Mangala confronts war legacy, pledges economic relief

On three-day visit to Northern Province, Finance Minister stops at Puthukudiyirippu where civil war came to brutal close in May 2009

Monday, 2 April 2018 

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera visited Puthukudiyirippu in the Mullaitivu District yesterday, where the LTTE and Government forces waged the final battle in Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war, confronting the brutal legacy of conflict and offering livelihood support and economic relief for war-affected communities.

Samaraweera, who is on a three-day visit to the Northern Province to raise awareness about provisions made for rehabilitation and debt-relief in his 2018 Budget, met some 40 women’s groups at the Puthukudiyirippu Divisional Secretariat.

The Finance Minister, who made a historic high-level visit to the war-devastated region, said that Puthukudiyirippu had borne the brunt of the final stages of the war, and was one of the last areas where families were resettled after the end of the conflict in 2009. There were approximately 7,000 women-headed households in the area, Samaraweera said.

“Going by the Divisional Secretary numbers submitted, I can very well understand the problems you are all facing here. There are 2,045 female-headed households, 438 war widows, 156 orphans, 707 disabled and 957 rehabilitated youth here which explains the gravity of the situation,” Minister Samaraweera said.

The tears of northern mothers and mothers in the south were the same and the Finance Minister, who has been an ardent advocate for reconciliation and post-conflict healing in his Government, said. “We must live in harmony in this country as equal citizens,” Samaraweera urged.

Minister Samaraweera held meetings in Jaffna on Friday (30) and spent yesterday visiting and interacting with communities in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. Stopping for breakfast at the Ammachi traditional food outlet in Kilinochchi, manned exclusively by war-affected women, he interacted and joked with staff at the restaurant.

Making an unscheduled stop in Kilinochchi on his way back from Mullaitivu, Minister Samaraweera, a disappearances campaigner since the 1980s, visited families of the disappeared who have been protesting in tents along the roadside for over a year, urging them to return to their homes and seek the assistance of the Office of Missing Persons to determine the whereabouts of their loved ones. The families thanked the Minister for his visit, but explained to him that promises made to them had been broken many times before.

The visit was part of the Minister’s Budget Implementation Program, where he announced a series of measures by the Government to improve livelihoods and alleviate crushing indebtedness in vulnerable war-affected communities in the region. Women’s groups in the area told the Finance Minister about the longstanding issues the community faced in the aftermath of the conflict at a vibrant discussion at the Secretariat last afternoon.

“We are very pleased that you are the first Finance Minister to visit these most peripheral areas of the North enormously affected by the war. In this area, over 7,000 women-headed households have different necessities, issues and challenges,” the Divisional Secretariat of Mullaitivu said while initiating the discussion.

Women’s representatives urged Minister Samaraweera not to discriminate against woman-headed households, predominant in the war-affected provinces. Concessionary schemes should be available for all, the representatives said.

“The shells targeting us from all quarters did not discriminate by sex or whether it was a single or multiple member family. Due to the war, there are many disabled males in families so it is important not to isolate them by stipulating criteria,” a woman’s group representative urged.

The women told Minister Samaraweera that a slew of microfinance institutions in the region had affected several families resulting in indebtedness. Participants in the discussion also appealed for the establishment of a state-owned garment factory to assist females which will be in addition to the privately run factory that already employs around 2,500 persons.

There were Women’s Affairs Societies functioning in 19 villages in Puthukudiyirippu, the representatives said, putting an idea across to the Minister that if the Government could channel a loan scheme through the community organisations, the credit could be directed to where it was needed.

Responding to the livelihood concerns faced by the community, the Minister asserted that the grant of a six-month moratorium on loans and the launch of the Enterprise Sri Lanka program in May 2018 would help usher in a new era.

“With the moratorium in effect, when you take out a new loan, you don’t have to pay interest or capital of your loan for a period of six months. In addition, the Enterprise Sri Lanka scheme will provide you with concessionary loans at a maximum rate of 6.75% per annum. Women who want to engage in businesses will be provided an additional 10% concession on interest,” the Minister noted.

The Minister also met with the Farmers and Fisheries Federation at the Mullaitivu District Secretariat where there were calls to rebuild the Kokkullai and the Nandikadal bridges as a priority in the next Budget.

Concluding his visit in the North today, Minister Samaraweera will visit the Myliddy fishing harbour, which was vacated by the Navy and opened for fisheries activities last year after a lapse of 27 years.

Sirisena’s turn after Ranil

by C.A.Chandraprema-March 31, 2018, 12:00 pm 

The unanimous decision by the Working Committee of the UNP to defeat the no-confidence motion against the UNP Prime Minister has offered some relief to the beleaguered Ranil Wickremesinghe but he is not out of the woods yet. Indeed he will not be safe until the vote is taken and it is established that he is through. As D-day nears and the SLFP still has not taken an official position on the no confidence motion, the likelihood increases that most of the SLFP members in the government may keep away on the day of the debate and the vote. The toughest statement that the SLFP has officially made so far is that they ‘cannot oppose’ the no confidence motion. That is a far cry from the rhetoric that we heard being spewed forth on the stage by President Sirisena who painted the UNP in the darkest colours and tried to portray his faction of the SLFP as being more anti UNP than the SLPP. Today those roars of defiance have subsided into barely audible mutterings.

Unless the Sirisena faction shows a lively leg and comes out strongly against the UNP by being present on April 4 in Parliament and votes en masse against the UNP, the biggest casualty of the no confidence motion after Ranil Wickremesinghe is going to be Sirisena. In the past few days, he weakened Ranil’s position further by abolishing the Cabinet Subcommittee on Economic Management comprising of some of Ranil’s closest cronies, and assigning institutions like the Central Bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission which had hitherto been under the Prime Minister to the Finance Minister without consulting anyone in the UNP. However that will not compensate for any lack of resolution that the Sirisena faction may display on the day of the vote. If the SLFP group in the government shows any signs of being undecided at the moment of truth when the vote is taken, the Joint Opposition is going to be shouting from the rooftops that Sirisena has deceived the people once again.

