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.
Friday, July 31, 2020
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is considering amending the Antiquities Ordinance, an act that is intended to conserve archaeological heritage sites and buildings, as the Buddhist clergy has called for power over land disputes in the North-East connected to Buddhist colonisation be transferred to courts in the South. An all-Sinhala committee has been put together to determine the implementation of these changes.
This amendment, which would seek to strengthen the protection of heritage sites, is seen as a step towards Sinhalisation. The president focused on preventing damage to archaeological sites and increasing funding to the Department of Archaeology during the discussion. Consideration is also being given to have the Civil Defense Force conserve archaeological sites.
Certain Buddhist preachers are calling for the amendment to cover not only antiquities but also to “conserve the national heritage and legacy of Buddha Sasana.” Others are saying “it is not a matter of religious affiliation but a national heritage,” furthering Sinhala Buddhist nationalist rhetoric.
The Maha Sangha has requested the president to reassign Northern and Eastern regional matters involving artifacts and historical sites to magistrates in Colombo. The president has approved stating ‘Proposals by the Maha Sangha on antiquities and archeological sites will be forwarded to the respective Presidential Task Force’. Gotabaya also gave orders to the Archaeology department to punctually respond to the Maha Sangha’s wishes to protect historical and archaeology locations.
‘‘No room will be left for anyone to damage the historical heritage or archeological value of any sacred place and all such places will be considered as national heritage and will be protected’’ affirmed Gotabaya Rajapaksa during the discussion.
The committee will consist of senior Sinhala Buddhist monks (the Maha Sangha) and purportedly professionals in the preservation of antiquities and historical national heritage, although previous such committees have consisted of military officials and political allies.
Earlier this year, an all Sinhala Buddhist task force including military personnel was established in the East to ‘preserve the historical heritage of Sri Lanka’; Tamils have since expressed fears of their land being appropriated by the task force. A US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom in 2016 stated that the construction of Buddhist statues in non-Buddhist areas of the North-East leave the perception of “Buddhist Sinhalese religious and cultural imperialism.” In recent times many Buddhist statues and temples have been constructed in Tamil areas, often replacing or damaging Tamil Hindu temples.
Poor Sri Lanka: Rife With Hypocrisy, Lacking The Will To Succeed
Prof. Lasantha Pethiyagoda
Despite the attempted lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, there seems to be no abatement of the endemic corruption which has been a curse in Sri Lankan society. Where self-interest has trumped over common good, it is no longer a matter of shame, to be accused of corrupt practices. Amidst the clamour and naked greed fuelling the run-up to elections and admonitions by community leaders to choose wisely, such people are held in awe, and rewarded with loyalty for their ingenuity in fooling the people.Where are the virtues of humility, love and compassion? Noble values have been replaced with crass hypocrisy, haughtiness and contemptuous behaviour towards dissenting people. This is done deliberately, to promote an artificial image of valour and strength in the eyes of the public.
Allied ordinary officials, two-bit politicians with dreams of lucre, strut about in self-assumed importance. This hypocrisy is in turn affecting the youth, who are emulating their peers, and indulging in lies and chicanery, while showing off their impunity, racing in powerful vehicles bandying big names painted thereon.
The jealousy, resentment and competition, that these parasites trigger, leads people with meagre means, to steal, demand bribes and indulge in antisocial activities like drug peddling and smuggling to finance their flamboyant lifestyle while TV news periodically highlight a drug haul to keep people fooled.
Crimes like extortion, kidnapping and even murder are often perpetrated with impunity despite loud public lambasting of dignified high officials by the people’s chief with appropriate camera angles and voice cuts. It is the extreme depravity to which our moral values have degenerated, when we find people being killed on the roads by reckless drivers or murdered for small pecuniary gains. These statistics do not seem to improve despite powerful rhetoric.
Many of these acts are unpardonable in any religion, with or without compassion and loving kindness. Nevertheless, people with such moral depravity, cannot be said to be “unreligious” as they are constantly fed the noble teachings via TV, radio and numerous sermons in temples.
