SRILANKAN DIRECTOR BOARD MET AT CHAMAL’S OFFICIAL RESIDENCE

Decision to purchase eight A350-900 Airbuses :

Auditor General says Director Board meeting ‘unusual’ :

Disna Mudalige and Camelia Nathaniel-Saturday, February 9, 2019

The SriLankan Airlines Director Board meeting, where the final decision on the purchase of eight A350-900 Airbus aircraft was taken, was held at former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa’s official residence in Battaramulla on March 1, 2013, COPE Chairman and JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti revealed.

Opening the adjournment debate on the COPE report, Handunnetti told Parliament yesterday that the Auditor General in his latest report had stated that this Director Board meeting was “unusual”.

“Usually the SriLankan Airlines board meetings were held at the World Trade Centre or at the board room of the SriLankan Airlines. A consultancy firm known as ‘Seabury’ made an outlook presentation during this meeting. The selection of Seabury was also questionable. Rs 144 million had been paid to this company for its services,” he added.

Minister Kabir Hashim and State Minister Niroshan Perera intervening at this point questioned as to how a Director Board meeting could be held at the Speaker’s residence and as to whether any outsiders had attended the meeting.

“We have got information that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was also the then Finance Minister, was also in attendance to this meeting. Did you question that in the COPE?” asked Minister Hashim.

“I presented what the AG had stated in the report. It is up to the relevant ministries to probe as to who were in attendance. You may have to check the CCTV for that,” replied Handunnetti.

Handunnetti further said that there had been no Cabinet approval for the airbus deal with AerCap. He highlighted that the ordering of the aircrafts when SriLankan Airlines had minus equities as well as their cancellation were highly questionable. The total sum of compensation paid to cancel the lease of four aircrafts was Rs 17,058 million. This issue is not yet over. The cancellation of outright purchase of the rest of four aircrafts is yet to be done and the compensation for that is not yet known,” he commented.

Handunnetti said that the COPE was told that the Secretary to the Public Enterprises Ministry had only attended first meeting with regard to the cancellation of agreements and that he was not invited for the meetings thereafter. “All the talks were handled by a four-member committee. The compensation had been decided by a leasing company known as ‘International Lease Finance Corporation’ and this company was later bought by ‘AerCap’.

“The involvement of Dr Rajan Sara, who was a Consultant to the former Finance Minister, in these discussions was also problematic. He was not a Consultant to the Finance Ministry but only to the former Finance Minister,” he said.

Handunnetti, referring to the AG’s report, said there were 38 individuals at SriLankan Airlines who earned salaries over Rs.2 million as at the end of 2018. “There were another 209 individuals who earned salaries of over Rs 1 million. Most of them are pilots and it is indisputable that they should be paid market salaries. But seven individuals in the higher management too had received salaries over Rs.2 million. Former CEO S Ratwatte had obtained Rs 3 million salary. How can he obtain Rs.100,000 salary per day when the institution was making loss?” Handunnetti questioned.

He said the COPE would present a full report on the SriLankan Airlines to the House in the future based on the latest reports of the AG. He said another COPE report would be presented discussing the common issues found in the State Universities.

Catch the corrupt by a system of whistleblowers

Political jumping in Sri Lanka has become a joke. The related crazy demand for portfolios by MPs in a governing party is, impliedly, a demand for the levers of power that can bring the MPs the corrupt goodies they eye and ogle at. A portfolio is a new ‘human right,’ for MPs in Sri Lanka. The kith and kin of these dicey characters called MPs would lose face if portfolios are not won. Consequently, the old style party solidarity is now at stake with every party capable of haemorrhaging into factions – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

There aren’t steel-clad “honest persons”

Saturday, 9 February 2019

In a recent piece I wrote titled ‘Look not for honest men; look for systems that keep persons honest,’ I made the point that Sri Lankans have hitherto relied on appeals to persons in authority to be honest or for “honest men” to be put in charge. This will not work in practical society. I like to repeat that a person clothed in power will tend to rob and steal. This is another version of Lord Acton’s famous dictum that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I would add that a reliance on policing crime under a justice system would also not be enough. Yes, checks and balances are a “must” to checkmate corruption and unethical behaviour; but that, too, isn’t enough. Let’s bring in an age-old system of spying or dobbing on a crime-doer. Such people are called ‘whistleblowers’. They carry the tale to those who can make a change.

Other countries

This proposal may be viewed by some as counterintuitively wrong. I can tell you that the UK and Canada have legislation in place to handsomely reward and protect whistleblowers – both in the public sector and the private sector.

Right now, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Leader, Bill Shorten, was reported in the Sunday Herald (2 February) as having just such a legislation in the ALP’s work plan. The Herald Sun hit the headlines by the lead captioned, ‘Dob in a Boss’. The news report adds, “Australians who blow the whistle on their dodgy bosses will pocket hefty cash bounties… The federal Opposition will announce the lucrative crackdown on corporate crime on the eve of the release of the banking Royal Commission’s final report.”

The Royal Commission’s report is out now and the scandalous behaviour of major banks in Australia are also out for all to see. Mind you, in this case, too, it was one Jeff Morris, a whistleblower who had exposed the corrupt practice that led to the Royal Commission.

