Sri Lanka: Political Crisis Threatens Justice Efforts

More Delays for Civil War Victims Seeking Truth, Accountability

Supporters of ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe celebrate outside the Supreme Court complex in Colombo after the court unanimously ruled that President Maithripala Sirisena's order to dissolve Parliament was unconstitutional, December 13, 2018. 

 © 2018 AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena

January 17, 2019

(New York) – Sri Lanka’s political upheaval undermined stalled processes aimed at providing truth and justice for abuses from the country’s civil war, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2019. The crisis subsided after the Supreme Court ruled on December 13 that the president’s dissolving of parliament was unconstitutional, and Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down as proclaimed prime minister.

“The many victims of Sri Lanka’s three-decade long civil war have seen their diminishing hopes for justice further delayed by presidential politics,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “This tragedy highlights the failure of the Sirisena government to take swift, meaningful steps toward accountability.”

In the 674-page World Report 2019, its 29th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth says that the populists spreading hatred and intolerance in many countries are spawning a resistance. New alliances of rights-respecting governments, often prompted and joined by civic groups and the public, are raising the cost of autocratic excess. Their successes illustrate the possibility of defending human rights – indeed, the responsibility to do so – even in darker times.

The administration of Rajapaksa was implicated in egregious violations during the final months of Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war in 2009, and in suppression of freedoms of the media, expression, and association. After Maithripala Sirisena won the election in 2015, the government improved the climate for civil society, reversed some repressive measures, and supported a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council that promoted four transitional justice mechanisms for truth and accountability.

Of these four, only the Office of Missing Persons has been formed, but it has yet to become fully functional. Families in the north and east have held protests and vigils to demand the return of their land from military occupation and to seek the truth about disappeared family members. The political turmoil over the country’s leadership and the possible return of a Rajapaksa administration raised fears not only of further delays in justice, but of retribution against those pressing for government action. The Supreme Court ruling and Rajapaksa’s concession ended the turmoil.

Long-promised security sector reforms are also stalled. Although the government proposed a new counterterrorism law to repeal the draconian and long-abused Prevention of Terrorism Act, the bill did not meet international human rights standards.

One important advance for justice was the indictment, in November, of the chief of defense staff, Adm. Ravindra Wijegunaratne, for protecting a navy officer accused of abducting and killing 11 ethnic Tamil civilians during the civil war.

“Sri Lanka’s past pledges to provide justice to conflict victims and to initiate reforms have fallen by the wayside amid political turmoil,” Ganguly said. “Sri Lanka’s friends need to press the government to meet its commitments to people who have suffered for so long.”

A Constitution for politician and not people

By Dr. A. C. Visvalingam-January 17, 2019, 9:53 pm 

Rtd Engineering Consultant

acvisva@gmail.com

Do we need a new Constitution? Unquestionably yes! But the one that is being promoted at the moment is no better than our earlier Constitutions. Whilst there are many who are quibbling over the fine details of what has been published for public comment, it is imperative that we stop nit-picking and take a deeper look at the overall fundamentals.

With few exceptions, the citizens of this country, on account of their almost congenital mental lethargy, have never given much thought to Constitution-making and the differences between a Constitution that would protect the people’s interests and one that would only enhance the privileges of those to whom the people customarily delegate their legislative powers. The fact is that our voters are easily lulled into unthinking acceptance of adverse Constitutional provisions as long as three "magic pills" are prescribed first. These are: 1) The unitary status of Sri Lanka shall remain untouched, 2) Buddhism shall be given "the foremost place", and 3) Buddhism shall be fostered and protected. The three main political parties (collectively referred to hereinafter as "AB&C") repeat these like a manthra that sends most Sri Lankans into an anaesthetized state that prevents them from recalling the number of times that this very manthra has been employed over the past seven decades to prevent them from looking critically at the many other crucial issues that a good Constitution must address. Once this state of passivity dulls the critical faculties of our people, AB&C find no barrier to conspiring jointly to structure the Constitution so as to secure and enhance the powers and privileges always enjoyed by Parliament, Ministers and MPs.

If citizens examine the Constitution mindfully, they will see that several of its key features need to be given more than superficial attention. On account of space restrictions, only five or six aspects will be considered here for the present.

The Number and Quality of MPs

The proposal to increase the number of MPs is unconscionable. There is no good reason why there should be 233 MPs or any such useless excess. The rapid growth in the quota of MP-slots in the past was definitely attributable to the desire of the party leaders of AB&C to have more and more such slots at their disposal in order to be able to reward ever greater numbers of their supporters at public expense.

Many countries more efficiently governed than ours have far smaller legislatures. By looking at well-ruled states of similar size, one cannot see any justification for our wishing to have more than around 125 MPs. This limit can be further justified if one looks at the actual attendance records of our 225 MPs, about half of whom have been robbing the resources of the country without doing an honest term’s work. Patently, therefore, fifty percent of this number (say, 125) would be quite sufficient.

