Peace for the World World ! Your War Our Lives
The Dalai Lama
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Back to 500BC.
Monday, April 30, 2018
Sooka report slams STF
April 30, 2018, 12:17 pm
The United Nations has come under criticism for allowing troops
including a frontline commando from an elite police unit in Sri Lanka,
alleged to have been involved in serious human rights violations, to be
deployed among vulnerable communities.
Releasing their latest report "Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force" the
International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) says that it has credible
evidence that this senior policeman serving as a UN peacekeeper was
involved in serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial
killings.
The ITJP has prepared a confidential list of more than fifty names of
Sri Lankan paramilitary police from the Special Task Force (STF), who
should be barred from serving in UN peacekeeping missions.
Individuals named are either alleged perpetrators or were involved in
frontline combat in the final stages of the war when the UN says system
crimes were committed by security force units, including the STF.
ITJP says that the list is being shared with the UN Department of
Peacekeeping (DPKO) and Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights
(OHCHR) in Geneva.
"One STF officer who appears currently to be observing in a UN
peacekeeping mission in Africa is alleged to have ordered summary
executions of Tamils in the East of Sri Lanka in 2006 - 7," said ITJP’s
Executive Director, Yasmin Sooka. "This shows the UN is still clearly
failing in its obligation when it comes to the vetting of Sri Lankans
for peacekeeping."
Their latest report released in London is the first to be based
primarily on insider witnesses, which include several former Sinhala STF
officers and Tamil paramilitaries.
One Sinhalese man had described his work in an STF "white van" abduction
team in Colombo as "like a horror film". Another interrogator active
during the final years of the civil war in Colombo had said of his
victims: "We would garrotte, strangle, stab or beat them to death".
Witnesses speaking to ITJP had described the detention in STF camps of
suspects who were then killed: "We tied their hands behind their backs,
gagged them and covered their faces. There were villages around, so we
had to gag them in order for them not to make loud sounds, crying for
help… Once a suspect had been taken to an STF camp, they never got
released, they would always be killed."
The SJV Chelvanayakam’s Legacy To Sri Lanka: Unity Recognizing Diversity
Prof. S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
The 45th Memorial Lecture
April 26, 1977 was the day that Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam,
Esquire, QC, the founder-leader of the Federal Party (a.k.a. the
Ilangai Thamil Arasuk Katchi or ITAK) who is affectionately known as
SJV, passed from this realm to the next. This 26th morning, promptly at 9:30 the 45thSJV
Chelvanayagam event started as scheduled. The venue was the location of
his memorial stupa across the Jaffna Public Library and next to
Subramaniam Park.
SJV’s legacy to the Tamil people was the political belief that Sri Lanka
has different peoples with different and even conflicting needs and
aspirations, so that we must live together in a federalist undivided Sri
Lanka pursuing our own aspirations without treading on each other’s
toes. That belief came with a firm commitment to nonviolence. His is a
legacy few quarrel with. His is a stature that even his detractors fear
to speak against. Even violent LTTE backers claim to adore him, hoping
his stature would rub off a little on them.
S.J.V. Chelvanayakam
Attendees and Absentees
Notable for their presence were C. Chandrahasan SJV’s son, his grandson
Elangovan (also the grandson of ITAK stalwart Hensman Naganathan), and
Soundari Watson who is SJV’s grandniece, the daughter of his niece
Samathanam Somasundaram (nee Muththiah) of Alaveddy. Hon. K.
Thirairajasingam, MP, the ITAK Secretary from Batticaloa, and Eastern PC
Education Minister Mr.S. Thandayuthapani from Trincomalee were noted
for their presence from the East. Present were also ITAK Secretary
General Hon. Mavai Senathirajah, MP, Jaffna District ITAK MPs Hon.
Shanthi Sriskantharajah and Hon. MA. Sumanthiran, and Vanni District MP
Hon. Charles Nirmalanathan. The current diocesan Bishop of SJV’s Church
of South India, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Daniel Thiagarajah, also made it
despite his recent loss of his brother. The presence of Jaffna’s brand
new mayor, His Worship Emmanuel Arnold, added a refreshing young face to
an aging party.
Of special note was the presence of the new Indian Consul in Jaffna, HE
Balachandran, an Andhra man speaking fluent Tamil. It is hoped that he
would be less identified with the BJP’s religious policies. This is said
to be his first public function and his presence augurs well for more
secular policies from the Indian Consulate General.
Mr. R. Sampanthan and Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran were notable
absentees, as also were most of the ITAK MPs. Chairman of the NPC,
C.V.K. Sivagnanam whose wife’s funeral had been scheduled for 10:00 AM
the same day was naturally absent. Some who came and showed their faces
ran off quickly to the funeral thereby accounting for the less than
expected crowd. The organizers should have coordinated better with Mr.
Sivagnanam.
Perhaps the most serious absentee was the Muslim leader invited to be on
the stage to show case the ITAK’s strength in having bridges to all
communities as a secular party. It was Moulavi A.M.A. Aziz who was
billed after he confirmed his acceptance, but did not show up.
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee, The Rt. Rev. S. Jebanesan
opened the event with the welcome speech which was to be by Prof. S.
Sathiaseelan, the organizing committee secretary who was another
absentee. The Bishop wore a scarlet cassock but without the customary
cross, perhaps to make the function more secular. The whole group moved
to the stupa and the SJV statue where garlanding was done by a large
number until they ran out of garlands.
Read More
Tensions at Vavuniya campus after Sinhala students attempt to erect Buddhist shrine
29Apr 2018
The University of Jaffna's Vavuniya campus was forced to close this week
after Sinhala students threatened university administration staff over
they stopped the students erecting a Buddhist shrine on site.
On April 23 a group of Sinhala students attempted to install a shrine on
campus grounds in view of later placing a Buddha statue inside it.
When staff objected and prevented the installation, pointing out that no
prior approval or permission had been sought for the installation,
Sinhala students threatened the staff.
The staff were forced to close the main gate and call the police to
speak to the students, after the Sinhala students began protesting at
the campus entrance.
The protest ended only after police officers arrived, consfiscating the shrine and calming down the Sinhala students.
Student represenatives from Jaffna university later met with the Sinhala students in order to resolve the tensions.
29Apr 2018
The University of Jaffna's Vavuniya campus was forced to close this week
after Sinhala students threatened university administration staff over
they stopped the students erecting a Buddhist shrine on site.
On April 23 a group of Sinhala students attempted to install a shrine on
campus grounds in view of later placing a Buddha statue inside it.
When staff objected and prevented the installation, pointing out that no
prior approval or permission had been sought for the installation,
Sinhala students threatened the staff.
The staff were forced to close the main gate and call the police to
speak to the students, after the Sinhala students began protesting at
the campus entrance.
The protest ended only after police officers arrived, consfiscating the shrine and calming down the Sinhala students.
Student represenatives from Jaffna university later met with the Sinhala students in order to resolve the tensions.
DECODING A DESPOT
“He who protests is an enemy; he who opposes is a corpse.” - Pol Pot
Sunday, 29 April 2018
In a rebuttal of a newspaper report on the investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunge, the former Defence Secretary and 2020 Presidential hopeful, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is at pains to explain that then Commander of the Army- Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka was in charge of army intelligence and he was above the brawl and broil. That he was and is lily white in his dealings in the shadowy world of intelligence.
“The Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Army is a branch within the Army command structure and is set out clearly in the Army’s approved organizational structure. It operates under the Director General, General Staff at Army Headquarters, and reports directly to the Army Commander. Its roles and tasks are also clearly defined. During the period of the murder of Wickrematunge, the post of DMI was held by General Amal Karunasekera, and not Retd Gen Kapila Hendavitharana, while the Army Commander was today’s Cabinet Minister of Regional Development in the present Government, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka. [Police, military personnel under pressure to implicate me falsely – Former Defence Secretary’s response The Island, February 26, 2018]
This statement of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is false. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the undisputed head of all state agencies handling military and civil intelligence. Every agency reported to him. His control was arbitrary and unrestrained.
