Ban On Social Media Helps Cover-Up Mob Violence Against Muslims

By Latheef Farook –MARCH 19, 2018

Latheef Farook

The ban on social media only helped the government to cover up its failure to prevent racist attacks on Muslims in central hills and the destruction of their properties and livelihood. Despite advance knowledge from intelligence reports of the planned carnage, the government miserably failed to stop the attacks.

These racist mercenaries, of suspected local and foreign anti-Muslim forces, caused billions of rupees of destruction to Muslim owned properties in and around Digana, Teldeniya, Akurana, Galaha, Katugastota, Menikhinna, Ambettene, Pujapitiya and surrounding areas in the central hills.

These attacks were so sudden and fierce that the Muslims just could not do anything to save their properties and even belongings.

Affected Muslims were overnight deprived of their livelihood and thrown into streets. The question is why, what crime did the Muslims do to deserve this and where is the government which is duty bound to protect all its citizen?

The mainstream media often dominated by journalists of racist mindsets serve various anti-Muslim forces. Yet the media in general gave wide coverage to the carnage during the first week and highlighted the senseless carnage.

However since the beginning of the second week mainstream media began to accuse Muslim victims of extremism and suspected of trying to cover up madness of a relatively small group.

After the second week electronic media has virtually ignored these attacks and the destruction.

When organized mobs attacked Aluthgama, Beruwala and Dharga Town during Rajapaksa government, local media virtually imposed a blackout. They were exposed and woke up when the international media gave wide coverage with vivid details. 

However during the recent anti-Muslim violence in Digana and other areas the local media did a reasonably good job. The international media described recent violence as crimes committed by Buddhist extremists though Buddhists have nothing to do with it. 

An Arab friend of mine from the gulf called me to find out what was going on asked “what is wrong with the Sinhalese who are always attacking minorities?” I had to explain that this was not a problem between Buddhists and Muslims. I told him that Buddhist monks stayed inside mosques last week until the Friday is over. Buddhist monks have also joined the armed forces in renovating destroyed properties.

His next questions were what is the government doing? Why can’t the government punish perpetrators and maintain law and order? This is the shameful state of affairs under so called good governance.

When these attacks on Muslims began more than a year ago delegation after delegation met president, prime minister and all others involved and appealed to them to stop these attacks.    

However all these appeals fell on deaf ears. This provided protection for hooligans. Had the government enforced law and brought culprits to book this disaster against Muslims and the country in general could have been averted.

Many suspect this as a strategy to divert the country’s attention from the political mess the government is in. It was the same old UNP-SLFP game to remain in power or to gain power at any cost.

The mob came in buses, Lorries and vans, three wheel drives and motor bikes. They first broke opened closed shops with hammers and other heavy equipment, emptied almost everything before setting fire to buildings while the Muslim owner’s helplessly watched crying. They took food items and distributed to the mob to eat.

In some areas people were informed by their Sinhalese neighbors of the attacks in advance. Muslims took their families to the nearby jungle where they were hiding in fear without food or water.  While they were in the jungle the mob broke open their houses and took out everything, destroyed furniture and all electrical items.

Read More

The world moves forward and we move backwards

Communal riots will emerge over and over again since we, those who govern and those who are governed, over and over again prove that we do not learn from the past mistakes – Pix by Shehan Gunasekara


Tuesday, 20 March 2018 

Communal riots emerged once again. It will emerge over and over again since we, those who govern and those who are governed, over and over again prove that we do not learn from the past mistakes.

The world moves forward and we move backwards.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Sri Lanka confronts Weaponized Social Media

2018-03-19

The first social media blackout to be implemented in Sri Lanka since the inception of Social media platforms in 2005 just ended last week. The sudden and swift social media blackout was a response to halt and mitigate the spread of racial tensions among Sinhala and Muslim communities based on isolated incidents in Digana and Teldeniya.  
The social media blackout created a major socio, political and economic backlash targeting the government, representatives of various political parties including the two governing parties, civil society activists, professionals to foreign diplomats highlighted circumventions of democratic rights of Sri Lankans by denying them access to the services of social media platforms.  
The Sri Lankan government confronted a full blown reality that academics/researchers such as this author has been trying hard to highlight throughout the last decade of the importance of grasping Cyber Political drifts that the world is encountering from domestic to global political processes. Stratsight in many occasions have engaged with various aspects of cyber politics over the last year.  
Political processes, political strategies and decision making in the 21st Century have to be contingent upon the revolutions of technological disruptions. The master disruptor has been the Internet and its spatial element cyber space. No country, no statesman or woman is immune from cyber repercussions. A major reason Hillary Clinton lost the Presidential election was her handling of the Benghazi crisis 2012, in which violent protests in Libya led to the death of the US Ambassador in Libya. The key driver of the protest was an unrated, independent movie made by a US movie maker which went viral on YouTube, following claims it offended and the American government underestimated the global impact of this video.  

