The JVP – Back to the fore

FRIDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00

Whatever the electoral setbacks and
outside moves to undermine its clout, the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna on
Wednesday displayed that it is still a force
to reckon with at least in the House.
Stepping into the shoes of a key
opposition in the absence of the UNP in
parliament, the JVP launched one of its
strongest attacks against the government
by way of a speech by its strongman
Anura Kumara Dissanayake explaining
the perils of removing the bar on the
terms of presidency. It was certainly one of best speeches
ever by Dissanayake.
Those listened to the speech from the gallery were almost
unanimous that if the JVP had even half of the numbers of the
UNP, it would have performed miracles and dissipated the
hopelessness that prevails in the country. While Sarath
Fonseka’s blistering attack on the government only went on to
supplement Dissanayake’s speech, September 8 became a
day that many lamented the absence of a strong
parliamentary presence by the JVP, the party which returned
with 39 members at the 2004 April general election.
Going by the manner the UNP handled the 18th amendment
to the Constitution it became clear that the battered and
splintered party has very little to offer to whatever left of
democracy in Sri Lanka. Its failure to establish internal
democracy, has only helped the government to buy its MPs at
regular intervals. The party’s failure to sort out its internal
crisis is pushing even those who find it difficult to relate to the
JVP, especially given its violent past, to find solace in the
former Marxists. After all the JVP has come a long way since
the insurrections and its members have repeatedly proven
themselves to be better defenders of democracy than
members of any other opposition party during the past six
years or so. Be it the 17th amendment to the Constitution
which unfortunately was subverted by other parties and the
battle for better accountability and good governance and also
whatever other progressive moves towards ensuring social
equity, the JVP had been in the forefront of the movement.
Plus irrespective of the numbers in parliament the party still
remains the biggest crowd puller among the opposition
parties.
The manner in which the latest set of UNP dissidents joined
the government, citing miserable conditions within the party,
has created a national apathy towards the defectors as well
as the party hierarchy.
One should not blame the voters if more and more opt to rally
around the JVP.
 

When the majority is wrong

THURSDAY, 09 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
On August 03, 2000 when President Chandrika Kumaratunga
headed for parliament to present the ill-fated 2000 draft
Constitution bill in view of perpetuating her regime, among
other plans, it was the vehicle of her Fisheries Minister
Mahinda Rajapaksa that was stopped by the demonstrators
down parliament road.
The anti-package protestors, all genuinely concerned about a
possible threat to country’s sovereignty, saw Mahinda
Rajapaksa as their saviour and pleaded with him to block
President Kumaratunga’s move.
Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa got off from his vehicle said a
few conciliatory words to the lay and also the clergy
demonstrators who crowded around him and proceeded
towards parliament. By then the prelates of Kandy and senior
monks and clergy from other faiths, leading opposition
politicians had contacted the minister in view of getting his
support to block what they saw as a move to divide the
country and perpetuate Kumaratunga rule.
Ten years later one sees bus loads of people, who are
clueless about what they are expected to support, being
brought to Colombo to shout slogans supporting the 18th
amendment which lifts the bar on presidential terms. And
President Rajapaksa is already on record that he will run for
presidency till the opposition manages to bring a stronger
candidate.
Mervyn Silva who was exonerated by a SLFP disciplinary
committee a week ago had reportedly brought the biggest
number of people to streets in support of the reforms. Long
lines of demonstrators waited in the scorching sun with mixed
emotions as the government party leaders who whizzed past
them made their speeches to the empty opposition benches
as the UNP opted to boycott sessions.
Today nobody dares to stop the vehicle of Mahinda
Rajapaksa.
Detached from the people and well meaning advisers he has
found solace in the theory it is his background – being a
villager from Medamulana and not being a city man from
Colombo 7 – and not the possible dangers of lifting the bar,
that had made him a target of criticism. The President refuses
to be convinced or acknowledge that he is convinced, that
there had never been a demand by the people to remove the
limits of the number of terms.
True that he has mustered a parliamentary majority beyond
two thirds in support of the bill. However the majority of
countrymen think that this overwhelming majority of MPs are
wrong.

