Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Rather than cowering down, the President should face off the Joint Opposition

2017-12-05 02:52:45

Ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa is a gifted deal maker. His two- term presidency was a classic case of successful deal making: He got Velupillai Prabhakaran to prevent Northern Tamils from voting in 2005 and by virtue of that won his first term as the President; he cajoled the JVP to support him, and then split it; he engineered two large scale cross-overs of opposition MPs to the government, first for understandable reasons of the political stability of his government during the height of war, second for the selfish reason of securing a two- thirds majority of Parliament to abolish term limits of the executive presidency.

However this time around, Mr Rajapaksa has played the proverbial Shylock. During the last several weeks, there had been extensive back-door negotiations between the emissaries of President Maithripala Sirisena, and those representing the Joint Opposition (JO), loyal to Mr. Rajapaksa. Despite a written intimation by the President to seek a patch up between the two parties, talks came a cropper because Mr. Rajapaksa insisted that the SLFP quit the government. Even if the talks were successful, it would only have offered a momentary relief to the President; it could have saved his skin at the up-coming local government elections, but only until Mr. Rajapaksa and his JO acolytes run rings around the President, and hijack the SLFP.

Now the President has changed the course and is rebuilding strained relations between the two constituent partners of the Yahapalana government. However, elections in this country are poisonous, and no matter the good-intentioned efforts by the top leadership, very soon the grassroots cadre and local leaders of the two parties would be at each other’s throats. Reportedly, the leaders of the two parties have decided to vet campaign posters, in order to avoid mudslinging at each other. But the grassroots of the two parties and even some of the political acolytes in Parliament are groomed in UNP-SLFP contention. (Take for instance State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe who indulged in a blistering attack against the President just to divert allegation of his alleged collusion with Arjun Aloysius). Old habits die hard.

The President’s futile effort to patch up with the JO is born out from paranoia about a possible rout of the SLFP at the local government election. His advisors, many of whom are pole-vaulters from the UNP, harbour a grudge against the UNP leadership. And the SLFP ministers who grudgingly stick with the President feel they have often been overlooked by the UNP leadership in policy making. At times, that neglect could even be good for economy, in terms of policy consistency, especially when the SLFP’s many concerns are parochial - ranging from the current uproar over the liberalization of the shipping industry to an obstructionist approach towards mega development projects. On the other hand, though that it is bad for political unity of the government.

The President’s futile effort to patch up with the JO is born out from paranoia about a possible rout of the SLFP at the local government election

There are not-so-convincing forecasts peddled by the advocates of a SLFP-JO thaw, that the SLFP sans the JO could end up behind the JVP in the up-coming local government elections. How those assessments are reached is not known, but they ought to be viewed with a greater deal of discretion. The JO can mobilize large numbers to protests, but so can the JVP. However during the elections, the JVP has fared well below their pretended might. Fifty odd JO members got themselves elected to Parliament by contesting under the SLFP led UPFA. That was while the patronage systems they had cultivated during their two terms in government were still fresh. How well the JO can do now under the newly formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is a moot point. If history is any guide, their chances are not as great as one would expect. Even the much touted Lalith-Gamini group of Rajaliya could not make a dent on the UNP.

Rather than cowering down, the President should face-off the JO. The President should be able to win the loyalty of some SLFP members already in local government institutions, and for the rest, he can introduce respected community members with proven credentials, rather than usual suspects who grace those nomination lists.
Also, instead of molly-coddling the JO, the government should de-legitimize it. To that end, the government should seek to pursue aggressively, investigations into bribery and corruption. To expedite things, special anti-corruption courts, which have already been proposed, should be set up. Had that path been taken before, things would have been different and the President may not have been in the conundrum that he is trapped in now.

Instead of molly-coddling the JO, the government should de-legitimize it. To that end, the government should seek to pursue aggressively, investigations into bribery and corruption

Instead, the President himself is blowing hot and cold. Recently he vowed to leave everything and join the people to fight corruption. Then there are reports of him intervening to save former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa from an imminent arrest over alleged misappropriation of public funds used to build a memorial for his late father, D.A.Rajapaksa. This duplicity does not help; instead, it weakens the President’s hold of the SLFP. A pro-active choice would be to break out from the siege, and take the battle to the JO itself. A determined approach to expedite investigations into corruption would be a good starting point. The second step should be to nurture and socialize a new set of leaders for the next Parliamentary Elections which would be held under a mixture of first-past-the-post and proportional representation system, in which individual personalities would stand out more than they did under the old system. Those leaders do not need to come from the old stock, see Emmanuel Macron, the President of France who led a brand new coalition of civil society activists and old hands to win the majority in legislative elections this year.

Sri Lankan voters may not be as enlightened as their French counterparts, however the younger generation in this country is sick and tired of the current status of local politics. JO represents that de-generative aspect of Sri Lankan politics. Rather than embracing it, the SLFP should reject it.