On the contrary, most of these people are religious in their routine rituals, like offering daily prayers or flowers from another’s garden, worshipping at temples, and even engaging in philanthropic activities, like giving charities or donations to religious bodies.
To the diligent observer, their religious behaviour is a facade to hide their evil deeds, in the mistaken belief of atoning for their criminal, or immoral activities. The more enterprising among them, use religion to promote their personal or political interests, regularly turning to address and “reassure” the yellow-robed participants adorning the front rows of political platforms.
The ordinary beleaguered citizen in Sri Lanka is by nature weak and incomplete, and hence seeks divine help to overcome their inherently weak state, not knowing that the very people they look up to are their real oppressors.
They thus embrace religion to follow a path of self- improvement, worship, and pay monetary offerings to custodians of sacred places in the hope of getting peace in life, and salvation after death. In a sense, religion is the love and fear of the unknown, exploited to the hilt by their promoters.
While its root is faith and home base is the conscience, unfortunately for people the moral values that are an integral part of any religion, are rapidly deteriorating, making us religious nominally and largely ineffectively.
Most ordinary Sri Lankans follow religious customs, as a matter of routine, a ritual, without imbibing or assimilating its virtues in their lives and turn to religion only as an antidote to difficulties or uncertainties in life, praying for exam success, overcoming ill-health, or other benefit.
Most mainstream citizens claim to be Buddhist – Sinhala and boast about the five precepts yet speak half-truths, or untruth, for the sake of winning an argument, a contract or an order. Thus a salesman or a politician, resorts to making tall promises, in the hope of bagging an order, or a crucial vote.
Egged on by the successes of farcical politics, industries make misleading advertisements, to catch and hold the attention of the target audience. It is another matter that their products belie the claim, just as in the vile politician. Worse still are dubious companies, selling spurious products, backed by political clout, making a quick buck, putting the lives of the innocent millions in peril.
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Senthooran: Black July Through the Eyes of a Survivor
Photo Credits: Munira Mutaher
SARAH KABIR- It has been 37 years since the anti-Tamil pogrom of July 1983, a riot that set the country ablaze and sparked a 30-year long and bloody war. But even after nearly four decades, there has yet been no active effort to remember and reconcile the injustices of the past, both at the level of leadership and at the grassroots. The acknowledgement of the past – which is not just knowing there were injustices but saying they were wrong and being committed to rectifying them – has long been ignored and set the stage for repetitions of the same cycles of intolerance, injustice, and violence.
Black July was the most violent and targeted attacks on an ethnic minority but it was just one of many instances since Sri Lanka gained independence that highlighted just how ingrained ethnic and religious divisions were, how intolerant society had become, and how leaders continued to turn a blind eye and even exacerbated these divisions for their own political gain. Divide and rule was not just the colonial’s way of doing things.
As we continue to remember Black July, let’s hear Senthooran, “I am going to share something of immense weight; memories that have weighed me down for years. As you now listen to my story, you take that weight with you. And so, you take the weight off me.”
Senthooran lived in Matale. He spoke Sinhalese well. He had Sinhalese friends. He loved to play cricket with them. Senthooran wanted to be a Grama Sevaka or work for the government.
But in 1983, a small armed group – one of many at the time – the LTTE, carried out an ambush in Palali killing 13 army soldiers. The UNP government at the time decided to parade the bodies around the island prior to the funeral. Emotions were high, and that led to the infamous anti-Tamil pogrom.
“I didn’t even know who the LTTE were at the time. We hadn’t committed any crimes, but because thirteen Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers died in Palali, we were tortured elsewhere. The problem was in the North. What was the point of hitting everyone elsewhere? We had never even been to Vavuniya. We were friends with Sinhalese people. I couldn’t even speak Tamil! In ‘83, they came and burnt everything down – shops, kovils, even the famous theatre in our neighbourhood. I remember there was a bus in our town called ‘ABBA’ and ‘Boney M’ – they took the bus and took the electoral register as well. I can still hear them stop at the top of our lane.”
