கவனிக்க: இந்த மின்னூலைத் தனிப்பட்ட வாசிப்பு, உசாத்துணைத் தேவைகளுக்கு மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்தலாம். வேறு பயன்பாடுகளுக்கு ஆசிரியரின்/பதிப்புரிமையாளரின் அனுமதி பெறப்பட வேண்டும்.
இது கூகிள் எழுத்துணரியால் தானியக்கமாக உருவாக்கப்பட்ட கோப்பு. இந்த மின்னூல் மெய்ப்புப் பார்க்கப்படவில்லை.
இந்தப் படைப்பின் நூலகப் பக்கத்தினை பார்வையிட பின்வரும் இணைப்புக்குச் செல்லவும்: Counterpoint 1995.10

Page 1
The DANG
0 Sofie earning
October 1995 Vol. 5 ISSue 5
 

激
'H

Page 2
ALAWWA AMBALANGODA AMPARA
ANURADHAPURA
BAOULLA BALANGODA
BANDARAWELA
BATTCALOA CHLAW COLOMBO Bambalapitiya
Battaramulla BOrella
Dehiwela Fort
Union Place Homagama Ja Ela Kadawata Kandana Kiribathgoda Kollupitiya
Maharagama Maradana
Moratuwa Nugegoda
Pannipitiya
Nandanasiri Stores Royal Book Shop
Delicia Mahajana Picture Palace Sathsara
Mahinda's Sunil Book Shop Leelasena & Sons Udenis Mayura Book Shop
Charles Subasinghe Greenlands Hotel Lanka Traders Liyanage
Shanthi Vihar Pubudusiri Cream House Madhawa Book Shop Pushpa Stores Ketapatha Prakashana Supipi Book Shop Sadeepa Book Shop Lakmini Stores Catholic Book Shop Colombo Hilton Holiday Inn
Taprobane Lake House Book Shop Lanka Oberoi Maclium Book Shop M.D. Gunasena Book Shop Salaka Geethani Grocery Perno Stationers Srimali Grocery Jayabima Samanala Book Shop Vijitha Yapa Book Shop Malee Book Shop A. Z. N. M. Marikar Sasiri Book Shop Godage Book Shop Dayawansa Jayakody 1. P. B. Book Shop McCallum Book Shop Wijesekera Grocery National Book Shop Sarasavi Book Shop Nimali Book Shop
 

Piliyandala Pitakotte Ratmalana Thimbirigasyaya WellaWatte
EMBLIPITIYA GALLE
GAMPAHA
GAMPOLA HAPUTALE HORANA HIKKADUWA KADUGANNAWA KALUTARA KANDY
KULIYAPITIYA KURUNEGALA MATARA MATALE MIRIGAMA MONERAGALA
N'ELIYA NEGAMEBO
NIT TAMBUWA PANADURA PILIMATALAWA PUT TALAM RATNAPURA TRINCOMALEE VAVUNIYA VEYAN,GODA WARAKAPOLLA WELLAWAYA YAKKALA
New City
Pothgula Thusitha Book Shop Missaka Book Shop Windsor Book Shop Rohana Book Shop Vivian Traders Oueens Hotel New Aradhana Traders Vijitha Yapa Book Shop Thaksala Nalanda Book Shop Hema's Book Shop Udaya Stores Davasa Centre Mallikarachchi & Co. Jayathu Hotel Coral Garden Hotel Daya Traders New Owen Joseph Book Shop Guneratne Distributors Seevali Book Shop Vijitha Yapa Book Shop Sithumina Book Shop Maison Book Shop Central Book Shop Sastrodaya Book Shop Sampath Traders Nilmini Stores Malaka TraderS Gamage Stores Sumedha Book Shop Sri Ramya Stores Shop No. 3, (Opposite Municipal Council Nayana Book Shop, Kandana British Book Center Negambo Printers Co-operative Sales Center Ganga Cool House Fernando's Jayasekera Traders Lucky NeWSpaper Agency Pradeepa Book Shop 470, Navy Camp Road Kavidha Stores Somagiri Ranjith Book Shop Suhanda Traders Vidyodaya

