No in Sri Lanka LAW prohibits you from inhibiting racial division, hatred and provoking. Which I think is FAIR ENOUGH! It is there purely to stop another black July. It should be an integral legislative mechanism in any multi ethnic, multi cultural country. Just because you’re a journalist you have no right to insight racial hatred!

About freedom of expression, I will just hold this blog as a very simple example. In countries like China, Iran this will be filtered outside the country! So give Sri Lanka some credit! We only filtered Tamilnet (maybe Pr0n too but not a big concern for me ) which belonged to the enemy propaganda arm. C’mon that’s fair!

Also all international media have a presence in Sri Lanka other than Channel 4 which is their own fault. You need to have some manners at least. So Shamed Lankan everything you said was BS! SPIN! and propaganda to put it in plain terms.

Shamed Lankan, can you tell an unashamed lankan like my self if there were any peaceful protests outside previously LTTE held territory where the protestors were suppressed this year? Using state force? I can’t recall. I maybe wrong. So tell me.

I still think you’re crazy if you want to equate the current administration to Nazis when there’s nothing even remotely similar but do so because the administration opposes your views and are unable to deal with a democratic endorsement spitefully. Just like they attack Obama.

Also it is fair to ask not to criticize the armed forces during a war. Even Bush administration requested that sort of cooperation from media and most of the media like CNN, FOX played by it. They were all gloating when “shock and awe” descended like a block buster movie. Not a single news channel covered for the Iraqi side when the first precision air strikes were on its way. Oh how easily we forget.

At first I thought “she” was a parody (she couldn’t be that crazy, could she?) – but now I think it’s just a troll. Maybe “her” views are sincerely held, or maybe they are just for show. But it doesn’t matter – the point is to provoke a reaction.

Ignore the trolls, and they’ll probably have to move back to taunting their juvenile peers in real life.

I have the feeling that the consent of those being ruled is somehow important as well.

On the other hand, Winston Churchill said: “No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

I am sorry to disappoint you, but your pseudonym does not in any way intrigue me enough to want to get to know your “true” identity. Please understand that my mentioning of Tony Soprano was not in any way made to imply you are a thug. Perhaps you have taken yourself a tad too seriously in thinking that people are interested in uncovering the great mystery of “Smolderingjin”.

You may be a man or woman from Malaysia, Singapore, Tamil Nadu or Sri-Lanka – I don’t give a damn. Your sudden concern for “our nation”, however, surprises me to no end. We, as readers, can identify those writers who are empathetic to the people of Sri-Lanka based on their balanced arguments.

One more thing, planting Susan Goon as a straw man was a bad idea; it only goes to show that you and the crew have a lot of deep seated hatred toward the community Susan Goon is supposedly parodying. It seems like Sandun Ratnapriya, Iddamalgoda etc… have now been added as side-support for your favourite Goon.

Wilkie Collins would never have been interested in any “jin” that smoulders!

Or perhaps we should be honest with ourselves, declare an oligarchy, and be done with all the debate. Perhaps E.N.Gand above is right; maybe we should do away with democracy entirely. It would be more honest that way, at least.

But even in the earliest of the modern democracies, that of the Unites States, there was concern over what Thomas Jefferson (I think it was him) called “the tyranny of the majority.” This led directly to the Bill of Rights, which no majority is allowed to abrogate. Rights can be added, but they can not be taken away.

In addition in the US, they tried to avoid this majoritarian problem by having a system of checks and balances and a division of powers. An example is how law is dealt with there; both houses of Congress must approve it, and the President sign it, for it to come in force. If someone, even a minority, believes it to be unConstitutional, it is challenged and the Supreme Court, which is independent of both Congress and President, examines it. In theory it sounds great; in practice it’s had it’s ups and downs, but overall it seems to me that it works better than any other current system. Of course all this is based on the assumption that all political parties (and the military!) actually respect and follow the Constitution.

Perhaps that’s the problem with Sri Lankan democracy; it’s a winner take all system. The party that controls Parliament is by definition the party that holds the executive. And the executive has control over the law enforcement apparatus; in the West they are independent from the executive and seen as politically neutral. In the US, it’s possible that the different parties each control a House and/or that they are different from the party of the President. When this happens, all sides are forced to sit and compromise and negotiate to actually get anything done. And although this doesn’t seem to be happening right now in the US with it’s health care issue, ultimately that’s what will happen once all the screaming is over.

In the West the judiciary is independent of the executive and is respected by all sides; here it’s ignored almost completely. Again, as the our executive has control over law enforcement, the judiciary can do little to enforce it’s decisions. In the US if an official commits a crime or defies the courts (Nixon comes to mind), the law enforcement apparatus will arrest him at the request of the judiciary; such a thing would never happen here. OK, Nixon wasn’t exactly arrested, but the courts, aided by Congress, did bring about his downfall. You get the idea.

