Ampara Fiasco; Need To Go Beyond The ‘Wandha Pethi’ Canard!

By Mohamed Harees –MARCH 2, 2018

Lukman Harees

As Hitler and Goebbels proved, the facts don’t actually matter. People repeat them so often that we believe them. Welcome to the ‘Big Lie’ or “illusory truth”effect, a glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition with truth. Modern day politicians, hate peddlers and even marketers are masters of manipulating this particular cognitive bias—which perhaps we have become more familiar with lately. Repetition is what makes fake news work. It’s also a staple of political propaganda. The effect works because when people attempt to assess truth they rely on two things: whether the information jibes with their understanding, and whether it feels familiar. The first condition is logical: People compare new information with what they already know to be true and consider the credibility of both sources. But researchers have found that familiarity can trump rationality—so much so that hearing over and over again that a certain fact is wrong can have a paradoxical effect. It’s so familiar that it starts to feel right.

This is exactly the effect the majority Sinhala-Buddhist population has been subjected to specially in the Post war era, when many canards repeatedly and in quick succession were used to vilify, demonise and stigmatize the Muslims in the Post war context, as part of a well-orchestrated hate campaign against them accusing them of pursuing an anti-Sinhala-Buddhist agenda. Some of the unfounded and unsubstantiated canards which were propagated were – destroying their relics and heritage particularly in the East, Muslims forcibly converting innocent Buddhists, Muslims are imposing their Halal requirements on others – projected as a Trojan horse and a conspiracy against the country, Muslim expansionism – the rate of population growth of the Muslims have been exponential which is likely to overtake the Sinhalese in due course and that the Muslim businesses are using many ruses to make Sinhala women barren, thus harming the interests of the majority. These canards became the appetisers in many of the campaigns led by BBS and their sisters groups during the MR regime and they continue to be attractive memes and slogans even now, in the powerful social media specially the Facebook hate pages repeated over and over again using photos and pictures of killings, massacres and incidents from other contexts and other countries.

It was therefore not surprising that the canard of Muslim ‘conspiracy’ of using various means to make the Sinhala women barren to bring their numbers down through sweets and tablets and also by introducing contaminated gel in undergarments became very popular specially in the social media which were designed to create anti-Muslim animosity within the general Sinhala-Buddhist psyche. Many diehard hate peddlers such as Amitha, Saliya, Dan Prasad, and many rogue monks and organizations such as Mahason Balakaya and Sinhaley Bala Mandalaya relished and thrived in these memes and slogans in the recent past even consequent to Yahapalana coming to power. This so-called ‘Wandha Pethi’ canard came into renewed focus during the Ampara incident where the cashier in the affected Hotel was forced to say yes to the mob’s question whether the Hotel introduced such tablets to the food served to them. The cashier who did not understand Sinhala affirmed under duress. This canard was proven to be untrue by many leading gynaecologists in the country. Thankfully, concerted campaigns were launched to counteract these claims in the mainstream media; but then, if not this, another ruse to poison Sinhala Psyche will be used by vested interests.   

It is therefore  important to realize that although it will be useful to consult and quote expert opinion and credible sources to dispel these types of canards whenever they come out and propagated like in this case of ‘Wandha Pethi’ brought forth to justify the attack of Muslims in Ampara, and also demand action against the immediate offenders, it is also more important to look  beyond these canards surrounding Ampara attacks. These are only ruses used by the bigger networks and movements not only designed to further bolster majoritarian and Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist thinking and attitudes, but by many other reactionary forces too which are hell-bent on introducing defeatist mentality into the ranks of Muslims making them think like second class citizens; perhaps helped by global Islamophobia. There was a recent post by a Tamil intellectuals in the North too, who expressed similar concern about the population growth of the Muslims in the N-E which may make them the most dominant ethnic group in those areas. Thus, to limit our vision to immediate incidents such as these canards or cat-paws such as BBS and their likes and our conversation and strategies to focus only on the symptoms will only lead to temporary patch-ups to say the least. These undercurrents go deep and pervasive and those masters who operate these puppets will have the last laugh if we miss the woods for the trees.

Further, it is also equally important for Muslims to look inwards, identify and rectify the misconceptions prevailing among the majority Sinhalese at the grass-root levels, which make them gullible enough  to fall victims to many hate propaganda slogans however stupid and irrational they may be, which are barriers towards peace. There is a feeling among the Sinhalese that the Muslims are not indigenous enough and have become Muslims in Sri Lanka rather than Muslins of Sri Lanka through many practices and attire adopted within the last few decades. It will be useful to identity and tackle the underlying causes rather than merely dealing with only the symptoms in order to make the dream of a united Sri Lanka where all citizens irrespective of racial and religious differences can enjoy their rights enshrined in the Constitution, a reality. There is a problem in our hands: The goodwill and trust between the two communities have broken down and it need to be mended and rectified rather than applying balm and plasters. In doing so, it is important to look at the realities of the past.

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MP Rahuman calls on Govt. to root out extremist elements

Rukshana Rizwie-Friday, March 2, 2018

UNP Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahuman called on the Yahapalana Government to make good on its promises to root out extremist elements, adding that continuing impunity will pave the way for continued violence.

Addressing a press briefing in Colombo, Rahuman added that continuing impunity coupled with the lack of political will serve as incubators for continued violence.

“It doesn’t matter if these acts of violence are perpetrated against Muslims, Tamils or Sinhalese, what matters is action being taken on the part of law enforcement authorities, a probe that will see perpetrators being brought to book and political will to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.

He added that if there isn’t political will to tackle the root cause of the issues, a regime change will have no impact. “We keep chasing after crooks and criminals but we don’t heed to simmering racial tensions,” he said.

