The Sri Lankan army is essentially Sinhalese and it has an inherent hatred for Tamils

By  P C Vinoj Kumar    Editor01 Apr 2013

Posted 17-Jun-2011 Vol 2 Issue 24 Not all Sinhalese are evil. Neither is every Tamil a saint. But the fact remains that every soldier in the Sri Lankan army who fought the war against the LTTE during 2008-2009 was a Sinhalese. This background information is essential for any non-Tamil to understand how the Sri Lankan army can be so brutal against its own civilians. In Sri Lanka, Tamils are not treated on par with the Sinhalese. They are not inducted into the army, which is almost a 100 percent Sinhalese force. Horrific footage: Channel 4 footage shows a Lankan soldier getting ready to shoot a suspected Tamil militant in cold blood Are there any Tamils in the force at all? The then Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner in Chennai P M Amza refused to reveal the number of Tamils in the Lankan army when I sought the information from him in an email interview in 2007. I was a correspondent with Tehelka then. Having reported on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue for many years, I have noticed the deep-seated prejudice that most Sinhalese harbour against Tamils. In April 2009, Harinder Baweja, Tehelka’s Editor, Investigations, asked me to rush to Colombo to check out the ground situation as the war was entering its final stages. I applied for a visa. They kept me on tenterhooks for over a week. Sri Lankan consulate officials in Chennai asked me to contact their foreign ministry office in Colombo. I spoke with many officials, but nothing worked. Harinder did not understand what was happening. She kept saying that many Indian journalists had already landed in Colombo. Why then I was being denied a visa? It was true that Colombo rolled out the red carpet to many Indian journalists, but most of them toed the army line. They flew in army helicopters to the war front, and reported what the Lankan officials told them. My reporting on the Lankan issue had always been fair. I spoke to both sides - the Tamil militants and the army - which the Lankan officials did not apparently like. Was it the reason I was denied a visa? Or was it simply because I was a Tamil myself? Forget that. The point is, Colombo is a spoilt brat. She only wants good things said about her. She wants to be caressed and fondled at all times. She has been fed and pampered by India and China, who have an eye on her assets - which includes her strategic geographical position. She lives on their money. Like overbearing mistresses she has now come to believe that she can get away with anything, even mass murder. Nothing like this has been seen on television before. But Colombo has made a grave mistake in overestimating the influence of her friends. She has always been dim witted. India and China cannot go beyond a certain limit to save her. There is mounting evidence of Colombo’s war crimes. Channel 4, a British TV channel, which has aired horrifying video footage of the brutal acts of Sinhalese soldiers in the past, recently showed more clips that provide fresh evidence to haul up Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa before the International Criminal Court on charges of war crime. The new footages show naked bodies of Tamil women, who seem to have been sexually abused before being killed. Lewd remarks from the soldiers like, “I really want to cut her tits off, if no one was around,” bring out the beastly nature of the government forces. International community is losing its patience with Colombo with each passing day. Responding to the Channel 4 footage, Britain’s foreign office minister Alistair Burt has said: “Since the end of the conflict the UK has called for an independent, thorough and credible investigation of the allegations that war crimes were committed during the hostilities and the UK Government expects to see progress by the end of the year. If the Sri Lankan government does not respond we will support the international community in revisiting all options available to press the Sri Lankan Government to fulfil its obligations.” The Weekend Leader was first among the Indian media to forecast what was coming for Rajapaksa. In April, soon after the UN Panel submitted its indicting report on Sri Lanka, we wrote an article headlined, ‘Ground prepared for Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tryst with destiny’. We will continue to keep the spotlight on the issue till justice is rendered to the Tamils. Also Read: Voice of Jayalalithaa may be a dawn of new hope for Sri Lankan Tamils

Sri Lanka’s National Anthem Betrayed!

By Sharmini Serasinghe -March 31, 2013

Sharmini Serasinghe

“….In wisdom and strength renewed,

Ill-will, hatred, strife all ended,

In love enfolded, a mighty nation

Marching onward, all as one,

Lead us, Mother, to fullest freedom.”

These are the mighty words Lanka’s National Anthem ends with, which has no relevance today!

Perhaps it should now read as-

“….In ignorance and strength reduced,

Ill-will, hatred, strife all begun,

In hate enfolded, a once mighty nation

Marching backwards, all as one,

Lead us not, Mother, to perpetual hell.”