“If you saw someone stealing from a store, you will say something,” remarked Shorten. So why not bring this out to the open and install a recognised system of dobbing? In times of drought people in Australia are urged by authorities to spare water by avoiding the watering of gardens. Most people are law-abiding and they obey; but there are selfish offenders and dobbing on them have kept their numbers low in this country.

Burgeoning crime scene in Lanka

Sri Lanka has been racked by large-scale white collar crime with ministers reportedly leading the robbing roadshow. Most ministers of the past have already secured themselves as they had enough time to do that. However, smaller fry in the franchised chain of corruption that prevailed under the former regime are in deeply troubled water. A former Secretary to the President was convicted. The current President’s close aide was caught red-handed openly taking a bribe.

Huge cases of drug trafficking are hitting headlines daily. Where is this island of ours heading for with drug deals galore like this? Our younger generations would be ruined and their families distraught. At least cases are now coming to light, when previously little reporting occurred. The point is that the governing system in Sri Lanka is tilted and rigged in favour of politicians who choose to be corrupt. The legalised activism of a dobbing system would definitely help.

Party solidarity at stake

It is clear that what has surfaced in corrupt practices is only the tip of a huge iceberg. Corruption has become a quick way for personal material enhancement and this is, perhaps, why more and more persons take to politics. Young adults from school prefer to give up schooling and either take to three-wheeling; directly to Pradeshiya Sabha politics or join the corrupt protection bandwagon of parliamentarians. The more skilled in crooked dealing the better one is at Lankan politics today. Just observe how our politicians lie without batting an eyelid. These venal characters assume a collective amnesia in their listeners.

It is in the same context that those who enter Parliament are ready to jump sides for profit. Political jumping in Sri Lanka has become a joke. The related crazy demand for portfolios by MPs in a governing party is, impliedly, a demand for the levers of power that can bring the MPs the corrupt goodies they eye and ogle at. A portfolio is a new ‘human right,’ for MPs in Sri Lanka. The kith and kin of these dicey characters called MPs would lose face if portfolios are not won. Consequently, the old style party solidarity is now at stake with every party capable of haemorrhaging into factions.

The governing system in Sri Lanka is tilted and rigged in favour of politicians who choose to be corrupt. The legalised activism of a dobbing system would definitely help

SriLankan Airlines Commission

The Sri Lankan Airlines Commission is the latest to give us the juicy and sordid scene of corporate crime. That has become a drama with a former Chairman having allegedly played ducks and drakes with public funds while nose-diving the airline he was obligated to keep flying in the air profitably. SriLankan is now virtually grounded and broke.

Here is a recent report by a national newspaper that links the airline corruption with the former Lankan Ambassador, a powerful relative of Mahinda Rajapaksa, Jaliya Wickramasuriya:

“SriLankan Airlines had booked hotel rooms in Dubai for 100 individuals, including former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Jaliya Wickramasuriya and his family, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka was informed, yesterday.

“State Counsel Chathura Gunatilake, who led evidence, yesterday, presented the PCoI with an e-mail sent by a former CEO Kapila Chadrasena. It showed that the airline had made the above-mentioned booking for those who travelled in a chartered flight in April 2013 from Washington to Mattala via Dubai.

“It was revealed last week that Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2014, Jaliya Wickramasuriya had ordered this chartered flight and billed it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Bandara Rathnayake, Manager Financial Compliance of SriLankan, told the PCoI that they had informed the Foreign Ministry, which owed UL Rs. 9.1 million for chartered flights altogether, that Wickramasuriya had booked the flight without their approval. The Ministry also informed the airline that Wickramasuriya had done so with the assistance of a Sri Lankan official and asked the institution to do an internal audit.”

Deterrence effect of a dobbing system

Admittedly, many of these cases are still at large: at the stage of charges and allegations although the prima facie case is strong. For the purpose of this article it is not necessary that convictions should have followed. The point is that if we had a dobbing system in place much of the occurrence of such malpractices could have been deterred at inception. The very prevalence of such an entrenched system will keep bosses on their toes.

The corruption that surfaces now excludes similar white collar crime that may very well be taking place in the private sector.

Of course, details of the system have got to be worked out. For instance, the quantum of award has to have criteria and process. Investigating bodies could recommend the reward amounts on the basis of the usefulness of the privy information offered. The secrecy of the whistleblowers must be kept tight and protected.
(The writer can be reached via sjturaus@optusnet.com.au.)

JVP to defeat National Govt

 FEB 07 2019

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake claimed that United National Front (UNF) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was a twisted democrat.

He claimed that Wickremesinghe’s hope of creating a National Government could only succeed if the UNF is able to obtain the necessary support from the UPFA and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) groups led by President Maithripala Sirisena and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He alleged that Wickremesinghe has used the slim majority currently held by his Party to coax Parliamentarians from other Parties to form a National Government.

Dissanayake alleged further that when Wickremesinghe had realised the UPFA, SLPP, the Tamil National Alliance, the JVP and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party were not willing to support his surreptitious endeavour, he had attempted to form a National Government with the support of the sole MP from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress in Parliament.

He warned that the JVP will crush all attempts made by the Government to set up a National Government.

