Siriliya Saviya Foundation vehicle used in abduction - CID tells Court

Lakmal Sooriyagoda and Shavini Madhara-Friday, September 21, 2018

The CID conducting investigations into the murder of former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen yesterday informed Court that there is reliable information to support the fact that a Defender vehicle given to the Siriliya Saviya Foundation had been used to abduct Wasim Thajudeen.

Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dilan Ratnayake appearing on behalf of the CID made this revelation, when the magisterial inquiry into the murder of former Havelock’s Rugby captain was taken up before Colombo Additional Magistrate Isuru Neththikumara.

Filing a further report in Court, DSG Ratnayake told Court that the CID has commenced an investigation regarding three vehicles while left from the Office of the Presidential Secretariat and Temple Trees on the night Thajudeen’s murder took place. On a previous occasion, the CID had filed a ‘B’ report before the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court regarding a Defender vehicle bearing number plate WP KA-0642 found in Homagama belonging to the Siriliya Saviya Foundation. The investigations have revealed that the original colour of the vehicle have been altered on two occasions.

DSG Ratnayake further stated that the CID has sought an analytical report pertaining to Thajudeen’s mobile phone and laptop as a part of the investigation into the murder and they were yet to receive it. Further magisterial inquiry was fixed for November 29.

Former Western Province Senior DIG Anura Senanayake, former Narahenpita Crimes OIC Sumith Champika Perera and former Colombo Chief Medical Officer Prof.Ananda Samarasekara had been named as first, second and third suspects of this case respectively. They were arrested over their alleged role in the cover up of evidence in the former rugby player Wasim Thajudeen murder and conspiring to commit the murder. They are currently out on bail.

While delivering the verdict, former Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris on February 25, 2016 ruled that the death appeared to be a murder and ordered the CID Director to immediately arrest all suspects involved in the incident and produce them before Courts.

Thajudeen was killed, apparently, in a road accident in Colombo on May 17, 2012.

The CID had informed court that investigations conducted so far had revealed that Thajudeen’s teeth had been broken, the bones in the pelvic region also broken and his neck pierced with a sharp instrument prior to his death.

The CID added that the muscles in his legs had been cut with a piece of a broken class. Earlier, Police maintained that Thajudeen was driving to the airport and had lost control of his car and crashed into the wall of Shalika Grounds at Park Road, Narahenpita, and that his vehicle had exploded within seconds of the crash.

Presidential outbursts and falling through the rabbit hole

 

unday, September 16, 2018

It is difficult not to be exasperated by the constant bewailing of what is wrong about the functioning of Government institutions by leaders of the Government, no less.

 

Endless illusions of justice

 

It is almost as if the coalition alliance is perpetually in Opposition mode, a part of which is noisily quarreling with each other and the other part, occupied in reciting a long litany of woes. This is despite the fact that the responsibility for redressing those failures lie only with them, none other. That is until a sadder and sorrier bunch of rascals occupy seats in power, the ghastly possibility of which we saw earlier this month with intoxicated supporters of the Joint Opposition occupying the streets of the capital city.

 

But at this time, the feelings of bewilderment that assails law abiding citizens in this land must probably be akin to what Alice felt when she fell down the Rabbit Hole. As she ruminated during that fall; ‘how curious… I never realized that rabbit holes were so dark . . . and so long . . . and so empty’, we can only empathise with that emptiness when dealing with endless illusions of justice, exhibited through a charade of court appearances, startling media headlines proclaiming the imminent arrest of this one or that one while systemic impunity continues with nary a pause.

 

A case in point concerns the uneasily frequent outbursts of publically displayed annoyance that President Maithripala Sirisena has seen fit to engage in during the past month. It is conceded that a certain measure of understanding is necessary in regard to the predicament that the President finds himself in when messy financial scandals surrounding state institutions erupt as a result of non-governance by the United National Party side of the coalition. But this understanding has its limits nonetheless.

 

A spluttering anti-corruption process

 

To be fair, the widely reported Presidential fury over inedible cashews being served to him during a Sri Lankan flight some weeks ago was manifested in the midst of addressing a farmers’ meeting in the deep South and in the context of prioritizing local produce which has been a staple of his policies. This context, together with the collateral fact that the supplying of cashews to the national carrier had been given to a foreign supplier rather than sourced domestically, was unfortunately lost sight of by cartoonists and social media satirists engaging in ridiculing this remark.

 

But other exhibitions of Presidential irritation are not so easily explained away. So when the President warns public officials and politicians not to take bribes and issues a dire threat that he knows why certain projects are not being implemented, directing his focus to the Gin-Nilwala project for example this week, the question arises as to why this knowledge is not constructively directed to the authorities who are statutorily mandated with investigating such allegations in order that this becomes a matter of public record?

 

We have had Presidents in office before (Chandrika Kumaratunga was one example) making similar proclamations but to little practical effect. Where bribery and corruption is alleged against politicians in power and sitting public officials, the legal process must be enabled to move swiftly and efficiently rather than with spluttering hesitancy and peppered by political pronouncements by the executive. This is what characterizes the highly effective anti-corruption processes of Hong Kong and Singapore for example.

 

The problem of arrests without charges

 

Meanwhile, there are far more ominous undertones in President Sirisena’s ire directed this week at the Criminal Investigations Department and the Attorney General’s Department reportedly for detaining senior military officials without charges being filed against them or statements being recorded from them. At the centre of this furore were reports of the impending arrest of the country’s chief of defence staff. The Presidential position taken is that these military officials deserve to be treated fairly.

