Sri Lankan arrested with foreign currency worth over Rs 47 million

By Yusuf Ariff-June 5, 2018

A Sri Lankan national enroute to Singapore has been arrested with various foreign currency notes worth over Rs 47.3 million at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake.

The 28-year-old male passenger, a resident from Negombo, was arrested by Sri Lanka Customs officers with foreign currency including US dollars, Euros, Japanese Yen, Norwegian Krones, Saudi Riyals, Omani rial, Swiss francs, Danish Krones and Hong Kong dollars.

He was preparing to board a flight to Singapore at 3.05pm today (5) when he was apprehended at the Departure Lounge of the airport based on information from Aviation Security staff, the customs spokesman said.

He had attempted to smuggle out the large amount of foreign currency notes which had been concealed in false bottoms of three traveling bags and inside folios of a stationary file.

The total amount of foreign currency is equal to Sri Lankan rupees 47,389,404.63.
Further investigations are being carried out by Sri Lanka Customs.

Iranian held with currency

Meanwhile in a separate detection, customs officers at the departure area of BIA have also detained a 50-year-old Iranian passenger attempting to smuggle Rs 350,000, US$ 8,000 and Malaysian ringgit 2,000  out of the country.

He was preparing to leave for Dubai at 6.40pm today with the undeclared currency, the spokesman said. 

Omphalos Syndrome

You are my creator,
But I am your master...
Mary Shelley (1818)

Sanjana Hattotuwa-June 2, 2018, 8:01 pm 

Given the trend of tirades, it is not unreasonable to expect that President Sirisena will wake up one of these days and disclaim everything he did and said in 2015. The change maker is clearly out, though the charlatan arguably never left. The hope around and pegged to him is long gone. There is, short of a miracle, nothing progressive that he was the face of, and championed, when first seeking office that will now come to pass. This includes, above all else, a new constitution. There is an increasing manic tinge, of someone increasingly unhinged, that colours his pronouncements. A video last week of him disavowing any knowledge around actions he clearly and very publicly took credit just after coming to office went viral, which in this case, would have added to his insecurities about social media.

From the titan who took on a terrible regime, he is now greatly reduced - a moral, political, ethical and personal deflation that is almost entirely self-inflicted. President Sirisena is now a caricature of himself, a necessary evil to engage with but entirely peripheral as a person. There is no pleasure in seeing this. What a monumental fall from the person we emphatically cheered on, hoarse, tired and in a general state of sheer disbelief, a little over three years ago.

In his defence, the lofty garb of idealism that once adorned him wasn’t bespoke. The political project to have him run for Presidency was strictly utilitarian based on a simple equation around who could win against Mahinda Rajapaksa at a time when he was, constitutionally, set to rule for life. The selection of Sirisena wasn’t based on anything remotely presidential in him. He wasn’t an idiot, but he was useful. An intended outcome was needed, and he was the best vessel. Sirisena as a presidential mendicant had what Fonseka as presidential aspirant, in 2010, did not - the element of surprise and public appeal, not arising from any great service or intellect, but as a consequence of a lifetime of political mediocrity singularly defined by loyalty to the SLFP. All bets in, the gamble paid off, perhaps surprising those now in power more than those who were ousted.

But now the puppet has found it can walk and talk, and occasionally, think. With new life, unsurprisingly, comes anxiety and fear, of losing what is enjoyed, a future without the guarantee of adulation and adoration, the satisfaction of granting an audience, and being, de facto, the key protagonist of any script on the political stage. Hence the risible ricocheting of late, from one mad outburst to another, striving to appeal to constituencies who harbour no regard or love for him, posturing as saviour to things he was never asked to protect much less promote, and parading as a moraliser in chief. The chutzpah of yahapalanaya’s chief custodian to deform, decry, and destroy the ideals he was entrusted with is only matched by a catastrophic selfishness, which is now self-evident. All this is compounded by the odious curse of the office he holds and its power to attract charlatans as advisors and gatekeepers, poisoning the incumbent with only what he wants to hear, instead of what he needs or has to.

What have we lost? A ripe moment for change, and for the better. What the government asks us to celebrate - RTI, the OMP, an active, strong Human Rights Commission, significant price reductions in the cost of essential medicines - are policies they have actively pursued, fought for, and implemented. These are not insignificant. Though it may be on account of an imprecise translation of the Sinhala original, English news media reported last week that the President had "restored the rule of law, strengthened democratic institutions and created a free judiciary and media in the last three years". This formulation, placing himself and his munificence centre and forward, is revealing. It is possible to clampdown and censor an independent media. It is possible to eviscerate an independent judiciary. It is possible to undermine democratic institutions. It is possible to blatantly disregard and violently deny the Rule of Law.

Gotabaya Rajapakse, with the impunity afforded as a consequence of an elder brother as President, did all this and more. But the basis of democratic governance is that all these elements are present and vested in the people, independent of incumbents in power. They are constitutionally enshrined, and are thus inviolable protections or affordances citizens enjoy. It is not for the President to bestow them to us. And for a President who claims to have restored a free media, it is mind-boggling how in the same speech the President talks of control, containment and essentially, censorship - entirely in line with steps taken by the President’s Office to block websites earlier this year. Tellingly, Sirisena’s tacit justification of this is by asserting he has no problem with websites that do "the correct thing" and "provide good entertainment to the people". These are subjective measures, selfishly exercised.