To help voters to make informed choices, it would clearly be of immense value if every candidate for elected office is required to fill in at least a two-sided, A4-sized application form giving details of their age, address, contact details, educational background, professional qualifications (if any), working experience and social services rendered. Political parties should be required to furnish copies of these to each household in the relevant electorates in Sinhala, Tamil or English according to the householders’ language instead of squandering valuable resources on holding disruptive public meetings, marching in processions, and deafening the people with low-fidelity, high volume loudspeakers.

A provision should be introduced for the accurate monitoring of the attendance and participation of MPs in the debates of the House and its committees. Failure to do enough work to justify the remuneration, allowances and numerous privileges that MPs are given should be assessed in an objective manner from the records maintained by the Secretary-General of Parliament and the public kept informed through the newspapers.

Whilst we want our MPs to be more competent and honest, we cannot attain this goal unless the remuneration offered is no less attractive than in the private sector. No capable person, in view of his duty to himself and his family, should be expected to sacrifice his entire future security for the love of his country. If, however, we reduce the number of MPs and drop the idea of a Senate, it may well become possible to match the rewards for good MPs in public service with the rewards in the private sector.

Number of Ministries

Both India and the USA have even fewer Ministries than Sri Lanka for populations ranging from 15-50 times that of Sri Lanka. A few years ago, after taking into account Sri Lanka’s land area, population and administrative history, the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) studied Constitution-related matters and, inter alia, recommended that there be only 25 Ministries. Why Sri Lankan politicians of AB&C want far more Ministerial positions nowadays is to facilitate the bribing of MPs of other parties to change their allegiance. Because flitting from one party to another is expected to be forbidden in the future, one must beware of allowing alternative loopholes (such as "coalition enhancements") to permit Cabinets of more than 25 Ministers.

The pressure on party leaders to reward importunate party members with Ministerial positions can be done away with if, at their respective pre-election party conventions, each participant is given, say, three voting cards that they mark secretly, in order of preference, to indicate which three of their members they would prefer to have in positions of authority. Once all the votes are counted, it would become clear as to who are the party’s most respected members. The one who gets the most votes should automatically be declared the party leader. Each member in the party’s list of favorite members, in order of popularity, should be asked to indicate their three preferred Ministries. The leader chosen by the party would be obliged to respect the recorded order of popularity and assign the available Ministries accordingly. Thus, a Prime Minister would not be faced with a situation where MPs who lack sufficient support within their party demand that they be given Cabinet level Ministries.

Proposal to have a Senate

An independent Senate, if it is directly elected by the people, may theoretically be useful. However, if Senators are appointed, as one may expect will be the case in Sri Lanka, this body would merely become a means of rewarding those who give generous financial and logistical support to political parties. That is, by creating a Senate, public money would have to be spent on persons who finance political parties for their private benefit even though debates in the Senate will be presented to the people in such a way as to generate the false impression that Senators are independent of Parliamentary hegemony.

If Senators are not directly elected, who would appoint the Senators? Nominally, the non-executive President? But, is he going to choose all of them by himself? Alternatively, will he appoint Senators only from lists furnished by AB&C? On what criteria?

The sittings of Parliament are said to cost more than Rs.25 Miilion per day. Now, a Senate would require a grand new building, furniture and fittings, a vast array of electronic equipment, duty-free luxury limousines, administrative and support staff, as well as ancillaries that could entail a capital outlay of Rs.2-5 Billion. Moreover, its daily upkeep may cost Rs.10-15 Million. Senators would also probably be given all-expenses-paid, annual "study" trips to those countries that have a Senate!

The word "Supreme"

It should be made unmistakably clear in the Constitution that it is the People who are supreme. Other than in the case of the time hallowed "Supreme Court", all efforts to call Parliament or the President or the Prime Minister "supreme" should not be countenanced.

A United Nation and a strong

Sri Lankan Identity

As long as there is any form of discrimination in the Constitution between the rights and privileges accorded to the various racial and religious groups in the country, there cannot be a united country with a strong Sri Lankan identity. This issue, although it is likely to be papered over for the present, is not going to disappear. A Constitutional re-write thirty years from now may well have to be secular one.

It is imperative that the language- and religion-based segregated streaming of schoolchildren be reversed, at least partially for the moment, if unity is to be achieved. A minimal move in this direction in the new Constitution would be giant step forward. Otherwise, Sri Lanka would spend too much energy on entrenching disunity which must be eradicated if it is ever to reach its true potential, which is vast.

