Saturday, June 16, 2018

Honour your mother and father

2018-06-16

Sri Lanka’s Islamic community celebrates Ramadan today, after almost one month of sacrificial and selfless fasting and prayer, in addition to sharing with the poverty-stricken or marginalised people. While wishing them showers of blessings on this day, we hope and pray that our country also will be blessed to bring about inter-religious and inter-racial unity in diversity. We hope this blessing will change the attitude and approach especially of our leaders, so that they will work with honesty and integrity, in a spirit of selfless, sincere and sacrificial service to the people. This blessing will help us take a major step towards building a society that is just, peaceful and all-inclusive. Among those excluded from the mainstream and decision-making processes of society are those caught up in the poverty-trap of a wicked world and also the elderly or the senior citizens some of whom are confined to elder’s homes or not given the proper place in their own homes while they have little or no say in decision-making.

Restoring the dignity of the elders is one of the important areas where all religions could work together. An all-religions’ solidarity alliance could also play a vital role in poverty alleviation through a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources, in the battle against global warming which is threatening to destroy Planet Earth and in the worldwide campaign for nuclear disarmament.

We referred mainly to the plight of elders, because yesterday was the United Nations’ World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. According to the UN, between 2015 and 2030, virtually all countries are expected to see substantial growth in the number of senior citizens and that growth will be faster in developing regions. Because the numbers of senior citizens are growing, it is feared that the extent of elder abuse may grow with it.

The UN says that, while the taboo topic of elder abuse has started to gain visibility across the world, it remains one of the least investigated types of violence in national surveys, and one of the least addressed in national action plans. Elder abuse is a global social issue which affects the health and human rights of millions of senior citizens around the world. The UN, in a resolution, designated June 15 as the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It represents the one day in the year when the whole world voices its opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted on some of our older generations.

The UN has also given some facts which should shock a world that is not only suffering from self-centredness and wickedness, but also puts on a face that befits hypocrites and sanctimonious humbugs. Around 1 in 6 senior citizens experienced some form of abuse in the past year, rates of abuse may be higher for those living in institutions than in the community; elder abuse can lead to serious physical injuries and long-term psychological consequences; elder abuse is predicted to increase as many countries are experiencing rapidly ageing populations; the global population of people aged 60 and older will more than double from 900 million in 2015 to about 2 billion in 2050.
The UN says, elder abuse can be defined as a single, or repeated act, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust. This causes harm or distress to an older person. Elder abuse can take various forms such as physical, psychological or emotional, sexual and financial abuse. It can also be the result of intentional or unintentional neglect. In many parts of the world, elder abuse occurs with little recognition or response. Until recently, this serious social problem was hidden from the public view and considered mostly a private matter. Even today, elder abuse continues to be a taboo, mostly underestimated and ignored by societies across the world. Evidence is accumulating, however, to indicate that elder abuse is an important public health and societal problem.

In Sri Lanka, with a hollowed civilization dating back to more than 2500 years, parental care needs to be part of a good family life, whatever religion we practice. We hope that the middle-aged citizens and younger generation will reflect deeply on the virtues and values of caring for their parents, mainly when they are elderly, and often ailing.

Does Article 9 of the Constitution stipulate protection of abusive monks?

When irrepressible British satirist, soldier and spy Malcolm Muggeridge said, ‘never to forget that only dead fish swim with the stream’, that warning beautifully underscored the tediousness of drifting in comforting safe shallows without challenging the odds in deeper waters.

A woman who challenged the odds

This week, the jail term of six months and fine imposed by the Homagama Magistrate’s Court on General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena, Galagodaththe Gnanasara for threatening and intimidating the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, Sandhya in open court and during the hearing of a habeas corpus inquiry more than two years ago, had significant repercussions beyond that individual case.

This was an instance where an individual who had no connection to an ongoing inquiry, hijacked the proceedings, threatened and lectured a party in open court, abusing her in filthy language while also abusing state lawyers in the process. His ‘defence’, if one can call it that, was that he was emotionally overwrought by the sacrifices rendered by the armed forces during the war. Ekneligoda’s disappearance implicated military intelligence officials and the inquiry is still ongoing.

Retribution would have been swift and harsh if any ordinary person had dared to indulge in such extraordinarily thuggish behavior. In this case, justice took a little more than two years to be served but it was, in fact, served. Indeed, even though this legal proceeding was not of a contempt of court nature, the ruling and subsequent jail term legitimately asserted the authority of the judiciary in a country where that term (used interchangeably with contempt of court) has been twisted entirely out of its ordinary meaning. Rather than be utilized to safeguard the integrity of the judicial institution and uphold its standards for improvement, this legal tactic has been employed as a lever to subdue critiques of judicial action and suppress public discussions of the same.

Witnessing a shameful sight

Certainly, the sitting magistrate who disallowed attempt so create even more chaos in the court room, the magistrate before whom these atrocious happenings took place and who appeared as a witness in the case along with state lawyers, must be commended on their fortitude in refusing to step back in the face of extra-judicial coercion. Meanwhile the sight of companion monks of the offender, chanting pirith as he was escorted by police officers into the prison van, made for a shameful sight.
The fact that a woman challenged violent behavior of this sort which had been aimed on different occasions, against different persons including journalists, despite personal threats of the vile and vicious kind, is no ordinary feat. That must be recognized, without a doubt as the courage of someone who went ‘against the stream.’

But the larger question relates to the importance of the legal remedy that was sought to be exercised by Sandhya Ekneligoda in the first place. This was no ordinary traffic violation inquiry. The remedy of habeas corpus remains one of the most important constitutional safeguards for citizens even though it has slipped into virtual obscurity. In this instance, where the proceedings of a court of law were rudely disturbed by a monk, it was the Court of Appeal which had directed that a magisterial inquiry be held into the case.