Vasu, there’s still time to

change mind
WEDNESDAY, 08 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy
- Robert Burns
With the last semblance of hope for democracy, a protest vote
by the traditional left within the government now being
dashed, fragmenting the left parties also into pieces, the
avalanche effect engineered by the SLMC continues to
rampage Sri Lankan polity.
It has been now revealed that other than the left parties, a
couple of government MPs too had been contemplating on
abstaining from voting had the left opted to do so.
Those as well as the informed electorate were counting on
maverick Vasudeva Nanayakkara to deliver the goods on
behalf of democracy. He was expected to convince the two
ministers Tissa Vitharana and DEW Gunasekara who were
torn between national interest and collective responsibility of
the Cabinet. It was assumed initially that the government
would be at least one seat short of the required number in the
event of the five leftist MPs deciding to abstain.
However the domino effect by the SLMC move to offer all
eight votes to the 18th amendment to foil a government plan
to buy over six of its MPs spoilt this plan. It gave the much
anticipated excuse for the two Left ministers to argue that the
protest vote would not have the desired effect after the
President garnered the two thirds majority, and sell that
argument to Vasudeva Nanayakkara.The truth remains,
irrespective of the fact whether the President musters the two
thirds or not, a decision by the traditional Left to abstain from
voting would have had a substantial effect. Not only would it
have strengthened the dialogue against the obnoxious 18th
amendment, it also would have helped strengthen the pro-
democratic forces within the government.
Instead by giving in to pressures the Leftist MPs have not only
lost the people’s faith in their credibility but also fragmented
their own parties by going against the respective polit buro
and central committee decisions. President Rajapaksa is on
record that removing limit on terms is democratic and that the
18th amendment, instead of enhancing presidential powers
had gone on to diminish presidential powers.
The President armed with a set of advisers with sharp minds
can well afford to make a very good case out of a bad brief
and one may well argue that his arguments may hold some
water if at least there were proper constitutional safeguards to
ensure free polls.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is honed in 40 years of
democratic tradition and knows too well the vicissitudes of too
much of power. It would be wise to reflect on what could
happen if by chance the boot should be on the other’s foot.
And honourable Vasu, you still have time to change your
mind.

Degradation of human
dignity
TUESDAY, 07 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
As the country focuses on a constitutional crisis, we also need
to look at other complex issues such as human rights,
development and poverty reduction. In the absence of correct
answers, it will not be possible to formulate policy guidelines.
A good way to find answers to these complex issues is to
raise awareness among policy makers and the general public
on the current thinking on human rights, development and
poverty eradication.
What should be highlighted first is to recognize the
importance of human rights in supporting equity defined as
both equality of opportunity and avoidance of extreme
deprivation in outcomes. Poverty, especially extreme poverty,
is the worst form of degradation of human dignity, a denial of
the most basic of human rights – economic, social, cultural,
civil and political rights.  Secondly, we need to discuss
aspects of human rights related to economic growth,
governance, health policies and services and the role of
government.  Since the connection between human rights,
development and poverty reduction is widely recognized, it
becomes  essential to include human rights consideration into
development process and poverty reduction programmes.
Any discussion on human rights, development and poverty
reduction should look far beyond the money – metric definition
of poverty – World Bank dollar a day definition of poverty -
and look at poverty from a human rights approach.
The international community has universally subscribed to
several human rights principles.  One of these principles is
that all individuals should enjoy a basic level of social and
economic rights necessary for a life in dignity and honour.
There is, at present, universal recognition of a right to
healthcare and nourishment, adequate housing, basic
education, social security, right to work and adequate
conditions of work as provided for in the Bills of Human Rights
which most countries, including Sri Lanka have signed and
ratified.  The human rights framework places an obligation on
states, to protect their populations against situations of
poverty and social exclusion including by ensuring an
enabling environment that protects human rights standards.
How can this theory be put in practice?  There are three
important ways in which human rights entitlements can be
“claimed” in practice -- Social mobilization; Public interest
litigation and Political action
The Supreme Court of India has interpreted the right to life to
include nutrition, clothing and shelter in considering whether
the denial of emergency medical treatment at a government
hospital violated an individual’s right to life.  The realization of
economic and social rights is an inherently political
undertaking, involving negotiation, disagreement, trade-offs
and compromise.  But political processes do not serve all
equally, particularly the poor, vulnerable and marginalised
section of the south.
An examination of the complex issues related to human rights
development and poverty reduction shows that social
mobilization, judicial review and political action can together
vindicate human rights with potentially life-saving impact.