February 4: Day Of Taking Stock Of The Country’s Performance

By Latheef Farook –FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Latheef Farook

On February 4th, the country celebrated 71 years of Sri Lanka’s independence. Freeing the country from foreign rule is of course an occasion to be jubilant. 

However, under the existing circumstance, the need of the hour is to do some stock taking  and assess the country’s performance since independence to understand where we were during the time of independence, where we are today, who is responsible for the current mess and what needs to be done.

During our independence Sri Lanka was an enviable role model for newly emerging countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. With free education and recognized universities the literacy rate was high compared to many third world countries. Equally developed were health services that Indians visited the island for medical treatment. The country also had substantial foreign reserves, communal harmony and peace.

Those were the days one could walk from south to north and east to west without the fear of being way laid.   

Sri Lankan is a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi linguistic, multi religious and multi-cultural society. The richness of this unique blend is enhanced by the presence of all great religions in the world such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity.  

Members of all communities lived in harmony in the midst of one another. Each community practised and maintained its own religious and cultural life and their destiny has inevitably been interwoven and common.

This enviable rare diversity naturally enhanced the natural beauty of the Island which has been described as Pearl of the Indian Ocean. Some even said that Sri Lanka has all the potentials to emerge as the Switzerland of the east.

Today’s thriving Dubai was unknown and unheard of. Former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yu said “Ceylon should be a model which other Asian regions should emulate”.

The plurality of communities, religions, races, languages and cultures were God’s gift to this country. 

Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all other citizens wanted to live in peace and harmony and move ahead as they did in the past. However it became a distant dream due to the short sighted racist politics of the two major political parties-United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party- which ruled the country since independence and divided communities for their political survival and brought about today’s chaotic situation.

Sri Lanka lacked a visionary leadership which could think for the whole country and lead all communities as one nation and ensure the rights of all. 

Almost every political leader from the majority community in the post independent era thought in terms of the interest of the majority community .By promoting the majority community at the expense of the minorities, political leaders promoted their own interests with their target firmly fixed on the next general elections and not on the welfare of the coming generations and the national interest of the country.

In doing so they sowed seeds of dissension within communities. If only the majority community had produced a visionary leader Sri Lanka would have been the envy of the entire Third World today.

Tamils wanted to live in peace with other communities with equal rights. However racist politics isolated the minorities. Mrs Srimavo Bandaranaike’s republican constitution providing prime of place to Buddhism and Sinhala languages united Tamil political parties under the banner of Tamil United Liberation Front-TULF. Late President JR Jayewardene’s draconian constitution turned the country into an all-powerful dictatorship.  It became a democratically elected dictatorship. The country is still suffering due to Jayewardene’s megalomania.

Repeated violent attacks against Tamils culminating in the July 83 attacks led to Tamils taking up arms to fight for a separate state. This turned the country into a killing field. While innocent people died and the country as a whole suffered, politicians and their sidekicks flourished in the form of commissions from weapons purchase.

Read More

President statement is an erroneous statement - Special reply by the Hon. Speaker at the Commencement of Parliament

(Lanka e News - 08.Feb.2019, 7.00PM) 

Statement Regarding the Activities of the Constitutional Council

I made a statement before this August Assembly even on 25th January 2019 regarding the activities of the Constitutional Council.

I informed on that occasion that I had tabled on 08.12.2016 in Parliament a report containing the guidelines followed by the Constitutional Council in submitting nominations for appointing members to the Independent Commissions laid down in Article 41 (b) of the Constitution and in approving the nominees sent to us by the President for appointing persons to positions stipulated in Article 41 (c) of the Constitution as stated by me. In addition to that, the report containing the aforesaid guidelines will be tabled in Parliament tomorrow for the information of Hon. Members.

It shall be mentioned that seniority, integrity, independence and impartiality of persons are considered in addition to the said guidelines in appointing persons to respective positions.

Further, I wish to make a mention about the composition of the Constitutional Council. The Hon. Prime Minister and the Hon.Leader of the Opposition are appointed to the Council as ex-officio members representing the government and the opposition, respectively. One Hon.Member is appointed by His Excellency the President. While two other Members of Parliament are appointed on the agreement of the Hon.Prime Minister and the Hon.Leader of the Opposition, the other Member of Parliament is appointed to the council as the member on the agreement of the other political parties. Persons representing the civil society get appointed to the council upon the receipt of the approval of Parliament. Accordingly, Two Members of Parliament representing the United National Party, three Members of Parliament representing the United People’s Freedom alliance, one Member of Parliament representing the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and three persons representing the civil society become members of the constitutional council.  Therefore, as I stated at the earlier occasion too, I am of the opinion that the composition of the council is made up in such a manner as to represent the views of all parties in Parliament.

In addition to the above facts, as His Excellency the President too expressed his views in regard to the procedure followed by the Constitutional Council regarding the appointment of Judges I consider it a duty of the Constitutional Council to clarify certain matters contained in it.

It is of special importance, because the Constitutional Councils deems it as its responsibility to protect the self-esteem and dignity of the three members of the civil society and other honourable members of the Constitutional Council who discharge a very onerous and impartial duty and the dignity of  the honourable Chief Justices and the judges of the Appeals Court who approved the appointments from the inception of the Constitutional Council up to now.

