FUTA Can And Must Rise Above Unionism

By Malinda Seneviratne -

Malinda Seneviratne

The trade union action launched by the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) has entered its third month.  The universities are closed.  Negotiations between FUTA and relevant authorities do not indicate any signs of quick resolution.  FUTA is now threatening to boycott A/L paper marking and has won the support of various teacher unions to keep away as well.

It is heartening that academics have thought fit to embrace the larger issue of education policy, although it is claimed that this was necessary because the salary-hike demand was unreasonable and even indefensible.  Indeed, the FUTA thrust is a lot of ‘gimme, gimme, gimme’ with very little by way of giving on the part of the academic community.  The focus now is to get the Government to set aside for education an amount equivalent to 6% of the GDP.

Forgotten in the comparison of Sri Lanka’s allocations with countries in the region and those of similar economic status is the fact that the stand out cases cited are currently spending large chunks of the budget to do what Sri Lanka has done over several decades.  Such countries seem to have realized (rather late in the day) that basics must be put in place and therefore invested in.  Glossed over, also, is the fact that the GDP denominator is growing;Sri Lanka’s growth rate has averaged 8% over the past 6 years and the education-allocation numerator naturally is not keeping pace.  FUTA doesn’t have to worry about where the money would come from. The Government would have to either borrow (compromising the other strident demand by all parties to maintain fiscal discipline) or cut budgets for other sectors, for example health.  FUTA can say ‘cut wastage instead’, but that’s a suggestion that all aggrieved groups can make, and something that would require solid institutional safeguards that yield good transparency and accountability. The question is, can nothing be done before push, pull, sobriety and risk of losing power yield us better governance structures?

To begin with, even academics themselves have compromised FUTA’s cause in numerous ways, no one will deny that the Government pot doesn’t have the moral right to call the FUTA kettle ‘black’.  Incompetence, lack of vision, corruption, lack of integrity, an aversion to checks and balances etc., are common to both parties.  It is in this context that the worth of the 6%-demand needs to be assessed.

FUTA has not been unreasonable for the demand-sheet includes a time frame for the increase.  Where FUTA is lacking and the Government is silent is on the fact that current allocations are not derived from a coherent and forward-thinking policy paradigm.  Whether or not ‘6%’ is feasible or even makes sense, it is important to take into account the utter lack of logic in the overall education policy of successive governments.  FUTA naturally wants more bucks for salaries, other benefits and research.  More crucially, though, there seems to be total silence by both parties and their respective cheering squads about the details pertaining to the overall crisis in education. In other words, what’s being done (and not done) with the 1.9% or 2.9% (the rupee equivalent as proportion of GDP) is not being talked about enough.

There are gaping holes in the thrust that promises ‘no one will be left behind’.  Increasing dropout rates at the primary level, closing down of schools, lack of professionally qualified teachers etc., indicate that the foundational levels are cracking up.  Also, this country sorely needs a comprehensive occupational classification as part of overall development strategy which can inform meaningful resource allocation to the entire education system.  We have simply failed in the effort to ensure that graduates, say, have the opportunity to secure meaningful and dignified employment.    As of now, the mismatch and accumulated incompetency produces thousands of disgruntled graduates few would hire and who are ill-equipped in terms of skill, attitude and confidence to produce high quality performance.  They moreover mistakenly believe that the people who paid for their education must also find them jobs and pay their salaries as though it is a constitutionally enshrined right!  Getting a bigger slice of the budget-pie without a comprehensive review of the current allocation regime would amount to flushing more good money down the tube.

FUTA, saddled though it is with salary-fixated, self-serving members, is amply endowed with intellectual resources to see beyond trade union action.  The Government must recognize and make use of this political moment to engage in the broader and vital discussion on the comprehensive overhaul of education policy.  If either party plays brinkmanship, it would be an opportunity lost and this fact will not be lost on the people who probably will give up on both, to the larger detriment of the country.

