Two years into office, UNP-SLFP coalition government is in sixes and sevens

SLFP, UNP cohabitation pact signed by General Secretaries Duminda Dissanayake and Kabir Hashim

P K Balachandran, August 21, 2017

It’s been two years since two of Sri Lanka’s largest political groupings – the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) – signed a MoU to cohabit in the government for two years to give “Good Governance” in place of the nine-year corruption and violence-ridden rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

At the end of the stipulated period of the alliance, a rough audit will show that the coalition government has much to its credit, though from the electoral prospects point of view, it leaves much to be desired, given the hype surrounding its advent to power and the hyperbolic promises it had made at election time.

By all accounts, the coalition will survive beyond the stipulated two years, if only to keep the common rival, Rajapaksa, away from power. But the government is in sixes and sevens. The regime as a whole, as well as the two main parties in it, are torn by internal contradictions which have, many times, threatened the coalition.

The Promises  

The 10-point MoU signed after the August 17, 2015 parliamentary elections,   envisaged the rapid development of the economy; bridging of the gap between  the haves and the have-nots; creation of one million jobs; formulation of a program to increase revenue; strengthening  democracy; ensuring the Rule of Law; establishment of Independent Commissions in accordance to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution passed earlier; and giving a new Constitution to strengthen democracy, human rights and promote ethnic and religious reconciliation which had taken severe blows during Rajapaksa’s rule.

The MoU also aimed at the abolition of the preferential votes system and the introduction of an electoral system combining the First-Past-the-Post System (FPP) with the Proportional Representation (PR) system. It promised a Right to Information Act and a judicial crackdown on corruption and financial crimes.

On international relations, the MoU said that the government will be equidistant from the world powers and maintain good relations with all, especially, the West, India and China.

Credit Side

The “Good Governance” government, backed by a “Rainbow coalition” comprising a variety of communal/ethnic parties, has established Independent Commissions to oversee the work of various branches of the State including the Executive and Judiciary and determine top appointments in them.

It has given the country a Right to Information Act; has reached the penultimate stage of drafting a new constitution; and is on the verge of bringing about key changes in the election system through the 20th. Amendment.

On the international and human rights fronts too, it has brought about a sea change. Abandoning the blatantly anti-West, anti-India  and pro-China  policy of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it has gone in for a balanced  foreign policy giving key economic projects to India as well as China.

By co-sponsoring, with the US, a resolution on Human Rights and alleged war crimes at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and taking some key steps towards reconciliation with the minority Tamils, the government headed by President Maithripal Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has won over the West very substantially.

The European Union (EU) has restored to Sri Lanka its GSP-Plus trade concessions. The UNHRC has given Sri Lanka more time to implement the promises it had made in the joint resolution.

Domestic Failures

However, there is significant downside which the government will ignore only at its peril. While it has restored Sri Lanka’s high international standing, and it is maintaining good ties with both China and India, it has abysmally failed to fulfill its promises to its domestic clientele.

Although its contribution to the restoration of democracy cannot be denied in as much as the media is free; there are no political murders and state-sponsored abductions; and the Security Forces do not harass the Tamils in the North; what the people are more concerned about are bread and butter issues.

 Their primary requirement is a government which governs and not a government which appears to be anarchic all too often. In the war-affected Northern Province, the Tamils, other than the political class, are still demanding their due in terms of economic rehabilitation, including land, houses and jobs.

Given the reduction in public spending due to lack of funds and the enormous burden of debt left by the Rajapaksa regime, trade and job opportunities have not grown since 2015. Political confusion and contradictions in the top echelons of the government have adversely affected the functioning of the bureaucracy and generated public disillusionment.

Shifting policies on foreign investment have discouraged foreign investors. Policy confusion and policy paralysis have forced various interest groups and trade unions to resort to strikes and demonstrations affecting the investment climate in the country.

Division of Labor Goes Awry

Under an informal agreement between the UNP and SLFP, economic affairs were handed over to the UNP as it has had a tradition of better economic management. The apex body for economic matters has been the Cabinet Committee on Economic Matters (CCEM) chaired by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

But the government’s tax and other economic proposals made according to the capitalist development model has not gone down well with the people and also the local business community.

The Framework and Concessional Agreements with China on the Hambantota port, giving the port to China for 99 years with an 80% stake at first, and then bringing it down to 70%, and not less than 50% as the nationalists demanded, was opposed both outside and inside the government.

Given the unpopularity of the CCEM’s decisions, President Sirisena recently set up a National Economic Council (NEC), a body of experts under the President, to give directions to, and whet the policies of, the CCEM. It remains to be seen if the CCEM and the NEC will work in harmony.

Earlier too, the President had to intervene to retire the controversial Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran in 2016 and to institute a Presidential Commission in January 2017 to inquire into the bond scam in the Central Bank under Mahendran’s watch. Incidentally, Mahendran was Wickremesinghe’s man.

Parties Divided Within

Both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have been having troubles within their parties.

Sirisena is the President of the SLFP, but the bulk of the party workers and voters are with former party chief and President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Given the clashes between the UNP and SLFP on administrative and economic matters, many SLFPers who are with Sirisena have been urging the latter to end the MoU with the UNP and join hands with the SLFP headed by Rajapaksa to form an SLFP government.

But Sirisena is at odds with Rajapaksa from whom he had broken away at the end of 2014 just before the January 2015 Presidential election to be the Joint Opposition candidate. Against that background, he will not entertain any rapprochement with Rajapaksa. However, Sirisena has pleaded for time until December 31 to decide on the MoU issue.

