The Choice Ahead

By Dayan Jayatilleka -May 30, 2013

Dr Dayan Jayatilleka

Yugoslavia was a sister country of Sri Lanka; a fellow founder of the Non Aligned Movement in that country’s capital Belgrade in 1961. Yugoslavia no longer exists. The breakup of that country resulted from a chain reaction that commenced with the dramatic change of the Yugoslav Constitution promulgated by the sagacious socialist Marshal Tito and the drastic reduction of the powers of the autonomous province of Kosovo followed by the dissolution of the Kosovo assembly in 1990. Sri Lanka must not proceed down the same path which leads over a precipice.

The country stands at a crossroads. A parliamentary victory for the JHU bill will complete the negative process which commenced with Sinhala Only in 1956 and the distortion in 1972 of the laudable shift to a Republic with mono-linguistic and mono-religious hegemony. If ’56 and ’72 were paving stones for the Tamil Eelam project, the passage of the JHU bill to abolish the 13^th amendment will complete the process of the legitimisation of secessionism.

A victory for the JHU will also cast a pall over the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and guarantee Sri Lanka’s defeat at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2014. It will embarrass our allies Russia and China and drive South Africa and much of the Non-Aligned Movement away from us. It will irreversibly discredit and radically isolate the country and the Sinhalese, regionally and internationally. In short, in terms of Sri Lanka’s national interest, it will be the single most self-destructive act this parliament could perform.

Conversely, a defeat of the JHU bill will enable Sri Lanka to put the stigma of majoritarian extremism behind it. Such a victory will be the necessary complement of the military victory of May 18^th 2009 and the diplomatic victory of May 27-28, 2009.  Having militarily defeated the secessionist minoritarian fascism of the LTTE, Sri Lanka has a chance to defeat majoritarian extremism of the JHU-NFF-BBS politically.

In the run-up to the parliamentary battle, is a dual debate in Sri Lankan politics. The Sinhala polity is divided between on the one hand, those who wish to abolish the 13^th amendment or delete land and police powers from it and on the other, those who see fit to proceed, however reluctantly, with elections to the Northern Provincial Council without attempting any drastic truncation of the powers devolved upon it. The Tamil polity is divided between, on the one hand, those who are keen to contest the Northern PC election and regard the 13^thamendment as worthy of defence, and on the other, those who regard the 13^th amendment as hardly worth the paper it is written on.

What is missing in the picture is any drawing together and mutual reinforcement between the moderates or pragmatists on both sides of the ethnic divide who defend, however reluctantly, the provincial council and the prospect of elections to it in September.

What is also missing is the engagement of the intelligentsia, especially civil society intelligentsia, in either supporting the Sinhala moderates in this important battle or in building a bridge between the Sinhala and Tamil moderates in defence of the existing system of devolution of power to the provinces.

The lack of a structured dialogue between the Sinhala and Tamil parliamentary moderates across Government and Opposition lines, deprives each other of vital support and partnership.

That, taken together with the absence of engagement in the ongoing battle by the intelligentsia prevents the construction or reconstitution of a zone of moderate opinion in polity and society.

The battle over the 13^th amendment provides an enormous opportunity in the battle of ideas, because the arguments adduced in favour of abolition or gutting are symptomatic of the most retrogressive notions within our society ranging from the conservative to the militarist, the neoconservative to the racist. Grappling with and combating these ideas provides a fine opportunity for asserting the values of reason, democracy and pluralism.

Why then isn’t the battle being joined? The answer is political and ideological sectarianism. There are important precedents. When SWRD Bandaranaike was striving to defend the pact with Chelvanayakam, the powerful, union-based left was absent from the fray. Had it thrown its weight behind SWRD, the history of this country may have been significantly different and better.

Contemporary sectarianism takes two forms. The first is that the 13^th amendment doesn’t deserve defending because the Tamil people need and deserve something considerably beyond it. The second is that the hole is on Mahinda Rajapaksa’s side of the boat, or that he is patently insincere and merely playing ‘good cop’ to the far right’s ‘bad cop’.

The first argument is easily dispensed with. The TNA should contest the election even if the council is gutted of most of its powers, just as one should not abandon even the skeleton of a house that is one’s patrimony simply because someone has made off with its roof.

The second argument, even if true is irrelevant. The opportunity for a politico-ideological battle against neo-conservatism, racism and ethno-religious fascism is far too important to be contingent upon a reading of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s politics, let alone speculation about his psyche.