Cyber Politics   

Cyber Politics has emerged as a discipline of study and research over the last ten years exploring how internet and cyberspace have created multiple forms of power relationships that impact macro level statecraft to micro level political organizations. Yet this sub discipline remained largely on the peripheries of politics and International relations. Since the Arab Uprisings of 2011, increasing internet controls in countries like China, cyber-attacks , and finally the circumstances of allegation of Russian involvement mainly through cyber operations in the US presidential elections of 2016 has brought to discussion to the mainstream in Cyber political research and discussions.  
Irrespective of what hard power spectrum a country belongs to, the cyber vulnerabilities have had major effect on Democratic societies. The very fundamental of democratic societies is freedom of information, speech, ideas and political freedoms, thus using cyber space and aligned technologies all these fundamental features of a democratic system has become vulnerable to cyber attacks and large scale disinformation campaigns.  

• The next social media revolt may not be stopped by merely pulling the plug

• Cyber Politics has emerged as a discipline of study and research over the last decade

• Sri Lanka’s response to contain the distasteful and destructive hate speech was a total shut down

• China began its Internet filtering and controlling efforts at the turn of the Millennia

Weaponized Narratives 

In the aftermath of US presidential elections a new study area has emerged in cyber political studies, the key concept is Weaponized Narratives. Multiple definitions have emerged to complement the concept, rather than going through the definitions, the key elements of weaponized narratives are the deliberate targeting of a society, to undermine its values, beliefs, create confusion and complexity and critically leading to alter political decisions at crucial moments such as in times of a democratically contested elections  
In the previous Stratsight column, in generating a cyber strategy for Sri Lanka, the importance of people were highlighted. The weaponized narratives targets people and their judgements, thus it is a more powerful weapon than any form of kinetic attack. There is less coercion but alteration of convictions. Whilst propaganda campaigns of the past in global and domestic politics may have been a precursor to this, cyber space has enabled weaponized narratives to be packaged and delivered parallel to geo-political conflicts and to gain political advantage across national and international spectrum.  
Harvard University’s main International Relations think tank the Belfer Centre initiated a project led by Eric Rosenbach the former election campaign boss of Republican Candidate Mitt Romney who ran against Obama in 2012 to lead a new research plus policy initiative called ‘Defending Digital Democracy’ last year. The core principal behind this new initiative is to prevent third countries or non-state actors of hacking and changing outcomes of political processes in the United States as well as other democratic countries highlighting the importance of understanding and responding to cyber political developments globally.  

Sri Lanka’s choices   

Sri Lanka’s response to contain the distasteful and destructive hate speech was a total shut down, while the move is debatable, but its long term effect will taper off with more and more users finding ways and means to circumvent the embargo. While VPNs remain a primary way of scaling up any state imposed firewall thus leading the State to invest more into advanced and sophisticated surveillance and fire walls.  
China is the best case study in perfecting a firewall that is hard to breach and is becoming extremely sophisticated with a multimillion dollar investment in modernizing its technological architecture. China began its Internet filtering and controlling efforts at the turn of the Millennia. The project was codenamed ‘Golden Shield’, the more popular term that is used to identify China’s internet controls is ‘Great Firewall of China’. What it has achieved technologically is to move away from simple generalized content control when information enters China to a more potent surveillance capability targeting individual users.  
Sri Lanka may not have the necessary technological backbone, the political will or deep pockets to go for such large scale surveillance which actually defeats the legitimacy of a democratic society. Yet there may be a lesson that can be learnt from China on why its internet censorship is to a certain extent accepted by its public. China has not taken a narrow approach of merely controlling the internet by simply curtailing it or expanding pervasive surveillance it has also managed to achieve a large scale social engineering operation where Chinese citizens have adopted a culture of self-censorship in 
online activities.  
Recent reports from China point to a promotion of new level of self-censorship in online activity as the state is exploring of the creation of a ‘Citizen Score’ as an incentive encouraging good behaviour. While Sri Lanka may not be in the mid to long term successful in popularizing self-censorship protocols but the State can look at creating awareness and supporting social media advocates, web journalists disseminate ideas of ethical use of social media. Rather than a state imposed code of conduct which always denote negativity a more publicly open dialogue promoting social media norms if given correct leadership and participation may lead to a more responsible social media behaviour among our citizenry.  
What Sri Lankan policy makers have to be aware of is that the current increase of weaponization of social media and disinformation campaigns of social media reflects the times we live in. There is a massive recession in power and acceptance of the liberal world order. The value systems that were built of truth and justice are eroding or under attack. Philosophically we are entering a time of the Post-Truth, and the social media has become the production house of lies. Researchers claim that lies tend to get shared or consumed more in social media platforms and people are more attracted to lies of false information as there is novelty in it as the truth remain unexciting and stale.  
Translating such social and political developments when making national policies, addressing issues of social cohesion and national security, it’s the right time for Sri Lanka to engage in a dialogue on how cyber politics and cyber cultures will change the traditional way of doing things, the sooner we have the conversation safer our social fabric will be. The next social media revolt may not be stopped by merely pulling the plug.  

