Academics and Political Analysts are voicing their disgust against the president stating that he himself is personally responsible and doing everything in his power in protecting the Rajapaksa clan and his degenerate, bigoted and deplorable supporters.
by Nelum Vithanage-
SL Guardian Inbox
( February 19, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Never in the history of politics, in the Seventy years of Independence, have we come across such double-dealing and hypocrisy Marked by deliberate deceptiveness pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another. Where treachery and perfidiousness is being perpetrated by a head of state, the President, Mr. Maithripala Sirisena himself, shamelessly.
His actions may be considered magical by naïve observers but clearly depicts lack of worldly experience and propriety by the President.
The speeches made by the president in the latter part of the Local Government election campaigns, stunned, astounded and stupefied the decent people of this country, who joined hands with equal gusto and enthusiasm, irrespective of race, religion, caste or creed, with a single purpose in mind – vis-à-vis – The ousting and instituting proper punishment of a tyrannical and treacherous regime.
It is the unity of people in general, not his party, which brought Mr. Maithripala Sirisena to the seat of power. His party and the members were insulting him at every turn – repeatedly, recurrently, all the time, continually, constantly, on every occasion, over and over again – he seems totally oblivious to such insults
From inception of him taking over the power, he was vacillating, completely incognizant and uncertain in purpose and action, and totally turning a blind-eye to everything and anything that his party members were indulging in – just to remind few:
No Action was taken against:
The blasphemous behaviour in the august legislature by converting the parliament premises into a temporary house if ill-fame, with women, hooch and buffoonery and depriving the august premises of its sacred character.
The desecration of the country’s sacred flag.
Threatening to destroy the Malwatte Chapter.
The massacre of the Prisoners in the Welikada Prison –
The brutal murder of Wasim Thajudeen.
The Murders of Media personnel – Lasantha Wickremetunga, Ekneligoda and a dozen others, killed and tortured.
The mass robbing of the country’s wealth by the trillions.
And many, many more, we seriously hope that the people have not forgotten the tyranny unleashed on innocent citizens of our country.
For three years, the president has been playing a cat and mouse game with all these accusations – Cat and mouse is an English-language idiom meaning “a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes.”
Yes indeed, the president had been showing effects of plotting and manipulating and making the people believe that he is effectively pursuing the mandate given to him to bring the perpetrators to justice. When in fact we have seen him running with the hare and hunting with the hounds – Acting duplicitously and hypocritically; more towards the protecting the perpetrators of heinous crimes rather than establish justice.
To add insult to injury, he deliberately, takes it upon himself to insult the Prime Minister, who was totally responsible to bring him to power – even at the Independence Day Celebrations, And at the oration delivered at the final Rites of Most Ven. Prof. Bellanwila Wimalarathana Thero, he deliberately, intentionally and purposely avoided mentioning the Prime Minister or his name – This is the ingrate, thankless wretch, Maithripala Sirisena, the president of Sri Lanka.
Academics and Political Analysts are voicing their disgust against the president stating that he himself is personally responsible and doing everything in his power in protecting the Rajapaksa clan and his degenerate, bigoted and deplorable supporters.
He publicly announces that he will make his party free of corruption and establish a clean and pure government and everything he does is quite the contrary – He again wilfully and with vengeance appoints, nominates and promotes all vulgar scum in his party to positions of responsibility and trust – He is determined to do what he wants and does not care two hoots whether the people are upset, disgusted or not.
In spite of all his mollycoddling and pampering the SLFP, the very same members of the SLFP, showed their resentment against him, by voting against the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and voted for an unknown party, the SLPP, with no code of ethics, no manifesto and no planning, leaving him in the minority. Analysts say that SLFP received votes lower than the votes received by the JVP. But did this open his eyes? Hell, No.
He is hell-bent on attacking his saviour and protector, The Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, by openly and in a subtle manner unleashing inflammatory speeches against him. The Biggest and the most dangerous mole in the Yahapalana government is none other than President Maithripala Sirisena himself.
Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Liberal democracy as propounded and practiced by the UNP is dead. Beating up the statistics of the recent local election will not bring it back, but the UNP still remains the best vehicle for reviving liberal democratic ideals.
Pohottuwa or the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna (SLPP), led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which received 44% of the vote at the recent local elections, is the antithesis of a liberal democracy. The 32% received in the recent local election by UNP is no small change, and represents a block of voters which should be the basis of a revival. The challenge is to convince more voters that the brew of jingoism, protectionism and statism of the MR ideology may seem comforting now but will come to a boil at some point and perish us all.
Two attributes are necessary for a revival of liberal democracy ideals and its only viable vehicle, the UNP, I believe. They are authenticity and humility.
Be authentic.
Emulate MR not.
Liberal democratic values are in retreat across the world, led by developments in the USA. Rich countries can experiment and make a comeback, but we cannot. The combination of protectionism, racism and statism is lethal for struggling economies. MR is capable of saying something and doing another, juggle this and that, and yet show progress, but the UNP has failed miserably trying to emulate MR.
Medical education is a case in point. MR’s government supported SAITM, the institute offering private medical education, without a hum from the left and vested statist interests represented by the Government Medical Officers Association or GMOA. The UNP came to power and thought it can do the same, but ended up bending over backwards to appease the Opposition, and slid down a slippery slope towards total caving-in, as the writer pointed out recently.
Not only that, the Government is set to open two more faculties of medicine in Wayamba and Sabaragamuwa Universities, without addressing quality issues of existing faculties of medicine in state universities.
There is an urgent need for a coherent human resource policy for the medical sector to ensure that the country gets the benefits of the money it spends on training medical personnel. Current inequitable practice of funding a select few at 100%, leaving others with nothing, has to be addressed. A place to start is to recover money from those who gain at the expense of the public purse and do not contribute their share of public service, service to rural communities, in particular.
The Haritha University in Homagama, a private non-profit established by the Government, is an innovation of the last MR government and it thrives under the radar. UNP should take the concept further to support students pursuing private education. UNP introduced a voucher system, but the support is currently limited to those studying for local degrees. Quality of local degrees will not improve without some challenge from outside. The voucher system should be extended and virtues of such communicated to the public.
School education is a front where UNP is on target. UNP should be credited for bringing the issue of the talent pool we waste by the dropout rate of nearly 50% by or before Year 11.
