Lawyer files for Writ of Mandamus against Supreme Court Judge Eva Wansundara

Dec 06, 2017

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) wishes to forward to you the following Petition filed in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka,

where senior lawyer, and public interest litigation activist Mr Nagananda Kodituwakku has requested for a Writ of Mandamus against Supreme Court Justice Eva Wanasundera, and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, for its failure to initiate a credible investigation into the complaint made against the said Supreme Court Judge.

The Respondents in the action are named as follows;

1. Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption;
2. T B Weerasuriya (Chairman) of the Commission;
3. W Lal Ranjith Silva (Member) of the Commission;
4. Chandranath Neville Guruge (Member) of the Commission;
5. Sarath Jayamanna, The Director General;
6. Eva Wanasudera, Supreme Court Judge; and
7. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Full Text of the Petition SC/Writs/03/2017, filed on 06.12.2017 can be read HERE.

eva IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE.pdf by Thavam on Scribd

Who is the Liberal? Dudley, SWRD, CBK or GD?

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2017-12-06

“Of all the varieties of virtues, Liberalism is the most beloved.” ~Aristotle

A person open to new behaviour or opinions and willing to discard traditional values, that is the dictionary definition of a Liberal.

A Liberal in the context of that definition would always find opposition and vehement resistance from those who are called conservatives. A conservative, a person who is averse to change and holds to traditional values and attitudes, typically in relation to politics, at all times resists change; he is not only averse to change, he is fundamentally in denial of progressive ideas; he, in the writer’s opinion, is a great vehicle of resistance to human development. From Siddhartha Gautama to Socrates, Aristotle and Plato to Moses and Jesus Christ defied tradition and convention at the time and revolted against deeply held beliefs and superstitions.

• From Siddhartha Gautama to Socrates, Aristotle and Plato to Moses and Jesus Christ defied tradition and convention at the time and revolted against deeply held beliefs and superstitions.
• Man’s inherent dependence for salvation on mystic and abstract existences of ‘gods’ and deities further helped to bury the fundamental purities
• Their belief in ‘social justice’ ..has an unmistakable appeal to the underprivileged and suppressed
• In the West ‘Liberalism’ is defined as a modern social force
• Propagation of beliefs in unseen gods paved the way for the rejection of elementary wisdom.

Their very appeal to the development of human thought and its relentless progress towards perfection had a novel and refreshing dynamic which eventually created a ‘religion’ or a philosophy which in turn created an untold number of devout followers.

Thereafter, followed the corruption and contamination of the essence of the teachings. That sorrowful saga of adulteration has propelled human society to vastly expanding frontiers. Its expansion has embraced whatever that was available for easier assimilation of superstitions and blind following.
Man’s inherent dependence for salvation on mystic and abstract existences of ‘gods’ and deities further helped to bury the fundamental purities of all religions and philosophies.
Popular beliefs overtook intellectual curiosities.

Propagation of beliefs in unseen gods paved the way for the rejection of elementary wisdom. It is in this context of rapidly advancing forces of corruption and contamination of original thoughts and ideals, one has to analyze and dissect the modern development of Liberalism which has assumed novel intellectual dimensions.

In Sri Lanka’s milieu, political Liberalism is essentially based on one’s beliefs and actions on the assimilation of all communities and religions into one cohesive single community…...

In the West, especially in the United States and the Western Europe, ‘Liberalism’ is defined as a modern social force that is embracing all nuanced elements of human development in the fields of permissive and ‘free’ thinking.

This fresh inquiry into the development of the human mind in its modern manifestations of unhinged expressions brought us the accommodation of human behaviours which were hereto rejected as ‘ungodly’, perverted and malignant.

Hence the rejection of homosexuality, transgender conducts and lesbianism. But modern societies all over the Western world have chosen to legitimize and accept such behaviours as acceptable and tolerable.

But Liberalism in a political context is different in that the Liberals are basically tolerant of the modern manifestations of Liberal expression of human development. Their intrinsic belief in ‘social justice’ as an essential part of their political empowerment of the societies they claim to serve has an unmistakable appeal to the underprivileged and suppressed class of masses.


In that context of ‘political Liberalism’, Sri Lanka has produced some leading politicians whose contributions to the development of a strong sense of ‘social justice’ and fair play. In Sri Lanka’s milieu, political Liberalism is essentially based on one’s beliefs and actions on the assimilation of all communities and religions into one cohesive single community and the accommodation of the minorities and acceptance of their legitimate claims and struggle for their ‘rightful’ rights. Blind and insular adherence to the dominance of the majority and its willful suppression of a minority did not appeal to these Liberal minds of the four political leaders I am writing about in today’s column.

Dudley Senanayake, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Gamini Dissanayake stand out as the only such leaders who chose to withstand the dominance of the ‘majority-thinking’ and extend quite a friendly and generous hand to the minorities in Sri Lanka and introduce structural and fundamental changes to the country’s governing system. Dudley Senanayake’s approach to the nation’s demands for social justice and his unmatched empathetic comportment qualifies him to be among this elite group of Liberals in Sri Lanka. Dudley Senanayake’s engagement with the then Tamil leaders of the likes of Arunachalam Mahadeva, G. G. Ponnambalam, S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, E. M. V. Naganathan and Murugeysen Tiruchelvam was always in a very constructive fashion and he was known to be a personal friend of these Tamil giants of his era.

However, his personal relationships with Tamil leaders alone would not have sufficed to be a Liberal. His engagement with the Federal Party as an equal partner in the coalition government in 1965 and the very introduction of the Dudley/Chelvanayagam Pact on the basis of devolution of powers may have brought unmitigated scorn from the Sinhalese chauvinists, yet his profound belief in equality to all communities made him a man of great honesty and human decency. Yet Liberalism should not be limited to just talk and attempts to enact and legislate the necessary safeguards for the minorities. It resides in baring fruitful consequences. In that crucial story of political achievements, both Dudley Senanayake in 1965 and S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in 1957 failed miserably.

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike too, known to be an unadulterated Liberal of the first half of the Twentieth Century, went thus far and no further. At the most crucial moment of political accommodation and granting equality to the minority communities, Bandaranaike and Dudley Senanayake pulled their punches and caved into the pressures of their respective electorates. When Bandaranaike, with all his Liberal-minded, expansive political genius drafted the famous Bandaranaike/Chelva Pact (BC Pact), he never provided for the coming of the Sinhalese-Buddhist opposition to ‘Liberal’ accommodations.
That opposition buried the Pact and in a very expansive sense, his life too. The ‘Buddharakkhithas’ of the era were not ready for any ‘betrayal’ of ‘the land, the race and the faith’. The giant Liberals of the time, Dudley Senanayake and S W R D Bandaranaike, caved into the pressures of the conservatives who dominated the mind and thought of the majority.

