Sri Lanka After Mass Killing and Cover Up Is Blithely Praised by UN Guterres Who Censors Press




By Matthew Russell Lee, 30/7 CJR, 19/6 Video

UNITED NATIONS GATE, September 28 –UN Peacekeeper chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix has been multiply informed that the Sri Lanka government vetting of peacekeepers the UN has relied on has not been complied with, regarding at least 49 soldiers now "serving" the UN in Lebanon. Inner City Press was sent a copy of the letters, and published them - then asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric for the UN's response. [See July 21 response, below.] On July 30 UNSG Antonio Guterres' sleazy basis for roughing up and banning Inner City Press now for life (and the impending UNGA week which Sirisena is slated to attendand pitch at) was reported in the Columbia Journalist Review, and now the NY Post. But on September through Eri Kaneko of his Spokesperson's Office, Guterres offered this shamefully gushing read out: "The Secretary-General met with H.E. Maithripala Sirisena, the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Secretary-General appreciated the close cooperation between Sri Lanka and the United Nations and thanked Sri Lanka for its contribution to United Nations peacekeeping in particular. The Secretary-General and the President also discussed Sri Lanka’s efforts in the peace and reconciliation process. The Secretary-General offered continued support in this regard. They also discussed the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." Really.Meanwhile Sri Lanka which used cluster munitions is now President of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. "In Sri Lanka’s case they have driven many de-miners and UN staff outof the country and effectively silenced the witnesses. There are also many victims among recent refugees outside Sri Lanka in countries like Switzerland; their geographic dislocation should not diminish their rights as victims,” said Jasmin Sooka of ITJPSL. “The Convention requires Sri Lanka to undertake a victim survey which should include victims abroad subject to internationally recognized witness protection provisions.”  Inner City Press has repeatedly asked Dujarric, "September 17-2: It is multiply reported that Sri Lanka during the upcoming high level week will make a presentation to the SG about, among other things, limited the currently stated vetting of Sri Lanka troops for participation in alleged war crimes. Please state the date of any meeting of the SG with President Sirisena, and state the UN's / SG's view of the current vetting system, including seeming lack of compliance by Sri Lanka. What is the status of Sri Lankan deployments and/or rotations?" As of September 20, no answer. But this, from JDS: "Month Crime Security forces Location July 2018 Abduction, Torture
and Murder

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Resolving The MMDA Reform Dilemma – A Priority For the Muslim Community! 

By Mohamed Harees –SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

Lukman Harees

‘Certainly We have sent Our messengers with clear guidance; and We sent down to them the Book and the scale so that humans may conduct themselves with justice.” (Quran : Surah al-Hadid, 57:25),

When Justice Saleem Marsoof (JSM) handed over his Committee Report on Muslim Marriages and Divorce Act (MMDA) Reforms to Hon. Minister of Justice in December 2017, ending a long period of wait and suspense, the Muslim community in particular and the country in general eagerly expected that its’ recommendations will carry much hope and promise for those affected by certain aspects of this legislation. However, shattering all such hopes, it came to light that the Report was not ‘unanimous’ as it was initially thought to be; in fact there were two separate reports in one, with another ‘rival’ Report being also submitted alongside by another prominent member of the Committee Faisz Mustapha PC (FM) representing a dissenting group within, including the powerful ACJU, which basically challenged and disputed many key recommendations in the Main Report. This state of affairs obviously reflected adversely on the ability of the Muslim community to resolve its’ own issues amicably even after a long period of time. 

Ever since then, much debate and discourses have ensued in the public domain, with various parties even washing dirty linen in public, which have unfortunately generated more heat than light. Frustratingly, both the Justice Minister, the Government and even the Muslim Parliamentarians will therefore drag their feet in proceeding further in the absence of a consensus due to the political risk involved in taking sides/ implementing unilaterally. It would have been much nicer and productive for JSM as Chair if more time was taken to resolve contentious issues with the dissenting sub-group to come up with a unanimous set of recommendations in the several areas which are in dispute , rather than creating this quagmire, which many believe, arose out of egoistic reasons on both sides. 

The general law administered through civil courts governs marriages of other ethnic and religious communities – the Sinhalese, Tamils and Burghers, while the MMDA established a parallel Quazi (Muslim judge) court system to administer the Act. Throughout the period in which the MMDA has been implemented, there have been serious concerns raised by women’s groups with regard to discriminatory provisions as well as the quality of service and practices of the Quazi courts, which put Muslim women and girls in socially and economically vulnerable situations. Many Muslim women’s rights groups have therefore been highlighting this dire plight of multitude of affected Muslim women. Thus, there is definitely a dire need to reform this piece of law, and Muslims should seriously reflect whether to allow token cultural and religious rights embedded in the present MMDA , which has been traditionally passed off over the years as namesake ‘Islamic law’ to triumph over concepts of justice and equality as articulated and promoted under the objectives of Sharia (Maqasid Sharia) as laid down in the Quran and practices of the Holy Prophet of Islam (OWBP). However, as it stands now, many community initiatives to reconcile both positions taken up by both JSM and FM groups  have not been as effective as they should be. 

