Serving Sri Lanka

If the Rajapaksas are not restrained there will be other Duminda Silvas and therefore other Bharatha Lakshman Premachandras

2011-10-19T08:30:00.001+05:30

Transcurrents, 15 October 2011, 11:13 pm

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“A foul, dishonourable crew” Giaccomo Leopardi (To Angelo Mai III)

In the Rajapaksa Security State, insecurity is the common condition of the rest of us

Impunity makes jungles out of civilised societies, where the big and the powerful prey on those smaller and weaker, at will. In such lawless-states, violent death can befall any citizen who incurs the ire of someone stronger. When governance is criminalised, all are unsafe, from beggars to Presidential advisors

Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra was a veteran SLFPer. During Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency, Premachandra was that rare thing – a Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalist. In those long, lean years, while Basil and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa were pursuing the American Dream, Premachandra backed Rajapaksa openly, incurring presidential-wrath in consequence.

Then Mahinda Rajapaksa won the Presidency, and his family took over. Basil Rajapaksa claimed Gampaha as his fiefdom; Gotabhaya Rajapaksa appropriated Colombo as his dominion; and Namal Rajapaksa began his own creeping-invasion of the SLFP through Tharunyata Hetak and Nil Balakaya.

The Rajapaksa dynastic project requires a remoulded SLFP. Creating a new breed of politician whose primary loyalty is not to the party but to the Ruling Family is central to this task. Newcomers, who lack a politico-electoral base within the SLFP and thus are abjectly-dependent on the Siblings for their political-lives, are ideally suited to this purpose. UNP defectors such as Milinda Moragoda and Duminda Silva and political-neophytes such as Sachin Vas Gunawardane all belong in this category.

Duminda Silva epitomises this ‘New Rajapaksa-man’, who can act with impunity, so long as he abides by the iron-rule of unquestioning subservience to the Ruling Family. During his tenure as a UNP provincial councillor he rapidly made a name for unruly and criminal conduct.

Apart from being indicted for sexually-abusing a minor, he was arrested for other criminal deeds. In 2004 he was indicted for abduction and on four other counts; the main witness, Roger Allen Francis told the court that, “he was abducted by the accused, Silva, and his armed gang, demanding that his daughter be sent to him” (Sri Lanka News First – 5.9.2008).

In 2006 he was remanded for assaulting Provincial Minister Hector Bethmage, and remanded again for causing “injuries to an American woman sailor and assaulting two other American security officers of the US Embassy at a night club” (Daily News – 6.6.2006).

Despite this unblemished record of criminal-conduct, Silva was tolerated by the UNP and welcomed by the SLFP. Post-defection, he became a favoured-acolyte of the Rajapaksa Siblings. The charges against him were withdrawn by the AG and he was named the ‘monitoring MP’ of the Defence Ministry. Obviously the Siblings were aware of the ilk of the man they appointed to such a sensitive position. Equally obviously for the Siblings, Silva’s criminal conduct was a matter of negligible import; so long as he was servile to them, he could act as he wished towards others.

The feud between Premachandra and Silva was thus more than a political-turf war over Kollonnawa. It was a manifestation of the silent-contestation between the pre-Rajapaksa SLFP and the Rajapaksa SLFP.

As the Rajapaksas consolidated their stranglehold over the state and the government, the power of the likes of Duminda Silva within the SLFP began to grow, at the expense of old-timers such as Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra. The Rajapaksas in power desire servile-acolytes, not loyal allies.

According to his family, Premachandra believed his life was in danger and complained to the authorities about it. His sister also wrote to the Speaker, asking protection for her brother. But the power-wielders were indifferent and the police, consequently, apathetic.

Perhaps this lackadaisical response emboldened his rival. Because a belief in impunity lies at the heart of the Kolonnawa killings; those who shot Premachandra repeatedly, at point-blank range, in full public view believed they were above the law. Why else would they be unfettered by the presence of so many eye-witnesses, who can testify against them in a court of law?

According to the testimony of Premachandra’s driver, “MP Duminda Silva fired at Mr. Premachandra after he fell down to the ground” (BBC – 12.10.2011). Rationally, Silva cannot be faulted for thinking that so long as he kowtowed to the Siblings, he could get away with blue-murder.

After all, the AG did withdraw two very serious charges against him and he was anointed as the ‘monitoring MP’ to the Defence Ministry. And the police are yet to move against him, despite the eye-witness testimony, though a less-favoured citizen would have been placed under arrest, even if he/she was dying. Perhaps Silva’s implicit faith in his political-masters is well-founded?

In one of his final speeches, Premachandra speaks of the threats to him and his supporters. Quoting Pastor Niemöller passionately, albeit inaccurately, he sounds a warning to fellow-SLFPers: “This shadow of death will someday come to their doorstep. I am telling you. Beware!” (www.colombotelegrpah.com).

It is an oddly prescient remark, a warning any SLFPer unwilling to become a Rajapaksa-cipher should heed. Because if the Rajapaksas are not restrained, there will be other Duminda Silvas, and therefore other Bhraratha Lakshman Premachandras

Recently, TULF leader V. Anandasangaree (whose anti-Tiger credentials are impeccable) protested to President Rajapaksa about the regime’s plans to launch a land-registration drive in the North.

Itemising the inappositeness of such a move in a province still reeling from war-ravages, he warned that “the people who had lost almost all their possessions are now scared that they will lose more under this scheme”. Obviously the Northern Tamils fear that this registration drive is an attempt by the state to use the post-war confusion to grab their traditional lands.

It is a reasonable fear, given the regime’s land-grabbing activities in the South. The latest such case is from Anuradhapura: “Residents of Palmadullagama say that they have been severely inconvenienced after their traditional farming lands were taken over by the state

They question the justice of these lands being taken over by the government and being used for development initiatives… Meanwhile, huts that had been built in Chenas in the Udaththawa (Hasalaka), have been burnt to the ground” (News First – 12.10.2011).

Impunity respects no boundaries, geographic, ethno-religious or political. So Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra met the same fate as the beggars murdered in Kelaniya and innumerable victims of custodial-killings.

The Sinhala peasants of Anuradhapura and the Tamil peasants of the North are to be dispossessed of their lands. The rest of us too will experience the ravages of this cancer; no citizen is safe when the Rule of Law is replaced by the law-of-the-rulers.

So the UPFA lost Colombo, despite the no-holds-barred campaign by all the King’s horses and all the King’s men, plus the King’s family and the King himself.

Colombo’s poor know of the Rajapaksas’ plan to evict them from their homes and Colombo’s citizens are arguably better informed than their counterparts elsewhere and thus more aware of Rajapaksa crimes and misdeeds. This confluence of economic and governance issues prevented a Rajapaksa-victory in Colombo, despite a weakened and fractured opposition.

But if the opposition fails to unite to prevent mass-evictions and defeat the anti-democratic Colombo Corporation plan, this victory may be its swan-song.

Academicians in making and unmaking of a nation: relevance to Sri Lanka

2011-07-04T14:49:00.000+05:30

Transcurrents, 1/07/2011, by S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole

Naro Udeshi Commemoration Lecture,
Mahatma Gandhi Centre, Colombo, June 30, 2011

Chairman Sir, Members of the Naro Udeshi family, Nirupama my old friend from her days as the Hindu’s Colombo correspondent, distinguished ladies and gentlemen:

Good evening. I am pleased to be here and honored by the invitation to speak today. When the Gandhi foundation asked me if I would speak today on academics in the making and unmaking of a nation, I readily agreed; not least because as an academic I found the subject fascinating and this an occasion, even an excuse, for me to think more deeply and formally on the subject.

I soon came readily to recognize that I had stepped into a quagmire without quite realizing it. For as I thought more and more I came to the conclusion that it is a dangerous topic in Sri Lanka given the times and, further, academics have played a more negative than positive role. Indeed this is a lecture that the army would not permit in Jaffna.

But I had given my word. So here goes. Academics have failed at nation building rather than contributed to it. When there is so much that binds us as Sri Lankans, we academics have written foul histories that distort our heritage.

I am no specialist in history, but as a fairly well read layman who has lived through very violent times, I share with many others a deep sense of anxiety about how bad history writing by academics furthers ethnic distrust and conflict. Fortunately in India a scholar like Abdul Kalam could be recognized with pride as among the greatest living Indians.

And yet the enormous Muslim contribution to the making of modern India and the plural character of India are not adequately acknowledged by historians. Muslim rule of many parts of India is treated as a violent intrusion. Hinduism is somehow treated as the ancient religion of Indians.

And yet a careful reading of the same history books would tell us that South India was largely Jain and Buddhist before the 7th Century AD and thereafter there was considerable persecution of Jains and Buddhists with strong indications of severe violence in some instances.

Is it a mere coincidence that conversion to Islam from about the thirteenth Century AD coincided with Hindu pressure on Buddhists and Jains, and the growth of a more intolerant form of Buddhism in Lanka?

We would also see that wars fought by Muslim conquerors were no more cruel than wars regularly fought by Indian rulers among themselves. In all these wars the winning faction captured loot and carried off women. Indeed the wars of Lankan Kings such as Parakrama Bahu I in South India were no exception. Yet Lankan historians have reserved the term invasions for the conquests of Indian kings in Lanka (when indeed the Indian kings were often the blood relations of their Lankan counterparts).

For a country supposedly fighting separatism, few scholars in this country have understood the middle ages. Local historians speak of the greatness of the reign of Parakramabahu who is credited with uniting the country. Likewise thirty years after his death in 1215 AD, the invasion of Kalinga Magha (identified by many Sinhalese as an incarnation of evil) is associated with the division of the country, eventually to be made a cetralised administration by the British. Did Parakramabahu really unite the kingdom if it fell apart 30 years after him? The events cannot be understood without the militaristic excesses of Parakramabahu giving rise to widespread insecurity and resentment, and after him, frequent changes of monarchs and instability. Very likely the country was already fragmented well before his death. The kingdoms of Southern India including Lanka were already in a state of decay, owing to corrupt administration, extortionate taxation and wasteful wars. Rebellion was incipient. Modern Lanka has learnt little from the middle ages. It is easier to blame Muslim and other invaders like European colonizers than ourselves.

There has been a general failure among scholars to come to a rational understanding about relations with India which appear inseparable from the ethnic conflict. We still do not understand the consequences of the grossly iniquitous citizenship acts of 1948/49. Dissatisfaction among the minorities was parallelled by official anti-Indian rhetoric and the use of history as propaganda.

Almost no scholarly reflection emerged from our universities after the 1977 and 1983 communal violence, except a mob attack on Tamil students by fellow students at Peradeniya in May 1983. There were also two papers also from Peradeniya by leading professors of geography and history, supporting Sinhalese ideological claims to the North-East and indirectly justifying colonization by state-sponsored Sinhalese paramilitaries of land in the North-East from 1984, where many original Tamil inhabitants were massacred by the armed forces.

This resulted in mainly LTTE massacres of Sinhalese. In the resulting embitterment the latter were actively or mainly passively justified by Tamil scholars, several of whom became experts at showing different faces to different actors.

The recent UN Report and Channel 4 revelations should not have evoked so much disbelief and resentment and the events described there should not have happened had our scholars been leaders of the public conscience rather than providing fuel to extremist ideologies.

The respected scholar M.D. Raghavan, who was for many years an anthropologist working for this institution, the Colombo Museum, has in his book India in Ceylonese, History, Society and Culture, painstakingly shown that Kerala influence forms the bedrock of Lankan culture, both Sinhalese and Tamil. There has been hardly any response from local scholars.

Instead, leading history books speak of Indo-Aryan migration as being the origin of the Sinhalese. This falsification by scholars is taken to new heights by state propaganda as in forced training for university entrants in a military environment where they are trained to become virtual cadres of the JHU or the SLFP Rightwing.

The Friday Forum comprising prominent intellectuals comments thus on the training:

“The curriculum reveals extremely problematic aspects. A prominent photograph of the Defence Secretary on the cover of the study guide suggests authorship by the Defence establishment.

The predominant focus is on military regimentation including a five-kilometre walk to be completed in 45 minutes irrespective of individual physical fitness … What is more problematic is the content of the module on history and national heritage. The topics are, in order, the arrival of the Aryans, foreign invasions, and the development of Sinhalese kingdoms. ‘National heritage’ focuses exclusively on prominent cultural symbols of the majority Sinhala community … with none from other communities. Subjecting new university entrants … to a course which focuses exclusively on the majority community, undermines all the official statements on national reconciliation after three decades of civil strife. If this is an officially sanctioned method of national reconciliation what hopes do we have for a peaceful, conflict-free future in this country? On the whole the curriculum seems to discourage tolerance for viewpoint difference, and sensitivities for the pluralism and diversity of our country. “

In many ways the contraction of our worldview into those of two narrow nationalisms lies at the root of the ethnic conflict. Only two generations ago India was part of our natural environment, where we went, studied and imbibed of its culture with no artificial barriers. Around when I was born my mother was the Maths teacher at Christ Church College, Tangalle. The principal then was Mr. Samuel from Kerala. The Attapatus were our friends and neighbours. When I began schooling in Jaffna the principal of St. John’s was Mr. P.T. Mattai and the principal of its sister school Chundikuli Girls’ College was a Miss. Mattai. The children of Sindi textile merchants were my friends and playmates. The contraction of my world is also reflected in the contraction of our collective mind. I believe more open relations with India are essential to our healing.

When children have to read nonsense as history, they are trained to ignore contradictions and are being uneducated and readied to believe anything that is fed to them! We are in a trap. We Tamils deny we were once Buddhists and Sinhalese see anything Buddhist as Sinhalese. So a friend of mine now living in Canada tilling his fields in Mullaitivu in the 1970s quickly broke up and reburied a statue of the Buddha he came across thinking that it proved that his fields were once Sinhalese fields. Tamils take no interest in the Buddhist ruins of Kantharodai in Jaffna, which date back to the early centuries AD when dialects resembling Tamil were common currency in this region and Sinhalese had, like Bengali, yet to emerge as a Creole of Prakrit used by the post-Asokan elite. The dual influences are reflected in early inscriptions. On the other hand the government has taken over the land calling it Kathurugoda and is in the process of settling Sinhalese there. This is what we academics have done to Lanka.

While a few academics have taken a broad, liberal inclusive view of national life, most take a sectarian parochial view, even a self-centered view, and little can be expected of us. For instance we all know that our university system is beset with severe problems. The chief of these is the absence of the rule of law. Even the UGC violates the very rules it is supposed to uphold. Millions are siphoned off. Council members unlawfully do business with the university to the tune of hundreds of millions of rupees and the UGC is too scared to ask how. Promotions are undeserved and against the rules. The administration is rude to the academics and the academics in turn are rude to students. In violation of the Act elected student leaders in Jaffna are asked to come to terms with Minister Devananda before they are recognized. In general there is total impunity for those in high office. In my years on the UGC I saw lots of corruption and only one Vice Chancellor was punished and that was by mere removal. We can cheat with almost guaranteed immunity. I think it has something to do with Sri Lanka’s culture which guarantees respect for those in high position. So when they steal, how can we show disrespect for them by filing charges? When on the UGC I saw the UGC employing its regulatory powers only on three occasions to forestall corruption and order those universities to set things right – once with Peradeniya and twice with Colombo – and they simply ignored the orders and nothing happened.

With all these things that need to be raised to address the quality of education we deliver, in the ongoing FUTA trade union action, the only thing the academics saw fit to raise is the issue of their salaries. I sympathise with my colleagues and do not blame them. Sometimes the students we teach come out and get jobs that pay more than our own. The nature of recruitment ensures that we work under our own teachers so we dare not question the judgement of our superiors whom we improperly called Sir as students and now continue to call Sir working as their juniors. So the patronage continues. Reform evades us. Speaking up is alien to our very being.

At the highest level the Vice Chancellors are beholden to ministry officials and I have seen VCs addressing ministry officials as Sir although I believe a VC is higher up on the protocol hierarchy and at least the equivalent of a ministry secretary. So we saw the recent spectacle in May this year when at the meeting of Vice Chancellors and Directors – the CVCD – a resolution was approved condemning the UN Secretary General over the Report and the VCs rabble rousing by raising alarm over regime change, meekly and dutifully passed it. There was inquiry as to whether the findings of the report are right or flawed. I doubt that they even read the report, showing how much our VCs understand scholarship.

We in Jaffna know the report is essentially correct. Several of our students suffered personal losses and we regularly see people without legs or hands or both legs and hands.

To us the claims of zero casualties by soldiers with the human rights charter in one hand and the gun in the other are hardly credible. We know of no soldier who goes about with the gun and the charter! Do you in the South?

Generally speaking therefore do not expect much by way of leadership from academics. I do not know if it is fair to expect so much from us when the rest of society is just like us. As an academic let me try to make up for my colleagues. When it comes to academics, I see a strong correlation between those educated in the national languages and those educated in English. Of those academics who write on national integration matters, the most respected academics across the ethnic chasm – here I include those who are engaged in the NGO sector as also academics – nearly all are foreign educated in English, often even for their undergraduate degrees. The top echelons operate in English in the NGO sector and even when they are employed in universities, their most important works are through seminars organized by the NGO sector. It is a sorry indictment on the university sector. It is my opinion that the most useful seminars in Sri Lanka are organized by the NGO sector and not by universities. For example when I lived in Colombo I was a regular attendee at the almost weekly seminars at ICES where I could pick up a broad cross section of views which I could not hear at our universities. Not at Colombo and not at Peradeniya. NGO-sector institutions were doing exactly what we in the universities are called upon to do and are paid for – generate ideas and question unproven assumptions.

Indeed there may be many independent persons writing in Sinhalese. But their writings are not subject to criticism and correction as would happen with English for lack of wide access.

I assert, strongly assert, my opinion that the fault lies in the idea of mother-tongue education. Let us be honest. However much we may love our own languages, Tamils numbering some 80 million people throughout the world and a fortiori the Singhalese who number a mere 16 million, do not – cannot – produce in our own languages the literature required for a broad intellectual discussion with a cross-section of views within the communities. Even where we produce good material there is no one outside of our closed societies to read and criticize us and thereby engage us as intellectuals in the process of fine-tuning and even rejecting or disseminating our ideas. That is the intellectual process – to test our ideas through dissemination and discussion. We do not have the numbers to sustain that process within the narrow confines of our own communities. The market will neither allow it nor bear it. Intellectual discourses need to be in an international language and this language today often is English. That is our dilemma. To reach the masses we need to write in Tamil or Sinhalese but for our writing to be respected through the test of widespread reading and critiquing, we must write in English or some other international language.

Consider that arts – or the humanities and social sciences – in which area education was switched for us to the mother tongue in the early sixties and the last English medium arts graduate came out of our universities early in the second half of the sixties. Now consider who our writers are who can write in sufficient depth and volume to sustain a vigorous intellectual engagement which naturally must include the test of debate and argument. Hardly one or two! Our best arts graduates are now in retirement – Thambaiya, Obeysekera, Pathmanathan, C.R. de Silva, Arasaratnam, Indrapala et al. Professor Carlo Fonseka is a rare non-Arts person from that generation who, though a medic, had had his works on human rights published by the UN.

Jayadeva Uyangoda and Sumanasiri Liyanage are two mother-tongue educated people from Sri Lanka contributing usefully to the literature and intellectual life on national issues. Since it is arts graduates who can think on and contribute to national issues as part of their active fulltime work, we have this hiatus in our midst.

Some of these above named so-called liberal writers too, have taken contradictory positions perhaps driven by their funding. It is argued that there are many more extremists among the English educated and those who wear the liberal label get to be intolerant when challenged. The point is well-taken. During the ceasefire, they bent over backwards to gloss over the violations of the LTTE, especially with child soldiers. But the fact is that what they wrote, being in English, was in the international domain and therefore subject to criticism and they continue to be a matter they need to explain as a result and cannot run away from.

This peace work therefore was unusually done by science graduates who perhaps were meant to study in the arts stream but because of pressures from home and society ended up as scientists. Science was taught at least from grade 9 onwards in English and from 1969 was in English only from the university. This pre-1969 period produced some prolific scientist writers in the English language working on political issues – Rajan Hoole, Rajasingam Narendran and Rajan Philippupillai are some of the few in this category. Rajan Hoole and K. Sritharan went on to earn that prestigious prize, the Martin Ennals Prize for Human Rights Defenders. I am unable to find the reference but an English academic has singled out with some admiration this unique phenomenon of Sri Lankan scientists taking to political writing. These are the more liberal writers on the Tamil side. For some strange reason there do not seem to be many Sinhalese writers from this period who were trained as scientists. Perhaps it is because politics was not a life and death issue for them as it had become for Tamils.

English newspapers have also cultivated a group of writers who, though educated in the mother tongue, built up on their English picked up at home, Church or big cities like Colombo and Kandy and through years of practice have become good writers. They however will not come under the category of academics with the intellectual training that comes through university education.

There are a few scientists, Sinhalese as well as Tamil, who though educated as scientists write rabid stuff and I do not need to mention them because in my judgement their writings have little intellectual content.

In the subsequent period – the post NCGE period when the essay and the précis disappeared from the school syllabus – English fluency in Sri Lanka collapsed because students were rarely called upon to form a sentence in English and English lessons consisted of filling in the blanks or circling the right answer. Even English language graduates could often not write properly. In these circumstances the few who could write soon became the even fewer from that age group who could contribute material of substance and were capable of thoughts beyond their narrow specialties. Writers I can think of in this category are Suresh Canagarajah, Neloufer de Mel, and Neluka Silva whom I have occasionally heard on issues of peace and justice when they are not working on their subject of work, English.

The 1980s and 90s onwards saw the phenomenon of bright school leavers paying from family funds or getting scholarships to study in the West, rejecting admission from the UGC. Although many of these studied in English full-time for 3-4 years in western universities, it was often too late to pick up the language with sufficient fluency to wield the pen effectively for essay-type writing. But especially those going to the US on scholarships were already fluent in English. For without sufficiently high scores in the SAT Verbal section they just would not have qualified for scholarships. These persons with the vigorous writing training that is part of American undergraduate education, have done well. Some contribute to Sri Lankan intellectual life from the NGO sector and with their higher degrees are certainly academics even though they do not work for universities.

We are now in the period where English school education has returned and good writers, Tamil as well as Sinhalese, are emerging again. Initially this group consisted of those who picked up their English from Church or home or big cities and then studied in English in India or the West. The Diaspora also has children who studied from grade 1 in English, were not biased towards science in their education and are good writers except when they are stricken by rank communalism of one sort or another and are engaged in activism of a divisive kind where their intellectual training has failed them. From this group, however, are emerging organizations with much potential such as Lanka Solidarity whose writings have been excellent so far. They consist of young intellectuals, Sinhalese and Tamils as well as persons of mixed parentage. Their weakness may be in their not being here in Sri Lanka and not reaching the Tamil and Sinhalese speaking segments to whom good content is scarce. Time will tell whether they can sustain their usefulness or become a mere forum for graduate school credential generation and for career building in their lives in America.

Let me now turn to nation building per se. In Mahatma Gandhi’s version of nation building we see truth, love, non-stealing, fearlessness, removal of untouchability, and tolerance as requirements for nation building. Gandhi’s list of ingredients also included some typically Gandhian ones, namely, chastity, control of food craving, nonpossession and bread labour. Some of these like chastity and not craving for food, as Jawaharlal Nehru would say, have no place in the modern world. On the other hand, the good things he had to say were in the context of winning independence from Britain. So we will seek our answers elsewhere for today’s context in Sri Lanka.

For me to speak about nation building, we must first define nation and that in itself is problematic. A dictionary defines nation as “a large body of people, associated with a particular territory, that is sufficiently conscious of its unity to seek or to possess a government peculiarly its own.”

On this basis of a definition, let me raise a hypothetical question as Europeans go into the European Union and America pushes NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Association. Why don’t we in South Asia all subsume our national identities and go into a new nation with a single united identity to be called South Asia with our own currency, one language Hindi, our own Parliament, one government etc.? Anyone could go and live anywhere in South Asia. In time Muslims and Bangladeshis and Pakistanis would be subsumed into the common South Asian identity and we would all be one happy people.

But it is an absurd proposition! We in Sri Lanka would all say no – a resounding no. Relying on that definition above we would feel we are not sufficiently conscious of our unity to seek or possess a South Asian government of our own, a common South Asian identity of our own. We would argue rightly that we the different and differing peoples of South Asia have our own history, our own geographic areas of inhabitation, our own language and culture and our own way of life. We rightly wish to preserve these and do not wish to be subsumed within a larger whole, to parts of which we feel little affinity.

Why then are our arguments for Sri Lanka the same? So different from the arguments for South Asia? When we see South Asia as our home such a bad idea, why do we hear politicians arguing for a unitary Sri Lanka?

One Sri Lanka will never work unless the different cultural groups have ways of expressing, practising and celebrating their culture. As Carolyn Stephenson notes quoting Immanuel Kant of the 17th Century:

“[P]eace can be achieved by developing a federation or league of free republican nations. Representative democracies, organized in an international organization, would bring peace.”

Kant’s argument is for a federational model for peace.

President Rajapakse in his recent sixty-third independence day message called out thus: “We must set right the error of both past and present in this march towards greater freedom. … Building a united Sri Lanka is the best means by which freedom can be secured and given more meaning.”

That word united. It is a profound word that no one could, ex facie, quarrel with. The President militaristically emphasized “a heritage of glory.” Be it noted, however, that the words culture and language used on that day are in the singular and not plural.

An inherent part of defining citizenship and national identity this way will in the same breath also define who is not a citizen and who lacks that united national identity. The title of the book by Sara Dorman, et al., captures this idea well: Making Nations, Creating Strangers. That is, in defining a nation, we also define strangers. The book explores how conflicts over the resources of the post-colonial state are legitimated through recourse to claims of nationhood and citizenship. Are we in Sri Lanka into the same game?

Under the authoritarian Francisco Franco who ruled Spain from 1939 to 1947 recognition for the Basque, Galician, and Catalan languages was rescinded for the first time and Spanish was declared the only official language for education and the transactions of the state. We see the ill-effects of this policy of enforcing one overarching culture in the separatist fissiparous tendencies in Spain to this day.

We may discern a similar tendency in Sri Lanka which is much like, as Rogers Brubaker notes, German definitions of citizenship based on blood lines as distinct from territory. As the BBC reported just a week ago, this leads to comical situations like at a dueling club. Some Bavarians felt that members with “non-European facial and bodily characteristics” did not qualify as Germans and so could not join their dueling contest, and that people who are not from the German family tree should not be admitted to student societies.”

We as observers of the German scene find it easy to laugh and even look down on this idea of citizenship by bloodline when we know how each of us has coursing in our veins quite many bloodlines. When it does not concern us, it is easy to be objective. But when the same thing plays out in our very midst, we are rendered blind. How often are we really chauvinists while thinking of ourselves as patriots?

Closer to home, we have Gnana Moonesinghe who in editing a book states in his Editor’s note that nation building is about upholding ethnical values, high standards in morality, about sharing and about redressing people’s grievances.”

Here we have it. The key to nation building – ethical values, high morality and redress of grievances. Let me repeat a couple of things I said in my LLRC testimony, arguing for a united but federal Sri Lanka:

“I have three daughters and a son. They are all equally my children and equally loved. But the girls have different bedrooms in our house because their needs are different. Under one roof we are one family but with different living quarters. The arrangement does not make my son unequal to my daughters.

Indeed the arrangement gives them greater freedom to lead fuller lives, one room with boy toys and comics and the others with dolls and wall posters and a library with books like Pride and Prejudice. Giving us Tamil people different space where we can give expression and life to our peculiar needs is not separation but true happy integration.

“Let me also paraphrase another family based argument that my daughter who worked for Dr. Jehan Perera heard from him. If I were to have a voting system among my children every time we go out as a family, the three girls would outvote my son and we would always end up shopping or eating at a classy restaurant. My son who would prefer Casuarina Beach would get outvoted. In time he would want to break off from the family and go to the beach with his friends. Majority vote would lead to separation but taking turns to integration.”

That is, the wishes of the majority cannot be forced on Tamils in the name of democracy and must be mediated through a federal arrangement. Yes, a good society must allow those who wish to be different to be different.

We make a serious mistake in thinking of differences as being confined to ethnicity alone. This takes me to Gandhi’s words on the removal of caste as integral to nation building. The very foundation of caste and its legitimacy is in our religions. Because most of us practice caste in some form, there is a hesitation to condemn it. It is comforting to say “Oh those days of caste are gone.” But let me tell you that I have even recently seen anonymous letters – letters in the plural – full of the repeated epithet “Nalapillai,” name calling Christians. True integration requires the equality of all castes. Only a person who suffers from caste will know how iniquitous it is. Caste in Jaffna is a big problem, I assure you. Recently in the municipal elections it was agreed within the EPDP of the ruling coalition that the Council member with the highest vote would be the Mayor. In the event, the person with the highest was illiterate and the second happened to be a Christian of the lower castes. The Minister in Jaffna bypassed him flouting the agreement and when this Councillor, Mangalanesan, protested, the Minister went to his home, physically beat him up and had Mangalensan locked up at his office complex at Sridhar Theatre till his choice from the higher castes was firmly ensconced in office. Many of Mangalanesan’s family members at Church have bitterly complained to me.

True nation building is about celebrating our differences without suppressing them and addressing grievances. I am afraid that the government is missing the point in its ever effervescent and exuberant pronouncements about unity.

In Sri Lanka we just do not seem to understand nation building. For example, according to an Editorial relating to the recent UN Report titled “A Welcome Stress on United Sri Lanka” it is said, open quotation, “Sri Lanka must forge ahead as one, united nation and country” … “President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasized the necessity of Sri Lanka advancing into the future as one, united country, while engaging in events related to the Sambuddhathva Jayanthi celebrations,” … “one of the most disturbing results to flow from the Report – that is the UN Report – could be a re-opening of ‘old wounds’. This risk will be present to the degree to which the Report is discussed and debated hotly in the public domain.” Close quotation.

Now, as alleged in the UN Report, the LTTE used Tamil civilians as hostages in Mullivaikal and the government basically eliminated several LTTE cadres, some of them surrendering cadres, through executions and murdered tens of thousands of civilians through bombings including of hospitals. All the alleged war crimes, whether by the LTTE or government forces, relate to the killing of Tamils.

For a Sinhalese, what are the old wounds that will be reopened by an inquiry as claimed by the editorial? Indeed what are the wounds caused to the Sinhalese in the killing of Tamils?

The allegation is that the Tigers killed Tamil civilians, and government troops killed Tigers and Tamil civilians. That is, all those killed were Tamil. So what wounds for the Sinhalese? On the other hand, for a Tamil? Tens of thousands of us have been allegedly killed by government troops. The Channel 4 movie shows naked girls, some dead some seemingly dead but still groaning, being abused. It shows people being executed. If true, imagine the wounds arising from the incidents. Imagine further the wounds to those related to the dead or who narrowly escaped death from their own government saying no inquiries are necessary. Further, when I am told that we must engage in events related to the Sambuddhathva Jayanthi celebrations – I can hardly pronounce it – I do not even know what is being talked about. There seems to be no place for Tamils in this united Sri Lanka.