The contradictions within the ruling parties along with the lackluster performance of the government, has made Sirisena reluctant to hold the long overdue local bodies elections and also to commit himself to holding three Provincial elections due in September and October this year.

Disturbed by the slow action on the investigations into the 87 corruption cases against the Rajapaksas and their cohorts (allegedly at the best of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe), the President is now thinking of establishing a Special Court to try such cases.

Crisis in UNP

As regards the UNP, its links with the Central Bank bond scam led to the resignation of Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake. Most recently, a top UNP leader and Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, an ardent Sinhala-Buddhist-Nationalist, publicly criticized the UNP leader’s deal with China on the Hambantota port and declared that he will not rest until the port is taken back by the government.

This led to 70 UNPs wanting to move a No Trust Motion against Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. The entire Working Committee of the UNP censured him for his anti-party/government activities. Wijeyadasa is expected to either resign or be asked to go, soon.

However, the danger in Wijeydasa Rajapakshe’s getting out is that he might mobilize the Buddhist clergy, including the Mahanayakes of Malwatte, Asgiriya and Ramannya orders, against the government.

And that will only benefit the Rajapaksas, waiting in the wings to come back to power on a Sinhala-Buddhist-Nationalist platform.

Two years into office, UNP-SLFP coalition government is in sixes and sevens

Image: a campaign against curtailing the Natioanal Audit Bill.

21/08/2017

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) is concerned by reports that the Cabinet of Ministers plans to curtail the proposed powers of the Auditor General, under the National Audit Bill, which would limit the Auditor General’s ability to hold individuals personally liable for losses caused to State entities.

TISL urged the Government to retain these surcharging powers, which are in keeping with international best practices, whilst being mindful of the opportunity to further detail the surcharge and appeals process at the committee stage of Parliament.

The National Audit Bill, which has been certified by the Attorney General, has three key provisions. First the power of the Auditor General to impose personal financial responsibility or surcharges on individuals who have caused financial loss to a State entity through fraud, direct willful negligence, misappropriation or corruption; second the power to examine bank accounts in which the Auditor General believes that monies belonging to a State entity have been fraudulently, irregularly or wrongfully deposited; and third an independent budgeting mechanism designed to safeguard the independence of the prospective National Audit Office.

In light of these three provisions, the draft National Audit Bill incorporates, to varying degrees, the venerated guidelines on public auditing: the Lima Guidelines. Most notably the powers of investigation and enforcement of audit findings and financial independence of Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) have been recognised. The principle on enforcement recognises that SAI’s could be empowered to issue legally valid and enforceable judgments (e.g. powers of surcharge), TISL said in a statement.

TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeysekere stated: “Whilst surcharging powers should be retained, it would be prudent to ensure that the law specifies ever clearer processes for the imposition of a surcharge. At the same time, the appeal procedure needs to be unbiased and devoid of any appearance of conflict of interest for the Auditor General. TISL believes that the current bill raises issues in these two matters, which can be remedied and strengthened at the committee stage of Parliament.”

The National Audit Bill has been deferred on numerous occasions since it was initially proposed in Cabinet in April 2015. As a key pledge of President Maithripala Sirisena’s 100-day manifesto, the passage of the National Audit Bill is essential to strengthen financial accountability across the State structure. TISL called on the Cabinet to display its commitment to fighting corruption and enhancing the scrutiny of public finance by tabling the National Audit Bill in Parliament.

Dreams Of Being Sri Lanka’s Big King!

By Granville Perera –AUGUST 21, 2017

Sri Lanka doles out media licenses based on political patronage. We have seen this being perfected by successive governments. The license holders provide the patronage to their political masters with absolute reverence that includes the current Yahapalanaya, which has doled out licenses for crossing over Parliamentarians. A long time player in this game is probably aiming to be the Maharaja of broadcasts with the continued blatant prostitution of Media. They have even staged self-inflicted violence to gain the sympathy of the masses. Their long-term ass kissing is their agenda to control politics and the Sri Lankan economy. As nationals of foreign origin, it would be impossible to take political leadership in Sri Lanka, so they have chosen the next best by doing it through proxy and dream of gaining control of the country and the economy through their political and media stooges. The airwaves are not anyone’s personal property, not even the Government’s to dole out to its stooges. They belong to the people and should be used to deliver development oriented free media culture. Media networks need to have integrity, honesty and respect. This People’s (not stooges) Channel needs to be monitored and checked before they place their lackeys at the highest level of governance through influence peddling using our airwaves.

In modern Sri Lanka as in many other global societies, the people who hold the levers of state power control the deployment of vast riches; every decision on the issuance of state mega project is worth billions to someone. The potential beneficiaries of these policies have every motive to influence the political destiny of the country. The Mahinda Rajapaksa dynasty perfected this influence peddling to make Sri Lanka one of the most corrupt, pushing our debt repayment levels closer to 100% of our GNP. The current Government is perfecting these corruption policies, mainly due to the ‘poverty’ that was inherited by its members in the 20 years in opposition. The usual strategy adopted is bribery through cash contributions or commissions, shares and positions of power in the entities to the immediate family, sexual bribes, intimidation and other forms of influence peddling. The Maharaja has chosen to do it through intimidation using the media, calling it exposures “We Report, You Decide” a line copied from FOX NEWS. Their political stooges are given wide exposure in their media network to gain political mileage and re-election.