As limitations of space have permitted only five or six constitutional topics to be considered here, those who are interested may consider referring to the numerous articles that can be accessed at www.cimogg-srilanka.org (which is still functioning) on a wide range of Constitution-related issues that have not been touched upon here but are highly relevant to assessing the quality of a Constitution.

It is up to the public to be eternally vigilant to see that the persons to whom they, in all good faith, entrust the powers of government do not take the people for a ride.

Federal recipes supported by SLPP leaders 

G.L. Peiris and Neelan Thiruchelvam wrote the Package which described Sri Lanka as a Union of Regions

 2019-01-18

ne group of politicians in the North keep on telling their voters that the Sinhalese leaders were depriving them of all their rights, to grab their lands, to sideline them in education and employment and what not.  They see ulterior motives even in the Army rescuing their compatriots who had been marooned by the recent floods.
They have their ideal counterparts in the South, who also always demonise the former by telling the Sinhalese that the Tamils were hell bent in conspiring to divide the country.  
These southern politicians always prefer to see or show a devil in the main Tamil political group in the North. Also, they always allege that their rivals in the south were hand in glove with the Tamils to divide the country.  

Both the main southern political parties seem to deem alternately that this is what politics is all about. Now, it is the turn of the loyalists of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to play this game.  
Usually, it has been the Constitutional changes, especially those concerning the ethnic problem that becomes the football to play.
The process to enact a new Constitution, which was initiated in January 2016, had been eclipsed by last year’s political upheavals and it all of a sudden was rejuvenated by the Government this month by convening the Constitutional Assembly and presenting four relevant reports in it.  
However, the debate over the new Constitution had been revived a little earlier by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran with a statement that a Draft Constitution would be presented before February 4.

With this, Rajapaksa loyalists have dusted off the decade-old political invective, the Federal bogey or the secessionist bogey.  
This time too it is a conspiracy by the TNA, the main Tamil group, and the UNP, the southern adversary of the accuser.  
No substantiation is needed here and nobody from your audience would demand any.  
The only criterion needed to expose this conspiracy is you must be a Sinhalese and you want to grab power by defaming and demonizing the current group in power.  
As if they are unaware that 13th Amendment to the Constitution has provided thirty-two years ago for the institution of Two Police forces, national and provincial, they scare the Sinhalese by saying that Ranil Wickremesinghe is conspiring with TNA spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran to create a provincial police force.  
Some of the loyalists of Rajapaksa, who once promised India to go beyond the 13th Amendment, have dusted off another decade-old corroded argument and say that Sinhalese would have to get a visa to travel to the North by April.  

What is a Sinhalese dominated political party going to gain by conspiring with Tamils or Muslims to divide the country?
Can that party face any election after doing so? When politics has become a large-scale money-making business, no party would risk its very survival by carrying out such a manoeuvre.  
The irony is that the same allegation had been levelled by the leaders of the United National Party (UNP) as well against the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the coalitions it had formed in which, Mahinda Rajapaksa and the majority of his loyalists had been members or leaders.

 
In short, this has been an allegation levelled by the UNP and the SLFP against each other since Independence. If there has been an iota of validity in this allegation the natural question that arises is as to why these two parties have been alternately conspiring to divide the country.  What is really happening is that the SLFP or its coalitions cry foul and create a Federal or Secessionist Bogey when the UNP comes to power and attempts to address the issues pertaining to Tamils. And at the next time when the SLFP takes over the government both parties swap roles and the UNP becomes the guardians of the Sinhalese.
An even ironic matter is that the supporters of the two parties, the ordinary people also change their hearts alternately in sympathy of and against the Tamil demands, from time to time.  

Now that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by Mahinda Rajapaksa is on the offensive against Federalism and Secessionism, it is worth reminding the public as to how the leaders of the party contributed to Federalism and even secessionism in the country.  The SLPP is the majority group of SLFP that has been supporting Mahinda Rajapaksa since the SLFP practically divided as Mahinda -Maithri groups.  
Hence the history of the SLPP is nothing but that of the SLFP. Though the SLFP had almost always been in coalition with very small parties, those small parties never had a say in decision making.

Therefore the responsibility of the decisions made by the SLFP-led coalitions in the past solely lies with the SLFP.  
It was the SLFP that first embarked on a scheme of power devolution in Sri Lanka, in 1957, through the Bandaranaike- Chelvanayakam Pact.
The pact proposed regional councils (Rata Sabha). Later, the PA Government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga signed a Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE in 1994, under which the Government for the first time recognized the LTTE held areas within the territory of Sri Lanka.  
The SLFP, as the leading constituent party of the Peoples’ Alliance (PA), introduced the famous Package, a set of proposals for a new formula of power devolution in 1995.  