However, that caving-in did not classify Dudley and S W R D as non-Liberals. But the lasting memory they created in the alert minds of the then Tamils was one of being let-down and betrayed. That sentiment among the Tamil leaders contributed to their personal assessment of the two Sinhalese leaders. Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (CBK) too is known to be a Liberal politician whose rhetorical declarations bordered on outright departure from the Sinhalese-dominant thinking at a time of military conflict between the two communities, Sinhalese and Tamils.

The controversy was always part and parcel of the CBK aura and her constant conflicts with the majority community regarding the most significant national issue placed her in a precarious position. Yet she never caved in, for there was no occasion to do so. Her attempt to rebrand the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as a political entity which is tolerant of the minority interests did not achieve the desired results. CBK is a thoroughly forgettable Liberal. Her continuous skirmishes with the media personnel and lackadaisical manner in which she administered the affairs of the country overshadowed the Liberal attire she chose to wear.

Then there was Gamini Dissanayake. His deep-rooted beliefs in social justice and equality to all communities, whether on the basis of caste, creed or race, made him a politician who chose to stand alone in the midst of popular conservatives in his own party. R Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali and even J. R. Jayewardene were never known to be Liberals. Gamini’s involvement in the drafting of the Thirteenth Amendment and its inclusion as part of the Gandhi/Jayewardene Accord is beyond dispute. Describing the ultimate Liberal, Leonard Bernstein who was one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history, said that ‘a Liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright infinite future’. Gamini Dissanayake fits into this description not only in the sense of conception but more in the eventual desired results he achieved in the real practice of Liberalism.

Dudley’s engagement with the Tamil leaders like Arunachalam Mahadeva, G. G Ponnambalam, S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, was always in a very constructive...

The manifestation of Liberalism in a politician, the sacrifice one needs to make in order to place that Liberalism in a real litmus test in the unpredictable spectre of politics, is indeed rare. But very few politicians would go that extra mile in pursuit of his or her target. Despite the wrath of the Tamil community leaders mistakenly unleashed on Gamini Dissanayake as one of the leaders in the burning of the Jaffna library, Gamini Dissanayake easily surpasses as a supreme Liberal of our time. His Liberalism was not confined in a rhetorical cocoon; nor was it used as a tool to gain votes among the minority Tamils or Muslims.

Dudley Senanayake, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Gamini Dissanayake were the only recognizable Liberals of our times. In a land known for its generous hospitality and broad acceptance of opposite views and opinions, it is strange that the conservative leaders of the land have prevailed in the context of elections. Their fear-centred political message has carried the day. A very few have dared to defy the norm. We should be thankful for the few.
The writer can be contacted at vishwamithra1984@gmail.com

State and govt. not interchangeable: Same goes for revenue and income

Hoax of free education and free health services

Continued from Yesterday

By Usvatte-aratchi-December 5, 2017

‘Attack on free education’ hoax

A hoax, when used to deceive people, is in a category somewhat but not entirely, different from the earlier concerns. The foundation of Free Education laid by Kannangara was that education was available free of payment of tuition fees from kindergarten to university. Sirimavo Bandaranaike buttressed that edifice when her government took over many schools in the private sector. It follows that major attacks on this massive structure must consist of a denial of that foundation and the weakening of those buttresses that strengthened the edifice. Facilities for education at the primary level became universally available as is evident with the universal enrolment in school of children aged 5-10. From age 11 years, opportunities are not available evenly over the country.

Educationally disadvantaged districts in the country are evidence of the uneven distribution of educational facilities at higher levels. This problem was to be resolved partly by providing scholarships, enabling bright children from poor families to seek education in higher quality schools. That process ran into problems as children of better off families grabbed opportunities to study in better schools using various subterfuges and by performing better at scholarship examinations. That opening was enough for Panzer Division attacks on the lightly fortified structure that was free education. Expensive private tuition as a determinant of how well a student performs at examinations dug in with mighty guns, with spies and weapons both light and heavy. It was teachers (spies and fifth columnists) in government schools who neglected to teach students well in schools and opened the gates to the citadel and dropped the bridge to permit the invasion. Teachers themselves put up shop to provide the market for private tuition. So died the scheme for free education that Kannangara had set up! It was then necessary to set up camps from where what was left of the free education system could be weakened. Those camps came disguised in the form of ‘international schools’, a misnomer if there ever were one.

Almost every member of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) came into medical schools because their parents spent their private funds to pay to enter good schools and spent lavishly on private tuition classes. What more direct assault on Free Education? It is true that those who enter a medical faculty have scored the highest marks at the relevant examinations. It does not follow that they were the most intelligent students in their age cohort. They were the most intelligent and tenacious students1} in their age cohort whose parents could afford to get them into good schools and pay the high fees charged by tuition masters, precisely the situation that prevailed before 1944 and which the Free Education Scheme was designed to end. (It is necessary to bear in mind that before severe competition to enter medical faculties emerged, a few schools in Colombo and Jaffna sent whole broods of students to medical faculties. [The information is in the Annual Reports of the Director of Education for those years.] They did not have to cross a high bar of a Z score. The great advances in health conditions in our country were made under the care of these men and women and now we speak of them with the highest adoration. These graduates have done exceedingly well whether at home or abroad. The levels of intelligence and education were no bar to high performance in the profession.)The fundamental principle of Kannangara’s FREE EDUCATION scheme buttressed by Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s takeover of private schools was that education was free, free from the payment of tuition fees from kindergarten to university. The irony of it all lies in GMOA and university students parading streets in support of GMOA and in defence of ‘free education’, when every member of GMOA had entered the medical faculty by joining forces that brazenly attacked the free education scheme! The participation of the Inter-university Students’ Federation is an exhibition of the poverty of cognitive skills that they have developed at school and university. The irony of ironies is that the most successful tuition master was the Minister of (Free) Education in the country with the most successful entrepreneur with fee levying schools was a Deputy Minister of (Free) Education! That minister, faithful to his profession, now supports the claims of GMOA! SAITM was a logical extension of the market for higher secondary education that had developed to satisfy the demand by parents with sufficient resources (not necessarily rich) to buy the services offered. All kinds of shops with fanciful names have come up to teach other disciplines. If one conducted a survey to find the social and economic characteristics of parents of students who entered government medical faculties and SAITM medical school, say in 2016, he/she would find no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Members of the GMOA stopped paying for education when they entered medical schools and now want to prevent their erstwhile colleagues from continuing the practice in which they were colleagues. These doctors are perpetrators of a mighty hoax that has brazenly attacked the scheme of free education and now stand as a phalanx to guard their monopoly to earn rent on the scarcity that they were heir to.

