| OPINION | | |
| Myanmar: The Brutal Golden Land I Fancy By M.S.Shah Jahan - Daily Mirror What prompted the unarmed innocent people to dare automatic rifles, for the first time after 1988 massacre? It was sheer desperation of the stomach. Normally Burmese are soft spoken and hardly one can see another talking louder or shouting in public or in their famous roadside tea shop chatting, as it was the only source of knowing current affairs since the government controlled media is overly biased. As six out of ten people on the road are said to be CIDs, government spies or informers, people whisper mouth to ear to whom they know only, not to strangers.
The city of Yangon, which the Indian bearded Sikh soldiers serving the British who had their Head quarters here for the East, are accused of mispronouncing it as Rangoon, and Burma for Myanmar, is a quiet city. No teething of horns, no noise making tuk tuk vehicles like in Bangkok or like our Bajaj trishaws are seen here. Any thing that makes a sound similar to gun shooting is an anathema to Generals. The fact is those who live by the gun are scared of the gun. Strange, isn’t it? Western media’s assertion that Burmese asked for democracy was wrong as youngsters do not know what democracy is since the country has been under military rule for the past 45 years. The opposition is now quietly explaining to people ‘Democracy means the generals can’t drive luxury vehicles while people starve’. Protestors shouted ‘Democracy Democracy’, but those words give support to Aung Sang Soo Kyi. In Myanmar no one has the guts to pronounce her full name in public or even the word ‘Daw’, means Madam, due to fear of arrest. When passing through, if you turn your head to the bylane called University Avenue Road where Madam lives, trouble will follow you. Myanmar’s intelligence service is so capable that one might say it would outsmart even the CIA or KGB. Only those who were privileged to go abroad could understand democracy. But the country issues 500 to 1,000 passports only for a year that is valid for not more than 12 months. But it is a big headache facing many conditions like submitting income tax returns, property deeds or deposit of some money etc. which will be forfeited if one doesn’t return on time. Read what a businessman said on New York Times dated Oct 15. “I joined the peaceful demonstration to show my support. I would do it again. I don’t agree with sanctions on Myanmar. Of course, I may be biased because I’m a businessman. My own experience of travelling to other countries opened my mind and changed my life. I love the freedom I find in the United States. It was something I had never experienced. If I hadn’t spent time abroad, I would have ended up as a military man. Or else I could have been an informer exposing the conversation we’re having right now”. Burma was once next to Japan in riches and known as the granary of the East. At one time it supplied rice to India and Ceylon to meet famines. The saying there is, ‘this is a golden land-no one ever starves here’. That is why the military could last so long. The cost of living was very low but so was the income. A family of 3 or 4 could manage 3 meals for SLR 50 a day with rice and vegetables. Annual income per person is SLR 25, 000, as Western sanction ruins job creation. 90% people who live below poverty line today feel even one meal a day would become luxury. Crime rate is very low and you will be amazed to see customers carrying cash from banks so openly, like we would carry a pound of bread with our bare hands. Road transport is severely inadequate with dilapidated buses and one can see many walking back home from Yangon wearing ‘lungyi’ [sarong] with a swinging lunch carrier in hand. Many commuters could not afford the hiked bus fare to work places so they started walking up and down. This made them to erupt. Unlike Sri Lankans, Burmese walk miles. For instance if you ask a passerby ‘where is this place?’ the answer probably would be,”Oh, very near only 30 minutes walk”. If you were to ask ‘How many miles?’ They would answer ‘Five miles’. The government could have stood by without a price increase if not for the ‘Sigiriya’ they built at a cost of many millions of dollars in fear of ‘Mugalan’. Well, the new capital, as per the suggestion of astrologers, Naypyidaw, 240 miles away from Rangoon, in order to be out of the way of people or people’s anger, and also to guard from a foreseeable attack by a destructive element, namely US, tightened their already squandered money position. The English film currently running at the Naypyidaw Cinema and the Tamada Cinema in Yangon is Die Hard 4.0. Does it refer to the fate of Burmese people too? I wonder. Besides, Buddhist monks who go to people to collect their daily alms saw the hardship people faced, and they on behalf of citizens came to the streets. “The monks are the only ones who really have the trust of people, when they speak up people listen. They feel their pain, and they cannot just sit back idly.” one said. But the monk’s expectation of the soldiers to be men of conscience who wouldn’t blindly obey their superiors to attack priests whom they revere in their daily life, totally went wrong when they were chased, kicked and beaten to bleed. Al Jazeera showed a special account. The most lucrative career in Myanmar is to be a Tatmadaw (Army, Navy and Air), though the official salary is only SLRs.500 for a month, food coupon, living quarters, extra allowances make a soldier’s life quite comfortable. In brief soldiers are kept in the good books, being bribed as they are the only allies. The military runs kindergartens, medical schools and technical schools exclusively for their kith and kin. Civil administration is entirely handled by the army appointing ministers. Corruption is the way of life from top to bottom. It is rampant in the import export trade. The official