Russia is now India’s largest supplier of crude oil. New Delhi has ignored US-led Western sanctions on Moscow and not chastised Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia is proposing to invest – its vast export earnings from its oil sales to India – in India’s industry, for export to Russia. India is adopting the Russian financial messaging system for cross-border payments. Russia is accepting Indian Ru-Pay cards and Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Russia, and India is accepting Russia’s MIR cards and Fast Payments System in India. A Maritime Corridor is connecting Vladivostok & Chennai! (See ee Sovereignty, Pivotal moment in India-Russia relations).
So, what gross venality has prevented similar interactions with Sri Lanka, which could have easily forestalled supposed finance, fuel & fertilizer scarcities?
Last ee showed how US economic policy is determined by JP Morgan & Co. With the passing by parliament this week of the IMF deal, and the proposed new Central Bank Act, Sri Lanka’s economy will now be more fully hostage to such Wall Street Banks, and their high-interest bonds.
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Meanwhile, China and India’s militaries held their 18th round of China-India Corps Commander-level Meeting at the Chushul-Moldo border point on the Chinese side on April 23. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization defense ministers’ meeting will be held soon in India.
India & China, the 2 most populous countries in the world, have a long rich history, recalled by China’s old name for India as Tianxi – Western Heaven. The English term ‘China’ is from Qina, the Indian derivation from the 1stQin dynasty of Zhongguo (Middle Kingdom, China’s name for itself). ‘Mandarin’ (for official, & language) is from the Indian word for Minister – Manthri. The irony is Sri Lanka has a much deeper and richer relationship with China. Our Black-whites seek to tarnish this (see ee 14 Jan 2023, Transmission Belt for Steel Technology).
As for Europe, they keep buying Russian oil & petroleum products from Indian companies at much higher prices. The 27 EU countries are happily doing business with Russia! Even Ukraine is buying oil from Russia! France, Italy & Germany, accounting for 50+% of EU’s GDP, also happen to be China’s largest EU trading partners.
Midst such advances, what have Sri Lanka’s richly compensated diplomats & officials being doing? Accusing China of salivating to eat Sri Lankan monkeys’ brains!
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Sri Lanka’s Minister of Agriculture, with supine media in tow, is hyping fake tales about monkeys being exported to China as food, stories to curry favor with the US embassy, who prompts such fakery. The truth: US & English agricultural machinery, fertilizer, wheat & soya multinational companies (MNCs) have fully hijacked the Ministry of Agriculture, and University Agriculture Departments.
Intellectual monkeys who are making a career out of crying ‘corruption’, happily yaba-yaba-yabber also about China eating these rilaw brains. But it’s these intellectuals’ simian brains who have already been scooped out by the same yankee cutlery. (ee Sovereignty, Amaraweera’s ‘monkey business’)
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• So! Why & how is Sri Lanka sabotaged from directly pursuing such relations with China & Russia, let alone with Africa? Why is there no modern industrial plan or program that must presuppose any trade relationship? It comes down to this: The very essence of Sri Lanka’s history since 1948 is the undermining & prevention of modern industrial policy. This was not new. Just the continuation of English colonial policy that declared it would prevent the production of ‘one nail’ in its colonies. While its settler colonies, then the newly liberated countries, have long escaped such prohibitions – no such plans are allowed for us, a colonial economy, an accident waiting to happen.
Our well-decorated intellectuals (let alone media, let alone our celebrated English Department), who use such fancy terms as ‘entrepreneur’, do not even know what modern industry means. They are paid to keep distorting industry as handicraft, assembly, manufacture, services!
LFormer Parliamentarian J. Sri Ranga was today granted bail after being produced before Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court regarding the investigations over the incident of setting fire to President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Colombo.
Sri Ranga was ordered to be released on a cash bail of Rs.Rs.20,000 with a Rs. 5 million surety bail by Acting Magistrate Bandara Ilangasinghe. The CID had named Sri Ranga as a suspect alleging that he had actively participated in a protest near President’s private residence on July 9 last year and aided and abetted to damage the property after being a member of an unlawful assembly. The CID further alleged that the suspect could be also charged for criminal trespassing with the intention of committing mischief to the property. However, defence counsel argued that his client has been named as a suspect by CID while he was discharging his duty as a journalist.
The Court had earlier issued an order directing the Prison Authorities to produce J. Sri Ranga before Court regarding this incident. A group of protesters had torched President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence on July 9, last year causing extensive damages to the property.
Former MP J. Sri Ranga was in remand custody for allegedly influencing the witnesses of a fatal traffic accident in Vavuniya in 2011.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)
Retired Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda has, in a letter to US Ambassador Julie Chung, challenged the legality of the US decision to blacklist him in violation of the principle of natural justice.
Referring to media disclosure that Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, PC, had been informed of the blacklisting ahead of the US State Department announcement, the former Navy Commander said that the purported designation has been given a veneer of legality” by reference to section 7031(c) of the Department of State Foreign operations and related programmes Act 2023, conveying the impression that it has been lawfully made following the Due Process of The Law” which forms the bedrock of the Constitution of the United States of America.
Whereas, you are aware that:
4.1 The Secretary of State never notified me of any allegations made against me of which he is taking cognisance; he has not sought my observations on any of these imputed allegations: the purpored designation has not been notified to me, being the person affected, although you hastened to inform the Minister in advance” and followed up by releasing it to the media.
In the circumstances, the purported designation has been made in total violation of the Principles of Natural Justice, recognized and respected by all civilised Nations, and in total violation of the Due Process of the Law”, being the Constitutional safeguard which carries with it as the central promise as assurance that all levels of American government must operate within the law (legality”) and provide fair procedures”.
As you are well aware, I have not applied for Visa to enter United States of America, for the past 14 years, and I have not submitted myself for any review by you, or any authority in the United States of America, as to my eligibility to enter that country. Therefore purported review of my eligibility has been carried out in contravention of the Due Process of the Law” without any cause or reason and your hasty communication to the Minister made in advance” and the subsequent media release has been done for a collateral purpose, of giving publicity, in this country, of a wrongfully imputed significant corruption and/or gross violation of human rights” on my part.
Aforesaid imputation constitute serious attack on my honour and reputation” in violation of article 17 of the ‘INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS’, acceded to by the United States of America, being foremost instrumental in International Law Protecting Human Rights (referred to in the purported designation made by the Secretary of State).
Article 17 cited below;
1. No one can be subjected arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.”
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks”.
The unwarranted publication made by you in advance” to the Minister imputing that I have been involved in gross corruption and gross violation of human rights followed up by further publication of the same tenor by your media spokesperson acting as aforesaid, is subject to the Common Law of Sri Lanka in terms of which ‘any outrage upon a man’s honour and good name’ is action able as defamation being species of injuria’. Thus the Law of Sri Lanka is in accords with Article 17 cited above and I have a right safeguarded by Article 17 (2) to seek redress in a Court of appropriate jurisdiction in Sri Lanka.
The imputation of gross violation of human rights on my part as the Commander of the Navy is totally untenable and the Ambassador of USA in Colombo Robert O Blake at the relevant time was constantly in touch with me and in fact assisted in the operations of the Sri Lanka Navy in the war against terrorism by providing strategic information and equipment which referred to in my book Adhishtanaya”
Wrongful imputations made by you has seriously affected my honour and reputation” earned over a period of over 45 years of unblemished Government service. Your action is directly violating of my rights under Article 17 of the ICCPR cited above and intend to seek redress through the legal process for gross violation of my human rights in terms of applicable Law in Sri Lanka.
I don’t know when the terms viyali kalaapaya (dry zone) and theth kalaapaya (wet zone) were first used in relation to this island. I don’t know when the term mosam sulang (monsoon winds) was first used.
Knowledge doesn’t follow naming. People obviously knew the difference between wet and dry. They could tell which parts of the country got more rain. They knew when the rains could be expected. They planned cultivation accordingly. They probably knew that the climate has changed long before they were told about ‘climate change,’ because climate and cultivation and indeed climate and life are interconnected.
Almost forty years ago, the loku hamuduruwo of the Kathnoruwa Rajamaha Viharaya, spoke about such things. First of all he questioned the relevance of the term ‘environment,’ insisting that svabhava dharmaya (translatable as ‘natural order’ or the logic of natural processes) is more appropriate. Then he pointed out that the Rajarata is hardly dry although large swathes of it are located in what’s called the ‘Dry Zone.’
Even before large dams were designed, built and commissioned along the Mahaweli, the Dry Zone was considerably wet thanks to the innumerable water conservation and planned irrigation initiatives over several millennia. ‘Dry’ has connotations of chronic water scarcity. That’s not true of the so-called Dry Zone.
There are droughts, sure. There are dry periods. There are pockets that get meager amounts of rainfall. And yet, for the most part, there’s cultivation. People may have to walk a kilometer or more, but even in dry spells they find the time and energy to bathe in a nearby reservoir.
So it is relative and the relativity is understood. Heat leaves marks on the landscape, on skin and settles like fine dust in the minds. When the rains fail, in certain parts of the country, people don’t die of thirst, but the fact that they are forced to purchase rice irks them no end.
The rain, when it does arrive, does not descend on dust-brown landscapes and trees bereft of leaves, but it still re-colours everything, including the complexion of faces and the width of a smile. It adds that much more variety to the palette of the earth.
It happens when there hasn’t been rain for a long time. It also happens when it has been raining almost everyday. Rain re-blushes the world de-blushed by the sun. The greens of the moment-ago are replaced by during-rain and post-green hues. It’s a part of the endless magic of the ‘dry’ zone.
The word for dry in Sinhala is viyali. Wet would be theth. Thethamanaya could be translated as wetness, but the Sinhala word has an additional meaning which may have been first inspired by seasonality associated with rain. It’s about a heart that is moved to be empathetic, to be kind and generous. Such hearts are not zone-bound or country-bound, but in an area designated as ‘dry’ and to a visitor who is swayed by names and assumes the accuracy of labels, a heart, a person, a family or community clearly empowered by this quality would appear to be quite exceptionally magical.
But that’s how people are, for the most part. In all parts of the country. They don’t have to be taught how to smile. They don’t say ‘hi’ or ‘what’s up’ out of learned courtesy. They may nod their heads, acknowledge presence, reciprocate similar greetings and if you ask a question will take the trouble to answer. Ask for directions and they will tell you. If they don’t know, they will ask someone who does. They will make sure you don’t leave without an answer.
In this country there’s that kind of greenery, that kind of thethamanaya. It is not seasonal. The colours are not always vibrant but there’s always the promise that vibrancy there will be. Perhaps it has become part of the svabhava dharmaya but even if it is not its traces are unmistakable. Always there, just around the next bend or wrapped in a word or in the contours of a smile. We are an island that is a theth kalaapaya in and of itself.
As per a news item appeared in The Island dated 2023/04/27, while launching ‘Nine: The Hidden Story’ to make the public aware as to how Gotabaya Rajapaksa was unconstitutionally removed, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa named US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland as the architect of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster and its Ambassador here Julie Chung as its Director.
NFF leader pointed out how US Ambassador Julie Chung went to the extent of rushing to the Speaker’s official residence to persuade the Speaker Abeywardena to take over role of the country’s Presidency as protesters declared plans to take control of parliament. Ambassador Chung made this unprecedented move in the wake of a religious leader and an Opposition MP’s failure on the previous day to win over the Speaker, MP Weerawansa said. When the Speaker pointed out to Ambassador Chung that in terms of the Constitution, in the event of the President’s resignation under whatever the circumstances, the Prime Minister succeeded the President, Ambassador Chung assured the Speaker he should assume the presidency and they would look after other issues,” MP Weerawansa said.
The parliamentarian compared the US strategy here with what they did in Libya in the run-up to the execution of Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011and after, and Ukraine where the US in 2019 installed Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President after ousting the legitimately elected President in 2014 in the Maidan uprising instigated by it after spending as much as five billion dollars as admitted by Nuland.