A cursory look at the general acceptability of the JSM-FM reports shows mixed reactions. On the one hand, the Muslim women’s groups and human rights groups which demanded drastic reforms showed an inclination to favour JSM recommendations, which appears to address the main concerns of the affected people to a greater extent and therefore they hailed this report as progressive and forward looking. They in fact even referred to FM as the distractor in chief. On the contrary, the FM-led dissenting report which was backed to the hilt by the influential ACJU, found favour with the conservative sections of the Muslim community, visibly due partly to intense lobbying at grass-root levels by the ACJU and partly as a result of misinformation , as the report sought to basically  maintain (almost) status quo in respect of substantive law and major areas which generated controversy, however suggesting administrative changes. They took up the position that JSM Report, sacrificed some aspects of the Sharia to appease those demanding drastic reforms to the MMDA without thoroughly thinking through the implications- a measure which may have long term impact on the religious and cultural sensitivities of the Muslim community. However, it has been fact that JSM Committee (JSM) has even authored books and written many research earlier on this area), has clearly done lot of research based on Sharia and comparative study about the law reform process even in other Muslim countries as well and his report was a comprehensive one. Thus any attempts to brand his Report as ‘anti-Sharia’ is both misleading and erroneous. The blame about his Report has been that there are no Religious scholars who has signed his report. 

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The battle for media freedom and social responsibility

• Sri Lanka’s media and activists celebrate landmark 20th anniversary of Colombo Declaration  
• PM says judiciary has to be consulted to change laws relating to Contempt of Court  
• SLPI seeks Govt. tax concessions for struggling newspaper industry  

 Revisiting the Colombo Declaration of 1998.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya participating in the symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration

• Sunday, September 30, 2018

Thursday September 27 marked the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility. An international conference on the Media Freedom and Social Responsibility started the same day at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, with the participation of many local and foreign media stakeholders.

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President Sirisena undermines justice

And an addendum on Class and Rajapaksa Populism

Nuts!
(http://mirrorcitizen.dailymirror.lk/2018/09/12/president-expresses-anger-over-srilankan-cashew-nuts/)

Kumar David-September 29, 2018, 12:00 pm 

An e-mail quip from fellow columnist Rajan Philips hit the nail on the head. He and I are part of an e-mail menagerie where he shot out: "Obama’s most important achievement was getting elected; he did not achieve much after that". Though I defend Obamacare, the Iran Deal and the Paris Accord, I grant his macroeconomics served the banks, Wall Street and finance capital, not the people. The thrust of the epigram is perfect; electing a black President took America past puberty and the country rose to a point that Lanka will not attain for a generation or more. By placing in highest office an intellectual, America lent towards Plato’s ideal of rule by philosopher kings. The subsequent throw back to a falsifier and cave dweller – a Platonic idiom again – is a passing cloud that America will overcome; its historical-human, intellectual-economic and natural-material endowments are too potent to be contained by a trickster. Rome did not fall in a day.

What hit me like a bolt of lightning when I read the one-liner was that it was even more true, far truer of post January 2015 Sri Lanka. The one weighty achievement of January 2015, a triumph of the January 8 People’s Movement, was the blow it struck at totalitarianism; Rajapaksa totalitarianism. That was a conquest; it is the categorical ‘Single Issue’ to which all else is secondary. Prosecuting the corrupt and enacting a new constitution were extras, toppings on the cake that many hoped for but failed to materialise. And as for economic policy, no am I not a mad-hatter leftist envisioning a Ranil-UNP administration delivering socialism! I never suffered such delusions. A Single Issue was what I dearly wanted and that was all I got.

Though the Obama presidency was a disappointment it would be wrong to describe him as a traitor to democracy or that he harmed the justice system by obstructing prosecution of extortionists and murderers or shielding top brass who subvert the courts. Nor was his Aide caught red-handed pocketing millions in a carpark to share witha coterie up to the neck in crooked deals. Maybe Obama fell short of expectations but he did not use his executive powers to obstruct the law or pillage the nation.

President Sirisena has flopped to a political zero and is a prisoner of Rajapaksa Populism. He has no role left to play and lacks the grace and temperament to depart as he swore on the election platform and at Rev. Sobitha’s interment. He craves for more, he lusts for crumbs that may drop from the Rajapaksa table. The long and vindictive memory of the Rajapaksa siblings will ensure that the Judas who feasted on egg-hoppers then dug in the dagger will pay the wages of treachery. In the eyes of the Rajapaksas, Sirisena is an annoying encumbrance with no remaining bargaining power. His SLFP collected just 12% in February, and after it split, stripped and alone, he cannot bring even 1% to the populist vote bank.

The SLFP per se can carry some votes to Rajapaksa though Chandrika may split of a small part, but the majority is already on the board. Sirisena misjudges the hand he can play with the shrinking powers of office in the dying days of his presidency. If he were attentive to Buddhism he would recall that avarice is the root of dukkha. He could do better keeping women away from the bottle and in his spare time munching on rancid cashew-nuts. If he tries funny business in matters of state using his effete residual powers he will be called to order by public, courts and organs of state. The SLPP distrusts him; if he undermines its electoral game plan it will go for his jugular.

Alarming reports in the papers say that President Sirisena is in cahoots with military brass to prevent prosecutors and courts from accessing material relating to crimes by military personnel and in particular an abduction, extortion and murder case now before courts. If fluent in Sinhala you can find an 18-minute YouTube video by Bahu flaying the President. (Declaration of non-collusion: Bahu and I are not in the same party). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GIEFjoi9LC&feature=share.