“We came to power on the premise that we would weed out such elements or take action against them, it’s high time we make good on those promises,”MP Rahuman said. He further said he has made a personal request to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to initiate a probe into the tensions that flared in Ampara which took place two days after the Premier assumed duties as Minister of Law and Order.

“Ampara is not known to be a place that is prone to such extremism,” he said.

“Communities have been peacefully coexisting for years and if elements can run riot in a place like that, one needs to question if we are doing enough,” MP Rahuman added.

THOUSANDS RALLY OVER MOUNTING DEBT IN NORTHERN SRI LANKA

Meera Srinivasan/ The Hindu.-01/03/2018

Months after Sri Lanka’s Central Bank vowed action on mounting household debt in the war-affected north, thousands gathered in Jaffna on Tuesday, protesting against the government’s inaction.

‘Our home and country are indebted, what is the solution?; ‘Stop loans, give employment’ and ‘Strengthen people’s organisations’, read the banners held by participants, who marched from the iconic Veerasingham Hall — named after a former MP who pioneered the northern cooperative movement — to the office of the Government Agent (GA corresponds to the district collector in India).

Participants included members and employees of cooperative societies across the Northern Province and thousands of women, who are among the worst-affected by the high-interest, unregulated loans. After the civil war ended in 2009, a host of microfinance companies made credit easily available to those struggling to rebuild their lives.

Petition to agent

In its petition to the GA on Tuesday, the Jaffna District Co-operative Council sought a ban on unethical microfinance companies, an interest cap on “predatory loan schemes”, a two-year moratorium and the expansion of low-interest government credit schemes.

Speaking to The Hindu, Kanthiah Mahadevan, president of a Jaffna-based credit cooperative society and an organiser of Tuesday’s protest, said while many families in Jaffna receive financial support from a member earning abroad, it is the economically most vulnerable who are aggressively targeted by the companies. The interest rate is 28% on paper, but the actual interest paid adds up to 70%, he said. “The government must channel funds to the cooperative societies so we can lend at a reasonable rate of 10-12%.”

With no option of repaying the high-interest loans, many women take multiple loans to survive. “Collecting agents often harass them at their doorsteps, pushing many to the brink of suicide,” said Sarojini Pathmanabhan, secretary of the Northern Province Federation of Thrift and Credit Cooperative Societies.

Amid growing calls for government intervention to address the problem, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank said in October last year that it was considering measures, including a moratorium and an interest rate cap. Asked about the progress made, the apex bank’s Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said an awareness campaign was being undertaken. A six-month moratorium came into effect a couple of months ago, but more people needed to be made aware of the option, he said. “We have not ruled out a cap on interest rate, but we would prefer it if the banks are responsive to the situation and take decisions to self-regulate,” he told The Hindu.

The central government has made a budgetary allocation of LKR 500 million for debt relief in 2018. “The allocation is welcome, but if the government does not take immediate regulatory measures, the development of the northern economy will be at stake,” warned Jaffna-based economist Ahilan Kadirgamar.

Protests across North-East calling for end to atrocities against civilians in Syria

01Mar 2018

Tamils and Muslims across the North-East protested on Thursday, calling for an end to atrocitities in Syria.

'Silence is a war crime'

Protests took place in Jaffna and Batticaloa, as well as by families of the disappeared in Kilinochchi.

Trickery, treachery and trajectory

By Faizer Shaheid-2018-03-01

An air of melancholy shrouds the paradise isle in the anticlimactic aftermath of the Local Government polls. The euphoria surrounding the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) camp has diminished now that it has become clear the Government is unwilling to yield. Yet, in spite of a demoralizing defeat, and in the wake of an impending spate of elections, the incumbent Government has chosen to continue with petty political skulduggery.

Of all things come and gone, a change of Prime Minister was needed. President Maithripala Sirisena had commanded the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which was effectively parried by the latter with an abject refusal.

Wickremesinghe may have foreseen this day coming given his zany political antiques, and had made subtle changes in the 19th Amendment to have him and his party protected. President Sirisena was in for a rude shock as it dawned that he had been taken for a ride, so much so that he had to cancel a press conference scheduled for the following morning.

Change of Prime Minister

President Sirisena had come to realize that his powers had been slightly dispossessed. He could not play the same Constitutional games as he did upon attaining power. On 9 January 2015, when the country rejoiced at the victory of Maithripala Sirisena, he took oaths and began his political skulduggery when he appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe without removing D.M. Jayaratne in writing.

It was an ingratiating attempt at upholding his pledges to his allies at the cost of the Constitution. Nonetheless, he was indeed empowered to remove a Prime Minister and appoint a new one at the time, so the violation was overlooked.

Only a few months later, with the SLFP at ransom thanks to the juxtaposition of having conflicting leadership claims and a coercion of withdrawing Parliamentary pensions, the 19th Amendment was passed. Through this, Wickremesinghe ensured that the fate of D.M. Jayaratne did not befall him. Only a subtle change was made, which went almost unnoticed by all else. Prior to the 19th Amendment, the President was empowered to remove the Prime Minister with merely a writing under his hand. Now, Article 46 reads that a Prime Minister can be removed only when he submits a written resignation or ceases to be a Parliamentarian.

The Constitution also provides safeguards for the Cabinet and permits them to continue till the results of the General Elections are announced. However, there is a phrase in Article 47 (2) of the Constitution that requires clarification. It states that regardless of whether the Prime Minister dies, resigns from office, or is removed from office, during the period of dissolution of Parliament, Cabinet will continue to function. The contentious phrase is, 'removal from office.' Does this provision suggest that, although the Constitution does not expressly state so, the President is customarily permitted to change the Prime Minister as he wills?

