Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Monday, February 18, 2019

SRI LANKAN HRD DETAINED OVERNIGHT, TREATED AS A TERRORIST AND DEPORTED BACK BY THAILAND


mage: Sri Lanka passport page.

Sri Lanka Brief17/02/2019

 In letter addressed to President Sirisena a well known Sri Lankan human rights activist and writer Sydney Marcus Dias has detailed the ordeal he was forced to go through at the Bangkok Airport Authorities when he with his family  wne for a 6 day holiday in the country.  All of them has been given visa to enter the country by the Thai Embassy in Colombo only to be returned back immediately.

In his letter Sydney Marcus Dias has urged  President Sirisena to look into his complain and to do  the justice for humiliation he suffered at Thai authorities.


The letter follows:
16-02-2019
Peter Sydney Marcus Dias
Millagasyaya
Anamaduwa
Sri Lanka

His Excellency Maithipala Sirisena
The Honarable President of Sri Lanka
Presidential secretariat office
Colombo

Complain on Unreasonable and Inhuman Deporting of me and my Family from Thailand Airport

 Dear Sir

I decided to send my complain to you first as in my passport there is a prior statement of the president of Sri Lanka as “The President of the democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka requests and inquiries all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance and to afford the bearer such assistance and protection as may be necessary”.

 When I went to visit Thailand with my family to a 6 days tour on 15th of this month (15-02-2019) we were deported violating your request and also our human rights. As soon as I entered the airport the immigration officers who were in alert with a placard with my name on it and a phone screen with my photograph, caught me and told me that I have been barred to enter Thailand for 100 years. When I asked the reason they told me that I have joined illegal campaign activity in 1994.This unbelievable and unagreeble decision made our whole journey a tragedy.

In 1994 I got a chance to participate an international conference which was to be held in Manila, Philippines, organized by the IID (Initiatives for International Dialogue in Philippines). It was organized to support the East Timor Freedom Campaign with the participation of hundreds of international human rights activists. But at the last moment it was banned by the Philippine government with the pressure of Indonesian government. So the Philippine government deported all the international delegates from the airport itself. From Sri Lanka Mr. Freddy Gamage (Now works as Web journalist),  Mr Manel Rathnayake (A former President of Uwa Provincial Council and present chairmen of library service board in Uwa)  and myself were to participate this conference. Mr Freddy Gamage flew through Singapore Air Lines and he was forcedly deported Colombo directly by the same flight.  Myself and Mr Manel  flew in Thai Air lines. We were deported to Bangkok because we had a transit in Bangkok. Our next flight was scheduled on following day and we were given arrival Visa to enter the Country. We stayed one night outside and returned to Colombo. This is the true incident that happened in 1994. I had not done any activity against Thailand government there or thereafter so far. As the Thai Imigration officers said I had supported the East Timor freedom movement. I do not know how it is relevant to the Thai Government to banned my visa for 100 years. Already while East Timor has become an independent state why I have been banned  blacklisted further by the Thai government. Only connection to this incident with Thailand is our travelling was done in Thai Airlines. Also we did not have any issue between this travelling or transit period.

When I scheduled to visit Thailand after 24 years of that visit  with my family my purpose was to fulfill the promise which I had given to my two Daughters. While they were studying O/l  and A/L  I had promised them to accompany to visit outside the country If they achieved to enter the Universities and Good courses. They achieved their target very well with hardworking and the elder daughter could enter the Medical College in Jaffna (Now in final Year) and younger daughter could enter the Engineering Faculty in Moratuwa University( Now in Second Year) . So I had to complete my promise. So I had been hardworking and saved money for several years to complete my promise. Now I feel my country selection was worst to fulfill my promise and innocent hopes of my daughters because all we were treated very badly by the Thai immigration at the airport.

We went to Thailand with pre scheduled Visa. All our passports have stickered visa which we got from Thai Embassy of Colombo valid from25 January-24-April 2019. When we planned our visiting places within the six days except the special popular places we had planned to visit food technology practices as my elder daughter (Medical student )is very keen on it.  And we planned to visit Thai traditional textile industry as my younger daughter is studying on Textile engineering.  I had a special attention on Recycling: Especially carpentry waste recycling. Mr Upali Mahagedara Gamage who had worked in Thailand as the coordinator of ACFERD helped me to find some fellows to facilitate to this task. I wanted to make this trip more value added and let my two daughters and my wife to enjoy and let them to buy what they are very keen. So I took hardly earned 2253 $ with a passport entry.

Though I am a Peace worker and peace trainer in Sri Lanka after I was caught in Bangkok Airport I was treated as to a terrorist. They forced me to come to an urgent decision to deport me without my family. They told me my family members can be allowed to enter the country. But the whole program was planned to go under my leadership and how can they (Three women) manage without me at night in Bangkok City. Then I said if I am not allowed to enter the country all we want to go back together.