How many of us, especially those of our political leaders pay heed to the significance of our National Anthem when they so proudly stand up and pay lip service to it? Where is the “wisdom” in their leadership? Where is the “ill-will, hatred, strife all ended”? Are we a “mighty nation in love enfolded marching forward as one”? Where, Oh where is the “fullest freedom”?

Doesn’t our National Anthem sound hypocritical today? But yet we stand and salute it, uttering its words that hold no relevance today.

Had there been such a thing as a forthright political leadership with “wisdom” in Lanka today, we would be seeing all attempts at healing the wounds of our aggrieved brethren of the North, caused by mistakes of the past, that have plagued this nation for so long. This ought to have been the single most important action of such “wisdom” had we had it, upon ending a protracted and bloody civil war of 30 years.

Instead, in the absence of such “wisdom”, Lanka continues to stand today with open and gaping wounds camouflaged by bandages in the form of new infrastructure as in roads, highways, airports et al in the name of ‘development’- what better example of placing the cart before the horse!

To expect our political leadership to have such qualities as wisdom, vision and direction would be asking for too much. To them, warmongering appears to be a lucrative hobby, while kindling and keeping the embers of disharmony among the populace glowing and alive. After all, peace, unity and harmony in the country don’t bring in the filthy lucre. Wars do!

Not satisfied with polarizing us by our ethnicity alone, we now see a focus on widening the divide with a religious flavour as well. To them, our elected leaders, nothing is sacred. So we now have the sacred Saffron Robe being wielded to silence the ‘other’ into submission in the name of Buddhism, thereby paving the way for renewed “ill-will, hatred and strife” of a much greater magnitude.

Hot on the heels of an erratic group of unorthodox ‘Buddhist monks’ questionable by repute hitting the streets, spewing hate and venom against the ‘other’, there rises the ‘Aranthalawa Massacre Memorial Museum’ in the predominantly Muslim populated Eastern district of Ampara.  The scenes are depicted through gory sculptures of the massacred Buddhist monks in their death throes in a bus.

This tragic and unfortunate incident in Aranthalawa in 1987 indeed sent shock waves throughout the nation, but there were equally horrifying massacres that took place throughout the 30 years of war. Therefore, will such memorial museums be set up in each of those places where such horrific massacres took place, so we will keep bumping into them at every corner, keeping us constantly reminded of their significance and thereby keep the flames of ethnic disharmony permanently alive?

How can reconciliation ever be possible with such massacre sites being turned into permanent ‘reminders’? However if the objective of such, is to portray and preserve for posterity the evils of a ruthless terrorist outfit as the LTTE never to be repeated, then shouldn’t there be a balance in this exercise, by setting in motion the likes of the LLRC recommendations? Wouldn’t this prevent the need for such ‘memorials’ to sprout in the future as well?

It appears the only vision the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and its cohorts have is to ‘divide and rule’ no matter the cost. First we had the father of the SLFP SWRD Bandaranaike setting the trend with his infamous ‘Language Act’ that divided the Sinhalese and Tamils ad infinitum, the results of which we still suffer today. And now we have his successors taking his ‘policy’ to the next level by using religion to drive the citizenry further apart.

One need not be endowed with too much of a vivid imagination to compare our current set of ruling politicians to a group of bad actors. They appear to have been thrown on to a stage and asked to perform without a script. As a result they seem to think only the gallery comprising the SinhalaBuddhist vote base must be kept entertained with cheap gimmicks and other such, they like to see and hear, so they the actors with no talent could remain on stage for ever.

Why do we need to hold expensive elections to choose such leaders? The law of the jungle would have sufficed. Therefore let our bankrupt rulers not lead us up the garden path. Let us not get caught up in their vile schemes that will once again end up in chaos of blood-letting proportions. Lanka is not the playground of our elected political leaders and we are not their puppets.

If Lanka is supposed to be a Buddhist country based on the argument that the majority are Buddhists, then it is the bounden duty of the ‘majority’ sans the politicians to live and lead by example. The ‘majority’ must earn the right to call Lanka a Buddhist country if they must. Therefore it is up to the ‘majority’ to nip the mistrust that is being gradually made to take root amongst us in the bud.

The ‘majority’ if they are true Buddhists must display their magnanimity by showing a sincere willingness to accommodate those of other faiths as well and not denigrate them. Therefore if Lanka is a Buddhist country the ‘majority’ should be propagating peace, harmony and unity amongst all as portrayed through our National Anthem.