Class and Rajapaksa Populism

Populism and Class
(http://www.publicseminar.org/2018/04/how-populists-become-popular/)

In my column last week, I skipped over the class character of Rajapaksa Populism brushing aside my readers with the remark that they are not interested in leftish jargon. That was unwise, I have been pulled up; I will make amends today. We hear of the alienated Trump Base, the class roots of the French National Front and where the Brexit vote came from. What are the class-wise supports of Rajapaksa Populism? Let me make an important point first. In fascist, semi-fascist and populist enterprises leadership plays an outsize role and stamps its cachet on everything – Mussolini, Hitler, Durante, Trump and Rajapaksa. You cannot change Trump for Pence with the flexibility with which David Cameron made way for Theresa May, or Turnbull was shed for ‘whoever heard of him’ Morison in Australia.

There are four columns that underpin Rajapaksa Populism. Let’s work our way down in class ascendency, not power or influence. The Lankan bourgeois is split by family, connection, access to enrichment and national or Western cultural orientation. The same is true of the lesser social orders. English speakers are mostly UNP while yakkos and nouveau riche (a hangover from the 1950s) are pro SLFP-SLPP. Oddities like GL are few; reddas outnumber suits. The bourgeoisie and liberal intellectuals, Sinhala and English speaking, are repelled by Populism which is propped by only a minority in the business classes motivated by connection or expectation of future deals.

Below this in wealth and income is a vast petty-bourgeois Sinhala mass in towns, bazaars and metropolitan outskirts. Their place in the economy is retail trade, the informal sector, three-wheeler walas, some lower middle-class people in state and corporate sectors, and members and ex-members of the armed forces. In electoral terms, together with families and dependents this class accounts for 30-40% of the Sinhala electorate. Since the demise of the left (old LSSP and CP) the working class has had no ideological mooring; it is an adjunct of the aforesaid petty-bourgeoisie mindset. This petty bourgeois and working-class block was the mainstay of the Jana Bala horde. Together it accounts for half the Sinhalese electorate and at present Rajapaksa Populism can count on about two-thirds of it.

The massed peasantry, the rural folk, are not to be confused with this ideologically motivated horde, though rural people are influenced by it. But not all of it; the village level UNP vote is large. This vote fluctuates between the main parties from say 40:60 one way to 60:40 the other. Number games are to be taken with a pinch of salt, but give a feel. Say the petty-bourgeoisie cum working class described in the previous paragraph are one half of the Sinhalese electorate and the peasantry the other half. Say that at present Rajapaksa Populism commands the support of 70% of the former and 60% of the latter – peak possibilities. Then if you give the UNP all the Tamil and Muslim votes in the seven Southern Provinces, you can work out why it was able to hang on to 38% of the vote in these seven in February despite a fed-up-with-UNP backlash and abstentions. (Send me a postcard if you can’t do the maths; I have assumed the minorities are 10% in the seven southern provinces).

To come back to my theme of class, though Rajapaksa Populism has the support of more than half the Sinhala peasantry it is of the greatest importance to note that the peasantry, everywhere in the world, is ideologically not a determining but a determined class. It takes, not constructs, ideology. At the present time a segment has imbibed the insular ideology of the populist petty-bourgeois; it has taken its cue from the suburban chauvinists. And it tails the sangha, vedda, guru and the horu.

This brings me to the last building block; the underworld. It is untruthful to say that Rajapaksa Populism is financed, swayed or dependent on the underworld of drugs, crime or sex-slavery. But there have been politicians with links to this gangland who have had a prominent place in its political universe. There was that Duminda, convicted of a gangland style murder and now serving time. He was immensely popular; a superstar who may have a future in the event of regime change. And of course, our noxious Mervyn and his restless son, both now conspicuously and craftily quiet. Has Mervyn made enough to retire in perpetuity or will he crawl out of the woodwork if Mahinda rides again? But I concede, Rajapaksa Populism’s connections with the underworld are not of central significance in depicting populism’s class dynamics.

To sum up, the determining elements of power politics in Mahinda Populism are two; the outsize significance of the leadership and the racist petty-bourgeois mass in the middle. The greedy rich at the top will always suck blood whatever the regime and the docile peasantry at the bottom is election fodder for use at the hustings whichever the side. Gangland is an emergency tool to keep on the side and out of sight.

It is necessary to make a comment about the economy which is true whichever the regime. Lanka is drowning in debt and will sink unless there is partial cancellation of dollar-denominated debt. There exists no credible economic programme which can in the alternative rescue the country from drowning. Whichever regime tries its luck, whatever magic the Central Bank weaves, year by year indebtedness will grow, we will sink ever deeper: Want to bet?

The crisis is global; governments, enterprises and households all over the world are in the same trap. The post-2008 global economy has been restructured, intentionally or otherwise, to transfer wealth created in the productive economy to finance capital as bonds and funds, or through asset price inflation (real-estate, bonds, equities) and a surge in unpayable compound interest. More indebtedness of institutions and individuals is the same thing on the other side of the coin. I often use the rhetoric of 1% and 99%; but the truth is easier to remember. The richest 8.6% owns 86% of global wealth. It’s time to invert this pyramid and enforce global debt cancellation.