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Liquor Tax: Beer vs. Kasippu – Learning From The Moonshine Menace Of The USA

By Tharosa Missaka Rajaratne –December 4 2017

The Budget-2018 has proposed revision of liquor tax based on alcohol content and thus beer and Wine prices come down significantly against the hard liquor. Two schools of thoughts have arisen in this phenomenon. First one is that the well-known Sri Lankan illegal brew ‘Kasippu’consumers would shift to beer which is good for health. The other is that the youngsters would become alcoholic due to cheap liquor like beer and wine avail. As each theory has its own merit and demerit the debate continues interestingly without seeing an end to it. The ‘moonshine’ phenomenon of the USA in 1920s is a case in point for Sri Lanka in this context.

‘Moonshine’ is an equivalent to the well known Sri Lankan illegal brew ‘Kasippu’. Moonshine was first spotted in the 1920s in consequence of the prohibition of liquor in the United States. Household violence had direct connection to alcoholism and thus it had become a widespread issue in the society. This was first brought to light by religious movements and soon it snowballed as many groups put their strength together to support ‘an alcohol-free America’. As a result, the National Alcohol Prohibition act of 1919 was passed and the entire nation went out of liquor by January 17^th, 1920. The ban seemed successful at the beginning but before long it produced evils.

While the prohibition was effective on the working class poor, the well-to-do class carved their ways around the law. The rich started stockpiling alcohol for ‘legal home consumption’ before the act went into effect. The Act allowed the doctors and pharmacists to prescribe ‘medicinal alcohol’ to their patients. During the first six months of prohibition, over 15,000 doctors and 57,000 pharmacists obtained license to prescribe medicinal alcohol. Grape juice was not restricted as it did not contain alcohol naturally by the time it was produced. However, farmers later learned how to ferment their grape juice for sixty days, which turned the juice into wine with a12% of alcohol content. Many people followed this rule and as a result the grape juice production during the prohibition era quadrupled.

Since the alcoholic beverage production totally paused due to ban, the supporters anticipated a significant drop in criminal activities. Yet, quite contrarily, an entirely new spree of crimes started to haunt the streets of the USA due to prohibition and prevalence of illicit liquor such as moonshine, bathtub gin and smuggling such as bootlegging, rum-running and speakeasy clubs etc. The working class that were not in a financial position to afford to get around the law often ended up brewing illegally by themselves or showing up at ‘speakeasy clubs’ which were illicit establishments where alcoholic beverages was sold during the prohibition era. These clubs were mostly operated by the mafia. During the pre-prohibition era the mafia was only limited to prostitution and gambling. After understanding the exponential growth of demand for alcohol and its value in the black market, the mafia initiated ‘bootlegging’ (smuggling over land) and ‘rum-running’ (smuggling over sea). Initially, rum-runners smuggled cheap Caribbean Rum to Florida speakeasy clubs. The low price of liquor soon convinced them to smuggling even expensive alcohols such as Canadian Whiskey, French Champagne, and English Gin into major cities such as Boston, New York, and Chicago.

The government established the Bureau of Alcohol Prohibition in order to deal with the new waves of criminal activity. Just in the first six months of 1920 the federal government opened around 7,000 cases against the violation of the Act. By the end of 1921 fiscal year, the figure quadrupled and the figure continued to rise dramatically over the next 13 years. The complexity of the smuggling grid rose higher in response to each raid. In order to prevent ‘bootleggers’ from producing alcohol from industrial use ethanol, the federal government ordered the industrial alcohols to be poisoned. In response, within a very short period of time the ‘bootleggers’ hired chemists to detox the alcohols. The Treasury Department then ordered the industrial alcohols to be poisoned with methanol, a move which endangered lives of the people and ultimately killing at least 10,000 people before the prohibition was rescinded.

The prohibition fueled criminal activities to rise to never foreseen levels. Frequent outbursts of gunfire between gangs and the police and sometimes between gang rivals caused massive damage to the nation. Chicago was the most affected area from criminal activity. Gang leaders such as Al Capone, who was the leader of organized crime in Chicago, took the ‘bootlegging’ business to the most violent extents. After one year since prohibition, a study of more than 30 major U.S states revealed that the total crime rate had increased by 24%, theft and burglaries by 9%, homicides by 12.7%, assaults and battery by 13%, drug addiction by 44.6%, and cost to the Police Department by 11.4%. Even though the failure of the Prohibition Act was learned by as early as 1925, the ban was lifted only in late 1933 to control illicit liquor after experiencing a loss of millions of dollars in tax income and thousands of lives. The National Prohibition Act marked itself in the history as one of the most controversial acts ever passed in the United States.

Appeal to President to stop the Project : State land mapping big cuts involved for Officials

Dec 05, 2017

The Government has decided to entrust the survey of State land to Trimble Inc., an American Company overlooking the Government's Survey Department, by obtaining a massive loan of Rs 23.5 billion from that Company for the purpose. This project was even abandoned by the Rajapaksa government saying it was too expensive.

The relevant Cabinet Paper was tabled at the Cabinet meeting on 3 October by the Minister of Lands and Parliamentary Reforms Gayantha Karunathilaka and approval was obtained. In the Cabinet Paper it was stated that with a view to expediting the survey of State lands, the necessary technological assistance of Trimble Inc. is being sought. However, in the project proposal submitted by Trimble Inc. it is mentioned that the Sri Lankan Government is obtaining a loan of USD 154 million from the...... Company on a 4 per cent interest basis. The repayment period of this loan is 15 years with a five-year grace period.