Additionally, and this is an important point, is the fact that the US has a relatively weak central government. When I was there, I was amazed at how much real power the states have. And my American friends, when they come visit, are astounded at how powerful our central government is. We have a fear of strong provincial powers having a centrifugal effect; they fear the consolidation of power. An interesting difference in perspective, don’t you think?

I don’t know why this is, although I suspect that part of it is their frontier do-it-yourself mentality, as opposed to our traditional dependence of Great Men doing things for us. I’m sure there have been many books written about this; all I know is that for the vast majority of Americans, landing a government job is not a goal in life!

I’m not saying the American political structure is perfect and should be imitated wholesale; it has many flaws and hasn’t always lived up to it’s ideals. However, it has functioned for over 200 years without violent change of government (meaning coups or revolutions), it has slowly (and painfully) expanded the rights and privileges of citizenship to now encompass almost everyone equally, and has weathered some pretty tough storms such as civil war, economic collapse, rule by oligarchy, presidential assassination, etc. and yet has still remained not just intact, but highly functional. That’s a pretty good record, if you look at the history of the world. Maybe Sri Lanka can learn something from this.

Personally, I don’t favor living under the whim of kings, as was suggested by E.N.Gland above. Some kings have been good, others very bad. You never know what you’re going to get until they are in power. And the only way to remove a bad king is through violence of one sort or another. I prefer to have some degree of control, or at least influence, over the people who make decisions about me and my life. In a democracy you have the possibility of seeing what a candidate is like before they take power, and the opportunity to say “yes please” or “no thank you.” You can also vote them out of power in the next election; with a king you have to wait until he kicks the bucket.

Just a nit-picky point, Heshan, and only because I’m a history freak. In Athens the electorate was given only to male Athenian-born citizens of a certain rank. No women, no foreigners, no foreign-born Athenians, no poor people. Perhaps only 10% of the total population could participate politically. So while Athens had the first democracy as we understand it, it was no democratic heaven. But what is important is that the IDEA of democracy started there, and inspired people throughout history, even if it was imperfectly implemented at the time. Oh and the Roman “Republic” wasn’t that much of an improvement either. But that’s a different topic.

Interesting points you have brought up. Regarding elections – this is only one aspect of a democracy. Of course it is a very important one. Surely you will agree that elections are only important insofar as they provide adequate representation to every segment of the population. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it is my understanding that every Sri Lankan President since Independence has been a Sinhala (Govi) Buddhist from the South. As these 2005 statistics indicate, http://www.srilankanelections.com/alldistrict.htm, there is a sharp regional divide in party preference. With one or two exceptions, the entire South chose to support the pro-war UPFA. In addition, with the exception of Kandy, all of the majority-Sinhala provinces in the North also supported the UPFA. What is also significant, EVERY majority-Sinhalese rural district in the country overwhelmingly supported the UPFA.

Now, I want to pose this question to you: if every district in Sri Lanka were as developed as Colombo and Kandy, what would those election results look like? Perhaps a definitive outcome is not possible (since there are other considerations besides economics) but we can assume the margins would be much narrower. In any event, what is evident is who the “majority” are: rural-Sinhalese. Certainly, in a democracy, the majority vote is what counts, but these days what is equally significant is the majority making certain concessions to the minorities. As you see in the election results, if everything is based on just majority perceptions, minority aspirations will be left in the dust-bin.

What constitutes a democracy? A very good question. In general, though, “democracy” is largely a Western concept. Of all the ancient civilizations, the only “democracy” I can think of is Ancient Greece. Feudalism/serfdom were the prevailing structures of the day – Sri Lanka was no exception. But even in the West, democracy did not come overnight. Capitalism had to evolve to a certain stage. On the other hand, if you look closely, the evolution of democracy in the West has always paralleled their (respective) constitutions. So while we may not be able to precisely define a democracy – since it keeps evolving – at least we can agree that a working constitution is necessary. In my opinion, constitutional reform is a very good starting point for Sri Lanka. Implementation of the 17th Amendment, removal of the Executive Presidency clause, an amendment that recognizes the autonomy of Tamil regions, etc. Enough has been written about the J.R. constitution to know why it doesn’t work (plus we have had more than 2 decades to see the results).

Living in a so called democracy, I can assure you that the new laws being enacted in the West is not Democratic at all. “Democracy” is a convenient word coined by the powerful western nations to beat the underdeveloped countries.
What ever Sri Lanka does will never be Democratic” in the eyes of the G8 Nations.