We have Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself declaring that he was the boss of all bosses dealing with state intelligence agencies. As the mafia bosses used to say he was the ‘capo de tutti capi’ – the leader of all leaders. He was the country’s ‘God Father’.
Mario Puzo the author of the novel, God Father, wrote ‘Power is not everything. It is the only thing.’
He was describing that rare breed of men such as, Gotabaya Rajapaksa incapable of imagining a life deprived of power over fellow creatures – the primordial instincts of the ‘wolf’.
As Defence Secretary from 2005-2015, Gotabaya Rajapaksa wielded his immense power with a savagery that defies description.
On Christmas Day of 2011, a British national Khuram Shaikh Zaman was murdered and his Russian girlfriend was raped in a resort in Tangalle.
The main accused was a political apparatchik of the family Mafiosi that held sway over Tangalle.
The Leader of the House and Chief Government whip Dinesh Gunawardene responding to a query raised by then UNP Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekara said that the 23-year-old Russian partner of Shaikh, Victoria Alexandravona, had only received serious injuries. She had not been raped.
When it was pointed out that it contradicted the statement given by the victim to the Police, soon after the incident, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena gave a mind boggling reply indicative of the Orwellian World in which we lived at the time.
“I am presenting the answer given to me by the Ministry of Defence based on the police records submitted to them. If you have more details or evidence on the matter present it to the Court as there is a case pending.”
In May 2013, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then Defence Secretary and supreme arbiter on our civil liberties delivered a lecture at the Kotelawala Defence University. Its title- Sri Lanka’s National Security Concerns. As all despots do, Gotabaya Rajapaksa conflated national security with the security of the regime.
Delivered at the zenith of his extraordinary authority that made him the supreme arbiter in Defence and Intelligence matters, he is unabashedly plainspoken. In this lecture, he explains his tight grip on the country’s varied intelligence agencies with the cold detachment of a hangman examining the noose before use!
His nonchalance in claiming to be the supreme whizzbang of the country’s internal security network, while unnerving, offers an insight into his bizarre belief in a democracy minus dissent.
Conflating national security with regime security is an inevitable phenomenon in countries emerging from protracted conflict.
A viable National Security strategy, he explains, “must constantly align ends with means, goals with resources, and objectives with the tools required to accomplish them.”
He identifies what he perceives to be national security concerns of contemporary times- “Foreign interference in domestic affairs” and “Non-traditional threats through technology driven new media, including social media.”
In the manner of a medieval warlord, he explains why he finds it necessary to locate himself at the apex of the national security apparatus.
“Sri Lanka has two primary intelligence arms: The State Intelligence Service and the Defence Intelligence, which comprises the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Directorate of Naval Intelligence, and Air Intelligence. In addition, the Police maintains the Special Branch, while the Special Task Force also has its own Intelligence Division. Furthermore, the Terrorist Investigation Department and Criminal Investigation Department of the Police also work closely with the other Intelligence agencies on matters relating to National Security.
“In the past, the lack of strength and coordination among these various intelligence services used to be a serious issue. It is essential that they work together under a unified command structure to improve coordination and enhance capabilities. Towards this effect, one of the efforts undertaken by the present Government has been to bring these intelligence services under the Chief of National Intelligence, who reports directly to the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. “
In a series of interviews, the former Defence Secretary has claimed that current investigations into murders, abductions, disappearances and arrant atrocities such as, the Welikada Prison massacre to be political witch hunts.
This is the same national security obsessed strongman who in 2013 clearly claimed that the sole command responsibility for running the many intelligence services to be his exclusive preserve.
In a recent interview, he has accused the government of weakening and undermining the national intelligence agencies. That investigators are yet combing the labyrinthian nooks for the final pieces of evidence demonstrates the resilience of the dark apparatus that he masterminded during his tenure.
As Gotabaya promised his audience at the KDU in 2013, he has indeed aligned means with resources! He has linked objectives with tools to accomplish them!
The deep state he established during the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency is entrenched. It is more likely that the brother on the throne was himself a hostage of this Pretorian guard.
The slow progress of the investigations into the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunge and the abduction and assault of Keith Noyahr tell us what the investigators are up against.
The deep state that Gotabaya built is well fortified. It has built in surveillance, respectable return fire power and the ability to co-opt resistance across existing structures.
A sycophantic brigade of self-declared war heroes and a resourceful retinue of mercenary monks form the avant-garde of his current war of attrition and his planned 2020 counter offensive.
A soldier returning home after a tour of duty in the North carries a hand grenade that accidentally explodes in Diyatalawa. Sarath Weerasekera the admiral and Kamal Gunaratne the General are both convinced that the LTTE terrorists have reappeared! This is a familiar pattern. These National Security buffs are truly great exponents of the art of mass hysteria. The Government ignores this mischief at its peril.
Mahinda Rajapaksa did not need fear and repression to govern. It was his misfortune to be seduced by the less cumbersome authoritarian path his American émigré brother discovered on arriving in this benighted land after an absence of 15 years.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa has traversed much territory since then. He has secured the loyalty of a parasitic class of entrepreneurial talent in his fronts ‘Eliya’ and ‘Viyath Maga.’
A new middle class, literate yet, not learned, in a hurried search for social mobility makes up his core support base. He offers an authoritarian social compact between a ruling elite of his own creation and the people. He promises to replicate South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. His message is clear. I give you wealth and stability. You come to terms with my style of rule.
The appeal and allure of the ‘yahapalanaya’ has evaporated. The threat of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is clear, present and imminent.
I am past the biblical span of three scores and ten. With the shadows lengthening I listen to Peter Paul and Mary – “Where have all the flowers gone. Where have all the young men gone? Gone for soldiers everyone, when will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”
Pity! In all those years in America, Gotabaya has not listened to Peter Paul and Mary.
Sunday, 29 April 2018In a rebuttal of a newspaper report on the investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunge, the former Defence Secretary and 2020 Presidential hopeful, Gotabaya Rajapaksa is at pains to explain that then Commander of the Army- Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka was in charge of army intelligence and he was above the brawl and broil. That he was and is lily white in his dealings in the shadowy world of intelligence.
“The Directorate of Military Intelligence of the Army is a branch within the Army command structure and is set out clearly in the Army’s approved organizational structure. It operates under the Director General, General Staff at Army Headquarters, and reports directly to the Army Commander. Its roles and tasks are also clearly defined. During the period of the murder of Wickrematunge, the post of DMI was held by General Amal Karunasekera, and not Retd Gen Kapila Hendavitharana, while the Army Commander was today’s Cabinet Minister of Regional Development in the present Government, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka. [Police, military personnel under pressure to implicate me falsely – Former Defence Secretary’s response The Island, February 26, 2018]
This statement of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is false. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the undisputed head of all state agencies handling military and civil intelligence. Every agency reported to him. His control was arbitrary and unrestrained.
We have Gotabaya Rajapaksa himself declaring that he was the boss of all bosses dealing with state intelligence agencies. As the mafia bosses used to say he was the ‘capo de tutti capi’ – the leader of all leaders. He was the country’s ‘God Father’.
Mario Puzo the author of the novel, God Father, wrote ‘Power is not everything. It is the only thing.’
He was describing that rare breed of men such as, Gotabaya Rajapaksa incapable of imagining a life deprived of power over fellow creatures – the primordial instincts of the ‘wolf’.
As Defence Secretary from 2005-2015, Gotabaya Rajapaksa wielded his immense power with a savagery that defies description.
On Christmas Day of 2011, a British national Khuram Shaikh Zaman was murdered and his Russian girlfriend was raped in a resort in Tangalle.
The main accused was a political apparatchik of the family Mafiosi that held sway over Tangalle.