 

At its core, this argument is no doubt, meritorious. Sri Lankan law as contained in the Constitution as well as statute and buttressed by the well-established cursus curiae of the  Supreme Court is that deprivation of liberty must only be after due and proper investigation. As the Court has peremptorily declared, no citizen can be ‘arrested on vague suspicion in circumstances that shows a reckless disregard for his right to personal liberty’ (per Amerasinghe J in Sirisena Cooray v Chandrananda de Silva, 1997). This was a seminal precedent in illustrating the important of the constitutional protection ‘elevated’ in Article 13(1) to the status of a fundamental principle, namely that each person shall be informed of the reasons for arrest.

 

And as explained further by the Court, the giving of reasons does not merely mean a citation of the provision under which a person is arrested. Rather, it involves a proper investigations and objective grounds for arrest. In fact, it was judicially observed that when the relevant provision of the Indian Constitution were being discussed in the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Ambedkar who was the ‘moving spirit’ behind the draft had explained to the Assembly on September 15, 1949 that this was being done because this right was one of the “most fundamental principles which every civilized country follows”

 

Where is equal outrage in other cases?

 

That said, it must also be said however that this right attaches itself to all citizens. No special privilege in this regard can be accorded to military officers. So on this same reasoning, the scores of Tamil civilians languishing in remand prison for years without charges being served on them or the pitiful Sinhalese dock labourer who is shoved into prison and tortured without any charges being served on him, are surely deserving of the same Presidential outrage that is directed against military officers who are arrested in similar circumstances. That is what the Rule of Law is all about, stripped down to its bare minimum.

 

In sum, ensuring that fairness ensues to all citizens in equal measure in criminal investigation and detention procedures is the basic duty of the State. It will be well if this is kept in mind by the executive and the legislative branches in this country. But in the dismal interim thereto, we can only chant along with Alice as she plummeted through the Rabbit Hole and muttered, ‘I must be getting somewhere near the center of the earth. I wonder if I shall fall right through the earth! How funny that would be. Oh, I think I see the bottom. Yes, I’m sure I see the bottom. I shall hit the bottom, hit it very hard, and oh, how it will hurt!’

 

Doubtless the time for Sri Lanka hitting ‘the bottom very hard’ is none too distant. Certainly the hurt that this will inflict on the nation will be unparalleled, even when assessed against its gritty history.

Stiff opposition to Chaturika’s grotesque conduct usurping media authority ! ITN chief unyielding and steadfast !!

(Lanka e News – 20.Sep.2018, 5.10AM) It is an incontrovertible fact that President Gamarala since the day he became president has been breaking every promise he made to the people , antagonizing those who propelled him to power, befriending the very enemies who wanted to send him six feet underground, and was undoing everything what the UNP was trying to do to fulfill the promises made to the people.

Now , his latest diabolic move in the series is his leaving no stone unturned to shield and safeguard most ruthless criminals giving all the obnoxious illegal instructions ignoring even court directives thereby recklessly compromising the country’s international image and the national symbol on a scale as never before.

To make confusion worse confounded , the president is using his uneducated daughter to give absolutely unlawful instructions , and appoint various individuals to positions above the duly appointed chairpersons of the State media Institutions , with the result the entire administrative machinery of the State is at sixes and sevens.

Chaturika barges into Vocational Training Authority too. ….

Chaturika Sirisena who is lately running helter skelter in a sudden frenzy has stormed into the Vocational Training Authority on the 14 th before her barging into the Rupavahini TV station on the 17 th. While the chairman of the training authority was out of the Island she had issued unlawful directives. Chaturika who has yet to learn how to make a dish of palatable curry has acted most high handedly to give advice to the board of directors. The photographs herein depict the mad scenes created by Chuturika.

The riffraff Raveen of Chaturika faces humiliation …

Meanwhile Raveen Wickremeratne the notorious Blue brigand rogue who was appointed over and above even the Raupavahini chairman by Chaturika when she broke into Rupavahini on the 17 th , faced the humiliation and degrading treatment he merited when he arrived at the Rupavahini on 18 th to assume duties , according to reports reaching Lanka e News.

Though Chaturika riding the high horse gave instructions to make a cubicle available for Raveen when she broke into the Rupavahini , the chairperson of Rupavahani was instructed by her immediate superior the minister of media not to consent to any illegal directives.

It is a well known fact that there is a procedure to be followed legally when making such appointments. It cannot be done in the way uneducated brutes and brats want. At least there must be an appointment letter from the media minister’s secretary . How can an appointment be made merely on the instruction of an individual who holds no official post in the state hierarchy and just a housewife even if she is president’s daughter ?

Sadly , Raveen who arrived at the Rupavahini early morning with his cronies had to go back crestfallen and humiliated at about 11.30 a.m. as no cubicle was made available to him. But before leaving he had crept into the director board room , and told after summoning some officers that he was there because nothing is being done by the Institution to boost president’s image. When he said that , one officer in the audience had retorted ‘ it is we who indefatigably worked risking even our lives to propel president to power. Hence we know what should be done. So please do not try to teach us that. Will you kindly tell us where you were at that time ? he had inquired from Raveen . The latter who was nonplused had said , ‘I am drawing a salary of Rs. 600,000.00 at Rupavahini . This is of no use to me. I came here because Chaturika wanted .’ Finally this ace confirmed rogue had left even without being offered a seat to sit.

ITN’s chairperson of dignity and integrity

Meanwhile , Chaturika who was anxiously waiting to barge into the ITN on the 17 th received a response from its chairperson which blew Chaturika ‘s top off.

ITN chairperson Thilaka Jayasundara is an additional secretary of the State administrative service. She had told , she has no mandate to give orders to invite her administrative authority and hold a meeting with Chaturika who is sans any official powers. If a meeting is to be held, her minister in charge of her own Institution should advise her . Without such permission she is not prepared to allow Chaturika or anyone else to do what she/ he wants, Ms. Jayasundara had informed Chaturika’s henchmen . Chaturika had thereafter postponed her barging and charging into the ITN.

