Iranaitivu villagers sail back to their occupied land in daring protest

25Apr 2018

Villagers from Iranaitivu staged a massive protest this week, sailing to their island which is occupied by the Sri Lankan military and marching to their homes, refusing to leave until they are guaranteed their land will be returned to them.

In a striking and daring demonstration on Monday some 300 Tamils sailed to the island, which has been occupied by the Sri Lankan navy for years. Villagers marched from their protest site on the Kilinochchi district mainland to the coastline where their fishing boats had docked.

The villagers have held a continuous protest at a church on the mainland for 359 days, demanding a return to their land.

However, there has been little response from the navy and no signs that that their land would be returned to them.

This week, frustrated villagers had grown tired of waiting.

They attached white flags to the front of the dozens of fishing boats that were lined up and made their way towards the island. Wary of a heavy handed military response, the white flags signalled the peacefulness of their demonstration.

As they sailed towards the Iranaitivu coast, a navy patrol boat that was at the dock moved away.

Exuberant, the villagers landed their boats and made their way to the Irainaimatha Church – Mary’s Church – situated by the coast.

A brave return

Many of the Tamils had been displaced multiple times during the armed conflict beginning in 1992, when some 200 families had moved off the island. Despite this they continued to move between the island and the mainland, with the island being their primary source of livelihood throughout the armed conflict.

Some of the families that returned on Monday had been trapped in the final conflict zone on the east coast in May 2009, where tens of thousands of Tamil civilians had been massacred. After being held in displacement camps, they finally began to make their way back to their hometowns. When they returned, they found the navy was refusing them all access to the island, leaving as many as 417 families displaced.

They have only been allowed to come to the island once a year since then, strictly to visit the church for Good Friday. On some occasions they were granted permission by the military to spend the night in their hometown, but on others occasions they were not even allowed that.

On Monday, prayers were held at the church once again. Though damaged and dilapidated it was still standing, unlike many of the other buildings across the island. “Hearing the church bells toll today with all of us here like this, I finally feel at peace,” said one elderly villager.

Outside navy officers gathered shortly afterwards, to try and negotiate with the villagers. Local leaders and lawyers told the Sri Lankan military that all the villagers wanted was to return to land that was rightfully theirs.

Finally, the navy agreed that they would speak to their commander and the government about what could be done, allowing only those with land deeds to stay.

‘From our island we did it all’

The villagers meanwhile marched back to their homes, some after 25 years. Many were excited to finally see and explore their home island, after years of being refused access to it due to navy occupation.

Having been displaced for years, many are struggling with poverty. Returning to the island reminded many of the abundance that it holds. Villagers broke fresh coconuts and gathered aloe vera. Women meanwhile walked along the coast, returning to catch prawns, crabs, mussels and sea cucmbers. For the over 60 women headed households from Iranaitivu, the island provided much of their livelihood.

As boats landed on the shore, one man reached into the water and pulled out a sea cucumber prompting one of the woman protestors to shout, “see the abundance of our island! We are home.” Sea cucumbers sell for Rs. 1,000 each – a lucrative catch and in abundance in the shallow waters around the island.

“We women used to be able to do work and not have to rely on the men,” said one protestor. “From our island we did it all... We don’t want to be dependent.”

But forced away from the island, leaving behind their homes, cattle and livelihoods, many are struggling and the future remains uncertain.

An uncertain future

Some 100 Tamils spent the night at their homes on the island and are still waiting to hear from the Sri Lankan navy and the government on whether a decision has been made to release their land.

Almost a year on from their continuous protest, the villagers are desperate to return.

Their struggle has been raised by many, including the European Union’s Political, Trade and Communications Section head in Sri Lanka, Paul Godfrey and the Chief Minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran.

Despite the high profile calls for action, little has been done to release the island. The Sri Lankan military continues to hold on to vast swathes of land across the North-East. The government claims much of the land the military holds is being released, yet thousands of acres remain under occupation. Just last week, two days after releasing around 683 acres from the 28-year occupation of land in Jaffna, Sri Lankan soldiers blocked off access and reoccupied several areas, after the commander of Sri Lanka’s army warned that the military would be able to take back what it 'granted' to the Tamil people.

The US State Department highlighted the issue in its annual human rights report released this month, stating that “With the amount of remaining land in dispute, many of those affected by the High Security Zones complained that the pace at which the government demilitarized land was too slow and that the military held lands it viewed as economically valuable”.

Though it remains to be seen how the government and military will act, for the people of Iranaitivu this week’s protest marks a small but significant victory.

"It was incredible to see Tamil women leading this resistance and reminding us of the strength and power of the Tamil community,” said Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, the Research Director of the Jaffna-based Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research who accompanied the protestors on Monday.

“Their refusal to lie down and have their rights impinged by militarization should be an inspiration for all of us going forward."

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

RSF Index 2018: Hatred of journalism threatens democracies

The 2018 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reflects growing animosity towards journalists. Hostility towards the media, openly encouraged by political leaders, and the efforts of authoritarian regimes to export their vision of journalism pose a threat to democracies.