Senthooran’s sister was attacked for wearing a pottu, his house was attacked by a group of young Sinhalese boys, pushing him and his family to flee their home, leaving everything they once knew behind, empty handed, except for documents that were proof of their existence and a mat to sleep on.
Today, some of us who are liberal and moderate in our thoughts believe that anyone who served for a terrorist organisation deserves no sympathy, we paint them as enemies, we see them as the other. But if you know Senthooran’s roots, if you know that he was pushed in to the hands of the LTTE, would you see him as evil?
Senthooran’s friend Thileepan says, “We had no choice. If I had money, I would have left to London. The rich were able to leave the North. The rich had a choice, but for the poor, joining the armed groups was the only way out. Ultimately, it was the poor who fought for the Tamils. I am one of those people. If Sinhalese leaders had granted the Tamils their rights earlier, we could have avoided the war and all the losses it brought….What would you have done?”
Having found himself displaced Senthooran and his family headed North.
“My father died within ten seconds of walking away from me. A shell hit him. He went to shower at the well. I heard a shell drop and then my sister’s daughter came running and told me he was hit. We rushed him to hospital. He had a piece of shrapnel in his vein, and he took it out himself just as we got to the hospital because the heat was unbearable. Getting hit by shrapnel feels like getting burnt. When he pulled it out, blood sprayed everywhere and he fell to the floor. I saw his eyes closing. He was a man who could speak well in all three languages.”
Senthooran’s plight had only just begun. He was pushed in to the LTTE where he sometimes shot at others and sometimes got shot himself. His plight, as he says, was mostly in the pain he felt for his family. The need he felt to protect them but never truly succeeding to do so.
“Once, we heard a noise at 5.30 am and something struck my daughter. She thought I’d knocked her head and said, ‘Aiyo dad, don’t give me tokkas [a light knock on the head] for lies!’ But in fact, it had been a bullet that scraped her head.”
“On 13 May 2009, artillery fire hit my wife. My wife was severely wounded – you would need 500 grams of meat to close her wound. The situation had become so intense. Words can’t tell you the troubles we faced.”
Senthooran’s wife and child have been hit by shells. Senthooran has spent time in prison and in rehabilitation camps. And today he works hard to build his life again – teaching Sinhala and working for the Civil Security Department (CSD).
Do we work as equally hard to help those like Senthooran rebuild their lives? Our inability to accept what happened to many young boys and girls who were persecuted, our active efforts to ignore what happened, to not burden our conscience, has left many like him yet feeling isolated and unable to integrate.
“We could have lived with respect now. But we are still treated like ‘outsiders’… Lots of Sinhalese people now come to visit the North. They don’t know that I understand Sinhala. I hear them say bad things about us… like calling us sakkiliya [derogatory term]. The Tamils aren’t seen as equals. Even after the war, Tamils and Muslims are seen as outsiders who don’t have rights here. We are Sri Lankan citizens too. We need respect as Sri Lankan citizens.”
Senthooran is one of many young Tamil boys and girls who were persecuted in ’83 and “the only safety” they say they found “was in the hands of the LTTE”.
“If not for the July ‘83 problem, none of this would have happened. My family personally got hurt. I lost everything. The LTTE consisted of only about 30 people at the time. They should have just gone and fought those 30 people. Instead, all Tamil lives were destroyed. If not for what happened to me in my hometown, I would have been a Grama Sevaka, a government servant, or SLA major, or something! But I wound up in the LTTE.”
It is so important that we remember these stories. That we listen to these stories. That we understand. That we learn the root causes of violence and war. Those moments of intolerance and injustice by our very own governments and our own communities.
To date there is yet no acknowledgement or acceptance of the mistakes of our past, to date all who served the LTTE are painted as traitors and enemies, and worse an entire community (Tamils) get painted as the same.
Let’s listen and learn from voices like Senthooran’s. Let’s learn about our past, accept and acknowledge it, so we don’t risk repeating the same cycles of violence again.