This position can gather support from Article 48 (1) of the Constitution, where the phrase reads "On the Prime Minister ceasing to hold office, by death, resignation or otherwise." The word otherwise gives the impression that there could be other ways the Prime Minister could cease to hold office.
Perhaps it may be a little too dangerous for the President to blatantly overrule the Constitution by removing the Prime Minister like he did with former Chief Justice Mohan Peiris. However, he will imminently be playing with fire this time around.

If he must play by the rules, then he may have to follow Article 48 (2) which stipulates how the Government can be dissolved.

The Constitution states that Cabinet can be overthrown if the statement of government policy is voted down, the Appropriation Bill (Budget) is rejected or if a no-confidence motion is passed against the Government. The statement of government policy is delivered by the President at the commencement of the new Government, and it is optional, and can therefore be ruled out. That leaves the Budget or a no-confidence motion.

No-confidence motion

Filing a no-confidence motion against the Government can be an arduous task considering that the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe belong to one and the same party. The manipulations of no-confidence motions began with Ravi Karunanayake when the Prime Minister purposefully delayed holding any such debate until too much pressure was applied.

Although the vote against Ravi Karunanayake the first time failed, it proved the power of the Prime Minister in such situations.

At present, if a no-confidence motion must be presented against the Government, it is most likely that Wickremesinghe would simply choose to dodge the bullet by not permitting the motion to be presented. The problem lies in the fact that there is no procedure set out by law in respect of no-confidence motions. The procedure of adducing ordinary motions is followed.

Therefore, a petition signed by a few or several Parliamentarians is presented in Parliament, and then the Government mulls over whether or not they must have the matter in Parliament. The Speaker is the ultimate decision maker on whether or not Parliament must debate on the matter. There is absolutely no compulsion for the Government to take up such a vote in Parliament, hence the possibility of the no-confidence motion failing even before a vote has been taken.

However, if a no-confidence motion is indeed taken up, and passed with a simple majority of 113 votes, the vote of no-confidence against the Government will stand, and the Government can then be dissolved.

This is a lengthy and impractical expectation at present. It is better to await the vote on the Appropriation Bill (Budget) at the end of the year or the General Election expected at the end of next year.

What now?

With everything falling apart for the Government at the Local Government polls, the results were accepted as a warning to the Government. The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) together polled approximately 15% of the total votes, including humungous losses in the President's own district. With the results came the promise of 'visible change,' or as many ministers put out, Dhanena wenasak.

The United National Party (UNP) too faced a miserable failure having won 42 Local Authorities as compared to the SLPP's mammoth 249 Local Authorities. They also accepted the defeat as a strong message of the people. Nonetheless, they chose not to yield Government. Instead, they demanded a Government of their own, without any SLFP involvement.

Meanwhile, on the other side, there was increased pressure to rejoin forces with the Mahinda Rajapaksa clan in Parliament and form a Government of the SLFP alone. A union of this nature was deemed to be a true reflection of the people's mandate, as it would gather the 45% vote bank of the Mahinda Rajapaksa clan and the 15% vote bank of the SLFP/UPFA clan.

However, this was a Local Government poll and not a Parliamentary poll. Therefore, as constitutionally mandated following the Nineteenth Amendment, the Cabinet shall continue. No change in the Prime Minister could be resulted. Therefore, all ministerial appointments will be in consultation with Ranil Wickremesinghe, although made by President Sirisena. This is why the Cabinet reshuffle makes no sense.

Cabinet reshuffle

Following the announcement of a reshuffle, the expectation was to be two pronged. The UNP changes were to happen on one day and the SLFP changes on a different day. With this understanding, it was announced that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will also rake in the Ministry of Law and Order.

The kick-off announcement turned out to be a shocker, especially considering his alleged involvement in the Central Bank Bond Scandal and personal relationship with the former Governor of the Central Bank, Arjuna Mahendran. The Ministry of Law and Order gives him control of the Police Force, and hence any and all arrests will be mandated by him. This would serve two primary purposes. Firstly, it could potentially protect himself and his allies from any allegations of corruption or wrongdoing. Secondly, he could politically victimize whosoever he wills, whether it be with evidence, without evidence or with manipulated evidence.

While the other changes did not appear too big a difference, a rather redundant gesture was to replace the portfolio of Dr. Harsha de Silva. Dr. de Silva was previously the Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, and now he is the State Minister of the same subjects. This is especially redundant considering that both the Deputy Ministers and State Ministers hold zero powers unless delegated by the Minister. They are simply fashionable titles given to decorate Cabinet a little more.

All in all, the reshuffle saw no major changes. It was merely the same faces taking charge of different portfolios.

Conclusion

While the Government treads a path of promises, the path continues to remain full of potholes. The foundation has been weakly built, and the pillars of strength are about to collapse. The only foreseeable visible change appears to be in the form of political victimization, given that an accused Prime Minister is now given charge of the Ministry of Law and Order. If the trickery and treachery continues, the trajectory becomes very clear. If the Government cannot beat a rising opposition, then perhaps holding their leaders behind bars would prevent them from contesting in future elections.
As long as the political regime continues in this fashion, true democracy shall remain incarcerated and out of the reach of the general public.

About the author:

The writer is a political analyst and an independent researcher of laws. He holds a Postgraduate Degree in the field of Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Colombo and an Undergraduate Degree in Law from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom.

The real and unreal

When I read doomsday prophecies and warnings against the Rajapaksas by those who believe in the (relative) goodness of this government and the (absolutist) totalitarianism of the previous government, I am inclined to consider them as something out of a dystopia, post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror flick. 

