A Timeless Quest For An Eternal Life

By Christopher Rezel –JUNE 4, 2018

Christopher Rezel

We all accept we will die. We cannot change that. 

However many of us believe in an afterlife.

There are contesting claims about the nature of this afterlife. 

Some say it is a paradise through which we will float in bliss forever.

Others see it as a world presided by an all-powerful god who will grant us the indescribable pleasure of venerating him for eternity.

There are those who claim a “heaven” and a “hell”, the former for those who lived virtuously and the latter for sinners, virtue and sin being decided by a priestly caste who claim to represent an almighty god.

Some say we will be drawn up to be part of “the great spirit”.

Others that we will be successively reborn into the present world. 

Yet others that at death we go into nothingness.

On and off in the Sri Lanka media writers expose us to their version of what happens after death.

All the claim and counter claims may derive from our inability to let go of our unique identity – the “I” nurtured and held precious in our lifetime. 

We wish it to continue indefinitely as soul or spirit in another realm?

Belief in an afterlife paradise is a persuasive option. It comforts those who have lost a loved one. 

The question of gods and an afterlife may have arisen after man first learned to think, going by ancient burial rituals.

Sometime during our 200,000 history, we are known to have venerated spirits of nature and ancestors. 

It was a primitive approach to understanding the universe, a lack of knowledge that science is gradually filling in, and in doing so, telling us that our atoms were all forged in the stars.

As humans advanced into modern times, more complex gods took form, together with elaborate cults, creeds and rituals.

We believed gods controlled the elements essential to crops, food, illness and death. They could be benevolent or malicious; a bad-tempered god could bring about calamities through flood, earthquake, famine and disease. 

Appeasing the gods assured a peaceful life and forestalled their anger and destructive natures.

It also assured us a favoured place in an afterlife following death.

Some gods were placated only by human sacrifice. 

Gods of the South American Aztecs were not alone in such demands. 

Fortunately those religions passed into history, along with their concepts of afterlife. 

Demise of these religions, and often a good many of their worshippers, was usually the result of foreign invasions and the imposition of new gods.

Today in lieu of human blood, some gods are placated with animal blood. Others get money or agricultural produce, such as coconuts. 

To the list that went into oblivion were the ancient pantheons of Egyptian, Greek, Nordic, Celtic, and numerous Asian and African gods, many of whom were vested with various attributes.

Worshipping god

The mood of a god depended on how believers interceded and propitiated them.

Because of this, powerful priestly castes arose, claiming nearness to god and influence in all supernatural matters. 

They set down rules and rituals, often secret or in an obscure language. The more cryptic a religion, the more people were beguiled into accepting it, believing they lacked the intellect to understand. 

People were kept in thrall and fear so they wouldn’t neglect upkeep of both gods and priests, a burden turned into their sacred responsibility.

This has resulted in many religions becoming the richest institutions globally.

Fear of death may have played a major role in our search for god because a definite end to life has always been unacceptable.

Consequently, yet more doctrines were created, according to time and place. In some the dead would rise up to a blissful paradise, or descend into a fiery hell. Some had an alternate place where the dead would linger before attaining paradise.

Most religions placed the afterlife in the “heavens above”. But ancient Romans believed a person’s spirit went to the “underworld” after crossing the River Styx. Therefore it was necessary for the dead person’s family to leave a coin on the body for payment to Charon, the ferryman.

Ancient Egyptians viewed death as a temporary interruption. So in order to ensure identity was retained in an “afterlife”, they mummified the corpse and entombed it with items to ensure a comfortable existence. Also buried were gifts the dead would need to appease gods of the spiritual world. 

One’s wealth and social status determined extravagance in such matter. Naturally pharos received the most lavish burials. 

Read More

Revival of national unity government is still possible

by Jehan Perera-June 4, 2018, 9:04 pm 

President Maithripala Sirisena’s speech at the commemoration event for the late Ven Madulawave Sobitha Thero, was another indication that all was not well within the unity government. The venerable monk was the person who welded several disparate political parties and civic groups together to challenge the might of the Rajapaksa government. The previous government exemplified the Rule of Men and not the Rule of Law, which its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission warned against. Its leaders still show little or no remorse for the violations of law and human rights in the past. The commemoration held in the venerable monk’s honour was intended to be an occasion for remembering what he had stood for and the promises that those who had worked with him made regarding good governance and against corruption. Instead of which, President Sirisena made it into an occasion to severely criticize the outcome of that endeavor.

At the outset of his speech, at the commemoration event, President Sirisena expressed his disappointment that he had not been invited to the commemoration event. The President stated that he had not been invited for the event or that such an invitation had reached him. The initial assessment of the President’s speech was that he had been piqued by being marginalized at the event. However, the President’s outburst on the occasion of the commemoration event may not have been driven solely by emotion. The fact that the Executive Committee of the SLFP along with the SLFP Central Committee, and the All Island Working Committee was set to meet four days later suggests that there was another calculation underlying the President’s public stance.

At this crucial meeting of the SLFP at which office-bearers of the party were elected, several of the key positions went to the breakaway group of 16 SLFP parliamentarians who recently left the government and now sit as an independent group in parliament. This group has pledged that their intention is to reunify the SLFP which is currently split, albeit unequally, into two factions, one of which is loyal to President Sirisena while the other accords primacy to former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. The local government election results of February 2018 showed that the faction led by the former president is by far the dominant faction.

MAIN OBSTACLE

The intention of the group of 16 is to strengthen the SLFP which has fallen into third place behind the UNP and the newly formed SLPP that is led by the former president. They are all members of the SLFP who have accepted the leadership of President Sirisena. But they do not see a future for themselves or for the SLFP if it continues to remain divided with a section of the party loyal to the President and another to the former president. This concern has become more urgent as the next set of presidential and parliamentary elections are barely 16 months away. Their stated goal is not to amalgamate the party under the banner of the SLPP headed by the former president, but to reunite the SLFP which is presently under the leadership of President Sirisena.