Question is, ‘now what?’ President Sirisena is an experiment which has outgrown its laboratory, with unintended consequences now overwhelming and undermining promising, even miraculous, early results. The mutation is fast growing, and latching on to what slouches towards centres of power, with designs of reclamation. Far worse, electorally speaking an over the longer term, is the vastly diminished enthusiasm around what was first produced, promoted and promised by the man and his mission. Millions who voted for a culture of politics that was in substance and process different to what was voted out, are entreated to more of the same. It is unclear whether the full violence of this is recognised by those in power.

President Sirisena has lost control of the necessary narrative that binds government to its people, which he seeks to hide through greater volume. The shriller and more frequent the assertions of self-importance, the greater the assurance the man and the project he was entrusted with, has failed. Yahapalanaya’s glow today is not one of or generated by the relief, joy and hope of 2015, but the embers of that dream, crashed and burnt. Newsreel footage of the Hindenburg, crashing to the ground in 1937, come to mind and is not an inappropriate metaphor.

We wanted a saviour. We gave life to a Frankenstein.

MS and the 100-day-programme

 

2018-06-06

Who would have thought President Maithripala Sirisena was not in agreement with the 100-day-programme marketed by those who toiled to see him as the President following the 2015 election? This has been the case, according to the President himself, who broke the news last week. 
President Sirisena dumbfounded the entire country, perhaps including his family members, at a function held last Wednesday at the Sri Lanka Foundation to commemorate the 76th birth anniversary of the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, when he questioned as to who compiled the 100-day-programme. He said with only 47 UNP MPs in Parliament, a programme was prepared in calendar form to be implemented within 100 days. He said the right thing that should have happened was to have dissolved Parliament the very next day he was sworn in.

He baffled the entire country by implying he was oblivious to the 100-day-programme. It is a well-known fact that the Presidential election campaign was purely planned and put in practice by the United National Party (UNP) leadership and therefore, there may be some truth in what the President says. The UNP might have strategized the course of action without the knowledge and consent of their common candidate, but in belief there was no reason for him to oppose it. And also the UNP, during its two tenures under Presidents of other parties, had been exercising the habit of bulldozing through the latter’s wishes and it might have ignored the President as he implies.

Yet, why did he wait for so long (three and a half years) to speak this “truth” to his countrymen? It is unlikely that people would believe what he said as the programme seemed to have had his blessings and the support of the SLFP group that paralyzed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership along with him, throughout the 100 days when some of the 100 points of it were implemented. The President rightly boasted on Wednesday that it was he who gave necessary Parliamentary support as head of the SLFP to give effect to the main components of the 100-day-programme such as the mini-Budget with so many concessions to the people in the first month of his administration and the 19th Amendment which was passed in Parliament in April 2015. Did he mean support was given to implement a programme which he did not agree with?

The common Presidential candidate of the opposition, Maithripala Sirisena had announced on the first day of his candidature that he would appoint UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister immediately after his election; he readily kept that promise. If he had not expected some programme – 100-day or else -- to be implemented in days to come, why did he appoint a Prime Minister and board of ministers without dissolving the Parliament straightaway?

One has to accept the important point he articulated about the role of the SLFP under his leadership in bringing in democratic reforms after the so-called Yahapalana Government came to power. There were 142 MPs who had accepted the leadership of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa then, and without their support no reforms could have been brought in by the UNP which had only 47 MPs. The President used his SLFP chairmanship to make his party members support those reforms. The fact that he is not only the SLFP Chairman but also the Executive President of the country might have worked towards this end.

However, his outburst points out that bickering between the UNP and the President’s group in the government is worsening. And neither party seems to be giving in which has already adversely affected the country. They have to put up with each other for the next 18 months as the law does not allow people to replace the incumbent government with another. Hence, circumstances demand leaders from both ruling parties to act responsibly. 

Rejected leaders ‘adorn’ SLFP : Duminda shunned and shunted; One million bribe taker Dayasiri is Vice president…

(Lanka e News – 05.June.2018, 7.45PM) It is a well known fact the SLFP party from which Pallewatte Gamarala resigned in 2015-01-08 to defeat it,   again became its leader  , and he slowly but surely  succeeded in   drastically reducing  its  popularity base from 47.5 % to a mere 4 % within just 3  years .Now the same party appointed a bizarre   new council supposedly temporary comprised of new  officers .Though the aim of this is  to boost the 4 % to 51% within a year, obviously that is like aiming to  reach the moon by  a bullock cart

Gamarala who is an epitome of ingratitude , well known for biting the hand which feeds and even eating it has chased away party gen. secretaryDuminda Dissanayake who sacrificed  his entire life for the party all along. In his place Rohana Lakshman  Piyadasa a worthless useless  creator of survey reports has been appointed. Rohana a University lecturer  is the  notorious duffer cum bluffer who along with Mahinda told all the lies to defeat Gamarala . This scoundrel is such a strong pro Mahinda supporter that even after assuming the new  duties ,when addressing a media briefing he mentioned the name of Mahinda Rajapakse as president  instead of Gamarala .

S.B Dissanayake who  mounted the stage of   Mahinda on May 1st has ben made the SLFP treasurer. Chamara Sampath the uncouth brute who made a school principal (lady) to kneel down before him has been appointed as assist. Secretary , thereby demonstrating what is ‘good governance’ according to Gamarala’s Thesaurus .

