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AKD tried twice, I had to try five times, Japan’s new PM quips
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Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (bottom R) delivers his inaugural policy address in the lower house of parliament in Tokyo on Friday. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP)
At the opening ceremony of Japan’s 214th Extraordinary Session of the National Diet (Parliament), Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Rodney Perera, who was attending the event inaugurated by Emperor Naruhito, met the newly appointed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, along with the new Cabinet of Ministers.
Ambassador Perera extended warm congratulations on the new government of Sri Lanka to the new Japanese prime minister and the ministers. Japanese ministers in turn also extended their best wishes to the recently elected President of Sri Lanka.
While congratulating Prime Minister Ishiba, Ambassador Perera availed of the opportunity to explain the political journey of the new Sri Lankan president. When Prime Minister Ishiba learnt that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake did not get elected the first time he ran for office, he replied, “Well, that’s not too bad; I had to try five times to get elected to the post of Prime Minister of Japan.”
Probe urged on ugly chapter at book fair: Shooting the messenger
The National Movement for Consumer Rights Protection has condemned the reported assault of a customer inside a stall at the Colombo International Book Fair and the arrest of a journalist who tried to document the incident and stop the assault.
Issuing a statement, the organisation said the incident occurred on Friday when the stall’s staff allegedly assaulted a customer following an argument. The statement claimed police failed to intervene to prevent the assault and that officers subsequently arrested journalist Kalpa Gunaratne, who tried to stop the customer being assaulted and then tried to document the incident.
The statement urged the government to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the conduct of the OIC and other officers at the BMICH police post and to end the culture of shooting the messenger.
OIC indicted on sexual bribery charge
The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has indicted the former Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of the Wanathavilluwa Police on charges of soliciting a sexual bribe. The former OIC was indicted in the Colombo High Court on Tuesday (1). The Bribery Commission has indicted the accused under provisions of the Anti-Corruption Act.
Political appointees stay on despite order to step down
Though the new government has asked the chairpersons and directors of statutory boards and institutions to step down, some are yet to do so.
Such appointments are political, and it is normal when a new government comes to power for these officials to resign to pave the way for the new administration to make fresh appointments. The Sunday Times learns, however, that some heads are yet to step down. This includes several chairpersons of research institutes coming under the Plantation Industries Ministry.
President wants PCs to play bigger role
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has appointed a senior official at the Presidential Secretariat to act as a coordinating officer to work with provincial governors and chief secretaries of provincial councils.
Accordingly, Senior Additional Secretary H.M.K.J.B. Gunaratne has been appointed to the post of coordinating secretary between the President and provincial governors and chief secretaries.
A letter sent to chief secretaries by Presidential Secretary N.S. Kumanayake states that the President expects to use the Provincial Councils to provide a more efficient service to the public, and the decision to appoint a coordinating officer was taken with this objective in mind.
Harini not the first Bishopian to hold PM’s office
Bishopians—girls from Bishop’s College, Colombo—who proudly claim the new Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya as the first past pupil to occupy the exalted seat may be mistaken.
The past pupils from Bishop’s College to be Prime Ministers include J.R. Jayewardene and Ranil Wickremesinghe, pointed out a historian.
Similarly, many political commentators have referred to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the first from a rural background to be the Head of State and Head of Government. That too is incorrect. Former Presidents Dingiri Banda Wijetunga (DBW) from a village in the Udunuwara electorate in the Kandy district schooled at Waligalla Central College and thereafter at St. Andrew’s College in Gampola. His first job was as a constable in the police and then became a cooperative inspector. He started life as a private secretary to the then-Senate President, A. Ratnayake.
The second to become president from a rural background was Maithripala Sirisena. He was born in a village called Yagoda in the present-day Gampaha district and schooled at the Royal Central College, Polonnaruwa, when his father, a World War II veteran, was given five acres of paddy land near the Parakrama Samudra in Polonnaruwa.
