Saturday, September 8, 2018

General Aung San Suu Kyi?

By Raj Gonsalkorale –SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

Raj Gonsalkorale

One who, while himself seeking happiness, oppresses with violence other beings who also desire happiness, will not attain happiness hereafter – Dhammapada, Verse 131

The silence of the Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on the Rohingya crisis has been deafening, to say the least. While the very unBuddhistic attitude of Buddhist Monks and lay Buddhists which accounts for about 90% of the Myanmar population is perplexing and shameful, the silence of Aung San Suu Kyi is unpardonable.

The political imperatives she faces maybe understood as she could easily meet with an “accident” if she defies the Military on this issue, and she would be reviled by her own majority Buddhist population led by the leading Buddhist Monk activist Ashin Wirathu if she showed any sympathy towards the Rohingya people.

However, in keeping with her fight for human rights throughout her life and for which she has been awarded more peace prizes than any other leader in the world, what she could have done, placating both powerful political arms of Myanmar, would have been to show sympathy to the Rohingya people as human beings and worked with the UN, the Bangladeshi government and other sympathetic governments to make the life of these miserable Rohingya people at least more human.

If allowing the activist Buddhist Monks who are anything but Buddhist as per Buddha’s teachings, and the Military, of course known more for their inhumane qualities than not, to treat these human beings as dispensable objects, is a measure of political survival, one might rightly say it is not worth surviving in order to satisfy a lot who have now brought disgrace and disdain upon Aung San Suu Kyi.

She should have spoken for the inhumaneness of the way the Rohingya people were treated, rather than defend a majority and the Military might that do not deserve to be defended. She is an astute and well experienced person who could have treaded the difficult path by speaking out on the human crisis leaving the political aspect of it aside for discussion and debate at a later time.

If past history of Bangladesh is to be recounted, Islam made its first appearance in the Bengal region during the 7th century AD through Arab Muslim traders and Sufi missionaries. The subsequent Muslim conquest of Bengal in the 12th century led to the establishment of Islam across the region. Beginning in 1202, Muslim rule was ushered throughout Bengal.

Previous dynasties in modern day Bangladesh had been of Hindu and Buddhist origins and there is a fear, for whatever reason, that the presence of Rohingya people who are Moslems and therefore linked to the good and the bad of the rest of the Muslim world, are a threat to Buddhism and the Buddhist population of Myanmar. This is a political issue that needs addressing and it should not be mixed with the human tragedy that has befallen some human beings simply because of their ethnicity and religion.

Aung San Suu Kyi should have defended the right of human beings to be treated as human beings in her own country.

The question being asked now by all those institutions that awarded her peace prizes and many other human rights activists is how such an iconic figure of human rights be so reticent when it comes to defending the human rights of an ethnic minority from her own country.

No doubt the politics in Rakhine State is complex and not well understood by outsiders and Aung Sun Suu Kyi probably feared that her positioning on this could have further fuelled tensions between the Buddhist majority and the Rohingya, who make up about a third of the population of Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh.

Extremist movements such as 969, which is driven by Ashin Wirathu, and Ma Ba Tha – the Organisation for the Protection of Race and Religion – present themselves as defenders of the country’s interests and its Bamar majority against foreign influence in Myanmar.

While insisting that he is against violence, Ashin Wirathu and those like him have fuelled and exploited tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, promoting the belief that Islam is penetrating the country to install sharia law and leave Buddhists as a minority.

To make matters very difficult for Aung San Suu Kyi, some nationalists have begun smearing her by depicting her as “the Muslim lover”.

In a country that is 90% Buddhist there is little sympathy to be found for the Rohingya cause, and expressing support could be suicidal politically for Aung San Suu Kyi as the military could easily replace her and install a puppet civilian leader if she loses the support of the Buddhist majority. The reform processes going on in the country could suffer a major setback were this to happen. Many analysts seem to believe that powerful people in the Military with close links to radical monks are deliberately stirring up tensions between communities in an attempt to disrupt on going political reforms.

Indonesia’s big plastic cleanup involved 20,000 people in 76 locales

Scavengers collect valuable waste at Sidoarjo garbage dump in East Java, on June 5, 2018. About eight million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the world's oceans every year - the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic being tipped into the sea every minute... of every day. Over half comes from five Asian countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to a 2015 study in Science journal. Source: Juni Kriswanto/AFP

By Mongabay | 6th September 2018

“WE NEED to keep this river clean,” says Muhammad Yusuf, a fisheries official from Padang, the capital of the Indonesian province of West Sumatra.