This is the common practice on habeas corpus applications even though, as a study critically examining more than 880 habeas corpus decisions from pre-independence to 2009 (Habeas Corpus in Sri Lanka; Theory and Practice of the Great Writ in Extraordinary Times, Pinto-Jayawardena and de Almeida Guneratne, 2011, Colombo) found that many had resulted in dismissals, some for technicalities such as the wrong naming of a respondent in an application.

Giving force to the habeas remedy

In this at least, there was judicial uniformity across the divide of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim petitioners, offset only by some remarkably good decisions of the Court, which standards were not adhered to in later years. And when conflict in Sri Lanka aggravated, the habeas corpus remedy became limited to the paper on which the Constitution and statutes giving that power concurrently to the High Courts, was printed.

I recall a conversation with a High Court judge when discussing that study, during which the judge himself expressed apprehension as to whether he too, would be disappeared after he issued summons on the then Defence Secretary and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, in a habeas corpus application of several disappeared persons listed before him. That sentiment would have been funny if not for the very real fears that compelled that remark at the time.

Restoring constitutional and statutory remedies such as habeas corpus to a semblance of normalcy should have been the first priority of the new Government in 2015, which process should have been initiated by the Bar Association. In fact, legal advocates had been pressing for a Habeas Corpus Act that would reflect good jurisprudential principles already articulated by the appeal courts. This included making it mandatory that when a disappearance of a person occurs in official custody, state officials are not able to shift responsibility to each other. Also as a matter of general practice, petitioners being absent and unrepresented (most often due to threats or intimidation) should not result in automatic dismissal of the application which happens more often than it should.

The Rule of Law, no more, no less

In that context and on top of that considerable dysfunction, the havoc rendered by rampaging monks in courtrooms hearing these habeas corpus inquiries, results in a dysfunctional remedy being reduced to an outright joke. The deterrent action taken by the Homagama Magistrate’s Court is therefore worthy of more than ordinary note.

But does it take extreme action of such kind indulged in by this offending monk on that day, to finally rein him in? Is the law selective in the manner in which it is wielded against some and not against others unless and until severe provocation occurs? Does Article 9 of the Constitution which gives Buddhism the foremost place in Sri Lanka mandate that the Republic should shield abusive monks from the due and proper functioning of the law that is so promptly brought into action against others?

These are questions that are opportune as the monk-offender in issue faces charges in other courts that are perpetually postponed, of racist and inflammatory behavior. The Constitution recognizes no such special privilege where the law is violated. That is equally true of a proselytizing Christian priest using money to convert the poor or a fundamentalist Muslim cleric calling down hell and damnation on women who do not conform to archaic religious beliefs.

For those who are still uncertain, that is what is meant by the phrase, the Rule of Law, no more and no less.

Mullah’s Inconsistency & Muslim Disunity

By Ameer Ali –JUNE 16, 2018

Dr. Ameer Ali

As usual the Muslim world is split in celebrating the Eid, one quarter feasted on Friday and the other is feasting on Saturday. This is a perennial problem that is creating unwanted disunity within the so called umma, only because of the inconsistency of the mullahs in accepting science.

Regarding the beginning and end of the fasting month there is the saying of the Prophet, “do not start fasting until you see the moon and do not end fasting until you see it. If the weather is cloudy then calculate when it should appear.” As for starting the fast each day the Quran has the following instruction: “And eat and drink, until the white thread of dawn appear to you distinct from its black thread” (Quran, 2: 187). These two instructions, are impeccably consistent in the context of the scientific knowledge available at that time. When there was no clock or calendar to determine time and date, it was the signs of nature such as the movement of moon, placement of stars and the sun that determined human activities like eating, sleeping, travelling and so on .

As science developed inconsistency set in. Today, there is hardly any Muslim who follows the instruction of the Quran, (a book in which there is no doubt) standing with a white and black thread each day of Ramadhan to see that they are indistinguishable to start his or her fasting. The mullah in this case has accepted the clock, a product of science. He has also accepted the clock in fixing the prayer times. In starting and ending the fasting month however, he is not willing to accept the astronomical calendar. Why is this inconsistency?

It is a strange irony in the history of Islam that Muslims, who were at the cutting edge of science and technology in the 9th and 10th centuries, and discovered the astrolabe, meaning “the one that catches the heavenly bodies”, which was the forerunner of the mariner’s compass is now rejecting astronomy in determining the fasting month. How does one explain this rejection and the consequent inconsistency?

From the ninth century a group philosophers, intellectuals and scientists known as the Mu’tazilites started secularising knowledge and started questioning what at that time was believed to be the truth. This secularisation led them to question the very foundation on which the Islamic religion was based, and allowed them to explore the secrets of nature to produce new knowledge. Received wisdom was challenged at every corner. Alarmed by this development orthodoxy started a counter revolution and from the 11th century the Mu’tazilite school was in retreat and it was eventually killed at the altar of taqlid or imitation. The doors of ijtihad or individual effort to produce knowledge was closed. Thus began the process of questioning and rejecting scientific proofs. To be a pious Muslim it was told that one should follow what the Prophet has taught as found in the hadiths, sayings and actions of the Prophet. Even in that mullahs were picking and choosing. For example, why pick only the Prophet’s dress and appearance and not his mode of transport, the camel? Hence, the inconsistency.

Sri Lanka: Court verdict victory for human rights defenders

14 June 2018

The conviction of a Buddhist monk who had threatened the well-known campaigner against enforced disappearances, Sandhya Eknaligoda, is a victory for human rights defenders in Sri Lanka, Amnesty International said today.

