Archive for September, 2007

The heroine of democracy and the monks revolution

My article is in solidarity with the on-going peoples uprising in Myanmar (Burma), led by the Buddhist clergy. In their hundreds of thousands, they have marched across the country and in the capitol Rangoon, to demonstrate against the brutal military junta that denies them democratic governance and basic human freedoms. I examine the history of the democratic struggle in Myanmar and begin my article with a statement by Aung San Suu Kyi speaking at the Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing 1995. I note that her house arrest is a damning indicator of the junta’s intolerance of democracy. As another author on Groundviews notes: Seventeen years since elections, the elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has since been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, is still under house arrest; millions of men, women and children are in forced labour; one and a half million people are internally displaced; over one thousand are held as political prisoners, many still being routinely…

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Seeking a Solution: 13th Amendment + or 2000 +

The United National Party has changed its policy on ethno-political question and stated that it would withdraw from a federal type solution to a unitary solution that would be based on the 13th Amendment to the Second Republic Constitution. Clarifying this change, its spokesperson, Ravi Karunanayake, even used words decentralization and devolution as synonym. At a meeting in Monaragala, Ranil Wickramasinghe talked about adopting a policy framework that is doable. This change in UNP policies may be a shock to Colombo civil society, but it would not be a shock for someone who carefully observed the political line of Ranil Wickramasinghe since 1987. He took anti-Indo-Lanka Accord position in 1987; he refused to participate fully Parliamentary Select Committee procedure in 1994; he was critical of 1995 devolution proposals and was against 2000 draft constitution bill. In spite of his action in the past, he was branded as a federalist, even as an asymmetrical federalist, mainly because of the Oslo Communiqué….

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Speak for yourself

(This article was partly inspired by this article on Homosexuality, Buddhism and Sri Lankan Society) Quote from cited article: “A noble disciple should reflect like this: ‘If someone were to have sexual intercourse with my spouse I would not like it. Likewise, if I were to have sexual intercourse with another’s spouse they would not like that. For what is unpleasant to me must be unpleasant to another, and how could I burden someone with that?” This is also the kind of thinking embodied in the “Golden Rule” – “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. The problem that I see with this philosophy (am I taking things too literally?) is that it prescribes a process where an individual can extrapolate what must be good for others, based on what is good for him/herself, without necessarily making reference to any prevailing social norms, and automatically making the assumption that others share the same value judgments. And…

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Karuna Leaves The Country

TMVP leader V.Muralitharan alias Karuna leaves country to Briton few days ago leaving Pillayan for TMVP administration says several sources. At the same time Moulana reappointed as TMVP spokesman in place of Mahesh. Karuna, Pillayan issue was big headache for government and other anti LTTE groups earlier, as well as inside the TMVP. Few cadres were killed from both sides in last few months. Finally Pillayan controlled the Trincomalee District, while Batticaloa, Ampara was under control of Karuna’s faction. The TMVP cadres were mentally tired regarding the deviation. However Pillayan mostly focused on political wise as well as military from beginning. He received the goodwill and trust from the Tamil, Muslim communities and within the TMVP. After the deviation few Karuna cadres created tension among the communities. Also the other Tamil movements like EPDP, EPRLF, TELO, etc had worried regarding TMVP activities in the east. Several clashes happened recently. Specially the Muslim community suspected or mistrusted the TMVP due to…

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  • 24 Sep, 2007
  • 1 Comment
  • Human Rights,
    Jaffna,
    Peace and Conflict

Mentally Retarded Beggars – Jaffna Perspective

Peace and normalcy are two essential or even sole ingredients for individual and family happiness and community development. Conflicts and commotions, social upheavals and political unrest denial of equal opportunities and inequality, suppression or oppression of one community over other are some of the dangerous social evils that barricade the social, economic and cultural development of nations. Further if this situation is to persist for long, it severely affects the mental and physical activities of the entire communities. Before the out break of the current internal strife, more than two decades ago, there was comparatively peace and normalcy, leaving aside the peaceful political agitations. We have witnessed a wider window of openings for social, cultural and religion activities which promoted a healthy and happy community life. Social events, non political debates, honoring of outstanding personalities and religious leaders, temple festivals, multi religious festivals both at domestic and community levels, and various regional and community level functions provided a healthy atmosphere….