Successive governments have focused on those who get past the GCE (O/L) hurdle and move on to Years 12 and 13 in school. The 13-years of education policy of the UNP puts the focus where it is due, but it is doubtful whether the program will have much to show come December, 2019, when a presidential election is likely. Urgency in implementation is needed.
On the cultural front too, the UNP has to move away from imitating MR and establish its own approach. Recently, while lamenting the breakdown of values in society, the speaker quoted non-existent research about the Sinhalese race being one of the top three endangered races in the world. Inciting the crowds with fake information is MR territory. UNP should not be going there. The UNP should have the leaders with the courage and the standing to tell the Sinhalese that our greatest threat is our own backwardness and publicise the progress made by the party already in that regard.
Finally, UNP has to sit down with the President with his acceptance speech on 9 January where he promised to be the symbol of national unity, in effect leaving the rest to the UNP. It is not too late for the President to correct his ways and salvage his place in history while allowing the UNP to deliver on its campaign promises of August, 2015.
Be humble. People are not stupid.
UNP has so far acted as a one-man think tank and has failed miserably in the think front. The UNP Leader thought he could split the Opposition and win but, instead, he lost 12% of its own voter base. Constitutional reforms abolishing the Presidency are a long shot now and a presidential election in 2019 highly likely. Twice the party hid behind a common candidate but a third act would not be acceptable.
It is time to look beyond the comfort zone of old feudal ties of the present leadership and listen to those who have not had a voice so far in the party. The next presidential candidate should emerge out of such an authentic soul search. It could be the present leadership or it may not.
Such a soul searching should begin with an exploration of why people welcome tyrannical, authoritarian leaders time after time? For millennia, philosophers and political theorists have tried to explain why people submit to authoritarian leaders. In his essay titled “How tyrants work up a crowd’s devotion”, David Livingstone Smith offers several insights relevant to us. In one such insight, he points out that we all need to believe in something larger than ourselves. Religion and/or patriotism easily fit the bill, and the MR-camp has hit the jackpot claiming to protect Sinhala Buddhist identity. The symbols and the terminology of the MR-camp fit well with mainstream Sinhala Buddhist identity while UNP has none such. Talk of Wi-Fi will not do. The party needs an ideology.
Practice the Lichchavi democracy you preach
The UNP hit the right note when they put an identifiable label on liberal democratic ideals by invoking Lichchavi democracy of the Buddha’s time. But the Lichchavi democracy idea could not move too far in the context of the Bond scam and the leaders’ defence of the scammers.
It is time for longsuffering supporters of the UNP to build the party from the bottom, with or without help from the top. The aftermath of the local elections provides a way. UNPers lost in almost all of the ward-level first-past-the-post contests, but the good news is that the party is now organised at the ward level as never before.
Party committees at the ward level should work to pull the 24% who did not vote SLPP or UNP. If SLPP’s brew of jingoism, protectionism and statism did not appeal to this group they will have a sympathetic ear to liberal democratic messages of internationalism, virtues of openness, respect for individual rights, and rejection of oppression by the State. Hitting the right note is the challenge, and a new generation who can is needed.
Whenever I failed to secure the grade or mark I wanted at school, at a term or a monthly test, I used to brood over it for a long, long time, often for hours, sometimes for days. I would first console myself with the fact that there would always be a tomorrow and another chance. When that wasn’t enough, I’d try to rationalise my failure by dishing the blame on someone else. The teacher wasn’t good enough; that particular chapter was too hard; compared with those who got the lowest marks I was much better off; my handwriting was probably not legible enough for the teacher; my concentration during the exam was disturbed by a friend laughing. It didn’t take long for me to realise that these excuses absolved the only real person who could be blamed. Me. It’s probably not uncharitable of me to note that most of our politicians remind me of my juvenile years. That’s why I can’t help but smirk when the recent local government election results, profoundly unsettling as they are, compel enough hysterics from those who thought they would win (when they did not and could not) that they contort those results so as to tide over their failures. Mangala Samaraweera, for instance, suggests that the percentage of those who voted against Mahinda Rajapaksa rose from 51.28% in 2015 to 55.35% in 2018. Anura Kumara Dissanayake argues that the final results justify neither the government (the UNP and the SLFP) nor the joint opposition (which begs the question: does it justify him?). And Rajitha Senaratne, whose seat (Beruwela), like Samaraweera’s seat (Matara), his party unexpectedly lost, says that while the election was a setback, “the majority of Sri Lanka is still anti-Rajapaksa” (can he get any more obscurantist there?). The premise for any commentator when arguing on the post-2015 political scenario was that Mahinda Rajapaksa lost to Maithripala Sirisena. If those who shouted for the government used this as their rationale, it’s only fair to say that the premise for any comment on LG elections is that the ‘Pohottuwa’ (the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna) not only won hands-down, but also won so decisively that it created history by being the second outside-the-mainstream party to defeat the mainstream (the first, of course, being the SLFP, which has now been relegated to the dustbin of history). This was a protest vote. The people weren’t necessarily voting out of love for Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brand of expedient populism: they were fed up of the UNP and the UPFA. The anger of the people has spoken, in other words.
The voting patterns bear this out. Even in areas inhabited and overseen by parliamentarians and MPs, whose monopoly over their regions were virtually unassailable – the UPFA in Polonnaruwa, the UNP in many areas in Kandy and Beruwela and Kalutara – the Pohottuwa won. The numbers are so overwhelming that they simply transcend any attempt made by naysayers and disbelievers to contort them. Mr. Samaraweera’s view, to give just one example, can be countered by the fact that unlike in 2015 the SLFP, the UNP and the other coalition parties including the TNA, and to a certain extent the JVP, were not canvassing for votes as a single entity. In August 2015, the situation was different: the bitter memories that Rajapaksa evoked in the minds of his critics at the grassroots were enough for them to cast him aside. Last week, on the other hand, was surely not a case of the ‘hansaya’ fighting against the ‘kesara Sinhaya.’ It was a one-man party, led by his cohorts and loyalists, against the two oldest political parties in the country. As far as electoral battles go, that one-man party, and that man, won decisively. Dayan Jayatilleka contends, in three separate analyses written days after the LG polls, that the United National Party should take note of the election results and reform itself gracefully, because, in his own words, “the February 10th shrinkage of the UNP is the consequence, not the cause, of the UNP crisis.” But I rather think that the vacuum at the centre of that party – despite arguments to the contrary made by the likes of Dr. Jayatilleka I can’t think of a plausible alternative for Ranil Wickremesinghe, never mind the last-minute attempts (alleged as they are) at trying to replace him with Karu Jayasuriya – will continue for some time, which logically leads me to surmise that LG elections were less about the UNP, less about the centre-right economic and political agenda of Ranil Wickremesinghe and his loyalists (EconomyNext, which Dr. Jayatilleka notes as “well established” and “UNP and West-friendly,” describes those loyalists as members of the FRCS or Former Royal College Student, Cabal), that about the wildly oscillating behaviour of the UPFA and the SLFP. True, voters were tired of the UNP’s involvement with the Bond scandal (most if not all of those MPs tarnished by the scam – Sujeewa Senasinghe and Ajith Perera included – had to concede defeat in their seats), but they were even more tired of the man at the top and his party.