Under this project, 24 American workers are to be engaged for a period of four years. In addition, after the termination of the project, Sri Lanka will have to expend Rs 400 million annually to maintain it.

In the report dated 21 March 2017 and four other reports forwarded prior to that by Surveyor General P.M.P. Udayakantha, it is indicated that the sum required for technological assistance is only Rs 3 billion. Yet, ignoring the stiff opposition of the trade unions, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management, chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, gave full approval to it.

According to Union sources this is a colossal waste of money. A certain group while blaming the inefficiency of the Government Survey Department is trying to commit huge financial misappropriation, he charged. Such an unsolicited proposal being forwarded, and the Government giving its approval is not for nothing. Definitely there is an underhand in this deal. Paskaralaingam is behind this deal with Access group of companies. Each had been promised commission in millions.

The Government Surveyors' Association membership has decided to report sick and keep away from work on 7 and 8 December in protest against this project.

While technological assistance should be enlisted from the Government Surveyors Association, but that ought to be done by calling for tenders in a transparent manner. In all the reports submitted with the consensus of all the trade unions, it is stated that the expenditure towards the project would be Rs 3 billion. To serve whose purpose is the sum of Rs 23.5 billion being approved via the unsolicited proposal casting aside the reports. The Unions want this unsolicited proposal cancelled .

Sri Lanka Should Tackle Sexuality, Gender Identity Bias

Featured image courtesy the Scribe Project

NEELA GHOSHAL-on 12/05/2017

In November 2015, I sat in a small circle of plastic chairs outside a rustic hotel in Sri Lanka’s coastal town of Ambalangoda. Against a backdrop of fruit trees and waves lapping the shore I listened to horrific stories from six gay, bisexual, and transgender people whom a Sri Lankan gay activist had convened to meet with Human Rights Watch.

“Abeeth” (all names are changed for privacy and security), a young gay man, told us that when he was 17, Ambalangoda police ordered him into a jeep and took him to the beach, where one of them raped him. “I was so scared,” Abeeth said. “I let him do anything.”

Jeewani, a 20-year-old transgender woman, said a police officer in Colombo had raped her when she was 17. The rape was “so, so painful, I screamed,” she said. Neither Jeewani nor Abeeth reported the crimes, afraid the police would abuse them further.

In Colombo, my colleague interviewed Nithura, a 31-year-old lesbian, who said her girlfriend’s father had threatened her with death, but she did not go to the police. “If not for the laws, I would’ve said something,” she said. “I’m a criminal in this country. What’s the point wasting time saying something when the laws are unequal and unjust? I just don’t want to be illegal.”

Sections 365 and 365A of the Sri Lankan Penal Code prohibit “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and acts of “gross indecency,” commonly understood in Sri Lanka to criminalize same-sex relations between consenting adults, both female and male, including in private spaces. The police use these and vague, outdated “vagrancy” laws to justify arbitrary arrests of people simply because they appear gay or transgender. Their legal vulnerability makes them easy targets for horrendous police abuse.

Other Sri Lankans told us during our research in Sri Lanka in 2015 and 2016, that they had faced discrimination accessing health care, employment, and housing because of their real or perceived gender identity or sexual orientation.

At Sri Lanka’s recent Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in November – a review every four years of the human rights records of United Nations member states at the UN Human Rights Council – the government accepted recommendations to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people. In fact, it made a “voluntary pledge” to “Ensure and strengthen respect for fundamental rights of all persons, including those from the LGBTIQ community, and address concerns raised in that regard,” no doubt a result of years of advocacy by Sri Lankan activists.

The pledge is encouraging, but officials have been sending mixed messages. An interim report from the fundamental rights committee of the Constitutional Assembly in early 2017 included draft language prohibiting discrimination on gender, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity among other grounds. The committee also proposed doing away with article 16 of the existing constitution, a bizarre “savings clause” that prohibits constitutional challenges to laws that predate the constitution, some dating to British colonial days. That would allow human rights activists to go to court, challenging sections 365 and 365A as unconstitutional.

But there’s no guarantee that these proposed reforms will survive the constitutional reform process. The Constitutional Assembly has since wavered on including sexual orientation and gender identity in the proposed non-discrimination clause, and it’s uncertain whether removing article 16 will get past an anti-reform lobby.

In its National Human Rights Action Plan, released in early November, the government removed draft language calling for protection on the grounds of sexual orientation, although it did include gender identity. As the Sri Lankan organization EQUAL GROUND has said, “Contradiction of this sort only proves that the Government of Sri Lanka is yet to acknowledge persons with minority sexual orientations as people of the country.” A group of activists delivered a petition to the government protesting the exclusion.

The government has long resisted removing discriminatory penal code provisions that prohibit same-sex relations, and it rejected recommendations at November’s UPR session to repeal articles 365 and 365A, claiming it doesn’t allow discriminatory application of laws. But in practice, the Penal Code and other criminal law provisions are regularly used to discriminate against transgender people and have a pernicious impact on others due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

So when, and how, will officials’ lofty promises to protect LGBT Sri Lankans from discrimination bear fruit? The government has made no promises as to when a new constitution will be delivered.