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  • 22 Sep, 2007
  • 9 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Peace and Conflict

Invading Sri Lanka! An intrapolitical imagination

Suren Raghavan In the recent past, once again, the conceptual debate of a (direct) international intervention in the ethnic conflict of Sri Lanka has emerged with some raciness. What began with the international campaign by AI1 during the Cricket World Cup season has advanced to a translucent rationalization by advocates like Gareth Evans2 and the last addition, a haunting episode around the interview of John Holmes the UN under secretary for human rights?3 Disparate reactions have filled the political air. There are at least four manifestations. 1. The nationalists in the south have damned the thought as another ‘jathyanthra kumantranayak’ while their northern counterparts have espoused it. 2. The GOSL, led by its flagrant defence secretary and the uncouth members of the cabinet have camouflaged the state with the ‘sovereignty’ uniform and named Holmes- a terrorist. 3. The Peace Industry responded with hybridized abstractions (depending on their proximities to the conflicting protagonists) 4. The civilians (of both sides of the…

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Fear Factor

Fear of the “Other” has been systematically injected into the Sri Lankan population. Fear is the tool wielded by the political elite to control the masses and is created mainly through conditioning the masses to believe that their identities, cultures and ways of life are constantly under attack by the “Other” and creating a need to be “protected”. The political elite altruistically volunteer to “protect” the masses against these attacks by any means necessary. In Sri Lanka the means chosen is military. The high military presence in and around Colombo, check points, house to house searches, raids on lodges and rest houses, parcels of explosives and a highly visible presence of weapons and artillery along the main streets of commercial Colombo add to the feeling of fear and anxiety among the general population. The passing of the Emergency Law every month and the high alert that is maintained with continuous rhetoric about imminent terror attacks on economic and political targets…

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  • 16 Sep, 2007
  • 3 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Politics and Governance

Another face of corruption – The breakdown of the medical profession

My article deals with the decrepit condition of the medical profession in Sri Lanka today. Notwithstanding the dedication of some in the profession, the overwhelming perception is that the profession is reaked in corruption and malpractice. I include in my article several anecdotes I heard recently regarding the levels of corruption amongst doctors. There are strong rumours that those who have stood up against the corruption have been killed. I ask what can be done in this situation to address this growth of corrupt practices. Please read my article in full, in Sinhala, here or download it as a PDF here. Repost This Article

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  • 15 Sep, 2007
  • 1 Comment
  • Disaster Management

Lessons from Nagapattinum: Post-Tsunami and the Panchayat

In Vilunthamavadi, one fisherman said he saw a baby goat tied to the sand swept atop a 100-foot high water tank, 50 meters away in the blink of an eye. In P.R. Puram, another said the second wave, blurred ocean and sky in a sheet of indigo-noire, and the third wave’s aftermath left human and cattle corpses strewn in coconut trees, on the beach, on tea shop roofs, over potholes, in the ponds, swallowing villagers like a hungry elephant, its tide dragging them out to sea like the elephant’s trunk while it eats. The 2004 tsunami, causing much devastation to coastal districts of South India, almost 4 years later, still afflicts a string of Panchayats along Tamil Nadu’s southeastern coast. Local NGO’s are slowly collecting demographic data, but there are no current official statistics as of yet in these areas. In P.R Puram, there are 626 houses. In another Panchayat, Kameshwaram, there are 480 houses, and in this string of…

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  • 14 Sep, 2007
  • 0 Comment
  • Peace and Conflict

Responding to Sumanasri Liyanage: On Mahinda bowing down to the ‘differing majority’ and On changing the terminology from ‘federal’ to ‘power sharing’

I started off this piece as a comment to Mr. Liyanage’s post which appeared on Groundviews yesterday (13 Septmber 2007) titled ‘Are we going to make the same mistake after 35 years’ but decided to post it in separate given its lengthiness. Regarding Mr. Liyanage’s wishful thinking that Mahinda is not stead fast on maintaining the unitary character of the state. While the interpretation given to the Mahinda Chinthanaya is fairly interesting unfortunately I don’t think we need to go into a finer details and employ tools of interpretation of what the Chinthanaya says in this regard – reading this part of the Mahinda Chinthanaya with that part of the Mahinda Chinthanaya and so on. It was quite clear what the populist and public stand of Mahinda was at the Presidential elections and why JHU and JVP decided to support him. The Presidential contest in terms of the issues that it was contested upon was quite clear – the President…

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SMS news alerts during emergencies – The experience of JNW and the tsunami warning of 13th September 2007

Chamath Ariyadasa The coverage by the media of yesterday’s earthquake near Indonesia might be of interest to some readers, and as the editor of JNW, Sri Lanka’s first SMS news agency, I thought of penning my personal opinion and raising some issues that could be discussed further. My biggest concern at the moment, as a journalist, is getting access to the initial tip off from authorities on an impending disaster and the subsequent official news messages in a timely manner so that they can be passed on to the public as fast as possible. There isn’t an email or SMS alert system in place, that I know of, that could easily meet this need. I know of the Met Dept website (http://www.meteo.slt.lk/Tswarn.html) which goes some way towards improving access to information, but I wouldn’t know when its updated. An SMS or email by the Met Dept or Disaster Management Centre would go a long way towards helping the media pass…

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Are We Going to Make the Same Mistake After 35 Years?