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October 1995
COVER STORY6
THE many facets of the crisis affecting Sri Lanka's higher education System are analysed in depth and their causes laid bare.
SPORTS38
ISSusanthika Jayasinghe the victim of the country's bungling sports administration, and what can be done to Salvage this pathetic Situation?
Straight Talk
Media Watch - 18
ImageS LLLLLLLL0LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL LLLLLLLLSLLL ........21
TamilView - 23
October 1 995
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vol. 3 Issue:5
14 PERSPECTIVE
OUR political columnist discusses prospects for the future after the capture of Jaffna, paying special attention to the deteriorating relationship of the State to Tamil civilians in the peninsula.
33 ARTS
THE National Drama Panel of the Arts Council is accused of corruption and COver-up. Sarachchandra and Sunil Ariyaratne are evaluated as translators of LOrca's Yerma.
Cover Layout Asoka Padmasiri
point

Page 4
Comment
nap0logy, ane a pleafor
e are painfully aware that Counterpoint has disappointed its readersby not being on time. We do not wish to make excuses but you have a right to know that these delays are caused by severe financial constraints and staff limitations which are again tied to our balance sheet. Many of those who work for Counterpoint do so without payment, the
2 Соитt
 
 

xplanation and Support
columnists and contributors who work for a pittance that we have hung on for so long.
Therefore, we ask you to bear with us for a month or so more, as you have done so far, until we can streamline our production division. We need to reorganize our printing schedules, improve production quality and expand thescope of themagazine. Forinstance,
our lastissue was with the printers for nearly
ri Lanka. &::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::383.3 i Tel.851572,851573
< Fax. 851814.
All Rights Reserved, Ravaya Publishers. A wholly owned subsidiary of Ravaya Publishers. Contents of Counterpoint are copyright, Reproduction of material inpart of whole is not permitted inary form without the written authorisation of the publisher, Counterpoint,
arpoint
OCt Ober 1995

Page 5
Will Racism Cor
THE security situation discrimination will
in Colombo has been Continue. Causing increasing alarm. The racial Aparallel and equally discrimination in respect unpleasant development of housing us as is the institution of pervasive or Worse than in practices which respect of employment. discriminate against Again, most non-Tamils Tamils, notably in respect may not be fully aware of of employment and this, but Tamils who have housing, but frequently been looking for housing also in respect of mere quickly discover that many
presence in public places. houses, apartments and, These practices not only in particular, lodgings are ‘Violate basic human rights not available to ther and
if Tamils but also have that many others are dangerous implications for offered to them at rents Sri Lanka. much higher than to non
Most non-Tamils may Tamils. Even Tamils who not be fully aware of these had found
racially discriminatory accommodation have practices or of their been harassed by the implications. police and neighbours and Unemployment is a evicted on account of problem which affects unsubstantiated members of all anonymous petitions. In Communities, but Tamils effect, there are two who have been seeking racially differentiated employment are often told housing markets: the one that they cannot be for Tamils is significantly considered for Smaller, substantially employment on account of higher priced and with their ethnicity. Young leSS Secure tenure than
Tamils, especially males the One for non-Tamils. are those Worstaffected. This is an unavoidable Even Tamils who are in Consequence of employment, particularly indiscriminate harassment in the private sector, feel of Tamils and of the
very insecure. Several Owners of their houses/ have lost their jobs on apartments or of the chief account of a single occupants of their unsubstantiated lodgings. anonymous petition. So What is most longas there are unfortunate is that such indiscriminate arrests and blatant racial ❖ሪ·ኃ detentions of Tamils and discrimination, which is
harassment of their contrary to the liberala
鑽 no
Соитter October 1995 4.
 
 
 
 
 

Point of view
nbat Terrorism?
Lanka, is aggravated not constant harassment, they Only because of the may have no option but to incidence of terrorism but return to the North or East also by measures adopted by state agencies to combat it. The repeated exhortations to rep
all suspicious-looking people, without a caution agains inconveniencing or discriminating against innocent persons inevitably results reports against virtual Tamils. In this situation, illwill flourishes in multiethnic neighbourhoods. Racist practices such as requiring all Tamils (and Tamils only) to register 签 their residence, including victims of racial ] temporary residence, with discrimination. It does not
the Police Station through appear that the broader
the owners of their policies and practices of houseslapartments or the racial discrimination and chief Occupants of their their implications for
lodgings make abad national unity have been situation worse, publicly addressed. The
Racial discrimination Security situation in many and giving official sanction areas Outside the North are utterly reprehensible; and East isindeed a
the ill-effects of these matter of grave Concern to developments go even all of us. But the remedy further. Many Tamils, must Cure, and not particularly young males, aggravate the illness.To have come out of the seek to deal with acts of North or East to escape terrorism through racially the conditions there; discriminatory policies and others have opted to ractices is not merely remain Outside the North morally flawed; such an or East; yet others have approach is shortsighted
nd
chosen to return to Lanka from over they continue to fac discrimin
counter-productive in