The Maharaja has cleverly chosen to mislead the nation by portraying their media empire as a Sinhala Buddhist entity, bringing to the fore Buddhist mercenaries and priests who go around temples, doling out water tanks, water pipes, cement and paint to give the impression that the Sasanaya is being rescued by this media network. They also appease the Tamil militants and Tamil Diaspora through their Shakthi network and their chief anchor Sri Ranga of Minnel fame who has been deployed to attack their Tamil speaking political opponents. Who can forget that Sri Ranga was caught attempting to fix a political discussion in a live broadcast during the run up to the January 2015 elections? It is rumored that Rishad Bathiudeen, the Muslim maverick kicked the shit out of Sri Ranga at Temple Trees just prior to the Presidential Election in 2015 due to the attempted intimidation and carrying tales about of the All Ceylon Muslim Congress. They also have an atypical Buddhist priest, Battaramulle Seelaratne Thera who is given prime time news slots to comment on socio political issues that he is clueless about.

The well-invested media strategy to force the Government to bow down to the Maharaja dictates continues by showing successive governments as failed entities. They use approximately 30 to 40% of any News slot to highlight the failures of government by going to remote villages and exposing their poverty, giving a pittance to the poor and showing them as images of benevolence by the Maharaja.

While the general public will see these as generosity of the media network, their motive is to brainwash the hearts and minds of the poor to believe that anyone promoted politically by the Maharaja is to save the nation, thereby gaining control of the country and the economy.

This is not a new strategy. The “Maharaja” started this in the 70’s with Ranasinghe Premadasa, the then Minister of Housing and Construction allegedly being in their monthly payroll. Allegedly their Chief Finance Controller of the group, Ransi Gunasekera used to carry his briefcase with Rs.100,000/= in cash monthly (probably worth 10M or more in todays context) to Ranasinghe Premadasa who in return doled out huge contracts to the Maharaja’s Group. Ransi is still among the living and will certainly confirm should he be questioned by the FCID.

The same strategy was used to invest and promote his son Sajith Premadasa to the leadership of the United National Party and gain control of the country’s wealth by this mafia entity. They provided hundreds of millions for him to go around the country and dole out money as the savior of the Sasanaya and the poor.  The little fox was smarter and kept Premadasa at bay so that young Premadasa will never see the high chair.

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Economic Crisis and Co-operative Possibilities

A store in Jaffna displays palmyrah products

2017-08-21

he economy in the north is in crisis. Youth unemployment is high, rural incomes are irregular and devastating indebtedness is widespread.  
Eight years after the war, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the war-affected rural population. The myth about the private sector and Tamil diaspora led development in the north have been exposed; neither the private sector nor the Tamil diaspora have made significant investments resulting in substantially increased employment.   
The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) and the Tamil political leadership remain indifferent about the war-torn economy. Successive governments in Colombo are continuing with the flawed reconstruction policies of infrastructure build out and financialised credit expansion. Meaningful rural development for income generation are hardly considered.   
Incredibly, elite circles discuss farcical grand plans for Jaffna’s economic take off with high growth and high profits, and that it can even become a Singapore! The sad reality in the north is one of crippling poverty and rising social anarchy. It is only when peoples’ protests for resources such as land and fisheries escalate that the elite take notice of the rural situation.  

• From 2009 to 2013, Rs.100 bn spent on roads, transportation in North

• 2,000 MPCSs, 400,000 members and 1000 employees 

 
What is most needed in the north are employment opportunities and regular incomes. Low risk, low return and high employment economic initiatives are the priority.   
The long history of co-operatives in the north have the potential for such economic rejuvenation. But post-war reconstruction policies have consciously excluded the co-operatives. Neo-liberal policies supported by donors are happy to subsidise businesses to create a semblance of private enterprise growth and expand self-employment schemes known to fail, rather than invest in co-operatives that counter the market logic.   

Co-operative Legacy

The Northern Province, and Jaffna in particular, have a long history of co-operatives, which goes back to the late colonial period. Co-operative historian, Kurukulasuriya had the following to say in his work in 1971:   
“In the growth of co-operation in Ceylon, Jaffna can justly be proud of blazing many a trail. The first Co-operative Central Bank was set up in Jaffna: so was the first Co-operative Hospital at Moolai – perhaps the first of its kind in the world. The first successful Co-operative Marketing Society in Ceylon was the Jaffna – Malayalam Co-operative Sales Society Ltd. The first Co-operative Union for Agricultural producers was the one in the Northern Division. The first Harbour Services Union and the first District Fisheries Union were also later set up in Jaffna. Amongst these numerous ‘firsts’ an outstanding success was the creation of the Northern Division Co-operative Federation (the first regional Union) which was registered in 1937. It covered the Northern and Eastern Provinces.      
Later in the early 1970s, the Palm Development Co-operatives emerged as a bastion for the toddy tapping community. It provided these oppressed caste people, the wherewithal to ensure that incomes from their hard bodily labour were not exploited by the upper castes. Furthermore, co-operative schemes for savings, pensions and their children’s education have empowered this community.   

A store in Jaffna displays palmyrah products

In this context, the war starting in the mid-1980s was a major setback for the co-operative movement. Co-operative resources were looted by the various armed actors during the war. A variety of co-operatives in agricultural export to carpentry collapsed with war-time disruption of production. The dynamic co-operative leadership was also weakened with migration. For the co-operatives that survived, disruption of production stopped accumulation. And therefore little investment in production facilities, greatly reducing their ability to withstand market competition after the war. It is important to note that the co-operatives are a devolved subject. But since 2013, the NPC’s inaction and even active blocking of co-operatives initiatives have further aggravated economic woes.   
Despite such setbacks, the co-operatives remain active in various sectors. The fisher co-operatives have taken the lead in the struggle against Indian trawlers poaching in the northern seas. Every region in the north has many Multi-Purpose Co-operative Societies with tens of co-operative stores linked to each of them.   
There are closer to 2,000 registered co-operative societies in the north, with about 400,000 members and thousands of co-operative employees. However, this sleeping economic giant needs to be propped up with the necessary leadership and investment.   