At the recently concluded local government elections, the votes that the Sirisena faction of the SLFP got were anti-UNP, and even anti-government votes because Sirisena tried to portray himself as the real opponent of the UNP, not the SLPP. His whole campaign was pitched at the opposition and anti-UNP voter, portraying the UNP as a rougues. In hindsight, one wonders what President Sirisena expected to get out of such a strategy. Even if he did manage to deceive quite a number of opposition types to vote for his candidates, still it was only a matter of time before he would stand exposed before the anti-government voter who would see him continuing the coalition government with the UNP. That in fact is what is happening now. The Sirisena faction is no doubt acutely aware of the trap they are in as can be seen from the reaction to the news that a meeting had been held between RW and MS at Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s house to iron out differences.

Not only was this story denied by a comminique from the President’s media divison, the pronouncements by Ministers like Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene became shriller. But once again, even the pronouncement made by Laksman Yapa stopped at saying that the SLFP ‘cannot oppose’ the no-confidence motion. That seems to be as far as the Sirisena faction can go. As we pointed out on previous columns, there is an international dimension to all this because the yahapalana government and all its constituent parties are quislings or captives of certain foreign powers and this obviously restricts Sirisena’s choices.

Despite the attempt on the part of the Sirsena faction to masquerade as a part of the opposition, every unpopular and harmful step taken by this government has been done with both partners acting in concert. The Hambantota harbor would never have been privatized if not for the personal intervention of Sirisena. Likewise Sri Lanka’s co-sponsorship of UNHRC resolution 30/1, the passing and implementation of the Office of Missing Persons Act, the passing of the Act to enforce in Sri Lanka the provisions of the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearences, the proposed ETCA with India and of course the proposed new constitution have all been promoted or implemented with RW and MS acting in concert.

Given this fact, it was the height of folly for Sirisena to try to masquerade as a part of the opposition by taking an anti-UNP stand. Having thrashed the UNP soundly at the last election with the bond scam being the centerpiece of their offensive strategy, the SLFP now can’t duck the vote on a no confidence motion that is itself based largely on the accusations Sirisena himself hurled at the UNP at the last elections. Voting for the no confidence motion will be fraught with its own dangers. The Constitution and the Standing Orders of Parliament do not prescribe an absolute majority of the total number of MPs in parliament for a motion of no confidence to be passed. Even a perusal of Erskin May and A.V.Dicey seems to confirm this. Therefore a no confidence motion will be carried if the majority of those present and voting vote in its favour.

Even important laws are passed with just a simple majority of the MPs present and voting. Recently, the Enforced Disappearences Bill was declared passed in parliament with only 53  MPs in a parliament of 225 voting in its favour. So when the no confidence motion is taken up in parliament on April 4, those who keep away or have flat tyres or those who fall ill on that day will be as important as those who turn up and stay for the vote. It will be possible to engineer a victory or defeat by strategically keeping away. It will be important for the UNP to ensure attendance on D-day as it will be for the JO. The Sirisena faction in particular will have to ensure that once the vote is analyzed, it does not turn out that RW won because some SLFP ministers had kept away. In the meantime the pressure is building up on the UNP with a march from Kandy to Colombo demanding RW’s removal getting under way.

JVP’s Bill to abolish executive presidency

Whether RW survives this challenge or not, the moment this no confidence drama is over, it will be President Sirisena’s turn to face the private members Bill to be brought by the JVP to abolish the executive presidency. The JVP’s move has nothing to do with any change of leadership in the UNP but everything to do with the need to prevent a nominee of the Joint Opposition be it Gota or otherwise, becoming the executive president after Sirisena. So their move will no doubt go ahead regardless of any change that takes place within the UNP. What will apply in this case will be the Standing Orders of Parliament on Private Member’s Bills and the provisions in the Constitution relating to the amendment of the Constitution. According to Standing Order 47, A private member desiring to introduce a Bill will have to apply for leave to present it to Parliament in the form of a motion and simultaneously deliver to the Secretary-General of Parliament, a copy of the proposed Bill. The Secretary-General of Parliament shall thereupon cause the Bill to be published in the Gazette. At any time after the lapse of a period of 14 days from the date on which the Bill was published in the Gazette, the motion applying for leave to proceed with the Bill shall be placed on the Order Paper of Parliament. Once Parliament grants leave on a question put, and carried, the Bill that was gazetted is then deemed to have been read the first time and it will be ordered to be printed and shall stand referred to the Cabinet Minister dealing with the subject to which the Bill relates and no further proceedings shall be taken upon such Bill until the Minister to whom it has been referred has reported to Parliament there on.

After the Minister in Charge of the subject submits his report, or a period of six months lapses from the date on which the Bill was referred to the Minister and no report is forthcoming, the Bill shall be set down for the Second Reading upon such day as the member presenting the Bill desires. Every such Bill after being read a second time shall be allocated by the Speaker to a Standing Committee or upon a motion made by a Cabinet Minister, Parliament so decides, it shall be referred to a Select Committee to be nominated by the Speaker. The Committee can strike out clauses, add new clauses and make other amendments. It is only after going through this entire procedure that the private member’s Bill will be put to a vote in Parliament. So it’s not as if Sirisena will be booted out overnight even if the JVP presents their private member’s Bill within the month of April. In fact we will be lucky if the Bill finally comes up for the vote in Parliament before the next presidential election is declared sometime in October 2019!

There are several hurdles to be cleared. The first hurdle is getting the permission from parliament to proceed with the Bill after it is gazetted. Assuming that such permission is granted, the JVP will then have to wait for six months for the Minister in Charge of the subject to report back to Parliament. Then there will be the Committee stage which too could get extended if the Bill is referred to a Select Committee. Even if everything is fast forwarded through Parliament, it may still be the end of this year by the time it comes up for the vote in Parliament. If the constitutionality of this private member’s Bill is challenged before the Supreme Court, it may be necessary to hold a referendum as well, to finally pass this Bill into law.  According to Article 85(1) of the Constitution, it is the President who has to submit to the people Bills that need to be approved by a referendum. According to Article 87(1) the referendum will be conducted by the Elections Commission and the result will be communicated to the President.