The worst part ? Displaying his own true colors  Gamarala made another disgusting  (dis)appointment by making Dayasiri Jayasekera the Vice president .Gamarala who at the Sobitha Thera commemoration asked ‘ did Sobitha Thera tell to break the Central bank?’, and made insinuations  , appointed the ‘One million paga man’(One million bribe taker)  Dayasiri Jayasekera who is by now well known for taking a  bribe of Rs. 1 million from Arjun Aloysius  the corruption prince  , and therefore in panic  now like a cat on hot bricks .

It is a matter for regret , the ‘4 % popularity base SLFP’ of Gamarala did not at least have the decency to avoid giving appointments to those who are facing criminal charges  before the civilized society.

It can be inferred from this , Pallewatte Gamaralas have no vision , mission or  program   for the SLFP, or a group  to carry on without the  Rajapakses . Hence the next political avenue open to them is stop the good governance  empty  rhetoric, throw that into dustbin and with the 4 % popularity halt at the corrupt and murderous Rajapakses’ terminus. 

When the SLFP Samastha Lanka working committee and executive committee met on the  3rd  chaired by Gamarala at  Apegama, Battaramulla the following were temporarily appointed to the so called new officers council

The former president and former prime ministers , Chandrika, Mahinda and Dimu were re appointed as advisors. However Chandrika was in London while Mahinda was with his  unique blossoming -wilting  flower bud .

President- Pallewatte Gamarala

Gen. Secretary – Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa 

National organizer – Duminda Dissanayake

Treasurer – S. B Dissanayake

Senior Vice Presidents – Nimal Siripala De Silva , W.D.J. Seneviratne, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Susil Prema Jayantha

Vice Presidents – A.H.M. Fowzie, Dr. Sarath Amunugama , Mahinda Amaraweera, Dayasiri Jayasekera,  Reginald Cooray, Piyasena Gamage, Vijith Vijayamuni De Soyza, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Dilan Perera, Shan Wijayalal De Silva, and Angajan Ramanathan

Assist. Secretaries

Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, Sarath Ekanayake, Dharmasiri Dasanayake, Isuru Devapriya, Chamara Sampath Dassanayake , Lasantha Alagiyawanna, Sudarshani Fernandopulle, Sumedha G. Jayasena.

Though it is said, that all the present MPs of the party have been appointed to the Central working Committee , since they are divided into two groups in Parliament , it is not known which group was appointed to the Central working Committee.

---------------------------
by     (2018-06-05 14:22:12)

Post-War Sri Lanka & The Arms Trade Treaty 

By Vidya Abhayagunawardena –JUNE 6, 2018

Vidya Abhayagunawardena

Any legitimate government’s utmost responsibility will be to protect its own people from enemies, protect its territorial land, maintain law and order, improve its socioeconomic status, protect and safeguard its natural environment, historical and other nationally valued interests, and which is supportive of world peace. To have all these, no doubt, those governments need to have armies and police equipped with certain weapons. Such weapons need to produced or acquired from other countries in a transparent and responsible manner. Transparent and responsible arms trade will heal many wounds of nations without doubt. 

But the question is how many governments are legitimately engaged in a transparent and responsible arms trade?  In today’s context arms trade is the biggest business on the planet which involves mainly governments, politicians, the corporate sector, arms brokers, terrorists, armed groups and influential individuals.  According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in 2015 financial value of the global arms trade was at US $ 93.3billion. 

Governments’ failure to meet basic needs of people 

Today, most of the developing nations are facing severe economic, social, environmental or political crises which negates their socioeconomic development and safeguards the natural environment. Directly or indirectly this links to the ongoing armed conflicts or preparation for armed conflicts if they arise in the future. This led to governments not being able to meet the basic needs of people (human security-health, education etc) and tend to spend more and more resources on acquiring or producing arms and ammunitions. This tendency will not only be able to finding peaceful solutions for their issues but also profiting the arms producers and arms brokers.  

Terrorists and armed groups acquire conventional weapons 

Terrorists groups and armed groups around the world engage with various businesses such as fighting against the states, fighting among armed groups, anti-poaching activities which thrive on the illegal wildlife trade, human smuggling, drug dealings and business of killing humans etc. The illicit weapons trade which thrive in  the present day global arms trade. Sometimes governments may engage with illicit arms trade which the arms directly or indirectly falls into the hands of terrorist or armed groups. 

Importance of regulated arms industry for local development 

Unregulated and irresponsible conventional arms trade intensify and prolong conflicts, lead to increase sporadic levels of  human rights abuses, hinder socio-economic  development, regional instability and loss of natural resources, this includes increase in the illegal wildlife trade. 

Developing nations like Sri Lanka suffered heavily due to the 30 year long war between the Government security forces and LTTE until 2009. The LTTE had acquired weapons from various sources around the world to fight against the Government security forces. The LTTE had submarines which the Sri Lankan Navy was not equipped with. They had ships to transport weapons from around the world. Still no records are available about how much the LTTE spent on acquiring weapons. No doubt that it was a multi-billion dollar business. The Government of Sri Lanka has also acquired certain conventional weapons, which were not done in a transparent manner according to the media reports during the war. 

The 30 year war brought Sri Lanka to a standstill at various points. Sri Lanka is a one of countries in the world which suffered heavily due to the unregulated arms industry. The 30 year war in Sri Lanka tells the world of the importance of having a regulated arms industry. This will no doubt help developing nations to meet peoples’ expectations and the governments to be supportive of them.  