The package had been important in several aspects.  
Despite the SLPP leaders now screaming hoarse in favour of the Unitary State of the country, the Package proposed to rid the word Unitary from the Constitution and Sri Lanka was to be called a Union of Regions.  
Now, the SLPP leaders are accusing Ranil Wickremesinghe of joining hands with Sumanthiran, a Tamil to draft the proposed new Constitution, whereas it was in collaboration with Neelan Thiruchchelvam, a TULF leader that Professor G.L. Peiris, presently the Chairman of the SLPP drafted that Package.  
Both Rajapaksa and Peiris were leading ministers of that PA government.

The PA Government on the basis of the same package submitted its proposals in October 1997 to a Parliamentary select committee and the solution to the ethnic problem in President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s draft new Constitution presented in Parliament in August 2000 was also based on that package.  
It must be remembered that the draft Constitution of 2000 also provided for the merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces for a further period of 10 years and that no ministers or MPs of the PA Government opposed it.  
When the Wickremesinghe Government agreed to explore a solution to the ethnic problem under a Federal framework during the third round of peace talks with the LTTE in December 2002 in Oslo, nobody agitated against it.  

But President Kumaratunga in response boasted that she was the first to propose a Federal Constitution in the country.  
The LTTE proposed in 2005 a joint mechanism to help the 2004 tsunami victims in the North and the East. The proposal named Post-Tsunami Operational Mechanism Structure (P-TOMS) was almost a blueprint for a Separate State.  
Yet, the then UPFA Government under President Kumaratunga signed the agreement for it and the signed document was presented in Parliament by none other than the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Needless to say, the current Constitution-making process is very vague. And some of the proposals in the Experts’ Committee report such as the one to call Sri Lanka an Aekeeya Ragyaya in Sinhala and Orumiththa Nadu in Tamil is misleading and gives rise to various misconceptions or varied interpretations.  
Also, the timing of the resumption of the process after long oblivion seems to have given rise to suspicions on the UNP Government’s real motives among other political parties.  
However, rousing suspicions among various communities cannot be accepted as a prudent
response to it.    

Evaluation of economic performance: 4 years into Yahapalana Government

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Friday, 18 January 2019 

The Yahapalana Government completed four years on 8 January this year. The four-year journey was a rough ride with a clear rift between the President and the UNP; the ruling party. The Government continues to face severe criticism from both inside and outside.

Prior to any comment on the economic performance, it would be necessary to understand the key policy differences of the two administrations, prior to and post January 2015. The UPFA Government led by the former President was believed to be influenced by the left-wing thinking and rely on strong government for running the economy.

Economic policy prior to 2015

Economic growth in post war era from 2009-2012 was markedly higher, largely due to rebuilding of infrastructure and economic integration of north and east after the completion war in 2009. The economic policy was more inward-looking. The economic growth primarily derived from the domestic economy, through large infrastructure spending, funded by the foreign loans obtained by the Government.

Except the promotion of tourism sector, industrial production and export sector were neglected. As a result, export share of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) took notable downward trajectory over the years. The economic growth increased disposable income (evidenced by the growth of per capita income) of the people and the miniscule export earnings were quite insufficient to meet import demand for the manufactured goods.

The domestic business sector influenced the Government to protect domestic industries, largely monopolistic or oligopolistic in nature, via trade barriers making them less competitive internationally. From the fiscal side, public debt increased at a rapid phase since the Government borrowed funds for large infrastructure spending.

Hot money 

To meet ever raising foreign debt financing commitments, the Government turned towards short-term interest arbitrage funds, known as hot money which was readily available at that time due to the ultralow interest rate regime prevailed in the west. The Government allowed hot money into LKR denominated Government securities. By the end of 2014, this accounted for $ 3.5 b, compared to official foreign reserves of $ 8.2 b. However, there was no strategy to refinance the gap when that hot money leaves the country.

Financing massive Government expenditure

The economic policy of the Yahapalana Government was not vastly different. The Government had to find financing to fund popular and profligate election promises, such as massive Rs. 10,000 pay hike to nearly 1.3 million State sector employees. By 2015, debt service commitments of many loans, obtained by previous administration for infrastructure spending, were due for repayment. Since the returns of those projects were not sufficient to finance debt service commitments, additional funding was required. Expansion in the budget deficit was inevitable.

The Finance Minister vigorously followed up and made strenuous effort to improve the revenue collection process. As a result, the Government was able to increase the Government revenue to marginalise the effect of highest-ever increase in the Government expenditure in the recent history. By that time, the Finance Minister was virtually handicapped without the required institutional setup, which usually comes under the Ministry.

To his credit, with only three main institutions under his purview, he was successful in increasing the Government revenue by 21% and 16% during 2015 and 2016 respectively. This effort bucked the declining trend observed in Government revenue during the previous decade. After 10 years, the Finance Ministry was able to increase Government revenue as a percentage of GDP. The Finance Minister, for his exertion to establish fiscal consolidation via raising revenue, was recognised as the Best Finance Minister of the Asia Pacific region by financial magazine The Banker.

