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Chairman of the Election Commission, R.M.A.L. Ratnayake, announced that only a maximum of five people will be allowed to visit the homes of presidential candidates for distributing election leaflets.
Ratnayake informed the media that all political parties have been notified of this regulation.
Sri Lanka is at a critical junction in moving into the right recovery path or going down further to compete with other sunken countries. During economic crises, hunger becomes more prevalent, driven by the inability to afford basic needs like food due to unemployment, lack of savings, and limited resources like home gardening.
According to reports, recently, some families have increasingly turned to desperate income-generating activities such as pawning jewelry and prostitution to cover essential expenses and living. However, these measures offer only temporary relief, are unsustainable, and often deepen the vicious cycle of poverty, despair, and, tragically, suicide.
Blunders by Sri Lankan governments
Recent governments in Sri Lanka have repeatedly blundered in policies and decision-making, often favoring their personal interests while engaging in alleged corruption and malpractice. Misguided priorities, greed, and lavish lifestyles fueled by commission-based loans (technically considered as bribes) for unnecessary projects that failed to generate returns have inevitably led the country to bankruptcy. This was fueled by allocating lucrative contracts without official bids and cronies who advised successive presidents to gain what they wanted rather than benefiting the country.
Additionally, these administrations neglected ongoing crises—continued to take high-interest loans despite escalating debt, bloated the government structures (i.e., increasing its employees from 520,000 to 1.5 million over two decades, expanded for political gain), high unemployment rates, low productivity, and crop output, over-regulation, declining exports, and a series of manufactured financial scandals that drained the national treasury.
Successive recent governments in Sri Lanka made blunders in policies and decisions to favour themselves, compromising national assets and independence, and have engaged in alleged pilferage and many wrong-doings. Besides wrong priorities, greediness, and cushy lives based on (commission-based) borrowed money for unwarranted projects that failed to generate income to pay back loans, it is unsurprising that the country declared bankruptcy. In addition, governments failed to address ongoing crises, including over-blown governments (unnecessarily, excessive employment as political favours), printing money that increased inflation, high unemployment rates, over-regulation, subsequent dwindling exports, and multiple manufactured financial scandals draining the treasury.
Corrupt advisors and government failures
Beyond the government’s failures in economic and social policies, it abolished some key institutional structures, such as independent commissions and councils that were supposed to oversee government activities and contracts. The government continued to engage in poor and biased decision-making and failed to establish a safety net. Besides, it provided no incentives or encouragement for family self-sufficiency, including home gardening, worsening the hunger crisis.
Misguided policies, including the flawed fertilizer ban amid the pandemic, caused a significant drop in crop output and tea exports. Not only politicians (especially those handful of members of the parliament who misled the former president) but also entrenched bureaucrats have contributed to the prevailing food crisis. Through the independent judiciary system, the next president must make these perpetrators accountable for their wrongdoings. Ironically, those who advised the president on these disastrous decisions, including members of parliament, happily remain in government, a situation uniquely emblematic of Sri Lanka’s political landscape.
Governments in Sri Lanka failed to ask themselves if we have adequate plans and means of livelihood for the vulnerable population and have taken steps to protect vulnerable groups in a crisis. What happens to food security, access to medicine, energy, and sovereignty in a crisis, which the Constitution should uphold? Identifying root causes and implementing corrective actions are essential, yet transparency and public accountability are often lacking.
Poverty, hunger, and the lack of safety net
Moreover, it lacked intellect and a moral obligation to create a safety net for vulnerable populations. The question arises: do citizens, especially children, have the right not to be hungry? This is not just a moral claim but a critical question of policy priorities—deciding which institutional resources, like school meal programs, should be implemented to ensure feasible and cost-effective food security.
Does the government have a policy or threshold for public intervention in securing basic needs like affordable food, essential medicines, and healthcare for the public at large? The public must make politicians and bureaucrats accountable for failing to prevent bankruptcy, excessive unemployment, and starvation. What measures have been implemented to counteract malnutrition and famine, particularly affecting children and pregnant mothers? The forthcoming general election is the right place to remove dead wood and corrupt parliamentarians from the arena. Such folks should not have a place in any part of the government or private sector; they are unreformable.
Over-blown government wasting taxpayer funds
Despite the severity of the situation, the government continues to waste tremendous amounts of public funds on unnecessary ventures, including extravagant foreign trips with families and maintaining extensive security for officials and friends using public funds. No one has taken any actions to curtail this wastage.
If funds are scarce, why hasn’t the government reduced its size, curbed waste, or limited imports of non-essential luxury items, including high-end cars? The ongoing gross mismanagement under the unelected caretaker administration failed to implement laws to protect the public and reduce spending. Collectively, these have led to bankruptcy and exacerbated the ongoing crisis.
Notable failures of the president and the cabinet
Since taking over the leadership position after the abandonment by the former president, shockingly, no effective measures have been taken to reduce government expenses and prioritize essential needs like food, medicine, and fuel/energy. Like those students who participated in Model UN training programs, a group of intelligent high school students would have made more prudent decisions than the current government, proactively alleviating multiple problems.
Instead, the current government was pre-occupied with enacting laws to protect itself, increasing its perks, and engaging in free foreign trips rather than taking care of its economy and people. The current leadership’s incompetence underscores a profound failure, demonstrating that an intelligent and responsible approach could dramatically reduce government expenditure and prioritize essential needs to prevent hunger. After reviewing the policies and comments, it is striking that none in the current leadership, including the opposition, seems capable of doing so.
The catastrophic failures of recent governments do not absolve them from their moral responsibility to protect citizens from hunger. They must be made accountable through the court of law. The suffering of the majority in Sri Lanka is a direct consequence of governmental neglect and misguided policies, nepotism, and the stunning lack of meritocracy, highlighting the urgent need to change, starting after the presidential election and subsequent general elections.
Expectations from the New President
We, the people, genuinely expect a few fundamental changes from the new president. He must dramatically reduce the government’s cost, especially the size and bloated military. He should ensure all government appointments are based on merit, ability, and proven productivity—not on nepotism, simply on seniority or duration of service. A system must be established for each government employee to provide a set of goals to achieve by the end of each year. Change of status— like promotion, salary increase, etc., must be based on this objective evaluation, which must be made at the end of the year through an annual evaluation.
It is critical to re-establish complete judicial independence, independent commissions and councils, and limit the number of ministers to 16. The next president must implement these through executive orders followed by gazetting them within the first four weeks. However, suppose he fails or refuses to implement these fundamental governance changes as the voters demand. In that case, he must be held accountable through the courts or face the abolition of the executive presidency. Moreover, his political party must also be made accountable (and defeated) at the next general election. The new president must also resolve to maintain a non-aligned foreign policy, reject any foreign military bases and occupancy in Sri Lanka, and ensure total independence, governing the country under one flag, one anthem, and one law for all citizens.
(Continued from August 25, 2024)
Beginning from November I, 2023 we have posted 13 articles about the NPP, and now it is time to recapitulate what we have discussed.
We begin this two part article under the following sub-headings:
(1) NPP as the Largest and the Richest NGO in Sri Lanka: Its Funding Sources
(2) JVP/NPP is not a Marxist/ Socialist Party
(3) Rebranding and Repositioning of the JVP as NPP
(4 Presidential Election: The Impending Catastrophe”
(1) NPP As the Largest and the Richest NGO in Sri Lanka: Its Funding Sources
Nobody has investigated how the NPP has become the largest and the richest NGO in Sri Lanka. Contributions of its supporters domiciled in the West and Australia and of Ethera Api” fraternity in the Middle East, Japan and South Korea respectively are very modest compared to what it gets from undisclosed local and foreign sources. It cannot be ruled out that the NPP is also benefitted by black money.
One predominant local source of purported funding is the corporates. Chambers and foreign funded so-called Think Tanks” which have close links with corporates know how the NPP trade unions extort money from the business oligarchy. But these paragons of virtue, who think that they are the guiding lights of the industry and economy and the corporatesthemselvesare tight-lippedabout theseunderhand transactions. What can you expect from the good guys in Chambers and Think Tank industry” when they are the people who advise governments to increase taxes on one hand and give advice to businessmen as tax consultants how to hide income and avoid taxes on the other? Can the NPP stop these games they play? Never. As they are the main beneficiaries.
Why for the last so many years there was no strike or any other industrial action (go slows, work to rule, sick note campaigns etc.) in the private sector? It was teachers, principals, workers in the health sector, non-academic staff of universities and schools, Grama Sevakas, railway workers and employees in the power sector who resorted to industrial action. Were the workers and other employees in the private sector did not experience economic hardships as the employees in the public sector? They are paid better than the employees in the public sector, are entitled to better benefits and services (welfare) and there is no reason for them to resort to industrial action as a result is not the correct answer to this query.Only theNPP trade union leadership and corporates know the reason behind this fallacious industrial peace”. The fact was that the trade unions attached to the NPP did not organize any strike or industrial action in the private sector for reasons better known to them and the corporates.
Both these parties know how the negotiation process goes on for higher wages at the table; SMS and WhatsApp messages are being exchanged continuously between the NPP Union leader and his handlers while the negotiation process is on; this continues until the handler satisfies with the ransom money paid by thecorporatesto maintain industrial peace” without any disruption in the manufacturing process. Second stage of successful bargaining and wage hikes is collecting the first month’s added emolument from the worker to the NPP kitty which amounts to millions of rupees in one month depending on the strength of the work force in the business establishment.
Another modus operandi is getting inside information from banks from their men planted insideand buying mortgaged land and property at auctions, placed as security by those mortgagers who are unable to redeem their land and property. This is a party which promises to grant loans without collaterals when it comes into power!
In this context the NPP seekinga mandate to govern is only an eyewash. Now it is in a far better position than governing; governing is like tying a millstonearound its neck; it is said that the single life you are familiar with is preferable than unfamiliar marriage; for the NPP disruption, destruction and destabilization are more familiar than unfamiliargovernance. However, election results will increase its bargaining power with business conglomerates and overseas funding respectively.
Industry sources reveal that the NPP men and women in the manufacturing organisations, are over confident of their victory, now do not work to their capacity and as a result production has contracted and productivity diminished. As wages are not linked to productivity indicators as the Union opposes such a measure, workers are not losing monetarily. Is the NPP, which borrowed as an election slogan, the hackneyed phrase that, private sector is theengine of growth” mimicked by successive governments since 1977, trying to govern with such a lot in the manufacturing sector?
NPP leader has publicly stated that the private sector should play the pivotal role in industrial development and his government will only act as a facilitator and will not start doing business. This is also a hackneyed phrase mimickedby successive governments which is far from original thinking. But in this situation the NPP is very careful to allay any fears of their benefactors – the business conglomerates, thinking about their future deals regardless of coming into power or not.
NPP’s position regarding private sector is not different from the latest report of USAID-aided Advocata, released in August, getting the state out of business: the compelling case for privatization of state-owned businesses”.
During the protests against GR, leader of an NPP farmer organization led a demonstration of some farmers in Polonnaruwa in support of large-scale rice millers, dubbed as the rice mafia in Sri Lanka.
Sunday Times Political Editor statedon 25, September 2011, that JVP sold its VFM radio station for Rs. 100 million. JVP obtained the frequency free of charge to run its own radio station when it was a constituent partner of the UPFA.
NPP gets vast amounts of funds from overseas benefactors, all unaccounted.
It was reported that some social media portals and pages have been bought by some unnamed candidates to run their election campaigns.
Election Commission has set up a ceiling on campaign expenditure at Rs. 109 per voter and the NPP is also permitted to spend nearly Rs. 1.8 billion. They have already spent millions of rupees for their propaganda meetings held before declaring the election. Money spent for venues such as Courtyard Marriot, Monarch Imperial, SLFI and NYSC and other 5-star hotels in Kandy and elsewhere does not come under this. Can the NPP give an assurance that it will abide by the ceiling set up by the Election Commission and disclose its sources of funding?
2. JVP/NPP is not a Marxist/ Socialist Party
Ideology of NPP is neither Marxist, Socialist nor Social-democrat. It is not fighting for workers’ rights, emancipation of peasantry or for an egalitarian society. To what camp it belongs and serves now are not difficult to understand. It is only capitalist press in Sri Lanka and ill-informed correspondents in India colour it as a Marxist/ Socialist party. To understand different types of Socialism they do not bother at least to turn a few pages of the Manifesto of the Communist Party” which describes many types of Reactionary Socialism as Feudal Socialism, Petty-Bourgeois Socialism, Conservative or Bourgeois Socialism and Utopian Socialism.
NPP words and deeds do not conform with Marxist philosophy and political economy and any teaching of a Marxist theoretician from Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin to Mao Zedong.
Since the NPP does not quote any Marxist theory, does not admit that it is working according to such a theory, does not emulate any socialist country or distinguish how it differs from those and does not talk about a socialist economy, we should not worry ourselves whether it is Marxist or Socialist. It saves our time unnecessarily comparing their theory and practice with old and modern revisionists, turning the pages of Marx and Lenin if they claim that they are Marxists or Socialists. Only comparison we can make is with renegades of the Social-Democratic, Socialist and Communist Movements in different historical epochs.
What Marxist outlook we see in their utterances, policies and pledges? Nothing. Have they used Marxist political economy to analyse the current economic problems? Not at all. Have they adopted Marxist principles to Sri Lankan conditions as a guiding light to solve economic, political and cultural problems? No. Several times we have pinpointed that it professes a mixture of neo-liberal and Anarchist ideas.
In 1965 it began as a party of urban and rural petty bourgeoisie consisting of youth, students, unemployed graduates and urban white-collar workers. Rather than the peasantry and rural agricultural workers it worked amongst chena farmers in the Southern Dry Zone for the simple reason that they were owners of unregistered firearms, who defy government authorities as squatters in government owned reservations! Although it enlisted some workers from the industrial sector its emphasis was not on building a workers’ party. It did not have a nucleus of organised workers and from its embryonic stage rejected united front politics.
Thus, from its inception it was not a Marxist party although it paid lip service to socialism; what type of a socialism no one knew. Political education imparted to its recruits was not scientifically designed and with 5 classes it groomed a cadre to take up arms. The armed struggle and the line it followed to capture power did not conform to Bolshevik doctrine, again it was a hotchpotch of Zanzibar type capture in one night and adventurism of Che Guevara. It did not have any idea of what type of a government it will establish after capturing power.
During 1998/98 JVP and its military arm DJV targeted and killed its erstwhile comrades, Left party activists, Left trade union leaders, popular politicians, artists, journalists, professionals, academics, Buddhist monks and security personnel. In 1971 and 1998/98 it resorted to adventurism, pure militarism, killing,destruction of propertyrespectively, oscillating from Right Deviationist to Left Deviationist tendencies.
Now the NPP has become the party of upper segments of the middle class and technicians, technocrats, professionals and overseas Sri Lankans who are in the upper income bracket.
Nothing about imperialism, colonialism, capitalism or patriotism in their jargon. The predominant colour of their flagsand banners at all rallies and propaganda material have turned intopurple.This cannot be an accident.
Anura Kumara orbiting around Julie Chung and other Western diplomats and his trips to Western capitals and to India signify present JVP’s right deviation from ultra” Leftism in 1971 and killing spree in 1988/1989, capitulation to Indian regional hegemonism shedding its anti-Indian rhetoric.
There are poodles who do not bark much. Rewards and recognition can be used to help the poodle to learn that there are better ways than barking.Julie Chungand India have done it!
As we have stated earlier it is only capitalist press in Sri Lanka still labelNPPers as Rathu Sahodarayas”. Enough for what they understand by Red. Its political philosophy is Anarchism. By any chance if it comes into power, anarchy, a reign of terror, internecine – fighting among its own ranks will become order of the day. They will call it the purple revolution” and all those who oppose it, will be hounded, arrested and summarily executed as counter-revolutionaries. In such circumstances NPP turning into the most oppressive, tyrannical, anti-people political formation and common enemy of all anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, anti-hegemonic, anti-neoliberal, national and patriotic forces cannot be dismissed.
It has become the party savored by Julie Chung and other Western diplomats, Indian hegemonists and their agents. If not how can NPP invite MohanMunasinghe, JRJ’s energy advisor to address the launch of its Energy Policy and Illeperuma, Professor of Chemistry to formulate its Science policy?
NPP mobilizing different segments of the society during the last two years and the pledges made at the Presidential election rallies have turned it to a populist party seeking refuge in welfarism. What the NPP pledges had been experimented in the last seven decades, Sri Lanka lagging even after 75 years of its Independence”.
3. Rebranding and Repositioning of the JVP as NPP
According to old timers of the JVP, old JVP had died a natural death after the Tsunami.According to them, a top leader currently holding high office is a person who surrendered with his T-56 in 1988/89 at Wadduwa. Another high-ranking leader retreated with some of his fellow sympathizers to a mountainous hideout to escape arrest, began to cry as he could not undergo any hardship. Later he was handed over to his mother with Rs. 500. Some other present top leaders were billas” or goni billas” (cowards, betrayers and informants) who helped the security forces to identify their own cadres and sympathizers, who assisted to intensify suppression, for them to escape arrest, torture and death, either to live as rehabilitated” insurgents or to come back to the political arena when the things turn right. The former ended up in tire pyres.
Some of these billas” migrated to new areas far away from their localities. They established themselves in new localities and entered mainstream politics. Some of them were lucky enough to win parliamentary seats from their adopted districts.
Goni billas” who covered their faces with gunny bags having little eye holes were taken to playgrounds or other public places where the arrested suspects were kept surrounded by security forces. Goni billas” movingtheir heads up and down (confirmation to say ‘yes’) or shaking the head from side to side (denial) decided the fate of the suspects. Most of the other leaders were arrested, tortured and killed; some decamped; some others formed their own political parties or joined mainstream political parties.
Except a handful of present JVP leadership the entire rank and file consists of those people who joined the JVP when it entered mainstream politics. JVP Oldtimers say that still the JVP maintains a set of underground sleeping cells for its anarchicalactivities. It was evident that this force used its might on May 9, 2022 as a helmet brigade and retreated immediately after engaging in arson and destruction. JVP sought arms and ammunition from Tamil Tigers; JVP/DJV obtained technology to detonate claymore mines in the South.
NPP is a different outfit, a haven for old Samasamajists who later became RW-Sirisena Yahapalana apologists, driftwood from old left parties, careerists, mediocrities, nobodies, unknowns, those who were attracted to NPP for personal gains and office, seekersof glory and ego-driven attention seekers.Ironically Tilvin Silva General Secretary of the JVP is not a member of the NPP National Executive Committee while all other leaders represent both JVP and the NPP. Anura Kumara keeps his position as the leader of both outfits. Only about half of the 28 JVP Central Committee members, and only a handful of the 73 of the NPP National Executive Committee (most of them areJVP Central Committee members), are NPP public orators. This provides some interesting data to understand the façade of the NPP. Harini Amarasuriya, its Prime Ministerial aspirant is not a member of the JVP Central Committee.
Some other upstarts are not in the NPP National Executive Committee. We do not think that there is a membership drive in the NPP, party branches, political work and political and ideological education, party discipline, criticism and self-criticism among the members and any linking with the masses (mass line). Most of these people and those who identify themselves as NPPers do not have any political line or political education, joined the NPP because of the favourable wave for them to paddle their individual boats. They will be the first people to run away when things go bad to NPPfrom current glory days. This will intensify as there is no party membership and party discipline.
Also, it is difficult to comprehend the power base of the NPP and the organic relationship between the JVP and the NPP. For its rallies it mobilises various segments of the society as a show of strength excluding working class and peasantry; today the NPP works closely with the capitalists, upper middle class, diaspora, cooperating with the Indians and the Western block.
In the capitalist world business conglomerates use rebrandingand repositioning as amarketing strategy; change their company names, logos or symbols, marketingstrategies and advertising themes; change the geographical areas of operation and market segmentation; create new designs for established brandswith the intention of developing a new identity in the minds of consumers and other stakeholders; such changes are needed to reposition the brand and to distance itself from any negative traces of previous branding,changing market’s perceptions of a product or service whichwere detrimental to its business.
What the JVP has done is rebranding and repositioning of its business” is easy to understand. Rebranding the JVP as NPP removes thenegative connotations, the stigma ithad as the mother of notorious killer group Deshapremi Janatha Vyaparaya(DJV). Rebranding also helps it to reach upmarket consumers”; see the new classes, higher segments of the upper middle class the NPP was able to attract, how it changed its target market”. It is evident that the JVP has contracted a topnotch advertising agency in Sri Lanka or abroad to do this, paying the advertising agency a thumping amount.
For electoral purposes it has changed from bell (Seenuwa) to magnetic compass (Malimawa). The magnetic compass has not increased its electoral gains;but has increased its popular appeal.Noweverything is being done in the name of the NPP and Malimawa.The governmentthey are going to form is an NPP or a Malima government. This marketing strategy has helped them to obliteratetheir murderous past, past politics, ideology, strategy and tactics and appear as a metamorphosized creature, helping it to attract a wider segment of the society.
The party which encouraged university students to strike, protest and disrupt university education system concealing their past now talk of digital platforms and industrial parks. That is rebranding and repositioning in simple terms. The late Sunil Perera of Gypsies fame, becoming an NPPer signified not that Sunil Perera had embraced NPP politics; it signified that NPP had embraced Gypsies. That is rebranding and repositioning in simple terms.