The climate of hatred is steadily more visible in the Index, which evaluates the level of press freedom in 180 countries each year. Hostility towards the media from political leaders is no longer limited to authoritarian countries such as Turkey (down two at 157th) and Egypt (161st), where “media-phobia” is now so pronounced that journalists are routinely accused of terrorism and all those who don’t offer loyalty are arbitrarily imprisoned.

More and more democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy’s essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion. The United States, the country of the First Amendment, has fallen again in the Index under Donald Trump, this time two places to 45th. A media-bashing enthusiast, Trump has referred to reporters “enemies of the people,” the term once used by Joseph Stalin.

The line separating verbal violence from physical violence is dissolving. In the Philippines (down six at 133rd), President Rodrigo Duterte not only constantly insults reporters but has also warned them that they “are not exempted from assassination.” In India (down two at 138th), hate speech targeting journalists is shared and amplified on social networks, often by troll armies in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pay. In each of these countries, at least four journalists were gunned down in cold blood in the space of a year.

Verbal violence from politicians against the media is also on the rise in Europe, although it is the region that respects press freedom most. In the Czech Republic (down 11 at 34th), President Milos Zeman turned up at a press conference with a fake Kalashnikov inscribed with the words “for journalists.” In Slovakia, (down 10 at 27th), then Prime Minister Robert Fico called journalists “filthy anti-Slovak prostitutes” and “idiotic hyenas.” A Slovak reporter, Ján Kuciak, was shot dead in his home in February 2018, just four months after another European journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was killed by a targeted car-bombing in Malta (down 18 at 65th).

“The unleashing of hatred towards journalists is one of the worst threats to democracies,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Political leaders who fuel loathing for reporters bear heavy responsibility because they undermine the concept of public debate based on facts instead of propaganda. To dispute the legitimacy of journalism today is to play with extremely dangerous political fire.”

Norway and North Korea, first and last again in 2018

In this year’s Index, Norway is first for the second year running, followed – as it was last year – by Sweden (2nd). Although traditionally respectful of press freedom, the Nordic countries have also been affected by the overall decline. Undermined by a case threatening the confidentiality of a journalist’s sources, Finland (down one at 4th) has fallen for the second year running, surrendering its third place to the Netherlands. At the other end of the Index, North Korea (180th) is still last.

The Index also reflects the growing influence of “strongmen” and rival models. After stifling independent voices at home, Vladimir Putin’s Russia (148th) is extending its propaganda network by means of media outlets such as RT and Sputnik, while Xi Jinping’s China (176th) is exporting its tightly controlled news and information model in Asia. Their relentless suppression of criticism and dissent provides support to other countries near the bottom of the Index such as Vietnam (175th), Turkmenistan (178th) and Azerbaijan (163rd).

When it’s not despots, it’s war that helps turn countries into news and information black holes – countries such as Iraq (down two at 160th), which this year joined those at the very bottom of the Index where the situation is classified as “very bad.” There have never been so many countries that are coloured black on the press freedom map.

Breakdown of countries by their situation

Regional indicators worsening

It’s in Europe, the region where press freedom is the safest, that the regional indicator has worsened most this year. Four of this year’s five biggest falls in the Index are those of European countries: Malta (down 18 at 65th), Czech Republic (down 11 at 34th), Serbia (down 10 at 76th) and Slovakia (down 10 at 27th). The European model’s slow erosion is continuing (see our regional analysis: Journalists are murdered in Europe as well).

REGIONAL INDICATORS

Ranked second (but more than 10 points worse than Europe), the Americas contain a wide range of situations (see our regional analyses US falls as Canada rises and Mixed performance in Latin America). Violence and impunity continue to feed fear and self-censorship in Central America. Mexico (147th) became the world’s second deadliest country for journalists in 2017, with 11 killed. Thanks to President’s Maduro’s increasingly authoritarian excesses, Venezuela (143rd) dropped six places, the region’s biggest fall. On the other hand, Ecuador (92nd) jumped 13 places, the hemisphere’s greatest rise, because tension between the authorities and privately-owned media abated. In North America, Donald Trump’s USA slipped another two places while Justin Trudeau’s Canada rose four and entered the top 20 at 18th place, a level where the situation is classified as “fairly good.”

Africa came next, with a score that is slightly better than in 2017 but also contained a wide range of internal variation (see our regional analysis The dangers of reporting in Africa). Frequent Internet cuts, especially in Cameroon (129th) and Democratic Republic of Congo (154th), combined with frequent attacks and arrests are the region’s latest forms of censorship. Mauritania (72nd) suffered the region’s biggest fall (17 places) after adopting a law under which blasphemy and apostasy are punishable by death even if the accused repents. But a more promising era for journalists may result from the departure of three of Africa’s most predatory presidents, in Zimbabwe (up two as 126th), Angola (up four at 121st) and Gambia, whose 21-place jump to 122nd was Africa’s biggest.

In the Asia-Pacific region, still ranked fourth in the Index, South Korea jumped 20 places to 43rd, the Index’s second biggest rise, after Moon Jae-In’s election as president turned the page on a bad decade for press freedom. North Asia’s democracies are struggling to defend their models against an all-powerful China that shamelessly exports its methods for silencing all criticism. Cambodia (142nd) seems dangerously inclined to take the same path as China after closing dozens of independent media outlets and plunging ten places, one of the biggest falls in the region (see our regional analysis Asia-Pacific democracies threatened by China’s media control model).