Economic reforms 

Apart from the fiscal consolidation initiatives and certain fiscal reforms agreed with the IMF, the Government failed to undertake necessary economic reforms. The external pressure continues with the exit strategy of the Fed, central bank of the USA. The economic growth virtually came to halt while regional peers were growing at rate of 5-7% range. There was a slight pickup in exports towards latter part, but no clear strategy in making the country competitive in international market. Our export remain highly concentrated and yet no visible effort is made in diversifying the export base.

Policy advice

There were two finance ministers during the four-year period compared to one finance minister during the 10 years prior to 2015. One finance minister was only the minister in charge of revenue collection, however, lately the current minister received all institutions which typically come under the Ministry.

The institutional set up and the public officials remained unchanged. The marked difference was the panel of key policymakers and advisors of the Government (not referring to present advisors of the Finance Ministry). Key economic policymakers of the previous regime ware pragmatic and practical though they never intervened to change the left centric economic views of the former President. In contracts, the advisors of the present Government are textbook style and lack comprehension. As a result, the Prime Minister continues to make economic policy announcements one after the other without serious action plans behind them for better execution.

Contrary to popular belief that the economy is handled by the Finance Ministry, the Government chooses the economic policy while the Finance Ministry plays a lead role in policy formulation and implementation. Apart from fiscal consolidation efforts during the first few years, no serious efforts are taken in respect of necessary economic reforms required to take the country forward.

The economic outlook is bleak given the tough external environment and weakening growth prospectus. The Government may not be able to undertake any serious economic reform this year too due to the preparation for the forthcoming presidential election in the latter part of this year.

(The writer is a CFA charterholder; capital market practitioner and Certified FRM. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any institution.)

Undeliverable Political Settlement For The Tamils & Bankrupt Politics Of TNA 

By Kumarathasan Rasingam –JANUARY 16, 2019

Kumarathasan Rasingam

The political history of Tamils who inhabited the island before the arrival of Vijaya in 543 BC, a legendary prince, still to be proved by real and documented evidence, has been tarnished with the record of betrayals, pogroms, genocide and massacres in the hands of successive Sri Lankan Governments since 1948.Numerous articles and books have detailed these events locally and internationally. The International community including the United Nations watched these hearts wrenching human tragedies with their mouths shut, eyes closed allowing and encouraging the Sri Lankan Government’s to execute the agenda of militarization, Sinhalaization, Buddhisization with ease and unhindered, through state legislations and machinery. The United Nations Human Rights Council and International Community with a pricked conscience sprang into action after the genocidal war conducted by Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009 which harvested more than 70,000 lives, with approximate 60,000 disappeared, 90,000 war widows and 200,000 disabled and 10,000 orphans. In between The armed struggle of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] was also crushed who were branded as terrorists while omitting to label Sri Lanka’s state terrorism, which is not comparable to the terrorism of rebels as a state is duty bound to protect its own citizens irrespective of race, religion or caste, and not indulge in terrorism.

From 1948 to 1956, Sri Lankan citizens enjoyed the democracy and its freedoms without any hatred, hostility or any bias based on religion, language or race. All of these plunged into irretrievable depths with the passage of Sinhala Only Act in 1956. Capturing political power was one reason while asserting the power of rural folk was another reason as Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by SWRD Bandaranaike achieved the above goals while laying the groundwork and foundation for the growth and breeding of communalism, chauvinism and hegemony. The victims were the minorities, particularly the Tamils who bore the brunt of these ferocious dehumanizing weapons.

Sri Lanka’s major parties SLFP and UNP rely heavily on the votes of Sinhalese rather than the votes of Tamils and Muslims. Gestures of good will, reconciliation and respect are extended at occasions to lure their votes. History shows that all measures and steps so far taken to ensure equality in all respects like language, religion, state employment were brought down to nil effect. 

To the credit of Sri Lanka, it can be proud to boast as a country which has followed and never breached the norms of democracy via free election, and associated democratic rights. However the darker side of Sri Lanka’s face of democracy is dotted with black marks and stains, as the democracy has only served the interests of majority community and the ruling Governments who have successfully exploited it to foist, thrust and carry out their agenda of Sinhalization, Buddhisization and later Militarization.

The seeds for the above were sown from the time of ‘Mahavamsa‘ a chronicle [myth] wrote by Mahanama Thera in 6th century AD, when hardly any other books were written to detail the true history of Sri Lanka either in Tamil or Sinhalese. Mahavamsa’s author mentioning about Lord Buddha’s wish to choose “Sri Lanka as a suitable country to preserve Buddhism” which is unsubstantiated laid the foundation for the birth and growth of Mahavamsa mindset to achieve this goal and make it real.

