Archive for September, 2010

LLRC: Evidence given by Mr. Austin Fernando, Former Secretary of Defense on 18th August 2010

September 30th 2010 Editor, Groundviews Dear Sir, Evidence given before LLRC on August 18th 2010 I gave evidence before the LLRC which became very problematic. My evidence was inaccurately or partially reported, which resulted in many unwanted and underserved comments appearing in the public domain. Having waited a month after bringing this issue to the notice of the Commission, and not hearing of any response, I thought it is time to tell what I really said at the inquiry and also to note that the biased reporting against me was both undeserved and unprofessional. I am basing my submission on the transcript and recording kindly provided by the LLRC. I am sending this content to two English newspapers and Ada Derana in the hope that they will be gracious enough to publish it. I am sending this to you for publication because I have seen similar testimonies of other key witnesses published on the site. I thank in advance for…

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In conversation with Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne

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Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne is a President’s Counsel in Sri Lanka and has also served with the Sri Lankan government in various capacities as Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and member of the Sri Lankan Law Commission. He holds a PhD in Human rights and a Master of Public Administration from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. His areas of expertise include Constitutional law, Human Rights, Administrative and Criminal law. We began our conversation on the need for a political solution after the end of war and the ignominious fate of the APRC (read the APRC’s final report, released exclusively on Groundviews). Jayampathy categorically notes that the political leadership today hasn’t shown any progressive movement towards a political solution. I then asked him to juxtapose and critique public apathy over the passing of the 18th amendment to what he had observed from 1994 to 2004 – a high-degree of support for power-sharing by as much as 50% of the…

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Reptiles and Bad Referees

A couple of days ago, I watched an inter school girls basketball match in Colombo and I was appalled by the level of refereeing in terms of being biased towards one team.   Refereeing any sport is not easy and human errors have to be excused,  but as a sportsman when I saw so many seemingly biased decisions given in favor of one side leaves a trace of doubt as to whether there is indeed some collusion.  Then when you see the coach of the favored team has no compunction in displaying the close friendship with the referees during breaks, it compounds things. I could only imagine a conspiracy here, whether or not it is supported by the school’s administration.  Nevertheless, it unfortunately taints the school too, but there are much bigger implications for all of us.   This is about our world, our collective future as a humanity, and yes, even this unethical behavior by the referees is just a microcosm…

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Triple ‘S’ & failed TNA presence in Vanni rehabilitation

Nominating TNA National list MP Sumanthiran to the newly created Parliamentary Council under the 18th Amendment, by Opposition Leader and UNP MP Wickramasinghe, was rightly rejected immediately by Sumanthiran himself and by the TNA also. Wickramasinghe was rightly condemned too, for his stupidity and slimy politics by other political observers, in a round of disgust and dismay. The reason was apparent. The 18th Amendment is seen as wholly anti democratic by most in progressive politics and the TNA did not want to be part of a Rajapaksa scheme, they opposed. That done, the TNA announced a Committee of their own to sit with the Rajapaksa regime in overseeing Northern resettlement and rehabilitation. The Committee comprises of 07 MPs including Sampanthan, Suresh Premachandra, Senathirajah, Adaikilanathan, Shritharan, Selvarasah and Sumanthiran. This is an agreement reached not with President Rajapaksa, but with Basil Rajapaksa on 23 August. Thereafter BR had left to India, according to Sumanthiran who spoke to “Nation” on 29 August,…

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Recommendations for ICT and Research Supported Enhancement of the Effectiveness of the LLRC

S. M. Samarakoon Esq. Secretary, Presidential Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation, 24, Horton Place, Colombo 7. Dear Mr. Samarakoon, Recommendations for ICT and Research Supported Enhancement of the Effectiveness of the LLRC As a follow up to the submissions made before the Presidential Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation on 23rd September 2010, I have pleasure in submitting the following recommendations for enhancement of the effectiveness of the LLRC, leveraging Information Communications Technology and Research options; The LLRC to take urgent steps to set up a widely publicized, fully functional multi lingual web site,  to serve the following facilitation needs of the Commission and at the same time satisfy the communication needs and expectations of the stakeholder publics; Information on the Warrant of the Commission, Details of Commissioners, Staff of the Commission, Contact details, Progress to date including public hearings and visits, Notices published by the Commission,  Events and hearings calendar, Picture Gallery, News/Publications and Press Releases, FAQ’s, Useful…