It is a pity president Pallewatte Gamarala who brags and boasts that he has 40 years experience does not know how the affairs of the State administrative service should be conducted. These incidents bear ample testimony to this . Besides , he is even unable to control his own blood relatives inflated with pride based on his powers. This became very evident at the very beginning on January 9th 2015 , when his younger brother sought to become the chairman of Telecom. He behaved most grotesquely without following any ethical code, let alone established procedures. He is such an imbecile that he went and sat in the chairman’s seat with just a letter from the president brother , and said ‘ I am the chairman now’ because of his inordinate greed for the post , a position that serves his venal inclinations best. It is subsequently , after degrading himself , the letter of appointment was duly prepared . Can you beat that ! even before the minister in charge was appointed , this moron (younger brother of His Excellency the president of SL) went and sat in the chairman’s seat ! It is such an idiot who is now holding sway at the Telecom.That was as soon as the government was installed in power . But the position is different now. It is learnt as a remedy , the president is now desperately looking for an opening to appoint Chaturika officially under him. In all probability it will be the post of coordinating secretary displacing Shiral Lakthileke whom president wants to chase out as soon as possible.

Despotic trend is most portentous …

No matter what , the deplorable attempts made by president Pallewatte Gamarala to bring the State media Institutions under his autocratic control without any discussions with anyone in the government is being intensely frowned upon and absolutely resented by the ministers of the government who are most dismayed.

President Gamarala who is brazenly and shamelessly issuing unlawful instructions to shield and safeguard most deadly criminals who committed mass murders ,while denting and damaging the country’s most precious national symbol and image internationally , now trying to bring the State media Institutions under him using his uneducated daughter through foul methods signals grave portents to the country . It is high time the UNP backbencher radicals remain constantly vigilant to ward off the desperate embattled Gamarala’s tricks and treacheries which have now reached alarming proportions ..

Most probably , Gamarala and his uneducated daughter’s dictatorial actions may end up deciding the destiny of the government because it has already been concluded , the P.M. having discussions on these matters with the president is futile.

---------------------------
by     (2018-09-19 23:49:40)

Red flag over the Sri Lankan Navy

A response to Rusiripala

“What is unhuman is inhuman, what is palpably criminal is palpably so irrespective of the status of offenders. That is the Rule of Law and that is the foundation of the Yahapalanaya concept.”

Shocking story

Friday, 21 September 2018

Rusiripala, a former banker in Sri Lanka, who has taken to writing in Daily FT, is perturbed by the red flag I have raised (Daily FT article 18 September) over the shocking charge that our Navy had operated a ransom gang that had abducted and killed 11 persons including children for ransom.

That shock was compounded into an unbelievable magnitude when another charge had been recorded by the CID that the Navy Chief of Defence may have tried to shelve the offender; and still worse, when suspicions arose that no lesser a personage than President Sirisena had been trying to shelve the issue and reprimand the CID. Al Jazeera picked this story because it saw its news- shock value. I am sure many world leaders were aghast. But not Rusiripala!

Bond case

I guess Rusiripala found it uncomfortable that this incident occurred during the family regime of the Rajapaksas and under the watch of Gotabaya, his Viyathmaga leader. What is unhuman is inhuman, what is palpably criminal is palpably so irrespective of the status of the offenders. That is the Rule of Law and that is the foundation of the Yahapalanaya concept.

Rusiripala had held high office in the old regime. He mentions my response over the much-hyped bond case. Yes, I did respond to Rusiripala when he emailed me with his own private report about the bond issue while the Presidential Commission was investigating it. Knowing that this banker had been campaigning against the Yahapalanaya Government and Ranil Wickremesinghe, implicating the latter in what he described as a “massive fraud,” I politely wrote back telling him that I prefer to see the conclusions of a formal investigating body than read the views of individual persons.

The Commission’s findings are now out for all to see. To the consternation of Rusiripala, neither the UNP Government nor its leader had been implicated in the findings. The suspects are in custody and the money involved is frozen with no loss so far caused to the Government. I would follow up with Rusiri and tell him that the actual guilt or otherwise has yet to be determined and that that can be done only by a court enquiring under judicial procedure. Besides, a forensic study must be completed for the court to allocate any guilt.

I am aware of a forensic expert here who explained that there wasn’t any fraud as such in this case although there was a clear case of conflict of interest. Hence, Rusiri must wait a little more patiently before he jumps to final conclusions.

The Navy story

Back to the Navy case, I stand by my view expressed that the President had erred badly in his judgment here and that there is prima facie evidence that he had attempted to protect the Navy Chief of Defence, who had been summoned by the CID for questioning. The latter could never have left the island for overseas without the permission and knowledge of the President.  President Sirisena should never have assumed that the latter was treated on a political agenda of the CID; his brash lash of all top-level investigating bodies – FCID, CID, etc. – had been embarrassingly unwarranted and irresponsible. President Sirisena should have summoned the CID to discuss this matter and to hear their side of the story before his outburst. His jumping the gun unveils his intent and was beneath his dignity.

Says Rusiripala, “The treatment to be given to the Chief-of-Defence Staff was different. There is serious concern about possible ulterior motives behind this move. He was summoned by a CID officer even without informing the next higher up in status line at least for protocol sake.”

The CID is under no obligation to ask others. There aren’t protocols involved here. Had the charge been that the officer murdered his wife and put her in the car boot, does the Police go and follow protocols? Rusiripala has misunderstood the role of protocols altogether. The cat will be out if of the bag if that be done. This is common sense. Here in Australia, ministers and archbishops are arrested without resort to protocol wherever serious issues of fraud, sexual abuse or assault are involved.

Rusiripala must understand the operation of the Rule of Law under which nobody is above the law – regardless of his office. Probably having been used to Rajapaksa rule, Rusiri isn’t accustomed to the new order that Yahapalanaya announced on 8 January. We of the civil movement for good governance are waiting for the completion of that process by eliminating the immunity granted to the President.