The President’s speech at the commemoration event made it clear that he was on the side of the SLFP more than with the government which he bitterly criticized. The implied message of his speech was that he is prepared to leave the coalition with the UNP if he could reunify the SLFP under his leadership. The President both criticized the policies and practices of the government head heads and also referred to efforts to undermine him politically from within the government. Given the results of the local government elections in February 2018 in which the newly formed SLPP headed by the former president fared better than both the UNP and SLFP, reuniting the SLFP is a priority aspiration of President Sirisena as well as the group of 16.

President Sirisena’s goal would be to lead a reunited SLFP and not be the leader who led it to irreversible decline and marginalization from its long history as one of the two main political parties which has given the country’s politics a two-party character for over six decades. However, the chief obstacle to this aspiration would be the former president, and other leaders of the former government who now lead the SLPP, who would not wish to yield the position that the SLPP has obtained through their charisma and campaigning over the course of the past three years. It is this contradiction that can prevent President Sirisena from achieving his ambition with regard to the SLFP. It is also the crucial factor that makes the continuation of the National Unity Government still possible.

CONTINUATION POSSIBLE

The challenge for the UNP leadership is to negotiate an agreement with President Sirisena which includes those parliamentarians of the SLFP who continue to remain in the government. The best option for the country to ensure the late Ven Maduluwave Sobitha’s vision of good governance and non-corrupt government would be for President Sirisena and the UNP leadership to come to a negotiated settlement regarding power sharing between the two parties. Negotiations regarding power sharing are not new to the country as they have been engaged in to seek a resolution of the ethnic conflict in the past. A successful effort at reaching a power sharing agreement between the UNP and SLFP could be an inspiration for the power sharing that likewise needs to take place between the government and ethnic minority parties.

The news media has reported that the President is engaging the country’s two main political groupings, the UNP and the Joint Opposition at the same time. He continues to keep his options open. Despite his concern for his own political future, the value framework that the Ven Maduluwave Sobitha set in 2015 continues to motivate the President and needs to be protected. While the group of 16 are attempting to reunify the SLFP another group of SLFP parliamentarians who have remained in the government as ministers are reported to be engaging with UNP leaders to discuss the formulation of a common development programme and matters related to future elections, including the upcoming Provincial Council elections which the President has pledged will be held this year.

President Sirisena’s May 8 speech to parliament set out many accomplishments and plans of the National Unity Government that need to be explained to the general population. The problem is that most of the people in the country are either unaware of what the government has accomplished in the past three years or are overlooking them because they are not visible and material. Likewise the plans of the government for economic development and national reconciliation have been made but not yet explained to the people. The continuation of the National Unity Government is important so that the gains made in terms of restoring the rule of law and improving human rights are protected for the well-being and future development of the country.

The Subversion Of Our Democratic Political Spaces & What It Means For Sri Lanka’s Future

Featured image courtesy Vikalpa


DAYAPALA THIRANAGAMA- 06/04/2018

Introduction

Since Independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has witnessed three unsuccessful armed struggles. Two of these  (1971 and 1987-89) have been confined mainly to the Sinhalese South. The last one in the North and East of Sri Lanka waged an armed campaign for almost 30 years until the Tami Tigers were defeated in 2009. The manner of the Sri Lanka’s state victory created acute political wounds and left unresolved the fundamental problems that gave rise to Tamil militancy. The devastating effects of all three armed campaigns conducted by the state and non-state actors have scarred democratic governance in the country and its commitment to pluralism. These violent struggles have torn apart Sri Lanka’s social fabric and hindered economic wellbeing of its citizens. It has damaged the continuing efforts to create a healthy and pluralistic democracy for our young and fragile nation.

The Subversion Of Our Democratic Political Spaces & What It Means For Sri Lanka’s Future.docx by Thavam on Scribd

Mahathir’s second coming: Lesson for Sri Lankan leaders ‘Deliver what you promise’

Monday, 4 June 2018

Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Man who was engaged in a Dharma Yuddha

The election of 92-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad, commonly known as Mahathir, to premiership by Malaysian voters, especially the young voters, has been a surprise to many. That was not only because of his age, but because of the challenge he successfully posed to the powerful 60-year rule of the incumbent Malaysian administration. He has been viewed as the destroyer of the party which he had led for 22 long years.

Had Austrian-American economist Joseph Schumpeter been alive today, he would have termed it a ‘creative destruction’. As Mahathir had pronounced on many occasions during the election campaign, his re-entry to politics had been prompted by the need for rescuing Malaysia from the unjust rule of those who had inherited the party’s mantle upon his retirement from politics in 2003. The author of Mahabharata, Vyasa, would have called it a ‘Dharma Yuddha’ or a war for restoring righteousness.


Mahathir, the trouble-shooter 

Mahathir has been a trouble-shooter whenever Malaysia had been in trouble in the past. At the time he became Prime Minister in 1981, Malaysia’s average per capita income (PCI) amounted to $1900, compared to its resource-poor neighbour to the south, Singapore, which had recorded a PCI of $5600. A little more than a half of the population was in abject poverty. It was living basically by exporting primary agricultural products to the rest of the world.

Unlike its former companion, Singapore, which had set itself on a high growth path, Malaysia’s growth rate was falling from a high 9% in 1975 to 6% in 1982. Since then, for a few years, it had its ups and downs around that rate, but after 1984, there was a sharp nose-dive in which growth rate fell to a negative 1% in 1985. That was a real economic crisis which required quick fixing and Mahathir was up to that challenge.