Look at the business model that most medical practitioners follow. The exceptions are medical practitioners entirely in the public sector (of whom there are many) or entirely in the private sector (of whom there are a few). Most practitioners work in both sectors. They are in the nature of independent contract workers who work for a multiplicity of employers with different employment contracts with each. Take someone who teaches in a Faculty of Medicine. She has an employment contract with the university in which she undertakes to teach in the university and to participate in other functions of a university teacher. She might function as a Dean of the Faculty, Head of a Department and in many other roles. A part of that contract may be that she receives a monthly salary and a pension on retirement at a stipulated age. She might also work in a number of hospitals, not necessarily teaching hospitals, and enter into a different contract with each employer. She would work at a private for-profit hospital for an entirely different pay structure. She would earn as much as she would like depending on the demand for her services. She would earn depending on the quality of services she sells in contrast to the contract with the university where she has permanent tenure of employment and it is very rarely that her employment contract would be terminated for incompetence.

A medical practitioner working in a government hospital and a private sector hospital has a very busy schedule. How much more busy would be a person teaching in a university, working in a teaching hospital and working in several private hospitals, all within the twenty four hours of the day? It is not rare, though perhaps uncommon, for a patient to see a consultant at 11.45 in the night after that doctor had taught in the university and worked in a private hospital, since morning. He surely must need time to renew his lecture notes, which he began writing some15 years ago. The cost to the medical practitioner is his health, his leisure and any social life. (Try inviting them to an evening meal!) The costs to society are the services of an experienced doctor working with a relaxed and lively mind and time to spend more than three minutes seeing a patient, a university teacher abreast of writings in the advanced medical journals and someone who has the time to contribute to growing knowledge in his own field. Not even a common practitioner of medicine can effectively function now without acquiring new knowledge emanating from universities and labs and disseminated faster and wider than we have ever earlier. (The tendency to prescribe antibiotics in large quantities to patients is partly an outcome of this practice of not keeping up with developments in their field of work.) Yet, the best minds in the country can find hardly eight hours to sleep because of pre-occupation with concerns other than the pursuit of knowledge. Some scientists in the Faculty in Colombo are reputed to write good papers in micro-biology. It is common to speak with derogation about the lack of research by university teachers in the humanities and social studies. With the business models that teachers in the Medical Faculty follow, I cannot see how they can even keep abreast of writings in their fields, far from undertaking any research. The GMOA was vociferous in their denunciation of private sector medical education lest people’s lives should be in danger. Did they ever examine the ever present danger to patients consequent upon the business model that their members follow?

Robber barons, robber knaves and robber knave-barons

I am aware that robber barons inhabit the private sector of the economy. (This genus first appeared in the late 19th century in the Eastern sea border of US.) I am also aware that robber knaves grow and thrive in the public sector of the economy. Both politicians and bureaucrats are members of this Contemptible Order of Robber Knaves (CORK/with sash). Haven’t we learnt that lesson when a mansion appeared with no owner or when an expensive pent house changed hands with a third party paying some Rs.175 million for it? Haven’t we learnt that lesson when a court convicted two senior bureaucrats of malfeasance in the use of public funds, of course to shorten to their journey in sansara? (Can’t we draw a new map that shows a shorter and less arduous route subject to the proviso that one used one’s own resources?) A robber knave-baron is born when e. g. a primary dealer in government bonds in the private sector is in miscegenation with bureaucrats in the government sector (even with the danger of incest) to do precisely what Raj Rajaratnam did in the New York stock market to enjoy the privileges of a long prison term. We, in Sri Lanka, are reputed for greater hospitality and it would displease many, especially those from the deep south if our courts did not uphold that reputation.

Conclusion

The abuse of terms when it is not due to unfamiliarity with them is a clever but contemptible way to confuse and mislead the public to get them to believe that what the perpetrators say is true. This is ‘1984’, déjà vu, all over again! To betray one’s state as Velupillai Piripaharan did is a heinous crime with grave consequences. But to betray a government and switch to the opposition to bring down that government is not. It is noble to defend one’s state but to defend a government may be to serve selfish ends. For a private sector organisation to sell medical education under any conditions is anathema. It is fine for private sector establishments to sell medical care services for a fee and run at a profit. There is the same irresoluble conflict in objectives when providing medical care in private sector hospitals or under other arrangements or when providing medical education under parallel arrangements. The public has been massively confused and grossly misled by GMOA and university students simply for the benefit of agents who send students to second rate medical schools overseas to collect fees from such schools as well as from students and for the GMOA to perpetuate the monopoly of medical practice to maximise earnings for its members. Their pretence that they protect free education and free health services has been a clever hoax. If the objective of GMOA were to ensure high quality medical education, there would be far less stupid ways to achieve that. These men shout themselves hoarse that government expenditure on education and health must increase and, unbelievably, at the same time, castigate government for raising tax revenue to pay for that increased expenditure. Keep your eyes peeled lest these hypocrites, robber barons, robber knave-barons and robber knaves should steal everything that you value.

Repairs to Cardiology Unit – a step towards privatization

December 6, 2017 by

The Cardiology Unit of the Colombo National Hospital, which performs the most number of heart surgeries in the island every year, has been closed jeopardizing the lives of patients states the General Secretary of All Ceylon Medical Officers Association Dr. Jayantha Bandara.

The OTJ theatre which contains intensive care units was closed 20 months ago in April 2016 and the OTC theatre was closed on 1st December this year points out Dr. Bandara.

Most of the by-pass operations are performed in OTJ theatre and at present, there are more than 3000 patients in the list awaiting by-pass surgery points out Dr. Bandara adding that all operations of these patients have been stopped.

Dr. Bandara says five specialist Heart Surgeons are attached to the two theatre complexes and they perform 900 to 1000 surgeries every year. He said there are about 7000 patients waiting for by-pass surgery and every year about 2500 new patients get added to the list.