The writer is the Director, Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS)

Loony President issues redundant gazette notification to rescue masterminds and leaders behind racial violence !

(Lanka-e-News - 19.March.2018, 9.00PM)  The currently embattled president Maithripala Sirisena who has even  forgotten country ‘ s history and his own and therefore best known as an epitome of ingratitude and also dubbed Sillysena once again proved he is in a flat spin by issuing a gazette notification that the emergency regulation which was brought into force by him on March 6 th on account of the Kandy racial turmoil , and was to last for ten days is invalid after  16 th midnight . 

While it  is common knowledge  the state of emergency declared by him for ten days from March 6 th automatically ceases to be valid on the 16 th if it is not extended by parliament after the 16 th midnight , and a gazette notification additionally is not necessary to withdraw it , yet the president who is surrounded by buffoons calling themselves secretaries best known for tomfooleries  had also not advised him duly.  May we recall on the independence day celebrations too he committed an egregious blunder . He did not know how many years ago Sri Lanka received its independence.   

The parliament adjourned sittings on the 9 th , and was to meet again on the 20 th.  If the emergency regulations imposed  on the 06  th by the president was  in fact to be extended ,  that should have been done on the 9 th  when the parliament met last . That was by a resolution brought in  parliament by the ministry of defense under the president himself , and getting it passed. However nothing of that sort took place.

Though it was the motive of the president by withdrawing the emergency regulation by an unnecessary  gazette notification  to demonstrate that he  is a  ‘great Democrat ‘ and score cheap political plus points as usual , in truth his hidden sinister motive was to pave the way for the release of the racists who were arrested in Kandy  when  the emergency regulations were in force. 

From the very outset Lanka e news which frankly,  fearlessly and forthrightly stands by and espouses the truth come what may pointed out that the president, his cronies and lackeys are behind this communal violence . This was  amply borne  testimony to when the president during the unrest took three notorious racist monks Ithekande Sadhatissa , Elle Gunawansa and Medagoda Abeyatissa along with him on the helicopter journey to Kandy, which too was revealed by us.

Any doubts harbored by anybody in regard to our reports were cleared when the president took Ulapone Sumangala the robed racist scoundrel together with  Gnanassara the rascally monk   who is behind all the racial violence to Japan . Sumangala is the same infamous monk who  rescued another robed  racist hooligan Gnanassara a   dipsomaniac when he was produced in court for his criminalities . Sumangala arranged for Gnanassara to be released on bail in all three cases against Gnanassara   on the same day . It is while these racial monks are openly disgracing pristine Buddhism, Lord Buddha  and insulting the other true monks following the true teachings of Lord Buddha , the president who claims and proclaims he is a true Buddhist without any qualms enjoys the company  of the rascally,  rowdy racist monks even  on his tour of Japan.

Now with the lifting of the emergency regulations (president issuing a redundant gazette notification), those who were held in custody under it and against whom investigations are being conducted will get the opportunity to get released .Therefore before the  true masterminds and leaders behind this racial violence which has always proved dangerous and detrimental to  the whole country are known the accused will get released since the subsequent investigations will have to be conducted under the ordinary laws.     

President Sirisena who did not comply with the request of the United National Front during the cabinet reshuffle to entrust the law and order ministry to Sarath Fonseka (which the whole country earnestly anticipated) , instead handed it over to the prime minister temporarily , and stoked this racial violence in order to fasten the blame on the P.M. and vilify him. The diabolic design is very manifest  in the backdrop of  the desperate efforts made again to bring forth a no confidence motion against the P.M. by  the president’s UPFA faction enlisting the  support of Rajapakse’s alliance even before the flames of communal violence had died down. 