The former Soviet countries and Turkey continue to lead the worldwide decline in press freedom (see our regional analysis Historic decline in press freedom in ex-Soviet states, Turkey).Almost two-thirds of the region’s countries are ranked somewhere near or below the 150th position in the Index and most are continuing to fall. They include Kyrgyzstan (98th), which registered one of the Index’s biggest falls (nine places) after a year with a great deal of harassment of the media including astronomic fines for “insulting the head of state.” In light of such a wretched performance, it is no surprise that the region’s overall indicator is close to reaching that of Middle East/North Africa.

According to the indicators used to measure the year-by-year changes, it is the Middle East/North Africa region that has registered the biggest decline in Media freedom (see our regional analyses Middle East riven by conflicts, political clashes and Journalism sorely tested in North Africa). The continuing wars in Syria (117th) and Yemen (down one at 167th) and the terrorism charges still being used in Egypt (161st), Saudi Arabia (down one at 169th) and Bahrain (down two at 166th) continue to make this the most difficult and dangerous region for journalists to operate.

Published annually by RSF since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries, including the level of pluralism, media independence, the environment and self-censorship, the legal framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information. It does not evaluate government policy.

The global indicator and the regional indicators are calculated on the basis of the scores assigned to each country. These country scores are calculated from answers to a questionnaire in 20 languages that is completed by experts around the world, supported by a qualitative analysis. The scores and indicators measure constraints and violations, so the higher the figure, the worse the situation.
Because of growing awareness of the Index, it is an extremely useful advocacy tool.

Lankan Tamil leader spells out what Tamils need to do to secure their rights

By Editor on April 24, 2018

Colombo, April 25 (newsin.asia): The leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R.Sampanthan, told Tamils on Tuesday what they should do secure their rights within a united Sri Lanka.

Launching a Tamil language book “Or Inapprachanaiyum Ou Oppandhamum” (An Ethnic Question and An Accord) on the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 written by T.Ramakrishnan Associate Editor of The Hindu, Sampanthan appealed to the Tamils to eschew skepticism and see past and current efforts to find a political solution in a positive light and as being part of a continuum.

He urged the Tamils to work cohesively for the attainment of the goal of securing maximum devolution of power and to repose faith in the helping hand extended by India and the international community.

Sampanthan appealed to the audience at the Tamil Sangam to realize that the present juncture is ideal for securing the Tamils’ rights, given the hold that the Tamils have on the government and the sympathy and support their struggle is getting from the international community.

Three Requirements

The Tamils, Sampanthan said, need to do three things: First, they should shed petty differences and rivalries and present a united front to the government, the opposition and the international community.

He stress on unity stemmed from a disconcerting fact – chronic divisiveness in Tamil politics. Any move made by a group towards finding a political solution in cooperation with the Sri Lankan government is viewed by its rivals as a treacherous act to be discarded lock, stock and barrel.

The second requirement for a successful struggle is a positive approach to the efforts made in the past and are being made now towards finding a solution to the Tamil question through constitutional means.

All efforts, from the India-Sri Lanka Accord to the Tissa Vitarana committee report submitted to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, have been milestones in the onward march of the constitutional struggle, Sampanthan said.

The third requirement is to repose continued faith in India. Sampanthan stressed the need for having India on board as it is not possible for the Tamils to do without India. The cooperation of the international community is also needed. It makes sense for the Tamils to utilize the services of India and the international community.

Sampanthan’s strong advocacy of an Indian role in the Tamils’ struggle came in the context of a feeling among the Tamils that India had led them up the garden path promising an independent Eelam or a federal solution and let them down once its geo-political objectives visa-a-vis Sri Lanka had been attained.

A.Varadarajaperumal

India had been sincere throughout, from the time it got involved in the 1980s under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the present day. The TNA’s leadership is continuously lambasted from political platforms and in the media for its “misplaced” faith in India, or worse, for being India’s hand maiden.

Having interacted with both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Sampanthan emphatically denied that they were insincere, and that their sole aim was to prevent Sri Lanka from joining the American bloc.

Sampanthan said that both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had told the Tamil United Front (TULF) leaders that they were keen on finding a solution to the Tamil question. After Rajiv assumed power, he explicitly told a TULF delegation, that he would “follow the policies of his mother, and that he would “never let the Tamils down.”

Sampanthan ended his oration by pledging that the TNA would not rest until it had obtained the Tamils’ rights within a united Sri Lanka. The principal goal as spelt out by him is: “Internal self-determination” which means maximum devolution within a single united Sri Lanka.

The Tamil leader believed that this can be attained if the Tamils persist with the current constitution-making efforts, speak with one voice and take the help of India and the international community.

Speaking earlier, A. Varadarajaperumal, who was Chief Minister of the united Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province from December 1988 to March 1990, said that India has virtually abandoned the Tamil cause because it is now interested in economic expansion and not political hegemony.