“It is important to ensure that nothing like the war we experienced will happen again. People should be brought to a place where they are all proud to say, ‘I am Sri Lankan.’ Official forms still ask for race and religion; soon they’ll start asking for caste too. This should stop. The forms should just ask if we are Sri Lankan. I have one important message I want to share, and it applies to Sinhalese, Muslims, and Tamils: we should never say, ‘Sri Lanka belongs only to me,’ we must live together,” said Senthooran.
[Stories from: Voices of Peace https://www.pererahussein.com/books/non-fiction/voices-of-peace]
30 July 2020Candidates from the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) who are contesting in the Eastern province are “on the verge of withdrawing due to ferocious threats and harassment” from paramilitary groups, said party leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, with parliamentary elections scheduled for next week.
Speaking at a press conference, Ponnambalam said that paramilitary organisations and Sri Lankan military intelligence had pursued a campaign of intimidation and harassment against party members.
"In Amparai 3 of our candidates are on the verge of withdrawing due to ferocious threats and harassment from the Karuna group,” he said. “In Batticaloa, one of our candidates is under threat from Pillayan group for the last 3 years."
"Sri Lanka military and police have arrested our activists and continue to engage in intimidation and harassment, our candidates are facing threats from paramilitary groups, and the TNA continues to attempt to weaken us."
Ponnambalam highlighted efforts made by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), who he said “sided with the Pillayan group in blocking our candidate from attending Local Government meetings”.
He also added that Sri Lankan military intelligence is planning a fake news campaign targeting the party on the last day of election campaign “allowing little to no time for us to refute these stories".
"Similarly, false news stories were planted by Sumanthiran in 2015 on the last day of the election campaign with outlets refusing to carry our rebuttals the next day," he added. "We seem to be the common adversary to paramilitary groups, mainstream Sinhala parties contesting in the Tamil homeland, and the TNA."
Voting In The Elections 2020: For Public Or Rulers’ Welfare?
On August 5th 2020, we as citizens will choose the people who may join the President in governing this country for the next five years, if a Parliamentary system of governance under the present 1978 Constitution continues. Parliament has not functioned for 4 months- well beyond the limit set by the Constitution- so we do not know what will happen after the elections, and how or when Parliament will meet.
We have exercised ‘people power’ and cast our votes at Elections many times. It is our experience that those we elect to public office tend to forget us and our needs and concerns soon after they take office, often with fanfare and publicity. This election is a defining one, conducted at a time when the country is facing the double crisis of a debilitating debt burden, and an unprecedented economic and public health crisis. It is therefore important to reflect on our current situation, and cast our votes to help achieve the kind of governance that will hold our rulers accountable to us, and provide primacy of place to citizens’ well-being, when they exercise their powers.
The Friday Forum identifies the following issues as of critical concern to all of us:
1. We can have strong party affiliations. Many will have decided the party of their choice. But all of us, both party loyalists and independent voters, must decide whether we want to cast our votes at this critical juncture, for persons WITHOUT a record of serious crime, financial corruption, incompetence, and selfish abuse of power, while holding public office?
2. In 2009 we saw an end to a 30 year armed struggle. But have we resolved the hard issues that contributed to this violence? There have been many committees, commissions and expert committees, many of them appointed by the Prime Minister. He supported arrangements for power sharing, and gave public assurances in this regard. We must ask ourselves whether we should vote for persons who do not understand the need to respect the diversity of our people. Can this country afford to encourage ideas in governance that promote violence and discrimination against minority communities? Must we not support candidates for public office who will support finding real solutions acceptable to all? Can we afford conflict when we face new economic and public health crises like those we face today?
3. For 30 years the people and political parties agreed that the office of the Executive Presidency of 1978 amassed to itself too much power undermining other public institutions like Parliament and the Courts. We have seen how during long years, these two institutions have been undermined. Upto 2019, we wanted to abolish the Executive Presidency and introduce a system of governance that gave authority to a Prime Minister and a Cabinet that were responsible to an elected Parliament. We also looked for Courts that were independent of the Executive. That was why ALL Parties passed, by a 2/3 majority in Parliament, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.