MP Weerawansa also pointed out how US Ambassador Julie Chung inquired from Secretary to the Treasury Mahinda Siriwardena about how Sri Lanka intended to spend the IMF money.
Statements issued by various foreign diplomats in Colombo, notably those of former and current US ambassadors, almost one after the other concerning the internal affairs of the host country, and reported visits and secret visits said to have been made to meet the opponents of the democratically elected government to matters related to internal politics are examples of diplomatic excesses. According to media reports Ambassador Julie Chung is meeting, questioning and advising government officials and politicians beating all the records of her predecessors.
Mean while, as per a most recent news item appeared in Daily Mirror, former Navy Commander Karannagoda has said he believed that a former military official and the US ambassador are behind the US decision to blacklist him after the 14 years after the war.
As stated above by the MP Weerawansa, the said Ambassador’s alleged involvements in local politics are gross violation of the Vienna Convention since the foreign Diplomats are bound to respect the laws and regulations of the hosting State.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) contains the most widely accepted description of the international law on diplomacy. A diplomatic agent is granted different inviolabilities and privileges, as well as immunity from the jurisdiction of the receiving state, in order to enable them to exercise their official functions independently and effectively and to avoid any interference on the part of the receiving state. The functions of a diplomatic mission are clearly stated in the Article 3 of the said Convention. https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/English/conventions/9_1_1961.pdf
The process of dealing with diplomats who are no longer welcome has now been fully recognized under Article 9 of the Vienna Convention:
1. The receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata or that any other member of the staff of the mission is not acceptable. In any such case, the sending State shall, as appropriate, either recall the person concerned or terminate his functions with the mission. A person may be declared non grata or not acceptable before arriving in the territory of the receiving State.
2. If the sending State refuses or fails within a reasonable period to carry out its obligations, the receiving State may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission.
The most common response when foreign diplomatic officials act inappropriately is to declare those officials ‘persona non grata ‘and to expel them from the country, if diplomatic parlance fails. While this is traditionally a remedy for offenses committed by the actual personnel being expelled, it is entirely at the host country’s discretion and several nations have used it to respond to objectionable activities on the part of a foreign government as a whole.
We remember how President Ranasinghe Premadasa declared David Gladstone, who served as Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka between 1987-1991, ‘persona non grata ‘and expelled from the country for his unwarranted interference in an internal matter of the country”. Although it is hard to believe that the current rulers will take any action against the said superpower envoy, time has come to let the meddlesome foreign envoys in Colombo to be aware of the growing concern, among the Sri Lankan population about their undue foreign interference.
By Sriyani Hulugalle, fomer senior economist at the World Bank
Most economists view the current economic crisis through a political lens. However, this crisis was inevitable and predicted for a long time. Some of the international financial institutions too tend to take a short term view. Probably, the root cause lies with Sri Lanka moving from one crisis to another; not having space for policy makers to take a more longer term view. In my generation, we have witnessed youth insurrections in 1971, 1983, 1988-89 and then in 2022. Most have forgotten the 30 year-old civil war which cost the country an enormous economic setback. All these youth insurrections have a huge economic cost; immediate as well as longer term adverse impact though certain segments of the general public welcome them jubilantly.
Cost of Universal Free Education and Health
Sri Lanka must be the only country which provides universal free health and education up to tertiary level. Access to education and health creates better human capital no doubt but everyone feels it’s a ‘Right’.
Immediate reaction of the parents would be; We spend enormous amounts for private tuition”. Why? The teachers don’t properly teach in schools and cover the syllabi. Are there any protests by the parents and the children when teachers do not function efficiently despite the amount of financial cost incurred by the state? No. They blame the incumbent government. Teachers are not ashamed to request their own students to attend extra classes for a payment. These are the products of free education and who are against privatisation of education. The teachers are trained by the government, paid by the government but they are allowed to conduct private classes for a fee. No parent or student go on strike or have protests against them.
University education is also provided free. The government has to bear the cost of education of doctors, engineers and other professionals and if there is any suggestion of allowing private universities to function in Sri Lanka, they go on strike especially the health sector. They even do post graduate studies overseas using public funds but do not allow private tertiary education to be introduced in the country. They also work in private institutions and earn a substantial income. Fine. But they are the saviours of free education and limit access to tertiary education by a large segment of a qualified student population. There are private institutions which are functioning under the Companies Act and are not monitored by accredited bodies. There is willingness to pay given the mushrooming of private schools and universities but these cannot be regularised. If the middle and upper income categories make even a partial payment, it will reduce the cost of the state substantially. Why does the educated public fail to understand these realities?
Cost of a bloated Public Service
The doctors, engineers, most of the arts and commerce graduates seek employment in the public sector. I have come across several schemes introduced by successive governments to support private sector to employ qualified graduates from state universities. However, the youth prefer lower salaried public service to the private sector jobs. The reasons being: The public sector jobs are prestigious and pensionable; access to more holidays; not paid on performance; access to post graduate education overseas; perks such as periodic access to low duty vehicles, better mobility geographically and institutionally; lack of accountability; ability to work privately. These are few of the reasons. Some of the reforms can be: (i) Portability of pensions and provident funds across public and private sector; (ii) Output based performance evaluations linked to salary increments, (iii) Demand driven recruitment, and; (iv) Increased use of technology for efficient service delivery in the public sector.
Cost of Social Welfare Programmes and Subsidies
The open economic policies or market forces tend to affect the vulnerable poor. Therefore when open economic policies are introduced in a country, social welfare programmes are also designed to cushion the vulnerable segments of the population; the poor, women, children, disabled and elderly, from adverse impact of such policies. In Sri Lanka too when the open economic policies were introduced in the 1980s, Janasaviya which was renamed later as Samurdhi was introduced as a social welfare programme with consumption and savings components. The main idea was for such families to graduate from the poor to the non-poor category gradually. However, with political agitation these families remain eternally in these groups. Attempts for targeting these programmes for the needy were never accomplished though several studies conducted by the government and the World Bank revealed that over 40 per cent or more recipients are outside the eligible category while certain percentage who needs to have access to Samurdhi are not in the eligible list.
In addition, the rural and estate sector agitate for subsidised chemical fertiliser, higher price ceilings for their produce and the consumers demand lower prices for their consumption goods. The children are given mid-day meals; shoes and school books without any discrimination. Most of the low income families send their elderly unskilled family members as care givers and domestics for a monthly income of Rs. 50,000- Rs. 100,000 a month with food and lodging. They are ‘eternally poor’ and continue to remain in these social welfare programmes. There are no sunset clauses introduced for these social welfare schemes. During the recent pandemic, large numbers of such people were sustained by the state. The rural, estate and urban poor have abandoned the savings culture and depend solely on the state for any emergency. In the recent past these low income categories have imbibed ‘consumerism’ from middle and upper income classes and this trend leads to eternal demands for ‘free goods and services’. This culture is unsustainable economically for any country.
Cost of National Security
Many have forgotten that over the years thanks to the insurrections and protests and the ensuing war we had to maintain a large national security force. Since Sri Lankans have short memories and the majority of Colombo elite ‘claim’ to have lived abroad during those years they do not remember the road blockades, frequent bombing, massacre of innocent people including women and children, the checking by armed forces, continued emergency laws, illegal closure of institutions and private companies. If not for the war, the country would have been in the upper income group by now and the COVID-19 pandemic impact would have been marginal on the lives of the people.
Cost of Trade Union Action and Cartelization
Sri Lanka must be the most unionised country in the world. The doctors, nurses, engineers, teachers, private bus owners, the professional and non-professional employees of the CPC, CEB, universities, and banks are all unionised. So are the paddy millers, poultry farmers, paddy farmers, the confectionery industries, biscuit manufacturers, bakery owners, exporters, etc. These unions take trade union action (i.e. work to rule, no work, agitation and vandalism) on matters relating to their own industry or profession. In addition, they intervene on general issues such as foreign investment decisions, other regional geopolitical matters, trade agreements, pricing policies, political and religious matters on which their own knowledge is next to nothing. The Buddhist, Christian and Muslim clergy discuss and intervene in matters which are related to non-religious issues. Few individuals with political affiliations dominate such unions and the masses follow blindly. These unions are responsible for high inflation and inefficiency much more than the policy makers and politicians. Professionals should be dignified and not mislead less knowledgeable public.
Therefore, when the general public blame the policy makers, they don’t realise that policy makers have been obstructed over the years for several decades by these ‘so called’ professional unions and groups. For example when the Indians wanted to invest in the Eastern Container Terminal of the Colombo Port all were up in arms against it. When the oil tanks were to be developed jointly by the government and the Indian companies the priests and politicians become national saviours. There is an adage that, You can’t have the cake and eat it.” Since beggars can’t be choosers” we have to get foreign investments flowing in for development as national savings are not adequate. Given Sri Lanka is located in a strategic geographical location, and if handled well we could have capitalised it to our own advantage.
Cost of Avoidance of Taxes
This is a country with citizens who have no clue from where the government revenue is collected. Always the industrialists, the exporters, the farmers, the SMEs etc. etc. lobby for tax relief measures. The public sector doesn’t pay taxes. The upper income earners do not want to pay taxes on their income. Reason being the financial literacy of the majority of the educated class is marginal. What if you have to pay a 5 per cent tax on your interest income? If you have Rs. 1,000,000 in the fixed deposit and if your interest income is Rs. 100,000, you have to pay 5 per cent of Rs. 100,000 which is Rs. 5000 as taxes. Is it unreasonable? No. But since they lack the knowledge, they claim that the politicians misuse the funds therefore they should not pay any direct taxes. However, they are the ones who travel on highways, use the airports and ports much more than the poor. How many professionals; doctors, engineers, teachers or lawyers pay taxes and declare their real income. They think they are a privileged class and the public needs to bear the cost of maintaining them. They are not providing a service. Their behaviour has brought their social status down and wonder why? Look yourself in the mirror. Respect should be earned.
Cost of Ignorance
If you speak to any of the educated they have very little knowledge of fundamental economics. If you avoid paying taxes where would the government get resources to provide for education, health, social welfare, public sector salaries, national security, and provision of infrastructure? This blame game of political leaders has taken the country to the current unsustainable levels. Take a step back and ask yourself whether you have actually done your duty by the country and your profession. Have you fulfilled your obligations? What sacrifices have you made for the country? Have you ever volunteered to provide a service without expecting anything in return? Citizens from our neighbouring country (India) with so much poverty, corruption, nepotism etc. never complain about their own country. Wherever they go, they eat Indian food, dress like Indians, support their compatriots and are proud of being Indians. That is why they are ahead of others not only because they have over a billion people.
There is an economic cost to every action taken by you. It’s time for us to put aside all differences and unite to make this country a better place to live or keep bickering over policies and perish together. Take your choice.
In a strongly-worded letter to US Ambassador Julie Chung, North Western Province Governor Wasantha Karannagoda yesterday accused the envoy of infringing upon his human rights with the recent decision to designate him and his family.
Wrongful imputations made by you has seriously affected my honour and reputation” earned over a period of over 45 years of unblemished Government service. Your action is directly violating my rights under article 17 of the ICCPR cited above and I intend to seek redress through the legal process for gross violation of my human rights in terms of applicable Law in Sri Lanka,” the letter said.
The former Navy Commander also stated that the Secretary of State had not notified him of any allegations made against him. He (The Secretary of State) has not sought my observations on any of these imputed allegations.”
Citing the recent Daily Mirror news article titled Wasantha’s ban; Julie Chung informs Sabry in advance”, Admiral of the Fleet Karannagoda stated in his letter, “the purported designation has not been notified to me being the person affected, although you hastened to inform the Minister in advance” and followed up by releasing it to the media.”
He also said that the purported designation has been made in total violation of the Principles of Natural Justice recognized and respected by all civilized Nations and in total violation of the Due Process of the Law”.
…your hasty communication to the Minister made in advance” and the subsequent media release has been done for a collateral purpose, of giving publicity, in this country, of a wrongfully imputed significant corruption and/or gross violation of human rights” on my part.,” it said.