---------------------------
by     (2018-03-19 15:39:34)

Sri Lanka: Learning To Deconstruct Modern Myths

By Maheshi B Weerakoon –MARCH 20, 2018

Maheshi Weerakoon

Not small are the tragedies Sri Lanka has witnessed because of the irrational beliefs of the masses. The modern myth we have created regarding the purity and the supremacy of the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony has gained so strong a stance in the society that every logical proposition made against it through facts, scientific evidences, statistics, and simple common sense are proving to be unable to eradicate the perception from the social consciousness.

This myth has solidified the erroneous notion that the country solely belongs to the Sinhala Buddhist majority and that the minorities must learn to live in the periphery, in the shadow, for they cannot make legitimate claims to the constructive narrative of the country.

Isn’t it quite logical to assume that any person having an unbiased reading of history cannot express such ludicrous sentiments?

As yet another species subject to Evolution, Homosapiens carry the tendency to migrate from place to place in search of better living conditions. This tendency is written into our DNA as an essential requirement for surviving. We, humans, descendants of a common ancestor and now living scattered around the world, began our journey from the plains of Africa about 60,000 years ago. These ventures continued until we found healthy environments to live in different regions of the world. Even after settling in one place and building advanced civilizations, we could not escape from our natural yearning for migrating and, compelled by many reasons such as wars, climatic changes, sense of adventure, and hostile environments, we never stopped going further in search of Promised Lands. Sri Lanka was no exception from that history and that history tells us how it hosted many visitors arriving at its golden shores at different times, for many a reason.

The linguistic, literary, archeologically and genetic evidences pertain to the fact that we migrated from Indian subcontinent as an extension of Indo-Aryan migration that started its course from the Steppes. According to Mahavamsa we may infer that by the time of prince Vijaya’s first landing, there had been a developed civilization in Sri Lanka. Even if we disregard Mahavamsa’s account as of minor value for its questionable credibility, the archaeological and genetic evidences have proven that we have migrated from India. The finding of Balangoda Man and the genetic similarities the Veddah people share with African and Indigenous Indian people would suggest that they are the original settlers of the island. Hence, the Sinhala people themselves have acted the role of the “outsiders”, the “Other” on Sri Lankan soil at a certain point of history.

From then onwards, there had been constant migrations into the island from different parts of the world. The proximity of the Indian subcontinent naturally facilitated contacts with south Indian powers such as Chola, Pallawa and Pandya. In the beginning, people came here from these kingdoms either as invaders or royal affiliations. As early as the Polonnaruwa kingdoms, king Wijayabahu I married the Kalinga princess, Thilokasundari ( Kalinga was a vassel state of Chola Kingdom), while his sister was given in marriage to a Pandya prince. The matrimonial ties, which strengthened king’s powers against further Indian invasions was an advantageous political strategy. It also initiated innumerable similar events that involved royal marriages which subsequently interfered with and influenced Sri Lankan political scenario. The Indian element played a vital role in construing the socio-political and cultural realities of the country. Many of the Hindu elements were assimilated into Buddhism: Their myriad of gods, Hindu shrines, veneration of cows, to name a few. The removal of cow from the moonstone during the Polonnaruwa Era signifies how strong the cultural integration of the Hindus might have impacted the Sri Lankan consciousness. This association was so entrenched in the society that it culminated to the point where, during the Kandyan Era, the Kandyan kingdom was ruled by kings belonging to Nayakar dynasty. 

Muslims started coming to the island from Middle-Eastern region around the 7th Century. They were either traders or pilgrims  to visit the Adam’s peak. The study done by Dr. Lorna Devaraja (Muslims of Sri Lanka- One Thousand Years of Ethnic Harmony 900-1915) gives a broad insight to the dynamics of the relationship that existed between Sinhalese and Muslims, and its impact on the socio-political and cultural discourse of the country. The practice of secluding Muslim women would have inevitably compelled the males to travel alone so that once they came here they married local women, converted them to Islam, and settled down to a new life operating their trades from the Sri Lankan ports.

The attitude of the Sinhalese kings towards the Muslims was one that of amicability. It is shown in the study that the Muslims were even employed as delegates to Middle-Eastern powers such as Egypt mainly because of their religious loyalties and navigation skills. The trading skills of the Arab Muslims proved advantageous to the Sri Lankan monarchs as the former were instrumental in promoting Sri Lankan trades, and subsequently bringing a vast sum of revenue to the kings. The Muslims were even given grants for various services they rendered the kings. In later times, Indian Muslims too began to frequent the country mainly for the commercial purposes. Although there had been moments of mistrust and strain between Muslim and Buddhist communities, those trivialities were overshadowed by the rapport between the two ethnicities. The affinity was to be seen throughout the history of monarchical Sri Lanka up to the Kandyan Era.