exchange rate is 1$ = 6 Kyat [Chaat] while the unofficial rate is 1,300 per dollar. Off the bank deals are done on unofficial rate. Any commercial venture needs an unofficial ‘sponsor’, a minister, an officer or one closely connected to them. Your prosperity depends on how powerful your ‘sponsor’ is. When he falls from grace you too would go to dog’s house, leaving your project incomplete with severe financial loss. The regime directly deals with timber, natural gas and gems, proceeds of which are supposedly not benefited by the people and the government spends pittance for education and $10 per person for health. A Dubai based conglomerate, dealing with cement, fertliser etc. in SL, was exporting teak from Burma bidding from government auction. Once, as the Teak price shot high in international market, the government refused to oblige the agreed price causing huge loss to the bidder who closed office in disgust. When locally assembled Suzuki Wagon, a proto type car was introduced four years ago, it was allocated only to army officers, forcing others to buy from them on open paper paying a premium. Throughout the world, this was how from Hitler and Mussolini to Than Shwe, every evil minded army chief kept his folks happy. Any condemnation of the armed forces is considered treachery. Local telephone service is horrible. An overseas call costs $5 per 3 minute call from the timebell rings. Unbelievable news is, three years ago when mobile phone connectivity was introduced with Chinese fund, in a country of 56 million, 3000 SIM cards, without SMS facility, were sold in no time to selected people on a flat price of US$ 3,000 per card which today change hand on premium or on hire $50 a month. No mobile roaming facility, no credit card, no TC’s, no Yahoo, no Hotmail while internet is restricted and email is monitored, G mail goes through local ISP. The Junta is famous for his lunatic superstitious beliefs following astrologers. Driving was shifted from left to right with right hand vehicles. Nine is military’s auspicious number. In order to anger the authorities the protesters in September had a successful campaign for three evenings to bang on the pots, pans and other metal objects at 7; 02 p.m., 8; 01 p.m., and 9 p.m. The Junta finally responded unleashing brutal attack on 27/09/2007. Don’t you see 9 here? The military’s argument to be in power is to suppress the separatist claims of some tribes like Karen [Christians], Shan, Chin, out of 135 tribes Burma has. Well, had the majority tribe treated the minorities equal and taken care for the fraction of the money spent today on arms, there would have not been any separatist claims in any country. Myanmar is a heaven on earth but made hell by Tatmadaw. Lord Buddha said ‘nothing is permanent in this world’. We hope, so too. |
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Myanmar: The Brutal Golden Land I Fancy
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tick, tock...tick, tock Lankan time
Tick, tock...tick, tock Lankan time
--Lakbima Online
By Dilini Algama
Finally, exams can be spoken of in the past tense. The computer may now be switched on for frivolous reasons of chatting and checking mail other than for assignments and searching the internet for information about Joseph Conrad and other such writers that students don’t read voluntarily.
If I stay up till 2:00 a.m. in the morning it’s for the pleasant reason of having read an ‘unputdownable’ book or having gone through a magazine till then and not because I had to memorize the differences between one confounded theory and another.
Half the stress is from keeping to exam time tables, studying one thing when you really feel like studying something else.
Time...
There are times when you don’t want to study at all and all you want to do is to go wake your parents up from their afternoon nap because the house is too quiet and you want some noise even if it’s the sound of two annoyed people throwing pillows at you while threatening to take much pleasure in breaking your limbs.
All this makes me wonder whether humans were ever really programmed to work according to schedules. Back when we had to work according to the school time table it never really did cross our minds that at 12:40 p.m. we would have Social Studies and History.
We just knew that at 1:20 p.m. it would be over.
The honking and bad words in morning traffic make me say a rather vehement ‘no’. If the bus stops somewhere for a long while, passengers will look at their watches, even give them a good shake (as if that would help things) and look about sighing to catch the eyes of someone who’s doing the same thing.
The clock hung on the back wall of our church is not for the convenience of the congregation, although brave souls will turn back to look at it, but for the pastor giving the sermon; it’s because he can see from the pulpit that really, he should have finished the sermon fifteen minutes ago.
But see, even pastors don’t like to work according to schedules. They do not like time frames and restrictions being the free souls that they are. They want to go on and on ceaselessly and the more watch-regarding the congregation becomes the happier they are.
Try scheduling choir practices at any given time, just to see what will happen. Of course I can let you know what will happen just here.
If you ask the choristers to come to church at 6:30 p.m. the first chorister will only appear at about 7:30 p.m. and the last will slowly walk up the isle at about 9:00p.m. and that too will be the choir leader.
And an hour and a lot of bickering later choir practice will finally start. Annoyed parents will be told that they can collect their children at 11:00 p.m. and even after 12:15 a.m. choristers will still be belting out Christmas carols and sleepy, yawning parents will be seen outside talking to each other about the importance of proper scheduling.