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Reconciliation for peace

Call for peace and hope The search for human security away from conflict and indignity is global and ceaseless. The demands of human security include a balanced view of tragedies that are the result of terrible omissions as well as dreadful commissions. In short we need a celebration of life as opposed to a memorial dirge. We must make it that much harder to justify destruction as a means to conquer one another and make dialogue, conciliation and accommodation a means to find solutions to many competing and justifiable claims from the peoples of our country. Human rights will be realized in large measure with the ebb of conflict and a focus on human security. Such a common quest requires the enterprise of adversaries who are stakeholders of today, it is for the interlocutors and investors to bring about this commonality of vision which together may assist us all to justifiably feel one day that we did what we had to when…

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Reconciliation in Sri Lanka: Breaking the Myth and Bringing the Truth

“There cannot be reconciliation without justice. Justice and equity are at the core of reconciliation” – Professor Hizkias Assefa The platform for an “genuine reconciliation” should be rooted via the democratic exercises, rights and participation of all citizens throughout a country. But, if people are under fear to express their grievances and aspirations, including opposition political parties, dissident voices, independent media and even some ruling party government ministers how can a national minority discriminated and oppressed for more than five decades practice their rights in Sri Lanka? If a conducive environment to experience human fundamental rights including basic human needs (non negotiable rights such as survival, wellbeing, freedom and identity according to peace studies scholars) and to enjoy the values of democracy in Sri Lanka does not exist, then what guarantee is there that a ‘genuine reconciliation’ will take place? From a perspective genuine reconciliation should start from the mind, heart and soul of all human beings and it should…

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Did the Sri Lankan Army use cluster bombs and phosphorus bombs against civilians?

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The partial, unprofessional and biased mainstream media reportage, particularly in English and Sinhala, on on-going proceedings of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been repeatedly flagged on this site. On 20 September 2010, the Sudar Oli newspaper published a report based on the testimony of N. Sundermurthi to the LLRC. Not a single English or Sinhala mainstream print or broadcast media bothered to carry this story, even in translation. As Valkryie notes in ‘Learning Lessons’ from those affected by war: Does the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission really listen? “The most recent sessions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) were held in the conflict affected North from 18 to 20 September, at which a large number of persons, particularly women, made representations. Of course one wouldn’t know it by reading the newspapers, listening to the radio or watching television. In what appears to be a complete information blackout, Sinhala and English language media, which gave considerable prominence…

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‘Learning Lessons’ from those affected by war: Does the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission really listen?

The most recent sessions of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) were held in the conflict affected North from 18 to 20 September, at which a large number of persons, particularly women, made representations. Of course one wouldn’t know it by reading the newspapers, listening to the radio or watching television. In what appears to be a complete information blackout, Sinhala and English language media, which gave considerable prominence to representations made by those appearing before the Commission in Colombo, such as Jayantha Dhanapala and Austin Fernando, were conspicuously silent when the LLRC held sittings in the area where the final battle between the Sri Lanka armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was fought. In contrast, the Tamil newspapers carried heart wrenching accounts of mostly women who had lost, in many cases, their entire families. According to Prof. G.L. Peiris, the Minister for External Affairs, the government established the LLRC ‘drawing upon the experience of…

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Submission before Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) by Chandra Jayaratne

[Editors note: Chandra Jayaratne is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka and of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK, a former President of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and LMD Sri Lankan of the year 2001.] ### 1. Appreciation of Opportunity The eminent members of the Commission and its Secretary are thanked for extending, on their own accord, this opportunity to make submissions before the LLRC. These submissions draw on a wide canvass, strictly within the scope of the warrant of the LLRC and stress issues of concern and detail specific action recommendations for due consideration by the Commission. The LLRC is kindly requested to note that all submissions made herein are based on personal beliefs and commitments and does not represent views of any of the present or past affiliations and positions of leadership held in any private sector or civil society organizations. 2. The Immediate Correction of the Lost Opportunity The opportune…