“We’ve got to keep people from dumping trash here.”

Nearby, where the river meets the ocean, Padang’s idyllic beaches have become an eyesore, littered with plastic trash.

“We need to make better environmental decisions,” Muhammad says, picking a plastic bag from the water.

Muhammad was one of some 20,000 Indonesians who participated in “Face the Sea”, a one-day event held simultaneously in 76 locations across the country on Aug 19. The purpose of the event was to draw attention to the alarming spread of plastic waste in the oceans, and the need for better approaches to address the burgeoning crisis.

Indonesia is the world’s second-largest plastic polluter, after China. It produces 3.2 million tonnes of mismanaged plastic waste a year, 1.29 million tonnes of which ends up in the sea.

SEE ALSO: Seaweed, Indonesia’s answer to the global plastic crisis

Some 10 billion plastic bags in the Southeast Asian country alone, weighing 85,000 tons, are dumped into the environment each year, according to state figures.

Manta rays swim with plastics in Indonesia. Source: Marine Megafauna Foundation

Globally, ocean currents swirl the trash into giant garbage patches, the biggest of which, in the northern Pacific Ocean, is twice the size of Texas. Not a single square mile of the Earth’s ocean surface is plastic-free, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

When marine creatures like whales, sea turtles or fish mistake floating plastic waste for food, they swallow material they can’t digest. The plastic stays lodged in their guts for life, often to fatal effect.

At least 100,000 sea animals and 1 million seabirds die from eating plastic each year, according to Ocean Crusaders, an NGO.

If the dumping continues at this rate, by 2050, the plastic in the oceans will outweigh the fish, says another report.

In 2016, Indonesia rolled out a program in 23 cities, imposing a IDR200 (1 US cent) excise on plastic shopping bags. The plastic crisis is a growing issue in Indonesia, home to some 260 million people. The nation has pledged to reduce its output of plastic into the oceans 70 percent by 2025.

SEE ALSO: In Indonesia, commuters pay for the bus with plastic waste

The tax generated a 55 percent reduction in plastic waste over the three months it ran, according to the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement, an advocacy group.

But retailers refused to extend the pilot program after three months, suggesting it hurt their business and citing a weak legal basis.

Meanwhile, the government’s plan to impose a new tax — this time on the producers of plastic bags rather than the retailers who sell them — flopped last month amid opposition from manufacturers.

The lack of a major policy response is partly due to low awareness of the problem, observers say, which is what Face the Sea sought to address.

“This action demonstrates the public’s commitment to protecting the oceans,” Susi Pudjiastuti, the Indonesian fisheries minister, said in the coastal town of Bitung, in North Sulawesi province, where she led one of the simultaneous cleanup events.

Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Minister Susi Pudjiastuti hands out goggles to children during the Face the Sea event in Bitung in North Sulawesi province. Source: Themmy Doaly/Mongabay Indonesia.

Tiza Mafira, director of the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement, joined the cleanup in Ancol Beach, along North Jakarta’s heavily polluted coast. She said the trash collected would be sorted and managed by garbage banks and other parties.

In the neighbouring Gorontalo province, around 2,000 people turned out for another Face the Sea cleanup. The participants included local officials, fishermen, hotel workers, students from vocational schools, and members of the police and military. Goggles were handed out to children and fish distributed to community members as an enticement to participate.

SEE ALSO: How are Asian countries tackling plastic pollution?

Prevention is better than management, Tiza said. She encouraged Indonesians to choose reusable items over disposable plastics.

“The volume of waste collected in each place varies,” she said. She added she hoped to use the event as an opportunity to identify new sources of plastic leaking out into the sea.

Children work with adults to collect trash at Mertasari Beach in Sanur, Bali, during the Face the Sea event. Source: Luh De Suriyani/Mongabay Indonesia.

As part of the cleanup, WWF and a student group from nearby Udayana University helped 30 young people learn a waste-cataloguing system developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, an Australian government agency.

This information will become part of the Indonesian environment ministry’s marine waste database.