The Leader of the House and Chief Government whip Dinesh Gunawardene responding to a query raised by then UNP Kurunegala District MP Dayasiri Jayasekara said that the 23-year-old Russian partner of Shaikh, Victoria Alexandravona, had only received serious injuries. She had not been raped.
When it was pointed out that it contradicted the statement given by the victim to the Police, soon after the incident, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena gave a mind boggling reply indicative of the Orwellian World in which we lived at the time.
“I am presenting the answer given to me by the Ministry of Defence based on the police records submitted to them. If you have more details or evidence on the matter present it to the Court as there is a case pending.”
In May 2013, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then Defence Secretary and supreme arbiter on our civil liberties delivered a lecture at the Kotelawala Defence University. Its title- Sri Lanka’s National Security Concerns. As all despots do, Gotabaya Rajapaksa conflated national security with the security of the regime.
Delivered at the zenith of his extraordinary authority that made him the supreme arbiter in Defence and Intelligence matters, he is unabashedly plainspoken. In this lecture, he explains his tight grip on the country’s varied intelligence agencies with the cold detachment of a hangman examining the noose before use!
His nonchalance in claiming to be the supreme whizzbang of the country’s internal security network, while unnerving, offers an insight into his bizarre belief in a democracy minus dissent.
Conflating national security with regime security is an inevitable phenomenon in countries emerging from protracted conflict.
A viable National Security strategy, he explains, “must constantly align ends with means, goals with resources, and objectives with the tools required to accomplish them.”
He identifies what he perceives to be national security concerns of contemporary times- “Foreign interference in domestic affairs” and “Non-traditional threats through technology driven new media, including social media.”
In the manner of a medieval warlord, he explains why he finds it necessary to locate himself at the apex of the national security apparatus.
“Sri Lanka has two primary intelligence arms: The State Intelligence Service and the Defence Intelligence, which comprises the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Directorate of Naval Intelligence, and Air Intelligence. In addition, the Police maintains the Special Branch, while the Special Task Force also has its own Intelligence Division. Furthermore, the Terrorist Investigation Department and Criminal Investigation Department of the Police also work closely with the other Intelligence agencies on matters relating to National Security.
“In the past, the lack of strength and coordination among these various intelligence services used to be a serious issue. It is essential that they work together under a unified command structure to improve coordination and enhance capabilities. Towards this effect, one of the efforts undertaken by the present Government has been to bring these intelligence services under the Chief of National Intelligence, who reports directly to the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. “
In a series of interviews, the former Defence Secretary has claimed that current investigations into murders, abductions, disappearances and arrant atrocities such as, the Welikada Prison massacre to be political witch hunts.
This is the same national security obsessed strongman who in 2013 clearly claimed that the sole command responsibility for running the many intelligence services to be his exclusive preserve.
In a recent interview, he has accused the government of weakening and undermining the national intelligence agencies. That investigators are yet combing the labyrinthian nooks for the final pieces of evidence demonstrates the resilience of the dark apparatus that he masterminded during his tenure.
As Gotabaya promised his audience at the KDU in 2013, he has indeed aligned means with resources! He has linked objectives with tools to accomplish them!
The deep state he established during the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency is entrenched. It is more likely that the brother on the throne was himself a hostage of this Pretorian guard.
The slow progress of the investigations into the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunge and the abduction and assault of Keith Noyahr tell us what the investigators are up against.
The deep state that Gotabaya built is well fortified. It has built in surveillance, respectable return fire power and the ability to co-opt resistance across existing structures.
A sycophantic brigade of self-declared war heroes and a resourceful retinue of mercenary monks form the avant-garde of his current war of attrition and his planned 2020 counter offensive.
A soldier returning home after a tour of duty in the North carries a hand grenade that accidentally explodes in Diyatalawa. Sarath Weerasekera the admiral and Kamal Gunaratne the General are both convinced that the LTTE terrorists have reappeared! This is a familiar pattern. These National Security buffs are truly great exponents of the art of mass hysteria. The Government ignores this mischief at its peril.
Mahinda Rajapaksa did not need fear and repression to govern. It was his misfortune to be seduced by the less cumbersome authoritarian path his American émigré brother discovered on arriving in this benighted land after an absence of 15 years.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa has traversed much territory since then. He has secured the loyalty of a parasitic class of entrepreneurial talent in his fronts ‘Eliya’ and ‘Viyath Maga.’
A new middle class, literate yet, not learned, in a hurried search for social mobility makes up his core support base. He offers an authoritarian social compact between a ruling elite of his own creation and the people. He promises to replicate South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. His message is clear. I give you wealth and stability. You come to terms with my style of rule.
The appeal and allure of the ‘yahapalanaya’ has evaporated. The threat of Gotabaya Rajapaksa is clear, present and imminent.
I am past the biblical span of three scores and ten. With the shadows lengthening I listen to Peter Paul and Mary – “Where have all the flowers gone. Where have all the young men gone? Gone for soldiers everyone, when will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”
Pity! In all those years in America, Gotabaya has not listened to Peter Paul and Mary.
Age limitations for teens on Social Media
2018-04-30
Social media
sites have taken over our lives and it’s hard to imagine that 10 years
ago there was no Facebook. Through social media, anyone online is
empowered by an unrestricted flow of information to add to his/her
knowledge. Social media has removed communication barriers vibrantly.
As media have the power to change the opinions of people, it can bring a great positive changes in society. Media have access to people and it provides a lot of strength. This strength can either be used constructively by educating the people or it can be used destructively by misleading innocent people.
Teens and Internet
There are six million plus active social media users in Sri Lanka right now. That is more than 30% of our population. Starting from mid 2017, users in Sri Lanka on Facebook increased from five million to six million in less than 6 months. As per TRCSL stats, there are 1.5 million plus users who are aged between 10-18.
Minimum age to open Twitter Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat accounts is 13. According to a study, it is found more than 50% of children in the world already used a Social network by the time they are 10!
As per a National Survey done by Australian Psychology Society (APS) it is found that more than three in four young people (78.8%) are highly involved with their mobile phones. Young people are reportedly using social media for an average of 3.3 hours or more each day. The survey also found 15% of teenagers reported being approached by strangers on a daily basis through their online world.
Age restrictions for Social Media usage
We have age restrictions on smoking, consuming alcohol, watching pornography etc. But we do not have age barriers on social media and smart phones usage.
The minimum age to open an account on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat is 13. YouTube requires account holders to be 18. According to a study, it is found more than 50% of children in the world already used a Social network by the time they are 10!
Despite these clearly stated and published age restrictions, large and growing numbers of children 12 and under are using social media networks, often with or without their parents’ knowledge and consent.
A recent research has found that risk for depression jumps 27% when a teenager frequently uses social media. Also found that kids in America who uses social media for more than 3 hours a day more likely to homicidal? We can’t simply ignore this fact as we are one of the best in the world in Suicidal rate
The question is, in Sri Lanka do our parents have the knowledge to check these social media platforms, restrictions, etc. Educating parents regarding this matter is essential.
Facebook depression
The time before these social media and smart devices, kids were doing physical activities, which is far better than using social media devices. There is another thing that these social media are happy to introduce younger children to an adult world without moral boundaries which leads to child depression.
A recent research has found that risk for depression jumps 27% when a teenager frequently uses social media. Also found that kids in America who use social media for more than 3 hours a day, are more likely to homicidal? We can’t simply ignore this fact as we are one of the best in the world in Suicidal rate.
A study found children who frequently use social media are more likely to lose soft skills, self-esteem, respect for others and creativity.
How smartphone light affects your body
- Staring at Smartphones too long reduces blinking rates
- Damages your memory
- Disrupting melatonin can also mess with hormones that control hunger
- Decrease learning capacity
- Reduce cognitive capacity and ability to focus
Have you ever concerned about how our Internet service providers
responsible to increase of night time data usage? Doesn’t it need to
change? It’s high time to rethink.