Mr. Bandara said only 22 specialist Heart Surgeons serve in the country and 6 of them serve only the private sector he added. Three of them are Indians and the other three are Sri Lankans.

He said there are two specialist Heart Surgeons each in Karapitiya, Kandy and Jayawardenepura hospitals and said money has to be paid for all surgeries carried out at Jayawardenepura Hospital.
Dr. Bandara said cardiology units have been opened and specialist doctors have been appointed to Kurunegala, Anuradhapura and Jaffna hospitals but heart surgeries have not been performed as there are no necessary facilities in these hospitals for such surgeries.

Dr. Bandara says in a situation where both theatre complexes in Colombo National Hospital have been closed down the lives of those patients who are unable to spend money for their surgeries are in jeopardy. He said a situation has come in which heart patients die while they await surgery.

The General Secretary of All Ceylon Medical Officers Association Dr. Jayantha Bandara says what is being carried out is the sordid act of taking one step towards privatization of health services and emphasized a struggle should be carried out against the move to close down the two theatre complexes on the pretext of carrying out renovations and demanding faculties for other hospitals. He said his union has already arranged to rally patients, the public and other trade unions to carry out a massive struggle to win and protect the people’s right to free health services.

Is he an Aladdin with a magic lamp, Or a misguided Messiah?

2017-12-06

A few days ago, I was watching Pathikada on MTV, the Bandula Jayasekara morning show that gave a good all-round insight into happenings in Sri Lanka.

Bandula’s guest on that day was Rohan Pallewatte, an aspiring leader, who believes he can change the tide that is politically battering us and direct the nation on to a course of resurrection. A tall order by any standards to a new kid on the block! But, who knows? Maybe he could be the new-found Aladdin with the magic lamp who can come and work a miracle to oust the all-powerful demi-gods and their ‘holier than thou’ disciples who are the inheritors of Diyawanna-Oya.

One man against the seventy-year slide of a nation to damnation. Of course, the unknown capabilities of a ‘Johnny come lately’ to politics would be the most voiced negativity. That’s the biggest deterrent to his campaign; understandably it has its validities.

The businessman-turned-country-redeemer is confident he has a plan and a team too in place to make Lanka a ‘born again’ paradise. On record is the fact that he’s fought mega-battles in the world market and has risen to be a giant in his chosen field. That certainly is a commendable track-record.

But then, what is the choice for the people?

Heads we have lost and tails we have lost so what do we call now? In these circumstances, the third side of the coin does seem like a viable option. That was what the 2020 prospective Presidential candidate Rohan Pallewatte, was talking about on an MTV screen. It has been done before, powerful regimes have fallen or have been defeated against impossible odds where miniature modern-day Davids battled bigger Goliaths than the Biblical Philistinian and won.

Fidel Castro came down the Tuxpan River and crossed the Gulf of Mexico with eighty-two freedom-fighters. They defeated the all-powerful American-backed Batista in an armed struggle to take-over Cuba.

Lee Kwan Yu marched the political path and with sheer determination and discipline created the re-birth of a back-water Singapore to become a first world giant in twenty years. Such victories have been possible elsewhere too in the world during times we remember.

Let’s consider the peoples’ awakenings that changed governments, demolishing the Berlin wall was a classic example. The Arab Spring that virtually changed the Middle-East is another popular rising. How Nelson Mandela and the ANC won against white-minority rule in South Africa is another instance of people power.

Yes, it sure has been done before, as long as people wanted a change and arose in protest. The driving force behind them was their will to shake-off the yokes that shackled them and their generations to an oppressed life, this being their sole inheritance. Who knows? Maybe the gods themselves would have had enough in politically punishing Sri Lanka for all these years and might give us a new lease of life in the 2020 elections.

So, what about this new Aladdin with the magic lamp? He seems to be determined to drain Diyawanna-Oya and net the corrupted sharks and the thieving barracudas to carry-out a complete cleanup of the political mud-slide. Pallewatte’s idea is to bring in an economics-based brand-new leadership to begin a new chapter in Sri Lankan parliamentary rule. He very clearly stated that our primary problem was the breakdown of governing systems and the lack of monitoring to correct that.
The businessman-turned-country-redeemer is confident he has a plan and a team too in place to make Lanka a ‘born again’ paradise. On record is the fact that he’s fought mega-battles in the world market and has risen to be a giant in his chosen field. That certainly is a commendable track-record. We can only hope he can do a repeat performance when he changes lanes and starts running an obstacle-filled steeplechase in politics.

What would the long-suffering voter say about this new Aladdin and his magic promises? One thing the average man and woman of Sri Lanka is sure of. For seven decades what they heard from political platforms or on television screens and read in newsprint never saw the light of day as a reality. That has been our legacy. So why go around the mulberry-bush again? Why not at least look at a different option and a new-found hope? Maybe that too might become hopeless like the rest we have suffered. But at least we can try.

Interesting times are looming on the horizon for us with all the various elections taking place one after the other from 2018 to 2020. Already cracks have appeared in the ruling coalition and new friends are being vehemently sought in the parliament corridors or wherever whispered conversations exchange for political futures. Of course, we cannot forget the ‘gas maru, pethi choru’ types who will jump from one tree to the other depending on how lucrative the reward would be for changing political colours. According to Rohan Pallewatte he has already set up his team and drawn his road-map to commence his action plan.

So far, he is holding his cards close to his chest, but I hope he is aware that he needs to lay them on the table for all to see what his game-plan really is. People of Lanka have a right to know how Rohan is going to implement his master strategy if he wants to be elected as president in 2020.

What would the long-suffering voter say about this new Aladdin and his magic promises? One thing the average man and woman of Sri Lanka is sure of. For seven decades what they heard from political platforms or on television screens and read in newsprint never saw the light of day as a reality. That has been our legacy. So why go around the mulberry-bush again? Why not at least look at a different option...

Leaving all that aside even now he is a very much an unknown name and face to the common man. There ought to be a lot more than a 30-minute TV programme or a few newspaper articles for people to get to know him.

In the present context, none of the heavy-weights has confirmed his intention to contest the presidential election except Rohan Pallewatte.

He sounds confident, but that alone is not a valid yardstick. He cannot stay in the shadows and parachute to the parliament in 2020. The proletariat needs to know him. Maybe he has all the civil societies backing him as all of them have had enough of the current political melodrama. They are hell-bent on finding new answers to the perennial problem of leadership. Ask an average citizen and the answer comes without hesitation, “Don’t know whom to vote for in 2020, none we have can be trusted.” Seems like a new face will be in vogue.