After a Bill is passed at a referendum, it is the President who finally certifies it as having been duly passed. Thus we see that even if the JVP’s private member’s Bill makes it all the way through and gets a two thirds majority in Parliament, the President has at least two opportunities to delay it further. He can delay it by delaying the referendum. When the result is communicated to him, he can sit on it again without signing the certificate stating that it was duly passed. Even if the JVP’s Bill succeeds at every turn, this President is still going to spend every last day he can in that position.

The need to reform LG elections system

One thing that the events of the past week have convinced almost everybody is that the present system of elections for the local government institutions will have to be changed before the next local government elections due in four years time. This system was rammed through Parliament by the government in the face of stiff opposition from the JO. A whole new system of elections was introduced as committee stage amendments to a Bill that had been gazetted to correct some technical defects in the local government elections law. It had the support of the UNP, SLFP (Sirisena faction), the JVP, the SLMC, ACMC and the passive participation of the TNA as well. The local government electoral system that we have today is a pure proportional representation system with each party being entitled to seats in proportion to the number of votes it gets in each local government area.

After the winning candidates in each ward are announced, and the number of candidates on the proportional representation system are calculated, if it so turns out that a party has not got the number of seats it is entitled to, the number of representatives to be elected to that LG body will be expanded to enable each party to have representation in accordance with the number of votes it got. After the recent local government elections, the Colombo Municipal Council has nine such extra members. The Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte MC has three, the Kaduwela MC two, and this situation can be seen throughout the country. If a party has got over 50% of the votes in a particular LG body, a stable administration can be formed. But in bodies where the winning party has not secured 50% all hell will break loose with the losers ganging up to defeat the victor. This has happened in many local government bodies which were won by the UNP most spectacularly and embarrassingly in MCs such as Galle, Dehiwala-Galkissa and Badulla. In the wake of this fiasco, the minister of public administration Vajira Abeywardene had the humility to come before the public and admit that this new elections system was a disaster brought upon the people by the yahapalana government. However even with footage of running street battles, the uttering of unprintable expletives, and fisticuffs featuring in the news channels every day, we hear minister Faizer Mustapha still defending the LG elections system which he has obviously fathered. This makes Mustapha one President’s Counsel who should not be allowed within ten kilometers of any place where constitutional reform is being discussed.

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A thank you to the Elections Commission and a further request

This columnist wishes to thank the Elections Commission for the steps taken to restore the data relating to past elections on the Commission website in response to a complaint made by this columnist a few weeks ago. For the first time, data relating to parliamentary elections going back to the first Parliamentary election in 1947 and the results of all by-elections up to the 1980s are now available on the EC website. Furthermore, data relating to all presidential elections from 1982 onwards are also available. It must be said that the Elections Dept or Elections Commission website has never had as detailed information on past elections as it does at present. We would like to point out a few shortcomings however which still need to be rectified. Even though the Parliamentary elections up to and including the 1994 election have details of the MPs who were elected on the basis of preference votes, we note that this information is missing from the year 2000 onwards.

Data relating to the preference votes cast in favour of those elected to Parliament is important for researchers and we would like to request the EC to include this information as well from the parliamentary elections of 2000 onwards. Furthermore, those elected on the basis of preference votes were available on the Provincial Councils section during the days of the Elections Dept., but we note that these details are now missing from the past election data relating to PCs. Restoring the preference vote data relating to parliamentary and PC elections will be vital to make the data available useful for researchers. Furthermore, PC elections data is available only from 2002 onwards. It will be useful to have provincial council elections data going back to the first PC elections of 1988. The same can be said of the data relating to local government elections.

Local government institutions have been in existence from the colonial era onwards. We may not need the data relating to the colonial era, but the data relating to the period after independence will certainly be useful and we hope the EC will look into that as well. We would like to thank the Elections Commission and particularly Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole for the quick response to our request.

Anti-Muslim Violence: Sinhalese Should Feel Ashamed; And Speak Out!

By Lakmal Harischandra –APRIL 1, 2018

Lakmal Harischandra

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”  – Martin Luther King, Jr.

The unfortunate events which followed one after the other, weeks ago, from Ampara to Digana made me wonder how gullible and emotionally charged we Sinhalese become. Those at the grass-root levels still believe that there is truth in the story spread by the so-called Amitha type ‘patriot groups’ that Muslims are conspiring to reduce our numbers through various means; this time Wandha Pethi as was recently seen in Ampara. Then, they tried to raise our emotions in Digana by saying that Muslim businesses are all over and they have to be dealt with, if the Sinhalese have to continue their dominance in this Dharma Dweepa. These are however not flashes in the pan. There were clear signs of meticulous planning to achieve the vicious ends of disgruntled political elements , ably supported by their ‘Jathyalaya’ gangs in the Police and the STF.   Many at the low strata and grass-root levels fell for it and many are languishing in jails while those master planners are having the last laugh. Victory for the Jathyalaya! As we as the majority community always did by silently applauding our ‘boys’ who showed their firepower on other vulnerable communities since 1983. May be, it is what Mahinda Deshpriya meant when he said ‘Most Sinhala people were happy about the anti-Muslim violence. For sure, I wasn’t one of them who applauded. I felt ashamed and infuriated instead!

It was in the aftermath of the Digana violence that Minister Kiriella said in Parliament that Sinhala people should apologize for the anti-Muslim violence and many of our Maha Sangha and some politicos spit fire. Why should we apologize? They screamed!. Well; they were correct for once. Yes! I will not apologize too ; rather I felt very hurt for dragging me to do so on behalf of these barbaric and loot-happy gangs and politically bankrupt elements who are using ‘Jathyaalaya’ and the name of my race to achieve their own ends. I need not. I also felt shameful and would disown them as part of our people. Amithas, Saliyas, Dan Prasads , Ampitiye Sumanes, Gnanassras should not be considered as representing our voice ; to save the Sinhala race. They are a disgrace to our race ; the race which talks proudly of Dutugemunu who dealt in a gentlemanly manner with Elara and the people who subscribe to the peaceful teachings of Buddha; not the Sinhala Buddhism which grew out of the Mahawamsa mentality.