You can even take nature for an example of not sticking to schedules.
Now it rains when it shouldn’t and doesn’t when it should and half the dams built to catch water could substitute for cricket grounds. Of course, this is not entirely the fault of the weather, you see, I’m pretty sure that the weather anchors have a hand in this.
There they are all nicely saying that it’ll rain ‘tehmoreuw’ in ‘kilambeuw’ and that probably works as a summoning charm. If they were to say that there’ll be bit of a ‘droi’ spell, well a dry spell it’ll be. You can even take the TV actually.
Programmes will go on for ages past their scheduled times. Teledramas will take more than their allotted thirty minutes to finish. Another thing is that most of the childrens’ favourite programmes like Robin Hood and other such things were totally dispensed with whenever there was some minister giving a special speech.
That was so unfair, especially when you were a child who already had a wooden sword, crudely constructed yes, yet a wooden sword it was, under your bed and plenty of garden foliage to drape around yourself (and itch later for). Watching the prince of thieves was really the highlight of the week (meaning Robin Hood, that is).
See? Schedules are just not done. Man wants to be free, but then he also wants to be Brad Pitt and he can’t. So there are certain things man has to live with. Schedules will never be followed. I’ve been to weddings where bridegrooms have been over an hour late to get to church and we are talking about the guy who does not have to be late to make an impression. It is the bridegroom. Choir leaders will be late.
Alien concept
Sermons will go on. Favourite programmes will be scrapped to show uninteresting human beings spraying spit onto microphones and emitting speech as a by-product. And of course, this is all because someone very pompously declared that things should be different.
They give out TV schedules with Sunday papers saying that they’ll show some programme at a certain time and people come to expect it. Someone thought it would be a good idea to spread the good word that choir practices will be held at a certain time.
You see, that’s where it has all gone wrong. You must never give anyone the opportunity to expect things. Because if you fail to deliver, then you have failed to deliver and you don’t want to be in that position.
You were never meant to be in that position anyway. Scheduling is probably an alien concept to the human population. It was probably brought down to us in one of those flying saucers that some believe in and some don’t. Or possibly it was something that was in that box which Pandora opened and may be it got away with the rest before the lid closed down on hope, although how hope survived there with all that evil is beyond my comprehension. But then many things are. And scheduling is possibly one of them.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
The East in retrospect
The East in retrospect
By Nikhil Mustaffa - Daily Mirror
Much has been said for and against developments in the east. This column mulled over it and thought it appropriate to publish extracts from a speech by Sambanthan a very senior MP from Trincomalee, when it was debated recently on the Adjournment Debate in Parliament on 5th September 2007, on the Current situation in the North and East.
The emotions expressed are very powerful and his address quoted many passages from writers featured in the Daily Mirror lately. For purposes of public debate it is useful to reflect on his words, given verbatim texts of parliamentary submissions are not always available.
I refer to Special Report No. 26(UTHR) released on the 3rd of August 2007 under the heading, "Can the East be won through Human Culling in page 3 of their Report they have said, I quote:
"Once more security is being equated with capturing areas and bringing them under Sinhalese hegemonic dominion. Against such delusions, the Government's much vaunted winning of the East is going to be temporary, the Tamils and Muslims are going to feel further insecure and in turn Sinhalese living in the East would further be turned into unwilling pawns in a devastating ideological game."
Another very interesting, very revealing, part is on page 17 of their Report. It states, I quote: “The GA Trincomalee has ordered all Muslims displaced around Kinniya and Mutur since 1990 to be resettled in their villages. 200 Muslim families displaced from Arafanagar, which lies in the new HSZ between Kattaiparichchan and Sampoor are being resettled.” Meanwhile Tamils are not being resettled. It further states, I quote:
If Tamils can be driven out of their ancestral homes in this way because they are Tamils and because they are perceived as being a threat to the Sri Lankan State, what alternative arrangement is there for Tamils?
‘This, Sir, is the position of these people and these people want to be resettled in their own land. I might mention to you, Sir, that one of these people who went to the Supreme Court, in his Fundamental Rights Application, filed his deeds in regard to his property.
His deeds went back to a Crown grant, which is more than hundred years old, from his family. This is their ancestral property; this is not something the State gave them. Maybe, there are some lands which the State gave them. But, large extents of lands in this area are private properties owned by these people for generations and centuries. They had built houses on those lands. They were living there peacefully, carrying on their occupations: farming and fishing.
They had livestock; they had their plantations, coconut trees, palmyra trees and fruit trees. They carried on their life without living on Government dole. They have lost everything today and they are in a state of utter penury, not being looked after by the Government.
‘But what is happening today, Sir, in the Eastern Province, particularly in Trincomalee? In Kappalthurai, along the Trincomalee-Kandy road, adjoining the Kappalthurai junction, on the left hand side, on a land earmarked for an economic zone, land has been taken and 300 houses are to be constructed for ex-servicemen or servicemen - along the Trincomalee-Kandy road, on the main road in Kappalthurai, hardly six miles from Trincomalee town. In a place called Rottawewa that is an ancient Muslim village to which village I have been as a little child.