India is at an “economic war” against China in South Asia, Varadarajaperumal said. That being the case, India would rather cultivate the majority community, the Sinhalese, than the minority Tamils. At any rate, the Tamils have nothing economic to offer.

It would therefore not be very prudent to expect India to intercede on behalf of the Tamils on political questions such as devolution of power, Varadarajaperumal said.

A Superiority Complex: Why the Government Needs to Communicate with the People

Featured image courtesy PMDNews

THAMINDRI ALUVIHARE-04/25/2018

The government has a superiority complex. Let me elaborate.

Within the last few weeks, the Government of Sri Lanka has managed to host tourism and promotional events and business interactions in Japan, Australia and South Africa, completed sessions at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), amended legislation that lift restrictions on Maternity leave, and renewed the United States Generalised System of Preference (GSP) trade concession. All in all, the Government of Sri Lanka has had victories – some significant, some not so significant – but all victories nonetheless.

The fault lies in the communication of these victories, and specifically, in the lack of communication vis-a-vis these victories. With the exception of the news on the renewal of the GSP concession that was brought to my attention by the Joint Opposition, the other headlines quoted above were not communicated – but discovered by myself on a quest for good news on a sombre Monday morning.
Governments have a role that is beyond administering a State for a stipulated number of years. Historically, governments have a responsibility in norm-setting and steering the social trajectory, by factoring in and adapting to the status quo. As Machiavellian as it sounds, we cannot deny the role Governments play in normalising stratagem. Surely a few Egyptians must have been irked when the Pharaoh’s Scribes’ knocked on their doors to collect a tax on cooking oil, but a few centuries later, regardless of how displeased we are with the specifics, all of us have come to terms with tax being an inevitable component of governance – and by extension, our lives.

The current government has a responsibility to recognise the changes in social dynamics, incorporate them in their system of governance and evolve alongside them if they intend to retain power, both in terms of the current good governance regime and in the long run as a functional institution. Getting citizens on board with their plan is a pivotal part of this journey – and not just leading up to the election.

To put it in colloquial terms, the current government needs to move with the times and speak the people’s lingo if they intend to stay in power in the short run, and contribute to the legitimacy of these political institutions in the long-run – as they are supposed to. That is, the government needs to shed the superiority complex of “people don’t understand governance”.

On social media, we can all contextualise our sub-par knowledge and come off as intellectual prodigies. The estimated 23% of the youth population coupled with a 92% literacy rate has many Sri Lankans comfortably thinking we know it all. Regardless of whether this holds true in reality, it is the government’s responsibility to recognise how we function and supply information to address our demand for the same, and to do away with the condescending rhetoric that the average citizen is incapable of grasping the nuances of tax policy. To put it simply, it is not your job to deem what we can or cannot grasp – it is your job to make sure we grasp what we should. As mentioned before, the government has a responsibility to set the tone, set the norm – and achieving that is only possible if these are communicated to average people. If the average Sri Lankan is incapable of understanding the complex nuances of tax policy, it’s best to figure out a way to convey the same through befitting means. In fact, it is partly the government’s responsibility to ensure that the average person understands the system of administration under which he/she functions.

The vacuum of information is dangerous because therein breeds fake-news. The current government’s inability to communicate with the average Sri Lankan has been brilliantly exploited by opposing views. I say brilliantly because the Opposition’s impeccable response rate, and the ruling coalition’s inexcusable oblivion has created an abundance of misinformation with unparalleled efficiency – possibly the biggest clog in the system that is the Government of Sri Lanka. For example, while the government issued one statement on the US GSP concession in an obscure corner of the internet that no one really picked up on, an MP sitting on the Opposition side of Parliament took it upon himself to bring a questionable rebuttal on the issue. As per usual, this resulted in another news-cycle where the opposition rebuttal – despite the content – took the spotlight away from the news itself.

Within the last few weeks, the victories that this Government has managed to achieve, has not been communicated adequately, in line with the larger vision for the country. The tragedy of this situation lies in the copious means at the Government’s disposal to communicate with their citizens. A Twitter account for each Ministry, a Facebook page for every Department, and yet days passed as we tried to figure out exactly what percentage of our fixed deposits and salaries were to be taxed.

The current Government needs to do away with the archaic notion of governance being too complex for average citizens. Part of your job is to un-complicate it, make yourself understood to the average people – the ones that put you there. Assumed intellectual superiority is not an excuse to sideline average citizens from the conversation – especially not in 2018, where instantaneous information has created an insatiable need for the same. If the current Government doesn’t figure out a method of doing so, it will only serve to hammer the nails in its own coffin.

A diversification in Tamil politics evidenced through the recent polls

By Harim Peiris-April 25, 2018, 10:15 pm

Tamil politics in Sri Lanka has been changing during the past decade. The epic change, of course, occurring nearly nine years ago, when the near 30 years, long armed conflict ended with the complete military defeat of the LTTE and the pre-militant era traditional Tamil political elite, through the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchi-led TNA, adroitly moved into the political space vacated by the demise of the LTTE and dominated Tamil politics for the post war decade from 2009 to 2018. The dominance of Tamil politics by the TNA, led by the veteran Rajavarothian Sambanthan, currently the leader of the opposition and a political gentleman of the old school, would have been the envy of most democratic political leaders, so complete was the TNA’s democratic grip on the Tamil electorate. The TNA polled well above 75 percent among their constituencies in the North and East. That political monopoly has clearly ended as demonstrated by February’s local government elections, when the TNA’s voter base declined from the over five hundred thousand it polled at the August 2015 elections to little over three hundred thousand, this time around. An analysis of where the other two hundred thousand Tamil voters, cast their votes provide an interesting insight into the changes in Tamil politics and Tamil public opinion.