Illicit arms issue in Sri Lanka 

Due to illicit arms (small arms and light weapons) every year many civilians get killed in Sri Lanka. Most of small arms and light weapons used in Sri Lanka in automatic forms and bullets which are imported from other countries and none of them are produced in Sri Lanka. Still there is no record available about how many illicit arms are in the hands of armed underworld groups and individuals in Sri Lanka.  This directly hinders the socioeconomic development, political stability of the country and the security of the people. 

Some years prior to the ATT came into force in 2014 Sri Lanka had some impressive actions against proliferation of illicit arms. During the height of the war in 2005, the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaranatunga has set up the National Commission Against Proliferation of Illicit Arms in All Its Aspect (NCAPISA). Not only in Sri Lanka was that the first commission but also in the world to set up in that nature.  The NCAPISA led many activities against illicit small arms and light weapons proliferation in Sri Lanka and has shown the world Sri Lanka’s commitment on the matter.  

In 2006 several important steps were taken in this regard. In 2006 July, Sri Lanka destroyed over 35,000 small arms to mark the “International Gun Destruction Day” at the Independence Square. The same year Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN New York Prasad Kariyawasam presided over the UN Conference to Review Progress in the Implementation of the Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All its Aspects which was held in New York. At the same conference on 26 June 2006 Sri Lanka’s then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa made a statement on Sri Lanka’s progress with regard to NCAPISA and country commitments on the subject.

 In 2008 March, the NCAPISA published a survey report with a foreword by then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse. On the 8th May 2008 a report was submitted to the UN Conference mentioned above.  In 2009, the war ended with the LTTE and during that time NCAPISA became defunct and post-war Sri Lanka started again to experience the proliferation of illicit weapons.  

Read More

Reflections on Educational Reform – Some unconventional thoughts

BY R. Chandrasoma-June 5, 2018, 9:42 pm 

There is much anxious pre-occupation across the globe over the education of the young and the problems entailed are particularly intractable in the poorer parts of the world. Knowing the pivotal importance of good education for the advancement of peoples and nations, vast sums have been spent and budgetary resources strained to provide good schools for those in their formative years. Sri Lanka is no exception – indeed that valiant effort of this poor country to provide egalitarian access to primary and secondary education has won plaudits from reformers everywhere.

What, then, is the harrowing problem that blights this great enterprise? As I see it—based on over three decades of teaching in schools of diverse kinds in this fair Island - the malaise that acts as the great retardative force in the school system of this country can be described in just one word— inefficiency. The emphasis so far in our country has been on programmatic reform (curricular changes, for example) in the vulgar belief that it is what is taught that is important – not how it is taught. Let it be made clear that inspiring instruction in any subject has very high educational value while the most a la mode is worthless if badly taught.

Suppose we compare the school system of this country with a great factory turning out a specialised product that is in high demand but which needs great finesse and skill to produce. Such a factory will prize efficiency as among its most precious assets. If the machinists are clumsy, if the material inputs are coarse and the managers lack insight into the true problems encountered on the factory floor, the production will be below par and the customers will complain.

Machinists

This model is a close analogue of what we see happening to education in this country. Take the teachers – ‘machinists’ in the ‘school ‘factory’. If they are recruited from the desperately unemployed, see themselves as failures in the great rat-race of social success, are paid miserable salaries and have to bear the taunts and torments of an aggressive student population that delights in ‘mocking the pedagogue’ then great efficiency in the classroom cannot be expected. (Here I exclude elite schools for the rich – albeit the elite schools I taught in were no exception to the general rule outlined above.) What is the upshot of this ‘failure’ on the part of the pedagogic machinists? Not a total breakdown, of course, but what can be done in a few hours of dedicated teaching takes days and weeks and is ill-assimilated if learnt at all by the majority in the class. Far from being inspiring, pedagogy is often reduced to a ‘mission impossible’ involving a sterile contest between fractious pupils and dispirited teachers.

Even more damaging is the disaffection of the ‘differently gifted’ children who quail before the challenge of mastering something new and challenging in a learning environment that favours the adoption of pre-fixed models and stereotypes in the categorization of pupils. (‘The good, the bad and the ugly’) 

A great failure, then, is the brushing aside of idiosyncratic talent and enterprise - where marching in step is seen to be more important than the awakening of genius. Needless to say, the ideal of individualized instruction is staggeringly difficult to achieve given the poverty and overcrowding of most schools in our country. The sheer fatigue of sitting for hours on hard benches adds to the woes of the pupils. Classrooms and schools in Sri Lanka are ecologically unfriendly. Dour, noisy and cheerless classrooms, ill-disciplined hordes that meander through the school attending to ‘extra-curricular’ festivities in defiance of basic routines laid out in time-tables, boisterous classrooms without teachers, class rooms with teachers unable to bring a semblance of order within, and to cap everything, school heads – inured to this noise and confusion - who find all this a kind of ‘machine noise’ of a great factory in full production that they must perforce bear with.

Exemplary Teacher

Let us inject at this point a few words about the school head. Plain reason suggests that he must be an exemplary teacher and scholar if he is to win the respect of both teachers and pupils. In the schools I had the good fortune (?) to be a member of the teaching team, the school head was generally pushy, talkative and politically smart but displayed an astonishing antipathy to books and learning. Needless to say, not one of them was an inspiring teacher.