This 19th Amendment has flaws and must be modified. But now we have a new discourse which is asking for a 2/3 majority to give MORE powers to the President, and indeed change completely the structures of governance, so that the President will exercise extensive powers. We must ask ourselves whether this new system with concentration of power in one individual, is the form of government we want to introduce through a 2/3 majority and Constitutional reform.
We have had no Parliament for the last 4 months and have no idea how funds have been spent, without authorisation by Parliament. We have witnessed how the principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, has enabled many persons accused of serious crimes in our Courts, to obtain bail, stand for election, and hold high office in the government The recent destruction of a cultural heritage site has been ignored by the Cabinet because holding anyone accountable will have political repercussions. Is it satisfactory that the public service and public institutions are no longer accountable, and ad hoc decisions determine important matters relating to the economy ( eg the MCC agreement), the environment- including the human /elephant conflict, public health issues, and the destruction of public property such as heritage sites? These decisions impact on all our lives, but we cannot hold anyone accountable because our public institutions have been destroyed by the unfettered exercise of political power. Do we need accountable, strong public institutions or the concentration of extensive powers in an Executive President?
4. A new agency, the military has moved out of its traditional role and is taking on all the responsibilities of civilian institutions on public administration, and even the Police. We have Military Task Forces which exercise significant powers, and exclude the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers. They report directly to the President. We have governance according to gazette notifications that allow investigation of persons for spreading false information on Covid-19’. The army also has been made responsible for ‘de-radicalising’ those with ‘extremist ideas’ in their custody, under the Prevention of Terrorism law. Others, including politicians who advocate violence against minorities in the community, continue to do so with impunity. What implications does this type of governance by Presidential gazettes have for public administration, and for our personal liberties? Fundamental rights including media freedom and freedom of expression are protected both by the Constitution and the Right to Information law.
Do we want this ‘new normal’ of unchecked power, ‘authoritarian leadership’ and militarisation to facilitate or ensure economic growth and the sustainable development of our country?
5. Administration of Justice without fear or favour is in our collective interest. Do we not want governance that ensures the independence of the judiciary from political interference? Increasingly, we witness selective justice- some people prosecuted in the courts while no questions are asked about the conduct of others. They are not held accountable for their conduct, despite Commissions of Inquiry and prolonged investigations. Should we not vote for and demand, a strengthening, rather than undermining of institutions responsible for the administration of justice in our country?
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SRI LANKA:THE RETURN CHINESE INFLUENCE WITH A MUCH STRONGER FOOTPRINT IN THE NEW GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA REGIME – ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA
29/07/2020Alfred Dundas Taylor, a civil architect to the Admiralty in the UK, Head of the Marine Survey Department was the first to have proposed the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, in 1860. This canal cut across the Hindu God Rama’s bridge, also known as Ram-Setu. According to Hindu mythology, the bridge was built by Lord Rama, connecting the Southern Indian shore with the western shores of Sri Lanka. The 44.9 nautical-mile long canal would bypass ships navigating Sri Lankan southern ports, opening up a shorter, continuously navigable sea route around the Indian Peninsula. Due to religious and environmental concerns, the canal dredging was suspended at intervals and been revived due to political interests. At present, the project’s nature has evolved to a geopolitical and security concern of Chinese influence in India’s southern shores. A senior leader of the DMK, Lok Sabha member T.R. Baalu, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to revive the Sethusamudram Project, citing a security and geopolitical interest concerning China. The Tamilian politician from South India says “The government needs to protect the southern part of the country against China, citing China’s huge investment in Sri Lanka. Revive Sethu Samudram Project.” Mr Baalu argues that there is a direct threat from Chinese presence in Sri Lanka and, requested the central government to prioritise this emerging threat to protect the southern part of India. While the Indian subcontinent has already faced a security threat recently in the northern border with China, now its focus is drawn to protecting the southern shores.