At Mertasari Beach in Sanur, a popular tourist destination in Bali, 832 people collected 1.2 tonnes of beach trash in two hours.

“With [a strong] community of young people, our work is more effective,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Japan, China worst contributors to plastic pollution at Pacific ‘plastic island’

Engaging young people is key to the government’s waste reduction strategy, said Permana Yudiarso, a fisheries official in Bali, where the Face the Sea day included a performance by Titi DJ, an Indonesian pop singer, and the supervised release of 150 turtle hatchlings into the sea.

Back in Padang, some 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) away, Muhammad Yusuf, the local official, expressed a similar view that more engagement was a missing ingredient in the fight against plastic pollution.

“We need to involve more of the public in cleanup efforts,” he said.

This story was republished from Mongabay. It was first published on its Indonesian site on Aug 20, 2018.

Friday, September 7, 2018

Sri Lanka denies cluster bomb use as it takes over presidency of Convention on Cluster Munitions

Deminers unearth a RBK-500 AO-2.5RT cluster bomb near Chalai. Photograph: The Guardian/Together Against Genocide

06Sep 2018

The Sri Lankan government continued to deny it has ever deployed cluster munitions, as it took over the presidency of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CMC) in Geneva this week.

Addressing the closing session of the Eighth Meeting of States Parties (8MSP) Ambassador A.L.A Azeez said Colombo had never used cluster munitions, despite evidence to the contrary.

Leaked photos obtained by the Guardian in 2016 showed demining teams excavating cluster munitions from Kilinochchi and Chalai in Mullaitivu, sites of heavy bombardment by Sri Lankan forces during the armed conflict. Though the Halo Trust did not comment on the photographs, it confirmed that it had recovered a total of 42 cluster munitions in several sites around the Tamil North-East during de-mining work in 2011 and 2012.

Despite the concern, Sri Lanka was chosen to take over the presidency of the CMC this week, with Azeez hailing the move as “historic”.

"Our leadership, built on the strength of national accomplishments, could serve as a catalyst for and inspire other countries to appreciate the value of peacebuilding and national advancement in realizing sustainable, peaceful and inclusive societies," he added.

See more in our feature: Leaked photos confirm cluster bomb use in Sri Lanka (19 Jun 2016)

Sri Lanka Perspectives: August 2018

A Colombo magistrate has directed the police to detain Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of the Defence Staff, for allegedly helping Chandana Hettiarachchi, a naval intelligence officer, accused of leading a hit squad that kidnapped 11 young men between 2008 and 2009 during the Eelam War.

by Col R Hariharan-Sep 8, 2018

PC election issues

( September 8, 2018, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The failure of the parliament to ratify the Delimitation Committee Report (DCR) introduced by the government on August 24 illustrates confusion in the ranks of the ruling national unity coalition. In a rare show of unanimity, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP), Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the Joint Opposition (JO) voted against the report. There was not a single vote in favour of the DCR, which required the support of two-thirds of members present in parliament. Though Local Government Minister, Faiszer Musthapha while presenting the report in parliament was vociferous in saying those who vote against the DCR would be despised as betrayers of the country, he changed his mind and voted against it!

The episode once again demonstrated the disconnect between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena, who had appointed a five-member committee, chaired by Dr K Thavalingam, to carry out the delimitation of Provincial Councils required for conducting elections by January 2019. According to media commentators Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had spearheaded the opposition to the report. However SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe dismissed such attempts to blame the PM for the vote against the report. He said all political parties were opposed to the report and there was no consensus among them.

The PC elections are to be held under the PC Election Amendment Act No 17 enacted last year. The elections would be held on the new 50:50mixed voting system, with 50 percent of the members elected under the First-Past-Post (FPP) system and 50 percent on the district level Proportional Representation (PR) system. Though the failure of the DCR to pass muster is explained as part of the ruling coalition’s new political strategy, the real reason is perhaps the new mixed voting system to be used in the PC elections. After suffering a severe drubbing in the local government elections held under the mixed system earlier this year, most of the political parties want the PC elections to be held under the existing PR system.

Finance minister Mangala Samaraweera had described their poor performance in LG polls as a “timely wake-up call to Yahapalana [good governance] government to get back on track.”