Firstly, the TNA and its dominant party, the ITAK, remains the preeminent Tamil political party in Sri Lanka, with an equal presence in both the Northern and Eastern provinces, being equally at home in both provinces, a feat which no other Tamil political party comes even near matching. However, it does now have new kids on the block it needs to deal with, within the Tamil polity itself and the importance of this dynamic for Sri Lanka’s post war reconciliation process, means this is an issue of national interest.

The most visible challenge to the TNA, comes from the traditional rival or the old nemesis of the ITAK, namely the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), long dominated by the Ponnambalam family and currently led by the scion of that family, the now no longer young Gajen Ponnambalam. The ACTC has consistently been criticizing the policy of constructive engagement of the Southern polity, that the TNA has been pursuing since the end of the war. It is in the North what the Wimal Weerawansa led NFF is in the South, with extreme views, intolerance of diversity and vitriolic speeches with barely concealed racism. At the recent elections, they were effective articulators of grievances, though offering no solutions. They successfully peddled despair and hopelessness among the Tamil community to take away about one third of the votes the TNA lost in the North. Their attraction though was to the remnants of Jaffna’s middle class, the Vellalar belt as one commentator called it, a middle class, who flirted with the dogmas of a dangerous and violent past. They made no impression in the East and most interestingly their message of an extremist, exclusive Tamil nationalism had no attraction in the former Tiger country of Killinochchi and Mullativu either, where they made little electoral impact.

For the TNA, the temptation to go behind the ACTC’s votes by shifting its own politics to a more hardline approach would be natural but it is noteworthy that the TNA only a third of its loss was to the ACTC. The real story lies, in how the other nearly one hundred and fifty thousand Tamils who voted ITAK in August 2015, voted in February 2018. The other big winner especially in the North was the EPDP of Douglas Devananda, that great survivor in Tamil politics, who also polled almost as many votes as the ACTC did. Further the second largest vote getter in Killinochchi, the Independent Group led by Chandra Kumar, is in fact an EPDP last minute breakaway, led by Mr. Chandra Kumar, the EPDP’s man in Killinochchi breaking ranks with Douglas to field his own independent list. It is noteworthy that in the former LTTE heartland of Killinochchi, the man the LTTE relentlessly tried to kill and called a traitor, now polls so well. Similarly, in the Eastern Province, in Batticalo, the TNA was closely challenged by the TMVP of former Chief Minister and Karuna Wing Intelligence head Pillayan. The other noteworthy aspect of the Northern poll, was that some Tamils in the Vanni, especially in Mannar but also in Vavuniya, were voting for Minister Rishard Bathurdeen’s party, an interesting shift of Tamils voting for Muslims, anathema for the extreme Tamil nationalists. Conversely some Muslim votes in Jaffna came to the TNA. So interestingly the TNA finds that of the Tamil votes it lost to other parties only one third was lost to the more Tamil nationalist ACTC and the majority of the votes it lost, even fact a convincing two thirds of the votes lost, were in fact, lost to the EPDP, the TMVP, the EPDP breakaway Independent group and the Muslim People’s Congress.

There is only one common feature about the various regional Tamil parties, the Muslim party and the independent groups that siphoned off support from the TNA, they had all worked hard on the ground post war to deliver real life solutions, such as jobs, housing, various community infrastructure to their war affected constituents. The TNA while having the Parliamentary group correctly focused on the politics and reform process based in Colombo and totally failed to deliver solutions to people through the Northern Provincial Council. Arguably this was not the fault of the TNA leadership, the idiosyncrasies of Chief Minister Wigneswaren was not really their fault, the maverick judge being a poor administrator and an even worse war recovery visionary. That the Northern Provincial Council has pretty much expended its entire first term of office, doing nothing other than passing empty motions that resonated nowhere except among ACTC supporters and the LTTE remnants in the Diaspora will go down in history as another missed opportunity of the Tamil political leadership. Perhaps it was a recognition that this situation cannot continue, which prompted TNA’s Sumanthiran to state that Chief Minister Wigneswaren, who initially said he will only serve for two years and then retire (have we heard similar sentiments elsewhere?) should not be the TNA nominee for Chief Minister at the next NPC elections due later this year.

The lesson then for the TNA is perhaps, having finally though with a vastly reduced majority won control of most of the local government bodies in the North and East, absolutely do need to deliver real solutions to people’s everyday needs and war recovery efforts. The newly elected TNA controlled TNA local government bodies cannot continue to be another white elephant like the Chief Minister Wigneswaren provincial administration. Otherwise the TNA will continue to bleed support, while those who are active in providing real life solutions to the community will prosper at the polls.