I for once, now understand how the Muslims all over the world felt and empathize with them when they were asked to assume collective guilt when ISIS and Al Qaeda were terrorising and killing in cold blood, innocent people in the name of their religion. When they said then that they  need not apologize for the acts of those barbarians who killed in the name of Islam, for they did not belong to their faith , I then did not understand what they meant . They virtually disowned them quite rightly for ISIS did not represent the majority of Muslims . Now, I know what they meant  and in the same manner and tone, I also join the majority of my people to say: Hey the ‘Jathyalaya gangs! You do not speak in our name. You do not speak for us though  you sport Sinhala names’. Let us therefore awaken from our slumber and say ‘enough is enough’ and yell at them ‘Stop claiming you represent us: We do not want Sinhala Bin ladens like you to speak for us!’ True! many of our monks and intellectuals spoke against this mayhem which wreaked havoc on our brotherly  Community-the Muslims, who have been living amongst us peacefully without any invading intentions for centuries. But the silence of our majority community at the grass-root levels gave impetus to these vile elements to do what they did and they will continue to do so and tarnish our image if we maintain our silence, although we did not follow their lead in our areas.

When will we learn lessons? Who can forget the fact that all community leaders voted together leaving their communal interests aside for a moment when the Independence vote came up. I remember the patriotic words of TB Jayah and Muslim leaders for example and the words of gratitude of DSS and SWRD for having voted for Independence going beyond their communal interests. Ever since then, the political parties have carried a well-planned strategy to gain Sinhala votes by raising emotional base instincts based on the survival of their race. After 70 long years since Independence, where are we as a nation? Are we not on the verge of becoming a failed state? It makes me think that it was rather British who got Independence from a moronic lot we subsequently proved ourselves to be; not the other way around, looking at the mess we have put ourselves to be by subscribing to a majoritarian model of government through our majority vote .It was in 1956 , when our  people neatly fell for the political gundu  of  SWRD and  voted for a Ceylon where Sinhala Buddhist supremacy was institutionalized. Sinhala Only made things worse for the majority Sinhala people while SWRD’s children went overseas for higher education. What political hypocrisy? Two years later,Ceylon witnessed the first ever anti Tamil riots and SWRD finally felt a victim to his own dose of medicine when he was assassinated by a Buddhist monk in 1959. Then, many agreements with the Tamil leaders fell through, giving way to pressure from rogue sections of the Maha Sangha which led the way to the disgusting anti-Tamil violence in July 1983, which made an indelible black mark on the Sinhala people. 

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Whose ‘government’ are they voting on?

BY N Sathiya Moorthy-April 1, 2018, 8:49 pm 

Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardana may have displayed a certain UNP nervousness on facing the no-trust motion, when he said that it was not necessarily against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his team, but also against SLFP partner, President Maithiripala Sirisena. Leave aside the UNP apprehensions that the SLFP as a party or party MPs may vote with the JO motion, he has also exhibited a certain level of constitutional ignorance, which can question his continued choice for the portfolio that he is now holding – even if not as a member of the Cabinet of Ministers for three-plus years now.

If Minister Abeywardana’s arguments hold good then, according to him, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya should acquire the powers of both the President and the Prime Minister if the no-trust motion cleared the all-important parliamentary vote. According to him, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, initiated by the duo after they had come to power in January 2015, a no-confidence motion could not be brought against the Prime Minister but only against the entire Government.

Subjective powers

Minister Abeywardana’s purported ignorance of the Constitution may be matched only by his equal ignorance of politics. He and those behind him, if any, did not seem to have considered the possibility of Parliament voting for the no-trust vote, and the JO, then citing him, demands that the Maithiri-Ranil duo should quit, lock, stock and barrel. It is the kind of situation that the Rajapaksas would be happy, what with Mahinda R having already called for early polls (though only to Parliament) after his SLPP’s sweeping victory in the 10 February LG polls all across the country. It is also the kind of situation Minister Abeywardene and the UNP would loathe, now and ever, whatever the political fate of Sirisena and the constitutional fate of the presidency, should Parliament vote for the no-trust motion.

Thankfully, however, SLFP’s Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha has clarified the constitutional position, and rightly so. There is still no denying the fact that the Sirisena camp seems to have taken Minister vajira’s ‘threat’ seriously than even possibly intended. In context, Minister Musthapha referred to Articles 48(8) and 44(1) of the Constitution, which clearly mandates that whenever Parliament passes a no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister, the incumbent should step down and the President must appoint as prime minister whoever that commands the support of the majority in Parliament.

It is on situations like this that the ‘subjective’ power of the person of the President comes into play. In other democracies, especially like the Indian neighbour, the nation’s Supreme Court has laid down the constitutional position as far back as 1994. In the famed ‘S R Bommai case’, the Indian Supreme Court also tagged along the condition that any such government, called in by the President of India, or Governors of Indian States, should pass a confidence-test in the respective Legislature. It is another matter that as far back as 1972, the Indian Supreme Court had ruled that there shall be no government at the Centre without a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister (U N R Rao vs Indira Gandhi).

Together, the two judgments meant that the President or the Governor under the Indian Constitution cannot have any ‘subjective powers’ of the kind that is implied in the Sri Lankan context. It is another matter that no prime minister, appointed by the President in Sri Lanka, can escape facing Parliament for long, but in India, it has also been made explicit under the ‘Bommai case’ verdict. Better still, the 1971 verdict even more explicitly states that the President under the Indian scheme cannot acquire all Executive powers to himself. In the Sri Lankan context, under the Second Republican Constitution, which came into force full seven years later, the ‘Executive Presidency’ ensured as much, though, thankfully, no incumbent had tried his legal and constitutional luck at it.

The Indian examples are worth noting, not only because India is a neighbour and is also the world’s largest democracy. More importantly, India has gone through much that could be imagined of under contemporary Third World democratic conditions, in terms of coalition politics that followed the ‘Bommai verdict’ at the Centre, in the second half of the nineties, especially.

What more, at least on two occasions, though only at the level of the States (in Bihar on two occasions), the Supreme Court also took suo motu notice of the Governor keeping the Legislature under ‘suspended animation’, pending a final judicial verdict. And on both occasions, the court reversed the Governor’s recommendations, based on which the President of India acted upon.