The discussions at the All-Party Representative Committee (APRC) have taken a significant turn in the last two three weeks and its indefatigable chairman, Minister Tissa Vitharana, appears to have given in to the pressure of the Sinhala nationalist elements. All the signals show that the APRC final report would suggest that the unitary character of the Sri Lankan state be preserved. The expectations that Minister Vitharana would at the end of the day be able to reveres the incorrect move taken by his senior colleague, late Dr Colvin R de Silva, 35 years ago would remain unfulfilled. The pressure has come from the three Sinhala nationalist parties, Janata Vimikthi Peramuna, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya, and the chauvinist elements of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. The aversive strategies of the United National Party have contributed immensely to this final outcome since it refused to contribute to the constitutional discussion at the APRC in a meaningful way. The keeping…

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Sri Lanka on tsunami alert after Indonesia quake (Updated)

12 Sep 2007 12:31:03 GMT Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka issued a tsunami alert on Wednesday for its north, south and eastern districts following a major earthquake in Indonesia, the National Disaster Management Centre said. “We have issued a warning for the south, north and east after the quake,” Keerthi Ekanayake, an official at the centre told Reuters. Sri Lanka was battered by the 2004 tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean rim. – Reuters story ends – Update #1 (7.00pm): Read the alerts issued on JNW and also visit their site for updates. Update #2 (7.15pm): Reuters news alert SMS thru Dialog says “Small tsunami hit Indonesia’s Padang, Sri Lanka expects small tsunami by 7.30 – Disaster Management Centre” Update #3: (7.34pm): Reuters news alert SMS thru Dialog says “Disaster management center lifts tsunami warning, says no effect; US Geological Survey increase earthquake magnitude to 8.2″ Also see Reuters web update here. Repost This Article

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Focus on Human Rights

The diplomatic offensive of the government is in full swing even though there continues to be confusion as to who speaks authoritatively for it on the matters of war, peace and human rights – the Foreign Minister, other assorted cabinet ministers, the defence secretary, the foreign secretary, the secretary general of the peace secretariat or the ambassador in Geneva. It would not matter much if they all had their role to play in the communication of government policy as long as they all said the same thing. This though is not the case and it is not merely restricted to the dishing out of invective and verbal abuse to international officials a la Fernandopulle. There is also the confusion that arises from presidential statements about war, peace and type of political settlement as well as which constituency matters more – Sinhala or Tamil – and the difference of opinion between the foreign minister and the defence secretary about an impending…

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  • 12 Sep, 2007
  • 5 Comments
  • Peace and Conflict

BELOW AVERAGE : Reflections after the presentation on Globalisation and Cultural Change

Recently, the group Beyond Borders – a networking initiative of the British Council for young people in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, UK and Sri Lanka – organised a presentation by Professor Christopher Lingle in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Being a fan of cultural globalisation and liking the idea internationalisation – I was eager to attend. Sadly, Lingle’s presentation, titled “Globalisation and Cultural Change”, came across to me as a rant by a neoliberal-aligned ‘evangelist’ than a talk by a neoliberal-aligned academic. I don’t have a problem with academics presenting their views and ideas, but Lingle’s style and substance was superficial and very disappointing. Globalisation and culture are fascinating fields. Unfortunately, Lingle simplified the topic by asserting at the very beginning that the only way forward for countries like Sri Lanka was for their political leaders to open up domestic markets for global competition – one of the core goals of neoliberalism. He engaged in a hysterical attack on trade unions and implied…

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About Groundviews

Located at the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Groundviews is a citizen journalism website that uses a range of genres and media to highlight critical perspectives on governance, reconciliation, human rights, the arts and literature, democracy and other issues. The site has won two international awards, including the prestigious Manthan Award South Asia in 2009. The grand jury's evaluation of the site noted, "What no media dares to report, Groundviews publicly exposes. It's a new age media for a new Sri Lanka... Free media at it's very best!"

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