Aforesaid imputation constitute serious attack on my honour and reputation” in violation of article 17 of the ‘INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS,” the letter added.
In a bid to revive the country’s struggling economy, Sri Lanka has implemented a comprehensive economic reforms agenda, the President’s Media Division (PMD) reported.
Accordingly, the government has initiated several key recovery strategies, with the establishment of a National Productivity Commission being a flagship project.
Despite on-going economic constraints, the government allocated funds for the commission’s establishment in the Budget 2023. An inter-ministerial Working Group has been appointed to lead the task, comprising members from various ministries, departments, and organizations.
The Working Group aims to explore international insights on productivity materialization, and to this end, the Government reached out to the Australian Productivity Commission, which is recognized as an international standard. In response, the Australian High Commission in Sri Lanka expressed their willingness to support Sri Lanka in this regard.
To facilitate knowledge-sharing, the Australian Productivity Commission conducted a virtual session on April 27th, 2023, for the Sri Lankan Working Group assigned to establish the commission. The event was hosted by the Presidential Secretariat.
This initiative marks another engagement between the Government of Australia and the Government of Sri Lanka, reflecting their support for Sri Lanka’s economic reforms and revival.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry has spoken on Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process, stating that encouraging signs have been seen thus far, although Sri Lanka is not ‘completely out of the woods’.
In an interview with Channel News Asia (CNA), the Minister said there is a glimmer of hope for us, but we are not out of the woods” when inquired as to where Sri Lanka’s optimism pertaining to economic recovery is coming from, despite the Asian Development Bank (ADB) predicting that things will get worse later this year, before seeing gradual improvement in 2024.
Sabry, who is currently attending the ADB annual meeting in Incheon, South Korea, noted that there are several factors contributing towards this ‘optimism’, including the stabilisation of the US Dollar, the increase of inbound tourists and the fact that inflation too, is relatively under control as opposed to the rates recorded in 2022.
We have, in fact a 11.2% gain on the dollar which has helped us to stabilise our prices, and with that of course the migrant worker are sending the money through the normal channels”, he said, adding that although it is possible to see a further recession in the coming few months, we should be able to see some sort of growth” next year.
Meanwhile, when questioned on Sri Lanka’s readiness for the first review of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is due to take place in September, the Minister assured that there is a sense of stability in the country, and that all queues and shortages have been eliminated.
Thus, he noted that lots of progress has been made with regard to several necessary actions and prerequisites which were due to be taken prior to the approval of the EFF, despite a few minor exceptions.
Speaking on the debt restructuring process as a whole, Sabry emphasised that the process should be one that is equal for all, with ‘a universal application of debt relief’.
He further highlighted the benefits of debt restructuring, adding that without it, Sri Lanka’s debts will no longer be sustainable, which will ultimately affect both investors and creditors as no proper investment will be made against such a backdrop.
Therefore, he emphasised that the longer the restructuring process takes, the more adverse the impact will be on the investors.
But they all understand that”, he said with regard to Sri Lanka’s investors and creditors.
I know some tough negotiations are around the corner, but so far, the signs are encouraging from our friends, both bilateral and otherwise”.
Commenting on the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia and its impact on Sri Lanka, the Foreign Affairs Minister noted that since the island nation received its main coal supply from Russia, they are currently looking for alternatives for the short term.
He explained, however, that measures are underway to establish a steady source of renewable energy within the country by 2030, as there is a very good catchment for both wind and solar power with Sri Lanka being an island.
He noted, however, that nearly 35% of the island’s electricity generation is powered by coal, and thus, the government is currently looking for alternate suppliers.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry also addressed recent concerns as to whether China’s latest investment would give the country a naval advantage to use Sri Lanka as a military hub, asserting that the matter was completely out of the question”. We will not let anyone use Sri Lanka as a military hub or port for anyone that is very, very clear”, he said, adding that the investment was solely a commercial arrangement.
Legal action has been taken against 12 private hospitals and laboratories for overcharging patients for both, dengue tests and Full Blood Count (FBC) tests.
Accordingly, the 12 institutes were fined a total of Rs. 9.4 million for charging patients prices above those gazette for the relevant tests, a senior investigative official of the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), A. U. Ranjan said.
He further revealed that the respective fines were imposed as per court orders issued by the Nugegoda, Mt. Lavinia, Maligakanda and Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Courts.
The relevant institutions were taken to court by the CAA based on information gathered over the last four months by the CAA Special Raids Unit of the Colombo District CAA, Ranjan said, adding that measures are currently underway to impose a standardised price for other commonly used laboratory tests as well, although no such raids are being conducted in this regard.
The attempt to suddenly bring sex education to children above other more important issues is cause for concern especially if it is funded from foreign sources & curriculum is also written from foreign sources. Children should be taught values, to be animal-friendly, to be taught civics to learn the laws of the land before learning sex. Sri Lankan students already have a subject called Health Education – this is ample to cover the topic of basic knowledge of sex. Having infested eastern cultures with western culture of drilling young minds with sexuality & sensualism, children’s minds are being intentionally diverted. The West is openly including LGBTQ curriculum” into the minds of perfectly normal children, since including same will draw negative publicity, the insidious attempt is to bring sexuality” to children in the form of sex education”. All of these curricular comes via foreign funds, with NGOs drafting the syllabus and education officials asked to only endorse it. Therefore, patriotic educationists and parents must be alert & read these texts & protests if they attempt to bring LGBTQ or other unnormal sex education into the minds of our children.
Sri Lanka loves to import every headache to our shores. LGBTQ is the newest ‘fad’.
6 US States have passed legislation to include LGBTQ+ in course syllabus. Nevada starts from kindergarten.
n 2011, California became the first state to require that the social studies curriculum include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) figures and their roles in contemporary society. Similar legislation was passed eight years later in Colorado and New Jersey. The point is anyone may have been gay but that was NOT what made their mark in society. It was not because they were gay that they have entered history books. The LGBTQ community are twisting this gayness” as a propaganda for their programs & now plugging into school texts as well.
US is encouraging youth to become sexually active with the same sex while also increasing health centres to meet the health challenges as well as hospitals, medicines, after-care (all owned by those promoting LGBTQ) It’s a very lucrative venture that has multiple goals & outcomes as those funding LGBTQ are also funding movements that seek to reduce population, which is being encouraged in multiple ways by discouraging marriage, presenting the futility of married life, making young couples fear having children, attracting youth away from natural opposite sex & getting them drawn to same-sex relationships & same-sex marriage which ends ability to give birth naturally and now the latest fad is the transgender movement where children are being brainwashed via sex education to change their sex & dent the normal process of life, marriage, family & procreation. This is unwanted meddling with nature & the natural and has nothing to do with any inherent qualities in anyone. It has everything to do with a well-funded, well lobbied, well campaigned well-coordinated global agenda seeking to legislatively make the changes to roll out programs across countries to fiddle with peoples sex & indoctrinate their young minds into becoming what they are not but being made to believe it is their choice. This ‘choice’ comes about by infesting their mind believing to be what they are not but something/someone else. This toying with minds of children often without parental knowledge is dangerous & needs to be identified before it is rolled out in Sri Lanka, where funds can do magic with people willing to do anything for money.
How is inclusive” defined, who defines it & in whose interest?
6 US States has LGBTQ inclusive” laws
California, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Illinois, Nevada
Notice the modus operandi.
Lobbies present a hyped-notion of discrimination”. This is to stir sympathy bring it to a point where the organizers put their next trump card of demanding legislative” changes to bring safeguards” to the discriminated” mostly using isolated incidents hype to present a global issue”. Further pressure is exerted by getting their other influential arms to exert political pressure diplomatically or hand economic carrots (we will give $XXX if you implement this) In all probability these documents would have already been prepared by them even before the whole discrimination” scenarios were launched. Thus, the subtle indoctrination has become complete having choreographed the scenario, built-it to a level of demanding system change”, drafting the ‘legislative change” to their advantage and then using their influence to ensure across the country, their program is implemented as per their plan. How many such
In all the above, children are made to believe that historical figures became historical figures because of being gay? The emphasis to being gay is a key operational clause embedded with ulterior motives.
If there are LGBTQ children & if they are being discriminated, the sensible thing to do is to take action against those bullying children. Not bullying children through course curriculum to learn about LGBTQ, infesting their minds to also join the club. If the argument is that LGBTQ are naturally” LGBTQ, why force the naturally” not LGBTQ children to think of becoming LGBTQ or think they are also LGBTQ via brainwashing through State school curriculums?
Confusing & confounding matters further is the pains being taken to teach the teachers about how to teach children to embrace LGBTQ as being ‘normal’.
Are US schools trying to turn normal children into LGBTQ? Are they trying to import this to Sri Lanka by first sneaking the agenda through SEX EDUCATION” & combining that with foreign grant/aid making it impossible for corrupt politicians & public sector to refuse? Don’t play with the lives of children to satisfy corrupt ways. Introducing sex education” is a ruse. Using ‘sex education’ as a camouflage, the attempt is to indoctrinate Sri Lanka’s children as young as 1 year olds to question their sexuality, distance them from family ties and bonds and create zombies out of them, making them dress abnormally, behave contrary to eastern culture, embrace ideals that are imported only to destroy their lives.
Phase 1: indoctrinating kids from age 1 to 7 & influencing their subconscious mind
Phase 2: kids begin questioning their sex, experimenting with sex & indirectly guided away from parental links
Phase 3: children encouraged to change sex, thinking it is their decision when it is clearly not. The course curricular was designed to infest their minds to become what they were naturally not & thereafter they are permanent customers of Big Pharma dependent on drugs to survive. Lifelong medicines have serious impact on a child & ruins the family & traumatizes them.
We are watching some sadistic people use funds to force countries to meddle with the minds of the child.
Sri Lanka’s parents must be awake to the sex education” gender” programs that are being rolled out simply because some foreign funding agency has given some money for implementing these programs that are going to ruin your precious child.
Disney+ Uses Drag Queens To Promote & Fund LGBTQ Curriculum In Public Schools
Over $200K being spent on drag queen shows at NYC schools, records show (2022)
What started in America was palmed off to UK & Europe. Americans are now European parents are up in arms over spreading of homosexual ideology among normal childen & passing new laws to curtail its spread.
Should we not be learning lessons & PREVENT same coming to Sri Lanka without embracing what has proved to be a failed project elsewhere but the damage done to the children is irreversible. 30 clinics are operating in US to change sex of children. Let this nonsense not come to Sri Lanka as well.
I am disappointed that an MP has made baseless allegations & spread outright lies in a book that should be labelled fiction”. For 75 years the US and SL have showed commitments to democracy, sovereignty and prosperity and future wecontinue to build together”, twittered American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung soon after the launch of National Freedom Front leader MP Wimal Weerawansa’s book Nine; The Hidden Story”. Julie Chung should explain in detail the baseless allegations” and outright lies” that contain in Weerawansa’s book and clear her name as the Conductor of Galle Face Protest and Viceroy of Sri Lanka planted by the US. Her message reveals the poor knowledge she has regarding fiction. Weerawansa’s book discloses what type of a future” she wanted to build” for Sri Lanka.
The roc wings fanwise
Soaring ninety thousand li
And rousing a cyclone”(Two Birds: A Dialogue” by Mao Zedong -1965).
Current events show that within a few hours after the launching of the book Nine” in front of a packed audience at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on April 25, has roused a cyclone as Mao put into poetry. According to Chinese mythology the bird called pengwhose wings were like clouds could rise ninety thousand li to the sky at one stretch creating a cyclone. Cyclone Nine” has hit not only Julie Chang. It has hit Fonseka and some other politicians, columnists, cartoonists, and satirists who make fun out of every serious political development in this country. Defense Ministry on behalf of Shavindra Silva has issued a statement that Silva was on an official visit to India in July 2022 to attend the meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave with the approval of the then President of Sri Lanka. In other words this shows that our security top brass was conferring in a foreign country when the country was burning and the life of the Head of State was at stake.