I remember there used to be an old man called Abu Sally because he was not only my client but I had known him very well. I used to go to that village with my relations who were Government officials at that time. ‘Their land has been taken, 600 or 800 acres, I am not very sure, the land is being cleared - on the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura Road - and action is being taken I am told - to construct 5000 houses for ex-servicemen or servicemen.
What is happening? You are going back to all the old practices what you did and stopped some years ago. You are trying to redo and where will you end up? Where will you go? Five thousand houses for servicemen or ex servicemen in Rottawewa - a Muslim village adjoining an ancient Tamil village called Panankaddimurippu - are being constructed and the land is presently being cleared. In Kinniya where the Muslims are 99 per cent in an area called Sundankadu coming within the AGA's Division of Kinniya, Sinhalese families from Sooriyapura, Jayanthipura, Pansalgoda and Wan Ela are sought to be settled in this land. The biggest problem that the Muslim people have is that they have no land. But you are trying to take their land and settle Sinhalese families. Are you doing the right thing?
‘Then, Sir, you are taking away land from the Tamil people. You are giving land to army personnel. You are trying to give land to the Sinhalese people. What is happening to the Tamil people? There was a land in a place called Linganagar.
The EPDP Member, my good Friend, Hon. Douglas Devananda, had settled some people sometime ago at Linganagar and then those people were to be evicted. I interviewed President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and then she instructed General Daluwatta who was then the Army Commander to meet with me and I inspected the area with some army officials and we decided that a major part of the land would be left because the Army was concerned about security.
I appreciated their concerns and about 15 acres of land was to be given to Tamil people and 103 people who have lived there were chosen, and it was approved and the Army agreed. The cases filed against these people in Court were withdrawn. Permits were written out for 53 of these 106 people and permits were to be handed over.
Then suddenly a military gentleman became the new Government Agent in Trincomalee. He has stopped the issue of the permits. People have constructed houses there. They have dug wells there. They have lived there for fourteen to fifteen years. This matter was gone into by Government and the matter was resolved. A decision was taken to identify 15 acres and to be given to these people. Hundred and three people were identified, land was surveyed, cases filed against them in court were withdrawn, 53 permits have been written out and after that the Government Agent in Trincomalee in his wisdom goes and stops the project and the whole thing is stopped. I would say this type of thing cannot go on.
‘The other thing is, Sir, which I am very concerned about is that there is a proposal, I am told, to create a new District between Trincomalee and Mullaitivu.
I want to place on record, Sir, for the information of the House and for the Members, a plan of this area of the Trincomalee District also showing part of the Mullaitivu District. The villages in Trincomalee - by the name of Pulmoddai, a predominantly Muslim village - a village called Thennaimarawadi from where the people were driven away in December 1984, and where the people very much want to resettle there, part or the whole of the village called Thiriyai, the villages of Kokkilai and Kokkuthoduvai in Mullaitivu District, Padavi Sripura in the Trincomalee District and Manal Aru or Welioya , to which District it belongs to, I do not know, all these territories are to be brought together and a new district created between Trincomalee District and the Mullaitivu District.
This is diabolical. This is a crime you are committing not against merely the Tamil and the Muslim people, it is a crime you are committing against all the people who live in this country.
‘The Land Commissioner in the Eastern Province was Mrs. Muralitharan. She was doing an excellent piece of work. She was told to hand over some land in Mutur East high security zone to the BOI. She said, "People have deeds.
Crown grants. The Crown has given them some land. We must be cautious. We must not move in a hurry." Go home, she was told. She was removed. And a Sinhalese has been appointed the Land Commissioner. Land has been the most contentious issue as far as the Tamil people are concerned and Mrs. Muralitharan because she said, "Let us wait for a while and let us not rush" she was asked to go home.’
This column has on numerous occasions championed a post conflict SL. Wars of today are not and will not be our future. The future is peace which fosters dignity of all its citizens through development. It is unmistakable as one civil society activist propounds fiercely that a post conflict State, a post conflict North and East and if they were to stay relevant, a post Conflict LTTE is the only way forward for this island to prosper.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Unitary state and the concept of “one country, one people, one army !
Unitary state and the concept of “one country, one people, one army” - Daily Mirrow
By Subash Wickramasinghe
Whether it is the nature of the State that has embroiled the country in an unending conflict is a different matter altogether but what matters here is this contentious issue continues to play an important role with regard to the conflict in Sri Lanka. The All Party Representative Committee (APRC) which is earmarked to find an all party solution to the problem finds it difficult to proceed any further due to this stumbling block of whether it should be unitary or federal. But when one analyses it deeply, one realizes that it is this very same unitary-federal debate that keeps the APRC going. Hence the unitary-federal debate acts as a multi-purpose utility item for the authorities to play around.
