Columns
- No invitation for Mano Ganesan and later refuses to attend despite appeal by President
- TNA in crisis, 90-year-old Sampanthan’s leadership post in question
- Trade unions and other groups intensify protests before next Monday’s Budget
By Our Political Editor
“In the tapestry of Sri Lanka’s cultural diversity, the Indian Tamil Community has woven a unique thread over two centuries.”
Those historic words were emblazoned on top of the card that invited guests for the 200th anniversary (1823 to 2023). It was so true of the arrival of the plantation workers of Indian origin in Sri Lanka. During the days of the British Raj, they arrived on the shores of Talaimannar and walked all the way to the hill country. Some dropped dead en route. Some died of disease working at first in flourishing coffee plantations. A blight wiped them out. Then they took to tea. It is their hands, skillfully used by British planters, that brought Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), its still talked of reputation as producing the world’s best tea.
If tea had remained the biggest revenue earner in the past, the contribution of the plantation sector workers towards improving the quality of life of every Sri Lankan has been noteworthy. Their lot has improved during the past two centuries. Yet, more remains to be done. They live in very small units—line rooms—which are their living area, bedroom, and kitchen. The chore of the male folk includes periodic spraying of insecticides banned in other countries. Countless numbers have contracted cancer. Others suffer due to poor medical care. Malnutrition is rampant.
Who should draw attention to all Sri Lankans, and perhaps to the world, about the plantation workers of Indian origin calling the occasion a “pride of unity, diversity and legacy?” It is Jeevan Thondaman who represents them in Parliament and in the Cabinet of Ministers. President Ranil Wickremesinghe chose him as the Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development. And just weeks earlier, he ensured that the Indian Finance Minister, the well-respected Nirmala Sitharaman, was invited. A letter went from the Presidential Secretariat through the Foreign Ministry to the Indian dignitary.
Minister Jeevan Thondaman addressing the NAAM 200 event
From there on Thondaman and his Ministry took over the conduct of “Naam 200,” two centuries of the presence of plantation workers of Indian origin in Sri Lanka at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. There was a protocol breach to start with. If President Wickremesinghe saw to it that Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman was the chief guest, he could not have sought positions to participate in the ceremony. It was Thondaman’s responsibility to recognise him perhaps as a guest of honour but President Wickremesinghe was another guest like others.
There were several events during the three-hour-long programme at the Indoor Stadium. Perhaps for the first time in the history of the plantation industry, the foundation stone was laid online by Sitharaman and Wickremesinghe. This virtual launch was through two iPads placed on a table on the stage. In the same way, the duo also inaugurated a newly built auditorium and computer unit.
Jeevan is the grandson of the undisputed leader of plantation workers, Savumyamoorthy Thondaman. Upon his death, his father, Arumugam took over the leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a powerful political party in the hill country. Jeevan took over after his death.
Jeevan Thondaman cut a sorry figure when he chose to honour two centuries of Indian plantation labour in Sri Lanka. There were several serious mistakes when he chose to hold the commemoration event at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium. First and foremost – it was officially organised by the Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure. In other words, the Ministry, which had no role in public commemoration events, had to utilise state funds for it. For such an event, it would have been the responsibility of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. It is this ministry which is equipped to conduct state events. Capping the ceremony was a vote of thanks that was delivered by the Secretary to the Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development.
That is not all. Although Thursday’s event became a state function, Minister Thondaman, opposition parliamentarians alleged, had taken control of the invitees. They complained that he had picked and chosen who should be asked and who should be left out. For example, Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) leader Mano Ganesan was not invited. When the news reached President Ranil Wickremesinghe that Ganesan was not an invitee, he had telephoned him on Thursday morning and asked him to turn up. He had assured that an invitation would be sent to him. However, the Colombo district parliamentarian had politely declined saying he could not do so.
Mano Ganesan told the Sunday Times “The Naam 200 (We are 200) event was something similar to having a wedding without the bride. I was not invited to the event though the TPA has as many as six members in Parliament and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) has only two MPs. President Ranil Wickremesinghe had heard that I was not invited and called me. He said he would be sending a personal invitation under his name and requested me to attend the event. But I politely declined the invitation.” He added: “I have seen the invitations which had gone out, but they are from Thondaman’s Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development. It should have been a state event. We see this as a political show. It was just a few weeks back that I met Minister Thondaman at an event in Jaffna, but I was not told about the event. So it was clear that they did not want to invite me. In contrast, we invited Minister Thondaman for the TPA sessions and he attended the event.”