The Nation Editorial

Premiership to a non Govigama person

Saturday, 01 September 2012 

The President believes that it would be beneficial to give the post of Prime Minister to a person who is not from the Govigama caste, a source from temple Trees said.

The source made this comment when inquired if a Cabinet reshuffle would take place on September 15^th. Over 80% of the persons in the Cabinet are Govigama Sinhalese. President Mahinda Rajapaksa is an extremist in nationalism and caste. Although there are doubts over him appointing a person who is not from the Govigama caste, the source said that the most trusted persons of the President are Ministers Prof. G.L. Peiris and Mervyn Silva.

Peiris represents the Karava caste and Silva is from the Durava caste. Several attempts made by the President to replace Prime Minster D.M. Jayaratne due to his ill health condition had to be shelved due to pressures from the First Family members and other senior government members.

The President at the time considered Ministers Anura Priyadharshana Yapa and Dinesh Gunawardena for the post of Prime Minister, but had to defer the plan after his advisors raised objections to such a move.

However, the Premier has been admitted to a private hospital in Sri Lanka due to his ill health. Jayaratne was unable to attend the ceremonies organized for the sacred Kapilavasthu relics although he is also the Minister for Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs.

In this backdrop, the President has decided to immediately decide on a Prime Minister and make a change in the post soon after the provincial council elections on the 8^th.

The source from Temple Trees said that Peiris is now at the top of the list of names for the post of Prime Minister since he would not be a threat to Namal Rajapaksa and would not a pose a future political challenge since he represented the Karava caste.

However, he added that the President was also looking at Silva since he is one of the most obedient disciples of the Rajapaksa family. Hence, he said there would not be any surprise if Silva’s name was associated with the post of Prime Minister.

While Silva’s appointment to the post of Prime Minister would be humorous to many, a political animal like Rajapaksa would make the move after thorough calculations.

The official explained that by appointing a person from the Durava caste as Prime Minister Rajapaksa would eliminate any future challenge that Vimukthi Kumaratunge could pose on Namal.

Vasan opposes training of Sri Lankan military personnel in India

 
B. KOLAPPAN-CHENNAI, September 1, 2012

Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan protested against the training of two Sri Lankan military personnel in India and demanded that they be sent back immediately

G.K. Vasan. Photo: M. Vedhan

Union Shipping Minister and Congress strongman in Tamil Nadu G.K. Vasan on Saturday added his voice to the growing clamour against the training of Sri Lankan military personnel in India and demanded that the two officers, now in the country, should be sent back immediately.

Mr. Vasan said his party unit in the State was in full agreement with other political parties on this issue and would soon meet Defence Minister A.K. Antony to press the demand.

“The Congress party in the State is firm that Sri Lankan Army officials should not be given training in the country and the two officials who are already being trained in the Defence Staff Services College, Wellington, should be sent back immediately,” he told reporters in Chennai.

He was here in connection with the curtain raiser for the International Exhibition on Shipping, Ports, Maritime Technology and Logistics to be held in Goa in October.

Almost all political parties have expressed their objection to the training given to the two Sri Lankan officials. DMK president M. Karunanidhi, a constituent of the Congress-led UPA, and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to halt the training going on in Wellington.

Asked about the Union Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju’s clarification that the training was going on because Sri Lanka was a friendly nation, Mr. Vasan said the Congress would see to it that such training did not take place in the future.

“I have already discussed the issue with Mr. Antony and will meet him again to find a permanent solution to the issue,” he stressed.

Mr. Vasan accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of crippling the functioning of the Parliament with ulterior political motives on the alleged coal scam, saying it was the Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled States who were opposed to the auctioning of coal blocks in the beginning.

“When a new system was introduced, they again raised their objection. They have no motive other than opposing the Congress government. Parliament is not a place for creating trouble, but a forum for discussing people’s issues. The attitude of the BJP is anti-people and anti-development,” he alleged.