Page 6
Let’s say (NIO) to Cor
very much appreciate the Contents of the article ... but at the Same time wish
to state that teachers should not be alone blamed for the discipline of children, and further it is not really acceptable to do away with Corporate punishment completely for the following reasons:
A child's behaviour is moulded from the infant stage. From the article it is Seen that Mr. N.Y. Cassie Chetty, the new Head Master of St. Thomas College has not been subjected to Corporal punishment at home or at school. He is lucky that he had good, understanding and Well educated parents. I am definite he had been educated in a good School and also by a good Set of teachers. This is not SO for everyone. I am of the opinion that 90% of Children's behaviour depends on their being brought up by their parents and only 10% by his or her teachers. A parent at the most has to look-after not more than 06 Children in extreme Cases, and the children spend about 16 hours a day with their parents and only 8 hours a day with a teacher. Nowadays a teacher will have to look after 40 students for approximately 40 minutes for each subject. With this the teacher will have to teach the students, COrrect exercise books and look
after their well-being. Therefore it will be extremely difficult for the teacher to COnCentrate On all students equally and also leisurely.
ln Sri Lanka though each and every parent wants his Or her child to be of Very good behaviour and do well in life, are they contributing towards this genuinely? It is true that, psychologists say that high delinquency rate, dropping Out of Schools, result from violations of the Self of children through various cases or types of violent abuses mild or strong. It is Very easy to say this, but very difficult to implement. The concerned parent has brought Out a Case of a small child completely afraid of the teacher and it is very unfortunate that there are many cases like this. I am stating another extreme Case that happened to a friend's son. He is also studying in a reputed School. In this case he had been harassed Or hit by another student and when he reported this to the teacher the class teacher not only did not take any action against the student but has threatened that she will not give stars for progress in class work if there is any complaint. Don't you think by this the teacher is encouraging One student to do all sorts of harassing etc. and not taking any action to Correct it? Maybe, the teacher did
Соит

Dialogue
poral Punishment
not want to do it Or the teacher is afraid to do this. This is only one side of the picture Concerning what is happening in the so-called well known private Schools. Have we everlooked into the other Schools Which are about 75% of the total number? in these Schools children of various types of backgrounds are studying. Even the staff in do not have proper facilities. With this the poor teacher had to teach the students and also compete with the Well endowed Schools to produce results and compete in all activities including discipline. Further, wish to state that these students are With the teacher at most from 6 to 8 hours for only about 170 days a year. The other days go as public holidays and term holidays. If the parents spend at least one hour with their children personally every day, Out of the 16 hours they are with them, they can produce far better results. Thus, because the children are at home it does not mean that they are looked after by parents. About indiscipline will state the parents are to take more responsibiliy than the teacher though many may not with for this. WOuld say that We as parents contribute to the present
are ragged at the University at the extreme of Sadism and also to damage the respect of the individual, as parents are We to encourage or condemn? It is very sad that some of the parents are keen on getting the culprit exonerated while they are not bothering at all with what has happened at the varsity and it is a fact that it is due to lack of discpline. Some parents give too many facilities to their children and a few children join them and go on the Wrong track like smoking, drugs etc. which may not be possible for children of normal families. Further, Some of us try to insist that Our children ways do the Correct thing and never try to advise them. Therefore, my view is that the abolishment of corporal punishment should not be taken as sufficient by itself. But it is necessary at least in Some cases in Schools. It may be in few Schools like St. Thomas' College this may be possible to manage without Corporal punishment. In other Schools unless the parents take a big share and interest it may not be possible at all to abolish corporal punishment and as such Corporal punishment will be
state of indiscipline etc. by inevitable. the students even at the University level.
When a set of students Another Concerned Parent
terpoint
October 1995