Those who believe that it is the unitary tag that has become the stumbling block to find a solution pinpoint the fact that the Soulbury Constitution never referred to a “unitary or federal state”. They highlight the fact that it was only the Republican Constitution that introduced the unitary system into this country and then the unitary character has been retained in the presidential system as well.
However one wonders whether such simple arguments can be adduced to discard the unitary system. The non inclusion of the unitary form of governance into the Soulbury Constitution cannot be accepted as a reason to drop the unitary form from the present constitution. In fact the Soulbury Constitution cannot be used as the guiding factor mainly because of the situation prevalent in the country then and now. During the time Soulbury proposals were introduced the Sinhalese and Tamils were together campaigning as a one unit for independence.
There had not been any attempts at separate entities or armed struggles for separation. Hence there had not been a situation for Lord Soulbury to consider unitary character to strengthen the governing body. But at the time late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike introduced the Republican Constitution in 1972 the situation prevailed in the country was quite different to the peaceful situation in 1940s.
In the year 1955 the then Prime Minister Sir John Kotalawela pledged in Jaffna that he would introduce legislation to give equal status to Sinhalese and Tamil languages. Believing this pledge would have created displeasure among the Sinhala Buddhists, the other parties opposed to Kotalawela’s UNP campaigned against Kotalawela’s pledge. Accordingly S.W.R.D Bandaranaike who was also campaigning against Premier Kotalawela reacted immediately to Kotelawela’s pledge and promised to make Sinhala the official language if he becomes the Prime Minister. Realizing the mistake made in Jaffna Premier Kotalawela back tracked his pledge and he too promised to make Sinhala the official language after the election. As if to outsmart Kotalawela, Bandaranaike went a step further and promised to make Sinhala the official language within 24 hours. Bandaranaike won the election and soon after becoming the prime minister he made the Sinhala the official language of Sri Lanka. Angered by this act the Federal Party led by S.J.V. Chelvanayakam organized a demonstration opposite the Parliament in protest of making Sinhala the official language. Unfortunately this demonstration ended up creating violence in most part of the country. It is said that at least 100 were killed. But sometime later Bandaranaike signed a pact with Chelvanayakam to offer separate councils for Tamils. This pact was known as the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact.
The then opposition led by J.R. Jayewardene agitated against the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayakam Pact saying Sinhalese have been ill-treated by the Pact. Later on Bandaranaike tore up the Pact to put an end to that episode as well. It was during this period Bandaranaike had introduced the Sinhala letter “SRI” on the number plates of all vehicles in Sri Lanka. In Jaffna Tamil people applied tar on the Sinhala letter “SRI” and painted Tamil version of “SRI” on number plates. By now it is clear that the peaceful cohabitation prevalent in mid 1940s when Lord Soulbury drafted the constitution had vanished and disharmonious situation created.
By 1965 the then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake also entered into an agreement with Federal Party leader Chelvanayakam but the then opposition led by Sirimavo Bandaranaike campaigned against the pact forcing Senanayake to abrogate it. By 1970 Sirimavo Bandaranaike has regained power and the country too had gone through disastrous situations including Sinhala-Tamil violence, a failed coup by some army personnel to grab power and finally an insurgency by the JVP. It was under such calamitous circumstances Sirimavo Bandaranaike as the new prime minister introduced the Republican Constitution in 1972.
Considering the violent and calamitous situations among the two communities and the tendency for separation the Constituent Assembly duly enacted the new constitution with the unitary clause in it to pre-empt any attempts at separation. So it is very clear that the then prevalent situation in the country had prompted the then government to introduce unitary State.
Hence those who know the history of this country would not attempt to compare what Lord Soulbury introduced in 1940s to the Republican Constitution to say that unitary tag is not important at all. One cannot simply implant a system of governance haphazardly.
Situations prevalent in various countries differ drastically. Despite such cardinal rules some politicians attempt to implant various systems in Sri Lanka purely to introduce age-old political dogmas. For them the unitary system is a mere tag only. So they believe such tags are not important.
The unitary State came into being under such compelling circumstances. That is why the Republican Constitution cannot be compared to the Soulbury Constitution. The violence and the tendency for separation had prompted the entire membership of the Constituent Assembly to recommend unitary status for Sri Lanka.
Today the situation is worse and the government is compelled to use military force to crush separatist terrorism in the North of Sri Lanka. Not only is the North the entire country at the mercy of the terrorists. Even under such situations some propose to offer regional autonomy and to discard unitary nature of the constitution.
Under the unitary system the country is governed as one unit. Even under federal system some countries retain the foreign, finance and defence portfolios under the central government. However in Sri Lanka what is proposed is a complete devolution including the finance, foreign and defence to Tigers.
