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• Explanation delay fanned flames of doubt over Japanese ‘doctorate’

Former Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya’s question on Facebook last Thursday, about Honourable Speaker Dr Ashoka Sapumal Ranwala’s academic qualifications, slightly raised a quizzical eyebrow amongst the people.

Rumours sped faster than Jaguar’s latest electric racing car on the Grand Prix track, as speculations grew if Ranwala, too, had done a Mervyn, and was flaunting a bogus doctorate to fool a gullible public that he’s a learned man, worthy of the utmost respect.

The mystery deepened further when the Parliamentary web that had listed Dr Ashoka Sapumal Ranwala on Tuesday night was found on Wednesday morning to have ignominiously dropped the ‘Dr’ tag that had previously appeared before his name. It seemed the hangover after a night of party revelry was taking due effect.

The social media circuit burst its seams as airy fairy rumour began to solidify and assume substantial form, when Parliamentary wesite’s inexplicable deletion, and denial of the ‘Dr’ prefix, sufficed to confirm to the people that there was, indeed, something amiss about Ranwala’s academic credentials.

But still phantom Speaker Ashoka Sapumal Ranwala, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, stood his ground, and refused to break his stoic silence.

At Tuesday’s Cabinet briefing, Health Minister Nalin Jayatissa, when asked about the removal of the Speaker’s ‘Dr’ prefix, from the parliamentary web, replied, “The Speaker will issue a very clear statement in a few days.”

The Speaker’s ‘very clear statement’ came in the form of his ignominious resignation announced through a statement on Friday eve. In it, he said, he is unable to provide documentary proof of the doctorate for now. He had been awarded his doctorate by a research institute affiliated with Waseda University in Japan but will release documentary proof once the research institute sends the certificate. He needn’t bother. Having deceived the people all along by his prolonged silence, he will be an incarnate insult to the Lankan public if he remains in Parliament anymore.

TALK OF THE TOWN: Lanka’s former Speaker Ashoka Sapumal Ranwala

While no educational qualifications whatsoever are necessary to enter Sri Lanka’s Parliament, to pose as having one, hinges on fraud. The issue complained of is not a question of a lack of an educational qualification but rather boasting an academic qualification on one’s CV in a meritocracy when one doesn’t have one to show.

On November 21, Parliament issued a press release stating: “Dr. Ashoka Ranwala, Member of Parliament representing the National People’s Power (NPP), unanimously elected as the Speaker of the Tenth Parliament of Sri Lanka.” It also listed his academic background. It said: “He holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa and a doctorate in Biochemistry from Waseda University.”

That the implication inherent in the removal of the ‘Dr’ prefix from the parliamentary web, meant that Ranwala’s doctorate from Japan’s Waseda University was fake, aroused the UNP’s Thalatha Athukorala’s indignation to such an extent that it brought her out from her political exile to claim on mainstream TV news that her investigations had revealed that the Waseda doctorate was fake.

At the press conference on Tuesday, Thalatha alleged: “Our media unit has made inquiries from Waseda University’s Student Enrollment Centre. And they have replied, ‘This is the Students’ Academic and Affairs Section, Centre for Science and Engineering, Waseda University. The academic verification process has failed to identify any record of enrollment for an individual named Ashoka Sapumal Ranwala within our database.’”

Thalatha placed emphasis on the gravity of the situation, and said: “The Speaker plays a significant role as the third-highest-ranking official in Sri Lanka, after the President and Prime Minister. Furthermore, the Speaker also chairs the Constitutional Council, which approves or vetoes the most senior appointments, including that of the Chief Justice, the Attorney General, the Auditor General and the IGP.

Thalatha continued: “Sri Lanka’s Parliament is the first in Asia and the whole world is closely monitoring what is happening in it frequently. Therefore, the allegation that Sri Lankan Speaker falsely claims to be having a doctorate is an insult to the country. Accordingly, he should resign from his post immediately.”

She also claimed that electoral leaflets printed and distributed by NPP during the election in the Gampaha District had also said that the Speaker had followed a post-graduate study course at Waseda University Japan. Accordingly, she said the people in the Gampaha District and voters in the entire nation have been deceived. “The NPP Government, which promised to clean up Parliament, has instead compromised it with such appointments,” Thalatha said.

Yet, since former election chief Deshapriya impishly set the ball rolling over seven days ago, until Friday, no statement had been forthcoming from the Speaker to clear the air. The absence of any such explanation had only served to add more fuel to an already roaring political fire.

It was allowed to rage unabated or was attempted to be doused, not with a verifiable certificate that proved its authenticity beyond doubt but with a sham ambiguous explanation that fools no one but its maker, it did consume and did destroy the credibility of the NPP government; and showed it was no different from previous regimes but merely another shade of the same basic colour.

With fake degrees going cheap and common, it seems it has become the fashionable rage to opt for the more expensive deluxe collector editions of foreign doctorates to impressively flaunt their abbreviations before their names.

At this rate, it looks as if NPP members who were swept into power by pledging to bring a system change, have changed to the system instead.