Three PCs – Eastern, North Central and Sabaraagamuwa are already under governor’s rule after the expiry of their term last year. The terms of three more PCs – Northern, Northwestern and Central – are ending in October 2018. The Western, Southern and Uva PCs will be completing their terms in 2019. Thus PC elections are expected to act as the performance score card of the unity government. So the unity coalition is probably buying time to shore up its image before going ahead with the PC elections. Civil society organizations have described the delay in conducting the elections as a denial of democratic rights of the people.

The President has repeatedly said the PC elections would be held by January 2019. However, the failure of the parliament to ratify the DCR would mean further delay in finalizing the delimitation process and the voting system. In a bid to clear the logjam, the speaker has appointed a five-member committee of ‘intellectuals’ headed by the Prime Minister for its recommendations on conducting the PC elections. However, the success of the ‘committee strategy’ would only work if and when the SLFP and UNP leadership are ready for it.

Japan’s strategic interest in Sri Lanka

Japan’s defence minister Itsunori Onedera made his first-ever visit to Sri Lanka from August 20 to 22 as part of Japan’s continuing effort to strengthen strategic cooperation with Sri Lanka. The Japanese minister called upon President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. He visited Trincomalee port, where a Japanese naval ship Ikazuchi was on a friendly visit. According to a NHK television interview with the defence minister after he met with the Sri Lankan president and prime minister, the minister is said to have raised the issue of Hambantota coming under Chinese control. The NHK quoted Onedera as saying, “despite the lease [of Hambantota] there was an agreement that the port remains free of military activities.” This would indicate China looming large in Japan’s efforts to build close relations with Sri Lanka.

Japan has been one of Sri Lanka’s main development partners and largest donors. Japan’s interest in building strategic relations with the island nation increased earlier this year with the visit of Admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, chief of staff of Japanese Self Defence Forces to Sri Lanka. During President Sirisena’s visit to Japan in March 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to further strengthen cooperation with Sri Lanka as part of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy to counter China’s increasingly muscular assertion in the region. It was welcomed by President Sirisena.

The Japanese strategy aims at enhancing connectivity between Asia and Africa to promote stability and prosperity of the region a whole. Areas of cooperation include counterterrorism, capacity building of law enforcement authorities and countermeasures against violent extremism. Japan has agreed to help Sri Lanka’s maritime training and capacity building.

By virtue of its location astride sea lanes of Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka occupies an important place in Japan’s Indian Ocean strategy for securing Indian Ocean sea lanes of shipping. India also shares similar concern. So it was not surprising that Japan invited Sri Lanka to participate as an observer in the joint exercise of coast guards of Japan and India. This would indicate the importance Japan attaches to maritime security in its relationship with Sri Lanka.

The US is also a partner in Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Interestingly, around the same time as the Japanese defence minister’s visit USS Anchorage, a US amphibious ship was exercising with Sri Lanka Navy ships off Trincomalee. Recently, the US had announced that the US would be funding Sri Lanka to the tune of $14 million as part of more than $100 million that would be allotted to South Asia. The focus of the funding would be on issues like maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster response, peace keeping capabilities and countering transnational crime, which were “key for a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Tailpiece: A Colombo magistrate has directed the police to detain Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Chief of the Defence Staff, for allegedly helping Chandana Hettiarachchi, a naval intelligence officer, accused of leading a hit squad that kidnapped 11 young men between 2008 and 2009 during the Eelam War. According to the criminal investigation department there was evidence of Admiral’s role in allowing the accused to evade arrest.

Col R Hariharan, a retired MI officer, served as the head of Intelligence of the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 90. He is associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies, South Asia Analysis Group and the International Law and Strategic Analysis Institute, Chennai. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com Blog: http://col.hariharan.info

Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, September 2018 | www.security-risks.com

OMP WANTS OFFICERS ACCUSED OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES SUSPENDED & URGENT AND IMMEDIATE RELIEF TO FAMILIES OF INVOLUNTARILY DISAPPEARED

07/09/2018

In its first interim report, the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) recommended the government to suspend state officials including members of the armed forces and police who were named as suspects or accused in criminal actions relating to abductions and enforced disappearances, pending the final determination of such cases.

The OMP report said the government should ensure that suspected officials are not transferred, promoted or offered any other office in the armed forces, police or the public service while cases against them are pending.