On both occasions, the President and the Centre, not to mention the Governor(s) of Bihar, complied with the SC finding, without seeking a ‘review’ of the same. It is another matter that even before the Bommai verdict happened – and more so afterwards, every gubernatorial authority has directed any leader of a coalition government, existing or intended, to prove his legislative majority on the floor of the House, after the SC held that the Legislature and not the gubernatorial mansion is where such decisions should be taken.

Of course, like all precedents of a kind, it had begun with a bad one. In the late seventies, when the ‘Janata experiment’ was failing and Prime Minister Morarji Desai lost his parliamentary majority, then President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy called in the former’s political rival of the time, in outgoing Deputy PM Charan Singh, to form a government even after Morarji’s party successor, Jagjivan Ram had shown up a higher number of MP-supporters. Charan Singh blotted the copy-book for the nation, and so did President Reddy, w hen the former had to bow out without facing the mandated parliamentary vote and the Congress under-writer of the new government, withdrew support. No President in India takes the risk, anymore.

Constitutional loop-hole

Even more to the Indian situation, the ‘Bommai verdict’ remains only as a court directive even close to 25 years later. No political party or government has either sought to contest or concur with the same through a constitutional amendment – a rarity in a Third World democracy, so to say. However, the earlier 1971 verdict found expression in the 42nd Constitutional Amendment Act that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi got passed during the ill-fated Emergency (1975-77). The new provision held that ‘there shall be a Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister, to aid and advise the President’, or words to that effect – implying that at no point in time could the Indian President act on his own, citing a constitutional loophole of whatever kind.

But then, a constitutional loophole could still exist under the water-tight Indian scheme, made tighter through amendments and adverse verdicts of the Supreme Court. What if the President appoints his gardener as prime minister, and the latter along with a further coterie calling itself the Council of Ministers, recommends the proclamation of Emergency for starters, and follows it up with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, suspends the powers of the Supreme Court, and comes up with such other unthinkable, undemocratic decisions?

It is her

e a nation’s character matters and that is the only real saving against even such theoretical formulations. The alternative in such instances could well be for Indians to consult the likes of Minister Abeywardena, who may have other prescriptions of his latest kind. It is also why the likes of him should not be encouraged to come up with such weird ideas, which, if at all, could only have ‘negative’ effect.

It is here that Sri Lankans have stood out, as well, for every ruler, whom critics and commoners alike would later on dub as an ‘autocrat’ has got elected through democratic polls, and had to continue swearing by the very same democracy. Be it JRJ or MR, or the political parties that they represented when in power, they needed to go back to their people, to obtain a mandate – that the former survived through but the latter ended up losing, too.

Yet for constitutional precedents of the kind, Sri Lankan politicians and popular experts would rather go to the Westminster, calling it the ‘Mother of Parliament’ and to US court verdicts, as it is the ‘oldest democracy’ in the world. They have seldom bothered to visit the working democracies in the Third World, which addresses situations that Sri Lanka alone faces, unlike ‘grown-up’ (!) democracies like the UK and the US do. To them, May’s ‘Parliamentary Practice’ is Bible, not that of Indian authors, Kaul & Shakdhar, which says what Erskine May and his successor-editors have said -- and also offers more from a Third World democracy perspective. If there is a Sri Lankan equivalent, they would not know. The author(s) too would have discussed the Utopian, and possibly not the practical!

(The writer is Director, Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, the multi-disciplinary Indian public-policy think-tank, headquartered in New Delhi. Email: sathiyam54@gmail.com)

The underworld, Rajapaksa and ‘yahapalanaya’ power games

Sunday, April 01, 2018

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, now busily wrapping the reformist garb of a changed political persona around him, has had the audacity to complain this week that the underworld is now more active than during his Presidency.

Criminals and the Rajapaksa ‘project’

But the truth is that the underworld was ‘managed’ and ‘used’ at the time to protect the Rajapaksa political project. Those inconvenient to the family in power were disposed of while ‘favorites’ were nurtured for use whenever the occasion presented itself. Discomforting details of involvement of senior police officers in the assassinations, assaults and underworld activities fostered with state patronage during the last five years of Rajapaksa rule (2010 – 2014) are now emerging into the harsh light of current-day realities.

These are not casual discoveries that can be shrugged away by a genial smile or hypocritical protestations under the Rajapaksa ‘satakaya’. These atrocities were not brought before the public much earlier due to the power games of the (dis) unity ‘yahapalanaya’ alliance, which have now become the butt of ribald jokes in the popular imagination. Wherever the relativities of the blame may lie for this, President MaithripalaSirisena and Prime Minister Ranil must shoulder joint responsibility for squandering the richness of the public trust placed in them in 2015. That much is clear.

Following the departure of the Rajapaksa family from the seat of power in 2105, despicable police excesses are no longer linked to the highest levels of the political command in the Government as once was the case. However, systemic reform of the police establishment and credible leadership of the Sri Lanka Police continue to be lacking, leaving law and order to be increasingly imperiled.

Selective or excessive law enforcement

In its absence, we have the IGP absurdly directing his hapless subordinates to compulsorily engage in meditation classes. When communal violence takes place, law enforcement officers turn the proverbial Nelsonian eye to the instigation of agent provocateurs acting with vested political agendas.Worse, they are oftentimes openly supportive as was seen in the recent violence in the Kandy District.

Thus too, when demonstrators take part in legitimate protests, the police reaction is excessively violent as we saw recently in the case of the Thambuttewegama farmers agitating against the proposed use of water in the Rajanagana reservoir for a drinking water project, despite those resources traditionally being used for paddy cultivation.

As in the past, when the police was deaf, dumb and blind in the face of a (toy) pistol wielding so-called mayoral worship of Hambantota(later to be favored by the ‘yahapalanaya’ regime), law and order is not enforced when it ought to be enforced or enforced selectively with excessive force in other instances.

Eye of a calamitous storm

On the other hand, police officers cannot work honourably even if they wish to do so, as their superiors override them. Indeed, such law abiding policemen are punished rather than commended with the National Police Commission appearing to be helpless in redressing these injustices.The notion of public service by the police continues to be a cosmetic trapping.