Formation of the NPP is a vulgar representation of the Marxist United Front. Basically, a United Front is a political front of all oppressed classes, strata and social groups formed in different countries in different historical periods. Therefore, a United Front is not a coalition of heads of political parties formed for a short-term objective as for an election. One should study Manifesto of the Communist Party” (1848) of Marx and Engels, Lenin’s What the ‘ Friends of the People’ Are and How They Fight the Social-Democrats” (1994), Two Tactics of Social-Democracy in the Democratic Revolution” (1905), ’Left-Wing Communism’ an Infantile Disorder” , Mao’s On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism” (1935) to understand what the United Front is and the necessity of organizing a broad National United Front. It was Stalin who forged an international front between the Soviet Union, Britain, Unites States and other countries which were opposed to the fascist rulers of Germany, Italy and Japan. During this period the Communist party of China preserved Kuomintang-Communist cooperation to drive away the Japanese imperialists out of China. So Anura Kumara and his cabal should study these tried and tested experiences.
JVP from its inception refused to seek out allies in the name of independence, total purity and opposition to any compromise” as Lenin stated in ’Left-Wing Communism’ an Infantile Disorder”. What the JVP did was and now the NPP does is, aiming not the principal enemies, but lesser enemies and would be allies. Both outfits failed to single out the principal enemy and to draw to their side those who would become their friends.
Unfortunately, these theories and practical experiences do not apply to the NPP as all groups affiliated to it are JVP proxies or JVP front organizations. Many of the other organizations are NGOs. We have in detail described the relationship between the JVP and the NPP in our article posted on 30, January 2024, entitled The strange tale of NPP (Malimawa) and JVP (Seenuwa): Vulgar representation of Marxist united front politics”. There we have discussed the true features of the NPP and how it does not represent a united front. We have stated that the JVP- NPP combine has become the largest and highly-funded, cash -rich NGO in Sri Lanka and asked whether the voters of Sri Lanka want to give power to an NGO.
With the formation of the NPP, JVP got its Janus-face (the double face). NPP is not an independentgrouping or a partner in a JVP-led United Front. It is the dual face of the JVP, a platform to hold a few artists, writers, academics, so-called professionals including Black Coats, ex-leftists, ex-Revisionists and Trotskyites, and now ex-servicemen and police officers.
Metamorphosis of the JVP in its thinking, attitudes, behaviours, dress code and political work is the result of rebrandingand repositioning.
4. Presidential Election: The Impending Catastrophe”
We have stated in our article posted on 30, January, 2024 that the NPP is the neo-liberal arm of the JVP funded to be rabble-rousers and ground campaign contractors propped up by the US and India. When the NPP men and women come to the streets American and Indian forces will land here to bring normalcy” and install a puppet regime.
The dress rehearsal was on May 9, 2022, arson took place with the aid of drones and Molotov cocktails; nearly 100 private residences of government politicians were set ablaze; a set of underground sleeping cells was used for its anarchicalactivities.Kuragamage Don Lal Kantha called for storming theparliament in July 2022.
Now the helmet brigade is dormant, gone into hibernation. There is no guarantee that the JVP/NPP would not vacillate to resort to such acts of violence if they win with state power in their hands.
If they win a reign of terror will begin; those who were against JVP/NPP will be hounded, arrested, tortured and summarily executed without any trialbranded as traitors andcounter-revolutionaries. A repetition of 1988/89. The ex–servicemen, Tri Forces Collective” or Thrivida Hamuda Saamoohikaya” and retired police officers would provide them with tactical mastery and combat proficiency what they lacked in 1971 and 1988/89. Why the NPP mobilized ex-military officers and other ranks? Is it a para-military force to engage the government forces? Or for training NPP’s stormy petrels?
According to a video going viral these days some NPP- attached ex-military officers wearing NPP tee shirts were seen threatening all other party men, retired Generals and Army Commanders with punitive action to end the 76 year- curse. Who are the members of the NPP Election Monitoring Centre? There are 5 retired police officers.
Kuragamage Don Lal Kantha’s utterances about their readiness for an armed struggle should not be ignored in this context; he gave warning signals at public rallies that they will make the final judgement; ranaviruwas have joined the malimawa for the second war”.
Lal Kantha’s utterances suggest that there is a clandestine military wing in the JVP; the role of the ex-servicemen joining NPP should be questioned under these circumstances; Lal Kantha again asked his people to come to the streets and demonstrate if the government does not conduct presidential elections, knowing very well that the presidential elections cannot be postponed; he was silent when RW evaporated the local government elections.
OftenLal Kantha had said that his party is even ready for an armed struggle if the need arises and he will not shy away from such action. His statements should not be taken lightly as it comes from a person who was active in Polonnaruwa area in 1988/89, although he did not reveal to the journalist how he saved his skin. He bellowed that they will definitely unleash repression once they capture state power (Rajya balaya aawoth api anivaryayenma mardanya karanawa”).
Lal Kantha in a YouTube interview said that they will suppress those whooppose their government; they have marked them who they are; people give them a mandate not only to take decisions, but to implement those; they will use both state power and government power; if you do not use state power there is no point of getting power; when they come into power contradictions will grow thousand times he said; all the big businesses will be taken over by them.
Furthermore, he said that they will empower each village with judicial authority to summarily hear cases and mete out immediate punishment to the guilty, to settle disputes at village level; he threatened a Kandy Municipal Council employee who carried out his duties according to the rule book that he will be rehabilitated” when they come into power. Samarasinghe, JVP/NPP Trade Union boss threatened the media personnel that they would not be allowed to flee the country and even if they manage to flee the country in the event of their victory NPP cohorts abroad would look after them and only place safe for them is a lunar cave. Anura Kumara said their electoral committees will be turned into peace committees”.
A social media post goes viral these days that the NPP has threatened with death a mainstream journalist if not he burns every copy of the book authored by him recently.
NPP knows very well that it cannot come into power legally. They are funded not to take power but to create havoc, mayhem and instability in the country. The other side of the coin is that this is the most favourable opportunity NPP got to increase its voter base or perform well electorally as an aftermath of the Galle Face protest. If it fails this time its local and international funders, expatriate Sri Lankans will lose faith in it. NPP leaders know that this is the Gordian knot that remains tied until cut, either to come back or fade into oblivion.
As there are five strong candidates in the present scenario not a single candidate would not poll 50% and 1 vote to be elected as the President. Result would be decided by counting of second preference or third preference. We don’t know how many days will be taken for the counting of 2nd and 3rdpreferential votes as we have never experienced a similar situation in the past.
If there is no winner in the first round of counting, it will take a very long time to count the second preference and if needed the third preference. Until the end of this process RW will remain as the President. During this interregnum NPP will put their people into the streets, to clamour election malpractices and requesting people not to accept the results creating chaos and turmoil.
As the NPP is so confident of its victory as they have said that they will top sometimes 70-80% mark, andIf the election results are not favourable to NPP itwill refuse to accept the final verdictrefusing to concede defeat and accept the verdict and mobilise its men to come to the streets questioning the validity ofresults as Trump, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Edmundo Gonzales of Venezuela did in the recent times. Remember in 2010 when SF,the horse theyjockeyed wasdefeated, JVPcried computer jilmart but could not go any further. This time they have money and resources, external backers, ex-servicemen and policemen, have a digital platform” to tabulate their own results, and to run wild after the election as in Venezuela. The role of ex-servicemen at this time will be crucial to watch. Will there be clashes with government forces?
Why the Cabinet of Ministers authorized all MPs to acquire two 12 bore repeater guns each in addition to the firearms already in their possession? Government MPs had vowed that they would not permita repetition of May 9, 2022.
In Venezuelaopposition volunteers managed to collect copies of voting tallies from 80% of the 30,000polling booths nationwide showing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzales had won the election; foreign observers including observers of American Carter Centre determined the results announced by the authorities lacked credibility as in Bangladesh.
Before conducting its press conference on 31, August EU Election ObservationMission (EU-EOM) headed by itsChief Observer Nachos Sanchez Amor, Deputy Chief Observer andEU Ambassador met Julie Chung on 29, August to discuss the vital role of free and fair elections in Sri Lanka”. No process is more essential to a democracy, ensuring that every citizen’s voice is heard in shaping their future”, so messaged Julie Chung.
Commonwealth Observer Group (COG)led by former President of Seychelles Danny Faure declared in a statement that it will determine whether the upcoming elections conform to regional and international standards. These good guys should be taught that Sri Lanka has conducted many numbers of elections in the past successfully without any Observer Groups. Commonwealth Observer Group said that it will assess all factors impacting the credibility of the electoral process including counting and tabulation process. When they say credibility of the electoral process it is sure that they are prejudiced and file a report that there was no credibility of the electoral process, helping outsiders to intervene.
It was reported that a cyber-attack staged by hackers from North Macedonia delayed the vote counting and release of results in Venezuela. It was reported on 12 August that a US based Google server mimicking the website of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka attempting to gather personal information. What plans the NPP digital brigade has is not certain.
India and US will allow their elements to run riot by claiming fraud as in Venezuelauntil India and US strike a deal. They will try by every means to bring normalcy”and install a puppet government as their protégé as they have installed Nguyen Cao-ky deposing Ngo Dinh Diem their own making in former South Vietnam, Lon Nol in Cambodia and very recently Yunus in Bangladesh. There is a likelihood to enthrone RW again (as he is the incumbent President until the release of final countdown) or install a puppet regimeheaded by eitherHarini Amarasuriya orSajith Premadasa, whoever theperson mostamenable to their geopolitical interests.
NEXT: Obstacles for an Anura Kumara/ NPP victory; Outcome of the election: Impending Catastrophe and how to combat it”
In asking the above question I do not refer only to us in Sri Lanka though that is high up in my mind as a matter of concern but to the whole world, particularly its economy and the environment for we are in this together and we are in it not because we want to be in it but because neo-liberalism has taken all of us in its grip. As Sri Lanka is our main concern it could be said that the IMF which is a tool of neo-liberalism has put in place a deal that would result in the tightening of the grip neo-liberalism has on Sri Lanka. Before we look at Sri Lanka’s plight in detail we shall see how neo-liberalism has faired so far in the rest of the world.
Neo-liberalism is charaterized by free market policy and least government intervention to the extent that human beings are treated as commodities and even art and culture being subject to market forces. Moreover public expenditure and welfarism are minimized. We experience the adverse effects of these policies in Sri Lanka at present with the purchasing power of the middle and lower classes undergoing rapid decline. While that is the lot of the not-so-poor and the poor the rich has significantly increased their wealth.
Let us now look at what is happening in Sri Lanka. After independence the country was benefitted from the Korean war in 1949 and was able to build up its foreign reserves by a fair amount but after the war ended this secter declined and again in 1955 due to a good tea market it could rise up. It is seen that the capacity to earn foreign exchange depended on external factors. Our export earnings had remained around 15 – 20% of the GDP since 1960s and has not improved despite all efforts. This is the story in most of the developing countries and it is a feature of neo-liberalism which had caused relative stagnation of the economy when calculated on the purchasing power parity basis (PPP). It is the PPP that gives a true picture of an economy and its parameters, specially the true value of the household incomes. On this basis household incomes and expenditures of middle and lower classes in Sri Lanka have drastically dropped in 2024 compared to 2021. Nutrition and health are badly affected and the repercussions of these dvelopments would be felt in the future unless corrected as soon as possible. This is due to the economic downturn in the aftermath of Covid pandemic and the subsequent strictures applied by the IMF which has made matters much worse for the less affluent. It is a case of from the frying pan into the fire” for these hapless categories of the population. A world Bank report on Sri Lanka issued in April 2024 states; …poverty rates continued to rise for the fourth year in a row, with an estimated 25.9% of Sri Lankans living below the poverty line in 2023, (ie. more than 6 million). Labor force participation has also seen a decline, particularly among women and in urban areas, exacerbated by the closure of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Households are grappling with multiple pressures from high prices, income losses, and under employment. This has led to households taking on debt to meet food requirements and maintain spending on health and education”.
With regard to IMF programmes it has been found by several studies that under these programmes developing countries experience increased poverty, unemployement and cost of basic services (Biglaiser & McGauvran, 2022). These studies find that IMF policies are geared to help the big industry and as dictated by neo-liberal capitalist principles work in the expectation that the less affluent would benefit by the trickle-down effect which unfortunately keeps dwindling. There is very little that IMF can do to alleviate poverty in the developing countries except to bale them out at regular intervals. The cycle of events comprising economic stability followed by collapse and an IMF bale out would continue for ever. Capital accumulation and environment degradation would continue with devastating effect.
Some of the questions that pertains to the West but also relevant to us in Sri lanka could be as follows; why/how has inequality grown for the last several decades? Why have good jobs disappeared? Why have median wages stagnated for more than four decades in the US and since the 1970s in the UK. Why is housing unaffordable in England now? How has the debt regime at both sovereign and household levels surfaced in the US/UK and, regarding sovereign debt, in the Eurozone and Japan?
These are the chronic ills of neo-liberal capitalism. Those phenomena are neither accidents nor totally unrelated incidents. Neoliberal deregulation policy has unleashed greed in the financial sector, causing these financial crises. Scholars concerned about this problem mentioned above are focussing on alternatives to neo-liberalism. They look at three models in the main; (1) return to keynesianism, (2) return to real socialism, and (3) encourage new development experiences such as Mondragon, Kerala, and the so-called socialism of the 21st century.
Numbers (1) and (2) have been practised with a degree of success. As capitalism is entrenched globally return to real socialism may not be feasible as a sudden change. It may be possible to gradually bring about change, perhaps first try out a return to Keynesianism which was in practice in the West in 1950 to 1970 resulting in a Golden Age of economic performance.
Model number (3) focuses on Kerala in India, which is an experience of development with high people participation and administration through the state. It has been a successful case of public action to democratic means”. In spite of historically poor economic performance, Kerala has obtained good social indicators. In some of them, Kerala has achieved the same level of development as advanced countries ( Parayil, 2000, Franke and Chasin, 2000).
So called socialism in the 21st century” was developed in Latin America mainly in countries like Venezuela with a degree of success in the face of incessant US intervention. The world if it is to avoid being completely devastated and made a barren planet may have to dismantle neo-liberalism and adopt a more human and environment friendly model.
Prof. N. A. de S. Amaratunga
True story of 76 years of political history. Read wisely over and over again.
Russia spokesperson
Rusiyawa Prakashakayo – දුයිෂෙන්ගේ පොත්හල
September 4, 2024
හැඳින්වීම
මෙම කෘතිය, ලංකාව: කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පාලන සමය, 1948-2019 (නොහොත් මන්ත්රී ප්රජාතන්ත්ර [නාස් ලණු] වාදය) යන ලිපි එකතුවේ දෙවන භාගයය. ඒවා රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයේ පදනමට පහර දෙමින් කළු සුද්දන් විසින් 2015 වර්ෂයට පසු කාලයේදී ගෙනෙන ලද පුහු තර්ක හා අර්ධ සත්ය වලට ලබාදුන් පිළිතුරුය. මෙහි ප්රථම භාගයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කරණ ලද අදහස් පිළිඹඳව පාඨකයින් දැක්වූ යහපත් ප්රතිචාරය, මෙවැනි කෘති මඟින් තමන් උපන් රටේ ඉතිහාසය, භූගෝල විද්යාව හා සාහිත්යය පිළිඹඳ දැනීම පාලකයින් විසින් උදුරා දමා ඇති සමාජයකට කලහැකි සේවයක් පිළිඹඳ ශාක්ෂියකි.
උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන්, ධර්ම ශ්රී කාරියවසම්ගේ, ‘කාරිගේ චැනල් 1’ යන යූටියුබ් වැඩ සටහන දැනටමත් මෙවැනි සේවයක් කරමින් සිටී. ‘ඇත්ත ඉතිහාසය, නොලියවුනු ඉතිහාසය හා ලියවුනු ඉතිහාසයේ නොලියවුනු තැන්’ යන තේමාව යටතේ ඔහු කරණ එලිදරව් විෂ්මය ජනකය. මෙවැනි දේ රටක සිදුවන්නට පුළුවන්ද කියා ප්රේක්ෂකයා ගේ සිත කම්පාවට පත්කරන්නේය, සසළ කරවන්නේය. ඔහු වාර්තාකරන පරිදි, 1971 JVP කැරැල්ල පාවාදී ඇත්තේ භික්ෂුවක් විසින් ඊට සම්බන්ධ කල දඩබ්බර පාසැල් ශිෂ්යයෙකු විසින් J.R. ජයවර්ධන හරහාය. මොහු පසු කලෙක ජේෂ්ඨ DIG කෙනෙක් වශයෙන් සිට පොලිසියෙන් විශ්රාම ගියේය!
රට ඇතුලේ ඉන්නා හා රටින් පිටට පැනගොස් සිටින යූටියුබ්කාරයින් හා වෙබ් අඩවි කාරයින් විසින් ඩොලර් උපයා ගැනීමේ යටිඅරමුණද සහිතව සිංහල බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියට කරණ දුෂ්ඨ පහරදීම, ඔවුන්ගේ රට කැබලිකිරීමේ ව්යාපාරයේම කොටසකි. ජාතික වාදය හා ජාතිවාදය අතර ඇති වෙනස – තම ජාතිය හතුරන්ගෙන් ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීම (අනාගාරික ධර්මපාල වාදය) හා තම වර්ගයා අති උතුම් යයි සිතා සෙසු ජනවර්ග හෙලා දකිමින් ඔවුන්ට හිරිහැර කිරීම (හිට්ලර්වාදය) – යන ක්රියාවලීන් දෙක මොවුන් විසින් පටලවා ගෙන සිටී. මෙම සිංහල බෞද්ධ සභ්යත්ව රාජ්ය සංකල්පයේ වටිනාකම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පිටකොන්දක් ඇතිව මේ වන විට ප්රසිද්ධියේ කතාකරන්නේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක දිලිත් ජයවීර හා උවිඳු විජේවීර යන දෙන්නා පමණය.
දෙමළ චේ ගුවේරා කෙනෙක් මෙන් නැඟී එන අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ්, මෙම ජාතික වාදී අදහස (සංකල්පය) උතුරේ වෙල්ලාල ජනයාට එරෙහිව, එහි වසන කුලහීන යයි හිරිහැරයට ගොදුරුවී සිටිනා ජනකොටස් ඒකරාශී කර ඉන් මුදවා ගැනීම සඳහා යොදා ගනිමින් සිටින්නේ ඉන්දියාවේ ඩලිත් නායකව සිටි, හින්දු කුල ආධිපත්යයට විරුද්ධව නැඟීසිටි, බෞද්ධාගම වැළදගත් අම්බෙඩ්කාර් අනුගමණය කරමින්ය.
රට-ජාතිය-භාෂාව-ආගම ආරක්ෂා කරණා යම් අදෘෂ්යමාන බලවේගයක මැදිහත් වීමකින් මිස, මෙම කුඩා දිවයින ඉන්දියාවේ කොලනියක් විමේ නියත ඉරණම අභියස, සමස්ත රටවැසි ජනයාම අන්ද මන්දව දිය සැලියේ ඉන්නා කකුළුවන් මෙන් හැසිරෙණු පෙනේ. සංවිධානාත්මකව ක්රියාත්මක වන දේශීය හා විදේශීය බලවේග විසින් රටේ ඓතිහාසික මුරදේවතාවුන් වුන සංඝ සංස්ථාව අඩපණ කිරීමට (නොමරා මරා දැමීමට) සමත්වී ඇත. ගම් මට්ටමින් බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතික ජීවන රටාව (ජාතික උරුමය) මකා දැමීමට ජිනීවා මට්ටමින් ඩොලර් කුමන්ත්රණ ක්රියාත්මකය. මෙවන් පසුබිමක දියවන්නා ‘හෝටලයේ’ ඉන්නා සිංහල බෞද්ධයයි කියා ගන්නා පංචස්කන්ධ අතරින් මෙම අනතුර ගැන කතාකරන්නේ දෙතුන් දෙනෙක් පමණක් වීම ඛේදජනකය.
ලංකාවේ ව්යවස්ථාදායකය-විධායකය-අධිකරණය යන ආයතන තුනම දූෂිත යයි ප්රසිද්ධියේ නිර්භීතව කියා සිටින එකම පුද්ගලයා ඒ නිසාම අයුතු ලෙස ඔහුගේ ලංකාවේ නීතීඥ කළු කබායේ ගැලවීමකට ලක්වූ නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු පමණය. මෙම කෘතියේ තේමාවද මුළු රටම දුෂ්ඨ ත්රිකෝණයකින් වසාගෙන ඇත යන්නය. ලංකාවේ පමණක් නොව මුළු ලෝකයේම ජන මාධ්ය, සමාජ මාධ්යද මීට ඇතුලත් කල යුතුව ඇත. ඒවාට තිබෙනවායයි කියන නිදහස වඳුරන්ට දුන් දැලිපිහි වැනිය. ඒ අස්සේ 2024 අංක 8 දරණ ‘අපහාස පාලන’ නීතියක් මඟින් උසාවී ක්රමයට අවශ්ය නම් රටේ ප්රභලම ‘මාෆියාව’ වීමට වුවද ඉඩ සළසා දී තිබේ.