“Some individuals suspected of having committed enforced disappearances and related offences are being permitted to remain in positions of power, especially within the armed forces and the police, where they can influence the progress of investigations. There have been instances where members of the armed forces, who were willing to provide information on disappearances, were subjected to harassment,” it said.

The OMP said that in at least one case, an officer of the armed forces who is a suspect in an on-going court case relating to abductions and enforced disappearances has neither been suspended nor removed from exercising the duties and functions of his office.

“There are reports that in at least one case, an officer has been granted a promotion within the armed forces, while the case against him is still pending. The OMP notes that under relevant regulations as well as the rules and established practices, it is reasonably expected for such suspected officers to be suspended from exercising the duties and functions of their office,” it said.

OMP Recommendations under ‘Investigation and Prosecution’ also included expediting and giving highest priority to prosecutions and other ongoing cases involving enforced disappearances.

It said all incidents of arbitrary arrest, torture and deaths in custody should be investigated.

While urging the government to recognize the continuing nature of enforced disappearances, the OMP recommended the government to immediately formulate policies to provide interim relief to the family members of the missing persons.

These interim relief included financial aid programmes, debt relief programmes, housing development programmes, educational support programmes and also an employment quota of 1% within the state sector for the family members of the victims.

“It is duly noted that interim relief in the form of welfare or other measures does not amount to reparations. Victims retain their right to reparations even if they accept interim relief from the State,” the report said.

A National Day for the Disappeared, preserving mass grave sites as memorial spaces and restoring ‘Ahinsakaramaya’ – Memorial for the Innocents – in Battaramulla in a manner that reflects the views of the public as well as the families of the missing and the disappeared were also recommended.
In terms of the Office for Reparations, the OMP said the proposed Office will play a pivotal role in providing redress to victims of the missing and the disappeared as well as others affected by the conflict.

“An independent Office for Reparations with a robust mandate and strong implementation powers is urgently required. The OMP urges the Parliament to strengthen the Office for Reparations Bill and ensure its prompt enactment and formulate operations,” the report said. (By Lahiru Pothmulla) DM
Sri Lanka OMP recommends urgent and immediate relief to families of involuntarily disappeared

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in Sri Lanka, established to address the many cases of missing and disappeared, has recommended the Government provide urgent and immediate relief to the families of the involuntarily disappeared as their current socio-economic situation is dire.

The OMP, which prepared an interim report on their work during the past six months, handed over the report to President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday and released it to the public online yesterday.

The interim report, which also recommends interim measures to provide relief and reparation to the families affected by the disappearances of their loved ones, said the current socio-economic situation of many families of the missing and the disappeared is dire and cannot wait until a final reparations scheme is devised and a key set of measures is required in the interim to provide urgent and immediate relief to the families.

The report also noted that in addition, there is an overwhelming demand and need for investigation and prosecution of enforced disappearances.

“These are not merely crimes of the past but are of a continuing nature until the fate of the missing or their whereabouts are clarified,” it said.

Therefore, it is urgent for the State to ensure an adequate legal framework and empower relevant State actors to discharge their functions to ensure prompt and effective investigations and prosecutions.

The OMP has recommended the Government to implement a financial aid program to provide a monthly living allowance of Rs. 6,000 to the immediate family of the missing or disappeared person who have no permanent income.

The OMP has also recommended implementing separate programs for families of the missing or disappeared on debt relief, housing development, educational support, vocational training and livelihood development.

It has also recommended introduction of an employment quota of 1% within the State sector in order to facilitate family members of the missing and disappeared who have requisite skills when vacancies in the public and semi-governmental sectors are being filled.

In recognition of the urgent need for justice and accountability, the OMP recommended enforcing and amending the Disappearances Act to recognise the continuing nature of enforced disappearances and allowing the OMP, along with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and law enforcement authorities, to have access to places where persons are being detained among several other measures.

The OMP recommended the Government to expedite and give highest priority to prosecutions and other ongoing cases involving enforced disappearances and investigate all incidents of arbitrary arrest, torture and deaths in custody.

In recognition of the long-term pain and suffering of families of the missing and the disappeared, as well as the need for the people of Sri Lanka to recognise that many thousands of people belonging to all communities disappeared over several decades, the OMP recommends the Government to designate a ‘National Day for the Disappeared’.