A magistrate’s court in Homagama handed down a six months’ sentence and a heavy fine to Galagodatte Gnanasara Thero for threatening Sandhya Eknaligoda in court, when she appeared in 2016 to pursue justice for the enforced disappearance of her husband, the famed Sri Lankan cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda.

“This is an important verdict for all people who fight for human rights in Sri Lanka. A clear message has gone out to those who seek to intimidate, threaten and silence people seeking justice,” said Omar Waraich, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia.

Background

Prageeth Eknaligoda was forcibly disappeared in 2010. Since then, his wife, Sandhya, has waged an uphill but determined struggle for justice, in the face of serious threats. There has been little progress in the investigation. The monk threatened Sandya outside the court room when she was attending hearings into the disappearance of her husband.

Gnanassara disgraces the saffron robe by preferring the ‘jumper’ – sentenced to jail !

(Lanka e News -15.June.2018, 6.00PM) Galagodaathe Gnanassara the robed hooligan monk who is a disgrace to the true Buddhist teachings , a nuisance to the Buddhist clergy , a menace to decent law abiding society, and was facing charges of criminal harassment under section 386 , and of causing criminal intimidation and fear under section 486 of the Penal code , in the case in which he was charged with abusing and threatening Ms. Sandya Ekneliyagoda within the court premises was sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment as well as ordered to pay compensation by the chief magistrate , Homagama, Udesh Ranasinghe.

The judge delivered a sentence of 6 months R.I. each on the first and second charges , to be served concurrently in six months . He also ordered the accused to pay a fine of Rs. 3000.00 to the government .

In addition the judge ordered a payment of Rs. 50,000.00 ( not in installments) as compensation to Ms. Ekneliyagoda , in default of which he will have to serve a further jail sentence of three months.

As always Gnanassara was present in court with a group of robed henchmen .. If Gnanassara had tried to act tough within courts as usual there was a likelihood of his punishment turning much more grave .

This punishment did him immense good for though it made him sadder it must have made him wiser . The judge also ordered the prison officers to treat Gnanassara in the same way as other prisoners are treated.

During the preliminary hearing of the case relating to the abduction and disappearance of Prageeth Ekneliyagoda on 2016-01-25 , in the Homagama magistrate court, this hooligan monk in robes broke into the court premises and insulted the magistrate Ranga Dissanayake who was on the bench while physically pushing away Sandya Ekneliyagoda and shouting ‘ your husband is a tiger’

He also abused her in most filthy language and screamed ‘you go and beg’. Gnanassara did not stop at that. He even berated Sandya’s lawyer Dileep Peiris . Hooligan Gnanassara in his characteristic rowdy style said, ‘I am not scared of state officers.’ Pointing a finger threateningly at judge Dissanayake on the bench ,he screamed ‘ I will not get frightened of kalu suddhas (dark skinned white men)’ . Mind you all this hooliganism of his was displayed within courts and not in the fish market square.

Another case too is in progress in the Colombo appeal court based on charges of committing grave contempt of court against Gnanassara who always treated courts with disrespect .

With Gnanassara being allowed to serve and complete a one year jail term in six months in this case , that has deprived him of a similar relief being granted in the contempt of court case that is currently being heard against Gnanassara ..

Gnanassara may file an appeal against this verdict in a higher court . In that event while that appeal is on going and until a decision is delivered in that regard, he is eligible to request bail .

A most remarkable feature in this case is , the court in Sri Lanka getting an opportunity to punish a rascally hooligan monk Gnanassara who is a disgrace to Buddhism despite wearing the sacred saffron robe. The judge must be admired for trying to reform a most incorrigible robed monk when politicians were encouraging his rowdy conduct to achieve their selfish agendas , and temples too could not save him from the road to perdition along which he was fast hurtling down.

Connected report …

Sly shameless moves to deliver suspended sentence on incorrigible debauched Gnanassara ! Whither laws ?

Gnanassara the debauched rascally monk found guilty by court ! Sentence on 14 th.

Gnanasara‘s satanic dream to become hero by going to jail turning true ! warrant issued on 4 charges against him in Ekneliyagoda case

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by (2018-06-15 13:51:03)

On messaging and the media | Kandy: The damage and the distrust

AMALINI DE SAYRAH- 06/13/2018

Editor’s Note: These are excerpts from a long-form story on the experiences and reflections of Muslim families in Akurana, Ambatenne, Pallekele, Digana and Katugastota, three months after a series of violent attacks against their communities. Groundviews visited these areas in the first week of June 2018.

Individuals whose homes and businesses were damaged by Sinhala-Buddhist extremist mobs spoke with increasing frustration of the inadequate State response to the violence. They also outlined the probable causes that would motivate these groups to wreak this violence.

In order to ensure attention to key issues, we are publishing each as an excerpt.

‘For three years, they have been putting up these posters, telling people not to go to our shops’ said Nizar. They were not pasted on his shop, he says, but in public spaces a few kilometres up the road.

The posters carried all the usual missives – around sterilisation pills, a supposed ‘takeover’ of the country leading to the ultimate downfall of the Sinhalese. He says he got in touch with the CID at the time. They visited the area to take some pictures of the posters and left. He hasn’t heard from them since.

‘It was good that they blocked Facebook during those days’, says Nusra. People were already in a tense situation, she says, and the messages were only making them more panicked. They could still make calls if necessary, and she feels that was adequate at the time.

In addition, she notes that misinformation was spreading about how the Muslim communities were responding to the attack. ‘A post that was circulating said a monk had been killed by a group of Muslims, and this was spreading fast’. She says it wasn’t until a new video featuring the same monk was aired on television that people realised it had been false news. ‘Anyway, those who needed to still found a way around the block, didn’t they?’ she asks.

