Lanka Citizen

Then, with regard to the ubiquitous spectre of corruption too, President Kumaratunga has many questions to answer, not least her direct intervention in the offer of state land near the Parliament complex to so-called “foreign investors” under the guise of inviting overseas investment to the country to build a golf course. Nothing of the sort happened. Instead, an arms dealer who made his money during the period President Kumaratunga ‘steadfastly stood for negotiations’ purchased the property from those “foreign investors” — and at least there is a golf course there now! Those “foreign investors” introduced by Kumaratunga laughed all the way to the bank with the loot obtained for doing nothing other than being recommended by the Head of State to her rubber-stamp cabinet.

It does seem as if someone really has a fascination for golf courses, because the Bank of Ceylon when it was directly under President Kumaratunga approved a soft-loan for a Sri Lankan living close to Shenley in the outskirts of London to build a mini-golf course there. And it is perhaps just a co-incidence that President Kumaratunga would frequent this Sri Lankan’s Shenley home during her many visits private, official, and semi-official to the United Kingdom!

Kumaratunga’s claims of ensuring media freedom must be viewed in the context of the many ‘media events’ that marred her rule. The assault on journalists who covered a UNP demonstration outside Town Hall on the 15th of July, 1995, indictments on several editors of national newspapers on criminal defamation charges, giving special dispensation to a judge who heard such a case, the murder of Rohana Kumara, the editor of the tabloid ‘Satana’, and the assault on another editor critical of her and his journalist wife, are but a few of these events.

Courtesy Sunday Times

Rajpal Abeynayake has the following paragraph in his column this Sunday in the Sunday Times. This is while Irudina, the UNP’s unofficial Sinhala paper (and interestingly not its unofficial English paper The Sunday Leader!) has the headline about a meeting between 12 Ministers and Ranil to form a caretaker national government.

“Privately, some SLFP diehards have resurrected Wickremesinghe in their minds and Wickremesinghe is using his image as the achiever of improbable success - the maligned ceasefire — to say he will have one more improbable success, a national government with an ex-President holding office. He is sprouting more grey hairs almost to prove that he is the wizard; the smiling assassin.

…… the Mahinda coalition, which drew the induced response of “national government'’ from Ranil, something Chandrika Kumaratunga is deftly playing with.”

by Ajith Samaranayaka

If a talent for making headlines can be considered as being part of the success of a political campaign then the scoop of the present Presidential Election campaign season has undoubtedly been the understanding Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has reached with the JVP and the JHU.

This naturally was grist to the media mill because it seemed to place the Prime Minister at odds with the President and indeed it looked for sometime as if the Rajapakse campaign had entered choppy waters. But the Prime Minister’s persistence seems to have paid dividends since he has been able to project himself as the candidate with the broadest range of support ranging from the Old Left and its trade unions to the militant Buddhists with a sizeable Tamil and Muslim following as well.

Certainly Prime Minister Rajapakse has shown a gift for political sleight of hand. While retaining the support of the LSSP, the CP and the SLMP who pursue a more accommodationist line on the ethnic issue he has been able to bring into his ken the nationalist JVP and the JHU.

While these parties attack the UNP on the Rajapakse platform as being pusillanimous to the LTTE the Prime Minister himself seeks to project himself as the one single figure capable of bringing about what he calls a honourable settlement acceptable to all communities.

This intervention on the part of the SLFP’s presidential aspirant has also served to broaden the national debate. The single major contribution of President Chandrika Kumaratunga to the national political debate was to persuade the SLFP and then broad sections of the country about the need for the widest-ranging devolution of power if the National Question was to be resolved.

This was no mean achievement considering the fact that as late as 1988 the SLFP had boycotted the first Provincial Council elections. However, particularly after the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE by the then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe a substantial section of opinion (and not confined to Sinhala extremists either) grew up with the view that the UNP was too submissive to LTTE demands particularly in the light of the LTTE’s repeated violations of the CFA.

It is this vein of opinion which Mr. Rajapakse has sought to mobilise behind him with his understanding with the JVP and the JHU and time will tell how successful he has been in this effort without allowing the anti-LTTE rhetoric of the two parties to alarm moderate opinion.

In the light of moves by the UNP and its media cohorts to place the President and the Prime Minister on a collision course it is worth remembering that the President herself backed ably by the late Lakshman Kadirgamar was quite critical of the CFA and the UNP’s handling of the LTTE. In that light Mr. Rajapakse’s position that the CFA needs to be re-negotiated does not appear to diverge radically from the Government’s position though naturally the UNP leader has begun asking the Prime Minister why he did not oppose the CFA earlier.