2018-03-02

It’s like the ending of The Terminator where Sarah Connor is told of an impending thunderstorm and she bluntly says, “I know”, not with respect to that thunderstorm, but with respect to THE FUTURE. We have so many Sarah Connors among our commentators: they look at one political prophecy and create something ineffably profound out of it while missing the wood for the trees. The thunderstorm is there, but the writers are looking elsewhere.  

The February Local Government elections gleaned three reactions from these commentators: disbelief, apathy, horror. They had hedged bets on Rajapaksa winning but they had underestimated just how terribly dissatisfied the people were (as they continue to be) with the present regime. It’s rather laughable if not downright ridiculous to suggest that power obtained from the periphery this way is enough for a Rajapaksa Restoration, but that is what these (prophetic) commentators are already ranting and raving about.  

When Kumar David suggests that the populist backlash would be enough for the government to backtrack on the grievances of the Tamil people (“They are better off buying real-estate from Elon Musk to settle on planet Mars than to expect justice from the Sinhalese”) and when Tisaranee Gunasekera portends a worse contingency than a Mahinda Restoration – a Gotabaya Presidency (oh, the horror!) – they are acknowledging that for the people, the lack of accountability by the government over real and economic issues (like the price of coconuts) has overridden their earlier concerns over bringing to justice the criminals and looters of the past. In other words, for the people and according to these writers, it would seem as though the LG polls was a litmus test on whether we were concerned with issues of reconciliation and natural justice.  

They had hedged bets on Rajapaksa winning but they had underestimated just how terribly dissatisfied the people were with the present regime

Not that the detractors of the Rajapaksa Cabal are entirely in the wrong. When R. Sampanthan, in parliament, contends that the Eelam bud will grow out of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s lotus bud, he is not engaging in mischievous conjecture, he is pointing out that the populist wave on which the Rajapaksas are riding (which for Dayan Jayatilleka has replaced the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinist wave they used to ride on during Mahinda’s presidency) might very well congeal into a racist, lunatic fringe in the future. There’s of course a difference, a whole world of a difference in fact, between chauvinism and electoral populism, but what commentators are missing out is the fact that in Sri Lanka, the one has historically tended to transform (or be transformed) into the other. Probably that’s where Mr Sampanthan is correct.  

The LG polls was a classic case, in the most simplified sense, of economic and racial issues winning over constitutional concerns. For the people in the periphery, outside the big cities, only two things mattered: the rising cost of living, and the fear of a minoritarian elite controlling their future. The latter of these was tempered by a racist outlook, to be sure, and that racist outlook (the fear of Eelamism coming out of a parliament in which the official opposition was headed by the TNA) was added to and supplemented by the unbearable cost of living. When these twin issues remain un-addressed, when all you have is an indifferent government brushing off the concerns of the people with the simplistic excuse, “We are better than the politicians you used to have!” the people get tired. And when they get tired, even issues which do not border on economics, like power sharing and devolution and constitutions, become the Rosetta Stone on which they assess the policies of the government. On that count, the government lost, and the Joint Opposition won. Wildly.  

The LG polls was a classic case, in the most simplified sense, of economic and racial issues winning over constitutional concerns

To put it in perspective, hence, constitutional amendments and legislative enactments cannot and will not be accepted by the people if the economic backdrop to them is not met. 

For the people, in other words, the real is economic and substantive, the unreal is immaterial and theoretical.  

When the price of a coconut soars, when fertiliser subsidies are never enough for the farmer, and when the Ceylon Electricity Board and University students engage in strike after strike in the name of correcting anomalies, the people get tired and mistake the government’s inability for its unwillingness to address those anomalies. It’s difficult to suggest that the Bond Scandal had anything substantive to do with the backlash against the government, but the way it was marketed, by both the government and the JO, ensured that it too was seen by the people as evidence of this unwillingness of the ruling coalition. The people did not vote for Mahinda out of a love for his peculiar and inimitable brand of populism, but they were voting for his troupe because they preferred the old order, which rode on continuity without change, to the new, which rides on change without continuity (as Dayan Jayatilleka noted years ago with respect to Maithripala Sirisena’s bid for the presidency). 

When R. Sampanthan, in parliament, contends that the Eelam bud will grow out of the SLPP’s lotus bud, he is not engaging in mischievous conjecture, he is pointing out that  

The woods are there, and so are the trees. How long will it take for the politician to try and bring the two together? How many more ignoble defeats at the hands of the Rajapaksas will it take for us to wake up to this clear and present danger?  

For the truth of the matter is this: the more you harp on about the supremacy of the immaterial (constitutions, laws, the need for national reconciliation) over the material (the affordability of food, the availability of fuel, the supply of electricity), the more likely it is that you will be seen as an ivory tower elitist who has no regard for the latter. I think, therefore, the first step in recognising this is acknowledging that there are worse things that can happen to this country and polity than a Rajapaksa Restoration, or for that matter a Gotabaya Presidency. Worse things that may well transpire in the near future. 

Building A New Generation Of Sri Lankans Who Do Not Crawl Before Authority

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –MARCH 1, 2018

Shyamon Jayasinghe

These are survivals from our medieval days. This is strange because most of the institutions of medieval  times have been demolished in Sri Lanka by now. This particular phenomenon, therefore, dramatises the fact that social values can outlive changes in the material condition of men which, in the first place, generated them.

A few days ago, at St Thomas School in Matara, Minister Mangala Samaraweera made an inspirational address invoking kids never to crawl and worship before persons holding authority. I thought that was an unusual speech for a Minister of a government, who typically uses such an occasion for political point scoring or political conning. Mangala came in as chief guest and as he entered the precincts a kid came up in greeting to him, knelt before him and handed over a shove of betel leaves in traditional fashion. This incident had been the occasion for the Minister to make this statement. And it was something that should have long ago brought to the nation’s attention.

