Yearly Archives: 2012

December 24, 2012 · 12:11 am

Reconciliation through trust and participation

Somapala Gunadheera, in The Island, 22/24 December 2012

Pare ca na vijananti
mayamettha yamamase
ye ca tattha vijananti
tato sammanti medhaga.  …… (Antagonists do not realize that they must all die someday. The wise realize it and so end their quarrels.)

National reconciliation has attracted the attention of its stakeholders ever since Independence, though much headway has not been made in that direction up to now. Interest in the subject reached an unprecedented level with the physical unification of the country after the conquest of the LTTE. Much has been promised in the meantime but the ground situation does not appear to have improved that much. There is a vociferous debate on the level of reconciliation attained and the methods employed therefor. I do not wish to enter that fray. Naming and blaming begets emotion that can never be productive. What is proposed here is to look at the realities of the situation objectively and explore what could be done within current restraints, to bring the North and the South closer together, preventing the re -escalation of friction to unmanageable proportions. I look at the problem from first principles with no coloured spectacles on, in the background of my personal experience of working among Tamilians. Continue reading →

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December 24, 2012 · 12:05 am

Rainforest Ecolodge on edge of Sinharaja at Enselwatte

The Rainforest Eco-lodge, said to be a stunning chalet style lodge bordering the south-eastern side of the Sinharaja Rainforest, was launched this week providing an opportunity to the public to connect with the natural world and experience the forest habitat in all its glory. “Located on a 500-acre division of the Enselwatte Tea Estate, the lodge offers a spellbinding 360 degree view of the forest reserve, with the backdrop of the sounds of nature coming alive – be it the meandering of a stream, chirping of birds or the playful chattering of squirrels in the Continue reading →

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December 23, 2012 · 9:46 am

Black and White. Reconciliation in Australia

Padraig Colman, courtesy of the Nation, 23 Dec 2012

RECON IN OZIn the Federal Parliament on 13 February 2008, PM Kevin Rudd delivered an official apology to the Stolen Generations. From 1909 to 1969, it was the official policy of the Australian Government to remove Indigenous children from their families. 100,000 children were taken from their families. The policy was similar to Nazi eugenics in that it was designed to “breed out” Indigenous people. Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were removed from their families on genuine welfare grounds, and some benefited from greater opportunities. However, stolen children were more likely to suffer from depression, have worse health and a shorter life span than other Indigenous people, and are more likely to be imprisoned than other Indigenous people. 50 percent of deaths investigated by the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody were of Indigenous people who were removed from their families as children. Continue reading →

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December 23, 2012 · 9:40 am

Not Shirani! Not Mahinda! The Real Issue is the Independence of the Judiciary

S. L. Gunasekara, in the Sunday Leader, 23 December 2012

The current imbroglio relating to the attempt to dismiss the present Chief Justice has obscured the real issue facing the country which is whether the independence of the judiciary and hence civilized governance will prevail or not. What the people must understand is that Mahinda Rajapaksa is unimportant as are Shirani Bandaranayake, and the other actors in this sordid drama – for they all fade into wholesale insignificance when compared to that real issue. The independence of the judiciary connotes a buffer between the government and the people: between the rich and the powerful on the one hand and the poor and helpless on the other. The judiciary is the last resort of the citizen when he is oppressed whether by governmental authority or by the power of money, connection or wealth. That presumably is why so many attempts have been made by successive governments to subdue and destroy the independence of the judiciary. Can one imagine a country where the judiciary is like our public service including the police, and subservient to those in the corridors of power, their kith and kin, the wealthy and the influential? The country will surely be then a lawless place where order and discipline are unknown; where ‘might is ‘right’ and where the poor, the powerless and the law abiding are trampled upon. Continue reading →

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December 19, 2012 · 9:31 am

Emily Howie’s digest of recent Australian action on asylum seekers

Emily Howie in email circular

BOB CARRForeign Minister announces 4 point plan to combat people smuggling in Sri Lanka
Statement by Australia’s Foreign Minister, Bob Carr
17 December 2012
Australia’s Foreign Minister announces a four point plan to combat people smuggling, including intelligence sharing, naval cooperation, public awareness and aid, which are designed to reduce people smuggling by “destroying the people smuggling business model.” “There is a message from these talks to people in Sri Lanka – by getting on that boat you risk your life, you’ll lose your money and you will be sent back home,” Senator Carr said. The plan includes provision of additional surveillance and electronic equipment to Sri Lanka, a joint training program to develop Sri Lanka’s intelligence expertise, $700,000 for advertising campaigns warning against travelling by boat, resources and training to expand Sri Lanka’s on water disruption activities and an aid program to ‘reduce demand’ for people smugglers’ business. Continue reading →

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December 18, 2012 · 1:38 am

The National Archives of Sri Lanka

Haris de Silva, in The Island, 18 December 2012**

ARCHIVESThe New Wing of the National Archives, constructed adjacent to its present building, down Philip Gunawardena Mawata, Colombo 7, will be declared open today, the 18th December, 2012, at 1000 hrs, by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.. It will provide some badly needed extra space for some of its activities.