In the letter submitted by me to His Excellency the President on 2019.01.02, the method adopted by us in selecting the suitable persons was explained. In the statement made by H.E. the President in Parliament yesterday, the claim made by him that the Constitutional Council had stated that ‘the seniority is not at all counted’ is an erroneous statement.

What we stated was that seniority was not the only yardstick that we had adopted.

I wish to inform this august assembly, that each and every name ratified by us were the names only in the lists recommended by His Excellency the President and that the Constitutional Council had not recommended any name whimsically or outside the lists. Therefore, I wish to mention that no irregularity or injustice was committed in selecting names out of the names submitted by H.E. the President. We see nothing wrong in this. 

Although it is stated by H E the President that 12 names had been rejected by the Constitutional Assembly, it is an erroneous statement.

Only one name was selected by us in the instances where 3 to 4 names had been proposed for one vacancy. Depicting such incidents as rejections of names is an injustice incurred on the constitutional Assembly.

The  Constitutional Assembly becomes a  futile effort, if only the seniority is considered  prominence. Even HE the president has  done similarly. We do not intend to enter into arguments citing such instances one by one. It is our  duty to select the qualified persons without being distracted by  any influences as per the 19th amendment to the Constitution. We are of the opinion  that the said duty has been duly fulfilled by us. As we stated earlier, the recognized political parties are represented in the Assembly.  One party has no majority. No influences had been made with pertinence to the approval of names. The members are privileged to express their discretion  in an independent manner. As a tribute to the current and former members of the Council, it is mentioned that all the decisions that were taken since the inception of the Committee  up to the present, had been taken subject to the agreement of the members. The majority of the names sent by him has been approved except a few. No correspondence is made with the relevant parties.  The Constitutional Assembly has been alleged regarding the appointments to the Primary, Magistrate and District courts as well. The appointments to the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal are only scrutinized by us here. The Judicial services commission is held responsible regarding the other appointments. Hence the aforesaid allegations are not justifiable.

In the instances where persons who were charged with allegations either before the Commission to investigate Bribery or otherwise and if not, in the instances where the recommendations of the Chief Justice were adverse, such appointments had not been approved by us.

Furthermore, the independent commissions established under the Constitutional Council have brought immense dignity to the country. Our courts of law, which are supreme, have now gained accolades from the world.  Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has been acclaimed by the United Nations as an esteemed independent commission. The Right to Information Act too has gained world recognition as an outstanding piece of legislation.

It is already said that the progress we have gained in all of the areas mentioned above will be a pillar of strength to Sri Lanka when facing the allegations levelled against us at the Human Rights Conference, which will be held in Geneva, in March.

On several occasions, we have stated that we are keen to meet H E the President and make a presentation in the event explanations are necessary in this regard. We would like to point out that levelling severe criticism against independent commissions without such clarifications causes long-term damage to the country.

Action of the Human Rights Commission too was subjected to criticism yesterday. We have instructed the Commission to present the country with facts to clarify the matter.

However, we consider it the duty of the Constitutional Assembly, as a respect accorded to its members, to make clarifications about two matters stated by H E the President.

The said Commission has informed us that, a formal report had been called with regard to sending of STF personnel to Angunakolapelessa Prison as various facts were presented regarding that incident, and that, according to those facts, no opposition had been expressed during that process. What they did was to get some clarification about the existing system.  

It was based on a decision that had been taken according to the consensus reached by all parties including the United Nations Organization / the three armed forces / Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Human Rights Commission that there was a delay in calling the soldiers who had been sent to Mali back.

The Representative of the United Nations Organization in Sri Lanka has informed us that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is the only body that has been vested with the powers to select officers for peacekeeping operations in all parts of the world.

It establishes the trust that the international community has placed on the Human Rights Commission of our country.

Therefore, it is important that criticism and allegations that are levelled are just.

---------------------------
by     (2019-02-08 15:19:25)

We need to restructure SAARC

 2019-02-08

t a time when South Asian regional cooperation is all but forgotten, a symposium was held Tuesday at the BMICH in Colombo, highlighting the importance of South Asian cooperation for peace, progress and prosperity. This article was based on my presentation at the seminar organised by the Pakistan High Commission. The seminar was also addressed by Islamabad-based Centre for Global and Security Studies’ president Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery, and Pakistan High Commissioner Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat. 
We see hardly any headlines or topics related to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in the media nowadays.  If some five years ago, a Google news search had produced hundreds of articles published within a week, today such an exercise churns out only about five. 
South Asian cooperation was conceived in 1981 in a bid to uplift the living standards of its teeming millions living in abject poverty. It bloomed as SAARC in 1985.
But today, South Asian leaders believe that there are avenues other than SAARC to achieve the main goal of SAARC. 

