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.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
Photograph by @streetsoftamileelam
26 June 2020
After Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established an all Sinhala task force, which includes Buddhist monks and alleged war criminal to “preserve the historical heritage of Sri Lanka” in the Eastern province, we take a closer look at Sinhalisation efforts that have already taken place in the region.
While Sinhalisation is not a new phenomenon in the North-East, there has been an influx in the ‘rediscoveries’ of Sinhala Buddhist sites predominantly in Tamil and Muslim areas by Sri Lanka’s Department of Archaeology. There have been increasing concerns over the exploitation of archaeology as a justification for the expropriation of Tamil and Muslim land.
Kallady
The Malal Neeliyamman temple located on a hilltop in Kallady, a village south of Ilankaithurai, has been expropriated under the guise of ‘archaeology’ with backing from the Sri Lankan military and Buddhist monks. The ancient temple, belonging to Tamil people, was destroyed, and replaced by a Buddhist temple after the area was taken over by the military in 2006.
Department of Archaeology sign indicating that the government is taking over the land. Photograph by @streetsoftamileelam
The temple premises were used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to place a communications tower which telecasted the LTTE’s Voice of the Tigers radio station. The temple was destroyed by the Sri Lankan Air Force as the fighting intensified and the local population were displaced. The Sri Lankan Archaeology Department designated the area as a historic Buddhist site and a Buddhist temple, Pashana Pabbatha Rajamaha Vihara, was constructed.
Photograph by PEARL
When the displaced Tamils returned to their village in 2007, they were blocked from entering the site. They attempted to reconstruct the destroyed temple on its original site but were blocked by hardline Buddhist monk, Ratnapura Devananda and the Sri Lankan military.
Buddhist monk, Ratnapura Devananda , who took over the Hindu temple site. Photograph by @streetsoftamileelam
As a result, the local Tamil people reconstructed the temple on the roadside. In 2016, the new temple was burnt to the ground. A Sinhalese man employed by the Buddhist vihara was arrested over the possible arson case but was released on bail. The court case was dropped in January 2019.
While Sinhala Buddhists from across the island visit the Buddhist site in Kallady every day, Tamils are prevented from entering the premises.
The Need For Better Representation In Divided Societies
by Jehan Perera-June 29, 2020, 8:48 pmThere has been a trend of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa making senior appointments in which those who are outside the established administrative systems are being brought in to provide leadership and ensure effective and non-corrupt practices. As a large number of these appointments have been from the security forces this has given rise to a perception that the country is heading towards eventual military rule. There is a concern that the forthcoming general elections will be followed by constitutional changes that will entrench the military in governance as in some other countries such as Myanmar. This is unlikely to be the case in Sri Lanka as democratic traditions upholding civilian control of government are deeply engrained in the fabric of political society.
A more positive view would focus on the dilemma that President Rajapaksa is facing. He was elected in the hope that he would bring a change to the corrupt governance of the past in which political leaders failed to keep their commitments. The country is facing unprecedented challenges today for which the President cannot be held responsible. The foremost of these is the Covid-induced economic downturn which has driven large numbers into unemployment and debilitated the economy. The president’s harsh upbraiding of Central Bank officials was due to his recognition that the government was not being provided with solutions to revive the economy.
Among the president’s reasons for appointing a host of serving and retired security forces personnel to positions of authority within the state administrative system is to put a stop to corruption and to promote efficiency within the state sector. Years of heavy investment in the security forces due to the war has made the security forces personnel better trained and more used to staying within the administrative system. This is especially in comparison to their counterparts in the public service which has got over extended due to politically motivated appointments which has swelled their ranks.
ETHNIC COMPOSITION
There are however reasons for the concerns about the militarization of governance. Earlier this month, the president appointed two separate Presidential Task Forces, one to build a Secure Country, Disciplined, Virtuous and Lawful Society, and a second for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province. Both of these task forces are dominated by members drawn from the security forces and have wide mandates. Both of them are also chaired by Defense Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne. It is feared that the task forces, with their dominant composition of serving and retired security forces personnel would encroach on legal and constitutional rights enjoyed by both citizens and public officials.