Resistance against the JHU’s counter-reform bill provides the only opportunity that has arisen in years, for the SLFP parliamentary group to defeat the parties of the extremist fringe which have ideologically dominated the UPFA administration and distorted its discourse.

If however, the bad guys win, the centre of gravity of Sri Lankan politics and society will shift still further to the right. It may even impact upon the choice of candidacy. If the neo-con project with its totalitarian notion of national security succeeds, the present dispensation will appear in a roseate afterglow as an era of tolerance and democracy.

The battle to defeat the JHU-NFF-BBS attack on provincial devolution is thus utterly decisive. Against such a backdrop, only an aficionado of black humour would appreciate as I do, an invitation I received in the mail for a conclave at which the best and the brightest of Sri Lanka’s cosmopolitan intelligentsia are scheduled to discuss and debate such exquisite irrelevancies as “The Past in the Future: the ethical future of the archive in the Dotcom age”, “Ethical Reconstruction: Primitive Accumulation in the Apparel Sector?”, “Philanthrocapitalism, Philanthronationalism: the ethics of corporate gifts in post-conflict Sri Lanka” and “On Heterophobic and Heterophilic Casteism and anti-Casteism”. Where the topic is relevant, such as “Diplomacy at the UN Human Rights Council”, the sole designated presenter is Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International (which exclusivity is no fault of either Ms Foster or AI).

No Gramscian ‘organic intellectual’ stuff or words for a Modern Prince, here. If these are the good guys and gals and this is their discourse, no wonder the bad guys are way ahead: they have the advantage of being organic and sounding ‘national popular’.

Ranil unveils Third Republican Constitution proposal

By Ashwin Hemmathagama – Our Lobby Correspondent-May 30, 2013
The country’s main opposition and single largest political party the United National Party (UNP) yesterday unveiled its plans for a third republican constitution that envisages the abolition of the presidency, the establishment of a new constitutional court, power devolution, anti-crossover legislation and stringent anti-corruption laws and fiscal oversight mechanisms.

Ranil Unveils Third Republican Constitution Proposal by nelvely

Why The 13th Amendment Is Necessary

By R.M.B Senanayake -May 30, 2013

R.M.B. Senanayake

The Government seems to be bent on amending the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. The JHU 19th Amendment wants to repeal the entire chapter in the 13th Amendment titled Chapter XVIIA which sets up the Provincial Councils. In short it wants to abolish Provincial Councils.

The Government seems to want only to repeal the police powers and the Land powers given to the Provincial Councils and to amend the clause which requires the approval of the all the Provincial Councils to any proposed laws which affect the functions or the Provincial Councils. It wants to change such required approval of the Provincial Councils to read as a majority of the Provincial Councils and not to all the Councils.

But any unilateral changes in the 13th Amendment will only open the way to the whole ethnic issue including the right to secession. The 13th Amendment was the result of an agreement between the leaders of the Sinhalese and the leaders of the Tamils. Prabakaran who wanted only Eelam was pressurized by the Indian government to agree to the Provincial Councils.  The TNA and the other Tamil parties are no longer demanding Eelam although they ask for 13 plus. Now by unilaterally changing the 13th Amendment we will free both the Indian government and the Tamil leadership to canvass for an alternative solution to the Ethnic problem including Eelam.

The grievance of the Tamil people was that they had no voice in the governance of their areas of habitation and that there was discrimination by the Sinhalese dominated central government both in the allocation of funds as well as the allocation of jobs in the public service and in the use of the Tamil language. The  Tamil people in the two Tamil majority provinces had almost no say in the decisions that affected and shaped their lives when the whole country was governed from the Center and decisions made at the Center were made by Sinhalese officials and Sinhalese politicians.

Bilingualism with English as the link language is neither economical nor practical. It is not practical since the official language is the language of record and one can’t keep records in two languages in a practical manner. The only economic  and practical solution in my opinion is to make Tamil the official language in the North and East and devolve as many day to day activities of the State public services  to the Provincial Councils and use English as the link language of communication between the Center and the Tamil speaking Provincial Councils.

So the rationale of  the 13th idea in the Amendment  was  to create two levels of government so as to empower majority Tamil provinces to manage their affairs particularly in matters of local development including the police function and land alienation.