‘After suspected perpetrators of the hate speech and violence were arrested, a well- known mainstream TV station visited their families, spoke to their wives, who lamented that was no breadwinner in the house, filmed their small children, made people feel sad for them’ says Uwais.

However, no effort was made to speak to the people who were actively targeted by the mob, the victims left with their homes or businesses in ashes.

He is unsatisfied how the mainstream media, through words such as ‘inter- communal’, imply that the Muslim community actively played a role in the riots. ‘They are making it seem like there were clashes between two sides, when they actually attacked us!’ he says, indignantly.

Read the full story here.

Sri Lanka’s Democracy Conundrum

Tisaranee Gunasekara-June 16, 2018

"The arc of the universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn’t bend on its own." Barrak Obama (Speech on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington)

Violence has no place in the teachings of the Buddha. Yet when violence was unleashed on Kandy’s Muslims, in the name of Sinhala-Buddhism, only a handful of Buddhist monks had the moral courage to speak out. Ven. Galkande Dhammananda Thero was among that handful. Recently he used Buddha’s teachings to enlighten and inform another ‘hot-button’ topic – how the end of the long Eelam War should be commemorated. He did so by asking a rhetorical question - what was Buddha’s teaching about war victory? – and answering with a stanza from the Sukha Vagga (Happiness) in the Dhammapada.

"Victory breeds hatred in the conquered. The defeated live in sorrow. Giving up both victory and defeat, the appeased live in peace."i

Sri Lanka could have based her post-war policy on this stanza alone, and gone a long way towards reconciliation. Instead, it did the opposite; a policy of triumphalism was adopted and every possible humiliation was heaped on the defeated; domination rather than reconciliation was the desired goal. Costly, disruptive and in-your-face military parades to mark war-victory constituted an essential component of this approach, a militarised revelry in which both Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa revelled. It was not commemorating but crowing of the most infantile sort.

This triumphalism – and the concomitant veneration of ‘war-heroes’ - went hand in hand with neglect and even humiliation of flesh-and-blood soldiers. While politicians sang their praise from platforms, the actual soldiers were forced to sweep sidewalks, uproot weeds and clean city parks; even the demand by disabled soldiers for a full pension went unheeded.

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration often lacks the moral courage to do the right thing. In many instances, ceasing incorrect practices is as far as the government is willing to go. For instance, the government is yet to implement one of the most sensible recommendations of the LLRC – assign a date to commemorate all those who died in the war, combatants and civilians, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, Burghers, Malays... A commemoration in which everyone can participate equally, as human beings and as Lankans, could have helped in the formation of a truly Lankan nation. The government hasn’t implemented this recommendation, probably because it fears the backlash of the Rajapaksa opposition and extremist Buddhist monks.

What the government has done was to stop some of the more in-your-face practices. It no longer commemorates war-victory with massive military parades. It has also allowed the Tamils to mourn their dead, a basic right the Rajapaksas denied. This year, busloads of Tamils returning after commemoration ceremonies in Mullivaikkal were offered cool drinks by the army - small improvements, but ones that matter. They contribute towards psychological detoxification of society sans which neither peace nor reconciliation is possible.

All that would end, if the Rajapaksas return, especially if that retrogression happens under a Gotabhaya presidency.

Triumphalism will play a key role in a Gotabhaya Rajapaksa candidacy and a Gotabhaya Rajapaksa presidency. Already Mr. Rajapaksa has ordered the revival of umbrella organisations of former soldiers and their families (Ranaviru Sansada), according to a report in Lankadeepa. Under a Gotabhaya presidency, every pigmy step taken by this government towards reconciliation will be abandoned. The occasional Ifthar breakfast or Nallur pooja notwithstanding, Sri Lanka will officially embrace Sinhala-Buddhist supremacism and the practice of targeting this or that minority whenever the government is in need of an enemy. The war hero will become an object of veneration in the abstract while the actual soldiers will be back to cleaning parks and sidewalks. Imprisonment or worse will await anyone foolhardy enough to point out the disconnect.

A New and Radical Realignment

2015 was a watershed year. It ended Sri Lanka’s rapid march towards familial autocracy. But it did not end history. Believing so was a monumental mistake. I was guilty of it. Democracy is here, but it will stay only if enough Lankans vote for its retention. Indications are they might not.

Two defeats, back to back, didn’t make the Rajapaksas go away. It is easy to blame their continued presence on their power hunger. Power hunger did play a colossal role but that alone wouldn’t have sufficed. They are still here, because there is acceptance for them from a segment of the electorate. They are still here because they are the organic representatives of a large swathe of the electorate – anything between 38% to 43%.

There was room for factual ambiguity before the Local Government election of February 2018, none afterwards. There is no SLFP vote. There is a Rajapaksa vote. That vote will go whither the Rajapaksas go. It is currently with the SLPP; it will stay there, if the Rajapaksas stay there. It will return to the SLFP if the Rajapaksas recapture power in the SLFP. What was once the SLFP’s base is now the Rajapaksa tail.

This radical realignment which cuts through traditional party allegiances, this coalescing of majoritarian-supremacist and retrogressive segments of a populace around a ‘strong leading figure’ is not a phenomenon unique to Sri Lanka. This transformation is happening in real time in the US as the Republican Party remakes itself as a Trumpian entity. Lamenting the victory of a white-supremacist candidate in the Virginia Republican primary, the state’s Republican governor tweeted, "This is clearly not the Republican Party I once knew, loved and proudly served."ii True. The Republican Party is no longer the party of Reagan or the Bushes (let alone Lincoln); it is the party of Donald Trump. Which was why in state-primary after state-primary, Republican voters decimated anti-Trump Republican candidates. In this new landscape, a Republican would be considered a true Republican by the base only if he/she backs Donald Trump and is backed by Donald Trump.