The Defense Secretary has said the role of the Presidential Task Forces (PTFs) has been misinterpreted. He emphasized that he has not been empowered to bring under his control public officials, other than those at the Ministry of Defense, nor did he wish to do so. He explained that the PTFs in question only exist to get the assistance of the public officials to ensure the national security of the country. With regard to the PTF on the Eastern province he said, "We need to secure our country’s heritage and protect it for our future generations, that’s why the President established this Task Force following a request made by the Buddhist Sangha. We don’t limit this protection to Buddhist and archaeological sites, we will protect sites of all communities, may they be Hindu, Islamic or another religion."
The task force on Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province has been mandated to identify sites of archaeological importance in the Eastern Province and identify the extent of land that should be allocated for such archaeological sites and take necessary measures to allocate them properly and legally. The Defense Secretary asserted that "We are sensitive not to create issues between communities or on religious grounds, our first priority is to create the climate for the archaeological department to carry out their duties without any interference. They are tasked with identifying all sites of archaeological importance and get the sites surveyed with the assistance of the Survey Department." However, the problem is with the ethnic and religious composition of the task force which has no minority representation although the Eastern province has a population that is over 75 percent Tamil and Muslim.
MORE REPRESENTATION
There are many unresolved issues that Sri Lanka needs to deal with in the future in order to become a truly peaceful and socially cohesive country. The issues of ethnic and religious representation in decision making bodies and of history have been divisive ones in the country starting from the debate over which ethnic and religious community was here first and which has the claim of ownership of the country or part thereof to that of devolution of power and the nature of the state. History has been used by politicians as a rallying point for promotion of nationalism and ethnic pride as well as the creation of enemies who need to be kept at bay. History is also important because it gives legitimacy to claims over land, which is important to both individuals who own the land and to communities who seek to be dominant in those parts.
All of these issues are burning ones in the case of the Eastern province, which is the only province in the country in which no one ethnic or religious community is an outright majority. Therefore, changes in the population composition of the Eastern province have consequences that go beyond those in other provinces. In addition, the Eastern province is part of the territory that Tamil nationalists have claimed as the Tamil homeland along with the Northern province, and for which the LTTE fought to create an independent state of Tamil Eelam. Within the Eastern province is also the Ampara district which together with Trincomalee is only one of two in the country in which the Muslims are the single largest community.
In the aftermath of the 30- year war against Tamil separatism in 2009 and the Easter Sunday bombing by suicide bombers from the Muslim community influenced by international Islamic ideologies in 2019, the containment of extremist ethnic and religious minority influence seems to have become an important part of state policy. It is in this political context that land is being transferred from minority usage to be used to protect ancient archaeological sites. In Pottuvil, in the Ampara district, the dispute over the Muhudu Maha Vihara temple land could increase in intensity as it has the potential to lead to the displacement of Muslim communities living in the contested areas. The Presidential Task Force that has been appointed for the purpose of problem solving in the Eastern province needs to have Muslim and Tamil representation, and in more than token numbers, if its recommendations are to be seen as based on objective truth and unbiased.
The land of alley cats, donkeys and chameleons: Who will we elect?
The Elections Commissioner says that he will have to spend Rs. 10 billion to conduct the election that will send 225 of these mostly expensive liabilities to Parliament – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara
Tuesday, 30 June 2020 Once a donkey said to the tiger, “The grass is blue.” The tiger said, “No, the grass is green.” The discussion became intense. Both of them are firm in their own words. To end this controversy, both went to the lion – the King of Jungle.
In the middle of the animal kingdom, sitting on the throne was a lion. The donkey started yelling before the tiger could say anything: “Your Highness, the grass is blue, isn’t it?” The lion said, “Yes! The grass is blue.” The donkey said: “This tiger does not believe. Annoys me. He should be punished properly.” The King declared, “Tiger will be jailed for a year.” The King’s verdict was heard by the donkey and he was jumping in joy all over the entire jungle that the tiger was sentenced to one year in jail.