Just look at what is happening in Jaffna today. There is military rule. I was personally present when the army came and broke up an academic meeting on preserving ancient books. Our group is now scared of meeting again. PA/EPDP candidates can freely distribute posters for the upcoming local government elections. On the other hand, a private meeting of Federal Party candidates was broken up recently by the army beating up candidates.

As the Federal Party went to the police station to complain, Major General Hathurusinghe sent two high officers there to apologize and plead that no complaint be filed. After the Federal Party pressed ahead with its complaint, the Major General says he is unaware of the incident and no soldiers were present.

A cousin of mine, Ambi, was there as a candidate. He begged in Sinhalese and was spared an assault but in his presence another was beaten up and his glasses squashed under a boot. Several Federal Party friends have come out with the same consistent story to me. The government is untruthful about the incident and promises of inquiries are a part of the usual white washing.

There can be no nation building when we live under the military boot. Yes we just had an insurgency so the army has a legitimate role. But not displacing the civilian leadership to scare off opposition voters and candidates to ensure victory for Douglas Devananda. Not taking the front row at school cricket matches while we take the back seats. Not ordering about Hindu priests to do poojas at will while civilians need to stand out of the temple to give security to the soldiers. Indeed would Thomians and Royalists stand for the military on the front row at their big match?

The irony is that Provincial Councils were set up for us Tamils. But the North is the one place where there is no Council. Why? Because Douglas Devananda will lose. This is what the government is trying to forestall by beating up Federal Party candidates and scaring off supporters from the polls. Is this democracy?

This is not integration but disintegration all over again. My advice to the military: Be unobtrusive and just stick to law and order. Entering the civilian domain breeds resentment. My advice to the government:

Hold elections and deal with us through whom we elect, not thugs you impose on us. That is democracy.

We thus see that in defining a united Sri Lanka, Tamils of Sri Lanka and our feelings have been ignored. We are not building a Sri Lankan mansion of many rooms where Sinhalese, Tamils, Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Muslims and Malays and all cross-sections of these live together in amity. We are speaking of a Sri Lanka with a boring mono-cultural visage of imagined common bloodlines living in one large sultry Hall with no privacy. The enforced oneness appears so far to be entirely Sinhalese and Buddhist.

As Sanjana Hattotuwa, a young Sinhalese researcher and journalist educated for his first degree in India, correctly puts it,

“Post war Sri Lanka’s nation building efforts smack of denial, decrying violently any counter-narrative to what is projected by government as the whole and only Truth. … If we don’t have the confidence to embrace difference and its expression as the foundation of nation building, we risk seeing the mere absence of war as the best glue that binds our peoples. A timbre of debate that celebrates participation over domination, difference over conformity, creative conflict over supine compliance, critical questioning over mindless submission, still eludes us. … It is a grave mistake to think that any meaningful nation building will occur in an ahistorical vacuum removed from the emotions and violence they generate today.”

Continues Hattotuwa,

“The most progressive processes on nation building will be despite governments and politicians. They will begin with dignity and respect, include diversity and tolerance, debate identity and difference, and denounce hate and harm.”

I thank God that there are Sinhalese who think like this. I join The Rev. W.S. Senior in crying out to Almighty God for our land in the words of his Hymn for Ceylon:

Then bless her mighty Father,
With blessings needed most,
Give peace within her borders
Twixt man and man goodwill,

Amen!

Thank you

මෙන්න • ලංකාවේ උසස් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ නියැමුවන්

2011-07-04T14:42:00.001+05:30

• ලංකාව ආශ්චර්යට ( අපායට) ගෙන යන්නට මූලික වන උසස් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ නියැමුවන් හඳුනා ගැනීම අප කාටත් වැදගත්ය.

පළමුවෙන් ඇමති නැතහොත් නායකයා හඳුනා ගනිමු ඔහු විදුදය සරසවියෙන් කාලකන්නි උපාධියක් ලබා ඇති අත්තෙන් අත්තට පැන අවසානයේ ජනාධිපතිගේ මරණීය ලනුව ගිල සියලු තටු සිඳගත් සිය දේශපාලන දිවියේ තොණ්ඩුව ගෙල පළඳාගෙන සිටින එස් බී දිසානායකය.

දෙවැන්නා නැතහොත් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් හැත්තෑව දශකයේ වසර දෙකක් පමන සහකාර කථිකාචාර්ය තනතුරක් පමනක් දරා ඉන් පසුව විදෙස්ගතව වාහන අමතර කොටස් ගෙන්වීම යනාදී නා නා ප්‍රකාර ව්‍යාපාර කොට ආපසු රටට පැමිණ එම ව්‍යාපාර කරමින් මේ ඇමතිවරයා කලින් සිටි අමාත්‍යාංශවල ඉහල තනතුරු දරා ඒවා හා එස් බී ද කාබාසීනියා කොට අවසානයේ සුපර් මාර්කට් එකක සේවය කරමින් සිට එස් බී ගේ දේශපාලන තොණ්ඩුව තව දුරටත් තද කිරීමේ අරමුනෙන් ලේකම් පදවිය බලහත්කාරයෙන් ගත් ආචාර්ය උපාධියක් ඇතැයි කියන නමුත් කිසිදු පර්යේෂණයක් ලිපියක් හෝ මළ පොතක්වත් ලියා නැති මොලයක් නැති නමුත් මස් වැද්දෙකු වැනි විශාල ශරීර කූඩුවක් ඇති නව රත්නයකි.

ඊට අමතරව එස් බී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ආදා සිටම කූඩැල්ලන් මෙන් එල්ලී ඔහුගේ ලේ උරා බොමින් සිටින උසස් අධ්‍යාපනය ගැන ගඳ සුවඳවත් නොදන්නා බඩ ගැත්තන් හා ගැත්තියන් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ විවිධ තනතුරු හොබවමින් එස් බී ගේ විනාශයට සෑහෙන දායකත්වයක් දෙමින් සිටී. ඒ අතරින් එක් අයකු වනුයේ නිදා ගන්න විටත් ටයි කෝට් නැතිවම බැරි එහෙත් අපොස සාමාන්‍ය පෙළවත් සමත් නැති දිවීමේ ක්‍රීඩාවට වාර්තා පිහිටුවා ඇති මහාචාර්යයන් හා එකට උස් ආසනවල වැජඛෙමින් අමාත්‍යාංශයට මහඟ= දායකත්වයක් දක්වන ක්‍රීඩකයෙකි.

ඊට වඩා වෙනස් ආකාරයකින් ඇමතිට සේවය කරන උසස් අධයාපනය ලෙවකාවත් නැති පඹයන් වැනි පුරුෂයින් දෙදෙනෙකුට අයත් කාන්තාවන් දෙදෙනෙකුද ඇත. අමාත්‍යාංශ තනතුරු දී ඇතත් ඔවුන්ගේ රාජකාරි ඛෙහෙවින් වෙනස්ය. ඔවුන්ගේ කාර්යයන් අතර කුස්සියේ කක්කුස්සියේ සිට නිඳි යහන දක්වා එකී නොකී සියලූ කාර්යයන් වේ. ඔවුන්ගේ පුරුෂයින්ට පෞරුෂය නැතත් තම බිරියන් හමු වීමට ලොක්කාගේ අවසරය ගත යුතුය. එම එක කාන්තාවක් ආචාර්ය උපාධියක් ඇතත් කලකට ඉහත රජයේ රැකියාවක සිට මුදල් වංචාවකට වැරදිකරු වී රටින් පැන ගොස් සැඟව සිටි තැනැත්තියකි. ඉහතින් දැක්වූ කාර්යයන්ට අමතරව ලොක්කාට ඉංගිරිසි ඉගැන්වීමේ කාර්යයේද නියැලී සිටී. ඒ හැරෙන්නට එස් බී සමඟ පක්ෂෙන් පක්සෙට පැන අඪු බඪු කඩා ගත් දකුණේ පරාජිත දේශපාලකයෙක්ද සරසවි සිසු සුභසාසනය භාර තනතුරක් දරමින් ඇත.

ලොව කිසිදු රටක දක්නට නැති මෙවන් උගත් මානව සම්පත් විසින් පාලනය කරන අපගේ සරසවිවල සිසුන්ට හා ඇදුරන්ට සිව් මහ දෙවිවරුන්ගේම පිහිටයි.

පී අන්දරවැව

Arsenic upheaval and the hipocracy of the Academia

2011-06-30T07:20:00.000+05:30

The Island, 30/06/2011,

Had someone studied thoughtfully the development of the "Arsenic Issue" in the media. It would be very obvious that sonic groups with vested interests were trying to cover up the core issue of importing banned agro-chemicals into the country. At the very initial stage of uproar when Kelaniya-Rajarata Research Team (KART) raised the Arsenic issue by attributing it with chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Eitiology (CKDUE), the bureaucracy responded negatively with a prejudice. They, while totally rejecting the research hypothesis of KRRT, overdid the counter propaganda to disprove the claims of containing Arsenic in rice. It was appallingly so obvious that the clamour was the toot of cover-up.

One academic at Peradeniya went onto an extent of ridiculing other scientists by saying that there are no proper facilities in Sri Lanka to test for Arsenic. But in a very short time he was proved misinformed or misinterpreting. Another academic from the same university who was also involved in the World. Health Organization (WHO) sponsored CKDUE research project, expressed his dismay in a newspaper article over the "unscientific nature" of Kelaniya-Rajarata research work.

A professor from the Jayawardanapura University also expressed the same sentiments in a different way in a response to a newspaper article of Prof. Nalin De Silva who is heading the KRRT. There he rightly stressed that further research is needed to directly attribute CKDUE with presence of Arsenic in water. There is no argument at all about it as Prof. Nalin himself has accepted the fact that further research is needed, although he did not hide his sentiments towards western research methodologies.

This academic at Jayawardenapura, in his response to Prof. Nalin De Silva, implied that the main issue being discussed in the public domain was CKDUE and its possible causative factors. But on the contrary, the politically sensitive issued was the Presence of Arsenic and Mercury in Agro-chemicals imported to the country. It should be also noted that he was very careful not to mention a word about the presence of Mercury in pesticides although it was also an issue. He, being a member of the WHO sponsored research team, may have been more sensitive towards the CKDUE and the set of hypothesis presumably suggested by the international funding agencies. As such, we could understand as to why chronic Arsenic poisoning was not included in this so called set of hypothesis.

Also the academic who is said to have taken over the responsibility of allocating a massive research fund of 4000 million, has sanctioned without any reservation that there is no relationship between Arsenic and CKDUE. We are wondering as to who on earth have given her the authority to disprove a hypothesis of another research team without significant research evidence to prove another "hypothesis of her choice". Anyway it is up. to the layman citizens of this country to test a hypothesis of their own as to why the academics and bureaucrats in this country are behaving in such a biased manner on a very serious public health hazard.

Now very specific allegations are leveled against a large number of brands of widely used pesticides for containing banned highly toxic elements like Arsenic and Mercury. The customs department has sent a list of 58 such brands of pesticides to the pesticide, registrar and the KRRT claims to have identified 28 brands with Arsenic and 13 brands with Mercury in significant levels. Isn't this situation alarming for any social minded or matured citizen to respond positively? Even a school child could understand that Arsenic and Mercury are banned because release of these elements to the environment is a serious health hazard. For someone who is more concerned, there are enough research evidence in the world about the toxicological effects of these elements in humans which are available in the internet. It is up to our researchers and academics to do further research in Sri Lanka to find out whether Arsenic and Mercury found in pesticides, appear in significant levels in water and soil and ultimately in our food chain. And then not only KRRT or WHO research team but also many other research teams will have to do long term research on health effects of chronic Arsenic and Mercury poisoning, which may well go beyond CKDUE.

Also, there is need to do social research as to why Sri Lanka has banned only 25 out of about 80 chemicals banned world wide and also as to how sonic of the banned chemicals in Sri Lankan appear in the market and used by the innocent farmers. One may have to do a retrospective study to ascertain the pros and cons of abolishing extension service in Agriculture Department and letting farmers get advice on pesticide from "MUDALALIS".

The other most dangerous thing to happen to our farmers is the import of deadly Endofin from India. Recently Supreme Court in India banned Endofin in a. public interest litigation and ordered production, distribution and sale to be stopped completely. But unfortunately court did not give a ruling regarding the stocks in. hand which is estimated to be 30,000 metric. tones. Sri Lanka is the best destination for them to dump part of that stock presumably without any repercussion. There is no way to keep cheek on this because we do not test for so called active ingredients routinely in pesticides.

So far no country in the world has set so called minimum levels of Arsenic and Mercury in pesticides, because agro-chemicals containing them are totally banned. If anyone of our academics suggest for so called minimum levels that will be a violation of Rotterdam convention which Sri Lanka has ratified. Also how can a research minded academic accept the claims of the, pesticide registrar. that there are only three brands of pesticides containing Arsenic and none containing Mercury out of more than one thousand brands he has registered; especially, when the results are not re-confirmed in another acceptable laboratory? This argument is very justifiable because of the complicated and variable nature of the testing methodologies. But so far none of the vociferous academics have called for such verification in the presence of different schools of researchers as well as the media.

Unfortunately responsible bureaucrats holding responsible positions in our country failed to understand this reality. They keep on ‘giving dead ropes’ to the government ministers that pesticides contain very low levels of, toxic elements and as such present crisis will be over if the government introduce minimum levels of toxic elements in pesticides. It is appalling that those academics, who are said to be the most learned people in the country, do not condemn such moves.

All these bureaucrats and academics know very well that countries like ours are dumping grounds for those banned chemicals, produced over a long period of time in so called developed countries. Are they compromising scientific accuracies to the political correctness of those profit motives of multinational co operations? How these learned academics can put forward hairsplitting arguments on effects of a particular course ignoring the very existence of the same.

As concluding remarks I would like to quote honorable Martin Luther King, "The history will record that the tragedy of our time is not the strident clamor of bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people".

K. M. Wasantha Bandara
General Secretary
Patriotic National Movement

The diary of an extraordinary human being: A Review of Ben Bavinck’s "Of Tamils and Tigers"

2011-06-25T22:26:00.001+05:30

The Island, 24/06/2011, NOTEBOOK OF A NOBODY

by Shanie

"This is a time of reflection for the Tamil community; a time for refashioning its politics. Even though the Tamil nationalist vision for a separate state met with a decisive military defeat in 2009, the politico-military decline of the LTTE had begun far earlier, with the convergence of multifarious set of political developments, both local and international, that began the downward spiral at a time when seemingly the LTTE was at its strongest.....

This time of reckoning is not just for the Tamils but also for the majority Sinhala community....Today, after the end of the war, the minorities fear that history is being rewritten. They fear that injustices meted out to the minorities are being written off that there is an unwillingness on the part of the majority community, even after years of destruction and polarisation in the country, to ...understand and acknowledge the history that pushed the Tamils to the edge, into the arms of the Tigers, (to understand) the uneasy relationship that ordinary Tamils had with the LTTE …...(and) that the demands for democracy and accountability are being brushed aside by an arrogant authoritarian state."

Rajani Thiranagama, an academic attached to the Medical Faculty of the University of Jaffna, was brutally shot and killed allegedly by an LTTE cadre in 1989. It was she, along with a few of her colleagues in the University of Jaffna who formed the University Teachers for Human Rights which became well known for the courageous stand they took against violations of human rights by the different actors in the Thirty Years War. Because of the principled stand the UTHR took, Thiranagama was gunned down and the other leaders like Rajan Hoole and Sritharan were driven underground. But despite these setbacks, the UTHR continued to publish their bulletins at regular intervals. These bulletins came to acquire a reputation for reliability in investigative reporting. They were able to do this because they obviously had a network of trusted informants which they cross-checked for accuracy before publication. It was this independence and integrity that made the UTHR bulletins become so very reliable, leading to the UTHR receiving the Martin Ennals Award as brave defenders of human rights.

A group of people who shared the vision and thinking of Thiranagama and the UTHR formed the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee to remember the twentieth anniversary of Thiranagama’s assassination. The Committee continues to function and has taken the initiative in publishing, in collaboration with Vijitha Yapa Publications, the diaries of Ben Bavinck, a Dutch church worker, who was both a teacher of Thiranagama and a close friend of the founders and leaders of the UTHR. The diaries are published under the title ‘Of Tamils and Tigers - a journey through Sri Lanka’s war years’. The book was launched in London recently and the quotation at the head of this column is from the Introduction to the Diaries written by the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee. Whereas the UTHR bulletins were based on investigative reporting by the authors, Bavinck’s dairies are personal reflections by the author during the period covered which is from 1988-1994. (A second volume covering the years 1994-2004 is under preparation.) The bulletins and the diaries therefore complement each other in providing the only accurate and independent recording of the events of that period in our country’s troubled past.

Bavinck’s diaries were originally maintained in Dutch (for understandable reasons) and have been translated into English for publication. They are frank and written in a style that makes for easy reading. It will be an indispensable tool for anyone researching the political and social history of Sri Lanka during the war years. Although it is essentially about the North and East, there are many references to the happenings in Colombo and elsewhere in the South as Bavinck operated from Colombo during this period as the relief co-ordinator for the National Christian Council. Like the UTHR bulletins, Bavinck’s diaries are balanced and the sensitive concern of the diarist for peace and justice comes through very clearly. As Professor Valentine Daniel says in his Foreword, in the hands of the lesser man, the years covered in the diary could have been given to a selective recording of the vilest and the most hateful aspects of the period, a journal dedicated solely to the pornography of violence. "It is not so with Ben Bavinck, who sees moments in the midst of war of acts of humanity and shared human concerns on both sides, and even when he witnessed the worst, he was capable of envisioning the possibility and promise of it being otherwise."

The Diary

A sample of the entries will show the depth and the fairness of the diarist’s recordings:

!3th September 1988 (following a JVP declared Hartal the previous day): "I found that the success of yesterday’s Hartal has really shocked people. A few men with guns can apparently start a rule of fear. Would it be possible to break this by refusing and resisting on a mass scale? Does a whole society give in too easily? It looks as if the Jaffna story has started here too. How will it ever end?"

20th September 1988: "I feel tired and lethargic. But I decided nevertheless to walk around the Beira Lake. While walking, I was thinking about the situation in the North, where one finds an atmosphere of cynicism about the Indian proposed ceasefire. "It will not lead to anything!" and "How can our ‘boys’ trust the Indians?" It is important to break through this cynicism and not to forget that this is one of the few chances we have got to bring an end to the violence and misery. And we should not forget that neither the Indians nor the Sinhalese have much reason to trust the Tigers. It is necessary to have a positive attitude which is willing to take risks. But actually one so often comes across a cynical mindset, which can only lead to the disintegration of this island."

8th July 1989 (following President Premadasa’s wooing of the LTTE to oppose the IPKF): "One of the most amazing and incomprehensible developments is the total reversal in Sinhalese opinion about the Tigers. Of course, one can notice this in Premadasa’s appeal to the IPKF not to attack the Tigers. But the most amazing example of this changed attitude was at a meeting of our own Rehabilitation Committee where a Sinhalese pastor said, ‘The Indians must stop killing our boys.’ Our boys! Who are these boys? They are the Tigers! Really unbelievable!

1st August 1989: "The murders by the JVP continue. Now a popular Sinhalese TV personality, Mr Guruge, has been killed. I heard that when Mrs Guruge had found her badly wounded husband and wanted to take him to hospital, all cars simply drove on....Fear demoralises people and the community as a whole. One has to pray that one will not, like the priest and the Lebvite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, just pass by when suddenly a fellow human being in desperate need lies at one’s feet."

1st October1989: "On Sunday morning I cycled from Vaddukoddai to Jaffna to visit the Rajasingham family, the parents and sisters of Rajani. My old colleague Rajasingham was very downcast, and he wondered whether Rajani had not been too audacious. But he felt that the urge to stand up for justice and human rights came from deep within her being. He asked me to speak at the meeting in the university in her memory the next day. He mentioned that I had been her teacher, and that my stories about the Second World War and about resistance to the Nazis had influenced her. I also talked to Rajan Hoole. He was practically sure the ‘the striped animals’ had done this, but didn’t want to speak about this at this time, so as not to disturb the ceremonies in commemoration of Rajani. He told me that Rajani had been shot from behind as she was cycling home from the university, by someone on a bicycle."

2nd October 1989: "In the morning, I finished preparing my speech and proceeded to the university. There we heard that the procession through the town, in the morning, had been attended by 3000 people, including the Vice-Chancellor if the University, Prof Thurairajah. The Kailasapathy Auditorium was also filled completely when the meeting started under the chairmanship of the vice-chancellor. There were twelve speakers. I spoke about that sentence from the Gospel, which says that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it will not bear fruit. Self-sacrifice as a vocation, which only the best among us dare to accept."

21st February 1990: "Back in Colombo, I attended the funeral of Richard de Zoysa, a well-known TV journalist, age 35, who in the night had been taken out of his house and killed. His body had been founded the next day by a fisherman as it was floating in the sea. There are suspicions against the Police, but a top minister, without offering any proof, coolly blamed RAW, the Indian Secret Service."

20th August 1990: "This morning I heard that the unfortunate Methodist pastor who was trapped with his lorry at Iyakachchi had still not been relieved. Another Methodist convoy had been attacked by a helicopter resulting in Rev Govindaraj being wounded in the back of his head. Going to Vaddukoddai, I met Principal Jebanesan also on his bicycle. He told me that Vaddukoddai had been bombed just then. We cycled there quickly and found that two dive-bombers had indeed been busy dropping four bombs. One destroyed the Primary school of Jaffna College by the side of the church, another fell behind the church near the boys’ home, which was badly damaged. The boys had all been in a bunker and were not hurt, but some teachers had sought refuge under a water tank. One of them was killed by a piece of shrapnel which had penetrated his abdomen. One bomb fell on a Co-op Store and another fell on a private house, where four people were killed, two of them children of 11 and 8 years. Totally incomprehensible why this bombardment took place. Were they under the impression that small arms factories were operated here by the Tigers?"

15th April 1994: "Sri was here. He told me about a Tamil friend Manoranjan, who writes very good Sinhala and regularly contributes a column to the organ of MIRJE, called Yukthiya, in which he describes the situation in Jaffna and the feelings and perplexities of people there. Apparently this column provokes many reactions from Sinhalese people, often even from persons in the armed forces. Many of these reactions show much understanding and compassion. It confirms the idea that the ordinary Sinhalese person is very friendly and capable of tolerance and understanding for others. The intolerance is found among the more educated Sinhalese. Sri also told me ...a Tamil university professor had reproached the UTHR (J) that it was all the time criticising the Tigers. He seemed to feel that we should not speak about the failings and misdeeds of the Tigers while the fight was still on."

Need for critical assessment

Bavinck, who lived and worked in Sri Lanka for a total of thirty three years, in two almost equal spells, had a sensitive mind that enabled him to reflect with understanding on the conflict in Sri Lanka. He lived in his native Netherlands during the Nazi occupation in the Second World War and says that that experience had a profound impact on him, creating a deep abhorrence of authoritarian fascist rule. He was publishing his diaries in the hope that it would ‘help the Tamils as well as the Sinhalese to strengthen a critical assessment of the policies and actions of their own government/movements/armed forces during the period covered. This may be of value in the ongoing search for a lasting peace in Sri Lanka.’ Even after the war has ended now, that critical assessment is still needed, Even more, a critical self-assessment is needed by everyone in Sri Lanka to reflect if we have shown any real understanding of the pain and suffering of ‘the other’ and instead become mere apologists for the failings and misdeeds of the government/armed militants/armed forces in our country’s tragic past and present.

As Professor Valentile Daniel states in his Foreword, Bavinck’s Diary entries are ‘a record of what he had seen and has now witnessed; an emotionally charged landscape that was at once subtle and plain, complex and transparent, objective yet interpreted. This diary is a gift, not only to the historian and research scholar, but to every (Sri Lankan) citizen, whatever be the state with which he or she chooses to identify himself/herself with.’ In addition to Ben Bavinck, we have to be grateful to the Rajani Thiranagama Memorial Committee and Vijitha Yapa Publications for making this Diary available to a wider readership.

Checkmate, Rajapakse! The UN Report, Militarism and Public Religion in Sri Lanka

2011-06-11T08:34:00.002+05:30

Groundviews, 9 Jun, 2011 Darini Rajasingham Senanayake Colombo, Features, International,International Relations, Peace and Conflict, Politics and Governance, Post-War, UN Panel Report,War Crimes

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it
The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayvam

Many things in the international arena came together to cast a shadow on the second anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lanka Government’s victory over the LTTE, after three decades of war on May 19, 2011. The United Nations had recently released a semi-official report on alleged war crimes which implicated both parties to the war and laid the groundwork for future action against the Government of Sri Lanka and what remains of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In neighhouring Tamil Nadu, India, the newly elected Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jeyaram urged Delhi for a war crimes trial of Mahinda Rajapakse, president of Sri Lanka, and subsequently passed a special resolution calling for economic sanctions against the regime.

In the Hague, the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants on Libyan leader Gaddafi and his son for crimes against humanity. Both, whom the emergent Rajapakse dynasty in Lanka had been cultivating, had their assets frozen. Meanwhile, protests were escalating in-country due to the spiraling cost of living and a sense that the peace dividend has been denied the working-classes who most deserved it, signaling the waning of the southern polity’s extended honeymoon with the Rajapakse regime for ending the war with the LTTE. The shooting to death of a protesting worker in the Katunayaka Free Trade Zone by the police, drawing legitimacy from the Emergency Regulation still in force, solidified public disaffection. The killing and the subsequent army take-over of the FRZ underlined the erosion of democratic space through ongoing militiarization.

Checkmate in chess and other Chaturanga board game occurs when one player’s king is threatened with capture (check ) , or under direct attack: The player who is checkmated loses the game. If a king is under attack but the threat can be met, then the king is said to be in ‘check’, but is not in checkmate. If a player is not in check but has no legal move (that is, every possible move would put him in check), the result of the game is stalemate and the game ends in a draw but is effectively a loss for the stalemated player. In practice, most players resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated since it is considered bad etiquette to continue playing in a completely hopeless position.

The semi official UN report had put the President of Sri Lanka comprehensively in ‘check’. To survive he will need to transform his game. Although a stalemate exists at this time the writing is on the wall and the direction of the game clear. The UN report has also put some members of the ruling Rajapakse family, US citizens subject to US jurisdiction, in ‘checkmate’. The groundwork for further action including for command responsibility against the regime is in place and this fact has not been lost on the professor of law who is the Foreign Minister.

Command Responsibility, established in the Hague and the Geneva Conventions, pertains to accountability in war crimes. It establishes that though soldiers of the armed forces and paramilitary units are directly responsible for the war crimes committed first-hand, the military officials who ordered and supervised these acts are also guilty, along with the head of state who controlled the military units. The Government of Sri Lanka has strenuously avoided the UN Secretary General’s repeated requests for a response to the semi-official UN report. Perjury may become an issue later.

In the aftermath of the semi-official UN report, Foreign Minister G.L Peries rushed off to New Delhi for support. While there, he was read the Riot Act and required to sign a statement that called for the repeal of Emergency Regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Meanwhile the United States and European Union assured the government that ‘regime change’ was not on the agenda at this time (but perhaps later, depending on how the Rajapakse regime’s game evolves). Right now the Western powers have their hands full with the Arab Spring, but the Tamil diaspora and international civil society seem focused and determined that justice be done at war’s end in Sri Lanka. GoSL has also asked or time and space for reconciliation – but it will need to be genuine. Official ‘truths’ generated by State propaganda machines are now being challenged by non-official truths, presented by ordinary people and easily disseminated through the new media technologies, as amply demonstrated by the Arab Spring.

In short, the wheel of international justice, like the wheel of samsara, turns slowly but surely. The protests by university dons and students against government policies, low wages and the militarization of higher education, as well as protests by women workers in the Free Trade Zones against a private sector pension scheme, herald the gathering storm. While the government claims it cannot afford to pay university dons a decent wage, it has spent billions on vainglorious military celebrations and kitsch Vesak festivities that constitute a distortion of the doctrine, spirit and practice of Buddhism, with its core values of non violence, tolerance and simplicity. It is now evident to the citizenry that the long awaited peace dividend of post-war economic growth has been gobbled up by the ruling political elite, and the jambo Cabinet of Ministers while the laboring masses are still footing the bill for the excesses of Rajapakse’s egoism, manifest in funds spent on foreign public relations companies and extravaganzas like the Commonwealth Games bid, SAARC beach games in Hambantoa, 3 new international cricket stadiums, Bollywood awards nights, state subsidized military businesses and a swollen and costly military that provides illusory comfort in the face of the semi-official UN report hanging like the Sword of Democlese over the Rajapakse Triumvirate.

To avoid ‘checkmate’ the regime will need to resolve the root causes of the ethnic conflict and learn to share power with the minorities at the center and in the regions. Enabling or disabling genuine reconciliation, democracy and power-sharing in Lanka will be the litmus test of the international community’s resolve. The statement signed in New Delhi called for “genuine reconciliation”, signaling that Delhi was not sold on the “Senate” idea in lieu of genuine devolution of power to the north and east. Minimally, the already existing articles for devolution of power to the provinces need to be implemented in the north and east within the next six months. Currently military rule and occupation continues unabated and local governance is effectively in the hands of the military

Singapore, Sri Lanka and Minority Question

Mr. Tharman Shanmugratnam, of Ceylon Tamil immigrant descent was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore in May 2011 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, although 78% of the population is ethnic Chinese and the South Asian, largely Tamil, population is less than 9%. Independent Singapore’s first Foreign Minister was also a Ceylon Tamil. Singapore’s first PM, Lee Kuan Yew, who had great respect for Rajaratnam (after whom the Rajaratnam School of International Studies is named) recently dismissed the Rajapakse government in Sri Lanka as racist.

Sri Lanka has never had a President or Prime Minister from a minority community. Presently, the United States has a president from the African American community, and India a prime minister from the Sikh minority, which had also waged armed struggle against the Indian state.