This is totally unacceptable not only because such power devolutions promote separation but because the Tigers’ aim of achieving their avowed goal of separation through a system that goes beyond federalism. That is why the Tigers rejected federalism at peace talks and introduced their own proposal of Internal Self Governing Authority (ISGA) The ISGA proposals are a worse form of governance even bypassing the federal system. The ISGA proposals are clearly aimed at separation. In fact much has been written and discussed about the ISGA proposals and this is not the time to re-analyze them. But the mere submission of ISGA instead of federalism clearly indicates the Tigers desire to have a separate State for them. At a time the Tigers demand and aim at separation through talks and military means it is suicidal to offer federal form of governance or regional autonomy to such a group.
On top of all these the Tigers avowed goal is to retain their armoury and the armed cadre and get the maximum devolution beyond the normal federal form of governance. That is why the ISGA proposals openly say that “the Tamil people mandated their elected representatives to establish an independent sovereign, secular State for the Tamil people in the elections subsequent to the Vaddukkodai Resolutions of 1976” (ISGA proposals) The ISGA shall have plenary power for governance of the North East including powers in relation to…raising revenue, levies, and duties, law and order and over land.
These powers shall include all powers and functions… exercised by the GoSL.” (ISGA proposals) This is the attitude of the Tigers as far as governance and separation are concerned.
Some politicians are of the opinion that this armed group which is controlling some areas by force be given maximum regional autonomy without disarming them. It is very clear that Tigers will never settle for anything short of separation. The separation they intend to achieve by way of proposals in the form of ISGA or military means. Their mainstay is their armoury and the trained armed cadres. They will never disband the military wing.
Even if the federal or quasi-federal system is introduced the Tigers will retain their armoury and the armed cadres. Accordingly in addition to foreign, finance and defence powers and an army of terrorists under a federal system would enable them to absorb even Tamil Nadu in time to come.
That is why it is said the prevalent circumstances are not right for federal system or to discard the unitary concept as it is the unitary character that helps maintain one country, one people and one army.
Out, out HSBC - in with 'Balu Badda'-
Out, out HSBC - in with 'Balu Badda'-- Daily News
Now Your turn to comment anything , Have Fun & Be Educated to be a human !
On My watch by Lucien Rajakarunanayake Demonstration: If there ever was man in a hurry in politics we see him in Colombo today. The leader of the UNP is in such a hurry to grab power that his booting out his own constituencies in what can only be seen as a foolhardy thrust that can only lead to regret in the end.
Following close on his letter to the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Barclays Bank and JP Morgan vowing not to repay the US $ 500 million floating bond issue being raised by the present Government of Sri Lanka through these institutions, in the event the UNP is returned to power, the UNP made a huge show of folly when it organized a demonstration outside the HSBC office at Bambalapitiya.
Such a display can hardly be expected from a political party that still has the business community in the country as its main political constituency, and to which the more conservative rightwing intelligentsia looks up to for political leadership.
A few more of such exhibitions of unthinking haste in politics could well see the business community abandoning the Kollupitiya Chinthana in droves, with even the International Democratic Union - the Conservative International as it is also known - raising questions whether the UNP is true to its centre-right, conservative and democratic policies.
In the rush for power the leader of the UNP is obviously ready to resort to any tactic he thinks may work, irrespective of how it would affect the fortunes of his party and the large support base it has built up over many decades.
Whatever the international bankers and investors may be thinking of this Government, they are most unlikely to be impressed by the antics of a rightwing political party, led by a former Prime Minister, that resorts to the tactics of extreme leftwing radicals to push its message, or lack of it, especially targeting the some of the most respected international banking houses. But Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe will not be kept down by such considerations.
He is obviously not bothered by suspicions that his attack on a prestigious center of international finance in this manner would make his late uncle, and great champion of the private sector and foreign investment turn in his grave, as one political columnist said it last Sunday.
Drive it out
Last Thursday he struck at HSBC again. This time in the UNP's headquarters, much to the concern of senior party members increasingly concerned about the direction the party is being dragged by its leader.
Addressing the Lanka Jathika Govi Peramuna, the UNP's farmers' organisation, at a meeting to mark the party's 61st anniversary, not only did Ranil Wickremesinghe renew his pledge to renege on repaying the loan of $ 500 million if arranged for Sri Lanka by the consortium of banks led by HSBC, he also added that once he comes to power, he would see to it that HSBC's license to operate as a bank in Sri Lanka will be cancelled, and it would be sent packing to Hong Kong.
Such behaviour from the leader of a party that is pledged to support private sector-led development, greater privatisation and a major role for foreign investment for national development is hardly likely to result in much confidence in his party among the international business community, as well as their local counterparts.
What Wickremesinghe fails to understand is that international banks of the ranking of HSBC and its partners in the sovereign bond issue for Sri Lanka, will make their judgments of the suitability of Sri Lanka for such facilitation based on its economic and fiscal record, and future prospects, and not on the ravings of a politician in a great hurry.