"The premise for any commentator when arguing on the post-2015 political scenario was that Mahinda Rajapaksa lost to Maithripala Sirisena
The voting patterns bear this out. Even in areas inhabited and overseen by parliamentarians and MPs, whose monopoly over their regions were virtually unassailable – the UPFA in Polonnaruwa, the UNP in many areas in Kandy and Beruwela and Kalutara – the Pohottuwa won
The SLFP, for all intents and purposes, is dead. It will be a natural, though temporary, death, because the principles it claimed to stand for were denied by the family members of its own founder and later by men who clinched power by chasing the Rajapaksas away"
The first mistake Maithripala Sirisena committed was to take over the reins of the SLFP. This move, expedient and clearly necessary though it was at the time (the only way you could chase the Rajapaksas was by purging the party he’d led of his loyalists), soon grew to besmirch the President’s image as a non-partisan leader. He would have done better, I thought at the time, had he handed over the party leadership to another, obviously a loyalist, and then gone back to the parliament to become the benign Asokian leader he got us to idealise him as. Instead what we got was a foggy, dense presidency, where the president would speak of reconciliation and the need for interethnic harmony on one day and rant against the Army being tried at a court for crimes against humanity on the very next. What this necessitated was a tussle, apparent in all but name, between the two arms of the unitary government, and what that tussle compelled was the rise and empowerment of the cast aside predecessor. That cast aside loser had to win again, magnificently so. Had he and his cohorts not won that magnificently, though, even if they came first, the SLPP would not have the numbers to turn victory into celebratory rhetoric. Neither Dulles Alahapperuma nor G.L. Peiris nor Gamini Lokuge nor Dinesh Gunawardena would have been able to hold press conferences and smile at journalists and make flippant jokes about not joining the government (Gotabaya Rajapaksa to a journalist at the Airport: “Who’d want to be Prime Minister in this mess?”) if they had got even two or three or four points below what they expected. My own prediction, with the UNP coming first and the Pohottuwa a close second, would not have been adequate, and if it had not been adequate, the government would have moved on. Everything clicked in one place, to the advantage of the Pohottuwa and the UNP, the latter of which now has the numbers to run a government of its own.
The SLFP, for all intents and purposes, is dead. It will be a natural, though temporary, death, because the principles it claimed to stand for were denied by the family members of its own founder and later by men who clinched power by chasing the Rajapaksas away. Those who were associated with it from 2015 to 2018 – including Duminda Dissanayake and Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa and Mahinda Samarasinghe – cannot survive politically unless they get out of the SLFP, and even if they do, it will take a long, long time for the people to forgive them. The SLFP, for a still longer time, I suspect, will be laid to rest, unless a more convincing leader – not the President, not Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and not Mahinda Rajapaksa – takes over its reins. Gunadasa Amarasekara said something to the effect that the SLFP, despite its many self-contradictions, has the ability to throw up a Mahinda Rajapaksa. I rather think that Mahinda will stay for some time in the SLPP, until a resilient, nationalistic and able person decides to lead the SLFP.
Recent reports (RSPCA, UK and ASPCA, USA) show that animal cruelty is increasing across the world. This is bad news for humans. It goes to show that man is losing touch of being human. Several possible reasons have been identified for this growing trend, but lax laws appear to be the most significant one among them. This seems to be the case in Sri Lanka where animal protection laws are grossly outdated (Avanthi Jayasuriya, Colombo Telegraph, 7 Feb 2018). A complete overhaul of the laws is long overdue. They need to be modernized and expanded to bring in line with current realities facing animal wellbeing. Regulatory measures are necessary to not only prevent animal cruelty and abuse but also to conserve animal species and preserve the country’s animal heritage. It is common knowledge though that no matter how robust and well intentioned they are, laws mean very little if they are not backed up by proper mechanisms to implement them. This applies to any set of laws meant to keep order and justice. Lack of adequate infrastructure is a major factor that frustrates law enforcement. For example, the endemic problem of impunity for crimes against animals is largely a result of weak enforcement capacities.
To create and maintain a sustainable animal welfare program on a national scale can be a challenging task. It will require heavy funding and a significant amount of human and material resources. To give an idea, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) based in the USA which is recognized as the world’s largest animal welfare organization has around 6.5 million members and supporters with a revenue of US$ 65 million per year. The operating cost of PETA is estimated at about USD 50 million per year. These are huge numbers, but they have to be taken in proper context. In reality, the required funds will have to be worked out on a case by case basis considering the severity of the domestic problems on hand and the level of service that can be offered, essentially a cost – benefit analysis. In some cases, it may turn out that a comprehensive animal protection program is not a viable approach. In such cases some degree of prioritization will be required. For funding and support, animal welfare groups usually rely on volunteers, non-profitable organizations as well as the private sector and all levels of government. But the problem is funds from these sources may not always be readily forthcoming.
Public participation is a crucial part of the law enforcement process. Traditionally, public involvement in animal wellbeing is very thin especially in the developing economies. The problem is found to be more acute in situations where there are constant social-economic conflicts. Under these conditions animal issues tend to become less of a concern for the ordinary citizen and therefore for the government as well – a sort of generalized desensitization sets in. One way of drawing public attention is through continuing education aimed at spreading awareness about animal issues. For such campaigns to be fully effective they must reach a wide audience as possible including for example, school children, educators, policy makers, politicians, celebrities, and the ordinary citizens.