Tamil Nadu political influence
The Tamil Nadu political influence has been a distinct factor in the northern geography throughout Sri Lanka’s history. The strong influence of Tamil Nadu on Colombo and New Delhi is usually centric on the Tamilian grievances and not on China. The growing Chinese infrastructure diplomacy in the island has transformed into a South Indian security threat. This sort of reaction by the DMK member could hinder ongoing Indo-Lanka bilateral security cooperation. It has usually been the southern shores of Tamil Nadu that have exported considerable threat to Sri Lanka. From the 2019 Easter Sunday bombers that had direct contact with a South Indian extremist cluster revealed by the authorities, to the narcotics trafficking and illegal fisheries are continuous security threats for the island.In the domestic political arena, discussing the importance of the Chinese built and operated southern port of Sri Lanka in Hambantota at a recent interview, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal, who is contesting from his father’s previous electorate explained: “Hambantota will become the next commercial city in the island with highways, strategic port, international airport and all the logistics ready, we will make this happen”. Namal Rajapaksa’s long-term view is to continue where his father has left off, converting Hambantota into a modern city under his leadership, perceived as a difficult and unachievable task by many in Colombo. When looking at the massive Chinese infrastructure diplomacy carried out with two global connection hubs, Hambantota port and Mattala airport with other ancillary infrastructure including an international convention center, cricket stadium, highways, hotels and much more to come, this strategy of a next commercial city in the deep south perhaps could be achieved with the Rajapaksa leadership. The years of discourse of the political-economic history of the nation led to shift the western province dominated economic gravity towards the outer regions. Namal Rajapaksa has taken this challenging task in his tenth year of political office. The political history of Sri Lanka is such that even the first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake left his political legacy to his son Dudley Senanayake to continue at the age of 41 years in 1952. While the context is different, the patterns could continue in the Sri Lankan political culture.
Strategic alignments to the Quad
In the larger ocean space, the US is moving more of its military assets towards the Indo-Pacific. USS Nimitz, the largest of its carrier warships arrived in the Indian Ocean for a passing exercise (PASSEX) with the Indian Navy off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands during this month. Together with USS Nimitz, there will be two other US aircraft carrier groups in the region, USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Ronald Regan, to counter the Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). There is a triangular power projection in the Indian Ocean from US, India and China which is more prone to conflict as the US allies formulate NATO-like military alignments to contain China.In a recent interview, Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S Jaishankar explained ‘the rise of China has impacted the entire world, more than other nation it has impacted its neighbour India. China’s significant growth is felt and understood by India’. The trilateral Malabar naval exercise could expand to a quadrilateral, bringing the Australian Navy along with India, US and Japan for the first time. This would push India towards a security tension with China as it is already negotiating its northern border dispute with China. India, at the same time will bring Australia to engage in a wider containment strategy in the Indian Ocean. The quadrilateral exercise will be seen by China as a thinly disguised strategy of containment. The consequence was rightly assessed by analyst Abhijit Singh, who said: “India should be cautious to such quadrilateral engagement without a cost-benefit exercise and commensurate gains in the strategic-operational realm. Further this exercise could be ineffective in the long term”.
The tense Indo-Pacific region provides a possible casus belli if containment of China intensifies. China may employ its newfound muscle to forcefully impose its will to resist even modest aggression in the region by the US. After four decades, there is a recent downward spiral in the relationship between US and China, escalating even to close down the Chinese consulate in Houston. The US, for its part will not abandon its allies opposed to Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific. According to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a recent statement, “unilateralism and bullying are forcing their way in the world. An international disorder is more possible than ever.” While the forces for contention remain, as explained by Minister Wang Yi, it is still important to explore possible strategic space to minimize the tension.
China is already in the Indian Ocean, which is far from their traditional ocean space. India has looked beyond Aden and Malacca choke points and has begun to make naval forays into the Pacific Ocean, rightly assessed by C. Raja Mohan in his book Samudra Manthan (Churning of the Ocean). For the objective of maritime strategic expansion, it requires allies and littorals that are strategically located. Several scholars argue that Sri Lanka was mapped by Beijing’s strategic circle to facilitate the Chinese expansion in the Indian Ocean. In the same way, India joins with Australia and Japan as its close maritime partners to expand its presence in the Pacific Ocean. Military logistics agreements and military exercises are initial steps to cement these strategic alignments.