Munneswaran battle: A drama staged by the President and Mervyn

Saturday, 01 September 2012

The recent incidents related to the animal sacrifices that were to be carried out at the Kali kovil initiated by Minister Mervyn Silva were part of a media circus launched by the President and Mervyn, it is learnt.

The media circus was initiated following advice from the Presidential advisors to divert the attention from the public dissention growing against the government.

The President had asked Mervyn to take charge of the protests against the animal sacrifices in Munneswaran soon after hearing from the intelligence units that the JHU was planning a massive protest with the participation of the maha sangha against the animal sacrifices.

It is on a Presidential directive that Mervyn had called a media briefing where said that he would sacrifice himself if the animal sacrifices were to go ahead in Munneswaran. The Presidential Media Unit had asked many media institutions to give wide publicity to the story.

After instigating Mervyn to act in this manner, the President directed the IGP to get an enjoining order from courts against the protest. It is one of Mervyn’s supporters who have worked at getting the consent of the chief priest of Munneswaran.

After reaching a consensus, Mervyn had asked the President to make a request to stop the animal sacrifice saying the chief priest of the kovil would agree.

Therefore, the chief priest’s statement is given wide publicity according to the plan.

Mervyn had not attended last week’s Cabinet meeting and had taken the relevant people to meet the President to advice them on how to proceed with the plan.

It is then that the President had made the request from the chief priest of the kovil to not hold the animal sacrifices when the sacred Kapilavasthu relics have been brought down to the country.

However, as previously agreed, the chief priest of the Munneswarn kovil announced that the animal sacrifices would not be held making President Rajapaksa the Sinhala Buddhits leader of the people.

Stiff Sentence for Former Gujarat Minister

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Ajit Solanki/Associated PressFormer Gujarat minister and a member of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party Maya Kodnani, left, is led by police on her arrival at a special court in Ahmedabad, India, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012. 

NEW DELHI, India – A top lieutenant of one India’s most powerful politicians was sentenced to 28 years in prison Friday for her role in a deadly attack that killed at least 94 people during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Mayaben Kodnani, a state legislator and former state education minister, was given a 28-year prison term after being convicted of murder, arson and conspiracy. The other 31 defendants were given decades-long prison terms, including one who must remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Ms. Kodnani was a confidant of Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s chief minister and a top contender to become the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for prime minister in national elections scheduled for 2014. Mr. Modi has long been plagued by accusations that he discouraged police from protecting Muslims during the riots, accusations he has denied.

Ms. Kodnani’s conviction and long prison sentence are a blow to Mr. Modi’s efforts to distance himself from responsibility for the deaths and could derail his campaign to lead the Bharatiya Janata Party. Since Muslims represent nearly 15 percent of India’s population, no political party can afford to alienate them entirely.

The judge in the case, Jyotsnaben Yagnik, said that Ms. Kodnani and Babu Bajrangi, a member of a Hindu hard-line organization, were the key conspirators in the massacre of mostly women and children in the Muslim neighborhood of Naroda Patia.

Akhil Desai, the prosecutor in the case, said that Judge Yagnik intended the long sentences to serve as a warning. “The judge observed that the riots were very brutal and the punishment should be such that such offenses should never occur again,” Mr. Desai said.

The Gujarat riots, which claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people, are the first in India’s history to be followed by significant prosecutions and convictions. Perhaps because of that response, there has been no communal violence on the scale of the Gujarat riots, although ethnic attacks in Assam in recent months have claimed at least 78 lives.

A version of this article appeared in print on 09/01/2012, on page A8 of the NewYork edition with the headline: India: 32 Sentenced Over Deadly Gujarat Riots in 2002.

Is Ranil Gay?

By Indi Samarajiva - 

Indi Samarajiva

It is commonly said that Ranil Wickremesinghe is gay, but rarely published. Now that’s starting to bubble up. I saw it on W3 Lanka English, and now on Abyss. Oh, I see where it’s coming from. Ranil’s charge sheet (from his own party) includes allegations of sexual harassment, against men.