Then they told me till they do the arrangements I had to be taken into a detention room and my family can stay in the transit area. Then I was taken to the detention room where I had to tolerate bad smell of urine and intolerable cold. I was not given any food for dinner except small mineral water bottle. To tolerate the cold I had to cover my body with a pillow and bed sheet hackneyed by so many others. I suffered throughout the night without food, bad smell and intolerable cold while I was to pay 743 Thai Barth for the detention room charge. The security officers were very unfriendly and impolite. I got small pack of food for the breakfast. I was taken to the flight following day at the last moment after delay in so much time in immigration office. Then I asked them I should give some money to my family members as they had not enough money even to get food. They told me that I can give them money at the boarding gate. I was accompanied to the boarding gate at the last moment then I saw my wife and two daughters were too shocked and crying.

My wife and two daughters were helpless thought the night wearing the same cloth, without food and without a place to sleep. They had spent whole night sleepless on chairs in the transit area. My Wife is a diabetic patient and unable to bare such shocks. They were ill-treated by the staff there and one female worker had grabbed my wife’s water bottle and put it into the dustbin.

Before we leave we were advised by some people that we should be with a smile on our face in Thailand as Thai people behave with a smile always. But unfortunately except on lady none of others at the airport who dealt with us had smile on their faces. They were very impolite and unfriendly and didn’t listen us at all. In the immigration office I was given to sign a filled form written in Thai. I asked what the content was. Then without explaining the content he forced me to sign. Only the young lady who accompanied me at the last moment to the flight from the immigration office listened me while accompanying me and seemed she had understood the reality. She was the only officer who had a somewhat smile on the face. Even the Sri Lankan Airline manager mediate the issue and convienced how a person with a wife and two daughters could involve any harmful action but she also told us she could not help further and she mediated to rescue us from a 10,00,000 fine against us. When I appealed to meet a higher ranker of the Immigration none of them listened me. Still this deportation is unbelievable to me and to the people whom I had already informed.

Now we are in Sri Lanka with tremendous shocks and pains. Now my wife and two daughters are confused to face their relative society: staff members, batch friends and other relations and friends to justify the rejection of our family from an unknown country. They have lost their hopes to see and experience a country outside. Still I am hopeless as I could not complete my innocent promise to my children. This is a very big violation of our human rights. It is a big damage to our dignity and reputation. Throughout our lifetime there is not any single complain anywhere against me and my family. I worked as a government teacher for fifteen years, NGO director at Thothanna the Centre for Children and Youth Development  15 years and well-known writer and publisher who has already authored for 70 books, a reputed trainer for child and youth development, peace building and inter-religious values and a human right activist.

We have lost our hopes, good mentality and hardly earned money more than 300000/= Sri Lankan rupees (1700$) spent for travel tickets, embassy visas and others expenses. My wife and two daughters are in a very big mental crisis to face their close society and they are unable to tolerate this cruel inhuman treatment at Bangkok Airport. I am too confused as I have been blacklisted to Thailand for 100 years without any fair reason. While Mr Freddy Gamage the East Timor support campaign leader in Sri Lanka was allowed several time to enter Philippines and also to Indonesia what is the reason continue blacklisting me for hundred years  to Thailand. As I concluded this is a poor coordination of Thai Embassy in Sri Lanka and the Thai Government. And poor updating  of Immigration In Thailand about the blacklisted people. And If they could have rejected us at the very first step when we forward the visa application to the Thai Embassy of Colombo we easily could have selected another country which respect the dignity of Sri Lankans to complete my promise given to my children. I hope you as the first honorable person of the country, will mediate to grant us justice. And I hope to complain this to all the international human rights agencies too.
Thanks.

With hopes

Sydney Marcus Dias
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Sri Lanka: Regaining Paradise, with Gotabhaya Rajapaksa