This is largely because the global and internal factors today are different from what existed in the 1980s when SAARC was being formed. It was a bipolar global order then; today it is multipolar. Regional cooperation was seen as a way forward for rapid development then. Today, Brexit and the rift among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries point towards a tendency for regional disintegration, underscoring what is paramount in international politics is the individual self-centred interest of the nation state. Today multilateralism is being seen by some big powers as an impediment to achieve national interest goals. The United States President, Donald Trump, has undermined multilateralism, by withdrawing from several international treaties and UN bodies and warning International Criminal Court judges of severe consequences if they try US soldiers for war crimes. 
With the conditions today being different, SAARC needs to change to keep up with the times. ASEAN, while maintaining its identity, has moved forward and become a powerful voice in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Instead of looking at SAARC’s past 34-year journey as largely a failure, let’s learn from our past mistakes and chart a new course that will help us to achieve our unfulfilled goals. 
Basically, the progress of SAARC was stymied by three factors: 

• Inter-member state disputes 
• Internal political underdevelopment
• Geopolitical realities

Now let us go into detail on each of these factors.Inter-member state disputes are many: Kashmir, India-Lanka disputes, the Nepal-Bhutan refugee issue and the India-Nepal border blockade, to name a few. Most SAARC analysts blame the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir for SAARC’s slow progress. Some pin the blame on the asymmetrical structure of SAARC, with India’s dominance in regional affairs being overwhelming. Yet SAARC has weathered the turbulent sea and reached many a port.

But the present deadlock is the longest and it is a cause for worry. Since 2014, SAARC has not met at summit level. 
The 2016 summit to be held in Islamabad has been put off indefinitely, following India’s decision to boycott the SAARC summit after it accused Pakistan of having links with the terrorists who attacked an Indian military base in Indian-administered Kashmir. Three India-friendly SAARC nations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan – also announced a boycott of the summit. Sri Lanka was more diplomatic and called for a postponement of the summit. 
Differences between India and Sri Lanka over the presence of Indian peace keeping forces in Sri Lanka saw the sixth summit being hit by India’s unofficial boycott. The summit scheduled to be held in 1989 was finally held in 1991 after two postponements, following behind-the-scenes peace moves by other member-states.
But with regard to the present impasse, there appears to be little effort by member states to persuade India and Pakistan to put their disputes aside and allow the summit to be held.

Perhaps, the member-states have lost faith in SAARC. After all, intra-regional trade among SAARC members is still an abysmal 5 percent of the global trade despite all the big talk about South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA), bilateral Free Trade Agreements and South Asia being home to more than one fifth of the world’s population. We do not have much SAARCness. Do we have a SAARC passport? Mercosur which was set up as a Latin American regional cooperation body, years after SAARC was set up, has one. Mercosur took bold moves and within years intra-Mercosur trade rose by ten fold.

Political underdevelopment 

Sad to say, SAARC nations are still politically underdeveloped. True, there’s democracy, but the word democracy has a wider connotation. Have we overcome racism, communalism and bigotry? Have we achieved gender equality? The deficiency in our sociopolitical development has led to internal conflicts which have sapped our energy and eaten into our scarce resources, denied us development and made us debtor nations and underprepared for regional cooperation. Basically, it’s our lack of political maturity that is preventing us from overcoming mutual suspicions and embracing regional cooperation wholesale. Instead, we prefer a cautious approach. This has been a negative SAARC feature since inception.

Geopolitical factors

Countries come together to form regional groupings mainly with the aim of improving their economies and the living standards of their peoples.  They suppress their political differences to make progress on the economic front. The European Union and ASEAN have succeeded because they worked within such a framework. But SAARC lacks the political will to take this bold step. 
Sri Lanka had, since independence, wanted regional cooperation. In the late 1970s, it wanted to become a member of ASEAN. But India applied pressure on ASEAN to reject Sri Lanka’s application. 
With little option left, the then Sri Lanka President J.R. Jayewardene decided to team up with General Hussain Muhammad Ershad’s Bangladesh and other South Asian nations to form a South Asian regional grouping.  More than economic cooperation, the hidden objective of the move was to check India, which had by then been aggressively pursuing its policeman role in South Asia.

Named the Indira doctrine, the policy called on India’s neighbours to first consult India before they invited an outside power to solve an internal problem.

Positives

By pointing out the negatives, I am not trying to undermine SAARC’s positives. The summit has provided an opportunity for détente between member nations, although SAARC charter prohibits open discussion of bilateral disputes. Examples were many. The Rajiv Gandhi-Benazir Bhutto dialogue and the India-Pakistan handshake following the Kargil crisis, which took South Asia to the brink of nuclear war, were peace moves connected to SAARC. 

The way forward

The 2014 SAARC Summit in Kathmandu was held amid the undercurrents of India-Pakistan one-upmanship. It took place just months after India’s prime minister Narendra Modi revived the hopes for SAARC unity by inviting all South Asian leaders to his inauguration. At the summit, there were two key proposals from India and Pakistan. India proposed South Asian connectivity via a network of roads and a common power grid. Pakistan’s proposal was to make China a full member of SAARC. 

Both these proposals could have given the South Asian regional grouping the much-needed boost to move forward. Unfortunately Pakistan and India opposed each other’s proposal. Later Pakistan agreed to India’s pproposal after talks between the two leaders.
The move to promote China’s entry as a full member was seen by Indian analysts as an attempt to challenge India’s dominance within SAARC. Pakistan fully supported the move. Of course, Sri Lanka, too, appeared supportive of the proposal then.