Teach your kids to use Social media wisely
From a Sri Lankan point of view, educating parents about this social media platform, is much more likely to be a hard topic. However it has to be done sooner than later, as our younger generation getting used to it rapidly. Knowing how to navigate the online social networking world is crucial for parents and teens.
It’s Simple
- Stick to site age requirements – Don’t let your kids use Facebook until they are 13
- Set clear ground rules on social media usage – Set timing ex. only 1 hour a day
- Educate your child on the dangers of the internet
- Don’t let kids have a computer in their room
There is nothing wrong with Smart phones and Social Media, but it is the imbalance that matters!
Who messed up Gazette Notification summoning Parliament?
In the President’s proclamation issued on 12 April proroguing Parliament, 8 May was fixed as the date for the start of the new Parliamentary session but it failed to give a time for the sittings to commence.
Another Gazette Notification was issued on 23 April which stated that “KNOW YE that by virtue of the powers vested in me by Article 70(4) of the Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, I, Maithripala Sirisena, President, do by this Proclamation summon Parliament to meet at the Parliament Hall, Sri Jayewardenepura, on the Eighth day of May, Two Thousand and Eighteen at 02.15pm.”
There was a mistake in this Gazette notification as the powers are vested in the President to summon Parliament under Article 70 of the Constitution and not Article 70 (4).
The latest Extraordinary Gazette amended the venue of the next Parliamentary Session from ‘Parliament Hall’ to the ‘Chamber of Parliament’.
The third Gazette was changed to read “KNOW YE that by virtue of the powers vested in me by Article 70 of the Chapter XI of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, I Maithripala Sirisena, President do by this Proclamation summon Parliament to meet at the Chamber of the Parliament, Sri Jayewardenepura, on the Eighth day of May, Two Thousand and Eighteen at 02.15 p.m.”
Many criticized the officials at the Presidential Secretariat of failing to perform their responsibilities while many others noted that the whole mess is clear proof to the inability and inefficiency of the Government as a whole.
Amidst many other issues tipped to take place in the Second Session of the Eighth Parliament, selecting a Deputy Speaker will be amongst first few businesses.
In addition, the seating arrangements will be rearranged to accommodate the SLFP-group of 16 to allocate them seats in the Opposition. The request was made in writing by the group from the Parliament Secretary General.
The 16 will cross over the well of the Parliament on 8 May as planned. However, there are various discussions going on and several sources claimed that all 16 may not cross over. The talk is that at least three will remain on the Government side.
Meanwhile, it was reported that President Sirisena met the SLFP group of 16 at Grand Mountain Hotel, the first 5-star resort in Matale belonging to former Deputy Minister Lakshman Wasantha Perera. While, the details of the discussion were not officially available, the group, according to sources, have discussed at length as to what their role would be in the Opposition.
New Cabinet
Appointing a new Cabinet of Ministers will most probably take place after the May Day commemorations which have been planned in various places away from Colombo.
President Sirisena, in an interview with the BBC Sinhala Service in London during his visit to London for attending the CHOGM, said responsible and credible Cabinet of Ministers that would be recognized by the general public will be appointed.
He also noted that it will not be a reshuffle but will completely be a new one.
The President emphasized that it will be a new Cabinet of Ministers in every aspect. The subjects will be divided among the Ministers in a scientific manner.
The President said that the number of Ministers of the Cabinet cannot be predicted at present. He also stressed that measures will be taken to check the track record of the Ministers who would be nominated for the Cabinet positions. The President stated that the Cabinet should be credible and recognized by the people.
Any individual who could be appointed for a Ministerial position in the Cabinet should be recognized not only in the domestic context but also in the international arena.
The President said that, hence, attention is drawn on qualifications of the Ministers when the appointments are being made. He said that it is inevitable to work ignoring international politics. Even world powers need to strengthen international ties.
The President highlighted that developing countries like Sri Lanka compulsory have to think about foreign relations.
President Sirisena’s announcement on the criteria of appointing Cabinet Ministers comes at a time when speculations are rife in political circles that the Government is planning to accommodate former Ministers Ravi Karunanayake and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, in the Cabinet.
Karunanayake quit in August 2017, owing to the findings of a presidential probe into the bond scams and Rajapakshe was removed, in August 2017 for violating collective Cabinet responsibility when he criticized the Hambantota Port deal with China.
These speculations came in the wake of UNP Working Committee re-appointing Karunanayake as Party’s Assistant Leader. Meanwhile, many have raised concerns about several stalwarts like Ministers Daya Gamage and Mangala Samaraweera being ignored when reforming the UNP.
However, it is expected that neither Karunanayake nor Rajapakshe would receive the portfolios they had previously held.
Before the six SLFP Ministers quit the Cabinet early this month in the wake of abortive bid to oust PM Wickremesinghe through a No-Confidence Motion, the Cabinet comprised 45 ministers, including the PM. As the leading partner, the UNP had 31 ministers.
The 16 former SLFP Ministers, Deputy Ministers, State Ministers and former Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala have told the SLFP that they wouldn’t accept Cabinet portfolios.
Several weeks ago, President Sirisena brought the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) which was under PM Wickremesinghe, under the purview of the Finance Ministry through a Gazette Extraordinary.
The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), which was also under the PM, too, has been brought under the Finance Ministry by the President through a Gazette Extraordinary.
Controversies over 20 – A
Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan at an event held in Colombo last Tuesday (24) has said that the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 is still alive and it is India’s duty to ensure that it is implemented in its fullest spirit.
“Our journey continues, we need the accord, we need to ensure that the spirit of the accord is implemented and India must do its duty to ensure the same. It is India’s duty and India cannot get away from that duty,” he said, speaking at the launch of Or Inapprachanaiyum Or Oppandhamum, a Tamil book authored by T. Ramakrishnan, an associate editor with The Hindu.
The Hindu had quoted Sampanthan as saying: “We are not saying India alone can solve this, our demand is for a political solution evolved in this country, with the consensus and support of all the people of this country.”
Referring to the Government’s efforts to draft a new Constitution, currently stalled due to on-going political crisis between coalition partners, Sampanthan has said that the position of the Tamil National Alliance is that the effort must continue and be completed.
“We need maximum devolution to exercise power without interference of the Centre… powers pertaining to people’s everyday lives,” he has said.
Tamils have no intention of dividing the country but wanted to live with respect and dignity in an undivided country where their rights are acknowledged, he added. He said if Sri Lanka’s leaders failed to negotiate with all the people to evolve an acceptable political solution “we will not hesitate to do what we must to get a just solution“.
His remarks come at a time where there are criticisms against JVP’s move to bring the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the Executive Presidency citing such moves, without abolishing the 13th Amendment, will jeopardize the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the country.
JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who proposed to bring the 20th Amendment as a Private Member’s Motion said the President would be appointed by Parliament under the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution.
Dissanayake said as per the draft Bill, the President would continue to be the Head of State and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, but he would no longer be the Head of the Government and the Head of Cabinet of Ministers.
He however stressed that the proposed 20th Amendment would be implemented after the current term of office of President Sirisena expires. As per the draft Bill, the Head of Government and the Head of Cabinet of Ministers would be the Prime Minister. The President’s powers are to be distributed among the Cabinet, Prime Minister, Constitutional Council and Independent Commissions.
However, the President would continue to have the powers of appointing Governors of Provinces in the same manner as in the 13th Amendment.
“We need a two thirds majority to pass the 20th Amendment.
We will initiate a broad discussion on the draft Bill with all stakeholders, including the President, the PM, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his group and also other minor parties representing Parliament. Their proposals would also be accommodated in the final draft.
A healthy public dialogue would be initiated among civil organizations and intellectuals,” he added.
Opposing the move, SLFP senior, MInister Nimal Siripala de Silva said on Friday that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) cannot do whatever the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) wanted, especially with regard to abolishing the Executive Presidency.