The SLFP seemed to have undergone a similar metamorphosis during the Rajapaksa years, turning from a Bandaranaike party into a Rajapaksa party. The transformation was both organised and spontaneous. The Rajapaksas made a concerted effort to remake the SLFP in their own image. But that effort succeeded so spectacularly, because an absolute majority of the party’s base was responsive to the Rajapaksa appeal and Rajapaksa narrative.

The SLFP came into being and lived most of its life as a Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist and socially conservative party. The Chandrika-years marked not a change but an anomaly. The base went along with the party leadership but its core-beliefs remained unchanged. In Mahinda Rajapaksa, the SLFP base found a leader who is akin to them, a leader who gave voice to their innermost desires and fears.

Maithripala Sirisena took the official party, but not the base. In the immediate aftermath of his presidential victory, he could have rebuilt the SLFP as a modern social democratic party. He chose not to. The time for such a transformation has come and gone. President Sirisena is left with a shell and very little else. He might think that by launching regular diatribes against a wide variety of targets he can win back the SLFP base, but it is an illusion. The SLFP, for most of its existence, used racial and religious fears and resentments as political weapons, from Sinhala Only to media and district-wise standardisation. Given this history, the Rajapaksas are the organic leaders of the SLFP. Mr. Sirisena cannot wean the SLFP base away from them. In trying to do so, he will merely destroy his own legacy and weaken Lankan democracy, perhaps fatally.

The upcoming provincial and national elections will not be three-way contestations. The main contestation will be between the UNP and the SLPP. The SLFP will have its work cut out retaining the third place. If Mr. Sirisena is hoping to recreate an Emmanuel Macron outcome in the next presidential election, he will be disappointed. If all candidates fail to overtake the 50% mark, the runoff will be between SLPP and UNP candidates and not SLPP and SLFP candidates.

"The past is a foreign country," LP Hartley said in The Go-Between; "they do things differently there." In Sri Lanka, 2015 is not even a foreign country; it’s another incarnation of which the government remembers nothing, not how the election was held, not how the victory was won.

The victory of 2015 was not the exclusive preserve of one party, one leader or one organisation. Nor was it a forgone conclusion. Without the right candidate and the right coalition, that election would have been lost. Any puppet couldn’t have won that election, as some UNPers claim now; victory required the kind of imaginative experiment which had never before been attempted in Sri Lanka – the SLFP’s General Secretary backed by the UNP and almost every other major party in the opposition spectrum. Defeating the Rajapaksa juggernaut required a vast joint effort; without that genuinely collective effort, Mahinda Rajapaksa would have won his third term.

The vast majority of faceless and nameless Lankans who worked and voted for a Rajapaksa defeat did not do so in expectation of portfolios, duty free vehicles or other perks and privileges. They did have hopes though of a better, safer country, a place of political democracy and economic justice, with rule of law and decency in public life. Most of those hopes lie in tatters today. Instead of trying to repair the situation, Mr. Sirisena and the UNP squabble in public. It is indeed a case of plunging from sublime to the ridiculous.

Dangers of Tribalism

A new book on the Obama years quotes the former president trying to understand the Trump victory and stating that in times of vast changes some people want to "fall back into their tribes."iii

When one’s economic position is secure, change can be an exhilarating thing. But when one exists in constant dread of losing a job, losing a home, and slipping down the income – and thereby class – totem pole, change is often frightening. When personal economic uncertainty coincides with vast societal changes, people tend to fall back on what is secure and unchanging – the primordial, mainly race and religion, often a combination of both, ‘blood-and-faith nationalism.’

This tribalisation tendency was a key factor in the horrendous triumph of Donald Trump; it will be a key factor in a Rajapaksa return. For Sinhala-Buddhists, beset by economic woes, a Gotabhaya-presidency would hold the promise of stability, the promise that even if their economic situation fails to improve, their place of collective primacy as members of the majority ethno-religious community would be returned to them. The more the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government mishandles the economy, the greater the danger of tribalisation and of a Rajapaksa comeback.

‘Spillover of racialisation’ is a concept introduced by Prof. Michael Tessler of Brown University to explain the findings of a research he conducted about racial attitudes during the Obama years. He uncovered that whites who resent/fear blacks would look not only at politics but even at non-political matters through the racial-lense. For example, this ‘spillover’ even affected how Bo, the Obama family dog, was regarded.iv That such people played a crucial role in enabling a Trump presidency is not hard to fathom. That such people will play a crucial role in enabling a Gotabhaya presidency is not impossible to predict.

Authoritarianism is once more in fashion, the direction in which the world is moving. This tendency has been enabled by democracy’s inability to successfully address basic living condition issues. Democracy is, in the final analysis, a numbers game, a matter of straightforward math. That is why in times of growing economic distress and hopelessness, candidates who appeal to the baser instincts of an electorate have a better chance of victory. The solution is not to rail against the stupidity of people; the solution is not to push more people into the hands of would-be autocrats waiting in the wings. The solution is to do something in the here and now to improve living conditions of the masses and, through such concrete actions, to reignite hope of a better tomorrow. The promise of jam tomorrow no longer suffices. Some jam today for everyone is the only way Lankan democracy can beat back the growing tide of Rajapaksa autocracy.

i https://www.facebook.com/du.mahesh/videos/1910373625659790/

ii https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/12/politics/virginia-senate-race-corey-stewart/index.html

iii The World as It Is. - Ben Rhodes

iv http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/victory_lab/2012/06/racicalization_michael_tesler_s_theory_that_all_political_positions_come_down_to_racial_bias_.html

BEHIND THE FOND FAREWELL IN VISHWAMADU

by Maneshka Borham-17 June, 2018

Recent tearful scenes to bid farewell to a military officer serving in Vishwamadu, Mullaitivu underscores immediate needs in the impoverished and war-torn region, the continuing stigmatisation of rehabilitated ex-LTTE cadre, and the desperation for humanity and respect in a vulnerable community

In the backdrop of militarisation fatigue and continuing calls for the removal of the armed forces from civilian structures in the war-affected Northern and Eastern Provinces, scenes last week of Tamil civilians and ex-LTTE combatants in Vishwamadu, Mullaitivu bidding a senior military officer tearful farewell on his transfer to Ambepussa, sent shock waves all over the country.

