If only the energy was transferred from fooling people to productivity

Sri Lanka has two rather incompetent buffoons as Ministers and deputies for productivity. They engage an inordinate amount of time trying to explain to the public sector that they should become more productive. How can you explain to people whose whole aim in life is to get a secure job with pensions and have no inclination or love for the job to suddenly change to being productive in what they do! It is simply asking for the moon.

There is an enormous media blitz everyday to have full page advertising in newspapers extolling the virtues of every action of the government, which in previous administrations, they were considered as just part of the run of the mill of growth, and development. Now it is shown to the masses as some unusual thing undertaken by the government for the people, not just doing what they are paid for at double the cost, that particular contract could be performed for if done under proper procedure.

One must first start with the new intake. There are many graduates who have been recruited to ministries without proper job classifications and therefore are just sitting around just signing in for their paycheck. Why would the productivity ministers waste time trying to make their existing staff more efficient, when the new recruits are adding to inefficiency and being unproductive.

The public sector waste in unconscionable as the workforce have not had the training to improve efficiency of their performance as they do not face any competition from anyone. This single fact makes it difficult to measure improvement in the public sector, especially when the public sector workers make no effort at improving efficiency, a hallmark must do in the private sector if many firms are to survive.

Let us instead appeal to the trainers in the public sector to devote some time to measuring efficiency and productivity and therefore improve the performance of the public sector. If they can include concrete suggestions at improving productivity, which can be easily explained, I am sure they will be more receptive, especially when the cost of their inefficiencies hitherto have not been properly measured, but is guessed to be enormous. If half the energy that goes into local government elections can be developed for the improvement of the quality of life for Sri Lankans then their existence can be justified, but it is a long way away from educating them in right direction

Even Forbes Magazine opines that Myanmar may leapfrog Sri Lanka

An article in the prestigious Forbes Magazine yesterday (24^th September 2012) is shown below along with the link.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/timferguson/2012/09/24/can-burma-leapfrog-sri-lanka/

Can Burma Leapfrog Sri Lanka?

With the rapid-fire opening of Burma/Myanmar stemming from apparently real reforms under new President Thein Sein, an intriguing regional competition may develop.  Across the Andaman Sea lies another economic laggard of recent decades, Sri Lanka.  Will the Burmese leapfrog it?

To the degree the Burmese closed economy has been measurable, its output has lagged Sri Lanka’s by GDP adjusted for purchasing power parity. This, despite the fact that Burma’s population is considerably larger.  The two countries share a sorry recent history of socialist and/or kleptocrat rulers who deprived their countrymen of what appeared to be prosperous times in the post-colonial independence that followed World War II.  (Both were once huge rice exporters, for example.)

But a wave of excitement has swept through international investors as Burma’s latently rich natural-resource economy–and remarkable human resources–may be opened up to global markets. Sri Lanka, to be sure, for a time inspired hope following conclusion of its long, bloody civil war between the Sinalhese government and the Tamil Tiger warlords in 2009.

However, the conquering majority in Sri Lanka apparently is not making good on those hopes, continuing policies that repress the potentially productive Tamils (and stifling a free press as well). The ungenerous leadership of  President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his coterie threatens to delay further the realization of Sri Lankan promise, beyond the opening of a few nice tourist beaches.

Might it be that the best hope for the Tamil people and so many others in their nation rests in the government of a country, Burma, whose rulers themselves have waged harsh war on dissident ethnics? Competition finds a way to influence even where justice seems denied by the authorities

Whilst it is only one opinion, it is interesting to note that Myanmar is doing something right, after years in the wilderness. Sri Lanka on the other hand with short term jingoistic policies seems to have stifled the possibility of growth.

It is clear that the Govt. is to blame for this schizophrenic behavior that has affected the future of the Country and its citizens adversely. It is not too late to change tack and try to reverse the rot, however even Sri Lankan businessmen are leaving the shores and going to Myanmar to explore their potential in favor of their own. What a thumbs down for the administration.

We live in hope that we have leaders who are humble and have regard for best intentions of their country and not their own and their family’s future.

Egocentric Dictators Club – It looks like even we finally have our own!

Putin the Russian President was determined after his first term, when he designated his successor, to get back his Presidency by circumventing term limit rules. He is back, firmly in the saddle after a stint as a PM, but firmly in control, dissent muzzled for the foreseeable future.

Just look at his pursuits. He is using the resources of his country to the maximum and therefore will have little intention of letting go. The yachts, dachas and a fleet of aircraft, to name but a few of his trappings of power while the rest of his citizenry wallows from one shortage to another.

I am using just one example of the arrogance of power, but we know what happened to Ghadaffi and his clan after a stifling 40years at the helm. We discovered the personal tastes for Ukrainian Masseuse and female bodyguards and all the gory trapping discovered at the time his properties were ransacked and open to public gawkers.

When we have such clear examples of excess, why do we have someone who appears to be copying the same in this Buddhist country. We have a leader who is the most un-Buddhist person on the land, pretending to defend it. No one of the faith appears to be questioning! It then becomes an affront to the religion when we are silent. A person who practices one’s professed beliefs, must at least make a token effort to conform, rather than do everything in his power to be quite the opposite. The acquisition of trappings of wealth are just one clear example of acting different to his sayings.