“We must build a new generation of people in our country who do not prostrate and worship those in official authority,” exclaimed Mangala Samaraweera.

The Minister spelt out in detail as follows: we must worship (in the case of Buddhists) only the Buddha, our  parents and our teachers. Never prostrate before Ministers, MPs, Pradeshiya Sabha Councillors and so on. Plainly, this is what is happening in Sri Lanka. Ministers are worshipped, MPs, local councillors or anybody in the cloak of some level of authority are worshipped.

The irony is that most of these persons are downright corrupt. They rob, cheat, lie, murder and so on. In such a context, the mere act of prostration and genuflection is enough to boost the image of the particular person in authority. Such persons in authority simply love adulation and expect that from the people. They are addressed as ‘thuma,’ which is the short for ‘uthuma,’ meaning ‘noble one’-although the person may be a lout or cad as more often most pollies are.

Don’t go far away; just switch on the TV anytime. A person of some office is addressed  by media personnel as ‘oba thuma.’ Why not simply ‘oba?’ They wouldn’t do that as their tongues are twisted to say,’thuma,’ or ‘oba thuma.’ The problem is two-way since the recipient official would consider it insulting if it be that he is not so addressed. Both the social expectation  of the recipient  and the sense of  appropriateness borne by the giver are intertwined. It is one of those vicious cycles.

Human societies are generally status seekers as  elucidated by Vance Packard in his classic, “Status Seekers,” written long ago. That is how we keep our egos going. Self-esteem is crucial in our lives.  On the other hand the precise styles  of status seeking differ from culture to culture and the essential determinant of that style is the way in which society placates the seeker of status. In Australia where I live, a MP or Minister would feel ashamed  of himself  and thoroughly embarrassed were someone to come and genuflect before him  and address him. The status seeker here would pursue money that would let him purchase and consume ’high status,’ items like cars, homes, river -cruising holidays and so on. Unlike in England, there isn’t even an aristocracy here in Australia. Our society here is by and large egalitarian and it publicly flaunts egalitarian values.  The boss and employee of a corporation are ‘mates,’ or machangs.

In Sri Lanka, on the other hand, the boss talks down the employee. There is little bottom -up consultation. At village level, the master addresses his subordinate employees in a lower rhetoric. The Prime Minister is referred to by media men in Australia simply as ‘Malcolm,’ or ‘Mr Prime Minster.’ In Sri Lanka, it is ‘garu’ or ‘respected.’. The Sri Lankan President is  ‘uthumanan,’ or ’athi garu,’ although, in fact, he may be a blackguard or vile character.

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Gender Discrimination by Unjust Law of Personal Laws in Sri Lanka

Muslim Law in Sri Lanka was firstly codified by British Chief Justice of the island Sir Alexander Johnston in 1806 and it was amended in 1929. The existing Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act enacted in 1951 have left certain provisions which are clearly discriminating Muslim women’s rights.

by Punsara Amarasinghe- Mar 2, 2018

( March 2, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The legal pluralism in Sri Lanka seems to be quite an intrinsic heritage which is still remaining as a legacy of country’s colonial past.  A layman can be utterly confused in examining the complex nature of Sri Lankan legal system as its present form has derived from different routines. As an example Roman Dutch Law is regarded to be the common law of this island and today Sri Lanka and South Africa are the only countries in the world that Roman Dutch Law applies in the legal sphere.  As an offshoot of island’s one and half centuries’ British domination, the English Law too has widely infiltrated into its legal system. Essentially the enthusiasm shown by British judges in the colonial administration to refer English cases and English common law precedence  crated the path for English law in Ceylon, especially when there was no remedy available in Roman Dutch law system British judges sought the answer through using English legal principles. However besides both English Law and Roman-Dutch Law as dominant features in the legal system, co-existence of personal laws focusing on special communities based on geography, religion and race is another cardinal characteristic in the legal pluralism in the island. In describing the special personal laws in Sri Lanka Theswalamai Law or “law of the land” has been prevailed among the Hindu Tamils in Jafna which is based on ancient Hindu laws and Kandyan law was conceived from the ancient Sinhalese customs. Nevertheless eventually those customs were only preserved in Kandyan Kingdom when the rest of the island was occupied by Western colonial forces. When it comes to the applicability of Muslim Law in Sri Lanka, it is more religious oriented system with assimilation of some peculiar customs only practiced among the Ceylonese Moors.

Despite having descended from a diverse ethnic, religious background those personal laws have become discriminatory towards the rights of women. In fact some of the provisions in Theswalami and Kandyan laws have laid down certain regulations which are contravening the rights of women. For instance under Theswalamai Law which is practicing among the Tamils in Northen province of Sri Lanka, a woman has to get the consent of her husband in order to alienate any immovable property and Article 11 and 12 of Kandyan Law Ordinance No.38 of 1939 has discriminated the rights of women in holding properties if those properties are not gifted by their husbands. Discriminatory outlook of both Kandyan Sinhalese laws and Theswalamai law among Tamils in Northern Province were accepted by Colonial rulers in Sri Lanka in order to appease the patriarchal values of Sinhalese and Tamil elites and those unjust terms remain unchanged thought it has been seventy years since British left Sri Lanka.