The Government Information Department yesterday released an image of President Maithripala Sirisena reading newspapers in the Parliament library. The Information Department said that while the Joint Opposition struggled to bring in supporters to Colombo for yesterday’s protest, President Sirisena, who visited Parliament to attend an event, took time off to go to the library. (ColomboPage)

Northern Provincial Council: Fiduciary Responsible?

C.V. Wigneswaran

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

As far back as in October 2014, President Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the Northern Provincial Council government of hampering the development of the Northern Province. His specific charge was that “the government has provided a significant amount of services for the welfare of people in the North” and that “They are not allowing us to do our work and they are not doing work either … The Chief Minister of the NPC and his administration are hindering the development work in the North in fear of losing votes from the general public (DBS Jeyaraj, 12 Oct.2014).

In March 2016 the JHU’s Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe claimed “that Chief Minister Wigneswaran had spent only 20 per cent of the allocations for the development of the Northern Province last year. The Chief Minister had returned the balance 80 per cent to the Treasury at the end of the year.”

TNA sources say that year was an aberration and that the monies are very carefully spent. Many confirm that it was indeed an aberration. However, a fresh issue has come up over health insurance for NPC Members. Did the NPC act with fiduciary responsibility in that use of funds for Members?

These health insurance premiums were provided for just one year from 1 Aug. 2017 to 31 July 2018. The premiums from NPC funds amounted to Rs. 25,93, 669.96. That is, each of the 38 NPC members was purchased insurance for Rs. 68,254.

Reimbursements for medical costs to members amounted to a small fraction of this. The details of the main recipients whose reimbursements exceeded or came close to costs are, based on RTI information: Rs. 5,00,000 for the Chief minister, Rs. 3,20,000 for the Opposition leader, Rs. 1,66,000 in two claims for Member Sivajilingam, and Rs. 60,000 for Member Sivayoham. That is a clear profit of Rs. 15 lakhs for the insurance company.

One Jaffna resident, a service-oriented doctor, said, “While NPC Members treat themselves like this to top class medical attention, ordinary folk lack that luxury.”

A government doctor into extensive private practice saw nothing wrong: “Insurance companies need to make money if they are to provide services. Do you think we need to provide free services to those involved in gang fights?”

He was referring to the incident around 6:00 am yesterday, 06 Sept 2018, at Kalliyankaadu. Ten men on 5 motorbikes had attacked the occupants of 4 houses with swords. Reports indicate that a person in Nallur had, about a month back, been attacked by a gang and that this was a counter attack for revenge.

Among the houses attacked yesterday, one was attacked by mistake. In that house, 24 year old Selvarajah Sujeevan had been lying down sick. He received four deep hacks and was in very bad condition at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. His father, Veluppillai Selvarajah also was cut very badly. One Sarojinidevy aged sixty from another house was injured likewise.

Rs. 12.4 b supplementary estimate presented to P’ment

Rs. 11.4 b allocated for fertiliser subsidy

By Ashwin Hemmathagama -Saturday, 8 September 2018

A supplementary allocation of a total of Rs. 12.4 billion was presented to the Parliament yesterday seeking House approval of the expenses incurred during 1 July to 15 August, provisioning 13 different programs and purposes.

The key allocations, which were looking for House approval includes the additional allocation of Rs. 11.4 billion for Agriculture Ministry for the expenditure of the fertiliser subsidy, Rs. 6.31 million to shoulder the expenditure of post-harvest management and value addition of fruits in Sri Lanka for the SAARC program, Rs. 4 million to meet the expenditure of rehabilitation, improvement and acquisition of capital assets, and Rs. 121.2 million to settle the outstanding commitments of the Paddy Marketing Board in year 2017.

Supplementary allocations are being provided in terms of Clause 6 (1) of the Appropriation Act as required. These are provided strictly for the purposes specified in approved Budget estimates to relevant spending agencies having carried out a needs assessment, giving consideration to relevant financial regulations, and approved procedures.

However, the supplementary provision presented yesterday did not change the approved total expenditure limits of the annual estimate by Parliament. The allocation of such purposes has been made under the Project of Budgetary Support Services and Contingent Liabilities of the Department of National Budget, and it is under the limit of the Approved Annual Budget. Therefore, either the borrowing limit or the maximum limit of total expenditure will not be increased due to granting of these supplementary provisions. The purpose of this provision is to facilitate the smooth conduct of public finance management in a more efficient and effective manner.