SRI LANKA: Crime - Something no one wants to touch

by Basil Fernando-April 24, 2018

_One of the things that the Sri Lankan State as well as the Civil Society itself has given up on- is the control of crime. Crime has spread into everything and continues to spread further and further. However, we see that the more crime spreads, the less amenable it is for us to look into the issues and correct them.

One of the greatest crimes spreading like a cancer in Sri Lankan society today is Extortion. Extortion has spread into everything, in practice crippling every sort of economic activity, especially at the grass roots level. Running a small shop or starting a small business will be confronted with demands from extortionists. The small profits that could be made out of these businesses are not enough to meet the demands. Even a big business like the transporting of people is rife with demands from all sides. They threaten dire consequences if their requests are denied. These demands come from highly organized groups with no way of escaping their tentacles. As extortion became widespread, every group that exercised any power, became deeply involved. They focused on getting hold of their own personal share of money from such businesses. Local Police Officers, local Politicians and Bureaucrats, ALL got their share. With that kind of ambience, pro-active, preventative efforts against such crimes became less frequent.

Of course, EXTORTION is not the only crime taking place in Sri Lanka. The drug business has also spread seriously among the population. Even the people who exercise moral authority in society no longer take much interest in fighting these evils. The nature of these crimes is usually seen in a country where there is massive unemployment and poverty. It is easy to find people to become agents of such crimes. Once a section of the poor gets a taste for this crime, as a way of sometimes making money, bad things ensue. The whole situation gets so embedded in Society that it is almost impossible to find ways to fight against it. When the poor are devoid of opportunities to make a living, it does not take long for some to decide that taking risks with crime is perhaps the most convenient way open to them. Changes come in the social consciousness of the poorest sections of society. And when that happens, there are few means to deal with such a situation. As people experience being in and out of the Courts or in prison themselves, the type of change that take place within them is beyond anyone’s expression and imagination. This is HOW crime has found its way into Sri Lankan Society.

When a problem becomes too complex, attitudes tend to adjust. Officers who are supposed to deal with difficulties go through various changes in their own approaches. They take the view that if something cannot be resolved easily, just allow it to drag on. In that way, they can avoid more confrontational approaches being taken against the evildoers. They can avoid the consequences of such confrontations. They can also try to escape the blame that comes from society by attributing the delays to external factors beyond their control. The more problems like this drag on, a climate is created which encourages criminals. They know that they do not have many formidable obstacles to face when engaging in crime. Thus, we see in the Courts, in the Prosecutor’s Office as well as in the Police Stations, the development of numerous solutions to let things go dragging on as usual.

In such circumstances, other crimes, which involve greater degrees of direct violence, take place with impunity. Murder, rape, sexual abuse, theft, robbery - all these things are increased manifold. General changes in the social atmosphere where resistance to crime is virtually non-existent, are utilized.

The consequences of the above examples are most dangerous. Cynical attitudes relating to crime develop. This particularly affects crimes relating to sexual abuse. Instead of being scandalized by such acts of violence, Society takes a rather cynical approach. It even begins to place blame on victims of crime. To some, especially the young, crime begins to appear as an adventure while social condemnation of crime becomes less and less.

Exporting bras with imported fibre!

Thursday, 26 April 2018

In a recent World Bank publication, ‘South Asia’s Turn,’ two Sri Lankan organisations – MAS from apparel and Dilmah from agribusiness – receive recognition as global champions.

While Dilmah is in control of its value chain and that was its differentiation to start with, going ahead very much against conventional wisdom, MAS participates in regional as well as global value chains. Both these organisations are strong champions of innovation.

MAS can boast of being Victoria’s little known secret among other things and Dilmah occupies the sixth position in the global scale of tea production and can boast of a unique globally visible Sri Lankan brand (the only as it stands today).

However, there is a point of analysis from the authors of the publication pertaining to these two sectors and not so specifically on the two individual organisations – “In tea with a built-in brand name, Sri Lanka exporters secure prices only just below the median. As per Sri Lankan apparel (for e.g. bras) had been at higher end of the price spectrum at the turn of the century, but now fetches prices in the lower fifth of the distribution.”

Stitching, cutting and sewing imported fibre has certainly given us riches and the sector can identify with a 30% value addition. It must be stated however, when looking at this analysis, that Sri Lankan exports are facing a problem. We know that we have absolutely nothing much to talk about when it comes to high-tech exports.

Public discourse

When Prof. Rohan Samarajiva wrote in his column (http://www.ft.lk/columns/Beware-of-evidence-independent-recommendations-from-academics-in-positions-of-power/4-653373): “This is how public discourse is supposed to work. A statement is made. It is refuted with evidence. With or without a formal apology or a retraction, the correct facts become part of public discourse,” he has mentioned my earlier column ‘Exporting rubber and importing erasers’ (http://www.ft.lk/ajith-de-alwis/Exporting-rubber-and-importing-erasers-/33-653235) and dives into the rubber industry taking only the title.

I really hope through this column advancing the thesis of the former and that is the reason for a similar title, may be there would be more counter columns, the public including both of us too would be wiser at the end of the exchange and public discourse will benefit. I do not simply believe on a needed apology nor a retraction on my part for certain!