Read More

A fragile democratic balance and ‘emergency over-reach’

Sunday, March 18, 2018

The ‘abnormal’ has become normal once again as Sri Lanka quietly and almost gently slipped back into a nation-wide State of Emergency, imposed by the Government as a reaction to recent attacks by Sinhalese mobs on Muslim shops and residences in Kandy.

Abnormal realities and perilous implications

The fragile nature of the democratic balance in this troubled country is best illustrated by how Sri Lankans naturally accepted the return of the emergency without demur. In a country where emergency law had virtually replaced the normal law of the land for decades citing ethnic and civil conflict, this reaction may be understandable. Few questioned the wisdom of this move and fewer still interrogated the exact content of the emergency regulations that were issued by President MaithripalaSirisena on Tuesday March 6th 2018.

Notwithstanding the fact that we are used to abnormal realities however, there are perilous implications to this turn of events which we need to be alive to. Harsh preemptive action to prevent further violence was warranted, particularly in the face of substantiated allegations that the police and counter-terror units were initially passive as marauding thugs struck terror into the hearts and minds of ordinary Muslim residents in affected areas.

But the continuation of a nation-wide State of Emergency has grave impact on the state of mind of the Sri Lankan citizenry which needs to be given serious thought to. Moderate and measured reactions on the part of the Government are called for, not dithering and uncertainty in the first instance that is succeeded by the other extreme of emergency over-reach. These are considerations that merit serious attention.

A shift to a discordant ‘counter-terror’ mentality

Concerns that have arisen thereto are aggravated by disturbing aspects of the emergency regulations that werebrought into force. It is certainly no credit to this ‘yahapalanaya’ Government that the shift from the old emergency mindset to an even more draconian ‘counter-terror’ mentality took place on its watch. Its proposed counter-terror law was a perfect illustration of that worrisome shift.

And it is still a question as to who drives this policy change which presents a stark contradiction to the Government’s loudly trumpeted commitment to democratic reforms. Indeed, if there are agent provocateurs whose aim is to stealthily undermine the stability of the Government, the one sure way is to move the country towards a national security regime which would then set the stage for even more national tumult. That must be avoided at all costs.

Where this discussion is concerned, the point to be emphasized here is that there are noticeable reflections of that same negative shift in these March regulations that must surely give rise to some disquiet. For example, it was the proposed counter-terror law which unacceptably transferred the onerous burden of issuing detention orders from ministerial responsibility (which was the case earlier) to the shoulders of police officers regardless of the dangers that this posed.

Police being conferred additional powers

Under the proposed law, as we must recall, a Deputy Inspector General of Police was conferred the power to issue Detention Orders valid up to six months on the basis of a subjective satisfaction that ‘there are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspect has committed or has been concerned in the committing of an offence contained in the Act.’ There was no objective test of necessity imposed to bring the required standard of due process of law into the actions of police officers in this regard. That was however a draft and was vehemently objected to at the time due to this and manifold other flaws that perturbed civil rights practitioners.

But what we have now is the making of emergency regulations which have already become part of the law subject to their possible withdrawal in the coming days. Under these regulations (clause 17(1)) the power to issue Detention Orders for the purpose of investigations is (similar to the proposed counter-terror law) given to a Deputy Inspector General of Police for a period not exceeding fourteen days. This is a distressing precedent which must be reversed.

Giving the power to issue detention orders to police officers is assuredly not a healthy development in any sense of the word. The potential that this poses to possible violations of civil rights and abuse in custody, both of which are well established features of our law enforcement systems must be stressed.

Replication of vague offences

Meanwhile the vagueness of the language used in the counter-terror draft in defining offences is also replicated elsewhere in these regulations. So, we have a prohibition imposed on any person, by word of mouth or by any other means whatsoever including through digital andor social media communicating or spreading any ‘rumour or false statement or any information or image or message which is likely to cause public alarm or public disorder, racial violence or incite the committingof any offence.’

While the last three categories of the prohibited actions under clause 15 of the March regulations are clearly defined and therefore permissible, the exact meaning of ‘causing public alarm’ is quite a different question altogether. Perfectly legitimate action encompassed within the confines of freedom of expression and information may well be caught up in the reach of ‘causing public alarm’ which is again, concerning. So too is a similar provision in clause 13 that prohibits the ‘causing of disaffection’ among persons who are public officers or engaged in the service of the Republic or engaged in the performance of essential services. These are clauses that are ripe for abuse.