There are of course a handful of those who are willing to prostitute themselves, and be led by their noses by their so called leaders. We also find quite a number of them spewing their venom and hatred of the ‘other’ in the comment threads of the likes of the Colombo Telegraph, so why look further. These are the sycophants who see all of the Emperor’s New Clothes, even when he’s stark naked, and cheer him on.

All of us Lankans have suffered enough by being branded by our ethnicity and religion for too long. We have all had enough of being used by politicians for their own ends.  We have all been labeled as this and that ad nauseam for what purpose? Time to wake up Lanka!

Let us start living up to our National Anthem even at this late stage. We have the golden opportunity to realise this, even though symbolic, in the form of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year dawning in under a fortnight from now. It is a good place to start, so let us all Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims from this day forward, celebrate this event as one, as the Lankan National New Year. At least that way, when we next sing our National Anthem, we will know that we are not lying through our teeth!

*Sharmini Serasinghe was Director Communications of the former Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) under Secretary Generals Jayantha Dhanapala and Dr. John Gooneratne. She counts over thirty years in journalism in both the print and electronic media.

Dilith Jayaweera to disclose ‘secrets’ of success ! at the Management Conference 2013 - Transcending Failure a Story of Success on 2nd of April

This is not an April’s Fools Joke !!!

Dilith Jayaweera, then a humble folk , who travelled in a small  Motor Cycle to the Law Faculty of the Colombo University Campus, is today travelling in a Luxury BMW and wearing an expensive Rolex Watch.

Dilith is going to disclose the ‘secrets’ of his huge and sudden success at the Management Conference 2013 organised by the MBA Alumni of the Colombo University on 2nd April 2013, together with Tiran Alles’s Ceylon Today carrying on a media blitz to tell his ‘fairy tale story’, in the presence of popular Sunil Perera of Gypsies, successful businessman Dhammika Perera and war hero Shavindra Silva.

Dilith is expected to disclose all his ‘inner secrets’ and strategies of success including the following:

# How much and manner of profits made on the election campaign 2004 for President Kumaratunga ?

# How TV License for Derena TV was got from President Kumaratunga without any payment ?

# How much and manner of profits made on the 2005 election campaign of President Rajapaksa ?

# Profits made on advertising for government ministries and institutions and their names ?

# How much and the manner of profits made on the 2010 election campaign of President Rajapaksa ?

# As the patriot he is, how much taxes were paid on these profits made on these election campaigns ?

# How much profits he made in buying and selling of Shares in the Colombo Stock Exchange ?

# Prices at which Shares were purchased and sold to make such profits, and the names of Shares ?

# As the patriot he is, how much taxes were paid on these profits made on the Stock Exchange ?

# Whether he is an ‘economic man’ with his killing fields being the Colombo Stock Exchange ?

# How the Share prices in the Colombo Stock Exchange went up - automatically or manipulatively ?

# Manner in which he purchased the controlling interest in Liberty Plaza, including Pettah Land ?

# Whether Singaporean shareholder of Liberty Plaza and Pettah Land sold voluntarily part of Shares ?

# Whether he scandalized the SEC investigations resulting in two Chairman resigning in disgust ?

# How his Chairman in Colombo Land and Divasa Finance, Nalaka Godahewa became SEC Chairman ?

# How 17 SEC investigations have not been concluded, including involving some of his Companies ?

# Whether he manipulated the George Steuart’s Managing Director to sell his Shares ?

# Whether he attempted to get Kollupitiya market from Mayor using the powerful Secretary’s name ?

See SEC report here

Don’t travel to Tamil Nadu: Defence Ministry By Sunimalee Dias-Sunday, March 31, 2013 Defence Ministry officials are advising Sri Lankans against travelling to Tamil Nadu in the wake of recent attacks on Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan institutions there. Travel from Colombo to Chennai has also dropped by at least 30 per cent in recent weeks, travel trade sources said. �A two-hour meeting was held recently between ministry, airline and travel trade officials in Colombo. It is learnt that Indian visas issued in Colombo have seen a 10 per cent drop in the recent past. Travel Agents Association of Sri Lanka President Saman Premakumara said Defence Ministry officials had advised them to avoid Tamil Nadu as much as possible. Though this was not issued as a directive but only as an advice to the local industry in relation to Sri Lankans’ safety, the travel agents had been told to avoid all land travel in Tamil Nadu and permission was granted only for transit at the Chennai airport, he said. However, Mr. Premakumara said that in view of the concerns raised they had decided to avoid even transiting in Chennai. Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Travel Operators President Mahen Kariyawasam said the defence officials asked them to avoid the Chennai airport, even for those going on pilgrimages. They were advised to travel directly to Bodh Gaya or via New Delhi. He said these travel plans would be reviewed after a month.�SriLankan Airlines Chief Marketing Officer G.T. Jayaseelan said there had been a 20 per cent drop in air travel to Chennai. As a result, they had reduced flights by about 50 per cent. �Spicejet Colombo General Manager J.D. Weimen said they had seen a drop of around 25-30 per cent over the last three to four weeks due to the recent media reports on the unrest in Chennai against Sri Lankans. Air Indian Express Manager Tony Fernando said their load factor had dropped from 85 per cent to 50 per cent but they too were continuing to operate the same number of flights to Chennai.�Air India Express was bound to lose revenue, he said down from the monthly Rs. 50 million earnings to even less than Rs. 30 million this month. CPC loses US$ 8.9 M

The purchase of an additional 120,000 metric tonnes of fuel oil from a Singapore-based company has cost the cash-strapped Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) an additional whooping US$ 8.9 million (8,935,428), Ceylon Today can reveal. In spite of financial losses, the CPC has extended the agreement for further six months, to purchase another 480,000-560,000 MT at an inflated price, which would cost the CPC an additional US$ 1.5 million per shipment. According to the latest terms, which have been inserted to the agreement, PV Oil would receive an additional US$ 5 per barrel. Under these terms, the CPC would lose a minimum of US$ 1.5 million per shipment, according to the documentations of the agreement obtained by Ceylon Today. The trade unionists alleged the consignment was increased from 240,000 MT to 320,000 MT by the current management, which had executed an arbitrary decision taken by the ex-chairman. The trade unions alleged though the premium offered by the Singapore based company, PV Oil Singapore, was competitive and advantageous to the CPC, the payment terms in the agreement have been arbitrarily amended by the previous administrations. Trade unionist, Ananda Palitha of Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya said two ex-chairmen had manipulated the agreement in order to grant undue financial advantage to the Singaporean company. The trade unions alleged, in spite of financial losses incurred due to the previous agreement, the current administration has decided to extend the agreement with PV Oil Singapore for the purchase of another 480,000-560,000MT for the next six months. According to the latest terms, which had been inserted to the agreement, PV Oil would receive an additional US$ 5 per barrel. Under these terms, the CPC would lose a minimum of US$ 1.5 million per every shipment, the trade unions alleged. Earlier, when contacted, Minister of Petroleum Industries, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, said the government would negotiate with the Vietnamese Government over the agreement it had with the PV Oil, which is a Vietnamese State-owned company. "Since the agreement is a government-to-government agreement, we cannot arbitrarily end it," he said. Managing Director of the CPC, Susantha de Silva, was not available for comment. Repeated telephone calls to his mobile went unanswered.

2013-04-01

Colonizing Childhood and Zionist Pedagogy: Interview With Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Colonizing Childhood and Zionist Pedagogy: Interview With Prof. Nurit Peled-Elhanan

Singhe Atygalle-1 Apr, 2013

Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a professor of language and education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, peace educator and activist and co-laureate along with late Prof. Izzat Gazzawi of the 2001 Sakharov Prize for Human Rights and the Freedom of Speech awarded by the European parliament. Peled-Elhanan has translated Albert Memmi‘s Le racisme (1982) and Marguerite Duras‘ Écrire (1993) into Hebrew. In 1997, her daughter Smadar, aged 13, was killed during a suicide bomb attack in Jerusalem. “Terrorist attacks like this are the direct consequence of the oppression, slavery, humiliation and state of siege imposed on the Palestinians”, she told reporters in the aftermath of Smadar’s death. She and her family work with the Palestinian and Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace. Professor Peledhas critically dissected the ideological content of Israeli school books for the past five years. She considers children as victims of Israel’s militaristic, settler-colonial culture. Her radical views have exacted a professional cost. “University professors have stopped inviting me to conferences. And when I do speak, the most common reaction is, ‘you are anti-Zionist’”! “Change”, she said, “will only come when the Americans stop providing us with 1 million US dollars a day to maintain this regime of occupation, racism and supremacy”.