We congratulate our efforts when we observe how high profile Ministers like Ravi Karunanayake are summoned by the CID and how once big guns in the family regime like Gotabaya are also summoned. The Yahapalanaya and its ingrained Rule of Law concept rules out big men-small men discriminations when it comes to the administration of justice. That is how it should be.

Ranaviru logic

Rusiripala echoes President Sirisena’s Ranaviru logic. He states, “The people of this country both in the war-affected areas and down south equally respect the Army and the senior officials for what they have done to save the country from a group of the worst bloodthirsty terrorists who shook the whole world.”

While I have myself great love for the soldiers who fought and won the war, I have demonstrated the absurdity of the logic that soldiers who commit crimes in a civil context must be exempted from any consequential punishment. I like to forward here an extract of my reasoning as that appears in my article:

The weakness of an argument can be demonstrated if one logically extends its play to show its absurdity. This is called in logic, reductio ad absurdum. In this particular instance, the Navy is charged with having run a mafia-like clique that kidnapped rich families for ransom. Following the line of reasoning here, if that kidnapping arm extended itself so widely as to operate in open space as it wills that should be alright. No rich family would be safe. They could even rob banks or rape in public if they found an attractive woman or girl. Your wife or daughter can be raped by a soldier alias ‘ranaviruwa,’ but that would be fine. Leave him all alone. In my case, I wouldn’t dare to argue with a soldier for he can shoot me if he thinks he must get rid of me. A soldier can relieve you of your purse. Leave the guy alone. The worst of all, a soldier who fought in the war can assassinate the President or any given high profile VIP; but ‘hush,’ don’t touch the soldier!

Non-soldiers, however, cannot do any of these “illegal,” things. We must answer to court and be prepared to go to jail. In this way, two systems of law would operate-one for soldiers and one for us. The first one let us call ‘Ranaviru Law,’ and the second one, ‘Civilian Law.’

Again, there is a danger in such a situation because the non-soldier component can use the soldiers to commit any crimes they want to engage in-bounce off an enemy, rob a bank, rape a girl or, simply, pick a pocket. Who knows even in this particular case non-soldier mafia may have employed the Navy to do their dirty work. Such a development is inevitable in this dual system as it would give the non-soldier offender protection to perform his crimes.

“Vedi Bana”

In a veiled attack on me for writing on Sri Lanka while living abroad, Rusiripala says, “There are many refugees in all parts of the world who preach ‘vedi bana’ without having made any positive contribution.” To this, I must assert that I am no refugee and that my heart is Sri Lankan even if I happen to be living overseas.

I am sure, I have made a considerable contribution to my country of origin both in the arts, in writing and in the Public Service. Unlike much younger Rusiripala, I have no more ambitions in Sri Lanka. In this digital world with mobile cameras relaying Sri Lankan happenings over video and with a fluent social media, we remain competently connected. Telephone calls and overseas travel are cheap.
(The writer can be reached via sjturaus@optusnet.com.au.)

Who Will Protect Children If Their Guardians Don’t? Over To You Mr President

By Raj Gonsalkorale –SEPTEMBER 20, 2018

Raj Gonsalkorale

There shall be peace on earth, but not until

All children daily eat their fill,

Go warmly clad against the winter wind

And learn their lessons with a tranquil mind.

And then, released from hunger, fear and need

Regardless of their colour, race or creed

Look upward smiling to their skies,

Their faith in life reflected in their eyes

• A poem printed on a calendar for 2002, and displayed in the United Nations Building in New York.

While parents or near relatives or carers in the case of some orphans would be the guardians of children when they are at home, or in a care facility, their guardians are their teachers when they are at school. A child is not the property of a guardian, but a human being with rights who has to be looked after by the guardian. 

There is very unfortunate evidence of many instances when such guardians in schools have used force and cruel practices rather than love and kindness on children left in their care. Corporal punishment in schools is regarded to be an unchecked phenomenon in Sri Lanka.

Several articles have been published in the main stream media in recent times highlighting the ongoing unjust practice. Now, a group of concerned individuals have come together to raise more awareness about this practice and to highlight the need to end Corporal Punishment in schools. This group has articulated a vision and a goal to end this unsavoury practice in schools by 2020.

 END CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SRI LANKA

The inaugural national campaign END CORPORAL PUNISHMENT SRI LANKA – VISION 2020 will focus on ending CP in schools only. It is an INCLUSIVE process involving children, parents, educators, administrators and law enforcement authorities to find progressive and practical solutions together rather than an exclusive process of punitive and abortive measures such as black listing teachers or imprisoning individuals. The campaigners have developed a proposal titled the PENTAGON PRPOSAL to be handed over to His Excellency President Maithripala Sirisena on the 30th of September at a public gathering. 

The historic PENTAGON PROPOSAL unites five stake holders of Government, HE the PRESIDENT, THE MINISTRIES OF EDUCATION, CHILDREN’S AFFAIRS, LAW & ORDER AND JUSTICE in making meaningful and permanent solutions. The organisers state that their objective is to encourage and incentivize all authorities responsible for child protection to uphold National and International laws thus ensuring that no child is subjected to cruel and/or degrading punishment in schools, and thereby allowing children to pursue educational activities in an environment devoid of corporal punishment and in a happy and safe learning environment, which promotes mental wellbeing for children to mature into wholesome caring individuals.

The organisers have also initiated an online petition for individuals to register their opposition to Corporal punishment. This petition can be accessed through the link noted below, and all readers of Colombo Telegraph are encouraged to log in, and read the petition and then sign it if they are supportive of ending Corporal Punishment in Schools.

Corporal Punishment (CP) is an archaic and heinous form of punishment of children, which is considered a crime and is banned in 132 countries.  Corporal punishment is defined by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) as: “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light” (2001).