The tiger went to the lion and asked: “Why, Your Highness! The grass is green, isn’t it?” The lion said, “Yes! The grass is green.” The tiger said, “Then why am I sentenced to jail?” The lion said, “You did not get punished for the grass being blue or green. You have been punished for debating with that stupid donkey. Brave and intelligent creatures like you have argued with a donkey and have come here to get a decision.”
Moral of the story: In 2020 give your vote to the best candidate, just don’t debate with donkeys or vote for them or you will be punished for the next five years.
Why alley cats, donkeys and chameleons? A reference to alley cats is made to describe who some of our politicians are. An alley cat has no morals and is known for unfettered promiscuity. In context, it would not be out of place to describe some politicians as immoral, unethical individuals who are literally promiscuous in their behaviour and who do not adhere to any values. They are usually available to the highest bidder.Sri Lankan’s biggest financial scam that defrauded the country of billions of dollars and part of which filled the coffers of a political party, other large scale financial scandals that have tainted the country’s reputation and also robbed the country of its money were all committed by politicians or their acolytes. Most if not all who were responsible still are around seeking to continue their thefts. One wonders whether the country is full of alley cats who keep voting for the same set of alley cats.
Donkeys? Do we need to elaborate? A Head of State disclaims any responsibility to a major debacle in the country, the next in command also pretends he did not know anything about it while a minister in that Government says he gave a warning that something untoward was going to happen nearly three years prior to the actual event that did happen.
A main accused hides in another country and now with a new name although one fails to understand how a person with a new name could be innocent of any crimes he or she may have committed under a different name. This article and many others could fill pages and pages of such incidents. Yet, the very same people are voted in by the people. One does wonder whether the country is also full of donkeys.
Chameleons? Since chameleons can’t generate their own body eat, changing the colour of their skin is a way to maintain a favourable body temperature. The outermost layer of the chameleon’s skin is transparent. Beneath this are several more layers of skin that contain specialised cells called chromophores The deepest layer contains melanophores, which are filled with brown melanin (the same pigment that gives human skin its many shades).
What is the simile here to our politicians? They don’t have a character to call their own, or the outer layer is so superficial and one can never say which colour they are beneath that. They change colour to further their greed. As the Sinhala saying goes “vaasi paththata hoiya”. How many times have our politicians changed colour? One cannot recall any one of them doing so on a matter of principle. The grass is blue when it suits them and the sky is green when it suits them.
This is the context within which another General Election looms before the country. While undoubtedly there are exceptions, readers and voters could judge whether some politicians standing for elections are either alley cats, donkeys or chameleons or all of them in one. If some of these people are voted in, then the voters could well be the donkeys.
Time for some fresh air
It is time that the silent majority made themselves heard about the prostitution of ethics and morality in politics and prevented the dirt in politics ever raising their heads. It is time for some fresh air to ease the suffocation.
Sri Lanka needs a new breed of politicians and political leaders. But they cannot get there on their own. So the voters have the opportunity to send a strong message that they do not wish to have a recycled, corrupt lot to sully the Parliament. Its credibility and honour is at a very low level now, almost at the water level of the Diyawanna Oya. Anything lower will sink the Parliament and with it any residue left of credibility and honesty.
The very same leaders who contend that the buck never stops with them, but only with others, are in the field hoping to extend their privileges and luxuries and their thirst for power which does not seem to get quenched.