My first comment is he has taken the rubber and erasers too literally as it appears and that is quite unfortunate. I was commenting on the fact in Sri Lanka we really have failed in our industrial policy in driving the economy.

Rohan is right when he terms Salawa plywood factory as a white elephant. However I did mention this issue in the sentence, “Some industries were clearly not planned with sustainability in mind and consequently became liabilities not because the objective was unsound but the adopted scale of operations.” At Salawa and in a few others issue was scale as Sri Lanka was investing for the largest industry in Asia, etc.!

I still would like to see a strong rebuttal to the sentence that I wrote: “However, to date Sri Lanka cannot defend the comment that it still predominantly is a nation that ‘exports rubber and imports erasers’ in almost all its trade segments,” cutting across our exports and imports.

Services over technology and innovation

We have been super subservient to the concept of services and have displayed very little interest in upgrading technology and innovation. So Rohan takes rubber and demonstrates with data that we have had a 1:4 value addition for a long period. Yes, of all the plantation crops rubber is indeed one where we see some value addition and that is acceptable. I was not diving deep into one particular raw material or an industry sector anyway. With the value addition I still would say that we are not getting the real value added that is potentially possible and that is anyway not by recommending eraser factories.

I remember when Sri Lanka realised a nanotechnology-based US patent on solid tyres, the comment for refusing application of that intellectual property was that the cost of rubber in the country is too high. However, when rubber prices came down, we were still not prepared to use the formulation and then the rubber was being replaced with oil palm. Even with an innovation, our sole thinking is about being cost competitive!

I am aware of the lack of enthusiasm we have in implementing innovations. Even after more than a century of rubber, we still realise a poor quantity of latex from a tree, not following up on what science recommends!

When National Geographic addressed rubber, it picked up Malaysia, which entirely started with 20 seedlings sent from then Ceylon via Singapore. They showed Malaysians extracting latex during the night-time with headgear with lamps, showing the understanding of turgor pressure.

Our industry very much likes the status quo – just consider the recent episode in the rubber industry where five people unfortunately perished, three incidentally from outside the factory! – and remember, this is an industry that gets import income but hardly upgrades itself with vigour.

Yes, there are few exceptions in gloves and solid tyres. However, we are still are achieving well below our potential, especially in gloves. As for solid tyres of course, one reason for gaining ground in Sri Lanka was skilled labour and it has stayed on. A consistent 1:4 value addition over a long period to me is an indication of non-innovative performance.

How an industry sector can transform an economy

I would like to take one example of how an industry sector can transform an economy and that is what I would like to see – one may say this particular thinking is idealistic but I am still happy to stay within those confines than becoming so pragmatic and saying ‘this is Sri Lanka,’ ‘we have only this much of people,’ ‘do not be so optimistic,’ ‘we are a small country,’ etc.

I take the case of BASF where chemistry is life! In the published history of BASF, ‘In the Realm of Chemistry,’ it shows the entry to its Ludwigshafen site where the picture from 1895 can almost be somewhat similar to an entrance to a Sri Lankan apparel factory today but with a gender difference.

The interesting picture is when the book shows one of the car parks of BASF 70 years later and claims that all 8,000 employees come to work by car daily. Sri Lanka has though graduated from a LDC to a Middle Income country has not been able to do much change to the Gini coefficient at all and that is a poor showing.

Now the transformation of BASF had been for all. BASF literally supported Germany to change as well by becoming a global giant and still continues to do so by being an important company in Europe’s No. 1 economy – an economy built on manufacturing and if there is service sector in Frankfurt and elsewhere within Germany that supports rather than leads.

It is also interesting to note that BASF owes its success to five chemical raw materials – salt, air, sulphur, natural gas and crude oil. Now Sri Lanka can get salt much easier as Germany has to mine its salt and we have two of these raw materials in abundance. We can connect Sapugaskanda and Eppawala with sulphur, though we have displayed no foresight in doing that. We allow our industries to run in individual operational mode not utilising the concepts of synergy and symbiosis. We did the same mistake with sugar and paper and one can go on.

For each litre of water treated in this country, we all depend on imported basic chemicals even though we are rich enough to wash our cars many a times with purified water.

Pakistan’s Sialkot is producing world class surgical instruments (with nanotechnology in place) as well as soccer balls for all levels of play. Cricket supposedly flows in our veins, but we cannot and have not even attempted to produce even a bail with Sri Lankan branding to the market – yes one may say that is not exactly a necessity, however our timber city is in serious trouble without a business model.

A Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering has a far better insight into industry than a Professor of Mass Communication, surely! No, when one advises to push for Industry 4.0, there are personnel who suggest that it is far better to send our graduates outside and depend more on dollars coming through them – if ever they decide to send dollars home unlike our maid folk.

South Asia is at a turning point

As per World Bank South Asia is at a turning point. The region is indicated to benefit from the confluence of many positive internal and external forces. From a very Sri Lankan perspective, there is much to be done in manufacturing.

History indicates that Sri Lanka failed in industrialisation due to a lack of cohesive policies. As the future beckons, in Sri Lanka there is a need to learn from past mistakes and be cognisant of the emerging opportunities and create a pathway. We are again at crossroads and must ensure that this time we take the right decisions very much based on emerging developments.