The book has generated dissension in the ranks of JVP/ NPP, Tilvin Silva and Lalkantha making statements contradictory to each other, the latter accepting US hands at Galle Face. Those you were in the pay list of USAID, NED, IRI, NDI, IREX, MEND, ROAR Media all US front organisations and operational in Sri Lanka and media personnel trained by such organisations and those who attended Julie Chung’s garden parties may be mapping out their counter measures. (It is pity to state that Rev. Pallegama Hemaratna, Atamasthanadhipathi of Anuradhapura becoming Chung’s latest catch”).
The speech made by an academic attached to Sripalee campus preceding Weerawansa’s fiery revelations paled into insignificance as it was a hotchpotch of sterile theory which has no practical value. The organisers could have selected a person for this task who was able to formulate a theory to Galle Face Protest as opposed to those who had theorised Galle Face Protest as a new type of mass uprising.
What is extraordinary in Nine”, a small book which contains only 135 pages? Most of the things discussed in this book were treated in different perspectives by writers who were critical about the Galle Face Protest, who understood the true nature of it, its handlers and US footprints from the very beginning of Galle Face Protest including this writer. Wimal Weerawansa was able to unfold many frightening happenings that previous writers were not informed of. Also, many incidents that are coming into light only now beg new and different interpretations.
The book contains two parts: part I or the major portion of the book (114 pages) is devoted to describe the hidden story” of the nines” in the cotemporary history of Sri Lanka.
The narrative begins with a brief discussion of the economic situation of the country that triggered protest movements. It says that the crisis was deepened as a result of intolerant, unresponsive, arrogant thinking and behaviours of GR, Basil and Jayasundera. The author exposes how at these initial stages of the crisis Victoria Nuland and Julie Chung entered the arena. Nuland arrived in the Island on 23 March 2022, just a week before that fateful day, 31 March. Nuland, apart from meeting GR and GL Peiris had met an unidentifiable cabal of civil society activists”. The griddle was heated; protesters wanted to bake a roti; but nobody knew what type of a roti they wanted to bake. It was known only to Julie Chang and few others.
Weerawansa correctly states that although the Galle Face Protest was labelled as peaceful” and non-violent”, the first wave of violence was unleashed on March 31 at Mirihana and the second a few days later with the attacks to private residences of some Government MPs and not on May 9 in retaliation to destroying of Protesters’ urban ghetto as propagated by protesters, media and opposition politicians. On 31 March when GR’s life was in danger, as the Commander-in-Chief, he was unable to get additional troops mobilised. The author says that the Army Commander was attending a wedding at a star class hotel at the time. Nine observations made by the Karannagoda Commission in respect of the delay in mobilising troop are listed here. Soon, Chung begins her Twitter campaign” interfering in internal affairs of the country violating international covenants. The author interprets her twitter messages as an open invitation demanding change.
The author draws parallels between Galle Face and Maidan Protest in Ukraine, the latter masterminded by Nuland.
We cannot agree with the way the author analysing the Rambukkana incident. Had the Rambukkana protesters succeeded in setting fire to the petrol bowser stationed at a level crossing for hours, the whole town would have engulfed in flames and the disaster was unimaginable. The author makes the fallen protester a hero dedicating the book also to the wife and children of the dead person. The author fails to see that the protesters countrywide were looking for blood, a dead body and how this death caused to stage funeral processions, dirges and wailing at the Galle Face Protest site. It is only now the black coated junior partners of the BASL, a beneficiary of USAID grants had washed their hands from this whole case. It should be reminded that some protesters wanted to make the President of BASL the President of Sri Lanka!
Next, the author draws attention of the readers to the convoy of army trucks parked near Galle Face Green. At this instance Julie Chung had persuaded GR and another Minister (name not given) to remove those trucks, otherwise the IMF bailout would not take place. In face of her threat” GR had ordered the removal of trucks from Galle Face vicinity. We ordinary people knew army trucks coming and going. But only now we realise what had happened exactly. Bringing trucks to the Galle Face vicinity cannot be a show of strength. The author says that Chung wanted to push the Galle Face Protest further until its fruition as envisaged by the script writers.
Meanwhile the US Ambassador continued meeting top level personnel of the security establishment including the IGP, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and chief of intelligence services, all these officers had met the Ambassador without obtaining permission from the President, book says. This is tantamount to influencing them psychologically inducing them not to react against the protesters for the realisation of her ultimate objective in the midst of creating anarchy in the country. During this period the Ambassador had met CBK and Sirisena. The author states that she received many other MPs and politicians, government officials and civil society” activists without mentioning their names. We can add that one such person was Dayasiri Jayasekera, General Secretary of SLFP, a distinguished invitee at the launch of Nine”! In our previous articles we have mentioned the names of those politicians, MPs, media personnel and NGO aristocrats who were received by Julie Chung during this turbulent period. The author reveals that Chung was aware of the final outcome of the protest what the protesters themselves were not aware.
The author describes the events that took place on May 9, that unmasked the true face of the protesters. Senior DIG in charge of Colombo was instructed not to stop the goons that were advancing towards Galle Face Green as against the orders given by the Commander-in-chief, the author states. The book gives much space to discuss how the so-called protest of love” metamorphosised into unleashing murder, arson, destruction of property and overall mayhem and how certain groups of actors and actresses, singers, writers, poets, media men, U tubers, civil society” activists and university academics joined the social media campaign fanning the flames of violence, destruction and death. The author fails to name these persons, may be because they were small fry as compared to Ambassadors and other top rung officials. The author says that love” was only a veil hiding violence and destruction. Thus, violence was justified naming it as counter-attacks.
But in retrospect we can add that most of the protesters were activists or sympathisers of JVP/NPP or FSP and those singers, actors, lyricists, music directors were the very same persons who feasted on the cadaver of Mother Lanka paying homage to Rajapaksas during their glorious days. We can vouch that one such person had solemnised the wedding of his daughter at the Temple Trees with the full blessings and patronage of Rajapaksas. It was an historical irony that Ranil Wickremasinghe quoting a song of this person at the Independence Day Celebrations and a Face Book account of the person who initiated hanging lingerie at Galle Face and Polduwa Junction in one of his Parliament speeches respectively.
Many groups including the FSP were mesmerised by these attacks and unleashing of violence. They saw in it a semblance of Russian Revolution and called for the formation of regional insurgent groups. The biggest slipup of the author at this instance is not highlighting the fundamentals of the Bolshevik Revolution and how the Bolsheviks captured power against tremendous odds. Nobody should be allowed to revise what had happened in the history to suit their narrow political games and paint marauders and banditry as revolutionaries and revolutionary moments respectively.
Next the author focusses his attention to the conclusions of the Karannagoada Committee. The author surmises that the protesters were able to unleash violence all over the Island as a result of security forces were made to witness all as silent observers. The author gives reasons for such negative action which are irrefutable. At the end all what matters is not the country or the state but personal affinities and familial ties.
Under the sub-heading Throne to Ranil” (p.57) Weerawansa does not fail to bring forward Ranil’s funny statements regarding the Galle Face Protest when he was made the Prime Minister by GR. Instead of dissuading the protest it was encouraged. The author does not mention the names of UNPers who made Galle Face Green their home and spearheaded a vigorous social media campaign in support of Galle Face. These were the people who got plum appointments when RW became the President.
Nobel laureate, the Nigerian writer and dramatist Wole Soyinka in 1978 performed a set of comedies in streets, at market places and lorry parks. One such comedy was titled Home to Roost”. The people who got appointments from RW remind us some characters depicted in these short comedies and its title aptly fits these grandees.
Still many blame Rajapaksas for the economic crisis. But the origin of the economic crisis goes to the days of yahapalana regime as explained in page 59 of the book. Reasons for the debt trap and crisis in balance of payments are pointed out quoting a report of an expert committee.
Another intriguing episode of this drama disclosed by Weerawansa is Omalpe Sobitha, who acted as the joint godfather of Galle Face Protesters with Malcom Cardinal Ranjith. Sobitha had forced some Anunayakas (names or sects not given; but Maha Vihara refers either to Asgiriya or Malwatta)) to request MR to appoint Patali Champika Ranawaka as Prime Minister. By this time Julie Chung had already met Ranawaka and discussed how to work in collaboration sharing his (Ranawaka’s) vision to solve the present economic crisis”. Nobody has given Julie a mandate to solve the economic crisis of Sri Lanka. How many actors in this nexus? Countless.
Weerawansa devotes pages 65 to 80 to elaborate US Footprints at Galle Face Green; how the imperialists staged so called Colour Revolutions” in different countries; US organisations operating in Sri Lanka utilised by the US to serve its geopolitical interests; how these organisations work to corrupt the mindset of the people and how they control various political forces in the country. All those persons who had attended various programmes conducted by these organisations and the representatives shown posing for photographs with Chung including media personnel played a pivotal and a debilitating role at Galle Face. The author includes many photographs of these crusaders” proudly posing for cameras, Chung occupying the center stage.
We invite the attention of the readers to our article entitled US Footprints at theGalle Face Protest Site” posted on August 20, 2022 in LankaWeb, which gives a more detailed analysis providing concrete examples. Weerawansa in pages 81-89 elucidates how the Galle Face protest became an anti-Buddhist campaign funded by Tamil diaspora. For a detailed account of culture of the Galle Face protesters we again focus the attention of the readers to our article Culture of Galle FaceProtesters” posted on September 3, 2022 in LankaWeb. In that we identified 21 aspects of this low and sordid culture.
The most despicable, appalling, horrendous acts unfolded are explained from page 90 to 102 of the book, July 9 and its aftermath. Many of these acts come to light for the first is the uniqueness of this book. Some of these were in the grapevine but they are being documented for the first time inviting further investigation.
The massive crowds that thronged to Colombo on May 9 had made the estimations of the Intelligence services a kid’s work. Army Commander was not in the Island. Weerawansa alleges that his trip to India was facilitated by Chung with the assistance of the Indians. Attitudes of some officers of the famous 53rd Division was questionable says Weerawansa quoting an observation of the Karannagoda Committee. He alleges that army fortifications (defenses/barricades) towards the Presidential House were loose and vulnerable that could not withstand a mighty force. Masterminds of the Protesters had planned to storm the Presidential House around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. But the protesters were able to break the army barricades easily than they have expected and storm the Presidential House before noon owing to weak defenses. GR was briefed by his defense chiefs that everything was under control. But a chance activation of a television channel had showed him that the protesters were storming the Presidential House, the place where he was residing after the Mirahana outrage on 31 March 2022. The decision was taken immediately to vacate the Presidential House and the navy Commander’s plan was executed. Protesters were able to forcibly occupy the Presidential House rather easily and earlier than they had thought.
Weerawansa next unravels the most hideous part of this underhand plot. India which promised an airplane for GR to flee the country has not honoured that promise. Indians wanted GR to sack RW. This request was made through Mahinda Samarasinghe too, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Washington. Milinda Moragoda, Sri Lanka’s envoy to New Delhi also had pressurised GR demanding Ranil’s removal. This is only another case showing how our envoys working to safeguard the interests of other countries while Julie Chung and her ilk trying to destabilise our country.
Weerawansa claims that Gamini Senerath GR’s Secretary had prepared two letters and send them to Maldives for GR’s signature, one proclaiming GR’s resignation and the other sacking RW. But according to Weerawansa GR had not signed the second one. At this time plans were set to storm the Parliament and capture it; the next step was occupying the Supreme Courts premises. This would signify the fall of the national state, leading to anarchy, legislature, seat of the executive and judiciary falling into the hands of anarchists.
Then Weerawansa reveals a leader of a very influential religious denomination (non-Buddhist) visiting the Speaker at his official residence, having a discussion with him for about two hours and asking him to accept the Presidency after GR’s resignation. Although Weerawansa does not name this religious dignitary it is easy to guess who it was. He cannot be the Commander of the Salvation Army! Why does Weerawansa hide this after unravelling so many things which the reader did not have access? Is it another hidden story”?