These provinces are constitutionally empowered to make laws through an elected Provincial Council and they were administered through a Chief Minister and a Cabinet of Ministers drawn from the Provincial Council, supported by a provincial public service. The Provincial Councils have legislative competences (both exclusive and concurrent) on most of the local service delivery matters including agriculture, education, community development, housing, health services. There is also a system of local government to facilitate popular participation in governance. In addition there is to be a developed administrative structure in the form of provincial administration, similar to the former ‘kachcheri’ but under the Provincial Council.

The Provincial Councils seek to empower the local communities to be responsible for the local governance. This would address the fears of ethnic dominance which have been expressed by the Tamils by removing some powers and resources from the centre to the provinces.

Since the 13th Amendment was passed there have been radical changes in the Constitution by way of the 18th Amendment. It has removed virtually all the checks and balances on executive power thereby putting to rest the notion of constitutionalism- limited government.

Executive power however has continued to be legitimized ostensibly through the Constitution. The Executive however is very conscious of the need to trace back the exercise of its absolute authority to the original democratic Constitution despite the fact that the values of that constitution are no longer having any impact on the exercise of executive power today.

But the Executive Presidency doesn’t like any dilution of power to the Provincial Councils. As long as the ruling political party controls these Provincial Councils the writ of the Executive President will hold even among these Councils. But this dominance through a political party will not work in the Northern Provincial Council. So the present regime wants to re-centralize power. The Divineguma Law was another law to monopolize political power in the ruling party, by-passing  the Provincial Council system with power and authority flowing directly from the Central Government Ministry straight through to the field officials avoiding the Provincial Council hierarchy.

Under the regime political competition has been muzzled as witnessed in the recent questioning of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation officials for a seminar on how to strengthen the Opposition political party. Civil society too is increasingly intimidated, co-opted or banned from carrying out certain activities like the promotion of human rights by the state. Over time the state seeks to occupy the entire public sphere crowding out both political actors and the civil society.

Apart from political and social control, the state also may be uninhibited in following policies favoring certain groups or parties or communities while undermining others through policy and legislation. In keeping with dominant economic model of the regime the state considers itself the main agent of development. This model advocates comprehensive centralized exercise of power as in the former Communist States. The desire of the ruling party and president to centralize and monopolize power is primarily driven by the need to exercise unlimited control over state resources in order to dispense patronage to political supporters (both individuals and ethnic communities).The monopolization of political power by the ruling party has helped to co-opt the minority political parties like the Muslim Congress or the Ceylon Workers Congress to be co-opted to the government. But the removal of limits on the exercise of executive power to dispense patronage inevitably lead to problems in such coalitions. The system of allocation of resources and development opportunities to individuals and different parts of the country on the basis of political patronage instead of objective criteria will be undermined if there is devolution of power and allocation of resources of the State through an independent Finance Commission. Hitherto the Finance Commission has been a mere figurehead as the allocation of resources to the Provincial Councils is done by the Ministry of Economic Development.

The system of political patronage in appointments promotions has excluded many people who voted or supported the Opposition or were from the ethnic minorities from government services creating a feeling of marginalization among them.  It is this strong feeling of exclusion that has led to the perception that one had to have one of one’s kind in a key political public office for him to access government services and opportunities.

Inefficiency of government under centralization

Under the present system of centralized government there is often need for constant communication between the officers at the Capital and its implementation officers on the ground. This back and forth communication in which field officers must constantly refer matters to the Capital for decision making creates serious inefficiency in the system thus undermining development. Locating decision- making and planning in the centre while implementation takes place in the field undermines co-ordination as the various technical departments operate independently and also refer matters to the centre independently without adequate consultation among each other. Horizontal co-operation in the field is thus undermined by the need to defer to a faraway superior in decision- making. The MTV regularly spotlights numerous failures of government in the field despite the government having spent money. Rope bridges collapse, irrigation channels are not cleared, dams are not repaired and sluices decayed but all these repairs have to be carried out by central government field officers and there is no monitoring of their failures by the central government officials in the capital.