If President Rajapakse and Professor G.L Peries are serious about sharing power at the center they should request current Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne to resign and replace him with a citizen from a minority community, preferably a Tamil because it is this community that has suffered the most due to state discrimination, the root cause of the war. The new PM would need to be a person of integrity, intellect and moral stature. Needless to say this would rule out the Tamil warlords morphed into stooges who currently support the regime. The current Prime Minister, D.M Jayaratne, has demonstrated that he is not of the requisite caliber for this office in a country recovering from political and cultural conflict and deeply in need of reconciliation. For instance, school children in Jaffna were forced to sing the national anthem in Sinhala in his presence on December 26, 2010, despite protests, displaying a singular insensitivity to the need for reconciliation and respect for cultural diversity. He also claimed, in Parliament a few months ago, that there were LTTE camps in India in an attempt to justify extending the Emergency Regulations, but was corrected by the Indian Government: while at an International Women’s Day event in March this year he claimed that there was no discrimination against women in any sphere in Sri Lanka – even though women have less than 5 percent representation in government. It is indeed time that women and minority communities in the country were enabled to share power at the center as well as govern themselves in the provinces where they are the majority linguistic community.

Of Guns and Robes: Securing and Salving a Conscience?

On the second anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE, in May 2011, rather than declaring a national reconciliation month, a War Heroes or Ranaviru month was declared by the regime. The second anniversary was also channelized into the celebration of Vesak and the Sambuddhathva Jayanthi, with billions spent on construction of a Buddhist Information Center. The President engaged himself in a merry-go-round of public religious activity. He inaugurated various religious projects such as the Buddhist Museum in Kandy, visiting the Mahanayakes of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters, and gave alms to 500 monks at Gangaramaya temple in Colombo. The Vesak celebrations and decorations organized by the army, navy and air force is a sign of the militarization of public religion in Lanka. Buddhism seems increasingly in need of rescue from its self-appointed guardians - the Rajapakse regime.

Professor Gananth Obeysekere, one of Sri Lanka’s foremost scholars of Buddhism and Comparative Religion, has written about the Conscience of Duttugamunu who (like Emperor Asoka), being troubled after the killing of the Tamil king Elara, felt compelled to make amends and atone for the violence and suffering. But the public religious rituals that President Rajapakse indulged in seemed to reflect a still troubled conscious, more akin to that of Macbeth. For while LTTE terrorism has been wiped out, state terrorism continues in many forms, given immunity by the ER and the PTA. The extravagant, grandiose and kitsch celebrations this May lacked a sense of perspective and the true spirit and practice of Buddhism – ahimsa or non-violence,annicha (impermanence – including of power) and simplicity. The official Vesak celebrations, with the stamp of the armed forces seem to characterize a “political religion”, mobilized for the personal political gain of a ruler who wishes to project himself as a God King for having “defeated terrorism in the country”.

Religion has always been used and abused by nationalists and self-declared liberators of the ‘wretched of the earth’, in ways often contrary to the spirit and practice of their doctrines. Nowhere is this fact more evident than in Sri Lanka where the Buddhist principles of Ahimsa,Metta and Karuna has been twisted, commercialized, vulgarized and marketed beyond recognition by official public and politico-religious authorities and nationalists – also manifest in the building of ever more grandiose stupas and statues, extravagant Bodhi and pahan pujas to celebrate war victory, rather than considering the victims of violence and meditating on Samsara. As Osama bin Laden used Islam to promote violence, Mahinda Rajapakse uses Buddhism to legitimize continued militarization, occupation and oppression of minorities and the poor. Osama Bin Laden wanted to create a religious state, but the uprisings in the region have challenged both his and the western Orientalist version of Islam. Buddhists in Lanka will need to challenge the current construction, use and abuse of Buddhism by politicians.

Beyond the public religious nationalism of the Rajapakse regime and its celebration of the Sambuddhathva Jayanthi, there is another kinder, gentler and truer history of religion in Lanka where Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians; Sinhalese and Tamils have co-existed and shared gods, and one might add, goddesses for centuries before the birth of the modern state and the invention of ‘religion’ as a form of nationalism in South Asia. Ironically, Sinhala nationalists who have become self-appointed ‘protectors’ and ‘guardians’ with guns to defend the Sri Lanka regime’s version of public religion have actually internalized colonial constructions of “Protestant Buddhism”.

‘The past is another county’

The scholar Dr. Roshan de Silva Wijeyeratne, has suggested that “the legacy of Sinhala Buddhism can be rescued from the forces of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism”. In current national public religious discourse in Sri Lanka there is the suggestion that (Theravada) Buddhism belongs primarily and almost exclusively to the Sinhala people, appointed as guardians of the faith (since Hindusim is today the dominant religion in India and Nepal, the birthplaces of Buddhism). The Mahawamsa, an ancient chronicle subject to various readings and misreading by Sinhala patriots was to be the vehicle of the parochial projection of Rajpakse’s greatness as the protector and promoter of religion. The three new chapters to be added to the Mahawamsa would now have to include the UN report’s statement on “credible allegations of War Crimes’, against which Rajapkse Bros. Inc. has sought to protect itself with hyper-militarization of the country and invented traditions of public religion.

Buddhism, a ‘great world religion’, ’however, cannot be that easily parochialized to serve the interests of political ambitions. Buddhism is transnational and pan-ethnic in character, spirit and practice. It does not belong to Sinhala nationalists or the Rajapakse regime. Indeed it is time that true Buddhists rescue and reclaim the spirit and practice of Buddhism from the nationalist political discourse.

Until the release of the UN report, the Rajapakse ruling family had aspired to be Lanka’s rulers in perpetuity, having awarded themselves carte blanch as a reward for the defeat of the LTTE and buoyed by subsequent victories in presidential, national and local government elections. Hence the speedy and surreptitious removal of Presidential term limits via the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 2010. But these victories were delivered by a public relieved that the war was over and aided by the fact that the opposition United National Party is in tatters due to the lack of internal democracy under Ranil Wickramasinghe who has lost too many elections but refuses to retire. The JVP has emerged as the only opposition party able to challenge the Rajapakse war machine, now increasingly directed at the southern polity.

In the absence of genuine power-sharing and reconciliation with minorities and civil society uneasy lies the head that wears an increasingly hollow crown in Sri Lanka – hence the current excess of militarism and public religion. For,

Within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and mocking at his pomp,

කතු වැකිය : නායකත්ව පුහුණුවක් සිසුනට අතවශ්‍ය නම්

2011-05-24T19:57:00.001+05:30

Sri Lanka Guardian, Uploaded by adminasia, Editorial, feature, MahindaRajapaksa, Weeklya9:44 AM

රටේ ජනාධිපති වරයාම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල අධ්‍යාපනයක් නොලැබූ අයෙක් නම්, ඔහුගේම පුත්‍රයා නීති විද්‍යාලයේ හොරට විභාගය සමත් වූ අයෙක් නම්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් කණඩායමට තමාගේ පියා දේශපාලනඥයෙක් වූ පලියට ඇතුළු වීමට හැකිනම්, මෙරට තානාපති සේවයට ගෝඨා බාප්පිලාගේ දූලා හෙවත් හොඳම වර්ගයේ පුද්ගලික පන්දම් කාරයෝ නොහොත් රටේ පවට බිහිවන ශාපකාරී මිනිසුන් පත් වන්නේ නම් මෙම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වලට තේරුණා වූ නව යොවුන් වියේ අසරණ සිසුන්ට දෙන නායකත්ව පුහුණුව මොන කෙන්ගෙඩියකටද? මෙම සිසුන් වතුර බේසම් වල එළි වෙනකම් දෙපා ඔබා ගෙන, ඇස් යට කළු වෙනකම් නිදි වරා පාඩම් කළේ මේ මංගල්ලය සිදු කර ගැනීමටද?

කතු වැකිය

ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඊයේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල සිසුන් සඳහා වූ නායකත්ව පුහුණුව නිල වශයෙන් තමන්ගේ මන්දීරදී ආරම්භ කරනු ලැබීය. කිරි, පැණි ,කුරක්කන් රොටී හෝ කළු කෝපි සිසුන්ට දුන්නේ දැයි නොදනිමු. අදාළ පුහුණුව සංඛේතවත් කරමින් තමන් අභිමුඛව වඳ වැටෙන සරසවි සිසුන්ගේ සේයාරුද මාධ්‍ය වෙත නිකුත් කරනු ලැබීය. නීතිය එක පයිසයකට ගණන් නොගන්නා රටක ස්වාධීනව පැවතිය යුතු ආයතන සියල්ලම තමන්ගේ බුදලයන් ලෙස තබා ගනිම්න් අල්ලේ නටවන රටේ සබැ නිදහස කාබාසිනියා කරන කපටි නරි වෙස් ගෙන සිටින රාජපක්ෂ රජු අභිමුකව දනින් වැට්ටවීමට සිසුන් පෙළඹ වීම සමාන වන්නේ මීට මාස කිහිපයකට පෙර තංගල්ලේදී පැවති ඩී. ඒ. රාජපක්ෂ ගුණ සමරු උළෙලේදී කුඩා පාසල් සිසුන් වහල්කමට ගෙන මෙන් ඔහු වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිකළ පිළිමයට නෙලුම් මල් තබා වැඳවීමටය. මේ සියල්ල තමන්ගේ බල පරාක්‍රමය හීන වේ යැයි සිතා ගෙන කටයුතු කරන හිතේ බයෙන් වෙවුලන අන්තවාදී බමුණන්ගේ ගති ගුණය. මානසික රෝගීන්ගේ ස්වාභාවයය.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා සඳහන් කරන ආකාරයට යුද්ධයේ තිබු විනය රටේ වැඩ බිම් වලටද රැගෙන යා යුතුය. මෙය ඉතා බරපාතල කතාවකි. රටක ආරක්ෂක සහ සිවිල් අංශ වල පිළිගත් වෙනසක් තිබේ. එසේම පිළිගත් වුර්තීමය වෙනස් කම් තිබේ. නමුත් රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය අද සෑම දෙකටම විසඳුම් සොයනු ලබන්නේ මිලිටරිය ඔස්සේය. මෙයින් පෙනෙන්නේ තමාද ඇතුළු දේශපාලන ක්ෂේත්‍රය මුළුමනින්ම කුණු වී ඇති ආකාරයයි. ඔහු එහිදී ඉදිරිපත් කළ අදහස ලංකාවේ ඇත්ත තත්වය සමඟ කිසි සේත්ම ගැලපෙන්නේ නැත.

ජනාධිපති රාජපක්ෂ මෙසේ සඳහන් කළේය; " ඔබ දැන් මේ රටේ සුවිශේෂ කණ්‌ඩායමකට අයිති බව මේ මොහොතේ මම මතක්‌කර දෙන්න ඕනෑ. මේ දූලා පුතාලත් එක්‌කම ලක්‌ෂ තුනකට ආසන්න පිරිසක්‌ මීට වසර දහතුනකට කලින් පළවැනි ශ්‍රේණියට ඇතුළු වුණා. ඒ අය අතරින් අ.පො.ස. සාමාන්‍ය පෙළ සමත් වෙලා උසස්‌ පෙළට ඉඳගත්තේ එක්‌ලක්‍ෂ පනස්‌දාහක පමණ පිරිසක්‌. ඒ එක්‌ලක්‍ෂ පනස්‌දහසිනුත් අද විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට තේරිලා ඉන්නේ විසිතුන්දහසක පමණ පිරිසක්‌. ඒ වාසනාවන්ත පිරිස තමයි ඔබ. මේ රටේ ඉතා සුවිශේෂී කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌, 23,000 ක පිරිසකට අයත් වෙන්න තරම් දක්‍ෂයෝ ටිකක්‌ වටිනාම තරුණ පිරිසක්‌ අතරටයි ඔබ එක්‌ වෙන්නේ. ඒ දක්‍ෂකම, ඒ වටිනාකම අපි හොඳට අවබෝධ කරගෙන ඉන්නවා. අපට අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ මේ රටේ ඉගෙන ගැනීමට දක්‍ෂතා ඇති දක්‍ෂතා ඔප්නංවාගත හැකි දක්‍ෂයෝ ටික ඉදිරියට ගෙන එන්න. ඒ පිරිස තමයි අනාගතයට නායකත්වය දෙන්නේ. ඔවුන් ඒ සඳහා යොමු කිරීම අපේ වගකීමක්‌."

අපි දන්නා රාජපක්ෂට අනුව හෙතම විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක අධ්‍යාපනයක් හෙබි අයෙක් නොවේ. මහාචාර්ය සුනිල් ආරියරත්න තමන්ගේ මහින්ද වර්ණනාවේ සඳහන් කළ ආකාරයටනම්, මහා වීර කවයක වීරයාගේ චරිතය රඟ පෑමට සුදුසු මහරජානෝ විද්‍යොදයේ පුස්තකාලයේ සේවය කොට ඇත. විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයකට ගියේද නැද්ද යන්නට වඩා වැදගත් වන්නේ ලංකාවේ මෙන්ම ලෝකෙයේ නායකයින් බිහි වූ අකාරය ගැන සලකා බැලීමය . ලෝකයේ කිසිම තැනක නායකයින් යන්ත්‍ර මෙන් තැනිය නොහැකිය. නායකයින් වූ කලී සමාජ - ආර්ථික අවශ්‍යතා මත පැන නගින බලවේග වේ. රිසි සේ රාජ්‍ය බලය යොදා අසරණයින් මැරීමද එහි එක් සුදුකමකි. රාජපක්ෂ මෙන්ම මීට පෙර පැවති මෙරට නායකයින්ද මෙම ගුණය ඉතා මනාව පේනවා ඇත. ඒ කිසිඳු ඝාතනයකට සමාව ගැනීමට තරම් මොවුන් අභිමානවත් නැත. එවැනි පුරුද්දක් නැත.

රාජපක්ෂ හෝ ඔහුගේ ඇමතිවරුන් ඊයේ දිනයේදී ගෙතු පට්ටපල් බොරු තව දුරටත් මෙහි විස්තර කිරීම වැදගත් නැත. අනෙක් අය මෙන් රාජපක්ෂ කතාව පටන් ගන්නේම බොරුවෙනි. එහෙව් තත්ත්වක් යටතේ රටේ අනාගත නායකයින් තැනීමට යයි කියමින් කරගෙන යන මෙකි වංචාව සමාජය මර්ධනය කිරීමේ තවත් එක් වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් මිස වෙන කිසිවක් නොවේ.

අපේ අදහස අනුව නම් මෙවැනි පුහුණුවක් ලබා දීමේ වැදගත් කමක් ඇත. නමුත් එය මේ අකාරයෙන් කැඳහැලියක් කරගෙන නොවේ. එහීදී පළමුව වැදගත් වන්නේ අදාළ පුහුණුව සඳහා සහභාගී වන සිසුන්ගේ සෞඛ්‍ය තත්වය සේම පුහුණුව සඳහා පැමිණෙන සිසුන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාවය. එසේම වැදගත්ම කාරණය වන්නේ මෙවැනි පුහුණුවක් අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල සිසුන්ට පමණක් නොවේ. එනම් ද්විතීයක අධ්‍යාපනය හමාර කළ සියලුම සිසුන්ට අවශ්‍ය වේ. ඔවුහු මේ රටේ , මේ පොලවේ තව දුරටත් ජීවත් වන පුරවැසියන්ය. රටේ 12 % ක ළමුන්ට පමණක් හමුදාව යොදා නායකත්ව පුහුණුවක් ලබා දීම ගැන තේරෙන බාසාවෙන් කිව හැක්කේ , මොන බම්බුවටද කියාය. එය සිදු කළ යුත්තේ සියල්ලටම අදාළ වන සේ මනා වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් යටතේ මිස තෝරාගත් සුළු පිරිසකට නොවේ. රටේ ජනාධිපති වරයාම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල අධ්‍යාපනයක් නොලැබූ අයෙක් නම්, ඔහුගේම පුත්‍රයා නීති විද්‍යාලයේ හොරට විභාගය සමත් වූ අයෙක් නම්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ක්‍රිකට් කණඩායමට තමාගේ පියා දේශපාලනඥයෙක් වූ පලියට ඇතුළු වීමට හැකිනම්, මෙරට තානාපති සේවයට ගෝඨා බාප්පිලාගේ දූලා හෙවත් හොඳම වර්ගයේ පුද්ගලික පන්දම් කාරයෝ නොහොත් රටේ පවට බිහිවන ශාපකාරී මිනිසුන් පත් වන්නේ නම් මෙම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වලට තේරුණා වූ නව යොවුන් වියේ අසරණ සිසුන්ට දෙන නායකත්ව පුහුණුව මොන කෙන්ගෙඩියකටද? මෙම සිසුන් වතුර බේසම් වල එළි වෙනකම් දෙපා ඔබා ගෙන, ඇස් යට කළු වෙනකම් නිදි වරා පාඩම් කළේ මේ මංගල්ලය සිදු කර ගැනීමටද?

Is Sri Lanka’s Higher Education in safe hands?

2011-05-21T22:33:00.000+05:30

The Island, May 20, 2011, 7:07 pm , A Notebook of a Nobody, By Shanie

Nicolo Machiavelli, the sixteenth century political philosopher, is notorious for his authorship of The Prince in which he advises rulers on how to be a successful leader. The Machiavellian analysis of leadership and power relationships are often clever and valid but where he fails is his cynical rejection of moral and ethical standards for rulers. His analysis of the different kinds of leaders and the need for them to select their advisers well, avoiding flatterers, is valid today, as it was then. Machiavelli went on state that advisers often had their own personal interests at heart and a wise ruler should be able to see through their ruses and keep them in check. Advisers will only be faithful and loyal as long as necessity makes them to be so. It is to be concluded, Machiavelli wrote, that good counsel, from whomever it comes, must be sparked by the wisdom of the ruler, not that the wisdom of the ruler be sparked by good counsel.

Our university system is facing a crisis. It has been facing a crisis over the past few years. For far too long, we have allowed politicians to ruin higher education in our country. In 1921, the University College was established. It functioned, to all intents and purposes, as an overseas college of the University of London. But it was not an autonomous body like the colleges of the University of London. The Principal reported to the colonial Governor through the Executive Committee on Education (after the State Council was established under the Donoughmore reforms). Ivor Jennings arrived in Ceylon in 1941 with the express purpose of converting the University College into an autonomous University of Ceylon. In his unpublished autobiography (quoted by Prof Kingsley de Silva), Jennings was to note: "To one bred in the English University tradition, where political control of university policy was one of the deadly sins, the arrangement (control of the University College by the Executive Committee on Education) seemed not merely odd but vicious."

Securing Autonomy

In 1929, a twenty-five member University Commission headed by Sir Walter Buchanan-Riddell, Chairman of the University Grants Commission UK, had made made landmark recommendation for the establishment of an autonomous residential national university. But it was left to Jennings, over thirteen years later, to oversee the setting up of the University of Ceylon. The cause of the delay was principally on account of the ‘battle of the sites (between the New Peradeniya Estate and the Dumbara Valley). Following the unanimous choice of the Peradeniya site, Jennings felt that his first step should be to secure autonomy. ‘Nobody who knew anything of university traditions could justify an organisation controlled by seven politicians; authority had to be transferred .....to a senate and a council. It seemed clear, therefore that the first step must be to create a university on the lines laid down by the University Commission.’

Accordingly, Jennings drafted the new University Ordinance based on the draft provided by the Buchanan-Riddell Commission. The University was founded in 1942 and Jennings was Vice-Chancellor from that year till 1955. He was succeeded by Sir Nicholas Attygalle who remained Vice-Chancellor till 1966. Kingsley de Silva writes: ‘Thanks to Jennings, the concept of an autonomous university found wide acceptance not only with the main officials of the government and economic figures of Sri Lankan society but also among all sections of political opinion in the country. ...Under Jennings’ leadership, the University of Ceylon had been securely established at Peradeniya....He had left his stamp on the academic content of the university’s life.’

The slide in the affairs began in the sixties - first, with the university losing control over admissions and then in 1966 with the enactment of the Higher Education Act under the UNP administration in which I M R A Iriyagolle served as Minister of Education. A slide, once begun, is difficult to halt unless there is a committed and strong political leadership. We have had a deficit of such leadership, including among academics in our Universities. It is fair to say that it has reached a peak in the last few years. It is common for the political and academic leadership to cover their shortcomings by laying the blame on student politics and now when the academic staff become involved with conspiracy theories. The simple fact is that the crisis in the university system today is caused not by politics in the student unions or by unidentified conspiracies among the academics but by bumbling politicians who have tragically politicised university administration.

State Control of University Administration

Professor Navaratna Bandara in a recent article in The Island has disclosed how in 1996, a similar dispute between the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) and the Government of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga was resolved amicably through negotiations. The Government appointed a Ministerial sub-committee headed by Indika Gunawardena to negotiate with FUTA. The present Minister of Higher Education S B Dissanayake was a member of that sub-committee. That ministerial sub-committee took an enlightened and pragmatic view and Indika Gunawardena had said: "We can defeat the academics by manoeuvring our political and propaganda machinery...Some people in the government wanted to do it that way. But these people don’t know that if that happened the government would lose the academics and will jeopardise the higher education system."

But that is exactly what the present Government is doing. Obviously, they do not care if they jeopardise the higher education system. Unfortunately, President Rajapaksa seems to be surrounded by the flatterers and self-seeking advisors whom even Machiavelli warned against. Instead of meeting the FUTA and negotiating an amicable settlement, President Rajapaksa is apparently meeting next week a handful of university teachers who supported him by issuing a statement in favour of the 18th Amendment No doubt the media, and through them the public, will be told that the university teachers are not in favour of the FUTA demands. The government will only be deceiving itself if, instead of listening to the respected members of FUTA (people like Professor Sumanasiri Liyanage, Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri, Dr Mahim Mendis and others), they only listen to academic nobodies who represent no one but themselves. This, as Machiavelli said, can only lead to ruin.

We trust that it is not the Ministry of Higher Education that is influencing the University Grants Commission to issue circulars that are clearly in violation of the University Act and the Establishment Code. First, was a circular requiring Heads of department to give three months notice of resignation. The UGC surely knows that this is not an appointment made either by the Council or the UGC. It is understood that the UGC has now received legal notice regarding the lack of a lawful basis for their circular. Their second circular reportedly issued two days ago even more seriously lacks any legal basis. If the news reports are correct, the UGC has asked the Universities to withhold the payment of salaries to those academics who have resigned from their position as Heads of Department. These academics continue to do their teaching and research in terms of the letters of appointment issued by the University. The Universities will clearly be in breach of the agreement signed with the academics if their salaries are not paid; and the universities will be liable for heavy damages. Heads of Department receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 1000 (!!) and it is only that allowance which the academics who have resigned from that position have to forego.

No alternative to negotiation

Already, many of our academics have been absorbed into prestigious foreign universities. The present Minister of Higher Education plans to allow private Universities to be set up in our country. Even if these private Universities are of dubious quality, they will offer reasonable salaries to attract the best of the present teachers in our Universities. The private universities will undoubtedly have to charge high student fees so that the owners get a satisfactory return on their investment. The net result would be that our state universities, the only access to higher education for the not-so-wealthy student, would be run down to third class status. The country cannot allow that to happen. That is why it is necessary that this dispute is resolved by negotiation with FUTA, the only body that is representative of the academic community. Over the past three years, various sub-committees of the UGC and even of the President (in which his own Secretary served) have recommended and promised to the university teachers a substantial increase in salaries. But to no avail. Professor Navaratnea Bandara has shown that the net effect of the Government’s recent proposal is only a 1.25%. A conditional research allowance is not a salary increase. The Island also carried a well-argued statement by the Peradeniya Science Teachers Association comparing the salaries of university teachers with those of their counterparts in the Central Bank.

Since the sixties there has been a creeping compromise with the lofty traditions of academic freedom and university autonomy that our first Vice Chancellor, with the support of able Ministers of Education like Mr. C. W. W. Kannangara, laid down. Let not those traditions be erased completely by present-day politicians and their apologists. Let them ponder on and adopt the wise approach that Minister Indika Gunawardena and the Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga Government took in 1996. Let us not lose our academics and jeopardise higher education by political manoeuvrings of the university administration and the shameless use of the state propaganda machinery.

Some Reflections on the Trade Union Action by the FUTA

2011-05-21T22:29:00.001+05:30

Groundviews, 20 May, 2011 Mahendran Thiruvarangan Colombo, Education, Politics and Governance

The ongoing trade union action by the Federation of the University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has drawn the attention of the entire nation. Cutting across the ethnic boundaries which have hitherto divided them on many issues of national importance, especially the minority question, the academic staff of the universities in the North and East have joined hands with their counterparts in the South in a common struggle for pay hike. Reports from the different universities in the country inform us that the resignation of academic staff from voluntary positions is gathering momentum day after day with more and more academics and teachers’ unions coming out in support of the trade union action initiated by the FUTA.

Privatization of higher education in Sri Lanka is a cause for concern for students coming from underprivileged background. Free education at both secondary and tertiary levels has played a pivotal role in increasing the living standards of low-income families. In spite of its low per-capita income, Sri Lanka’s Physical Quality of Life Index is nearly as high as that of the developed world owing to the availability of free education and free health care services to all citizens. The trade union action that the FUTA has embarked on coincides with the crucial move made by the government to establish private universities in Sri Lanka. While the government is preparing to allow the establishment of private universities, students from disadvantaged sections of the community continue to regard the state-run universities as places that ensure their upward social and economic mobility. Private universities might entice the teaching staff of state-run universities sooner or later by offering them attractive salary packages. If the demands of the academic community of the state universities are not addressed in a sensible way, students who come from not-so-affluent families may have to pursue their higher education at state-run universities under academics of low caliber disqualified by private universities or deemed unfit for teaching at private universities. In the end, the government’s persistent refusal to increase the salaries of the teaching staff at the country’s state universities may put the common man’s children at the risk of losing access to quality education. As we are expecting the establishment of private universities at any moment, failing to meet the demands of the academics will cause a situation of “inter-sectoral/intra-state brain-drain” which would adversely affect the future and aspirations of the poor of this country. Though I do not see this trade union action as one that stems from a larger concern for the future of the educational opportunities for indigent students or the poor citizenry of this country, we need to transform this action into a significant component of a political program to contest the haphazard neo-liberal policies of the present regime such as privatization of higher education.

In the context of escalating cost of living, the salary paid to the academics employed at the state-run universities is not adequate to cover their routine expenditure. We should be mindful of the fact that an academic utilizes her salary not only to fulfill her daily needs, but she also invests part of it in her research and higher educational ventures. Given the lack of funding for research and higher education outside Sri Lanka, the salary paid to an academic is an important source of human resource of development in the university system, which, in turn, becomes a source of national development. If the present salary is barely sufficient to meet one’s day-to-day expenses, how can an academic develop her research skills or present her research at international conferences which charge exorbitant amounts of money as registration fee, let alone the travel expenses the academic has to bear?

Teaching at a university is not a walk in the park, though the lack of commitment of some in the academia towards teaching and research has regrettably produced a repugnant image of university academics. Teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students involves rigorous preparation. Evaluating student assignments, moderating and making question papers, evaluating answer scripts and providing guidance to research students are tasks which consume huge amount of time and require a high degree of scholarship, expertise, training and patience. Besides these academic tasks, teaching staff at our universities are burdened with innumerable voluntary chores ranging from mentoring students to providing administrative assistance to the functioning of academic departments, faculties and the entire university system. In many respects, the academic staff of our universities actively deliver their services in their non-academic capacities as student counselors, heads of departments, deans, vice-chancellors and members of various committees, besides their mandatory responsibility of teaching. We need to ask the authorities whether all these services—academic and non-academic—are valued in determining the salaries of our academics. Do we see a logical connection between the services rendered by the academic staff and the salaries they are paid? Academics who are in support of the trade union action have also argued that the salary paid to Sri Lankan university teachers is far less than the salaries earned by their counterparts in India and other South Asian countries. Hence, the trade union action launched by the FUTA cannot be dismissed as irresponsible or unneeded.

Despite the fact that the trade union action of the FUTA is justifiable for important reasons, the government has shown little interest in engaging with the demands of the academics. The University Grants Commission, in a hasty move to snub the trade union action, has issued a circular, the legal validity of which is now being questioned. It is unfortunate that the government has chosen to respond to the academics’ call for pay hike in a nationalist diatribe calling the trade union action unpatriotic. It may be true that the crisis that besets Sri Lanka’s economy will be a hindrance for the government to concede to the demands made by the FUTA immediately; but it does not warrant the government to belittle their grievances or project the trade union action of the academics in an unfavorable light, as a threat on the national interests of the country.

Trade union action in the recent history of Sri Lanka does not have many success stories. However, in any society, trade union activities are necessary for the protection of labour rights and to harness the arbitrary and exploitative practices of the state and capitalist forces. The thirty-year-old ethnic conflict has overshadowed the hardships and struggles of the working people. In a militarized society where war-heroes have been celebrated, the contribution of the working people towards this country’s progress has not been duly recognized or remembered by the state. Trade unions have lately become less independent and ethnically polarized in Sri Lanka. May Day rallies have been manipulated by the state and its aides to whip up nationalist sentiments among the public and to create a cult of personality for political leaders. The resignation of university academics enmasse from their voluntary positions as a key trade union measure to demand the introduction and implementation of a revised salary scheme and their persistent refusal to compromise their demands will hopefully rejuvenate the emaciated spirit of the trade unions belonging to the different sectors of Sri Lanka’s economy.

The support given by the United National Party and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna to the trade union action of the university teachers is commendable. However, I sadly note that political parties representing the minority communities seem to remain silent over the trade union action started by the FUTA, as though it were not their concern or responsibility. On several occasions, political parties identifying themselves with minorities have been accused by leftist political parties of conniving with imperialist forces. Though one may argue that it was the failure of the traditional left to back the minorities’ struggle for their rights that moved the minority parties closer to political parties and movements propagating the ideology of neo-liberalism, political parties speaking for the rights of the minority people should consider the role they could play vis-à-vis trade union activities such as the one that has been organized by the FUTA. Supporting this trade union action would broaden the scope of their politics and may offer them an opportunity to work with multi-ethnic groups, and garner their support to address the political aspirations of the minority communities. In the absence of strong left parties, minority parties need to realise that the task of bolstering the rights of the working people is their responsibility too. At the same time, it is time that trade unions such as the FUTA to come forward to re-evaluate their position on the minority question and render their support to the cause of the minorities.

The hegemonic structure of the nation needs to be contested from multiple-fronts. The proletariat, minorities, oppressed castes and women are the peripheral, marginalized subjects of the nation. Each of these groups relies on the others to move forward in their quest for power and emancipation. In charting its future course of action, the FUTA or any other activist movement or political party needs to consider a Sri Lankan context marked by multi-pronged struggles and the manner in which those struggles are inextricably intertwined. The success of any political action aiming at better freedom for the oppressed is contingent on the ability and willingness of the political movements and trade unions involved in that action to accommodate struggles of different kinds under a common political program. The struggle initiated by the FUTA and the support extended to it by academics from all regions of the county remind us once again of the importance of mass-based, multi-ethnic political movements to overcome the political challenges that lie before us.