There are several areas in which animals are exposed to severe pain and suffering. These are well documented and plenty of published material is now readily available to the public (PETA – Google search). The food industry tops the list. Some of the harsh offences are committed here, for example, poaching, whale hunting, live shark finning, stalking and slaughtering conscious animals. The clothing and fashion sector is a major consumer of furs and skins, and a shameless contributor to animal cruelty. Another big offender of animal wellbeing is the pet industry. This sector needs close scrutiny and control. Appropriate legislation is required to ensure a complete ban in the trade (import-export) of animal body parts such as ivory, bones, decorative artifacts, shark fin, furs and skins. Among other notable abusers of animals are the laboratories (cosmetics and medical) and the entertainment industry (e.g. blood sports, racing, public performances). Animal bestiality is another disturbing occurrence which is often overlooked by the public. This is an offence that needs to be clearly defined and legislated for. In a democratic country breaking the law is a punishable crime. Harsh offences need severe punishments that carry long prison sentences and/or heavy fines.
Statement: Letter to the Elections Commission, Leaders of Political Parties and the Speaker of the House of Parliament DO NOT Default on Implementing the 25% Legally Binding Quota for Women. (Monday, 19th February 2018. )We the undersigned Civil Society Organisations, including women’s groups, and women’s rights advocates are writing to call on the Chairman and Members of the Election Commission to implement fully the 25% quota for women in accordance with the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act No. 16 of 2017.
We understand from media reportage and other sources that following the 10th February local government elections, certain political parties feel that they have to bear an ‘unfair’ burden in fulfilling the women’s quota, which has already been clearly established by law. We understand that political parties in consultation with the Elections Commission and the Attorney General’s Department are considering revisions to the law. We are extremely concerned at these developments. We welcomed the law as a significant victory to redress historic discrimination against women and strongly appeal to political parties and the Election Commission to respect the spirit of the 25% quota and refrain from any reductions to the agreed level of women’s representation.
We recognize that there are exceptions to the 25% quota for women. According to the law, if the number of members elected from a political party results in an ‘overhang’ and thereby exceeds the number ascertained to be elected as members and such number of members do not include any women members, then the political party is not bound to fulfill the quota. Similarly, if a political party or independent group has received less than 20% of votes in a local authority area and is entitled to less than 3 members, they are also exempt from appointing the requisite 25% women.
While this may not appear to be fair, it was discussed in the context of women being afforded the opportunity of contesting for only a minimum 10% of the wards, which was also not an equal provision. This was thus the formulation that was discussed, debated and agreed on by all political parties in Parliament and adopted as law. Only these two exceptions have been included in the law.
As noted in section 25 of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 16 of 2017, when the number of women members elected for all wards for any political party or independent group is less than the 25% quota, then the “shortfall in the number of members shall be returned from among the women candidates in the first nomination paper or the additional nomination paper….”
To now reduce the quota following a free and fair election conducted under the new amendments, at the behest of the Chairman of the Elections Commission or Party Secretaries we think is not only blatantly unfair, unlawful and undemocratic, but also misogynistic.
The 25% quota for women was the result of a long and hard struggle waged by women’s organisations and women’s rights advocates for close to 20 years. It sought to address the abysmal underrepresentation of women in local government. The representation of women in local government prior to this quota never exceeded 2%. The whole point of affirmative action for women in political institutions is that it seeks to increase the numbers of women and in doing so it may exact a penalty from men who have dominated these seats for years by enabling a more democratic redistribution of seats between men and women and forcing men to accept that they cannot enjoy the primary privilege of representation at the expense of women. This is the fundamental principle underlying quota.
It is not for the Election Commission to subvert the very quota it is bound by law to operationalize. The law reads (see new Section 27F(1)) that 25% of every local authority shall consist of women. To say that it is unfair to let major parties carry the larger share of women representatives is in fact discrimination against women. All candidates have equal standing at elections, whether men or women and it should not matter who is appointed once they have been put forward as equal candidates. We are also deeply concerned that political parties appear to undervalue women candidates and not treat them on par with men. It is not ‘unfair’ that more women may be appointed by some parties from the ‘additional persons’ list, it will be unfair if parties deem more women cannot be elected or appointed over men.
The purpose of women’s quotas and other affirmative action measures in political institutions is to increase opportunities for women to assume positions as elected leaders, particularly where social and cultural barriers would otherwise unfairly impede women’s ability to contest for and win a seat.
There is a misperception among some political parties and independent groups that meeting the quota forces male leaders to give up their seats. In reality, the number of local government members was drastically increased from past elections, inter alia, to allow for the 25% quota and women candidates are entitled to these seats. Increasing the number of women in office and expanding the diversity of Sri Lanka’s elected leaders is not only good for women – it is critical to Sri Lanka’s democratic process.
We also wish to remind all peoples’ representatives, especially those who legislate, that women comprise the majority of voters in this country and their vote counts in your election and therefore such blatant misogyny and discrimination as this will not be tolerated.
We call upon the Elections Commission to operationalize fully the law with regard to the women’s quota. We also call upon all elected representatives in Parliament to honor their commitment to equality and non discrimination and not amend the law further or bring in provisions that will further diminish the rights of women rather than respect, promote, protect and fulfill them.
The undersigned therefore call on the Election Commission to
1) ensure that political parties are in compliance with all provisions of the law and
2) recognizing the exceptions in the quota, to nevertheless encourage political parties to go beyond the minimum requirements and nominate more women to fulfill the spirit of the 25% quota, thus strengthening diverse representation.
The long-awaited report by the ‘Justice Saleem Marsoof’ (JSM) committee that was set up to ‘consider and propose reforms to the Muslim personal law and Quazi Courts System’ delivered its report to the appointing authority the Minister of Justice, on 22nd January 2018. This labour on reforms to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) has taken nine long years. It is somewhat akin to a complicated and arduous delivery of a baby. There are claims that what has in fact been delivered are twins. Although consensus has been reached in a broad range of issues the committee was unable to reach consensus on all aspects where reform is needed. The result is different sets of recommendations in relation to such issues. The Minister has not made this report public yet. This has left many groping in darkness.
Mr. Hilmy Ahamed, writing on the subject has accused Justice Marsoof of miserably failing to ‘negotiate a consensus.’[1] Responding to another article[2] Hilmy Ahamed has, himself, claimed some credit for what he describes as a ‘much improved document’ that was dated and produced on 21st December 2017 by what he refers to as the “majority group” in which agreement was reached on some contentious issues. However, he complains that the Chairperson of the JSM Committee had already made up his mind on what should be said in the report and hence had no interest in studying the so-called ‘improved’ version.