by Tisaranee Gunasekara-
“If they harm me, it is the country they harm.” ~ Gotabhaya Rajapaksa (Hard Talk – Daily Mirror – October 2011)[i]
The beautification of Goabhaya Rajapaksa is on full throttle. The names of his front organisations are indicative of the guise he intends to adopt as a presidential contender: The Light (Eliya) and The Intellectual Path (Viyath Maga). In a recent interview,[ii] he is photographed with a laden bookshelf forming the background – the erudite leader ready to guide the country towards the light along the intellectual path.
It would have been a harmless joke had it not been for the man’s past.
In Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s pantheon, no divinity is more important than the god of discipline. Freedom, he tells his future subjects, is of no use without discipline.[iii] The burden of his song is simple – under Rajapaksa rule, there was discipline; now there’s anarchy; once the presidency returns to the Family, the paradise of discipline will be regained.   
Perhaps it’s time to recall a few vignettes of the paradise of discipline we lost.
On 24th November 2011, making the keynote speech at the inaugural National Conference on Reconciliation, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa proclaimed Sri Lanka to be “one of the most secure and stable countries…in the entire world.”[iv]
Exactly a month later, on the Christmas Eve of 2011, in the Rajapaksa bastion of Tangalle, Khuram Shaikh, a British tourist, was hacked to death and his Russian companion gang raped. The culprits were Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana, a Rajapaksa acolyte and the handpicked head of the Tangalle Pradesheeya Sabha, and his fellow thugs.
The criminals would have got away with it, had the victim not been a British national. As it was, the politico was arrested, released on bail, and within months, restored to his old job as the Chairman of the Tangalle PS (the effect this would have had on eyewitnesses who are locals are all too easy to imagine).
On 11th July 2013, the Chief Government whip Dinesh Gunawardane informed the parliament that Mr. Shaikh’s partner Victoria Tkacheva was neither raped nor sexually abused. When he was challenged, he washed his hands of that atrocious lie by saying, “I am presenting the answer given to me by the Ministry of Defence, based on police records submitted to them.”[v] Had it not been for the fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa was not desperate to avoid a boycott of the 2013 Hambantota Commonwealth, murdering-raping politico may not have been charged at all.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s defence would be that rapes and murders happen everywhere, including in his adopted motherland, the USA. They do. The difference was that the main suspect was a favoured acolyte of the ruling family, and political influence was used to delay and if not subvert justice.
In the paradise of discipline that was Rajapaksa-Sri Lanka, criminal politicians were not the exception but the norm.
On 8th October 2011, in Kolonnawa, a suburb of Colombo, a shooting war erupted when Duminda Silva, the monitoring MP of Defence Ministry,[vi] and his entourage attacked the entourage of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, a presidential advisor. Mr. Premachandra and several others were shot to death. Subsequent investigations revealed that Duminda Silva’s entourage included a well known criminal boss known as Dematagoda Chaminda. The international factors that played a key role in the Khuram Shaikh case were absent in the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra case. It would take a governmental change and the restoration of judicial independence for Duminda Silva to be convicted or murder.
Then there was the case of planter Nihal Perera murdered on 5th July 2013. He had fallen foul of a local UPFA politico, Anil Dhammika Wijsesinghe, the former chairman of the Deraniyagala PS. “slashing the throat of the area Divisional Secretary after he refused to allocate two acres of land.”[vii] Mr. Perera had opposed the politico’s tree-felling racket. He was once beaten up in his own bungalow, probably as a warning. Later he was he was abducted, “beaten with clubs before being slashed with swords.” [viii]
            That was how discipline reigned in the lost Rajapaksa paradise, the one Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is promising to restore.
The Guilty and the Innocent
When it comes to conjuring enemies, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is peerless. At a defence seminar in September 2013, he produced a stable-full of them.[ix] There were Tamil Extremists (International)who want “the division of Sri Lanka and the establishment of a separate state for Tamil Eelam,” and Tamil Extremists (National) who might empower radical elements to “once again attempt to take up arms against the state in the name of separation.” Then come Left wing Extremists, who were “involved in previous insurgencies. Some of these groups are trying to reorganise within Sri Lanka and mobilise people to once again take up extreme left wing causes.” No enemy-list would be complete without Islamic Extremists. Then comes the sui generis Gota-touch, with Criminal Extremists, Media Extremists (who “portray demands by sections of the public to showcase the country in a negative light”), Anti-democratic Extremists (who “go beyond peaceful demonstrations and engage in violent protest, incite violence or act in other undemocratic ways”) and Irresponsible Extremists (who don’t exercise their democratic freedoms with responsibility”). Finally there’s that hardy perennial, Western Extremists (“There is a possibility that some western powers wish to have a Sri Lankan Government that is closely aligned with their interests. They may seek to influence Sri Lanka’s destiny so that it cannot pursue the independent course it is following at present”).
Naturally the likes of BBS were not included in the list. They, as per Gotabhaya-vision, are not extremists, but monks “engaged in a nationally important task.”[x] Mr. Rajapaksa was the Chief Guest at the opening of Meth Sevana, the Buddhist Leadership Academy of the BBS. Less than a month later, a monk-led mob torched the Fashion Bug outlet in Pepiliyana. That was not terrorism, but probably a ‘nationally important task.’
Haitha Madawala, a UPFA member of the Kelaniya PS? On January 5th 2013, he was shot dead outside his house. His murderers rode a motorcycle, wore hoods, and got away. An attempt had been made to kill him one year previously, on January 7th 2012. Subsequent to that attempt, Mr. Madawala fingered Mervyn Silva, a key Rajapaksa acolyte, and said that a “murder contract has been given to notorious underworld operatives Roshantha of Hikkaduwa and Majeed of Maligawatte…”[xi] Not a case of Criminal Extremism.
In 2013, Rohitha Rajapaksa hammered a referee at a rugby match in full view of spectators. Young Rohitha was incensed because his side lost the match.[xii] There was talk of an investigation, but nothing happened. Not a case of Irresponsible Extremism.
June 26th 2012, a BBS mob surrounded the Ministry of Buddha Sasana demanding that the Minister cracks down on a rival Buddhist who ‘insulted Buddhism’ within two weeks. On January 21st, 2013, another BBS mob stormed a tourist hotel in Beruwala, where a private party was in progress, alleging that the hotel possessed a ‘Buddha Bar’. Not cases of Anti-democratic Extremism.
In June 2013 Last month an MOU was signed for the establishment of a university in Kaththankudi, as part of the Mahinda Chinthanaya: “The founding of the first University for Ulamas is to be funded by Saudi Arabia. GCE A/L qualified Moulavy graduates from Mathrasas will be admitted for studies at the university”[xiii]. The new university will turn out graduates who adhere to Wahabism. Nothing to do with Islamic Extremism.
In April 2014, the editor-in-chief of Lakbima was interrogated by the CID. His ‘crime’ was carrying a funny caption over a picture of the wife of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. “…..Ayoma Rajapaksa was depicted buying goods at the New Year fair of the Civil Defence Department. The caption of the photo was…. ‘They aren’t fake money aren’t they?’”[xiv] The newspaper apologised the very next day, but to no avail. The sub-editor, directly responsible for the caption, was dismissed from the job[xv]. Subsequently the editor himself tended his resignation. That was a case of Media Extremism.
The aged grandmother of Dhanuna Tilakaratne, the then son-in-law of Gen. Sarath Fonseka, was dragged to the CID. Her crime – offering her fugitive grandson shelter for one night. What a purveyor of Irresponsible Extremism.
In May 2013, Sagarica Delgoda, the Resident Representative of the Friedrich Neumann Stiftung (FNS), was taken to the Fourth Floor and grilled for 8 hours over links between the FNS and the UNP. The FNS has had links with both the major parties, openly, for decades. But in Rajapaksa Sri Lanka, that probably came under Western Extremism.[xvi]
That was how the Rajapaksa paradise worked in practice – freedom for themselves and their acolytes; repression masquerading as discipline for everyone else. Impunity for the few and helplessness for the many – that was the state Gotabhaya Rajapaksa recalls with such fondness and promises to bring back.
Anti-factual Realities
In a recent interview, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa reiterates the importance of stability. “A stable country is of paramount importance. It is fundamental to everything. Stability is very important. We have to ensure that there is a disciplined, stable and secure initial base for development. No investor, be it local or foreign, will invest if there is no stability.”
So how did this haven of stability work in practice? According to Fitch Ratings, post-war Sri Lanka was remarkably unsuccessful in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI); the average net FDI since 2009 is a miniscule 1.2% of GDP. “This is low in comparison with most regional peers and has fuelled a reliance on debt-creating capital….. This has kept the external debt burden at 57% of GDP which is much higher than all other emerging Asian markets, except Mongolia.”[xvii]
In 2013, The ILO warned that Sri Lanka’s income inequality was on the rise. This was confirmed by the government’s own statistics. Minister Sarath Amunugama revealed in parliament that the richest 20% of the country account for 54.1% of the national income while the bottom 20% receive just 4.5%.[xviii] According to the ILO’s Asia Pacific Labour Market Update of April 2013, “…in Sri Lanka youth unemployment rate was more than four times the overall unemployment rate….”[xix]Meanwhile, the 2013 budget gave a 300% tax break to super racing cars. The 2014 budget gave tax relief to designer pens, ties and bows and other branded consumer items. So much for pro-people economics.
Ironically, this past is unlikely to be a bar to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s overweening ambition to sit in the presidential seat because many an anti-Rajapaksa Lankan would find it next to impossible to summon any enthusiasm for the alternative. The UNP’s four years in office have been a time of unintelligent governance. Max Weber defined politics as “a strong and slow boring of hard boards,” and opined that being a politician requires passion and perspective.[xx] The UNP lacks both. It public image is a disastrous combination of venality, inertia, and tedium. Its actions and inactions have made a mockery of the hopes of 2015 and given good governance a bad name. The UNP’s unique capacity to simultaneously kindle teeth-grinding irritation and jaw-aching boredom could keep a sizeable segment of the anti-Rajapaksa voters away from the polling booth. Unfortunately for Lankan democracy, such non-voting would be a form of voting. It could ensure a Rajapaksa victory, as happened at the at the local government election of 2018.
Mr. Sirisena’s shenanigans constitute a major blessing for the Rajapaksas. The President wants to hang drug offenders to prove he is tough on crime. He tries to trade on patriotism. He dreams of rolling back the democratic reforms he himself pioneered. For instance, his remarks indicate that the independent commissions he now wants are the same sort of independent commissions Mahinda Rajapaksa created via the 18th Amendment – commissions which exist to approve whatever the president wants, and are independent only where slavery is freedom, truth are lies and war is peace.
            The main obstacles to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s presidential ambition are twofold. First is inter-familial rivalry. Chamal Rajapaksa has expressed his own readiness to be the SLPP’s presidential candidate. Basil Rajapaksa is said to be evading the issue. Even if that problem is ironed out, there is the far more serious issue of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s US citizenship. It would be a case of poetic justice if the man who portrays himself as Sri Lanka’s supreme patriot finds himself barred from the presidential race because he took early retirement from the army while the country was still at war and sought greener pastures in the American empire. 
[iii] Ibid
[iv] https://www.slguardian.org/sri-lanka-today-is-one-of-the-most-secure-and-stable-countries/
[vi] “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed three Monitoring Members of Parliament. Sajin de Vaas Gunawardane has been appointed as the Monitoring MP to the External Affairs Ministry while parliamentarians R Duminda Silva and Uditha Sanjaya Lokubandara were appointed as Monitoring MPs to the Defence Ministry.” (Ada Derana – 13.12.2010). Subsequently, MP Sajin Vaas Gunawardane assaulted the then Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, Chris Nonis, in public. Investigations carried out by the Rajapaksa government absolved him of all charges.
[viii]Ibid
[x] Sri Lanka Mirror – 10.3.2013
[xi] Sri Lanka Mirror – 8.1.2012
[xvi] http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/05/26/where-lies-the-conspiracy/
[xx] Politics as a vocation
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Rugby Kid Assault: St. Peter’s College ‘Okay’ – World Rugby Says ‘NO’