playing nationalist
card in India
MONDAY, 06 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
Ideally UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe
should have been in the country during
the last few days to prevent his members
from shifting loyalties and extending
support to pass the 18th Amendment to
the Constitution.
However, as he always does, the leader of the Opposition
opted to be away from the country during the stormy days
having realized that he has little or no control over the
unfolding events.
Amidst grim prospects for his party and being at the receiving
end of all the blame the UNP leader however had managed to
tell some home truths to the Indian media much to the
surprise of many.
While he could have well afforded to sound quite patronizing
of the TNA with South Indian media, Ranil Wickremesinghe
has instead driven home the point the Tamil National Alliance
(TNA) should come to terms with the post-war political
realities and make their demands accordingly.
Also queried on his opinion on the alleged Sri Lankan navy’s
shooting of Indian fishermen the UNP leader has pointed out
that Indian fishermen land in trouble because they poach in
Sri Lankan waters.
These two sensitive issues impacting Indo-Lanka ties have
seen even President Mahinda Rajapaksa mincing his words
when making comments.
By being ruthlessly honest and guarding national interests the
UNP leader has managed to appeal to a section of the
nationalists here during the tumultuous times. And one also
wonders why he saved all those words till post polls and
chose India instead of Sri Lanka to express his stand on the
TNA.
However the real beneficiaries of this exercise would be the
Rajapaksa administration which can now take an advanced
posturing on the subjects with India claiming that it’s the
opinion of both the government and the opposition. The
opposition leader has said what the government had long
waited to convey but had not done so fearing negative vibes
from the big brother.
The announcement by the latest set of UNP dissidents that
they would not hesitate to join the government in the event of
any disciplinary action against them by the party does not
come as a surprise. Given the inducements from the
government many are anyhow waiting to crossover
irrespective of the fact whether there would be disciplinary
action against them or not.

Panchsheel and Indo-China

tensions
SATURDAY, 04 SEPTEMBER 2010
00:00
‘Nehru gave China Panchsheel’, a
senior leader of the Chinese
Communist party. Li Changchun had
reportedly reminded early this week
referring to the agreement of five
Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
between China and India.
Panchsheel which also formed the
foundation for the Non-Alignment
Movement however seems to have
lost its meaning as both India and China seem to feel quite
jittery about each other’s presence in the borders both on land
as well as in the sea. The latest one hears is that India on
Friday had expressed its concern over the alleged Chinese
presence in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. There had been
reports that some 11,000 Chinese troops were in the Gilgit-
Baltistan region held by Pakistan. However the Chinese
government had rejected the charges.
The news came in the wake of a report that Beijing had
refused visa to a top Indian army general and also growing
concern among Indian politicians over the strong Chinese
presence in the Indian Ocean.
And Sri Lanka certainly is not at all helping the two parties to
defuse the tension.
Post-war Sri Lanka has handed over the construction of
houses, air strips and the railway line in the North to India
while most of the new roads have been given to China.
One wonders what the reaction of the Chinese and the Indian
governments would be in the event of even minor clashes
between the Indian and Chinese workers. Obviously the
workers from two countries cannot avoid each other while
working in their thousands in more or less in the same locality.
And it is not that often that Chinese and Indian workers work
in such close proximity in a country where both nations have
very competing interests.
Any clash involving the Indians will see the temperatures
rising beyond Palk Straits and one also cannot expect the
Chinese government to stay calm and quiet if their citizens
become victims of a violent dispute.
Of course one may dismiss the chances of such a possibility
as a figment of imagination. But can anybody rule out such an
eventuality given the manner Sri Lanka is attempting to strike
the best balance between India and China?
One hopes that Panchsheel will prevail and help the two
parties to be at peace.

DENGUE; HERE AND IN

DELHI
FRIDAY, 03 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
The poses by certain politicians and spouses
at the recent gala anti-dengue fumigating
ceremonies surely can give Terminator star
turned California governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger a run for his money.
Gone are the days that the pot-bellied Sri
Lankan politicians found it quite fashionable to
go bare-bodied at the historic Nallur Kovil in Jaffna to make it
to the page one of the national newspapers. Those
prosperous looking VIPs made quite a conspicuous presence
among craggy, impoverished native worshippers of God
Murugan.
That phase is over. The latest fad is the anti-dengue
fumigation.
Minister Maithripala Sirisena has made it look quite
fashionable to fumigate dengue breeding spots so much so
his colleagues are now vying to accompany the Health
Minister on his next programme.
Despite some hiccups at the initial stages it looks that the
dengue prevention campaign is well on the track today and
the figures are evidence of this fact. For instance last year by
September 2nd some 245 deaths had been reportedly as
against 206 this year.
However the anti-dengue campaign was not without its
mishaps. For instance, a seven-year-old child who caught fire
last Friday, while standing next to a dengue bonfire in
Kodikamam, Jaffna, succumbed to his injuries on
Wednesday. Besides, using school children to clean
neglected, possible dengue infected areas in schools without
proper protected gears, has come under heavy criticism.
Burning of polythene as part of anti-dengue programme too is
continued despite the health hazards it poses.
While Sri Lanka has taken some concrete steps on dengue
prevention neighbouring India is beset with a bigger set of
problems created by the epidemic.
Early this week the Delhi high court ordered the local
authorities to take urgent measures to prevent the spread of
dengue in and around Commonwealth Games sites. A bench
chaired by Chief Justice Dipak Misra made the order after a
committee appointed by the High Court had found breeding
sites in two Games venues - Jawaharlal Stadium and Shivaji
Stadium.
One may remember that star Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh
was diagnosed with dengue while in Dambulla.
By now some 24 countries have written to Commonwealth
Games Organizing Committee expressing concern and one
hopes the Indian authorities who are eagerly waiting to host
thousands of athletes from 71 countries would bring the
situation under control on time.