However, for China to enter SAARC, the consensus of all member states is required. If India can work with China within BRICS and become a partner in the China-led Asian Investment and Infrastructure Bank, there is no reason other than India’s ambitions to be South Asia’s big brother for it to oppose China’s membership.
SAARC could benefit from China’s economic growth and the grouping could extend its trade links to Central Asia and the Asia Pacific region via China, especially in view of China’s Belt-and-Road initiative and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Also if China is given full membership, the India-Pakistan issues that stymie SAARC’s growth can be overlooked and the South Asian grouping could make progress. Its potential will be humongous. 
We need to restructure SAARC. That’s the need of the hour and the way forward.

From peace to political stability and prosperity

The panellists and the section of the audience at the seminar on Tuesday

Maj. Gen. (R) Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery, while speaking on the occasion, noted that the Kashmir issue is not just a dispute between Pakistan and India but it was a regional as well as an international issue pertaining to right of self-determination of many million Kashmiris. The adverse effects of non-resolution of Kashmir dispute are felt regionally and internationally. He said the Kashmiris are suffering for last seven decades. The International Community must respond to this humanitarian crisis with full responsibility.

High Commissioner of Pakistan, Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat, in his concluding remarks, said that integration of regional economies is the best way for peace, prosperity and economic growth in this age of globalisation. ASEAN and EU are good role models for other regions to achieve accelerated economic growth and social progress. SAARC, if made more effective could become an engine of growth for South Asia, which will be possible only after the resolution of all disputes in the region including the Kashmir Dispute.  The High Commissioner also asserted that Pakistan is seeking peaceful resolution of the Kashmir Dispute through meaningful and comprehensive dialogue with India. The resolution of disputes can be attained through bilateral negotiations and regional and international mediation. If there is no peace, there will be no political stability, and if there is no stability, no economic progress can take place, he underscored.  

Introducing facilities management global best practices to Sri Lanka

Today, in Colombo’s fast-developing high rise developments, prospective apartment owners would truly benefit from excellent FM practices both in the short-term and in the long-term – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

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An opportunity for change

Friday, 8 February 2019

Happier and healthier employees take fewer sick days. According to a 2015 study, health and productivity programs can cut costs by up to $1,600 per employee in reduced leave days. In today’s competitive recruiting climate, healthy and pleasant offices offer benefits beyond boosting performance. As well as returns in productivity, a focus on employee wellbeing increasingly plays a crucial role for companies in attracting and retaining talent.

Workplaces are increasingly showing their commitment to their employees’ wellbeing through WELL certification, which officially recognises various aspects of a building that positively contribute to users’ mental and physical wellbeing—from air, water and light to comfort, fitness and a relaxed mind.

WELL certification is fast becoming a key standard of new office designs in the US, but it’s catching on in other regions too. In the UK, the Porter Building in Sloughwas the first in the country to meet the WELL gold standard with features including abundant natural light, fresh air, specially filtrated drinking water, noise reduction measures and a layout which is open and well planned.  These important building developments also come under a broad heading which can be called Facilities Management.


Facilities management and its role 
Facility Management (FM) is a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.

The International Organization for Standardization defines FM as the “organisational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business”.

Facility Managers (FMs) can have many different titles and arrive in their profession through a variety of career paths. They’re responsible for making sure systems of the built environment, or facility, work harmoniously. They contribute to the organisation’s bottom line through their responsibility for maintaining what is often an organisation’s largest and most valuable assets, such as property, buildings, equipment and other environments that house personnel, productivity, inventory and other important elements of operation.

FMs share common roles within their respective organisations, including:

• Occupancy and human factors
• Operations and maintenance
• Sustainability
• Facility information and technology management
• Risk management
• Communication
• Performance and quality
• Leadership and strategy
• Real estate
• Project management
• Finance and business
   

The evolution of FM
Overall, Europe has had significant learning curves and Facilities Management (FM) is a mature market (of over 25 years) and an areaperceived as one that can have significant impact on corporate profitability. Although ISO 9001 is a certification aspired to by many in terms of products, for FM,it is ISO 41001 which is now emerging globally and now being implemented in British companies.

In high rise buildings, factories and large government buildings, ISO 41001 will be critically important as it will address areas such as human comfort in the building, operational processes and costs,and sustainability.FM clients are not limited to specific sectors but come from all areas of business such as: finance, consumer products, insurance, media, utilities, legal, public sector and professional services.

Globally, FM also makes its presence. Founded in 1980, IFMA is the world’s largest and most widely recognised international association for facility management professionals, supporting 24,000 members in more than 100 countries. It serves the global FM community through industry thought leadership, professional development opportunities, networking inroads, advocacy and career resources.


South Asia lags behind 
South Asia as a whole as yet has not fully understood or embraced the value of FM. It is not seen yet as a critical tool of the business to maximise the utility of the building, encourage staff to give their best, minimise unnecessary costs and improve sustainability.

Some of thequestionsthe senior management and directors need to ask are: how much sick leave do staff take? How often do we review our procurement policies? Do we have a separate FM department or is the building merely relegated to administration? Is FM a critical area reviewed by finance and how much data is collected?