මෙවන් පසුබිමක් යටතේ මෙහි ඇති රචනා කළු සුද්දන් විසින් පසුගිය දශක වල රටට විනාශකාරී ලෙස හැසිරී ඇති අන්දම සරල බසින් වාර්තා කර ඇත. ඒවා, දෙමළ (ඊළම්), මුස්ලිම් (ශාරියා), ඉන්දියන් (එක්ටා පාලම), ඉංගිරිස් හිසරදය, උසාවි පරිහානිය, මුර දේවතා සංකල්පය හා, මාක්ස්වාදය හා බෞද්ධ මධ්යම ප්රතිපදාව අතර අතරමංව සිටින JVP හෘදය ශාක්ෂිය පිළිඹඳ ප්රශ්ණය යනාදී වශයෙන් වර්ගකර ඇත. ක්රිස්තියානි මූලධර්මවාදී (evangelist) ආක්රමණය, කොම්පැනි ධනවාදී සූරා කෑම (global corporate greed) මේවා යටින් දුවන යකඩ කම්බි දෙකක් වැනිය.
මන්ත්රී පංචකන්ධ 225, පැරදුන මන්ත්රීන් හා ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයින් කෙසේ හෝ යළි බලයට ඒම සඳහා නොයෙක් මාදිලියේ උප්පරවැට්ටි උපයෝගී කරගනිමින් සිටී. දිනපතාම රටේ දකින්නට ලැබෙන්නේ කොසොල් රජතුමා දුටු සීන දාසැයේ ආදිනවය. යළිත් වරක් ගෝල්පේස් ගනයේ කුමන්ත්රණයකට රට වැසියා ගොඳුරු නොකර, රට ගොඩ ගැනීමේ මාර්ගයක් දැනට කලකට පෙරදී මෙන්ම මෙම කෘතියේ ප්රථම භාගයේදී හා මෙම දෙවන භාගයේදීත් අවධාරණය කර ඇත.
1.කළු සුද්දන් නැටූ නාඩගම් හා ඒවාට මුහුණ දීම
1.ඊලම දමනය
2.පන්සල් අතරමංකල ලංකාවේ හා දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ දෙමළ බෞද්ධයා
3.කළු සුද්දන් විසින් ලංකාව කැබලි කිරීමට ගත් උත්සාහ
4.13 වන සංශොධනයේ පොලිස් බලතල: ඉන්දියාවෙන් අපූරු පාඩමක්!
2.[නො]වරදින (ඉන්දියන්) කුරුමාණම?
5. කුවේණිගේ ශාපයද? ඉන්දියාවේ බලහත්කාරයද?
6. පාලම හා පාලම් පාරුව
3.මුජිබර් රහමන්ගේ කිඹුල් කොරහ හෙවත් දොස්තර ශාෆිගේ බැංකු ගිණුම
7.ලංකාවේ මුස්ලිම් වෙළෙන්ඳන් අරාබි ශාරියා මිණීමරුවන් කිරීම (1)
8. මැකියාවේලී සූත්රය අනුගමණය කල මුවර් නායකයින් (2)
9.ශාරියා/ඉකුවාන් ආක්රමණය: අගමැතිලා ජනාධිපතිලා නාස්ලණු දමා ගැනීම! (3)
10. සිංහලයා ශ්රී ලාංකික කිරීමේ ව්යාපාරය හා ගර්භාශ යුද්ධය
4. සිංහලයාට [සිංහල භාෂාවට] අබසරණයි: 16 වන ව්යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය
11.ඉංගිරිස් පාරුව කරට ගැනීම – part 1
12. ඉංගිරිස් පාරුව කරට ගැනීම – part 2
13. ඉංගිරිස් පාරුව කරට ගැනීම – part 3
14. සුනේත්රා බණ්ඩාරනායක සිය පියාව පාවා දීම (Betrayal of her father by Miss Sunethra Bandaranayake)- Part I
5. හිරකාරයෝත් මනුෂ්යයෝය. නඩුකාරයෝත් ක්ලේෂභරිත පංචස්කන්ධය!
15.නීති පොතේ ඇති, එහෙත් රටේ නැති, ආධිපත්ය දෙකකට නැසෙන සුප්රීම් උසාවිය
16. බල්ලට ගිය සුද්දගෙ නීතිය
17. කොසොල් රජතුමා දුටු සීන දාසැය හා ලංකාවේ සුප්රිම් උසාවිය
18. රටක සුප්රීම් උසාවියක්, අල්ලා ගත් කොටිවලිගයක්! (A Supreme Court’s nemesis: Nagananda Kodituwakku)
6. ලංකාව විදේශ ආක්රමණවලින් හා සිංහල කළු සුද්දන්ගෙන් බේරාගත් මුර දේවතා සංකල්පය
19. කාදිනල්තුමා – පැණිවරකා ගහට හෙණ වැදීම
20. ධර්මපාලතුමා ලොවට දුන් දායාදය
21. රට ගොඩගන්නට වෙහෙසුණු කළුකොඳයාවේ මහනාහිමි
7. හෘදය ශාක්ෂිය අනුභවකිරීම (මනෝ පුබ්බංගමා ධම්මා)
22.ලංකාවේ දුෂ්ඨ ත්රිකෝණය
23. ගෝල්පේස් වනාන්තරය, ගෝඨාභයගේ දෙවන යුද්ධය හා බෞද්ධ මධ්යම ප්රතිපදා විසඳුම – (හැඳින්වීම)
24. ගෝල්පේස් අරගල කරුවන් ඉල්ලන සිස්ටම් චේන්ජ් එක හා ජන සභා සිස්ටම් එක – part 1
25. ගෝල්පේස් අරගලය: ජන සභා පාලන ක්රමයකට <සිස්ටම් එක චේන්ජ් කිරීම> (විප්ලවයක් රහිත) විප්ලවයකි – part 2
26. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට (JVP) යාහැකි මඟ – part 1
27. ජාතික විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හා සිංහල බුද්ධාගම (JVP & Buddhism) – part 2
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland.
The Booker Prize is a high-profile literary award, it is greeted with much fanfare. It is considered a great honor for authors to be nominated for the long list and selected for the short list. The nomination greatly helps the sale of the book as well.
Shehan Karunatilaka won the Booker Prize in 2022 with Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. The story is set in Colombo, in 1990. Maali Almeida, war photographer, gambler, closeted gay was murdered. He now ‘wakes up’, in the afterworld and observes what happens in the living world to those connected to him.
Maali Almeida was killed for taking photos of the 1983 anti- Tamil riots. The main action, a hunt for a few negatives of the 1983 riots is, in my view, too flimsy for such a lengthy story, but Booker judges have thought otherwise.
The book was described as a whodunit, a thriller, a metaphysical thriller and also as a South Asian epic. The judges said what set the book apart was the ambition of its scope, and the hilarious audacity of its narrative techniques.” It was a serious romp that takes the reader to the murderous horrors of civil war in Sri Lanka, they said
Was it important for you that such a violent story should also be funny interviewers asked. I don’t know if that was intentional, replied Shehan, speaking after the Booker win. There’s a Sri Lankan gallows humor. Even today, despite the uncertainty there’s a lot of people cracking jokes. Personally, I enjoy and gravitate towards literature that has a bawdy sense of humor, he said .
Critics noted the political orientation of the book. One critic said the book was razor sharp indictment of Sri Lanka politics and society , morbidly funny. Another said Shehan Karunatilaka’s epic novel is a powerful evocation of Sri Lanka’s dark and brutal past.’
Shehan wanted to write a novel which had a political orientation. I wanted to write about 2009 and the end of the war, what if the dead could speak. But I was reluctant to engage there. 1989 seemed like a safe” period. It was far back and .most of the protagonists and antagonists from that time were dead, said Shehan.
Maali Almeida was a war photographer, who it appears, accepted commissions from all sides, from the government, the Tamils, the NGOs. Maali had photographed scenes from the war zone.He had photographed the war in both north and east. There are shots from Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee, he recalled.
The novel is full of references to the Sinhala-Tamil clashes starting from 1977. Maali Almeida was killed for taking photos of the 1983 anti-Tamil riots and as a ghost he had plenty to say about these riots. 1983 was an atrocity. 8000 homes, 5000 shops ,150,000 homeless, said Maali Almeida. Who will speak for the many victims of 1983, of men who burned Tamil homes in 1983, of the Tamil lawyer killed by Sinhala mob in 1983, he asked.
Maali had taken black and white prints of the 1983 attack. He had photographed rioters setting people on fire, Sinhala men in sarong dancing outside burning shops, cops watching Tamil women dragged out of buses. He had photographed a naked Tamil kicked to death, and another naked Tamil man being taunted by boys with sticks. He had also photographed a boy and his mother beaten with sticks, a toddler with broken arm, and man with cleaver hacking an old man.
The novel then drops 1983 and moves to the Eelam wars in the north and east. The book has many references to the Eelam war. Eelam war ended 12 years ago but books like this will help to keep the war fresh in the minds of gullible , ignorant western readers.
Maali was there when the army shelled in Mullaitivu. He photographed a bunker stuffed with terrified parents and screaming children. Maali focuses on the plight of civilians caught in the war. The photographs showed how people are dying in the war zone, explained Maali. Tigers and army were killing civilians. 77 Tamil civilians were killed in the Omanthai massacre, he said.
His emphasis was on family and children, on burned homes, dead children. Maali recalled four bodies baking in the Jaffna dust, a dog, man, mother and child. Maali was there when the army shelled in Mullaitivu. He photographed a bunker stuffed with terrified parents and screaming children.
Maali recalls other photographs of a similar nature, of mother and daughter buried under bricks in Kilinochchi, of family fleeing the shelling in Vavuniya of smoldering remains of an infant in Akkaraipattu, of dead children displayed on mats, women tied to poles , children in bunkers, tiny heads tucked under tiny elbows ,eyes wide and empty, of children bleeding in front of me.”
The novel fleetingly takes up an anti-Eelam position. Only Lankans will have beauty pageants and cricket matches while the country burns, said the ghosts. Partying after beauty contests while our soldiers die, they said.
Then the novel changes focus. It speaks ofInnocent Tamils” , Vanni refugee camp and the plight air raid survivors trapped in camps. It speaks of Minister Cyril Wijeratne later referred to a Minister Cyril and to Major Raja Udugampola.There are negative references to the army. They say STF are dumping bodies left and right in Labugama forest reserve, said a ghost. The ghost Sena” stationed his ghostly army with a precision our military never had, observed Maali.
There are oblique references to the Sinhala Buddhist culture. The ledger used in the afterworld had a Bo leaf design on the cover, there was a low caste yaka called Narada and blow jobs were available in Anuradhapura. One ghost had studied at Sri Bodhi College, another had perched cross legged beside a stone Buddha. The novel speaks of the ‘Sinhala script which the country claims is their only language. ( continued)
‘Rajali Sandeshaya’, the longest Kavya Sandesha (Anthology of poems) in Sri Lanka’s literary history consisting of 2579 poems, authored by Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne was launched at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre on his birthday on September 06.
This epic anthology serves as a poignant reflection of Sri Lanka’s harrowing battle against LTTE terrorism, intricately weaving together historical events and Gen. Gunaratne’s personal experiences as a military officer during the war.
The unveiling of this work marks a significant contribution to both Sri Lankan literature and the nation’s collective memory of a painful yet triumphant chapter in its modern history. Gen. Gunaratne is one of the pioneering writers who have enriched Sri Lankan literature with many masterpieces.
General Gunaratne and Mrs. Chithrani Gunaratne had the distinct honour of presenting the inaugural copy of the literary work to the Ven. Maha Sanga. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, Mrs. Lali Kobbekaduwa and Mrs. Manel Wimalarathne, the spouses of great war veterans Lt. Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Maj. Gen. Vijaya Wimalaratne and disabled war heroes from ‘Abimansala’ were presented with a copy of the book.
The event also featured insightful keynote addresses delivered by Prof. Praneeth Abeysundara and Ven. Induragare Dhammarathana Thero, who provided perspectives on the literary significance of the newly unveiled work.
Further underscoring the importance of these literary contributions, a copy of the book was generously donated to the library of Ananda College. The principal, Mr. Lal Dissanayake, graciously accepted this valuable contribution on behalf of the school.
‘Rajali Sandeshaya’ draws inspiration from Sri Lanka’s ancient Kavya Sandesha tradition, where messages are conveyed through poetic symbolism, often carried by birds. In this work, Gen. Gunaratne blends this traditional format with modern themes of poetry.
The poems focus on the brutal LTTE terrorist conflict, which engulfed the nation in death and destruction for three decades. Gen. Gunaratne, a decorated military officer who played a crucial role in the final stages of the civil war, employs this poetic form to narrate the brave actions, sacrifices, and courage of the Sri Lankan military as they fought to liberate the nation from terrorism.
Drawing from his own experiences, he paints vivid pictures of the battlefield, recounting both the horrors of war and the strength of the men and women who defended their homeland.
‘Rajali Sandeshaya’ serves as a tribute to those who fought against brutal terrorism and a somber reminder of the suffering endured by civilians caught in the crossfire. Gen. Gunaratne’s first-hand experiences lend authenticity and emotional depth to the poems, allowing readers to grasp the gravity of the war and the immense sacrifices made to preserve Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.
The event attracted a diverse and distinguished audience, including the Ven. Maha Sanga, the Chief of Defence Staff, Tri Forces Commanders, Academics, Artists and other notable guests.
Colombo, September 7 (Daily Mirror) The National People’s Power (NPP) is committed to ensure judicial supremacy and the concept of equality before the law under its government, NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today.
Speaking at the NPP lawyers’ conference, he said judicial supremacy and the concept of equality before the law are at stake in Sri Lanka.
He said the Supreme Court rules that the President violates the Constitution and on the other hand the President fails to respect the Supreme Court verdict.
“So, Sri Lanka is no longer a country with judicial supremacy. Such a country is not accepted by the world,” he said.
Dissanayake said the NPP assures to re-establish the concept of equality before the law and judicial supremacy.
“We will ensure the independence of the judiciary. We do not need to regulate the judiciary for our personal objectives,” he said.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe emphasized that those who cannot speak about the future of the country have no right to take responsibility for it. Only those who actively discuss the nation’s future should be entrusted with its leadership.
Referring to a statement made by Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who recently called for local businessmen and industrialists to focus on exports, President Wickremesinghe pointed out that Dissanayake’s policy document also mentions the cancellation of Sri Lanka’s free trade agreements. He questioned how an export-oriented economy could be developed without such agreements in place.
The President urged voters to carefully consider this matter and make informed decisions. He also stated that if the country is ready for change, then changes in other sectors are also possible.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe shared these remarks yesterday (6) while speaking at the conference on banking and finance organized under the theme “Bankers with Smart Leadership” by the National Bankers Association at the Galadari Hotel, Colombo.
During the event, Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Senior Advisor to the President Economic Affairs delivered a special lecture on the economic progress Sri Lanka has achieved over the past two years. A large number of bankers participated, and the President addressed their questions in a constructive manner.
Further expanding on his views, the President Ranil Wickremesinghe said: “Your association was formed two years ago, during the economic crisis. Since then, I have had the opportunity to engage with you, and I am grateful for the support you have extended over this period.
As Dr. Samaratunga mentioned, we have now reached a decisive moment. In 2022, the economy collapsed, and our debt burden became unsustainable. From that point on, we had to start rebuilding our path forward. With the support of a majority of Parliamentarians who believed in this journey, we pushed ahead to face the challenges. No alternative proposals were presented by others, and even those who claimed to have alternatives had nothing substantial to offer.
We initiated debt restructuring and have successfully concluded negotiations with 18 creditor nations, including the IMF, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and China. Based on the agreements reached, we have introduced and passed the Economic Transformation Act in Parliament.
The “Puluwan Sri Lanka” concept is not limited to the economy. We aim to implement new initiatives that focus on economic growth. Our main foundation must be the debt sustainability agreement we reached with the IMF. There is no option to deviate from it. Low-income and middle-income countries each have specific conditions tied to their debt agreements. The structure of these agreements can be viewed on the IMF website. No matter which government is in power, these conditions must be adhered to. It is up to us to decide now whether to follow this path.
Under the ‘Puluwan Sri Lanka’ initiative, I have five key targets. First, to ease the cost of living, second, to create jobs, third, to reduce the tax burden while expanding the tax base, fourth, to transform our economy into an export-driven one and the fifth, to ensure the continuation of our “Aswesuma”and “Urumaya” programs. We are moving forward with these five priorities.
The depreciation of the rupee has increased our expenses, and purchasing power has declined. This is what happens when an economy collapses. Yet, some are now proposing tax cuts. However, reducing taxes will lead us back to the situation created by the previous government. It is not a viable solution. Our focus is on strengthening the rupee, and to do that, we must increase government revenue.
After my first year in office, we initiated “Aswesuma” programs, including the welfare program. We also worked to increase the salaries of public sector employees. The report of the Udaya R. Senewiratne Committee is expected to be implemented next year. We have reached an agreement with the IMF to revise the tax rates.
The only way to rebuild the country is by strengthening the rupee. Regardless of what others say, there is no other path forward. We must recognize this reality and act accordingly.”
Economic progress requires on-going development, which is why we must continue advancing our current programs. As a government, we are committed to this initiative, and if necessary, we can implement it starting September 22. No other party offers a comparable plan.
The “Puluwan Sri Lanka” program is set to begin on September 22. This is not about advocating for “Victory for Ranil” or “Country for Ranil.” Those calling for a departure from traditional politics are themselves entrenched in it, while those coming from traditional backgrounds are seeking to effect change. Our vision extends beyond economic reform; it encompasses numerous areas including the prevention of social violence, women’s empowerment, and expanding educational opportunities. We aim to modernize all these sectors.
Political transformation is also crucial. The nine provincial councils should function not merely as administrative bodies but as key drivers of development. We need to enhance the representation of women and youth within these councils. Additionally, we plan to establish the Jana Sabha system to involve those who are not currently engaged in politics. Furthermore, we propose that any proposal supported by 100, 000 citizens should be debated in Parliament.
After the “Aragalaya” of 2022, the political system of this country has changed. A new political system is merging. It takes time. But we are preparing the necessary background for that. You can’t catch thieves like a game. We have passed the necessary laws for that. Some other laws are being passed. For that, we are working to provide the necessary training to the people who need it. We are moving towards an economic, social and political transformation.
We have appointed the former Chief Justice Priyasad Dep’s commission on the electoral system. Eighty-seven proposals have been presented in that report. No political party talks about this. We have to decide today whether we will take these forward or not.
In addition, there are two alternative proposals. One is “Blueprint 3” It is really a suggestion about economics. There is a problem whether the common people understand it or not. But the problem is that one party has presented two policy statements. Two groups of the same party have submitted two election policy statements. The other alternative proposal is in the NPP. They are trying to create hatred there. The rulers from 1948 until now did nothing, declaring that they have exploited the country and they are the only ones doing things for the country. They have no suggestions for the country. I read both two hundred and thirty pages of their policy manifesto.
On September 4th, MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake emphasized the importance of focusing on exports for our country’s businessmen and industrialists. While this principle is commendable, there is a concern. Their policy statement suggests that Sri Lanka plans to cancel its free trade agreements. This raises a significant question: how can we develop an export industry without these agreements? Such contradictions pose challenges.
Additionally, Sunil Handunnetti and their economic expert, Harshana Suriyapperuma, have challenged the Economic Transformation Bill in court. They argue that the bill, which promotes an export-based economy, fails to provide opportunities for import-based businesses and is therefore unconstitutional. They also contend that treating foreign investors on par with local investors is unconstitutional. This situation is confusing: one side argues for necessary changes, while the other side disagrees. It’s worth questioning whether we can move forward with such a program and if this truly represents the change they envision.
I have asked Anura Kumara Dissanayake for clarification on this matter. Political solutions alone won’t suffice; to truly save our country, we must think critically and work collaboratively. Unlike other countries where programs are clearly presented, defended, and pursued, our politics have often been characterized by empty promises and evasions. We need to change this approach.
Spreading hatred and publishing lengthy, unsubstantiated reports won’t resolve our issues. We must focus on constructive progress. If we cannot discuss the future of our country, we forfeit our right to influence it. Only those who are committed to discussing and shaping the future are fit to lead. As voters, it is our responsibility to scrutinize these matters carefully and make informed decisions.
Professor Maitree Wickremasinghe, former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Member of Parliament Premanath C. Dolawatta, Presidential Senior Adviser on Economic Affairs Dr. R. H. S. Samaratunga, Director General of Trade Unions to the President Saman Ratnapriya, National Bankers Association Anura Alahakoon, Secretary Asela Fernando and other officials, high-ranking bank officials and bankers attended the event.
බ්ලැක් මාර්කට් එක නැතුව රට හදන්න බෑ.. මාලිමාවේ ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරුන් අහන ප්රශ්නවලට අනුර කොර වෙයි.. අනුරගේ උත්තරවලට ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරුන් කොර වෙයි..
In the novel ‘Song of the Sun God,’ at the end of the story, almost at the last page, there is a reference to an ancient Indian kingdom called Lemuria. (p 394). The novel said that there was a great Tamil civilization in Lemuria from as early as 50,000 BC .The South Asian civilization began from there. If not for the great flood that took place in Lemuria, the entire subcontinent would have been ruled by Tamils, said the novel. The novel also quickly added that Lemuria predates any other ethnic group in the area. That was to stop the Sinhalese from also trying to attach themselves to the Lemuria story.