The need for change is not abstract, nor is the urgency around decriminalization of same-sex conduct: the lives of people like Abeeth, Jeevani and Manisha, are literally on the line. As long as the Sri Lankan government tolerates discrimination and violence against LGBT people, we can predict further arbitrary arrests, rapes, assaults, death threats, and obstacles to redress.

Deputy Solicitor General Nerin Pulle told the Human Rights Council that the government “remains committed to law reform and guaranteeing non-discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Such commitments need to be transformed into reality. The government should ensure that the new constitution protects LGBT people from discrimination, and allows legal challenges to preexisting discriminatory laws. In the meantime, it should seek other pathways to protecting LGBT people, including by exercising leadership in mobilizing parliament to pass a bill to repeal sections 365 and 365A. Otherwise, the government bears responsibility for intolerable abuses against its citizens.

Neela Ghoshal is a senior LGBT rights researcher at Human Rights Watch.

SRI LANKA: Hand Book for Barefoot Lawyers and Human Rights Defenders, produced by Janasansadaya, People’s Forum, Sri Lanka (Sinhala)

Reviewed by Basil Fernando-December 4, 2017

The Hand Book for Bare footLawyers and Human Rights Defenders is a very useful and valuable contribution for litigants in Sri Lanka. The book is produced by Janasansadaya, and edited by Chitral Perera and Chandrasena Badhugama.

Janasansadaya is a reputed organisation based in Panadura, Sri Lanka, which has been serving litigants from mainly low incomegroups. The concentration of their work has been to assist victims of human rights violations, particularlyvictims of police torture. Janasansadaya has been carrying out this work for almost 25 years now.

This handbook is a product of their long experience, relying mostly on material produced by the organisation itself, while providing assistance to various types of victims who have approached them over these long years.

The idea of the ‘barefoot lawyer’ and the protection of human rights are explained in the first Chapter. It states that although Sri Lanka has laws, it does not have the rule of law. When there is no rule of law, even the law itself becomes wild; various people utilise the law to commit illegal acts harmful to the society.

When various persons utilise the law for their own purposes, and do the very opposite of what the rule of law is meant to achieve, the situation that arises is one of absurdity. And such a situation exists in the country now. Those who are powerful can get anything done under the name of the law. It is those who do not have such means and those who are in a helpless situation that become the victims of this unfortunate situation.

Unfortunately, some people exploit these helpless people and try to take all kinds of advantages from their situation. There is thus a need to genuinely assist those who are in this situation, enabling them to fight against the various injustices they face. This book is an attempt to share information useful to people in that situation, so that not only could they know their rights, but they could also know how to intervene within the system and thereby become active agents of their own rights.

Agencies that must be dealt with in protecting rights are the police, the judiciary and the Attorney General’s Department. As a result of the lawlessness that prevails in Sri Lanka, obtaining proper services from these institutions has itself become a difficult affair. In this book, Janasansadaya provides people with various methods by which their interventions with these institutions can be improved. The book first explains in simple terms what the institutions are supposed to do, and then explains what an individual can do if those services are not provided to them, with practical experiences that Janasansadaya has gained in the course of its work. Situations such as arrest while being at home, the right to obtain certificate for confirming the arrest and what an individual should do when he is arrested in order to safeguard his own rights, are explained. The Hand Book also explains what needs to be done when a person is arrested at his work placeor when he is on the road, and various other occasions in which a person may be taken into police custody.

Then the Hand Book explains how to obtain copies of complaints made against an arrested person. The sample letters that are provided can guide a person to write letters to the police and other institutions asking for certified copies of statements. The book also explains what needs to be done when one is arrested under a warrant. Various types of situations that have arisen have been given as examples so that a person facing such a situation can utilise this knowledge in protecting his own rights.

One section of the book is devoted to people who have been taken into custody for ransom. Various examples of how this has happened in the past are provided, followed by the various steps that can be taken under such circumstances. Then arrest under anti-terrorism laws or emergency regulations is explained. Even under these, there are various methods by which one could intervene immediately if one is wrongly arrested under these draconian laws. The Hand Book also explains how a recording could be done of the arrest. If it is not possible to get the police to make such a recording, then it could be done by way of writing letters to the police station or to higher authorities.

The Hand Book then explains the situation of detention and the right of persons who are under detention, and also what could be done to keep a faithful record of all events while under detention. If what has been done to a person is illegal, even when he is under arrest there are methods by which he could get such things recorded and later bring them to the notice of courts or the human rights commission and the like.

A large section of the book is devoted to those who have been tortured under arrest. This is an area where Jansansadaya has a lot of experience, and they have utilised this experience in order to advise the victims of what they should do when they face such circumstances.

The law relating to torture is explained in detail, with examples of various letters previously written on behalf of persons who have been tortured. These letters which have been written to authorities while the person has been tortured have proved very useful later, when the matters are brought to courts for litigation of one form or another.

In fact, the entire book consisting of 88 pages is full of very practical advice for those who are faced with various types of problems relating to arrest, detention, torture and other difficulties in obtaining redress.