Notwithstanding the recognition of its Sui generis nature towards the Muslims as a personal law, Muslim law in Sri Lanka has a severe notoriety on trampling the rights of women in many ways. Muslim Law in Sri Lanka was firstly codified by British Chief Justice of the island Sir Alexander Johnston in 1806 and it was amended in 1929. The existing Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act enacted in 1951 have left certain provisions which are clearly discriminating Muslim women’s rights. As an example in Sri Lanka age 18 is the legally approved age for marriage, but this is not applicable under Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act in Sri Lanka.  The law itself has allowed child marriage under a permission of Quazzi who is a male official under Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act exclusively reserved for males albeit it is paid for from the public funds. Furthermore the divorcing a wife has become a less troublesome task for Muslim men under the same Act which enables men to divorce wives unconditionally and unilaterally while women have to prove a fault of the husband. Irrational nature of the act is further portrayed by looking at some of its provisions which provide utmost freedom for the man to marry up to four times, but Muslim women have been staved off from such a freedom whereas consent of their guardian is mandatory requirement for their marriage.

In the constitution of Sri Lanka the equality before law is verified from the Article 12 (1) and that Article provides no safe guards to the Muslim women who have been subjected to such unjust legal restrictions mainly due to the fact that Article 16 (1) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka states that all the written and unwritten laws existed prior to the 1978 Constitution is valid and operative. This absurd Article has created a legal limbo in its applicability, because under the interpretation of this Article any law promulgated before 1978 can be valid if they are inconsistent with the fundamental rights granted to all citizens.  Many Muslim women activists in the country believe this Article should be repealed from the constitution as it hinders the rights granted by the Article 12 (1) of the Constitution. But by looking at the facts on ground it is certain that none of parties representing the communal demands of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka genuinely attempt to raise these issues openly with the trepidation their having on maintaining the vote banks in Muslim dominant electorates. Mainly the male hegemony over the Quazzi positions in spite of having many of the educated Muslim women in Sri Lanka has exposed a tip of the iceberg and it has been reported that in many occasions Conservative Muslim groups have created a hostile environment among their community which has deviated the voice of Muslim women activists.

Sri Lanka’s obligation to uphold CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women) as signatory party stands as a significant factor and Sri Lanka has submitted eight periodic reports since 1981 to the CEDAW Committee. However the discriminative status of women under the personal laws in Sri Lankan legal system has awakened special concern of CEDAW Committee and having considered the ponderable situation in the island CEDAW has asked from the government to repeal all the discriminatory provisions in the personal laws. Furthermore CEDAW has emphasized the gender identity and sexual orientation should be taken into consideration in the proposed constitution drafting process.

However the question on  amending or perhaps repealing those discriminatory provisions in the personal laws has become a double edge sword for the government, because Muslims and Tamils can get agitated by such a move as an act of interfering with their rights. There was a massive hullaballoo among Indian Muslims when Indian Lok Saba passed in bill in 2017 December which aimed at prosecuting Muslim men who divorce their wives through the “triple talaq”, or instant divorce. Same harsh reaction can be expected in Sri Lanka if Government makes a move on amending the personal laws, but the greater concern on justice cannot be marred by a mere religious and cultural dogma. In the context of Sri Lanka government should either draft a unified family code in conformity with the Convention in which equal rights of women and men in the family relations or amend the special personal laws in accordance with those religious and ethnic communities.

Punsara Amarasinghe is a Doctoral Candidate in International Law at National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He served as guest lecturer at Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo and holds his LL.M from South Asian University in New Delhi and LL.B from University of Colombo, Faculty of Law.         

A new ‘Do Not Attempt’ approach to nation-building and other non-starters

i Friday, 2 March 2018 

A recent announcement from the retiring editor of a citizen-journalism forum had us reaching for our French dick. It said, “Plus ca change.” The rest should have read, “Plus c’est la meme chose.” What it meant to say is that ‘the more things change they remain the same’. Maybe more accurately it may have done better to intimate that the more some things change, the more they stay the same.

In the case of the ground-breaking cj-f it was an obvious reference to the DNA of the organisation being passed on in an attempt to reassure the readership that the critical engagement expected of it, which had been its imprimatur, would continue. There would be no new editorial culture, simply more of the same… the good stuff – the right stuff.

If something is to change, it may need an infusion of new blood or semen. While the view from the ground (pun intended) will probably remain its old salutary self, we can name a few other cultures which seem to desperately require a DNA update. For all their trumpeting, there is still an elephant in the room… and it is making the sea-green incorruptible ethos it upheld on the campaign trail green at the gill.

That a new political culture cannot be effected by simply circulating the usual suspects around cabinet posts has not occurred to the blasé ideologues whose jungle telegraph is still wildly semaphoring mixed signals about campaign financing, staying put in situ, reaching for the crown through constitutional faits accomplis. No one is reaching for their French dicks.

The end (some call it a resolution, but a better term may well be dissolution) of the constitutional crisis – or power play – triggered by the signals sent to the powers that be by the LG poll has meant a consolidation of the old political culture. But that is perhaps only to be expected in a political establishment that is truly colour-blind à la the continuing ethic of coalition politics. And since not even constitutional amendments to date guarantee ambitious single parties their day – or five years – in the sun, yet, the polity are vouchsafed continuity of the three-ring circus. We owe the legislature to our myopic folly; note that justice is blind and often dumb; but beg the executive to take responsibility for its own peccadilloes.

With that said, we cannot continue to accept the adjustments and amendments that the players in the upper echelons of governance make in the disturbing wake of an ostensible electoral setback. The writing on the wall has been interpreted to mean that the powers that be have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. There is little justification in heads rolling and the headless corpse playing musical chairs with itself. We want a fresh batch of DNA! the promisers to keep their promises! that a fresh approach to keeping our elected representatives accountable to us be mooted and implemented by more than merely the new/old editors of Groundviews!