In the south, the scenes of sobbing men and women trailing the heavily garlanded army officer being carried on the shoulders of rehabilitated Tamil combatants, was hailed a major victory for reconciliation, and a reinforcement of the notion that the military was in fact working to uplift the lives of those devastated by war. But in the Northern Province, the story was viewed with deep suspicion among some activists, who worried it was ‘romanticising’ militarisation of the war-torn districts. Other activists working with communities on the ground however, acknowledged that the affection of the people for Lt. Colonel Ratnapriya Bandula was real, because during his tenure in Vishwamadu he had gone beyond the call of duty to help war-affected residents, and particularly ex-LTTE cadres in the region once controlled by the Tigers.

Vishwamadu is located north of Puthukuduirippu and Nandikadal, where the final battles of the civil war unfolded. With the military moving south-east of Kilinochchi after the rebel’s de facto capital fell in January 2009, Vishwamadu was one of the last areas to be captured by the Army after many decades under LTTE rule. The area was an epicenter of LTTE activity with many of the groups key military and civilian offices being established there. Today, nine years since the end of the war, Vishwamadu is home to hundreds of former LTTE cadres and their families. Rehabilitated but without livelihood options and struggling to be reintegrated into Tamil society, many of these ex cadres have found jobs with the Civil Security Department (CSD). Since 2012, the CSD has hired over 3500 ex-LTTE cadres. These rehabilitated ex-combatants work in CSD run farms engaging in agriculture and animal husbandry activities and have also been hired as pre-school teachers by the Department. Lt. Col. Ratnapriya was commanding officer of the CSD in Vishwamadu, Mullaitivu.

Organisations like the Jaffna-based Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research have called these military run livelihood programs exploitative, since no other livelihood options are available for ex-LTTE cadres and being recruited by the CSD has meant less harassment by the military. But other activists working in the war-torn districts acknowledge that they meet vital immediate needs of people affected by war, where other Government and civil structures are failing.

Selvarasa (name changed on request) who was once a former senior LTTE cadre now attached to the CSD, spoke to the Sunday Observer about Lt. Col. Ratnapriya’s extraordinary farewell from Vishwamadu. It was not a ‘show’ or staged event, he insists, but a true outpouring affection from the people in the area.

Selvarasa admits he joined the CSD with great reluctance several years ago. “I was initially apprehensive. But I saw how Lt. Col. Ratnapriya Bandula went out of his way to help people and by doing so, their apprehensions also broke down,” he explains. “People would come to him to get their problems solved.”

The rehabilitated cadre, in his interview with the Sunday Observer, said on his own volition, the military officer had been credited with forming dancing troupes, a music group, encouraging sporting activities and creating various employment opportunities for rehabilitated cadres including those who were severely injured. Selvarasa admits they have been criticised for hailing a Sri Lanka Army officer the way they did. “But this was not to celebrate the army. We were only honouring the service he had done for us,” he explained in a lengthy interview. Politicians in particular had no right to criticise the grand farewell, Selvarasa says, because none of them had engaged in efforts to find employment opportunities for former LTTE fighters and cadre.

“I myself have gone behind politicians but no one helped me saying I was ex-LTTE. Finally, it was only the CSD that hired us” he points out. “We just honoured his humanity and service – that’s it,” he said.

The CSD has been viewed with suspicion, believed to have evolved from the ‘grama arakshaka’ or home guard unit that was originally set up to train sinhala and muslim villages in what was those days called ‘border villages’ against raids by the LTTE. this unit later became a much more sophisticated division with expanded reach in all areas of the country, though particularly focused on the war affected North and East. There were concerns that the CSD with its reach was creating vigilante networks to step up surveillance in these regions post-war. Some claimed the employment of ex-LTTE cadres was part of this mission.

“The CSD have taken over vast areas of land in the Wanni and runs farms in which they employ ex LTTE cadres. With no other means of livelihood and the constant threat of surveillance ex LTTE cadres have found CSD farms to be a source of income. That they have to work in these farms for survival is nothing but an act of economic coercion, said Executive Director of Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research Dr K. Guruparan on Twitter after pictures of the army officer’s farewell went viral. Dr Guruparan argues that these farms must be handed over to co-operatives which can then employ people from the area.

But one human rights activist, who specifically did not want to be named, said that while the original purpose of the CSD may have been dubious, Lt. Col. Ratnapriya had gone beyond his official duties to help former cadres and their families. “He uplifted a vulnerable community, this is why he was celebrated” the activist who works with communities on the ground in the Northern Province told the Sunday Observer. Under Ratnapriya’s command, the CSD had gone on to deploy units to uplift Tamil culture, even while elsewhere post-war attempts were being made to break down social and cultural structures and identity, the activist said. “For example, they were trained in the Bharata natyam,” she pointed out. The officer had assisted the poorest of the poor, and many former militants started to directly approach him for employment.