Imposition of emergency only in exceptional situations

Taken as a whole, it is imperative that the Government gives its collective mind, with the due seriousness that the matter deserves, to the question as to whether a nationwide state of emergency should be continued. It must also take care that emergency regulations are brought into force only in the most exceptional of situations. If such a drastic step is warranted, it must confine itself to making regulations that are narrowly tailored to the situation in hand rather than broadly and vaguely phrased clauses that awaken the possibilities of abuse.

In the alternative, it would be a most profound irony for a Government coming to power on the platform of ‘good governance’ and the Rule of Law to, (wittingly or unwittingly as the case may be), bring about a situation where the awful weight of emergency law becomes even more burdensome than in the past when conflict raged.

Certainly it must not allow itself to be painted into that indisputably hazardous corner.

Sri Lanka Finance Minister hopes to promote business climate with new tax system 

Mon, Mar 19, 2018, 08:27 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Mar 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka's new tax system, which will be effective from 1st of April would create a level playing field for everyone to do business promoting the business climate, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said.

A public awareness seminar on the new Inland Revenue Act that will be operational from 1st April 2018 was conducted today under the patronage of the Finance Minister.
Today's seminar is one of many such programs to be organized island wide on the new Revenue Act with the purpose of reaching to the general public.

Addressing the seminar, Minister Samaraweera emphasized that the new Inland Revenue Act, which received two thirds majority approval in parliament, is a widely endorsed piece of legislation that needs methodical implementation.

"My contention is that our work will bring a paradigm shift to taxation in this country that in line with our policy of updating complex legislations to achieve our development goals in this 21st Century," the Minister said.

Minister Samaraweera explained that Sri Lanka's current phase of international economic standing as a middle-income country does not allure significant amount of foreign aid and grants. In addition to that, in a precarious international investment and trade environment, developing countries like Sri Lanka must enhance the fiscal income with a view to offset the narrowing external drains.

"We must optimize utilizing our local resources with a well-managed and efficient tax system as a pro-growth catalyst," he emphasized.

"We all must, as citizens, become partners, stakeholders and masters of our own development endeavors and this new IR Act was designed to broad-base the tax payer understructure and to encourage all of you to shoulder that collective responsibility," the Minister said.

For over two decades, Sri Lanka recorded a downward tax revenue that reached just over 10% in 2014 as a share of the GDP and Sri Lanka was among the lowest tax revenue countries. Despite the continued rise in income levels, the tax revenue failed to record any improvements, he pointed out.
Some experts opined that on one hand our tax system was complex and confusing, on the other hand there were numerous ad-hoc tax concessions, over 200 of them, which were granted without any rationale, according to the whims and fancies of the finance minister of the day, Minister Samaraweera added.

The elimination of tax exemptions through this new Act would create a level playing field for everyone to do business, moving away from the culture of preferential treatments. This new legislation carves a clear strategic direction about taxation in the country, according to the Minister.

"Along with that broader strategic direction, we are setting the platform and working continuously on promoting the business climate by enhancing taxpayers' protections and providing greater certainty on tax affairs," he said.

"Also, we are aiming at improving tax compliance by strengthening administrative powers of the Inland Revenue Department to supplement the technological advancements that are being implemented," the Minister added.

Recalling that his pledge for the country in 2018 Budget was 'Enterprise Sri Lanka', the Minister said the Government has shown steadfast commitment towards making an investor-friendly environment by carrying out necessary improvements in doing-business and providing infrastructure and other facilities.

"Every citizen who wishes to be an entrepreneur will have an environment of transparency, fairness and equity in future Sri Lanka once our new rules-based legal system is in operation," he said.
Under the new tax system, the government expects to increase the share of direct income tax against indirect taxes. The preferred ratio is 40% to 60% from the current level of 18% to 82%.

The Minister said while increasing direct income tax is one of the hallmarks of a fairer tax system it is an enormously challenging goal and the new Inland Revenue Act is a timely step in that direction.

"Your tax payments drive country's future. Your money goes into expenditure on education, health, infrastructure, environment protection, law and order, and welfare improvements, among others. As you would appreciate, our Government implements an array of subsidies and transfers for low income groups."

He said the government will continue to provide relief in the event of unforeseen events such as natural disasters.

"As tax payers, you all responsibly contribute towards a noble objective of bettering and enhancing the welfare of the society. And on a more fundamental basis, we are aiming at lessening imbalances in income and wealth creation in the country as we progress towards an upper-middle income country."