What are state archives? Records created or received by any state institution during the course of conducting its legitimate business, and held by it as evidence of its activities, when transferred to the National Archives, become state archives.  Such records/archives provide legal validity at judicial inquiries and provide primary historical evidence for the country’s history. However, in respect of legal validity, it is a requirement that the records should have had unbroken custody in the office which created/received them. Such records when transferred to the National Archives, in terms of legal requirements, continue to have that unbroken legal custody, as they are considered to be  maintained in the National Archives as if they were in the offices of origin. However, if, by chance, continuous custody of such records had not been maintained in the offices of origin they will not have the required legal validity, although their historical importance will remain. Continue reading →

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December 17, 2012 · 11:37 am

Aussies point fingers at Lankan criminals in people smuggling

Cameron Stewart and Paul Maley, in The Australian, 1 December 2012, with title reading: “Criminals moving in on asylum rackets” **

FOURFOLD increase in people-smuggler networks in Sri Lanka is driving the surge of boats that threatens to overwhelm Australia’s border protection regime.  Australian authorities have identified about 12 major people-smugglers operating in Sri Lanka – up from three a year ago. The expansion has been driven by criminal opportunists seeking to cash in on the lucrative trade by spreading false promises of jobs in Australia. However, the Gillard government believes it is now seeing early signs that its controversial policy of returning more than 700 arrivals to their homeland is making Sri Lankans, especially Sinhalese, reluctant to purchase a boat passage to Australia. Continue reading →

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December 16, 2012 · 2:38 am

Asylum Seeker Ramifications: A ‘Missing’ Boat, A Soothsayer and Retribution

Rapti Siriwardane-de Zoysa, in Email Memo to Michael Roberts, 13 December 2012 **

Yesterday an ex-fisher/diver from Mullaitivu shared a curious tale of a recent act of ‘vengeance’ in a small kovil [at XYZ]…. 12 family members from the same area (XYZ district) had purchased a multi-day boat, pooled money from others who expressed interest in going [so that]  there were about 55 altogether. The engine had broken down midway (some 13 days after they set sail). The 12 family members were supposed to have locked themselves up in the cabin in order to ration the food supplies. The rest had been locked out. Rice gruel had been passed through the cabin once a day through a window, while the other passengers who were locked out felt that the 12 members were keeping themselves fed to their heart’s content. Among the 12 was a close family friend (the relative of the informant I was speaking with) who was among the ‘chosen. He had come out for a cigarette. Out of anger, the rest, who were vegetating outside, had lynched him; and then thrown him overboard. They had been like this for about a month.  Continue reading →

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December 15, 2012 · 1:13 pm

Asylum Seekers from Lanka: No Solutions in Sight

Galle Literary Festival 2008 Michael Roberts

Beset by an upsurge of asylum-seekers arriving by boat from Sri Lanka, Australian government and media personnel continue to rely on the tired shibboleths of the past. Three shortcomings hinder their evaluations.  Let me stress three points briefly.

  1. The increase in migration is largely due to the snowballing effect of chain migration with Sri Lankan kinsfolk and friends who have migrated to the Western countries over the last forty years assisting aspirant relatives and friends to find the monies for the journeys (legal or illegal); while intra-familial dynamics encourage poorer relatives in Lanka to try and emulate their cousins in the West by getting across to the new Eldorado.[1]
  2. Contrary to Australian perceptions the journeys by boats are not inevitable death traps. If one excludes the instances of boats from Indonesia that have come a cropper, I know of only two or three from Sri Lanka that have run into real difficulties (as distinct from manufactured sinking within sight of big ships). I challenge people to provide contrary evidence in circumstances where the “boat people” have satellite phone connections.
  3. With reference to Tamil Sri Lankans the Australian evaluations are directed by the concept of “persecution” – with the alternative being “economic migration.” This is simpleton. As such, it is misleading. “Persecution” is a gross tool and does not allow for feelings that are short of terror. There is, for one, such a thing as “harassment.” There is also the possibility of “alienation” among the Tamils arising from a sense of marginalization (genuine, exaggerated or imagined). Continue reading →

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December 15, 2012 · 9:51 am

Justice Weeramantry clarifies the Rule of Law as he expresses Concern about the Undermining of the Judiciary’s Independence in Lanka

WeeramantryC. G. Weeramantry in what is a “Message to the Sri Lankan Nation”

As the senior-most retired judge in the country and as one who has been associated with the law both locally and internationally for 65 years I feel compelled to make some observations in regard to the current crisis facing the Sri Lankan Judiciary. It is a judiciary which has been a great pride to the country and has been highly esteemed both domestically and internationally.

The Independence of the Judiciary: An independent judiciary is vital to democracy, for without it citizens lack the basic protections, without which a democracy cannot exist. The concept of judicial independence is not a one way street depending on the judges alone. It needs not only strictly independent judges but also a commitment by the state to respect and protect the independence and security of tenure of judges. The independence of the judiciary and their security of tenure are hard won rights secured after centuries of struggle against authoritarian regimes. Such hard won rights need considered attention and protection by citizens and governments alike. An independent judiciary is the last bastion of protection of the rights and liberties and the equality and freedom of every citizen. Continue reading →

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