Children: Our future citizens

 2018-09-29

Naturally everyone born in this society has to pass through a number of stages such as infancy, childhood, youth, middle age and the old age provided of course one remains alive without facing death immature. During the infancy and the feeble old age one has to depend on others for survival. Life circle is such that babies in the human world and the offspring in world of animals depend on their parents for survival.. Old and feeble grandmothers and grandfathers depend on their sons and daughters and grand children. If they are not kind enough on their part for the sake of the feeble lot one has to seek the assistance of social institutions such as homes for elders,  
According to Buddhism birth is suffering, decay is suffering and death is suffering. One has also to suffer from ill health. This means that there is less suffering during childhood, youth and middle age. Childhood and the early young age are the periods when one prepares for worldly life. Children today are responsible citizens tomorrow. As such childhood is the prime period of one’s life.   

Much needed preparation to be useful citizens in the future   
Childhood is the period of learning. Since children are future citizens of the world the fate of the future world depends much on what the children learn today. Member countries of the United Nations have affirmed their faith in fundamental human right, dignity and worth of a person and have determined to promote and better standards of living in an environment of larger freedom.  

The United Nations has in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaimed that everyone in this world is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind such as the age, race, colour, sex, language or other opinion , national or social origin, property, birth or other status  

What the child needs most
The child by reason of his or her physical and mental maturity needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before and after birth. The United Nations General Assembly proclaims the rights of the child to the end that he or she may have a happy childhood and enjoy for his or her own good and for the good of the society the rights and freedoms and calls upon the parents, upon men and women, upon the voluntary organizations, local authorities and national governments to reorganize these rights and strive for their observation by legislative and other measures progressively taken in accordance with the declaration.   

The child by reason of his or her physical and mental maturity needs special safeguards and care including appropriate legal protection before and after birth

Entitlement of the child to rights without distinction or discrimination
Every child is entitled to these rights without distinction or discrimination on account of race, colour, sex, religion, political or other opinion national or social origin property, birth or other status whether of himself or herself or his or her family.  

The child shall enjoy special protection and be given opportunities and facilities to enable him or her physically, mentally, morally spiritually and socially to live in a healthy and normal manner and conditions of freedom and dignity.  

The child shall be entitled from his or her birth to a name and nationality and shall enjoy the benefits of social security. He/she shall be entitled to grow and develop in health. Special care and protection shall be provided both to him/her and his/her mother including prenatal care. The child shall be entitled to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services.  

Care for physically and mentally handicapped children
There are children who are handicapped physically. There are deaf, blind and dumb children There are also deformed children sometimes without limbs and not able to move about. Further there are mentally handicapped children. Arrangements should be made to enable them to gain admission to special institutions such as schools for deaf and blind and their inherent rights for care, love and education etc. should not be denied to them.  

Sri Lanka has been ranked high in the achievement of education in terms of high literacy

Children from underprivileged families  
Further, there are socially handicapped children such as those from poor families. There are some other children who are socially marginalized for various reasons not due to any fault of their own but due to the reasons of being born to families not cared for by civilized society. Children are born to families with income below the average. Such children should not be denied their legitimate right to nutrition, love, care and education.  
Society and the public authorities shall have the duty to extend particular care for children without families and for those without adequate means of support. A payment made by the State and other assistance towards the maintenance of children of large families is desirable. Family income can be considered as a criterion in granting scholarships.

Much needed love, affection understanding and recognition
The child is entitled to receive an education which will be free and compulsory at least in the elementary stages. He/she shall be given an education which will promote his/her general culture and enable him/her on a basis of equal opportunity to develop his/her abilities, his/her individual judgment and his/her sense of moral and social responsibility and to become a useful member of the society.   
The best interest of the child shall be the guiding principle. The responsibility of those responsible for his/her education and guidance lies in the first place with his/her parents.  

Children who are deprived of their right to learn
It is true that the literacy rate of Sri Lanka is high when compared with the literacy rate of other countries in the region. However, a survey conducted by the department of Census and Statistics has disclosed the fact that six percent of the children in the school going age are not attending school. Some of them have just reached the school going age and presumably most of them will start schooling when once they find accommodation in schools. Twenty percent of these children or 1.2 per cent of the school going age have never gone to school and 4.8 percent of the children in the school going age or 80 per cent of those who are not going to school are dropouts.  

Returners and Never Returners
A large number of students terminate their school education after taking up the G.C.E. (O.L) Examination. Some of them resume school education once when they pass the G.C.E. (O.L) Examination with grades sufficient to make them eligible to attend G.C.E.(A.L) classes. As such some children terminate school education permanently while others stay back temporarily.  

Children who are deprived of preliminary education 
About 83 percent of the children who never attend school are comprised of the five to eleven year age group which is the age of preliminary education. Majority of these types of children are found in the urban areas. Further the extremely poor parents especially in the remote areas cannot send their children to school because they need their assistance to look after the others younger to them while the parents work in places away from home. Further in certain remote areas there are no schools. Eighteen percent of the children belonging to the 05 to 11 year age group do not attend school due to their unsatisfactory health conditions and physical disability.   