It is time to decide on Sri Lanka’s university system

2011-05-21T22:27:00.000+05:30

Groundviews, 17 May, 2011 The Academic Colombo, Education, Features, Politics and Governance

The trade union action called by the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA), has once again highlighted the crisis in our universities. Unfortunately it is the strikes, the clashes and the protests that bring the universities to the news headline, and not their silent contributions to educating the youth and equipping them with skills and competencies.

The State universities in Sri Lanka need to be modernized and energized. Presumable to begin this the Government has proposed that new entrants be sent for three weeks training at a military academy. It also says that the long standing salary demand of academics is non-negotiable. Neither of these auger well for successful reforms which need to be derived by consultation with the relevant stakeholders. Lack of discussion and transparency can only be interpreted as the government having a narrow political agenda such as deliberate neglect of the State University system and the militarization of the country. This in the background of increasing advent of military intervention in many spheres of civil life such as in dengue control, land acquisition, commercial air transport services, vegetable trade and even garbage collection possibly underlines the fear that there is no need for universities to produce graduates except for a few that will seek to make loyalty to their political masters a higher calling than professional conduct. It also begs the question if converting the universities to military academies is a more pragmatic strategy at this stage.

The government however, cleverly shrouds this reality in stating that Sri Lanka will become a knowledge hub. But what steps it has taken towards this remains a mystery. It has not as yet succeeded in attracting a single private university of repute. Since higher education in Sri Lanka has been monopolized by the State, how it can achieve a knowledge hub by willful neglect of its own universities is hard to understand. The tracer surveys undertaken by the UGC indicate that the vast majority of graduates of State Universities are gainfully employed. In fact they are in high demand even in foreign markets. Many do accept these positions sadly so because the country cannot offer them suitable employment. Those that are reported as ‘misfits’ are mostly victims of policy blunders under political pressures to increase intakes in certain disciplines far beyond the market can cope with. It is not that universities are not without their own internal problems. But the remedy to this is to strengthen the universities and not to weaken them further.

Many articles have been written showing how so very low Sri Lankan university academic salaries are when compared even to our neighboring countries, many of which have lower per capita incomes. The government now states that it cannot afford this increase and that other public servants will also request similar increases. This is a question it should ask when it determines the salaries of its Central Bank employees. But this is done since it is a practical requirement that unless such market based salaries are paid, the Central Bank would lose its gifted staff to the commercial banks and the regulator would be weaker than the industry.

Government should not forget that most academics are in a similar position and able to secure employment abroad. This is amply evident if you scroll through the faculty names of any reputed university which will always include a high proportion of those who graduated from our State universities and perhaps did not return. Those that are more altruistic and wish to serve their mother country do so sacrificially. Not only are the salaries an insult to their abilities (it is not uncommon for a fresh graduate to find a job that pays more than his professor!!), the working conditions are often hostile and difficult. Doing quality research and publications for a Sri Lankan academic is an uphill task, having to also undertake many administrative duties that are required to keep the system operating due to administrators not being competent- again due to low wages and poor resources.

Many universities have large number of vacancies for qualified staff and many others have filled them out of necessity with those having partial qualifications. This is the status of the universities that are expected to drive the knowledge hub. If the country is unable to attract and retain gifted lecturers, it will find increase of the university admissions not only difficult, but also constrained to traditional areas, as staff in newer and more popular subject areas are in great demand globally. Alternately more students will seek foreign qualifications which cost an average 20 times more in foreign exchange.

Increasing salaries alone won’t fix all the problems o four universities. But consultation and negotiation would. It is important for university staff to feel part of the country’s resurgence as opposed to being labeled pawns of foreign powers and JVP sympathizers which may be label that even stretching the imagination fit just one or two.

The government should not compare the salary scale of university academics with those of Director Generals of government departments. There is no dearth of applicants for DGs posts. How many such vacancies are there currently? Today a Chairman of a corporation who may not even have O/Ls or marketable skills is allowed a salary of Rs 90,000 plus many other perks. On the other hand University lecturers are not entitled to any form of perks for transport, telephone, housing or for attending meetings. Even a Head of Department which is a full time job which only sets back his or her career, gets an additional measly Rs 1,000/- per month and vice-chancellor also not much more. If government did not create tens of thousands of new jobs in areas of little economic value addition in many government institutions- just so that employment is created for political supporters, paying a reasonable salary to university staff would not be an issue. Government should also not that even the termination of the war has not stopped the brain drain of university staff. Besides they leave even to join the private sector, as those salaries and benefits are much more attractive. The recent decision to impose PAYE tax on university staff and constrain the duty free permits will only accelerate this.

The government has so far shown that it lacks in sound judgment and considers steam rolling the protest as the preferred option. Clearly it does not seem to have the foggiest idea of the role of universities or higher education. Treating universities in this dismissive manner can only be a short term political gain, as the youthful minds and enthusiasm if not respected and nurtured by capable staff will only lead to greater chaos in the future and possibly set back Sri Lanka’s dreams of progress even further.

University to military

2011-05-21T22:22:00.002+05:30

Sri Lanka Guardian, 20/05/2011, by Janith Thilakaratne
(May 20, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Students who wish to enter into national universities have to engaging the new compulsory task of spending 3 weeks in a army camp which is allocated to them by the higher education minister S.B Dissanayeake, has now become a controversial topic which need to be analyzed carefully. The higher education ministry has acquainted the new programme to the public with asserting that the intention of this programme is to develop leadership skills of the student, but it is important to scrutinize whether the above programme truly deals with the given intention or it is another step taken to militarize the Sri Lankan society.

Most, if not all universities already conduct orientation programs at which Leadership development skills, English, IT and other soft skills are developed. And if this all about leadership skills and personality development it is much better to strengthen the existing process and direct it inside their respective university premises which will help them to be exposed to their future academic environments. But the government decision to take them to army camps is a critical issue and majority of students are apprehensive about participating. It is not clear how Tamil students will react to this as they would not like to be in military custody for 3 weeks.

A university student is a person who is not going to become a soldier in the future. Military is there to administer national security, but not to teach students. They have not given rights to deal with civil affairs of people (some exceptions have given under the prevention of terrorism act and emergency regulations).

Members of military forces are restricted from enjoying most of the fundamental rights granted by the current constitution of Sri Lanka as a mode of maintaining disciple among them. So the students who have to go through the given process will have to dwell three weeks of severe disciplines which could be oppressive to an ordinary citizen.

University students are privileged to acquire their higher education charged on government budget. They have been given that exclusive right on the ground to make sure the best brains of the country will enter to the development process with new ideas and inventions. To achieve that task they need to be given total freedom to think out of the box and let them to come up with new discoveries beneficial to the country. The problem arose is whether they will be able to achieve that goal with highly maintained disciplines which peculiarly given to military soldiers who deal with terrorists. It is problematic whether the students, who are expecting to enter medical, music, engineering fields etc, would be benefited from going though such training.

Sri Lanka is a democratic country free of any imminent security threats. But using these kinds of measures, government is trying to bring civilian affairs under the control of the military establishment.

And on the other hand, if the government engaged in this process to conquer ragging and make the university students well disciplined citizens; I see that this will make the condition worse by militarizing them (trained them to be fearless). So instead of making the minds tranquil after 30 years of violent war, the minister is trying to let the students recall the memories of that abrasive scenario again.

And from the parent’s aspect, could a parent send his child to a military camp far away from home for 3 weeks unhesitatingly? Disinclination would be more severe in case of girls. And it is important to scrutinize whether those students will get the needful protection and all other requirements in case of any emergency (such as the medical treatments). Letting a child to expose to unfamiliar environment with unknown people at once would sometimes help them to develop their personality. Nevertheless it would probably make some of them mentally anxious. There could be some students who have never exposed to such situation before and it is need to be considered how effective this compulsory training will be to them. (this could be a mental torture to them).

As a result of fear of some parents which could arise from the initial step of local higher education process, who could afford their child’s higher education may prefer private universities which already allowed by the government and as a consequence of this decision a large number of students who are still studying to achieve the university goad might lose their interest to enter the national universities. This could affect the A/L system as well. Even now most parents are afraid to send their children to national universities with the marks of disgrace made upon them (specially ragging). So this new process may make the situation worse.

So if the government becomes successful in continuing this process it is vague what will be the next move and it may be compulsory cadet training for all students at schools.

( The writer is a student at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo )

Regimenting Society

2011-05-15T19:46:00.002+05:30

The Sunday Leader, 15/05/2011, By Tisaranee Gunasekara

Nazism offered….a society that had been scarred by deep divisions…a sense of lofty purpose, almost a national mission….”
— Michael Burleigh (The Third Reich – A New History)
Barring a last-minute judicial-intervention, the Rajapaksa plan to make ‘leadership training’ by army officers mandatory for all university-entrants will become a reality, this month. University entry will be denied to any student who does not participate in this three-month programme of physical and psychological regimentation in army camps. That this measure is a gross violation of several basic rights is obvious to the naked eye. More pertinently, if there is no judicial or societal opposition to this scheme, it may be expanded into a nation-wide dragnet (compulsory national service?) which catches 18 year-olds and habituates them into mindless obedience to Rajapaksa Rule.
After all, if the younger generations are conditioned to acquiesce unthinkingly to the decrees of their rulers, if they are disciplined into unquestioning acceptance of the status quo (a familial autocracy behind a democratic façade), a Lankan Spring may be preventable, even after decades of Rajapaksa-misrule.
Given the deadly potential inherent in this scheme, why is polity and society (including most of the academia) reacting to it with indifference? (A cogently argued piece by Prof. Prian Dias of the Moratuwa University, published in the website, Groundviews, is a notable exception to this appalling quietism). Just a couple of months ago, such a preposterous idea would have been unthinkable; today, it is a near fait accompli. And that is quintessential Rajapaksa modus-operandi; for instance, the possibility of the 18th Amendment was dismissed as an impossibility by the regime and by most Lankans, until it was sent to the judiciary for approval. (Similarly, the President has denied any intention of introducing a constitutional amendment limiting the term of the Chief Justice and enabling the President to appoint the Secretary to the Judicial Services Commission).
“I think the entire thing is mad, but I am not bothering myself with it”: this, according to Ian Kershaw, was the (not atypical) reaction of a non-Jew to the Kristallnacht (Hitler – Hubris). The planned militarisation of the universities is almost too surreal to be taken seriously; moreover it does not directly affect most Sri Lankans. Still, it should concern each one of us, because it marks an important milestone in the Rajapaksa project of societal regimentation. The Ruling Family aims to turn citizens into subjects via a process of politico-ideological standardisation; ‘patriotic standards’ are being introduced into every sphere, from politics to economics, from culture to personal conduct. Those who fail to conform to these Rajapaksa-decreed standards are considered anti-patriots, as the witch-hunting of Gen. Sarath Fonseka demonstrates.
Creeping Militarization
C. Wright Mills defines America’s real rulers as men “….in command of the major hierarchies and organisations of modern society. They rule big corporations. They run the machinery of the state and claim its prerogatives. They direct the military establishment. They occupy the strategic command posts of the social structure….” (The Power Elite). Since the election of Mahinda Rajapaksa as the President of Sri Lanka in November 2005, his family has moved steadily to concentrate more and more power in its hands. Six years on, the Rajapaksas occupy the zenith of the state, with presidential siblings as military and economic czars. They are Sri Lanka’s new ‘power elite’. Concomitantly, Lankan armed forces are being transformed from an instrument of the state into a praetorian guard of this Familial ‘power elite’. The bloated military is fed a huge chunk of the national income and used by the Rajapaksas to control state and society.
Each week there are new examples of the steady encroachment of civil spaces by the Rajapaksa-ised military. For instance, last week, the Navy was put in charge of the Vihara Mahadevi Park while road development work of the CMC was placed under army supervision. The Navy is also helping tourism-industrialists in Kalpitiya to overcome opposition by concerned local communities. According to fishermen of the area, “the tourist industry is utilising the Navy to take hold of land….” (BBC – 9.5.2011). For this purpose, the Navy had set up a checkpoint in Mohottuwarama, a checkpoint which did not exist during the war. The armed forces will thus be used as enforcers to facilitate economic activities which endanger local communities and/or cause environmental degradation.
To ensure the continued success of their Familial project, the Rajapaksas need to destroy every democratic bone in Sri Lanka’s body-politic. Inculcating an anti-democratic ethos in civil society will enable this movement away from democracy to be accomplished with minimum force and fuss. Equating democracy with anarchy and glorifying iron-discipline as the path to peace and prosperity is a standard practice of despots. These appeals work best in societies facing ‘ontological crises’; for people battered by gales of political, economic and social instability, the prospect of order and discipline has a curious appeal. For instance, many Lankans may think that a dose of discipline would be good for university students. This, for instance, is how many Germans felt about the Weimer Republic, a discontent the Nazis used adroitly. The LTTE too used Tamil people’s natural affinity towards order and discipline to beat back left-wing competition and gain popular support in the 1980s.
Anarchy is undesirable; but mindless discipline is even more so. Arguably the greatest horror of human history, the Holocaust, was facilitated not by a dearth of discipline but by an excess of it. The Tigers became master-terrorists not because they were anarchic but because they adhered to an iron-discipline and obeyed all ‘Superior Orders’, however irrational or immoral; it is mindless obedience and not wild-ass independence which creates ranks of suicide bombers.
The Rajapaksas, like most despots, advocate a false dichotomy, between rigid discipline and wild anarchy. This is not the choice before Sri Lanka. Until the next national-election season dawns, the choice is not even between Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe or the UPFA and the UNP. Currently, the real choice is whether we allow Sri Lanka to become a Rajapaksa-property. We must decide whether the Rajapaksas should be given a carte blanche to forge ahead with their project of familial autocracy; or not. This is a choice available to all Lankans, irrespective even of political party-allegiances. A Rajapaksa autocracy will be as damaging to the SLFP/UPFA as it is to Sri Lanka, because the Ruling Family is empowering itself by disempowering the governing party/coalition. A symbol of this debasement is the fact that the 20-something Rajapaksa offspring have more real power than senior SLFPers with a lifetime of loyal service to the party.
The Rajapaksas have proved to be past masters at replacing democratic governance with familial rule, step by stealthy step. Stopping that deadly journey thus entails opposing each anti-democratic measure, even when it doesn’t affect us directly. Tyranny, even at its best, exacts a far bitter price from the populace which nourishes it than democracy, even at its worst. The twin-facts that Sri Lanka has fallen by three ranks in the 2011 Mother’s Index and that, according to the latest Gallup poll on Global wellbeing, only 5% of Lankans consider themselves thriving (while 75% categorise themselves as struggling) presage our really destined destination under Rajapaksa rule.

සරසවි ඇදුරු අරගලය හා අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී කුමන්ත්‍රණ

2011-05-15T19:30:00.000+05:30

Divaina, 15/05/2011

සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් අරගලය අද සමාජයේ අවධානය දිනාගත් අරගලයක්‌ බවට පත්ව තිබේ. එය වැදගත් වන්නේ වෘත්තිය අරගලයක්‌ යන අර්ථයෙන් පමණක්‌ නොවේ. ඊට වඩා සමාජ අවධානයට පාත්‍ර විය යුතු දේශපාලන ගැඹුරක්‌ එහි තිබේ. වත්මන් රාජපක්‌ෂ පාලනය කටයුතු කරමින් සිටින ආකාරය පිළිබඳවත් වත්මන් පාලනය විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු ලබමින් සිටින ධනපති ක්‍රමයේ නොහැකියාව පිළිබඳවත් තේරුම්ගත හැකි කරුණු එහි අන්තර්ගතය.

සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් අරගලය අද ඊයේ හදිසියේ ඇති වූවක්‌ නොවේ. ආණ්‌ඩුව කියනා තාලයට අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී කුමන්ත්‍රණයක්‌ද නොවේ. ඔවුන්ට අවසන් වරට වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක්‌ ලබා දී තිබෙන්නේ 1996 වර්ෂයේදීය. 2006 දී ආණ්‌ඩුව කළේ එතෙක්‌ 30% ක්‌ව තිබූ අධ්‍යයන දීමනාව 25% දක්‌වා අඩු කොට මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කිරීමයි. ඒ හැරෙන්නට ගෙවී ගිය වසර 15 ක කාලය තුළ සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් වැඩි වී නැත. එහෙත් 2001 වසරට සාපේක්‌ෂව මේ වසර වන විට ජීවන වියදම දෙගුණයකටත් වඩා ඉහළ ගොස්‌ තිබේ. ඒ නිසා ඉල්ලීම් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පෙර සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ පමණක්‌ නොව සියලුම සේවකයින්ගේ වැටුප් වැඩි කළ යුතුව තිබේ.

සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන් මුලින්ම වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක්‌ ඉල්ලා සිටියේ 2007 වසරේදීය. එහෙත් ආණ්‌ඩුව එය සැලකිල්ලට ගත්තේ නැත. එම ඉල්ලීම නොසලකා සිටි ආණ්‌ඩුව ඉන් පසුව කටයුතු කළේ කෙසේද?

1. 2008 ජනවාරි 31 වැනිදා ජනාධිපතිවරයා හා සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන් අතර සාකච්ඡාවක්‌ පැවැත් වුණු අතර මාස තුනක්‌ තුළ ඔවුන්ගේ වැටුප් වැඩි කිරීමට ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතා පොරොන්දු විය. එම පොරොන්දුවේ අරමුණ ආණ්‌ඩුවේ මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචාරක වැඩසටහන්වලට සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සහාය ලබා ගැනීම බව දැන් පැහැදිලිය.

2. 2009 මාර්තු 24 වැනිදා ජාතික වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාවෙන් සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන් වෙත ලිපියක්‌ ලැබිණි. ඒ වන විට ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලබා දුන් මාස තුනෙන් වැටුප් වැඩි කරන පොරොන්දුවට මාස 14 ක්‌ ගත වී තිබිණි. එම ලිපිය මගින් ජාතික වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාව යළිත් පොරොන්දු වූයේ මාසයක්‌ තුළ ගැටලුව විසඳන බවයි. සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන් සඳහා ගැලපෙන වැටුප් ව්‍යුහයක්‌ සකස්‌ කරන බවත් ඊට ප්‍රමුඛතාව දෙන බවත් එම පොරොන්දුවට අන්තර්ගත විය.

3. එම, මාසයේ පොරොන්දුවට මාස අටක්‌ ගත වූ පසුව එනම් 2009 දෙසැම්බර් 09 වැනිදා බැසිල් රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතා සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන් හමු විය. කඩිනමින් වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක්‌ ලබා දෙන බවත් එපමණක්‌ නොව, අධ්‍යයන දීමනාව දෙගුණයක්‌ කරන බවත් එහිදී ඔහු යළිත් පොරොන්දුවක්‌ ලබා දුන්නේය.

4. 2010 ජූලි 20 වැනිදා ජවිපෙ දේශපාලන මණ්‌ඩල සභික අනුර දිසානායක සහෝදරයා සරසවි ආචාර්ය වැටුප් ප්‍රශ්නය පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හමුවට ගෙන ගියේය. ඒ අවස්‌ථාවේදී උසස්‌ අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍ය එස්‌. බී. දිසානායක මහතා පැවසුවේ රුපියල් 20,750ක්‌ වූ ආධුනික කථිකාචාර්යවරයකුගේ අවම වැටුප රුපියල් 72,000 ක්‌ දක්‌වාත් රුපියල් 57,755 ක්‌ වූ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්යවරයකුගේ අවම වැටුප ලක්‌ෂ දෙකක්‌ දක්‌වාත් වැඩි කරන බවයි.

මේ ගෙවී යන්නේ 2011 වර්ෂයේ මැයි මාසයයි. මේ වන විට අතිගරු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතාගේ මාස තුනේ පොරොන්දුවට මාස 39 කුත් ජාතික වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ මාසයේ පොරොන්දුවට මාස 25 කුත් බැසිල් රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතාගේ පොරොන්දුවට මාස 16 කුත් ගත වී තිබේ. එස්‌. බී. දිසානායක මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හමුවේ දුන් පොරොන්දුවට මේ වන විට මාස 08 ක්‌ ගත වී තිබේ. ගරු ඇමතිවරුනි, ආණ්‌ඩුවේ කැළැන්ඩරයේ මාසයකට දින කීයක්‌ තිබේද?

සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් අරගලය තවත් එක්‌ වෘත්තිය අරගලයකට සීමා වූවක්‌ නොවේ. රටේ බුද්ධිමතුන් සේවය කළ යුතු ප්‍රධාන ස්‌ථාන කිහිපය අතරින් එකකි, ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය. උදාහරණයක්‌ ලෙස හසල අත්දැකීම් හා දැනුම ඇති ඉංජිනේරුවකු ජාතික නිෂ්පාදනයට විශාල දායකත්වයක්‌ දක්‌වයි. එහෙත් එවැනි අයකු සරසවි ආචාර්යවරයකු ලෙස සේවය කරන්නේ නම් ඔහු එවැනි ඉංජිනේරුවන් විශාල පිරිසක්‌ බිහි කරයි. සරසවි ආචාර්යවරයකු රටේ සංවර්ධනයට අවශ්‍ය මානව සම්පත් බිහි කරයි. එබැවින් වඩාත් වැඩි දැනුම් සහිත, අත්දැකීම් සහිත පුද්ගලයින් ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය වෙත ආකර්ශනය කර ගැනීම අනාගතය ගැන දැක්‌මක්‌ ඇති ආණ්‌ඩුවක වගකීම වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකා රුපියල්වලින් ගතහොත්, ඉන්දියාව ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්යවරයකුට රුපියල් 1,17,682 ක වැටුපක්‌ ගෙවන්නේත් පාකිස්‌තානය රුපියල් 2,37,272 ක වැටුපක්‌ ගෙවන්නේත් ඒ නිසාය. එහෙත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්යවරයකුගේ වැටුප රුපියල් 57,755 කි.

සැබවින්ම සිදු වෙමින් තිබෙන්නේ කුමක්‌ද? රාජපක්‌ෂ ආණ්‌ඩුව කවර දේශප්‍රේමි සීතාම්බර සළු පටලවා ගෙන සිටියද, එසේ සිටීමට කොතරම් උත්සාහ කළද අධිරාජ්‍ය ගැති ආණ්‌ඩුවකි. රාජපක්‌ෂ මහතාද ක්‍රියාත්මක කරමින් සිටින්නේ ලෝකය තුළ වේගයෙන් ගරා වැටෙමින් තිබෙන ධනේශ්වර ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්ති මිස අනෙකක්‌ නොවේ. අද ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යම් තාක්‌ දුරකට හෝ ආරක්‌ෂා වී තිබෙන නිදහස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය හා නිදහස්‌ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවය විනාශ කොට ඒ වෙනුවට zඅධ්‍යාපන කඩZ හා zරෝහල් කඩZ ඇති කිරීම ආණ්‌ඩුවේ අපේක්‌ෂාව වී තිබේ. එය ආණ්‌ඩුවේ අපේක්‌ෂාවක්‌ පමණක්‌ නොව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ණය දෙන අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී ආයතනවල කොන්දේසියක්‌ද වේ. ආණ්‌ඩුව දැවැන්ත ශිෂ්‍ය මර්දනයක්‌ දියත් කරමින් පෞද්ගලික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආරම්භ කරමින් සිටින්නේ ඒ නිසාය. එම කොන්දේසි ඉටු කිරීම සඳහාය.

ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතියට ස්‌වාභාවික මරණයක්‌ අත්කර දී, දුප්පත් දෙමාපියන්ගේ දූ දරුවන්ට උසස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට ඇති අවස්‌ථා අහිමි කිරීමට ආණ්‌ඩුව උත්සාහ කරමින් සිටී. ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය වෙනුවට විදේශීය සමාගම් විසින් පවත්වාගෙන යනු ලබන පෞද්ගලික විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවලට දිරි දෙමින් සිටී. ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය බිඳ වැට්‌ටවීම සඳහා කළ හැකි හොඳම දේ එහි ආචාර්ය හිඟයක්‌ ඇති කිරීමත් සම්පත් හිඟයක්‌ ඇති කිරීමත් අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට නුසුදුසු තත්වයක්‌ ඇති කිරීමත්ය. විවිධ බොරු පොරොන්දු ලබා දෙමින්, ආචාර්යවරුන්ට තවදුරටත් විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවල ඉගැන්වීම එපා කරවන කලකිරවන තත්ත්වයක්‌ ඇති කරමින් සිටින්නේ ඒ නිසාය. එමෙන්ම, ආචාර්ය වෘත්තියට දෙන වැටුප අඩු මට්‌ටමක පවත්වාගෙන යාමෙන් සිදු වන්නේ උගතුන් වෙනත් ක්‌ෂේත්‍රවල රැකියා සඳහා යොමු වීමයි. එමගින්ද ජාතික විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය බිඳ වැටීමට ලක්‌ වේ.

ඇමැති ධුර නොලැබූ ආණ්‌ඩුවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ට සුඛෝපභෝගී වාහන මිලදී ගැනීමට රුපියල් කෝටි 148 ක්‌ නාස්‌ති කළ හැකි, ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයට වාහනයක්‌ මිලදී ගැනීමට රුපියල් මිලියන 200 කට වඩා වියදම් කළ හැකි ආණ්‌ඩුවට සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් වැඩි කිරීමට මුදල් නැතැයි කීම පිළිගත හැක්‌කක්‌ නොවේ. ඒ නිසා සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප වැඩි නොකරන්නේත්, ඔවුන් ජනතාවගේ අප්‍රසාදයට පත් කිරීම සඳහා රාජ්‍ය මාධ්‍ය යොදා ගනිමින් විවිධ අවලාද ගොඩනගන්නේත් සැලැස්‌මකට අනුව බව පැහැදිලිය. ඒ නිසා සරසවි ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් අරගලය ඔවුන්ගේ ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌ පමණක්‌ නොව නිදහස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබූ හා ලබන සියලු දෙනාගේත් තමන්ගේ දරුවන්ට නිදහස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය ප්‍රතිලාභ උරුම කර දීමට අපේක්‌ෂාවෙන් සිටින සියලු දෙමාපියන්ගේත් අරගලයක්‌ විය යුතුය.

ආණ්‌ඩුව මේ ක්‍රියාත්මක කරමින් සිටින්නේ අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයේ වුවමනාවයි. එය පරාජය කළ යුතුය.

විපක්‌ෂයට දේශපාලනය කිරීමට ඇති ඉඩ අහුරමින්, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය අහෝසි කරමින්, යුද්ධය නිසා අවතැන් වූ උතුරේ වැසියන් නිසි පරිදි යළි පදිංචි නොකරමින් හා ඔවුන්ට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයත් දේශපාලන නිදහසත් ලබා නොදෙමින්, අත්අඩංගුවේ සිටින දෙමළ තරුණ තරුණියන් පිළිබඳ තොරතුරු හෙළි නොකරමින්, තවදුරටත් හදිසි නීතිය ඇතුළු මර්දනකාරී නීති පවත්වාගෙන යමින්, මාධ්‍ය මර්දනය කරමින්, මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් බෑන් කී මූන් හරහා එන අධිරාජ්‍යවාදයට ඉඩ විවෘත කරන ආණ්‌ඩුව නිදහස්‌ අධ්‍යාපනය අහෝසි කොට අධ්‍යාපනය මුදලට විකුණන හා මිලදී ගන්නා දෙයක්‌ බවට පත් කිරීම සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල, ලෝක බැංකුව ඇතුළු ආයතන හරහා එන අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී මැදිහත්වීම දෝතින් පිළිගනිමින් සිටී. පුහු වීරත්වය හා ජනප්‍රියත්වය තකා බෑන් කී මූන් හරහා එන අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී මැදිහත්වීමට සිංහලෙන් විරුද්ධ වී ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් දණ ගසන ආණ්‌ඩුව මූල්‍ය අරමුදල, ලෝක බැංකුව වැනි අධිරාජ්‍යවාදී ආයතන හරහා එන නියෝග හොර රහසේ කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරීව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරමින් සිටී. ආණ්‌ඩුවේ පරස්‌පරය එයයි.

සමාජවාදය යටතේ උගතුන්ට සලකන්නේ කෙසේදැයි උදාහරණයක්‌ දක්‌වමින් මෙම ලිපිය අවසන් කිරීම සුදුසු යෑයි සිතමි. පළමු වැනි ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් සෝවියට්‌ දේශයට විශාල හානියක්‌ සිදු විය. ඒ සමගම ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ සිවිල් යුද්ධයද රුසියාවේ ආර්ථිකය විශාල වශයෙන් බිඳ වැට්‌ටවීමට සමත් විය. ඒ නිසා ලෙනින්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුතු සෝවියට්‌ සමාජවාදී පාලනයට සිදු වූයේ ජනතාවට ආහාර සලාකයක්‌ බෙදා දීමටයි. එම ආහාර සලාකය බෙදා දීමේදී විද්‍යාඥයින් හා උගතුන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් විශේෂත්වයක්‌ සිදු කරන ලදී. එනම් ඔවුන්ට ආහාර සලාක දෙක බැගින් ලබා දීමයි. හරි පාර එයයි.

Avoid a showdown! University Academics salary demands:

2011-05-14T19:21:00.003+05:30

The Island, May 12, 2011, 12:00 pm, By Kumudu Kusum Kumara
The government and the university academics are heading for a showdown which should be avoided lest the university system will breakdown.

Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) has embarked on trade union action where its members have with effect from 9th May, 2011 resigned en masse from all voluntary administrative posts they held and would refrain from participation in GCE A/L Examination related work in August 2011.

The point I want to make in this brief intervention as an academic with the hope that it would contribute toward diffusing the crisis, is that what began as a salary issue has now been extended to a matter of dignity of and respect for the profession. According to FUTA sources, already large numbers of academics from almost all the universities representing all departments, in all the faculties in the university system have tendered resignations and even as I conclude this article there do not seem to be any sign of them letting up. While sister unions that comprise the FUTA keep on reiterating their resolve to remain in the trade union action, even those who were not involved initially are organising themselves to join the action.

The government has threatened the academics with legal action, and portrays their demand for a salary increase as unfair, unpatriotic and politically motivated. .

Salary increase

The government claims that the "university academics were granted 36.25 per cent salary increase in the 2011 budget while only a five per cent increase was granted to other public servants."

The university academics point out that this statement is inaccurate. They argue that while they got the 5% salary increase given to all public servants, and a 25% increase of the existing Academic Allowance which is equivalent to 25% of the basic salary. Thus the increase in the academic allowance is equivalent to a 6.25 % increase of the basic salary.

Academics point out that there is a difference between a salary increase and an increase of an allowance which has consequences for the final salary package one gets. Even if one leave out this issue of the difference between salary and allowance which may be taken to be an academic exercise by some, with the increase of the academic allowance the increase to the total salary is (5%+ 6.25%) 11. 25 %.