The Finance Minister pointed out that there are many areas to improve as Sri Lankan's tax compliance is one of the weakest in the region. The number of individuals and firms registered for paying taxes remains at a surprisingly low level. These numbers are very hard to be corroborated with the realities given the profile of corporate sector in the country and the labor market dynamics, he explained.

The Minister noting that since independence, Sri Lanka's income tax share of the total tax revenue has remained flat and hardly crossed a threshold of 20 percent, acknowledged that even raising one percentage point in the direct tax revenue involves hard work and warrants support from many corners and meticulous coordination.


Minister Samaraweera expressed hope that a smooth transition and a better system will emerge with the passage of time.

Why do we have to pay for the sins of every government?

“The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at it without doing anything” - Albert Einstein

 Monday, 19 March 2018

One of the most common questions asked of me when I meet people at various forums nowadays is, ‘Hey, what is happening to the country?’ Nowadays, I find that some of the strongest critics of the previous regime and hence those who proactively promoted the Yahapalanaya Government, have now gone silent.

The people have spoken during the local government elections on 10 February. However, the people who are governing our country, whether in power or in the opposition, continue to cause disappointment and disillusionment among us. What I hear most often from ordinary citizens is, ‘Oh I don’t watch TV or read the newspapers anymore because it’s such a comedy of errors and I get frustrated!’

The Joint Opposition are of course vociferous with their criticism (mind you there is no criticism from the Official Opposition in Parliament), but I am yet to see an alternative model of governance coming from them, correcting the flaws of that regime, of which there were many. And we the citizens continue to pay for the sins of both sides yet again.

Those in the opposition criticise and blame the government in power for not doing a better job and talk as if they know better, however, once voted into power they cite the previous administration as the reason for why they can’t perform now. So are we ever going to get over this? For how long and for how many generations are we going to pay?

Some say that we are to blame because it is us who elected them into power. But seriously, do you really think we have any say in who gets nominated? It is the same lot nominating more of the same, we just have to select between the lesser of the two evils!

You just selected some 8,000+ local government members out of over 55,000 nominees, did you see a list of their educational qualifications or whether they had a criminal background? Were we interested enough to do that or even if we were, was the information made available to us?

In a positive move, the Government has now introduced a 25% quota for females in local government nominations, which I fully endorse because at least as a start this will give some equity to the voices of women. I am sure these women will do a better job than the Royal College Old Boys club et al currently governing the country. However, let’s wait and see whether the female quota will actually be implemented in local governments and what calibre of female representatives we are going to get.

So the majority of Sri Lankan voters dreamt of a change in January 2015, a country with more freedom of expression, with equal rights to all, human rights protected, etc. So have we progressed? It’s time to take stock.

While some would say (this author included) that we have made some progress in the above mentioned areas, have we as a nation moved forward significantly? Just analyse the situation true to your conscience, removing your coloured glasses, and ask yourself where we are heading. 

Anyone in politics knows that winning and losing elections is part of the game, and there is a time you will be in power and there is a time that you will have to sit it out in the opposition or be completely out of power. I think the time that you are out of power is a good period to reflect and hopefully strategise for better plans and also take a constructively critical look at what the Government in power at that time is doing, observing and learning from what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right, and finding out the reasons for those successes or failures.

However, when you observe how government after government, which we elect into power, is behaving there is so much more to desire for. Maybe this is why some countries have this concept of a ‘Shadow Cabinet’, where the politicians can study and follow a particular subject even while in the opposition. I think this is a good idea since some of our ministers act as if they have come here from the moon.

Regardless of who won or who lost the elections, we as citizens of this country want it to move forward. Look at the multiple crises faced by the current Government - issue of private higher education, farmers’ fertiliser issues, low prices for crops, labour issues, corruption issues, garbage issue, disaster management and the latest issues we are now facing with law and order. I would think that when you have been in politics for so many years, whether you have been in the opposition or in power, this is not the first time that these issues are coming up. So if it was up to me, I would have observed, studied and anlaysed how these things have been handled in the past (I am not talking about reading history because that would be more of an academic exercise, but I am talking about what you saw and experienced by yourself firsthand as a politician or as a government officer) learn from those experiences and figure out better and more effective strategies to handle these problems this time around.

However, what we see today are the same mistakes being repeated or the same old strategies that did not yield good solutions being tried again and again with no significant results.