“We haven’t seen the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to support it. We can’t just do whatever the JVP wants. The powers of the Executive Presidency are vested in many areas of the Constitution, and therefore you cannot simply abolish it. If they do abolish it, they’ll have to bring in at least another 2,000 provisions in its place.”
He added, the JVP has never won an election and do not have the development of the country at heart. “They just want to dismantle the order and create chaos in the country,” he added.
President Sirisena earlier, speaking at the cremation of the late Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera vowed that he would do everything in his capacity to abolish the Executive Presidency.
Interestingly it is not only main political parties or the so-called Sinhala nationalist parties or politicians that oppose the move.
Minister of National Co-existence, Dialogue and Official Languages and Tamil Progressive Front (TPF) Leader Mano Ganesan says that 19 Parliamentarians have already decided to oppose the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution, to be brought by the JVP, with the aim of abolishing the Executive Presidency.
He said that the TPF will do its utmost to defeat the proposed Amendment when it is tabled in the Parliament as a private member’s motion.
Ganesan added that several minority parties in the House had already reached a consensus to defeat the proposed Amendment by the JVP as it will spell doom to the country both politically and socially.
He added that the need of the hour was for the Executive Presidency to be retained with its harmful clauses being deleted instead of totally dispensing with it, whilst also claiming that the JVP was hoping to fulfil its vested interests via the said motion.
“That’s the only time Sri Lanka as one country would come forward to elect someone. The only time the country becomes a single electoral entity and it represents the mandate of the majority of people,” he noted.
THE ‘OTHER’ POLITICAL CRISIS
By Dharisha Bastians-29 April, 2018The political headwinds affecting the ruling coalition since its drubbing in the February 10 local government polls, has subsumed the quieter crisis unfolding within the fledgling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna; and what is the real threat behind the Rajapak
Reams have been written about the existential crises facing the
country’s two main parties, the United National Party and the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party, coincidentally, currently led by the two leaders at the
helm of a fractured coalition Government. But a lesser known crisis is
also unfolding within the fledgling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, a party
backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his siblings and sons.
The SLPP had unprecedented electoral success in the February 10 local
government election. Entering as a ‘third force’ it captured a majority
of local authorities contested at the polls, out-performing both main
parties in most parts of the island.
Since that election, the coalition that captured power in 2015 has been in disarray. Nearly three months later, it is still trying to find its footing, with another major cabinet reshuffle on the cards and whispers of a fresh working arrangement to be reached between President Maithripala Sirisena and his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
In the political headwinds that followed the local government poll in February, the quiet crisis unfolding within the SLPP has gone largely unnoticed but this week, Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa – still a member of the SLFP for all intents and purposes – took to the social media network Twitter to express his displeasure about the alliance between the SLPP and the SLFP to capture power in the Hambantota Municipal Council. The infamous pistol-toting former Mayor of Hambantota, Eraj Fernando, contesting on the UPFA ticket, is back in the mayoral seat. In 2014, Fernando exploded into the national political scene, when he charged at then opposition MPs Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickremaratne, Ajith Perera and Co who were on an inspection tour of the Hambantota Port and Mattala Airport, brandishing a pistol. The UNP won the Hambantota Municipal Council, but was helpless last week when the SLFP and SLPP closed ranks to defeat its candidate and instal Fernando as Mayor. Namal Rajapaksa’s criticism stemmed from the fact that he had previously made public pronouncements that the SLPP would never join forces with the SLFP in Hambantota to defeat the UNP, despite the slim majority the winning party held in the Council. Last Thursday, the @RajapaksaNamal twitter account announced that the former first son and young MP from Hambantota was “deeply concerned” about the decision made by what he called the “senior leadership” of the SLPP to ally with the SLFP in the Hambantota MC.
“I am against, & deeply concerned, regarding the decision taken by Senior Leadership of the SLPP in #Hambantota to support the @SLFreedomParty in appointing a mayor there. #SriLanka,” Namal Rajapaksa noted. It is not clear who the young MP implies when he refers to the “senior leadership” of the SLPP.
Family’s excesses
The SLPP, or Pohottuwa, as it is known, is a complex political entity. To begin with, the mascot and brand ambassador of the SLPP does not hold membership in the party. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who campaigned for the SLPP in the February election, like his son, remains a member of the SLFP led by President Sirisena. Namal Rajapaksa and several other backers of the SLPP are also mere ‘spirit’ members of the party. For all official purposes, they remain members of the UPFA rebel wing, styling themselves as the ‘Joint Opposition’ in Parliament.
Secondly, the SLPP is made up of political factions that in the face of defeat at the January 2015 Presidential election were certainly not getting along. Leaders of smaller parties in the UPFA laid blame squarely at the feet of former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa for the former President’s defeat for his steering of the re-election campaign and the allegations of corruption that dogged the administration largely as a result of the ruling family’s excesses. The shadow of this corruption has followed Basil Rajapaksa to date – he is facing separate indictments for misappropriation of public funds in the High Court of Colombo. NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa, was one of the former Minister’s staunchest critics. By all accounts, he remains so to this day.
G.L. Peiris is the Chairman of the SLPP, but it is Basil Rajapaksa, the SLPP front-liner who is considered the political mastermind behind the Pohottuwa campaigns and strategy. The SLPP’s success at the February election, is attributed mostly to Basil Rajapaksa’s political ground game and electorate-wise targeting strategies.
Weerawansa and other hardliners within the JO/SLPP combine, are more closely affiliated with ex-Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The former official who was widely considered the de facto leader of the Rajapaksa Government when it was in power, has been engaged in quiet political mobilization over the past year. Backed by Rajapaksa era officials including ex-SEC Chairman Nalaka Godahewa and former Media Secretary Dr Charitha Herath and ultra-nationalist ex-military officials Sarath Weerasekera and Kamal Guneratne, Gotabaya Rajapaksa embarked upon his Viyath Maga initiative last year. The raison d’etre of the movement, that seeks to “mobilize the nascent potential of the professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to effectively influence the moral and material development of Sri Lanka”, is by all appearances, a way to build a platform for a potential Gotabaya presidential candidacy in 2019. The certainty of his candidacy is some way off, but the former Defence Secretary already commands significant support within the JO, particularly, among its more strident nationalists.
This is the ‘Gotabaya Kalliya’ within the JO that JVP Lawmaker Bimal Ratnayake famously referred to in his speech during the No Confidence Motion in Parliament earlier this month. Ratnayake revealed what political circles were already buzzing about – that the No Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was masterminded by the ‘Gota faction’ of the SLPP/JO as a means to hasten the fall of the Unity Government in the wake of its fracturing after the local government polls. The sense of urgency for this faction is also motivated by signs that investigations into brutal crimes and financial misdeeds appear to be regaining steam and could result in a few indictments and arrests in the weeks and months ahead if inquiries continue at this pace.
Other factions of the Rajapaksa camp have different plans for capturing power.
The no-faith motion move lacked the support of Basil Rajapaksa, who believed it was a fool’s errand and unlikely to alter the balance of power in Parliament. In the end game, Basil Rajapaksa was proved half-right. The JO may reap the benefit of a bonus 16 seats in opposition, after SLFP Ministers who voted for its no faith motion decided to quit the Government and requested seats in the Opposition benches in Parliament. But it is not yet clear whether the JO will obtain the full-throated support of the SLFP 16, many of whom suffered grave indignities within the Government when the Rajapaksa administration was at the height of its power.
Authoritative sources within the Rajapaksa camp claim that even the former President had been lukewarm about the moves to defeat the Premier through the no faith motion. In fact, former President Rajapaksa recently acknowledged to a confidant, in a conversation since relayed extensively to the Sunday Observer, that he was not in favour of bringing the No Confidence Motion against Wickremesinghe, unless it contained the signatures of a significant number of SLFP Ministers. In that conversation, Rajapaksa acknowledged however that JO front-liners like Dulles Alahapperuma had forced his hand in spite of his warnings that the time was not right for the move.