Next appears the unanticipated visitor. Julie Chung was her name. She pressurises and commands the Speaker to accept the Presidency. The Speaker had repeatedly told the Ambassador that it was against the Constitution. Now the readers may recall that the JVP called for an Interim Government headed by the Speaker as the Acting President. Julie Chung having received JVP leader AKD twittered, to me the JVP is a significant party. They have a growing presence. They resonate with the public during recent times. They are a growing political party and their ideas are accepted by the public”. Was the JVP used by Chung to carry out her plans? Wimal Weerawansa misses this important point. How Lalkantha had admitted US involvement in Galle Face protest? Did they participate in it clearly knowing its handlers and financiers?
Weerawansa analyses the strength of the FSP which polled only 14522 votes from the whole Island (p. 77) and asks how did it use a colossal amount of money during the protest. It’s very simple to understand. The then JVP leader Somavansa Amarasinghe said that this philistine (FSP leader) broke the party as instructed by a foreign intelligence service!
After Chung’s departure the Speaker goes to Security Forces Headquarters at Pelawatta and meets RW who was there. They view a telecast of RW’s private residence engulfed in flames. Weerawansa says that RW has not received a positive response from the security chiefs when they were asked to overpower the arsonists. RW leaves. At this juncture the Army Commander had asked the Speaker to request RW to step down. Army Commander had opined that bringing back normalcy was an uphill task to the security forces.
Weerawansa exposes that a person who commanded the Sri Lankan army at one time, now an MP, had continuously instructed the present Commander over the phone and the latter’s responses were extremely positive. At one instance this particular MP had rang the Commander 13 times. The author does not name who this person was.
Weerawansa concludes this part stating that the American Ambassador wanted to create another Libya in Sri Lanka. After killing Muhammar Gadhafi Americans installed an interim government in Libya headed by its Speaker with bits and pieces picked up from hear and there. Weerawansa does not forget to name who would sit in that government.
He further says that Julie Chung and Galle Face protesters failed to accomplish the Plan A”. Having failed to thwart RW’s ascent to presidency now the US is pursuing their Plan B”, working with RW to achieve their objectives. Weerawansa quotes many twitter messages that originated from Julie Chung’s desk to elucidate this. Weerawansa describes in pages 105-114 Nuland’s second visit to Sri Lanka in January 2023 and the Top Secret Mission” that took place a fortnight after, the visit of the top-level US delegation that included CIA Director William Joseph Burns and how RW had consented to three of the four US demands which are detrimental to the interests and aspirations of Sri Lanka. Weerawansa says that the release of the first tranche of IMF loan was tied to these conditions and the delay in releasing the first tranche was in anticipation of this consent. This shows us that opposition to IMF conditions” as perceived by trade unionists, academia and some politicians are imaginary and the real conditions” are shrouded in mystery known only to the Americans and their proteges in Sri Lanka.
Are we going to simply dismiss the allegations made against certain people in this book as conspiracy theories? People whose names mentioned in this book so far have not denied the allegations made against them. Weerawansa’s revelations should be investigated. But we cannot expect such a probe under Ranil Wickremasinghe or responses from either Julie Chung or others mentioned in the book, except defamatory statements already made by Fonseka, Tilvin Silva et al. Ranil Wickremasinghe is not a Lula da Silva. In our piece titled From PresidentialHouse in Colombo to Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia in Brazil and Andean Mountains in Peru” posted on February 5, 2023 we have described how the Brazilian authorities commenced a criminal probe into the insurrection. But at the same time, we have stated that it won’t happen in Sri Lanka as there were many intentional lapses in security that allowed the protesters in Sri Lanka to run berserk.
As the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress has appointed an Independent Commission to probe the causes leading to the state of anarchy in Sri Lanka” and called for evidence, the said Commission should accept MP Wimal Weerawansa’s book as written submissions and make a detailed study. Several members of this Commission were present at the book launch, got copies of this book and listened to Wimal Weerawansa’s speech (more or less his oral submissions).
Sudipto Sen latest video about Kerala’s demographic timebomb. Kerala will be converted into an Islamic state within 20 years: Leading filmmaker, Sudipto Sen quotes a former communist Chief Minister’s recorded admission on Kerala’s demographic timebomb
Prof. Nimal Senanayake (NS) professor emeritus, eminent neurologist and creative writer and producer of drama and films, continuing his commitment to write in Sinhala on important health issues for public education, has published the seventeenth in the series and the chosen subject is the deadly Rabies of which the public awareness could be insufficient from the point of view of prevention and treatment to prevent death. Prevention of onset of the disease is not difficult if treatment is instituted soon after a dog bite or bite by other animals like bats carrying the virus. NS deals with these aspects adequately and in simple prose in his little book of 165 pages.
NS showing his proclivity to drama and suspense starts in dramatic fashion, bringing in bats rather than dogs to beigin his story describing cases of rabies in Texas 1951, Florida 1953 and Pennsylvania 1953, all due to attacks from the sky as it were, all bitten by flying bats coming down and biting without any provocation. All these bats were not blood sucking vampire bats but apparently harmless insectivora. NS’s intention clearly is not just drama but to draw the attention of the reader to the strong possibility of bats developing as vectors of deadly viruses as was the case with Corona and several other virus diseases which NS has written about. NS has mentioned that Rabies following bat bite had occured in Sri Lanka too.
NS then embarks upon a very interesting journey through history starting with Diana the Roman Goddess of Wilderness and the Hunt and traces back the history of Rabies to 4000 years. He mentions great philosophers Democritus (500 BCE), and Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE) and the father of medicine Hipocrates who had written about disease due to animal bites. Greek physician Galen (129 – 200 CE) had recorded the natural history of rabies and also treatment measures including wound care some of which are still valid. NS has commented on Arabian writtings on rabies which is noteworthy as early development of medicine happened in the Arabian civilisation.
After history NS switches over to his usual practice adopted throughout this series where he asks critical questions and gives lengthy explanations. These questions are those that may arise in the minds of science writers, students, patients and ordinary people. They are designed to bring out the most important information that these categories must know about rabies and also lively anecdotes. This is a very effective and efficient method of conveying the knowledge with brevity and clarity, that the author has developed with his vast experience of teaching and practice of medicine.
Begining with the virology of rabies with a description of the rabies virus the author covers the entirety of all aspects of the disease. He connects up the physiology of the virus with the pathogenesis of the disease, how the virus enters the tissues of the human body, proliferates and then gains access to the nervous system through the peripheral nerves. What happens in the brain when the virus reaches it and affects the brain stem, limbic system etc. would be of particular interest to the medical students.
How the author looks at every aspect is exemplified when a question is asked whether the person who attends to the wounds of the patient could contract the infection and the explanation that follows showing how it could happen. Then the author explains why and how rabies is known as hydro-phobia, the horrendous result that ensues when the extremely thirsty patient attempts to take some water into the mouth and try to swallow it is the reason that causes severe fear of water in the mind of the patient. The physiological basis for this undue fear of water according to the author is ‘conditioned reflex’ and this is illustrated with the famous experiment by Pavlov and his dog. Similarly the patient is horrified of the wind blowing against his body which like water causes severe shivering and muscle contraction. A comprehansive description of the possible animals that could be a vector for rabies is given and also how careful people should be about their pets and the danger of being suddenly attacked by these animals who may appear to be harmless is vividly described.
Though these symptoms are seen in the advanced state the early symptoms could be similar to those of common cold except that there could be radiating numbness at the site of the wound. The wrong beliefs that the patient may bark like a dog or even bite others has no basis and the origin of these beliefs are explained. But the caregivers must be careful not to get contaminated by salivary secretions of the patient even on a minor wound or scratch on their skin.
The tragedy of the situation is that when the patient is not subject to severe muscle contraction and shivering he could be in his proper senses and he realises that he is facing a horrendous death. This state is really pathetic for everybody near and dear to the patient. Physio-pathological explanations of the often mysterious fearful clinical picture would be very useful to medical students. These fearful clinical features could be to some degree controlled with pain killers and sedatives. Apart from the nervous systems other organs also may be invaded via the nerves and consequently heart failure and pneumonia could result. Merciful death would arrive with the patient going into coma due to the development of encephalitis which is not any different from other types of encephalitis.
After this comprehensive discussion on all the importanr aspects of rabies the author talks about a rare type of rabies called paralytic rabies which is due to the spinal cord and the medulla oblongata being affected instead of the brain and brain stem. This condition is also known as the dumb or silent rabies as there is no violent spasms but a paralysis of limbs and other muscles. Yet slow death cannot be avoided. This type of rabies is more common with bat bites and there had been an outbreak of it of epidemic proportion in Trinidad in 1929 – 1931 period. Health authorities thought it was an outbreak of polio or botulism poisoning.
Author goes into details of diagnosis and draws our attention to the fact that the animal bite incident may even have been forgotten as onset of symptoms could be delayed. This makes diagnosis difficult and this is made worse by the fact that there may be several other conditions that may initially exhibit similar clinical features. NS with his usual thoroughness mentions that sometimes a person who has been bitten by a dog may undergo immense mental stress and go into hysteria which may simulate rabies!
NS gives a comprehensive description of tetanus which is one of the conditions that need to be differentiated in the diagnosis of rabies. Moreover tetanus could occure following bites by dogs and other animals who carry the bacterium that causes tetanus. In tetanus the bacteria do not travel upto the nervous system but the toxin it produces while proliferating in the depth of a wound could travel along nerves and effect the central nervous system. Spasms of muscles could result in a similar clinical picture to that of rabies though there are important differences that may help the doctor to suspect rabies. These differences are lucidly described by the author and illustrated with clear colour pictures which is a striking feature throughout the book which complements the text and adds value to the work. The fact that if adequate treatment is provided in good time tetanus could be fully cured which is not the case with rabies which needs to be nipped in the bud if it is to be cured is emphasized.
NS mentions botulinum toxin poisoning which is another condition that could mimic rabies. What is important to ordinary reader here is the fact that contaminated food, specially tinned fish that has gone bad could contain the toxin due to Clostridium Botulinum contamination. NS does not forget to tell us how to detect the possibility of such contamination by an examination of the can of fish which would appear to be swollen and the fish would be blackish in colour. Other diseases that the author mentions which may be clinically similar to rabies are encephalitis caused by malaria, delerium tremens and poisoning by certain locally found wild fruits like goda kaduru” and attana” and also ganja” which children may unknowingly consume.
Then the author deals with the tests that could be carried out to confirm the diagnosis particularly in the animal that had bitten the patient so that treatment could be started early to prevent death. He has a story to tell about the development of these tests and also the vaccines. He gives detailed account of how Frenchman Louis Pasteur succeded in discovering anthrax causing bacteria in cattle and attempts at developing a vaccine against anthrax and also against rabies. Description of Pasteur’s attempt to experiment the rabies vaccine he had developed on a human being is full of drama and suspense. Scientific detail which could be boring is embelished with human drama which is a feature of NS’s writings that make them so readable. Author has written several pages on Louis Pasteur in order to emphasize the great importance of the ground breaking discoveries he had made which eventually helped mankind to combat many killer diseases caused by micro-organisms. The description of how Pasteur risks his life when he sucked into a tube saliva from a rabid dog is fascinating.
Next NS deals with the attempt at attenuation of the virus by Irish physician Sir David Semple (1856 – 1937) The attenuated virus could be used as the vaccine as it could initiate the development of immunity against the viral infection. Greater success was achieved by the efforts of Polish physician Hillary Koprowski (1960 -2013) and American bacteriologist Herald Cox (1907 – 1986) who used new methods to lessen the virulence of the virus. Methods of producing safe vaccines which may not have the complications of ealier varieties have taken vast stides with the development of DNA technology.
Finally NS writes about prevention and treatment of rabies which is of vital importance as about 55000 die worldwide annually mainly due to ignorence, negligence and lack of facilities for vaccination. What should be done after being bitten by an animal which could be a vector of rabies is clearly described. The use of Rabies Immunoglobulin (RIG) and Anti-rabies Vaccine (ARV) and their mode of action is given in detail. This section is very important for the student as well as lay persons. The final chaptor on animal management from the point of view of rabies prevention would be very useful for everybody, specially people who keep pets, animal lovers and animal farm keepers.