The behavior borne out of a belief of entitlement is further enhanced due to the fear of people to challenge outright inconsistencies and reprehensible conduct. The excesses just seem to be incomprehensible to the mass of people who do not even know how to complain as they cannot even fathom the extent of plunder. To a person who is eking out an existence, the purchases of aircraft or helicopters by persons who have singularly defrauded the treasury and the country pale in the oblivion of incredulity.

It is not too soon to forcefully enact legislation by people of common sense, of a system of fool proof checks and balances, that prevent this type of abuse of power. If we do not do our duty to our citizens today, it is our children of tomorrow who will forever damn us for permitting another Ghadaffiesque plunder of the country’s resources, without preventing it. It is those who are permitting this with power to prevent who will first suffer when it crumbles.

Unity is under threat – The MR regime is totally to blame

As if this statement needs any clarification, it is just too obvious! We cannot have an administration that daily says one thing and does something completely different. If one considers the utterances, especially of the Leader, one could be forgiven for believing that he speaks sense. However to make such statements and act in contravention of them is the order of the day, and it gets very little press time pointing this shame to the people.

When there were so many expectations that once the hostilities ceased, we would have JRJ style Magnanimity, where the vanquished Japanese were helped and assisted by many assistance programs funded by the victor, in Sri Lanka’s case the experience has been the opposite. Here again the veneer of supposedly doing and really doing nothing persists. One just has to visit Jaffna to see reality for oneself, with half the dwellings still pockmarked with war memories as if the war just ended, when they have not seen fighting for decades and a long time prior to the fighting ceased.

The recent elections are a further reminder of the desire of the people to vote their own people, be it under religious lines in the case of Muslims or ethnic line in the case of Tamils.

The Govt. believes by just getting rid of camps, retraining past combatants and rehabilitating them, they have done their bit for unity. I disagree. We must empower the people to take back their lives, not necessarily go back to the same lifestyle they had, especially if that is not what they want. In order that they are able to do that there has to be commitment on the Govt. part to to help them, help themselves. We have not seen that, and the election results show this in no uncertain terms. Even the Eastern Province where on the surface there have been massive development of infrastructure, it is obvious you cannot buy them with these until you put the demons behind them. These demons still persist with little freedom for these people.

The nation first concept has not been adopted, it is me first, and then my race and then religion and nation only relegated after that. How about putting it at the top of the to do list. Then we may be able to instill a sense of nationhood amongst our youth. It has to be restarted from the lowest class, and MUST work itself to the top. If it is done in an orderly manner, then I do believe we have a chance at it. The political will which currently does not exist for it is the other important area, we must try and ensure amongst our greedy pols.

The overwhelming size of the demonstration by Sri Lankan Muslims

There was an incredibly massive demonstration today, 24^th of September 2012 morning in Kollupitiya on Galle Road towards the US Embassy in protest about the trailer for a movie, portraying Islam in bad light. The sheer numbers of Muslims, in their white caps, sarongs and white shirts looked almost like a well organized and disciplined army of people marching against this affront to their religion.

I presume, it was planned over the weekend with the initial Friday prayers, where they would have been asked to participate from all parts of the Country. There were at least 100 buses parked along the Marine Drive as far down as Bambalapitiya, Wellawatte area. It is a clear indication to all those aware of the strength of the Muslim Community in Sri Lanka to gather, and organize at a moment’s notice, when they feel their religion has been really or supposedly attacked.

I was searching on the web to see if Muslims in the Arab world flocked or demonstrated in such numbers and failed to see any except those that were more organized by fringe groups to cause violence as was the case of the murder of the US Ambassador to Libya. If any of the readers can correct my assumption, please feel free to enlighten me with the appropriate internet link.

The legal protections of the First Amendment are some of the broadest of any industrialized nation, and remain a critical, and occasionally controversial, component of American Jurisprudence. So the question is if this slander against Islam is protected or not and would defer to the US Supreme Court to rule on it, and prosecute the alleged perpetrator according to their laws.

I hope there not a sinister motive amongst the Muslim leadership in this protest as it is rather late, over a week late in fact, and therefore implies something more subtle as if it is really to give a message to the people of Sri Lanka as the US Govt. does not care a rats ass what anyone here in Sri Lanka thinks about them their freedoms or whether they wish to protest!

We must desist from making statements by such action, which can be misconstrued. In the long run it only damages the unity of our nation. Sense must prevail. I trust the Muslim leadership do not play with religion.

The rest of the world is becoming more global and we more local!

The tragedy that befell Sri Lanka at the Eastern Provincial Council Elections was that the voting pattern went more on ethnic lines than in prior periods. The only truly National Party left in Sri Lanka, the UNP lost its Provincial Council Seat in Batticaloa held by Shashidaran a Tamil origin person. They managed to get one seat in the Trincomalee District when young Mahroof was elected, thanks to the goodwill his father had created over the years past.

The only creditable result is that the Chief Minister Elect of the EPC is one who contested under the SLFP, Majeed also with a political pedigree within the SLFP. In the East the UPFA which had the largest percentage of votes could only muster one Tamil, and that was due to their coalition with TMVP which gave Pillayan the Council Seat. Even though the SLMC contested outside of the UPFA coalition and got Muslim votes and seats, even the UPFA Muslim votes came from the Coalition partners of All Ceylon Muslim Congress(ACMC), and Muslim National Congress.