“Mahavamsa” chronicle provided the gateway to “Mahavamsa” mindset which in turn acted as the springboard for the rise of inimical political agenda, slogans and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism. These can be summarized as follows:

[1] Communalism, racism and majority hegemony.

[2] Covert and overt execution of the agenda of Sinhalization and Buddhisization and Militarization from 1948.

Read More

'Pongu Thamil' marked 18 years on at Jaffna Uni

Students and staff at the University of Jaffna today remembered the 18th anniversary of the 'Pongu Thamil' uprising. 

Gathering by the Pongu Thamil declaration monument on the university campus grounds, students and staff remembered the widespread uprising calling for Tamil self-determination. 

"The aspirations of the Tamils namely right of self determination, traditional homeland, Tamil as a distinct nationality, should be recognised" the monument's inscription reads. 

The Pongu Thamil uprising was made up of a series of large scale rallies in 2001 across the Tamil homeland, calling for the Tamil right to self-determination. The rallies were later echoed in Tamil diaspora communities worldwide in 2008. 

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02 November 2005 : All for one and one for all

Gota’s announcement subdues President’s advocacy for candidacy

Gotabaya Rajapaksa hints at contesting the Presidential Elections

2019-01-17

There were rumblings within the   political combine of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) after some UPFA stalwarts – Mahinda Samarasinghe, Nimal Siripala de Silva and the like- announced that President Maithripala Sirisena would be their presidential candidate. The UPFA is now a broad political platform as opposed to the political force led by the United National Party (UNP). 

The SLPP or the UPFA segment led by Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, however, despises any move to nominate President Sirisena as their candidate next time.    The support of the SLPP is the sine qua non for the President to secure candidacy to seek office for the second term at the Presidential Elections, scheduled for the end of this year as otherwise his own vote base does not suffice. The President’s aspirations of contesting next time were dimmed in that context, at least for the time being, when the SLPP MPs – Kanchana Wijesekara, Roshan Ranasinghe and the like – openly denounced candidacy for him in that context.

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• The President’s aspirations of contesting next time were dimmed in that context
• Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was widely perceived as the person tipped to be the next candidate
• It is reported that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has applied for the renouncement of his dual citizenship
• Before the presidential elections, some parties are keen to get a provincial council election

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In a further step towards subduing agitation for candidacy to the President by his loyalists, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa remarked at a function last Saturday in Colombo, that he was ready for the presidential elections if people agreed.

“I am ready if people are ready,” he said. This is the first time he directly hinted at his interest in becoming the presidential candidate. Let alone, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was widely perceived as the person tipped to be the next candidate. Against that backdrop, his remarks gave some sort of certainty to public perception. Though it is not a formal announcement, it has the intended effect- to preempt lobbying for candidacy by President Sirisena through his loyalists.

Afterwards, no one from the President’s camp responded to Gotabhaya Rapajapksa’s indication to become the candidate.  Instead, the UPFA members, who were openly advocating candidacy for the President, now try to   soft-pedal what they said earlier.  

At the same time, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa is also not inclined to announce Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the candidate at this hour. He believes there are ten more months to go for the Presidential Elections, and therefore it is premature to make the announcement right now. 

Dual citizenship  

It is not yet fully certain who would be the candidate. Be that as it may, it is reported that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has applied for the renouncement of his dual citizenship in the United States. The renouncing of a dual citizenship is a constitutional requirement for a candidate to contest for the Presidency in Sri Lanka. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, has barred dual citizens from becoming the President of Sri Lanka.  He has reportedly filed his application in Washington. Now, his applications are processed.  So, his eligibility to become the next candidate is dependent on the United States despite a public perception built quite prematurely here that he would be the candidate. 

Before the presidential elections, some parties are keen to get a provincial council election clearing the present obstacles.  It is politically logical for some parties to have such elections first as a precursor to the presidential elections. Once such an election is conducted, it will determine the standing of each party among constituents. Then, it will be helpful for them to test the waters and plan accordingly for the Presidential Elections. A candidate has to poll more than 50 percent of votes to win presidency. A provincial council election, conducted ahead of the presidential elections, would be portentous for a party to ascertain its electoral position, among different communities and various social strata- in pursuit of the 50 percent target of votes cutting across the entire country.  

Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who formed the SLPP, is keen to have elections to the provincial councils first. Also, President Sirisena expressed his desire at a recent meeting to contest the provincial council elections first. The President recently appointed the Governors to each province, probably as part of his plan to gear his party for the provincial council elections.   