‘Song of the Sun God” confirms that Lemuria and Kumari Kandam (which I discuss later) had been accepted by the Tamil Separatist Movement in Sri Lanka, as a part of the greatness of the Tamil civilization from which they came. It would have helped to boost the Tamil Separatist ego and encourage Tamil superiority.
This belief in Lemuria could be dismissed as delusions of grandeur or the lunatic fringe but it is worth finding out about Lemuria. Wikipedia gives the following account. In 1864, an English zoologist, Philip Sclater suggested that there may be a submerged land between India, Madagascar and Africa. He named this submerged land Lemuria. The discovery of plate tectonics and continental drift in the 20th century put an end to this idea and scientists forgot about Lemuria.
In 1885, Charles D. Maclean of the Indian Civil Service published The Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, in which he suggested that Lemuria was the homeland of the proto-Dravidians. He suggested that Dravidian civilization started at Lemuria. This was mentioned in the Census reports of 1891 and 1901 and the matter was forgotten.
However, Tamil intellectuals liked the idea of a submerged pre-historic Tamil civilization. In 1898, J. Nallasami Pillai published an article in the journal Siddhanta Deepika about the theory of a lost continent in the Indian Ocean (i.e. Lemuria). But he said that this theory had “no serious historical or scientific footing”.
In 1912, Somasundara Bharati used the word “Tamilakam” for the first time, for Lemuria ,in his Tamil Classics and Tamilakam. Thereafter, Tamil revivalist writers claimed that Lemuria was the original Tamil homeland and birthplace of Tamil civilization. They maintained that an ancient Tamil civilization existed on Lemuria, before it was lost to the sea in a flood. Maclean’s Manual came to be cited as an authoritative work by these Tamil writers.
In 1917, Abraham Pandithar wrote that Lemuria was the cradle of human race, and Tamil was the first language spoken by the humans. These claims were repeated in the school and college textbooks of Tamil Nadu throughout the 20th century.[37]
In 1953, R. Nedunceliyan, who later became the education minister of Tamil Nadu, insisted that the civilization spread from South India to the Indus Valley and Sumer and subsequently, to “Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain and other places”.[42]
Ancient Tamil literature provided additional support for Lemuria. Ancient Tamil literature spoke of Kumari Kandam, a legendary sunken landmass that was supposedly located south of present-day India in the Indian Ocean.
Ancient Tamil literature said that Kumari Kandam was an ancient, but highly advanced civilization located in the Indian Ocean. It was the cradle of civilization, inhabited solely by the speakers of Tamil language. The fact that the land had disappeared into the ocean helped to explain the lack of any present day evidence of this ancient civilization
The Tamil writers said that the culture of Kumari Kandam survived in Tamil Nadu. This meant that Tamil culture was the source of all civilized culture in the world, and Tamil is the mother language of all other languages in the world. Kumari Kandam proved the antiquity of the Tamil language and culture, they said.
Kumari Kandam, these writers said, was the place where the first two Tamil literary academies (sangams) were organized during the Pandean reign. the first Sangam flourished for 4,400 years in a city called Tenmadurai (South Madurai) attended by 549 poets (including Agastya) and presided over by gods like Shiva, Kubera and Murugan.
The second Sangam lasted for 3,700 years in a city called Kapatapuram, attended by 59 poets (including Agastya, again). Both the cities were “seized by the ocean”, resulting in loss of all the works created during the first two Sangams.
The third Sangam was established in Uttara (North) Madurai, where it is said to have lasted for 1,850 years. However, critics noted that the earliest extant Tamil writings, which are attributed to the third Sangam, contain Sanskrit vocabulary, and thus could not have been the creation of a purely Tamil civilization.
The Tamil revivalists insisted that the first two Tamil sangams were not mythical, and happened in the Kumari Kandam era. While most Tamil revivalists did not enumerate or list the lost Sangam works, some came up with their names, and even listed their contents. In 1903, Suryanarayana Sastri named some of these works as Mutunarai, Mutukuruku, Mapuranam and Putupuranam.
In 1917, Abraham Pandithar listed three of these works as the world’s first treatises of music: Naratiyam, Perunarai and Perunkuruku. He also listed several rare musical instruments such as the thousand-stringed lute, which had been lost to the sea.
Devaneya Pavanar printed an entire list of the submerged books. Others listed books on a wide range of topics, including medicine, martial arts, logic, painting, sculpture, yoga, philosophy, music, mathematics, alchemy, magic, architecture, poetry, and wealth. Since these works had been lost to the sea, the Kumari Kandam proponents insisted that no empirical proof could be provided for their claims.
The Tamil revivalists did not consider Kumari Kandam as a primitive society or a rural civilization. They described it as a utopia which had reached the zenith of human achievement. Suryanarayan Sastri, in 1903, described the population as expert cultivators, fine poets and far-traveling merchants, who lived in an egalitarian and democratic society. Modern Tamil was a pale remnant of the glorious ancient Tamil language spoken in Kumari Kandam.
In 1903, Suryanarayana Sastri, in his Tamilmoliyin Varalaru, insisted that all the humans were descendants of the ancient Tamils from Kumari Kandam. Such claims were repeated by several others, including M. S. Purnalingam Pillai and Maraimalai Adigal.[39]
M. S. Purnalingam Pillai, writing in 1927, stated that Indus Valley civilization was established by the Tamil survivors from the flood-hit Kumari Nadu. In the 1940s, N. S. Kandiah Pillai published maps showing migration of the Kumari Kandam residents to other parts of the world.[
Books discussing the Kumari Kandam theory were first included in the college curriculum of the present-day Tamil Nadu in 1908. Suryanarayana Sastri’s book was prescribed for use in Madras University‘s Master’s degree courses in 1908-09. Over the next few decades, other such works were also included in the curriculum of Madras University and Annamalai University. These include Purnalingam Pillai’s A Primer of Tamil Literature (1904) and Tamil literature (1929), Kandiah Pillai’s Tamilakam (1934), and Srinivasa Pillai’s Tamil Varalaru (1927).[26] In a 1940 Tamil language textbook for ninth-grade students, T. V. Kalyanasundaram wrote that Lemuria of the European scholars was Kumarinatu of the Tamil literature.[27]
After the Dravidian parties came to power in 1967, the Kumari Kandam theory was disseminated more widely through school and college textbooks. In 1971, the Government of Tamil Nadu established a formal committee to write the history of Tamilakam (ancient Tamil territory). One of the objectives of the committee was to highlight “the great antiquity” of the Tamils, “from the time of Lemuria” .A 1975 textbook written by this committee detailed the Kumari Kandam theory. As late as 1981, the Tamil Nadu government’s history textbooks mentioned the Kumari Kandam theory.[
In 1981, the Government of Tamil Nadu funded a documentary film on Kumari Kandam. The film, personally backed by the Chief Minister M. G. Ramachandran and directed by P. Neelakantan, was screened at the Fifth International Conference of Tamil Studies in Madurai. It combined the continental drift theory with the submerged continent theory to present Lemuria as a scientifically valid concept. It depicted Kumari Kandam cities resplendent with mansions, gardens, arts, crafts, music and dance.
Kumari Kandam is a mythical continent, not a real one. Therefore, the attempts to mix this myth with Tamil history met with criticism. M Seshagiri Sastri (1897), described the claims of ancient sangams as fiction from the prolific imagination of Tamil poets.” In 1956, K. A. Nilakanta Sastri described the Kumari Kandam theory as “all bosh”, stating that geological theories about events happening millions of years ago should not be connected to the human history of a few thousand years back. This concludes the review of ‘Song of the Sun God. ( Continued)
Shankari Chandran’s first novel Song of the Sun God” (2017) is about a Ceylon Tamil family, caught in the Tamil Separatist Movement in Sri Lanka. Shankari feels strongly about what happened to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. For me, ‘Song of the Sun God’, more than any other novel I have written since, is a novel that really interrogates the injustices faced by the Tamil people, she said in an interview. [1]
So much of the Tamil story has been silenced – our people have been marginalized and silenced in their own country: their narrative has been manipulated, controlled and, in many places, hidden, continued Shankari. When you speak to people from Sri Lanka, there is a fear of telling the Tamil story and experience, and exploring justice for Tamil people. And when you speak to people outside the boundaries of Sri Lanka, so much information and disinformation exists.
I feel as a lawyer and a storyteller, and most importantly a Tamil person, it is part of my responsibility and duty to explore this – whilst bearing in mind the ethical framework around it. This is ultimately other people’s stories, that they have wanted me and other storytellers to write, said Shankari.
The history of Sri Lanka was appropriated by the Sinhalese people and the Sri Lankan government to create an identity of what it meant to be Sri Lankan that excluded the Tamil people. I researched the hell out of things, because I’m a lawyer, and I don’t want anyone to ever doubt the veracity of what I have said about the inhumanities that were affected against the Tamil people. If you can challenge the veracity of one part, people would want to dispute what happened to the Tamil people, and then try to challenge the rest of it, said Shankari in the course of the interview.
What was the initial seed of thought or emotion which triggered the writing process for ‘Song of the Sun God’, asked an interviewer. Shankari replied, I was very close to my grandparents. My grandmother recently passed away and my grandfather passed away a decade ago. The story seed was this couple based on my grandparents from their youth. As part of a diaspora (in particular, a diaspora that was unable to return to Sri Lanka for thirty years), so much of our understanding of Sri Lanka, Tamil history, politics and culture is through the memories and storytelling of our older generations. If you’re willing to listen, there’s such richness in those moments – and I have been listening my entire life.
When I finished my degree, I went travelling around the world. My mother gave me a list of every family member and told me to call them and they would feed me. I did call them, visit them and they fed me – but they would also tell me stories, and I would journal them in the evenings without realizing it. And then in London, I became very close to my extended family who would also tell me my own family history which I also wrote down. Years later, I found those papers and I realized I had unconsciously brought all of that into ‘Song of the Sun God.’
Shankari Chandran was born in London and grew up in Australia, but Sri Lanka was always a presence in our lives, she said. Her parents had a strong connection with north and east of Sri Lanka. We were constantly aware of what was happening with the war, she said. My family, particularly my father and his brothers really felt so much grief, anger, and guilt about having left and having survived and having gone on to create good lives for themselves. And so there was always this pull, and though we weren’t coming back to Sri Lanka, it was still a daily part of our lives.[2] For us it is received memories of the older generation. But I do feel a very strong connection with Sri Lanka, she said. [3]
Song of the Sun God” (2017 is about Rajan and Nala, their children, grand children and some relatives. Nala was a Vellala from the land owning caste. They hailed from Allevaddy and Tellipali, two villages in Jaffna. In Jaffna the village was not just where you lived . It was about you, your family, what they were. It told others your character, not just ancestral location. Your village matters, enthused the novel. Yes, it mattered. It indicated the caste a person belonged to. Caste was very important in Tamil society. The novel does not discuss caste.
After marriage Rajan and Nala lived in Colombo, at Cinnamon Gardens, a pleasant, fictional neighborhood of diplomats and doctors. The fictional hero, Rajan was the best general surgeon in Colombo. He was the youngest doctor to be promoted to chief consultant at the General Hospital, Colombo and the first Tamil. He was the doctor to four Prime Ministers including JR Jayewardene. They had many Sinhala friends and were happy in Colombo. But after the anti Tamil riots of July 1983, they left for Sydney, Australia .
As a story, Song of the Sun God” lacks interest. There is no character development, or significant events, but there is melodrama. Two daughters, in two succeeding generations , are given away to their aunts, to be brought up. The aunts pretend to be their mothers, resulting in trauma later on. One daughter found Now her brother is her second cousin and her grandmother was her great aunt,” but even this melodrama falls flat. It is repetitive. There is also a Great Dane as the family dog ,but that does not help either.
The novel is full of references to ice cream, both vanilla and strawberry. Dhara was licking ice cream off her wrist on one occasion. The focus is on enjoyment, but there is also a glimpse of the financial austerity Tamils are known for. Rajan suggested to the surprise of his family that they eat ice cream at Galle Face. Its tenth of the price if you buy it by the pound or in bulk, or on sale, But I thought you might like a treat, he said. While eating this ice cream, Nala recalled that when they were young, once a year their grandfather in Jaffna would buy them an ice cream for a treat from the restaurant next to the Dutch Fort in Jaffna town.
The main story is an excuse for the Tamil Separatist sub story. The Tamil Separatist sub story is placed inside the main story but not woven into it. It is given in installments as reportage. The Tamil Separatist story is tucked into a fictional story, because in fiction, readers are expected to believe everything they read and even remember some of it afterwards.
The book has succeeded in influencing two writers who were assigned to review the book. Song of the Sun God is a perfect rendition of the chaos in Sri Lanka that played with the lives of its residents, said one reviewer. If the Tamils didn’t learn Sinhalese, they would never be able to live as equals in Ceylon. And the rift between the two communities deepens as the years pass by. This divide is beautifully portrayed throughout the book and made me well up, the reviewer concluded. [4]
Alice Violett, reviewing the book said, I didn’t even know there was a civil war in Sri Lanka before I read this book, let alone that it went on for 26 years and ended as recently as 2009. It was interesting to learn about both the country and the conflict, with many of the war scenes being breath-takingly shocking.[5]
The novel gives information on the many nasty things that were done to the innocent Tamils of Sri Lanka . It described the first Tamil Sinhala riot in the island, the Gal Oya riots of 1958. At Gal Oya, the government was bringing in Sinhalese and giving them the best land, said the novel. There were huge numbers of deaths at Gal Oya. Some had been burned to death. Nala’s only brother , Mohan dies in the riots at Gal Oya[6]and this has a permanent impact on her. She is still thinking of Mohan twenty years later. His child Dhara was given to Nala to look after.
There is mention of Sinhala Only. Sinhala Only would change everything for the Tamils, said the novel. Children no longer studied in English, they were segregated and taught in swabhasha. Sinhalese was now the language of the civil service, the courts and the country. Tamils no longer had a language with which to communicate with the state .
The novel records that the Jaffna Public Library was burned down on 2nd June 1981. The burning of the Jaffna Public library changed everything, it showed us our place, noted the characters in the novel.
The Jaffna Public Library is described in glowing terms. It had one of the Asia’s greatest collections of Tamil literature. There were almost hundred thousand books by Tamils about Tamils, said the novel.
The Jaffna community loved the library, said the novel. As children, Rajan and Nala were taken to the Jaffna public library where they would read for hours. Nala recalled as a child she had poured through books about the Chola kings who conquered India. They rode victoriously south to create new kingdoms and built temples all over south East Asia. She revelled in manuscripts and maps about a Tamil empire where her culture was celebrated.
The library was a useful source for those interested in the Tamil culture that had come from south India and taken on a shape of its own in Sri Lanka . The library contained original documents which record the history of the Tamil people in Ceylon, said the novel.The collection represented how far they had come and how far they could go. Much of this is nonsense, but the aspirations of the Ceylon Tamils and their plans for domination in Sri Lanka is significant.
The July 1983 anti Tamil riots are recorded in the novel. Houses in Wellawatte were burned down, people killed. A grandmother was burned alive. Greatly to its credit, this novel records that when the anti Tamil riots of July 1983 took place in Colombo, Rajan and Nala’s Sinhala friends helped them. The novel repeats this later on. Sinhala neighbors helped protect Tamils in Colombo in 1983, the novel said. (p 89,344).
Then the novel moves to the Eelam war, regarding which the author has no firsthand knowledge. The novel presents the war as a senseless, aggressive military attack by the Sri Lanka army on an innocent Tamil population. LTTE is hardly mentioned. Eelam occasionally. I believe in Tamil Tigers and I believe in Eelam, said one character.
The government sent the army to the homeland of the Tamil people in Jaffna province, said the novel. Army was bombing those sheltering in churches, such as St Peters at Navali. Almost a hundred Tamils died there, seeking refuge, the novel continued . In the final stages of the war people died in hospital and school where they had taken refuge. LTTE who surrendered with white flags were killed.
In the book, there is considerable emphasis on the No Fire Zone . There were over 150,000 refugees in the No fire zone, said the novel . Where did they go asked the novel. The more pertinent question is, why they were there at all. They were there because they were obeying LTTE orders. LTTE was engaged in high treason.
According to the novel, the state army was shooting into the No Fire Zone recklessly. The novel does not say the LTTE was firing from the No Fire Zone. Army said it had not used heavy weapons, and had not targeted civilians, UN satellite imagery showed that they did. Army had set up mortar batteries that were calibrated and re calibrated for the No fire Zones it had shepherded the civilians into, continued the novel.
Thousands died in the No Fire Zone said the novel. Government refused to allow medical supplies in and the injured out of the No Fire Zone. Government also refused to allow Red Cross into the No Fire Zone, to provide food and medication. The Army bombed a hospital in the No Fire Zone, though the location has been given by the Red Cross to the army, said the novel.
The entire population depended on UN for food to eat. That was enough for two days, rest of the time they starved, said the novel. The novel is silent about the fact that throughout the Eelam war, food was sent to the north by the government of Sri Lanka .The healthy appearance of the hostages as they arrived on the government side, after the hostage rescue, showed that they had not lacked food.
In the novel there is much emphasis on mothers and children .In the No Fire Zone children knew when and how to jump into bunkers when the shelling started the burst of sound that deafened for the moment, the beautiful silent moment followed by screaming, said the novel, poetically .
The novel continued, at Mullavaikkal mothers on the beach were digging bunkers in the sand. Mothers hiding their children using the own bodies as shells rained down. Mothers clung to their wasted children and placed their wasted bodies over them. Later they lined the dead children in lifeless rows, covered with flies. Mothers sat and wailed by them, said the novel. However, the mothers and children rushing to the government side, at the end of the war, shown on television, looked fit and healthy, they did not look wasted at all.
The novel records the end of the Eelam war. They are our people and they were slaughtered on the beach like animals, declared the novel. The army killed the hostages and stepped over a morass of bodies without a second thought. One hundred thousand dead at Mullavaikkal, mourned the novel.
Those sent to refugee camps, never returned from them, said the novel. Soldiers had set up a section for themselves in the refugee camp and for the female refugees of their choice. The state army is shown in a very negative light. Dhara ,a character in the novel, who was working for the LTTE was assaulted, tortured and repeatedly raped by the army, on a bed, or tied down on a table. Her reactions are described at length. There are more than one instance of rape by army, said the novel.[7]
After the war ended, people had returned to claim their lands, presenting faded deeds, continued the novel. But new Sinhala communities were constructed on top of old Tamils ones. New Sinhala districts were created in old Tamil ones making Tamils a minority in their own homelands. Army appropriated land and businesses. Tamil families were either in camps or living by the way side of their former homes, said the novel.
The novel contains many contemptuous references to the Sinhalese, Buddhism and Mahavamsa. These carry a whiff of the Tamil superiority shown by elite Tamils in the 1950s. The novel recalled that G.G. Ponnambalam had said that most of the Sinhala kings are actually Tamil.
This island has never been a nation it was just three separate tribal kingdoms. Ceylon was forced together as one colony ,not a nation. A zone really for administration convenience, run by one of the finest civil services of the world, said the novel. [8]
If the Buddhist monks and politicians want to use the Mahavamsa to take sole ownership of this country then we have a right to challenge the chronicle and them. We should talk about our ancient Tamil kingdom and the richness of Hinduism. We should put forward our side of the history, continued the novel .[9]
The main target it in the novel, however, is the Maha Sangha. Bhikkhus excelled at stirring trouble, said the novel.[10] Monks are telling people about the greatness of Buddhism . Telling Sinhala-Buddhist who ten years ago barely cared about their own religion. [11] The Buddhist say the Mahavamsa gives them a historical claim to the country. It is their history of the Sinhala kings of Ceylon. [12] Sinhala only, the monks said was not just about language , it was about Buddhism’s return to greatness. It was about racial superiority, hidden in the rhetoric of religion, said the novel.[13] ( Continued)
[1] https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/song-sun-god-novel-interrogates-injustices-faced-tamil-people-interview-shankari-chandran
[2] https://www.ft.lk/FT-Lite/An-afternoon-with-Shankari-Chandran/6-648177
[3] https://www.ft.lk/FT-Lite/An-afternoon-with-Shankari-Chandran/6-648177
[4] https://www.thebooksatchel.com/song-sun-god-shankari-chandran/
[5] https://www.draliceviolett.com/blog-tour-song-of-the-sun-god
[6] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p60
[7] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 145
[8] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 41
[9] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 21
[10] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 42
[11] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 22
[12] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 21
[13] Shankari Chandran Song of the sun god p 85
The experimental book තිස්පන් ලක්ෂයක රැකියා සුරැකි, ත්රෛපාර්ශ්වික එකඟතාවය” (The Tripartite Agreement that secured the employment of 3.5 million persons) which is published by ‘Desarasa’, and written on the historical process that secured all the jobs through a tripartite agreement among the trade unions, employers and the Ministry of Labour when 3.5 million employees of the private sector faced the risk of losing their jobs during the Corona epidemic in Sri Lanka, was presented to Deputy Speaker Ajith Rajapaksa by senior journalist Priyantha Pradeep Ranasinghe on 04.09.2024 at the Office of the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. The first copy of this book was presented to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, who provided leadership to this agreement and was the Minister of Labour during the Corona pandemic.
පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ, මෙරට බිහිවූ අලුත් ම දේශපාලන පෙරමුණයි. කුසලානය සිය ලකුණ කරගත් එම පෙරමුණේ සභාපතිත්වය සහ නායකත්වය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනටද, ලේකම් ධුරය වෛද්ය රමේෂ් පතිරණටද හිමිවී තිබේ. දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන යනු මෙරට වර්තමාන අග්රාමාත්යවරයායි. ඔහු මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ නායකයාද වේ. පොහොට්ටුව හෙවත් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ, මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණයට වෙනම අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට තීරණය කිරීමත් සමග ඊට එකඟ නොවූ, රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනගිය, පොහොට්ටුවේ මන්ත්රීවරු බහුතරය, ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ස්වාධීනව ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටින රනිල් වික්රමසිංහට සහය දීමට තීරණය කළහ. එතෙක් පොහොට්ටුව සමග සිටි දිනේෂ් ප්රමුඛ ම.එ.පෙ.ද එම තීරණයේ සිටි අතර එහි ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ‘කුසලානය’ නැතහොත් පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ බිහි වී තිබේ.
මෙහි වැදගත් සිදුවීම් කිහිපයක් හඳුනාගත හැකිය. කුසලානය හෙවත් පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ ඊළඟට එන ඇල්පිටිය ප්රාදේශීය සභාවට සිය ලකුණින් තරග වදින බව, එහි ලේකම් අමාත්ය රමේෂ් පතිරණ, පෙරමුණ බිහිවූ 2024.09.05 දින සිය කතාවේදී අනාවරණ කළේය. ඉන් අදහස් වන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පසු එන සියලු මැතිවරණ සඳහා කුසලානය වෙනම තරග වදින බවයි. ඒවගේම පොහොට්ටුව නියෝජනය කළ කිසිවෙකුත් අතරමං වීමට ඉඩ නොතබන බව නව පෙරමුණේ නායක දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන එහිදී අවධාරණය කළේය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් වැදගත් කාරණය වන්නේ,1983 අතුරු මැතිවරණයෙන් මහරගම ආසනය දිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පැමිණි දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනට කුසලානයේ නායකත්වය සහ සභාපතිත්වය හිමිවන විට එම අතුරු මැතිවරණයෙන් ම අක්මීමන ආසනය දිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පැමිණි රිචඩ් පතිරණගේ පුතා එහි ලේකම්වීමය.
අන්ත දක්ෂිණාංශික හෝ අන්ත වාමාංශික හෝ නොවී, ජාතිකවාදය ඔස්සේ සමාජ ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදිව, නොබැඳි විදෙස් ප්රතිපත්තිය ඔස්සේ මැද මාවතේ ගමන් කිරීම ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය බිහිවී 1956 මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ ආණ්ඩුවේ සිට වාමවාදී පෙරමුණේ ආණ්ඩුවල ලක්ෂණය විය. එදා එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක, පිලිප් ගුණවර්ධන ඇතුළු එකතුවත්, එවැන්නක් විය. සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක ප්රමුඛ සභාග ආණ්ඩුවලද වමේ සහ ජාතිකවාදී පක්ෂ කටයුතු කළේ එවැනි පෙරමුණු ගොඩනගා ගෙනය. දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනද අඛණ්ඩව සහය දුන්නේ ශ්රීලනිපය ප්රමුඛ එම පෙරමුණටය. මෙරට පළමු ජනාධිපතිවරණයට 1982 දී තරග කිරීමට ශ්රීලනිපයට ‘අත’ ලකුණ අහිමි වූ අවස්ථාවේ සිය පක්ෂය වූ ම.එ.පෙ. ලකුණ වන ‘රෝදය’ මැතිනිය වෙත පරිත්යාග කිරීමට දිනේෂ් ඉදිරිපත් විය. එමෙන්ම ඉතිහාසයේ පුළුල්තම ප්රගතිශීලි වාමාංශික දේශපාලන සන්ධානය වන 2004 දී ගොඩනැගුනු එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය බිහි කිරීමට විශාල කැපකිරීමක් කර එහි ප්රථම උප සභාපතිවරයා වුයේද දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනයි. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පරාජය වූ 2015දී ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ නායකයා ලෙස දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන විශාල කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කළ අතර, මහින්ද වෙනුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතා කිරීමට සිටි එකම මන්ත්රීවරයාද විය. ලංකා දේශපාලනය උඩුයටිකුරු කළ 2015.02.15 නුගේගොඩ පැවැත්වූ ඓතිහාසික මහා ජන රැළියටද නායකත්වය දුන් දිනේෂ්, විසිරුණු කඳවුරු යළි එක්සේසත් කළේය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ හා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති ධුරයෙන් හා අගමැති ධුරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වී රට අස්ථාවර වූ අවස්ථාවේ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ සමග පොහොට්ටුවේ ආණ්ඩුව ඉදිරියට ගෙනගියේ දිනේෂ් ය. කිසිදු බරපතළ ගැටුමකට යා නොදී ඒ නොපෑහෙනවා යැයි කී ආණ්ඩුව ඔස්සේ රට ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරත්වයක් කරා ගෙනයාමට රනිල්ට, දිනේෂ් ප්රමුඛ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම කොන්දේසි විරහිත සහයෝගයක් ලබා දුන්නේය.
කෙටියෙන් වුවද මෙවැනි කරුණු සලකා බලන කල, නව පෙරමුණ වන, කුසලානය ලකුණේ පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ සිය නායකයා ලෙස දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන අග්රාමාත්යවරයා තෝරාගැනීම කලොචිත ම තීරණය ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. දේශීය වශයෙන් පමණක් නොව ජාත්යන්තර වශයෙන්ද කෘතහස්ත දේශපාලනඥයෙකු වන දිනේෂ්ට ඇත්තේ ඉහළ පිළිගැනීමකි. පාර්ලිමේන්තු ක්රමය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේ පළපුරුද්ද සහ දැනුම සම කළ හැකි අයෙකු වර්තමාන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නැතැයි කිවහොත් එහි වරදක් නැත. ඒ වගේම පාර්ලිමේන්තු ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේ ඇති විශ්වාසය අතිශය වැදගත්ය.
තවත් පැත්තකින් බලන කල, ශ්රීලනිප සහ පසු කලෙක පොහොට්ටුව සමග සිටි වාමාංශික සහ ජාතිකවාදී බලවේග සඳහාද දිනේෂ්ගේ පෙරමුණ, දේශපාලනය කිරීම සහ රට ගොඩනැගීම වෙනුවෙන් හොඳ තෝතැන්නකි. මෙවර 39 දෙනෙකු ඉදිරිපත් වුවත් ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් දිනන්නේ එක අයෙකි. ඉන්පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට, පළාත් සභාවට, පළාත් පාලන ආයතන සඳහා තේරීපත් වීමට වමේ, ජාතිකවාදී කඳවුරට පොදු වේදිකාවක් අහිමි වී තිබිණි. දිනේෂ්ගේ පෙරමුණ ඒ වේදිකාව යළි ඉදිකර දී තිබේ.
-ප්රියන්ත ප්රදීප් රණසිංහ
විදේශ රැකියා සදහා ශ්රමිකයින් පිටත් කර යැවීම සදහා මුදල් ලබාගත් බවට අසත්ය සහ පදනම් විරහිත ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණු හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී වසන්ත සමරසිංහ මහතාට එරෙහිව, කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා හිටපු අමාත්ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා විසින් නීතිමය පියවර ගෙන තිබේ.
ඊශ්රායල් සහ කොරියානු රැකියා ලබාදීම සදහා අත්සන් යෙදීම සදහා මුදල් ලබාගන්නා බවට වසන්ත සමරසිංහ කර තිබෙන ප්රකාශ සම්පූර්ණ අසත්ය ප්රකාශ බවද එන්තරවාසියේ සදහන් වේ.
මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්යවරයා ලෙස අමාත්යාංශය භාරව කටයුතු කළ කාලයේදී විශාල පිරිසක් විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පිටත් කර යවා තිබෙන බවද, එසේ විශාල පිරිසක් විදේශ රැකියා සදහා යොමු කිරීම හේතුවෙන් ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයින් අතර වෛරය ඇති කිරීම සදහා මෙම ප්රකාශය නිකුත් කර තිබෙන බවද එන්තරවාසියේ දැක්වේ.
අසත්ය ප්රකාශ කරමින් අපකීර්තියට ලක් කිරීම සමබන්ධයෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන 500ක වන්දි මුදලක් ඉල්ලා ඇති අතර එම වන්දි මුදල දින 14ක් ඇතුළත ලබාදීමට කටයුතු නොකරන්නේ නම් අධිකරණය හමුවේ නඩු පවරා වන්දි මුදල සහ නඩු ගාස්තු අය කරගැනීමට කටයතු කරන බවද වසන්ත සමරසිංහ වෙත යොමු කළ එන්තරවාසියේ දැක්වේ.
කම්කරු සහ විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්යවරයා ලෙස මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා කටයුතු කළ අවස්ථාවේදී විදේශ රැකියා ජාවාරම් වැලැක්වීම සදහා දැඩිව කටයුතු කළ අයෙක් වන අතර එවැනි ජාවාරම්කරුවන්ට එරෙහිව දැඩි නීතිමය පියවර ගැනීම සදහාද අවශ්ය දායකත්වය ලබාදුන්නේය.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will hold its presidential election on Sept. 21 in a crucial vote that will decide the future of the South Asian nation still struggling to recover from its economic collapse in 2022, which provoked mass protests and forced the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and later resign.
The election is seen as a referendum on President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s two-year-long rule that has overseen a fragile recovery of the country’s economy.
He faces a tough challenge from the leader of the opposition in parliament, as well as from a left-leaning politician with a powerful alliance, who is gaining popularity among young voters.
Almost 17 million of Sri Lanka’s 22 million people are eligible to vote, and 38 candidates are running for office.
Who are the main candidates?
Wickremesinghe, whose United National Party has been weakened by a split, is running as an independent candidate. Even though Wickremesinghe remains unpopular for carrying out austerity measures — including sharp tax hikes — in exchange for an International Monetary Fund bailout, he is hoping to gain votes from his success in largely abating the shortage of essentials such as fuel, cooking gas, medicines and food.
But Wickremesinghe — a six-time prime minister — is at a disadvantage because he belongs to the old guard, whom Sri Lankans blame for the economic collapse.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of a Marxist-led coalition named National People’s Power, is fast emerging as a key challenger to Wickremesinghe due to his popularity among the young people fed up with corruption that they believe caused the economic crisis. He is also drawing support from some voters who participated in the 2022 protests demanding the resignation of the then-President Rajapaksa.
Although he has been a leftist in the past, Dissanayake now professes economic freedom and promises welfare measures to help the working class. Political analysts say he is a strong contender because, unlike his rivals, he is not linked with the business and political elites who ran the country in the past.
Wickremesinghe’s other challenger is Sajith Premadasa, the incumbent president’s former deputy and leader of his breakaway party, United People’s Power. Premadasa promises to continue with the IMF program but with changes to lessen the burden on poor people.
He has also promised a degree of power devolution to the minority Tamil community, who make up about 11% of the country’s population. In return, Premadasa has secured the support of a strong Tamil political bloc.
What about the Rajapaksa family?
Namal Rajapaksa, the heir apparent to the once-powerful Rajapaksa clan, is also contesting. Namal’s candidacy will test whether his powerful clan — which has produced two presidents — can retain its hold on the country after many of its members were pushed into the political wilderness. His father, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is credited with crushing the Tamil armed separatist movement in 2009.
Namal is promising to ease the tax burden on Sri Lankans and build a strong economy, saying its meltdown in 2022 was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
How does the election work?
Votes will be cast throughout the day on Sept. 21, with results expected to be out by evening the following day.
Voters can select three candidates from the ballot paper in the order of their preference. The first preferences will be counted first and the candidate who secures more than 50% of the valid votes will be declared winner.
If there is no clear winner, the first two candidates will be retained in the race and ballot papers that chose other candidates for No. 1 will be checked to see if either of the top two contenders are their second or third preference. Those votes will be added to the tally of the remaining two candidates. The candidate who gets the highest number will be declared the winner.
Sri Lanka has a powerful executive presidential system with the President being the head of state, government, cabinet and the armed forces. The prime minister has some powers like recommending Cabinet ministers.
There are no reliable opinion polls to suggest which candidate is in the lead, but many observers say Dissanayake has been gaining popularity.
Veeragathy Thanabalasingham, a senior journalist and political observer, said while it appeared to be a two-horse race” between Premadasa and Dissanayake in early September, campaigning in the final weeks could place all three candidates on equal ground.
What are the big issues?
Sri Lanka’s economy is the key issue in the election.
Under Wickremesinghe, important economic figures have improved: Inflation dropped below 5% from 70% in 2022, interest rates were lowered, and foreign reserves grew. A 2% growth is predicted for 2024, the highest since the economic collapse, but financial benefits have not reached the common people, many of whom are affected by high living costs. Businesses and professionals are complaining of high taxes.
While Wickremesinghe says that the IMF agreement can’t be significantly changed, his rivals say they will try to renegotiate it to ease the burden on the public.
A large section of the population is also unhappy because it believes Wickremesinghe’s administration protected the Rajapaksa family, which has been accused of economic mismanagement and corruption. Many feel the family should be held accountable.
සජිත් ප්රේමදාස මහතාගේ ඉංග්රීසි දැනුම සම්බන්ධයෙන් තමන් කිසිදු වාදයක් නොකරන බව ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.
විලියම් විලියම් ෂේක්ස්පියර් විනිසිය වෙළෙන්දා කෘතිය ලිවීමට පෙර සජිත් ප්රේමදාස මහතාගේ ටියුෂන් පන්තිවලට පැමිණි බවට කතාවක් ඇති බවද ඔහු පැවසුවේය.
ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ බව කියා සිටියේ ජනාධිපතිවරණ ජන රැලියක් අමතමිනි.
සජිත් ප්රේමදාස මහත්තයට හොදට ඉංග්රිසි කතාකරන්න පුළුවන් කියලා එයාලගේ අය කියනවා. මම ඒගැන වාද විවාද කරන්න යන්නේ නැහැ. මොකද එතුමගේ ටියුෂන් පංතිවලට විලියම් ෂේක්ස්පියර් කියන කවියා ආවා කියලා දන්නවද. වැනිසියේ වෙළෙන්දා ලියන්න කලින් එතුමා ඒ පංතියට ආවේ. අපි ඒගැන වාද කරන්න යන්නේ නැහැ.
ඒනිසා මම ටීම් එකක් ගැන කියන්නේ නැහැ. මාව හොදනම් අරගන්න එච්චරයි කියන්නේ. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරීලා එන අයගෙන් තමයි ටීම් එක තෝරගන්න වෙන්නේ. ඒක මට අවශ්ය විදිහට කරන්න බැහැ. ඒ නිසා මොන පක්ෂයේ උනත් හොද මිනිස්සු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දාන්න.
මේ සැරේ මම ජනාධිපතිවුණාම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හිටපු ටීම් එක මම ගත්තා. මම තෝරන්න ගියේ නැහැ. ඔනෙම ටීම් එකක් දෙන්න මම වැඩකරලා පෙන්නන්නම්. නායකයා කියන්නේ එහෙම කෙනෙක්.”
5 September 2024
SENT BY SURFACE MAIL
Mayor Patrick Brown’
Mayor of the City of Brampton
Ontario,
cc Harkirat Singh, Deputy Mayor, City of Brampton, Ontario.
Dear Mayor Patrick Brown:
What’s all this Brampton Mayor, asking us during the Brampton Tamil ‘Genocide’ Memorial Monument Foundation stone laying ceremony, if there were anyone who does not believe in Tamil Genocide” during the Tamil Eelam ethnic war should go back home.’
Now…now..Patrick stop acting like Lord Hanuman for Brampton-Tamils, renowned for his power, even when the UN says that there was No ‘genocide’ in that Eelam war and Canada’s Federal Court rejected Tamil genocide after reviewing Prime Minister Justine Trudeau’s statement of Tamil Genocide you change gears to the power-play Bully Mode” to keep hanging on to the Tamil Tiger tails. But I need that You show proof of Tamil Genocide” as did the Canadian Residential Schools genocide” acts showing proof that it did happen. You, Mayor Brown, will be suspected as a Hoaxer until you show proof. It is that simple. Show me the proof!
Your narrative of Tamil Genocide” is one BIG HIMALAYAN TECTONIC HOAX.. Like the Tamil Convention Refugees returning home every October, November and December, which they shouldn’t, having run away from Sri Lanka due to alleged discrimination and persecution, having obtained emergency travel documents from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa on compassionate grounds, to be with their dying parents. COME HOME IMMEDIATELY, FATHER DYING OF CANCER or MOTHER HAS ONE WEEK TO LIVE DYING OF CANCER, RETURN HOME IMMEDIATELY says the telegrams presented to the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa to get their travel documents to be with their dying parents.
But here is what is strange, Mayor Patrick Brown about this very innovative Tamilian Hoax is that the Cancer pandemic is cyclical and affects only the Tamil parents every holiday months of October, November and December every year.
And the parents of Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher sons and daughters living in Canada, remain healthy and are not afflicted by this strange three-month Tamil-Cancer sickness.
How do I know, you may wonder! I dealt with these hoaxer humanitarian cases when I was a senior staff officer at the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa from June 1989 to June 1994.
Pssst…Mayor Patrick Brown here are some Consular numbers of the Refugee Tamils that came to the High Commission applying for emergency travel documents to travel home to Sri Lanka. But don’t share them with any of your Tamil Genocide”: Memorial Monument activity friends, in case they have a hearty laugh at You saying to their Tamil buddies...”Hey! Thumby, got another Canadian in our Foolish Canadian Politician Sucker Net.”
Here are the numbers in 1992 (8624 Tamils applied for emergency travel documents;. 1993 (5865 Tamil refugee applicants), and in January, February and March 1994 (1133 Tamil applicants). Mayor Brown, did I hear you say Good God, Holy, Moses is this true!”
That is easy Mayor Brown, if you have qualitative proof of ‘Tamil Genocide’, for Pete-sake lay it on for us. If you don’t, then for good-measure, velcro your lips on this subject for good without dragging out this debate picking up strings of
Tamil votes for you to get another term in the Brampton Mayor’s Office with a handsome monthly pay cheque that will provide you the luxury of sirloin steaks for dinner than of a McDonald hamburger, or a plate of three thosai with sambar supplied as a favour by your Tamil constituents.
As for your silly-arrogant God’s-speak asking me to go home because I will not believe that Tamil Genocide happened until you show me proof of that it did happen. I tried it once wanting to go back to where I came from, London,
England, in March 1971, but I was discouraged to do so.. I didn’t come to Canada in search of roads paved in gold, nor used a Haro hara mantra to get on a plane with a legitimate passport and use the Tamil Haro hara mantra to have it disappear when I got off the plane at the Old Ottawa airport and sing the melodramatic Karnatic song and verse saying that I am running away from persecution and discrimination who, once-upon-a-time enjoyed being a member of the privileged 10% minority Tamils for 131 British colonial years, compared to the 75% wronged Sinhalese majority,.
Here’s my story, Mayor Patrick Brown, how I landed in Canada. I don’t take Canadian politician’s poppycock, the way you are laying it on me about Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka.”
In June 1970, the Canadian National Museums Corporation in Ottawa was head-hunting for a Liberal research scientist to join the newly formed Design and Display Division Team to create 15 brand new exhibition Halls at the Victoria Memorial Museum at Argyll and Metcalfe Streets, a stone’s throw from Ottawa’s Parliament Buildings. No doubt you know the Victoria Memorial Museum.
The Job Description for the Head of Thematic Research Section of the Design and Display Division specified that they wanted a Liberal Research Scientist with an academic degree and experience in creative arts and design.
Recommended by Professor Ward Neale, the Head of the Geology Department at Memorial University in Newfoundland, they found me, as a Research Scientist in Geology and Palaeontology, an award winning published poet (English) in England, , an award winning Sculptor and Artist in England, a music composer on the piano and an award winning competition Ballroom dancer in England. Luck was on my side as the Canadian National Museums Corporation invited me to get over to Ottawa and join the Exhibition Design team which included a Chief of the Division (Tom Wood, War Artist), Jacques Saint-Cyr the creator of the 11-point maple leaf of the Canadian Flag as the Head of Design, and a Retired Major in the Army, Charlie Jessop as the Head of Administration.
After clearing Immigration I started my job on 1 November 1970.. The Office was on 39 McArthur Road in Vanier, On the third week in March 1971, all four of us received letters of confirmation from the Public Service Commission, requesting us to get over to sign the permanency papers.
Monday morning of the fourth week of March 1971, I got a call from the PSC
telling me, Mr. Weerasinghe, please ignore the letter you received about the Permanency, as it was sent by error.”
What? Was there a problem?
Yes, Mr. Weerasinghe. We have decided to open the competition for your job across Canada.” Oops, Canada you are not going to do this to me!
Let’s cut out this crap. (I was frothing by then) You couldn’t find anyone in Canada competent enough to do the job, You found me in London, England, and invited me to get over. I gave up a well paying job as a Geologist and here I am four Months into designing the Dinosaur Hall (Life Through the Ages) with Alan Todd (later Chief Designer of the National Gallery); Canada Before Cartier (Archaeology Hall) with designer Robin Bush.”