It is of interest that though cyber-physical systems of Industry 4.0 sound quite imposing, these do offer quite a decent chance of going up in value chains and levelling or even surpassing opportunities to Sri Lanka as this is more knowledge-based.

Sri Lanka’s Pandemic of Sexual Violence

Sri Lankan women hold placards during a demonstration to mark “One Billion Rising” campaign called to bring an end to violence against women, on Valentines Day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. Rights groups demanded the government take action to curb rising rape, domestic violence and gender base attacks on Sri Lankan women. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

04/26/2018

The recent sexual assault of tourists in Mirissa has made headlines but the only unusual aspect of the incident was that it received substantial media attention: Sri Lanka has a national pandemic of sexual violence.

Both foreign and Sri Lankan women and girls are targeted throughout the country, and the incidents are often much more brutal than Mirissa. For example, within the last two years alone, the media has reported gang rapes

in Kandy, Colombo, Anuradhapura, Badulla, Hambantota, Trincomalee and Matara. Perpetrators included military police, a monk, a hotel owner, teenagers, construction workers and camp counselors. Victims’ ages ranged from six to 47. Yet none of these incidents received the same level of media coverage or government response as the incident in Mirissa.

Sexual violence occurs throughout the world, but the frequency of sexual violence in Sri Lanka is extraordinary. Sri Lanka’s Legal Aid Commission found that Sri Lanka has the highest rate of sexual harassment in South Asia, and South/East Asia has the second highest rate of gender-based violence worldwide. Ina 2013 UN study, one out of three Sri Lankan men (33%) admitted that they had carried out at least one act of physical or sexual violence against a woman.

On A Personal Level

I’ve lived in Sri Lanka on-and-off for the past decade. During the “off” times, I’ve lived in countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. I’ve never experienced anything even approaching the level of sexual harassment that I’ve experienced in Sri Lanka.

In Colombo, a man broke into my apartment at 3:00 am- not to steal anything, but to wake me up and then expose himself.

Trishaw drivers have attempted to assault me on multiple occasions. In one case, another trishaw driver saw me trying to flee, and came to pick me up. When my would-be assaulter began following us, the second trishaw driver insisted that we drive to the nearest police station. Four police officers came to the front counter to “help” me. All four laughed in response to my story, as if I had just told them a joke. One said, “What do you expect? You’re a woman.” Then, to my surprise, the first trishaw driver sauntered into the station. He complained to the police that I hadn’t paid him for the ride. In response, the police told me that if I didn’t pay him I would have to “stay with them” in the police station. I then paid the man who had tried to attack me. This is why the women rarely report incidents to the police.

In another instance, a Department of Immigration official told me that if I didn’t have sex with him, he would revoke my visa and have me deported.

An ice cream truck once followed me through Trincomalee town, with the driver shouting, “Hey baby, get in the truck.” The whole time, it was playing the typical ice cream truck music that is designed to attract children.

I’ve experienced near-constant street harassment in Badulla, Kandy and Unawatuna.

Like the vast majority of women in Sri Lanka, I’ve been groped, grabbed and felt up on public buses.

Despite these experiences, I am lucky. I have heard much worse stories from both foreigners and Sri Lankan women, including serial rapes and being sexually assaulted as a child.

Impact

The impact of the sexual violence epidemic has serious consequences not only for the victims, but for Sri Lanka’s national welfare.

The government is responding to Mirissa incident because it fears that such assaults could negatively impact the tourist industry and the economy. But it’s not only incidents against tourists that have financial costs. Violence against women results in estimated global economic losses of 1.2 trillion US dollars per year because of the “direct cost of the health system, counseling and other related services, the justice system, child and welfare support, as well as indirect costs, such as lost wages, productivity and potential.”

Additionally, a 2012 study found that “the very best predictor of a state’s peacefulness is not its level of wealth, its level of democracy, or its ethno-religious identity…[it’s] how well its women are treated.” In the aftermath of the Kandy riots, this phenomenon may be particularly relevant in Sri Lanka.

And, of course, sexual violence has severe consequences for victims. It is strongly associated with suicide attempts and increased rates of depression worldwide, and that linkage is present in Sri Lanka as well.

Exceptional Impunity

Despite the severity of the problem, perpetrators of sexual violence in Sri Lanka enjoy almost complete impunity. The aforementioned UN study found that only 3% of rapists in Sri Lanka were arrested, the lowest proportion amongst the seven Asian countries in the study. 2036 rapes were reported in 2016, but not a single rapist was convicted.Even the few offenders who serve jail time are sometimes given sentences below the legal the minimum.

Solutions

In order to combat sexual violence in Sri Lanka, perpetrators must face not only face legal repercussions, but social consequences as well. The government has an obligation to increase legal accountability, but society must also play a role in addressing the problem. Peer pressure has been shown to be one of the most effective ways to achieve social change. Perpetrators don’t usually see women as their peers. It is therefore other Sri Lankan men –- the majority of whom are not perpetrators –- who have a great deal of power to combat the problem. They must consistently make it clear to their friends and colleagues that sexual violence is not normal, not respectable and not acceptable.