Centralized administration also undermines accountability as the field officers can easily shift the blame for their defective implementation or misuse of resources to their superiors at the centre. The identities of the responsible officers at the centre are normally vague. Decentralization overcomes these challenges by getting the field officers to report to a regionally based superior be it the Pradesiya Sabha or the Provincial Council. Centralization excludes the citizen from decision-making in planning and implementation as well as the field officers. Centralized systems presuppose that the citizen has no ability to effectively contribute to developmental matters. It ignores the fact that the citizen is more aware of their needs, is more interested to support the development programmes in their area and that opportunities for popular participation are necessary in order to develop democratic culture. Centralization denies the local population a genuine platform for participation as the public officers at the centre are far removed from the citizens and not bound by the views or suggestions made to field officers who know the ground situation better. By this we mean that the era where hospitals, schools and other facilities were built, without the requisite operational resources to enable there utilization must come to an end.The effectiveness and efficiency with which public services are provided to support inclusive growth, economic innovation and competitiveness and maintaining quality public services will be key to the success of the country. Public services have been defined as any of the common, everyday services provided by national and local governments with the aim of improving social welfare.

UN Judge Rules In Long-Running Investigator's Case

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 29, 2013 2:32 PM

GENEVA (AP) — After nine years of legal wrangling, former U.N. investigator Caroline Hunt-Matthes has won a judgment that she was unfairly punished for documenting a woman's rape case in Sri Lanka a decade ago.

Hunt-Matthes told The Associated Press on Wednesday the long-running case is "a consummate story of abuse of power" by U.N.'s oversight unit.

The twin rulings by U.N. Dispute Tribunal Judge Coral Shaw in Nairobi, which were issued late Tuesday, are highly critical of the U.N.'s accountability system. They follow a hearing earlier this year in Geneva on Hunt-Matthes' complaints filed against the United Nations dating to 2004.

They say Hunt-Matthes, who had been consistently rated an exceptional employee, lost her job at the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees because of retaliation and suffered other damages after she collected evidence in 2003 that an agency employee had raped a refugee in Sri Lanka.

The U.N. staffer, an administrator in the agency's Sri Lanka office, was reprimanded and left the refugee agency after the rape was reported. A review of the case by the U.N.'s legal team substantiated the rape. The victim, a teenager who cleaned the offices of the refugee agency in Sri Lanka, was fired after reporting the rape.

"There can be no doubt about the serious stress and reputational damage caused to" Hunt-Matthes, the judge wrote. "In addition, she has borne the disappointment of retaliation against her by formerly respected colleagues for identifying and insisting on an investigation into misconduct she genuinely believed was occurring."

There was no immediate comment from U.N. officials.

Hunt-Matthes said she couldn't find work right away, and has been doing mostly part-time consulting and teaching since leaving the U.N. She's a lawyer by training but her career as an investigator was over.

The rulings, which can be appealed, award Hunt-Matthes a year's salary and benefits, legal costs, plus $58,000 for her damages and suffering — some caused by what the judge described as the incompetence and failings of the U.N. ethics office to protect her as a whistleblower after she carried out her duty to report misconduct by a U.N. staffer.

"Which translates into the fact that U.N. staff members are working in a very dangerous environment," Hunt-Matthes said. "If you want to stand up and speak the truth about something that's gone wrong, there's going to be no protection for you. So what does that mean for the U.N.?"

Homagama DJ arrested while taking a bribe of Rs. 3 lakhs: Remanded till 3rd

(Lanka-e-News-30.May.2013, 6.30PM) A senior officer of the Commission for bribery and corruption told Lanka e news that the Homagama district judge Sunil Abeysinghe was arrested by the Commission on 29th night at 11.00 when he was receiving a bribe of Rs. three lakhs. The district judge had taken this bribe to give a judgment partially in favor of a party on a case that was being heard by him.

The judge who had requested the party to come home to hand over the bribe had later told to come to a place in Hanwella town . Accordingly when he had arrived at the venue and was collecting the bribe , the judge had been arrested, the bribery commission official told Lanka e news. This is the first time a district judge was arrested when taking a bribe. 

Later report says this District court judge Sunil Abeysinghe and his security guard police officer were remanded till June 3rd by Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya this evening

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Judge remanded

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2013 
Homagama District court judge Sunil Abeysinghe who is alleged to have solicited a bribe of Rs 300,000, was remanded till June 3rd by  Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya this evening


The judge was arrested when he was about to accept the bribe from a businessman in order to induce him to deliver a judgment in his favour in a land dispute case.

He was brought to the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station after his arrest on a complaint made by the businessman. The judge was arrested on Wednesday night while he was in the house owned by the Hanwella businessman

The Bribery Commission was tipped off by the businessman and the officers said the arrest was made while the judge was on the verge of accepting the bribe offered by the businessman. ( Supun Dias and Indika Sri Aravinda)

‘Blue wave’ councilor abuses mother of two

THURSDAY, 30 MAY 2013 

Elpitiya Magistrate Kesara Samaradivakara yesterday (29th) remanded the UPFA Member for Karandeniya Pradeshiya Sabha Jayantha Suraweera until 12th June on charges of assaulting and later sexually abusing a mother of two.