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St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya in a shocking communique condoned the behavior of their appointed rugby coach Sanath Martis, when he was caught on video assaulting one of its own student rugby players in full public view recently.
The video which went viral on social media both in Sri Lanka and also reached global audiences, even left officials of World Rugby shell shocked, as their appointed Educator & Trainer Sanath Martis was captured violently slapping the rugby kid on three occasions.
Sanath Martis
The communique sent by St.Peter’s College to its Old Boys Union read “The college has in consultation with various stakeholders of the college gone into the matter. This relates to an incident which is over a month old and brought up a day ago. Appropriate action has been taken and in the interests of all persons involved we have nothing further to add”.
However what the communique failed to elaborate on was what the “appropriate action” the school really took against the child assaulter, coach Martis, as they continue to expose the safety of their rugby kids.
World Rugby the governing body for the sport of rugby union, has confirmed that they do not condone their appointed Educator and Trainer Sanath Martis’ abuse of the student rugby kid, that has now brought disgrace to their sport.
Ross Mitchell the Consultant General Manager of Asian Rugby the Asian arm that comes under World Rugby confirmed that the matter is been handled by World Rugby at present.
With strong sentiments being mentioned on social media by several cross sections of the public, it is strange that the main stream media has not covered this incident.
What is further shocking is that even the Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam also continues to remain mute regarding this incident as the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association also comes under his Ministry.
When Colombo Telegraph contacted Susantha Mendis , the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Schools Rugby Football Association he said “Well we saw the video and we discussed the matter. However we are yet to get an official complaint regarding this incident “.
With the hierarchy of St. Peter’s College Bambalapitiya choosing to side step this all important incident, it also continues to expose its very own children, based on the evidence of this video footage.
One wonders what the late and respected Peterite coach Archibald Perera would have had to say about this incident?
Whilst the late coach Archibald Perera’s acronym for “rugger” (rugby, ugly, double guts (gg),entertainment and recreation) still rings in the ears of many a former Peterite ruggerite he coached, parents of current day rugby players are skeptical if their kids may come home with ruptured ear drums, thanks to the lessons learnt from their current coach and World Rugby Educator & Trainer Sanath Martis.
Meanwhile whilst many prominent Peterite stalwarts and ex-Peterite rugby players continued to remain mum about this incident, several Facebook commentators expressing their displeasure about coach Sanath Martis’ assault on the rugby kid had this to say:
Ryan Jayatunga: “I would like to see the Principal of the school concerned hold general assembly for the entire school, invite the boy concerned and his parents on to the stage and have this maniac coach (If you can call him ‘coach’) KNEEL BEFORE THE BOY AND HIS PARENTS AND BEG THEIR FORGIVENESS. If he refuses, police action must be initiated against him with a compulsory penalty of a minimum 06 month RI at Bogambara or Boossa.”
Erandanath Amal Perusinghe: “He should be locked up period. Wonder why the school is covering up. Imagine what the parents must be feeling.”
Christina Francké; “I know the whole story. It’s been repeated to me many times.
“If the basis is the kid kicked someone so the coach slapped him…why? The coach used physical strength to hit someone..to teach them not to use physical advantage to kick someone.. so where is the lesson there?
“Take the kid off the team. If it’s a massive offence (which it is) let him miss a few matches. But they don’t do that do they, because that particular coaches motto is “win at all costs”.
“We have seen enough of his behaviour on and off the field. This is not the first time either. He has the backing of million rupee corporate sponsors and schools OBAs and parents cos he brings the cup home. He did that for your school as well. This great that he can coach a team to win. But at what cost?