That being the common consensus, would Rohan Pallewatte be the country’s long-awaited political Messiah? Would he be able to walk the talk and make the change for the ‘land like no-other’ to rise from the doldrums and move to genuine prosperity for the people? Would he eradicate corruption and nepotism? Before all that comes the million- dollar question, would he be able to win and become the President of Sri Lanka in 2020? Or is this another illusion?
Only time will tell.

Fr. Michael Rodrigo Crusader for Social Justice

2017-12-06

Rev. Fr. Aloysius Pieris, S.J. delivered the Lectio Brevis on the occasion of the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the death of famed social activist Fr. Michael Rodrigo OMI at the Centre for Society and Religion on 6 November.

Here is the first part of his speech:

I have been put down to talk about Fr Michael Rodrigo's concern for social justice. That can be said in just one sentence: he was so concerned about it, that he died for it. But I think what I should do is something more substantial. I have to show how he developed his social awareness; refer to the historical events both in the church and in Sri Lankan society that led him finally to Wellassa; to his theological preparation and his spiritual evolution....so that we could draw some lessons that the Phenomenon called Michael Rodrigo teaches all of us in the local church and the vision he has placed before us. For there are serious issues we must discuss frankly and self-critically when commemorating Michael's martyrdom to justice or else we are bound to miss the larger picture in which he alone makes sense to contemporary Christians.

I have to confess that I have never been Michael's colleague either as a student or a professor. Actually my real personal contact with him as a friend, brother and an academic colleague took place thanks to Bishop Leo Nanayakkara who happened to be the link between us. Furthermore, I met him with his dialectical counterpart, Bob Luckart. My memory cannot separate one from the other. I met Bob and Mike as complementary characters.

Most importantly, this long-standing encounter between me and these two Oblate professors took place at the tail end of the Conciliar renewal, when the conservative backlash had intensified.
With the demise of Pope Paul VI who steered the council through many storms and compromises into a relative satisfactory conclusion, we were pushed back to the status quo during the next two pontificates. The late Cardinal Murphy-O'Conner had quite wittily captured the way Popes of the Post-Paul VI era responded to Vatican II; he says that Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II pressed the 'pause' button on Conciliar renewal, while Francis on his arrival at the Vatican pushed the 'play' button.

Oblate Congregation

My association and friendship with Michael began during the pause button era, when Leo, the Bishop of Badulla was isolated, severely criticized, and reported to Rome. Mgr Carlo Curis the Apsotolic Nuncio (a Paul VI man) who supported Bp Leo and his programme of renewal was unfortunately replaced by a person called Nicolao Rotunno, a well-meaning but naïve clergyman who simply could not make head or tail of Bishop Leo's vision and work, specially the diocesan seminary, Sevaka Sevana which Leo built with the help of two stalwarts, Fr. Michael and Fr. Luckart.

Let us go back in history. For most of the younger generation need to know some historical events as well as the ethos which such events created for these men, especially for Fr. Michael and consequently for all of us in the local church. There were two periods clearly distinguishable in Mike's ministerial life. First was the period in which he served in the staff of the National Seminary which was then entirely under the Oblate Congregation. Let us note that the OMIs like many other Religious Congregations have been running seminaries elsewhere, too. Our Lankan Oblates had founded St Bernard's Seminary which produced the bulk of our clergy for decades. They were experienced teachers trusted by the Church both local and Roman. Transferred to Kandy in the mid-fifties of the last century, this seminary continued to maintain a high standard and within a decade it became the centre for the diffusion of the emergent theology of Vatican II.

There were two prongs in this Council's ecclesiological renewal: the Scripture and Worship. Joachim Pillai, the scripture professor at the Seminary spearheaded the biblical education of the laity and was largely responsible for awakening the sense of justice as a demand of God's covenant with us, whereas Michael Rodrigo, who taught philosophy, other religions and so on, took upon himself the renewal of the second prong of ecclesial renewal: worship - publishing a cyclostyled paper called 'The Liturgical Lifeline.'Bishop Leo represented the spirit of aggiornamento voiced by Pope John XXIII. Many others among the Religious and Clergy gave their support to him. The Kandy seminary under the Oblates was faithful to the Council and I repeat, Joachim Pillai and Michael Rodrigo were visibly active in the field outside the seminary.

Polarization

Alas! Before long a polarization began to appear here, as was the case elsewhere in the World. There emerged a journal called 'The Rock' and its editors were two opponents of Bishop Leo, namely, Frs. Paulucci and Philippupillai of Kandy. But they started publishing it in Colombo. It often descended into vituperative vulgarity in its cartoons and jokes so that Cardinal Cooray decided to banish it from his diocese, forcing the editors to shift the seat of its publication to Montefano in the Diocese of Kandy where Bishop Leo tolerated it in consonance with his noble principles of church leadership. But the Jesuit Provincial, Fr. Vito Perniola could not help threatening legal action against a slanderous allusion to Jesuits in that journal and the Benedictine Abbot Tonini intervened and asked Paulucci to print on every issue of that journal that the Benedictines were not responsible for its publication.

That journal was a vehicle for a fanatical zeal to protect Tridentine reforms that were superseded by those of Vatican II.

Now who came to the rescue? A group of lay persons spearheaded by Dr W.D. Lionel, Patrick Fernando and of course, Mr. Victor Gunawardana the uncle of Dr. Nandani Gunawardana whose book on Mike is being launched today. Victor, a well-respected journalist, was the editor of the reader-friendly journal 'Outlook' which this group published to encourage those engaged in the spread of the Conciliar spirit. Joachim Pillai and Michael Rodrigo openly supported this effort of the laity (I, too contributed articles to it) The frequent meetings of the group were held in different places and one of their haunts was the house of Mr. and Mrs Eddie and Edna de Silva, where Bishop Leo would reside during his visits to Colombo and where, later Bob Luckart too found hospitality.

Then came a draconian intervention on the part of Thomas Cardinal Cooray, a scrupulous Oblate, who took over the administration of the Seminary into Episcopal hands. The bishops of the time were wonderful people with whom we worked closely, but they had no idea of running a seminary and not through their fault. The fact is that Oblates, who were experienced in theological education, became mere employees of the hierarchy. Some of them, like Dalston Forbes and Anselm Silva (to name the more significant among them) continued their teaching but the two major renewalists Joachim Pillai, a scripture scholar with a passion for justice and Michael Rodrigo an advocate of meaningful participatory liturgical worship faded away from the scene in the course of time.