Research allowance is not a salary increase

The other 25 percent which government claims a salary increase is NOT a salary increase.

It is a research allowance which has to be earned by each individual academic on a yearly basis with many conditions attached to its implementation.

Moreover the same 25 per cent research allowance has been offered to Senior Level Officers engaged in research work in the public sector, and not only to university academics.

With regard to this allowance so far three circulars have been issued between 10th March and 20th April 2011, two from the Management Services of the General Treasury under the signature of P.B.Jayasundera, Secretary to the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance and Planning and a third one under the signature of Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne, Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education.

The standards set in the first circular, no doubt with the laudable intention of improving the quality of research in the country to reach international standards (unfortunately, however, lacking in due attention paid to its operability in terms of the historical reality in which our university academics has been located), have been watered down in the letter two, apparently due to political pressure to make it easier for everyone to get the 25 percent research allowance.

The objective of the government clearly is to make the members of the academic community feel that the 25 percent research allowance is equal to a virtual salary increase. The actual reality of this claim will only unravel as these circulars go through its implementation with the modus operandi of the University Research Committees and the Faculty Research Committees, which are to be the approving bodies for research that would qualify to win the 25 percent research allowance for one year.

Obviously, the university academic community does not consider the above 25 percent research allowance a salary increase. What they are demanding through engaging in trade union action is negotiations on what they claim a salary increase the government has agreed they deserve.

Difficult times and negotiations

Minister of Higher Education, S. B. Dissanayake is on record saying that "[W]e accept that university academics need a pay increase. But not at a time the country is facing a difficult situation politically and economically" (Daily Mirror on line, Saturday, 07 May 2011). When the government says that due to economic and political reasons it is not in a position to pay the salary increase that they agree the university academics deserve, then the best course of action to diffuse the situation is to invite the FUTA to a discussion on that matter.

The Minister is also on record saying that the FUTA "can bring their grievances to President Mahinda Rajapaksa or the Higher Education Ministry at any time and resolve these matters." FUTA states that the Minster at a meeting with FUTA "promised that he would arrange a meeting with the President in order to discuss the matter. Although FUTA sent a letter through the Minister to the President in line with this undertaking, FUTA is yet to receive an acknowledgement, let alone an appointment, from the office of the President." It seems it is essential that the mistrust that, the above scenario shows, has developed between the university academic community and the government needs to be diffused immediately by reviving talks between the two parties.

For this to happen it is necessary that the government takes the university academic community into its confidence as a "stakeholder" as it is fashionably said these days, rather than an enemy of the educational reforms it intends to introduce, which essentially should involve the issue of salaries of the academics.

To begin with, it is necessary for the government to seriously address the FUTA claim that the government and authorities have been making statements "that seek to both degrade the credentials and status and to cast aspersions on the reputation and conduct of university teachers, with ill-founded allegations and accusations."

It is unfortunate that the government in its efforts to discredit the FUTA demand for a salary increase has taken the usual path of discrediting the university academic community treating it as an enemy.

University academics are not terrorists. Neither are they rebellious young university students.

The argument presented by the government that "many FUTA members are anti-government" may earn some credibility in the eyes of the public given the appearance of some publicly known personalities affiliated to political parties on the FUTA platform or that the UNP and the JVP are taking an interest in this issue to get some political mileage out of it. But members of university teachers unions across the island which send its representatives to the executive committee of the FUTA know that this is not true. University teachers unions that are members of the FUTA are not politically affiliated. However, it is natural that their members may belong to various political parties or subscribe to political ideologies found in the country. What is important is that FUTA does not represent the views of any or some political parties but the views of its membership.

University academic community in Sri Lanka has a long history. This is not the first time that they have been engaged in trade union action or salary demands. The long drawn struggle fought by University academics under the leadership of Prof. Nalin de Silva to win their salary demands is history now. Never in history have they been treated as enemies by the administration or the government and thereby even in engaging in trade union action, relations between the academics and the authorities and the government have never been on enemy level. As it is mostly academics who hold positions of authority in the university administration, there is never an issue of outright hostility towards each other in carrying out trade union action. It is rather unfortunate if at this juncture such an enmity develops as it would sow disharmony among the academia thus affecting its unity in caring for the advancement of higher education which is their common goal.

If the government is to achieve its vision of turning Sri Lanka into a knowledge hub in Asia and raise the standards of its universities to international levels then it is imperative that it should take into confidence the university academic community in carrying out such reforms.

Hence running down the academic community in the eyes of the public in order to avert the demand for a salary increase may bring about antagonisms not only between the authorities and the academia, but also within the academia as this situation demands the academics to choose political camps on the lines of allegiance to government labelling all those who are involved in trade union action as enemies or traitors of a nation building project.

The writer is a member of the Arts Faculty Teachers Union, University of Colombo.

References:
1. (Management Services Circular No: 44, 10.03.2011 http://www.treasury.gov.lk/BOM/msd/circulardocs/msd-2011-44-eng.pdf

2. Management Services Circular No: 44 (i), and 15.03.2011 http://www.treasury.gov.lk/BOM/msd/circulardocs/msd-2011-44%28i%29-eng.pdf

3. Higher Education Circular No: 1/ 2011) on 20th April 2011. http://www.ugc.ac.lk/en/policy/other-circular-letters/93-higher-education-circular-no-1-2011/866-payment-of-research-allowance-in-terms-of-budget-proposals-2011.html

Trade Union Action of University Academics

2011-05-14T19:05:00.005+05:30

The Island, 11/05/2006

The University academics have finally resorted to trade union action after years of discussions and negotiations, with the authorities, proved to be futile. The FUTA (Federation of University Teachers’ Associations) has on several previous occasions postponed such action due to the promises made by the relevant authorities to implement a reasonable salary scheme for the academics. Attempts are now being made to impress upon the general public that a pay rise of 31 % has been granted and that the trade union action is quite unreasonable. The purpose of this article is to appraise the public at large of the prevailing situation with regard to the salaries of university academics.

A position as a university academic in any country is bestowed with social respect and dignity. All the universities anywhere in the world take efforts to recruit and retain people with highest academic achievements by offering them attractive wages and other benefits. Countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, China and India with high economic growth rates have invested heavily in education, particularly in tertiary (university) education and Research & Development. However, the situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated so badly during the last few decades that we have been unable to recruit and retain best quality young academics. In fact we have the lowest academic salaries when considered internationally, regionally or even locally.

In 1970s, the first preference of a young graduate with 1st or 2nd class (Upper Division) was to join the university staff. The starting salary of an Assistant Lecturer then was Rs. 700/=. Another option available was to join the Central Bank for a salary of Rs.600/=. The salary of a Member of the Parliament then was about Rs.600/=.

The situation today is so lopsided that one may tend to think that the bureaucratic machinery has, over the years, through various salary revisions deliberately acted to undermine the academic community. Today, the starting salary of a university Lecturer at entry level is Rs. 26,900/=. According to an advertisement of the Central Bank (with closing date of 6th April 2007) a management trainee (with similar qualifications required for a Lecturer) is paid Rs. 45,000/= during two years of training and Staff Grade I salary of Rs. 63,000/= thereafter. For non-staff class grade II appointments, according to the same advertisement, one gets Rs. 25,000/= during training period and Rs. 37,000/= thereafter. The minimum educational qualification required for this latter post is only three C passes at G.C.E (A/L) examination. It should be made clear that a person in the Central Bank with just three A/L passes gets Rs. 37,000/= while a Lecturer in a University with a 1st class (or 2nd upper) special degree gets only a basic salary of Rs. 26,900/=!. The academic staff of Sri Lankan universities must be commended for performing their duties for so long under such humiliating conditions. Incidentally, an MP now gets a basic salary of Rs. 54,000/=. This information is summarized below (Table 1).

The salaries of Senior Lecturers and Professors are also alarmingly poor when compared with parallel grades in the Central Bank and private sector organizations.

In addition to this basic salary an academic member used to get 30% of the basic salary as an academic allowance, which was reduced to 25% a few years back. Thus a Senior professor gets a salary of around Rs. 72,200/=. We invite you to compare this salary with what is offered by the Central Bank for a special degree graduate with just 5 years experience and no post-graduate requirements . According to an advertisement of the Central Bank for the recruitment to the post of Engineer, such an employee gets a starting salary of Rs. 80,000/= (basic salary + bonus of 2 months salary per year). One can become a Senior Professor in a university only if he/she has post-graduate qualifications and extensive experience in teaching and research and by going through a stringent sequence of promotions. The situation is an insult to the academia to say the least.

The claim that the salaries of our university academics have been increased by 36.25 % recently is far from reality. It is true that we get the 5% general increase proposed in the 2011 budget and the additional 6.25%. The so called research allowance of 25 % of the salary is tagged with a highly unrealistic procedure that hardly anybody would get it.

The Global Scenario

An educated population is an asset to a country and the money spent on education is an investment. The global average of GDP spent on education is about 5.5 % with Cuba at top of the list spending 13.6 % of GDP on education in 2008. The amount of money spent on education by some of the countries in the South Asian region is as follows (World Bank data).

Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Malaysia (also Singapore and Brunei) are among the countries that offer high salaries for university academics. China and India have recently increased the salaries of academics to an acceptable level. Subsequent to the recommendations of the 6th Pay commission, India offers a salary equivalent to about Rs 100,000 (LKR) for a Lecturer with a Ph.D. and about Rs. 200,000(LKR) for a Senior Professor with effect from 2006. It is worth mentioning that, in addition to such salary, they are also given a housing allowance (up to 30 % basic salary), a transport allowance and an allowance for the education of their children.

It should be clear to any reasonably thinking person that the university academics have been reluctantly compelled to take this trade union action due to the repeated failure by the authorities to comprehend the gravity of the situation and grant a reasonable salary increase to the university academics. Finally, it is hoped that, at least at this late stage, the relevant authorities would have the impulse to be different and demonstrate some attributes of prudent professionalism in solving this national problem.

Members of the Peradeniya University Science Teachers Association

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල අචාරවරුන්ගේ අර්බුදය

2011-05-08T20:19:00.001+05:30

Sri Lanka Guardian,

ටිල්වින් සිල්වා

විශ්වවද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් තමන්ට වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා වෘත්තිය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවලට යොමු වෙලා තිඛෙනවා. අපි දකින ආකාරයට මේ වෘත්තිය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය ඉතාම සාධාරණයි. ඒ නිසා අපි ඊට අපේ පූර්ණ සහාය පළ කරනවා. ඒ වගේම අපි ආණ්ඩුවට බල කර කියා සිටිනවා, වහාම ඔවුන්ගේ ගැටලූව විසඳන්න කියලා.

ආණ්ඩුව විවිධ ජන කණ්ඩායම් රවටමින් ප්‍රශ්න මග හැර යාමේ ක්‍රියාවලියක් අනුගමනය කළා. විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් සම්බන්ධයෙනුත් ඔවුන් අනුගමනය කළේ එවැනිම ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක්.

මුලින්ම විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් ඉල්ලූවේ 2007 අවුරුද්දේදී. නමුත් ආණ්ඩුව එය නොසලකා හැරියා. ඊට පසුව 2008 ජනවාරි 31 වැනිදා, පළාත් සභා මැතිවරණය අතරතුරදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා විශ්වවිද්‍ය ාල ආචාර්යවරුන් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයට කැඳවලා ඔවුන් සමග සාකච්ඡා කළා. එහිදී ඔවුන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම් සාධාරණ බව පිළිගත් ජනාධිපතිවරයා මාස තුනක් තුළ වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් ඇතුළු ඉල්ලීම් ලබා දෙන්න පොරොන්දු වුණා. නමුත් ඒ පොරොන්දුව ඉටු කළේ නැහැ.

ඊට පස්සේ 2009 මාර්තු 24 වැනිදා ජාතික වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාවෙන් ලියුමක් එවමින් සඳහන් කර තිඛෙනවා, විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් අර්බුදය විසඳන්න ප්‍රමාද වුණා. නමුත් මාසයක් තුළ ඔවුන්ට ගැලපෙන වැටුප් ව්‍යූහයක් සකස් කොට ඒ සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛතාව ලබා දී වැටුප් වැඩි කරන බවට. නමුත් ජාතික වැටුප් හා සේවක සංඛ්‍යා කොමිෂන් සභාව දුන්නු ඒ පොරොන්දුවත් කඩ කළා.

ඉන් පසුව 2009 දෙසැම්බර් මාසේ 09 වැනිදා බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහත්මයා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් එක්ක සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් ලබා දෙන බවට පොරොන්දු වුණා. ඒ විතරක් නොවෙයි, ඒ වැටුප් වැඩිවීම 2009 දෙසැම්බර් පළමු වැනිදා සිට ලබා දෙන්නත් ඒ වගේම ඔවුන්ගේ අධ්‍යයන දීමනාව දෙගුණයක් දක්වා එනම් 25% සිට 50% දක්වා වැඩි කරන්නත් පොරොන්දු වුණා. ඒ පොරොන්දුව ඉටු කිරීමත් මග හැරියා.
ඒ අනුවයි විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් මේ වෘත්තිය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයට අවතීර්ණ වුණේ.

2010 ජූලි මාසයේ 20 වැනිදා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ දේශපාලන මණ්ඩල සභික, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී කණ්ඩායමේ නායක අනුර දිසානායක සහෝදරයා මේ ප්‍රශ්නය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන ගියා. එහිදී එස් බී දිසානායක, උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිවරයාගේ උත්තරය වුණේ, දැනට රුපියල් 20,750ක අවම වැටුපක් ලබන ආධුනික කථීකාචාර්යවරයකුගේ වැටුප රුපියල් 72,000ක් දක්වාත් ඒ වගේම දැනට රුපියල් 57,755ක වැටුපක් ලබන ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්යවරයකුගේ වැටුප රුපියල් ලක්ෂ දෙකක් දක්වාත් වැඩි කළ යුතුයි, ඒ සඳහා වැඩ කරමින් ඉන්නවා කියලායි. නමුත් ඒ කිසිවක් ඉටු කළේ නැහැ.

මේ නිසා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් ස්වේච්ඡා තනතුරුවලින් ඉවත් වෙන්නත් උසස් පෙළ විභග ප්‍රශ්න පත්‍ර ඇගැයීම්වලින් ඉවත් වෙන්නත් තීරණය කර තිඛෙනවා. මේ නිසා විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය පවත්වාගෙන යා නොහැකි තත්වයක් උද්ගත වෙමින් තිඛෙනවා.

දැන් ආණ්ඩුව උත්සාහ කරනවා එක පැත්තකින් මේ වෘත්තිය ක්‍රියාමාර්ගය මර්දනය කරන්න, ඒ වගේම අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් විවිධ සදාචාර ප්‍රශ්න මතු කරන්න. ඇත්තටම ගත්තොත් සදාචාර විරෝධී ලෙස කටයුතු කර තිඛෙන්නේ ආණ්ඩුවයි.

ආසියානු කලාපය අරගෙන බැලූවොත් අපේ රටේ තමයි විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් අඩුම වැටුපක් ලබන්නේ. අපටත් වඩා දුප්පත් රටක් වුණු බංගලාදේශයේ ජ්‍යේෂඨ මහාචාර්යවරයකුගේ වැටුප ලංකාවේ මුදලින් රුපියල් 64,915ක්. පාකිස්ථානයේ එය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මුදලින් ගත්තොත් රුපියල් 2,37,272ක්. ඉන්දියාවේ 1,17,682ක්.
ආණ්ඩුව කියන ආර්ථීක වර්ධනය තිඛෙනවා නම් මේ වැටුප් වැඩිවීම ලබා දෙන එක අමාරු දෙයක් නොවෙයි. මොකද විශ්වවිද ්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් ඉන්නේ ඉතාම සීමිත පිරිසක්.
මේ වැටුප් අර්බුදය නිසා මේ වන විට ඉතා බරපතළ ගැටලූ ගණනාවක් මතු වී තිඛෙනවා. එකක් තමයි, ආණ්ඩුවම කියන විදියට පසුගිය වසර දෙක තුන තුළ විවිධ හේතු සඳහා නිවාඩු ලබා ගෙන විදේශ ගත වූ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් 550ක් නැවත දිවයිනට පැමිණ නැහැ. මේක බුද්ධිගලනය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නයක්. මහින්ද චින්තනයේ කියලා තිඛෙන්නේ මොකක්ද? ප්‍රතිබුද්ධිගලනය සඳහා ක්‍රියාමාර්ග හඳුන්වා දෙනවා කියලායි. ඒක කරන්න නම් ඔවුන්ට ගැලපෙන වැටුප් හා පහසුකම් දිය යුතුයි.
ඒ වගේම විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවල සේවයට එන ප්‍රමාණය අඩු වෙලා තිඛෙනවා. මොකද, ආධුනික කථීකාචාර්යවරයකුට ලැඛෙන වැටුප රුපියල් 20750ක් වෙද්දී ඒ සුදුසුකමම තිඛෙන මහබැංකු සේවකයකුට ඒ වගේ දෙගුණයක වැටුපක් ලැඛෙනවා.

විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ට වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් ලබා දී තිඛෙන්නේ 1996 අවුරුද්දේදී. ඉන් පසුව වැටුප් වැඩිවීමක් දී නැහැ. ආණ්ඩුව 2006දී එතෙක් 30%ක් වූ අධ්‍යයන දීමනාව 25% දක්වා අඩු කරලා මූලික වැටුපට එකතු කළා. ඒ නිසා ඇත්තටම සිද්ධ වෙලා තිඛෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ට ලැඛෙමින් තිබුණු 5%ක් ආණ්ඩුව විසින් කොල්ලකෑම.

2011 අය වැයෙන් අතුරු අධ්‍යයන දීමනාවක් ලෙස 25%ක් ලබා දෙන බව සඳහන් කර තිඛෙනවා. නමුත් ඒක ලබා ගන්න නම් ඔවුන් පර්යේෂණ නිබන්ධනයක් කළ යුතුයි. ඒකත් ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමට ගැලපෙන එකක් වෙන්න ඕන, ඒ වගේම කිසියම් මණ්ඩලයකින් අනුමත වෙන්නත් ඕන, නිත්‍ය රාජකාරිවලට බාධා කර නොගනිමින් පර්යේෂණය කරන්නත් ඕන. යථාර්ථය වෙන්නේ එවැනි එකක් නිවාඩු ලබන්නේ නැතිව කරන්න බැහැ. ඒ නිසා මේ තිඛෙන්නේ හිතාමතාම මගහැර යාමක්.

ඒ වගේම ආණ්ඩුවට අවශ්‍ය වෙලා තිඛෙනවා, විශ්වවිද්‍යාල පද්ධතියට, නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයට ස්වාභාවික මරණයක් අත්කර දෙන්න. ඒ නිසායි මේ ආකාරයට කටයුතු කරන්නේ. නමුත් මේක අනියම් ආකාරයකින් සිදු කරන මිනී මැරුමක්.

මේ නිසා මේ විශ්වවිද්‍ය ාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ අරගලය ඉතාම සාධාරණයි. ආණ්ඩුව එම ඉල්ලීම් ලබා දීමට වහාම පියවර ගත යුතුයි. මේ අරගලයට අපි අපේ පූර්ණ සහාය පළ කරනවා.

Union says 90 per cent of academics have handed in their resignations

2011-05-06T21:43:00.001+05:30

06/05/2011, Daily Mirror, By Lakna Paranamanna

More than 90 per cent of those in university administration countrywide have tendered their resignation letters to the authorities resulting in administrative functions of universities on the verge of a breaking down, Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) said yesterday.

The FUTA said heads of departments, coordinators of units as well as hostel wardens and centre directors have tendered their resignation letters as part of the trade union action urging the government to give a substantial salary increase to university academics.

FUTA President Nirmal R. Dewasiri said by yesterday a majority of officials holding administrative positions in almost all the universities including Colombo, Moratuwa, Jaffna, Eastern, Ruhuna and Sri Jayewardenepura and the Nawala Open University had handed in their resignation letters.

“We have not received any favourable response from the authorities except for a circular from the University Grants Commission claiming that resignations should be given with three months notice. But it is a futile move as section 51 (III) of the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978 does not refer to the resignation process,” Dr. Dewasiri said.

He said university teachers have been asking the government for a pay hike since last year and added that academics in Sri Lanka had one of the lowest salary scales in South Asia.

Dr. Dewasiri said if the government failed to provide a reasonable solution to the issues faced by the academics they would refrain from attending to the 2011 A/L evaluation process as part of their trade union action.

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් වෘත්තීය සටන් වෙත එළඹුණේ ඇයි?

2011-05-06T20:28:00.000+05:30

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනයේ විධායක කමිටුවෙන් ප්‍රකාශයක්

වෘත්තීය සමිතිවල ඉතිහාසය කෙටි වියහැකි වුවද ඒ කෙටි කාලය තුළදී ජාතික රාජ්‍යයන්හි කටයුතු සම්බන්ධයෙන් තරම් වෘත්තීය සමිතිවල පැවැත්ම ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම් බලවත් එකකි. වෘත්තීය සමිති ඓතිහාසික වශයෙන් විකාශනය වූයේ වැඩ කරන ජනතාවට තමන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් හා අවශ්‍යතා සාමූහිකව අරාක්ෂා කර ගැනීම පිණිසය. මුදු හා දෘඪ සාකච්ඡා මාර්ගයෙන් තම ඉල්ලීම් දිනා ගැනීමට වෘත්තීය සමිති තැත් කරතත් සමහර අවස්ථාවලදී - විශේෂයෙන් තම සේවා සේවාදායකයන් සේවකයන්ගේ අවශ්‍යතා නොසලකා හරින අවස්ථාවලදී දැඩි වෘත්තීය සටන් මාර්ග වෙත එළඹීමට වෘත්තීය සමිතිවලට බලූ කරනු ලැබේ. විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වෘත්තීය සමිති වැනි මධ්‍යම පාන්තික වෘත්තීය සමිති නිතරම වැඩි කැමැත්තක් දක්වන්නේ සාකච්ඡා මාර්ගයෙන් ඉල්ලීම් දිනා ගැනීමටය. ඒ නිසා විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය සහ එහි සාමාජීක වෘත්තීය සමිති තමන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම්වලට සතුටුදායක විසඳුමක් දිනා ගැනීම සඳහා විවිධ මට්ටම්වල සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්වීය. එම අරමුණු ඇතිව ජනාධිපතිවරයා, උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ඇමතිවරයා, විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ප්‍රතිපාදන කොමිසම, භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම්, වැටුප් හා කාඩර කොමිසම සමග විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්වීය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් බොහෝ පොරොන්දු දෙනු ලැබුවද ඒ කිසිවක් ඉටු කර නැත. මේ නිසා තම ඉවසීමෙහි සීමාව පසු කළ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය තම සුජාත දුක් ගැනවිලි පිළිබඳ රජය දක්වන ඇල්මැරුණු ප්‍රතිචාරය පිළිබඳ සිය අප්‍රසාදය පළ කිරීම උදෙසා 2010 සැප්තැම්බරයේදී වෘත්තීය සටන් ක්‍රියා මාර්ග දියත් කළේය. එහෙත් 2011 අය වැය මගින් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම් සමගි සම්පන්නව විසඳීමට රජයේ බලවත් කමිටුවත් මගින් පොරොන්දු වීම නිසා ඒ පිළිබඳ විශ්වාසයෙන් ආචාර්යවැන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය විසින්

ගැනීමට නියමිතව තිබූ වෘත්තීය ක්‍රියා මාර්ග අත් හිටවන ලදී. එම එක`ගතාව ඇති කර ගැනීමට ටික දෙනකට පෙර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ප්‍රකාශයක් කළ උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ඇමති එස් බී දිසානායක මහතා දකුණු ආසියානු කලාපයේ අනික් රටවල සරසවි ඇදුරන්ගේ වැටුප් හා සමවෙන ලෙස විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප විශාල වශයෙන් වැඩි කරන බව කීවේය. ඒ පොදු ප්‍රකාශයෙන් නොනැවතුණු ඇමතිවරයා මහාචාර්යවරයෙකුගේ වැටුප රුපියල් දෙලක්ෂයක් දක්වා ඉහළ දමන බවද කී නමුත් ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය සාකච්ඡා සඳහා

බලධාරින් වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලේඛනයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ ඊට ඛෙහෙවින් අඩු වැටුපකි. එහෙත් 2011 අය වැය ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප් පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නය පිළිබඳව කිසිම අර්ථ සම්පන්න ආකාරයකින් ක්‍රියා කළේ නැත. අචාර්්‍යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය මාර්තු 15 දා සංකේත වැඩවර්ජනයක් මගින් නැවතත් වෘත්තීය සටන් දියත් කරන්නට තීරණය කළේ මෙවන් සංදර්භයක් තුළය. මෙම සංකේත වැඩ වර්ජනයෙන් පසු උසස් අධ්‍යාපනා ඇමතිවරයා ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනයට අපි්‍රයෙල් 17 වැනිදා තමා හමු වන ලෙස දැනුම් දුන්නේය. මෙම රැස්වීමේදී තමා ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සියලූ ඉල්ලීම්වලට ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය වශයෙන් එක`ග බව නැවතත් කියා සිටි අතර ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග හමුවක් ලබා දෙන බවද කීවේය. මේ අනුව ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය ඇමතිවරයා මාර්ගයෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ලිපියක් යැවූ නමුත් මුණ ගැසීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දීම තමා ඒ ලිපිය ලැබුණ බව දැනුම් දීමක් වත් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලය විසින් කෙරුණේ නැත. මේ නිසා සියලූම සාමාජික සමිති විසින් දැඩි වෘත්තීය සටන් ක්‍රියා මාර්ග මාලාවක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය ගත් තීරණයට සහාය දැක්විණ.

ආචාර්වරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය විසින් ගැනීමට තීරණය කරන ලද වෘත්තීය ක්‍රියා මාර්ග මේවාය:

1. තමන් දරණ සියලූ ස්වේච්ඡා පරිපාලන තනතුරුවලින් ඉල්ලා අස්වීම. අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් හා පරිසරය සපයා දෙනු ලබන්නේ නම් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් තමන්ගේ සාමාන්‍ය වැඩ දිගටම කරගෙන යනු ඇත.

2. 2011 අගෝස්තු මස අපොස උසස් පෙළ උත්තර පත්‍ර පරීක්ෂා කටයුතුවලට සහළභාගිවීමෙන් වැලකී සිටීම

එසේම ඇමතිවරයා ඇතුළු බලධාරීන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්වරුන්ගේ සුදුසුකම් හා කීර්තිය පළුදු කිරීම පිණිස කරන පදනම් විරහිත චෝදනා පිළිබඳ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්ය සමිති සම්මේලනය කළකිරීම හා අසතුටද ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටී. එසේම 2011 අයවැය මගින් සෙසු රජයේ සේවකයන්ගේ වැටුප 5 %කින් ඉහළ දමන අතර විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වැටුප 36% කින් ඉහළ දැම්මේය යනුවෙන් ආණ්ඩුව කරන ප්‍රකාශයද ආචාර්ය සමිති සම්මේලනය ප්‍රතික්ශේප කරයි. සිදු වී ඇත්තේ ඊට සපුරා වෙනස් දෙයකි. සෙසු රජයේ සේවකයන්ට වරප්‍රසාද දෙන අතර විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්වරුන් මත තවත් සීමා බාධක පැනවිණ. තීරු බදු සහන සහිත වාහන ආනයනය පිළිබඳ සීමා පැනවීම ඉන් එකකි. අලූතින් හඳුන්වා දෙන ලද ඡAශෑ බද්ද මගින් අය වැය මගින් දෙන ලද වැටුප් වර්ධකයද තව දුරටත් ඛාදනය කර දමයි.

1980 ගණන්වල මුල සිට විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල තත්ත්වය විවිධ හේතු නිසා පිරිහෙන්නට විය. වසර

ගණනාවක් පුරා විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වැටුප් හා දීමනා ඒ හ සමාන්තර අනෙකුත් අංශයන්ගේ වැටුප්වලට වඩා විශාල වශයෙන් පහත වැටෙන්නට ඉඩ හළ නිසා අපේ හොඳම උපාධිධාරින් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල පද්ධතිය තුළ රඳවා ගැනීමට අපට නොහැකි විය. හොඳම තරුණ උපාධිධාරීන් එක්කෝ වැඩි වැටුප් ඇති අංශ වෙත ඇදී යති නැත්නම් සරුසාර ජීවිතයක් සොයා විදේශ ගත වෙති. උසස් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාශයම කියන ලෙෂ අධ්‍යයන නිවාඩු හෝ සප්ත වාර්ෂික නිවාඩු ලබා විදේශගත වූ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් 550 දෙනෙක් පෙරළා නොපැමිණියහ. මේ වුකලි රටෙහි හොඳම මනස්වලට විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්ය වෘත්තිය හා එහි ඇති පහසුකම් කෙතරම් නම් අකාර්ෂණයෙන් තොරද යන්නය. මෙම නිෂේධනීය තත්ත්වය විදේශගත වු පෙරළ නොපැමිණෙන අයට සීමා නොවේ. ඇතැම් පීඨවල පවතින කාඩර් තනතුරු පුරවා ගැනීමට සුදුසු අයවත් සොයා ගත නොහැකි තත්ත්වයක් පවතින අතර එය එම පීඪවලින් බිහිවන උපාධිධාරීන්ගේ තත්ත්වය පහත හෙළන්නටත් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලින් සැපයිය යුතු ශාස්ත්‍රීය දායකත්වය පහත හෙළන්නටත් හේතු වී ඇත. මේ නිසා රජය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවල තත්ත්වය ඉහළ නැංවීමේ අවංක විශ්වාසයෙන් යුක්ත නම් දේශීය මෙන්ම කලාපීය වශයෙන් සමාන හා සමාන්තර අංශවල වැටුප් හා සමාන වූද ආකර්ෂණීය වූද වැටුප් ව්‍යුහයක් හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය. ඉන්දියාවේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරයෙක් රුපියල් 250000 ක තරම් වන වැටුපක් හා අනෙකුත් වරප්‍රසාද ලබයි. පෞද්ගලික විශ්ව විද්‍යාල හා රාජ්‍ය නොවන විශ්ව විද්‍යාල යන —හොඳ වචනයෙන්˜ හඳුන්වන විශ්ව විද්‍යාල රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට විකල්පයක් වෙතියි හෝ රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල විනාශ වී යාමෙන් ඇති වන රික්තය පුරවතියි හෝ රජය සිතන්නේ නම් එය සමාව දිය නොහැකි වරදකි.

රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ලාබ නූපදවන ආයතනයන්ය යනුවෙන් ආණ්ඩුව කරන ප්‍රකාශය විහිළුවක් පමණක් නොව භයානකද වන්නේ එමගින් අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ කරන ආයෝජන පිළිබඳ දරන උද්ධච්ඡ හා මුග්ධ ආකල්පය හෙළි වන හෙයිනි. මහජන යහපත හා සුබ සිද්ධිය උදෙසා කරන ආයෝජන සෑම විටෙකම ක්ෂණික හො මිනිය හැකි ප්‍රතිපල ගෙන දෙන්නේ නැත. උසස් අධ්‍යාපනය උදෙසා කරන ආයෝජන මෙම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජාතියෙහි අනාගතය වෙනුවෙන් කරන ආයෝජනයකි. ඒ වුකලි කිසිම පෞද්ගලික විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක් සද්භාවයෙන් නොගන්නා වගකීමකි.

පසු ගිය සංකේත වැඩ වර්ජනයේ සිට ලංකාවේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරු ජාතිකව හා ජාත්‍යන්තරව විපර්කාරක දායකත්වයක් සැපයිය හැකි ලෝක මට්ටමේ උපාධිධාරීන් හා පර්යේෂකයන් බිහි කරන උසස් තත්ත්වයේ අධ්‍යාපන ආයතන ලෙස රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට දැඩි කැපවීමක් හා අධිෂ්ඨානයක් පෙන්වූහ. මෙම සමස්තය අරගලය අන් කවරක් සෂඳහාවත් නොව රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ලංකාවේ මහජනයාට, ඔවුන්ගේ මිළ ගෙවීමේ හැකියාව නොසලකා, උසස් අධ්‍යාපන අයිතිය සහතික කිරීමට හා අපේ වෘත්තීයේ තත්ත්වය හා ගෞරවය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම සඳහාය.

ආණ්ඩුව ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධී ක්‍රම මාර්ගයෙන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ වෘත්තීය සටන් බිඳ දැමීමට කටයුතු කරන බව පෙනේ. අප සාමූහිකයක් ලෙස ඊට මුහුණදීමට සූදානම් බව නැවත නැවතත් කියා සිටිමු. සුහදශීලී විසඳුමක් කරා යා හැකි අවස්ථාවන් විනාශ කර දමන ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවලින් වැලකී සිටින ලෙස අපි රජයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමු. තමන්ගේ සුජාත ඉල්ලීම් දිනා ගැනීමට විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් කරන මෙම සටනෙහි ජය අධ්‍යාපනයෙහිද උසස් අධ්‍යාපනයෙහිද විද්‍යාවෙහි හා සංවර්ධනයෙහිද ජයග්‍රහණයක් බව ආණ්ඩුව වටහා ගත යුතුය. මෙම සටනෙහි යෙදී සිටින විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන් ගුණාත්මක බවෙන් ඉහළ මහජන අධ්‍යාපනය පිළිබඳ මූල ධර්මයට දිවි හිමියෙන් කැප වූ පිරිසක් නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ ජය වුකලි තමන්ගේ දරුවන්ට උසස් අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබා දීම සඳහා ඇති එකම මග රාජ්‍ය විශ්ව විද්‍යාල වූ බහුතරයක් ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ගේද විජයග්‍රහණයකි. ඒ නිසා අධ්‍යාපනය අවස්ථා හා ප්‍රමිතිය ඉහළ දැමීම සඳහා රාජ්‍යය අධ්‍යාපනය, උසස් අධ්‍යාපනය, විද්‍යාව හා සංවර්ධනය සඳහා වෙන් කරන වාර්ෂික වියදම දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් 6% දක්වා වැඩි කළ යුතු බවද විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ආචාර්යවරුන්ගේ සමිති සම්මේලනය යෝජනා කරයි. අවසාන වශයෙන්, , වසර පහකින් පමණ ලංකාව ආසියාවේ දැනුම් කේන්ද්‍රය කරමින් මේ රට ආසියාවේ ඊ ළ`ග ආශ්චර්ය කරන්නට තැත් කරන ආණ්ඩුවේ අභිලාෂයේදී තමන්ගේද ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලෙස ආණ්ඩුව අපේ ජයග්‍රහණය දකිනු ඇතැයිද අපි අපේක්ෂා කරමු.

Why do University Teachers resort to Trade Union Action?

2011-05-06T20:20:00.000+05:30

A Statement by the Executive Committee of the Federation of University Teachers’ Association

(1) Trade Unions may not have a long history but in the short history of their existence they have acquired an indelible presence in the affairs of nationstates.

Trade unions historically evolved as organizations to defend collectively the rights and interests of working people. Although TUs seek to win their demands through soft and hard negotiations, in some instances, they are compelled to launch strong trade union actions, especially when employers, public or private sector, disregard totally the interests of their employees. Middle class unions, like the union of university teachers, always prefer to win their demands through negotiations.

Hence, since 2007,

Federation of University Teachers’ Associations and its sister unions have engaged in negotiations at different levels to arrive at a satisfactory resolution to their demands. With that purpose in mind, it has had many discussions with the President, the Minister of Higher Education, the University Grant Commission, the Secretary to the Treasury, and the Salary and Cadre Commission.

(2) However, while many promises have been made, none have been put into practice. As a result, their patience at an end, the university teachers were compelled to launch a token strike in September 2010 to express their dissatisfaction with the lukewarm response of the government to their legitimate grievances. However, FUTA decided in good faith to suspend its plan to step up further action when a promise was made by a high-powered committee that the demands of the university teachers would be amicably settled in the Budget 2011.

Just prior to that agreement, the Minister of Higher Education, Mr S B Disanayaka, made a statement in the Parliament that he would increase the university teachers’ salaries substantially to put them on a par with the salaries of university teachers in the region. Not satisfied with that general statement, he specifically stated that the salary of a senior professor would be increased to Rs 200,000 although the demand for salary increases in the FUTA document submitted for negotiation with the authorities is much lower than that.

Nonetheless, the Budget 2011 did not deal with the issue of the salaries of the university teachers in a meaningful fashion. It was in this context, that the FUTA and its sister unions decided to launch a second token strike on March 15. After the strike, the Minister of Higher Education asked the FUTA representatives to meet him on April 17.

At this meeting, he reiterated that he accepted in principle all the demands of university teachers and promised that he would arrange a meeting with the President in order to discuss the matter. Although FUTA sent a letter through the Minister to the President in line with this undertaking, FUTA is yet to receive an acknowledgement, let alone an appointment, from the office of the President. So all the sister unions of FUTA ratified the recommendation of FUTA that the university teachers will go for a series of strong trade union actions.

The two actions that FUTA has decided on are:

(a) Resigning from all voluntary administrative posts that they now hold. The university teachers would continue to do their normal work if the necessary facilities and environment are provided;

(b) Refraining from participation in GCE A/L Examination work in August 2011.

(3) FUTA further expresses its dismay and dissatisfaction over the statements made by the authorities, including the Minister of Higher Education, that seek to both degrade the credentials and status and to cast aspersions on the reputation and conduct of university teachers, with ill-founded allegations and accusations.

It also dismisses the claim by the government that the salaries of the university teachers were increased by 36% in the Budget 2011 while that of other public sector employees were increased by just 5%. On the contrary, extra restrictions were imposed on university teachers when the benefits given to other public sector employees were applied to them such as the concessionary vehicle import permits. Furthermore, the newly introduced

PAYE tax will further erode the minimal gain in salary granted to them under the provisions of the Budget.

(4) The situation of the state universities has significantly deteriorated since the early 1980s due to multiple factors. Owing to the fact that the salaries and allowances in the universities were allowed to slide substantially lower than that of comparable sectors over the years, the university system has failed to attract and to retain the best products of our own universities.

The best young graduates either get attracted to the higher salaries and working conditions of other sectors locally or migrate abroad in search of the proverbial greener pastures. As the Ministry of Higher Education itself has reiterated in recent times, 550 teachers in university service who went abroad either on study leave or on sabbatical leave have not returned. These facts only serve to demonstrate how unattractive the current salaries and working conditions are for the best young minds of this country.

But the negative fall-outs are not limited to the failure of those who go abroad to return. It has made it virtually impossible for some faculties even the existing cadre vacancies with qualified academics, which in turn impacts negatively on the type of graduate produced and the type of scholarly contribution provided. Hence, if the government is committed in good faith to improve the quality of the state university system, it has to introduce an attractive salary structure that is on a par with comparable professions both locally and in the region. In this respect, Sri Lanka is behind India where per capita income is much lower.

A university professor in India receives something like Rs 250,000 per month plus other benefits. It would be an unpardonable mistake if the government thinks that the private universities, euphemistically referred to as non-state universities, can either become a substitute for state universities or fill the vacuum created by their atrophy.

(5) The argument of the government that public universities are not profit making institutions is not only ridiculous but dangerous because it reveals the government’s cavalier attitude to investments in education and higher education. Investments in public goods do not always yield either immediate or measurable benefits. Investments in public higher education is an investment in the future of this nation—a responsibility that no private university will accept in good faith.

(6) Since the last token strike, the university teachers in Sri Lanka have shown their determination and commitment to defend the state university system as high quality educational institutions producing world-class graduates and researchers whose contributions will make a difference both nationally and internationally. This entire struggle is to defend and protect the state universities as a system that ensures high quality education to the people of Sri Lanka irrespective of their ability to pay and to ensure the quality and dignity of our profession.

(7) It appears that the government is planning through undemocratic means to break the trade union actions of the university teachers. We reiterate that we are as a collective ready for it. And we ask the government not to engage in such undemocratic activities that will only deteriorate the opportunity for an amicable settlement. The government should understand that the victory of university teachers in this struggle to secure their legitimate demands is a victory for education, higher education, science and development.

Since they represent that sector of university teachers who through thick and thin have remained committed to the principle of high quality public higher education, their victory is the victory of the masses, those large numbers of Sri Lankans for whom the state universities remain the only answer to their aspirations for higher education for their children.

Hence FUTA also suggests that in order to improve the coverage and the quality of higher education, the state should increase its expenditure on education, higher education, science and development to reach at least 6% of the gross domestic product. Finally, we hope that the government will see that our victory will represent a victory for them in their ambition to transform Sri Lanka into the next Asian Miracle in the next five years or so making it a knowledge hub in the region

Are the University Teachers a bunch of backboneless loosers?

2011-04-26T12:45:00.008+05:30

Is degrading Academia way to make SL a knowledge hub?

2011-03-16T21:22:00.003+05:30

The Island, March 13, 2011, by Sumanasiri Liyanage

The behaviour of the present government, the statements by its ministers and the actions by its bureaucracy have compelled me to portray this government as the worst government in post-colonial Sri Lanka as far as its treatment of academia is concerned. Although Minister of Higher Education S. B. Dissanayake has been active on many fronts and appears really keen to effect some changes—let me make it clear that I wholeheartedly support his goal of eliminating ragging from higher educational institutions—it is sad that the Ministry of Higher Education has failed so far miserably to develop a comprehensive higher education plan and strategy.Moreover, I also argue that the policies of the government as a whole will not assist in any manner in achieving its objective of making Sri Lanka a knowledge hub in the region.

Addressing public meetings during the last presidential election in many parts of the country, I highlighted the wisdom behind this proposal. I must confess that after 27 months, I am totally disappointed over the record of the present government on this and many other issues. I feel that it is my social responsibility and duty as a university teacher not only to express my dismay and disappointment, but also to suggest corrective measures even those suggestions are not taken into consideration. So one may easily understand why the university academic community pressed its union leaders to take strong community actions against the way in which the government and its bureaucracy, especially, its Secretary to the Treasury treat university academia and the university system. As one young lecturer puts it, "it is not the rupees and cents that are at stake, it is the dignity of our profession". Why has the government fallen into this sad state? There are multiple reasons all of which I do not intend to analyse here. Suffice it to say that the government has a list of lofty goals, but it does not have a comprehensive plan to achieve them. The same goes for higher education.

The government says it is working towards making Sri Lanka a knowledge hub! What does it mean? It means the country should achieve one or more of the following three things. First, Sri Lanka can be made a regional centre of knowledge-based industries. Secondly, the country can focus on knowledge creation through research and development. Thirdly, it can be made a regional centre of training and dissemination of knowledge. Although conclusive evidence on the presence of a positive correlation between educational level and economic development cannot be established, all three definitions above stress the fact that Sri Lanka cannot be made a regional knowledge hub without paying due to attention to higher education and research.

Instead of exploring how the available academic resources can be used and improved and how new resources could be created, the government has, in the past one year or so, degraded, devalued and humiliated the Sri Lankan academia. Let me begin with the statement by the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education. He has recently invited Sri Lankan academics living abroad to come back to Sri Lanka and serve the country. He has also stressed that a mechanism can be worked out to ease the burden in the case of the violation of bonds. It is commendable, but it is an incorrect starting point. In order to lure expatriates into coming back, an environment should be created for the academics to return and live with dignity with adequate facilities to continue their work. Does such environment exist in Sri Lanka? What has been done during the last three years by the government to create such an environment? How much money has been allocated to research and development from the last three budgets? It would be a gross mistake to assume that setting up of private universities in Sri Lanka would resolve these issues and change the whole academic environment in Sri Lanka. I am not against private universities as these institutions would broaden and expand higher education in Sri Lanka. Moreover, they would even assist the third dimension of the knowledge hub strategy.However, the private universities would not turn out to be institutions that carry on research and knowledge creation. In Sri Lanka it is the state and state universities that could promote and advance knowledge creation at least in the short and medium run.

How does the government treat university academia? I will cite two very recent examples. Let me avoid at this stage talking about broken promises. In the Budget Speech the President made in Parliament on Nov. 22, 2010, the government has promised that the 25% research grant will be given to researchers. The Secretary to the Treasury failed to issue the relevant circular until the Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) had announced that it would resort to trade union action. Is it inefficiency or negligence or a deliberate move against the academia?It has been generally accepted that the benefits offered to senior public servants should be also given to university academia. Concessionary vehicle permit is one of such benefits. Since 1994, concessionary permits have been given to government officers with minimum five year service and the same rule has hitherto been applied to university academics. For some reason that may be known only to the Secretary to Treasury, the time period has been amended with regard to university teachers making it 12 years! This is disgraceful, to say the least. Is this the way the government is going to create environment for expatriate Sri Lankan academics to return?

Is degrading, devaluing and humiliating academia part of a wider project that the government has in mind? Although I may not in a position to say something conclusive in this regard, certain surmises can be made on the basis of past experience. When governments want to privatise public sector institutions, governments oftentimes deliberately make them ineffective and weak in order to justify privatization. If one looks aback what successive governments have done, one will see that the expenditure for state universities has not been adequately increased. Research grants were curtailed and training for university teacher was neglected. Minister of Higher Education got it right, when he told the public sometime back that a substantial number of university dons did not have Ph. Ds. However, the Minister and the ministry also have a responsibility to see how and why such a situation has arisen. State universities have been neglected for many years although new state universities were set up. The working conditions of the university academics are substantially lower than their counterparts in India and Pakistan and those in other research organizations in the country, like the Central Bank and the TRI. As my colleague from the University of Moratuwa revealed a couple weeks ago, a fresh graduate from the UOM receives higher pay than his senior professors! The private universities are not substitute for state universities. They may be glorified colleges that train people for market-oriented activities. If the government thinks that the goal of education is to create ‘commodified hands’ for the job market, the consequences of such policies would be detrimental to the country in the long run. My second surmise is that the government may be treating the weakening of state university system as part of a deliberate policy of balancing fiscal deficit. The World Bank and neo liberal economists in the Treasury may be following such a policy even it is not consistent with the policies of the government. Finally, under the present system, Humphreys decide behind the scene.

It is in this context that the university teachers and their union, Federation of University Teachers’ Association, have resolved to engage actively in the process of policy making in the education and higher education sector even using its collective force. The demand of the FUTA that the state allocation for education and higher education be increased at least to six per cent of the GDP should be viewed in this light. When private sector comes in, there is a possibility that the level would even reach 8 per cent of the GDP. We should not forget the contribution of the parents is also should be taken into account. Times Higher Education has released first best universities in the world. There are some Asian institutions including Indian Institute of Science in the list. I am sure, if the government adopts correct policies, Sri Lanka will be able to add some of its institutions to the list. However, creating a knowledge hub without academia would end up as daydream.

The writer teaches political economy at the University of Peradeniya and is an executive committee member of the Peradeniya Arts Faculty Teachers’ Association.

E-mail: sumane_l@yahoo.com

End of the road for state sponsored higher education?

2010-10-12T10:54:00.004+05:30

By ServeSL,

It is true that the Univertiy education system in Sri Lanka is utterly flawed. I am sure that not many will disagree with that statement. The reasons for this are numerous. Being aware of the reasons, what we need to ask is: how can we fix it?

Judging by the turn of events since May 2010, I have come to the bitter conclusion that we may not in fact want to fix it?

Why wouldn't one want to fix our ailing state sponsored univerisity education system? Who would benefit from not doing it?

Sri Lankan Universities: International Standards?

2010-10-12T08:00:00.000+05:30

The Island October 11, 2010, 7:09 pm,
By Dr. C. S. Weeraratna,

It was reported in newspapers that the Ministry of Higher Education (MHE) is planning to bring five universities of Sri Lanka viz. Colombo, Kelaniya, Sri Jayewardenepura, Moratuwa and Peradeniya to international level. According to the Ministry of Higher Education, the academic courses in these five universities would be restructured and the teachers would be given further training. Dr. Jayaratna Pinikahana in his article on Universities in Sri Lanka and International Standards, published in The Island of Oct. 8 has indicated that Ruhuna University also should be brought to international level.

It is not clear what the standards of an International Level University are. Are they the buildings, infrastructure, research facilities, standards of the staff, number of students or what? It is possible to have standards for an item manufactured in a factory and put out for sale. Can the same thing be done for a university?. The Higher Education Ministry needs to indicate what the standards expected from a university of international level are and the basis for selecting the five universities indicated above.

The decision to increase the standards (it is not clear what these standards are) of five universities, ignoring the remaining ten universities, would create further problems to the already ailing university system. The 15 universities of Sri Lanka are with numerous problems. It is essential that the total student population passing out from the universities, not only of those at the 5 universities, be given good education / training. The regional universities mainly cater to the students from the rural areas. For example, a large percentage of students at Ruhuna University are from the rural areas in the Southern province. Similarly, the students in Rajarata, are mainly from the NCP. Hence, developing only five universities, of which four are in the capital, will create an imbalance and is extremely unfair by the students and staff of the other 10 universities.

The standard of a university depends on a number of factors and a university cannot be brought to a high standard overnight. It needs proper planning, and effective implementation.

Academic staff

The quality of education in a university depends to a considerable extent on the standard of the academic staff. Currently there are around 350 Professors, 750 Associate Professors and 2,000 Senior Lecturers in the university system. Most of them are in the older universities and are well qualified in their own fields and possess postgraduate qualifications with considerable local experience. The teaching staff of recently established universities consists mostly of recently passed out graduates.

Most of them are without any post-graduate qualifications and perhaps one or two senior lecturers and professors. There are some faculties, which do not have a single professor. Thus, the standard of the academic staff in some universities is considerably low. The students passing out from such universities also tend to be of lower quality, not because of the fault of the students. Having such universities is not going to be of benefit either to the country or to the students. Hence, the MHE needs to take a concerted effort to improve the standards of the academic staff of those universities, where there is such a need.

Most of the academic staff, especially those in the regional universities, have to work under very trying conditions. Some of the basic facilities necessary for the staff to carry out their work satisfactorily are not available to them. A large number of staff in regional universities do not have proper places to stay and they have to pay a considerable portion of their salaries on accommodation. Communication and transport facilities are limiting. I am aware that some university academic staff members, who have to start early morning, walk to the bus stand to travel hundreds of kilometers by bus to attend to various academic/professional meetings in Colombo or Peradeniya. This is when some ministers and the so called highly placed officials in ministries and other government organizations have a fleet of vehicles at their disposal not only for official work but even for their private work. When the staff member has to stay overnight in Colombo or Kandy, he/she has no place to stay and has to depend on a friend or a relation. Thus they have to face untold difficulties in attending to their professional work. The MHE needs to give consideration to this situation in their efforts to improve university standards.

Research

The university academic staff is expected to do research and extension. Conducting research, especially laboratory/field research is a real challenge. Most of the basic requirements for research such as laboratory (equipment and chemicals) /communication/transport etc. are limiting. In spite of many difficulties, a large number of university academics conduct research. How have these research benefited the country? Ideally the UGC should have a programme to commercialize/make use of the research findings of the university staff. It is then only that the universities can have an impact on the socio-economic development of the country.

While there are university academic staff members who contribute immensely under trying conditions to the development of the institution/country, there are some who do not even come to the Faculty regularly. They hardly do any research and publish, not even in newspapers to educate the people, which is one of the important roles of university academics.

Student Facilities

Some Universities in Sri Lanka, such as Wayamba University, have been established overnight without any proper plan. In universities such as Rajarata, Sabragamuwa and Wayamba, most of the students have to stay far away from their homes, and it is essential that students have reasonable accommodation. This is true even in the case of the universities in the capital. There are not many private houses for the students from these universities to stay. Universities rent out private houses for students to stay but, most of these houses do not have adequate basic facilities. In some of these ‘hostels’, which are suitable for around 10, about 30-40 students, or even more, are forced to stay. While millions are spent on numerous ceremonies, exhibitions etc. the university students, who are called the future leaders of the country, have to study under deplorable conditions.

Facilities:

Facilities such as library, laboratory, green-house and farm are also important in providing a university training to students. The recently established universities lack these facilities. In some universities libraries close at 5.00 p.m. In such situations how can students who have classes till 4.00 p.m use the library. The laboratory facilities in some universities also need to be improved.

Standard of English

There had been a considerable emphasis on teaching English in schools. However, a recent newspaper report indicates that nearly 70% of those who sat for G.C.E (ordinary level) English have failed. Most of the graduates who pass out from universities are not competent in English. Even many university academic staff including some Deans are not competent in English indicating that the endeavours to improve the standard of English has become an utter failure. It is not practicable to teach English to all the students in primary and secondary schools. It would be more effective and beneficial if at least the university under-graduates are given an opportunity to become fluent in English so that when they pass out they will be competent in this language.

The deficiency of English among the undergraduates can be corrected to a great extent by a programme such as the General English Language Training (GELT) programme , which was conducted by universities sometime ago. During the last few years this GELT programme appears to have been diluted considerably. A more effective GELT programme of longer duration, and getting the undergraduates to read, write and speak in English over the three-five year undergraduate period would improve their proficiency in this language to a great extent. In many overseas universities, such as those in Japan, France, etc. all foreign students are given an intensive training in the national language of the country However, the authorities have not been able to implement an effective programme to improve the standard of English among the university students.

It is more appropriate that the Higher Education Ministry take action to rectify the deplorable/unsatisfactory situation in the universities of Sri Lanka, than trying to raise the standards of just five universities to international level, which are relatively better than the other universities.

Dr. Weeraratna, the Foundation Professor of Agronomy at Ruhuna University and the Foundation Professor of Soils and Water Resources at Rajarata University, can be contacted at csweera@sltnet.lk

"It’s ‘Community-Education’ and not ‘Free-Education’!"

2010-06-09T21:50:00.001+05:30

Features | Online edition of Daily News - Lakehouse Newspapers: "It’s ‘Community-Education’ and not ‘Free-Education’!"

By Malinda,\
Harin Corea, contemporary at Peradeniya University, has opined that the ‘free’ in ‘free education’ is a misnomer and moreover dangerously misleading in terms of the mindset it creates, nurtures and entrenches. He elaborates thus:

‘“Free” implies at-no-cost. However, the cost of this education is borne by the community and should probably be called “community-sponsored” education, and in our case, more specifically “tax-payer- sponsored” education. Just changing the terminology, might serve to remind the so-called “champions” of “tax-payer-sponsored” education, that it is neither “free” nor their God (or Marx) - given “heritage” in any form.’

Harin continues: ‘It is the very category they identify as the “enemies” of tax-payer-sponsored” education that is actually paying for it - i.e. the so called “capitalist mudalalis”. And what if tax-payers whose children cannot access “tax-payer-sponsored” education, would like to have some other educational institutions where they could individually educate their own children at their cost?’

This is a complex issue, clearly. In general I am opposed to making education a luxury. I am also opposed to denying higher education 80 percent of the students who have qualified for the same, just because the state is lacking in resources. If the country requires 100 doctors and the state can fund the education of just 20 medical students, for example, and if 80 more have qualified, they should not be forced to wander into some other career if they can afford to pay for their education.

I am not in agreement with Harin on the issue of ‘taxpayers’ to the extent that there is no one who doesn’t pay taxes. One doesn’t have to fill relevant forms or have a certain amount of one’s pay cheque held to be counted as someone who pays taxes. We pay taxes when we buy seeni (sugar) and the-kola (tea leave); corporate entities routinely pass the tax-buck to the consumer, or rather extract it from the consumer plus a little bit more. Profits don’t fall from the sky. They are in fact nothing more, nothing less than the congealed form of surplus value generated by unequal terms of exchange embedded in given production relations.

What is important to me in Harin’s conceptualization is the un-free character of education. He is absolutely correct in that the term ‘free’ has misled generations of students and helped work out all notions of ‘responsibility’ in the mindsets of the beneficiaries. A lot of things come together to make higher education possible and students are for the most part pretty much unaware of a lot of the relevant factors.

Way back in 1985, there was a proposal to dismantle the Peradeniya University and toss its parts all over Kandy, which was to be called ‘Vidyarajapura’ (if I remember right). The Arts Faculty was to be shifted to Dumbara (because, it was argued, all you need is a black board and some chalk - no white boards back then), the Medical Faculty was to go to the Peradeniya Hospital. Agriculture was to be shifted to Mahailuppallama. The prison was to be moved to Peradeniya. It didn’t work out, happily. I remember, however, Prof Ashley Halpe observing that opposing Vidyarajapura makes no sense at all if the university community does not recognize the importance of everyone, the non-academic staff, the academic staff, students, senate etc., in making the university what it is. He might have added (I can’t remember if he did) that the university is also made by all those who in one way or another contribute towards the relevant budgetary allocation.

The university is not made of students, their grievances and aspirations. It is made of all these things plus curricula (badly in need of rehabilitation), laboratories, libraries, hostel and recreational facilities, processes of teaching/learning and research (again, badly in need of rehabilitation), limited resources and woefully inadequate human resources. It is made also of anger, malice, petty in-fighting, caste-consciousness, racism, egos, academic dishonesty, lack of integrity and, as Harin points out, a scandalous reluctance on the part of student activists to recognize that the university does not belong to them but that they belong to the university and this too only for a brief period of time.

The university belongs to the general public. It belongs to the man who ‘paid’ taxes when he purchased 100g of tea. It belongs to everyone who laboured, from Day One to this morning. ‘Public’ is a better term, but ‘community-owned’ is sweeter and might infuse that little bit of responsibility in those who rant and rave about this thing called ‘free’ education but do not do the one thing that justifies their studentship, i.e. be serious about learning, acquiring knowledge and comprehension.

When the student sees the Senate Building, or the lecture theatre, or the library or the swimming pool or any other part of the university, when he/she hears a lecturer, uses a computer, sits on a park bench with friend or lover, does he/she see ‘community’? Does he/she see mother, father, grandparent and neighbour? If they did, then they would hesitate when they vandalize walls. They would see that they are drawing a sharp instrument across the face of their parents and themselves.

This is not to say that agitation is out of order. It is not. Young people should stand up and give voice to concern, protest that which they believe should not be allowed to continue without objection. There has to be, however, a sense of proportion, a sense of responsibility. These facilities are not the best in the world. They are all we have, though. They are where their children might end up 20-30 years from the moment they break chair, desecrate wall and scream at a lecturer.

Time is long. At some point we have to look in the mirror at who we are and what we have done. When we do this, if we see everyone who contributed to that image, then it is a short distance to ‘seeing’ university (for example) and recognizing in its every element, that thing called ‘community’. If we all did this, we would duly abandon the term ‘free education’ and replace it with ‘Community Education’. Harin and I might argue about the contours of ‘community’ or the identities of ‘contributors’, but we will agree that it is certainly larger than those who people the university at any given moment in time. Or the Government of the time. malinsene@gmail.com

සිංහල දෙමළ සහෝදරත්වයේ නාමයෙන් කරන පුංචි ඉල්ලීමක්

2010-04-30T19:11:00.001+05:30

පිටස්තරයා-2
මේ පොඩි ලිපිය ලියන්න හිතුවේ මා දැනට සිටිනා විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේම වැඩිදුර අධ්‍යාපනය ලබන යාපනයේ දෙමළ සහෝදරවරුන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු සමග දින කිහිපයක් තිස්සේ වරින් වර ඇති වූ සාකච්ඡාවක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් හැටියටයි. අද යාපනයේ වැසියන් විශාල ලෙස පීඩාවට පත්ව සිටිනවා විශාල සංඛ්‍යා වශයෙන් එහාට පැමිණෙන සිංහල සංචාරකයන් හා වන්දනාකරුවන් නිසා. ඒ එතරම් විශාල ජන පිරිසකට අවශ්‍ය පහසුකම් ඒ ප්‍රදේශයේ හිග බැවින්. ඒ නිසා වැසිකිලි ලෙස බාවිතා වන්නේ ඇතැම්විට පොදු ඉඩම් පිට්ටනි වැනි ස්ථාන. ඒ වගේම එකවර විශාල සංචාරක පිරිස් සෑම දිනෙකම අපි ජීවත්වන ප්‍රදේශයේ රෑ දවල් නැතිව සැරිසරන්න ගත්තොත් එය අපගේ එදිනෙදා ජීවිතයට කොතරම් බලපාවිදැයි මෙය කියවන ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට වැටහෙනවා ඇති.

එසේ ම නල්ලූර් කන්දසාමී කෝවිල ඉදිරිපිට පදික වේදිකාවේ කුඩා කඩ දමාගෙන සිටින පිටතින් ගිය වෙළෙන්දන් තමන්ට අවශ්‍ය වැසිකිළි පහසුකම් නැති බැවින් ඒ කටයුත්ත සඳහා බාවිතා කරන්නෙත් කෝවිල් භූමියට අයත් ඉඩමමයි. නමුත් ඒ ගැන නෙවෙයි මම ලියන්න යන්නේ.