To make matters worse, no member of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) has been invited. Its General Secretary, Ranjith Madduma Bandara said, “We did not receive invitations and our members did not attend as a result.” Two other Tamil parliamentarians, Suresh Vadivel and Palani Digambaram – were listed as speakers. At least two parliamentarians from the north – Abraham Sumanthiran and Sivagnanam Shritharan – took part in the event. Also in attendance was onetime President and now parliamentarian, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
According to the Presidential Media Division, President Wickremesinghe speaking at the ‘Naam 200′ (We are 200) celebration, emphasised the goal of moving the country forward by uniting all its citizens. He stated that it is the current government’s policy to uphold the rights of all Sri Lankan citizens, regardless of their background. The aim is to build a developed Sri Lanka by bringing everyone together.
India's Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa exchange greetings as President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Foreign Minister Ali Sabri look on at the NAAM 200 ceremony at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium on Thursday. Pix by Indika Handuwela
These remarks were made during the ‘Naam 200′ celebration at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo, marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the Indian Origin Tamil (IOT) people in the hill country. The event was honoured by the presence of Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was warmly welcomed by President Wickremesinghe and Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman laid the foundation stone for a project to construct 10,000 houses with Indian aid in the lower part of Mount Vernon Estate, Dimbula, Kotagala. Additionally, a new auditorium and computer unit at the Hatton Vocational Training Centre were inaugurated virtually, and school equipment was distributed to students.
The President acknowledged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for contributing to Sri Lanka’s financial stability, praising the support provided for the successful event. He also commended Indian Finance Minister Sitharaman for her dedication to the cause.
Furthermore, the President stated that this celebration marks the beginning of a new journey for the hill country Tamil people, and the government is committed to providing them with land titles and ensuring their right to education.
Guests from India included Congress Party parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor, Thangam Thenarasu, Minister of Tamil Nadu State Assembly, Dr Ram Madhav, President of India Foundation, and K. Annamalai, State President of the Bharatiya Janatha Party, Tamil Nadu.
TNA crisis: Call for Sampanthan to step down
While CWC, which functions also as a political party in the plantation sector is busy with the commemoration of two centuries of plantation labour of Indian origin, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which was once a main political group in the north, appears to be breaking.
A recent talk show on a local television channel saw four persons taking part. They were Eran Wickremeratne (MP), Harini Amarasuriya (MP), Abraham Sumanthiran (MP) and Shiral Laktilaka (Attorney-at-law, who was introduced as from the United Republic Front). The subject of discussion was corruption. After a discussion on the subject where participants expressed their views, the session was open to questions from viewers who were asked to send their queries through WhatsApp. One of the questions has triggered a controversy in the TNA.
That was related to a question by a viewer who appears to have done his homework. He claimed that he had used the Right to Information Act and obtained data on Parliament sittings. He noted that of the 288 days Parliament sat, TNA leader Rajavarothayam Sampanthan had attended sessions for 39 days. He said he was occupying a government bungalow given to him when he was the leader of the opposition. He asked Sumanthiran, who is a spokesperson of the TNA, whether an estimated expenditure of over four million rupees for taking part in only 13% of the sittings was “another kind of corruption?” The question, no doubt, was loaded.
Sumanthiran avoided answering the question of corruption but did not stop at that. He seized the opportunity to say the matter has been of great concern for his party and for him personally for some time now. Sampanthan has not been able to attend Parliament on some occasions due to his ill health and age. Last year, he said, as concerned members, some of the seniors of the ITAK (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi – the principal partner) including himself had met Sampanthan and shared their concerns. Unfortunately, he said, he had refused to quit and explained that Trincomalee’s people elected him at the 2020 elections, knowing well that he was not in the very best of health. That was how he had become the number one candidate, he had pointed out. Ninety years old now, Sampanthan is approaching his 91 birthday on February 5, 2024. Sampanthan did not respond to calls made to him both in Colombo and at his residence in Trincomalee.