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SL growth profile: Arrest moving down the staircase immediately to avoid hard landing on the floor


Strong message in the Sri Lanka Development Update 2019


logo Monday, 18 February 2019

Lanka Development Update for 2019 was released by the World Bank last week. This document contains a review by the bank’s residential staff of the present state of the country’s economy and the risks it faces in the immediate future. Behind the diplomatic language it has used, there is are two strong messages it has delivered to the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, the present Good Governance Government and any government that may come to power in the future.

One is that the deteriorating economic performance which the country had started as from 2013 will continue without an appreciable recovery till 2021. The other is that the country’s declining labour force and labour productivity will have a negative effect on its growth potential in the next two to three decades. The gist of these two messages is that Sri Lanka should take immediate measures to arrest and reverse this trend if it is to realise its goal of becoming a rich country within a generation.

Failure to maintain economic buoyancy after the end of the war 

The picture painted by the World Bank in its development update is summarised in graph 1. Immediately after the end of the war, there had been ‘significant buoyancy’ in economic activities in the country raising its average annual growth rate to a level above 8%.

However, the economic strategy adopted by the country during that period as well as in the few years following had basically concentrated on establishing an economic system based on the domestic market for growth and prosperity. This was manifested by the low emphasis given to exports that declined as a ratio of both the Gross Domestic Product or GDP and the global exports.