Page 7
THE Department of immigration and Emigration Called for a Tender to Computerize its functions and the tender was closed forbids on 23rd January 1995. The Tender was to provide the Computer Hardware, ApplicationSoftware, Training Maintenance of the system for the next 5 years and Conversion of existing paper based records to Computer format. The Treasuryallocated Rupees 150 Million from the 1994/95 budget for this purp0Se.
Seven of the largest Computer Companies in the island were present at the Ministry of Defence to submit the bids. The bid was in two parts -- Technical and Financial and only the technical bids were opened On the tenderclosing date while the financial proposals were Sealed and kept away.
It then took 4", months for the Ministry to appoint a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) to evaluate the tender. The Committee appointed after 4", months was headed by an Academic from NIBM while the Second member was from the Treasury and the third was an officer from the Department. Naturally the computer knowledge of the two members are Well below that of the academic and thereby they do not challenge any suggestions from the academic.
This particular academic from NIBMwas notappointed to any large Computer evaluation teams by the previous Government due to his alleged favouritism to the international computer giant IBM. Back in
early 80's he apparently gave a false recommendation in favour of IBM foratenderattheAgrarian Research & Training Institute and after it was pointed out by another organization Datatech Limited to the then Minister Mr. D.B. Wijetunga this academic Wrote another correct report by disqualifying his Own previous evaluation. Since then he has been kept out of large or important evaluation teams.
Additionally, to the Surprise of the Tenderers, the TEC Completed theevaluation for the Department of Immigration within mere 3 weeks with only 4 sittings. The Tenderers Wonder
مخه مه ه •م؟)
 
 

Letters
hOW, withina Such ashort time, the team managed to evaluate 7 comprehensive proposals prepared by the respective Organizations Overa period of 2 1"months. TheTenderers also feel that the appointment of only One academictoa TEC will result in the academicleading the other members to biased recommendations.
After these 4 sittings the Committee selected only 2 Companies (IBM and NIXDORF) for the financial evaluation. Financial bids were opened on the 23rd August 1995 and the same Committee
همه امر همده
completed their financial evaluation within the next two sittings recommending the award of the tender to the Evaluation Committee Head's favourite, IBM, for a price of Rupees 190 Million, thus exceeding the allocated budget by Rupees 40 Milion. The serious questions arise here are which:
1. Was there a fair tender
evaluation in the first place? 2. Can 3 people within 4 sittings evaluate 7 proposals prepared by experts in the industry? 3. is the evaluation
Committee very Certain that the other 6 firms cannot provide an acceptable Solution within the available budget? 4. is this the way the Department of Immigration spends the poor man's money? It is a fact that the same Department recently offered a Contract to supply 2 Million Passports to the British company Harrisons fora price of Rupees 240 Million while the allocated budget for that project was also Rupees 150 Million, therebyoverlooking the much cheaper and the quality offers from the existingsupplier Thmas De La Rue and 5 Others.
The Honourable Finance Ministeristaxing the poorman to find money for the ongoing war whilea Department under the Defence Ministry is wasting public funds under the very nose of both MinisterS.
N.D. Perera

Page 8
HGHIHRHIDUCA
EDUCATION is said to open the doors of opportunity. But as farashighereducationin Sri Lanka is concerned, it seems to beclosing, rather than opening doors. The pride with which weproclaim our democratic system of free education is now becoming mere wish-fulfillmentina context where there is a glaring mismatch between the nature of the degrees awarded, and the development and employment needs of the country. There is also the question of the "rat race".
From the GCE Advanced Level onwards, students face perpetual obstacles in obtaining their educational goals. Free education has come to mean almost nothing where even the poorest rural students seems to swear by their private tutors. Informal studies that need further corroboration indicate that nearly 75% of all students in the GCEOrdinary and Advanced Level classes attend private tutories.
And after th
Advanced Level 1.1, there is t entering univer only 20,96% oft enter universit
THE GRADUATE EMPL
THE Graduate sector organizations
Employment require graduates with Programme conducted more professional by the Ministry of qualifications in Youth Affairs to assist subjects such as graduates in securing Business employment reflects Administration and the predicament of the Accountancy. As a job-seeking university result, there is a long student. Most of the waiting list of graduates graduates who enrolled within the programme. for the first batch (1990. There is also the issue of 4) are from the Arts- permanent posts. and Bio-Science-based During the 1 1/2-year courses. Conversely, training period, the public and private Ministry grants the
Соитt
 