Presidential promises of advisory committees looking into reform of the Police Ordinance also do not serve any purpose. What we face is a politically undermined police establishment resulting in the breakdown of law and order. No citizen is immune even if one minds one’s own business and keeps out of trouble as is sometimes (mistakenly) believed.

The politicization of the police service has many shameful godfathers, not limited to the Rajapaksas. Similar to the undermining of the judiciary, no political party can piously wash its hands of responsibility. Then again, those who served at the helm of the police and judicial establishments and the country’s ‘thinking’ (or ‘unthinking’ as the case may be) community who compromised on principle and acted on political agendas, continuing a disgraceful tradition which was evidenced in 2015 as well must shoulder a large part of the blame.

The Police as political ‘playthings’

But in the past at least, a minimal balance of institutional credibility was maintained in regard to the police ‘service.’The political leadership of the day realized cannily that such a balance was essential to keep alive, at least the perception of a functional law enforcement system.

Such niceties were however cast to the four winds as civil and ethnic conflict aggravated in the country. In time, the police became a political ‘plaything’ losing even the semblance of democratic functionality. Its role as a buffer between abusive government power and abused individuals was irreversibly reversed. Now police excess is no longer an aberration explained as justifiable in extraordinary circumstances of ‘conflict’ or ‘emergency.’

Daily reports of police inaction or police complicity in gross abuses are accepted as part of ordinary reality. That acceptance is dangerous by itself. We have come to accept the abnormal as normal. It is exactly for this reason that the proposed Counter-Terror Act, which gave police officers the authority to call for financial information of ‘suspects’ from banking institutions without judicial warrant, was opposed so vigorously. And the same objection is true of the recent (and now withdrawn) emergency regulations imposed in the wake of recent attacks on Muslim civilians which conferred powers on police officers to issue detention orders. These are certainly not healthy precedents.

The crisis goes far deeper than loss of discipline

Essentially it must be recognized that this is not a ‘simple’crisis of police officers being subjected to assaults by political goons when the law is enforced. Such incidents are the natural consequences of lawlessness. But the crisis goes far deeper. The institutional victimization of hapless police officers who try to administer the law without favour, speaks to the gravity of the systemic breakdown very well.

Typically, these are the more junior officers just as (at times) far more courageous decisions asserting the Rule of Law are issued by the lower courts than evidenced at the appellate levels of the judicial institution. Law abiding police officers are penalized at the whim and fancy of their superiors acting on vested agendas. This is highly demoralizing where the basic discipline of the police is concerned.
The establishment of an independent National Police Commission under the 17th Amendment was one small step towards institutional reform.Its undermining under the 18th Amendment was reversed by the (unduly) celebrated 19th Amendment. But is the NPC empowered to work actively and effectively? That is a core question.

Still time for redemption

Decades of political undermining of Sri Lanka’s police establishment has resulted in the police becoming part of the very criminality that it is supposed to prevent. This reality must be confronted in all its raw ugliness. This Government must redeem itself in the eyes of its disillusioned voters through ensuring the proper enforcement of the law and the ‘independent’ working of theNational Police Commission. Even at this late stage, there is still time for political redemption if determined leadership is shown. Veritably, there is no other option.

A CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE: THE FABLE OF THE FOX AND HEDGEHOG

1 April, 2018

Should Ranil stay and face the motion of no confidence or avoid confrontation and go before it is taken up? The question was never an issue. It is a media manufactured, media packaged, and a media distributed yarn – an irrelevant essential.

Ranil should stay and face the floor test. That is what democracy is all about. Democracy is not about a megalomaniac media magnate philandering unearned and undeserving monopoly access to airwaves, spewing venom on a politician that he has taken a dislike to.

On April 14th, 2017 – that is a year ago, I wrote an essay Ranil - the man and his era. Some recap seems relevant.

Ranil’s political narrative begins in 1977 with his election to Parliament at age 28. His political path runs parallel to Sri Lanka’s triple lane highway to the Executive Presidency that is market liberalization, proportional representation and ethnoreligious identity politics.

A study of his political profile is a discovery of the compelling complexities of our era. It is a vicarious witnessing of our descent into a cruel ethnic inferno, suppression of a Southern insurrection with a state brutality that has few parallels in human history, a firsthand experience of political obscenity with the LampuKalagedi ‘referendum, the near total collapse of the rule of law and lastly our discovery and realization for a return to political civility and good governance.

Near monopoly

Ranil has been the target of some ferocious pillorying by some electronic media outfits.

Despite his many failings, and there are plenty, the manipulated witch-hunt must be deplored.

A near monopoly of television broadcasting is not a free press. That it remains free from government censorship is not a free licence to telecast brazen bias.

Democracy or its defence is not the exclusive preserve of self-declared media crusaders with double barrel monikers rhyming with ‘Barnabas’ sporting Larry King type clip on suspenders.

So Ranil should stay and face the floor test. If it is a power struggle, the vote in Parliament will bring some solidity to the current form of liquid politics.

Democracy is not about coming to Parliament through the national list after being soundly and solidly beaten at the general election. Democracy is not about subverting popular will expressed at free and fair elections by reappointing political rejects purely to retrieve nonexistent credentials of an accidental upstart.

Democracy is not about media Moghuls leveraging their monopolies to manufacture and distribute packaged ‘public opinion’.

The shadow-boxing we have witnessed between some SLFP Ministers and the UNP high-ups is pure and classic political chicanery.

This writer is no supporter, follower, disciple or acolyte of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Nor does this writer believe that Ranil Wickremesinghe is the kind of leader we need in these critical times.

That said, those of us, committed to the goals of the movement for a just society that brought about the triumph of January 8 2015 should unhesitatingly prevent agenda driven media moghuls from subverting the constitutional and democratic process. Removing an inconvenient hurdle to their business plans is not the right direction for this befuddled nation.

If defending the unsmiling, unresponsive Ranil is the price we have to pay, we must not dilly-dally or waver. We must pay the price.

Gains made

The gains made in the last three years in the form of access to information, rights of the individual and the restoration of at least the semblances of institutions insulated from partisan politics should be preserved.

Those gains are far too important to be allowed to be hijacked by plastic potentates now in the television business, harbouring delusions of their power in the secure comfort of hired hands feeding their oversized egos.