The value of this book is that it comes from a group of individual citizens who are not professional lawyers, but who have been able to assist many victims, often better than the lawyers themselves. The very idea of barefoot lawyers is that there are things people without professional qualifications can still do in order to safeguard their rights and the rights of others, if they have the courage to do so. This aspect of courage is emphasized because very often, even when people approach professional lawyers for advice, it is often difficult to fight with the police or deal with the neglect of the Attorney General’s Department, or with the various problems arising in courts.

Janasansadaya, with its extensive experience, has shared with such persons what can be done by themselves, and with the help of others. The book is a testament to overcoming fears and obstacles, many of which are created by self-interested parties. With a bit of knowledge about the basic rules of law, and above all with the strength of character to resist injustice, Janasansadaya states that people can strengthen themselves and protect their own rights better.

Govt. to conserve 12,000 Buddhist temples - PM

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe offering Ata Pirikara to the Mahanayake of the Amarapura Chapter Most Ven. Kotugoda Dhmmawasa Thera. Picture by Saman Sri Wedage

Upali Karunaratne-Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday asked as to why the previous regime failed to conserve and develop Buddhist temples in the country by using the funds available at the Central Cultural Fund.

The Prime Minister added that the government is in the process of conserving and developing 12,000 Buddhist temples island wide by making use of funds at Central Cultural Fund.

He said that the funds belonging to the Central Cultural Fund had gone missing in the past and the Maha Sangha should find how these funds have gone missing.

Speaking at the second stage of the national programme to conserve and develop 12,000 Buddhist temples around the country at Temple Trees, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government has succeeded in providing assistance to the highest number of temples

The Prime Minister added that the priority will given to conserve the Lovamahapaya, which is considered the centre of Theravada Buddhism for centuries on a request by Amarapura Nikaya Mahanayake Most Ven Kotugoda Dhammawasa Thera.

The Prime Minister said the government is committed to protecting the country's unitary status while giving precedence to Buddhism.

Mahanayake of the Kotte Sri Kalyani Dhamma Maha Sangha Sabha, Most Ven. Ittepane Dhammalankara Thera and Atamasthanadhipathi Ven. Pallegama Sirinivasa Thera and Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam were present.

‘Me and My Bonds’ ‘The President and I’ ‘As I always say’

By Sarath De Alwis-December 4, 2017, 9:12 pm

The statement of the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament about bonds made last week was a preemptive tactic to position himself and his beleaguered administration to deal with the report of the commission of inquiry due on 8th December.

His use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ in one instance conveys a collective authority and responsibility with the President. In the latter, ‘As I always say, the ‘I’ is more explanatory and uncharacteristically less authoritative.

The choice of pronouns in political statements and speeches indicates the speaker’s inclination to share the responsibility with others – in this instance with the coalition partner and President in the first, and with colleagues in the party and parliament in the second.

The pronoun ‘I ‘is not used lightly in political statements that are drafted and readout. The pronoun ‘I’ in such framed statements conveys the speaker’s opinion. It makes the speech more subjective. Students of political rhetoric believe that ‘I’ makes the speaker personally involved and puts a distance between him and others involved in the subject.

There is, no doubt, that the Bond fiasco has undermined the leadership of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. The country demands a re-committed leadership.

Politicians engaged in image repairing do not say sorry for the errant act or misdeed. Political leaders are human. They make mistakes, commit blunders. When they do, a solid unambiguous apology and an acceptance of responsibility can help restore a reasonable level of trust between the leader and the public.

A general declaration that mistakes will be corrected and the forward march will proceed as planned is a thin shroud that will not cover the enormity of the inequity committed.

The sense of inadvertence it implies is an insult to the intelligence of the man on the street although it may appeal to those living in penthouses.

Mr. Wickremesinghe is not a monetary economist. He is not a development economist. He is not the repository of all wisdom relating to central banking.

Yet, he has by deliberate design, concentrated all powers in guiding the nation’s economy in his hands. While insisting that parliament will have full control of public finance, he relies on a few self-declared experts who regard the national coffers their personal fiefdom.

"As I always say, the President and I are committed to bringing in this new political culture. This is a new experience for our country. Some find it difficult to comprehend it due to complexities of this process. Due to its novelty, mistakes can be made, shortcomings may arise. We should rectify them. But we are not ready to sweep the errors and shortfalls under the carpet as was done during the Rajapaksa regime and bury social justice."

The quoted passage reveals the mind and politics of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. He confuses power with virtue.

His opening ruse, "As I always say’, is intended to locate himself above the hoi polloi on an elevated grandstand. From those lofty heights he looks down on us ‘we the people’, whose public purse has been picked by one of the two ‘Arjuns’ or both.

A grand stand is not the best place to locate yourself in explaining a grand larceny.

The statement defined and framed the role of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe in the Bond scandal. It lacked clarity, lucidity, enlightenment and truth. If he achieved anything at all, it was his mastery in the opaque language.

The intention was to repair and restore the image of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. The principal issue was the bonds issued in the period post 8th January 2015. The explanation was a promise to probe, bonds issued and traded pre-January 8th, 2015. It is Koheda Yanne Malle Pol!