If Sri Lanka is to truly drop ethnicity first tag and grow into the real world, people must learn to drop their ethnic bases in its democracy and elect people who stand for certain principals. If anyone asked an SLMC voter why they voted for them, it would simply elicit a reply that we are Muslim and we have always voted for a Muslim Party. Whatever happened to Ferial Ashraff who was seeking election from the SLFP? She was nowhere. I believe the same fate befell Fowzie another SLFPer. These are all indications of race or religion taking the spotlight of people.

I personally lay the blame squarely at the hand of this Government for inciting racial hatred, by permitting outrageous proclamations of race hate by the Hela Urumaya, one of their coalition partners and forgetting the Color blind nature of the Communist Party, another of the Coalition Partners.

It seems to me that fear and hate are the electoral tricks up the sleeve of this Government, and that incites racial animosity, and it garners a vote based on fear and insecurity. It is the responsibility of a civilized government to down play and break all the barriers of racial divisiveness in the interests of the UNITY of the nation and get people starting with those who are young to think of one country, and not as one people belonging to a religion or race. This administration despite protestations to the contrary have failed            miserably at this task. Let us hope the people can make the change despite it.

An unnecessary election for some unnecessary level of local government

The Provincial Council system offers a huge level of bureaucracy with a large number of elected people who become chief minsters, provincial ministers with bloated buildings, staff and bureaucracy that do nothing productive and add duplication to central government activity.

After all the biggest allocation from the Central Govt. budget is to the PCs and from that budget they fund the Education sector, namely Primary and Secondary Schools that are also managed by the Central Govt. which manage the 1000 National Schools, creating a further layer, a tier and worse a level of elitism, relegating the Province run schools to a second class status from the National Schools. This is just one matter I wish to bring about, but it applies to other examples of bureaucracy gone mad.

I am only in favor of the District as the decentralized level needed in addition to the Pradeshiya Sabhas or Municipal Council that must deal with very local matters and have their own revenue raising activity via rates and taxes. The provincial council taxing authority was done away with and the taxation officers transferred back to the Central government due to the huge bribery at local level that reduced the funds they received from turnover tax.

Show me ONE example of the PC system actually working! I rest my case. Why does no one in authority have the courage to get rid of it? Simply put there are too many people making money from this layer of govt. for no pressure and doing very little work and having titles, as everyone in Sri Lanka likes to be called “Manthrithuma”. This title today is applied not just to the local govt PS member, Provincial Council Members and of course Members of Parliament, the latter who are the only people I personally would prefer to be addressed as such!!

The cost of an election, which the Govt. conceded was recently held to show the world their level of popularity, is proof if you needed it that there is no manifesto or promise made to improve the lot of anyone in these provinces by these elections. It also creates local princelings and family dynasties that further erode democracy in Sri Lanka and take us back to the days of the kingdoms, where the king used local rulers to manage the empire through their personal fiefdoms. This is no different. Why are we so good at wasting money? We surely can put these resources to better use. The billions spent now from high cost borrowings from overseas have to be paid for one day!!

People believe that the Major had made mistake in identification

What hope has Sri Lanka when people believe that the Major made a mistake in implicating Malaka Silva, his friend and the security goons in beating him up? When such an obvious lie is perpetrated after the initial complaints are lodged and the accused are remanded, for people to think otherwise beggars belief. However that is the true condition of the State.

No wonder then that people believe the lies that the ruling family spew forth on a daily basis on every form of event and item. This translates into electoral success for them, and so we are led to believe that democracy flourishes in Sri Lanka, for even the gullible CPA conference delegates to repeat. Surely has no one seen the CCTV coverage of the incident!!

The reason this lie has got out of hand is that even in the international arena, the LTTE lie of justifying their existence is finally being laid bare, and so the Sri Lankan Government by implication is claiming the moral high ground of saying “I told you so all these years and you did not believe it, and now you see it for what it truly is.”

The crafty terrorist outfit has been able to trick the Tamil Diaspora, most of whom have either never been to Sri Lanka or left when their memories were hazy, are easily led due to incidents of racial attacks in the past, just as they have occurred in the host countries they have adopted as their new homes, on the original inhabitants of those homelands where those inhabitants have been made almost extinct. If one were to name a few, the Maoris in New Zealand, the Aboriginals in Australia, the American Indian in the USA and Canada and hairy Vikings in the UK!!

In this guise of naming and shaming these LTTE sympathizers on incorrect blame, the dictatorship that currently rules Sri Lanka seek to find respectability and appear able to fool a few people both in the Country and out of their honest intentions. In doing so their real aims are hidden, their plunder of the ‘National Assets’ goes on without opposition and the stage masters handle the PR of the Junta with aplomb.

It then falls on the truly nationalistic people who really care about their country to enlighten the citizenry to what is taking place. The direct results of this plunder are not felt by the rural poor who are fed another diet of promises and lies and so continue to support this waste out of ignorance.

Frederica Janz - sacked by the Sunday Leader

I was never a fan of Lal’s ownership or Frederica’s Editorship, because both were achieved by dubious and deceitful means that the two aforementioned know. So in a manner of speaking they got what they deserve.