It is not so much the CFA as the whole approach to the resolution of the National Question which poses the more interesting political conundrum. Mr. Rajapakse advocates wide-ranging power sharing within a unitary constitution and while this differs from the federal structure identified with the President it does not depart radically from the Constitution introduced by the President some years ago and rejected by the UNP.

The UNP on the other hand is committed to a federal model as outlined in the Oslo declaration but has to contend with the Internal Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) demanded by the LTTE subsequently. While the casuistic squabble over ‘unitary’ and ‘united’ will mainly interest the constitutionalists it is worth noting that what will ultimately determine the question is the balance of political forces which November’s election will generate.

In such a context how do things stand? It is possible that the LTTE will not take sides and anyway it is tacitly accepted that it is the UNP which wins the Tamil vote. In fact it is this acceptance that has prompted the Rajapakse campaign to go all out for the Sinhala vote with its alliances with the JVP and the JHU.

On the same token the UNP has alienated sections of Sinhala opinion by its soft line towards the LTTE and to counter it the UNP will do its best to alarm moderate opinion with the bogey of the JVP calling the shots in a Rajapakse administration and frighten non-Buddhists by suggesting that the JHU will unduly influence Mr. Rajapakse.

While the LTTE as usual has turned up its nose dismissing the election as a squabble for power among the Sinhalese it will perforce have to take the result into account. In the case of a Wickremesinghe Presidency it will be more or less a return to the status quo but a Rajapakse Presidency will radically alter the situation.

On the plus side for Mr. Rajapakse is the fact that it will for the first time forge the most wide-ranging southern consensus with the JVP and JHU as major actors. In his first election address on Channel Eye on October 29 Mr. Rajapakse advocated what in effect was a two-track approach of talking simultaneously to the southern parties and the LTTE in order to arrive at a consensus. Parallel to this he proposes the convening of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution.

For his own part Mr. Wickremesinghe of late has begun to speak of devolving powers in excess of what the Provincial Councils enjoy to the North and the East while Matara District UNP, MP Mahinda Wijesekera says that the same powers will be extended to the South as well.

So how will the power game work out? The Man in the Wanni (who will turn 51, days after the election) will brood over the situation while the Sinhala parties fight it out in an election game which in turn has become dirty, comic or plain bizarre.

In many senses then the verdict which the southern voter gives come November 17 will starkly determine the destiny of this country under seige from contending communal and party political forces and patronisingly monitored and policed by the Big White Brothers in their various disguises as NGO mandarins, donors, monitors or election observers.

courtesy Sunday Observer

Threats of violence against SEP meeting in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

By the Socialist Equality Party

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) was unable to hold a planned presidential election campaign meeting in Jaffna last Sunday because of threats of violence that were aimed at preventing the local population from hearing the party’s policies.

The meeting was to be held on October 30 at 2.30 p.m. at the Cooperative Union Auditorium to discuss the SEP’s political perspective and program for the November 17 poll. So far, the SEP has been the only party standing a candidate in the election to organise a meeting in Jaffna, in the war-torn north of the island.
Prior to the meeting, a notice was put up on the hall’s closed doors declaring: “Boycott the current presidential elections in Sri Lanka. There is no room for the Tamils to support any of the presidential candidates in Sri Lanka. The experience of the past period is enough for us. Do not indulge in any activity propagating the presidential elections.”

In an unmistakeable threat, both to the SEP and to anyone attending the meeting, the notice continued: “This is a warning. If such activity is undertaken by anyone not heeding our instruction the Makkal Padai [People’s Army] will give a fitting answer.” Makkal Padai is clearly a bogus name, which was used to obscure the real identity of the perpetrators.

On the day of the meeting, two young men went to the caretaker’s house and warned him not to open the hall. Then, as the people who had arrived to attend the meeting were gathering outside the venue, two men wearing helmets with visors covering their faces approached the crowd. They wheeled round on a motor bike, then left, shouting out: “[I]f you proceed to hold the meeting we will lob a grenade into the hall.”

Given the history of violent provocation in Jaffna, the SEP reluctantly decided to call the meeting off. The town has been at the heart of the country’s 20-year civil war and it is heavily militarised. Security forces subject the local Tamil population to an oppressive regime of arbitrary controls and checks. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is also active in the town. It controls parts of the Jaffna peninsula and is notorious for its use of violence against political opponents.