The United National Party (UNP) dissidents have alleged that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has attempted to seduce several young male politicians to have homosexual relations with him, according to a ‘charge sheet’ handed over to the party’s general secretary Tissa Attanayake, last week.

Charge number 16 of the document refers to an alleged incident in which the UNP leader had tried to seduce Matara district UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana into ‘an illicit homosexual relationship with him.’ “When the MP had refused to oblige, the UNP leader has resorted to punishing MP Pathirana by suspending his party membership,” the document stated.

“Sexual overtures of the party leader had exposed the party to dire consequences, and parents are reluctant to send their young male children to participate in party activities,” it has been alleged. (Lakbima News

Gayness

Being gay is totally fine. Even in Sri Lanka you can be gay, as long as you marry a woman. I think this is horrible (girls I know have married gay guys in arranged marriages and it was predictably terrible and short lived). What I mean is that being homosexual is fine even if it’s not accepted by some cultures. Sexual harassment and assault is not fine in any abstraction.

Gay Politicians

In Sri Lanka it’s also quite possible to be a gay politician, as I wrote in The Leader, “In Sri Lanka sex ‘scandals’ are simply not discussed. Extra-marital affairs, homosexuality, pre-marital rape, these all get brushed under the rug.” Again, homosexuality is not in the same category as rape or affairs, it just placed there culturally.

Matara MP Mangala Samaraweera is everything but out. It was commonly said that CBK’s brother Anura Bandaranaike was gay. This didn’t interfere with either of their careers, as it shouldn’t, though for the wrong reasons here. Nobody is out and gay, and nobody does anything about gay rights. It’s just ignored. People joke about it, but no one really cares. Of course, gay men don’t really have sons or found dynasties likeMahinda.

Is Ranil Gay?

Ranil being gay is something everybody knows but, of course, nobody really knows. I met him once and he was in a swimming pool full of young men, but maybe they were bodyguards. I don’t care. I dislike him cause he loses elections, his sex life is his business.

By making it an issue of harassment, however, these dissident UNPers have made it an issue. If this was a woman I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t get play, but now it is. Do I think that he letched on this MP? Honestly, Ranil comes off as more asexual than homosexual. Maybe he did. Maybe it’s just an attack. I’m pretty sure that Ranil is gay, but I don’t think he’s a perv. But who knows. Ranil’s not out, but the persistent rumors are now in print.

Courtesy  http://indi.ca/

Forty five missing from Maligawatte in 12 months

Saturday, 01 September 2012 

About 45 youths from the Maligawatte area have reportedly gone missing last year. The Grand Police had recently handed over the body of one Ranzin, who had gone missing, to his father saying he had dies of a heart attack while in police custody.

Family members of the 44 remaining missing persons say that they are yet to receive any information about their loved ones. The police have so far not held any proper investigations into these missing persons although families have reported to the police about their missing loved ones.

UNP Western Provincial Councilor Mujabir Rahuman says that apart from abductions and reports of missing persons, many youths in the Maligawatte area are constantly arrested by the police and that charges are framed against them for allegedly possessing narcotics or weapons. He said that court cases are then filed against these youths.

Doctor injured in attack by Berty’s supporters in ICU

POLICE TORTURE DOCUMENTARY IN SRI LANKA 2012

Some thoughts on the Buddha and his

teaching

Doctor injured in attack by Berty’s supporters in ICU

Dr. Chamila Herath, injured yesterday night in an attack by a group of supporters of UPFA chief ministerial candidate for North – Central PC election who were decorating an election office, has been admitted to the neurosurgery section of the ICU at Anuradhapura Hospital say hospital sources. He was being treated at Ward 11 when he was brought after the attack.

The sources say the injured doctor is not affiliated to any political party but the perpetrators had attacked him using their political power.