However on a different point of media freedom, the threats that owners of media face by the repressive policies of the regime, have muzzled all journalists, including those at the Sunday Leader, though the poor reader starved for some balanced news got the feeling that the Sunday Leader was actually balanced because they engaged some a few dubious worthless anti govt. bashing without getting at the blood and guts of the real state of Nation and its level of governance. They did not even get at the tip of the iceberg of massive con a few at the top are engaged in.

Journalists are not wealthy people and have to earn a living so they toe the line or leave the country. They have NO freedom to express anything. Even provincial journalists are beholden to the local politician thugs as otherwise they will not be able to live there or be given news items from which they can make a living. We must admit that true independence of journalists is absent in Sri Lanka as all Owners however balanced they are try to survive.

It is sad that two of those conners have now admitted to taking it over and good luck to them to see if they can make it work, whatever they intend to do with it. The public are obviously fools if they continue to patronize these publications, but it is their right to exercise their ignorance in any manner they wish.

It then only leaves the digital media, citizen journalist working for no pay and fearing for his life to fill the void, and I appeal to freedom loving patriots to take this lost space on their own, to bring out their personal experiences of the mismanagement and wholesale plunder of the nations wealth by a few. One day when the numbers of people who realize the extent of this take a stand we may be able to change the future direction. Until then it is a fools paradise.

God help mother Sri Lanka until its citizens wake up from their utterly uncaring slumber, without blaming or expecting other people to fight their battles on their behalf. It has to be unanimous, and instantaneous.

So citizen journalist blog to the rest of the citizens about your experiences so we can collect all the evidence against these crooks and one day bring them all to justice, the jury being the hardworking, patriotic and proud people of Sri Lanka, non of whom are currently in this Government!

Divineguma Bill Withdrawn – Another failure of Government

Nobody cares!! This is not the first time this government has sent bills that should have been more thoroughly investigated, for in this instance, being in accordance with the Constitution and the Provincial Council Acts. After all the Supreme Court in a judgment said that it needed ratification by the PCs before it can be presented to Parliament for discussion, debate and vote.

The frequency of failed legislation is an indication of the Govts. Assumption that they can do anything they like and hopefully get away with it. This time they were not so lucky as the Supreme Court could not reasonably defend the bills nature which needs ratification by the provinces first.

This failure on the part of the Government is an indication of the carefree attitude of the people in power to legislation which they hope to pass by hook or by crook, and this time by only crook.

One of the main provisions of the bill which most of the Samurdhi officers were in favor of was that the employees would now be part of a Govt. department entitled to benefits including pension benefits. They have been agitating for this for a while and therefore it seems that their prayers were finally answered, but it was not to be when the bill was withdrawn!

The real problem was that this bill gave incredible powers to the Minister of Economic Development, Basil Rakapakse, enhancing the families’ control over the nation’s wealth and therefore of the manner in which it is spent.

While in principle the bill was to enable the quick development of the hinterland the reality however is very different. It is of further plunder of state resources, where favors are granted in exchange for huge backhanders.

When power corrupts it corrupts absolutely and Divi Neguma is an absolute waste of state resources. In the first stages of the old Divi Neguma program where seeds that did not germinate were distributed to hapless peasants free it was a sort of largess that went badly wrong. Now this largess is of greater proportion to a larger number of people and in amounts that are unconscionable. Adding more departments to an already bloated state sector is an affront to common sense when the Govt. should streamline the duplication of services. This common sense approach does not appear to go well with the purveyors of the state spigot of funds.

The Cheek of Arrogance – Bertie’s latest rant

Bertie Premalal Dissanayake has been the Chief Minister of the NCP a few times already. In today’s largest selling daily, the Sinhala Lankadeepa, he says that if he does not get the post of Chief Minister again, then he WILL NOT accept any other ministerial post. Sour Grapes or sulking!

Why do people believe they are entitled to positions for life? Term limits were abolished for the President in the 18^th Amendment to the Constitution, which brought with it a whole host of very regrettable clauses. We may never have another administration with a two thirds majority and so it is unlikely that this amendment could be changed unless there is consensus amongst all political parties, something that is lacking these days.

To get back to the main topic, allowing politicians to behave like they are local Princes, with rights during their lifetime, and then to be passed on to their children, makes a mockery of Governance, Democracy and any Self Respect that may remain in Sri Lanka. For this individual to say that he will take 120 of the 150 local politicians in the area that represent the ruling party with him, to do as he pleases. Does that mean that he is the Godfather for them? Do they owe him allegiance? What is all this about? No answers, just questions!

We must take a stand against this kind of political arrogance, which is now rampant, and also believed to be spreading further amongst the minor pols, representing Pradeshiya Sabhas and Municipal Councils.

Is the President also playing poker with them too? Some say he is fed up with the arrogance of Bertie and wants to teach him a lesson, by demoting him and clipping his wings. After all at the Deyata Kirula Exhibition in Anuradhapura District, Bertie’s henchmen were not given any contracts, with most of them going to the Rajapakse loyalists in the South. Apparently there was also colossal waste of money, but as is the case these days, contracts are not given to the best, just the friends who use it as a means to help themselves at the expense of the state that pays the bills.