In a way, the moves by the Gotabaya faction seem politically amateurish compared to the long-term goals for the Rajapaksa comeback project being carefully laid out by brother Basil.
On the face of it, the January 8 coalition – now fractured and badly betrayed by its political custodians – has a problem that looms large. As it looks towards the 2019 Presidential election, now less than 18 months away, it must search high and low for a candidate to stand for the issues the movement represents. A year is a long time in politics, but at the moment at least, this problem seems insurmountable.
Image-building exercises
The fact is however, that the Rajapaksa camp faces a similar existential question. Its candidate for the 2019 presidential poll is in no way decided. In fact, the political alliance between Basil Rajapaksa and former President Rajapaksa seems to be the stronger one at present. The nexus between the Gotabaya faction and Mahinda Rajapaksa appears weaker for the moment. The former Defence official’s recent image-building exercises have irked the former President. So far, Mahinda Rajapaksa does not see Gotabaya as heir to the Rajapaksa presidential brand.
The inner circle is careful however not to stand openly against Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential ambitions, mindful that if his candidacy takes shape by the second half of 2019, the former ruling family would be forced to back his campaign.
But the hunt for the Rajapaksa backed candidate is still on. In this the SLPP has a major problem. Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot run for presidential office again. He is prohibited by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which re-imposed presidential term limits repealed by the 18th Amendment. With his brand power, it would seem that any candidate the former President chooses to back will have a good shot at the Presidency. But in the hands of a non-family member, how will the Rajapaksas ensure their will is done?
Once candidates wrest control of presidential office, they often abandon the movements that swept them into power. There is no guarantee that the Rajapaksa-picked candidate to stand for Presidential election will do the bidding of the former ruling family once in office. This is a risk the family may be loath to take. Gotabaya poses the same risk – that he will be uncontrollable by the more moderate political forces within the Rajapaksa camp, if he wins presidential power.
The Basil Rajapaksa strategy therefore is a somewhat sophisticated one.
Basil’s game-plan
From the moment that the SLPP won the LG elections in February, the leaders of the party have had one consistent demand. The Rajapaksa camp wants a snap Parliamentary election. Never mind that under the 19A early elections cannot be called at whim any longer. Never mind that under the provisions of the 19A, a resolution backed by a two thirds majority of the House would be necessary to advance the date of a General Election. The SLPP wants a Parliamentary poll. And it wants it now.
This is part of the reason why Basil Rajapaksa refused to back the JO no-faith motion move last month. Toppling the government and realigning the balance in Parliament - this is not how the Rajapaksas want to be restored to power. The Basil Rajapaksa master plan is to force a Parliamentary election – to that end, perpetuating Government instability is useful, but only if it results in a public clamour for an election to end the political uncertainty.
While victory at a Presidential Election is far from certain for the SLPP, Basil Rajapaksa may feel more confident that the party can pull off a narrow victory at a parliamentary poll. That clout would have to be used to obtain a super majority in Parliament, made up of minor parties and UNP defections. In this hypothetical scenario, the SLPP could then use a two thirds power in the House, to repeal the 19th Amendment, including the provision imposing a two term limit on persons holding the office of President. Only this would pave the way for Mahinda Rajapaksa to stand for election in the next presidential poll that will be declared in due course.
For Basil’s plan to work, therefore, the parliamentary election must precede the presidential poll. The campaign and agitation for snap General Elections stem from that political reality.
The success of the Rajapaksa machine (and correspondingly, the abject failure of the current administration) is that it manages to cobble things together and carry forward its common agenda, despite the fissures and the fractures within.
Mahinda Rajapaksa himself is a master at this game – he spent the better part of his decade long presidency engaged in a delicate balancing act, pacifying disgruntled SLFP seniors, intimidating frustrated UNP defectors and pitting warring officials against each other. But for the decision of then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena and a few other Ministers to join the common opposition campaign in November 2014, he would have managed to hold things together until he won a third term in office, transformed Sri Lanka into a full-fledged autocracy and declared himself President for life.
In the unlikely event that Basil’s master-plan plays out, that may well be Sri Lanka’s dark and oppressive future. Unless the juggernaut is stopped in its tracks once more by an internal rebellion or the external mobilisation of anti-Rajapaksa forces.
Since that election, the coalition that captured power in 2015 has been in disarray. Nearly three months later, it is still trying to find its footing, with another major cabinet reshuffle on the cards and whispers of a fresh working arrangement to be reached between President Maithripala Sirisena and his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
In the political headwinds that followed the local government poll in February, the quiet crisis unfolding within the SLPP has gone largely unnoticed but this week, Hambantota District MP Namal Rajapaksa – still a member of the SLFP for all intents and purposes – took to the social media network Twitter to express his displeasure about the alliance between the SLPP and the SLFP to capture power in the Hambantota Municipal Council. The infamous pistol-toting former Mayor of Hambantota, Eraj Fernando, contesting on the UPFA ticket, is back in the mayoral seat. In 2014, Fernando exploded into the national political scene, when he charged at then opposition MPs Harsha De Silva, Eran Wickremaratne, Ajith Perera and Co who were on an inspection tour of the Hambantota Port and Mattala Airport, brandishing a pistol. The UNP won the Hambantota Municipal Council, but was helpless last week when the SLFP and SLPP closed ranks to defeat its candidate and instal Fernando as Mayor. Namal Rajapaksa’s criticism stemmed from the fact that he had previously made public pronouncements that the SLPP would never join forces with the SLFP in Hambantota to defeat the UNP, despite the slim majority the winning party held in the Council. Last Thursday, the @RajapaksaNamal twitter account announced that the former first son and young MP from Hambantota was “deeply concerned” about the decision made by what he called the “senior leadership” of the SLPP to ally with the SLFP in the Hambantota MC.
“I am against, & deeply concerned, regarding the decision taken by Senior Leadership of the SLPP in #Hambantota to support the @SLFreedomParty in appointing a mayor there. #SriLanka,” Namal Rajapaksa noted. It is not clear who the young MP implies when he refers to the “senior leadership” of the SLPP.
Family’s excesses
The SLPP, or Pohottuwa, as it is known, is a complex political entity. To begin with, the mascot and brand ambassador of the SLPP does not hold membership in the party. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who campaigned for the SLPP in the February election, like his son, remains a member of the SLFP led by President Sirisena. Namal Rajapaksa and several other backers of the SLPP are also mere ‘spirit’ members of the party. For all official purposes, they remain members of the UPFA rebel wing, styling themselves as the ‘Joint Opposition’ in Parliament.
Secondly, the SLPP is made up of political factions that in the face of defeat at the January 2015 Presidential election were certainly not getting along. Leaders of smaller parties in the UPFA laid blame squarely at the feet of former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa for the former President’s defeat for his steering of the re-election campaign and the allegations of corruption that dogged the administration largely as a result of the ruling family’s excesses. The shadow of this corruption has followed Basil Rajapaksa to date – he is facing separate indictments for misappropriation of public funds in the High Court of Colombo. NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa, was one of the former Minister’s staunchest critics. By all accounts, he remains so to this day.
G.L. Peiris is the Chairman of the SLPP, but it is Basil Rajapaksa, the SLPP front-liner who is considered the political mastermind behind the Pohottuwa campaigns and strategy. The SLPP’s success at the February election, is attributed mostly to Basil Rajapaksa’s political ground game and electorate-wise targeting strategies.
Weerawansa and other hardliners within the JO/SLPP combine, are more closely affiliated with ex-Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The former official who was widely considered the de facto leader of the Rajapaksa Government when it was in power, has been engaged in quiet political mobilization over the past year. Backed by Rajapaksa era officials including ex-SEC Chairman Nalaka Godahewa and former Media Secretary Dr Charitha Herath and ultra-nationalist ex-military officials Sarath Weerasekera and Kamal Guneratne, Gotabaya Rajapaksa embarked upon his Viyath Maga initiative last year. The raison d’etre of the movement, that seeks to “mobilize the nascent potential of the professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to effectively influence the moral and material development of Sri Lanka”, is by all appearances, a way to build a platform for a potential Gotabaya presidential candidacy in 2019. The certainty of his candidacy is some way off, but the former Defence Secretary already commands significant support within the JO, particularly, among its more strident nationalists.