When Dr. Herath was driving to the hospital last night the group that had been decorating the election office had obstructed him. When he said it was necessary for him to go to the hospital the group had opened the door of the car and had attempted to drag the doctor out of it. When the doctor locked up the doors the perpetrators had hit him on his face and head through open shutters. Several had hit the windscreen with poles they carried and had smashed it while more than twenty people had surrounded the car and battered it.

The doctor, despite injuries to his head and face, had driven the car to the hospital. The doctors in the hospital had admitted Dr. Chamila Herath to ward 11 and had complained to Anuradhapura police station.

The doctors in all the hospitals in the area are engaged in a strike action protesting against the inhuman attack and demand that all 20 to 25 persons who were involved in the attack should be arrested. They warn that if the perpetrators are not arrested they would launch a continuous strike from the 3rd.

The government is attempting to stop the strike by doctors spreading a false story that one Basnayake, the person alleged to have led the attack, had been arrested. However, when inquired by doctors, the police had stated that no such person had been arrested.

Sri Lanka: Enforced disappearances have become a permanent weapon in the arsenal of suppression of dissent

In 2010 the United Nations declared 30 August as the International Day of the Victims of
Enforced Disappearances. Every year this day is commemorated to raise awareness on the
fact that enforced disappearances of persons is a crime and should not be used as a tool to
deal with situations arising out of conflicts. This year too, when this Day is commemorated
people all over the world will call for justice for the innumerable number of victims of enforced

disappearances in many parts of the world and to end impunity.
NfR Sri Lanka which is a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders joins
hands on this Day with all the people who love democracy and human rights by registering its
condemnation of the continuance of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka with impunity. Over
the past four decades successive governments in Sri Lankan have used enforced
disappearances as a tool to suppress legitimate dissent and as a method of fighting internal
armed conflicts.
From the time of the first insurrection of Sinhala youth in April 1971, till the end of civil war in the
North and East in May 2009 and even thereafter, successive governments in Sri Lankan have
used enforced disappearances as a weapon of combat. In 1971 a large number of Sinhala
youth were arrested and killed. Hundreds were burnt to death or killed and bodies disposed of
without any inquest proceedings. Again between 1988 – 1989 thousands of Sinhala youth were
kidnapped on suspicion and summarily executed. That was during the height of what is called
the ‘period of terror’ (the beeshana samaya). Throughout the war with Tamil militant
organizations since the early 1980s, enforced disappearances of Tamil youth was a major
military strategy adopted by the Sri Lankan State to deal with their militancy. Hundreds, if not
thousands, of militants and civilians who either surrendered or had been taken into custody
by the Sri Lankan security forces during and after the war ended in May, 2009, disappeared
without any trace.
Sri Lanka has the most number of the unsolved cases of disappearances reported to the United
Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances up to date. Repeated
requests by the Special Rapporteur of the UN on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances to
be allowed to visit Sri Lanka have been ignored during the past 4 years.

Several Presidential Commissions of Inquiry had been appointed since 1994 to inquire and
investigate into incidents of disappearances of persons, to identify the perpetrators for
necessary action and to make recommendations on the steps that need to be taken to prevent
such incidents in the future. These Commissions were also asked to make recommendations for
relief to the victim families of the disappearances. Though the reports of the four Commissions
appointed between 1994 and 1998 had been made public, hardly any action has been taken
against most of the perpetrators nor had any action taken on the measures recommended to
prevent such incidents happening in the future. The reports of the subsequent Commissions on
Disappearances are yet to be published and disappearances of persons continue though not as
widespread as before.
The recently concluded Commission on the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation (LLRC)
recommended that the incidents of disappearances that had happened during and after the end
of the war be inquired into, the government is still to take action in this regard. The behaviour of
successive Sri Lankan governments in allowing enforced disappearances to continue and
protecting perpetrators, show that this is a deep routed crime which the State condones and
does not want end. The reluctance of the Government to ratify the UN Convention of
Disappearances of Persons, confirms this view.
It is a well known fact that the law enforcement bodies in Sri Lanka have now become
ineffective and there is a complete breakdown in the rule of law. The LLRC had recognized
this situation and has recommended that the Police Department be taken out of the Defence
Ministry and placed under the supervision of an independent Police Commission. Even this
recommendation is still to be implemented. Until there is a reform of the political system to bring
about the restoration of the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the independence of
the police service and the human rights commission, violations of human rights and
disappearances of persons will continue with impunity.
NfR hopes to, in collaboration with like minded groups, continue to collect, document and
disseminate information on enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka, and work towards making
enforced disappearances in the country, a thing of the past.