The suspect, a 35 years old father of two and a resident of Kirimatiaywa at Urugasmansandiya, is a Member of the UPFA ruled Pradeshiya Sabha as well as an official of the Agrarian Services Center at Urugasmansandiya.

Suspect who was absconding after the crime was arrested by the police after several days and was presented before Court.

Recently, JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunneththi told in Parliament that a sex trend exists in the country at present and the situation further develops due to the involvement of local politicians of the government.

Mr. Kerry, I’m Perturbed And Saddened By Your Human Rights Report On Me

By Douglas Devananda -

Douglas Devananda

BMay 30, 2013

Mr. John F. KerrySecretary of State,

U. S. Department of State,

USA

Dear Sir,

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 – Sri Lanka

I, Douglas Devananda, Member of Parliament and the Cabinet Minister of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development in Sri Lanka wish to bring the following with regard to the contents in the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 under the caption Sri Lanka, which was transmitted by the Department of State to the United States Congress in April this year.

I am also the Secretary General of the Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party, popularly known as EPDP, which is a recognized political party by the Commissioner of Elections of Sri Lanka. In the 1970s and 1980s I have been in the forefront of the struggle to win over the rights of the Tamils in the country. After the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987, which paved the way for the 13^th amendment to the constitution and provided for the devolution of powers to the provinces, I fully endorsed it and along with several other Tamil Groups joined the Democratic Mainstream of politics in Sri Lanka.

Since 1994 I have been elected as a Member of Parliament without a break by the Tamils and I have been a Cabinet Minister for the last 13 years under various heads of Government. Today I am in the rank of a longstanding Minister in the Cabinet. In the last general elections held in April 2010, I got the highest preference votes out of all the Tamil Members of Parliament elected to Parliament from the Northern and

Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka. My party, EPDP, has three elected representation from Jaffna Electoral District out of nine elected representatives.

I am perturbed and saddened by the contents of the said report which inter-alia states as follows:

“Although the number of killings associated with progovernment paramilitary groups declined from previous years, there were persistent reports that the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare Douglas Devananda, engaged in intimidation, extortion, corruption, and violence against civilians in Jaffna. For example, on March 4, EPDP member Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran sexually abused and killed 13-year-oldJesudasan Lakshini. On March 16, the Kayts Magistrate Court remanded Jagadeswaran to Jaffna Prison.”

“Unknown actors suspected of association with progovernment paramilitary groups committed killings and assaulted civilians. There were persistent reports of close ties between progovernment paramilitary groups such as the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and government security forces. Whereas these groups served more of a military function during the war, often working in coordination with security forces, they increasingly took on the characteristics of criminal gangs as they sought to solidify their territory and revenue sources in the postwar environment.”

“ Nongovernmental Impact: Progovernment paramilitary groups and gangs affiliated with political parties inhibited freedom of expression, particularly in the north. Members of the EPDP reportedly were involved in harassment and intimidation of journalists in Jaffna.”

You have stated in the preface to the report that when you served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, your colleagues and you depended on these reports for an accurate assessment of human rights conditions around the world and that they are valuable to those in the State Department and other Federal Agencies who carry out U.S. foreign policy as well as to members of Congress, etc.

But such a valuable report for precise study refers to me as the “Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare”. I am the Minister for “Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development” since April 2010.This will give you an indication as to how reliable the information provided by your subordinates to you.

I also wish to draw your attention to an incident that you have used to corroborate your assertion that the party led by me, EPDP, is engaged in intimidation, extortion, corruption, and violence against civilians in Jaffna. You have cited the rape and murder of a 13 year old girl in March 2012 by a person in the name of Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran in Delft. You have categorically stated him as an EPDP member. I am hand delivering a copy of this letter to your Ambassador in Sri Lanka along with a certified copy of the 112 pages proceedings of the case in the Magistrate’s Courts in Kayts courts with regard to the rape and murder of Jesudasan Lakshini. This document contains the report of the police, the evidence led by the police and the proceedings in the magistrate’s courts. On perusal of this document you will find that neither Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran identified himself as an EPDP member nor the law enforcement authorities nor the evidence relevant to this case affirmed that the said suspect was a member of my party, EPDP. You have not only emphatically referred to him as an EPDP member but also cited this fabricated story as a case in point to substantiate the other unfounded allegations against me and my party.