Prior to that the Minister of Justice had called a meeting to sign the JSM Committee report the previous day, 20th December. That meeting was not attended by seven of the members who are said to have signed the differing set of recommendations. The Report is said to contain a narrative of the events that led to the circumstances that made it virtually impossible for the whole committee to arrive at a consensus.
In another article, written more objectively, Rizani Hamin poses the question as to whether Muslim men are “against equality?”[3]. Obviously some certainly are! Rizani likens the debate surrounding the MMDA in Sri Lanka to the debates around issues involving Muslim women globally: a gender war[4].
Contrary to her own assurances and undertakings at the meeting of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Women and Gender chaired by Hon. Dr. Thusitha Wijemanna, Member of Parliament held on 6th December 2017 at the Parliament, the news media have reported that the Minister of Justice is considering not publishing the report until it is forwarded to the Cabinet of Ministers and discussed in Parliament[5]. Rather than follow the proverbial blind men inspecting an elephant, I spoke to a few members of the Committee themselves. This confirmed my belief that the Chair of the Committee and the members had been working hard towards consensus and were almost there when, in October 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by the former Minister of Justice, Dr. Wijedasa Rajapakshe, to appoint a Cabinet sub-committee ‘to make proposals on amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act, which allows girls under the age of 18 to be married.’ Whilst some, including the All Ceylon Jamiayathul Ulema (ACJU) welcomed the proposal, some including Sri Lanka Thowheed Jamath (SLTJ) protested. However, the government wisely decided to await “the Justice Marsoof Committee” report.
It is learnt that with the politicisation since October 2016, the Marsoof Committee got into turmoil. The consensus that had emerged prior to October 2016 was disrupted by what a member of the Committee described as ‘hidden hands’. This apparently led the Chair to ask the president of the ACJU, Mr. M.I.M Rizwe, who himself was a member of the MMDA Committee, and who has also considered to have contributed to the delay in finalising the report, to host meetings of the Committee at ACJU’s auditorium. On a proposal by the said Rizwe, a ‘small committee’ within the JSM committee was apparently been appointed to discuss issues and try to reach consensus. Despite meeting thrice nothing positive has emerged from them.
It is learnt that a meeting of the MMDA Committee scheduled for 17th September had to be postponed as certain members claiming to be the “majority” group failed to attend. Instead, they emailed a document containing their views that morning. But on 26th November, the meeting had to be again adjourned as a report containing a ‘majority opinion’ had been brought by M.I.M Rizwe whilst the other signatories to that opinion kept away from the meeting making meaningful discussion impossible. Hence, members present had decided to meet on 20th December for purpose of signing the Report whilst resolving to endeavour to reach consensus in the interim. However, on 19th December 2017, the said Rizwe had informed the Chairperson by email that a signed ‘majority report’ would be sent to him by noon on 21stDecember.
Thus, it appears that some members of the JSM Committee turned out as scheduled on the 20th having signed a report dated 20th December and those who did not turn up for that meeting, signed their own set of recommendations the day after, 21st December. Although claims of a ‘majority’ have been made, in fact the committee has been evenly divided. Two sets of recommendations have been signed by nine members each.
This is perhaps how the Report submitted to the Minister of Justice by the Chairperson has come to consist of two sets of recommendations, one dated 20th December and the other 21stDecember.
If the above chronology is correct, it would seem unkind to state that the Chairman of the MMDA Committee, the respected Justice Marsoof, either failed to attempt at arriving a consensus or didn’t bother to read an alternate opinion or had made his mind up on his own. On the contrary, the claim that those amongst the committee who did not want to agree to certain reforms that are in line with Shariah and Fiqh may not have had the courage of their convictions to meet as agreed to discuss different opinions in the open within the committee, may hold water. Needless to mention, we Sri Lankans have enough experience to know very well that ‘majority’ is not necessarily always correct. Since the Committee is divided on certain proposals the best cause of action would be to make them public to enable a broad discussion. Based on that, an informed decision could be made.
It is also interesting, if not ironical, that those who claim to follow the Shariah principles in letter and word take pains to emphasise the ‘majority’. In the Islamic tradition and system, the decision is made by the Ameer (the chair in this case) who has only to consult (Mashoora), but his decision, even if he is the sole attributor with a preponderant majority differing from him, prevails and everyone accepts without dissent. Maybe the principle of Mashoora and adhering to the decision of an Ameer can go fly a kite when it comes to interpreting Shariah, fiqh, and so on for self-serving purposes by men claiming to be (un)holy!
It is pertinent to reflect on the divide in the way Muslims approach the interpretation of the Holy Quran and Sunna. The Commission on Marriage and Divorce (1959) averred in paragraph 54 of its report to this divide as follows: –
“There was one extreme point of view advanced by witnesses that the Quran establishes an exhaustive religious code of conduct for all time which no Muslim or other person has the right to amend in even the slightest degree. There were others who maintained, with equal reverence to the Quran, that considerable reforms of the law were possible within the very framework of the Shariat”
This apparent conflict of opinion may be easily dispelled by a better understanding of the concept of Shariah and its divine origins, and the dynamism of the principles of fiqh, which has been developed by jurists including great Imams such as Imam Shaffei and Imam Abu Haniffa. The word “shariah”, literally means “the way to God”, is generally used to refer to the body of Islamic canonical law based on the teachings of the Holy Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophet (Hadith and Sunna), prescribing both religious and secular duties and sanctions to deal with lawbreaking. The term “fiqh” which literally means “deep understanding” or “full comprehension”, refers to the body of Islamic law extracted from detailed Islamic sources, and constitutes an important aspect of the Shariah. It is this body of law that is referred to as ‘the Muslim law’ in various provisions of the Sri Lankan MMDA. It is necessary to stress that progressive reform of the law is possible within the very framework of the shariah owing to the dynamic nature of Islamic fiqh and the methodology of ijtihad, which is known as usul al-fiqh. They certainly do not oppress and/or discriminate against women.