At the same time, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa is also not inclined to announce Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the candidate at this hour

Sajith keen on contesting presidency 

Howeer, the UNP is requesting for a presidential election first. The party, along with its allies, has not   made any formal announcement of its presidential candidate. However, UNP Deputy Leader Housing and Construction Minister Sajith Premadasa appears to be enthusiastic about becoming the party’s choice to contest the presidential election.  This is becoming obvious  both by his words and deeds these days.  The housing project, commonly called ‘Udagam Project’ is his passion project.  These days, he has devoted himself fully to the programme which has been tailor-made to boost his image and popularity in the country. In fact, he    skips Cabinet and party meetings to find time to be away from Colombo to implement the programme in different parts of the country. 

Sajith starts campaign  

Instead of the challenging the economic reform agenda pursued by the UNP, during the past four years in office, Premadasa is also whipping up populist nationalism probably to carve out his political niche ahead of the Presidential Elections. It is natural for him to depart from the reform agenda his party pursued because it was not popular among people at that time. 

In lobbying for candidacy, Premadasa is backed by more people this time within the party than in the past.   That is surely an advantage this time. Alongside, he has some disadvantages because he has not aired out his opinion as such on other important policy matters- education, health   ethnic conflict, foreign relations etc. He is passionate only about the housing project, following in the footsteps of his late father R. Premadasa who ascended to presidency through his famous Gamudawa and housing programmes in 1980s. Housing needs are not as dire as they were in the 1980s. So, such a project would not have the desired electoral effect at present, come what may. 

Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who formed the SLPP, is keen to have elections to the provincial councils first

Fonseka hits out at PM

Dissension still reigns in the UNP over denial of ministerial perks to some MPs.  National List MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka directly hit out at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in this regard, and accused him of paving the way for President Sirisena to appoint him in the Cabinet.  Fonseka criticised the party leadership in this manner at the recent parliamentary group meeting. 

Quoting the Constitution, he said the Cabinet had to be appointed by the President in consultation with the Prime Minister. The size of the Cabinet has to be restricted to 30 under the 19th Amendment. Fonseka said that the Prime Minister had sent 35 names including his to the President instead of 30 names. 

“The President got the chance to knock off five names including mine. If there were 30 names including mine, the President would have appointed all,” he said.

Fonseka implied to say that the Prime Minister only made way for the President to exclude him from the Cabinet in this manner.

Is GDP the ideal metric of the future?

 Money can’t buy happiness, or can it? Pic courtesy Panduka de Silva

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 Friday, 18 January 2019 

In an age of stark contradictions, we live in a world where the exclusive 1% enjoy access to an abundance of wealth and resources but also a world where a billion people scarcely have enough to eat and have limited access to health and education. While economic progress of the elitist countries is thus conventionally measured in numbers, its population slowly succumbs to obesity, smoking, stress and depression.

Great sages and philosophers like Aristotle and Lord Buddha taught humanity time and time again that material needs may not always fulfil our greatest desires but more over to promote the end of suffering, achieve social justice and attain happiness.

Money isn’t everything, but for measuring national success it has been everything

When the World Bank forecasted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Sri Lanka to touch 4.1%, it made me wonder, is there a better model to measure growth? Does the Sri Lankan story reflect the true nature of a mere number or can there possibly be more to it?

GDP has prevailed as a metric to measure growth of a country since World War II, certainly a better metric that military victories which were its preceding time-honoured gauge. With so much innovation, disruption and exponential change spiralling out of control, are we trying to measure the state of a 2019 economy with a 1940s method, GDP?

What does GDP tell us? 

What GDP tells us is whether the economy is going faster or slower, very similar to that of a speedometer. Just like in cars, while this information is critical, it fails to tell us some very important things that we want to know. For example, it won’t tell us if we are overheating, or about to run out of fuel.

The speedometer won’t tell us if we are steering in the right direction, typically if we ask the driver if the direction is right, his natural tendency is to justify his route and accelerate. The exact same thing happens when complaints are raised about the current state of the economy resulting in a strong commitment to spur growth by its decision makers with little regard for direction or other critical indicators.

The elusive economic compass

Direction is established through the proverbial economic compass that calls for the views of its citizenry. Asked from the people, a good economy would meet the basic needs towards achieving happiness, health and maintaining the quality of life, free from inequality and injustice.

The challenge would now be to identify the economic equivalent of this compass which will provide direction of economic travel.

The error of measurement 

Even though GDP measures the cost of goods and services bought and sold, the value of housework, health and recreation are not represented. For instance, imputed rent, how much we would pay for our own home is not included as are so many other factors. How about the revenues from the drug trade or prostitution?

The manner in which we eat into our endowments, cutting forests, scavenging the oceans, polluting the environment raises concerns on introducing a green GDP as these components fail to be included in the GDP calculation, conveniently and perhaps comically.