Since the domestic market placed an effective limitation on the expansion of industry, the country could not sustain this high growth beyond 2012. The period thereafter saw a drastic fall in the growth rate recording nearly a half of what had been attained previously.


Good Governance Government too has failed 

When the new Good Governance Government came to power in January 2015, the average growth rate amounted to 4.2%. The challenge before the new government was to recover the economy from that low growth and push it back to the previous high growth path. Yet, the outcome was dismal and it also had to live with the same low growth rate of 4.2% till 2017. The projection for the period from 2018 to 2021 by the World Bank has been even below the average growth rate in the previous period. It will amount on average to 3.5% per annum. This is a too low growth compared to the target envisioned in the Vision 2025 plan of the government. Thus, Sri Lanka is moving down a staircase placing its step on a lower stair at each successive move. This is the conclusion which an intelligent reader could make from the data which the World Bank has produced in its development update.

When it is translated into policy, it calls on the Government to take measures, as a matter of urgency, to arrest and reverse the declining trend. If this is not done, the next move will be to step on the ground causing Sri Lanka economy to stagnate, on the one hand, and become a laggard among its peers, on the other. Surely, this cannot be the goal which Sri Lankans are planning to realise.

The World Bank Economic Development Update 2019 pinpoints to the Sri Lanka Government that it should immediately take action to change the country’s production strategy. It cannot rely on the demographic dividend anymore to create wealth and prosperity. It should now seek to improve the quality of the work force so that the workers could embrace high technology and commence producing new products for export market. As I have argued in my previous articles, joining the global production sharing network and supplying components for high tech involving manufactured goods is a must for Sri Lanka today. If this is not done, it is unavoidable that the country moving down a staircase would make a hard landing on the floor
Shooting the messenger instead of the message

This is an objective and impartial analysis made by an outside body. Its aim is to impress upon those who rule the country that there is no time left for them to hang around. The sooner they get into action, the better for the economy. However, the normal tendency in Sri Lanka, as well as in many other countries, has been to consider critique with disdain. When the economy started stalling in 2013, I drew the attention of the Rajapaksa administration to the need for quick action. Instead of taking the message, it began to shoot the messenger calling my analysis ‘unprofessional and vindictive’.

Politicians should learn to tolerate criticism

The Good Governance Government was no better. Its leaders not only ignored the warning, but also began to attack me personally after the economy had plunged to an unrecoverable depth. Similarly, the warning by the World Bank and my highlighting the same in this article will run the risk of being ignored, on the one hand, and causing the Government policymakers to transform themselves to an offensive mode, on the other.

They must take cue from a former Minister of Finance – Dr. N.M. Perera – who was with a leftist orientation. Addressing the Central Bank staff in 1971 he had said that he would value the reports made by the bank ‘impartially and dispassionately without the colour of the political complexion of the party in power’. If the present government does not take this message in its true spirit, the unavoidable casualty will be the economy.

Effective population planning reducing the growth rate in population

Sri Lanka’s growth drivers in the past had been not the investment in physical capital but the increase in the labour force in numerical numbers. As such, the country which had an unemployment rate of 26% in 1977 was able to reduce it progressively through the deployment of its cheap labour in labour intensive industries, namely, the apparel industry. This helped Sri Lanka to diversify its exports, provide employment opportunities to a large number the unemployed and make a positive contribution to economic growth. This is known as ‘demographic dividend’ in economic parlance and Sri Lanka used it to the maximum in those high unemployment days.

However, along with the open economy policy introduced to the country as from the end of 1977, Sri Lanka went for an effective population planning programme. Previously, the population in the country had been growing at more than 2% per annum. It not only imposed constraints on the country’s carrying capacity but also its ability to continue with welfare measures in which most of the public services were provided free of charge or at heavily subsidised rates. The population planning programme paid its dividend in about two decades by pushing the growth in population close to 1% per annum. In 2017, it is now even below 1%.
Population pyramid getting converted to the Lotus Tower

The result was, as projected by demographic experts, to convert the traditional population pyramid to that of a ‘flower vase’ in which the middle was bulged. In 2015, it was like a Buddhist stupa or a pagoda, but by 2050, it is projected to take the shape of a cylindrical tower as given in figure 1.

The main contributors to this development have been the decline in women’s fertility rate, while the mortality rate remaining unchanged. According to the World Bank data, in 1960, Sri Lanka had on average 5.5 births per woman. By 2016, it has fallen to 2 births per woman, almost equal to the rate prevailing in developed countries. At the same time, the mortality rate has remained at around 6 per 1,000 people in the country. With increased longevity of Sri Lankans, especially the females, the traditional population pyramid is expected to imitate the Lotus Tower which now adores Colombo’s skyline. This would not only reverse the demographic dividend, but also will compel Sri Lanka to change its resource allocation and economic policy strategies.
Ominous increase in the dependency ratio

But this outcome has not been unexpected since it is the natural transition which a country following population planning would go through. In such a situation, economic policy strategy should be changed from labour intensive to technology intensive production methods. Sri Lanka will be compelled to do this, since the share of Sri Lanka’s working age population, according to the World Bank data, had peaked in 2005 and is on the decline right now.