It must be emphasised that the JSM Committee’s work could not have been easy in view of the complexities of the issues involved and the diversity of opinion held by members of the community and the committee itself. Nevertheless, as these issues affect the very life of all men, women and children over whom the MMDA has jurisdiction they have to be considered in great depth from both the shariah and pragmatic perspectives. The work done by the committee, and which resulted in its report of 20 December, thankfully, resolved most of the differences of opinion. For that and for having diligently worked for so long and, more importantly, for having reached agreement on a set of recommendations, whether it be by majority, evenly divided or otherwise – the men and women in the committee and indeed the Chair need to be applauded and thanked.
It is now left to the Minister of Justice to take the Committee’s Report to its logical fruition. This would include making it public so as to afford an opportunity for discussion among the society at large as expeditiously as possible. Reforms to the MMDA are five decades overdue.
As has been said by many and umpteen times the MMDA contains many provisions that are discriminatory and inconsistent with the Islamic concepts of Justice and Equality. Litigants who had to invoke the jurisdiction of Quazi Courts, have suffered in silence for nearly seven decades, and it is indeed satisfying to learn that the recommendations of the JSM Committee are said to be both comprehensive and shariah compliant. The recommendations are said to include upgrading Quazi Courts and the Board of Quazis by making all Quazis full time judicial officers. They address knotty issues of substantive law arising from the description of the applicable Muslim law as ‘governing the sect to which the parties belong’. They fix a minimum age of marriage, and provide for pre-marital counselling, for the bride to sign the marriage register, and for registering the terms of any marriage contract. Solemnisation and registration of a second or subsequent marriages to adhere the shariah requirements too are said to have been dealt with.
However, most notably, consensus seems to have eluded in the Committee regarding the appointment of women Quazis and representative appearance in Quazi courts, which women regard as essential for the protection of their rights and are necessary to avoid miscarriages of justice.
Justice Marsoof and the members of his Committee deserve to be congratulated in making much progress to a very great extent in difficult times and circumstances. Yet, whether they have successfully crossed what some would call a “gender divide” or not can only be ascertained once the report is made public.
It is also incumbent on the members of the committee, who are considered to be erudite and learned, to make their views, justifications and recommendations contained in the report public. This will afford them opportunities to explain their convictions, be transparent and squash unnecessary groping in the dark resulting in warped speculations.
If they, or anyone of them, are pressurising the Minister not to make the report public that would be an admission on their part that their opinions and recommendations are not only not Shariah compliant but also cannot be defended in public. The MMDA is a vital matter of public importance that should not be mired or mystified by self-serving calls garbed under the false pretexts of emotional religious rights and identity manifestations claiming special laws and treatment that would only drive the community to exclusion, chauvinistic regression and backwardness.
The Muslim community as a whole need to be clear that it wishes to be enlightened, adhere to Islamic Jurisprudence on social justice, equality and pluralism and be compatible citizens of a pluralist democratic country whose Constitution aims at equality, freedom, protection and autonomy for all.
### [1] Hilmy Ahamed, “Long Awaited MMDA Report, a Façade”, https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-long-awaited-mmda-report-a-facade/
Sri Lankans are compelled for long jump towards modern consumer platforms and digital consumerism
In common places, consumers are seen immersed with mobile phones and engaged in anti-social behaviour
Credit Card usage, internet money transfers are frequent and common occurrences in supply chains, banks
Digitalization embraces education, technology, commerce, business, health and many other sectors in Sri Lanka, South Asia
Sri Lanka still lagging behind digitalization when neighbour India and even Bangladesh surpassed us
2018-02-20
Marketing is fast changing in the world with modern consumerism in the digital world. Digital market platforms are fast invading the world having currently settled in the west and so called developed world slowly and steadily intruding into the rest of the world including South Asia. Sri Lankan consumers are equipped with mobile phones, internet and with the influence of the young generation comfortable with mobiles and computers. In the bus or social gatherings the consumer is confined to themselves immersed with the mobile phone with anti-social behaviour. Face book users and those immersed in the social media are a large percentage of the population. eBay, Ali-Baba, and other international mega platforms are known and used by the trader in Sri Lanka and the ordinary citizen fast growing. Credit Card usage and internet money transfers are frequent and a common occurrence in supply chains and banks. Local ‘Pick Me’ and foreign ‘UBER’ are well known to the consumer and consumed by a fair percentage of the population. There are over 40,000 UBER taxies in UK and much more in USA Car industry is planning electric unmanned cars in few years. UBEY and other car giants have targeted the deadline of 2 to 5 years for driverless auto driven cars on the road with plans to expand worldwide. It appears that Sri Lankans too will be compelled for a long jump towards modern consumer platforms and digital consumerism. It is not a surprise considering the rate of computer literacy and utilization of gradual digitalization process in many areas.
Digital Market Places
Digital marketplaces are fast penetrating to the consumer worldwide. In the United Kingdom and the so called developing world 40% of purchase of consumers is online visiting the market places online and the items are either delivered or sent to collection points near the residences. Mega platforms are spreading worldwide including Sri Lanka with the advent of modern technology used by the Sri Lankan consumer via 23 million mobile phones and the internet replaced by the traditional land phones. Sri Lankan business community no longer visit Hong Kong, Singapore, China, or any other market place physically due to the utilization of modern technology and online or bank transfers which are somewhat risky unlike in the west such frauds and happenings are rare due to regulatory powers of the State, Consumer Organizations, Media, and good business practices.
Advice from the magazine “WHICH” and Government and Chambers of Commerce monitors references give protection and guidance to the consumer in dealing with the trader. How safe are the consumer in the west when things go wrong due to scams, frauds, and unethical trade practices which are rare are monitored and supervised by and regulated by the Department of Trade and Industry, Powerful Consumer Organizations, with the powerful media with well-educated consumer backed by the well-organized consumer organizations unlike in Sri Lanka where the main regulator Consumer Affairs Authority being one of the most inert and inefficient white elephants giving priority to collect fines from the small trader instead of educating the consumer, trader and the regulator for the betterment of the consumer which is the least looked after segment of the society always in the receiving end. Chambers of commerce and Sri Lanka are traditional organizations not modernized the services to suit the modern challenges and requirements when other parts of the world Chambers and vibrant active and takes the trader and the state to the right direction in this competitive environment. The day is nearing faster a fair cross section of the consumer will be modernized to utilize the local and international platforms and digitalized online buying.
e-Commerce and buying products online
e-Commerce buying or produces services online have transformed the marketplace to a new era with modern technology. Digitalization is embracing education, technology, commerce, business, health and many other sectors in Sri Lanka and South Asia with ripple effects of world trends. Consumer International has chosen the topic for the next world consumer day which falls on March 15, 2018, as “Making Digital Market Place Fairer and Accessible and safe to the consumer across the Globe”. e-commerce and buying products and services online have transformed the consumer with connected devices and payment methods can buy anything from music to take away travel accommodation buying things events where these new way of trade has opened vast array of choices, requiring access, safety, consumer movement in a better digital world. A Ministry is now set you for Ministry of Telecommunication and Digital infra-structure with entering into an MoU with digital broad band with “Heavy Technologies”, “e Gram Pital Project”, and MoU with UNDP. With the Ministry and ripple effects of the world trends digitization process is bound to reach faster than expected and the consumer is warned to be ready for the impending changes in due course.