What of history? The undemocratic actions of the J.R. Jayewardene regime, the genocide against the Tamils in 1983, unleashed during that regime with the full knowledge and even involvement of that regime, the mass-scale killings during the Premadasa regime to allegedly quell the second violent uprising of the JVP, and even providing arms and ammunition and money to the LTTE to chase the Indian Peace Keeping Forces from Sri Lanka, the signing of an ill-planned and ill-advised Cease Fire Agreement with the LTTE by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe which eventually resulted in more deaths and a final bloody war against the LTTE, allegations of large-scale corrupt activity during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, yet unproven but which has left a bad smell in the air, the impotent and corruption riddled Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime which witnessed the mother of all corrupt activities in Sri Lanka’s post independent period, the bond scam, and the most wanton, and preventable, deaths of innocent people who died during Easter in 2019 have all tainted the land many Buddhist claim to be the cradle of Theravada civilisation, and others claim to be the land of the all-powerful and all-knowing gods.
One can understand a catastrophe occurring due to a natural disaster like the tsunami, but all of the above and more have been the creations of a few human beings who had been entrusted the task of leading the country by the people of the country.
They all claim that there is a lot of smoke, but no trace of any fire that generated that smoke and therefore they are entitled to continue straddling the political stage to “serve” the people. The denial of any responsibility for the more than 300 deaths of innocent people during the preventable Easter attacks in 2019 takes the cake.
Despicable Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe duo who sat at Cabinet meetings when information about a possible terrorist attack had been presented well before 2019 did nothing and now both are looking at passing the buck to someone else. It is a tragedy that leaders who have no self-respect or any concern for the country are seeking to get back to Parliament taking on the three monkeys persona of not hearing, not seeing and therefore not speaking. At least the third monkey was dumb and couldn’t speak anyway.
To make matters worse, these two politicians are seeking to re-enter Parliament as they claim they have unfinished business to attend to. This unfinished business might be to once again stab others in the back and reoccupy the President’s House or Temple Trees.
The Justice Minister in the previous regime Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe has publicly stated that he warned the entire Cabinet of a possible terror attack way back in 2016. He claims that both President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe were present at that Cabinet meeting, and he also says he met President Sirisena privately to emphasise the seriousness of what he had come to know as Ministers like Rajitha Senaratne and Patali Ranawaka had ridiculed him in Cabinet.
This is all on record, and readers can hear for themselves what Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says in a TV interview, and since, when he appeared before the PCoI and stated the same, if not more. Rajapakshe’s revelations are public knowledge. He has named former ministers in the last regime and even political leaders from other political parties who had worked together to do what law enforcement officers should have done independent of political dictates.
If other members of that Cabinet have guts, and even an iota of love for the country, they can redeem themselves at least now and come out with the truth.
225 mostly expensive liabilities
The country spends a colossal amount of money to maintain these politicians at national and provincial level. Official housing, fleets of motor vehicles, personal staff who are invariably family members, foreign trips, other perks, a pension after one term in Parliament, costs billions.
The Elections Commissioner says that he will have to spend Rs. 10 billion to conduct the election that will send 225 of these mostly expensive liabilities to Parliament. Besides the direct expenses, many of these politicians will defraud the country and amass personal wealth running into billions which otherwise would have been available for economic, health and social development.
It is the voters who will allow such tainted characters to get to the Parliament, and it will be a reflection of the character of voters, and broadly, the people of the country, if they vote for such people and allow them to get back to Parliament and continue their destruction of the fabric of the country.
Since 1948, the country is yet to see a politician being taken to courts, sentenced if proven guilty and debarred from contesting elections at any level. This is despite plenty of smoke that has shrouded the landscape of the country.
There is no doubt that democracy, with all its deficiencies is by far the best form of governance. However, if the current status quo continues and voters do not express the option available to them to cleanse democracy and democratic institutions in the country, and political parties do not sense this need and offer candidates who are not sullied, who are capable, who are honest and principled, who are moral and ethical, it will not be long before even what the country has as democracy, however deficient and devalued, will disappear altogether. The democratic institutions will be just brick and mortar and occupied by people anything but democratic.
If COVID-19 has brought some benefit to the country, it is the opportunity to think and act differently whether it is the economy, health or education or social and societal responsibilities to each other. Above all, in order to realise the benefits that such thinking will bring about, democracy and democratic institutions have to be saved from some of the individuals who have sullied what should have been sacred. It is time that voters acted decisively to do so.