P’ment approves salary hike for Auditor General

Rs. 50,000 additional allowance to also be paid

Government yesterday moved a motion in Parliament to increase the salary and other allowances given to Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe.

Accordingly Wijesinghe will be placed on the eighth grade of the SL-4 Salary Scale of the Public Administration Circular No. 06/2006 with effect from 27 November 2015. He will also be paid salaries under the SL-4 Salary Scale converted as instructed in the Public Administration Circular No. 03/2016 when the conversion of salaries is effected as per the said Circular with effect from 1 January 2016, and is to be paid annual salary increments as specified under the said salary scale.

He is also to be paid a special monthly allowance of Rs. 50, 000 in addition to the salary and other allowances, which is entitled to the post of Auditor General.

With the Parliament approval, Gamini Wijesinghe will be paid the aforesaid monthly salary and allowances to be charged from the Consolidated Fund of the Government in terms of Article 153 (2) of the Constitution.

Moving the motion, State Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ajith Perera said: “We promised to establish an Audit Commission when we came into power. With the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, an Audit Commission was established. Subsequently, we were able to pass the Audit Bill. The Auditor General is the key person responsible for the State finances. His independent appointment and removal are protected in the Constitution. This motion intends to strengthen the salary and allowances of the Auditor General. We have also recommended an additional allowance of Rs. 50,000.” (AH)

DISCOURAGING UNCONSCIONABLE STRIKES

2018-09-08

The citizens of this country are utterly disappointed by the government’s pusillanimous responses to the profusion of unconscionable strikes that are called by various groups that cause immense inconvenience and hardship, loss of time and money, and even deprivation of life and limb of fellow citizens. The timing and nature of most of the strikes that have taken place over the past 3-4 years indicate that the motivation behind them is less the direct self-interest of the strikers and more the unscrupulous political objectives of their leaders.

The first step that must be taken to deal with strikes by State employees is for the President and the Prime Minister to act together in a manner that is consistent with their powerful but interdependent positions. They must stop pussy-footing in the face of threats by crooked strike leaders whose demands get more and more outrageous in the face of hesitant governmental responses. These two most senior elected personages should stop fighting each other for their personal benefit, give much less importance to elections and their candidatures for presidency, and work more for the country. They should cut down severely on their excessive overseas visits, most of which have contributed little or no perceptible benefit to

Sri Lanka and, instead, spend more time to deal constructively to stop strikes taking place. Most of all, they have to cooperate with each other and not allow anything they say or do to undermine the position of the other, however subtly such things are done. There could be nothing more advantageous to their common opponents than to see these two powerful entities back-stabbing each other whilst uncontrolled strikes continue to destroy any semblance of serious governance and economic growth.

Giving in to the demands presented by one group of strikers often leads to a domino-type succession of fresh strikes called by other groups trying to get to the head of the queue. Piecemeal solutions given to strikers’ demands almost automatically sow the seeds of an unwelcome harvest of new strikes. Therefore, if one wishes to forestall the domino effect of a settlement of one group’s grievances leading to an immediate call by some other group to make corresponding enhancements of its own remuneration and benefits, it would be imperative to have a comprehensive, balanced, legally-enforceable, overall schedule of remuneration and benefits covering all employee classifications.

Giving in to the demands presented by one group of strikers often leads to a domino-type succession of fresh strikes called by other groups trying to get to the head of the queue

If one’s memory were to be relied upon, about two decades ago, Mr. Tissa Devendra was appointed to head a committee that was tasked with working out an equitable system of grading and rewarding all public servants. Unfortunately, political stupidity brought this exercise to a premature halt. President Sirisena has now appointed a high-powered committee to do something on similar lines before the end of October this year. Whereas this is a commendable move, it is doubtful whether the views of all affected parties could be collected and evaluated objectively for inclusion in the committee’s report within the short time available. Consequently, there is bound to be a need soon thereafter for clarification and amplification of the proposals that the new committee may be expected to put forward.
In the circumstances, apart from what is being done hurriedly, legislation should be brought in to classify all State employment as being of a fundamentally “essential” character so that all those in State employment shall be bound by certain overall rules that would ensure conformity with this concept. There should be a formal mechanism for examining, within a specified time frame, all claims that could lead to strike action and a strict procedure set out to be followed both by potential strikers and by the government to help arrive at a timely solution.