Is it not most strange that Head Teacher is like a Hospital Superintendent who oversees but is an outsider in the principal business of the enterprise he (or she) leads? The post of School Head should go to the senior and most accomplished of the teaching fraternity. Does this ever happen? It is not denied that most principals are former teachers but their elevation to this high office depends on considerations that are remote from the business of teaching.  If the Principal is scholarly and saintly – admittedly this is, in a sense, reaching for the stars – the pupils will be moved by example rather than surfeited by hollow moral discourse. Let us turn to pupils – the most important ingredient in the mix.  The first (painful) admission must be that pupils differ widely in innate ability (imprecisely measured by something called IQ) and the education offered must match the ‘cerebral capacity’ endowed by nature at birth. 

Tabula Rasa

It is widely believed that the growing child’s mind is a tabula rasa on which education of any and every kind can be successfully imprinted. This is a deception and fallacy that has done incalculable harm to education not only in this country but globally. The uncomfortable truth is that pedagogic recipients – pupils – enter school with both endowments and limitations that critically shape their educational potential. This is well known to practicing teachers but is religiously ignored by the politico-managerial establishment that dictates policy. It is comforting and nobly egalitarian to say that ‘all are equal’ but is destructive when applied to the education of children in their natural state. 

Assuming a Gaussian (Bell-shaped) distribution of innate IQ, about 50% of all pupils admitted to mainstream schools lack the intellectual wherewithal for the pursuit of ‘higher’ studies. It is a horrendous waste of educational resources to use the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level exams as a sieve to reject these misfits. The word ‘misfit’ is not used pejoratively – it is used to cover the uncontested fact that most pupils will not benefit from abstract studies in Pali, Algebra, Ancient History or the Chemistry of Organic Substances. After nine years of general schooling, this ‘mediocre mainstream’ must be shunted into trade-schools and prepared for life as honest toilers in the social milieu to which they belong.

Filtering

The ‘O’ levels should see a further ‘filtering’ of the moving stream of pupils. Let it be said very plainly that the ‘ordinary level’ of the School Certificate marks a basic level of education that is more than enough for the pursuit of professions of any and every kind – be it in politics, law, the engineering trades, business management, etc. This is not to say that education comes to a full stop with the acquisition of the ‘O’ level Certificate - it points out the sufficiency of this foundation on which self-effort and strong will erects a great superstructure of practical expertise. Let us turn to the ‘A’ levels. The bedeviling feature of higher education in Sri Lanka is the entrenched belief that all school-goers must have the opportunity to have a ‘go’ at the A-level exams. An ‘elite’ is supposedly filtered off to proceed to higher studies and the ‘learned’ professions.

This is entirely wrong-headed. The selection is for those with a flair for academic work – this is not the same as the selection of the best. It is a tragedy that doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc., are chosen on the basis of cramming-skills at an examination held directly after the completion of school studies. Genius is rarely revealed by examinations of this kind. Yet the entire state apparatus of educational management is based on the supposition that by examining ‘scores’ obtained under the most artificial conditions, students can be ‘channeled’ into professions and life-styles best suited to them.

Judgment of human potential is extraordinarily difficult when the subject is a teen-ager. To hold an ‘artificial’ exam based on the rote-learning of facts and procedures that have no direct bearing on subsequent professional activities and to proclaim ‘winners’ who take all is absurd in the highest degree.

The ‘A’ levels should be a very limited ‘exam’ or ‘stream’ for those bent on academic work for its own sake. Thus those who show great promise in language ability or mathematics in school may be allowed to take special post-certificate exams for university admission. The latter – university admissions – must be removed from the direct purview of the monstrous ‘examination department’- that dinosaurian organisation that churns out marks and results that are an affront to sane education. Universities must rely on interviews, ‘O’ level results and school assessments in order to select their clientele. The chaos prevailing in Universities will be redeemed to some degree if this new procedure is adopted. No longer will a pupil secure admission to a university because he has a tally card issued by the examination authorities with a suitable ‘score’ marked on it. Needless to say, the attitudes of parents and the public at large must change. A child who fails to get good marks at school is regarded as a fool and a failure by his parents and there is no doubt that this score-based and judgmental approach to learning warps the psyche of the victim at a most vulnerable period in his life.

To most children, the business of learning is hateful because it is seen as a cruel imposition – there is no joy in learning. The blame for this sorry state of affairs must be placed entirely on a philosophy of learning under compulsion to attain externally prescribed standards with parents and teachers acting as inquisitors. There is a more joyous kind of learning where the child explores the world with his loved ones by his side. The ‘public school’ is the very antithesis of this happy state. The world is explored with tedium and tears with heartless task-masters ticking off the ‘goalposts’ passed. It is a ridiculous race which exploits the helplessness of pupils to establish hierarchies that are socially destructive. How can this sad state of affairs be remedied?  Let it be acknowledged right away that collecting about 40 pupils of roughly the same age but very mixed in dispositions and abilities, thrusting them in a noisy classroom and getting a ‘teacher’ or ‘lecturer’ to belt out the basics of some academic discipline is about the worst way in which the young can be challenged to learn. Having a few dozen of such classes under the same roof and calling it a ‘school’ is a tragic joke. It must be confessed that such ‘schools’ develop a character of their own that is highly prized by some past pupils, but this (supposed) excellence is not educational but something else. Very little is learnt in classrooms.  If – as argued - ‘public schools’ are a failure and must be done away with, what must be their replacement? An analogy in medical practice can be usefully exploited at this point.