Educational facilities for children in Sri Lanka
 Sri Lanka has been ranked high in the achievement of education in terms of high literacy, high level of primary school enrolment as well as gender parity rate in access to education and achievements. When compared with other countries in the region there are still unfortunate children who had never stepped in to a school.  

Sons and daughters of separated parents, pick pockets thugs, drug addicts, gamblers and beggars are often deprived of school education. Separated parents, especially when they are poverty stricken try to pass the responsibility to the opposite party and ultimately no one comes to the rescue of the children. Similarly robbers, gamblers and drug addicts take no interest in the education and well-being of the children. Beggars often train their children in the art of begging.  

Physical education and recreation- “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”  
General Education should be supplemented by physical education. The child should have full opportunity for play and recreation which should be directed to same purposes as education. Society and the public authorities shall endeavour to promote the enjoyment of this right.  

Protection against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation
The child, in all circumstances should be among the first to receive protection and relief. The child shall be protected against all forms of neglect, cruelty and exploitation. Children of underprivileged, uneducated and uncivilized parents are vulnerable to neglect, cruelty and exploitation. Deficiencies, shortcomings, insufficiencies, stubbornness and other weak qualities in a child should not be regarded as causes for a child to be cornered, neglected. harassed or punished. Opportunities should be made available for such children to get over the difficulties and to correct themselves. Children should never be humiliated. The consequences of humiliating children can be explained by way of an illustration.  

Overdoses of punishments
A teacher of a school who was also the warden of the boys’ hostel of that school had forced a student to eat all the food prepared for forty students as a punishment for early consumption of some food. The victim had to consume the food in the presence of the other students. The culprit went on eating seventeen “Rotti” when the assistant warden requested the chief warden to mitigate the punishment. The victim who was a fifth standard scholarship holder left the school and the hostel forever and it was the end of his school career.  

Child soldiers – Proscription of children for offensive conflicts
The child should not be admitted to employment before the approved minimum age. He/she shall in no case be caused or permitted to engage in any occupation or employment which would prejudice his /her health or education or interfere with his/her physical, mental or moral development. It is not a secret that during the war Tiger terrorists had proscribed teenagers and even children below fifteen years of age as child soldiers in their military activities. In spite of warning by the international community Tiger Terrorists continued to destroy the blooming buds by proscribing them forcibly.   

How Buddha looks at the children  
Children are investments being made for future use. According to Singalowada Sutta it is the responsibility of elders to bring up children well to be useful citizens in the future. Parents are expected to bring up their sons and daughters according to Brahaminic living imbued with four virtues of Metta (friendliness), Karuna (compassion),Mudita (satisfaction)and Upekkha (impassiveness)to prevent their children from committing acts of sin and violence, to direct them to the correct path, to educate them, to give them in marriage and to gift them the endowments in proper time.   

Duties and responsibilities of children
Children are expected to look after their parents during their old age, to respect them and to maintain the fame and prestige earned by their parents. Children should also win the hearts of other elders including the teachers and preachers. They should educate themselves and grow as useful citizens according to the wish of the parents, teachers and other elders.    

Chandra Jayaratne Seeks Clarification From SEC Regarding Exposing Errant Members Of Listed Companies

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Civil society activist Chandra Jayaratne has sought a clarification from the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of the applicable statutory provisions, policies, regulations and enforcement practices to make investors and public aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies.

Chandra Jayaratne

Explaining the context of his letters, Jayaratne said, “In the context that Professional Associations and Chambers of Commerce being reluctant and reticent in proactive enforcement of Codes of Ethics and Conduct; and especially in “blacklisting” and “Public Announcement” of errant directors and officers, and with the Institute of Directors adopting a role limited to training and developing awareness amongst directors, it is essential the proactive public announcement accountability be assumed by the Public Regulatory Authorities. It is therefore incumbent upon the Securities Exchange Commission, as the “Thought and Action leader” with the closest functional relationship to good governance in the Corporate Sector that the lead action in regard to such public announcements comes under its initiation and direction.”

The full letter, written by Jayaratne, to the SEC, is as follows:

The Director General, 

Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka,

Level 28 and 29, East Tower, 

World Trade Centre, 

Echelon Square, 

Colombo 01.

Dear Sir,

Seeking a Clarification of the Applicable Statutory Provisions, Policies, Regulations and Enforcement Practices to Make Investors and Public Aware of Errant Directors and Officers of Listed Companies 

I would be most grateful for your kind clarification, as to whether there are in place, requisite Statutory Provisions, Policies/Guidelines and Regulations, as well as effective Enforcement Practices, (whether enforced by the Securities Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka or by the Colombo Stock Exchange or any other Regulatory Public Authority,) whereby the investors and the general public are made aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies (including associated External Auditors, Secretaries, Registrars and Legal Advisors).