As to how we will effect this sea-change, well, one column before a welcome weekend won’t suffice. Be that as it may, the pressure at hand is not for the voter (we’ve done our duty, even if some us seemingly hankering for a return of the ‘ancien regime’ have exercised our franchise rather absurdly from a conservative cosmopolitan point of view). The acid tests are for our governors. Take it as you see it below:

The Acid Tests

(Do Not Attempt any of the questions to which you know the answers. I urge you to think about it first. You know very well that any attempt to appear clever/sincere/reasonable/efficient/la-di-da will be rejected by the voter and result in you losing your deposit.)

A.Essays

A “cabinet is the principal group of persons charged with mismanaging a country”. Is this true for you too, or are you willing and able to prove otherwise? Why should we put up time and again with your pious platitudes about a new political culture? When it is evident to all and sundry but the dullest voter that you do not mean a word of what you say? (If you feel hot and bothered, how about a fact-finding mission to cooler climes? We recommend Siberia. Do not attempt to flee the country, Interpol could get you – and let you go.)

 B. Short Answers

I.Anti-Corruption Drive: was it only an election gimmick by the head of state to leverage his electorate and expand his empire to include disaffected members of his split party? (At one time wasn’t anti-corruption the property of the opposition? So who will guard the guards now that it’s clear no one is a paragon of probity?)

II.Bond Scam: now that the pre-poll manoeuvring is over, will this go the way of all flesh – towards the kitchen (cabinet), or will there be an actual prosecution of all the parties found guilty? (Bonus points for incorporating the moral dimension in your answer by demanding the head on a platter of the masterminds behind it all.)

C. Multiple Choice Questions (DNA – ‘Do Not Attempt’ if you think the right answer is DNA – ‘D. Not Any’ of the above)

1.Appear to be the only winner at the polls when you’re actually the biggest loser, by:

a.Acting confidently, when actually you’re like a lion with its tail between its legs

b.Being brash about all your boys supporting you against your ostensible ouster

c.Calling everyone in sight a traitor to the cause, when you’re the Jonah

2.Buy time to feather your nest until the next voter-deceiving instalment, by:

a.Appointing the villains of the piece as your aides de camp

b.Bullying your political bed-mates into bargaining their advantages away by braggadocio

c.Creating a chauvinistic spectacle on the periphery that shows up your nationalistic DNA

d.Doing Nothing Atrocious (DNA), as you’ve always done, and managed to get away with it because your party cohorts lack ‘testicular fortitude’ – don’t translate that last part

3.Create an atmosphere in which the people forget their perennial pressing concerns, by:

a.Attracting the ire of some marginalised demographic by denying them their rights

b.Building a nation as if it was a castle in the air or a sand-dune by the sea (cf. CIFC)

c.Creating a riot on the streets or a ruckus in parliament, while you continue your own racket

4.Fill In The Blanks

I.I can be president after all, because I had nothing to do with that troublesome editor’s murder in broad daylight – and also in those days I was ___ (all-powerful/actively involved/always right/as naïve and innocent of any crime as I am now)

II.PM means ___ (Prime Minister/Principal Machiavelli/Permanently Mandated/Prematurely Manumitted/Parliamentary Menace). Note… it does not mean ‘Past My-prime’ or ‘Please Move-on’.

III.The chief responsibility of a head of state is to ___ (Rule/Rue the day I left my leader in the lurch/Respect the unequivocal signal received from the latter’s supporters/Ruin everything for everybody with my miserable patriarchy)

IV.Need of the nation now more than ever is ___ (Honesty/Integrity/Free Wi-Fi)

5.True(T)/False(F)

1.A poll is a poll is a poll. (T/F)

2.If it is ‘only’ an LG poll, feel free to forget what the foolish voter feels. (T/F)

3.The cabinet is a closet made of hard wood. (T/F). Try this, then… The cabinet is a closet made of soft wood. (F/T).

4.That (see above) was below the belt. (T/F)

5.My mandate must be still intact because nobody (at least those whom I asked nicely) wants me to step down (even this time). (T/T)

One more thing

It would be funny if it wasn’t darkly tragic. To add insult to injury, the powers that be are now pretending that the slap in the face was a pat on the back. It may well be that the overarching national mandate given on a short lease in 2015 is still valid. It does not mean the devious and duplicitous game of musical chairs has gulled savvier electorates such as Groundviews readers and contributors (I’m taking its editors for granted) into swallowing cabinet reshuffles as an appetiser to the smorgasbord of a new political culture.

Oh one last thing. To crown the so-called victor at the local government poll with a chauvinistic laurel, some literally inflamed political opportunists appear to have cottoned on to the idea of setting ethnically volatile townships ablaze. If you’re doing your notorious Hamlet act and muttering To Be Or Not To Be under your breath, it’s clear that the correct answer is To Be. So be, go, do, put out the fire that nationalistic arsonists are attempting again. Be quick, the beast is slouching towards Ampara, Battaramulla, Colombo, to be born again.

[A senior journalist, the writer is Editor-at-large of LMD. His DNA is (characteristically for suspicious old democratic-republicans) a twin helix of hybridity: part idealistic, part cynical, and fully fed up.]

Back to square one The long journey in search of a flawless electoral system

The Central Bank bond scam…the ruling UNP’s seeming connivance with it gave an added pace 

The new mixed electoral system also contributed to the high visibility of Government’s election defeat

Government does not have any viable economic programme to win over the masses

Govt. doesn’t have sufficient time to implement a programme, even if it had one

 2018-03-02

Three years after the last Presidential Election the political balance of power in the country has changed diametrically with the loyalists of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the anti-Rajapaksa camp swapping positions.

The Rajapaksa’s camp that was by then at the receiving end is on the offensive now- after the February 10 Local Government elections, whereas the main adversaries of it, the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) are on the defensive and beleaguered.