Today, ‘hospital medicine’ is the dominant form of medical practice. This is characterized by the treatment en masse of patients of all descriptions cloistered in large wards and overseen by busy specialists. This is a huge departure from the old system in which a ‘family physician’ cared for patients on a one-to-one basis. That the latter is the ‘natural method’ and the dethroning of this ancient system by ‘hospital medicine’ is an unwelcome aberration will be conceded by all. Analogously, the bulk of education at elementary and secondary level should be the prerogative of tutors and guides who form part of the extended family. Early education should be at home and in the hands of those who are close to the learners and who are disinclined to be punitive or judgmental. In later years, the pupil must be allowed the privilege of being instructed by teachers  of their choice – indeed, it is the pupil who should judge the teacher and not the other way round. That there are the irremediably ignorant, the obstreperous and the unteachable among the learners is not denied. This failure must be recognized as part of the human condition and dealt with humanely by special means – not by stigmatization and exclusion. The follow-through of the basic concepts outlined above will result not merely in a revolution in the treatment of the young in their formative years but will subtly reshape society as a whole. Currently societies worldwide are aggressive, acquisitive and pathologically intolerant of what is perceived to be ‘alien’ or ‘abnormal’.

The natural drive is to ‘reform’ others on the basis of what is perceived to be the ‘right way’.  This intolerance is the direct result of the inquisitorial approach to education adapted by schools worldwide – the approach that deems it imperative to test and direct the growing mind in ways that brain-washed elders regard as the road to good citizenship. This approach involves a clear distinction between the good and the bad – the failures and the leaders. There, surely, is another way to bring up the young where the role of the elders in helping those in their formative years is not abrogated in the slightest but is exercised with love and compassion – where the teacher – be he a parent or hired pedagogue – sits by the pupil as a compassionate helper rather than as the stern and unflinching instructor. Schools must cease to be hot-houses for forcible instruction along lines that a society - itself ridden with contradictions - deems to be right. We cannot abolish schools. There is a way, however, to revolutionize the ‘ethos’ of the school system that will make its existence a meliorative force in society rather than a breeder of iniquitous practices that actually harm society. Currently, cribbing and cheating at examinations, selfish – even boorish – behaviour towards fellow pupils, violence in interpersonal relations and naked hostility to teachers who refuse to cow-tow to base elements in the class-room are rampant in our educational institutions. Such pathologies of the existing school system can be eliminated only through a frame-shift in the approach to education at the school level. This will involve a system of nurturing the young that is radically opposed to the ‘straitjacketing’ currently in vogue. The basic innovation is the replacement of ‘directed teaching’ by ‘co-operative learning’. 

Education in the new system will involve the best students acting as the teachers of the weakest.  Learning will, among other things, entail the responsibility of passing on to weaker fellow-pupils the expertise gained. The current army slogan ‘Together for All’ is wonderfully evocative of the new spirit of learning The teacher will now play the role of a senior learner sharing his expertise with those less advanced in specific knowledge and thus initiating a chain-reaction of learning in a classroom where friendly interaction is the norm. This is a revolutionary step forward and the schools of the new kind will bear no resemblance to the cruel ‘training centres’ that pass off as schools in this country.

Era of 4th Industrial Revolution: Trade, connectivity and geopolitical shifts

 

Creating the New World Order (NWO)

  Tuesday, 5 June 2018 

We are in the midst of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work and trade. It seems in its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.

We do not yet properly know just how it will unfold over the coming decade and beyond. But one thing is clear: All stakeholders around the world, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society will have an impact as new social order is being created in front of our own eyes. This we call the 4th Industrial Revolution or the NOW for domination of the world through trade.

The 1st Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanise production. The second used electric power to create mass production. The third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a 4th Industrial Revolution is building on the third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the late last century which is the one that is transforming the way we work in short cycles. It is characterised by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

There are three reasons why today’s transformations represent not merely a prolongation of the 3rd Industrial Revolution but rather the arrival of a fourth and distinct one: velocity, scope, and systems impact from a household to a business entity and government. The speed of current breakthroughs has no historical precedent.

When compared with previous Industrial Revolutions, the fourth is evolving at an exponential pace rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, consumerism and governance and most importantly the impact on supply, value chains and education.

As I write this article, the world without knowing has got into a first stage of cold war on trade. It is clearly reversing a trend of trade liberalisation after decades of the end of World War II which led to the creation of the WTO by 1995. However, the very establishment and its core principles/values are being challenged with the new order of global economics and politics.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is being the only international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations are now finding that the bigger powers of the trading world are slowly moving towards unilateral actions threating the establishment itself. One cannot rule out the fact that these reactions are the consequences of the shift in production bases and the employment factors of the developed world due to the technological shifts that the 4th Industrial Revolution has created within a very short period of three to four decades.


Population shift of markets and conflicts

As the population surpasses 7.5 billion and moves towards nine billion, many new markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America are emerging. With reasonable economic growth these economies will lead to strong consumer markets and geo political balances will be affected because of macro level market shifts. The immediate and obvious reaction for this has been protectionism led by the United States and some members of the European Union.

