THE YEARNING FOR NEW THINKING AND A NEW SRI LANKA
- Details
- Created on 14 March 2011
The forthcoming local government elections on March 17 are being keenly contested by the government and opposition. President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself has taken to the campaign trail. There is more at stake at these elections than control over local authorities or the victory of individual candidates. The local government elections have become another opportunity for a referendum on the government’s performance. The government has taken care to ensure that these elections will first take place in the areas where it is stronger. It has postponed elections where it might be less strong. The elections to local authorities in many urban areas will take place later in May.
COPING WITH THE UN PANEL THROUGH ENGAGEMENT AND REMEDIAL MEASURES
- Details
- Created on 10 March 2011
Unknown to the general public the government recently sent a high powered delegation to meet with the panel set up by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on the implementation of the government’s commitment to have accountability on the issue of any human rights violations in the last phase of the war. The government was upfront and open about the meeting that its high powered delegation with the UN Secretary General, but not with the meeting that took place with the three members of the UN panel. The government delegation consisted of the Foreign Secretary, Attorney General and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN and his deputy.
REASONS FOR SRI LANKA’S CONTINUING IMAGE PROBLEM
- Details
- Created on 28 February 2011
The latest cause for umbrage within Sri Lanka would be the assessment by the Economist Intelligence Unit of the Economist Magazine group that condemns Colombo to be among the world’s ten worst cities to live in. Any Sri Lankan who has traveled abroad would be strongly motivated to disagree. When compared to most countries in Sri Lanka’s neighborhood, Colombo would come out streets ahead in terms of its cleanliness, compactness and even beauty. It may strike some as unusual that in Sri Lanka the Urban Development Authority comes under the Defence Ministry. There may be roads with potholes, garbage dumps close to main roads and a rather slow changing skyline. But Colombo is still a pleasant city to live in for a large proportion of its residents.
END CULTURE OF IMPUNITY TO FOSTER RECONCILIATION
- Details
- Created on 25 February 2011
The issue of war crimes and human rights violations during the course of the war continues to be raised internationally putting the Sri Lankan government on the defensive. The latest is a petition signed by 41 British MPs urging the Prime Minister to work towards establishing an independent international investigation into these issues. Sections of the Tamil Diaspora will continue to press the politicians of the countries they reside in to take action. Many of them lost relatives who were either in the LTTE or were simply civilians who went missing or died in the last phase of the war.
NEED IS FOR INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT NOT DISENGAGEMENT
- Details
- Created on 14 February 2011
The UN has announced that it will increase its international appeal for flood relief from the USD 51 million it made after the first spell of floods in January to take into account the additional damage done by the second onslaught in February. The flash appeal was for humanitarian assistance to enable international partners, including local and international NGOs, to support the government in addressing the needs of more than one million flood-affected people over the next six months. However, the outlook for more aid appears to be not too bright. The response to the UN appeal so far has been only about USD 13 million of which about a quarter is still to be received.
SUPPORT TO GOVERNMENT IN TIME OF PEOPLE’S NEED
- Details
- Created on 07 February 2011
Floods on a scale seldom experienced in Sri Lanka have ravaged the country a second time in the course of a month. People living in a wide swathe of the territory covering the Northern, Eastern, North Central and Central provinces had barely got back to their homes after the unprecedented floods of early January when the rains started again. By Independence Day on February 4 the rivers had become raging torrents and the sluice gates of massive reservoirs were being opened to prevent them being breached. Over a million people have become displaced as a result, most of them for the second time this year.
THE SOLUTION TO JAFFNA VIOLENCE IS WITHIN REACH
- Details
- Created on 31 January 2011
The prevailing situation in Jaffna has received considerable attention in Parliament and the media. The debate has centered around the alleged increase in lawlessness and impunity in the peninsula. Some 24 killings have been reported in the past two months in addition to robberies, incidents of housebreaking and other crime. Most of these incidents have taken place outside of Jaffna town and in the more interior parts of the peninsula. Government spokespersons have by and large hotly denied that any situation of crisis exists and cited comparable statistics of crime in other parts of the country. Political analysts have also pointed to the forthcoming local government elections as being a possible factor in the sudden spiking of violence.
HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY OF LESSONS LEARNT AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION
- Details
- Created on 24 January 2011
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s sudden visit to the United States has been the subject of considerable speculation. The government announced it as a private visit. The secrecy of the visit has not been in keeping with the transparency that is usually expected of leaders of democratic countries. As Houston with its renowned health facilities was the destination of the President, and is not regarded as an international meeting place, this has given rise to concerns about the President’s health condition. It is also where one of the brothers of the President resides, giving credence to the private nature of the visit.
PARTNERSHIPS FOR POST-FLOOD REBUILDING
- Details
- Created on 17 January 2011
The floods that struck the country due to heavy rains and that affected more than one million people have been described as one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s recent history. The rains that poured down in virtually every part of the country generated landslides in the central hills and large scale flooding in the low lands of the north central and eastern parts. Although the death toll reported so far has been less than 40, the destruction of last tracts of agricultural land and the displacement of people has been on a larger scale than even during the Tsunami of 2004.
A NEW ETHOS TO OBTAIN ELECTORAL AND ECONOMIC SUCCESS
- Details
- Created on 10 January 2011
The government has dissolved most of the local authorities and declared that elections to them will be held in March this year. These elections will be taken by all parties as a referendum on the government’s continuing hold over the electorate. After President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election as President in November 2005 by a whisker, the government has repeatedly demonstrated a stranglehold over most of the electorate, with the exception of some of the areas inhabited by the ethnic minorities. It is generally believed that this has been on account of the electorate’s appreciation of the government’s victory in the war and elimination of the LTTE.
Media Centre