We are told that the present crisis, if that is what it should be described as, is a power struggle. That is a mistaken diagnosis by those too involved in the dispute to claim comprehension of a problem that they do not yet understand.

The President was voted in to office by a rainbow coalition on a platform of reforms that produced an electoral activism of exceptional outreach.

The power he obtained was of such force and sanctity, that it allowed him to make Ranil Wickremesinghe Prime Minister and spare him the pain of seeking a vote of confidence in a Parliament where Ranil commanded some 40 seats. The gains we now talk about are the gains made in the first 100 days.

What is unfolding today is not a struggle for power but a dichotomous search to locate where power resides. A good part of that power now resides with Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Our principal institution of democratic governance – the Parliament is pitilessly, massively dysfunctional. There is the official opposition of the Tamil National Alliance demanding minority empowerment and constitutional reforms. There is the JVP insisting that they are neither for Tweedledum nor Tweedle-dee but are for a type of Tweedled Dum Dees of their own. Then there are the no-holds barred but some holds-less barred opposition that calls itself the Joint Opposition. They want Mahinda Rajapaksa back in power.

National alliance

The Government calls itself a national alliance of the two mainstream political parties, the UNP and the SLFP. Its ostensible purpose being the pursuit of good governance, adherence to democratic ideals and ensuring economic progress.

The crisis precipitated by the motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister is an unmistakable sign that the present structure can no longer hold.

The explosion, especially, in electronic media, promoting not productive debate, but destructive diversion is lamentable. Its purpose is to disengage us from reality.

We created an atmosphere of free debate, accommodating a diversity of views. We have achieved something that we never planned for. We have opened the public space with no clear framework defining its public purpose.

Each of us wallow in the unaffordable luxury of self-confirmation at the expense of collective purpose and endeavour.

Time has arrived for us to stop and take stock of the gains and losses of the past three years. We have been duped and manipulated for more than a decade before we embarked on the good governance experiment on January 8 2015. It is now more important than ever to know what we are doing to ourselves. Are we being duped some more?

We are in an endless spiral, in a vicious vortex asphyxiating with scripts and counter scripts of learned legalese before the judiciary, inane profundities from the executive and a limitless supply of senseless, pointless rhetoric from the legislature.

The story of the fox and the hedgehog has an explanation.

A fox swimming across a rapid river was carried by the force of the current into a very deep ravine. It remained exhausted and in terrible pain for a long time. It was bruised, sick, and paralyzed.

It was unable to move. Swarms of hungry blood-sucking flies settled upon its tired body. A hedgehog, passing by, saw its anguish and inquired if it should drive away the flies that were tormenting the fox. “By no means,” replied the Fox; “pray do not molest them.”“Why” asked the bewildered hedgehog; “do you not want to be rid of them?’ “No,” replied the Fox, “for these flies which you see are full of blood, and sting me but little, and if you rid me of these which are already satiated, others hungrier will come in their place, and will drink up all the blood I have left.” 

NCM against Ranil is a ploy of Ranil – Mahinda group of chums

April 1, 2018 by

The no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe handed over to the Speaker by the joint opposition is an attempt by the group of intimate friends to evade the people’s frustration against the government says the National Organizer of all Ceylon Farmers’ Federation Namal Karunaratna.

“In the recent past, Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe saved Mr Mahinda Rajapaksaa’s wife and children when they were accused of various crimes. What happens now is a show of gratitude for instances such as allowing Shiranthi Rajapaksa to make her statements at the Speaker’s residence instead of the CID headquarters. It is like killing two birds with a single stone.

People voted for the ‘flower bud’ to make Mahinda the Prime Minister. All candidates of the SLPP asked their voters to vote to make Mahinda the Prime Minister. After the election victory, Mahinda says he is not concerned about the Prime Minister’s post and Ranil need not resign as the PM. Minister Rajitha has said this at a media briefing. Until now, Mahinda has not rejected this. It is with the support of Mahinda that Ranil continues to remain as PM. He carries on the administration with the agreement and support of Mahinda faction.

On the part of the masses, there is confusion regarding the situation in the country. This has led to frustration. The no-confidence motion has been brought to the stage to quell this situation. The people are now contemplating about the no-confidence motion.

The no-confidence motion is brought not only against the Prime Minister but also against the government. Many issues have come up now. Constitutional issues have surfaced. As such, the no-confidence motion would be successful. This is what Mahinda and his group wanted.

The intention of the joint opposition is to continue with Ranil as the PM. A new PM would bring new hopes to the people. They would expect this leader to do something for the people and they would rally around him. It is an obstacle for the plans hatched by Mahinda group. Ranil continuing to be the PM is advantageous to the joint opposition.”

Ranil’s Watergate?

 

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana-April 1, 2018, 8:51 pm

Richard Milhouse Nixon has earned a place in history, not for the right reason though: he is the only US president to have resigned from post, which he did to avoid the impending ignominious impeachment. The scandal that ended the career of an otherwise very successful US president, Watergate, has now become synonymous with political cover-ups. Nixon, the 37th US President, credited with ending the American involvement in the Vietnam war, visited China in 1972 heralding a new era of Sino-American relationship, initiated détente and signed an Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union and presided over the Apollo 11 moon landing. On the negative side, he supported the coup in Chile that ousted the democratically elected Marxist President, Salvador Allende, propelling to power Augusto Pinochet, who turned out to be a cruel dictator. Nixon was re-elected in 1972 with a landslide, polling more than 60% of the popular vote and losing only one state, out of the 50, and the District of Columbia to his opponent. So, what went wrong?

Watergate scandal

To ensure his re-election, many in his administration carried out undemocratic activities which included "dirty tricks" campaigns like bugging the offices of political opponents, the harassment of activist groups and political figures. These activities were brought to light after five men were caught breaking into the Democratic party headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. on 17 June 1972. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post newspaper, relying on an informant known as "Deep Throat", later revealed to be an associate director at the FBI, linked the men to the Nixon administration. Though Nixon downplayed the scandal as mere politics, calling news articles biased and misleading, a series of revelations made it clear that the Committee to Re-elect Nixon and the White House was involved in attempts to sabotage the Democrats. As it happened, this was totally unnecessary, as he won with a landslide. But worse was to come.