Superficial in substance, laughable in its logic, it was delivered in choking Sinhala. The Prime Minster failed to answer the crucial question of what he knew and when he knew of the transactions between and by the two ‘Arjuns’. The strategic positions in our financial firmament held by the father-in-law and the son-in-law was entirely due to the personal bonds they had with him.

We dislodged the autocracy of Mahinda Rajapaksa on 8th January. The wizard of central banking abandons his lucrative practice as an investment banker, packs up his bags and leaves Singapore within the week. That needs some explanation.

Political leaders are human. They make mistakes, commit blunders. When they do, a solid unambiguous apology and an acceptance of responsibility can help restore a reasonable level of trust between the leader and the public.

Lest we forget, this explanation was made by the Prime Minister on behalf of the government that promised to replace a corrupt regime with a government of integrity, transparency and accountability.

President Sirisena recently reminded us that the first transgression was enacted within the first three months of his assuming office and installing a minority UNP government. His forthright observation was made at the second commemorative ceremony of Venerable Sobhitha Thera. The event was avoided by the Prime minister who did not wish to sit through the peroration of Prof. Sarath Wijesuriya, Convener and present leader of the Movement for a Just Society.

The findings and recommendations of the commission will determine the trajectory of the ‘Yaha Palanaya’ coalition. Despite expedient protests to the contrary, the shady business of bonds has derailed the ‘Yaha Palanaya’ project that held immense promise to those of us; who longed for a land reconciled, at peace with itself and with a minimal semblance of a sanctuary of social justice.

Apology is alien to the nature of PM Wickremesinghe. He was practically choking on the words delivered in Sinhala. He wisely opted to do it in the language that is not his natural lingo.

Reiterating the determination to go forward while confessing to mistakes and shortcomings is a smart way of offering a non-apologetic apology. It is smart because it appeases your own ranks. It is smarter than the tactic adopted by Sujeeva Senasinghe, who with his hands in the cookie jar was telling us that he only wished to learn the art of making cookies and was by no means trying to eat them.

But, when a leader makes that to circumvent ethical impropriety, it portrays a leader missing the critical component of accountability. Telling us that "mistakes were made" is a poor substitute for what is implied unmistakably but dressed in jackal cunning. "Terrible things happened on my watch. But please other people did those dirty stuff and I cannot be blamed. Besides, more terrible things happened before my watch. Now let us see who is to be blamed more."

The statement delivered in parliament, with no interruptions was a strategy to return to the party fortress with minimal damage and least cost to reputation and credibility.

PM Wickremesinghe is a leader who has survived for forty years in politics outwitting charismatic rivals. His charisma is bestowed on him by a faithful coterie of cronies and self-serving followers. An explicable destiny has given him command of an established political party – the UNP - with a solid voter base in our clientelist democracy.

This special class of cronies is elite activists, including a powerful set of oligarchs, active behind the UNP stage. The UNP stage is his home turf where he alone is the only soprano in town.

They have bestowed the charisma of a clean, resolute leader on him. That is natural. When a person seems to embody the qualities, they look for in a leader, they contrive to build a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

Ranil is a leader who treats the public with disdain. He treats his crony counsellors with great diffidence. He dominates his political colleagues. He assiduously concentrates decision making in his own hands.

That is how he arrived at his present disaster. He had not learned his lesson. He does not consult the party. He manipulates it. He does not heed contrary opinion. He chooses to ignore it. He lives in a make-believe world inhabited by aides who are eager to pander to his foibles. They are happy to keep the emperor clothed in imagined silk. They take decisions in the name of the leader. That in a nutshell, explains the predicament of a Prime Minister pre-doomed to a revolving door in high office.

Can Sri Lanka Survive Endemic Corruption?

By Shiny Wijesundara –December 5 2017

My heart bleeds for Sri Lanka. 70 years of Independence has but reduced this thrice blessed nation to wallow in it’s own spittle, unable to extricate itself. The rainbow revolution has faded, not extinguished fully but well on the way to self destruction. The cause is clear but politicians are unwilling to trod the path set out for them by the people in 2015.

This government was given an open cheque to change the course of history. What better platform than to have the two main protagonists joining to steer the country on an even keel. We were fooled.
Colombo, considered to be the most affluent, learned, well informed, better than other districts in infrastructure, schools, hospitals has always voted with the UNP. One could safely assume that the informed judgement is for the UNP. The rural areas has not recovered from the fib SWRD played on them. True, more Sinhala and Tamil children from rural areas have got greater opportunity to enter Universities and thereby secure better jobs both in Sri Lanka and away. That however, has come at a price.

It was in the sixties that the Z score was introduced in order seemingly to level the playing field for Districts with less facilities in schools to have a lower mark to enter Universities. Fifty years have gone by and the system is yet in place. Successive governments have not improved the facilities in these Districts to the level of Colombo, Kandy, Galle and Jaffna. Unpardonable. Colombo and other empowered District’s children are being discriminated by continuing the Z score system The government may say that there is no funding available to do so. But, there has been funding to build new Airports, Harbours, Cricket Stadia, Lotus Towers etc. Perhaps to the politician these are more important than building a Nation’s human resource capital. Will the next generation be allowed to reach their true potential or would they have to go abroad to achieve it? Even little infants adopted at a tender age of two fortunately clutched from their poor farming parents by foreigners have achieved dizzying heights as evidenced recently. Shame on us the people. More shame on you, the politicians who were trusted by us.