Are the other three white” staff members coming to sign the papers?”
Yes, Mr. Weerasinghe”.
So what you are telling me is that there is an apartheid policy in hiring Middle-Manager staff,”
If you’re white, you’re alright,
If you are black, stay back,
‘And if you are brown, stick around” Right!.
I am aztec- brown and I will not stick around., You tell me by noon
Wednesday whether you want my services or not.”
If not, I will be on the first plane out of your Canada, to where I came from, London, England. I am sorry that I stepped on to your Canadian soil.”
Mayor Patrick Brown, ‘shxt’ hit the fan, All the higher ups, the Directors of the Museum of Natural Sciences (Dr. Lemieux), Dr. William Taylor Jr. (Director of the Museum of Man), my Chief of Division (Tom Wood) and a few others were visibly
upset. They knew that I will not accept such undignified crap from you white” anyone.
Tuesday morning the Deputy Minister McKenzie came to my office. He apologized for the turn of events, and told me that the issue has been settled.
That they want my expertise, and someone from the PSC will call me sometime today to get my signature on the form, Please don’t go” he said
That day I went to the PSC office and the staffer told me, Mr. Weerasinghe, I am Sorry about the confusion!”
What… there was no confusion. You guys had difficulty seeing a newcomer to Canada with an Aztec brown face sitting at the Middle-Manager’s desk. Don’t, I will not accept such atrocious BS.” So I signed the permanent papers, and I became a permanent employee of Canada’s public service.
Just that you know, Mayor Patrick Brown
I am no simple Simon
Who met Brampton’s Mayor
Going to his Tamil Genocide Fair…
We exchanged some words
On honesty, truth and professional care.
It mattered nought to me
That he was holding onto a Tamil Tiger’s tail,
But when dealing with me don’t mock
Let’s cut out the Canadian-poppycock
‘As I expect him to be fair”
Mayor Patrick Brown I will address you now in Poetic rhymes
and syllabics, as I think I can explain incidents in my life in Canada
better as they are therapeutic.
SINHA (lion). My name is WEERA-SINHA, which mean a
‘brave-lion’)
If I have taken the passion of a lion
Into my heart by pithy anger,
It is because your grenade
clutching fingers
Are entangled in my beard hurting me
With the poison darts of
half-truths and lies
Published in foreign newspapers.
And when the ketchup blood gushes out,
from the thumb-print on her forehead,
Severing a life for exposing the debt
of joy being a tenth generation native,’
this is when the lion-anger roars
a jungle war cry
propping a lifeless torso strung
onto a Jaffna lamppost.
(from Tears for my Roots, Asoka Weerasinghe. p.29)
(in North Sri Lanka, the separatist Tamil Eelam terrorists came
looking for her brother. Since he was away, his 24-year
old sister was dragged out of the house, tied to a lamppost
and shot through her ear.)
Here’s an atrocious act by your Tamil Tiger terrorists that you
fail to admit.
Dunugalpitiya Fisherfolk
(19 September 1990)
Seeing the fisherfolk all Sinhalese
chopped to death by Northern separatists,
the seaspray heaved up to me
pungent with a taste of blood
like a blood coated night song
sung into the pale grey sobs of daylight.
Listening to the widowed
chest-thumping lamentations,
my anger becomes visceral
and is siphoned through the nostrils
like a puffing fire belching dragon.
Before I bury the assimilated
puzzle of hearts and limbs
and fingers and toes,
I want to make a fire wreath
with phoenician songs
to resurrect their snuffed spirits
to be echoed across the jungles of Jaffna,
as I want to win this war one day,
I want to win this Eelam war.
( from Tears for my Roots, Asoka Weerasinghe, p.21)
Mayor Patrick Brown, you were 5-years old, just out of your Huggies
escorted to your Kindergarten, when on August 4th, 1983, I, accompanied
by a young gutsy, bright, with a spine of steel, a well articulating smart Sinhalese-Canadian, Asoka Yapa, were picking up our bloodied Mother Lanka from the ground, who had been dropped to the ground, slapped, kicked, bludgeoned and spat at, for seven long days by the ugly, marauding Canadian Tamil-Eelam separatists through every media outlet in Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto, for the want of their mono-ethnic, racist, separate State-Eelam carved out of the North-eastern rich Real estate in that beautiful island Sri Lanka. The island had given every Tamil Separatist who”kicked her, a free education, and let the colonial British make them a 10% privileged minority for 131-years, compared to the wronged-majority of 75% of the Sinhalease population.
‘You know what Mayor Patrick, that was the day when I vowed that no one
is going to hurt my Mother Lanka, who gave me a free education and nurtured
me for the first 19 years of my life., No one, I said, Not even a single politician- Liberal, Conservative or a NDPier, with his or her unfair damn lies for the want of a Tamil vote. That is not kosher…that is not cricket. And that included young Patrick Brown who would become the Mayor of Brampton, 41 years later, a hypocrite of the first order. The Tamils have heard my voice like the Kavadi
dancing tom-toms, loud and clear and so would their Parliamentarians, like their curry-in-a-hurry buddy MPs, like the Church Bells of the Notre Dame Basilica in Ottawa.
Mayor Patrick Brown, let’s get this right, and let me be blunt with my observations. With your erecting a Tamil Genocide Memorial” in Brampton;”, about a war that happened between 1973 and 2009, 13,720 km away is perpetuating Canadian shameful hypocritical history not wanting to recognize for many, many moons our Native Indian Residential schools Genocidal deaths of
our Native kids, as a violation of the United Nations Genocide Convention, in particular of Article 21e.
Listen, Mayor Brown, you are white” enough, and stop wanting to be more lily-white” by pointing your accusatory finger at Sri Lanka Saying We are Holier than Thou.” That is a load of Canadian thuggish codswallop. Cut it, Mayor… just cut it.
My anger is visceral shooting cartwheels of dragon breath at you, when you
had been disrespectful to our Indigenous children who were submitted to Genocidal Deaths in Kamloops, B.C. just 3,984 km away from your City of Brampton, buried on the site of the Kamloops Indian Residential School on the Tk’emlups te Secawepen site, and you as the Mayor of Brampton not laying even a local Ivory Mix Travertine rock, as a Memorial for them in your City of Brampton, rubbishing the existence of of our Native Indian kids. And yet, gushing with your love-ins with the Tamils who arrived after May 2009’s, the Eelam separatist war, and not for the innocent Sinhlese who were chopped with machetes and shot with Kalashnikovs and claymore mined by the separatist Tamil Tigers. And worst, plucking little infants who were sucking on young Sinhalese mothers’ breasts, and bashing their little skulls on charnockite granite rocks, and watching in glee the streaming ketchup blood rivulets.
That’s downright Canadian hypocrisy recognizing genocide around the world, except its own against indigenous people, Patrick Brown you are a classic textbook example of this misdemeanour. What’s wrong with you Mayor Patrick Brown….answer me! I want to know!
It was natural for me to respect and love our Native First Nation peoples from the time I began to research and write for the Native Indian (Iroquois, Plains Indians and West Coast cultures) and Inuit Exhibition Halls at the Victoria Memorial Museum in Ottawa, in the early 1970s
And my poetry became therapeutic wanting to share their pain when people like
Mayor Patrick Brown of Brampton ignored the Wendat (Huron), Haudenosaunee people and the Anishinaabe. I will not forgive this whiteman’s” lofty arrogance.
Not even a Local bed-rock placed as a memorial. Shish,,,that’s brutal, Patrick. That’s shameful.
Let me share my pain with my therapeutic poetry. You will understand my disappointment in you, Mayor Patrick Brown.
Lolotea
I am Lolotea
a blessing from God
and I am divine.
I am green and tender
like a young ear of corn
and too young to be a mother.
Yet, I will grow up
like my mother
to be the mother of corn
to feed your hunger,
and learn to dance
stamping my moccasined feet
on the yellow-red earth,
and dress with turquoise beads
and eagle tail-feathers
that will speak to me
every fresh morning
of my ancestors,
and bless you to ward off
famine and disaster.
(this is another verse
from Tewa selected poems,
Asoka Weerasinghe, p.74)
Benjamin Chee Chee
(an Ojibway artist who died
by suicide in an Ottawa Jail
in 1977 at age 32)
Now I know how they failed.
If there had been equipment
with life-saving oxygen sent
to Ottawa’s City Jail
that night you were put inside
a racoon cage by policemen
on the fourth floor’s Cell No.10
I would have witnessed
more of your Canada geese’
flying in formation
with forward stretched arrow necks
along my studio wall. I think
they are a reflection
of your uncomplicated soul
drawn on paper
with pen and black ink.
(verse 2 and 3)
May be the warm weather’
would have dissuaded you a lot
to wear long sleeve shirts
in case you wished to tie a knot
with the sleeves to hang yourself.
Maybe I would have seen
Pacific salmon swimming up my wall
in stylized one line renderings,
May be, just, may be!
(from Tewa Selected Poems
Asoka Weerasinghe p.42)
Shanawdithit: Nancy April
On 6th June 1829
You didn’t feel fine
and white as death
spitting blood onto
a white man’s bed sheet,
Doodebewshet, Mary Decker
your mother gone,
your sister Easter Eve gone
and you are about to die
in St. John’s, Newfoundland,’
the last of the Beothucks
of the red ochre people
their Red-Indians
from your harsh far away
snow-packed land,
your home in Notre Dame Bay
coughing Beothuk syllables
I try to make you understand
I am part of you and affable
wanting to be understood
and be alive
as I am Shanawdithit.
(followed by verses 2 to 18)
Under this mound of earth
lie Shanawdithit the last
of the Red-Indian Beothuks
who coughed Beothuck syllables
wanting to to be understood
and affable to be alive,
who had a friend in
William Epp Cormack,
a Newfoundlander
who cried
when she died,
and left St. John’s in 1829
with a strong feeling in main
not wanting to return again.
(Asoka Weerasinghe
from CANADIAN STORIES,
Volume 23,No.131 2020)
Well…well…well. I have presented my case as one
who fell in love with the First Nation peoples and
respected them with a wholesome heart..
Now, a John Q Public Judge and Jurist, that you Patrick Brown,
the Conservative Lord Mayor of the City of Brampton, of
Ontario, I found you guilty of a nonsensical fraudulent exercise wanting to buy
Tamil votes by erecting a Tamil ‘Genocide’ Memorial monument for those Tamils who died during the ethnic war with the Sri Lankan Government Military- Forces 13,720 km away, for the want of their mono-ethnic, racist Tamil State, Eelam.
You Lord Mayor Patrick Brown, while ignoring the Indigenous First Nation children who died in acts of Genocide at Residential schools, with no memorial for them sponsored by Brampton’s Mayor; while insulting the non-Tamil, Sri Lankan-Canadian population of Brampton with your senseless-act of erecting that Tamil ‘Genocide’ Memorial, equivalent to a Brampton’s Tamil-Blarney Gong Show, you owe an apology and a Peace-Offering to the Incumbent Sri Lankan Buddhist monks of the Brampton Buddhist Mission temple, whose brother novice monks, 33 of them, were slaughtered inside a bus on the morning of 2 June, 1987, by the Tamil Tiger Terrorists on their way on a pilgrimage. They were brutally mutilated on a rampage, attacking the novice Buddhist monks with guns and swords and shooting them with machine guns,at Aranthalawa. Did you hear me Mayor Patrick Brown of Brampton…let me repeat, 33-young novice monks in saffron Buddha robes were brutally mutilated by the Tamil Tiger terrorists with guns and swords and shooting them with machine guns, on the morning of 2 June, 1987. And you have the gall and temerity wanting to erect a Tamil ‘Genocide’ Memorial Monument in your Brampton’s Native Indian’s sacred land.
I propose that the Council of the City of Brampton pay a Peace-offering by inviting the Chief monk of the Brampton’s Buddhist Mission Temple requesting them to install a Replica of the diorama of the bus with the young monks having been mutilated’ on a City approved site.
Let this Monument of Aranthalawa be the gathering place every 2nd of June for Buddhist devotees to perform their Pattanumodana Pooja’ to transfer merits to the 33 Novice monks who were killed and mutilated by the Tamil Tiger terrorists of Sri Lanka.
The original ‘Monument of Aranthalawa’ is situated in the village of Aranthalawa in the Ampara District in Sri Lanka.
Mayor Patrick Brown, the final decision is entirely yours. Either to act as
a responsible, intelligent politician, admitting that your decision had failed to create a wholesome, harmonious multi-cultural community in Brampton, having opened a can of Vaddukodai worms by wanting to erect a Tamil Genocide” Memorial Monument in the City, and erase from the City Planning Drawings, the existence of such a Memorial Monument. This thus erases my proposal of the installation of the Monument of Aranthalawa in the City of Brampton.
MayorPatrick Bown, ff your final decision is to go ahead with erecting the Tamil ‘Genocide’ Memorial Monument, at least be honest to the world with the invitation to your City with a big welcoming board at the Highway entering the City of Brampton which says
WELCOME
TO OUR FAIR CITY OF BRAMP of a TON of lies.
Be Well, Happy, Wise and Peaceful
Asoka Weerasinghe(Mr.)
Ottawa
දිවයින පුවත්පතේ මාධ්යවේදී එරික් ගාමිණී ජිනප්රිය මහතා විසින් රචනා කළ එන්පීපී කතාව සහ ජේවීපී ක්රියාව නම් කෘතිය ජනගත කිරීමට යොදා ගෙන තිබුණේ සැප්තැම්බර් මස 04 බුද දිනයේ දීය.සාහිත්ය මාසය ඇරඹීමත් වර්තමාන ෙද්ශපාලන තුළ සාකච්ඡා කල යුතු වැදගත් මාතෘකාවක් වීමත් නිසා ජනතාව අතර යම් සංවාදයක් ඇති කිරීම මෙම ජනගත කිරීමේ අරමුණ විය.නමුත් එම දිනයේ අචාර්ය එන්. එම්. පෙරේරා මධ්යස්ථානයට කඩා වැදුණු පොලිසිය මෙම උත්සවය පැවැත්වීම නතර කිරීමට උපෙදෙස් ලබා දී ඇත.මැතිවරණ සමය බැවින් මෙය වෙනදාට ක්රියාත්මක පොලිසිය නොව මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ පොලීසිය වී යැයි දැන ගන්නට ඇත.
2023 අවුරුද්දේ අංක 03 දරණ මැතිවරණ වියදම් නියාමන පනත පාර්ලමේන්තුවේ දී සම්මත විය.ඊට අමතරව මැතිවරණ ප්රචාරක කටයුතු පාලනය කිරීම සඳහා වනවැදගත් නීතියක් මාධ්ය උපමාන නමින් ගැසට් කරන්නට යෙදී ඇත.අප දන්නා පරිදි මනාප චන්ද ක්රමය ප්රචලිත වීමත් සමගම මැතිවරණ අපේක්ෂකයන් විසින් වියදම් කරන මුදල කෝටි ගණනින් වැඩි විය.එම මුදල් හා පක්ෂ වල වත්කම් පිළිබඳ කිසිම තොරතුරක් ද සමාජ ගත නොවීය. එ නිසා මැතිවරණය සමය යනු එක්තරා ආකාරයකට කළු සල්ලි සුදු කරන සමයක් බවට පත් විය.මැතිවරණ නියාමන පනතක අවශ්යතාවය පැණ නැගී තිබුණේ මේ පසුබිම මතයි. මැතිවරණ කාල පරිඡේදය තුළ මැතිවරණ පනත අනුවත් මැතිවරණ නියාමන පනත අනුවත් ස්වාධින මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට කටයුතු කිරීමට බලය ලැබී ඇත. එම ක්රියාවන් දේශපාලන බලය යොදා නැවැත්වීමට නොහැකිය.මෙය හොඳ තත්වයති ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය තහවුරු කරලීම පිණිස ගන්නා ලද යහපත් තීරණ අතරට වැටෙයි.
මෙවර පැවැත්වෙනුයේ ජනපතිවරණයකි. රටේ විධායක ජනපතිවරයෙකු සිටින කාලවකවානුවක ඔහුද අපේකෂකයෙකු වූ විට නිතැතින්ම යටකී මැතිවරණ නියාමන පාලන නීතියට ඔහුද යටත් වෙයි. ජනපතිවරයා රටේ සේනාධිනායකයා වන බැවින් ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව ඉටු කරලීමේ ව්යවස්ථාමය වගකීම ඔහු සතු බැවින් යම් යම් ක්රියා මාර්ග ගැනීමට ඔහුට කටයුතු කළ හැකි විය යුතුය. එයට බාධා කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසමට නොහැකිය. නමුත් ඔහුගේ අපේක්ෂකත්වය තුළ ජනපතිවරයාගේ භූමිකාවතමන්ට වාසිදායක ලෙසට ඉස්මතුවන්ෙන් නම් මැතිවරණ නියාමන නීතියට පටහැනිය.පසුගියාදා ජනපතිවරයාගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් පැවති රැස්වීම් වලදී නියමිතව තිබූ භෝජන සංග්රහයන් නැවැත්වීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසම ක්රියාකර තිබේ.එහෙත් තැපැල් චන්දය අභිමුව තිබිය දී රාජ්ය සේවක වැටුප් වැඩි කිරීමට කරන යෝජනා එළි දැක්වීමට කටයුතු කිරීම පිළිබඳව මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ අවධානය යොමු වූයේ නැත. දෙසැම්බර් මාසය වන විට සකස් කළ යුතු අයවැය යොජනා මේ අවස්ථාවේ ප්රකාශ කිරීමට යෝජනා කිරීමම ජනපතිවරයාගේ බලය මත කරන චන්ද දූෂණයකි.එසේම ත්රීවීල් රියදුරන් ජනපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය අසලට ගෙන්වා අතට සන්තෝෂම් දී රථ වල ස්ටිකර් ඇලවීමට ක්රියාකිරීමද ජනපති තනතුර අවභාවිතා කිරීමකි. එයට වඩා බරපතල ප්රශ්ණයක් වූයේ ජනපතිවරණ සමයේ රටට පැමිණි ඉන්දීය විදේශ අමාත්ය අජිත් දෙවොල් සමග ගිවිසුම් අත්සන් කිරීමට ජනපතිවරයා පෙළඹීමයි. මේ කාලය තුළ ඔහුද අපේක්ෂකයෙකු වන බැවින් ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ කටයුත්තේ දී හැර අනෙක් කටයුතු වලට රාජ්ය සම්පත් යොදා ගැනීම ඒවා අනිසි විදියකින් ප්රචාරය කිරීම නොකළ යුත්තකි.මෙවැනි තත්වයන් පාලනය කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිසම අපොහොසත් වී ඇති බව කිව යුතුය.
මැතිවරණ වියදම් පිළිබඳ සම්පූර්ණ ලේඛනයක් මැතිවරණය පවත්වා දින විසි එකකින් කොමිසමට ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතු බවට නීතියකි.අප දන්නා පරිදි මේ ජනපතිවරණයේ දී කෝටි ප්රකෝටි ගණනින් මුදල් වියදම් කිරීම දක්නට ලැබේ. එක් අපේක්ෂකයෙකු විසින් එක් චන්ද දායකයෙකු වෙනුවෙන් වියදම් කළ යුතු මුදල වන්නේ රැපියල් 109 කි. එක් චන්ද දායකයෙකුට රුපියලක් වියදම් කළද එක් කෝටි හැත්තෑ එක් ලක්ෂයක් වියදම් කිරීමට හැකිය. මෙවැනි මුදල් කන්දරාවක් පක්ෂයකට ලැබෙන්නේ කෙලෙසකදැයි ජනතාව දැන ගත යුතුය. දිවයිනේ තබන සෑම රැස්වීමකටම බස් යොදා සෙනග අදින බව කවුරුත් දන්නා රහසකි.පිටස්තර දිස්ත්රික්ක වලින් බස් යොදා සෙනග ඇදීම පාලනය කිරීමට කොමිසම උත්සුක වී නොමැත.එවැනි රැස්වීම් වලින් ප්රකට වන්නේ කෘතිම ජන මතයකි. රැළි වලින් නොමග යන ජනතාවට ප්රතිපත්ති ගරුක අපේක්ෂකයෙකු තෝරා පත් කර ගැනීමට අවස්ථාවක් උදා නොවේ. රැස්වීමකට කූඩාරම් ගැසීමට පවා කෝටියක් පමණ වියදම් කරන අපේක්ෂකයන් සිටිති. පෝස්ටර් මුද්රණය පෝස්ටර් ගැසීම කූඩාරම් ගැසීම වැනි මැතිවරණ ප්රචාරක ක්රියා භාර ගෙන තිබෙන ප්රචාරක ආයතන රැසකි. පාක්ෂිකයන් දායකත්වය ගනු වෙනුවට මැතිවරණ සමය මෙම ව්යාපාරිකයන්ගේ ලාභය උපරිම කර ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාවක් බවට පත් කරගෙන තිබේ මේ වියදම් කරන මුදල ලැබෙන්නේ දේශීයවද ඒවායේ මූලාශ්ර කෙබඳුද විදේශ රාජ්ය නොවන සංවිධාන වලින් ලැබෙන්නේ ද තානාපති අංශ වලින් වියදම් කරන්නේ ද යන්න දැන ගැනීමට ජනතාවට තිබෙන අයිතිය මේ මැතිවරණ පාලන නීතියෙන් සීමා කොට තිබේ. මන්ද මැතිවරණය අවසන් වී කරන ඉදිරිපත් කිරිම් යොදා ගැනෙනුයේ නීති විරෝධී ප්රචාරක කටයුත්තක දී ලැබෙන දඬුවම් ගැන සළකා බැලීමට පමණක් වන නිසාය.අනෙක ඒ වන විට කොමිසමේ බලතල අවසන් වී ඇති බැවින් පත්ව සිටින ජනපතිවරයෙකුට විරුද්ධව කටයුතු කිරීමේ හැතියාක් නැතිබව ද දැක්විය යුතුය.