It takes strong leadership to stem this behavior. When the leadership also engages in the same behavior, one cannot expect them to set an example, leading to business as usual in the “Banana Republic”. So who puts all these brats in their place? We do, just rise up and say enough is enough.

SM Ranjith/Berti Saga – SM Chandresena thinks he is doing a favor!

This ridiculous charade that SM Chandresena, the Minister of Wildlife and Agrarian Services, engages in by resigning his Ministerial portfolio so his brother can get the Chief Ministership of the North Central Province is too nonsensical to be taken seriously. After all in a country where one family holds all the cards to the war chest and power, for a non entity to say that his position restricts his brother’s rise is a patent falsehood.

SM Chandresena who has let down all the farmers in the NCP, also holding the post of the President of the NCP farmers organization is also a joke. The fact that the electors in the province can be fooled yet again by their own farming captain, who has not defended the rights of the farmers, further erodes the credibility of his tenuous ties to farming.

So this is another publicity stunt of an incompetent minister who should be fired for his incompetence, saying he is resigning for the good of the people of the NCP, is an insult to the people. Readers please know when someone offers to resign in Sri Lanka it is to save face from being fired, where the word is please resign or you will be fired!! That is the reality. However there are many others in government who must face the same fate, but are there due to their political and bumsucking ability, and who in time will be disposed of when their value diminishes.

The Wildlife Department is a disgrace, with no proper Director of Wildlife, with the huge responsibility of protecting the domain assigned to him. For one to be given that portfolio along with Agrarian Services in a bloated 100 minister government says a lot for the priorities assigned to both. The desecration of forests and wildlife is a disgrace to the Country.

There will be no love lost by this smoke and mirror resignation of a Minister who will undoubtedly be looking for some other sinecure to line his pockets. It is very regretful that there is no proper accountability for the actions of such people who continue to pretend to be servants of the state when they continue to waste the resources and worse desecrate and plunder the wealth of the Country, as there is no one able to fight them, due to the protection they receive from the highest in the land.

With regard to the new appointee, it will be another local chief, ready to plunder whatever the previous incumbent failed to do, a reflection of society.

Guneratne has to eat humble pie as he has no clue about the law!

The Self publicity seeker who has done more harm than anyone else in the short term to the prospects of the UNP and can easily be construed as a “Mahindata kade yana karaya” by his very actions, has yet again been shown to be a charlatan.

His case against the UNP, regarding the extension of the term of the UNP leader was dropped, as there was no amendment to the UNP constitution to that effect, and any fool knew that from the start when the proposal was put to the Working Committee and adopted, much to the chagrin of the Party Leader Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe who wanted no part of it.

The facts as usual get completely muddied in the Sri Lankan press, so for the record, Mr Tilak Marapane was appointed to a committee or commission to look into the best way for the party leader to be appointed, elected and the term they should serve before having to face an election. This was as a result of the patent absurdity of the party leader having to be elected every year, which is non-sensical as it does not give anyone free reign to clear the crap and start afresh. Mr Marapane felt anyone elected to the leadership needs a term of 6 years to unify the party under a new leadership and put across a plan to win the General Election within that period. Mr Wickremasinghe wanted 4 but Marapane said it was important that a new leader has at least 6 years before facing election, as within that period he or she can show if they have what it takes to lead the party and hopefully the country.

Mr Guneratne who is in a maniacal anti Ranil Wickremasinghe stance possibly at the behest of MR, does not seem to get it or if he does, does not want to face reality and so tries his best get publicity by making dubious challenges. It is now high time that the courts stop making a mockery by permitting such perennial losers the freedom to upset the inner workings of the largest Political Party in Sri Lanka by such means so as to further denigrate the perception about the party, instigated by the massive media campaign by the Government and their stooges.

The informed public must realize that the real loser out of Maithri Guneratne’s antics is Sajith Premadasa who the President dislikes more than Ranil. Now he will have to face an election within a year of his being elected and he is sure to lose as his performance will not be up to par in such a short period!! SAY NO MORE!!!! Case closed.

The absurdity of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and their motives

It is with regret that people of the country fail to understand some of the motives of the minority parties, especially those that act to divide the country, such as the TNA and the SLMC, to get their vote exclusively from the respective communities that they directly appeal to and expect total dedication to as they purport to represent the interests of those exclusive communities only.

In a democracy it is very unhealthy to have political parties that only defend the interests of a religious or ethnic grouping, especially when in majority, like in the case of the Jathika Hela Urumaya, that defends the rights of the Sinhala speaking Buddhists. The TNA that defend the interests of Ethnic Tamil people who mainly hail from South India, but in reality reserved for just those with a heritage of having lived in the Northern and Eastern Parts of the country as having some exclusive jurisdiction over a part of the country, or the SLMC which somehow purports to represent the interests of people of Islam is only bound to isolate these communities in the eyes of the majority community.

In all democracies there live minorities, be it religious or ethnic minorities. It is important that their rights are enshrined in the Constitution, which they are in Sri Lanka and protected by the Government in power, which currently is questionable. This government therefore by its very action continues to antagonize these communities, justifying the necessity for these fringe religious and ethnic parties. These acts breed resentment and exclusion.