State Agenda 

The state with the support of donors seems to be only interested in providing subsidies for established large businesses and the garment sector. The tremendous demand for jobs in the north has pushed many women to join the new garment factories. However, the garment sector does not utilise local resources, which is extremely exploitative, it only uses young women without long-term employment prospects, and this footloose industry can pack up and leave any time.   
Reconstruction of the north is characterised by a shell of development providing little meaningful economic substance to the population. There are massive roads now, but people cannot eat roads as the rural folk say. The recent efforts to import prefabricated houses shows the Govt is not even interested in encouraging much needed local incomes through masonry construction.   In the Budget for 2017, one of the major allocations for the Northern Province was 1 billion rupees to “facilitate private businesses” through investment in a “vertical building” for “office space, recreational facilities, and entertainment facilities.” That in short reflects the economic reconstruction vision and of the Govt. Can we expect anything better in the upcoming Budget 2018?   

Rural Reconstruction

The economy in the north is mainly rural. The important local resources are land for agriculture, the sea for fisheries and the naturally growing Palmyra palms. These resources are suitable for co-operative production.   
According to Finance Ministry data, during the first four years after the war, between 2009 and 2013, 100 billion rupees was spent in the north on roads and transport. If a fraction of that had been invested in small industries led by co-operatives for value addition, including food production and processing, it would have created thousands of regular jobs and thousands more in rural livelihoods. Extensive co-operative distribution in turn stabilises prices of essential food items. Indeed, that would have checked the volatile prices propelled by traders and black marketers, which deprive rural people of even their daily meals.   
Co-operatives will not solve all the economic problems, but investment in and expansion of co-operatives can go a long way in stabilising the northern economy. For now, that may depend on struggles by the co-operative movement demanding a shift in state policies and resources for its revitalisation.   

Suhada Gamlath reveals how Mahinda tried to win a rape case!

Aug 21, 2017


No one forgets that the law of the jungle prevailed during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime. Mahinda became a lawyer thanks to Felix Dias Bandaranaike. It is now coming to light that Mahinda used the law of the jungle not to gain experience. This story was told by his contemporary Suhada Gamlath, who went onto become the solicitor general.

A rape case was heard at the Matara high court around 35 years ago. Then a state counsel, Suhada appeared for the victim, while the accused was represented by Mahinda. Both were friends at the time.

Giving evidence, the woman told the court in detail how she was raped while looking for firewood in the jungle. When asked by Suhada if the rapist was present in the court, she looked around hesitantly, looked at Mahinda, who in turned kept looking at her, and replied, ‘no your honour.’ That brought a laugh from Mahinda.

Rising up, Mahinda said, “Your honour. The complainant did not identify the accused. Identification is very important. Therefore, it is a very wrong complaint. This shows the police had fabricated this charge. There is no point in hearing this case any further, your honour. I request you to acquit the accused.”

Suhada was perplexed. But, he knew that something was wrong somewhere. When the judge brought up Mahinda’s request, Suhada said, ‘Your honour. This is puzzling. Please give me a few days to look into this.”
Mahinda objected in a high voice, “There nothing here to give any more time, your honour. The accused is not guilty. Acquit him today.” But, at Suhada’s request and it being a rape case, the judge put off the hearing for a few days.

It is impossible that the woman, who explained in detail how she was raped, could not identify the perpetrator. Suhada went to his room and started thinking. The court registrar came to see him and he told him about the case. ‘Oh, isn’t it our Mr. Mahinda’s case? I will get someone to inquire.”

A few days later, the registrar met Suhada and told him, “Sir, I got a man of mine to find out the truth. These women are chena cultivators. They visit Mr. Mahinda’s Medamulana Walawwa frequently. They are given rice, coconut and some money. Some days ago, Mr. Mahinda sent for this woman, gave her more rice, coconuts, spices and Rs. 500 and told her, ‘The man in this case was not the one who did it to you. It was Ukkuwa. Understand? Ukkuwa is a thug. You know that. He does things like that. This man is innocent. He should not be sent to prison needlessly. Therefore, tell the court that you don’t know him. Don’t show that you know him.’  That is what has happened here.”

At the next hearing, Suhada cross-examined the woman and asked her, “When did you last go to lawyer Mahinda Rajapaksa’s home?” The women kept silent. Mahinda disrupted the proceedings, rose up and said in a high voice, “That is irrelevant, your honour.’

The judge asked the woman, and she admitted with a nod of the head that she had been to Mahinda’s home. Putting off the case, the judge summoned both lawyers to his chamber. He asked both if the story was true.

Mahinda remained silent, but Suhada said it was 100 per cent correct and related the entire story to him. The judge questioned Mahinda, but he only managed to stammer out a few words.

After the judge sent both out, Mahinda told Suhada, “Don’t do dirty work, Yakko. Do you do things like this to a friend? I planned a game to win the case. But, you prevented that.”

When the case was taken up again, the woman gave evidence. However, lawyer for the accused Mahinda Rajapaksa did not make an appearance again.

That is just one instance of how Mahinda tried to manipulate the law to his advantage. Later, he became the president and gave presidential pardon to many killers and rapists. Suhada too, became a darling of his regime, and as the justice ministry secretary, did the dirty work for Mahinda and Gotabhaya.

Present justice minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe tried his best to get Suhada appointed as the attorney general. But, that did not work. However, Suhada is a friendly man as his name denotes. What went wrong for him is that he tried to help everyone in a friendly manner.