To date, CSD has 15,000 job applications pending, even though the department stopped hiring years ago.

Once glorified as saviours fighting for Tamil rights, ex-LTTE cadres that survived the final stage of the war, continue to face intense social stigmatisation and ostracism once they reintegrate into society following rehabilitation. “Nobody will marry them. Nobody will give them jobs – because they are considered tainted by their association with the Tigers,” the activist said. “All these people were treated with dignity and respect by this officer,” she added, “in doing so he filled a vaccuum left by politicians, the Government and even the vocal Tamil Diaspora.”

Jaffna-based political economist Dr Ahilan Kadirgamar concurred that the former LTTE combatants and cadres continue to face stigmatisation in the north.

In its budget proposals, the Government has sought to incentivise companies hiring former LTTE cadres, but Dr Kadirgamar says execution of this policy has been too slow since the proposal is very new.

Rights activist Shreen Saroor explained that while people’s immediate needs had to be met, the issue had structural implications. “He delivered as a human being,” Saroor says, speaking of Ratnapriya,
“but the Government structure has failed – it is the Government, and not the military that should be delivering in the North.”

73.4% OF CHILDREN BETWEEN 1 AND 14 SUBJECTED TO CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SRI LANKA: UNICEF

16/06/2018

(2018.Jun.15 DM ) About 73.4% per cent of children aged one to fourteen experience corporal punishment at home by parents in Sri Lanka, the UNICEF Sri Lanka said yesterday.

Issuing a statement, it said only 48.7% of three to five-year old’s in Sri Lanka attend pre-school, which when of good quality helps to foster cognitive and language development, social competency and emotional development.

It said an estimate 17% of children under five are at risk of poor development due to stunted growth, resulting from poor nutrition and 15.1% of children under five are suffering from wasting (low weight for height) which if untreated can lead to chronic malnutrition.

“Children in Sri Lanka are at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage to their peers, because they have not benefited from the good nutrition, stimulation and protection – known as ‘eat, play and love’ – that enable a brain to grow to its full capacity by the age of 5 years,” warned UNICEF.

The statement said advances in neuroscience have proved that during the early years of life a child’s brain grows at an astounding rate which is never again repeated.

“A child’s brain grows and develops to 85 per cent of its full capacity by the age of 5. In these early years’ brain development depends on good nutrition, play and stimulation in the home environment and in preschools and love and protection from harm including violence, abuse and neglect. These can be provided by parents through simple actions, and can make a lasting, positive difference to a child’s development,” UNICEF said.

Meanwhile, marking the run up to Father’s Day (17th June), UNICEF said it has launched a new digital campaign to celebrate and inform parents how they can support their children’s optimal brain development.

UNICEF Sri Lanka representative Tim Sutton said the first five years of life are absolutely critical to a child’s whole future.

“This means that if we don’t enable every child to reach their full brain capacity by age five, we are robbing them, and Sri Lanka of its most valuable resource – the brains of its next generation. At present, too many children are at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage. Thankfully, parents can make all the difference. Through ‘eat, play and love’ they have the power transform their child’s future,” he said.

To ensure that every child under 5, irrespective of their wealth or location can benefit from at least one year of quality pre-school, giving them the best possible chance to succeed in school and life, UNICEF has launched an online petition at www.unicef.lk/eatplaylove, open to all that will be presented to decision makers in the future. We urge all to sign.

Children in Sri Lanka at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage: UNICEF

Jun 14, 2018 (LBO) – Children in Sri Lanka are at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage to their peers, because they have not benefited from the good nutrition, stimulation and protection – known as ‘eat, play and love’ – that enable a brain to grow to its full capacity by the age of 5 years, warns UNICEF.

Advances in neuroscience have proved that during the early years of life a child’s brain grows at an astounding rate which is never again repeated, UNICEF said in a statement.

During this time, neural connections occur at lightning speed, forming the architecture of a child’s brains and determining their health, ability to learn and deal with stress, and even influencing their earning capacity as adults.

Incredibly, a child’s brain grows and develops to 85 per cent of its full capacity by the age of 5.
In these early years’ brain development depends on three things: good nutrition, play and stimulation in the home environment and in preschools (aged 3-5 years), and love and protection from harm including violence, abuse and neglect.

These can be provided by parents through simple actions, and can make a lasting, positive difference to a child’s development.

UNICEF, however, said at present too many children in Sri Lanka are at risk of missing out on some or all of these key interventions:

• An estimate 17% of children under five are at risk of poor development due to stunted growth*, resulting from poor nutrition.

• 15.1% of children under five are suffering from ‘wasting’*, which if untreated can lead to chronic malnutrition.

• 73.4% of children aged one to fourteen experience corporal punishment at home by parents**, including children under the age of five.

• Only 48.7% of three to five-year old’s attend pre-school, which when of good quality helps to foster cognitive and language development, social competency and emotional development.

Marking the run up to Father’s Day (17th June) – an internationally recognized moment to celebrate good parenting – UNICEF has launched a new digital campaign to celebrate and inform parents how they can support their children’s optimal brain development.

Directed by Ilango Ram and featuring musician Jananath Warakagoda, former Sri Lankan national rugby captain Fazil Marija, and broadcaster K C Pragash, each with their own children, the campaign consists of three two-minute ‘masterclasses’ that, in a humorous way give key information to parents on how through simple actions, they can help to build their children’s brains.

Each ‘masterclass’ is based on a key insight, including the fact that up to 75 percent of the energy derived from food goes toward brain development in under-fives, and that five minutes of play can spark 300,000 brain connections in young children.

“The science is clear – the first five years of life are absolutely critical to a child’s whole future,” said Tim Sutton, Representative, UNICEF Sri Lanka.