More than 250 research studies show associations between corporal punishment and a wide range of negative effects and adverse psychological outcomes on the victims. No studies to date, have found evidence of any benefits.

In addition to physical harm there is also a significant degree of humiliation and mental hurt. The gravity of the long-term effects have been proved beyond any doubt through credible research harm (Ogando Portella & Pells 2015).

It is questionable whether Sri Lanka has been serious about unambiguously banning and enforcing the ban on Corporal punishment although the country ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1992. 

Since then, there have been 6 Parliamentary Elections, 9 Prime Ministers and 4 Executive Presidents.  However, despite the many pledges made by successive governments and a plethora of proposals, the National Action Plan for the Promotion of Human Rights 2011-2016 pledging a ban on corporal punishment, circulars by the Ministry of Education in 7/2005 and 12/2016, corporal punishment is still said to be rampant in schools.

Most significantly, The National Human Rights Action Plan 2017-2022 and the National Plan of Action for Children in Sri Lanka 2016-2020 do not address corporal punishment. The country appears to have been paying mere lip service to safeguarding children from the tyranny of some school teachers, leaving them vulnerable, fearful and some, psychologically damaged. 

Whilst there have been some improvements in the approach to this matter, the relevant authorities have failed to implement Circulars, and failed to take appropriate action to end corporal punishment.  Sri Lanka was  issued a ‘red warning’ at the recently concluded UNCRC session in February 2018, section E paragraph 21 “deeply concerned that high numbers of children are subjected to abuse and violence, including corporal punishment and that corporal punishment remains legal in the home, in alternative care settings, in penal institutions, as well as in schools”.

The UNCRC has laid out clear criteria for assessing prohibition of corporal punishment of children (see paragraphs. 30 to 37 in General Comment No. 8): all forms of corporal punishment, however light, must be clearly and *explicitly* prohibited in legislation and any legal provisions which allows the use of “reasonable” punishment or which regulate the use of corporal punishment must be repealed.

Many people believe that Corporal Punishment is banned in Sri Lanka because ARTICLE 11 of CONSTITUTION of Sri Lanka states ‘No person shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’; ARTICLE 12 (1) reaffirms ‘All persons are equal before the law, and are entitled to the equal protection of the law.’ it is considered a crime via PENAL CODE 308 A ‘Whoever, having the custody, charge or care of any person under eighteen years of age, wilfully assaults, ill-treats, neglects, or abandons such person or causes or procures such person to be assaulted, ill-treated, neglected, or abandoned in a manner likely to cause him suffering or injury to health (including injury to, or loss of sight of hearing, or limo or organ of the body or any mental derangement), commits the offence of cruelty to children’.

Read More

Chaturika prowls round Rupavahini, ITN and wreaks havoc..! Media ministers unaware..!!

(Lanka e News – 19.Sep.2018, 5.45PM) It is a well known fact that Dharshani Chathurika Sirisena holds no official posts or powers in the state’s hierarchy and is simply the daughter of the president , an embattled leader who is now precariously clinging on to a meager 4 % popularity base . Yet in her abysmal ignorance (being only GCE O/L qualified) she had stormed into the National Rupavahini TV station on the 17 th and conducted herself most rudely and unethically issuing orders to its chairman and the directors , according to reports reaching Lanka e News

Four friends of Janaka who is Chathurika’s paramour had already been appointed over and above Dharma Sri Bandara Ekanayake the media director general of president Gamarala. Raveen Wickremeratne is one such friend. Chathrurika has arrived at the Rupavahini station with Raveen , and introduced him as the one who will be looking after the affairs of Rupavahini on behalf of the president from then on . She has also ordered that an office be arranged for him within the Rupavahini.

Chathurika who is only GCE O/L qualified , before the presidential elections was cooking food at home and just a housewife . Yet yesterday while she was within the Rupavahini she has told the chairperson and the senior directors in a most high handed manner , she has need to summon not only the news division , but all employees of other divisions to give instructions separately .

Might we recall Raveen who was appointed over and above the chairperson of the National Rupavahini was an executive member of the SL cricket association committee .Because Raveen saw to it many millions of rupees are siphoned off into the pockets of Chaturika , the crooked villain Raveen became a henchman of Chaturika .Lanka e news reported the monumental misappropriations of Raveen with cogent and copious evidence via its special feature entitled “sportsman’.And now to the dismay of all Raveen the infamous swindler has been rewarded with the latest appointment at Rupavahini.

Another notorious individual by the name of Ms. Buddhika Ramanayake was also appointed by Chaturika and her paramour to a post above the chairman at ITN.

Buddhika was working as a reporter in the agriculture division of Rapavahini during the Rajapakse nefarious decade . But more than reporting she was known for her ‘sleeping’ to gratify the lascivious desires of sex starved Namal Rajapakse at that time. She was a discarded pest at Rupavahini who is now appointed to the ITN by Chaturika as an official of the president.

Shocking !  No minister knows anything...

When the consensual government was being formed , in accordance with the ration of sharing of the media Institutions between the consensual partners , the ITN belonged to the UNP , but Chaturika has undone that now. Based on reports reaching Lanka e news , like how Chaturika stormed into Rupavahini yesterday (17) and gave orders riding the high horse , she may take Buddhika and barge into the ITN on the 18 th . Now that her head had swollen almost to bursting point , it is the consensus she would not stop at that …she will definitely creep into Broadcasting Corporation and Lake House too to give instructions.

The worst part of this Chaturika ‘s devil dancing to the detriment of the entire country is ,her inability to abide by any ethical code or behave in a civilized manner despite being the daughter of the president of the country .