In order to optimise FM services, data collection and benchmarking service provide business intelligence forcompaniesto measure the performance of their buildings andto compareit, to other organisations.Useful benchmarks can include:

Efficiency performance analysis (cost + space + utilisation) for national or multinational portfolios

Effectiveness analysis – measuringthe impact of workspace on employee productivity

Baselining– typicallyused ahead of business change programs to support evidence-based improvement measurement

• Total property costs per person 
• Operational costs per person
• Opportunity for cost savings 
• Opportunity for improvement 

FM in Sri Lanka 
The FM market in Sri Lanka has a long way to go and in still at early stages. FM can be incorporated at the early stages of a construction project through key factors such as air, light, comfort, likeability (mind), sustainability and cost control.

Through expertise in FM, building maintenance costs, staff output and even corporate output and profitability can be significantly increased.Even existing buildings can benefit a lot by incorporating analytical FM services which go far beyond merely the supply of maintenance labour and janitorial services. Through a holistic review of the FM function, performance and service quality can be incorporated as a single index to provide a road map towards improvement and best practice.

Today, in Colombo’s fast developing high rise developments, prospective apartment owners would truly benefit from excellent FM practices both in the short-term and in the long-term.

(The writer is attached to AIE/EvbexAsia and can be contacted at asianiexcellence@gmail.com.)

A Call for National Disaster

February 8, 2019, 9:15 pm 

It was Aristotle who said "All Earthquakes and Disasters are warnings; there’s too much corruption in the world."  We are on the road to show the truth of this thinking, especially with regard to a coming disaster.  

Ranil Wickremesinghe and the United National Party are keen to show us that disaster is their path of politics today. It is a party that is united in paving the way for a National Disaster, in the name of what is claimed to be a National Government.

The forces of civil society that helped bring the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government to power in 2015, and stood strongly behind the UNP and Ranil during the ‘constitutional coup’ in October last year, must think of new slogans to prevent the overall defeat of their call for a fight against corruption.

The National Government that we had till October 2018 was certainly not in keeping with the promises and pledges given to the people. From President Sirisena’s complete mockery of all the pledges he gave when seeking election, to the contempt that the UNP and Ranil have shown to the call for democracy and honesty, are the threats that pro-democratic society has faced through the past four years.

There were some important changes achieved in the early period of this charade of democracy. There were some key restrictions imposed on the powers of the president, the 19th Amendment did bring some good changes in the path to democracy. But, what we see today is a lampooning of the search for democracy, and a rising political call against the 19th Amendment.

There is today an awful combine of Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremesinghe, who are putting on a show of political rivalry, but are strongly together in putting down democracy in the interest of personal political gain. Sirisena is having his day with promises of the hangman’s rope that was not in the ‘Yahapalana" manifesto. Ranil is doing his best to move away from the people’s call for democracy, and present himself as the champion of autocracy, and even move to a rightwing dictatorship in this country.

We are rapidly moving back to the worst days of UNP rule in this country. Ranil his showing there is true meaning again in the old critical description of the UNP as the Uncle Nephew Party – moving from Uncle DS to nephew Sir John, to the more deadly Uncle JR to nephew Ranil. Democracy is the most distant concept in the UNP’s call and campaign for a National Government!

Can anyone in the UNP tell us how the public would benefit from this planned enlarged Cabinet of a National Government? Will those ministers in the expanded Cabinet not take their allowances and recently enhanced payments, luxury vehicles, foreign trips, and the trail of costly facilities they will be entitled to?

Is it possible for Ranil and the UNP to give the people one example where there was a saving for the people in the existence and functioning of the last national government of the UNP and UPFA - SLFP? Is President Sirisena, who is now against a national government, ready to tell us that his opposition is because of his own experience as head of a national government…which certainly was corrupt and crooked to the core, and not because of his current political opposition to Ranil?

Come on Ranil, Kiriella and all other backers of the National Government, won’t you admit the Central Bank bond scams took place under such a government? Have you forgotten that the huge forgetfulness of Ravi Karunanayake, involving millions in penthouse rents, took place under such a government? Are you not aware that the continued failure to bring speedy legal action against the corrupt members of the last government was part of the last National Government? Do you not know that last National Government had Cabinet members who made public statements opposed to legal action against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa? Have you forgotten that Cabinet members of that National Government had cruise delights with those accused in the Naval Weapons scandal?

Important… how far did the last National Government take the state machinery to bring to book the murderer of Lasantha Wickramatunge, the abductors of Prageeth Ekneligoda, the killers of Wasim Thajudeen, and those who attacked many other journalists? What a poor record for National Governance.

These are some of the crooked realities of what we saw as a national government. There are many more to follow, such as why Udayanga Weeratunga, allegedly involved in the MIG deals, has still not been brought to Sri Lanka, and what upgrading of the Extradition Treaties with Singapore and Dubai are yet to be done?

Those who are supporting a national government with a giant Cabinet are trying to make us forget that the last Rajapaksa Regime had a near sixty member Cabinet. Are we being told that a 40 or 45 member Cabinet is an improvement on that, despite all the corruption that flows from such expansion?