We also cannot overlook the technological advancement that is hardly factored into the goods and services. For instance, the price indices do not adequately capture the large memory capacities, faster speeds, better cameras and multi-faceted options of the mobile phones. Where in GDP do we capture these significant contributors?

Even though things of value cannot be captured comprehensively through GDP they can be measured by separate metrics such as health, education and freedom. It may very well boil down to a case of measuring commodities vs. capabilities as distinguished by Amartya Sen in the 1980s.

The science of happiness 

Widely acknowledged and highly recommended irrespective of country, happiness is a common indicator and probably the most accurate denominator of establishing social well-being. These are things that dominate our daily lives everywhere; the things that we care about and which we think we have some ability to control. It means that comparisons among groups of people are possible. Perhaps a metric of relevance across all socio-economic dimensions?

The link to sustainable development 

As the caretakers of earth it is our duty to protect the Earth by adopting lifestyles and technologies that improve happiness and finally life satisfaction while simultaneously reducing human carnage to the environment.

The phrase “Sustainable Development” talks of a combination of human well-being, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. Hence, it is safe to assume that the quest for happiness is intimately linked to the quest for this so called sustainable development.

Measuring a smile

Statistics are not facts; they are tools. Hope for a better measurement is emerging as we speak in the Social Progress Index (SPI) which involves a holistic framework as we strive towards inclusive growth. Environmental impact assessment tools such as ecological foot printing while environmental profit and loss have been trialled in our quest to reach triple bottom line profitability.

The World Happiness Report which is gaining in importance uses a mix of GDP, social support, healthy life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity and perceptions of corruption to rank countries. The way forward is in fact a mix of subjective and objective measures.

The responsibility is in our hands not to make decisions purely based on the financial information but rather to account for social and environmental capital. A world of win-win-win. Even though it has been thus established that Money can’t buy happiness, it could perhaps buy the ability to measure it.
(The writer is a Fund Manager and banking professional with over 10 years of experience in in capital markets advisory, investment banking, portfolio management and corporate finance and holds Masters Degrees in Finance and Management Strategy.)
References:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/04/the-science-of-happiness-can-trump-gdp-as-a-guide-for-policy

https://www.techvshuman.com/2016/08/15/gross-domestic-product-vs-gross-national-happiness-gdp-vs-gnh/

http://theconversation.com/how-happiness-is-challenging-gdp-as-the-measure-of-a-countrys-health-56465

Sri Lanka Asks IMF To Revive Suspended $1.5-Billion Bailout

Political crisis had prompted three international credit rating agencies to downgrade Sri Lanka and the IMF to suspend its bailout programme.

The International Monetary Fund has been urging Colombo to ensure economic

 reforms. (Reuters)

 January 16, 2019 

COLOMBO: 

Sri Lanka has appealed to the International Monetary Fund to revive a $1.5-billion bailout suspended during the island nation's political crisis late last year, the finance ministry said Wednesday.

In October, President Maithripala Sirisena sparked weeks of high political drama, even featuring brawls in parliament, by sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and dissolving the legislature.

Courts and the parliament subsequently held that the president's actions were unconstitutional and restored the status quo after more than seven weeks of upheaval that alarmed the international community.

The crisis prompted three international credit rating agencies to downgrade Sri Lanka and the IMF to suspend its bailout programme -- that began in 2016 -- just as it was about to disburse another instalment.

Sri Lanka's finance ministry said in a statement the request to revive the bailout was made during talks between Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and IMF chief Christine Lagarde in Washington on Tuesday.

A Sri Lankan delegation made the request "with a view to stabilising the economy" after the country's political "disruptions", it said.

Meanwhile, the IMF said it would send a team to Colombo next month to discuss resuming assistance.

"We discussed the challenging economic environment and the policy priorities for the country," it said in a statement quoting Lagarde.

"The IMF remains ready to support the Sri Lankan authorities in these endeavours and an IMF team is scheduled to visit Colombo in mid-February to resume program discussions."

Wickremesinghe told parliament last week that his shock dismissal on October 26 was a "coup" and a "death blow" to the economy. Sri Lanka will have to repay a record $5.9 billion this calendar year, he added.

The Washington-based fund has been urging Colombo -- which is emerging from a balance of payments crisis -- to conserve its foreign exchange reserves and ensure economic reforms.

Last year, the IMF warned that Sri Lanka was vulnerable to shocks from at home and abroad and stressed that restructuring the island's loss-making national airline and reforming its energy sector were vital.

One of the biggest drags on the country's balance sheet is national carrier Sri Lankan, which has accumulated losses and debts of over $2 billion and is a huge burden on taxpayers.

The government has failed to privatise the airline, but the president last week appointed another committee to restructure the loss-making carrier.

Sri Lanka hopes to raise $1 billion from the international debt market, another $500 million from China and Japan and a further $400 million from India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)