Mind you , she is wreaking havoc on the media Institutions on an unprecedented scale , while even keeping the media minister in charge in the dark. Not only the media minister , even the deputy minister and the state minister of media had not known anything about Chaturika ‘s devil dancing after storming into the State media Institutions. It is hoped somebody will clear the clogged and corroded mind of Chaturuka to make her understand these media Institutions are not her dowry properties given to her by her father , nor the country the dowry property of her father Sirisena alias Sillysena. Just because he is Idiot Amin of Lanka he should not imitate Idi Amin of Uganda.

Even uncouth Namal did not behave this barbarically..

Even Namal Rajapakse who inflated himself with power and pride during the Rajapakse era did not act this arrogantly and stupidly. Even if Namal had behaved this bad , it is understandable because he is after all a people’s representative. Who is then Chaturika the housewife in whom no powers have been vested either by the president father or the people any day ?

She is only known as another crook who during the last three years just because the word ‘president’ was annexed to her father’s name took undue advantage of it to rob and plunder the state. The next question is , who is her father ? He is another who duped 6.2 million people most unconscionably on 2015-01-08 , and now owing to his own un-doings clinging on to a 4 % popularity base like a drowning man holding on to a straw in desperation .

It is crystal clear the ‘broken promises’ father and the robbing daughter duo are now trying to ramify into the State media Institutions to extend their own tentacles of powers , and make those their own exclusive publicity campaign Institutions before the next elections.

As a portentous signal of what is to follow , the unscientific astrology program which was suspended by the good governance government after its advent was recently ordered by the president to be resumed. Now these astrologers after being brought to the state television channels will soon be made to say , Chaturika will be crowned one day like how they said in the past that Gamarala will be King Sakvithi .

Lanka e news learns Chaturika has planned to contest from Colombo at the forthcoming provincial council elections .

Let us teach the mathematics

Let us teach the mathematics the father and daughter duo do not know .At the last February elections , only a meager 4 % were in favor of the father and daughter duo received only a 4 % approval which was a clear demonstration that 96 % are against them .At the last February elections , they received only 4 % support from the people of the country which means 96 % are against. Even if they manipulate and bring all the media Institutions under them , and increase their shows and displays by 500 % , they can win the support of 20 % only which means 80 % are against.

If Gamarala ‘appa’ and his crooked daughter have a way out to change these statistics , we challenge them to prove it.

By an LeN special correspondent .

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by     (2018-09-19 12:28:23)

Rajapaksa Dream and Ground Realities In Sri Lanka — Round 2

A typical democracy consists of a centralized legislature or authority and a bureaucratic management which delivers services to the civis or the social body of citizens united by law.  

by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne-Sep 20, 2018

“I once watched several criminals engage in an organized argument, while an audience of supporters cheered them on, but I was so disgusted that I had to turn off the political debate.”  ~ Jarod Kintz

( September 20, 2018, Montreal, Sri Lanka Guardian) I read Professor M.O.A. de Zoysa’s article of 19 September with sustained interest and curiosity, if only for the fact it was au fait and erudite. It is well reasoned and wonderfully written.  He explains lucidly the American analogy of two terms of the executive presidency in its historical setting and the adoption of the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution in 1951. Most of all, I liked Prof de Zoysa’s last paragraph where he correctly says inter alia:  Should we allow such anti-democratic and nepotistic forces to come into power? All those who love democracy should ask their conscience this very important political question. We also have to understand one important point here: that there is a legal as well as a moral and ethical base to politics…

Like Professor de Zoysa, I will leave the legal issues to the experts on constitutional law; the political issues in Sri Lanka to expert political analysts, and address generally the moral and ethical base of politics. Harvard University defines morality and ethics in politics as: Political ethics (sometimes called political morality or public ethics) is the practice of making moral judgments about political action, and the study of that practice. As a field of study, it is divided into two branches, each with distinctive problems and with different though overlapping literatures. One branch, the ethics of process (or the ethics of office), focuses on public officials and the methods they use. The other branch, the ethics of policy (or ethics and public policy) concentrates on judgments about policies and laws. Both draw on moral and political philosophy, democratic theory and political science. But political ethics constitutes a free-standing subject in its own right. Most writers on the subject do not try to apply foundational moral theories but rather work with mid-level concepts and principles that more closely reflect the considerations that political agents could take into account in making decisions and policies. 

According to this definition there are two aspects of morality and ethics in politics: process; and policy. In other words, conduct of politician and officials; and moral judgments that justify such actions, both of which are grounded on various aspects of democracy, philosophy and political science.  On the face of it this sounds like a complex cocktail of arcane intrigue. However, it may be unravelled with a look at the historical evolution of political philosophy, starting from the father of history – Herodotus – to the much-reviled Machiavelli and onwards to Thomas Hobbes, claimed by many as the greatest philosophical thinker that ever lived.

A typical democracy consists of a centralized legislature or authority and a bureaucratic management which delivers services to the civis or the social body of citizens united by law.   The largely accepted democratic model in early times was centred around the Athenian ecclesia or Assembly composed of the legislature, judiciary and executive that is now referred to as the powers of a State and are stringently separated.  Democracy then  was grounded on peace and security of State as well as free access to both the rich and the poor. This is where process and policy come in to play, where a distinction is drawn by historians between the defeat by the Persians of the Greeks and their types of governance where the former were process driven while the latter were policy driven.  Herodotus spoke of the Persian process in glowing terms, calling service to have been delivered irrespective of rain, snow, heat or gloom of rain.  There is also the distinction drawn between the Greek and Roman notions of governance, where the former, in Athenian terms, espoused unfettered freedom in the practice of democracy while the latter tempered governance with structured and strict rules of control.