Infuse private brain power to state enterprises 

According to Sri Lankan- born economist at Australian National University, Prof Prema-Chandra Athukorala, the crisis was due to Malaysia’s inability to face the high interest rates in the USA in early 1980s, reinforced by a collapse of commodity prices, at a time when it had gone for a rapid expansion in government expenditure, known as fiscal activism, under a New Economic Policy introduced in 1971 (see https://crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/publications/publish/papers/wp2010/wp_econ_2010_12.pdf).

Mahathir did not want to seek support from the IMF, but he had introduced the very same IMF prescription on his own. The policy package introduced by Mahathir consisted of a painful cut in government expenditure, devaluation of the ringgit, and accepting the private sector as the engine of growth. This was a significant departure from the policy it had followed in the previous decade.

In line with relying on private sector for economic growth, private sector brain-power was infused to state enterprises, replacing the bureaucrats who had built semi-empires within them, while foreign direct investments in new export industries were brought in.

The devaluation of the ringgit was so high that it caused the real effective exchange rate to depreciate massively, by about 40% during 1986 to 1990. The result was the gradual recovery of the economy from negative 1% in 1985 to positive 1% in 1986 and about 10% by 1988. Thereafter, it remained at that high level, till 1996 just before the onset of the East Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.


Speculative money coming into a country is the worst enemy

Given the high growth at about 10% per annum, low inflation, near-full employment and low external debt, nobody would have predicted that Malaysia would be hit by a financial crisis in 1997. The general belief was that when Thailand was hit by the crisis, Malaysia too got hit by a common infection it would have got from Thailand, known as ‘contagion effect’.

But Athukorala says that there were signs of vulnerability of Malaysia’s external sector, due to a high inflow of speculative foreign funds to its financial market by way of portfolio investments. These investments, which are of very short term, are the ones which would fly out of a country in the event of the first suspicion about a country’s ability to meet its foreign obligations. Such outflows would be fatal to an economy, if its private sector is infected by bad governance and its financial sector has been fragile. Both these weak points contributed to the extension of the Thai financial crisis to Malaysia as well.


Implementing IMF policy without getting the IMF in

Thus, overnight, all the pleasant feelings about the strength of Malaysian economy totally evaporated. The economic growth, which had fallen from the previous high to 7% in 1997 declined sharply to negative 7% by 1998. With that, Malaysia officially went into recession.

Then, it was a massive operation to rescue the economy, and it fell on Mahathir’s shoulders. Once again, Mahathir did not seek IMF support, but introduced more or less the same IMF policy prescription on his own. Athukorala says that had Malaysia wanted, it could have surely gone for IMF support, because by that time the IMF too had somewhat relaxed its policy approach to a crisis of this nature. But seeking IMF support was not politically acceptable to Mahathir, because as he had announced to party members at a party conference, getting IMF support meant opening the economy to foreign investors, and getting foreign investors at that time meant betraying Bumiputras, the Sons of Soil who had been favoured by the government officially by extending special concessions to them. Therefore, he went for a home-grown policy package which had important ingredients from IMF policy.


A painful cut down of demand by depreciating the ringgit

The policy required Malaysia to cut down its demand and for that purpose, both price and quantity controls were used. In the case of control by price, the exchange rate was depreciated by a massive amount from Ringgit 2.50 a dollar in the middle of 1997 to Ringgit 4.72 a dollar by January 1998. That was a depreciation of nearly 90%. The quantity controls were introduced by invoking exchange controls over capital transfers. Thus, Malaysians – public, businesses and the government – had to do business at prices as well as quantities fixed by the government. But it did the trick. The massive depreciation curtailed imports and encouraged exports, leading to a surplus in the trade account. Malaysia has been able to maintain this surplus throughout the period till today. Since there was no flying out of capital, the inflow of foreign exchange caused the ringgit to appreciate over the years and by May 1999, rate appreciated to Ringgit 3.80 per dollar. Malaysia was able to stick to this fixed exchange rate till July 2005 by buying dollars from the market and supplying ringgit funds.

When it started to cause money supply to rise and inflation to creep in, it had to abandon the fixed exchange rate policy and allow ringgit to appreciate in the market. Since then, the exchange rate has been hovering between 3.70 and 3.98 Ringgit to a dollar. This policy package kept the budget deficit, on average, at around 4% of GDP; thus, public debt which was as high as 40% of GDP in 1995 was reduced to 30% of GDP by end 1998. Since then, the debt level was maintained between 40% and 55% of GDP. In 2017, it was around 50% of GDP.

These are all the usual IMF prescriptions to a country. What Mahathir has shown is that if a country is wise enough to adopt a prudent policy package in the midst of a crisis, there is no need to invite the IMF to come and support it. The IMF is needed for a country like Sri Lanka, because its leaders do not think it prudent to adopt such a policy package on their own. By the time Mahathir retired from politics, Malaysia’s economy had fully recovered from the 1997/98 economic crisis and was back on its historical economic growth path.


Advice to Sri Lankan leaders: ‘Treat the defeated well and world opinion will turn to your side’

Mahathir visited Sri Lanka in 2010 to address the Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council. At this address, as well as in a subsequent interview with Daily Mirror online, he left Sri Lankan leaders with an invaluable piece of wisdom (access DM interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNpeHrgudwQ).

In answering the questions by the local journalist, who appeared to be working hard to get a certain expected opinion from him, he showed his statesmanship without taking a side. For instance, when his opinion was asked about the criticism by Western countries that Sri Lanka had committed excesses during the 30-year-old war, he gave an answer with a lot of foresight. He said that it is inevitable that people should die in a war. Hence, it is more important to settle disputes without resorting to wars. But now the war has taken place, what Sri Lanka should do is to treat the defeated well. If they are integrated to society and if they also benefit from the development initiative taking place, he assured that the world opinion would certainly change in favour of Sri Lanka.

What he stressed was that the ball was in the court of Sri Lankan leaders, and it was up to them to pick up the ball and play the game to suit the international conditions. If they managed their house properly, there was no role for foreigners to intervene in the country’s affairs.