මැතිවරණ වියදම් නියාමනය සහ මාධ්ය උපමාන සම්බන්ධව මෙවැනි අඩු ලුහුඬුකම් පවතින විට ඒවා පක්ෂ සමග සාකච්ඡා කොට යාවත්කාලීන කර ගැනීම මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ වගකීමකි. එවැනි දෙයක් සිදු නොවන බව පෙනේ.පක්ෂයකින් ඉදිරිපත් වන අපේක්ෂකයෙකුට අනෙක් පක්ෂයක අපේක්ෂකයෙකුගේ ප්රතිපත්ති සහ හැසිරීම් විවේචනය කිරීමට ඉඩ තිබෙන්නේ වාචිකව පමණකි. ලිඛිතව ඉඩ නැති බව දැන ගන්නට ඇත. දිවයින මාධ්යවේදී එරික් ගාමිණී මහතා පක්ෂයකට ගැති පුද්ගලයෙකු නොවේ. ඔහු ස්වාධීන ජනමාධ්යවේදියෙකි. දේශපාල විචාරයකි. එවැනි පුද්ගලයෙකුට මැතිවරණ සමයේ වුවද සීමා මායිම් නැත.ගත් කතුවරයෙකුට සාහිත්ය මාසයේ දී ලැබෙන අවස්ථාව වෙනත් මාසවලදී ලැබෙන්නේ නැති බවද මතක් කළ යුතුය.
සදය විවේචනයකට කවදත් පුවත්පත් වල ඉඩකඩ විවර විය යුතුය. පෞද්ගලිකව මඩ ගසනවානම් පුවත්පත් කොමිසමට පැමිණිලි කිරීමට හැකියාව ඇත.එරික් ගාමිණී මහතාගේ දේශපාලන කෘතිය ජනගත කිරීම සහ සංවාදය නැවැත්වීමට විවේචනයට බඳුන් වූ පක්ෂය මුල් වූයේ ද එසේත් නැතිනම් ඒ පක්ෂයට සහාය දක්වන ඇමරිකානු තානාපතිනිය මුල් වූයේ ද යන්න අප නොදනිමු. පසුගිය කාලයේ දී තානාපතිනි ජූලි චන් තානාපතිවරුන්ගේ ආචාර ධර්මද නොසලකා හරිමින් මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් තුමා හමු වන්නට ගිය බව මාධ්ය වලින් දුටුවෙමි.මේ අතර හිරු මාධ්ය ජාලයේ විකාශනය වූ විමල් වීරවංහ මහාතා සාභාගි වූ සළකුණ වැඩසටහනද අතුරුදහන් කෙරී ඇත.ඒ සිද්දියෙන්ම අපට දැන ගත හැක්කේ කාටද රිදුණේ කවුරුද වාරණයට පෙළඹුණේ යන්න පමණි. අනාගතයේ දී මෙවැනි වාරණයන් තවදුරටත් බලාපොරොත්තු විය හැකිය.
පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ, මෙරට බිහිවූ අලුත් ම දේශපාලන පෙරමුණයි. කුසලානය සිය ලකුණ කරගත් එම පෙරමුණේ සභාපතිත්වය සහ නායකත්වය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනටද, ලේකම් ධුරය වෛද්ය රමේෂ් පතිරණටද හිමිවී තිබේ. දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන යනු මෙරට වර්තමාන අග්රාමාත්යවරයායි. ඔහු මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ නායකයාද වේ. පොහොට්ටුව හෙවත් ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ, මෙවර ජනාධිපතිවරණයට වෙනම අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට තීරණය කිරීමත් සමග ඊට එකඟ නොවූ, රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනගිය, පොහොට්ටුවේ මන්ත්රීවරු බහුතරය, ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී ස්වාධීනව ඉදිරිපත්ව සිටින රනිල් වික්රමසිංහට සහය දීමට තීරණය කළහ. එතෙක් පොහොට්ටුව සමග සිටි දිනේෂ් ප්රමුඛ ම.එ.පෙ.ද එම තීරණයේ සිටි අතර එහි ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ‘කුසලානය’ නැතහොත් පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ බිහි වී තිබේ.
මෙහි වැදගත් සිදුවීම් කිහිපයක් හඳුනාගත හැකිය. කුසලානය හෙවත් පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ ඊළඟට එන ඇල්පිටිය ප්රාදේශීය සභාවට සිය ලකුණින් තරග වදින බව, එහි ලේකම් අමාත්ය රමේෂ් පතිරණ, පෙරමුණ බිහිවූ 2024.09.05 දින සිය කතාවේදී අනාවරණ කළේය. ඉන් අදහස් වන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පසු එන සියලු මැතිවරණ සඳහා කුසලානය වෙනම තරග වදින බවයි. ඒවගේම පොහොට්ටුව නියෝජනය කළ කිසිවෙකුත් අතරමං වීමට ඉඩ නොතබන බව නව පෙරමුණේ නායක දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන එහිදී අවධාරණය කළේය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් වැදගත් කාරණය වන්නේ,1983 අතුරු මැතිවරණයෙන් මහරගම ආසනය දිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පැමිණි දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනට කුසලානයේ නායකත්වය සහ සභාපතිත්වය හිමිවන විට එම අතුරු මැතිවරණයෙන් ම අක්මීමන ආසනය දිනා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පැමිණි රිචඩ් පතිරණගේ පුතා එහි ලේකම්වීමය.
අන්ත දක්ෂිණාංශික හෝ අන්ත වාමාංශික හෝ නොවී, ජාතිකවාදය ඔස්සේ සමාජ ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදිව, නොබැඳි විදෙස් ප්රතිපත්තිය ඔස්සේ මැද මාවතේ ගමන් කිරීම ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය බිහිවී 1956 මහජන එක්සත් පෙරමුණේ ආණ්ඩුවේ සිට වාමවාදී පෙරමුණේ ආණ්ඩුවල ලක්ෂණය විය. එදා එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායක, පිලිප් ගුණවර්ධන ඇතුළු එකතුවත්, එවැන්නක් විය. සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක ප්රමුඛ සභාග ආණ්ඩුවලද වමේ සහ ජාතිකවාදී පක්ෂ කටයුතු කළේ එවැනි පෙරමුණු ගොඩනගා ගෙනය. දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනද අඛණ්ඩව සහය දුන්නේ ශ්රීලනිපය ප්රමුඛ එම පෙරමුණටය. මෙරට පළමු ජනාධිපතිවරණයට 1982 දී තරග කිරීමට ශ්රීලනිපයට ‘අත’ ලකුණ අහිමි වූ අවස්ථාවේ සිය පක්ෂය වූ ම.එ.පෙ. ලකුණ වන ‘රෝදය’ මැතිනිය වෙත පරිත්යාග කිරීමට දිනේෂ් ඉදිරිපත් විය. එමෙන්ම ඉතිහාසයේ පුළුල්තම ප්රගතිශීලි වාමාංශික දේශපාලන සන්ධානය වන 2004 දී ගොඩනැගුනු එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානය බිහි කිරීමට විශාල කැපකිරීමක් කර එහි ප්රථම උප සභාපතිවරයා වුයේද දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනයි. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පරාජය වූ 2015දී ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ නායකයා ලෙස දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන විශාල කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටු කළ අතර, මහින්ද වෙනුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කතා කිරීමට සිටි එකම මන්ත්රීවරයාද විය. ලංකා දේශපාලනය උඩුයටිකුරු කළ 2015.02.15 නුගේගොඩ පැවැත්වූ ඓතිහාසික මහා ජන රැළියටද නායකත්වය දුන් දිනේෂ්, විසිරුණු කඳවුරු යළි එක්සේසත් කළේය. අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ හා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපති ධුරයෙන් හා අගමැති ධුරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වී රට අස්ථාවර වූ අවස්ථාවේ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ සමග පොහොට්ටුවේ ආණ්ඩුව ඉදිරියට ගෙනගියේ දිනේෂ් ය. කිසිදු බරපතළ ගැටුමකට යා නොදී ඒ නොපෑහෙනවා යැයි කී ආණ්ඩුව ඔස්සේ රට ආර්ථික ස්ථාවරත්වයක් කරා ගෙනයාමට රනිල්ට, දිනේෂ් ප්රමුඛ පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම කොන්දේසි විරහිත සහයෝගයක් ලබා දුන්නේය.
කෙටියෙන් වුවද මෙවැනි කරුණු සලකා බලන කල, නව පෙරමුණ වන, කුසලානය ලකුණේ පොදුජන එක්සත් නිදහස් පෙරමුණ සිය නායකයා ලෙස දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන අග්රාමාත්යවරයා තෝරාගැනීම කලොචිත ම තීරණය ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. දේශීය වශයෙන් පමණක් නොව ජාත්යන්තර වශයෙන්ද කෘතහස්ත දේශපාලනඥයෙකු වන දිනේෂ්ට ඇත්තේ ඉහළ පිළිගැනීමකි. පාර්ලිමේන්තු ක්රමය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේ පළපුරුද්ද සහ දැනුම සම කළ හැකි අයෙකු වර්තමාන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නැතැයි කිවහොත් එහි වරදක් නැත. ඒ වගේම පාර්ලිමේන්තු ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය පිළිබඳ ඔහුගේ ඇති විශ්වාසය අතිශය වැදගත්ය.
තවත් පැත්තකින් බලන කල, ශ්රීලනිප සහ පසු කලෙක පොහොට්ටුව සමග සිටි වාමාංශික සහ ජාතිකවාදී බලවේග සඳහාද දිනේෂ්ගේ පෙරමුණ, දේශපාලනය කිරීම සහ රට ගොඩනැගීම වෙනුවෙන් හොඳ තෝතැන්නකි. මෙවර 39 දෙනෙකු ඉදිරිපත් වුවත් ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් දිනන්නේ එක අයෙකි. ඉන්පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට, පළාත් සභාවට, පළාත් පාලන ආයතන සඳහා තේරීපත් වීමට වමේ, ජාතිකවාදී කඳවුරට පොදු වේදිකාවක් අහිමි වී තිබිණි. දිනේෂ්ගේ පෙරමුණ ඒ වේදිකාව යළි ඉදිකර දී තිබේ.
-ප්රියන්ත ප්රදීප් රණසිංහ
‘ශ්රී සිද්ධාර්ථ ගෞතම’ චිත්රපටයේ සිද්ධාර්ථ කුමරුගේ චරිතයට පණ පොවමින් ඉන්දීය ජනාදරයට පත් සිනමා නළු ගගන් මලික් ඉන්දියාවේ මහාරාෂට්ර, මධ්ය ප්රදේශ් සහ තෙලිංගානා යන ප්රදේශවල බෞද්ධ වන්දනාකරුවන් 65 දෙනෙකු සමඟ 2024.09.04 දින කොළඹ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී අග්රාමාත්ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා හමු විය.
ඉන්දීය බෞද්ධයන් සමඟ ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වන්දනා ගමනක් අතරතුර සිනමා නළු ගගන් මලික් අග්රාමාත්යවරයා හමුවිය.
බෞද්ධ වන්දනා නඩය පිළිගනිමින් අග්රාමාත්යවරයා කියා සිටියේ මෑත කාලයේ දී ශ්රී ලංකාවට පැමිණි විශාලතම බෞද්ධ වන්දනා කණ්ඩායම මෙය බැවින් ඔවුන් හමු වීමට තමන් තීරණය කළ බව යි. ඉන්දියාව සහ ශ්රී ලංකාව අතර ශක්තිමත් ම බැඳීම බුදුදහම වන අතර බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ ඉගැන්වීමේ ශ්රේෂ්ඨතම දායාදය අපට ලබාදුන් ඉන්දීය අශෝක අධිරාජ්යයාට සහ ඔහුගේ පුත් මිහිඳු මහරහතන් වහන්සේට අපි සදාකාලික ව ම කෘතඥ වෙනවා,” යි අග්රාමාත්යවරයා පැවසී ය.
රංගන ශිල්පී ගගන් මලික් පැවසුවේ බුදුදහම ප්රචාරය කිරීමටත් ශ්රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාව සහ ලෝකය තුළ ප්රචලිත කිරීමටත් තමන් පූර්ණ කැපවීමෙන් කටයුතු කරන බව යි. තමන් මෙම විශාල වන්දනා නඩය ශ්රී ලංකාවට කැඳවාගෙන පැමිණියේ ඒ නිසා බව ද ඔහු වැඩි දුරටත් පැවසී ය. ඉන්දියාවේ මිලියන ගණනක් බෞද්ධයන් සිටින බැවින් බෞද්ධ වන්දනා චාරිකා සඳහා විශාල විභවයක් පවතින බව ඔහු පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.
මහාරාෂ්ට්ර ප්රාන්තයේ අනීතා ප්රමෝද් නම් වන්දනාකාරිය පැවසුවේ දළදා මාලිගාවේ බුදුන් ගේ පූජනීය ධාතූන් වහන්සේ වැඳපුදා ගැනීමේ තම ආශාව ඉටුකර ගැනීමට හැකි වීම ගැන තමා අතිශයින් සතුටට පත් වන බව යි. අපි සුන්දර කඳුකරයේ අගනුවර වන මහනුවර නගරයේ විහාරස්ථාන වලට ගිය අතර එය අමතක නොවන අත්දැකීමක්,” යි ඇය පැවසුවා ය.
අනුරාධපුරයේ දී අපි විශාල චෛත්යයන් දැකගත් අතර පූජනීය ශ්රීමහාබෝධිය වන්දනා කළා” යැ යි මධ්ය ප්රදේශ්හි ඉන්ඩෝර්හි සිට පැමිණි ශෂිකාන්ත් වන්කාඩේ පැවසී ය. මෙම ස්ථාන නැරඹීමට පැමිණෙන ලෙස තම හිතවතුන්ගෙන් සහ ඥාතීන්ගෙන් ද ඉල්ලා සිටින බව ද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේ ය.
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන සහ ශ්රී සිද්ධාර්ථ ගෞතම චිත්රපටයේ නිෂ්පාදක නවීන් ගුණරත්න ද මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක් ව සිටිය හ.
Geneva: Pakistan has slowly turned into a graveyard of working journalists as the south Asian nation loses another journalist, tenth victim this year till date, to assailants. Local media reports confirm that senior journalist Nisar Lehri was shot dead on 4 September 2024 in Mastung locality of Balochistan. Lehri (50), a member of Mastung press club, was targeted by armed miscreants for reasons not officially disclosed.
Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), the global media safety and rights body, expresses serious concern over the continued killing of media persons in Pakistan even though it’s not witnessing any war at this moment. PEC president Blaise Lempen demands a fair probe into the incident that led to Lehri’s untimely death. For any reason, the perpetrators should not enjoy immunity and they must be booked under the law of the land, asserted Lempen.
PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria reveals that only a few days back, another Pak journalist named Muhammad Bachal Ghunio was killed by unidentified gunmen. Hailing from Mirpur Mathelo locality under Sindh province, Ghunio was shot dead on 27 August. Prior to them, eight journalists namely Malik Hassan Zaib, Khalil Afridi Jibran, Nasrullah Gadani, Kamran Dawar, Mehar Ashfaq Siyal, Maulana Mohammad Siddique Mengal, Jam Saghir Ahmad Lar and Tahira Nosheen Rana were killed since 1 January.
Colombo, Septemeber 5 (Daily Mirror) – The National People’s Power (NPP), which was formerly the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), is playing politics by unnecessarily using issues of the people, Ven. Ulapane Sumangala Thero said.
Speaking to the media, he claimed that the NPP used to create issues in every part of the country to bring it to a collapse.
“They forced the people onto the streets, causing them to suffer, and now they are asking for their votes. The problems of teachers and principals were with the Education Ministry, but the NPP made them protest at the Fort Railway Station, where they were attacked with water cannons and tear gas,” the Thera said.
He also said that, except for the JVP, every previous government had recognised the protection of Buddhism in the Constitution.
“Therefore, we have decided to gather 10,000 Buddhist monks to go to Colombo next Wednesday (11) to show to whom they support. This decision was made to protect Buddhism and other religions,” he added.
He concluded by saying that the NPP is not a new party. Former JVP members are now part of the NPP with a different look. He warned that bringing the NPP to power will be a threat. (Pic by Nimalsiri Edirisinghe)
Colombo, September 5: The minority Tamils of Sri Lanka have been promised devolution of power since the India-Sri Lanka Accord was signed in 1987. The J.R. Jayewardene government even got the 13 th. Amendment (13A) of the constitution passed by an overwhelming majority in parliament.
But till date, the 13A has not been implemented in full with devolution of the powers over the police and State land. As of now, what goes as devolution is only a shell comprising an elected Provincial Council and a Board of Ministers. Moreover, over the years, the Centre has seized powers that had been devolved using the Concurrent List in the 13A.
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But come national elections, whether Presidential or Parliamentary, political parties in the fray make promises to the Tamils about devolving power to the provinces either in the form of a fully implemented 13A or in the form of an entirely new constitution drafted as per a consensus evolved in parliament.
In the current election campaign, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National Peoples’ Power/Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (NPP/JVP) has said that he will bring about a new constitution based on the interim proposals made by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly after in-depth discussions held between 2015 and 2019 when the President was Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister was Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Dissanayake promised to complete fresh discussions on the proposals quickly so that political and administrative powers could be shared with each local government institution at the district and provincial level under a system of participatory governance. Significantly, the NPP-JVP manifesto makes no reference to the 13A.
President Wickremesinghe, the independent candidate, has said that power will be devolved as per the 13A. And powers that the central government had taken away from the provinces will be given back to them. The responsibility for deciding on police powers for the provincial councils will be given to the new parliament, he added.
The Samagi Janatha Balawegaya (SJB) candidate Sajith Premadasa has said that his alliance is committed to fully implementing the 13A till the passage of a new constitution. He also reaffirmed his commitment not to take back powers granted to the provinces under 13A.
The Tamil parties have come up with their own varying demands on devolution. Some of them support Sajith Premadasa and some others President Wickremesinghe. Others have rallied behind a common Tamil candidate” Pakiyaselvam Ariyanenthiran. All Tamil parties want devolution, either in the form a fully implemented 13A or an improvement of it.
But experience shows that while the Sinhalese parties (or national parties as the see themselves) say that they favour devolution under the 13A, they routinely renege on the promise.
2016-2018 Exercise
A serious attempt was made to draft a new constitution with devolution of powers to the provinces when Maithripala Sirisena was President and Ranil Wickremesingh was Prime Minister in 2015-2019 during what was called the Good Governance” regime.
Consensus had emerged on most issues and a constitution more or less satisfactory to the Tamils could have been finalized. But serious contradictions between President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe over issues unrelated to the constitution-making process, vitiated the proceedings.
But it is worth recalling the process undertaken at that time to understand the political limits of constitution-making efforts in Sri Lanka.
The process of making a new constitution began in 2016. By a resolution, parliament established a Constitutional Assembly (CA), sitting simultaneously with the elected parliament. The CA was to be led by a Steering Committee (SC) chaired by the Prime Minister and comprising leaders of all parties represented in parliament plus some senior MPs.
A Panel of Experts comprising academics and lawyers nominated by the parliamentary parties was to assist the SC. The CA formed subcommittees on different subjects.
The Interim Report (IR) of the SC was published in late 2017. However, due to the deteriorating relations President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (on matters other than the constitution) the Interim Report was incoherent on key matters.
The SC then asked the Panel of Experts to formulate a Discussion Paper (DP) based on the IR and the Subcommittee Reports, with the aim of finding a consensus. The DP was to be tabled in the CA in 2018, but the politico-constitutional crisis involving Sirisena and Wickremesinghe prevented that.
However, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe tabled the DP along with certain other documents in the CA on January 11, 2019. It was de facto the first draft of a new constitution.
Sri Lanka was described as an ‘Aekiya Rajyaya’ in Sinhala which means ‘Unitary State’. It was called ‘Orumiththa Nadu’ or ‘United Country’ in Tamil. The reference to the country being undivided and indivisible in Clause 1 was reinforced by a prohibition of secession in Clause 4.
But Dr. Asanga Welikala of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) argued in his paper of the DP, that a ‘Unitary State’ is distinct from a ‘United Country’. The Tamils pointed this out and expressed their disappointment with the use of the two terms.
Dr.Welikala said that the CA could have gone by the examples of multilevel territorial systems created without using the terms Unitary or Federal” or created new concepts.