Plato, in his Republic, posits that ethics in governance (or any other process) must be preeminent and be based on virtue, goodness and happiness of the subject.  Plato’s teacher Socrates held that virtue was found primarily in human relationships, love and friendship, not through material gain. Aristotle, in his Politics, fundamentally held that a government is good when it aimed at the good of the whole community, and bad when it cared only for itself. Aristotle was emphatic when he made the distinction between oligarchy and democracy by using the economic status of the governing party as the only criterion for the distinction: oligarchy is when the rich govern without consideration for the poor; and democracy is when the sovereign gives power to the hands of the poor and needy in initial disregard for the interests of the rich. In later years, the 18th century British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, recognized democracy as being composed of four essential and basic elements: subsistence; abundance; security and equality.

Machiavelli, who was born during the renaissance (in 1469) had a different perspective where he ascribed autocracy to the ruler.  This has overtones of a unique interpretation of the process or service to the nation. According to Machiavelli’s argument, the king, who in medieval belief was considered to be benevolent and virtuous, would only be successful if he ignored the tenets of law, morality, conscience or justice and pursued the preservation of his own power at whatever cost in order to maintain order of the State. The philosophy that resonated during the Renaissance period was that royalty was the embodiment of goodness which offered protection to the State and its people, prompting Machiavelli to ascribe to his book the satirical mockery that was meant to go with the title “Prince”. In modern parlance, this has led to the general acceptance that a Machiavellian character is a schmuck who appears benevolent and caring whereas he would really be a mendacious, treacherous scumbag who bilks the State and its people while maintaining an aura of sincerity and nobility.

Thomas Hobbes, who, in his Leviathan said the life of man was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short, requiring a power to control him,  is seemingly bent toward the Roman approach of controls as against unfettered freedom in a democracy that the Athenians espoused, when he said that even if a sovereign were to be despotic, the worst despotism was better than anarchy. Hobbes maintained however, that the interests of governments become singularly identifiable with the interests of the subjects and was emphatic that rebellion by the people was wrong in any circumstance not only because it usually fails; but also, if it succeeds, it sets a bad example.

Morality and ethics of politics seem to boil down to process in the interests of the people, where a true democracy should ensure that whatever freedoms a citizen might have, they should be enforceable by a credible and effective system set up by government. This should be implemented in a state of unity that is sustainable as, according to Aristotle, once a State exceeds that level of unity, it ceases to remain a State.

All this having been said, and history examined, our present-day morals and ethics that are brought to bear by politics are grounded on fundamental rights, and to that extent, we are ahead of our philosophical ancestors and ancient Athenian democracy.  As Alan Ryan, Professor of Political Theory at both Oxford and Princeton and author of two monumental and encyclopedic volumes On Politics says: In the modern Western world, individuals have a host of rights – to free speech, to worship as they choose, to occupational freedom, to live where they like     – that earlier ages  never dreamed of conferring on ordinary people.: the poor have votes; and women play a role in politics that would once have been thought impossible; dangerous, wicked,  or unnatural; if not all four at once.

With these at hand, the voter should not have much difficulty in separating the wheat from the chaff – the inanity of persuasive ideologues from their ethics and morals.

Aimless search for puppet Presidents

Heavy campaigning for self-nominated candidates is an indication of a huge crisis

In these messy situations, the Hitler type candidate can gain better validity

We need candidates who would back reforms the society endorses through serious dialogue

2018-09-21

Media is agog with conspiracy theories over alleged assassination attempts on President Sirisena and Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Importance of Gotabaya in such a plot cannot be thought of. But the President on any scale is extremely high profile and in a two-party Government that is into heavy conflicts, the alleged ‘plot’ sounds eerie.

With an unstable coalition Government, it turns more serious with concerns raised about how investigations are conducted and in lack of trust declared on incumbent IGP.

Doubts, uncertainties, suspicions, all adding to the instability the alleged assassination plot creates in social mindset adds on to the search for presidential candidates for 2020 that’s already on a high pitch.

The UNP said it. Candidate Sirisena promised it. The JVP vowed they would see it happened and the TNA believed it

Social media has taken the lead in the search for presidential candidates. Heavy campaigning on social media for self-nominated Presidential candidates is also an indication we are in a huge crisis, with no answers.

That would remain so, even if another president is elected in 2020 into this ever-growing crisis.

This uncertainty that seeps into the urban social psyche would help cement the search for a ‘strong and clean’ presidential candidate.

In these messy situations, the ‘Hitler type’ candidate can gain better validity. An exclusively Colombo middle class ‘search’, it is for one who could be a firm fit on the Sinhala Buddhist electoral corpus.

Criteria being what most Ven. Maduluwave Sobitha Thera drew up:

“Democracy, good governance, transparency and accountability” with the “all-powerful executive presidency abolished”.

Most glaringly, nothing was then said about a country that bled for 30 years fighting to consolidate a Sinhala Unitary State and was left divided as Sinhala and Tamil societies with the Muslim community vigilant over their fate.

The mediocrity of the urban middle class, professionals and academics included, was paraded publicly in their selection of presidential candidates within a completely failed economic model that over decades turned the State, political parties and professionals into schemers, liars and robbers.

Ridiculously ignorant about open market dynamics that lead to these growing uncertainties and crises all around, they reduced everything to “An almighty Executive Presidency” for the 2015 January Presidential Elections.

Ousting Rajapaksa, the 19 Amendment was the mantra for a clean and transparent Government.

Investigating into the alleged mega corruption of the Rajapaksa regime and booking any and all with substantial evidence was to be the crowning glory.

The UNP said it. Candidate Sirisena promised it.

These urban middle-class groupings looking for candidates have vested interests in who is elected, as the Colombo civil society leaders proved in 2015 with an awfully engineered, aimless Rainbow Revolution

The JVP vowed they would see it happened and the TNA believed such a Government would be decent enough to provide a durable and  workable political solution to the North and East.

Present search for another suitable Sinhala Buddhist male candidate is an extension of that failed urban middle-class experiment.

Failed; though Colombo NGOs, Good Governance activists, Public Interest campaigners, Citizen activists, and very many others with even unknown labels vowed it would be Maithri Palanaya (Compassionate rule).