The TNA is made up of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO),th e People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), and the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK). It has not been an easy task for Sampanthan to keep the TNA together. Out of the three constituent parties, two are headed by former militants.
A senior Tamil journalist of the north said that Sampanthan in 2020, initially told his party central committee and his constituency district offices that he would not stand at the 2020 general elections. As members persuaded him to stand, he agreed under two conditions, one, he would only serve one year and would resign for someone from his party to takeover, and two, some named person from Trincomalee to be placed as the primary candidate in the list of nominations depending on the vote share. Neither condition has been satisfied to date. The TNA gained only a single nominated MP position which was given to a member from Ampara and not Trincomalee.
For many months now, the TNA has been in the throes of a crisis. When nominations closed for the local council elections, there were no candidates fielded by the TNA. Internal bickering led to partners functioning in their individual capacities. Moves are now afoot to bring some form of reconciliation, Mavai Senathirajah, leader of the ITAK and principal partner of the TNA, said yesterday. He said the ITAK central committee would meet today (Sunday) in Colombo to discuss the latest developments. Having arrived in Colombo from Jaffna on Friday, Senathirajah went for a meeting with Sampanthan.
He acknowledged that there were media reports calling for the resignation of Sampanthan. However, we are not sure about these reports and need to verify them. My duty as chairman is to present it at the Central Committee meeting and discuss issues. For this, I am ready with the details and will table them at the meeting. He dismissed claims that Sampanthan was “inadequately representing” the Trincomalee district and asserted that he had rendered yeoman service. All issues would be taken up at the Central Committee meeting, he added.
Among the other developments has been a request by the three-member Committee of Inquiry probing the Channel 4 disclosures. The Committee wrote to President Wickremesinghe seeking an extension of the time given to it. The deadline when a report was expected was October 31. The Committee is headed by retired Supreme Court Judge S.I. Imam and comprises Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody and A.J. Soza, President’s Counsel. Britain’s media regulator Ofcom, has already rejected a complaint from retired Major General Suresh Sallay, head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) over the Channel 4 programme.
Strikes and protests
The government is also monitoring a string of strikes this week in different sectors. They include:
October 30: A number of provincial and state-level public service trade unions with the participation of Development Officers, Management Service Officers, Grama Niladhari Officers, Samurdhi Officers, and Provincial Public Service Sector Personnel and other office services staged a protest in Colombo over a series of demands including a demand for a Rs. 20,000 allowance or pay raise through the 2024 budget.
November 1: Multiple groups protested to denounce electricity policies. Workers from the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) demonstrated outside CEB Headquarters at noon to oppose a move to bring in foreign stakeholders.
Another protest organised from Divulapitiya to Colombo was dispersed by the Police and six persons including Sanjeewa Dhammika, the secretary of the Electricity Consumers’ Association, and a Buddhist monk were arrested. They were granted bail on the same day. They were due to march to Colombo and reach the CEB headquarters by night.
November 2: Staff of all 17 state universities were on a token strike over a series of demands including a demand for salary revision and increasing allocation for the education sector in the upcoming budget. The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) launched a series of islandwide strikes starting from November 2. It was, however, called off on Friday.
The focus of the strikes appears to be to mount pressure on the government ahead of the November 13 budget. Nevertheless, President Wickremesinghe has declared that there would be a pay increase for the state sector and expressed the wish that the private sector too would follow suit.