In specific, I wish to be advised of Statutory Provisions, Policies/Guidelines and Regulations, as well as effective Enforcement Practice regularly used proactively by the Securities Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka or by the Colombo Stock Exchange or any other Regulatory Public Authority, in making investors and the public aware of errant directors and officers of listed companies, culpable of the under noted violations of the law and non compliance with laws, regulations and best practice guidelines:

• Directors and Officers of Failed Deposit Taking Banking and Financial Services Organizations
• Directors and officers of failed listed and non listed and other entities, where public funds have been invested  via prospectuses or statements in lieu of prospectuses or by way of deposit taking
• Directors and Officers responsible for criminal breach of trust
• Directors and Officers responsible reckless management of businesses, demonstrating bad faith and not in the best interests of the company and without exercising  the degree of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected of the errant director/officer
• Directors and Officers responsible for fraud, misappropriation and illegal transfer of assets and engaging in corrupt practices, bribery , malfeasance and malpractices
• Directors and Officers of business entities responsible for gross misrepresentations, mismanagement, and gross negligence  which tantamount to criminal negligence
• Directors and Officers responsible for maintaining books of accounts which fail to reflect  true and fair state of affairs and presenting accounting and other associated information that are not a true fair reflection of the state of affairs
• Directors and officers responsible for going concern failures due to reckless and bad management
• Directors and Officers who have discharged their responsibilities whilst being in undeclared/unmanaged positions of conflicts of interests and having substantial undeclared/unmanaged related party interests
• Directors and Officers charged with penal sanctions connected with money laundering and transfer pricing and tax evasion 
• Directors and Officers having engaged in borrowing funds, securing bank loans, overdrafts and facilities, with the preplanned intent of not settling same or securing such facilities by means of deception, knowing very well that the required cash flows will not be forthcoming in the future to settle such liabilities
• Directors and Officers who have engaged in Securities Offenses, including front running, market manipulations, insider dealings, etc and further engaging in acts violating sanctions, engaging in illicit and illegal trades etc
• Directors and Officers failing to abide by the key provisions of the Companies Act, Listing Rules, Best Practices Codes on Good Governance/Ethics/Conduct and Codes dealing with Non Compliance With Laws and Regulations (NOCLAR)
• Directors designated as Independent Directors, Senior Non Executive Directors and Chairpersons of Audit/Remunerations/Investments/Risk and Credit Committees, who have failed in the discharge of their assigned accountabilities
• Directors and Officers who have failed to make specified market disclosures on a timely and  accurate basis
• Errant Directors of business entities referred to above, where the errant directors responsible for scams, frauds and losses to shareholders  have resigned or retired prior to its discovery

In the context that Professional Associations and Chambers of Commerce being reluctant and reticent in proactive enforcement of Codes of Ethics and Conduct; and especially in “blacklisting” and “Public Announcement” of errant directors and officers, and with the Institute of Directors adopting a role limited to training and developing awareness amongst directors, it is essential the proactive public announcement accountability be assumed by the Public Regulatory Authorities. It is therefore incumbent upon the Securities Exchange Commission, as the “Thought and Action leader” with the closest functional relationship to good governance in the Corporate Sector that the lead action in regard to such public announcements comes under its initiation and direction.

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Issuing vehicle permits to MPs and state sector employees suspended

September 29, 2018

The Government announced several temporary measures to be implemented with effect from midnight today (29) to ease the pressure on the Sri Lankan rupee.

Accordingly, the issuing of vehicle permits to Members of Parliament will be suspended for a period of one year while the importation of vehicles for Government Ministries, Departments, Statutory Boards, State own Enterprises will be suspended until further notice.

The importation of vehicle using the concessionary permits issued to entitled State Sector employees will also be suspended for six months. No Letters of Credits will be permitted to be opened based on these permits during this period, the Ministry of Finance said.

Meanwhile the Loan to Value Ratio (LTV) for Hybrid vehicles will be revised from 70:30 to 50:50 basis.

Importers of all vehicles other than buses, lorries and ambulances will have to keep a 200 percent cash margin at the time of opening of the LCs, the statement said.

Further, the requirement of 100 percent cash margin has been imposed for the import of Refrigerators, Air Conditioners, Televisions, Perfumes, Telephones including Mobile phones, washing machines, footwear and tyres.

However, the ministry noted that though these measures will be effective temporarily from Saturday (29), the government will “continuously monitor the exchange rate fluctuations and will take appropriate action accordingly”.

Dollar rally hurting Sri Lanka and other emerging markets

Friday, 28 September 2018

The Sri Lankan Rupee in the last eight weeks has taken a beating like many other Asian currencies as a result of the dollar rally. The Government rightly pointed out that many of the other currencies had taken a bigger beating. This week the rupee hit a fresh low of 169.05 on Wednesday on importer dollar demand, intervention by the Central Bank limited the fall.

There was unnecessary speculation that it will hit 180 by the year end, fuelled largely by offhand statements made by some politicians. Finance Minister Samaraweera went to the extent of advising people to buy local products and shun unnecessary imports in order to reduce the trade deficit and help stabilise a weak rupee.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who clearly knows the consequences of a prolonged FX crisis, said the Government would take every measure to impose taxes to curb imports by up to $ 1 billion to face the currency crisis. He should immediately start by increasing the taxes on super luxuries, starting with top-end cars and set an example to stop the unnecessary overseas travel of his Government officials and ministers to drive home the point that we actually have a serious crisis that we need to manage.

On the other hand, the Central Bank under pressure said it would certainly intervene aggressively to curb excess volatility in the exchange rate. Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy addressing the Daily FT co-organised Cyber Security Summit last week said during 2011/12, the former administration had invested $ 4.2 billion out of its reserves to defend the rupee. Yet, it could not prevent the depreciation of the rupee by 13.5%. Similarly, in 2015, under the present regime, the Central Bank had spent $ 1.2 billion to protect the rupee but the rupee depreciated by 9%. So he said it is a difficult choice.