In the present rush, there was a Sri Lankan and an expatriate who think it is time to have a woman candidate with good credentials.

A proven, principled personality, who does not give in to political pressure.

This, on its own logic, is far timider than even the promise for a Yahapalana rule. This for me is an insult to the respected academic named in the proposal. The proposal is for a president-elect who could stand guard over an inevitable Rajapaksa Government, as the learned proposer argues.

That for sure is a stillbirth, far cruder than the miserably failed urban-based project which ousted Rajapaksa to leave a political vacuum in a Government that survives solely on the 19 Amendment.

A fractured Government that’s slipping from one crisis to another, while 19th Amendment impinges on the sovereign right of the people to vote, in changing Governments.

Though theoretically and socially valid, the Good Governance always remains as an abstract demand of the urban middle class.

It is the urban middle class that is hastily searching for a Sinhala Buddhist presidential candidate with a promise to establish a Good Governance regime on nothing but personal credentials.

Learning no lessons, they believe a strong and clean President could this time avert uncertainties, instability and establish good governance.

The unconcerned ordinary villager, struggling against a crumbling economy to save their lives have meanwhile pinned his/her hopes on Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The LG elections proved it, The Galle Face May Day rally said it, and even the most disorganised, undisciplined of all protests I have ever witnessed, the Sept 5 Janabalaya Kolambata said it too, with massive numbers.

What makes a Rajapaksa come back and this time cannot be blown up big as the demon at the gate?

In the shortest time in post-independent history, this Yahapalanaya Government was proved the most tragic failure in governance.

It is seen as equally or more corrupt than the Rajapaksa regime. The first CBSL Bond Scam, a massive scam that even overshadows the Rajapaksas, was in just two months after forming the promised Yahapalanaya Government.

On public outcry, Law and Order Minister Marapana was forced out for his legal counselling in the Avant-Garde scandal.

The LG elections proved it, The Galle Face May Day rally said it, and even the most disorganised, undisciplined of all protests I have ever witnessed, the Sept 5 Janabalaya Kolambata said it too, with massive numbers

The same happened to Finance Minister Karunanayake who is now indicted for providing false evidence to the PCoI. Two weeks after Karunanayake was forced to resign, public outcry again had Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe resign, accused of interfering with the AG’s Department to favour some members of the former Rajapaksa regime accused of mega corruption.

In this same Government, there are Rajapaksa allies accused of mega corruption holding Ministerial portfolios, while UNP Ministers themselves are accused of mega corruption.

Corruption remains the norm in society and in politics despite the change of Government.

The whole system remains corrupt, inefficient, parasitic and in total chaos.

It cannot be otherwise in this free market economy.

It is all about and only about living with FDIs. Massive concessions given during the past four decades for FDI would add up to trillions of rupees, denied to the people as revenue for social use.

This incalculable sum cannot in anyway be justified in terms of what the people have gained in return.

Education, health and public transport, three fundamental necessities for a society to live for the future, have all been left in a mess.

The rural economy is gasping for life with a hundred thousand young women migrating to the Middle East every year in search of a living income and a future life.
The monthly average wage of workers in the private sector with FDIs remains around Rs. 20,000 to 25,000 while the Census Department in its Household Income and Expenditure Survey says a family of four in urban society needs Rs. 54,000 to meet the basics.

FDIs don’t mean anything to this growing national tragedy. Investors don’t come here to invest for Sri Lanka’s prosperity. They are here only to export products that can fetch big profits in the global market.

Proving that investors come for big profits, employer associations and their own economic experts argue that labour laws should be relaxed and more concessions are given to investors with a veiled threat, they would otherwise leave for Vietnam, Bangladesh or elsewhere.

What have we gained with more and more concessions provided directly and indirectly?

The Labour Department, established 95 years ago to secure better employment in the private sector, is now changing into a department that gives priority to employers as investors.

Constitution of the country is openly violated with Fundamental Rights of all employees in export manufacture denied of their right to form trade unions and with that their right to collective bargaining.

In these messy situations, the Hitler type candidate can gain better validity. An exclusively Colombo middle-class search, it is for one who could be a firm fit on the Sinhala Buddhist electoral corpus.

That is, in a country, which is a signatory to ILO Conventions 87 and 98.

The sovereignty of the people has no functional validity. All opportunities to elect a genuine people’s representative have been usurped through law by the filthy rich the only profiteering lot in this open economy.

All mainstream political parties have become wholly dependent on funds organised by the filthy rich.

They basically run political parties now that know no democracy and want no democracy.

People merely vote for candidates decided by the filthy rich no matter what political shade.

Conspiracies and allegations about assassination plots are all part of the chaos this open market leaves with filthy richinterests.

The open market economy, in a nutshell, is one that created the filthy rich who virtually run the Government for investor profits, violating democratic and Fundamental Rights of workers and the people.

The Governments in open economies, though elected by the people, are for the benefit of the filthy rich.

‘Development’ for these Governments means creating megacities to suit the highflying lifestyle of the affluent and the filthy rich.

They leave space for urban middle-class professionals to earn an extra buck to be proud consumers in a market, the vast majority has no choice.

This certainly is no development in any sense. Development cannot deny democratic and Fundamental Rights and rob people for the benefit of a few filthy rich.

This crazy and aimless search for honourable Sinhala Buddhist candidates would have no answers to an incredibly corrupt, undemocratic elite system.

We need answers to the most pressing issues, far-reaching reforms to education, health, public transport and also the media, to be openly discoursed in society, before candidates are decided.

We need candidates who would back reforms the society endorses through serious dialogue.

These urban middle-class groupings looking for candidates have vested interests in who is elected, as the Colombo civil society leaders proved in 2015 with an awfully engineered, aimless Rainbow Revolution.