Entitlement & Impunity – A Deadly Combination

By Emil van der Poorten –AUGUST 20, 2017

Emil van der Poorten

Watching the cloud of corruption that seemed to have lifted with the defeat of the Rajapaksa Regime descending again on their successors fills one with not only a sense of disgust but one of dejection.

Resorting to the old fall-back of resignation is hardly a response deserving of acceptance given the plight of our nation and what it can and will mean to all of us in our day to day lives.

To take a step back and try to put some perspective on our current plight, the sense of quiet euphoria that seemed to sweep across the nation with the defeat of the most corrupt and violent government it has been our misfortune to endure might well have lulled many of us into a false sense of complacency in the matter of the return of fascism garbed in the vestments of Yahapalanaya. But now there is no excuse for any of us who experienced that optimism to pretend that it was a simple matter of false pretences. More important, we can and must do all we can to turn back that garbage-bearing tide.

The “entitlement” part of our current predicament is not without precedent in many of the western democracies, the difference being that deluded into believing that those who thought they could practice this philosophy without let or hindrance were soon brought down to earth by being turfed out at the next election. A similar option does not exist for us now because the current “alternative” consists of the very lot that we thought we were rid of a couple of years ago!

What makes it an absolute necessity that we change our status quo is the fact that the current lot of thieves and bandits are beginning to wake up to the fact that if they combine that sense of absolute entitlement to whatever they wish for with the impunity of them and their cohorts being above the law; nothing and nobody can touch them or stop them.

The reason that they seem to have come to that realization relatively recently and did not proceed down that track shortly after assuming their seats of power was probably because they had to establish themselves in the various positions that gave them the opportunity to conduct matters of governance as they saw fit with the single constraint of ensuring that they maximized the pecuniary benefits from whatever they did.

As events emerge into public view, it is nothing short of obvious that the current bunch is displaying the capacity to overtake their predecessors in the self-aggrandizement stakes because they appear to be marginally higher in the I.Q department.

Just think of what a combination of a belief in “entitlement” can lead to when coupled with “impunity.”

The Rajapaksa regime displayed an absolute disregard with regard to the rule of law, fairness, basic justice and the rest of the cornerstones of a democratic society. You could, literally, get away with murder if you had the right connections. Sometimes it was by the devious expedient of being packed off to Singapore with a bullet in the brain allegedly leaving the victim a human vegetable only to return, miraculously recovered and ready for battle, literally and figuratively. In another, the destination was the same though there were fewer casualties in the melee from which this individual emerged absolutely unscathed with un-holstered side-arm in plain (video) view. “Only” one victim of the pistol expertise of this supervisor of tea-plucking vestal virgins ended up as a paraplegic. Prosecution? You’ve got to be kidding! The guy was an ally of the Highest in the Land and, perhaps more important, that worthy’s brother who left the armed forces for sunny Southern California when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the LTTE, were in the ascendant.

On a seemingly frivolous note, a Bishop of the most “senior” of the Protestant churches was accused of drawing his dead mother-in-law’s pension for seven years after that lady’s demise. It was only the unbelievable bravery of a Magistrate in a North Western legal jurisdiction that permitted the prosecution to continue when he, believe it or not, refused an order from on high to dismiss the case. If nothing else, this little episode could lend itself to a fresh flood of mother-in-law jokes with a particularly black edge to them.

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Court rejects Udayanga’s request

August 21, 2017 by

The request made by Udayanga Weeratunga, former Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia during the retired president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure, through his lawyers asking to withdraw the international warrant against him and remove the ban preventing him from travelling abroad was rejected by Court today (21st).
Colombo Fort Magistrate Miss Lanka Jayaratna rejecting the request stated Udayanga Weeratunga should surrender to the police or Courts.

Udayanga Weeratunga is accused of a fraudulent MIG deal and a murder that had been committed abroad. The international warrant to arrest him was issued on 20th October 2016. However, he has not been arrested yet.

Media revealed that Udayanga Weeratunga was met by the retired president Mahinda Rajapaksa and ministers and Deputy Ministers of the Yahapalana government during this period.

President against Wijedasa but latter will not resign honorably until given the sack ! -sterner action if he doesn’t resign !

(Lanka-e-News- 21.Aug.2017, 10.00AM)  Even if the UNP working committee , the UNP parliamentary group and the entire UNP opposes him  , he  is not prepared to resign his ministerial portfolio , Wijedasa Rajapakse has informed the UNP leadership.

Wijedasa who revealed he would  resign after making a special statement in parliament on Monday (21) , has changed his mind on the advice of his true mentor cum destroyer the  Medamulana Rajapakses , and therefore  decided not to resign. The  instruction of Medamulana Rajapakses to Wijedasa  is  not to resign , and stay put  in the government as long as possible in order to sabotage and impede the activities of the government (in fact , that was what Wijedasa did all along while being in the government  through his snake under the grass policies and shameless betrayals ).

According to the latest development , the UNP leadership is taking steps to dismiss him from the ministry of justice post while permitting   him to retain the Buddha sasana affairs ministry . But because Wijedasa has been making statements criticizing the UNP leadership  and its policies ,  it was decided by the leadership that Wijedasa shall ask for pardon from the party . If he doesn’t , the leadership is to take sterner and stronger action against him , it is learnt. 