What the UNP leader is revealing with his attacks on the HSBC is a fear that the bond would in fact materialize, which could well put paid to his ambitions of a quick ascent to power.
The present behaviour of the UNP leader vis-a-vis the HSBC and the sovereign bond is causing another major concern among intelligent UNPers. The question bothering them just now is, "What if the banks do arrange for this loan to Sri Lanka, just now?"
The answer they see is that with the very thorough intelligence networks that international banks have, the unerring signal is that they have come to a conclusion that apart from whether a future UNP government would repay the loan or not, it is most unlikely that Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP will be returned to power any time soon.
That's something well beyond the UNP leader's grasp of political judgment in his destructive haste to grab power.
"Pet" project
If the UNP leader's braying against HSBC needs matching it can come from the bureaucrats in the health sector and some of their trusted organisation that are ever so eager to introduce a tax on dogs. The new tax that is being seriously discussed is being presented in what some believe to be attractive packaging called "Responsible Pet Ownership".
Interestingly, a Sinhala FM channel that broke this news last week, having heard of it at a seminar on rabies eradication, very aptly headlined it in its news bulletin saying "Balu Badda nevatha kriyakaariivei" - the Dog Tax will be enforced again.
The "Balu Badda" recalls the uprising of 1848 against the British, when one of the rallying cries of the people against the colonizers was the imposition of a tax on dogs.
There is a song in the film "Veera Puran Appu" that captured well the mood of hatred this tax brought about, with the added fear that the conquerors would next tax the milk in a mother's breast.
But bureaucrats who can never rest till the last dog in Sri Lanka is killed, their NGO backers and the politicians who gladly lend ear to them, seem to be oblivious of the social repercussions such a tax would have today, whether it is dressed up as a move for "Responsible Pet Ownership" or given any other fancy tag.
Far from leading to responsible pet ownership it will drive into denial the people who now feed, look after and care for neighbourhood dogs due to the added financial burden upon them, making it so easy for the dog catcher to be back in action. I asked some "healthy" bureaucrats whether this would not lead to the killing of dogs again, and they all said "No. no. killing is banned today".
Yet, they had no answer as to what they would do with all the dogs they will round up, due to so-called "irresponsible pet ownership". If it is not the gas chamber again, they will use euthanising as a euphemism for brutality.
It is humbug to talk of "Responsible Pet Ownership" in a society where so many of members have no house with a garden or gate, to keep their pets tethered and within.
All this talk of responsibility is a means of hiding one's own irresponsibility in not carrying out the more scientific and humane means of dog population control recommended by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the WHO, when he ordered a stop to the killing of dogs, just before Buddha Jayanthi 2550 in May 2006. The President reiterated his order in June this year.
The misleading information being pumped into the media about numbers of dogs, the cost of treating dog bite victims, and the unjustified fears about a rise in rabies deaths, all seem to be carefully crafted to bring back the ugly days of "Seize and Kill" of dogs in tune with a colonial practice that has far outlived its use.
One has to beware of these colourfully packaged calls for responsibility in pet ownership, quite out of sync with the realities in our society, especially in the reaction to a "balu badda" heaped on the many burdens the people face today, and the not so hidden move to undo the President's order and bring back the killing of dogs.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Pakistan’s poltical show, starring Mush, Bush, Bhutto and Sharif
Pakistan’s poltical show, starring Mush, Bush, Bhutto and Sharif - Daily Mirror
With some 200 people killed in bomb blasts in the past two months and a political crisis getting curioser and curioser, Pakistan is attracting global attention.
Pakistan People's Party leader and two-times prime minister Benazir Bhutto, surreptitiously supported by the United States and Britain from behind-the-scenes, has flown to Dubai for meeting with emissaries of the embattled Pakistan President, General Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of Washington's war on terror.
In the meantime, upsetting the Western scheme aimed at manipulating events in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be arriving in the country on Monday.
The entry of Sharif, the spanner in the wheel, has apparently irked the West which has blessed a power-sharing deal between Musharraf and Benazir, both of whom are pro-western and hence regarded as anti-Islamists.
Although hardcore Islamists are just a fraction of Pakistan's 150 million population, anti-US sentiments are pervasive across the country with the Bush administration being seen as waging a subtle crusade against Islam, a view that is prevalent across the Muslim world.
Sharif is a formidable force in Pakistan politics. He is no pro-Islamist and he, like Bhutto, has openly, though belatedly, vowed allegiance to George Bush's war on terror, yet his return to politics has caused ripples in Washington.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia, Washington's key ally in West Asia, expressed its discontentment over Sharif's return to Pakistan.
It was Saudi Arabia which granted Sharif a home in exile when Musharraf, upon seizing power in a 1999 military coup, expelled him after he was sentenced to life in prison on tax evasion and treason charges.
That Saudi Arabia intervening in what is exclusively a matter concerning Pakistan's internal affair is an indication that the West is not comfortable with Sharif's return.