The tide has started to turn in favour of the former President from the very first year of the Yahapalanaya Government with the Government failing to keep its promise on much-talked-about eradication of corruption, while the “Rise with Mahinda” campaign initiated by the smaller parties in the Rajapaksa camp, especially the National Freedom Front (NFF) led by former Minister Wimal Weerawansa gaining a steady momentum.

The Central Bank bond scam which might be the biggest or one of the biggest corruption cases in Sri Lankan history and the ruling UNP’s seeming connivance with it gave an added pace to this turn of the tide.

Given the defensive and defeatist tone in the comparatively less-frequent statements made now by the leaders of the Government, the tide seems to have taken a qualitative turn after the recent Local Council Elections, the results of which have baffled those who joined hands about three years against President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was considered then to be invincible.

Holding LG Elections countrywide, without conducting them on a staggered basis is good, but the Government did not drag on with those elections in such good faith, though it attributed the delay to the delimitation process

The outcome of the Local Government Elections had been inevitable given the Government, especially the UNP - the main party in the Government- having damaged its credibility with its insincerity in keeping its election pledges on eradication of corruption, economic development especially creating one million job opportunities in five years and holding the local polls in time.

The results of these elections would not have been the same had the Government held the elections for the Local Councils the term of which had ended in 2015 in the same year, as the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections held in that year would have had an influence on them.

Then the results of those LG Elections would, in turn, have influenced elections for the Local Councils that had stood dissolved in 2016 as well, saving the day for the Government.

Had the Government also been serious and sincere in its pledge on cracking down on the high profile corruption committed during the previous regime, anti-Government forces would not have regrouped and there wouldn’t have been a Joint Opposition or a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) by now.

Holding LG Elections countrywide, without conducting them on a staggered basis was good, but the Government did not drag on with those elections in such good faith, though it attributed the delay to the delimitation process.

Finally, it had to face the music when it held the elections at a time when one-third of the people, who voted for the UNP three years ago, had rejected it and the Mahinda wave was at its peak.

The new mixed electoral system also contributed to the high visibility of Government’s election defeat.

It is with this Mahinda wave sweeping the Sinhalese dominated areas in the country the UNP, SLFP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have to face the forthcoming Provincial Council elections, probably this year, and the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in 2020.

Had the Government also been serious and sincere in its pledge on cracking down on the high profile corruption committed during the previous regime, anti-Government forces would not have regrouped and there wouldn’t have been a Joint Opposition or a Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) by now

If the Provincial Council elections are held this year at least for the already dissolved three councils and another three to be dissolved in September, the results of those elections would not be very different than those of the February LG elections. And that will have a bearing in turn on the results of the next Presidential and 
Parliamentary elections.

The Government does not have any viable economic programme to prevent this by addressing the economic woes faced by them or sufficient time to implement such a programme, even if it had one. 

On the other hand despite the total votes gained by the parties against the SLPP is much higher than what the SLPP had bagged at the LG polls, finding another common candidate against the candidate of the Rajapaksa camp at the next Presidential Election, as happened in 2015, would be a pipedream.

And it might also be counterproductive for the Government sometimes to expedite the cases against the corruption committed during the last regime, given the rising Mahinda wave.

Therefore, the leaders of the Government might attempt to minimize the damage by clinging on to the Proportional Representation (PR) system in respect of the forthcoming Provincial Council and Parliamentary Elections.

Though the Government had managed to pass the Provincial Councils Elections Amendment Bill in September with provisions for the mixed electoral system for Provincial Councils as well, it has been challenged by the SLPP Chairman Professor G.L. Peiris and former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva in court on the grounds that the said provisions had been sneaked into the Bill as an amendment at the Committee Stage of the Parliamentary debate on the Bill. The Government might be happy with the cases now.

Now that the mixed electoral system has also run into controversies after the recent LG polls with even the former President whose group swept the Local Councils in seven out of nine Provinces wanting it to be changed, the Government might attempt to revert to the PR system in all elections in the future.

It would be the next chapter of the country’s journey in search of a flawless electoral system, which was an interesting story.

We, along with many other former British colonies had the First-Past-the-Post system after Independence and President J.R. Jayewardene changed it with the Second Republican Constitution of 1978, on the grounds that parties that get more votes get fewer seats.

For instance, the UNP had received more votes than the winning Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) at the 1956 General Elections, whereas the seat ratio of the two parties stood ridiculously at 8:87.

The preferential voting system was not included when the PR system was first introduced. Political party leaders had to appoint members to the councils, on the basis of the number of slots their parties had won at an election.

However, when the Local Government elections were held under the PR system first, it was witnessed that the candidates in the list who were not favourites of the leaders were reluctant to work hard and spend their money during the elections, as their chances of being appointed were minimal. Thus, the controversial manape or the preferential voting system was introduced to encourage all candidates alike.

However, Jayewardene introduced three preferential votes instead of one, probably to provide two more options for the voter, in case he/she does not prefer the candidate from his area.

Nevertheless, it turned out to be a curse for the country, as it was the main cause of intra-party violence, corruption and huge election expenditure by candidates.
Apart from this, the PR system deprived the voters of a member responsible for their area.

Had Jayewardene introduced one preferential vote, with candidates being assigned to specific electorates or wards, the intra-party rivalry could have been reduced.
Then in 2003, all political parties agreed to find out a suitable electoral system for the country and agreements were reached to apply a mixed system of PR and FPP systems.

In 2012 a law was enacted for the new system to be first introduced to the LG elections, but it increased the number of members in councils.

With the ratio of the members elected under first-past-the-post system and PR system being changed to 40:60 from 30:70 under the present Government, the number of Local Government members doubled.

Now, again the country is back to square one, finding the world’s best electoral system.