It is quite possible that the LTTE, or one of its front organisations, was responsible for this attack on democratic rights. The pro-LTTE Students Association of Higher Educational Institutions issued a statement on October 26 calling for a boycott and denouncing in racist terms all the candidates as “Sinhala”.

In 1998, the LTTE arrested four SEP members in Wanni for campaigning for the party’s program. In 2002, the LTTE issued death threats and harassed SEP members who formed and led a fishermen’s cooperative union at Ampihainagar in Kayts Island.
Such thuggery could also be the work of one of the armed Tamil organisations, such as the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), that collaborate closely with the armed forces. The EPDP, which is part of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has threatened and harassed SEP members previously for campaigning against the army’s methods. In 2000, an EPDP parliamentarian physically attacked SEP members in Kayts.

Both the LTTE and its opponents are mired in communal politics and deeply hostile to the perspective of the SEP, which seeks to unite all working people—Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim—on the basis of a socialist program. Clearly the purpose of the Makkal Padai threats was to prevent any discussion of the SEP’s politics, including its class perspective for ending the civil war.

After 20 years of war, and a ceasefire since 2002 that has resolved nothing, many ordinary Tamil people are looking for an alternative. Neither the United National Party (UNP) nor the Sri Lankan Freedom Party—the two major bourgeois parties—has any solution to the war or to growing social inequality. The anti-democratic methods of the LTTE are also arousing deepening hostility—along with its failure to address the basic social needs of working people.
Whoever was responsible was obviously concerned that the SEP’s campaign was having a significant political impact. The party had put up hundreds of posters, leaflets and literature in Tamil, and campaigned house-to-house in Kayts, Karaitivu islands and Karainagar, as well as in Jaffna town. Several well-attended local SEP meetings were held, and local newspapers reported the details of the main meeting which was to be addressed by SEP Central Committee member Nanda Wickremasinghe.

Sixty people turned up at the hall before the scheduled time. These included fishermen, professional workers from the Ceynor factory, housewives and young girls. Four people had travelled from the LTTE-held Wanni area to attend. They were all disgusted and angry at what happened.

SEP member Somasundaram explained to the crowd: “We are being compelled to stop this meeting because of a cowardly threat by reactionary forces who dread any serious political discussion of the issues that confront working people. This threat is a gross violation of democratic rights.

“Surely the time has come for the working people of the North and the East to discuss the bitter experiences of more than two decades of civil war. Now it is becoming clear that the so-called peace process that started with the ceasefire agreement of 2002 is a trap for working people, especially the Tamils. Neither the UNP government, that brought about this agreement with the help of the international powers, nor the present UFPA government have changed anything for the benefit of the ordinary masses. The oppressing armies of Colombo still remain in the North and East.

“If anything has been proved by the past experiences, it is that the LTTE policy of seeking the patronage of the predatory international powers is totally bankrupt.” The speaker thanked everyone there for attending and asked them to actively support the campaign for the SEP’s presidential candidate Wije Dias.

Some felt that the LTTE were responsible. Several asked the SEP members: “Why is this party, that calls for the withdrawal of the Sri Lankan armed forces from the Tamil areas, being prevented from having a public meeting?”

The SEP, along with its forerunner, the Revolutionary Communist League, is the only party that has consistently opposed the war since 1983. Its candidate Wije Dias has been campaigning in the presidential election for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Sri Lankan security forces from the North and East.

At the same time, the SEP insists that the LTTE offers no way out for working people. Rather, it represents the interests of the Tamil bourgeoisie. Since 2002, it has been seeking to reach a power-sharing arrangement with the various Colombo governments for the mutual exploitation of the working class.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/nov2005/sril-n05.shtml

By Mahen.P.Siriwardena

When Rasika’s hand phone rings she knows who the caller is. She has paid the extra bucks to get the CLI (caller line identification) facility which is important for her business.
” Hello, Oya koheda inne? Mama Dress Point ekey.’’
“Ohama inda, customer kenek innawa. Business ekkak thiyanawa.’’
“Ah oya methanata endako.”

Rasika is only twenty three years old. Tall, lithesome and attractive, she is intelligent and has her curves in the right places. Years of toiling in her father’s paddy fields in the Anuradhapura district had given her a figure which would be the envy of her affluent sisters sweating it out in the gym.