FORGET ABOUT DEMOCRACY, LETS LIVE THE WAY SRI LANKANS HAVE LIVED FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/18/eveningnews/main5321910.shtml

Just referencing somethings I said in my previous post.

@ Heshan –

I agree with you about the validity of some elections as per Al Gore and Bush. Nevertheless, even if the current government was elected by dubous means – and admittedly the vote included the jvp one – the situation we see now is that post-war the government is seen as worthy of the vote. Doesn’t this make it a “democracy” whether it functions as such or not?

That is a genuine question as it is something I am trying to understand. It would be an interesting discussion to have – the question of “what constitutes a democracy – is it the vote of the majority or the behaviour of the government concerned?”

I am not sure about the North and East – it could be that they have always been under martial law given that they may have anyway lived under that kind of “martial law” governance of the LTTE”. Not that either should be present in a democracy! The difference of course was that the LTTE never presented themselves as a democracy, while the GOSL does.

However, your point that there is no democratic government in the North and East that is represented is a fair one, as is the comment that “If the military decides someone will die, then someone dies”. Although again this holds true for the rule of the LTTE as well.

I am not so sure about what you say about the status quo though. I do hope you are right in your rephrasing of the statement as that would give us some hope! As for people electing the same government, is perhaps an indication of the general apathy and indifference because it “is not happening to me”. This is what prompted Martin Niemöller to write these words which I think were quote by Lasantha W in his obituary editorial:

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

As you know it refers to the inactivity of the intellectuals of Germany in responding to the rise to power by the Nazi regime and the way they systematically destroyed their chosen target groups.

Sure we made some mistakes in the past but hey, we PAID FOR IT, DEARLY! And as we should. We shall always pay for our own choices and we accept that.
So just let us reap the rewards may it be good or bad with this president as well, and let us just have our elected leader (our right). And who knows what’s in store for us in the future right?

We’re not some tootsie blonds alright? We know very well, what the administration and the armed forces do. And if we don’t like it we’ll send a message at the next election. So farrrr, (I personally) lllikeeyyy!

Some of you are already campaigning with a lot of BS through forums like this for an alternative option. That is fine. Democracy was never that clean anyway. I’m just here to remind you that you have a formidable opposition.

It’s not fair to call someone a despot because it’s not the person you voted for or wanted. In that case some of the conservatives in US would think Obama’s a despot. In fact some do! I have seen the placards equating him to Hitler on DC streets during the current health care protests. Doesn’t mean he’s a Nazi now does it? Same deal here yo, just because you want to equate our president and his regime to the Nazis, doesn’t mean anything other than the fact that you’re a crazy person.

I’ve noticed that you’ve suddenly started to call that little island full of human rights “violations” as “our nation” now! Well, Well, as Tony Soprano would say, “Beaudiful”! It looks like you and your peace crew are doubly working hard to make “our nation” the epitome of democracy. Go on, work hard to teach “our nation” how to be decent, honest and truthful. Yes, it’s too bad that “our nation” doesn’t have people like you who are born with the moral courage to speak out against atrocities committed in the name of land, ethnicity and language.

Please let us know who you have elected to investigate the crimes perpetrated by the despots in “our nation”. Surly, it must be driving you up the wall knowing that “our nation” doesn’t acknowledge all the “good works “being carried out by the peace crew. Too bad, “our nation” has no idea how hard people like you – with your nine to five jobs – sacrifice your time and hard earned money to bring peace to “our nation”.

Every day – punching in, punching out and paying your dues to The Man. Thank you for giving up all the perks in life in order to help “our nation”! If this compliment was made to Tony Soprano, he would take it in his humble way, and tell us to “fuhgeddaboudit”.

“On the other hand, when it became a well-known fact that Mahinda made a secret deal with the LTTE that prevented a significant proportion of Northeast voters from casting their ballots”

When did it become a well known fact? All these are bollocks spread by LTTE supporters like you. No evidence at all. Even LTTE had rejected the claim.

“Sripathi S. died in a mysterious car accident”

He died because he was drunk and driving at 120k/h on A9 which is not suitable to drive at that speed. probably the GOSL might have planted that tree just there for Sripathi to hit and die.

So, you want all the IDPs to be release to the mine-laden territories? What is your other options? Your half truths are worse than lies.

Society is rapidly losing its trust in the regime on account of the mere lip service paid by them towards achieving a post war durable and just peace.

The elections however is proving contrary. More than 65% of people voted for the regime, and the number keeps increasing. It looks like your comment is more than in hope, because majority of people of SL has rejected your views.

We might well be justified in raising the issues of past crimes of other nations, but denying the citizens of Sri Lanka an investigation into the alleged crimes is destructive to the well being of this naiton. Do you not think that for the sake of our nation’s own integrity and the healing of the distrust between the races, an investigation into war crimes might have allayed the doubts, fears and misconceptions that many now hold?