In any event  the president Maithripala Sirisena is averse to having him as the minister of Buddha sasana , it is reported . He had told his close associates that Wijedasa while being the Buddha sasana minister had been  inciting  and inflaming  the Buddhist clergy against the government . Hence if he is to continue , ‘we will not be able to run the government’

Last Saturday Wijedasa making a statement while criticizing the UNP leadership extolled the president , yet the latter hasn’t  shown any desire any time to have Wijedasa as a minister .At the cabinet meeting during amendment stage the president  advised the prime minister (P.M.) that Wijedasa shall be dismissed from the ministerial posts. The  P.M. had told, ‘ we shall do that  later’ 

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by     (2017-08-21 04:27:24)

Sri Lanka’s lesbian-hating justice minister under fire

 By Our Political Correspondent-Aug 20, 2017

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha is no stranger to controversy. His May 2000 ruling as the head of the quasi legal Press Council should have been reason enough to keep him out of the current cabinet, but the Prime Minister appears to have thought otherwise.

It is unclear if Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was aware of the landmark decision of Rajapaksha, which could be considered a 21st century disgrace to the country.

In deciding on a complaint filed by a gay rights activist against the Island newspaper, Rajapaksha ruled that lesbianism equals sadism and did not think there was anything wrong in calling convicted sexual offenders to "cure" lesbians of their "illness" by raping them.

Hate mail against women who love women had been published by the newspaper in good faith, Rajapaksha ruled. In a bizarre turn of events, he said the male activist who brought the action against the newspaper should be fined 2,100 rupees.

Activist Sherman de Rose complained against an Island publication that advocated rape of lesbians, but Rajapaskha saw it as part of a healthy public discourse in response to a conference lesbian activists were hosting in Colombo.

"Lesbianism is at least an act of gross indecency and unnatural. If people of this country have a right to publish that a conference of lesbians would be held in Colombo, the people have a right to express their opinion either for or against. One of the readers of ‘The Island’ namely, P. Alles, states in his article to the editor that he feels it appropriate for the police to get convicted rapist to give zest and relish to misguided wretches to understand the reality of natural sexual pleasure than unnatural sexual activities."

"Probably, the writer and publisher may have considered that lesbianism is much more vulnerable and improper than publishing an article condemning the proposed lesbians’ conference,” according to Rajapaksha's ruling.

He also ruled that de Rose could not make a complaint because he himself was never in danger of being raped as he was a man.

"The complainant, in any event, is not a female who can participate in lesbian activities," Rajapaksha  said. "He cannot be subject to any such rape as referred to in the (Island) article and, therefore, he cannot be a victim of such violence." This is Hon. Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, the minister of Justice in 21st century Sri Lanka.

More than two years after having him in the cabinet, his colleagues are asking for his ouster, not over his homophobia, but failing to prosecute members of the former regime. (COLOMBO, August 19, 2017)

Wijayadasa makes waves, govt. on tricky wicket in NCP & Sabaragamuwa

Renegade Dealdasa to resign on Monday- Tells Gota his destroyer cum advisor ‘I am finished Sir ‘

Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe-August 19, 2017, 7:36 pm 

It was evident from the time the present government came into power that the UNP as a collective entity was not in its proper senses. In 2001, when much the same individuals in the UNP came into power, they were a stabilising force which doused the flames that had been ignited by Chandrika Kumaratunga in during her blighted seven years in power from 1994 to 2001. At that time, it was the UNP that put an end to the cycle of political reprisals and revenge taking between the UNP and the SLFP and also nursed the devastated economy back to some degree of stability after CBK had run it to the ground. After 2015 however, the old cycle of persecution and reprisals that we thought we had seen the last of after 2001 has resumed with a vengeance under the very UNP that put a temporary stop to it in 2001. We have to assume that the UNP which was a sane and stabilising force in 2001 has taken leave of their senses after 2015.  

 The clearest sign of this was the stormy joint session of the UNP working committee and the parliamentary group last Thursday which was held to discuss the conduct of Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe. It had been akin to a feeding frenzy – no less, with virtually every one who spoke, tearing into Rajapakshe and no one rising to his defence. There was no let up even in the ‘voice cuts’ given by UNP Ministers and parliamentarians after the meeting. They were all out for Minister Rajapakshe’s blood and wanted him out of the Justice Minister’s job. The events that took place in this Joint session of the UNP working committee and parliamentary group was best summed up by SLFP deputy minister Nimal Lanza who used the phrase ‘gon relak’ (herd of bovines)  to describe those baying for Rajapakshe’s blood. And indeed that was the most appropriate way to describe the collective conduct of today’s UNP.

 Both the SLFP and the Joint Opposition have already said that they will not be supporting any motion of no confidence brought by the UNP against Wijayadasa Rajapakshe. The draft resolution that was unanimously accepted expressed a lack of confidence in Rajapakshe for five reasons the gist of which was as follows:

1.      Inability to fulfill the responsibilities of the Minister of Justice

2.      Failure to bring in new laws to curb corruption as pledged in the UNF manifesto

3.      Failure to introduce laws to nationalize the proceeds of crime

4.      The displeasure expressed by the people due to the inordinate delays in concluding criminal cases.

5.      The fact that the UNP has been brought into disrepute among the people due to the conduct of the Justice Minister.

What we are now seeing are events that never took place in the UNP or indeed any political party before. But then there is nothing strange in that because from the time that this government came into power, we have been seeing things that we had never experienced under any previous government. Having just lost one party stalwart to a corruption scandal, the UNP is trying to rid itself of yet another party stalwart of their own accord. And this party stalwart has the complete support of the Bhikku community which for the UNP, should be a factor that overrides every other consideration. In fact the UNP parliamentary group and working committee passed a unanimous resolution of no confidence against Rajapakshe in a situation where the bhikku community was unanimously expressing confidence in him.  He’s the only politician in the UNP with that kind of backing from the Buddhist establishment.