28 June 2020
Speaking with People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), both Sinthujan Varatharajah, an expert political geographer, and Thanges Paramsothy, a renowned anthropologist, gave enlightening discussions on nature and continued presence of caste as well the history of resistance to it.
Varatharajah, who is of Dalit origin, spoke on the oft-ignored history of caste discrimination and resistance. He notes that contemporary narratives often attempt to present the Tamil struggles as a casteless one but by denying the existence of caste we “deny the long history of resistance against caste. Varatharajah asks us to adopt an intersectional approach which questions how caste matters within a genocide, with an exodus.
Paramsothy similarly highlights the nuanced relationship between caste and national identity whilst drawing focus on contemporary issues surrounding ritualistic worship in Jaffna temples. He also highlights the manner in which the LTTE confronted issues of caste-based discrimination as well as the contemporary complexities brought by caste-based temple competition.
A history of caste-based violence
Varatharajah and Paramsothy highlight caste-based resistance reached its zenith at the start of the 20th century and extended into the 1960s before being subsumed by the “national question”.
Varatharajah notes that the first riot involving Tamils was conducted by the Vellalar (high caste) Tamils against the oppressed castes in Maviddapuram in 1871. Unceasing waves of violence targeted against the oppressed castes led to the political formation of organisations oft-forgotten which spearheaded the anti-caste struggle.
Paramsothy notes that these anti-caste movements gained the support of leftist movements as “they fought to gain equal access to education, temple rituals and other public spaces”.
Organisations like the such as the All Ceylon Tamil Congress and the Federal Party were established well after organisations such as the Northern Ceylon Tamil Minority. Furthermore, the non-violent demonstrations and satyagraha movement which was adopted by dominant caste members and led by Chelvanayakam, drew directly from the resistance movement of oppressed castes. However, the history of caste is far too often omitted.
“With each successful campaign, with increasing rights being granted to oppressed caste members, by the colonial state. They [the oppressed caste] faced more and more violence by the Tamil Vellalar dominated society”, Varatharajah states.
In 1929 there was the campaign for equal seating and eating opportunities for oppressed caste members, particularly children in schools. This was followed by the granting universal franchise by the British for all colonial subjects in Ceylon. Vellalar Tamils reacted by imposing even stricter caste laws in Tamil regions.
“They were so inhumane that they surpassed those in parts of the British raj and included prohibitions of carrying an umbrella, looking into the eyes of a dominant caste person, or covering their torsos” Varatharajah stated.
Read more from Varatharajah: Check Your Caste Privilege
Caste and the LTTE
The LTTE was not primarily a Vellalar movement but rather was set up by those primarily from the Karaiyar caste, which whilst not an oppressed caste was numerous and wealthy enough to challenge Vellalar society with less fear of sanctions, said the speakers.
Paramsothy highlights that Tamil militant movements, including the LTTE, treated casteism as an internal issue prevailing amongst the Tamil community. They maintained that the great threat “loomed from Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhist dominant state”. The visibility of caste-based conflict was perceived as a threat to the unity of Tamils.
Today, he notes, conversions of caste are viewed as “bringing up old divisiveness back and therefore not healthy for Tamil liberation struggle”. However, there is a consistent failure to recognise the sacrifices made by the oppressed castes.
Varatharajah notes that the oppressed caste formed a large part, if not the majority of liberation fighters and “paid the heaviest price for Tamil liberation”. One reason offered as to why they composed such a large portion of the armed forces was because they were denied access to the land, capital, and opportunities which others had access to.
He asks us to conceptualise caste not simply as a rigid form of ritualistic discrimination but rather as a “social, economic, political, cultural and geographical system of apartheid”. One which “decided on who is able to own land and where one is able to live, work and die”.
Understood through this we can see that those from oppressed caste were the most impacted by the conflict.