The corollary of this development has been the increase in the dependency ratio, that is, those below 15 years plus those above 69 years as a ratio of the working population. Given the present population projections, Sri Lanka’s population is expected to peak by 2035 worsening the dependency ratio thereafter. It will not only reduce the country’s potential growth but also create a new old age social security problem. Hence, making Sri Lanka’s population tech savvy is a must for recovering and sustaining the falling economic growth of the country.
Using off-shoring to the maximum 

There are other global developments that have compelled Sri Lanka to go for this strategy. As mentioned earlier, after 1977, the country went for a cheap labour using production model that produced textiles and garments for labour expensive markets in developed countries.

In order to exploit the cheap labour in developing countries, the developed countries too had adopted a production model in which factories were set up in the former group of countries. This production model was known as ‘off-shoring’ since the factories had been located in countries located off to the shores of the sponsoring countries. Three developments have caused those sponsoring countries to rethink of the off-shoring production model.
Off-shoring has created Bazaar Effect

One is, as presented by German economist Hans-Werner Sinn, ‘the Bazaar Effect’ in manufacturing production which the developed countries had begun to undergo. After off-shoring became the mantra used by production units in those countries, they just became traders or bazaars in manufactured products earning only trading profits while losing manufacturing sector jobs. In the bazaar trading system, goods manufactured in off-shore factories would be labelled as products of the parent country and exported to other destinations.

A good example is the Apple products in which there is a production tag saying that they had been designed in USA and assembled in China. The other two reasons have arisen due to the action taken by mother companies to address the hostility to Bazaar Effect by both the domestic policy makers and the domestic workers.
Desire to have production facilities in proximity to the markets 

Accordingly, through Artificial Intelligence or AI and robotic development, most of the labour intensive products could be manufactured in the countries where the markets are located. A case in point is the garment industry which was off-shored to the developing world because of the cost advantages. But technology had permitted the mother companies to produce the same garments in locations in the countries where the markets are within proximity. This production method is called ‘on-shoring’.

At the same time, the need for delivering swiftly the customised products to customers back at home have compelled the major trading houses to look for factories located in nearby countries. This is known as ‘near-shoring’ of manufactured products. This is because a garment manufactured in Sri Lanka or Bangladesh would take at least 30 days for delivering to trading houses via sea routes. But the same garment manufactured in a nearby country under near shoring will take only three days for delivery via land. Hence, there is a growing demand for both on-shoring and near-shoring of garments by trading houses operating in developed country markets.
Growing importance of on-shoring and off-shoring

McKinsey Global Institute in a recent report has identified the on-shoring and near-shoring garment production units serving both the European and North American markets. This is presented in the figure 2. Accordingly, Europe is served by on-shore industries located in the UK, Macedonia and Portugal that use robotic manufacturing methods. At the same time, it is served by near-shoring productions units in Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco. In the same way, the North American market is on-shored by factories in Mexico and the United States. That market is also supplied by near-shoring manufacturing outfits located in El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti. According to McKinsey Global Institute, about 65% of the requirements in these markets would be supplied through on-shoring and near-shoring by 2025. This new global development will affect both Sri Lanka and Bangladesh which heavily depend on the apparel industry for earning foreign exchange and creating wealth.
Sri Lanka should move to tech-intensive production models 

Thus, the World Bank Economic Development Update 2019 pinpoints to the Sri Lanka Government that it should immediately take action to change the country’s production strategy. It cannot rely on the demographic dividend anymore to create wealth and prosperity. It should now seek to improve the quality of the work force so that the workers could embrace high technology and commence producing new products for export market. As I have argued in my previous articles, joining the global production sharing network and supplying components for high tech involving manufactured goods is a must for Sri Lanka today.

If this is not done, it is unavoidable that the country moving down a staircase would make a hard landing on the floor.

(W.A. Wijewardena, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at waw1949@gmail.com.) 
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Race for AI dominance heats up

Last Monday President Trump signed an executive order titled ‘Maintaining American leadership in Artificial Intelligence (AI)’. This new policy is based on five main principles, first of which firmly outlines uniting Federal government with industry and academia to lead scientific innovation, strengthen economic competition and enhance national security.

18 February 2019 
While Trump’s policy commitments and articulation on many spheres have come under significant criticism the move to consolidate AI leadership gained recognition from many across the political spectrum. The recent American onslaught on Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei, Chinese and Russian increasing investments into AI research and development are clear signs of a new level of strategic competition that is emerging as a geo political tussle for technological dominance.
It is commonly agreed that the country that will dominate realms of cyber, artificial intelligence will achieve a strategic edge over others in the 21st Century. Therefore, the emerging international security landscape though littered with a multitude of other security challenges is witnessing a thrust of investment on AI as it affects all aspects of civilian and military structures and innovations in statecraft in general.

Sri Lanka’s national security establishment, industry and academia and its discourse on technology and politics is extremely limited, technical expertise is abundant yet discourse on strategic technologies on influencing political decision making, evolving military strategy, national and international security are limited. This column since its inception two years back at various conjunctures attempted to bring into light the importance of having such a national wide consultation. The column will strive to achieve that objective in its future iterations as it is a critical component when articulating Sri Lanka’s national interests and forging policies.