Transfer of management

The seminary started becoming what it is today. What is at stake is not the qualifications of the present seminary staff (which could be excellent) but the quality of teaching which suffers from a lack of academic freedom for creativity under its Episcopal guardians.

Gaudium et Spes (62) of Vatican II speaking of theological formation of both clergy and the laity demanded that they 'be accorded a lawful freedom of inquiry of thought and of expression, tempered by humility and courage.' This atmosphere recommended by Vatican II and maintained by the Oblates, disappeared from the seminary with the transfer of management to the bishops...though there were occasionally Rectors such as Fr. Harold Panditharatna and Fr. Joe de Mel who tried hard to remedy the situation as far as it lay in their power.

We know what happened not so long ago to the late Fr. Hilarion Dissanayaka, the best ecclesiologist we ever had and a theologian sparkling with renaissance humanism. He was a pianist with classicist taste and someone with a comprehensive grasp of the whole gamut of theology with a clear focus on social justice. He was sacked from the seminary without prior notice or an explanation, either to him or to his congregation and without observing the required canonical procedure.

It was an infringement of the civil, ecclesiastical and divine law. With my experience in lecturing in nearly twenty universities in the world including both Pontifical and Protestant Theological Faculties, I confess with great embarrassment and shame that such ugly interventions are unheard of except in the former communist regimes. I cite this example to demonstrate the difference that took over the seminary with the change of administration and consequently the suppression of academic freedom which Vatican II demanded in the document that I just quoted.
Resistance

Hences Bishop Leo was justified in struggling way back in the seventies, to train his men away from that institution and this led him to start a diocesan Formation House under financially and ecclesiastically strained circumstances. Of course, many of us, especially among Oblates and Jesuits not to mention also several diocesan priests like Joe de Mel, Mervyn Fernando, Earnest Poruthota and a few others from Kandy and Badulla dioceses were on the same wavelength as Bishop Leo. But his closest collaborators in this new venture I repeat, were Bob Luckart and Mike Rodrigo. Sr. Milburga too joined the staff. The Seminarians visited the CSR, Tulana , Satyodaya and Subodhi for various programmes. But even that experiment met with resistance within the local church and from the Vatican administration of the Post-Paul VI era. The experiment had to be abandoned.

Here, I want to put the blame squarely, not on the bishops and their inexperience but on the Conference of Major Religious Superiors for not tapping their experience in creating an alternative ethos for the study of theology at least for their own presbyters. Hence, theologians of Michael Rodrigo'626s spiritual and intellectual calibre were deprived of the chance to contribute to the formation of theologically creative and pastorally committed Religious and Lay apostles.
Continued tomorrow

Ranil And Maithri Violate Election Laws

author: COLOMBO TELEGRAPH

December 6 2017 

Prime Minister and the leader of the United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremesinghe has openly flouted elections laws by engaging in a hand-out programme that is set to cover the entire island in the month of December.

He launched an initiative at Temple Trees yesterday (December 5) to ‘prepare for cultivation 12000 plots of “pin bim” or “sacred lands” across the country under the ‘National Sasunodaya Programme’ (Programme to Uplift the Buddhist Order) under which 1000 temples will be reconstructed and protected before the end of December, according to Wickremesinghe. The programme will be implemented using state funds.

While there’s nothing illegal about such programmes, during an election politicians are required not to take part in them. The implementation can be done by the relevant officials who are required to inform the Elections Commission of such activities where politicians could be involved.

This initiative and the involvement of a leader of a recognized political party amounts to abuse of state resources for purposes of promoting a political party, an infringement of the kind that led to the conviction of former Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga in the infamous ‘Sil Redi Case’.

The ‘Divineguma’ programme also implemented during the same period is another instance where election laws were violated.

While stating that the progamme is part of the government’s plan to safeguard the unitary character of the state and preserve the special status of Buddhism in the country, Wickremesinghe said the government is committed to the development and protection of all religious places of worship. He said that Rs 21 million has been allocated for Hindu, Islamic and Christian places of worship, accordingly.

Meanwhile Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam of the UNP is scheduled to reveal the names of books worth Rs 700 million that are to be distributed among 3312 schools ‘in order to cultivate the reading habit among school children,’ another initiative that contravenes the Elections Act. This ceremony is to be held at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister.

President Maithripala Sirisena who is also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) for his part laid a foundation stone in Polonnaruwa today for what is said to be the largest hospital in South Asia devoted to kidney diseases.

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Procurement appeal board at president’s office sets a thief to catch a thief!

Dec 06, 2017

We previously exposed how irregularities have taken place in the procurement of tabs to be distributed to schoolchildren as per the 2017 budget. The procurement board has acted fraudulently and illegally in awarding the tender.

The board has awarded the tender to a certain company based purely on a certificate valid only in the US. Other bidders were given time until October 25 to submit objections. Seven of the 10 bidders filed objections to the ministerial procurement committee appeal board at the President’s Office.  Considering the appeals, the board appointed a committee comprising retired state officials K.A.S. Gunasekara, Lalith R. Silva and A.D.S. Gunasekara. The committee allowed the appellants on November 16 to inquire into the matter.

All the bidders who submitted appeals participated. They based their objection to the FCC certificate applicable only for the US. All those companies were experienced in the field, but none of the tabs supplied by them had the relevant certificate. That means the education ministry technical committee requested certificate is problematic and if that certificate is essential for the tabs. Another matter is that only the tabs imported by the chosen company, Metropolitan, has that certificates.

The appellants are worried by the lack of attention by the committee to their grievances and they question the experience of its members with regard to the subject. There is a question if justice is served by this appeal board at the president’s office.

A further investigation revealed that only these three officers are given the task of inquiring into irregularities in all the fields. Their lack of experience means that the decisions given by them in the past were not fair or impartial.

Local suppliers should be encouraged by obtaining an impartial decision by an independent committee. That will ensure transparency in the process and help minimize fraud and corruption by state officials.

The present appeal board members get their wants done by misleading the suppliers. Their decisions are similar to decisions at kangaroo courts.

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More on tender scam at Education Ministry

 Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission says school authorities violated Constitution expelling 

Wed, Dec 6, 2017, 03:21 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Dec 06, Colombo: The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has issued a recommendation to the Secretary, Ministry of Education and other eleven respondents to protect the right to education of a school girl in Kekirawa, North Central Province in Sri Lanka.