“In 1983 for instance when Tamil people homes and shops were burned by Sinhalese mobs in Colombo and other parts of islands. Tamil plantation workers were equally affected by the racist violence. Many of them fled northbound only to be mistreated there too” Varatharajah highlights.
Caste is not a natural state of being but rather choices made by powerful groups to wilfully harm and suppress oppressed groups.
Read more from Varatharajah: Writing against hijacking, speaking against muting
Caste-based resistance in the LTTE
Paramsothy highlights that caste-based resistance transformed during the war and “took both visible and invisible forms”.
The LTTE, for instance, would punish those seen to be practising forms of caste-based discrimination in public. They further encouraged inter-caste marriage which brought about a challenged to preconceived notions of a casted-based natural hierarchy as well as the supposed purity of caste.
Paramsothy notes that LTTE leaders were from a variety of different castes, including oppressed castes, and married with members of different castes, including the dominant Vellalar caste.
Read more from Paramsothy on inter-caste marriages during the war: Inter-caste marriage in conflict settings
Caste-based Temples
Paramsothy notes that the mobilisation of the oppressed castes in this process can be seen as a form of ritualistic defiance as they push to be able “to live with decency, respect and autonomy” within the realm of religion.
His talk raises questions over the prevalence of caste in contemporary Jaffna as well as Tamil diaspora. He notes that in Jaffna, segregation is quite visible and that with the diaspora it has transformed. To learn more about contemporary issues of caste with the diaspora, read his paper on "Caste within the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora".
Parliament of 2020: Old Arrack in new plastic bottles?
Mangala Samaraweera is another political maverick but he is not running in the election this time. The former qualified fashion designer virtually declared himself persona non grata in Sri Lankan politics when he publicly declared that Buddhist monks should keep out of politics. This was political hara-kiri by a Sinhala Buddhist politician from the deep south.
by Gamini Weerakoon-June 29, 2020
Elections, at times, are considered to be the best of times to ‘throw the rascals out’. But this is strictly not so in this country. Although governments have been thrown out regularly many of the same controversial mavericks keep coming back, some having jumped from one party to another before elections. It’s like the same old arrack in new plastic bottles.
The electoral lists for the forthcoming parliamentary elections, we are told, reveal that many such characters are in the recycling process although some entertain the fond belief that the 2020 parliamentary elections will dawn a splendid era.
Mervyn Silva , a political maverick if not outrageous politician whose antics embarrassed even the most accommodating members of the SLFP, has announced his candidature for the Anuradhapura District from the UNP. Long years ago, he won the Tissamaharama seat on the UNP ticket, later shifted to the SLFP and even became a minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government. His star antics include crashing into a Rupavahini director’s office, attacking him physically for not giving due publicity to a speech of his and being subsequently driven out by irate employees; and tying up an official to a tree for not carrying out his orders. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the staid UNP leader consenting to his nomination is quite a surprise. Wickremesinghe ‘is upset’ say some but others say that Wickremesinghe’s strategy is to stage ‘an upset’ on others in the long run, predict political observers.
Another resilient and controversial politico wanting to be back in parliament is S.B. Dissanayake. He has been in and out of three political parties — the Communist Party, the SLFP and the UNP. He has also featured as a power broker, particularly after President Maithripala Sirisena sacked his prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. Now ‘SB’ onetime cabinet minister of the UNP and its electoral organiser is once again in the thick of the campaign for the SLFP born again party — the Pohottuwa.
‘SB’ has another first in Sri Lankan politics: being sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment by a five-judge bench for defaming the Supreme Court in a speech made by him. It was revealed that ‘SB’ at one stage of his imprisonment he was not in the Welikada prison cells or its hospital where he was supposed to be confined to, but in the teak lined rooms of Colombo General Hospital’s comfortable Merchants Ward. ‘SB’ returned back to Welikada but walked out before serving his full sentence, being pardoned by his president, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Mangala: Staying out with bang
Mangala Samaraweera is another political maverick but he is not running in the election this time. The former qualified fashion designer virtually declared himself persona non grata in Sri Lankan politics when he publicly declared that Buddhist monks should keep out of politics. This was political hara-kiri by a Sinhala Buddhist politician from the deep south. Whatever the constitutional arguments may be against the participation of monks in politics in a supposedly secular state, Samaraweera was plainly sailing against the current of thousands of years of Sri Lankan history.