Digitalization process in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka is still lagging behind digitalization when neighbour India and even Bangladesh has surpassed us. Bangladesh has introduced biometric ID’s for their 110 million citizens which is a base for digitalization in other areas, when Sri Lanka is struggling to issue ID’s for her 21.2 citizens. Sri Lanka’s 10 million is saved by shifting X-ray files to indicate the value of the process in economic and improvement of quality of life. In the United Kingdom the Nation Health service is digitalized and centralized to give the best care health in the world, when USA is trailing behind to study the system for their citizen health regime. Line Minister appears to work hard with his available resources for the introduction of the digitalization regime to revolutionize the life of Sri Lankan citizens.
Expansion of digitization and way forward
Digitization will not be confined to consumerism as it will not be developed and expanded on isolation. Entire infra-structure and systems will have to be changed modernized and digitalized to suit health, education, administration, economy and the other areas in modern life facing challenges on innovations - the ministry has pledged to act upon. Digitalized system will be fast safe and convenient to the citizen for development and a better life, provided it is given with adequate safeguards, with organized consumer movement as in the West where the consumer is organized with the media and the organized bodies and publications such as “WHICH” magazine in UK which provides information and protection to the consumer with activism with the assistance of the consumer, trader, industrialist and the government (Department of Trade and Industry).
In Sri Lanka too it is the duty of the “ailing Consumer Affairs Authority” with no proper guidance and strategy to protect guide and look after the consumer whilst guiding the industrialist trader and business community the door step of the digital world. CAA can initiate and catalyse the consumer digitalization for the sake and benefit of the consumer/citizen. Let this be a warning for the Line Minister and the Government to bring about changes in the Consumer Affairs Authority [CAA], the main Regulator in Sri Lanka with enormous powers to act upon to protect the consumer and regularize trade to assist the trader, industrialist and the development of the nation with many issues on economic industrial and prosperity.
Israeli army says it launched strikes after rocket fired from Gaza hit land in southern Israel
Palestinians carry a victim of Israeli air strikes in Gaza during his funeral on 18 February (AFP)
Monday 19 February 2018
Israeli jets carried out a fresh round of strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday after a weekend of violence that left two Palestinian teenagers dead.
The attacks came after a rocket fired from Gaza hit southern Israel, the army said.
The cross-border exchange followed a weekend escalation in violence seen as among the most serious since Israel and the coastal enclave's Hamas rulers fought a war in 2014.
Israeli fighter jets "targeted underground infrastructure in the southern Gaza Strip, in response to the projectile that was launched at Israel earlier," an army statement said.
It did not give further details, but Palestinian security sources said several missiles were fired at farmland east of Rafah in the south of the coastal enclave.
No casualties were reported on either side.
Monday's strikes followed fierce exchanges over the weekend after a device exploded on Saturday near the border fence, injuring four Israeli soldiers.
Israel responded by hitting 18 Hamas targets on Saturday and Sunday, according to the Israeli military.
Israeli ground forces also killed two Palestinian teenagers in the enclave in cross-border fire.
Efforts to 'stop escalation'
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, said on Monday that his organisation had no wish to see fighting with Israel intensify.
"The resistance does not want to waste its energy on this escalation," he told the Hamas-affiliated al-Risala website.
He added that efforts were under way "to stop escalation and a new war".
Another source close to Hamas said it was sending messages to Israel through neighbouring Egypt, which frequently plays mediator between the two sides.
The source told the AFP news agency that Hamas representatives in Cairo "have officially informed the head of Egyptian intelligence that the movement is not interested in any escalation in Gaza".
"The Egyptian authorities must press the occupation government to stop the aggression and ongoing strikes in Gaza," he added.
Palestinians said two people were wounded in the weekend air strikes, which hit three bases belonging to Hamas in the east of the blockaded Gaza enclave.
Two of the soldiers were severely wounded in the border blast but their lives were not in danger, the army said.
Jerusalem district police commander Yoram Halevy, seen in uniform at center, poses with Temple activists in front of the Dome of the Rock. (Screenshot)
President Donald Trump’s declaration that the US would move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was met with global condemnation and warnings that it could lead to a violent escalation.
But another threat to Jerusalem’s status quo, though no less dangerous, has received little international attention by comparison: Right-wing Israeli activists gained significant ground in their goal to take over the al-Aqsa mosque compound in the last year.
Swelling numbers of Jewish visitors, the movement believes, will force the hand of the Israeli government to grant permission to Jews to pray there.
That would pave the way for the holy site, referred to as Temple Mount by Jews, to be divided between Jews and Muslims. That has been the reality at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron, also in the occupied West Bank, ever since an American Jewish settler massacred 29 Palestinian worshippers there in 1994.
Temple movement activists ultimately seek the destruction of the Dome of the Rock, also housed in the mosque compound, and the construction of a Jewish temple in its place.
Police cooperation
This final scenario may currently seem unrealistic, “but in recent months we have clearly witnessed that the police are progressively acting in tandem with those advancing precisely this goal,” warns Ir Amim, a nonprofit group which envisions Jerusalem as a capital shared by sovereign Israeli and Palestinian states.
Where Israeli police once proved a barrier to Temple movement efforts, these activists now find cooperation and encouragement.
More than 22,000 visits by Jews to the al-Aqsa mosque compound were recorded in late 2016 and the first three quarters of 2017, an increase of almost 60 percent from the 14,000 visits made one year prior.