This is the ‘Gotabaya Kalliya’ within the JO that JVP Lawmaker Bimal Ratnayake famously referred to in his speech during the No Confidence Motion in Parliament earlier this month. Ratnayake revealed what political circles were already buzzing about – that the No Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was masterminded by the ‘Gota faction’ of the SLPP/JO as a means to hasten the fall of the Unity Government in the wake of its fracturing after the local government polls. The sense of urgency for this faction is also motivated by signs that investigations into brutal crimes and financial misdeeds appear to be regaining steam and could result in a few indictments and arrests in the weeks and months ahead if inquiries continue at this pace.
Other factions of the Rajapaksa camp have different plans for capturing power.
The no-faith motion move lacked the support of Basil Rajapaksa, who believed it was a fool’s errand and unlikely to alter the balance of power in Parliament. In the end game, Basil Rajapaksa was proved half-right. The JO may reap the benefit of a bonus 16 seats in opposition, after SLFP Ministers who voted for its no faith motion decided to quit the Government and requested seats in the Opposition benches in Parliament. But it is not yet clear whether the JO will obtain the full-throated support of the SLFP 16, many of whom suffered grave indignities within the Government when the Rajapaksa administration was at the height of its power.
Authoritative sources within the Rajapaksa camp claim that even the former President had been lukewarm about the moves to defeat the Premier through the no faith motion. In fact, former President Rajapaksa recently acknowledged to a confidant, in a conversation since relayed extensively to the Sunday Observer, that he was not in favour of bringing the No Confidence Motion against Wickremesinghe, unless it contained the signatures of a significant number of SLFP Ministers. In that conversation, Rajapaksa acknowledged however that JO front-liners like Dulles Alahapperuma had forced his hand in spite of his warnings that the time was not right for the move.
In a way, the moves by the Gotabaya faction seem politically amateurish compared to the long-term goals for the Rajapaksa comeback project being carefully laid out by brother Basil.
On the face of it, the January 8 coalition – now fractured and badly betrayed by its political custodians – has a problem that looms large. As it looks towards the 2019 Presidential election, now less than 18 months away, it must search high and low for a candidate to stand for the issues the movement represents. A year is a long time in politics, but at the moment at least, this problem seems insurmountable.
Image-building exercises
The fact is however, that the Rajapaksa camp faces a similar existential question. Its candidate for the 2019 presidential poll is in no way decided. In fact, the political alliance between Basil Rajapaksa and former President Rajapaksa seems to be the stronger one at present. The nexus between the Gotabaya faction and Mahinda Rajapaksa appears weaker for the moment. The former Defence official’s recent image-building exercises have irked the former President. So far, Mahinda Rajapaksa does not see Gotabaya as heir to the Rajapaksa presidential brand.
The inner circle is careful however not to stand openly against Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential ambitions, mindful that if his candidacy takes shape by the second half of 2019, the former ruling family would be forced to back his campaign.
But the hunt for the Rajapaksa backed candidate is still on. In this the SLPP has a major problem. Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot run for presidential office again. He is prohibited by the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which re-imposed presidential term limits repealed by the 18th Amendment. With his brand power, it would seem that any candidate the former President chooses to back will have a good shot at the Presidency. But in the hands of a non-family member, how will the Rajapaksas ensure their will is done?
Once candidates wrest control of presidential office, they often abandon the movements that swept them into power. There is no guarantee that the Rajapaksa-picked candidate to stand for Presidential election will do the bidding of the former ruling family once in office. This is a risk the family may be loath to take. Gotabaya poses the same risk – that he will be uncontrollable by the more moderate political forces within the Rajapaksa camp, if he wins presidential power.
The Basil Rajapaksa strategy therefore is a somewhat sophisticated one.
Basil’s game-plan
From the moment that the SLPP won the LG elections in February, the leaders of the party have had one consistent demand. The Rajapaksa camp wants a snap Parliamentary election. Never mind that under the 19A early elections cannot be called at whim any longer. Never mind that under the provisions of the 19A, a resolution backed by a two thirds majority of the House would be necessary to advance the date of a General Election. The SLPP wants a Parliamentary poll. And it wants it now.
This is part of the reason why Basil Rajapaksa refused to back the JO no-faith motion move last month. Toppling the government and realigning the balance in Parliament - this is not how the Rajapaksas want to be restored to power. The Basil Rajapaksa master plan is to force a Parliamentary election – to that end, perpetuating Government instability is useful, but only if it results in a public clamour for an election to end the political uncertainty.
While victory at a Presidential Election is far from certain for the SLPP, Basil Rajapaksa may feel more confident that the party can pull off a narrow victory at a parliamentary poll. That clout would have to be used to obtain a super majority in Parliament, made up of minor parties and UNP defections. In this hypothetical scenario, the SLPP could then use a two thirds power in the House, to repeal the 19th Amendment, including the provision imposing a two term limit on persons holding the office of President. Only this would pave the way for Mahinda Rajapaksa to stand for election in the next presidential poll that will be declared in due course.
For Basil’s plan to work, therefore, the parliamentary election must precede the presidential poll. The campaign and agitation for snap General Elections stem from that political reality.
The success of the Rajapaksa machine (and correspondingly, the abject failure of the current administration) is that it manages to cobble things together and carry forward its common agenda, despite the fissures and the fractures within.
Mahinda Rajapaksa himself is a master at this game – he spent the better part of his decade long presidency engaged in a delicate balancing act, pacifying disgruntled SLFP seniors, intimidating frustrated UNP defectors and pitting warring officials against each other. But for the decision of then Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena and a few other Ministers to join the common opposition campaign in November 2014, he would have managed to hold things together until he won a third term in office, transformed Sri Lanka into a full-fledged autocracy and declared himself President for life.
In the unlikely event that Basil’s master-plan plays out, that may well be Sri Lanka’s dark and oppressive future. Unless the juggernaut is stopped in its tracks once more by an internal rebellion or the external mobilisation of anti-Rajapaksa forces.
The Political Broth in Sri Lanka — A Witch’s Brew
Having done much to both publicly, and privately, undermine the UNP and its leader for many months previously, Sirisena cannot expect any further support from the UNP, except in matters related to the coalition’s governance of the country, if the coalition can last the regular term.
( April 29, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) That
is our parliamentary crucible; toads, newts, adders and scorpions being
stirred in a poisoned chalice and strained through a kurakkan satakaya.
The Diyawanna script is written in Medamulana and offered to the
nation, along with Atapirikara and jasmine flowers and couched in
sonorous, mock-pious statements, delivered from diverse friendly
Aramayas, with open approval from a compliant, complicit and adulatory
Sangha.
Whilst the most prominent casualty of the unsuccessful no-confidence
motion was President Sirisena, the outcome has enabled Ranil
Wickremesinghe to reunite, perhaps momentarily, a gradually
disintegrating UNP and, though he may not acknowledge it publicly, to
realistically re-evaluate his own leadership strategy and a possible
future direction for himself and the party. He is obtuse but not too
dense to learn something, to take away a minor positive, from the
near-catastrophe.
Sirisena has emasculated himself politically with his own hand. The
conduct of the SLFP parliamentarians in the no-confidence motion affair,
reinforced the painful lesson that the local elections should have
taught him – but from which he did not obviously learn – that he has
little support in the SLFP. The latter no longer exists as a political
party but has a flickering, unstable, half-life as a pathetic adjunct to
the SLPP which, itself, is not quite a political party but a genie
conjured by the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) magic.