Samaraweera with his unorthodox views on sexual relations and LGBT has drawn the ire of the supposedly highly moral Sri Lankan society — Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. But he has every right to express his individual opinion and canvass for it.
Samaraweera’s scathing criticism of political monks is shared by non-political Buddhists who desire to retain the purity of Buddhism in accordance with the teaching of the Buddha. But this criticism is limited to private conversations because it is considered un-Buddhistic to criticise the Sangha publicly despite the deplorable behaviour of the offenders.
This immunity of political Buddhist monks from criticism now appears to be spreading to other religious dignitaries as well when considering the widespread criticism levelled against Harin Fernando, a Catholic himself, for his comments on the political statements made by the Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. The Cardinal’s comments and involvement in Sri Lankan politics can by no means be described as ‘apolitical’ as most of his illustrious predecessors. Categorising Sri Lanka as a secular state may not be acceptable in the context of the present state of politics but could it be categorised as a ‘theocracy’ of all religions prevalent here?
Samaraweera, who appears to have exiled himself from parliamentary politics, is the only politician who has dared to take on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the dressing-down he gave the nattily dressed Central Bankers albeit with their face masks on. The former Lt. Colonel directed all his verbal artillery on Sri Lanka’s top economists not only for the state of the economy after Covid-19 but also for the lack of economic progress since he was elected president eight months ago.
As a journalist listening to his verbal bashing, the thought that came to our mind was: Who is the Finance Minister of this country? Our experience in journalism for decades told us that during economic crises, it is the Finance Minister who should take the rap for the economy even if the fault lay with his underlings. That is the accepted practice in parliamentary democracy. But here the president appeared to have forgotten that his brother was not only the Finance Minister but the Prime Minister of the government as well.
In a letter to Mahinda Rajapaksa, Samaraweera has said: As the Finance Minister, the ‘Central Bank and Treasury charged with monetary and fiscal policy are under your charge. Constitutionally, you are the superintendent of our country’s economy. Of course, this authority is itself subservient to the Constitutional provision that the Cabinet of Ministers, not the President or Prime Minister, is ‘charged with the direction and control of the Republic’…” The tongue lashing of the governor of the Central Bank and his senior officials was unprecedented in seven decades of the history of the Central Bank, Samaraweera has asserted.
Government officials, he said, in certain instances should be chastised but never in public. Any semblance of independence ceased to be when two members of the Monetary Board were asked to resign and as a result all three members now on the board were appointed by the President.
Going into the monetary and fiscal issues raised by Samaraweera is beyond the scope of this column but we find it amusing that the two main opposition parties haven’t raised this issue of making the Central Bank, the whipping boy.
President’s criticism of the Central Bank is justified in one instance: the failure of the Central Bank to protect investments of the public in some private finance companies.
Parliamentary elections are now round the corner, come Covid-19 or not. The recycling of parliamentary mavericks seems to be part and parcel of the Sri Lankan system. Whether the predicted vistas of glorious vision will come or not, even astrologers are not saying. But if the Sri Kotha boxing bouts continue unabated the movement of stars and constellations are not needed to make the correct prediction. It may result in cries of ‘match fixing’ after the election and the Sri Lankan Karmic cycle will continue.