No witchhunt, President assures public officials
On Thursday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake was at the Fisheries Ministry to assume duties. He holds the fisheries portfolio until a new cabinet
is appointed.
In addition to the Fisheries and Aquatic Resources portfolio, he also retains the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, Lands, Livestock, and Irrigation.
After assuming duties, he had a formal meeting with senior officials and heads of departments to outline the new government’s plans and the new culture his administration intended to introduce to the state sector.
President Dissanayake assured the senior officials that, unlike previous administrations where government officials working in the interest of the people were targeted and subjected to witchhunts, there would no longer be political retaliation against such state employees.
To stress his point, the President had to reassure the public officials that he would not subject them to public questioning by the media, as previous leaders had done. No one was sure if this meant that the media was not supposed to question public officials about matters concerning the public interest.
Tycoon trying to form anti-ITAK alliance
With Tamil political parties busy these days finalising nomination papers for the upcoming parliamentary polls, an influential tycoon of a global business conglomerate with ties to the Northern Province is trying to unite some of the political parties under his clout—obviously for political reasons.
The same individual who has invested heavily in local businesses and cinema productions is also involved in the newspaper business.
He reportedly met senior Tamil political leaders in Colombo this week for a potential electoral alliance against the main Tamil political party, Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK).
The new development came after it emerged that some of the Tamil political leaders and ex-parliamentarians were among those who secured liquor licences from the previous government and sold them to third parties for millions of rupees.
A former MP who sat in the last Parliament is lamenting to his close circle of friends that he regretted having sold one such liquor licence, reportedly for Rs 3 million, as he later came to know that some of his colleagues had sold their licences at much higher prices.
Millers’ move exposes rice mafia
More than a few eyebrows were raised recently when Araliya Rice Chairman Dudley Sirisena held a news conference in his home district of Polonnaruwa to announce that from September 28, rice millers would be selling all varieties of rice at prices stipulated by the government.
He claimed all rice millers were agreeable to the move and that they were taking this step to express support for the Anura Kumara Dissanayake administration. Mr. Sirisena, brother of former President Maithripala Sirisena, heaped praise on President Dissanayake and the National People’s Power (NPP), saying that it was a party that fought against injustice and corruption.
The very next day, however, a group representing small and medium rice millers held a news conference to contest Mr. Sirisena’s claim that they were all agreeable to sell rice at controlled prices. They insisted that controlled prices would lead to the collapse of their businesses.
As the dispute drags on, consumers complain they cannot find rice at the prices stipulated by the government.
The controversy raises some pertinent questions. The most serious being, if big-time rice millers such as Mr. Sirisena can suddenly sell all varieties of rice at controlled prices, why weren’t they doing so before? Also, does it not add substance to the long-standing accusation that rice millers are part of a “mafia” that artificially keeps rice prices high to make vulgar profits at the expense of consumers?
Many ex-MPs to throw in the towel
With the nomination period for the 2024 parliamentary election having started, parties and independent groups are frantically finalising their lists
to hand them over before the October 11 deadline.
While a significant number of former MPs who served in the last Parliament are expected to contest, some ex-MPs, including a few prominent former ministers, have already said they have no plans to contest and re-enter the legislature.
Former Transport, Highways, and Media Minister Bandula Gunawardana is among those who seem to have had enough. The ex-minister told the media this week that he had no plans to contest the upcoming elections. Mr. Gunawardana has served as the MP from the Homagama electorate in the Colombo District for more than two decades and has held multiple state and cabinet portfolios in different governments. Mr. Gunawardana, who said he has quit politics for good, added he would now devote his time towards obtaining a second PhD and producing films.
Meanwhile, former Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has gone back to his legal practice. Mr. Sabry, a President’s Counsel, posted a photograph on his X account this week showing him posing with some junior lawyers in his chambers with the caption “Feels good to be back where I belong.”
Several other prominent former MPs are also expected to announce their decisions soon. Some will be quitting politics altogether, while others will opt not to contest the upcoming election but will be open to being appointed to Parliament on the National List.
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