Having done much to both publicly, and privately, undermine the UNP and
its leader for many months previously, Sirisena cannot expect any
further support from the UNP, except in matters related to the
coalition’s governance of the country, if the coalition can last the
regular term. And having no dependable political power or support base
personally, not even in Polonnaruwa, his home electorate which the SLFP
lost, he stands totally isolated.
In the No Confidence Motion, more crucial than the unseating of the
prime minister, were the other possible corollary outcomes; the
destabilization of the coalition, a possible dissolution of the cabinet
and or the parliament, a consequent general election and the resurgence
of the Rajapaksa political fortunes under the ” Pohottuwa” symbol, with
either Mahinda Rajapaksa, a sibling, or a lackey as the new prime
minister. In such a situation, one of the first tasks of that
administration would have been the de-construction of the many legal
processes now underway against prominent figures in the former Rajapaksa
regime.
The above scenario is still a genuine possibility. A general election,
hot on the heels of the “Pohottuwa” success at the local elections,
would most likely have seen the re-emergence of the Rajapakse cavalcade.
A revival of the Mahinda Rajapakse political fortunes was contingent
upon riding the wave he had set in motion, before it crashed. Voter
momentum and sentiment are strange, unsustainable and transitory
phenomena. A few more months down the line and the resurgence MR has
engineered will lose its energy, urgency and impetus. That apart, a
politician as street-smart as Mahinda Rajapaksa will understand that a
general election result, will not necessarily replicate the results of
provincial council or local body elections.
The next step would have been revitalizing “Project Gota”, already on
the launching pad. All technical impediments to his legitimacyfor the
presidential candidacy would have beenremoved. As things are, apart from
Mahinda Rajapaksa – who is barred from a third term – the SLFP-SLPP
union does not have a charismatic, nationally acceptable candidate. A
Gotabaya candidacy will be endorsed by the strong , Sinhala-Buddhist
bloc power base and embraced passionately by the totality of the
extremist Sangha – a considerable proportion of the Buddhist theocracy,
combining both the overt and the covert. This segment will also campaign
actively on Gotabaya’s behalf and appeal successfully to the existing
fissures in the Sinhala-Buddhist mindset, which perceives any minority
aspiration, however legitimate and democratic, as an immediate threat to
the majority. That will be the main plank of a Gotabaya bid for
presidency; the establishment and preservation of an exclusively
Sinhala-Buddhist nation state, theocratic and sanctimonious, in which
all minorities will be relegated to secondary status.He is assured of
both a resounding resonance and active assistance. Hitler had his ”
Brown Shirts”; Gotabaya has the equivalent in the saffron cohorts, its
lay fellow-travelers and the ” Rana Viru” myrmidons.
Such a bid is likely to be supported by part of the floating vote which
may decide that the possible loss of individual freedoms, the loss of
liberty to protest without running the risk of inviting a para-military
reprisal, the institutionalized marginalization of the minorities, the
selective exercise of the law, the imposition of government writ with
military force when necessary, are all small prices to pay for more
public parks, walking paths in the cities and the suburbs, the regular
collection and disposal of domestic and commercial garbage and the
timely delivery of other public services. Nor should we forget the
summary delivery of terminal punishment, quite often outside the due
processes of the law;willing servitude in exchange for a fascist but
efficient regime. We have seen it all before and we know what to expect.
In the immediate, post- NCM scenario, despite RW’s tactical victory, the
coalition regime has been rendered even more infirm than in the pre-NCM
period. The battle lines have been clearly drawn and friend and foe
identified, though some friends may have been purchased at exorbitant
cost. Basically, the UNP, faced by a common enemy, closed ranks whilst
the SLFP/JO, frantically pursuing an objective despite diminishing
support, broke ranks. The UNP consolidated whilst its opponents
unraveled.
The prorogation of the parliament, a strategic move by the president to
buy time, and to perhaps purchase some support, lends itself to some
interesting speculation. The Mahinda faction has declared that they will
support the JVP initiative for an immediate move to abolish the
Presidency, provided that is followed by a dissolution of parliament and
consequent general election. A smart move, though, given the reality of
numbers, a Mahinda led SLPP faction may not be able to form a stable
government without assistance from the minority parties or from the
SLFP/UPFA. If the latter segment decides to contest on its own, with
current members of parliament campaigning for themselves as much as for
the party that they represent, there will be a division of the anti-UNP
vote. In the intense public speculation over the unity, or lack of it,
within the UNP, the internecine battles within the opponents’ camp
escape comment.
It is most likely that Sirisena will do his best to stall any disruption
to the existing status-quo, until and unless he is able to reconnect
the disjointed SLFP. An un-engineered disintegration without a planned
outcome for himself will see Sirisena’s immediate political death.
The recent announcements regarding a 2020 Sirisena presidency candidacy
seem to be a case of Sirisena testing the waters before leaping in. In
the context of the current state of the relationship between Sirisena
and the UNP, such a bid would be without UNP support. In that scenario,
with the latter fielding their own candidate – possibly RW, in the
absence of any viable alternative – and the JO/SLPP fielding Gotabaya,
or a Rajapaksa sibling-clone-lackey, it would lead to a very interesting
three-cornered tussle.
What of the JVP ? if their bid to catalyze the abolishment of the
presidency is thwarted, do we presume that they would seek to prevent a
Rajapaksa nominee in the presidential chair? The JVP has a stable power
base which will remain static and unchanged, well in to the foreseeable
future, as long as they insist on marketing their brand of now archaic
Marxism. They seem unable to comprehend the enormity of the changes
wrought on the global communist bloc, commencing with Perestroika, and
that the world possibly lost its last, genuine, Communist when Fidel
Castro died.
A future presidential contest would be made all the more interesting, if
the JVP, discarding its stand on the abolition of the presidency,
decides to throw a contender in to the ring.The beneficiary is likely to
be the UNP candidate, through a bifurcation of a segment of the
potential SLFP/SLPP vote. Given the equally reasonable assumption that
the majority of the minority vote is most likely to go to an
anti-Rajapaksa candidate, the possible margin between the two major
contenders begin to narrow further.
In retrospect, it would seem that the opponents of the UNP did
themselves, and their future political prospects, serious harm, by their
abortive NCM. If the coalition had been permitted to stumble on
ineptly, it would have soon self-immolated through its own inefficiency
and the lack of administrative cohesion between the two partners. Add to
that the continuing economic woes of the country and the rubbing off of
the Mahinda Rajapaksa magnetism on a front of his own making, the
result may have been a win for the opposition in a close-run contest,
thereafter.
What the NCM has done is to add a new dynamic in to an existing problem.
If Sirisena is to contest in 2020, he has to occupy the presidential
seat till then. To do so he has to ensure that the coalition either
survives till the due date of expiry or, till he decides to dissolve
parliament as empowered.Discretion will be taken out of his hands if he
insists on marginalizing RW/UNP with the dubious assistance of a
tattered SLFP, or by conniving with the JO/SLPP. If he undermines his
partner to the extent that the coalition, and the government with it,
unravels prematurely, Sirisena will be at the mercy of the SLPP and the
Rajapaksas will ensure that there will be none, unless in the unlikely
event that he reaches a prior accommodation with the former first family
regarding his political future. His best option now seems to be to work
within the coalition and seek to achieve reasonable objectives within a
limited time-frame, restricted though its scope is through the
hardening and polarization of opposing forces.
As for RW, he is now compelled to pay serious attention to the simmering
discontent within the UNP, and irrespective of personal political
plans, officially announce the identity of the UNP second line, unless
he is prepared to see his party die with him. As for his backers, having
supported him through the NCM, they have no option but to stay with him
right up to the next confrontation. The resurrection of the UNP and
RW’s political future, justifiably, have become matters of national
preoccupation. Despite their internal opposition to his allegedly
undemocratic management of his own party, the UNP parliamentarians’
respective political futures and of democracy as we have come to know it
– infirm though it may be-are inextricably linked to RW’s onward
journey and the his final destination.
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New look coalition after President’s policy speech on May 8