Even today, this piece of wisdom has been ignored by Sri Lanka’s leaders. Instead of delivering their obligations toward the defeated, they have declared war against the Western nations. The best answer to the criticism by anyone, according to him, was to be open, not to hide anything and explain everything that you have done has been within the law and not outside the law.


Knowledge is the key to development

At the address before the Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council, Mahathir said that Malaysia was able to attain growth and prosperity by having peace with its three ethnic communities (available at: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100613/BusinessTimes/bt22.html).

If a country allowed issues to slide, it would have to face bigger problems later. Hence, it is advisable to sort them out at the first instance. Different ethnic communities have different religions, cultural practices and languages. Recognising this diversity, early Malaysian leaders had accommodated all the three ethnic groups in the government. They were therefore able to share the common wealth of the country.

Since knowledge is the key to development, Malaysia took action to develop knowledge delivering institutions. Initially, Malaysia had only a few state universities, which were not adequate to meet the aspirations of its people. Hence, they were forced to go abroad to gain knowledge. Now, Malaysia has 30 state universities and an equal number of private universities. That was how Malaysia became an educational hub in the region. By 2010, there were more than 100,000 foreign students studying in Malaysia. By 2017, this has swelled to more than 137,000 and is on the increase. Education can be an important foreign exchange earner for any country. It is up to the leaders to exploit that gold mine for the benefit of the people of the country.


Conflicts and confrontations with other nations are the worst enemies

It is this Mahathir Mohamad, aged 92, who has become the Prime Minister of Malaysia today. His economic vision is extremely nationalistic. However, he follows a code that is fully compatible with basic laws of economics. He is for trade and investment. But he is against the exploitation of one nation by another in the name of trade and investment.

These are also sound economic principles because when one nation is exploited by another, there is no equal exchange, and as a result it always leads to conflicts and confrontations. Conflicts and confrontations are the worst enemies of sustained economic prosperity. The role of the government is to remove every seed of conflicts and confrontations and allow the economies to function well. All the nations today are organised as nations. All nations are competing with other nations for gaining a better deal from their transactions. This competition drives them not to the annihilation of others. It drives them to seek after a solution in which all will be able to reap benefits of global growth. In this sense, Mahathir has an unfinished job to do in Malaysia.

Mahathir is a leader who delivers what he promises. Perhaps, this is the best lesson which Sri Lankan leaders can learn from him. 
W A Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com

President ailing from mental disorder - Comes to light through his personal doctor and family !

(Lanka e News – 04.June.2018, 10.30PM) It is a well known fact that Pallewatte Gamarala Maithripala Yapa Sirisena is a fiery speaker. But now he   is better known as  one who blabbers , suffering from acquired attention deficiency syndrome and  forgetful so much so that he does not know what he said previously  and therefore makes outrageous contradictions and broken promises.

Sadly, his personal doctor  Mangala who examined him has diagnosed that  he is currently suffering from a mental disorder  , and conveyed that to his family  .Though the doctor had tried to find a formal treatment regimen  at the initial stage , that had been unsuccessful, based on reports reaching Lanka e News.

The  president’s obnoxious conduct and his cranky speech full of lies made at the death anniversary of Ven . Sobitha Thera  outrageously desecrating the solemn occasion , triggered a lot of resentment and antagonism against the president .The SLFP leaders who were shocked and perturbed had therefore probed into this. It is then the above information about the doctor’s diagnosis has surfaced.

At the meeting of the UPFA leaders following the speech made by president at the commemoration  , the president has proudly said  ‘ At the Foundation  Institute I exploded a bomb before coming here.’ It is only after watching the news telecast  in the night , the party leaders have realized president has exploded not an ordinary bomb but one that is self destructive and suicidal. Having suspected  something is wrong  with his mental equilibrium they have then begun probing into the mental  condition of the president .

President’s mental disorder according to what was revealed is as follows …

President’s personal doctor Mangala is  not well conversant with mental  health though he is a general physician. He had understood that the president is suffering from  a mental disorder after listening to president’s last independence day speech. He twice made mistakes regarding the independence day as though he knew very little about it.  Since the president did not have the mental capacity to rectify his mistake despite being most serious , the doctor had suspected the president is afflicted with a mental  defect.

Based on the diagnosis of Dr. Mangala,  the president is in the incipient stage of Alzheimer’s disease as well as acutely suffering from Tension and Depression

Alzheimer’s disease is the initial phase of Vascular dementia . Failing to treat the mental depression associated with Alzheimer’s disease for a long time , triggers Alzheimer’s disease, and owing to the latter depression can result. In other words a vicious cycle is created.  Alzheimer ‘s disease afflicts one out of every fourteen persons over the age of 65.  If that disease is in the family it is still more dangerous. The symptoms of this disease are  confusion, even what is clearly remembered is forgotten, inability to take decisions or to plan properly, muddling up the language and speech , behaving in an odd manner ,  aggressive conduct , excessive cringing and overly  suspicious of others , mood swings or anxiety and sleeplessness.  

Unfortunately , the president has manifested not one but most of these symptoms. The doctor has discussed with his family and explained in detail the more grave symptoms because this can lead to suicide attempts. The family members have of course tracked down a number of reasons for this mental defect.

Dr. Mangala identifies  the causes of president’s mental illness after discussing with latter’s family.

Inability  to shoulder the grave responsibilities of a president. ..

Gamarala is unable to shoulder the presidential responsibilities. He had even once confessed this to his close friend Wijedasa Rajapakse. ‘Machan, the capitalist party the UNP choosing me to be the president is unbelievable’ the president has been telling several times before elections , and after becoming the president he has expressed his surprise.

Gamarala who has never organized any gigantic programs in his life and being a village politician having not engaged in mainstream politics , is   unable to bear the responsibilities of a president

Family members are of the view, because he does most things of his own accord without discussing with his family this would have resulted.