A Special Counsel was appointed to investigate when one of the White House aides testified, under oath, that Nixon has recorded all conversations in the Oval Office and these will show that Nixon was aware of what happened, though he denied any knowledge. He was reluctant to release the tapes and released partial transcripts. Finally, under pressure, when Nixon released the tapes there was a gap of 18 ½ minutes, which his personal secretary claimed, she accidentally erased, which was considered a dumb excuse. After a protracted battle, as it became clear that Nixon attempted a cover-up, there was no choice but to start impeachment proceedings but before this happened, Nixon resigned on 9th August 1974. He was forced to resign not because of the break-in or any of the other "dirty tricks" but because of the cover-up.

Central Bank Bond scam

Not one, but two bond scams occurred when Ranil was in charge of the Central Bank with his chosen friend as the Governor. On the basis of the available facts, which I need not repeat as are very well known, most will come to the inevitable conclusion that Ranil, if not actively involved, was well aware of the scam. Of course, the hard-core UNPers, who still harbour the delusion that Ranil is ‘Mr. Clean’, would never accept this and will come up with all sort of fancy defences. A governent spokesman has already claimed that what they robbed is nothing, as Rajapaksas played out much more, though Rajapaksas’ scams are yet to be proved. Those who came to power on the promise of eradicating corruption, indulging in ‘minor’ corruption is justified! What sort of logic is that!! Do they think that Sri Lankans are grass-eaters?

Deception

The appointment of Mahendran itself was full of deception. Originally, it was claimed that he was a Sri Lankan citizen. Then it was told that he is a dual citizen but when it was pointed out that Singapore does not allow dual citizenship a totally different story emerged with a question. If the UK can have a Canadian as the Governor of the Bank of England, why cannot Sri Lanka have a Singaporean as the Governor of the Central Bank? If that was the case, why was Ranil not bold enough, instead of giving lame excuses, to state this in the first instance?

Can Mahendran and Mark Carney be compared? Certainly not! Before moving to the UK, Mark Carney was the Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013. The equivalent of the Central Bank in Singapore is the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Mahendran has not held any top positions; either that of the Chairman or the Manging Director. Therefore, the comparison drawn is ludicrous and a means of deception.

Mahendran has run away and is not answering summons. If he is innocent why should he abscond? As the person who appointed him, should Ranil not take responsibility? Surely, when Ranil visited Singapore recently for investment promotion, he could have met his old friend and persuaded him to return to Sri Lanka.

Cover-up

What should be blatantly obvious to everyone is the cover-up. There is absolutely no doubt about it. When the Bond Scam surfaced, Ranil appointed a committee of three ‘eminent’ lawyers to investigate. Their conclusion was that the Governor was not involved and laid the blame on senior officials of the Central Bank, which infuriated many honest but helpless officials in the Central Bank. If not for President Sirisena’s afterthought to appoint a commission of inquiry as the public outcry was not going away, the cover-up would have succeeded. When the Presidential Commission of Inquiry found the truth, at least partly, those lawyers did not put there hands up and tender an apology. Well, they may say, as lawyers, they looked after the interest of their client!

I do not want to make comparisons between Ranil and Nixon. Nixon, to his credit, took responsibility for his actions, though belatedly and resigned.

Isn’t it time for Ranil to show that he has some self-respect left in him, take responsibility, and resign, obviating the need for no-confidence motion? For all I know, he will win and carry on regardless.

Maithri-Ranil’s Wisdom Of Creating A Muslim Diaspora

By Latheef Farook –APRIL 1, 2018

Latheef Farook

The  senseless violence unleashed on peaceful Muslims by a  group of Sinhalese racist mercenaries, perhaps backed by powerful local and international forces, has opened up a second hostile front ,after Tamil diaspora, to the island in the international scene.

Ever since the carnage began in Digana on 4 March 2018 and spread to other Muslim villages around Kandy there has been numerous processions, protest marches, meetings and demonstrations all over the world demanding Sri Lankan government to ensure the safety and security of the island’s Muslims.

It is the sole responsibility of any elected government to protect its citizens, their properties and their legitimate rights. In this respect Maithri-Ranil government has miserably failed to protect the island’s Muslims whose votes played crucial role in Sirisena becoming the President and Wickremesinghe the Prime Minister.

However the two have dismissed and discarded the Muslims and joined hands with global anti-Muslims forces not realizing the serious local and international consequences.

Sri Lanka is loved by Muslims worldwide, Muslim countries and their governments. Around a million Sri Lankans were employed in the Gulf countries and beyond. Their remittances, around eight billion dollars a year, remains extremely inevitable to sustain the country’s collapsing economy.

However neither the President Sirisena nor the Prime Minister Wickremesinghe both of whom travel worldwide signing bilateral agreements never thought it fit to visit these Gulf countries. This was their mindsets towards Muslims and the Muslim world.

With the change of government Muslims thought they would enjoy peace and justice.

However their hopes were dashed within months as both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesingjhe virtually abandoned the Muslim community as proved later.

When sporadic attacks on Muslims began to intensify and the government turning blind eye   delegation after delegation brought the rising racist attacks to the knowledge of President Sirisena. Instead of bringing the culprits to book President Sirisena dismissed saying” this was Mahinda Rajapaksa’s conspiracy to topple the government”.

Muslims did not know what to do. These attacks intensified until the attacks on Gintota Muslims when the police and the STF were accused of involvement followed by the burning of Digana and other Muslim villages around Kandy.

The prompt response was demonstration and protest meetings worldwide by Sri Lankan Muslims living abroad. The irony is that this happens at a time when the country has not fully recovered from the July 1983 attacks on Tamils, 30 year ethnic war and the alleged atrocities and human rights violence.

Sinhalese and Tamils joined hands with Muslims to express their anger at the government in numerous cities in the United Kingdom, New York, near United Nations office, Canada, Geneva and Paris where Sri Lankan Muslims from all over France gathered in freezing cold to Australia. 

They were given widespread publicity in both print and electronic media tarnishing the image of the island. President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe should take full responsibility for this calamity on the country.

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