FUTA Responds To Misleading Information And clarifies Current Status

By FUTA -

The FUTA Trade Union Action launched on the 4^th of July 2012 has entered its 3^rd month, and there is much speculation concerning the current status of negotiations between FUTA and the government. In order to address some of the misleading information regarding FUTA’s current position, we wish to clearly clarify our stand at this present moment.

During the last two months, FUTA’s demands have been gaining wide, public support. FUTA has managed to awaken public interest in the current status of education in the country. This has been evident in the public response to FUTA’s signature campaign where up to date, 150,000 signatures have been collected and in the support FUTA has been receiving from other civil society organizations. FUTA was also able to organise a massively successful rally on the 23^rd of August at Hyde Park, Colombo where many individuals and organisations publicly expressed their solidarity with FUTA’s campaign to save state education.

FUTA at the same time has been engaging with the government in discussions to resolve the ongoing trade union action. At this point FUTA has engaged in 6 rounds of discussions with government representatives including Minister of Higher Education, Secretary to the President, Mr Lalith Weeratunga and Minister Basil Rajapakse. At the last meeting with Minister Basil Rajapakse the government proposed the idea of a cabinet paper to express the government policy on education spending, the problem of recruitment and retention of qualified academics, university autonomy and politicisation. The Minister also indicated that rescinding arbitrary and unconstitutional circulars can be facilitated, while he agreed to suspend the CIMA programme and to initiate a consultative process for the leadership training of new university entrants. A meeting with Dr.P.B. Jayasundera, Treasury Secretary to finalise the salary issues was also promised. This fell short of our comprehensive demands.

However, the only concrete action to emerge from these series of discussions is a Note to Cabinet on state policy on education presented by Minister Basil Rajapakse and Minister S.B Dissanayake. This was only one aspect of the solution proposed at the last meeting. The Cabinet note is extremely disappointing for two major reasons: the government has failed to even accept at a policy level the need to increase education expenditure in line with the international benchmark of 6%. Also, a permanent solution to the salary issue has not been addressed in the proposal to establish a special category for university teachers. Although Minister Basil Rajapakse indicated that the committee to look into the establishment of a special category would be headed by either the President’s Secretary or a Senior Minister, this has been replaced in the Cabinet note by Minister S.B. Dissanayake. This is an extremely worrying development since Minister Dissanayake has consistently maintained an intransigent position with regard to resolving the problems of university teachers.

FUTA cannot at this stage be satisfied with anything less than a set of clear commitments from the government regarding education policy and addressing the long standing salary anomalies of university teachers.

FUTA also wishes to point out to the public that as an organisation that respects democratic principles, decisions such as continuation of trade union action are not made by a few, but in consultation with its membership. Therefore, it requests the public not to believe statements made by some sections of the government regarding the status of the trade union action. These are deliberately misleading statements made in attempts to turn the public against FUTA. We reiterate that the FUTA trade union action will continue until our demands are met.

Further, FUTA reiterates that it is mindful of its national responsibilities and the trust that the public has placed on FUTA. Each signature that has been placed on the petition, each letter of support, each statement in public, each blessing that individual citizens of Sri Lanka have bestowed on academics in the streets is of tremendous value. FUTA will not betray that trust and belief and has pledged its commitment to see this struggle through to victory. That victory will not be just for the academic community but for all Sri Lankans who value education and who wish for a better future for the children and youth of this country.

Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri

President, FUTA

30^th August 2012

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