Illicit affair with Anuradha Jayawickrema ..

What has been the biggest contribution to his pitiful mental state has been  his inability to enjoy and spend his time in peace with his paramour with whom he has a long standing love affair. Since the days when he was a minister he has had this illicit love affair with Anuradha Jayawickrema , the 67 years old  ‘antique paramour’. 

Currently , Anuradha  is working as a personal assistant at the presidential secretariat. Their love is so deep if her air condition  goes out of condition , his own condition deflates losing all the air through all his orifices. Hence the  president is the first to  put aside all his urgent work to ensure that her  air condition works best . One can therefore also imagine how much he must be toiling  to put Anuradha’s  in trim condition despite her age though these are matters to laugh at for the public.

For his secret rendezvous with her he goes with his pal DIG Wickremesinghe cast in the same mold who is these  days  mostly in Kandy . Perhaps because the president hasn’t enough opportunities to enjoy with Anuradha and sexploit  her now like during  the days when he was just a minister ,  president’s wife Jayanthi Pushpakumari has had occasion to always scold him saying  ‘even  after becoming president you are unable to stop your lecherous desires and control your sexual starvation’ while  constantly quarreling with him. This is also a reason that has aggravated his mental illness.

Lately , because president’s new Russian friends are also  pushing him into the den of Russian body peddlers , both Jayanthi and Anuradha have been harassing him.

Three lovers of Madhudaranee killed by Gamarala & Gota….

The conduct of Pallewatte Gamarala’s other daughter has been a cause of despair and that too had led him into this mental state…

During her school going days , Madhudharanee had been involved with two boys who did  not match her. Gamarala enlisting Gota who was the defense minister then , got those two youths abducted alleging they are LTTE cadres. They disappeared thereafter. 

Another time Madhudharanee had eloped with another youth and was living together  . Along with Gota and  Dudley , somehow Gamarala traced the whereabouts and forcibly took Madhudaranee home. The youth was later killed by a lorry made to run  over him.This was camouflaged as an accident , and the whole episode was suppressed.  That youth was the third victim who sacrificed his life on account of  Madhudharanee.  Today Gamarala is having undying ties with Gota due to these cruel callous crimes.

Following this episode , Madhudharanee was a ‘prisoner’ in the house , which led her to an almost insane state.  In order to get her over her mental state she was found a small job in People’s  bank amidst heavy security escort.She was given that job when the husband of a former  chief justice (then)  was the chairman of People’s bank. Now Madhudaranee is not married and left alone in the house .Gamarala is also haunted by those criminal memories and the wrongs he committed  . These memories  have also affected his mental balance.

Because Daham is caught in the Rs. 20 million bribe..

On top of all these , the ravenous greed for filthy lucre which  led Gamarala to enter into illicit deals , and because  some backfired  , Gamarala’s tension  had turned for the worse. Specially , when Gamarala’s chief of staff  Mahanama was caught red handed recently over a Rs. 20 million rupee bribe scandal , during investigations it has come to light  it is Daham Sirisena who had given instructions to Mahanama even at the last moment in this racket based on Mahanama’s phone calls. This doubled ,trebled and quadrupled president’s tension .

Though Gamarala roared like a Lion , Gamarala is an individual who is mentally feeble  . Because he neglected taking treatment while  his mental condition was worsening he had contracted the Alzheimer’s disease , Dr. Mangala had concluded. 

Treatment neglected…

Unfortunately Dr. Mangala has come on the scene only at a fairly advanced stage of the disease.  If his mental instability becomes known , obviously the president has  to resign the post. Hence the need of the hour is to conceal the truth as far  as  possible but  it is not possible to treat him enlisting the services of a single psychiatrist . However advising him on that has been unavailing. It  is because that is the characteristic of every mentally deranged patient. He/ she never accepts his/ her  mental condition.

Therefore Dr. Mangala after discussing with his family had taken steps to treat him by persuasion  and through coaxing . Though the specialist Dr. Jagath Mendis of Angoda hospital has sought to meet the president with a view to diagnose his condition , but because his family members were averse to it fearing that would become known to the public ,  the doctor’s effort was unsuccessful.

When attempts were made to get down a Singapore psychiatrist and treat him , the Singapore specialist had refused to treat a president of the country without a local specialist joining him . Therefore that too had not been successful so far. Moreover , each time the family members sought to discuss with Gamarala on this topic , he had flown into a devilish rage.

It is not the habit of Gamarala to lose his temper with his family members or his employees on trifling issues. But now, even if a file is kept in the right place , he screams ‘why is this file here?’ and scolds them in raw filthy language.  Owing to this even the employees are startled by president’s strange conduct these days . The family members in their desperation have resorted to blind faith including  sorcery and other  experiments to find a cure.

Wrath of deities

Meanwhile his old contemporaries  of  his village of Polonnaruwa relate another story ..

Sahajanananda Mahadas , who is presently compiling the series of Lanka e news articles which related to untruths written by Chathurika about ‘President father’ has made inquiries  from the villagers.

The villagers had this to say  : Gamarala who was born and bred in the village of Polonnaruwa , after becoming the ruler , that is  ‘King’ , his brother Dudley and his daughter Chathurika constructed hotels in the vicinity of the Polonnaruwa tanks and destroyed  the tanks which were built by the ancient Kings designed for protection and were entrusted to the care of deities . Because Gamarala permitted this he has incurred the wrath of the deities.

Why did the individual who made wonderful speeches  during the presidential election and won over the consent of hundreds of thousands  of people , suddenly go awry ? Mahathayo , it is god’s curse and nothing but that curse. Even if you fool the people you cannot fool god. That was the steadfast opinion of the villagers. 

Of course people becoming invalids when they grow old is a natural phenomenon but  a leader of a country suffering from a mental disorder does not augur well for the people.