At a mass rally of Women in Black in September 1997, she addressed the gathering:

Wars are waged for no other reason than the insanity and megalomania of the so-called leaders and heads of state. For them children are no more than abstract notions: You kill one of mine, I will kill 300 of yours and the account is settled… “Satan has not yet devised a Vengeance for the death of a young child” said the Jewish poet Bialik, and that is not because Satan has no means to do so, but because after the death of a child there is no more death for there is no more life. The child takes the war and the future of the war into his little grave to rest with his little bones…I wish to revive two slogans that were misused by the Israeli right wing and have not been heard since the present government came to power. The first is that “Brothers are not to be forsaken”. Our brothers and sisters in the refugee camps and under occupation, who are deprived of food and livelihood and of all their human rights, should not be forsaken now. The other slogan is, “The uprooting of settlements tears the nation apart”. Uprooting of olive groves and vineyards, the demolition of houses and confiscation of land will tear apart our already endangered species of peace-seeking people and will bring it to extinction. And when this species no longer exists, there will be nothing left to write, nothing left to read, nothing left to say except for the muted story of slain youth.

This interview with Professor Peled took place during the fourth international session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP) in New York City, November 6-7, 2012. The theme for the fourth session was “US Complicity and UN Failings in Dealing with Israel’s Violations of International Law Toward the Palestinian People”. Speakers included former adviser to Palestinian negotiators Diana Buttu, Israeli historian Ilan Pappe, author and activist Ben White, the Palestinian Center for Human Right’s Raji Sourani and others.

The RToP was launched in Brussels on March 4^th 2009 chaired by Stéphane Hessel, ambassador of France and among the initiators were Ken Coates, Chairman, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Leila Shahid, General Delegate of Palestine to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg and Professor Peled. Speaking at the press conference in Brussels, Professor Peled remarked:

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Gota fills paddy lands in Colombo

Monday, 01 April 2013

The paddy and marsh lands near the Rattanapitiya Road in Boralesgamuwa have been taken under the purview of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) and have been marked to be filled, sources from the Survey Department said.

The paddy lands covering 2,000 acres in the area are irrigated by the Boralesgamuwa tank. A land between 50-80 acres has been taken over by the UDA.

It has been proposed to pay Rs. 3,000 for a purchase of land that has been acquired in this manner. Plans are always underway to develop the Bellanvila reserve and marsh, which is nearby as well.

It has been decided to give priority to beautifying the area under the development programme and walkways are to be set up for people to exercise as well.

Examining equipment at Mattala Airport low in quality

Monday, 01 April 2013

The equipment to check passengers at the Mattala Airport are manufactured in China and are of low quality while the Katunayake International Airport and other foreign airports have set up equipment from Germany’s Smith Company, which are of international standards.

It is the head of Sri Lanka Airport and Aviation Services Authority, Colonel Prasanna Wickremasuriya who has given permission to install Chinese equipment in violation of international quality standards to check passengers and baggage at the airport.

Germany’s Smith Company provides a lifetime warranty to its equipment while the Chinese equipment does not provide such guarantees.

The Rs. 300 lakh telephone goes silent

Monday, 01 April 2013

A sum of Rs. 300 lakhs had been spent on marking Consumer Day, which was held at the BMICH, under the patronage of Consumer Affairs and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando.

The main aim of the event was to launch a telephone number for consumers to lodge their complaints. Interestingly, when a telephone call is made by consumers, the telephone number that was launched at a cost of Rs. 300 lakhs does not respond.

SB launches operation to save the President by sacrificing PB

Monday, 01 April 2013 

Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake had recently stated that the monies allocated to state universities have been slashed by the Treasury as part of the conspiracy to get Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera removed from the post, government sources said.

Although the President had made an additional allocation of Rs. 4,000 million to the higher education sector, the Minister said that the Treasury had slashed the amount by Rs. 3,500 million.

However, sources from the Treasury say that allocations made for 2013 in many sectors are being slashed. The allocation for the higher education sector had also been slashed accordingly.

A senior official from the Treasury told us that the budgetary cuts are being carried out with the approval of the President in his capacity as Finance Minister.

The official said that the Higher Education Minister is well aware of this situation and that he had made the statement about the budgetary cuts to the higher education sector at the opening of the Wayamba University in order to save the President by sacrificing the Treasury Secretary.

The Minister said at the opening that although the President had allocated additional funds for state universities to admit more students, the Treasury had slashed it.