Sri Lanka however today is in a critical situation because of our huge trade deficit. Exporters expect the rupee to be under pressure due to continued importer dollar demand and very will likely to play hard ball. The rupee this month alone has weakened 4.6% so far this month after a 1.2% drop last month, and is down 10% so far this year.

The US Dollar rally

The dollar rose modestly on Wednesday before a widely-anticipated Federal Reserve interest rate hike priced in by investors still on the edge about a trade row between the United States and China. The US Fed hiked rates at the September meeting, as widely expected. So far most Asian markets have had a muted reaction to today’s second straight quarter of dollar-supportive rate increase by the Fed. Therefore the dollar rally will likely to continue, that will obviously increases debt service costs in hard currency for Sri Lanka and foreign investors will look to convert their assets to USD.

The other big concern for markets has been the concern about trade wars and what that means for global growth and the rising petroleum prices will be felt in 2019. Overall 2018 Q4, put all these variables together: Fed tightening, dollar’s strength, trade wars and prospects for global growth wearing down a bit, rising oil prices – it’s certainly going to be a very challenging environment for most Asian markets. Moreover high net worth investors, especially in bond markets, are now reallocating their capital to the United States, where the yields on Treasury bonds are rising in tandem with US interest rates.

Way forward

The Fed has now raised interest rates for the third time this year on Wednesday. It still foresees another rate hike in December, three more next year, and one increase in 2020.A strengthening US dollar will continue to depreciate the rupee given that we have big dollar denominated oil imports and other dollar demands. The falling rupee suggests that monetary policy will get tightened further 2019, however being an election year the Government will however have to engage in populist spending. Unfortunately for Sri Lanka, unlike India that has $ 409 billion in foreign exchange reserves that enables it to weather any currency shocks, we have very little. Therefore the rising oil prices combined with a weakening rupee now threaten to take back the economic advantage we had gained in 16-17.

Therefore, the country desperately needs to have economic growth largely led by exports and FDI to create the jobs to absorb the youth entering the job market annually and meet our external obligations. That requires the best brains in both the Government and the private sector to work together collaboratively. In the final analysis, though the USD appreciation is hurting Sri Lanka, it is a blessing in disguise for Sri Lanka to aggressively work towards increasing FDI and exports.
(The writer is a thought leader.)

The Machinery of Administration Under Parliamentary Government

by Leelananda
De Silva-September 29, 2018, 12:00 pm 

Introduction

The Jennings Constitution of 1948 lasted for 25 years until 1972. The new 1972 constitution abolished Sri Lanka’s Dominion status, removed the Queen as Head of State and also removed the provisions relating to the autonomy of the public and judicial services and made Sri Lanka a Republic, although the parliamentary system, with the Prime Minister as Head of Government remained unchanged. The new constitution of 1972 lasted only six years, that being replaced by a new Presidential system of government. The 1972 constitution brought many changes, but the administrative machinery experienced no great changes. Although the focus in this article is on the 1948 constitution, and the period up to 1972, its influence largely continued until 1978. The Jennings constitution was a marvel of simplicity and legal clarity, with about 100 provisions running to about 25 pages, concentrating on matters that require constitutional determination. The provisions of that constitution were hardly questioned in courts of law.

There were several provisions in the 1948 constitution which had a direct impact on the administrative machinery of government. As Walter Bagehot, the authority on the British constitution of the 19th century said, "a Cabinet is a combining committee – a hyphen which joins, a buckle which fastens the legislative part of the state to the executive part of the state". What the Cabinet also did was to link the political executive (which is the Cabinet) with the "permanent administrative executive", in other words the public service. It was the Cabinet which provided leadership to the administrative machinery of government. The Cabinet under the 1948 constitution, created Cabinet Ministers and also Ministries, which were run by individual members of the Cabinet.

Although there was no specific provision under the constitution for particular ministries to be established, with one exception, by tradition the Prime Minister appointed about 20 Cabinet Ministers at any one time. The one exception was regarding the post of Prime Minister, who was also constitutionally required to be the Minister of Defence and External Affairs, until this was changed in 1972 and practically discontinued in 1977. Others might disagree, but it can be argued that the best Ministers of Defence and External Affairs were the Prime Ministers who held that job. They allowed the Foreign Department and the Defence Department to be run by professionals without day-to-day management of these services as is the practice today. Under this arrangement, professionalism flourished without political interference. Other provisions in the constitution which affected the public service related to the appointment of Permanent Secretaries as heads of Ministries and as their chief accounting officers, and the Public Service Commission (PSC) which ensured a large degree of autonomy for the public service.

The Ministerial System

The system of organizing the tasks of government on the basis of Ministries was new to Sri Lanka. Between 1931 and 1947 under the Donoughmore Constitution, there were Ministers but no Ministries. Now under the new constitution, several departments were grouped together to form a Ministry of which the political head was the Minister and the administrative head was the Permanent Secretary. During this period between 1948 and 1972, Cabinets consisted of about 20, or a little more, members at any one time. While all Cabinet Ministers were equal, some Cabinet Ministers held more important portfolios than others. Between 1948 and 1965, it can be argued that the most influential Ministry was the Ministry of Finance (the Treasury). Its influence gradually declined, with some of its early powers being removed to other bodies. With the establishment of the Central Bank in 1950, monetary policy became the responsibility of the latter. In 1965, with the establishment of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs, the capital budget and the external resources budget were removed from the Finance Ministry. Now there was a countervailing authority to the Finance Ministry in the field of economic affairs. Then in 1970, the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance for the public service was removed to the new Ministry of Public Administration.