The Commission's recommendation directly addressed the disciplinary process to which the school girl was subjected and student disciplinary processes in general and observed that the disciplinary process was not done according to the procedures stipulated in the Education Ministry Circular no. 12/26.

The Commission made a recommendation to the Provincial Director of Education to conduct a disciplinary inquiry on the Principal, Class room Teacher, and the Disciplinary Board member of the Madagamuwa Vidyalaya in Kekirawa, Madatugama Sri Revatha Vidyalaya who decided to remove the girl accusing her of falsely accused of being pregnant.

The year 10 female student was expelled from the school by the principal accusing the girl was pregnant after she vomited at the morning assembly.

Medical tests conducted subsequently has confirmed that the student was neither molested nor had any sexual activity and not pregnant.

Following media reports on the injustice to the student, the Human Rights Commission conducted an investigation into the school authorities' disciplinary process.

The Commission questioned the Principal Mrs. Sandya Kanthirathna Godakanda, classroom teacher Ms. Agra Savithri Upananda and School counselor Mr. K.R. Samarakoon Bandara as well as the student and her parents.

Following the investigations, the HRCSL has decided that the Disciplinary Board of the school has acted arbitrarily and taken disciplinary acts without substantiating evidence.

Accordingly the Commission points out that the Principal of the school, the teacher-in-charge, the counselor and the disciplinary board have violated the Constitutional clause that a person cannot be treated inhumanely, cruelly and disgraced.

The HRCSL also said that the school authorities exploiting the illiteracy and education level of the parents have pressured the parents to remove the girl from the school.


The Commission recommended that the student should be provided with the opportunity to study further in the same school.

Likely outcomes of the Debt Repayment Levy

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

The proposal in the 2018 Budget speech to raise Rs. 20 billion through a special ‘Debt Repayment Levy’ (DRL) at the rate of 20 cents per Rs. 1,000 on total transactions made through banks made me think about the incentives it would create.

Even if Rs. 0.20 per Rs. 1,000 (0.02%) is small, the existence of alternative transaction modes creates a disincentive to engage in the mode that is subject to the levy. Will this encourage moves toward electronically mediated transactions? What are the costs of implementing the DRL?

What exactly is subject to the levy?

The technical notes to the Budget state that the DRL “will be introduced on cash transactions by financial institutions.” It is further stated that the levy “will be charged on total cash transactions and should be paid by the financial institutions”.

As someone not immersed in the technicalities of the financial sector, I tried to visualise “non-cash” transactions that would be exempt from the 0.02% levy. Cashless payments to merchants and receiving salaries electronically seemed what readers could relate to.

Point of Sale (POS) transactions are what many people have seen, if not directly engaged in. POS terminals that allow customers to make payments directly to merchants through credit, debit or stored-value cards have been in operation since 1994. A card is swiped; a signature or some other authorisation is given to debit the exact amount. In the cash mode, the customer stands before the merchant; hands over cash money; receives change in cash as applicable.

According to the Central Bank, 44,842 POS terminals were in operation in 2017 Q2. The value of POS transactions for the second quarter of 2017 amounted to Rs. 101.1 billion, an increase of 24.9% over the corresponding period in 2016. The number of transactions had increased by 22% to 20.7 million.

Salaries may be paid by cash or by cheque or be directly transferred electronically. Getting a pile of currency notes as salary should subject one to the 0.02% levy. It seems that electronic transfer from the employer to the employee should be exempt.

Such transfers take place over the Sri Lanka Interbank Payment (SLIP) system, which accounted for 12% of all non-cash retail transactions in the country, according to the Central Bank. For the second quarter of 2017, SLIP handled 7,584,500 transactions for a value of Rs. 415.6 million. This was an increase of 19.6% in value over the second quarter of 2016.

From the very language used by the Central Bank’s Payments Bulletin, payments made through SLIP should be exempt from the levy. On the face, the levy should provide incentives for organisations currently processing salaries in cash to immediately switch to SLIP. Do cheques qualify? Possibly.

But the whole point about money is that it circulates. The salary that a person received electronically does not stop there. It could be used to pay for groceries through a debit card at a POS terminal. Or it could be withdrawn from an ATM in the for m of cash and used to pay for groceries. In the former instance the levy should not have to be paid. But in the latter instance, the cash withdrawal would be subject to a deduction of 0.02%.

One withdraws Rs. 10,000 from an ATM, but receives only Rs. 9,998 technically. Of course, ATMs can’t handle such numbers so the Rs. 2 will have to be deducted from the account. The backends of 4,035 ATMs belonging to multiple banks will have to be reprogrammed.

One wonders whether the major software changes that will have to be implemented to collect the levy just for three years will be worth it.

Why favour one mode of payment over another?

The costs of working with cash are known to business people who use cash. They need to check for counterfeit notes, count accurately, and maintain safes for storage. They always run the risk of being robbed on premises or while transporting cash. But the benefits are also known by such people.

We are by now familiar with claims about Sri Lanka’s declining tax yield relative to GDP and the measures the Government is taking to reverse the downward slide. A recent article in the Economist about Myanmar’s tax take, even lower than ours at 7.5% of GDP, is illuminating:

Inside a noodle house in central Yangon, business is buzzing. Customers huddle over tables, slurping down chicken soup or gobbling dumplings. Everyone pays in cash. Few customers ask for receipts. When your correspondent does so, one is handed over, complete with government-issued stickers. But the cost of the meal goes up. On the vast majority of the restaurant’s sales, it seems, no one is paying any tax.

Now imagine a world where incentives have been created for customers and merchants to switch to POS transactions. The audit of such systems is easier than sending decoys. More transactions will be recorded; more will fall within the tax net. Is this what the Government is trying to do?

The changes in systems needed to implement the special DRL are onerous. The definitions are unclear. Lots of hard work by lawyers and IT specialists will be needed to implement the changes. If that is the case, one wonders why the Finance Minister says it should be levied only for three years. A temporary levy should be one that can be implemented at low cost. This does not meet that criterion.

Hopefully, they will come up with a simpler way to raise money in the course of the debate. Or quietly bury the proposal as was the custom with the past two budgets.