It is plain common-sense that the absence of employees in any department whatsoever of government at a time when they should be at work inevitably results in wasted effort, wasted time and wasted money for members of the public who require official inputs of a thousand different kinds. Delays in securing official endorsement and approvals could mean that affected citizens could, in certain situations, suffer life-changing reverses. Any responsible person could readily envisage the damaging impact of such setbacks in countless critical situations. If the principle that all public servants are “essential” is enforced, any of them going on strike, without following clearly set out procedures for resolving whatever claims they may put forward from time to time, would be a violation of their terms of employment and a serious anti-social act for which there should be deterrent punishment. In this context, the most effective disincentive that would inhibit trade unions and other organised groups from breaking contracts irresponsibly or with an illegitimate collateral purpose would be the confiscation of property of not only the leaders of the illegally-striking unions or similar groupings but the individual strikers as well. Most specifically, any demand that is not strictly and solely related to the legitimate welfare of the strikers alone should be made a crime. In the current context, the most glaring example of a trade union that insists on blackmailing the government and the people of Sri Lanka to accommodate the political agendas of its leaders rather than the protection of the rights of its members is the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA). We have, in an earlier article, equated its methods with those of the LTTE and the ISIS whose principal weapon of persuasion involved putting the lives of innocent civilians in extreme peril. The GMOA’s methodology has worsened in the interim.

It would, of course, not be enough to have a wide-ranging document that assigns pay scales and perquisites in keeping with the qualifications, special skills, age limits, work experience, physical risks faced, uncongenial conditions of work and so on. There would need to be appropriate complementary documents that set out the conditions of service and the rules to be observed, individually and collectively, by all employees to resolve administrative errors and unjust treatment. There is already a large volume of official rules and regulations and all that would be required would be the careful revision and editing of this material to suit the new mechanism and procedures.

Although all State employment must, without exception, be classified as “essential”, it would be necessary, for practical reasons, to subdivide the types of services rendered by State employees into three broad categories and to adjust the remuneration and conditions of employment in keeping with the different responsibilities, risks and hours of work that each category would have to take on, as briefly outlined below.

Category 1 of the “essential” services would be those whose place of work and the number of hours to be worked are those that would apply to those engaged almost exclusively in administrative or other regular work. They would not be exposed to any significant work-related risks. About the only time that they would be called upon to work outside their offices and routine “rounds” would be if and when they are called upon to perform election duties.

There needs to be a comparative evaluation of the degree of disruptiveness to the life of the employee that would be inherent in the many different types of jobs in government service and appropriate categorization should be worked out on the lines suggested above

Category 2 of the “essential” services would be those whose working hours are controlled by timetables, as in the transport business, or who have to work shifts to run public utilities such as the supply, distribution and maintenance of electricity, water and so on during nights, weekends, public holidays etc. Moreover, some doctors, some nurses, most customs officials and immigration officials may also fit into this classification.

Category 3 would be those who not only have to work in the areas of maintaining law and order, fire-fighting, armed services and so on, but are often called upon to work irregular, long hours and occasionally face risk of death and injury from criminals, terrorists, protestors, strikers and other sources. Bomb disposal is another speciality within this group.

In summary, all government employment must be considered to be “essential”. There needs to be a comparative evaluation of the degree of disruptiveness to the life of the employee that would be inherent in the many different types of jobs in government service and appropriate categorization should be worked out on the lines suggested above. An overall organisational structure and corresponding rewards should be fashioned so as to match the combination of qualifications, experience, responsibilities, working hours, job-related risks and so on to help assign suitable positions in government service to the different categories. There must be a streamlined mechanism and simple procedures to solve differences between the State and its employees without allowing any wounds to fester out of control indefinitely, especially by ministers who procrastinate because they do not possess the skills to deal with human resources problems.

President, PM must stop pussy-footing in the face of threats by crooked strike leaders
Any demand that is not strictly and solely related to the legitimate welfare of the strikers alone should be made a crime
Need a streamlined mechanism to solve differences between the State and its employees