 A final decision about his fate is to be announced tomorrow and Rajapakshe is also expected to make a public statement. Whether the UNP leader will be able to resist the moves being made to remove Rajapakshe is yet to be seen. Even though Rajapakshe does not have the support of the persons deputy minister Lanza described as ‘bovines’, he has the unstinted support of the SLFP, the Joint Opposution and the Buddhist establishment. In fact Rajapakshe has never been in as high demand as he is at present and this controversy has not brought him down but actually taken him to new heights. Even if his colleagues in the UNP want him out, will the President who is obviously aware of the unstinted support that Rajapakshe has from the Buddhist establishment, consent to remove him from the cabinet?

 UNP’s self-destructive impulse

 The reason why the UNP is out for his blood is because he has not been expediting legal proceedings against the Rajapaksas and their followers. Obviously, what the UNP expects him to do is to direct the affairs of the AG’s Dept and even the judiciary in such a manner as to give priority to the cases against the political opponents of the UNP. No senior lawyer with any sense of responsibility will ever try to do anything like that as that will undermine the very foundations of the law. Minister Rajapakshe has explained that trying to single out cases pertaining to the Rajapaksas and their followers will go against the principles of the equal application of the law and the presumption of innocence - both  of which have been enshrined in our constitution. What is quite surprising is that there is virtually nobody in the UNP who seems to be willing to take a rational approach to things.

 During the first days of this government, only the UNP was acting rationally while the JVP and JHU were running amok. Only a handful of UNP politicians went on ‘raids’ in the first couple of days and that too stopped quite quickly. Usually, after an election, there are a few days of disturbances. Under this government, things were never allowed to settle down and normalize. The UNP started playing ducks and drakes after the JVP and JHU had quietened down. Where the UNP started losing its marbles was when the FCID was set up with a committee made up of politicians and political activists to direct complaints to it. This committee was made up of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe as its head, with Ministers Mangala Samaraweera, Champika Ranawaka, Rauff Hakeem, and parliamentarians Anura Kumara Dissanayake, R. Sampanthan, M. A. Sumanthiran, Sarath Fonseka, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, J. C. Weliamuna and Malik Samarawickrema. The Urgent Response unit of this committee was made up of MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake as its Coordinator the urgent response team comprised of financial specialists and officers of the CID among others.

 We saw this insanity at its height last Thursday. Even though the UNP has been collectively gnawing at its own backside because of the lack of progress with regard to any of the cases against the Rajapaksas, there are cogent reasons for why this has happened. Firstly, there is the issue that virtually all allegations of corruption made against the Rajapaksas during the elections were completely false. Most, if not all the allegations they are being investigated on now are new accusations that came up after the elections. Even with regard to these allegations, evidence is in short supply which is why these cases are not making much headway either at the level of police investigations or court cases. Quite a few cases have been filed without a snowflake’s chance in hell of succeeding and there is no point in flogging the AG’s Dept. or the police investigative bodies for that.  

In the meantime, the water seems to be closing over Ravi Karunanayeke. A new minister of foreign affairs has been appointed and the two lotteries institutions that were attached to the Foreign Ministry at his request have been given back to the Finance Ministry. Even though some speculated that Ravi K’s removal from the cabinet would only be temporary, it seems to be working out into a permanent situation. Ravi K’s main problem is that he has this scandal simply hanging over him with no likelihood of resolution any time soon. If it had been subject to court proceedings, he could have expected to be either declared guilty or acquitted. As it is, there are no legal proceedings against him and no way that he can shake off the allegations against him either.

The IGP has literally been in hiding since a video showing him threatening and manhandling an employee of police headquarters was leaked to the media. With the whole government having collectively taken leave of their senses, one cannot really expect the IGP have his wits about him. We have an IGP that suits the government he serves under. The whole apparatus of the Constitutional Council with representatives from the government as well as the opposition was set up with the expectation that the best candidate for high positions would be appointed. Yet on appointing this IGP, everything seems to have gone horribly wrong. From the very beginning, it was obvious that he was not suited for the position of IGP. When the IGP was appointed by presidential fiat in the past, there were no jokers like this holding such a high position because he would have been removed by presidential fiat. The mere fact that the IGP is still holding office, and that the police spokesman has had to trot out lame excuses on his behalf, is an indictment of the whole system.

Govt. will need miracle to win Sabaragamuwa, NCP

The reduction of taxes on mobile data usage, on Japanese made motorcycles and on single cabs and mini-trucks is an indication that the government is gearing up for the inevitable elections. There’s less that six weeks to go for the automatic dissolution of the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern provinces. The desperation of this government to avoid holding elections was made evident by the fact that the 20th Amendment to the Costitution was gazetted to amend article 154E of the constitution so as to be able to extend the terms of the existing provincial councils until October 2019. This article 154E is the constitutional provision that brings about the automatic dissolution of the provincial councils once their five years is up. The mere fact that such an amendment was even contemplated shows how desperate the government is because there is such little chance of this Bill making it through the Supreme Court without a referendum being deemed to be necessary since the amendment impinges on Article 3.

 The Thursday before last, the 20th Amendment was shot down by the SLFP central committee owing to an internal rebellion against it. That was not very surprising because a good part of the SLFP now serving in the government has openly announced their intention of decamping and joining the opposition and they would not do that after having voted to postpone an election. There is a good reason why the government is worried about these elections. At the presidential as well as the parliamentary elections in 2015, the UPFA won both the Sabaragamuwa and North Central Provinces. At the Presidential elections, Mahinda Rajapaksa obtained 281,161 votes to Maithripala Sirisena’s 238,407 in the Anuradhapura district. MR’s majority in that district was 42,754. In the Polonnaruwa district, MS got 147,974 votes to MR’s 105,640 and MS won the district with a majority of 42,334 votes. Overall, MR won the North Central province at the last presidential elections with a slim majority of 420 votes. With regard to the Sabaragamuwa Province, MR got 379,053 votes to 292,514 for MS in the Ratnapura district and won the district with a majority of 86,539 votes and in Kegalle MR got 278,130 votes to 252,533 for MS and the former won the district by 25,597 votes. MR thus won the Sabaragamuwa province with a majority of 112,136 votes.