President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, please listen.

You were given the responsibility to change the course of history. It was not an individual victory for either of you. It was meant to be for the people who by then were confused, robbed off, misguided, murdered, abducted by a most dastardly of regimes. All the rhetoric you used against that family of black guards during elections, we know were true. But you have failed. You cannot say it is the system. The people were with you to change the system. You are not able to do so. We do not believe there is a Macron moment to save Sri Lanka. Only because the larger majority have been fooled to think their lot is to suffer and kneel before the politician. So pull up your socks…..for our sake.

We have seen our people continue to vote in larger majorities the rogues, drug peddlers, murderers et al. These poor voters have seen the humble beginnings of the politicians who subsequently build palaces in their village, buy palaces in Colombo and overseas and live extravagant lives.Yet they vote them in on larger majorities at the next election. We are a clever nation (are we?) and foolish too at the same time.

Why are the Rajapaksa’s still roaming free? Most of the other politicians against much corruption charges were levelled are yet free. The most dastardly of crimes committed by the so called “war hero’s” under illegal orders are not pursued purely because the Sinhala Buddhist heritage they seemingly saved would make the present lot lose votes. What a country to have a leadership consisting of the two main parties unable to carry the people to see right from wrong. This government was voted in on the path breaking work done by journalists such as Lasantha Wickremetunge, Keith Noyarh, Poddala Jayantha et al who were made to pay a price for their efforts. Lasantha, paid the ultimate price. The perpetrators are on bail and so is The One who gave orders. So it is with Rugby player Thajudeen. Reports say that over 90 investigations are before the Attorney General for advise. Tosh. Does the Police send files to the Attorney General when a man robs a bicycle? Knifes someone? Does the IGP’s of other nations take orders from the Minister? Is the Inspector General incapable of leading his Department without political advice? Why on earth are Independent Commissions, for?

We find this government gasping for breath on the back of the Bond scandal. There appears to be a prima facie case. Ravi Karunanayake seems to be knee deep along with former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran and his son in law Arjun Aloysius. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe giving evidence before the Commission for now appears to have been given the benefit of the doubt but certainly soiled his image built over time. No one called him dishonest but truth be told his judgement of people has been found wanting time and again. His ability to listen to advice (if he ever does) therefore would come from the wrong sources.

How Priyath Bandu sold ‘Cormorant’ as scrap iron

- Dec 04, 2017

Lanka News Web has received details of how former Ports Authority chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama had sold the ship ‘Cormorant’ for scrap iron. This ship was partly shipwrecked during the 2004 tsunami. The port management institute, whose chairman is the SLPA chairman, is in charge of dealing with such ships.

In 2007, a cabinet decision was taken to sell the ship in auction for the highest bid. At the time, the estimated value of the ‘Cormorant’ was Rs. five million. However, it contained 10,000 tons of iron, and the estimated rate was Rs. 500 per ton. That began the chain of frauds.

Thereafter, without any tender calling, Wickrama entrusted his businessman friend Manuel Gratien with the task of dismantling the ship. The businessman has told the investigators that he gave Rs. 10 m to Wickrama, while the ship’s worth was mentioned half that amount.

Wickrama started having his own ways at the SLFP after Mangala Samaraweera left the subject ministry in 2007.

Many more persons are involved in the fraud. We have much information about it, but we can reveal only part of it, because not even courts are yet to be informed. After that is done, LNW will make a detailed exposure.

Fall of 'DALA POOTUWA' Illegal ivory trade calls for tighter laws and more vigilance

2017-12-05

Elephants have begun to walk their path to extinction. Once a majestic being of the wild that every human feared could be shot dead in seconds today. With the recent killing of the Galgamuwa ‘Dala Poottuwa’ and another tusker in Karuwalagaswewa, the greed for prestige and a few million bucks has clearly surfaced.

Fall of 'DALA POOTUWA' Illegal ivory trade calls for tighter laws and more vigilance.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Monday, December 4, 2017

Ten arrested over murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

Malta’s PM, Joseph Muscat, offers ‘personal commitment’ that those responsible for the killing will be found

Daphne Caruana Galizia in April 2016. She in October in a powerful car bomb yards from her home. Photograph: Jon Borg/AP

Jon Henley, Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jamie Grierson-Monday 4 December 2017 13.29 GMT

Police in Malta have arrested 10 suspects over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, the country’s prime minister has said, nearly two months after the anti-corruption journalist was killed by a powerful car bomb.

Joseph Muscat told a press conference that eight people – all Maltese nationals, most with criminal records – had been detained in early-morning raids in three different parts of the island. He tweeted later that two more suspects were also in custody.

Muscat said there was a “reasonable suspicion” the suspects were involved in the killing of Caruana Galizia, whose popular blog attacked high-level political corruption, shady business dealings and organised crime on the island.

The joint police and military operation was the first breakthrough for the Maltese investigation, which has been helped by experts from the FBI, Europol and the Finnish and Dutch security services. Police now have 48 hours to interrogate the suspects and either charge or release them.