It is essential that we have a National Government of a party that represents the rights of all people, not calling them minorities, and treats all people equally, something that is patently not apparent under this regime, that says one thing for public and international consumption and acts in a completely different manner.

The SLMC platform was completely anti government, proscribing the acts of the Government which led people in the indirect prejudice against Muslims and their places of worship. They obtained a vote by such broadcasts as defending the rights of Muslims against the acts of the State, and then immediately proceed to join the Government in forming the Eastern Provincial Council, getting a promise of a future Chief Minister ship for them and positions in the ministries in the Eastern Province. How wrong is that?

When you lose your right to be Chief Minister then you become a Presidential Advisor! So all advisors are losers right!

In a country with a world record of Presidential Advisors, adding a few more seems to debase the whole position majorly, as they are now dime a dozen. When you do not want to offend a subject who has been relegated to a has been, or demoted he becomes a transfer to a Presidential Advisor. So any Presidential Advisor worth his dignity should resign that position, as otherwise the label attached to him becomes a complete farce.

Now that Pillayan who has been removed from the Eastern Province’s Chief Minister post, he has been given a largely ceremonial, high cost to the state job of a Presidential Advisor on nothing in particular just like the hundreds of other Presidential Advisors on NOTHING! Will this be the same story for Mahipala and Bertie Premalal? Let us see in a few day how that pans out.

The way we accept such abuse of Presidential conduct without as much as a murmur is indicative of the complete disregard of the general public. Is it also uncaring attitude to this type of foolish childish and extravagant profligacy of State Resources, that Servants of the State indulge in?

We must at least be aware of the level of wastage so as not hurt egos, as simply put that is all this elevation in name is. If we have public and elected officials with such pompous attitudes to their self importance, woe be it for the general public to underwrite these costs without as much as a protest.

One thing must be said, that as a political animal of the most calculating kind, we cannot find anyone in Sri Lanka to match the mastery of the President. However when the country’s resources are wasted and made use of in this manner all patriots of Sri Lanka must rise against tyranny and the harm that selfish people can do to country without a thought to its welfare.

This is therefore an appeal to the reader to think of the true effect of these examples of actions from the highest officer in the land who has taken an oath to protect the state, who continues without hesitation to disregard all sense of propriety and act as an enemy of the state in all his dealings.

It is regrettable that we continue to bestow trust in such an individual, who has shown by acts of this sort to be an enemy of the state, acting against all decent norms in the massive hoodwinking exercise, not realizing his folly. 

Its too Fishy for words! – Suddenly saying “HE WAS NOT ASSAULTED”

Consider this. A police complaint is made against a habitual batterer about being beaten up by him and his goons, (not for the first time). Then the Police fail to arrest the alleged perpetrator, a well known personality who goes about freely in public and was not arrested despite being in public. Then he gives himself up to the police and is remanded, in hospital as it is a cushy place for VIP remandees. Then when the suspect is brought to court, the lawyer representing the person making the initial complaint, now issues an affidavit that he lied to the police and that he was not assaulted!!!!

So now the Major should be taken in for contempt. He lied to the police and surely there must be some form of penalty for that! Is that called perjury or what? So this whole farce involving Ministerial and ex Ministerial siblings using MSD protectors to defend them against all the rules, goes scot free!!

This is a true story that usually only happens in Sri Lanka, as the law is treated like an ASS. All are complicit in this. The guilty perpetrator, the police who fail to arrest him, the lawyers who are making the horse-trading deals behind the scenes, and the media that reports facts, without casting judgments, as it appears quite normal that yet another case is closed!!

None of this should happen. It should not reach the news, and it should be dealt with strictly according to the law. The people of this country are long suffering and put up with a lot of shit and continue to do so because they do not have a backbone to fight these elected law breakers and their offspring.

Sri Lanka will never fail to be the laughing stock of the world, until they have the sense to clean up the act and be seen if not in reality to clean up after their own shit. It is solely the politicians and the people who send them to these places that must take the responsibility of denigrating this country to this level. Upstanding individuals of integrity do not appear to have a place in this society. It is sad that only the dregs of humanity have some position and are admired. It says a lot about the moral character of the Sri Lankan people who fail to understand right and wrong and good and bad to accept such absurd scenarios as explained above.

Let us hope that soon there will be an element of justice, integrity, and common sense will creep into society, and realize that they have been had by the scoundrels in power, and send them all to the gallows as a lesson to all!

The politics of murder! A continuing saga to remain in power

It is clear this government is in power today because of a promise to kill their own citizens, though the citizens themselves who voted them in did not realize that they voted for their murder.

Now what is that? It is simply the “Fertilizer Subsidy”. It gives the poorest of the poor, the peasant farmers of Sri Lanka the chance to purchase, highly toxic, highly dangerous Chemical Fertilizers for Rs350/50kg when the market price for which it is bought and brought to the farmer exceeds Rs4000/50kg inclusive of bribes and backhanders to various govt. stooges who procure, transport, and distribute such. The difference is the Fertilizer Subsidy of a total of Rs50B a year. By the way Sri Lanka has the highest per capita use of chemical fertilizers in all of South Asia.