“This means that if we don’t enable every child to reach their full brain capacity by age five, we are robbing them, and Sri Lanka of its most valuable resource – the brains of its next generation,”

“At present, too many children are at risk of entering adulthood at a disadvantage. Thankfully, parents can make all the difference. Through ‘eat, play and love’ they have the power transform their child’s future.”

Stimulation, in the form of quality preschool learning opportunities between the ages of three and five is also vital to development.

A quality preschool is a place where trained teachers help children learn through play, fostering cognitive and language development and social and emotional competencies, yet many, often the poorest, do not attend.

To ensure that every child under 5, irrespective of their wealth or location can benefit from at least one year of quality pre-school, giving them the best possible chance to succeed in school and life, UNICEF has launched an online petition at www.unicef.lk/eatplaylove, open to all that will be presented to decision makers in the future. We urge all to sign.

-LBO

President Gamarala whose mental defect is becoming pronounced more and more by the hour violates IGP’s human rights ! ( video)

(Lanka e News -15.June.2018, 10.30PM) President Pallewatte Gamarala who is precariously clinging on to a meager 4 % popularity and now confirmed as afflicted with a mental disorder and thereby wreaking havoc on the country has flagrantly violated the human rights of the IGP of all people , based on a most shocking report reaching Lanka e news. Usually in human rights cases , the IGP post which is officially made the respondent has been for the first time in history made the aggrieved party by our rare specimen of a president Gamarala thereby creating another ignominious record.

Gamarala completely barred the IGP from making speeches at any functions except when addressing the police thereby seriously violating IGP’s freedom of expression.

It cannot be gainsaid, a state officer cannot openly express his political views in public .Except that prohibition , no one , not even the president has the right to preclude him/ her from expressing his/ her religious , moral and cultural views in public . Such an action no matter who indulges in is an absolute violation of human rights.

A number of M.P.s and ministers including the prime minister who were present would testify to this gross violation of human rights of the IGP by presently embattled mentally deranged Gamarala .

This is how it happened….

Recently , IGP Poojitha Jayasundara was given an award by Meth Saviya organization whose president is a most famous ‘Vidyakeerthi’ professor Chandana Jayaratne . The IGP on that occasion was invited to make a speech and the IGP made a speech lasting 20 mins.

During the speech, Jayasundara to illustrate his point when referring to the present society said , an individual who has fallen into the cesspit is making a big din about a drop of urine on the white dress of another while concealing his own state within the cesspit. He also spoke of other things too which had no allusion to anybody in particular (the full text of the speech can be viewed at the end of this article) .

President Gamarala who is already most noted for his present mental derangement has got provoked and thought the ‘individual in the cesspit’ referred to in the speech of Poojitha was a barb directed against him and worn the cap assuming that it fits him. He therefore summoned the IGP to give him an explanation. But funnily , IGP alone was not summoned by him.

A number of UNP ministers led by the Prime minister including Mangala Samaraweera , Malik Samarawickrema, Thalatha Atkukorale too were summoned by the president , as well as a group of SLFP ministers including Duminda Dissanayake , Mahinda Amaraweera and Mahinda Samarasinghe to conduct a hearing on Poojitha’s ‘trial’ blown out of proportion by president.

The president who made a grumpy face began questioning the IGP.

‘In your speech that day , who did you have in mind when speaking about the cesspit individual?’

Poojitha who was baffled by this silly question was nonplussed. ‘ I had no one in my mind when I said that your Excellency. In fact I did not expect to make a speech at that place . But because the organizers wanted me to make a speech suddenly that I made a short speech . That is all. ’ Poojitha replied.

Duminda Dissanayake then said , ‘ No, no , there was something implied in the speech . . Tell the truth Who did you have in mind when making that reference?’ Dissanayake went on unrelentingly.

The IGP thinking , what is this madness, stifled his laughter and said ‘I swear upon my parents that I had nobody in my mind when I spoke’

The president who got infuriated , said , ‘ understand this , there might be a constitutional council , but it is I who gave you the IGP appointment. . Why did you go to question S.M. Wickremesinghe ?’ the president then inquired.

Wickremesinghe the senior DIG who goes on naughty nocturnal jaunts with the president is an accused in the criminal case relating to the recent communal violence in Kandy.

Grave charges have been mounted against Wickremesinghe in that communal flare up for deliberately delaying taking action to control the violence, owing to which lapse the situation escalated to alarming proportions. In that connection there is already an ongoing investigation against him at the Human Rights Commission as well as another conducted by the special investigation unit under the IGP.

Wickremesinghe was summoned by the investigators , and a statement too of his had been recorded after interrogation .

What had provoked the president into an insanity fit was the interrogation ….

The IGP told the president direct , interrogating Wickremesinghe on the Kandy incident by the investigators is a matter of routine. The president then flying into a a mad rage ordered , ‘ alright , in the future , you cannot make any speeches at any function except when addressing the police’

The other faction , that is the UNP group did not ask any question from Poojitha ,neither did it raise any objection to Gamarala’s lunatic order.

Of course Lanka e News had on several occasions pointed out the faults of the IGP when performing his official tasks , but on this occasion IGP is entirely blameless, and it is his human rights which have been flagrantly violated. Believe it or not ! , it is the president the highest in the hierarchy of the country who committed this violation and egregious blunder ! But the most unfortunate side of this gross violation is , the IGP being disallowed from speaking a word exercising his democratic right , even after violating his human rights .

When viewing the complete speech of the IGP which is hereunder ,the viewers will be able to clearly understand how serious is the blunder committed by moronic maniacal Gamarala by trying to wear a cap which was not meant for him