As expected, devolution of power was a very contentious issue in the deliberations in the CA. Therefore, the DP adopted a cautious and incremental” approach to devolution. It accepted the 13A as the basis, but the plan was to either remove or clarify the Provincial Governor’s powers, thereby consolidating the autonomy of the provincial Board of Ministers and the Provincial Council.
Considerable attention was paid to the controversial issues of devolution of powers in regard to the police and State land. To allay fears of secession among the majority Sinhalese, the DP outlined frameworks for cooperation between the Centre and the Provinces on State land and police. But the DP did not indicate the distribution of competences between the Centre and the Provinces.
Dr.Welikala speculates that this could be due to political sensitivities. While the majority community desired the retention of Concurrent powers, the minority Tamils wanted its abolition as it was being cynically used to water down devolution.
However, Dr.Welikala submits that a genuine framework of concurrency is not only workable and appropriate, but also consistent with the design of multilevel systems in comparable countries, which eschew the older method of trying to define exclusive spheres in the context of the realities of modern governance and the needs of a developing society.”
The DP introduced the concept of non-derogable rights” and gave an extravagant list of such rights. But Dr.Welikala wonders how such an extravagant wish-list of claims on the State and its resources could be enforced.
The DP had Directive Principles of State Policy and Citizens’ Duties. There were also references to a unitary ‘composite culture’. But objecting to this, Dr.Welikala said: Ïn a deeply pluralistic society, heavily ideological statements about the nature of collective identity in a society where ethnicity is widely resonant, raise more questions than answers about this model of constitutional identity.”
Second Chamber
The most noteworthy innovation in the DP was the provision for a Second Chamber in parliament consisting of 55 members. Each of the nine Provincial Councils would elect a Provincial Delegation of five to the Second Chamber, which might include the Chief Minister (but not other provincial ministers).
The provincial delegation could collectively but not individually be recalled by a Provincial Council. The other ten members of the Second Chamber were to be elected by Parliament. These must be persons of eminence and integrity who have distinguished themselves in public or professional life, and were not Members of Parliament or of Provincial Councils.
Thus, the proposed Second Chamber is a house both of provincial representation in the central legislative process, as well as, to a lesser extent, a forum of independent expertise. Both are important rationales in the Sri Lankan context, Dr.Welikla noted.
But he added that the powers of the Second Chamber were only very sparsely mentioned.
Parliament will ‘refer’ Bills to the Second Chamber which has one month to ‘consider’ them. When the Second Chamber returns Bills to Parliament, it may specify ‘areas’ which require ‘reconsideration’ and Parliament shall give ‘due consideration’ to the views of the Second Chamber. No more is said of the relationship between the two chambers than this, and this is clearly an area that requires much greater elaboration.”
Stumbling Blocks
Would anyone elected as President now be able to or be willing to deliver on devolution or 13A?
Historically, no government has been able to deliver on promises on devolution made to the Tamils. This has been due an innate fear of Tamil secession. There is a contemporary aspect also. It is that the entire attention of the people of Sri Lanka (except perhaps the Tamils of the North and East) is now on the dire economic situation marked by high prices and stagnant incomes especially in the urban organized sector. It is doubtful if voters in the majority community would ponder over the pros and cons of devolution to a minority community.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe officially opened The Mall,” a newly constructed duty-free shopping complex in the Colombo Port City area on Thursday (September 5).
This marks the debut of the first urban duty-free shopping mall in the region, featuring a range of stores, restaurants, and various retail outlets, the PMD said.
Notable international duty-free retailers, including One World, China Duty Free Group (CDFG), and Flemingo will be operating within the mall, positioning the Colombo Port City as a premier shopping destination.
Following the unveiling of a commemorative plaque and the official opening, the President embarked on an observation tour of the new complex.
In his address at the occasion, President Ranil Wickremesinghe reflected on the rapid development of the port city, noting that two years ago, such progress seemed unlikely. He attributed this turnaround to his government’s efforts in establishing economic stability, supported by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has enabled the Port City’s financial sector to advance.
The President also highlighted that approximately 100 companies are now interested in the Port City, with 74 expected to commence investment activities by the end of the year. He expressed optimism about the future growth and potential of the area.
In October 2023, the Sri Lankan government gazetted the requirements that need to be met in order to conduct duty-free retail business operations or duty-free shopping mall operations at the Colombo Port City.
According to the relevant gazette, published by President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his capacity as the Minister of Investment Promotion, an investor is required to devote a minimum of USD 5 million to run a duty-free retail business and have international-level experience in duty-free trade operations, while an investor needs to devote at least USD 7 million to run a duty-free shopping mall business.
In May 2023, Singapore-owned One World Duty Free and the Colombo Port City signed two agreements to operate Sri Lanka’s first downtown Duty-Free store.
Independent presidential candidate President Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned that the economy will collapse again if taxes are reduced according to the economic policies proposed by opposition political parties. He made these remarks while addressing a public rally in Yapahu, as part of his “Puluwan Sri Lanka” series, where he is campaigning as an independent candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
During his speech, Wickremesinghe also mentioned Anura Kumara, recalling the time when Kumara served as the Minister of Agriculture under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government. Wickremesinghe humorously questioned the assembly, asking, “Agriculture developed well at that time, didn’t it?” The crowd responded with laughter, to which Wickremesinghe remarked, “What are you laughing at,” before leaving the stage.
National People’s Power presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake stated that the country currently has a distorted parliament. He made these remarks during a public rally held yesterday in the Divulapitiya area, emphasizing the need for significant political change.
It may be a good idea for all contenders to become our President to understand that Sri Lanka is today a highly indebted country. When President Gotabhaya ceded the reigns of administration our foreign debt was at $ 56 billion. Now in 2024 it is almost double. The Sunday Times of 9/6/24 tells us that ‘ Sri Lanka’s debt pile surpasses US $ 100 billion, unpaid principal and interest exceed $ 6.4 billion. ‘
I enclose a copy of my earlier writings that indicate how Sri Lanka built up this debt.
Savants like Professor Charitha Herath have repeatedly pointed out that our foreign debt had passed $ 90 billion in March 2024, but our rulers have continued to live on loans and today our debt is well over a 100 billion dollars.
We have to bear that in mind.
I can recall the past when we were not in debt. We did manage ourselves. That was in the Sixties. I can recall serving as the Additional Government Agent at Kegalla in 1968. The Government Agent was Mr Maralanda and a task thrust on me was to be with the Hon Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake every Saturday and Sunday and be with him attending meetings in the Dedigama electorate from morning till dusk sets in. I was at the Warakapola Rest House by nine in the morning every Saturday and Sunday to greet him and accompany him. I was seated beside him in his Humber Hawk and often seeing a villager on the small byroad he would ask the driver to stop. The Prime Minister then would speak to the villager, inquire about his well being and I must say that we never met an unemployed person for those week end visits.
On the other days in the week I did visit other areas and that included Yatiyantota the electorate of Dr NM Perera and I never met an unemployed person. Everyone had something to do according to their qualifications.
In Matara as the Government Agent in 1971 to 1973 we did development work, setting up industries etc. Under my direction we even set up a Crayon Factory and Sumanapala Dahanayake in his capacity as the President of Morawaka Coop Union, developed it to have islandwide sales. Minister Illangaratne even banned the import of crayons. If we can make crayons there is nothing we cannot make.
That was the Sri Lanka that we have lost.
Then we had two budgets- a Rupee budget and a Dollar budget. All work within the country building roads, massive tanks like Maha Kanadarawa, etc. was done with printed money and we were extremely careful to the cent. The dollars we earned from exports was carefully spent for necessities to be imported. And when we had an excess a car importer like Car Mart would be given a limited amount to import a few cars. In 1958 I had to wait two months to get a new Peugeot 203. No dollars were allowed for foreign studies or foreign travel. We could not afford to do that.
Our country was made indebted by the IMF that imposed the Structural Adjustment Programme on us in 1977 when President Jayawardena and my friend Ronne de Mel were fooled to accept it.
My paper tells the sad story of how a country that was breathing fine and not a dollar in debt was made to become indebted.
Today we are told by some to follow the IMF and we will definitely become further indebted.
My idea is that whoever wins must open up Development Programmes that will train our unemployed people to make things we need. This is nothing new. We did have great programmes like the Rural Development, Small Industries and the Divisional Development Councils Programme which enab
led us to create employment for our people and for us to make what we need. We have to pull up our socks and live within our earnings. We have to argue with the IMF, make the IMF change and help us to get on our feet. What the IMF did to us they have done it to many other Third World countries.
What the IMF did to Sri Lanka is well documented in my four books:
Microenterprise Development: A Strategy for Poverty Alleviation and Employment Creation in the Third World: The Way Out of the World Bank and IMF Stranglehold, Sarasavi, 1997
How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of Success, Godages, 2006
How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development, Godages, /Kindle, 2017
How the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Destroyed Sri Lanka, Godages, 2021
Posted on July 1st, 2023 in Lanka Web
By Garvin Karunaratne.
When Prime Minister Sirimavo lost the General Election in Sri Lanka in mid 1977, Sri Lanka did not have a foreign debt. During the time of Sirimavo and earlier, Sri Lanka got foreign loans on projects, where once the development project was completed the production brought about due to the completion of the project enabled the payment of the loan. They were all project loans. In 1975, Sri Lanka/s foreign debt was negligible. Then, the foreign debt, only $ 743 million, $ 75 million at the end of 1976 and at $ 750 million in 1977 were all incurred on projects and never on consumption. Thus we have to differentiate between foreign loans taken for projects, i.e.for development and foreign loans taken for consumption.
When President Jayawardena won the elections in mid 1977 instead of continuing the economy as Sirimavo had done , turned to the IMF for assistance. The IMF readily agreed to grant loans provided the Government relaxes rules re the use of foreign loans, allow anyone to use foreign exchange, relax all import controls, in short use the funds of these loans for consumption- to allow the rich to live in luxury. This was a major deviation from the manner we ran the economy since we achieved independence, when we somehow restricted imports and managed without falling into debt. Even in the 1950-1954 period when we implemented the major Gal Oya Development Programme retaining a US firm to build the tank, paid by us in dollars, we had restrictions in place for all imports. The essence was to manage all foreign expenses with the dollars we had. The rest- all development work running all Ministries etc.was done with printed Rupees.
The Minister of Finance Mr Ronnie de Mel in his Budget Speech of 1978 was over the moon regarding changing the modus operandi in running the economy. :
We cannot go round the World begging for Aid like international beggars for ever. We must get out of this vicious circle of no growth, stagnation and mounting internal and external debt.”
An year later,President Jayawardena was highly taken up and thought of it as a wonderful achievement,. In his words:
We adopted a package of new economic policies which envisaged a sweeping departure from a highly controlled, inward looking welfare oriented economic strategy to a more liberalized, outward looking and growth oriented one. Fundamental to the new economic policy was the adoption of realistic rate for the Sri Lankan Rupee with a view to reducing the price distortions arising from the previous attempts to maintain an over valued currency by means of stringent trade and payments control. The then prevailing multiple exchange system was unified and the Rupee was allowed to float. The resulting trade liberalization was expected to revive domestic industry by freer flows of raw material, spares and machinery by higher capacity utilization and by greater competition which at the same time was expected to provide better export incentives by inducing the import substituting industries to expand outward to export markets.” ( Address to the Federation of Economic Organizations of Japan, 12/09/1979, from Peace Unity and Coexistence by JR Jayawardena,Govt Press, 12,9,1985.)
Creating any production of any sort was totally not possible because, the bulwark of production oriented development tasks by various Government Departments was either totally abolished or sidelined, as dictated by the StructuralAdjustment Poliicy which the IMF forced us to follow-the Department for Development of Agricultural Marketing which purchased vegetables and fruits and ran a successful cannery was totally abolished. Other Departments like Small Industries and many development activities of other Departments were totally curtailed on the grounds that the Private Sector was to be the engine of growth and the officialdom that had attended to development tasks were confined to the barracks- finding some work to attend to.
This process forced on Sri Lanka inevitably caused total disaster as stated by the The World Bank in 1990:
In 1986, the deterioration of the economy had become evident. The growth rate of the GDP slowed to under 4%. Unemployment rose to around 17% and gross official reserves to less than two months’ imports.”(Trends in Developing Econmies:1990.
It is important to note that this utter deterioration had happened within eight years of following the Structural Adjustment provisions!
The foreign debt balooned to $ 1845 million by 1980, to $ 4063 million by 1986, to as much as $ 6723 million by 1993, to $ 9407 million by 1995 and $ 9191 million by 1996.
When Chandrika took over in November 1994, the foreign debt was at $ 9.7 billion and there was no turning back. The Development Infrastructure that been developed from 1948 to 1977 and which had achieved the country becoming self sufficient in paddy, the staple crop and all other development programmes had been either abolished or sidelined and there was no turning back.
Once in around the late Eighties on my trip to Kataragama, at Ambalantota I turned towards my office in 1958 and then my office covering the Southern Province for paddy purchases and rice milling was a part of an integrated complex including a large Lewis Grant Rice Mill, the summun bonum of the day that milled a thousand bushels a day. Over a hundred lorries of paddy were accepted a day. When the Mill was switched on, every Monday morning it will work nonstop till Saturday evening when it was switched off for cleaning and resurfacing the rollers on Sunday. If it stopped otherwise I had to interfere and get it working and I was held personally responsible. The Mill had been abandoned and was in pieces. The land some five acres was apportioned to various departments that had fenced them in and total neglect was the order of the day. The machinery which we doted on and cared for with our lives was in pieces, strewn everywhere. It was a scene that I could never have believed. That was what did happen to all over the island under President Jayawardena’s move to follow the IMF. The development infrastructure was in tatters and there was never a turning back.
The annual foreign exchange deficit is also an important indicator of development. In my words, Sri lanka was a country that could boast of the fact that it held a credit of $ 170 million in its foreign exchange budget of 1977. In less than five years of liberalization the foreign exchange deficit was as much as $ 892 . In 1995 this figure was at $ 997million.”
This increase in foreign exchange deficit happened due to the major changes that were made in the economy from the end of 1977. In 1980 the Minister of Finance boasted
We liberalized the economy and did so effectively and thoroughly.’(Budget Speech:1980)
Both President Jayawardena and Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel were taken for a ride. As the erudite South Asian Commission on Poverty Alleviation commented in 1992:
The Industrial Countries are for the first time since World War II are in need of markets for their produce. So they have put into effect the Structural Adjustment programme… the industrialized countries are pressurizing the reciepients of Structural Adjustment loans to open their economies to goods from them:(From; Meeting the Challenge:1992)
In this process of importing what we could have made the loans we took ended up in the donor countries in some form or other- for holiday travel, for financing their universities etc, while leaving the loans as a debt on Sri Lanka. It was a grand manipulation to make us fall into debt.
Sri Lanka’s foreign debt balooned to $ 11.3 bn by 2005 and the IMF backed out of giving loans. Then we sought finance somehow and even raised funds through issuing International Sovereign Bonds(ISB) at very high interest rates. At the end of 2014 our foreign debt was 42.9 billion and during the Yahapalana 2014 to 2019, as much as $ 12.5 billion of ISBs were taken. Yet none of these funds were utilized to create any production. Instead, they were used for extravagant living. In 2022 the debt had reached $56 billion and today in June the Government talks of foreign debt below $ 50 billion, which is very doubtful.
To be realistic what we can do and have the immediate ability to do is to find an agloritham of action to get into producing what we import. This too has to be on Government sector programmes because the private sector investors have fairly given up enterprise development due to high interest rates, and are satisfied with parking their capital in banks and enjoying high interest rates.
Thus the only option is to concentrate on import substitution type of programmes, making what the consumer needs. .This will reduce imports and help the country to save foreign exchange.
In the living memory of some of us we can recall the Divisional Development Councils Programme of the days of Prime Minister Sirimavo. It was directed by Professor Haalso deS Gunasekara, the eminent Professor of Economics of the University of Peradeniya and it was successful in training thousands of youths to become scientific farmers and handle livestock. It created employment for 33,300 youths and many new industries like making paper at Kotmale and building motor fishing boats and Crayons at Matara were very successful.
May our leaders consider such an employment cum poverty alleviation programme urgently,
Garvin Karunaratne
former GA Matara.
1 st July 2023
When Lakshmi, a fictional character representing the many women in Sri Lanka, began selling vegetables from her home garden at the local market, she didn’t just supplement her family’s income, she sparked a transformation. This illustrative example reflects the broader trend of how women across Sri Lanka are taking charge of their livelihoods and reshaping their futures and those of their communities.
In Sri Lanka, women have traditionally been seen as the backbone of the family, managing household duties while raising children. This role is deeply respected, yet it has also confined many women to the domestic sphere, limiting their opportunities to contribute more broadly to the economy. However, now the situation is changing. Today, women are increasingly stepping beyond these traditional roles, managing both home and work with remarkable skill.
According to the World Bank, Sri Lanka has achieved near gender parity in education, with female literacy rates at 92%, closely mirroring that of men. Despite this, women’s participation in the labor force remains significantly lower, hovering around 35% compared to nearly 75% for men. This gap represents a vast, untapped potential that, if unlocked, could drive significant economic growth.
Women possess innate abilities that can significantly contribute to the country’s development. Their natural strengths such as multitasking, endurance, and the capacity to manage multiple responsibilities are invaluable assets. Studies have shown that women are more likely to reinvest their earnings into their families and communities, amplifying the impact of their economic contributions. By creating more opportunities for women to join the active labor force and by providing access to education and vocational training, we can unlock this potential, driving not just individual empowerment but national progress.
In rural areas, women play a significant role in agricultural activities, often working alongside their husbands or managing small home gardens. However, their contributions are frequently underappreciated and limited to supportive roles. Yet, these women possess a wealth of knowledge and skills that can greatly enhance agricultural productivity and sustainability. For example, a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) found that if women had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase yields on their farms by 20-30%, potentially reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17%.
Livelihood programs have played a pivotal role in empowering women in Sri Lanka, particularly in rural areas. Initiatives like the Samurdhi Development Program and the Women’s Bureau of Sri Lanka have provided women with the tools and resources they need to start small businesses, gain financial independence, and improve their quality of life. The success of these programs is evident in the stories of women who have used their newfound skills to build better futures for themselves and their families.
However, there is still much work to be done. While these programs have made significant strides, they must continue to evolve to meet the changing needs of women in Sri Lanka. This means focusing on long-term sustainability, providing ongoing support, and ensuring that women have access to the resources they need to succeed. It also means advocating for policies that promote gender equality in the workplace, protect women’s rights, and ensure that women can participate fully in the economy.
As we look to the future, the question remains: how can we create a society where every woman has the opportunity to reach her full potential? The answer lies in continuing to support and empower women through education, training, and access to resources. By doing so, we not only improve the lives of women but also strengthen the fabric of our society, creating a more prosperous and equitable future for all.
This perspective is crucial because it highlights the untapped potential of half our population. Imagine the impact if every woman in Sri Lanka were empowered to contribute fully to the economy. It’s not just about equity, it’s about harnessing the full potential of our nation to build a stronger, more resilient future. So what role will you play in this transformation?
විදේශ රැකියා ක්ෂේත්රය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අසත්ය ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කරමින් අපහාසාත්මක ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කිරීමට එරෙහිව පූජ්ය පාහියන්ගල ආනන්ද සාගර හිමියන්ට එරෙහිව හිටපු කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා නීතිමය පියවර ගෙන තිබේ.
ඒ අනුව පළමු පියවර ලෙස අසත්ය, පදනම් විරහිත ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කළ ආනන්ද සාගර හිමියන්ට එරෙහිව රුපියල් මිලියන 500ක වන්දියක් ඉල්ලා මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා සිය නීතීඥයින් මගින් ආනන්ද සාගර හිමියන් වෙත එන්තරවාසියක් යොමු කර ඇත.
අද (04) උදෑසන මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා සිය නීතීඥයින් මගින් මෙම එන්තරවාසිය යවා ඇත.
හිටපු අමාත්යවරයාගේ ඥාතියෙකුට අයත් විදේශ රැකියා ඒජන්සියකින් විදේශ රැකියා සදහා පුද්ගලයින් යොමු කර ඇති බවටත්, ඒ මගින් කෝටි ගණනින් මුදල් උපයා ඇති බවට ආනන්දසාගර හිමියන් කර ඇති ප්රකාශවල කිසිදු පදනමක් නොමැති බවද මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා සිය නීතිඥයින් මගින් යොමු කරන ලද එන්නතරවාසියේ දැක්වේ. මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතාගේ නම අවස්ථා කිහිපයකදීම සදහන් කරමින් චේතනාන්විතව අපහාස කිරීමේ අරමුණින් ආනන්ද සාගර හිමියන් විසින් ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කර ති්බන බවද එන්තරවාසියේ සදහන් වේ.
මෙසේ අසත්ය ප්රකාශ නිකුත් කරමින් අපහාස කිරීමට කටයුතු කිරීමට එරෙහිව රුපියල් මිලියන පන්සියකක වන්දිය දින 14ක් ඇතුළත ගෙවා අවසන් කරන ලෙසත්, එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් අධිකරණයේ නඩු පවරා වන්දි මුදල, ඊට අදාල ආලාභ සහ නඩු ගාස්තු අය කරගැනීමට කටයතු කරන බවද මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා සිය නීතීඥයින් මගින් යොමු කළ එන්තරවාසියේ වැඩිදුරටත් සදහන් වේ.
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