Rumble in the urban jungle Lalkantha gives go-ahead to farmers to take any measures to defend crops against wild animals foraging on their lands Two thousand years ago, when the Aristotle-tutored Alexander the Great faced the unravelable Gordian knot enigma, and was told it could never be untied, he simply unsheathed his sword and severed the knot in half. Simple. Easy as cutting cake. He had solved with one stroke of sword, what had defied masters for centuries. Perhaps, it was this same simple approach Minister Lalkantha employed when he stirred a rumble in the urban jungle by announcing in Parliament last week that farmers can use any means they wish to defend their lands from foraging wild animals. AGRICULTURE MINISTER: Lalkantha Maybe, he has a point. If people have a right of self-defence to protect themselves or their property from human trespassers, and to even use deadly force if they reasonably perceive danger, why cannot the same be applied when it comes to wild animals, intruding on one’s land to devour the crop? Agriculture Minister Lalkantha’s no-frills hard talk failed to sway a group of concerned environmentalists who took to city streets to protest their outrage to what they fear may soon be tantamount to a ‘shoot to kill’ order. Among the protesters last week, was the stalwart street protester, Professor Ajantha Perera who appeared before the CID headquarters on Tuesday to complain of a death threat, she claimed she had received. She told the media, “Lalkantha’s speech was wrong, wrong, wrong. It was an incitement.” CID officials had, however, refused to accept her ‘death threat’ complaint. A disappointed Ajantha said: “They refused to accept it unless the IGP okays it.” But a string of counter-protests began in grassroots villages, with groups charging city environmentalists of being out of touch with the dangers posed by wild animals in rural villages. “From the safety of their suburban cities, these bleeding hearts can protest on streets to save wild animals but how will they feel if their lives are threatened and their crops are ruined overnight by these same animals,” was the general tenor of their justifiable lament. As protests and counter-protests displayed signs of speedily developing into an environmentalist-farmer conflict, Sajeewa Chamikara of MONLAR, Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform, denounced Lalkantha’s irresponsible statement in Parliament and said “it undermined the principles outlined in NPP’s manifesto, where its policy declaration, ‘A Prosperous Country, A Beautiful Life’ emphasised fostering responsible citizens, developing human resources, and upholding the rule of law.’ Seems as if Lalkantha’s ignorance of the law, had led him to impudently attempt to transcend Lanka’s statute books and lead farmers astray, by giving a ministerial assurance, no laws forbid farmers from taking any measure they wish, against wild animals foraging on their lands, when a host of legal tenets in the Flora and Fauna Act expressly make certain acts illegal. If the present NPP Government wishes to amend the law and make the animal-human conflict, a free-for-all, it’s quite a different matter but until then protection for wild animals is, as MONLAR’s Sanjeewav Chamikara claimed, guaranteed under the existing Flora and Fauna Act. Agriculture Minister Lalkantha may realise that his simple and easy solution to the perennial problem of animal-human conflict may not be that easy and simple as Alexander severing the Gordian knot with one fell stroke of sword but requires a holistic approach and deeper review.

Archchuna dances the devil at Jaffna Teaching HospitalBeing addressed in the best of parliamentary traditions as an ‘honourable MP’, presumably, went to swell newcomer Archchuna’s head to bursting point and made him dance the devil in his Jaffna hometown’s teaching hospital this week. JAFFNA HOSPITAL DIRECTOR: Complains to police The extraordinary behaviour in his own backyard—unbecoming of an MP—had occurred all because senior staff of Jaffna Teaching Hospital had refused to address him as ‘sir’ despite his insistence that it befits his new status as an MP. Jaffna Hospital authorities lodged a complaint against MP Archchuna, accusing him of disrupting the operations of hospital, Jaffna Police said on Tuesday. Earlier, in a separate incident before he became an MP, the Director of Mannar Hospital had also lodged a complaint with the Mannar Police. The complaint alleged that Ramanathan Archchuna had entered Mannar Hospital and disrupted its operations. MP ARCHCHUNA: ‘Call me sir’ At a media briefing held in Jaffna this Tuesday, Director of Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Dr. T. Sathyamoorthy told reporters that over 2,000 patients visit Jaffna Teaching Hospital daily for treatment, which makes proper supervision extremely essential. On the day in question, MP Archchuna had arrived at the Teaching Hospital without notice. MP Archchuna had attempted to meet him without permission, and in the process had disrupted hospital staff from carrying out their duties. When Archchuna finally gained entry and met Dr. Sathyamoorthy, the MP had insisted upon being addressed as ‘sir’. “I refused,” said Dr. Sathyamoorthy, Director of the hospital. “I told him I will address him as an ‘honourable member of Parliament’ instead, He shouted at me and said, ‘You should address me as sir whether you like it or not. He threatened to summon me to Parliament for questioning and to take steps to have me removed from my position as hospital director.” The Director of Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Dr Sathyamoorthy said: ‘If MP Archchuna visits the hospital again and disrupts its operations, he will be captured and handed over to the Jaffna Police.” Dr Sathyamoorthy, you are quite welcome to do so. But isn’t it wiser to put him in a straight jacket first?