By now it is obvious  the mental defect of  country’s leader needs no confirmation  by a psychiatrist because symptoms of his mental instability are being clearly manifested day in and day out  now. Therefore what ought to be done by those who are mentally stable is without dilly dallying get down to brass tacks , that is create the environment permitting him to take treatment duly and freely , while relieving him of the presidential burdens and duties immediately.

ChandraPradeep

Translated by Jeff

---------------------------
by     (2018-06-04 17:38:38)

Speaker stresses on the need for Constitutional change

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya yesterday stressed on the need to move ahead with changes to the constitution in order to ensure a sustainable peace and prevent armed conflict in future.

Addressing the International Steering Committee of the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict held at the Ramada, Colombo, on the ‘Importance of Prevention rather than Countering Armed Conflicts’, the Speaker asked for a “consultative ‘bottom-up’ process which would also involve changes to the constitution; establishment of permanent peace, empowered independent institutions; law reform; adopting good governance practices; and the nurturing of a society that respects individual rights, and acknowledges and appreciates the importance of resolving problems through means other than conflict – that is, through consensual approaches and democratic means, in a spirit; of tolerance, accommodation and compromise – are essential to ensure prevention and non-recurrence of conflict”.

He further explained that the National Unity Government after 2015, had taken a “victim-centric, consultative and ‘bottom-up’ approach to reconciliation and healing, with the clear objective of ensuring non-recurrence of conflict”, but the challenges along the way were many.

The current constitutional reform process, the Speaker said was a ‘bottom-up’ and all-inclusive process aspiring to address problems of the minorities, ensure the equitable and just sharing of power and resources among all people of Sri Lanka, and address discriminatory provisions in the existing constitution.

“It is hoped that a new constitution will address social inequalities and deliver on a promise of social justice. The Tamil National Alliance, the main Opposition Party in Parliament is an active participant in these processes. We have thus come a long way since the end of the conflict, and representatives of all communities are active stakeholders in shaping Sri Lanka’s future”.

The key however, he noted, was to have all take ‘individual ownership’ in preventing conflict,

“Parents, teachers, the media, religious leaders, business leaders, trade unionists, community leaders, politicians, and each and every individual human being have a role to play in ensuring the prevention of conflict at a micro and macro level. It is not something a Government alone can do at national level, through ‘top-down’ approaches, regulations, orders, strictures and censorship”.

To seek ways to ensure that each human being is driven by his or her conscience to care for others, to be concerned about others, to respect others and treat each and every one with dignity, and share a vision of a better class room, a better school, a better community, a better work place, a nation, and a better world where every human being is considered equal; and his or her individual rights are respected, valued and upheld; where development is sustainable and inclusive; and the rule of law is impartial, he said.

“We in Sri Lanka are still looking for answers observed the Speaker as he spoke of the importance of international organisations and other stakeholders look for ideas, and methods and tools that schools, communities, States, media organisations, as well as individual citizens can use to identify and respond to warning signs as a way to pre-empt the eruption of violence. “Learning from each other, and sharing best practices can be important in this regard”.

Ending on a positive note in Sri Lanka’s journey towards preventing conflict he highlighted the example of the JVP, a political party which was the protagonist in the 1971 and 1987 uprisings was now acting as “custodians of democratic values and institutions and watchdogs against corruption”.

“I believe the JVP stands as resounding proof of the transformative power of individuals and organisations when an opportunity is granted for this kind of change and reform”, the Speaker said. 

the need for regulating election financing

2018-06-05

Perpetual Treasuries (PT) allegedly pulled off probably the largest ever financial scam in the country. But, now it is becoming increasingly clear, that the disgraced bond trader did not just scam billions of rupees out of public coffers, but it had also engaged in a well calibrated effort of state capture.   

 Various sources have alleged the existence of a list containing 118 names of politicians who had received funds from the PT and its subsidiary W. M. Mendis Company through which political contributions have reportedly been distributed. Allegations came to light after Dayasiri Jayasekara MP admitted that he received Rs. one million from Perpetual Treasuries owner Arjun Aloysius. Jayasekara MP did not want to go down alone, and he insisted that there was a list of 118 Parliamentarians mentioned in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) Report as having received money from the PT.  

The PCoI report is now the national archive and can be released to the public only after 30 years. A list of names of politicians who had received telephone calls from Mr. Aloysius was redacted from the PCoI report that was submitted to Parliament. It was that report which was later made public.   

The decision to censure the original PCoI report is problematic, but there is also a fundamental difference between talking to somebody over the phone and receiving gratuities, unless of course, one is to believe that each of those phone calls was followed up by a fat cheque.   

In all likelihood, there is no such list as those who received funds. What is there is a list of Parliamentarians to whom Mr. Aloysius has given phone calls. Now the President has sought the advice of the Attorney General to release that list. Yesterday, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed the House that he would release the names of the politicians in the said list.   

But, that is not what the public want to know now. Wild rumours are always more thrilling than facts. In the post-truth world we are living, rumours themselves become facts. Now, fewer people would be content with knowing the names of MPs who received phone calls, they want to know the names in the purported list of swindlers. That list may not exit not because no one took money, but because that was not the mandate of the PCoI. The government would have to institute a fresh CID inquiry to identify the full extent of complicity between certain parliamentarians and the Perpetual Treasuries. In the absence of a full investigation, pubic trust in politicians and political institutions would further erode.  

Wild rumours are always more thrilling than facts. In the post-truth world we are living, rumours themselves become facts. Now, fewer people would be content with knowing the names of MPs who received phone calls, they want to know the names in the purported list of swindlers

Some politicians have already admitted to having received money. Field Marshal Fonseka said he was given Rs 100,000. But, there is a major difference between a politician receiving Rs 100,000 as election financing and the former Finance Minister getting the rent of his penthouse apartment paid by the PT owner. Some others who have received bigger pay offs would not come out unless they are exposed by an investigation.  