The way forward is certainly not protectionism. Whilst we have advance in technology we have not yet even got close to finding the solutions for the new era of trade and connectivity and that itself is a danger for greater conflict.

This shift in economic power is leading to new areas of disagreement and conflict. World War I was fought mainly for power in Europe and control of territory of the empires which expanded to Africa’s and the Middle East. World War II was fought between two groups of countries. On one side were the axis powers, including Germany, Italy and Japan. On the other side were the Allies. They included Britain, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, the Soviet Union, China and the United States of America.

As the 21st century dawned with the emergence of China as a power, a stubborn but a real fact is that we are moving towards the ocean resources including disputes on oceans and transport corridors for connectivity. The South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, Arctic and Antarctic seas and corridors are now very much on discussion as nations feel that the next level of control of trade is through major transport networks that control the oceans and major land corridors.


BRI and trade and geopolitics

Among many discussions, the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) is probably the biggest and the most-talked-of projects around the world. Almost 90 countries are now directly or indirectly involved of this mega project of China, running into trillions of dollars investments, which seems to create a new paradigm shift in transport and logistics.

Some sceptics feel this is more of talk than reality. Others feel it is an invasion and a colonisation of China which is a repetition of a 5,000-year-old world order history, where China was supposedly the dominant force. While China sees it as a facilitation for countries to emerge has winner of greater trade, this new phenomenon has certainly raised eyebrows of many global powers as they fail to understand the actual deliveries and repercussions that would unfold the world economy through BRI. Within a short span of five years, the BRI has indeed become reality in many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe.

World trade is fundamentally based on economic theories such as efficiencies, resources and technology. However, the 4th Industrial Revolution has changed the dynamics to speed and knowhow as two new instruments to compete and win the race. As new markets emerge, we all know that technology has created speed in terms of connecting products with consumers, shifting market behaviour and consumer patterns. Both manufacturing and retailing has new challenges as development of new consumer behaviour requires new methods of delivery and market control. As it is said, it is not the big who wins, but speed is the greater tool for market access today as we are living in times of innovation on the digital platform.

In terms of physical goods and merchandising, even today ocean corridors provide nearly 90% of global trade. However, the high value merchandise seems to be connecting through fast land corridors such as railway and air. Therefore, the BRI project of China, is focused on these transport networks which are connecting many countries which are bridging old and new markets closer. Offshoring models are being challenged.

As connectivity is getting better, it has also disrupted global supply chains and new logistics solutions are emerging to cope up with this demand.

(Research for this article has been sought from multiple sources from the internet.)

(The writer is the CEO of Shippers’ Academy Colombo, an economics graduate from the Connecticut State University USA, and immediate past secretary general of the Asian Shippers’ Council.)


 This phenomenon is the very reason that disputes on ocean corridors are seen emerging which is creating geo-political uncertainties/rifts which has led to the current issues between USA and china and rest of the world as well. Also, new developments in free trade and trade agreements/blocks are also part and parcel of these tremors of geopolitics. The Brexit and the US withdrawal from the biggest trade agreement Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) last year, was probably a result of unhappiness of the market access as seen by the United States.


Challenges to survive

Developing and emerging countries too need to change rapidly in terms of creating further value to compete for trade and services. In terms of merchandise trading, the Bali Agreement of Trade Facilitation in 2013 is a major tool that will help smaller economies to improve productivity and speed if they are to be in the global supply chain. Such reforms are a key element to attract foreign direct investment to a country.

In addition, smaller countries need to connect to major markets through new trade agreements that can help market access directly or indirectly, for both products and services. Another crucial factor for these developing countries is education system reforms that would upgrade university systems to the new world order to train on technology-based industry.

At the same time technology which probably is freely available today due tools such as the internet and movement of people, it is important to understand that the labour forces must be reformed to deliver through understanding these technologies.

In terms of physical processes we call it re-engineering the work place. But in terms of human resources, small countries must go beyond re-engineering of machinery but re-skilling, up-skilling and adapting new skills for the workers is a non-negotiable part if they want to be a part of the 4th Industrial Revolution. As the way things are unfolding now, changes don’t take years to happen but few weeks in the world market.

The 4th Industrial Revolution can be defined as the “smart and the intelligent era” of human evolution that cannot be described or forecasted easily even by the best economists. Being and thinking ahead of the NWO curve is the only advice I can think as an economist. On the other hand, if this transformation is not managed with care it can disrupt not only what we like but the very same world order that we would want for peace and harmony and avoid greater confrontation.

Artist Avanti completes difficult mission

  

2018-06-06

An oil colour painting depicting the manner in which King Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe ordered Devendra Mulachari to build the Octagon or Pathirippuwa was presented to Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela by Avanti Sri Nissanka Karunaratne. 

The book ‘The Great Royal Artificer of the Kandyan Kingdom’ was authored by one of the former Commissioners of the Inland Revenue Department D.D.M.Waidyasekera. 

Avanti said that her grandfather was H.Sri Nissanka and that her father was Dr. Gemunu Karunartne. She said that they were both painters. She said that there was a twenty foot extraordinary painting which hung under the great Dome and painted by Karl Kassman. The painting was of Gautama Buddha wearing a wonderful ochre coloured robe and descending from the heavens of Thusitha to Mount Meru. She said that she had grown up with this painting at “ Yamuna mandir”, the home of her grandfather. 