Muscat, who was a frequent target of Caruana Galizia’s blog reports along with others in his inner circle, said he could give no further details of the arrests, the suspects or the evidence against them, but offered his “personal commitment” that those responsible for the killing would be found.

Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew, who is also a reporter, told the Guardian his family were “in the dark” about the arrests and had been given no further information beyond a phone call from a magistrate’s office after the arrests were made public.

At a separate event, the island’s police commissioner, Lawrence Cutajar, refused to take any questions about the arrests, which have been called one of the biggest police operations in Maltese history.

They took place in Marsa, where other car bombings have occurred, as well as Zebbug, a village in central Malta, and in the northern town of St Paul’s Bay. A section of Lighters Wharf in the port area of Marsa was still sealed off later on Monday as military personnel and police used sniffer dogs to search buildings.

The murder on 16 October sent shockwaves through the island and alarmed the EU, which was already concerned about the rule of law on Malta. The bloc’s smallest member state has often been branded a haven for dubious foreign money.

Last week, MEPs visiting Malta on a fact-finding mission said they had arrived “seriously concerned” about the rule of law and were leaving “even more worried”. They said an apparent reluctance to investigate and prosecute major cases had created a “perception of impunity”.

The journalist’s family are taking legal action against the island’s police, saying the investigation into the killing cannot be impartial and independent since Caruana Galizia wrote critical articles about both the senior officer now running it, Silvio Valletta, and his wife, a top government minister.

The family have alleged that her murder was a “targeted killing” of a journalist whose work focused on uncovering “corruption, criminality, conflicts of interest and ethical failures in decision-making” by politicians and their associates.

The family have raised other concerns about the investigation, which they say appears to be focusing only on forensic evidence rather than examining financial transactions that could uncover vital evidence. They also suggest leaks from within the police could intimidate potential informants.

The most significant investigations by the murdered journalist stemmed from the Panama Papers, a leak of documents from the archives of the offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca. Malta’s government is offering a €1m reward for information relating to the killing.

A top Italian prosecutor, Carmelo Zuccaro, has said he believes the murder could be linked to an investigation he is leading into a fuel-smuggling operation spanning Libya, Malta and Italy and involving organised crime groups in Sicily. Caruana Galizia wrote about some of those linked to the inquiry.

Antonio Di Pietro, an Italian politician and judge who was a prosecutor in Italy’s anti-corruption Mani Pulite corruption trials in the 1990s, said on Monday that Caruana Galizia’s murder had all the hallmarks of a mafia-style killing.

“It was professional and a classic mafia-style homicide,” Di Pietro told the Times of Malta. “The mafia’s style is intimidation. The target was not only poor Caruana Galizia … but all those around her because it was a clear warning: be careful or you’ll suffer the same fate.”

Responding to a public letter from eight of the world’s largest media organisations including the New York Times, BBC and the Guardian, the first vice-president of the EU commission, Frans Timmermans, last month issued a strong warning to Malta.

“The eyes of Europe are on the Maltese authorities,” Timmermans said. “We want those directly and indirectly responsible for this horrible murder to be brought to justice.”
Additional reporting by Lorenzo Tondo

Israeli soldiers injure two Palestinians as settlers burn fields near Nablus

Clashes erupt after Israeli settlers marched on fields of Qusra village south of Nablus

Palestinian man argues with an Israeli soldier during clashes near the West Bank village of Qusra south of Nablus on 4 December 2017 (Reuters)

Monday 4 December 2017

Two Palestinians were injured and three others arrested on Monday in a confrontation with the Israeli army and settlers at the eastern entrance of Qusra village, according to local media.

The confrontation came on Monday morning after settlers along with Israeli soldiers tried to storm the village.

Israeli soldiers shooting at the Palestinians in Qusra village (Twitter\@Taghreeba)

Ahmed Fayez Darwish, a young man from Qusra, was shot in his chest and he was taken to Rafidia hospital in Nablus.

Footage on social media showed Israeli soldiers using tear gas canisters and bullets against Palestinians.

Settlers set a fire in the fields that belong to the inhabitants of Qusra.

The Israeli military did not issue a statement regarding the clashes at the time of publication.

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Israeli settlers kill unarmed Palestinian in village near Nablus

Last Thursday, Israeli settlers shot dead Mahmoud Odeh, a 48-year-old farmer from Qusra, while tending his field.

The Israeli army held Odeh's body for more than 24 hours and refused to allow Palestinians from approaching the site where he was killed.

On Friday evening, an Israeli military vehicle delivered Odeh's body to the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance at Jeet Junction, the main road junction that leads to Nablus city. He was buried in his hometown on Saturday.

The Israeli army deliver Mahmoud Odeh's body to the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance

Six thousand Palestinians live in Qusra village which is surrounded by three Israeli settlements, Migdalim (to the east), Esh Kodesh (south-east) and Ehia (south).

According to the Oslo Accords of 1993, Qusra was designated as Area B under Palestinian and Israeli control, while the lands and fields of the village were designated as Area C which is under full Israeli military and civil control.

Palestinian farmers from Qusra struggle with the Israeli army and settlers whenever they want to reach their fields to tend them.