 20 people in Damascus on Sunday and wounded dozens more, the Syrian foreign ministry said, the first such bombing in the Syrian capital since a series of jihadist suicide attacks in March.

The authorities said it was one of three car bombs that were meant to be blown up in crowded areas of the capital on Sunday, the first day back to work from the Eid al-Fitr holiday. Security forces pursued and destroyed the other two.

Officials said the bombers had been prevented from reaching their intended targets, otherwise the casualty toll would have been higher.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. Damascus was hit by two separate, multiple suicide bomb attacks in March, one of them claimed by Islamic State and the other by the Islamist insurgent alliance Tahrir al-Sham.

In a letter to the U.N. secretary general and the head of the security council, the foreign ministry said the blast that killed 20 people in the Bab Touma area near the Old City had also wounded dozens of women and children.

State media said the bomber had been spotted and pursued by the security forces and set off the bomb after he had been encircled in the area.

A man operates a front loader to clean a blast site in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City of Damascus, Syria July 2, 2017.Omar Sanadiki

Damascus has enjoyed relative security in recent years even as the six-year-long civil war has raged on in nearby areas.

Footage broadcast by state TV from the blast that caused the fatalities near the Old City showed roads scattered with debris, several badly damaged cars, and another one that had been turned into a pile of twisted metal.

Footage from another of the blast sites showed what appeared to be the remains of a person and badly damaged vehicles outside a mosque in the Baytara traffic circle near the Old City.

On March 15, two suicide bomb attacks in Damascus killed several dozen people, most of them at the Palace of Justice courthouse near the Old City. Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack.

On March 11, a double suicide attack in the capital killed scores of people, most of them Iraqi Shi'ite pilgrims. That attack was claimed by the Tahrir al-Sham alliance of Islamist insurgents, which is spearheaded by a jihadist group formerly known as the Nusra Front.

Syrian government forces, which have defeated rebel fighters in several suburbs of Damascus over the last year, are currently battling insurgents in the Jobar and Ain Tarma areas on the capital's eastern outskirts.

A rebel group accused the army of using chlorine gas in the fighting on Saturday. The army denied the claim as fabrications.

Reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut and Firas Makdesi and Kinda Makieh in Damascus; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Mark Potter and David Evans