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s attempted use of the 19th Amendment to achieve this corrupt goal of a Giant Cabinet, is dangerously building public opinion against this very useful amendment to the Constitution that has curbed the powers of the Executive Presidency. The voices against Ranil & Co today are even louder against 19A. Watch out!

The 12 members of parliament who were recently trapped in an elevator at the Diyawanna delight of political pleasure are making big noises today. They are giving us a warning that a National Government would put the entire nation in such a crashing trap, with no room for Democracy.

MMDA Reforms: Committee In Shock As “Closed Door” Meeting Opened To All

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

The members of the Committee appointed in 2009 to propose reforms to Muslim Matrimonial Law and the upgrading of the Quazi Courts, who were invited by the Minister of Justice and Prison Reform Thalatha Atukorale, to a discussion last afternoon with the Muslim Members of Parliament of their Report handed over to the Minister more than a year ago on 22nd January 2018, were in for a shock. The meeting, which was expected to be a “closed door” discussion, was attended by several others as observers, most prominent among them being the member of the Constitutional Council Javid Yusuf, who was neither a member of the 2009 Committee nor a member of Parliament. 

As disclosed widely in social media, Javid Yusuf was one of those who went with a delegation of the Young Men’s Muslim Association (YMMA) to hand over a so called “consensus report” prepared by the YMMA to the Chairman of the 2009 Committee Justice Saleem Marsoof, PC and later to ACJU President Rizwe Mufti and Faisz Mustapha, PC last week. The YMMA report is said to be the product of the deliberations commenced by them at a Conference organized by the YMMA at Hotel Mandarina in September 2018, which endorsed the views of Rizwe Muthi and few others who signed with him and were opposing the progressive reforms proposed by the 2009 Committee. The YMMA had written to the Minister of Justice on 5th February suggesting that the Minister should request Justice Saleem Marsoof PC and Faisz Mustapha PC to study the YMMA recommendations and submit a revised report acceptable to the majority of the 2009 Committee members.

At the very commencement of the meeting, Justice Saleem Marsoof PC who was the Chairman of the 2009 Committee, was asked by the Minister to open the discussion, which he did, highlighting the fact that there was a great deal of consensus in regard to the matters considered in the Report of the 2009 Committee submitted to the Minister of Justice Thalatha Atukorale on 22nd January 2018. He also outlined the areas of contention which were mainly the question of the current disqualification of women to hold office as Quazis, issues relating to the applicability of the law according to their “sect to which the parties belong”, the qualifications necessary to be appointed as a Quazis, and the right of any person litigating in a Quazi Court to be represented by an Attorney at law of his or her choice which is now barred by section 74 of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) of 1951. He also said that in regard to age of marriage, polygamy and mata’a for divorced women, there was agreement in principle though there were some differences in regard to the details which need to be ironed out. 

The very first matter taken up for discussion was whether the word “male” should be deleted from sections 12 and 14 of MMDA, which had the effect of preventing Muslim women of suitable attainments being appointed as Quazis when there is no similar bar to them being appointed as Magistrates or to any other Judicial office, and was therefore discriminatory. ACJU President M.I.M Rizwe Mufti strongly objected to the proposal to remove the bar to women being appointed Quazis on the basis that this is contrary to the shariah. Justice Marsoof disagreed, and pointed out that the Hanafi opinion was that women may be appointed to officiate as Quazis, and stressed that sections 12 and 14 of MMDA violated the equality provision enshrined in Art 12 of the Constitution. This was brushed aside by Justice A.W.A Salam, who pointed out that the MMDA was “existing law” and remained valid. He then went on to make some adverse comments regarding the funding of a book written by Justice Marsoof in 2001 entitled “The Quazi Court System in Sri Lanka and its Impact on Muslim Women,” but was prevented by the Chair from continuing since this meeting was summoned not to discuss this book but the Report prepared by the 2009 Committee. 

Justice Marsoof stated that he and some progressive members of the 2009 Committee were targeted by certain ulema who at Jumma sermons expressed the view that some of the reforms proposed by them based on the opinions of the Hanfi school of thought were contrary to the shariah. He said that the great imams of Islam, Imams Abu Haniffa, Shaffei, Malik and Hambal, who founded the four major Sunni mazhabs, and their adherents respected each other’s opinion and were very flexible in their approach to developing the fiqh, and that he was very pained by these Jumma sermons. He said that while it is necessary to consider the opinion of the Muslim community in bringing about reform, which the 2009 Committee had done in earnest, it was necessary to make the Tamil version of the Report available to the Muslim public and give them time to study the contents of the report before consulting them in regard to the proposed reforms, since they have been misled by these jumma sermons.

At this stage Safana Gul Begum, Attorney at law spoke about the need to upgrade the status of Quazis and the Quazi Courts and to redress the abuses taking place in these courts. She emphasized the need to make it compulsory to register all marriages since the absence of registration caused difficulties to women claiming maintenance and children applying for schools. She said that since the reforms deal with marriage and divorce, which involve both males and females, there was an acute need to consult the opinion of affected women in regard to the untold suffering they are made to undergo in the Quazi Courts. Attorney Nadvi Bahaudeen, who has held office in the past as the Chairman of the Board of Quazis, outlined the practical difficulties faced by Quazis and made some useful suggestions on how they may be removed through administrative measures. 

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