(Gamini Weerakoon is a former editor of The Sunday Island, The Island and Consulting Editor of the Sunday Leader)
UNP at crossroads and the coming wrecking of multi-party democracy
- Democracy needs an active and well -endowed opposition party. That will be missing in the next Parliament
- The UNP had a track record as competent economic managers, though that is more of a propped up perception than reality
- a unified UNP still had the opportunity to mobilize a large swathe of voters on the simple premise to deprive the SLPP getting a two-third majority in Parliament
30 June 2020
The Grand Old Party, the UNP is in deep trouble. The multi-party democracy in Sri Lanka is too. People are right to scorn the UNP for its self-inflicted calamity. But it is foolhardy to brush off the looming prospect of something of a near resemblance of a one-party state. Democracy needs an active and well -endowed opposition party. That will be missing in the next Parliament.
We ended up here courtesy of a tragicomedy of egotism, lethargy and blissful ignorance. And there is a bit of bad luck too. The UNP could not recover from the decimation of its leadership by the Tiger suicide bombers and the still unresolved assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali. But, all that happened more than a quarter-century ago. Even Post-Apartheid South Africa is younger than that.
The UNP is on a downward spiral since then. The leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe has been more content with securing party leadership than winning elections. Instead of contesting, he fielded three candidates, and a fourth grudgingly, for four out of six presidential elections. The luck was not on his side too. On both occasions when he had a decent shot at the top post, the Tigers stole it; in 1999, terrorists bombed the election rallies of both parties, but the then incumbent Chandrika Kumaratunga won the sympathy vote. Then, in 2005, the LTTE stopped war weary Tamils from voting, Wickremesinghe lost to Mahinda Rajapaksa by 180,000 votes.
The UNP had a track record as competent economic managers, though that is more of a propped up perception than reality. If anything, the UNP’s managerialism is gauged against the economic mismanagement of the United Front government of 1970-77. In truth, the UNP’s economic handling during the next 17 years is low-grade crony capitalism. Unlike his Chinese, Malaysian or Singaporean contemporaries, who elevated their states to the next level of development, J.R Jayawardene let his aggrandizement get the best of him and left two insurgencies for his successor to fight.
After five years of economic inertia of Yahapalanaya, even the green-blooded UNPers confide that defending the UNP had become indefensible. And that Mr. Wickremesinghe continues to secure the party leadership after consecutive defeats, and worse still, he has thrown to the wind every hard-won UNP government, making it harder to defend.
However, someone should suffer from a clinically detectable level of delusion and also a strong sense of victim-hood to think that the break up of the Grand Old Party is the remedy. More so after the ignominious trouncing at the recent presidential election, Sajith Premadasa suffers from both. He is right to feel aggrieved by Mr. Wickremesinghe’s feudal sense of entitlement to the party leadership.
During the next five years, Sri Lanka would drift further into power absolutism. There will be predictable government machinations
But, any commonsensical party member would have reasoned out to him that when the party is split up, both sides lose. Only the Pohottuwa will gain.
The two quarrelling UNP factions, the UNP and Samagi Balawegaya, are not reaching out to the floating vote. They are competing for the ever depleting UNP bloc vote, which is less than 30 per cent of the total vote.
Their fratricidal bickering makes two parties that are even less appealing to independent voters.
Granted that it lost the presidential election by a bigger than expected margin. But a unified UNP still had the opportunity to mobilize a large swathe of voters on the simple premise to deprive the SLPP getting a two-third majority in Parliament. It could have saved the day for the UNP while also providing a degree of moderation to the impending absolutism. That opportunity was lost.
The result of the forthcoming Parliamentary election is a foregone conclusion. The SLPP would not win a two-thirds majority. But, it could buy over the disgruntled UNP and Samagi Balawegaya MPs.
During the next five years, Sri Lanka would drift further into power absolutism. There will be predictable government machinations. Separation of power would be discarded as a nuisance. Independent institutions will be co-opted or cut down to size.
There will also be repercussions, both domestic and foreign. But, the UNP and the Samagi Balawegaya are not in the mood to mobilize.
After all, that we had to rely on them to defend democracy tells a lot about the poverty in Sri Lankan politics.
Follow @RangaJayasuriya on twitter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)