I trust this fact will give you a clue to assess the reliability of the information furnished by your subordinates for the preparation of this report. Also I take this opportunity to request you to provide me with the evidence you have concerning the alleged allegations you have made against me and the party I lead, EPDP, in the report under reference.

The media has already caused irreparable damage and defamation to my standing and reputation by publishing the contents of this report.

Further, for the last few years your State Department as well as other various US authorities was giving false and unsubstantiated information or allegations totally discrediting the image of the party, EPDP, and me in spite of the fact that I have been continuously democratically elected to Parliament and function as a responsible Minister in Sri Lanka. Based on these false allegations leveled against my party and my activities most of your officers and diplomats have been persuaded to form a biased and adverse opinion regarding the EPDP and my political activities.

I regret to note that most of the diplomats or delegates from the US visiting Sri Lanka never attempted to seek our point of view or sought clarification regarding allegations leveled against our activities; instead they rely on the information furnished by parties who have vested political interest to tarnish our image and public support.

I am bringing these facts to your information with the firm conviction that you would take necessary steps to undo the irreparable damage caused to me by publishing the contents of the report referred to above. I am also forwarding copies of this letter to the Foreign Affairs Committees of the US Congress and to the media.

Yours sincerely,

Sgd.

Douglas Devananda, MP

Secretary General,  E.P.D.P.

Minister of Traditional Industries and

Small Enterprise Development.

Copy: 1. U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

2. The House Committee on Foreign Affairs

            3. Ambassador for USA in Sri Lanka

Tr/DD/Da – 29.05.2013 – 09.22 a.m.

China’s ‘bear hug’ brings in $ 2200 million to Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2013, 10:08 GMT]
China signed an agreement with genocidal Sri Lanka on Tuesday, offering 2200 million dollars in loans for infrastructure projects. China and Sri Lanka have also agreed on cooperation related to defence, defence-related training, logistics and maritime security, and have agreed in principle to establish a free trade agreement, Reuters reported, citing Colombo’s Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, who was part of the Rajapaksa delegation to China. There were speculations that the agreements could cause unease in India, but Tamils need not show any sympathy or understanding to New Delhi in tolerating its competitive partnership with Colombo any further. The game would continue forever and the paranoid Sinhala State with insatiable crave for the genocide of Tamils is not going to stop with the island, said Tamil political observers in the island. 

When Reuters asked about Britain’s concerns over Colombo’s rights abuses, Peiris said, "These are not things that can be done overnight, they take time, basically these are processes which have to move forward in accordance with the people's culture, their aspirations," and adding that "These have to be homegrown, homespun solutions."

What Colombo is attempting overnight is demographic genocide, and what it means “in accordance with people’s culture, their aspirations,” is structural genocide of Tamils and Sinhalicisation of the entire island, are obvious to anyone who is not pretending blind.

The main problem is powers like Britain stopping only at ‘rights abuses’ and international media in the clutches of the powers not conceding to the righteousness in casting their weight in favour of independence of a genocide-affected nation, the Tamil political observers in the island said.

In the competition of the USA, India and China over the island, if all of them think of only wooing the Sinhala nation, it is time that Tamils all over the world have to think of a unique foreign policy and implement it collectively. Whether North Korea attacks the USA or China encircles India, those need not be concerns for Tamils to show understanding to any adversary or to adjust to deviations and dilutions of justice, the Tamil political observers in the island commented.

Playing a major role in the bandwagon that fought the genocidal war against the nation of Eezham Tamils, Japan’s policy on the island staged by Akashi committed a serious blunder, the observers added.
Suspects involved in Rs 10 million robbery identified

By Ananda Weerasooriya

Six suspects among 8 involved in the robbery of Rs 10 million from a businessman in front of Nawaloka Hospital recently have been identified during an identification parade at the Fort Magistrate’s Court today.

On 12 February, some persons impersonating officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) abducted a person dealing in foreign currency, along with his driver, in their vehicle and robbed the said sum of money that was in his possession, in front of Nawaloka Hospital car park at Sir James Peiris Mawatha, Colombo 2.

The identified suspects have been further remanded until 05 June following the identification parade.