| Wider scope and mandate for Presidential Commission on electoral reforms President Ranil Wickremesinghe has broadened the “scope of the mandate” of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry gazetted on October 15 to examine and report on electoral reforms and media standards. A proclamation gazetted under his name by the President’s Secretary, Saman Ekanayake, has named A.C.V. David as the “Commissioner for the Commission of Inquiry.” In this capacity, he will play the role of a secretary and assist in all its work. This will include scheduling witnesses. The Commission is headed by retired Chief Justice Priyasath Dep and comprises eight other members, as previously announced. A government source said yesterday that the Commission has been given four months to submit its report. Technically at least, such a deadline falls in March, next year, ahead of a scheduled presidential election anytime beginning August next year. However, the likelihood of the Commission seeking an extension of its warrant cannot be ruled out. In such an event, whether the time frame is adequate to legislate for the proposed changes recommended by the Commission to take effect before a presidential election remains a question. According to the same source, the electoral reforms proposed by Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe, will remain on hold. He had earlier made a set of proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers. Based on this, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena initiated a dialogue with parties represented in Parliament. The new terms for the Commission of Inquiry, the gazette notification states, are “to obtain information, investigate, inquire into and report on making recommendations for the amendment of election laws, upon examination of existing election laws, formulation of media standards for the appropriate use of media by political parties and independent groups, introduction of a code of conduct for political parties, independent groups and their membership in performing political and public affairs, and strengthening of laws and regulations related to registration of political parties and their operations in a manner that elicits trust and public accountability;“ President Wickremesinghe has noted that the number of commissioners currently holding office “is not adequate to more efficiently and speedily execute” the functions of the Commission. Among the reasons attributed for broadening the scope of the mandate (the preambular paragraphs) are: = Multiparty democracy is a vital infrastructure of Parliamentary democracy because of fulfilling the intermediate role between the citizens and the State by participating and forming people’s political opinions, = Credible political parties are a prerequisite for the exercise of franchise by the people as enshrined in the 1978 Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. = Rapid escalation of financial costs of election campaigns including elections have resulted in growing concerns on the role of money in politics and possibilities in policy capture. = There is a growing concern of criminal elements entering political parties. = Stable political parties are being replaced by short-term political fronts contributing to instability in politics. = It is necessary to establish and maintain at all times a mutual trust between the Sri Lankan electorate and political parties. = It is necessary for reforms to ensure the transparency and the accountability of political parties to the electors having regard to the laws and practices of other countries including establishing legal criteria for granting and cancelling the recognition of political parties, thereby regaining the confidence of the people. = A number of globally reputed organisations including the Inter-Parliamentary Union have specified criteria for the transparency and accountability of political parties. The Commission of Inquiry has been called upon to “examine all existing election laws and regulations and make necessary recommendations for the amendment of election laws to suit current needs, giving special consideration to following factors as well. i. Increase women and youth representation. ii. Reduce the period between the time of declaration of an election and the release of results after conducting such election. iii. Provide an opportunity for electronic voting using modern technology instead of printed ballot paper. iv. Provide facilities for voting by Sri Lankans overseas. v. Enable a person to contest elections for both Provincial Councils and Parliament for the selection of people’s representatives and have the opportunity to represent Provincial Councils and the Parliament at the same time if elected (eg. to give an opportunity for a person elected to Parliament to also contest a Provincial Council election, and if elected, have the opportunity to represent the Provincial Councils and Parliament at the same time). vi. Provide an opportunity for voters serving in Public Corporations/State Owned Enterprises/Private Sector, who are engaged in provision of election related services on election day, to use postal voting. vii. Formulate an appropriate mechanism blended with the first-past-the-post voting system for the election of people’s representatives, not limiting to the proportional representation system, but taking into consideration the plural nature of society and reflecting such plural characteristics. = Make recommendations for the formulation of media standards for the appropriate use of media by political parties and independent groups. = Make recommendations for the introduction of a code of conduct for political parties, independent groups and their membership in performing political and public affairs. = Make recommendations for the strengthening of laws and regulations related to registration of political parties and their operations in a manner that elicits trust and public accountability. = Make recommendations including proposed legislation on following factors; i. Strengthening the multi-party system of Sri Lanka based on credible and stable political parties similar to other multi-party democracies. ii. The role of money in politics and prevention of policy capture, as well as public funding of political parties. iii. The accountability of the leadership to the members of the political parties. iv. The reduction of the expenditure incurred on election campaigns. v. The role of the political parties in strengthening national unity by promoting cooperation and mutual confidence among all sections of the people. vi. The promotion of policy-based political parties by having the following factors as objectives: a. safeguarding the sovereignty and independence of Sri Lanka. b. political and economic stability. c. a Sri Lankan identity and d. raising the social and economic standards of the people by transformation into a developed economy.
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Amid’ Naam 200’ show, people take to the street, demanding relief in 2024 Budget
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