The voters, the farmers who have been tricked into voting for this killer, have been duped. In short due to the CKDUE (chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology) which is now known to be caused by a combination of the fertilizer, the pesticides and the type of water in certain areas that mix in a manner that is poisonous to the injester, kills at least 30 people a day in the causal areas.

So we have in power a murderous govt. which is getting away with murder, as the people who vote them in and continue to do so are themselves allowing a continuation of the murder to take place. My point is in order to only use the minimum required chemical so it does not leach in the ground by overuse, we much charge a rate more commensurate with zero wastage. I put it at Rs2,500/50kg when usage will be strictly on an as needed basis.

I expect a drop in the crop of about 5% due to this, but a saving in subsidy of Rs35B is worth a drop of this magnitude which can be more than compensated for by better transport and storage techniques that further reduce wastage.

So when murder in chief Maithripala Sirisena today urged the use of more organic fertilizer it is just for effect and not for real. For real is taking the action I have suggested. Stop conning the farmer for votes, stop murdering your supporters, one day there will be none left, by which time your whole country would be poisoned. Heed common sense and stop voting for liars, cheats, and people who make money at the expense of the poor farmers.

Tiran Alles’s resignation is not a surprise. What took you so long?

The MR TA master plan is still working. It was first to put SF in jail on trumped up charges during the period he was perceived as a threat to the direct and despotic rule of the former. Then it was felt it was  time release him when he was no longer a threat if he was outside, and more of a rallying point against the Govt. when inside. So TA was the go between yet again.

The reader MUST understand that MR paid TA the money to give Prabarkaran to force the Tamils NOT to vote in the 2005 Presidential which effective brought MR into power. TA kept some of the money with him and started his papers, the Maubima and the Ceylon Today. Remember it was launched on MR birthday last November with a glitzy supplement of the birthday cum anniversary of MRs presidency.

Now that job is done. SF is a lost cause, with no party, no backing and no one to listen to him, so it is convenient for TA to leave the party. As he is a National List MP, he may have to leave the party and join as a National List MP in the govt. I am not sure of that particular route. That is if he is to be given a ministry in the next cabinet expected to be announced shortly after the latest provincial council elections.

A victim of his own stupidity and incredible ego, Sarath Fonseka, now made destitute by his lack of pension, other basic rights, finds his godfather and paymaster who even supplied the money to pay the phone bills for the Fonseka Household, gone. The tragic figure of SF will fade into history and who in years to come will be written about by historians as having paid a price for his personality defects, despite being a great tactician responsible in ruthless and large part for the complete battlefield victory over the LTTE.

Tiran Alles has some life left in him playing a game of hate, who with Killi Maharajah continue to destabilize the UNP of Ranil Wickremasinghe, who is seen as the only real alternative to the MR dictatorship and therefore as the only threat that needs containment by use of the Media, which both have, and put to maximum effect at the expense of the foolish readers/viewers, who do not understand what happens under their very noses.

So another chapter unfolds, the foolish still believe the nonsense fed to them, and live in ignorance, whilst the very fabric of democracy and justice is pulled out from under their own feet without them realizing it!!! 

A mockery of Election Laws – making announcements during a Election Period of the appointment of 20,000 graduates to the Public Service.

The recent announcement of taking in mainly “unemployable” Arts Graduates into Public Service, with Basil Rajapakse’s Economic Development Ministry taking 16,800 alone is nothing more than an election gimmick in a time when the bureaucracy is bloated, and most of these graduates are not qualified in any worthwhile field, incapable of performing better than even A level qualified students whose flexibilities and expectations are more realistic, and who would be able to perform the duties assigned to graduates in a more effective and productive manner.

See the following web caption for further information on the subject above:

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12A/Sep02_1346568860KA.php

Further the use of A level unemployed students will be cheaper and they can be easily trained. Graduates come to work with certain expectations that cannot be fulfilled.

Be that as it may, many of these people have been given to various Divisional Secretariats to work with nowhere for them to sit, and many are now drawing the Rs10,000 basic salary, often coming to the office once a week to sign in as the place has not prepared or accommodated these hastily recruited graduates, done for political expediency and not need!

So taking 20,000 public employees by September 10^th is a clear election gimmick that is going to cost the State, already heavily overburdened by an inefficient and rigid Public Sector. This normal career path for graduates seems both a waste of University Teaching, as they can perform better with lower qualifications, and also stifling of any creativity they may have.

It is important that the financial aspects of this type of recruitment is considered before such rash and unacceptable numbers are taken into the permanent carder of the Public Sector, usually by letters from UPFA party secretaries in their local village branches, making it a political favors assignment devoid of capability or adequate competency for the job assigned to them. This politicization of jobs further disillusions the competent and able and any person with a sane mind will look to further his or her career opportunities in a fairer environment in the Private Sector, which then leaves a highly politicized public sector beholden to the Govt. remaining.

The President continues to lie even at the SLFP Convention – How low can one stoop to fool the masses!

Sadly no one dares to tell the truth for fear of the White Van!

This time the mud on your Sudu Sarama and Satakaya will stick! You can bet on it. Don’t try to wriggle out of your responsibility.

The recently held SLFP 61^st Anniversary Convention in Kegalle (2nd Dept. 2012) was addressed by the President. The main theme as reported in the Press was his allegation that the Opposition parties were using Children for their political ends, spreading rumors to them, and burdening children unnecessarily.