යාපනයට යන බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට ඒ ප්‍රදෙශයේ ජීවත්වන අයගේ සංස්කෘතිය ගැන අවබෝධය අඩුකම නිසා දෙමළ වැසියන්ගේ හිත් රිදවන බොහෝ දෑ අද සිදුවෙමින් පවතිනවා. දෙමළ හින්දු අය තම පූජ්‍යස්ථානවල ලිං සලකන්නේ ශුද්ද වූ ස්ථාන හැටියට. ඒ ලිං ජලය නෑමට ඇඳුම් සේදීමට පාවිච්චි කරන්නේ නෑ. නමුත් අද එහි යන සිංහල ජනයා විශාල ලෙස එය සිදුකරනවා. එය හින්දු ජනයා ගේ හිත් දැඩිලෙස පාරවන්නක්. දෙවනුව ඔවුන් පූජ්‍යස්ථාන ගොඩනැගිල්ල තුළ ද ඉන් පිටත ද ගමන් කරන්නේ අපි දාගැබ පැදකුණු කරන ආකාරයටයි. එනම් දකුණු අත නිතරම පූජනීය ස්ථානය දෙසට පවතින ලෙස. වම් අත ඒ දෙසට තිබෙන ලෙස ගමන් කළහොත් ඒය සැලකෙන්නේ ආගමික ස්ථානයට කරන අපහාසයක් ලෙස. මේ ගැනත් එහි යන අයට අවබෝධයක් නෑ. අපේ බුදුපිළිමය ඇති විහාර ගෙට පිටින් පැමිනෙන කෙනෙක් සපත්තු දමාගෙන හෝ තොප්පියක් දමාගෙන ගියොත් එය කොහොම පිළිගනීවිදැ'යි ඔබම හිතන්න.? සාමාන්‍ය හින්දු ජනයාට මේවා සුලු කාරණා නොවෙයි. නමුත් ඒවා වෙනස් කරන්න ඔවුන්ට හැකියාවක් නෑ. පහුගිය දා බුදුදහමට නිගරු කළාය කියා 'අකෝන්'ට රටට ඇතුළුවීම ද තහනම් කළා සේ තම ආගමික විශ්වාසවලට අපහාසවන ලෙස කටයුතු කරන කාට හෝ එරෙහිව කිසිම තීරණයක් ගැනීමට දෙමළ ජනයාට නොහැකි බව අපි හැම දෙනා ම දන්නවා නේ.

තව බොහෝ කරුණු ඇතත් තව එක්කරුණක් ගැන විතරක් සඳහන් කර මේ ලිපිය හමාර කරනවා. ඒ මෑතක සිට උතුරට පැමිණෙන හමුදාවේ පිරිස්වල පවුල්වල අයට නවාතැන් දීමට යාපනයේ වැසියන්ට සිදුවීමයි. මෙය සිදුවන්නේ "හෙට/අනිද්දා අපේ පවුලෙ මෙච්චර පිරිසක් යාපනයට එනවා. දවස් දෙකක් ඒ අයට ඕගොල්ලන්ගෙ ගෙදර නවාතැන් දෙන්න" කියා කරන ඉල්ලීමක් ලෙසට. ඇතම් තැනක මෙය බලය යොදා කළ අවස්ථාත් ඇති බව මාගේ මිත්‍රයන් පැවසුවා. මෙය සිදු වෙනවා ඇත්තේ යාපනයට එන පිරිස්වලට අවශ්‍ය තරම් නවාතැන් පහසුකම් නැතිකම නිසාත් යාපනයට එන තම ඥාතීන් නිසි පහසුකම් නොමැතිව දවස් ගතකිරීමට ඉඩහැරීම යාපනයේ සිටින තමන්ගෙ වගකීම් පැහැර හැරීමක් ලෙස එහි සේවය කරන හමුදා භටයින් සිතන නිසාත් විය හැකියි. නමුත් මහනුවර කොතරම් නවාතැන් ප්‍රශ්න තිබුනත් අම්පාරෙන් එහියන මට නන්නාදුණන ගෙදරක නවාතැන් සකසා දෙන්න එහිසේවය කරන මගේ හමුදා ඥාතියෙකුට බෑ. එහෙම ඉල්ලීමක් කරන්න වත් කවුරුවත් උත්සාහ කරන්නේ නෑ. නමුත් මෙය අද යාපනයේ සිදුවෙමින් පවතිනවා.

මෙය ලියන්න ආසන්නතම හේතුව වුනේ අප අතර සිටින එක් මිත්‍රයෙකුගේ නිවසට පෙරේදා පැමිණි හමුදා බට පිරිසක් තව දින දෙකකින් යාපනයට එන තම ඥාතීන්ට නවාතැන් සපයන ලෙස ඔහුගේ වයෝවෘධ දෙමාපියන්ට පැවසීමයි. මාගේ මිත්‍රයා මෙයින් දැඩි හිත් පීඩාවට පත්ව සිටිනවා. මේ කතාව ඇසූ එක් සිංහල සහෝදරයෙක් කියා සිටියේ ඇයි ඔයා අධිකරණයට යන්නේ නැත්තේ, මේක මානව අය්තිවාසිකම් කඩවීමක් කියායි. නමුත් මාගේ දෙමළ මිත්‍රයාගේ පිළිතුර ඉතාම වැදගත්. ඔහු කීවේ මට අධිකරනයෙන් වත් දෙමළ දේසපාලකයන්ගෙන්වත් මේකට උත්තර හොයන්න ඕන නෑ. ඒකෙන් වෙන්නෙ අපි තව භේදවෙන එක. සිංහල අය අතර මේක සාකච්ඡාවට ගැනිලා මේව නවත්ත ගන්න ක්‍රමයක් ඇතිවෙන එකයි මට ඕන කියායි. යාපනයට එන ජන සංඛ්‍යාව එහි ඇති පහසුකම්වල ප්‍රමානයට සීමා කළහොත් හමුදාවට අපේ ගෙවල් ගන්නට වෙන එක්ක නෑ කියායි.

මේ කියවන හැමගෙන්ම ඉල්ලනවා මේ කාරණයට හැකි ආකාරයෙන් මැදිහත් වෙන්න. මිනිස්සු දැනුවත් කරන්න පුළුවන් හැම ක්‍රියා මාර්ගයක්ම ගන්න. ඔබ දන්නා මාධ්‍යවලට සම්බන්ධ අය ඉන්නවානම් මේ ගැන ලියන්න සාකච්ඡාකරන්න පොළඹවන්න. රජය හෝ එහි යන ජනයා විවේචනය කරන්න නෙවෙයි. එය මගේ මිතුරාගේ බලාපොරොත්තුව නෙවෙයි. ඒ වෙනුවට ඔවුන් දැනුවත් කරන්න.

අප නොදන්නා කාලයේ දෙමළ ජනයා අප රට තුළ අවමානයට ලක්ව ඇත්නම් එයට අපට කරන්නට දෙයක් ඉතිරිව නෑ. ඒත් අප ජීවත්වන කාලය තුළ සිදුවන එවැනි දේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපට වගකීමක් තිබෙනවා. මේ කියවන (පෙර ලිපිවල මා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති අදහස්වලට පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ) සහෝදර සහොදරියන් හැම කෙනෙක්ම පුලුවන් යමක් කරයි කියල අපේක්ෂා කරනවා.

Lost opportunities

2010-02-10T07:10:00.005+05:30

ServeSL, 10/02/2010, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Well we as a nation are doing what we know best. Screw things up. May be there really is no point to serving Sri Lanka. When ever we are faced with an opportunity we shoot ourselves in the foot. History tells us that this has been one of our cherished traditions. Who are we to fight our genes. I give up !!!!!

Leading article: An unjustified and disturbing arrest

2010-02-10T05:24:00.001+05:30

The Independent: 10/02/2010

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has a reputation for toughness and decisiveness, and his latest actions only confirm it. By dissolving parliament yesterday, he has cleared the way for early elections, which his Sri Lanka Freedom Party is likely to win handsomely. The move will thus further strengthen his grip on the country after his clear-cut win in the presidential election last month. It is, however, perfectly legitimate.

The outgoing parliament's term only ran until April, and a new one is needed to push through the reforms that Mr Rajapaksa has promised – both to improve the economic lot of ordinary Sri Lankans, and to use the opportunity provided by last year's conclusive military defeat of the separatist Tamil Tigers to heal the country's enduring ethnic tensions. Far more disturbing is the arrest of Sarath Fonseka, the commander who led the victorious campaign against the Tigers and who was Mr Rajapaksa's election opponent last month. The retired general could now face a court martial, apparently on the grounds that by meeting with opposition politicians while still in uniform he had, in the words of a government spokesman, committed "treason to some extent."

The arrest is utterly unjustified. Mr Rajapaksa won re-election by a convincing margin, and General Fonseka has shown no sign of being able to make parliament his new powerbase. The most charitable explanation is that the arrest is part of the long feud between the two men that a bitter election campaign only exacerbated. But it could equally portend a crackdown on the opposition. Last month's result underlined the depth of the divide between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority, as the Tamil National Alliance, the moderate grouping that urged a negotiated peace to the 25-year civil war, actually backed General Fonseka, a Sinhalese, as a lesser evil.

In his victory statement, Mr Rajapaksa spoke of the need to overcome "the violence and division of the past." The way to achieve that is to devolve power, as the constitution prescribes, to the provinces, including Tamil provinces, and by building a genuinely multi-ethnic military and police – and not by arresting the political candidate whom Tamils overwhelmingly supported barely a fortnight ago.

Peace: the mission begins

2009-05-20T10:23:00.002+05:30

Daily Mirror: 20 / 05/2009, By Kusal Perera
There were genuine grievances in the Tamil community that led to the Tamil political struggle. However even when most of those grievances were addressed later, the LTTE became the stumbling block in reaching national reconciliation. Prabhakaran hijacked the Tamil political struggle and became the problem than being the solution.
Although the Sri Lankan constitution does not discriminate between the communities and there is no legally institutionalized racism in Sri Lanka, there are many practical problems and instances of marginalization faced by the Tamil community. The implementation of the language policy is one classic example. There are many instances when government offices send out letters, documents and notices to the public in Sinhala only. These practical issues should be immediately addressed. Also a major attitudinal change within the Sinhala community about the rich diversity of the Sri Lankan culture and heritage that has been nourished through the ages by cross cultural influences should be brought about. The state media should be utilized to integrate the nation and not to polarize the country on ethnic, religious and political lines. The President will have to address these concerns with utmost urgency.
The security forces under the joint politico-military leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Army Commander Sarath Fonseka have accomplished the task of ensuring the territorial integrity of the country by militarily defeating the separatist terrorist organization the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
With the elimination of the entire top level leadership of the Tigers the military strength of the LTTE that plagued the country with terrorism over the last three decades has been stemmed.
Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Army Commander Sarath Fonseka have achieved the task they set about three years ago to completely rid the country of LTTE terrorism. It is no doubt that the resolute and unwavering political leadership povided to the task by President Mahinda Rajapaksa was the cornerstone of the military victory.
The firm stand taken by President Rajapaksa in the face of tremendous international pressure exerted by the western nations, ensured that the military effort could be seen through to its ultimate end. This no doubt was the difference from previous occasions when military action had to be halted just as the security forces were about to finish off the militant terrorist organizations, due to international pressure.
However President Rajapaksa had an advantage that previous leaders did not have; history was on his side. The LTTE had proven beyond doubt that they were incorrigible. India that intervened in the late eighties to bring about a political solution burnt its finger. The Western nations that were fully backing and were involved in the 2002 – 2005 peace process clearly understood that the LTTE was beyond reason. The committed action of the late Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar has seen that the LTTE was banned as a terrorist organization in most of the Western countries.
With all avenues of reaching a peaceful settlement being spurned by the Tigers who were brazenly arming and militarily strengthening themselves, the President had no option but to take necessary military action. The entire country that was absolutely fed up with the Tigers that killed thousands of people with a senseless war and manipulated all genuine efforts to reach a political settlement, stood behind the President in his effort to eliminate the Tigers and turn a new leaf in the country’s history.
The stubbornness of the LTTE and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was amply displayed even at the last stage of the military operations. In the face of imminent defeat the Tiger leadership kept on holding to the false hope of striking a ceasefire and remerging after killing time. When that failed and the entire top level leadership of the LTTE were surrounded, the Tiger leadership still did not want to surrender to the Sri Lankan government but tried its level best to get the West to intervene and surrender to a third party.
The LTTE’s newly appointed international operative S. Pathmanathan alias KP who himself is wanted by the Interpol for gun running and other illicit activities, tried his level best to get Norwegian special envoy Eric Solheim to persuade the Western countries to work out a mechanism for the LTTE to surrender to a third party. In the face of these machinations President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government came under tremendous pressure particularly due to the active role played by the Labour Party government of Britain that took it upon themselves to act the role of being the saviours of Prabhakaran. British Foreign Minister David Miliband went out of his way to get Sri Lanka into the UN Security Council agenda and Prime Minister Gordon Brown was constantly telephoning President Mahinda Rajapaksa. For Gordon Brown and Miliband it was an exercise to save at least one of its vote banks in London in the face of growing unpopularity of the Labour party government.
All that is history now and the top level leadership of the LTTE in Sri Lanka and its military strength has been destroyed. The country is expecting the dawn of a new era and the challenge before President Mahinda Rajapaksa now is to make those expectations a reality.
The defeat of terrorism has been accomplished. It is the quest for peace, reconciliation and achieving national harmony and development through genuine power devolution that is the challenge before the nation today.
It is no doubt that everyone was relieved to here the end of the LTTE. For many it was a moment to celebrate. However this fervor should not be allowed to reach the heights that could cloud the quest for national reconciliation and integration that is the need of the hour. The task before President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to see that the dignity of all communities are restored and root causes that led to the separatist struggle are addressed.
This victory should not be allowed to pave the way for the emergence of majoritarianism and marginalization of communities that in the first place led to the separatist movements. The war has created many scars in society, destroyed communities and polarized the country. A massive and genuine effort will be needed from all religious and community leaders to heal the wounds and achieve national integration.
There were genuine grievances in the Tamil community that led to the Tamil political struggle. However even when most of those grievances were addressed later, the LTTE became the stumbling block in reaching national reconciliation. Prabhakaran hijacked the Tamil political struggle and became the problem than being the solution.
Although the Sri Lankan constitution does not discriminate between the communities and there is no legally institutionalized racism in Sri Lanka, there are many practical problems and instances of marginalization faced by the Tamil community. The implementation of the language policy is one classic example. There are many instances when government offices send out letters, documents and notices to the public in Sinhala only. These practical issues should be immediately addressed. Also a major attitudinal change within the Sinhala community about the rich diversity of the Sri Lankan culture and heritage that has been nourished through the ages by cross cultural influences should be brought about. The state media should be utilized to integrate the nation and not to polarize the country on ethnic, religious and political lines. The President will have to address these concerns with utmost urgency.
It is no secret that the good understanding that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had with India made the defeat of the LTTE possible. The President while rejecting the peace process mooted by the Norwegians, earlier stressed the need for the active involvement of the regional super power India to move towards a political solution. Making a statement following the defeat of the Tigers, India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherji has said that a political solution should be achieved in Sri Lanka based on the Indo-Lanka accord.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has an advantage that no other former leader had in the country in going towards a political solution. He has the entire Sinhala community behind him to whom he does not have anything to prove. With that strength President Mahinda Rajapaksa is best positioned to bring about a political solution through devolution of power. This is an opportunity that should not be allowed to fade away

Sri Lanka: Time to heal the wounds of conflict and war

2009-05-20T08:22:00.001+05:30

Asian Tribune: Tue, 2009-05-19 01:29, By Raj Gonsalkorale

Sri Lankan Armed Forces have done what was unthinkable a few years ago. President Rajapaksa has done what none of his predecessors even dared to imagine was possible. The military battle with the LTTE is over. One has to pinch one self to believe this has happened.
Much will be written about this battle, and the bravery of the Sri Lankan Forces. They need to be written about and admired for their courage. Their Commanders led by the Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka need to be recognized and praised for their leadership, stead fastness and single minded determination to defeating Sri Lanka’s greatest enemy, the LTTE.
President Rajapaksa will speak to the Nation tomorrow. He deserves all the applause he will receive from his beloved countrymen for what he has done in giving them a fresh opportunity to seek a solution to this conflict without bloodshed. He needs to lead the way now in healing the wounds of conflict and war, and lead the people towards a permanent solution, so that we will not have another terrorist group making excuses to get to power through bullets, grenades, and suicide bombs, and ruin the lives and minds of men and women, and children, and consign them permanently to the dustbin. It is time now to celebrate, but to celebrate the opportunity we now have to heal the wounds, physical and mental, and not to celebrate to forget the wounds.
When all those civilians caught in the conflict are taken to IDP camps, we will have perhaps as much as 300,000 persons who may have lost a loved one, lost a limb, their homes and their livelihood, and who may have permanent mental scars against those who made them suffer. The Sinhalese would like to think these IDPs will blame the LTTE for their suffering, while some Tamils will blame the Sinhala dominated governments for their suffering.
Irrespective of what the IDPs think, they are all Sri Lankans who need to be looked after. They are human beings with feelings, the same as other human beings who live in other parts of Sri Lanka.
They all need to be looked after, fed, clothed and health requirements met. Children in camps must go to school and they should not miss any of the opportunities that children in other parts of the country have, and taken for granted. Women must feel safe and be safe at all times.
The challenge before the President and the government is huge. Rebuilding the shattered lives of these IDPs is going to be a far tougher battle than even the battle to defeating the LTTE. Foreign countries, especially the West, who have been so concerned about these civilians must help if their concerns have been genuine.
The President has already appointed a Task Force with a wide ranging agenda, to map out the restoration of the physical infrastructure of the war torn North. Perhaps he needs another Technical Task Force to concentrate entirely on rebuilding the minds of the affected people who have suffered so many traumas. He also needs to make sure that the gains made are not lost by one or two single incidents of misbehavior on the part of a few individuals from the Armed Forces. So far, the Armed Forces have behaved impeccably but one can never say how the odd person might behave when a sense of power gets to their heads.
Misbehavior by a few will be enough to wipe the slate clean of all hard fought and hard gained achievements of so many.
While the government’s stated goal is to usher in economic development in the North as they did in the East once it was liberated from the LTTE, that alone is not sufficient to win the hearts and minds of people caught in the conflict, and who have lost their livelihoods and their homes. They also need to feel a sense of security of the present and of the future. In terms of their sense of physical security, the sooner the government introduces third party involvement in running the IDP camps, the better. Initially, it would be a good idea to introduce bodies like ICRC to be more involved in running these camps alongside Sri Lankan officials, while the government provides security for the camps.
In terms of their sense of security concerning their future, they should start witnessing the actual resettlement of IDPs in their original homes. They should also be given opportunities to learn a new trade if they so wish during the time they are kept in the camps. Needless to say these cannot be done overnight and it will take many months before the governments own good intentions can be put to practice considering the herculean task before them. But, there should be some indication that this will happen so that the IDPs will have some hope for their future security.
Broken families have to be mended. Children separated from their parents have to be reunited. Children who have lost their parents have to be found foster parents or children’s orphanages. The list of things to do is endless. It needs the support of professionals who have experience in such rehabilitation work. The President must open doors for such people to come in as soon as that becomes possible.
Some Western countries and the Western media are looking for reasons or them to make a scapegoat of the Sri Lankan government. They will be watching with hawk eyed inquisitiveness for any slip on the part of the Sri Lankan authorities. For them, news revolves around failure, war and mayhem. Success stories are rarely news worthy.
What is important for the Sri Lankan government is not to worry about international opinion if such opinion is based on falsehoods and misinformation. What is important is negative international opinion based on fact. The Sri Lankan government must therefore be vigilant at all times to make sure they do not give fodder to those vultures who are waiting to tarnish the good name of the country. One can defend one self against untruths, but not against the truth, if untoward things do happen.
This is not a time to gloat. There is so much to be done. It is a time to take stock of what has happened over the years and repair the damages caused over so many years to the fabric of our society. It is time to make sure terrorism never raises its ugly head ever again. It is time we do what is right because it is right, not do things because we are pressured to do so.
Tomorrow, Sri Lankans will expect the President to commend the Armed Forces for their magnificent performance, and express the Nations gratitude to them for having defeated the once invincible, mighty LTTE. They deserve nothing less. However, The President must also be cognizant of the feelings of the vanquished considering that some Tamils supported the LTTE for fighting for a cause that was close to their hearts, although many of them may have despised the methods used by the LTTE, and would welcome their defeat. The President must speak to all Sri Lankans and he should have some comforting words for all Sri Lankans, and leave everyone with some hope that we can build a new Sri Lanka together if we could be focused more on the future rather than the past.
- Asian Tribune -

Back to Basics - A solid conceptual base for rebuilding trust

2009-05-17T21:04:00.003+05:30

Dailynews, 13/05/09 By Renton De Alwis

Last weekend Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrated Vesak. Vesak is the day when Buddhists recount the three most significant events of the life of Gauthama Buddha. It is the day when the Buddha was born, won over his greed and attained Nirvana; breaking the suffering, the cycle of life and rebirth and passed away leaving the Dhamma or discourses of sense, truth and wisdom behind.
On this very weekend of Vesak, we as a nation were once again at crossroads. On the one hand the nation’s collective conscience was seeking brisk ways to bring relief to the suffering of our Tamil brethren trapped in the Northern war front. Lives were being taken not only of those who have sought violence but also of innocents on all sides.
We have the stark reality that people are used as human shields by those who sought and continue to seek terror as a way to resolve issues for over two and half decades. The mistakes made by all of us over the years are many.
The resolve to end terror and seek ways different to that of the past to find genuine reconciliation, building trust and confidence is looming. Yet, the suffering on the ground is real with pain, loss of life and survival touching those who are victims of circumstances. Healing deep wounds beyond the current suffering is the challenge we, as a nation face.
Practising a true Buddhist way of life and seeking the true meaning of Vesak will, in the columnist’s mind give the Sri Lankan nation a way forward when we take on the task of reconciliation based on the principles of Karuna (Compassion), Mettha (Loving Kindness), Muditha (Sympathetic Joy) and Upekkha (Equanimity).
What the Buddha sought, found and taught is that, there is a way beyond the suffering and pain, where hope of an enlightened way is possible. The way proposed is primarily a way for each which then will form the collective character of the way forward, be it for a nation, region or for the world.
Transforming the way of the Buddhist discourse to that for lifestyles and economics will be the challenge before us. In times and circumstances where small, self- reliant and sufficient economies present, desirable and rational alternatives to the globalised, greed driven. ‘Big is Better’ type social and economic models, this may well be the way forward for us all.

Douse the fires

We are now tasked as a nation to seek ways of meeting the post-terrorism reconciliation and building of trust between communities in the North, South, East, West and the Central Hills.
The immediate needs will be related to attending to the injured, sick and the traumatised. Survival needs of providing a sense of security and safety, preventing the spread of diseases through maintenance of good sanitation, feeding, clothing and the like will be vital.
It will be months if not years before even a semblance of normalcy can be attained for those who are now displaced from their land and adobe. Rebuilding and reconstruction of lives and a fresh socio-economic web will be a slow and painful process.
The need of the hour is for a united and unified effort of all. Raging fires of hatred must be doused at the local and international levels and licking of wounds must be replaced with solid, effective frontline action aimed for the welfare of the displaced, injured and the hurt.

Hope and trust

Infrastructure such as bridges, roads, hospitals, market places, administrative mechanisms will all need to be set in place, like we see happen in the East within a short span of time. With each brick and with each layer of mortar, lasting hope and trust will also need to be cemented as strong as possible.
Issues of establishing ownership of land of the displaced, providing them a sense of confidence of the genuineness of the intentions need be carried through on the fast-forward mode with credible and neutral institutional mechanisms. This in turn will help bring about a change of their mindsets about whom they perceived as the oppressor for this long,

Creating tension

It is also prudent to be mindful that there will be those who will continue to seek to benefit from the misery of a suffering people.
They will seek to create tension through misinformation and attempt to deliberately design chaotic and undesirable circumstances. Anticipation of the modus-operandi of such and being ready to counter them will be the responsibility of all citizens as well as the Diaspora of this country.
What we now need is genuine care, vigilance and a sense of protective giving from all alike, regardless of whatever differences of views there may have been in the past among us.
Critical to such process when we rebuild lives with trust and faith in each other, reaching out to each other, is the need to have a conceptual basis to that effort.
It is important that it has moral and ethical credence that can rise above and beyond the mistrust, misinformation and misadventure scenarios of the past.

A model for rebuilding

Buddhism as a philosophy and a way of life (not necessarily in its form as a religion) can help us meet this difficult challenge. Its way, when practised with a conscious mind, can encourage us to be compassionate and non-violent with ourselves as well as others, which is a good a first-step in building a model of trust and credence.
The leadership of the nation building apparatus need to articulate the basis for the model, positioning it transparently but away from any chauvinistic overtones of being a vehicle for propagating a religious identity.
Being traditionally a majority Hindu Community, the Tamils have at the root of their social fabric an acceptance of the basis of the true Buddhist way of life and that of the Gandhian philosophy of prudent and simple living.
This can be a major platform articulated through sharing and understanding among local leaders and social workers regardless of them being Hindu, Christian, Muslim or Buddhist. Such an initiative in-turn can be a way to cement a neutral conceptual base for the rebuilding effort.

A disconnected society

In approaching to establish such a simplistic conceptual basis, we must also realise and be aware that it is the dynamics of the complex global economy which has created a disconnected society, psychological deprivation and a breakdown of the sustainable and natural way of life of ours, through the many shocks it brought about in the past few decades of fast paced growth.
In this context, Buddhism also can help us to focus on the system and its structural violence, instead of blaming or condemning ourselves or others within that system.
The teachings can encourage an understanding of the many complex ways we affect others and our environment, and encourage empathy and a profound affirmation of life. Only by recognizing how we are all part of this system, can we actively work together to disengage from these life-denying structures.
The philosophy of Buddhism, also in its holistic approach, can help us to understand and realise how various symptoms are interrelated; how the crises facing us are systemic and deeply rooted in economic and social imperatives.
Understanding the myriad connections between the problems can prevent us from wasting our efforts on the symptoms of the crises, rather than focusing on their fundamental causes. Under the surface, even such seemingly unconnected problems such as ethnic violence, terrorism, climate change, poverty, pollution of the air and water, pandemics, disruption of social institutions, and cultural disintegration are closely interlinked.

The entire fabric

Emotionally and psychologically, such a shift in our perception of the nature of the problems is deeply empowering for both the designer of a model for rebuilding as well as for all those who are the victims that need security, care, trust and attention.
In a crisis of this nature, being faced with a never-ending string of seemingly unrelated and un-surmountable problems can be overwhelming, but finding the points at which they converge can make our strategy to solve them more focused and effective.
It is then just a question of pulling the right threads to affect the entire fabric, rather than having to deal with each problem individually.
A fine focus on the Four Noble Truths of Dukkha: or realisation of suffering; Samudaya: cause of suffering as the desire to have and control things; Nirodha: effective action to ease it with Nirvana; and Magga; or the way through the eightfold path leading to the cessation of suffering can be an effective way forward for the conceptual base model for strategic decision making in rebuilding our once lost nation.

Useful Web Addresses:

A Guide to Buddhist Resources - www.buddhanet.net
A comprehensive TV Channel of Buddhist resource links - www.buddhistchannel.tv
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies - www.ocbs.org
Journal of Buddhist Ethics - www.buddhistethics.org/2/rightbib.html
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance - www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism3.htm
Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services - www.resettlementmin.gov.lk
Internally Displaced Persons; Human Rights Commission Sri Lanka - www.idpsrilanka.lk
Ministry of Defence, Sri Lanka - www.defence.lk/english.asp

After deprivation, Sri Lanka's displaced nurture hopes of going home

2009-05-09T08:32:00.003+05:30

Reuters AlertNet, 08 May 2009, Written by: Amjad Mohamed-Saleem,

In the last week, some sort of order seems to be coming to the camps here in northeastern Sri Lanka. The task is momentous as the numbers of displaced people are continuously increasing. The camps are expanding, but despite all the preparations, the sheer volume means the early weeks have been chaotic.
It seems those who've been displaced to Trincomalee will also end up coming to Vavuniya. That could be a good move in terms of facilitating the aid process and easing logistical difficulties.
The authorities are quietly making an effort to put the camps in order. In practice, this means providing electricity and water, clearing land for more camps, and ensuring the displaced get the best help possible. Credit should be given where it's due, and in the face of such huge challenges, it's been remarkable to see the government at work.
Forests are being cleared at a terrific pace, tents are being put up (according to one rumour, 12,000 were erected in a day) and within two days, pylons and wires had been rigged up with the expectation power would flow 24 hours later. As a colleague wryly remarked, "If only they could be this efficient in Colombo!"
One thing that isn't so efficient are the queues. Driving up to Vavuniya, you arrive at Medavichia, about 35km to the south and regarded by some as the last point between the "north" and the rest of the country. If you're lucky, you spend only an hour at this checkpoint. If not, you can count on two to three hours, and no one is spared.
Everyone is searched and then let through. Previously, vehicles weren't allowed to go past this checkpoint without a defence ministry pass. So a lot of agencies have ended up driving to Medavichia and then changing over into vehicles coming from Vavuniya. Either way your car is put on a ramp and checked. This is certainly a hassle, but imagine what it's like for those using public transport.
The day we went in, there were about 40 vehicles parked in front of us waiting for clearance. Many were from corporates sending in relief items. There was also a fleet of around 10 fire and rescue vehicles and trucks from various municipal councils.
We all got the same treatment. The police officer who checked us was very polite but unapologetic. "Sorry sir, we have a duty to check to ensure security and safety." They went through the car with a fine tooth comb, but at least we didn't have to unload items from a truck and then put them all back.
Before you enter Menik Farm - the site of the largest camp holding the most displaced people (around 170,000) - you queue while the military police check your access pass and go through the vehicle. All precautionary security measures, as people are inevitably nervous.

'I CAN'T BE A REFUGEE'

It's only once you're in that you see the real queues. People line up for water, food and other relief supplies, as well as to use the bathroom. "It has been quite orderly," remarked one aid worker. "But when we first started, there were mini riots as people surged to get things. It was as if they had not seen these things before."
This is what strikes you about the current situation. The people are so desperate and have been deprived of so much for so long that anything is now a luxury.
Many of the mothers who've been coming to our mobile hospital are suffering from malnutrition - not just because they've been hungry for the last couple of months but because they've been deprived of essential food and nutrients for the last three years or so.
There have been allegations in the state media that some government food aid sent to areas controlled by the rebels ended up in Tamil Tiger bunkers or warehouses owned by their leadership, without going to the people. From what we're seeing on the ground, it's becoming hard to dispute such allegations.
Most of the displaced have reached a psychological point of desperation, with many having been continuously uprooted since 2006. A few have expressed relief simply at the fact that they can now sleep in some degree of comfort without the threat and noise of shelling.
Talk to them and you get a sense of how fruitless their lives have been, just moving from place to place, caught up in a battle of which they knew nothing and didn't want to be a part. Many speak of family members who were forcibly conscripted to fight.
Yet in the midst of all this pain and suffering, there doesn't seem to be much sorrow. It's as if they've lost the capacity for sadness. Most, though, are hopeful for the future. One person told me: "I just want to go back to my place and restart my livelihood. I don't care how long that will take. I can't be a refugee."
This is a sentiment you hear quite often. There's no feeling of grievance or anger against the government or the army. Many of the displaced have spoken of their surprise at the gentle way they've been treated by the perceived "other side". The main desire is to go home and start their lives again.
It's a message that even the government seems to have heard. Yesterday the president convened a meeting with heads of agencies where they were told: "We need to work together to help our people return back to safety and normality. This is our responsibility, our duty and our plan." A powerful promise that now needs to be put into action.