However, those who cry foul about this nexus between politicians and election financing by fat cats, often disregard the underlining causes that led the politicians to rely on election financiers. Electioneering in Sri Lanka is an extremely expensive affair which neither the political parties, nor individual politicians can afford. The existing Proportional Representation system which compels the politicians to spread thin their resources across a large demographic area also favours the politicians with deep pockets. That also leads the politicians to rely on financing by various unscrupulous elements. Since such financial contributions are given in the understanding of future benefits, once elected politicians are compelled to extend various political favours, which effectively lead to tempering with tender procedures, filling state institutions with political acolytes and outrageous tax reliefs.  

The proposed election reforms of a mixed electoral system, which would reduce the size of the electorate, would create a better level playing field for politicians with fewer resources.   

However, another problem in Sri Lanka’s election financing would see that the impact of proposed reforms is limited. Election financing in this country is murky and unregulated. No one knows how much is received as campaign contribution and how that money is spent. Sri Lanka needs to institute an election finance law that would bring transparency to the whole process. Each political party and individual politician should be made obligated to publish all contributions they have received from outside parties, and their sources.   

Election financing is a fact of political life anywhere in the world where there are competitive elections. But, most countries do have laws that govern the process. We don’t. That absence has a heavy toll on the public trust in our political system. While politicians may not care much about the on-going de-legitimization of the political establishment at the moment, at one point, things would blow off the lid. Then it would be too late. The public interest in Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential bid itself is a case in point of growing wariness among the people towards traditional politicians whom they consider as corrupt, incompetent and opportunistic.   

The government should try to regain the losing public trust in the political establishment. One area that needs to be addressed is the transparency in election financing.   

Follow @RangaJayasuriya  

Sri Lanka: White Paper should precede legislation on Electoral Reforms

The Local Government system reached its lowest ebb in the last decade with members of Local bodies becoming a law unto themselves and running riot and engaging in all forms of corruption and other illegal activities.

by Javid Yusuf-Jun 4, 2018

Jun 4, 2018

( June 4, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Local Government Elections held in February 2018 is by no means a happy experience for the country. After a delay of three years and amended legislation to replace the Proportionate Representation system of Elections with a mixed system, their does not seem to be a qualitative change in the personnel who have been returned to the Local bodies.

Besides the Election Commission headed by Mahinda Deshapriya and having in its ranks officials from the previous Election Department who have the experience of conducting numerous elections without any problem struggled to make head or tail of the clumsy legislation that was the result of a shoddy and hasty process spearheaded by the Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Musthapha.

While the respective political parties crunched the figures to show that they had made progress in winning over or retaining the goodwill of the voters, a closer look at what was achieved in terms of the first step at Election Reforms leads us to the conclusion that this disastrous effort should not be repeated at future Elections.

The Provincial Council Elections, the next item on the Election Agenda is already behind schedule. Following the example of the Local Government Amendment Law of 2017, the Provincial Council Election Law too has been (hastily) amended. The Delimitation Committee appointed in accordance with the provisions of the Provincial Councils Elections (Amendment) Act No 17 of 2017 has produced a Report but there are rumblings of discontent with regard to the manner in which the Committee has carved out the Electorates.

The Act provides for the Delimitation Committee Report to be tabled in Parliament within 2 weeks of its receipt by the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils and its adoption by a two third majority within a month thereafter. If Parliament does not approve the Report within the time stipulated the Speaker shall appoint a Review Committee headed by the Prime Minister for consideration of the Report. The Review Committee is required to submit its report to the President within two months of it being referred for its consideration by the Minister.
Upon receipt of the Report the President is required to forthwith publish it in the Gazette.

Although the report of the Delimitation Committee has been submitted to Parliament none of the other steps seem to have been taken. The Minister of Provincial Councils has often articulated the position that once a bill has been presented to Parliament his task is over. In the case of the Delimitation Report too the Minister seems to be acting under such a delusion.

The more correct position is that the Minister is responsible not only for the contents of the Bill but has also to see a Bill through all its stages in Parliament and thereafter also be responsible for the implementation and administration of the Law.

Faced with the delay in following through with the implementation of the Provincial Councils Elections Amendment Law it is best to conduct the Provincial Councils Elections under the previous Proportionate Representation system as an interim measure in order to prevent further delay in the holding of the Elections. This can be achieved through a simple amendment approved by Parliament bringing the previous Law into operation for the limited purpose of holding the Provincial Council Elections.

Simultaneously it would be in the National Interest to make a studied and comprehensive overhaul of the Election Laws governing all Elections so that the mistakes of the past as well as the present (Local Government Elections of February 2018 ) be prevented and remedied.

Towards this objective the Government could issue a White Paper setting out the intended Reforms for the different Elections and calling for the views of the political parties and the public. A definite timeline should be laid down possibly three months to translate the views of the different stakeholders into draft legislation.

The White Paper while setting out the reforms that are common to the three tiers of government should also provide for variations in the Law in order to cater to the needs of the different layers of Government. For example in drafting the new legislation effort should be made to incorporate the general principle that an election result should reflect the different shades of opinion and different interests prevalent in society. However the nature of the legislation governing elections to the different tiers of Government should be somewhat varied to also reflect the specific objectives that govern the different layers of Government.

In preparing such a White Paper Government should consult and obtain the views of the Election Commission which could provide valuable insights through its long institutional memory as well as the difficulties it faced in making sense of the new Local Government Election Laws.
While Parliament and to a lesser extent Provincial Councils are required to debate policy and enact legislation that reflect such policy, at the Local Government the delivery of services is the main focus of Local bodies. Thus the emphasis at the two upper tiers of Government can be on political parties and their policies while at the Local Government the focus can be more on the election of capable individuals rather than their party affiliations as policy considerations do not play a big role at that level.