Blackmailing of a Regime
THURSDAY, 02 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00
Mervyn Silva has once again emerged the most powerful
person of the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration blackmailing
the entire regime as no other person has ever done.
‘To hell with the credibility of the government, if Mervyn is not
saved we are all gone’, seems to be the attitude with which
orders have been given for the committee to exonerate the
former deputy minister.
Given the manner in which the notorious deputy minister calls
the shots in the present regime, one wonders whether the
government team has also included his inputs to the 18th
amendment to the Constitution. Perhaps he may also be
consulted when drafting the next Indo-Sri Lanka defence
agreement. After all how can one bypass the most powerful
member of the government when taking crucial decisions?
With the kind of power that he wields in the government and
the way he gets the hierarchy to hoodwink an entire nation by
appointing committees to investigate into his action and then
to emerge unscathed despite solid evidence, one wonders
how many skeletons one needs to have in one’s cupboard to
give into him. The number certainly must be quite high.
A mockery had been made out of the disgust shared by the
senior ministers, law abiding parliamentarians and more
importantly the common sense of the masses, to deliver a
ruling that put the final nails on the credibility coffin of the
UPFA regime.
Ever since Tuesday the 31st the Sri Lankan nation has
ceased to have faith in any of the UPFA promises to deliver
justice. If there’s any reason why they would not rebel that is
only because of the absence of a viable opposition to turn to.
On the day of the announcement of the ruling by the Mervyn
Silva committee, Reuters published a set of interesting photos
from Pakistan.
They showed how protestors in Lahore got the names of the
disgraced Pakistan cricketers written on a few donkeys and
slapped those poor animals with shoes and paraded them on
the streets so that the entire town could attack them.
Thinking about the incident one cannot help but wonder
whether there’s much of a difference between the poor
donkeys and the Sri Lankan electorate and also the ruling
UPFA and the protestors in Lahore. What have those poor
donkeys got with the match fixing scandal - other than being
on the streets at the wrong time, on the wrong date and of
course in the wrong country?

Mervyn’s death threat to

media
SATURDAY, 11 SEPTEMBER 2010 00:00

Mervin Silva is neither the subject minister

nor the deputy minister of media here in
Sri Lanka.
He has only been reappointed as Deputy
Minister of Highways.
However the notorious deputy minister
would surely have had a very good
reason to direct his first salvo after the
reappointment, at the media.
While many outsiders may opt to dismiss
his latest threat as a part of entertainment
he provides to masses at regular
intervals, the media fraternity on the other
hand sees the larger picture.
No other government politician has been found as useful as
the Kelaniya organizer in sending messages to media
whenever the regime felt that the tide is unfavourable to it.
The government can definitely manage highways without
having Silva as deputy minister. But it certainly can’t handle
media without him. Hence the need was there to exonerate
the garrulous parliamentarian from all charges against him
and reinstate him as Deputy Minister Highways. Given a
chance the regime definitely would have preferred to have
him as Media minister or as the deputy of the subject.
However the local and international pressure mounted during
Silva’s short stint as deputy minister of media, which saw him
being removed from the post, has made a re-appointment of
Silva to the post somewhat difficult.
By saying that the media persons here will face the same fate
as former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, if they continue
to report the way they do now, Mervyn Silva is saying in no
uncertain terms that everyone is expected to toe the
government line. Any dissent would be met with strong
punishment. His remark ‘Journalists should not write in such a
way that they end up being hung’ is a very effective way of
sending a strong message that nothing but death awaits those
who write against the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
With the 18th amendment getting the green light from the
House and the opposition in total disarray a situation is being
created to take the 4th estate to task when democracy is at
one of its most vulnerable phases here.
Understandingly no member of the government, not even the
Minister of Media has come forward to say that the
proclamations by Silva only reflect the personal opinion of the
deputy minister. The minister too no doubt knows that Mervyn
Silva is a mere messenger.