 At the Parliamentary election of August 2015, the UPFA won the Anuradhapura district with a majority of 16,793 with the UPFA getting 229,856 votes to the UNP’s 213,072. The Polonnaruwa district was won by the UNP with 118,845 votes to the UPFA’s 103,172, the majority being 15,673.Thus the province was won by the UPFA with a slim majority of 1,120 votes. In the Sabaragamuwa province, the UPFA got 323,636 votes to the UNP’s 284,117 in the Ratnapura district - the majority being 39, 519 votes. The Kegalle district was won by the UNP with 247,467 votes to the UPFA’s 227,208 which gave the UNP a majority of 20,259 votes. However, the UPFA won the Sabaragamuwa province with an overall majority of 19,260 votes. This was at the lowest point ever reached by MR and the UPFA. If after all the water that has flowed under the bridge since then, if the yahapalana government is able to win the Sabaragamuwa and NCP provincial councils, that will be nothing short of a miracle.

 RW’s pitch for 2019

 Many people viewed the various events held to mark Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s unbroken 40 years in parliament as his pitch for the presidential elections in 2019. Last week a photo exhibition depicting milestones in RW’s life was opened to the public. Ironically, any hope he may have of contesting the presidential elections in 2019 or ever enjoying unfettered power in this country, depends entirely on the elections to the three provincial councils to be held after October this year. Unless he turns Maithripala Sirisena into a cipher before Maithripala Sirisena turns him into a cipher, there’s going to be no presidential election for RW. The executive presidency itself may not be abolished as was promised by the yahapalanites unless Maithripala Sirisena’s group is trounced at an election and loses all bargaining power. So this election is in many respects as important for RW as it is for the JO.

 The photo exhibition to mark his 40 years in parliament was ironically titled ‘Heta dakina Ranil’. This is a way of trying to establish the view that RW has a futuristic vision. There is no doubt that RW is a well read individual which cannot be said of many politicians these days. However it is also true that he is not in touch with ground realities in this country. And as far as political strategy is concerned, ‘heta’ is exactly what he has never been able to see – or even if he did see it, the very elements seem to conspire against him to ensure that he cannot capitalize on what he sees. He wanted to contest the 2015 presidential elections but allowed himself to be cajoled and blackmailed into not contesting even when it was very clear that the UNP was on an upward trend through the results of the Uva and Western PC elections in 2014. And now he is saddled with Maithripala Sirisena whose catchers are gobbling up everything that should rightfully have belonged to the UNP.

 If RW is now trying to gear up for the next presidential elections with his 40 years in parliament celebrations, just imagine in what an unassailable position he would have been in today if he had contested the 2015 presidential elections even to lose. Even if MR had won that election, by now his government would be clearly on its way out and RW would have been the clear winner even before the next presidential election is declared. As for the next presidential elections, RW need not even bother because if he goes into 2019 in the present circumstances it is he who will be facing defeat even before the contest is announced. He will have not have even a fighting chance at a future presidential election unless he manages to abolish the executive presidency and forms a government with himself as its leader at least a year before the next presidential poll is due. Going for such a move too close to the elections will not yield results because then it will be seen as a break up of the government, not a case of the UNP asserting itself.

 JHU’s amnesia

This is a period in which all the partners in the yahapalana coalition are groping their way around trying to map out survival strategies. The JHU had sent its special agent Ven Hedigalle Wimalasara thera to infiltrate the anti-government movement that has been taking shape by joining the anti-SAITM protests. Ven Wimalasara in fact is now a familiar presence at such protests. The JHU has also once again started talking about the Sinhalese. Last Friday, they put out a statement saying that this government does not have any mechanism in place to look after the interests of the majority community. The JHU was making public its reaction to the US State Department’s latest report on religious freedom where it had been claimed that this government (of which the JHU is a part) does not have any mechanism to safeguard the rights of minority religious communities.

This reports is said to have stated that the law had not been implemented in relation to bhikkus who are responsible for attacks on Muslim and Christian minorities. The JHU claims that in the past two years there had not been any serious attacks on minorities resulting in deaths or the destruction of property even though a few minor incidents had taken place. The JHU alleged that the State Dept. report had been based on false information provided by NGOs.  The statement said that in the North and East, the rights of Buddhists were being violated. They have even claimed that nobody is looking into the discontent within the majority Buddhist community and that it has become fashionable to label organizations that talk of the rights of the Buddhists as religious extremists or chauvinists.  

 This statement is a clear case of trying to make political capital out of a situation they themselves created. Last week’s statement said nothing about the JHU’s own responsibility for bringing the present government into power and creating a situation where Buddhists in particular and the Sinhalese in general are being discriminated against. They criticize the US State Depatment for publishing reports tilted against the majority community. Yet they have said nothing about the way they knowingly or unknowingly fulfilled the wishes of the US government in 2014/15. The US Ambassador in Colombo at that time Michelle Sisson was one of those who was adamant that the 2015 presidential candidate should not be RW but a common candidate. Stalwarts of the JHU have publicly claimed that it was they who played the major role in getting Maithripala Sirisena to defect to the opposition. If such is the case, then the JHU has lent itself as an instrument of US policy in Sri Lanka wittingly or unwittingly. One would assume that if they had been only unwitting collaborators, they would by now have admitted their guilt.