US Agreements, ECT and Mattala Airport
In Sri Lanka, there are two important agreements with the US, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Compact (MCC) grant held up at the policy table. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s expert panel who reviewed the MCC agreement released its outcome to the public on 25 June at the height of the Parliamentary election. The review committee headed by Dr. L. Gunaruwan has drawn the attention of the President towards examples of many other nations that implemented the MCC had turned to worse whilst proceeding with it. According to Dr. Gunaruwan, the report was compiled professionally and independently. On page 10, the committee observed that a holistic analysis was not produced on the MCC by any authority in the past further stating on a footnote, although the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS) under the Ministry of Defence has submitted a report of observations in 2019 that was not made officially available to the committee. This was unfortunate and questions were asked as to why it was not made available. The US agreements will be on hold for some time due to domestic nationalist political constraints. In another development, the Indian led tripartite memorandum with Japan and Sri Lanka governments, to develop Colombo Port’s Eastern Container Terminal (ECT) is under review, and the Chinese built international airport in Mattala, a proposed joint venture with India during the previous regime is held up. The new developments could misconstrue as a pro-China position taken by government drifting away from Sri Lanka’s balanced foreign policy. Amidst the radical alteration of the maritime environment of Samudra Manthan by triangular powers US, India and China in the Indo-Pacific, the collective domestic developments in Sri Lanka could signal the return of Chinese influence with a much stronger footprint in the new Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime.Observer Research Foundation
China only watching, will not get involved in Sri Lankan election-Sinhala translation of Prevention and Control of COVID-19 launched
by Zacki Jabbar-July 30, 2020, 9:43 pmChina said yesterday that it was only watching the forthcoming general election in Sri Lanka as a true friend and would not get involved in it any manner.
Speaking to The Island on the sidelines of the launch of the translation of the book "Prevention and Control of COVID-19", from Chinese to Sinhala, Hu Wei, Charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy said "We don’t wait until Sri Lanka comes to us with a request. We just help. As for the general election, we are only observing as a true friend should do, but will not get involved in any manner."
Speaking earlier at the official launch ceremony, Wei said that China and Sri Lanka would discuss their experiences in combating the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and in turn would share it with the world. The objective of translating the book "Prevention and Control of COVID-19", into Sinhala, he noted, was to convey their message to the world.
Wei observed that the outbreak of the novel coronavirus had taken the entire world by surprise, as it transcends wealth, fame, age, gender and nationality.
"Our friendship is not just with the Sri Lankan leaders but also with the people. It is a touching story. We think what you think, we worry about what you worry and your concerns are our concerns", he noted.
Wei said that with a view to protecting the Sri Lankan people, the Embassy had donated thousands of masks to various institutions since the outbreak of COVID-19. "This includes the Health Ministry, 26 schools, five universities and three-wheel taxi drivers. Next week, we will provide a large number of masks to bus crews as well", he added
Lakshmana Saparamadu, who translated the book said that a special word of thanks was due to the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, without which, the project would not have been possible. He also thanked the Sri Lanka Cooperation Studies Centre of the Pathfinder Foundation, Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers and the Chinese Embassy in Colombo.
The book features a range of prevention and control measures to be adopted at different places such as homes, outdoors, workplaces, etc., and also contains scenario - based strategies, frequently asked questions, and addresses myths and misconceptions prevalent among the public. Consequently, it would serve to educate students, teachers and management of institutions where groups of people are concentrated such as rehabilitation centres and the general society.
"Prevention and Control of COVID – 19" is edited by Professor Wenhong Zhang, who is a leading Chinese expert on infectious diseases and was Head of the Shanghai COVID - 19 Treatment Expert Group. He is also the Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Huashan Hospital of Fudan University.
The book is a valuable tool to all readers and provides simple, practical, scientific and targeted information on prevention and control measures. It states - Breaking the chain of infection is the only way to control the spread of infectious diseases. However, implementation of control principles requires each of us to properly protect ourselves and actively cooperate with anti-epidemic work, in addition to relying on national prevention and control measures, so that this battle may come to an end faster.
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