This aspect of the variation in the needs of the different strands of Government was totally missing in the recently concluded Local Government Elections. Although the Local Government Election Reform was intended to strengthen the ward system and improve the quality of those elected this has only had limited success. In many cases people still do not know who their representatives are and there are reports of various individuals with questionable records of public conduct being returned to office.

Another feature of the Local Government Election Law as amended in 2017 that has to be reconsidered is whether there is a need to have multi member wards at this level. It would be better to have single member wards as that would encourage people at the grass root level to work together and build trust among the different communities and to choose the best candidate irrespective of which community he belonged to. This will greatly enhance and feed into the National Reconciliation process.

Besides the experience of the February 2018 Elections showed that the very purpose for which multi member wards were carved out, namely, to ensure that where large concentrations of particular communities other than the main community lived in that area, such communities would also get representation.

This objective was defeated both by the provisions of the Law itself and the conduct of the political parties themselves. The Law did not prescribe that the individual candidates who polled the highest number of votes (first and second in a double member ward ) should be elected. Instead it postulated that both candidates of the political party which won the ward would be declared elected. Often the two candidates were from the same community.

On the other hand there were instances of political parties nominating candidates from the same community for a multi member ward which again defeats the objective of a multi member ward.

Another glaring omission in the Local Government Law is the absence of provisions to enable local leaders and influentials to enter the fray in their individual capacity. The provision in the law that one has to be on a list of a political party or independent group discourages talented individuals coming forward to take over responsibilities and thus their services are lost to the country.

The Local Government system is the third tier of Government and is the administrative level that is closest to the people. The proposed Constitutional Reforms have suggested an enhanced role for Local bodies with more administrative powers being conferred to them. This is to bring Government closer to the people and to make devolution of power more meaningful.

With the new system in large measure reverting to the old ward system which characterized Local Government in the past, it would have been prudent to include provisions that enabled public spirited individuals to come forward to serve the people as had happened previously.

Such individuals may not wish to be aligned with political parties but are known to the local community as persons with integrity and a commitment to serve society and easily identifiable at the local level. An infusion of such public spirited individuals into Local Government would greatly help in infusing new blood into the system and rehabilitating Local Government which had deteriorated rapidly in recent times.

The Local Government system reached its lowest ebb in the last decade with members of Local bodies becoming a law unto themselves and running riot and engaging in all forms of corruption and other illegal activities.

Unfortunately the new system precludes and discourages well meaning public spirited individuals from playing their role in society. If any individual wishes to contest an election he can do so only if he does so through a political party or an independent list of candidates.

If he chooses to contest as an independent the number of candidates he has to gather for inclusion in such a list will vary according to the Local body in which he hopes to contest. For example for the Colombo Municipal Council he will have to gather a total of 113 candidates to be on his list out of which 34 have to be women. The deposit that he will have to pay is 565,000/-. For the Bulathsinhala Praddeshiya Sabha he will have to find 28 candidates including 8 women and pay a deposit of 140,000/-. For Walikamam North Pradeshiya Sabha he will have to find 38 candidates including 11 women and pay a deposit of 190,000/-. For the Muttur Pradeshiya Sabha he will have to find 24 candidates including 7 women and pay a deposit of 120,000/-. Any aspiring independent candidate wishing to contest any other local body in the country will have similar challenges before embarking on a mission to serve his community.

The need to make such an effort even before starting his campaign will completely dim the enthusiasm of any civic minded individual and make him give up his idea of serving his fellow community by seeking election to a Local Government body. In contrast if an individual is permitted to contest by himself all that he has to do is to pay a deposit of 5,000/- and walk round his ward and canvass around 1000 households to support him at the Election. The voter will judge him on his personal attributes of integrity and capability rather than his religious, ethnic or political identity. This will greatly enrich the quality of Local Government.

In hindsight some of the provisions of the 2012 Amendment Act may be better than those of the 2017 Act. The 2012 Act provided that in determining the number of candidates from a political party to be returned from the additional list (that is other than from the wards ) the votes of the candidates from that political party who had won their wards would be excluded and only the votes of the candidates from that political party who were defeated would be taken into consideration. In contrast the 2017 Amendment provided for taking into consideration all the votes of the winning candidates of the political party concerned in determining the number of candidates returned from the Additional list .

This amounted to giving a double value for the votes of those who supported the winning candidates in the winning wards and seems unfair.

Another unsatisfactory feature of the 2017 Law is that it allowed some candidates who were defeated in their respective wards to be nominated and appointed from the Additional list . To add insult to injury there are reports that some of those defeated candidates who were nominated from the Additional List ended up as Chairmen or Deputy Chairmen of Local bodies.

The criticisms of the 2012 Act and the process that followed were more in relation to the delimitation of the wards than the Act itself. While the review of the 2012 Delimitation Report which took three years was going on the Ministry of Local Government and Provincial Councils had ample time to initiate and take steps to amend any shortcomings in the 2012 Law. Instead it was only after the 2012 Delimitation Review process was completed that the Ministry woke up from its slumber and passed amending legislature in haste thus contributing to a rather chaotic scenario after the February 2018 Local Government Elections.

Yet another matter to be carefully considered is the proportion of the First Past the Post (FPP)system and the PR system. In the 2012 Amending Law 30 percent of the number elected on the FPP system was the number to be elected through the Additional List on the PR system. The 2018 Local Government Election Amendment Law changed it to a 60 Percent (FPP) and 40 Percent(PR) proportion. But for the Provincial Elections Amendment Law for some unexplained reason the proportion was changed to 50:50. The rationale for these changes are not at all clear and it is important that it is looked into more carefully to choose what system serves the country best.

It is to avoid a repetition of the shoddy way that the Local Government Elections Law and the Provincial Councils Elections Law was passed in 2017 that it is suggested in the National Interest that a White Paper is prepared for discussion on Electoral Reform. A considered approach to Electoral Reform can greatly contribute towards changing the political culture and enhance the quality of Governance as a whole.