An Israeli attorney “who has filed numerous petitions on behalf of Temple activists,” according to Ir Amim, recently stated that “Netanyahu will have to approve prayer for Jews on the Temple Mount when their number of ascents surpasses 100,000 a year. This means no more than 300 Jews on average each day.”
According to Ir Amim, many Jews visit the mosque compound “motivated by the idea that their visits signify participation in the ongoing campaign to alter the status quo.”
The group has observed “a radical shift between police officers and Temple movement activists.”
Police officers were once “careful not to demonstrate personal bias favoring political activists with whom they come into contact in the line of service.” But in recent months, Ir Amim states, officers “have frequently been photographed with members of the Temple movement in public displays of affection.”
The Jerusalem police district commander Yoram Halevy has been recorded on video embracing Temple mount activists and receiving a ritual blessing from an activist at an entrance to the compound. Yoram Halevy receives a blessing from a Temple activist in front of the Dome of the Rock. (Screenshot)
Halevy threatened injuries and fatalities against Muslim worshippers after mass demonstrations were held in the streets of Jerusalem over new police restrictions at al-Aqsa mosque last July.
Five Palestinians were killed amid a crackdown on Jerusalem protests that month and three members of an Israeli family were fatally stabbed by a Palestinian assailant in a West Bank settlement.
Open door
Ir Amim also notes that Temple activists were distinguished guests at a farewell party near an entrance to the al-Aqsa mosque compound for a police commander upon the conclusion of his post at the site.
They were also “officially invited to the ceremony marking transfer of responsibilities” when the commander of the precinct encompassing the holy site completed his appointment.
“The outgoing commander went so far as to acknowledge them in his farewell speech,” according to Ir Amim.
Imagery of cooperation and affection between Temple movement activists and the police “serves to stoke the motivation of [Temple movement] supporters,” Ir Amim states.
Police have meanwhile looked the other way when Temple activists have violated a prohibition against Jewish worship at the al-Aqsa mosque compound or worn provocative T-shirts advocating the destruction of the Dome of the Rock.
Temple movement signage now hangs at the entrance to the Mughrabi bridge – the entry-point for non-Muslim visitors to the holy site after crossing a police checkpoint – as if the right-wing activists “had been granted official public status over the area.”
Police have allowed activists to hold religious classes at Mughrabi Gate, treated by the activists as an ad hoc yeshiva to train an army of worshippers once Jewish prayer at al-Aqsa is permitted.
Ir Amim points to Gilad Erdan – Israel’s strategic affairs minister who oversees a “black ops” program to combat the nonviolent boycott, divestment and sanctions movement (BDS) in support of Palestinian rights – as “the root of this provocative change in police conduct.” Erdan also holds the “internal security” portfolio in the Israeli government.
“During Erdan’s tenure, new officers have been appointed to sensitive positions relating to the Temple Mount,” according to Ir Amim.
“Temple activists report that the minister’s door is open to their representatives and that he is attentive to their concerns.”
Ir Amim notes that the Islamic Waqf endowment that administers the al-Aqsa mosque compound has responded to these changes to the status quo with caution.
“The combination of Minister Erdan’s desire to strengthen the Temple movements and the police perceiving that erosion of the status quo does not meet with strong Muslim protest may encourage the Israeli authorities to take more hazardous steps,” Ir Amim warns.
Such an erosion could lead to an escalation of violence, the group adds, “as it did in the summers of 2014 and 2015 when the cost of attempts to infringe upon Muslims’ freedom of worship … was bloodshed in Jerusalem.”
More than 250 Palestinians and 35 Israelis were killed in a year-long wave of protest and violence following unchecked Israeli assaults and incursions on the al-Aqsa mosque compound in September 2015.
Israeli forces have slain several more Palestinians, including children, during protests against Trump’s Jerusalem declaration.
On Wednesday, Mustafa al-Mughrabi, a Palestinian resident of the Old City, was severely injured by a crowd of Israelis while they were exiting the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
Police “called the incident a fight,” the Israeli daily Haaretzreported.
Honenu, a legal aid organization that represents Israelis accused of harming Palestinians, claims that a group of Jews “were attacked by a number of Arab assailants and were forced to defend themselves.”
One of the group of Israelis was reportedly severely injured in his face.
Video shows a bloodied al-Mughrabi lying on the ground, his body convulsing:
Al-Mughrabi told the Ma’an News Agency that he was beaten after Israelis leaving al-Aqsa approached a group of his friends who were standing near the exit, and al-Mughrabi went up to them to see what was the matter.
He lost consciousness during the attack.
Video shows police escorting a large number of right-wing Israelis at the al-Aqsa compound earlier that day:
أكثر من مئة مستوطن اقتحموا باحات المسجد الأقصى المبارك بحماية مشددة من قوات الاحتلال، صباح اليوم. pic.twitter.com/3Bzu4wGaSt
The evening before al-Mughrabi was attacked, construction began on a new major settlement project a short distance away from the al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights stated that the building of the three-story religious study center falls under Israel’s “policy to make a Jewish majority in the city and change its character.”
by Nelum Vithanage-
It is the unity of people in general, not his party, which brought Mr. Maithripala Sirisena to the seat of power. His party and the members were insulting him at every turn – repeatedly, recurrently, all the time, continually, constantly, on every occasion, over and over again – he seems totally oblivious to such insults
government election results, profoundly unsettling as they are, compel enough hysterics from those who thought they would win (when they did not and could not) that they contort those results so as to tide over their failures. Mangala Samaraweera, for instance, suggests that the percentage of those who voted against Mahinda Rajapaksa rose from 51.28% in 2015 to 55.35% in 2018. Anura Kumara Dissanayake argues that the final results justify neither the government (the UNP and the SLFP) nor the joint opposition (which begs the question: does it justify him?). And Rajitha Senaratne, whose seat (Beruwela), like Samaraweera’s seat (Matara), his party unexpectedly lost, says that while the election was a setback, “the majority of Sri Lanka is still anti-Rajapaksa” (can he get any more obscurantist there?).
loyalists, against the two oldest political parties in the country. As far as electoral battles go, that one-man party, and that man, won decisively.
Jerusalem district police commander Yoram Halevy, seen in uniform at center, poses with Temple activists in front of the Dome of the Rock. (
Yoram Halevy receives a blessing from a Temple activist in front of the Dome of the Rock. (