Contributions by teachers 

She said that she had set aside much time for painting while being educated at Mahamaya Girls’ College. She attended this school from age three till she reached her seventeenth birthday. She said that she had never won any prize for art, but added that her art teacher was at this presentation. Her art teacher was Mrs. Niyangoda, who taught her to draw faces and dancers. 

Avanti said that while she was studying in New Zealand, she had the opportunity to converse with various teachers. She said that she had decided to take time out and have a formal training in art. She had her training at Michael Angelo Academy in Florence, Italy. She rates the time spent at this institute as an exciting and invigorating time in her life. She received training in renaissance art. She also learned how to draw and paint portraits and figures. She also says that this was a unique period in her life. Later she had the opportunity of learning at the famous Art Students League of New York and participated in a collaborative Art exhibition with the Tunisian artist Hechmi Chacem. 

She added that a friend of hers, Senaka Weeraratne, was very much instrumental in guiding her as to how she should attend to this task of painting

After her training she returned to Sri Lanka. She said that one day a friend had visited her and inquired as to what she was doing? That was the time she had just opened a studio, which contained all her paintings. She said that a friend had opened an hotel and there were paintings of all sorts. Then she had decided to showcase her skills horned through the experiences gained by painting and training, she received in Florence. 

Kandyan period 

Then she came into contact with the former Commissioner D.D.M.Waidyasekera. He had only given her a small description of the appearance and bearing of Devendra Mulachari. She added that a friend of hers, Senaka Weeraratne, was very much instrumental in guiding her as to how she should attend to this task of painting, which was to showcase the most valuable piece of Architecture during the Kandyan period. The picture related to the last King of Kandy in his youth and the brilliant designer and great architect of several icons. According to her Weeraratne had said drawing a landmark event in terms of painting was a form of a celebration through art.

The original suggestion to construct a Paththiruppuwa was for the king to have a view of the city. The king used this to see various displays of sports and martial arts. This idea to build the Paththiruppuwa came from Dhigama Nilame Ratemahatmaya of Yatinuwara. The conversation between the King and Dehigama Nilame is documented in the book. Reputed artificer during that time Devendra Mulachari was entrusted with the task of constructing this building. Devendra is supposed to have initially built a model using plantain tree stems. The King had been satisfied and the task of constructing the Paththiruppuwa was entrusted to him.

Devendras are said to have had their roots in India. According to the professor they were from Andhra Pradesh and had settled down in the South of Sri Lanka in Angulmaduwa and Devundara.

Israeli troops avoid charges over death of Palestinian teen shot in back

Samir Awad, 16, was shot dead in 2013 as he fled soldiers. Lawyer says court decision to drop case encourages 'easy trigger finger' of army

An already injured Samir Awad, 16, was shot as he ran away from Israeli soldiers (AFP)

 

Tuesday 5 June 2018

Two Israeli soldiers have avoided prosecution over the death of Palestinian teenager Samir Awad, who was shot in the back while running away from Israeli forces in January 2013.

The 16-year-old was killed during protests in Budrus, a village in the occupied West Bank which has lost nearly 30 percent of its land due to the illegal Israeli separation wall, according to the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem.

Witnesses told Amnesty International in 2014 that Awad had entered an area between barbed wire and the separation fence when Israeli soldiers first shot him in the leg and then fired warning shots in the air.

Awad was fleeing back towards Budrus and away from the soldiers when he was shot twice more - one bullet hit his left shoulder and exited through his chest, while the other struck him in the back of the head and exited through his forehead.

The soldiers, one of whom was a platoon commander, were initially charged with recklessness and negligence, Israeli media reported.

The dropping of the indictment is another version of the easy trigger finger which allows the impunity of people who have killed so many

- Gabe Lasky, Awad family lawyer

According to Hebrew-language news outlet Walla, the Israeli Central District Attorney’s office formally retracted all charges on Tuesday, saying there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing.

Manslaughter charges were not laid as an Israeli investigation was reportedly unable to determine who had fired the fatal shots.

Gabe Lasky, the lawyer representing Awad’s family, said the retraction represented the latest example of legal impunity for Israeli forces who use lethal violence against Palestinians.

“The dropping of the indictment is another version of the easy trigger finger which allows the impunity of people who have killed so many people in the West Bank,” she told Middle East Eye.

She said she had not been given access to case files, and would ask for them to be opened to determine whether to appeal against the withdrawal of charges or file for damages on behalf of Awad’s family.

Lasky said most cases of lethal force against Palestinians never made it to court.

The Israeli human rights NGO Yesh Din said the decision betrayed a discriminatory system that protected Israeli soldiers and left Palestinians defenceless.

“When the State Attorney's Office decides time and time again not to investigate or prosecute soldiers for harming Palestinians, it creates its own defence of discrimination,” it said.

Israeli authorities rarely charge soldiers over the deaths of Palestinians and those who are often receive short sentences, creating what Yesh Din says is an environment of "near impunity".

According to Yesh Din, 79 percent of complaints against Israeli forces for harming Palestinians and their property are closed without a criminal investigation.

Also on Tuesday, the newspaper Haaretz reported that the Israeli state prosecution had dropped plans to file a damages claim against three Israelis who kidnapped Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in 2014.

The state sought to reclaim money paid in compensation to the family of the Abu Khdeir, who were victims of terrorism.

However, the state determined that his murderers, Yosef Chaim Ben-David and two juveniles, whose identities cannot be disclosed, did not have any money or assets.