AI and its strategic connotation

Technological advances in cyber systems and increasing number of smart devices has created an abundance of big data that is circulated in the cyber echo systems. This is data we produce in daily activities from merely uploading social media content to use of other online services such as simply streaming a movie. Artificial Intelligence is not a new phenomenon, yet it has become a primary component in this data and sensory revolution. Smart devices from an average smart phone to an advanced missile system relies on sensors, sensors can accumulate massive amounts of data in raw forms.
From drone wars to surveillance programs, raw data has maintained the edge for modern military over its adversaries both in geo political power struggles and over terrorism, organized crimes and violent extremism. Yet the sheer amount of data that has been accumulated has made it nearly impossible for human analysis. AI thrives on big data. AI learns directly from data thus installing AI solutions can enhance every aspect of human life and will be a critical component of strategy and politics in the 21st Century.

2017 Origins of Geo Politics of AI

State efforts at creating strategic doctrines and guidelines for advancement and application of Artificial Intelligence is very recent. The coherent application of AI as part of national security strategies and national development policies are quite new. In this context the year 2017 is decisive. In June 2017, China unveiled an ambitious plan to be the world leader in Artificial Intelligence and bolster an AI based industry by 2030 that is worth nearly $150 Billion. This was backed up by the historic speech made to the Chinese Central committee by President Xi Jin Ping in October 2017 during the 19th CPC National Congress, in his marathon speech he outlined the importance of China’s emergence as a technological power house and driver of innovation and modernization of the Chinese military.
September 1, in the same year, President Putin addressing high school students in the first day of school, made a frequently quoted statement, Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict.
Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world. The importance is unlike China or the US, Russia has not invested vast amount of funding into their AI development. Yet Russia has invested heavily into Autonomous ground attack vehicles, which includes full-size armored personal careers to main battle tanks. They also are experimenting with a fully autonomous turret. In contrast the US Army spent on unmanned systems of which 80% of that money went into air systems.
The Russians have mastered significant vulnerabilities in the use of social media platforms in the West, with liberal ethos of information freedom and democratization of the internet, Russian information war teams have understood the power of weaponizing narratives on social media. They managed to infiltrate smartphone apps of Ukrainian soldiers during 2014 and utilizing these vulnerabilities to track them through their fire control radars making it easier for targeting, leading to many deaths among Ukrainian soldiers. Weaponizing bots on social media has become a major challenge for Western societies especially with the rise of deep fake technologies. Deep fakes are software and AI capable of substituting voice and facial expressions from one person to another. Such weaponization has led to serious challenges for Western states and national security policy makers.

  • "In June 2017, China unveiled an ambitious plan to be the world leader in AI

  • In 2017, AI was used in the fight against ISIS in Central Asia, Africa"


In 2017, American military started using its own AI developments for battlefield use with the introduction of the controversial Project Maven, an algorithm developed by Google for the military. Project Maven was an AI solution that could track multiple targets and identify them when integrated with advanced surveillance feeds used on military platforms such as Reaper drones to small ScanEagle drones which carries out daily surveillance in Afghan and Iraqi theatres. By late 2017 this technology was used in the fight against ISIS in both Central Asia and Africa.
Daily surveillance from drones provides unprecedented amount of data, the algorithm is capable of sifting through it and in real time analyse and provide potential people, locations of interest. It is now fused with a geo location solution used by the US Navy called Minotaur which provides exact locations and coordinates. Thus, war fighting, anti-terror operations, special force operations are being revolutionized through AI integration making such programs priority in security advancement among all major powers.

Strategic AI and Sri Lanka’s choices

AI is being used from expanding the manoeuvrability of autonomous vehicles from the industry to military. Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) which also was home to many cybernetic developments from the Internet, GPS, to robotics have recently successfully completed the work of an autonomous submarine hunter surface vessel. The Ship few months back completed a sea trial that spanned a trip from San Diego to Pearl Harbour; a trip which is more than 5000 miles. The 132-foot ship costs only on average US$ 20,000 to operate on a day while America’s premier destroyer fleet costs US$ 700,000 thousand per day per ship. AI has the capability to just to make platforms more capable and lethal but vastly cost effective.

Sri Lanka and many small states are revisiting their own security policies and are in the process of looking at what that future strategic challenges are, the premier security domain Sri Lanka needs to work advance is maritime security. While maritime security is not totally in the domain of SL Navy the challenges that are emerging from surface and beneath the sea will have a great impact on our national security. Autonomous systems and surveillance systems which are less expensive yet more sophisticated to operate maybe feasible than going into acquiring large platforms.
AI and Autonomy in security sector are totally altering the options for any military and in some cases lowering costs, thus drone swarms, Wide Area Aerial Surveillance (WAAS) are becoming major options of many nations. Sri Lanka with a massive ocean space to secure may benefit from focusing on such platforms yet do we have the political will, the policy insight and academic input and the temperament for all relevant stake holders to work together to evolve our own strategic doctrines, defence acquisition schemes is yet to be seen.
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