I attach a web link here of one of the web reports of his demands

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_12A/Sep02_1346601160CH.php

The facts are not in dispute. The Education Department and UGC, which is under the control of the Education Ministry completely messed up in the calculation of the Z score for the A level results of August 2011 exams, published on December 25^th 2011, and which were disputed within hours. It took a lot of convincing until the Govt. finally relented and agreed they were erroneous and reissued them on June 26^th 2012. This has further exacerbated the situation as another segment of students received results different to their expectations creating further tensions, and even attempted suicides. The issue today 3^rd September 2012 has not been resolved, even though the Supreme Court has requested the Department and the UGC to be fair by all. The Students are heavily burdened and the opposition is trying to do their best to solve the problem, by holding rallies meetings and seminars even in the Parliamentary Complex to hear the personal grievances of those affected. The burdening by inaction is on the part of the Government.

I am not going into the FUTA demands, A level question problem, the Grade 5 exam issue, or the marking delays, and only consider the Z score. If the Govt. shies away from responsibility for this after over a year of crisis, and blames the Opposition they are out of their minds. So is the President. He obviously cannot take responsibility for crises under his watch. It is a shame that people have given him so much light, without realizing how dark a period we have had to endure with the shameless pomposity and lack of humility of being able accept responsibility and do something about it.

The term ‘water off a ducks back’ is not the way he should try and slime out of day to day issues and blame them on others. Only a confident leader of integrity can accept fallible action, and then move on to correct the mistakes.  

The Rhetoric gets hot and the abuse and flouting of election laws gathers speed.

Just as the merciless beating of UNP supporters by UPFA supporters in Kalawana, while the police watch, as I write this article does not get a hearing or is reported in the instant breaking news for security reasons, the UPFA has no qualms about breaking all laws to achieve their ends.

With the foundation stone for the Batticaloa Airport set for today, to impress those voters, to a series of other flagrant violations, surpasses all the attempts by the elections commissioner to stop these violations. Small actions like stopping the recruitment of graduates in the Provinces where elections are held is hardly any comfort to gauge impartiality.

After all the sealing of ‘Berti Premalal’s goodies warehouse’ was done with the ulterior motive of reducing his preferences in the Government eyes, sanctioned by the Govt. and not for any love of breaking the Election laws.

I do not wish to go into the history of the Elections Commissioner, which will always show him as impartial despite all the historic facts to the contrary. These are mere smoke and mirrors to fool the unsuspecting public and most of the readers to paint him in a good light.

There are a few more days to go and the rhetoric will rise with amazing promises meant to fool the public. Furthermore, bringing the Sacred Kapilavasthu Relics from India in this period of election fever was at best an indignity on the part of the Govt. towards Buddhism, but no one dare point that out for fear of being hounded as anti Buddhist. When the Govt. in the name of religion abuses and demeans it, when no one dare tell the truth, it further fools even the rational thinker, that somehow it is justifiable.

I do admit that the Governing party has all the cards stacked on their side in this campaign and it is with great difficulty that the Opposition parties carry out their campaign. A staggered campaign further hinders the opposition as their resources are stretched even further. It nevertheless must hold true that we owe it to the citizenry of this country, especially if we are patriotic, to explain the inconsistencies in what is said and done, and that if a Government continues to engage in rhetoric meant to fool, it has no intention of keeping to the letter or the spirit of the promise. I appeal to the reader or the voting public to be cognizant of the pros and cons of my argument.

The UNP strategy could have been better organized – What do you say?

Despite the fraction of the resources put into the campaign as compared with the millions wasted by the UPFA, there has been a much better bang for their buck by the UNP. It is clear that there are hardly any people canvassing for the UPFA on a house to house basis as they only get scolded by the electorate. So it is an election the UNP could win, had they been better organized and more focused and been able to convince potential financiers that they are worth backing. Even a well directed and focused campaign strategy costs money, something they lack.

Despite all these handicaps and the internal dissensions, the UNP have been able to get a good showing and acceptance by the general public, as the only true alternative to the present regime. No matter how hard the JVP organization works, they are no match for the UNP and if the UNP was as well disciplined as the JVP in as much as a dedicated volunteer base, they can give the Govt. a good run for their money.

It is arguable that the UNP should have initially performed opinion polls and concentrated their meager resources in the areas where they will have the most chance of an upset if the resources were correctly directed there.

I am of the opinion that they should have concentrated their resources in the NCP as they could have overturned a massive majority for the government by a focused approach as this government has completely let down their traditional voter base there without coming up with any of the promised goods, the least being the farmer who is now almost bankrupt.

If their resources were limited they could have concentrated on winning the Polonnaruwa District only, as the people there are fed up of the ruling dynamics that have taken every bit of wealth from the people and left them impoverished, a point that the UNP could easily have exploited for political gain. The fact that they missed this clue is to their detriment.

Let us hope they learn lessons from these elections and get heartened that they had a chance that they blew away due to their own making. They must improve on this performance in the next elections and show their grass roots that they are not a lost cause, and in time will reap the reward for patience and a clearly focused message in the future that is backed up with a proper understandable message to the masses to believe in, clearly enunciated.