Rasika hails from near Kekirawa, from an impoverished village in the outback of Anuradhapura. Her father is a paddy farmer and vegetable grower. Season after season he’d been hit by either drought or too much rain. On top of that there were attacks by pests and the debts had mounted. Like that of his fellow-farmers, his produce never fetched the promised prices.

Mudiyanse had toiled hard to feed his family of three daughters and a son. Rasika was the second girl in the family and had rejected marriage proposals brought for her. She had a mind of her own.
Her brother, 21-years old with a GCE O level had joined the army and sent home money to pay for his sisters’ schooling and to support the family.

But money was still tight and he sent word that there were jobs in a garment factory at Galigamuwa. “Ara Galigamuwe garment ekey job thiyanawalu,’’ he said. “Balanda vacancy ekak purwannda puluwanda kiyala.’’

There are no direct buses to Galigamuwa, a small town on the Colombo-Kandy road a few kilometres from the Kegalla town. When Rasika got off the intercity bus at Kegalla town at 7 a.m. one morning three years ago, she needed help to find out where Galigamuwa is.

Jagath, aged 34-years is a hard boiled egg. He has tried many trades and failed in them all - except one. He rented a three wheeler agreeing to pay the owner Rs. 300 a day and given his skills cleared Rs. 4,000 on good days.

Five feet five inches tall and with the smile of a new born baby, Jagath is attractive to women. Playing club football had given him an athletic body. He made it a point to watch the disembarking passengers from every bus stopping at Kegalle.

Experience had taught him where to swoop. He wouldn’t waste his time taking a patient to hospital. His mates in the three-wheeler trade knew him to be a ladies man. Like a hungry eagle, he wants a prey. A real kill.

When Raskia got off the bus at Kegalle and looked around uncertainly, Jagath knew he had what he wanted. He revved his engine and drove up to her asking “Nangi koheda yanne?’’
“Aney aiye Galigamuwata yannda oney.’’
“Naginna, nangi, naginna.’’

Irrestible to most women he quoted a fare which he knew Rasika could not pay confident he had won the day. She was horrified that he wanted five hundred for the ride to Galigamuwa but the rest of the spiel came easily. She ended up in his abode and fell in love.
Jagath did not need love. What he needed was hard cash for his bad habits - alcohol, cigarettes and an occasional drug fix.

Rasika could neither go home nor leave Jagath. She had one option. The guest house. Rasika’s story is not new nor limited to a few village girls like her. Many thousands are now compelled to turn to a trade this is well patronized throughout the country.

Whether it is a massage parlours- herbal or otherwise- soft or hard the customer has a choice. The tsunami compounded the problem in the south.

Rooms available say the signboards from Bambalipitiya to Balapitiya. Every township and province have them. This business is now invading the village, a possibility unheard of in the years gone by - the only thriving Karmantaya in Sri-Lanka.

They are perfectly legitimate. They are not flouting the law by any means. There is neither touting nor soliciting. The police can do very little, despite knowing well what goes on in these places.
Jagath and Rasika know it even better. All she has to do even if the law catches her in flagrante in a guest house is to produce a faked marriage certificate. She would feign innocence pleading that she is only cheating on her husband. The cops know how to profit from these situations. Their demands can be met in cash or kind.

An air-conditioned room with attached bath can be had rupees seven hundred. Meals are optional and if there is no liquor licence, they would get you a bottle from the town. You just pay the extra buck. If the excise catches up, the guesthouse people insist they don’t sell liquor. There’s nothing we can do, Sir, when these people bring their bottle in their bags.

The business magnate who owns many guest houses in this town is a long haired punk who knows who must be cultivated. He is not slow in throwing money where it best works.

Rasika is torn between the devil and the deep blue sea. She collects her dues and goes home.“Thathey ara garment eka hondai- menna salli.’’

The brother is too preoccupied with his own affairs to know what the sister is up to. Or he just doesn’t care. Meanwhile the sex trade flourishes as do pharmacies doing a steady business in sex drugs. Some Indian pharmaceutical firms have found that ours is a growing market for drugs treating male impotence. The Pharmacist says that these tablets come at between Rs. 30/= to 900/=

The problem is that a whole new generation of school growing children are getting used to it. And with a young population now in the making, the market for erectile dysfunctional drugs is in the increase. What will the future be or do in the next generation?

Courtesy Sunday Island