Prof. Nimal Senanayake has produced yet again a compact little book full of knowledge important for everybody written in beautiful Sinhala prose like a story, simplifying complex matters and vividly emphasizing where emphasis is necessary. This excellent piece of work would be of use to ordinary people, medical students, post graduates, animal farmers, and doctors who practice bread and butter medicine every where in the country.
Sri Lanka needs anti-terror and anti-subversion laws. Sadly, the seven decades since Independence are dotted with subversion, violence, disruption and terrorism. Current Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) introduced in 1979 has its use but falls short of many security risks the island faces. Parts of it are outdated.
Singapore’s Internal Security Act is a reasonable adaptation for Sri Lanka. It is very comprehensive and it has helped turn Singapore into a modern peaceful, diverse and developed nation.
A link to the Act is found at Singapore Statutes Online. (Internal Security Act 1960, 2020 REVISED EDITION)
A Chinese state-owned firm said on Monday it plans to take its investment in Sri Lanka to $2 billion by building a major logistics hub.
Sri Lanka is looking to kickstart its economic recovery after defaulting on its foreign debt last year, when shortages of essentials such as food, fuel and medicines sparked widespread anti-government protests.
The investment by the China Merchants Group in a large logistics complex at Colombo Port, with an estimated construction cost of $392 million, is the first major foreign investment in Sri Lanka since the default.
The logistics centre project will take CMG’s accumulated investment in Sri Lanka to… over 2 billion US dollars, making it the largest foreign investment enterprise in the island”, the company said in a statement on Monday.
CMG will have a 70 percent stake in the company set up to build the logistics complex at Colombo, the only deep-sea port between Dubai and Singapore.
Describing the project as South Asia’s largest logistics hub, CMG said it expects to complete it by the end of 2025.
CMG also manages the port complex at Hambantota on the southern tip of Sri Lanka.
That port was considered among the white-elephant projects launched by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who ruled the country for a decade until 2015.
Rajapaksa borrowed heavily from China for projects that many criticised as a debt trap that led to the worst economic crisis in Sri Lanka’s history.
Unable to repay a huge loan taken from China in 2017 to build Hambantota port, Sri Lanka handed it over to CMG for $1.12 billion on a 99-year lease.
China has loaned billions for projects in Asia, Africa and Europe under its gargantuan Belt and Road Initiative, which critics say is saddling nations with debt.
Neighbouring India as well as the United States have also expressed concern about China gaining a naval advantage in the Indian Ocean with its access to Sri Lanka’s ports.
Sri Lanka has insisted that its ports will not be used for any military purposes.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on National Security, Rear Admiral (retd) Sarath Weerasekara, has condemned the blacklisting by the US of Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda over the latter’s alleged involvement in ‘a gross violation of human rights during his tenure as a Naval Commander’ on the basis of finding made by NGOs and independent investigations.
The former Public Security Minister said so at last Friday’s meeting of the Oversight Committee held in Parliament.
The State Department last Wednesday (26) declared that Karannagoda and his wife, Srimathi Ashoka Karannagoda, wouldn’t be allowed entry into the United States in terms of Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programmes Appropriations Act, 2023.
The US action pertained to alleged abduction and disappearance of 11 youth during 2008-2009. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigated the spate of incidents blamed on a group of rogue Navy personnel after Karannagoda, in his capacity as the Commander of Navy, lodged a complaint with the CID on May 28, 2009.
Referring to the State Department’s disclosure that Karannagoda’s designation was based on findings made by the NGOs and independent investigations, the
Colombo District MP questioned the rationale in the State Department decision. How such a sensitive decision could be taken on the basis of information documented by NGOs, the Oversight Committee Chairman asked.
Rear Admiral Weerasekera reminded the parliamentary group how the US denied visa to the then General Sarath Fonseka during yahapalana administration and years later refused entry to Maj. Gen. Udaya Perera though him being issued multiple visa and then designated General Shavendra Silva in Feb 2020.
Both General Silva and Admiral Karannagoda have been designated by Section 7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programmes Appropriations Act.
The Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued soon after the US declaration found fault with the State Department for taking unilateral action without following due process. The ministry asserted that the US action is counter-productive to the holistic approach that Sri Lanka has taken on addressing national unity and reconciliation.
Lawmaker Weerasekera said that the US couldn’t stomach Sri Lanka’s triumph over LTTE terrorism. The former Minister pointed out how Canada in January this year imposed targeted sanctions on former Presidents, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabaya Rajapaksa as well Staff Sergeant Ratnayake and Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi. Canada dealt with them in terms of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Reference was also made to Australia denying visa to Maj. Gen. Chagie Gallage, one of the frontline commanders over him receiving the command of 59 Division after the conclusion of the war.
Former Minister Weerasekera said that Geneva-based Human Rights Council has categorized Sri Lanka conflict as humanitarian conflict. Regardless of that the US, Canada, Australia et al dealt with Sri Lanka in terms of the international human rights law, thereby acting contrary to the Geneva Convention, lawmaker Weerasekera claimed. The MP insisted that Sri Lankan commanders at any level couldn’t be held accountable in respect of command responsibilities as Geneva dealt with Sri Lanka in terms of international humanitarian law.
Responding to The Island queries, the naval veteran said that Sri Lanka should review the situation against the backdrop of Canadian parliament recognizing genocide in Sri Lanka. Referring to a motion by the Canadian government to recognize May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, lawmaker Weerasekera said that Sri Lanka’s response to such drastic move was insufficient. We rejected the Canadian move, in a statement issued through the Foreign Ministry. That was in May last year amidst a rapidly developing political-economic-social crisis. In January Canada imposed targeted sanctions on four persons, including two ex-Presidents. We issued another statement. Now the US targeted Admiral Karannagoda. And we issued yet another statement.”
The ex-Minister said that the situation continued to deteriorate for want of a cohesive response on the part of Sri Lanka. The parliament should look into this matter, the MP said. The growing threat to the Sri Lankan State couldn’t be addressed by issuing statements, MP Weerasekera said.
This is a continuation of the article titled Export and Prosper published on LBN on the website https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2023/02/28/industrialize-and-prosper-part-i/
Historically SL had been an entrepot trade center. It can be assumed that there were also industrial goods produced locally in this trade. There is evidence that steelmaking was prevalent in many parts of the county where iron smelting was done in wind tunnels. The cutting and sculpturing of granite, remains of which are abundant could not have been done without hard steel instruments. It is unimaginable that a nation which is credited with a superior hydraulic civilization did not make a few industrial products. The manual skill of the labor is evident in the intricate wooden and metal craft and other forms of handicrafts. The innate skills of handling complex machinery without prior experience were displayed by the local workers employed in the Gal Oya scheme.
Many reports have been written on the potential of Sri Lanka to industrialize but rarely have they been followed up as investment projects. The former concept of comparable advantage has now been refined to competitive advantage. Despite recommendation of the Washington Consensus to South Korea to desist from venturing into heavy industries as the country did not have a comparative advantage, South Korea dived into the deep end and came out with remarkable success. World Bank refused to fund the Posco steel mill in Korea as they lacked the raw material but today admits that Posco as the most efficient steel mill in the world. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/441571468753249695/pdf/multi0page.pdf
Most mentioned comparative advantage of the island for a manufacturing hub is the strategic location straddling the busy sea route between the Far East the middle East and Europe. The newly added bounty is the 200-mile marine economic zone. A bonus is the deep-sea natural harbor and the oil tank farm in Trincomalee. In the modern era the literate trainable human resource has become a prime potential for an industrial base. This turns out to be more relevant for high tech service industries.
SL is also gifted with sources of inexpensive and clean solar energy with the tropical sun shining over the island almost 12 hours of the day on every day of the year. The prospective for wind energy is also high.
It is with industrialization that the country can earn foreign exchange and move towards productive high employment with better wages. With all these advantages the country can gain from industrialization and all those incomparable blessings of nature we have had a high prospective for industrialization, but these blessings were pearls cast before swine. This paper attempts to identify opportunities to industrialize in the following wide areas. These are random and broad-brush postulations which need further investigation. Most of the details on the potential have been culled from EDB publications. In very broad terms they can be considered under:
Value Addition in existing industries.
Import substitution and
New Physical resource-based industries.
New Human resource-based industries.
1.VALUE ADDITION
SL has not tapped the full potential to add value to the major commodities of Tea, rubber, and coconuts. In Tea we can produce more organic teas for niche markets. The market for tea in bags has grown very rapidly. But there was some reluctance of the tea traders to shift out of the bulk tea market. SL should follow the Dilmah example of branded tea in tea bags. It is sad that we have not still produced a tea beverage or an instant tea. In tea we should form a cartel with other major producers and bargain for better price.
In rubber we should focus on latex products which give more added value. The international system of grading of RSS is an unfair device to lower the price of RSS to the producer. Smoked sheets are downgraded on color, reefer marks or air bubbles. These standards have no relevance in the manufacturing process where dirt (carbon black) is added to the compound.
In coconut while more value addition is there when converted to desiccated coconut, coconut oil could be used for manufacture of cosmetics. Out of the 400,000 ha of land under coconut at least 200,000 ha could be intercropped with cash crops like pineapple, pepper, banana, ginger, papaya, groundnut, manioc etc. An informative website is: https://goodhands.lk/intercropping-under-coconut-in-sri-lanka/
Spices have a tremendous potential for value addition. Our spices are very high in quality and could fetch high prices as value added products. Value-added products accredited globally are black pepper powder, pepper oleoresin, cardamom oil, curcumin, turmeric oleoresin, bleached ginger, and cinnamon oil. A branded curry powder pack of SL spices could be introduced to the export market. India already has a few branded products in the market, but SL should be able to compete on superior quality. Every part of a coconut has room for value addition. Some examples are given in the following article from FAO. https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/rap/files/meetings/2013/131030-value.pdf
Fruits and vegetables can be further processed with canning, dehydration and fermenting. That will also reduce waste in seasons of glut. Fruits can be canned and made into juices and bottled. Many sweet fruits can made into wines. Wine industry must be made legal.
Most cereals can be converted into convenient foods like breakfast cereals as well into animal feed and alcoholic beverages. This could also reduce the consumption of the unhealthy Kasippu. Vodka and ethanol can be produced from sweet potatoes.
2. Import Substitution
Present neo liberals are averse to import substitution under any circumstance. The current objection of the IMF is that import substitution under protective trade regimes creates a bias against export promotion and hinders import competition, export diversification, as well as the entry of foreign firms. It must be mentioned that all high performing economies in the Far East resorted to import substitution under trade protection in their early stages of industrialization. A more balanced view of Import Substitution prevailed among economist some time back which indicated that an element of import substitution is necessary, although not a sufficient, condition for expanding domestic markets and help to sustain a satisfactory rate of industrialization. A well-conceived and adequately implemented strategy of import substitution can make a substantial contribution toward higher incomes and help to promote exports. It also can help to speed up the transition from a traditional and agrarian economy into an industrial society sharing in the benefits of international relations and trade”.
0015-1947-article-A005-en-1.pdf IMF Library
While Sri Lanka under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank followed their free-market policies South Kore according to notably Alice Amsden (1991), deliberately ‘got the prices wrong’—that is, Korea used trade barriers and other measures to ensure that infant industries, notably in the heavy industry sector, were protected from international competition and received prices well above world market prices for those products. While our industrial policy was based on politics the Far Eastern economies made their decisions using economic and technocratic criteria.
In Singapore, import-substitution efforts were strengthened in the early 1960s to shield new firms from foreign competition. Thus, tariffs were raised in both 1962 and 1963, and import quotas were imposed on a variety of products in 1963. By May 1965, some 230 commodities were subject to import licensing and quantitative restrictions. https://www.elibrary.imf.org/display/book/9781557754639/ch003.xml
During World War II SL had established a few import substitution projects such as on paper, plywood, leather, glass, ceramic and steel rolling. Some of them were converted into public corporations and expanded. Some were later privatized. But SL has had no Posco like groundbreaking projects despite the IBRD report 1951 disclosing that there was 6 million tons of iron ore to be exploited nothing was done. Forget about expansion, the Hardware Corporation of SL has not been able to produce a mamoty to match the crocodile brand of Chillington. These agencies require new technology to upgrade themselves.