It is sad that Sri Lanka wants to imitate and follow the weaknesses of other nations and walk in the shadow of their moral failures.

Whether or not the despot was elected fairly is open to question… to give a simple example, the disputed election between Bush and Gore forced the Supreme Court to intervene – there was a limited recount of votes. On the other hand, when it became a well-known fact that Mahinda made a secret deal with the LTTE that prevented a significant proportion of Northeast voters from casting their ballots, no investigation was ever carried out, except of those making the allegations! Tiran Alles was arrested, Sonali S. was questioned for 5 hours by the CID, and Sripathi S. died in a mysterious car accident. So much for democracy.

That is the first counterargument that refutes your claim. The second is that the North and East are under martial law. There is no democratic government that represents these people. If the military decides someone will die, then someone dies.

You also said, “majority are quite happy with the status quo. ” Perhaps you might want to rephrase that as.. “the majority are oblivious of the full ramifications of the status quo.” The majority does not comprehend what a democracy really is… if they did, they would not elect the same useless politicians over and over again. If they did, they would press for civil liberties. As such, the situation is one in which the majority are quite satisfied that civil liberties are lacking! I do not know of any democracy in which that is the case. When the majority is sunk knee-deep in the mud of nationalism, when flag-waving, minority-bashing and foreign conspiracy theories are the same, what we are left with is a dictatorship, not a democracy. In fact, the dictatorial nature of the Sri Lankan State is pretty much guaranteed by the Executive Presidency clause combined with vaguely defined anti-terrorism legislation such as the PTA.

The first question that crossed my mind was whether you were exposed to the bombing spree of the LTTE or whether you escaped that period by living abroad.

Only a fool would say that ALL IDPs are suspected terrorist as they are NOT but some terrorists are hiding amongst the civilians. The same civilians who were forced to provide cover to the terrorists on pain of death or amputation of limbs.

Again, only a fool would say that there are no terrorists hiding amongst the civilians as several thousand have been caught, including some leaders from within the camps. KP bragged about the existence of several thousand Terror Cadres before he was caught.

You further state that
The GOSL’s greatest loss of credibility is on account of their blatant denial and refusal to inquire into allegations of war crimes and human rights abuses in the course of fighting the war against terrorism. Appeals to the government by the United Nations, USA and the EU to inquire into such allegations in order to clear any misconceptions which threaten the government’s integrity are contemptuously resisted based on artfully misconstrued reasoning that they are an affront to the independence and sovereignty of the nation.
Unquote

I would suggest that you LISTEN to what transpired in the special sessions of the UNHRC. You could watch the proceedings at http://www.un.org/webcast or on you tube at the following link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1IanNK1uwM&feature=channel_page

Rather than, as you put it, “blatant denial and refusal to inquire into allegations” which of course is far from the truth, what Sri Lanka did was to requested that such inquiries commence with the war’s that preceded Her conflict.

France’s killing of a millions in Indo China, Algeria, Mehedi Ben Burka’s disappearance from Paris, UK’s and Ireland’s Londonderry massacres (Though it was mentioned, the request left out the incendiary carpet bombing of Dresden).

If that is acceded, the Iraq war with Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo would follow. Any bets that fair play would triumph and the request for Independent Inquiries by SL would be headed?

What transpired at UNHRC sessions will make any patriotic Sri Lankan proud of the country and proud of the Sri Lankans who so eloquently defended her reputation.

You have also mentioned about the Govts alleged “face saving counter allegations of an international conspiracy, backed by the Tamil Diaspora”. Is it your position that the Tamil Diaspora does not bank roll a tarring campaign against SL?

The LTTE still has financial muscle. It had a $300 million income in the past and would probably have a large income even now (probably at lower level). The LTTE is known to have bribed US Congressman and what they thought were US State Dept officials (FBI). The Diaspora is part and parcel of it, as it bank rolled the LTTE. As such bribing some western journalist would be a simple matter for them. How else could you explain the palpably false stories carried by the London Times and the Guardians infamous video?

A very good example is the story they cooked up after being flown over the NFZ along with Ban Ki Moon by the SL Govt itself. In that story their so called Independent Defense Experts have stated that bombardment with Air Burst and Ground impact mortars cause “INTENSE HEAT” that can burn down trees to “STUMPS”.

The pictures they carried had “UNBURNT” tents and undamaged vegetation. The “INTENSE” heat could not even burn plastic or cloth let alone live trees. The burnt tree stumps were no where to be seen. So much for truthful reporting.

What could be the incentive for cooking up such blatant lies? Who was the beneficiary?