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Translation of Tamil newspaper reports on the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission hearings held in Killinochchi and Mullaitivu

Given below are translations of reports on the hearings of the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) held in Killnochchi and Mullaitivu that appeared in Tamil newspapers. Due to the deafening silence and at times selective hearing of the English and Sinhala language media, which have either completely failed to report on the hearings held in Killinochchi and Mullaitivu or have done so in a cursory and/or selective manner, this compilation is posted to ensure the voices of the war affected are heard, and recorded for posterity. Also read Did the Sri Lankan Army use cluster bombs and phosphorus bombs against civilians? ### Repost This Article

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THE VISION THING: A SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC ALTERNATIVE?

Isn’t it horribly reactionary of me to be more partial to the State than civil society? Is it not a hallmark of liberalism, progressivism, radicalism, modernity and all things civil and good you can possibly think of, to be for and with civil society against the State? That’s only if you haven’t got much reading done recently. “I believe that the theory of civil society is completely mistaken. At any rate I should say that in the break-up of Yugoslavia just as in most other conflicts between the state and civil society, I was regularly on the side of the state.” Nope, that’s neither Milosevic nor any unsavoury friend of mine who shouldn’t be tolerated on Groundviews, but “the most dangerous philosopher in the West (New Republic), Slavoj Zizek, in ‘Philosophy is not a Dialogue’, (Badiou & Zizek, 2009, ‘Philosophy in the Present’, p 65.) A social democracy from and of the Lankan Left would be a recipe for marginality….

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COLOMBO MUNICIPAL CORPORATISATION PROPOSAL

I support power sharing. Therefore, my attention is drawn to this proposal, irrespective of  the unacceptability or denial by any government authority of this purported proposal. In the last few weeks, the mainstream media have reported that a Development Authority is to be established for the City of Colombo, with the concurrent move to abolish the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) and vest its functions to this Authority and consequentially scrap the elected Council. Past performance On many an occasion, the Colombo Municipal Council’s performance has been criticised as inefficient, ineffective, uneconomic, politicised, corrupt, lethargic and inadequate. The lack of a reponse and inaction to the large piles of solid waste, the dengue epidemic, environmental degradation and illegal constructions were the areas mostly criticised. Hence, this revelation may be welcome news to rate payers and citizens interacting with the CMC. Additionally, there was publicity that the proposed Corporation will function under the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, which, no doubt,…

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  • 21 Sep, 2010
  • 2 Comments
  • Colombo,
    Economy,
    Politics and Governance,
    Post-War,
    Sport

In conversation with Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy on Sri Lanka’s post-war economic development

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy is a Former Director, Economic Affairs Division at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Indrajit was also a staff officer at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. As Wikipedia notes, From 1981 t 1989 he was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning. Thereafter he worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat from 1990–2008, holding the posts of Director, Economic Affairs Division and Deputy-Director, Secretary-General’s Office and was brought back to the Commonwealth Secretariat to head the Social Transformation Programme Division, as Interim Director. Given Indrajit’s sporting background, we began by talking about his achievements in rugger and cricket at the University of Peradeniya in the early 70s and afterwards at Cambridge University, which to this day he said irked his mother who was of the opinion that he had spent far too much of time playing sport and far too little studying! I then asked Indrajit, an economist by training, about the global financial crisis and how, at the time,…

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Hansard on 18th Amendment debate, 8 September 2010

Exclusive video: Parliamentary debate and objections to 18th Amendment, “Sound is no substitute for argument”: Exclusive video of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in parliament against 18th Amendment and Final text of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in Parliament opposing the 18th Amendment published exclusively on Groundviews capture the chaos that reigned during the parliamentary ‘debates’ on the 18th Amendment Bill on 7th and in particular, 8th September 2010. We publish below the Hansard of the ‘debate’ on the 8th. To view this document full-screen, click here. To download the Hansard as a PDF, click here. Repost This Article

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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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