With one exception of course, I think with respect to corruption, there are new strategies being invented every day, on how to steal public money and get away with it. I am not talking just of this regime or the previous regime, it has repeatedly happened during the rule of so many other regimes.

My dear fellow citizens, you can be assured that the next regime will learn from the blunders made by this regime over the investigations into corruption and ensure that they will be smarter than that.

Those in the opposition criticise and blame the government in power for not doing a better job and talk as if they know better, however, once voted into power they cite the previous administration as the reason for why they can’t perform now. So are we ever going to get over this? For how long and for how many generations are we going to pay?

It is said that those who love the country the most are the ones who get into politics. However, it seems that the majority of our politicians love themselves way more than the country. This really hurts the country and us citizens who love this country over any other.

There is another famous saying, “If you don’t get involved in politics, you will take the risk of being ruled by people inferior to you.” So I have to ask my fellow citizens who are professionals, are you going to continue to keep quiet? What do we tell our children?

(The writer is a thought leader who focuses primarily on developing responsible citizenship. She is the Founder and Chairperson of the Mother Lanka Foundation, a non-profit organisation working island-wide).

‘The Sky Is Falling’ – And What We Can Do About It!

By Ranil Senanayake – MARCH 20, 2018

Dr Ranil Senanayake

It is a fact the global Oxygen concentration is falling. The two graphs, one from the US and the other from Australia demonstrate that the loss is global. The only process that can contribute to atmospheric Oxygen is photosynthesis by leaves of plants and the phytoplankton of the ocean. This loss is being accelerated by the use of fossil fuel to power human development.

The burning of fossil fuels to obtain energy produces Carbon Dioxide and Water vapour, seemingly innocuous, but the increase of both in the atmosphere is leading to global warming and climate extremes. Carbon Dioxide and water vapour are both contributors to keeping the atmosphere warm, but the injection of extra quantities of both through the burning of fossil fuels, increases the atmospheric concentration and weather extremes. Especially Water vapour because at saturation it condenses as water from the atmosphere, generating local heat, the driver of cyclonic intensity. None of this is paid for and acts as a subsidy.

This huge subsidy on fossil fuels is an actualization of the hypothesis that ‘what is unowned is unmarketed, what is unmarketed is under-priced, what is under-priced is mismanaged, overused and wasted’. It is this subsidy that has provided for the erosion of the water and air quality through the sale of cheap, under-priced, oil, gas and coal. The state of water quality and air quality today bearing testament to that subsidy. Our atmosphere, is the ‘Global Commons’ which  sustains humanity  it is being eroded and thus, the life of every living person is being affected.

The introduction of massive quantities of fossil based Carbon Dioxide and Water vapour into the atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels, must represent the most gross violation of the global commons. As it is the condition of the atmosphere that provides security to life, should we not consider the value of sustaining these ‘Global Commons’ in the most benign state?  Should it not be a fundamental human right? How could we protect it?

It is a fact that the sustainability of Oxygen production is being endangered by the fossil fuel driven economy. The expansion of fossil based industry and farming at the expense of vast regions of forests and seas, not only destabilizes the atmosphere by accelerating global warming and thereby affecting the performance of Chlorophyll, but also removes the very basis of life by burning the biologically created Oxygen without paying for its replacement.

The signs are all around. A recent study on the levels of Oxygen in the ocean found that the oceanic Oxygen levels decreased by 2 % over the last 50 years.  On land, the font of Oxygen are the leaves of trees. Another study published in the journal Nature suggests that 15 billion trees are cut down each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the beginning of human civilization. Considering that a tree produces 120 Kg of oxygen each year this represents a massive loss. But can we change the current relationship? Can we recognize the value of Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) provided by these trees and assign a value to it?

Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) refer to the actions generated by the act of Primary Productivity, the start of all life as we know it. Primary Productivity is The action of photosynthesis whereby the energy of the sun is stored in living tissue or biomass. This action is measured as Net Primary Productivity (NPP) or  the net flux of carbon from the atmosphere into green plants per unit time. NPP refers to a rate process, i.e., the amount of vegetable matter produced (net primary production) per day, week, or year. The higher the NPP of an area the more Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) it will produce. As it is the leaves (Photosynthetic Biomass) of plants that deliver Services they are the most logical proxy for Primary Ecosystem Services (PES).

Primary Ecosystem Services (PES) are are produced by the action of photosynthesis in a leaf. These services are, Oxygen generation, Carbon Dioxide sequestration, Carbohydrate creation, groundwater cleansing and ambient cooling. Recent studies on this aspect of vegetation suggests a value of between USD 250-450 per acre per year for mature, diverse forest.

Read More