GOVERNMENT REFORM INITIATIVES PICK UP SPEED--Jehan Perera
- Details
- Tuesday, 24 May 2016
In October 2015 the government surprised virtually everyone regardless of political spectrum, and friend and foe, when it co-sponsored the resolution on Sri Lanka by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. From the time that the war ended in 2009 onwards Sri Lanka came under pressure by this international body to investigate charges that massive violations of human rights had taken place in the closing stages of the war, which included war crimes. Together with crimes against humanity and genocide, war crimes constitute the triumvirate of international crimes for which there can be no amnesty according to current international standards. It may be a recognition of this that drives the opposition to insist that its leaders may face the electric chair.
Prior to October 2015, the Sri Lankan government headed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa had resisted the international calls for accountability for past violations of human rights and international crimes. It strenuously denied the allegations and sought to mobilize international support in its favour. Although the government succeeded in 2009 due to the willingness of the majority of countries at the UNHRC to give the government the benefit of time to work out a solution this victory was shortlived. Thereafter on every occasion that Sri Lanka opposed the resolutions against it in Geneva, it lost and not surprisingly as the US itself led the campaign against the Sri Lankan government.
THE CHALLENGE OF MAY 19 IS TO COMMEMORATE AND TO MOURN--Jehan Perera
- Details
- Monday, 16 May 2016
The war ended on the battlefields of the north seven years ago on May 19. The commemoration of this day is a divisive one. During the period of the previous government, which claimed ownership of the war victory, the commemoration took the form of a victory celebration, with military parades and narrow ethnic nationalistic speechmaking that catered to ethnic majority sentiment but injured the sentiments of the ethnic minorities. At the same time the government also took action to ensure that there would be no commemoration of the LTTE or even of civilian loss of life. This led to the prohibition of any form of public coming together in the north of the country where the last battles were fought, even within places of religious worship, for the purpose of remembering the dead.
However, a shift could be discerned last year, after the new government had come to power. Although once again the commemoration took the form of a military parade with associated speechmaking, it was conducted on a smaller scale and with less nationalism. The decision of the new government headed by President Maithripala Sirisena to redefine May 19 as a Day of Remembrance marked a significant break with the past. However, it was still not a complete break. It was accompanied by a military parade, as in the past, attended by the President. The sacrifice of the Sri Lankan security forces who ensured the territorial unity of the country, and the final military triumph over the LTTE and its separatist campaign, were the main themes of this event.
GOOD GOVERNANCE NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE GOVERNMENT’S ECONOMIC VISION--Jehan Perera
- Details
- Monday, 09 May 2016
The re-opening of the EU fisheries market to Sri Lankan exporters came as a welcome success to the government at a time when it needs to show some tangible progress on the economic front to the people. The main criticism of the government amongst the general population is the absence of economic development and poverty alleviation in their lives. While a relatively small fraction of the population travels in luxury private cars, the general public continues to hang on to the footboards of overcrowded trains for their daily commutes to their workplaces and back with some of the train engines and carriages well past their fortieth year in service. Even those sections of the population who voted for the government at the last two national elections that saw the defeat of the old one are bemoaning the lack of economic progress in the present.
The government leaders spell out a vision of Sri Lanka as an economic hub of the region, but there is a disconnect as the general population’s experience of hubs related to the economy are the village and town markets which is what they are familiar with. The rising cost of living and absence of visible development, and job creation, are the chief observations they have to make about the economy. In this context the lifting of the fisheries ban by the EU which was imposed on the country over a year ago, will indeed imrprove the livelihoods of several thousands of fisher families and those who are at the bottom of the economic pyramid and help to improve the economy in general. The ban was imposed due to the failure of the previous government to comply with international standards and adequate control systems to tackle the problem of illegal fishing.
BRINGING FOCUS BACK TO NATIONAL SECURITY--Jehan Perera
- Details
- Monday, 04 April 2016
With bombs exploding in European capitals and other parts of the world, Sri Lanka finds itself in unique position in the world. It is a country that has not experienced a single act of terrorism in nearly seven years. The last of the terrorism ended in May 2009 when the three decade long internal war came to an end, albeit in a most violent way which has given rise to the international denunciation of war crimes. However, when comparing Sri Lanka to other parts of the world it is remarkable that following the end of the war there has been no act of terrorism. A part of the reason would be the years of experience gained in identifying and tracking down terrorist threats.
The only occasion in which the counter terrorism operations of the Sri Lankan security forces was put to active use in the post-war period was two years ago when a group of three alleged LTTE cadre were cornered in a patch of jungle by the security forces and shot dead. One of those killed was accused of having shot a policeman in the leg in an earlier getaway bid. But there was considerable suspicion at that time that the pre-emptive strike by the security forces to eliminate the three men was prompted by the government of the day for its own political purposes.