SL should produce in the country most agricultural tools needed in the country including small tractors. It is noted that the small tiller which is now popular in most Asian countries was the invention of Sri Lankan Ray Wijeywardhana. Sri Lanka could focus on the light engineering sector, which is the backbone of any heavy industry sector. In many industrialized countries the early stage of their industrialization they developed their light engineering sector, which sharpened the skills of the work force and the management. This sector became the incubators for more sophisticated industries.
For the first time, two natural gas discoveries were made in two wells out of the three wells drilled in Block M2 by Cairn in 2011. It took another 10 years to enact Petroleum Resources Act, No. 21 of 2021 to provide for the establishment of the petroleum development authority of SL the formulation of a national policy on upstream petroleum industry and regulation and management structure capturing the maximum economic value of domestic petroleum resources. Government should give the highest priority for the development of the petroleum resources.
3.Physical Resource based manufactures
Minerals- SL has a range of geological deposits from Pre Cambrian to Jurassic. The bulk of the world’s valuable mineral deposits (for example, those of gold, nickel, chromite, copper, and iron) formed during the Precambrian. Sri Lanka has not done a comprehensive survey of the wealth of minerals in the country. A good source of information of the mineral wealth of SL is @ https://www.srilankabusiness.com/blog/mineral-resources-from-sri-lanka.html
Graphite- SL is known to have the purest deposits of graphite. The mineral is still exported in the raw form. Elsewhere in this note it has been mentioned Sri Lanka can earne over USD 10 billion revenue with higher value addition in (Graphene, Conductive Graphite, Graphite Nanotubes, super Lubricants etc.
Gems and Jewelry- There is considerable scope for improvements in this sector on cutting and setting in jewelry. Most of our gems ends up in Thailand of which the export of gems and jewelry was $6.16 billionin 2022. It is reported that bulk of Thai exports consist of SL gems.
Ceramics-The Island is endowed with raw materials used in the ceramic industry such as kaolin, ball clay, feldspar, silica quartz and dolomite. The excellent quality and purity of these materials which is available in abundance contribute to the high standards of the products. SL already has a number of firms in this sector. There is more scope for small scale production in ornamental ceramics.
Glass –The country offers the entire moulded range of glass bottles for food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmeticsand perfume industries. In the future with the elimination of plastic bottles there will be a strong demand for glass bottles. There is opportunity for small scale glassblowing.
Fertilizer- Our rare asset of the Eppawala phosphate deposits can be converted into superphosphate. The Nano Urea could be expanded. Organic fertilizers in refined form should be expanded. The conversion of garbage into compost should be given priority.
Inland Fisheries It is reported that the extent of inland waters in major rivers is 375 thousand hectares and the area covered by man-made water bodies exceeds 170,000 ha. in about 10,000 tanks. All these water bodies can be used for inland fisheries. One wonders why catfish which is so abundant in countries like Vietnam and Thailand and is the most consumed freshwater fish in USA is not cultivated in Sri Lanka. Catfish is a hardy fast breeding fish which can survive when water bodies dry up could be bred in mud ponds.
Ornamental fish- There is scope for the expansion of this industry.
Salt based products. – It is used to produce caustic soda and chlorine; it is also used in the manufacturing processes of polyvinyl chloride, plastics, paper pulp and many other products.
New ventures
Electrical & electronics -with a comparatively large talent pool of highly skilled middle tier workers and substantially large numbers of local Engineering Professionals, catering to many world-renowned brands in Automobile, Telecommunication, Consumer Electronics, Industrial Automation and Medical sectors, Sri Lanka’s Electrical and Electronic exports have shown sustained growth over the past two decades.
Nano technology Sri Lanka has taken the first and the most important steps in developing and encouraging nanotechnology-based industries in the country. The formation of SLINTEC; the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology has been particularly instrumental in this regard. With the major universities and research facilities engaged in innovative and futuristic R&D, the future of nanotechnology-based industries in Sri Lanka seems to be quite promising. Use of nano technology in solar panels would be a promising field for investment. https://www.srilankabusiness.com/blog/nanotechnology-based-industries-sri-lanka.html
Tourism. There is so much of information on the development of tourism. The opportunities for Medical and Health Care tourism, and Buddhist tourism should be explored. If the Maldives with very much less to offer earned USD 3 billion from tourism in 20022 there is no reason why SL cannot aim at an annual income from tourism of !0 billion USD.
Boats and ships SL possesses the capabilities required to build quality boats Sri Lanka produces ships and boats that navigate global oceanic channels as well as inland waterways, with a wide range of manufacturers and shipyards delivering various boat and shipbuilding and dry dock services.
Alternate Energy. To start with the 4000MW of alternate energy projects which the Minister of Power and Energy claims as already approved but the CEB has not entered into power purchase agreements should be operationalized. Roof top solar should me more encouraged. It is suggested the exploration of using blow holes in the coastline as a new source of power generation.
Textiles & garments. SL continues to import the bulk of the fabrics used in the industry. There is scope for the production of grey fabric, denim, polyester yarn, and specialized fabric used for lingerie and sportswear. Modernization of the handloom industry with better looms and computerization could produce more employment. The handloom industry should also go into the production of high value products like pashmina shawls which could fetch over 500 USD for a piece.
Mariculture- SL has a coastline of around 1,340 km (832.6 mi) where ideal spots would be available to practice mariculture which is popular in many countries. In addition to fish and crustaceans SL could take to cultivation of sea weeds.
4. Industries based on Human Resources
BPM. (Business Process Management) Sri Lanka is one of the best destination for providing off-shore services for ICT and services in Finance and Accounting, Legal, Insurance, Banking, Telecommunication, etc. Many global service providers such as HSBC, WNS, Accenture, Dialog Axiata, Copal Amba, Medigain, E&Y, RR Donnelley have selected Sri Lanka to set up their businesses.
Logistics The country’s close proximity to emerging markets, and it’s already developed air and seaports in Colombo and Hambantota makes it an important logistics hub in the region providing entrepot and transhipment services to leading shipping lines and exporters.
ICT SL is blessed with a literate and trainable human resource base. This has given them the advantage in foreign employment in a wide range of skills. revolutionary structural changes are called for in education curricula, vocational training and technical education to prepare the work force to be able to cope with coming information and communication technology (ICT) developments.” More @ https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/BRI-Project_RP15_en.pdf
Among high tech ventures which SL should consider in the long term are artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), blockchain, drones, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, 3D printing and virtual reality (VR), Biometrics, Nuclear Energy and Genomics.
This is not an exhaustive list. I have depended on the excellent guidelines of the EDB for the brief introductions to each opportunity. A look at any product catalogue from China could identify hundreds of new possibilities. This is best done by our representatives abroad. They should be given targets to identify trade and investment opportunities at least one in each category every year. Sri Lankans domiciled abroad should also be encouraged to identify trade and investment opportunities.
BOI spends a great deal of funds and energy to promote investments abroad. But when investors arrive in the country, they are sent from pillar to post. One stop shop suggestion has been there for a long time. But implementation of that has been disrupted due to Ministries resisting the abandoning of their powers. One way to resolve the problem is to establish a panel of local experts to work with the investor to go through the maze. They can be paid a token fee for their support. If there was such a panel, we would not have missed the Samsung investment. We have to graduate from country promotion which was appropriate in the late 70 s and early 80s. Now it is fruitless to promote a failed state. It is time we focus on project promotion. A list of websites where model projects are advertised in India and Pakistan are given in following section on Projects for Investment.
There is a tremendous potential to expand their production.
In their website https://investsrilanka.com/ BOI gives a wide range of investment opportunities under two main categories of manufacturing and services. While these comprehensive lists of opportunities are useful it is necessary to develop at least pre-feasibility studies of them.
These agencies not only provide project reports but provide consultancy services. Export Development Board had developed a group of staff in a separate Division to evaluate projects from the private sector and Public Private partnership projects, and also help in the formulation of projects. A former Chairman of the EDB who had a predetermined notion that EDB should confine itself to only export promotion and not development disbanded this Project Division. It is important that the government establishes a unit in the EDB, BOi or in a major state Bank to develop an extensive portfolio of projects or feasibility studies to be made available to prospective investors. Such project reports would be of immense benefit to the SMI sector. Model projects of the Project Management Institute would be useful on high-tech projects. https://www.pmi.org/most-influential-projects-2021/
Now that there is a new dynamic professional as the Chairman of the EDB my appeal to him is to restore the venture capital facility and the Project development function of the EDB and undertake the formulation of feasibility reports/ project reports on the investment opportunities with export potential. For this, and to strengthen its financial capacity the EDB should ensure the restoration of the legal right of the EDB to the full amount of the EDB cess on imports. EDB could obtain technical assistance from India to operationalize the restored Projects Division on the model of the Indian agencies. China would also be another source for assistance in this field.
It is essential that more funds be allocated for R&D on new products. After the technical feasibility of a new product, funds must be made available for the commercialization of the research by the state or through venture capital. This again could come under the purview of the EDB.
The prospects in introducing new technology and value addition on a single product of graphite as indicated by an investor already in the product is impressive If 50 graphite mines could be activated and made operational, Sri Lanka can earne over USD 10 billion revenue with higher value addition in (Graphene, Conductive Graphite, Graphite Nanotubes, super Lubricants etc.) making it the biggest export earner of the country” said owner of graphite mines in Ragedara, Chairman, Sakura Graphite Kurunegala, Keerthi Wickramaratne.” Daily News-January 28, 2023.
It was inspiring to read the groundbreaking innovation of Sri Lankan Dr. Ranga Dias of Rochester University. He describes the innovation on superconducting—without electrical resistance and expulsion of magnetic field at room temperature—is the holy grail” of condensed matter physics. Sought for more than a century, such materials can definitely change the world as we know it,” Dr Dias says it has applications in including:
Power grids that transmit electricity without the loss of up to 200 million megawatt hours (MWh) of the energy that now occurs due to resistance in the wires
A new way to propel levitated trains and other forms of transportation
Medical imaging and scanning techniques such as MRI and magnetocardiography
Faster, more efficient electronics for digital logic and memory device technology.
SL President or the Prime minister should invite Dr. Dias to the motherland and should get his advice on R&D on some area of application. If these leaders are not keen at least the OPA should invite him.
We already have a successful R&D project on Nano Technology. What has been lacking is venture capital to commercialize the innovations.
It is reckoned that similar value additions can be expected from our heavy mineral deposits. If we do not have the technology, we should purchase the technology like what South Korea did. They did not wait for FDI in the early stages of their take off.
We have missed the bus many times. The present opportunities for export-oriented industrialization is not as good as in the 50s or in the 80s when the Asian tigers launched their production drives. There is more competition in the market and already established suppliers have a price advantage. SL is not gifted with an abundance of human and physical resources. At the same time SL has a niche market opportunity. SL has to capitalize on human resources and rare minerals. The space for service industries is still open. Global demand for Professional and skilled services are expanding. The demographic trends in the developed world continue to increase the demand for services. We can be a tourist hot spot.
In industries SL should focus on high-tech industries with technical leapfrogging. those with the most potential include artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), blockchain, drones, Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, 3D printing and virtual reality (VR), Biometrics, Alternate energy and Genomics. The new champion industries program of India has identified growth areas which are given production linked incentives. The Indian program provides an abundance of information on potential areas for investment -reference https://www.investindia.gov.in/team-india-blogs/production-linked-incentive-pli-scheme-decoded. The choice of projects for investment has to depend on the physical and technical capability of the country.