Two of the unidentified persons among the 8 suspects have been identified as an Inspector of Police (IP) attached to the Fort Police and a civilian. (Ceylon Today Online)

American IRS And The Sri Lankan Experience

By Ravi Perera -May 30, 2013 

Ravi Perera

One would have thought that the recent news item about the resignation of Commissioner Steven Miller, the head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States would have received more attention than it actually did in the local media. The reasons for Miller’s exit are issues fundamentally affecting good governance and hence of compelling interest to a country such as Sri Lanka struggling from the time of independence to establish rules, standards and systems that are both transparent and objective as it were.

The current United States government led by President Barrack Obama is dominated by the   Democratic Party. They also command a majority in the Senate. Steven Miller was an appointee of the Obama administration. One of the functions of the IRS is to consider applications   for tax exemptions. The controversy that blew up arose in this department where some organizations considered to be leaning towards the Right were targeted by the IRS for special attention. The standard bearer of the ideology of the Right, the Republican Party, enraged by this uneven approach by a government agency raised an indignant outcry against the IRS.

A fundamental principle of good governance is that whichever political party is in power, the administration functions not only objectively but on a neutral, non-partisan basis. In a legitimate State, laws and rules should apply to all alike. If   the application of the laws depend on who you are, the legitimacy of that State is very much in doubt. In such a situation the State structure has become a tool in the hands of a few people, one political party or a group. In America, obviously they loathe to see politicized government agencies. As a Senator observed during the debate on Steven Miller “the American public deserve better…”

Taking that standard as the yard stick, it seems that we in Sri Lanka operate on the basis that the Sri Lankan public do not deserve a neutral public service!  Not only in the public sector, but in every other service, the Police, the Judiciary, Media and even the professional bodies political agenda/domination is overwhelming.

From the early years of the 20 Century when we were gradually introduced to the concept of electing our leaders, you can discern a clear departure from methods and standards of the countries from whom we got the idea. Things were looked at differently here. We had a different value system. Those elected to power become masters of all that they survey with the rest of the power structure adjusting their various agendas to suit that status quo.

One cannot imagine an officer  in our Inland Revenue Department losing his job because he investigated anybody considered to be opposed to the government !The same goes for all other government agencies such as the Police, Customs etc. They are there to attack enemies of the government while collaborating in all activities of its supporters!  As to the question of investigating anybody connected with the government, since the idea   will not even   enter the mind of a public servant we need not waste time on a subject which is so culturally alien. There is no point in even talking about Mervyn Silvas and Duminda Silvas! These two names have been highlighted only because of the entertainment value they provide. In reality this duo is just the tip of an iceberg composed of thousands of family members and friends of the politicians in power who are above the law. Even our political parties are built on family connections; most present day politicians owe their career to senior family members who had climbed the hierarchy earlier. Unlike in other cultures here a political dynasty is spoken of as a matter of pride.

Needless to say this situation breeds uncertainty, fear and frustration. The concept of fairness is a distant second when it comes to family and other partisan considerations. Even in a so called rebel group like theLTTE, the son of the supreme leader Prabakaran seems to have had an easy passage to leadership over the heads of thousands of dedicated cadre. As inevitably happens in Sri Lanka, there were several articles in the media   at the time extolling the talents and skills of the junior Prabakaran! Perhaps some of the striking features of our social and historical mosaic such as regular insurrections, disloyalty, sabotage, narrow outlook, short term vision, intolerance and even the high murder /suicide rate could be attributed to the experience of living under a culture which is palpably unfair. Having adopted systems which need to operate objectively, we seem to have subverted them into self-serving machinery for personal advancement.  Whatever the situation, from the Parliament to a simple meeting at a social club, few people would think we have fair processes. They are seen as occasions for interested parties to achieve agendas far removed from the principles and policies professed by them.

In the absences of an independent State structure, things become arbitrary, breeding a huge uncertainty. Everything depends on political leaders and their perceptions. Careers and promotions   are rarely made on merit. Invariably, they are based on the leaders’ agenda. Investors, businessmen, and even ordinary citizens must adjust their lives and plans   to suit this reality.

The twenty odd million people of Sri Lanka have been able to create an economy now calculated at something between 50-60 Billion US dollars. Last year it is said that the Americans spent about US $ 60 Billion on their pet food. Good eating by their cats and dogs aside, the American can also rest easy with the knowledge that they live in a country where government agencies like the IRS have to operate impartially and in an evenhanded way.

Don’t the people of Sri Lanka deserve that?