The Saudis were, however, circumspect. The news items carried by the Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed government official.
"Wisdom dictates that Mr. Nawaz Sharif abides by his promises not to return to Pakistan and to political activity," said the Saudi official.
He urged Sharif to honour his promise when he accepted the exile deal. The promise was that he would not return to Pakistan for ten years.
Significantly on the very day Sharif returns to Pakistan - September 10 - a top Bush envoy, Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte, the man who held the fort for the Bush administration in the United Nations and in Baghdad, would also visit Pakistan for crucial talks on war on terror and the latest development in Pakistani politics.
It was only two months ago that Negroponte, a cold-blooded diplomat, was in Pakistan and his second visit underscores the importance Washington is according to domestic politics in Pakistan. After all, Pakistan is a vital cog of the wheel that drives the war on terror, which has become a multi-billion dollar business for US firms. Since the war began, Pakistan has been rewarded with US$ 10 billion worth of military and economic aid, much of which has come from a special Pentagon fund with little congressional scrutiny.
Events unfold in Pakistan at a rapid pace. There is a sudden urgency to strike deals between Musharraf and Bhutto; and between Nawaz Sharif and those who oppose the Musharraf-Bhutto deal. Supporters of Sharif are being arrested in Punjab, the key support base of the deposed leader, who has successfully obtained a Supreme Court ruling for his return.
The detention of Sharif supporters is seen as a move to prevent the Pakistan Muslim Legaue which Sharif heads from organizing a massive show of strength when he returns or if he is arrested upon his return.
On Wednesday, Bhutto announced in Dubai that she would also return home from self-exile in weeks, not months, ahead of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. She said she wanted to meet Musharraf face-to-face and the contentious issue -- whether Musharraf will quit his role as army chief ahead of his bid to be re-elected as president in September or October -- was "resolved".
Also on Wednesday, Chief Justice Ifthikar Choudhry, responding to a petition filed by Jamath-e-Islam, asked Musharraf to inform court of the date when his term as president expires. Musharraf's answer to the court's query would determine the election date.
Choudhry, who was removed by Musharraf only to be reinstated by the Supreme Court amidst countrywide protests, has become more pro-active and progressive in his rulings. In the light of new-found judicial activism by Pakistan's Supreme Court, judgments on the ongoing cases on the constitutionality of Musharraf's presidency are much looked forward to.
Musharraf allies say the president's term ends on December 31 and he would seek re-election at least 90 days before that - by October 15. But opponents say that since Musharraf took office as President in June 2000, he has already served his five-year term. They also question Musharraf's eligibility to be the head of the military since he is over 60.
It all boils down to elections - presidential and parliamentary - and the Bush administration is clearly worried about the outcome. The worst scenario for the Bush administration is a powerful show at the elections by the Islamic parties representing the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), whose support the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Q), a breakaway party of Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League, has courted for its survival.
It is not known how the MMA, which shocked the world by winning 60 seats in the 2002 elections to the 342-member national assembly, largely because of widespread anti-US sentiments, would fare at the upcoming elections.
The Musharraf regime's crackdown on Islamabad's Red Mosque and the ongoing pro-Taliban insurgency in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province may help MMA to bolster its flagging support, though provincial administrations run by the MMA in the Frontier Province and Baluchistan have been commended for being less corrupt.
The Pakistan Muslim League (Q), which has some 69 seats in parliament, is clearly unhappy over the Musharraf-Bhutto deal. Such a deal will effectively sideline them, with Bhutto's PPP taking all the plums. Whether such a situation will force the PML (Q) to join with the Nawaz Sharif wing is the moot question.
The making and remaking of political alignments and realignments may end up with none winning an absolute majority. In this scenario, the Islamists emerging as the possible kingmakers will make Washington kick its heels. So it wants to make sure its man, Musharraf, remains the president. The only way it could do this is through a deal with Bhutto. However much Sharif says he is also an anti-Islamist and he supports the war on terror, it is unlikely that he would work out a deal with Musharraf. Washington has no problem with Sharif. In fact, Sharif has proved his credentials as a Washington acolyte when, during the Kargil crisis, he bowed to the dictates of the Clinton administration. But Musharraf and Sharif are still at daggers drawn.
Bhutto, on the other hand, has sent subtle messages to Washington that she is better qualified to be Bush's representative in Pakistan.
She has supported Musharraf's assault on the Red Mosque and made public statements against the Taliban, whereas Sharif made no such statements palatable to the Bush administration.
So the coming weeks will see the signing of the Musharraf-Bhutto deal - which will prompt Bhutto's PPP to support Musharraf's re-election and in return, the Pakistan president will remove the constitutional impediments and withdraw corruption charges to allow Bhutto to become prime minister for the third time.
Washington and the West will applaud the deal but already Bhutto's own party seniors have warned her that her popularity might plummet if she openly courts Musharraf and the Bush administration. Interesting times ahead in Pakistan politics.