A prerequisite for industrialization is the development of a skilled work force. This was highlighted in the IBRD report as far back as 1951. For this there should be radical changes in education policy where technical and vocational education should be given preeminence. In this regard the City University concept and a University of Technology which were mooted by GR regime should be pursued vigorously. We should follow the example of Taiwan which achieved a ratio of 7: 3 between technical and general education by 1980. Education Policy should not be left to the Academics who prefer to wallow in their comfort zone. In an attempt to close the high tech skills gap the Korean government created the Korea Institute of Science and Technology in 1966, a multi-disciplinary research institute mainly in the sciences and engineering. The Korean Advanced Institute of Science (KAIST) was established in 1971 as an educational and research institution, and rapidly rose to be among the highest-status universities in Korea and in international university rankings. Scientific and Industrial research institutions in SL would profit from entering into collaborative projects with such institutions with proven success.
In the present context of IMF intervention and the propensity of President Wickremesinghe on neo liberal policies one wonders at what price the country will benefit from the new policies. According to Stiglitz IMF and Washington Consensus believe in a set of policies which demand that countries should focus on stabilization, liberalization, privatization. It’s based on a rejection of the state’s activist role and the promotion of a minimalist, noninterventionist state. The analysis in the era of Reagan and Thatcher was that government was interfering with the efficiency of the economy through protectionism, government subsidies, and government ownership. Once the government “got out of the way,” private markets would allocate resources efficiently and generate robust growth. Development would simply come. They had a strategy for job destruction. They had no strategy for job creation. Many of the policies the IMF pursued as they were killing off jobs made job creation almost impossible. In the U.S., you couldn’t have job creation with interest rates of 30 or 40 percent. They had a philosophy that said job creation was automatic.” Reaganomics and Thatcherism policies have failed in the long run.
With the devaluation of the rupee wage earners and fixed income earners like pensioners have been forced to a loss of value in their income and savings of at least 40 percent. Traders are having a carnival in increasing prices of goods well beyond the devaluation and exploiting the consumer.
IMF is proposing privatization of SOEs using financial jargon as comprehensive strategy to restructure the balance sheets” which could include preparing for a sale, buyout, merger, change in overall goals, or transfer of ownership. Against this ‘government out of the way’ and privatization policies, Singapore followed with remarkable success policies of a ‘developmental state’. Many of its leading advocates refer to the Singapore case as evidence of the possibility of successful development planning (Lin & Vu, 2017; Esteban et al., 2013, pp. 585-589; Coyle & Muhtar, 2021; Rodrik, 2006; Weiss, 2016). The recently published Oxford Handbook of Industrial Policy hails Singapore as a paragon of the mission-oriented” and smart” industrial policy argument by Mariana Mazzucato (Rasiah, 2020). The leading advocate of industrial policy today, Chang (2013, p. 33), considers Singapore’s use of industrial policy to be the most successful” amongst developed countries. So successful and blatant was Singapore’s use of industrial policy that it was an effrontery to all kinds of economics”, mainly, the neoliberal ideas that ChaDevelopmental states make industrial policy front-and-centre in their policy agenda, establish numerous state-owned enterprises, possess high levels of state capacity, and rely on performance legitimacy—as opposed to the democratic legitimacy typical in developed nations—in their effort to remain hegemonic (Haggard, 2018). This school of thought advanced by the developmental state theorists argue that East Asian growth experience succeeded not despite, but because of governments deliberately avoiding neoliberal prescriptions and strategically intervening in markets through industrial policy (Wade, 2005, 2018; Amsden, 1994). While some dismiss the East Asian model as a historical relic, there has been resurgent interest in the ‘developmental state’ model today, under the popular banner of the entrepreneurial state” (Mazzucato, 2018; Wennberg & Sandström, 2022).”
Instead of privatization of existing SOEs Singapore created a holding company of the assets of the SOEs and installed efficient management systems. Assets of this holding company Temasek today is considered to be around 287 billion US dollars which is over 3 times the GDP of Sri Lanka. It is not the ownership but the management that influence the success of SOEs which have been affected by political henchmen appointed to manage them. What could be done is to establish a professional management cadre, similar to the SL Administrative Service to manage the SOEs.
There is a misconception that our business community lacked the knowhow in large scale industries and was not competent to manage complex export industries. The chaebols in South Korea were in trade and lacked the knowhow of undertaking manufactures. It is reported that Hyundai Corporation, for example, was founded in 1947 and specialized in construction work. Samsung the technology giant was a small export company Taegu, selling dried fish and vegetables. Daewoo, however, was not founded until 1967. They were in business, not in starting and operating industrial enterprises. Given the opportunity and incentives our business house which were in plantation management, real estate and finance and later in garments would have succeeded in new manufactures.
At the present moment there is a very high emphasis in the development of the Agricultural sector particularly on paddy cultivation. Massive subsidies are extended to paddy cultivation which suffered due to the precipitate policies of the previous government. The present overcompensation may have a political rationale of winning over the recently traumatized farming community. But it should not be at the expense of industrialization.
There should be no conflict between agriculture development and industrialization. One of the critical problems in agriculture is the fragmentation of land with the increase in farming population. Even in the colonization schemes the second and third generation are affected by the scarcity of land. The only avenue to absorb the surplus population is Industrialization which will also lead to urbanization. This will result in a profitable markets for the products of the farming sector. Industrialization could support the modernization of agriculture creating a demand for new products like micro irrigation, hydroponics, climate control and new fertilizers.
What is needed is an integrated national policy on industrialization, technology and education (skills development). A plan of action should be derived from the national policy. It is imperative that Technology policy precedes education policy. SL should follow the Korean example of selecting for example 10 business leaders who are provided with the incentives and protection to undertake a new industry with advanced technology. Where necessary they should be supported to purchase technology. It would be useful to marry identified University faculties to support them with research. This would be in addition to action discussed under the three broad areas of value addition, import substitution and resource-based industries.
I repeat what I said on LBN in the post titled Industrialize and Prosper on February 28th 2023. Industrialization could have transformed the economy to be more productive and generated more skilled employment and stimulated economic growth. It could have also engendered technological advances and innovation. Overall, industrialization would have vastly improved living standards.
Through innovation, specialization, and wealth creation industrialization would have shifted population from farms and villages to manufacturing centers. This would have developed more urban centers with better living facilities and services like education and health. Industrialization could have resulted in value addition to agricultural products and helped in the diversification of agriculture.
The neglect of industrialization by our policy makers despite having the experience of a number of basic industries like ceramics, paper, plywood, leather and glass established during the days of World War II was inexcusable. This was due to the politicization of economic decisions which continued for the last seventy-five years of independence. The curse of the original sin of ignoring industrialization continues to plague the development of the country. A land with a potential economic miracle and a paradise has been made into a miserable failed nation. Leaders who achieved political independence of the county also made the county economically dependent in continuity.
I pen this article for those who seek the possible basis of Anatta from a scientific point of view. I’m leaving out ‘of the equation’, the ‘Soul theory’ of an unchanging entity of theistic religions, as it is not pertinent in the ‘dhamma of the Buddha’, which refutes it.
Anattais at the core of the dhamma, preached by the Buddha 2500 years ago. The belief in a ‘self’ is our everyday experience in life. One goes to sleep and gets up in the morning, as the same person with the same memories, within the same body. It needs some sound explanation, if we are expected to believe there is ‘no-self ’. I will try to prove in this short article, that the concept of ‘no-self’ i.e. anatta, is true.
Evolution of the Human Brain
The self is a protective product of the brain. The problem with the belief in a ‘self ‘is that it tries to protect itself’.
Man is built biologically to survive and procreate. Hence such reflexes for survival are automatic to his brain’s inherent structure and psyche. It is reflected in the chronological stages of evolution of brains, of animal life-forms in nature. The evolutionary features of which (both structural and functional), we also carry in our brains.
Figure, of the human Brain cut sagittally in the middle
They are (as seen in the Figure of the human brain above), in chronological sequence, the Reptilian brain, the Paleo-mammalian brain (Limbic brain) encompassing it, and lastly, the latest, the neo-mammalian cortex of the brain. The former two are involved with instinctual reflex and emotional behaviour for survival, respectively, much like that found in evolutionary lowly animals and birds. The emotional brain, is evolved when birth begins to be from a womb rather than from an egg. Because this entails living within a herd, it becomes a must, to ensure security of the mother, who has to be protected at all times to care for the progeny and ensure the survival of the genus (species-herd). The rules of the herd cause auto-regulation of the emotional brain by the neo-cortex. Much later, education or the fear of religious pronouncements like the five precepts will help mitigating the reflex emotional responses, of the emotional brain.
The human brain carries within it, all three evolutionary brains with their inherent functions.
Neuroplasticity and Creation of a ‘Self’.
The brain was once believed to be an unchanging entity. This myth was debunked several decades ago. The brain keeps adapting to the needs of the environment and the circumstance in which it is placed, to help the ‘being’, to tenaciously survive. This takes place from about the age of 3-5 years, as a child. The ‘self’ is built over the growing years, i.e. the personality, it becomes unique to the ‘being’ based on its experience and education i.e. nurture. This process occurring in the brain is neuro-biologically termed neuroplasticity, and is goes on all the time in the network circuits of the brain. They are encoded into the very networks of the brain at a tissue level (i.e. neuronal network).
Brain networks
There are so far 8 networks that have been imaged based on their activity, by neuroscientists as up to now. Two dominant networks concerned with the mind, are the Default mode network(DMN) and the Central Executive Network(CEN). The DMN deals with self-referenced thinking. Thinking of the past, events etc. and worrying about the future. In contrast CEN is used when thoughts are of the present, are task oriented and positive. Human beings are considered to be in the DMN, most of the time (in Rumination). Training to live in the present moment, by intense Mindful-meditation, helps to encourage the gradual withering away of neuro-plastic change that has occurred in the DM Network (placed in many interconnected foci in the brain) by disuse (synaptic pruning). Since DMN which enhanced ‘self- referenced thoughts’ its attrition is salutary. Persisting with Mindful meditation, secures by neuro-plasticity changes in the CEN, the task positive state and this then progresses to a trait, which permits the meditator to enter into the CEN the brain at will.
Self; comes on only at 3-5 years, develops throughout life, being located at multiple foci of the DMN, its attrition by Mindful meditation and its impermanence with its dissolution as brain tissue at death, are four valid arguments that there is no locus for a ‘Self’ in the brain and its lack of permanence. These highlights the truth of Anatta. Then one can ask, what goes across with rebirth, it is Kammic energy, said the Buddha.
Anatta is a core concept in the dhamma and is backed by current neuroscience.
Buddha Dhamma and Neuroscience
The Buddha, in deep meditation, had it revealed unto himself the natural laws that apply to forces dealing with life-forms i.e. that of Kammic energy. That this Kamma is a link in the law of causality (paticca sammuppada), whichleads to rebirth and a Sansaric existence. The latter in turn leads to Dukkha.
Atta or ‘self’, when provoked, responds emotionally as it always underlies the mindset of an untrained being, with its predilection for thoughts, words and deeds on self-preservation and procreation. This is due to the human brain harbouring both the Reptilian and Emotional components. Thereby leading to instinctual responses of a ‘survival nature’, like clinging to self, i.e. Bava Tanha, it leads to other Kammic acts such as anger, hatred, envy, jealousy and greed ( even altruistic acts are motivated, as seeking privilege and priority in the herd) with their kammic consequences.
Hence the realization of Anatta as being truein reality, and that the ‘self’ is simply neuro-plastically determined ‘construct (fabrication)’ to withstand the environment and the circumstances, for survival becomes clear. As all formations are impermanent (Anicca), in which this neuro-plastically developed construct ( i.e. the ‘being’) too is placed in, is not a permanent, but an ephemeral entity in true reality.The Buddha dharma states that it’s only one’s acquired Kammic energy seeks ‘vipaka’ and this results in the next lives.
Awareness of the truth of Anatta, mitigates Kammic acts and de-links paticca samuppada i.e. Sansaric progression, and dukkha that follows. This is the Buddha legacy to humankind.
A more detailed exposition, will be presented in a book, ‘Buddhist Philosophy and Neuroscience’, I hope to publish in the very near future.