But the good thing is that the proposal makes us think about the pros and cons of electronic money. We have been making solid but gradual progress in shifting from old-fashioned cash to newer and more efficient modes of payment. Perhaps this is the time we can take some considered decisions on how to speed up the transition and include more small businesses and small payments in the new world of electronic payments. But that nudge need not be a costly three-year special levy.

Sagala debunks IGP’s claim police failed in 

Gintota

By Saman Indrajith-December 5, 2017, 10:34 pm 

Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka told Parliament yesterday that he would not agree with IGP Pujith Jayasundara’s statement that the Police had failed in their duty during the recent communal clashes at Gintota.

Responding to a series of questions raised by Chief Opposition Whip JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in parliament several days back, the minister said the policemen sent to the area had done their utmost to prevent spreading of clashes and to stabilize the crisis.

MP Dissanayake said the IGP had said that the Police and the religious organisations had failed to prevent the Gintota clashes. "I would like to know if he says that the police failed to control the incident, who should take the responsibility for that? The responsibility definitely goes to somebody. If no one takes the responsibility, then an investigation should be carried out to find out the responsible persons."

"I do not agree with the IGP’s statement. I also visited the area after the incident. The police, the STF and Army together made efforts to control the clashes. If not for their efforts, the damage could have been far worse."

The security forces not only brought the tense situation in Gintota under control swiftly but also prevented the clashes from spreading to other areas. Therefore, their efforts should be commended, the minister said.

Ratnayake said a committee would be established covering all the affected Grama Niladhari Divisions to prevent the recurrence of similar situations in the future. It would comprise religious leaders and intellectuals in the area, he said. 

The minister refuted allegations that the police and the STF deployed in the area had been withdrawn the following day. "We did not take such a decision. The number of the police and STF personnel was reduced, but there was no withdrawal."

JVP leader Dissanayake said the reducing of the number of police and STF personnel was a wrong move.

Why India is buying the world’s emptiest airport

 Dec 05, 2017

Geopolitical rivalry between big powers sometimes yields odd results. The latest development in growing strategic competition across the Indian Ocean region is India's purchase of what has become known as the 'world's emptiest international airport' in Sri Lanka, maybe just to keep it empty.

Hambantota Dreaming

 

The small fishing town of Hambantota, near the southern tip of Sri Lanka, has long been Exhibit A for those who worry about the strategic impact of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Hambantota burst into international consciousness around a decade ago when Chinese companies were contracted to build a big new port, an international airport and, of course, an international cricket stadium – all connected by Chinese-built multi-lane freeways.

 

It was all part of a plan by Sri Lanka's then president Mahinda Rajapaksa to turn his own sleepy constituency into a new global shipping hub. After international investors and aid agencies baulked at the business case, Rajapaksa went to China to finance and build the projects. Although the commercial terms are opaque, the projects have probably cost more than US$1.5 billion in all, much of it in relatively high interest loans.

 

According to its backers, the new port's location next to the busiest sea lanes across the northern Indian Ocean makes it a natural hub for transhipment and logistics. It is part of Sri Lanka's ambitious plans to turn itself into an all-purpose Indian Ocean hub that might one day come to rival Singapore.

 

But security analysts argued that Hambantota might also be a good place for a Chinese naval base, as part of a Chinese 'String of Pearls' across the Indian Ocean. It was, according to several Indian analysts, part of a grand Chinese plan to surround India in the Indian Ocean.

 

A Sri Lankan White Elephant

 

Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, the foreign bean counters were right. The whole project has turned out to be a white elephant. International shipping companies had no interest in using Hambantota, when there was an excellent port at nearby Colombo. Only a handful of ships visit the port, mostly docking there at the insistence of embarrassed Sri Lankan agencies.

 

The shiny new Rajapaksa International Airport also sits virtually unused, with a full complement of employees and only one international flight a week. The empty terminal and its bored-looking workers make a great photo opportunity for journalists. Some of the newly-built hangars are even rented out to locals to store rice.

 

When the bills became due, the government couldn't repay them. Sri Lanka, now minus Mahinda Rajapaksa, was forced to go to its Chinese backers cap in hand – essentially to hand over ownership of the port in a debt-for-equity swap. Although Sri Lanka claims to have retained control over management of the port, the details are suspiciously murky. China now has plans to build a big Special Economic Zone around Hambantota. This may eventually drive some demand for shipping, but it is hard to see it ever becoming the global shipping hub it was once touted to be.

 

For some, Hambantota is a perfect example of what can happen when an authoritarian leader, not subject to usual democratic balances, gets into bed with Chinese companies that may well have ulterior motives. The project is held up as proof that the Belt and Road often involves foisting uneconomic projects on developing countries with loans that can never be repaid. According to critics, these projects will only damage long term economic development and make many countries politically indebted to Beijing.

 

Similar claims are being made about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor now being constructed in Pakistan at a cost of somewhere like US$40-100 billion, with some fearing it will create a 'debt trap' for Pakistan.

 

Checkmating The Chinese Navy

 

The Chinese takeover of Hambantota port only increases New Delhi's worries that it will become an Indian Ocean hub for the Chinese navy. But, in fact, Hambantota has never been feasible as a full blown Chinese naval base. Its proximity to India would make it highly vulnerable to air attack in the event of conflict between the two countries. But short of war, Hambantota would make a fine logistics point for an expanded Chinese naval presence. Although Colombo has repeatedly claimed that no Chinese naval facility will be permitted in Sri Lanka, New Delhi worries that China's influence will one day reach a point where the Sri Lankan government simply cannot say no.

 

This is where the world's emptiest airport comes in. India is proposing to spend around US$300 million to buy out Sri Lanka's debt to China in return for a 40-year lease over Hambantota airport. But India's future plans for the airport are hazy. Maybe a flight school? A new destination for Indian weddings? There seems little chance that it will turn a profit.

 

That is not the point of the deal. A key element in any overseas naval base, and even a logistics facility, is easy access by air for people and supplies. A naval base also requires maritime air surveillance capabilities. Control over Hambantota airport will give India considerable control over how the port is used. It is difficult to conceive of the Chinese navy developing a significant facility at Hambantota without also controlling the airport. In short, India is spending US$300 million buying an airport to block a Chinese naval base.

 

The long and twisted saga of Hambantota is emblematic of growing strategic competition in the Indian Ocean region, much of it focussed on ownership and access to infrastructure. In coming years, we are likely to see a lot more jostling between India, China and others in the Indian Ocean over control of ports, airports and other pieces of critical infrastructure – and perhaps increasingly for control over governments.

 

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