Humanitarian task needs wide support

2009-04-28T13:55:00.000+05:30

Daily Mirror, Monday, April 27, 2009, By Milinda Rajasekera

Confirming the widely held public opinion, the government has gained a convincing victory at Saturday’s western provincial council polls. It was clear that even the opposition parties that campaigned for their success, did not expect to make much headway at this election in view of the steady progress that the security forces have made in recovering territory that the LTTE had gained control over by means of violence and terrorism over several decades.
Whatever the sins of omission and commission that the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government is accused of, and guilty of, it undoubtedly deserved the public support and it received people’s gratitude in ample measure as manifested at the recently held elections. The government did well in courageously and determinedly marching towards its goal withstanding pressures the local and foreign forces had exerted in their contemptible campaign to prevent the LTTE terrorist outfit being pulverized. The final operation that the forces launched to rescue the hapless people whom the LTTE endeavoured to retain as their protective shield was indeed a challenging and sensitive one that needed careful planning and execution since it involved the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. So it is creditable that the objective has been accomplished with minimum danger to the lives of the people seeking freedom from Tiger clutches. The harrowing scenes of men, women and children in varying states health, extreme misery written on their faces trudging along for relief, were heartrending indeed. They have reportedly been living under tents put up by the LTTE in the Safe Zone, exposing themselves to environmental hazards and sans decent basic facilities.
Described as the most outstanding among humanitarian operations launched anywhere in the world to rescue a group of people long held to ransom by a senseless gang of terrorists activated by a dream of creating a separate enclave on a communal basis, the operation was indeed a remarkable one. The flow of the multitude continues presenting another challenge to the authorities to provide them with food, clothing, shelter and protection from the possible suicide and other attacks that disgruntled terrorists would attempt through LTTE cadres suspected to have infiltrated into government controlled areas disguised as refugees.
It is encouraging that the security forces who had equally suffered in conducting their operations in extremely inhospitable terrain, seem enthusiastically lending their hand in meeting the needs of the refugees. They are seen preparing food, providing medical treatment and constructing shelter for these people. This indeed is the most arduous but gratifying aspect of the humanitarian operation the security forces have undertaken. It is also commendable that the rest of the country’s population have come forward to render whatever assistance they are capable of, in alleviating their suffering thus demonstrating the genuine concern and compassion they have for the sufferings of their fellow-beings.
The price the country had to pay for the whole exercise of ridding the country of the menace of terrorism is undoubtedly heavy. But most people feel the accomplished task is worth the price paid. The country has suffered much from the curse of terrorism as well as from various measures taken by the authorities in combating it. The loss and suffering that people underwent while facing acts of terrorism were considerable. Equally extensive were the difficulties that the people had to undergo as a result of various measures successive governments adopted to combat the scourge over the years. Many civilians in the theatre of conflict lost their lives in the crossfire and lost their property and were displaced while those in the south had to curtail their movements and suffer restrictions to their other rights and freedoms as a result of security and protective measures that were necessarily adopted. So the sense of relief that people experience today as hopes of an era of peace emerge is considerable indeed.
It is this feeling of relief and the compassion aroused in people for the suffering of refugees that have found expression in the prompt and eager response to the appeals made for providing assistance to the affected people. The international community also has volunteered substantial assistance - discarding the misgivings that some sections of it had – on this occasion, obviously convinced of the genuineness of the humanitarian task the country has undertaken. The completion of the task ahead would understandably be challenging. After meeting their immediate needs, the mass of people who had crossed over to safety has to be properly accommodated until such time as their normal lives and livelihoods are restored to them.
This task obviously needs allocation of funds which have to be generated from the limited resources available to the government. While it is for the affluent sections of all communities to volunteer assistance in this task, political leaders, government leaders in particular, have to whittle down their expenditure and divert saved funds for this purpose. Their words of concern and compassion have to be converted into deeds.

Overshadowed by displacement in Sri Lanka’s North, people return home in the East

2009-04-23T21:20:00.003+05:30

UNHCR: BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka, Thursday 06th November 2008

As the tide of people uprooted by fighting in northern Sri Lanka continues to swell, there’s overlooked good news in the east of the country: internally displaced people (IDPs) are returning home with help from the government, UNHCR and its partners.
Some 230,000 persons are said to be displaced in the Kilinochchi and Mullativu districts as a result of intensified military operations to regain the last stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Humanitarian agencies have sent emergency supplies to feed the IDPs, most of who are accommodated in the Mullativu district. More humanitarian convoys carrying food and shelter material are planned during the coming weeks.
Sri Lanka’s east experienced a similar wave of displacement two years ago when government forces regained LTTE-held territories in the region. By the end of March 2007, some 170,000 persons were reportedly displaced across the Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts.
All but 11,000 IDPs in Batticaloa and more than 4,500 persons in Trincomalee have returned home since the start of the government-facilitated process last year, which has seen substantial improvements thanks to interventions by the UN refugee agency and other humanitarian agencies operating in the east.
“UNHCR continues to monitor returns, along with the conditions in the existing 17 IDP sites,” said Axel Bisschop, the agency’s senior programme officer in Colombo. “In coordination with our partners, we are also distributing relief items and carrying out regular protection monitoring in both the IDP sites and return areas.”
Earlier this month, the government organized another “go and see” visit for a dozen residents of a welfare centre outside Batticaloa town to allow them to see conditions in the villages for themselves before making a decision whether to return. The IDPs were taken to the village in an area once controlled by the LTTE and only recently cleared of mines.
UNHCR accompanies IDPs on these “go and see” visits, which are an important element in ensuring the voluntary nature of the process. The visits are preceded by mine clearance and joint pre-return assessments by UN agencies.
“In the past, some returns were rushed, but the process has seen substantial improvements since its inception,” said Jens Hesemann, head of UNHCR’s field office in Batticaloa. “All these improvements contribute towards making the returns sustainable with the ultimate goal of providing a lasting solution for these people.”
However, agencies are still trying to address several concerns in the return areas, such as water and sanitation, housing and the lack of livelihoods. During the latest “go and see” visit, IDPs were given the opportunity to raise these concerns with the district’s top administrator and the local military commander in the presence of UNHCR.
Selvarasa Amodani, a preschool teacher, questioned the level of protection her family would have if they opted to return. The area commander assured the returnees they could come to him if they had any problems. Others spoke about land ownership and safety in the remote areas. One worried about wild elephants while another said she had heard food rations would be cut if they did not move out of the camp.
After the discussion, Amodani seemed reassured and said her family would return. In her absence, looters had stripped her house of everything, including the doors, but she’s relieved that the structure still has a roof.
Some of her neighbours will have to move into temporary shelters due to the dire conditions of their homes. The nearly 500 residents of the Palameemadu camp once lived in a village overlooking a Trincomalee naval facility, now a no-go zone for security reasons. Despite their austere existence at the camp, they have resisted offers to relocate elsewhere.
Meanwhile after months of negotiations between UNHCR and relevant stakeholders, a warehouse which was in a deplorable condition but being used to accommodate displaced families in Batticaloa was also recently vacated.
The building, which is located close to the Batticaloa town, was used to accommodate some 79 families (220 persons) who fled various parts of Trincomalee during the military operations last year. The families have now voluntarily transferred to five other sites within the Batticaloa town after the warehouse was shut down on mid-September.
Local government officials organised the transportation and re-registration at the other IDP sites, while UNHCR provided assistance packages which included non-food relief items and the choice between a bicycle or an equivalent cash grant.
UNHCR monitoring teams say that the displaced families are now content with the living conditions at the new sites.

In search of a better tomorrow - Thousands of IDPs enter Government controlled areas.

2009-04-20T21:39:00.002+05:30

ServeSL, Kandy, Sri Lanka 20/04/2009
Today, as I watched thousands of helpless civilians flock to leave the no fire zone and enter the government controlled areas, the tragic scenes of the aftermath of the boxing day Tsunami flashed across my mind. Yes I believe that the situation is as grave or even worse now. I was trying to imagine what might be going through the minds of these frightened and weary looking human beings. They have suffered untold miseries during the past several months, their lives are uncertain even at this very moment, may be they have lost a loved one. What do they want? What could they want? The answer may be as simple as a better tomorrow. The question is can we provide them that. If we are to win anything we must gradually improve their battered lives. Their condition should improve day by day. These are people who have suffered a life time. They have grievances, they have their doubts. We must allay them. We must provide them with a much better alternative and give them hope. We can not afford to wait. We should not think that it is the sole responsibility of the Government, the NGOs, the INGOs and the like. I feel that it is my responsibility and duty as well. I can not for a second think that I am not responsible for their sad plight. I should take my fare share of blame as a Sri Lankan citizen for all the senseless deaths that have taken place in this bloody war of over thirty years. The military offensive may be nearing an end. The challenges of tomorrow I feel are colossal. At the very same time we are also presented with a tremendous opportunity for making Sri Lanka a better place for every one, irrespective of race, religion, cast or creed. Let us begin by going out of our way to make the lives of these suffering humans a better one. How soon we succeed in doing this will ensure how soon the healing and mending can begin.

Visit to Vavunia by indi.ca

2009-04-18T09:37:00.003+05:30

Sunday Learder, April 5 2009, Article 14 by indi.ca

International celebrities like Arundhati Roy and M.I.A. have clumsily called for an end to the horrors in the north. While their concern is laudable, they would do well to address the Sri Lankan people. Roy has called this a racist war in the Times of India and asked for the world to step in.
M.I.A. wrote a letter in support of the Wanni Mercy Mission entering Sri Lankan waters without permission. This is simply insulting and wrong. I am Sri Lankan and this is still our country. This is a civil war and it must ultimately be resolved by the people of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan people elected this government, however terribly flawed. The people being bombed now couldn’t vote, because the LTTE wouldn’t let them. Today they cannot leave, again because the LTTE will not let them. If there is a party that can end this war tomorrow it is the LTTE and if there is a party that is affected by the international opinion it is the LTTE. Neither Roy nor M.I.A. mention the LTTE even once.
I say this not to demand ‘balanced’ coverage or because I consider them LTTE supporters. I mention these omissions simply because they profess a desire to help. Condemning the LTTE would help people on the ground, immediately.
Freedom under threat
It is true that our government does grievous wrong. To quote the assassinated editor of this very paper, ‘Sri Lanka is the only country in the world routinely to bomb its own citizens.’ Our soldiers are dying in numbers we don’t know. There are people being kept in camps without permission to leave. As citizens, our freedom of speech and publication is under assault.
However, through all this, it is still our government. Our democracy has survived over 26 years of brutal terrorist onslaught, multiple rebellions, natural disasters and more. Granted, it is a mess, but it exists. Even throughout LTTE occupation it was still Sri Lankan government agents delivering health care and education to the north and east, as they do for the whole country. Even now the victims of war are treated in government hospitals.
Our government is corrupt, inefficient and oppressive, but it survives. And the Sri Lankan people survive. We can change our government, and we can change ourselves.
The international community
Roy and M.I.A. blame the Sri Lankan government and address the Sri Lankan people not at all. They act if the government is absolutely irredeemable and the Sri Lankan people do not exist. Instead they direct their complaints to the ‘international community’ and presume that any action will come from there. It won’t. That international community simply doesn’t exist in any real sense. They are unable to judge and fix Sri Lanka. Whatever their intentions, the result is to antagonise the government (which we can fix) and embolden the LTTE (which we cannot).
Political theatre
The same organisations waving Tamil Eelam maps in protests are now sending a ship to Sri Lanka. Their face is Arjunan Ethirveerasingam, former spokesman for the TRO, an organisation banned in the US for LTTE fund raising and procurement. Their mission lists foreign celebrities and British MPs as stakeholders, ignoring us entirely. They may believe that the land from Chilaw to Ampara is not Sri Lanka at all, but it is.
If they actually want to help people they have to put those politics aside and deal with the map we have. If you actually want to help people you have to work with the government.
Actual relief
I have been working with citizens who are sending relief to our fellow Sri Lankans in the north. This is only possible through close coordination with the various ministries of our government. There is one way you can help listed at the end of this article. Working with the government is frustrating and at times impossible, but it is the only way to get things done. There are no gala parties, but the relief actually reaches people. It may not make much of a point, but it makes a difference.
No excuses
None of this is to excuse the horrors of the north. I have seen children without limbs and there is no possible excuse. But you must understand. The LTTE is isolated and they are holding our relatives in the north as human shields. The government is responding with inhuman force to finally end this thing once and for all. Is there an easy answer here?
You cannot call in the world police because they won’t come. You cannot launch a ship full of celebrities into a war zone because you’ll get turned away. At the end of the day, Eelam or not, Sinhalese and Tamils and all Sri Lankans have to live together. We can use international help, but ultimately it’s something we have to workout without terrorism, through our democracy and for ourselves.
If you’d like to help out during this Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Deputy Minister of Social Services Lionel Premasiri is organising Ne Gam Yaame Viyapruthiya (visiting relatives for the New Year). On April 9th a convoy will begin in Tangalle collecting school supplies, household items, dry rations, new clothes, mattresses and plastic piggy banks with a few coins. It seems small, but it makes a real difference.
The Colombo collection point for Ne Gam Yaame Viyapruthiya in Colombo is the Shanti Foundation on Buller’s Road (near Kanatte junction). Contact 071-377-7666 for more info.

For more by indi.ca follow this link.

Climate change impacts coconut

2009-04-18T09:22:00.002+05:30

The Nation: By Dr. Sanathanie Ranasinghe
There is a broad consensus that climate change is occurring, and that it is linked to a build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere enhancing the natural greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is, by far, the largest contributor to greenhouse effect. In addition to increased CO2, with climate changes, the plants have to adapt their ways to a new environment – in most cases warmer and possibly with the periods of extreme rainfall and drought.
As plantation researchers, we are mostly concerned about the changes in coconut yields by increased temperatures, precipitation differences and also from carbon fertilisation for plants. Whilst high temperature and long dry periods adversely affects the coconut yield, elevated CO2 positively affects plant productivity as the latter is a substrate for photosynthesis. The climate scientists predict future climates using different scenarios. However, projecting climate impacts is one thing, but plantation crops add multiple more dimensions of complexity – what are the sensitive stages of fruit development to stress condition, intensity of heat or drought stress, heat and drought tolerant coconut varieties, irrigation, soil moisture conservation, soil fertility and much more. In addition, the coconuts grown in different agro-climatic zones and different land suitability classes (There are five groups from very suitable to marginally suitable soils.) will respond differently to the climate change; some areas may be more vulnerable than the others. Therefore, one should understand that climatic change impacts on coconut sector are not a phenomenon controlled by a single factor.
Reproductive development is more sensitive to high temperature and water stress than vegetative development and the principal harmful effect of stress is on fruit set and development. The fruit set can be adversely affected, mainly due to a reduction in pollen quality and / or germination. The nut development can be affected mainly resulting small number of nuts, empty nuts or elongated nuts. Coconuts grown in intermediate and dry zones are often exposed to brief or sometimes prolonged period of heat stress, i.e. day time temperature warmer than 30-32ºC and long durations of dry period (more than 2 months rain-free period). The studies are under way to determine the most sensitive stages of coconut reproductive phase to high temperature and water stress and their impacts on coconut yield in different AER and land suitability classes and for different varieties. The degree of sensitivity and the pattern of reaction to high temperature stress and water stress may differ among varieties /cultivars.
In a country like Sri Lanka we do not have facilities to conduct field experiments with coconut and elevated CO2, therefore, with the available facilities; some experiments were conducted with coconut seedlings. The elevation of atmospheric CO2 concentration increased the photosynthetic rate of coconut seedlings by about 25% however; the effect on yield cannot be estimated in these studies.
On the other hand, tree plantation crops are particularly important for reducing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. They act as carbon reservoirs because trees hold much more carbon per unit area than other types of vegetation. Coconut plantations could be used in four ways to reduce CO2 emissions and sequestrate carbon; substitution of fossil fuel using bio-diesel or biomass from coconut oil, sequestration of C (carbon) through coconut plantation, enhancing C sequestration through coconut plantation management and conserving C sink in coconut ‘forest’.
Therefore, it is clear that climate change will have negative effects on coconut plantations by increased temperature and extreme droughts and positive effects on yield by CO2 fertilization. In addition coconut plantations can be used to mitigate climate change.
The Writer is the head of the Plant Physiological Department at the Coconut Research Institute of Sri Lanka.

Global warming 'might hinder coconut production'

2009-04-18T09:16:00.002+05:30

SCiDevNET: Tharaka Gamage, 15 April 2009

[COLOMBO] Global warming could adversely affect the production of coconuts — a staple fruit on which millions of tropical country inhabitants depend — scientists report.
Sri Lankan and US scientists analysed data on monthly rainfall from 1932 to 2003 in seven coconut-growing regions in Sri Lanka, and annual coconut production from 1971 to 2004. They found that coconut production was inhibited during drought years.
Using this data they developed a model to predict annual coconut production, based on temperature and rainfall patterns in its coconut-growing regions as well as greenhouse gas emission data.
Their analysis shows rising temperatures and rainfall changes could reduce coconut production through changes in fruit formation and nut development.
Sanathanie Ranasinghe, head of the plant physiology division at Sri Lanka's Coconut Research Institute (CRI) — one of the project partners — explains, "[Fruit formation] can be adversely affected, mainly due to a reduction in pollen quality and/or germination. The nut development can be affected, resulting in small number of nuts or empty nuts."
CRI scientists say the tree takes 18 months to mature, making it vulnerable to weather changes, particularly during the two dry seasons from January to March and July to August.
Millions of people in tropical countries depend on coconuts for food and cooking oil and use its fibres to make mats, mattresses, ropes, brooms and baskets. Sri Lanka alone produces 2.4 billion nuts every year, with 400,000 hectares, more than a fifth of its agricultural land, under coconut cultivation.
Studies are underway at CRI to determine the most sensitive stages of the coconut reproductive phase to high temperature and water stress and to assess the impact on coconut yield in different areas, land suitability classes and varieties.
A report published last month (30 March) by the US-based International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) at the Columbia Climate Centre says the predictive model, which can yield a forecast 15 months in advance, have worked well since 2005 when they first started testing the model. CRI and the Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology are now refining the model for regional and bimonthly forecasts, Lareef Zubair from IRI, told SciDev.Net.

In Coastal Sri Lanka, Post-Tsunami Recovery Project Brings Economic Stability

2009-04-15T05:53:00.001+05:30

ADRA: 04/14/2009, By Millie Castillo, ADRA Sri Lanka / Nadia McGill, ADRA International

The end of March marked the successful completion of the Livelihood and Infrastructure for Family Empowerment (LIFE) project, an initiative that targeted coastal communities in southern Sri Lanka that were directly affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami, said the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).

The LIFE project, launched on October 1, 2006 by ADRA Sri Lanka, provided beneficiaries from Tangalle, Hambantota District, the necessary tools to start small businesses, including valuable information on financial management, vocational and skills training, and business counseling. LIFE also helped build 225 kitchens and more than 200 rain water harvesting tanks, conducted 315 health trainings and 7,200 house visits, and coordinated peace- and capacity-building activities. The implementation of a livelihood component created nearly a dozen savings groups among the beneficiaries, conducted vocational trainings, and gave 140 of the beneficiaries’ access to business entrepreneurship assistance and consultation through the Use-to-Own Program (UTOP).

Funded by Swiss Solidarity, ADRA Switzerland, and ADRA Czech Republic, the LIFE project was created to improve access to safe and adequate housing for 200 tsunami affected families in the villages of Kelanigama, Malgampura, and Marakolliya , increasing their incomes, and providing them with opportunities that would facilitate peace within their recently established communities.

In attendance to the LIFE project closing ceremonies were Mr. Laletha Wanigasekara, district representative-elect from the the Tangalle Municipal Council, Mrs. Priyanga Handunhewa, divisional secretary of Tangalle, government representatives from the three project villages, and officials from ADRA Sri Lanka and ADRA Switzerland.

“Many [non-governmental organizations] came to us after the tsunami and vanished just as well, but ADRA remained in the region working with the people and touching their hearts,” said Priyanga Handunhewa. “Today I have seen the faces of the beneficiaries and how their lives have improved.”

Before the ceremony, beneficiaries participated in an exhibition that showcased the skills they had obtained during the livelihood intervention component of the project, such as weaving, dressmaking, food processing, cake decorating, and more. Guests had the opportunity to see the goods created by project members, including baskets, garden pots, clothes, and spices.

“I have opened two bank accounts for my children thanks to the money I am making by selling food,” said Mrs. Mallika, a project beneficiary that received a gas stove, a small display stand and some pans from UTOP.

To ensure sustainability, ADRA also facilitated the planning of the Community Strategic Plan (CSP), which is expected to run from 2009 until 2011. The CSP is being implemented by the community, who designed an action plan with monitoring and evaluation, through planning, discussions, and decision making sessions, which led to establishing their vision, goals and objectives for their community.

“This is the first time an NGO is doing this here,” said Olive Orate, project manager for LIFE. “It gives the beneficiaries a sense of continuity.”

ADRA has been working in Sri Lanka since 1989 in the areas of economic development, emergency management, health, and food security.

For more details about ADRA Sri Lanka’s LIFE project, go to www.adrasrilanka.org.

ADRA is a non-governmental organization present in 125 countries providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.

Post CFA North-East economies grew but with a worrying trend

2009-04-13T09:07:00.002+05:30

The Island, 13/04/2009, By Devan Daniel

Despite investments agriculture declined by 10.3 percent

Despite growing above the national GDP growth rate during the post-cease fire era in 2005-07, the agriculture sector in the Northern and Eastern provinces have declined by almost 10. 3 percent, a fact that should receive the attention of government before planning investment strategies for the development of the war-torn regions, the Economics Director of the Government Peace Secretariat Rohantha Athukorala says.

"Even though the Eastern economy grew by 2 to 3 percentage points faster than the national average both in 2006 and 2007 contributing around 4.8 to 5 percent to national output, the declining growth in the Agricultural sector is worrying given that many companies, chambers and donor agencies worked on a multitude of tasks focusing on livelihood opportunities in the Eastern Province," Athukorala said addressing a conference organised by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) recently.

He said a reason for the decline could be due to the decline in the fisheries sector.

In the East, in 2002, the catch amounted to about 72,000 MT of fish, which dropped to 22,380 MT in 2005. The sector recovered last year with a catch of 61,000 MT.

The North recorded a catch of 56,000 MT in 2004. It declined to 15,000 MT in 2007.

The reasons for the decline are the fishing restrictions imposed for security reasons and the devastating affects of the tsunami.

"However the good news is there is hope the agricultural GDP growth will be positive as the fisheries sector has now been revived in the East and with the relaxation of restrictions in the North, 2009 will bring about a revival of the agricultural sectors of the two provinces," Athukorala said.

Athukorala said many post-tsunami and post-liberation investments have been made to revive livelihoods in the East where vegetative cultivations have continued and fisheries restored.

"However, the negative growth of 10.3 percent in agricultural growth calls for a focused evaluation of the real impacts of the investments made by different stakeholders so that the country will benefit.

"If Sri Lanka is to drive the fisheries sector we must develop a complete value-chain with cool rooms, an ice plant, freezer trucks and canning plants. There is a good opportunity for us to be a strong player in the global market suggested while livelihoods are sustained and this will help bring real Peace to the country in the long term," Athukorala said.

Turn around…

The overall agriculture sector of the country grew by 7.5 percent in 2008, largely due to the revival of agriculture in the East, which was once knows as the rice-bowl of Sri Lanka.

Athukorala said the government’s Eastern Development Programme has so far invested almost Rs.75 billion into various sectors while a further Rs.121 billion will be pumped by 2010.

These inputs have resulted in increase in Paddy production to 717,869 MT a 4.1 percent and while the out put of Maize increased to 17,655 MT last year.

‘Fruit Villages’ have increased to almost 26, benefitting over 500 people and over 48,000 plants have been issued to them

The post-tsunami infrastructure and housing reconstruction led to the boom in the industrial sector in the North and East and contributed towards catapulting of the Industrial sector to a 32 percent growth."This is encouraging but what is required now is a road network to drive market connectivity so that market access will drive livelihood development and create true peace, which can be sustained," he said.

Unsustainable…

According to a recent study of the Government Peace Secretariat, between 2005 and 2007 the Northern and Eastern Provinces recorded GDP growth rates of 12 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, higher than the rate at which the country’s economy grew by.

During the ‘Peace Dividend’ years between 2002 and 2004 when there was a lull in hostilities because of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA), the Northern Province recorded 11.9 percent GDP growth as against 3.6 percent during the proceeding five years.

The Eastern Province grew by 5.8 percent during the CFA period as against 4.9 percent during the five years leading up to the CFA.

The message of that study was to show that the agricultural sector would have a ‘natural’ revival as war-time restrictions are lifted, which is crucial for building and restoring livelihoods. However, with lack of market access and investments to establish a viable manufacturing sector, the economic benefits of peace would not be felt by the people.

Nanotechnology for Sustainable Development

2009-04-07T16:31:00.001+05:30

You may find several interesting articles, on Nanotechnolgy for development, posted at dgCommunities (http://nanotechnology.developmentgateway.org/).

Nanotechnology and Environment (http://www.unep.org/geo/yearbook/yb2007/PDF/7_Emerging_Challenges72dpi.pdf)

Nanotechnology has enormous potential for social, economic and environment benefit-from innovative medical techniques to saving on materials and energy, as well as advance in detection and remediation of pollution. This document describe that with environmental impact as yet largely unknown and public controls largely absent, more systematic research and sector specific policies are necessary.

Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology for Health (ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/nanotechnology/docs/nanomedicine_bat_en.pdf)
This document describes the potential of nanomedicine to address clinical needs in significant diseases. It identifies those diseases that cause the most suffering for patients
and the highest burden on society, and for which nanomedicine is expected to have a major impact. It describes where in the care-process and by which technology nanomedicine could have an impact. Finally it develops a Strategic Research Agenda, prioritising the most important technologies, which Europe has to develop in the near future, to realise the potential of nanomedicine for health care.

CIC transforming agriculture to a profitable venture

2008-01-20T11:28:00.000+05:30

Sunday Times: 20/01/2008" By Bandula Sirimanna

The CIC (Chemical Industries –Colombo- Ltd) group has launched a far sighted initiative to transform agriculture into a profitable venture creating awareness on modern agriculture methods leading to high productivity.

The company has invested one billion rupees for the financial year 2007/ 2008 to implement a massive agriculture production programme, according to CIC Chairman B.R.L. Fernando.

In an interview with The Sunday Times FT, he said the company is the only private sector organisation engaged in the production of a wide range of agricultural produce, livestock produce and marketing of agricultural inputs like fertilizer, agrochemicals, green houses, and micro irrigation systems. He said there is nothing that should be discarded or destroyed in a farm where anything can be used to enrich the fertility of the soil.

The traditional Sri Lankan farmers adopted such methods and reaped bumper harvests.

The latest Israeli irrigation technology introduced by the company is proving to be of great benefit to the Sri Lankan farmer and is being widely accepted for cultivation of Horticultural Crops, Cash Crops, Ornamental crops and vegetables, he said. CIC Agri Businesses, a member of the CIC Group, will export new varieties of rice to France and Australia under the CIC brand, he said. Fernando revealed that CIC has four rice varieties for the export market and has already introduced new red rice ‘Basmathi’ and a new coloured rice variety to the international and local markets. These two rice varieties were specially targeted at upmarket clients and there is a good demand for these types of rice varieties overseas, he said.

Currently Sri Lanka imports around 200.000 metric tons of high quality premium rice. “By cultivating the crop CIC hopes to reduce the quantity imported by around 10 per cent. Farmers will benefit from the project as they will be able to increase their income. They will be provided technical assistance and will be supported throughout the programme,” he said. Fernando added that “although there is a demand for high quality premium rice in Sri Lanka the country is not in a position to produce such rice due to the poor quality of rice mills.” It is to this niche area that CIC Agri Businesses has entered with an investment of over Rs. 110 million and the installation of an innovative rice processing facility at Maho following a tie up with Satake of Japan, rated as the world’s leading producer of rice milling equipment, Fernando said. The mill will provide 50 direct job opportunities and expects to commence commercial operations shortly. Nearly 2,000 out growers will supply paddy for this mill. The company will purchase paddy through a forward purchase agreement with these farmers.

Following comprehensive research and a development programme carried out in its farm, the company has developed over 10 rice types. Many traditional varieties such as Kalu Heenati, Elvee and Suwadel with attributed medicinal values have been identified and developed with improved productivity and aimed at international markets.

All these rice types are now marketed under the “Golden Crop” brand. In addition to growing in its three farms the company has acquired the services of over 3,000 farmers in the Mahaweli System B, C & H and have entrusted them with the task of multiplying the rice varieties identified and developed by the company.

Fernando noted that the country could achieve self sufficiency in rice through a well planned programme to improve the quality of seed and the capabilities of local farmers. “In most instances, the size of the land is small, therefore mechanisation is difficult while the younger generation doesn't like to till the land as the returns are small. As a solution to these problems, we are demonstrating techniques used in our farms to improve the agricultural practices in the country. We have also set up a lab in Pelwehera to analyze the soil and as a result we are in a position to recommend the fertiliser depending on the type of soil,” he said.

“CIC Agri Businesses has done well," Fernando said. "We moved up the yield from 55 bushels an acre to 125 bushels at Hingurakgoda. We're now supplying a fair quantity of seed paddy to the market. We want to raise the yield to 175 bushels." An example of the success of the company's technology transfer programme to farmers was the 200 bushels an acre achieved by farmers in Ampara. "So there's no reason why we can't get 175 bushels," Fernando said. "We need to resuscitate the soil - we collect cow dung, husks, and grow glyricidia on our farms to put more green matter into soil as this will increase yield.” Our focus is on soil and water management while streamlining the fertilizer regime," he added. "Till now we put one particular mix into all the soils. We're now looking at specialised blends for different soils," he said.

To improve CIC’s portfolio the company moved to the agricultural sector with the acquisition of the Mahaweli Farm in Thalawa way back in the later 1990's, as well as Hingurakgoda, Pelwehera Mahaweli farms and 50 acres at Dehiattakandiya. At present CIC is the largest seed paddy producer in the country and the market leader in fertilizer imports. The company is also engaged in the animal feed and pesticide businesses.