Apart from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs had a central role in the years 1965 to 1977. This was headed by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister therefore by 1965, headed three powerful Ministries – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Planning and Economic Affairs. What were the other more powerful Ministries at the time? Power depends on two factors – the importance of the tasks under a Ministry, and the political importance of the individual Minister. At this time, Sri Lanka was largely an agricultural economy. The Ministries of Lands and Irrigation and of Agriculture were powerful Ministries. They were also headed by high profile political personalities (Dudley Senanayake, C.P. De Silva, Maithripala Senanayake, M.D. Banda, J.R. Jayawardena, Felix Dias Bandaranaike). Ministries of Health and Education, although high spending Ministries, did not attract high profile political personalities. One notable feature during these 25 years was that relevant departments continued to be grouped within the same Ministry, enabling a close working relationship to be developed within each Ministry. This enabled easy coordination and great familiarity in the workings of a related group of subjects, very much unlike the administrative mayhem of today.

Under the 1948 constitution, a provision was made for the appointment of Parliamentary Secretaries (later called Deputy Ministers). Each Ministry had a Parliamentary Secretary. This arrangement was not a very effective one, most of the time. Parliamentary Secretaries were hardly ever delegated with specific functions, and when they did, they were not the important ones. Ministers and their deputies most of the time did not see eye to eye with each other and the Ministers generally disregarded them. They were not important to the functioning of Ministries. There might have been a few exceptions.

Permanent Secretaries

When they first came to be appointed in 1948, most of them were from the Ceylon Civil Service. There were no other senior administrative grade personnel at that time, and a few who were there were appointed Permanent Secretaries (labour, local government). The Ministry of Justice always had a lawyer as its Permanent Secretary. One crucial factor to be noted in these appointments was that administrators were selected to these posts and not high officials of technical departments. It can be argued that senior engineers, scientists, doctors were ignored in appointments as Permanent Secretaries in relevant departments. There was an obvious tilt towards the generalist rather than the specialist, until about 1965. In 1965, a professional economist (Dr. Gamani Corea) was brought in to head the Ministry of Planning and Economic Affairs. Under the same government, for the first time, a private sector person was brought in as Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of State (Anandatissa de Alwis). In 1970, the new Sirimavo Bandaranaike government broke away from past practices and appointed several Permanent Secretaries from outside the public service and also brought in specialists to head relevant Ministries. The post of Permanent Secretary was a constitutional position and was never intended to be exclusively reserved for former civil servants or administrators. Specialists could have been appointed from the start, although this was not done. Whether specialists could have performed better in a policy advisory role, rather than the generalist administrator, in a matter to be argued.

District Administration

The constitution of 1948 had little to say about provincial, district or local administration. Local government in the country was based not on constitutional provisions, but on legislative acts from the central legislature. Whether that practice should have continued, instead of including all these matters in new constitutions, is still open to argument. The kachcheri system of district administration continued during the period 1948 to 1977. During British times, the district administrative system was a blend of feudal and modern bureaucratic practices. Change came about gradually with the abolition of the Mudaliyar and Ratemahathaya system previously and the village headmen system in the early 1960s. There was a demand by members of parliament in the later years to have some control on district administration.

From 1948 to about 1970, MPs had some voice in district administration, especially through the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) which met once in about three months. Then there were the regular meetings with members of parliament in kachcheris and other district offices. In the mid-1970s, a more formal District Minister system and District Political Authority System was emerging. District administration was also being affected by the greater presence of the military at district level and the appointment of District Coordinating Officers from the military.

In 1948, there were only nine government agents, one for each province and in the late 1950s, a GA was appointed for each district (there were 21 or 22 of them). It would have been feasible at the time to examine the prospect of devolution to the district level instead of the provinces, but that opportunity was lost. What is important to notice is also that all the changes at the district level were brought, not through any amendment to the constitution, but by ordinary legislation.

It is worth looking back at the administrative experience of Ceylon/Sri Lanka until the 1970s to draw lessons and improve the current chaotic conditions of administrative incompetence and excessive staffing of almost every department. The political control of the administrative machinery at the provincial and district levels need to be re-assessed to allow for much greater autonomy for provincial officials. Other systems of decentralized administration need to be explored. For example, there could be more local control of hospitals and schools (boards of school management, parent teacher associations), through elected committees which oversaw the work of these institutions, instead of by politicians.

There has been little analysis or discussion of Sri Lanka’s experience in public administration during the parliamentary system of government. It is now in the process of being forgotten. Institutions like the Sri Lanka Institute for Development Administration should encourage the study of the history of public administration in this country. I would venture to suggest that up until the 1970s, the administrative grades of the public service were more aware of the development of administrative systems and their historical background. The present generation of administrators and other public servants should have that same knowledge. To illustrate, are the current day irrigation engineers aware of the proud history of their department over a hundred years?