ON AND THEN
e battle with the
system seeTable he question of 'sity. In 1991/2, hose qualified to y were able to
secure places because of limited vacancies (see Table 1.2, This too, specially in the cases of medicine and engineering, OCCUS sometimes after two or three attempts at the Advanced Level exam (see Table 2). Yet, a large percentage of the "luckier" candidates enter university only to discover that what they have been striving for hasn't been worth the sweat. Most courses do not offer the graduate much hope in the competitive world of employment, and the degree only brings with it frustration.
Certainly, university education comes a very poor third to a good knowledge of English and an urban/semi-urban middle class background in private sector employment, where personal contacts and individual recommendations still wield the greatest influence in securing the plum jobs.
Political agendas ostensibly set up for the equitable education of
OYMENT PROGRAMME
students an allowance job responsibility and of Rs.2500 per month. job satisfaction. However, they are Right now, there are 9215 expected to be made pending applications permanent and paid by for the programme the respective with the Ministry. organizations once the They cannot be
training period is over. The problem is, only 12 out of 6012 graduates under the programme have sofar been made permanent. The others continue to be on government allowances with little
considered because in addition to the issue of the 6000 graduates without permanent posts, there is also the long waiting list of previous batches to consider,
ervoinf

Page 9
the nation are questionable. It is certainly not a long-term plan of perceiving education as an investment, but of giving the electorates what they think they want. If the demand is for Artsbased courses in the universities, this will be provided, regardless of the dead-end most graduates face after three or four years in the university. This "democratic" gesture is much more insidious than it appears. In the first place, the prospective Arts students are not fully appraised of the dearth of jobs; in the second, due to the appalling lack of facilities and teachers in theremoter areas, these students have no option but to study in the Arts stream after passing the OL exam; in the third, no attempthas been made to adapt or even orient the university arts degree courses to employability, with the dictation and taking down of decade-old notes being the real heart of university education in these faculties.
What should be addressed, rather, is the employment needs of the country, and the provision ofeducational facilities for science, commerce subjects etc. in rural schools so that more opportunities are given to students in areas where a job market does exist.
As Mr R. H. M. Piyasena, Additional Secretary of the Academic Division, University Grants Commission, points out, "There are no surveys being done as to what our country needs in education and employment. How many Doctors do we need? How many in the humanities is too many? This is because there is no overall development plan for the country".
It is a wonder that this mismatch had not been addressed years ago. At least the distinct signs of youth unrest and related problems cropping up all the time should have been a cue to follow. But for two decades now, students have been passing out of six universities offering the same
kinds of traditio) on the Oxbridg years now thereh glut of unemplo the market. alternative, ofco" them with teachi so that, typically can be found classes of rural sc frustration and round. Students fields such as Sc Science have
TABLEff
NOQUALIFIED NOADMITTED
problems findin employment as e Graduate Programme (see is, that at the Sam urgent need in experts, preferab in areassuch ashc surveying, environmentals of other "moderr Additionally, the lowest stand care in Asia with for doctorperpat to 1:2580 in India. the demand for amounts to 1500 through our med: the developme occurred in mec engineering, have the requirements In other field who do pass out courses havenotb significantly or
Соитte
October 1995
 
 
 
 
 

al courses based
model, and for as been a distinct ved graduates in The populist urse, is to provide ng appointments, , Arts graduates in kindergarten hools, spreading hopelessness all
passing out of ciology and Bioeternally had
篡 1994 129220 131556 123380 126345 50347 55.26 。 59308 56738
8800 9039 Not Releasd
8.192
g degree-related videnced by the Employment box 1). The irony e time, there isan the country for ly with degrees, telmanagement, pharmacology, udies and a host "subject areas. we have one of ards of medical a ratio of 1:6000 ent, as compared Not even 50% of doctors (which per year) is met cal colleges. And nts that have icine, and even failed to address of the country. S as well, those f the traditional
een contributing
systematically
Source: Dept.of Examinations
Cover Story
enough to the sustainable development of the country. The glut of Sociology degrees in the country could very well be used for development programmes incorporating gender, class and ethnicissues.They could also work towards educating society, an education which is vital for the sustainable development of the country. Agriculture specialists, like thosein India, could help make Sri Lanka a major exporter rather than importer, of agricultural
goods. But graduates are not being utilized to make significant contributions in either of these, nor many other, areas.
What is the University Grants Commission and the Ministry doing in the midst of this predicament in higher education? Good intentions of the officials there have hardly been transformed into deeds. Most of the activity is talked of in the future tense, and the past and the present only offer stories of misfired attempts, or of no attempts at all. The Ministry of Youth Affairs is planning a comprehensive review of the social sciences curriculum through workshops that will take into consideration the issue of modern course work and the question of "dying" subjects such as History, Oriental Studies, Pali and Sanskrit. The series of workshops will beheld in conjunction with the UGC, the Education Ministry and Technical
point

Page 10
Colleges. The Ministry is also planning a training programme on pedagogy for university teachers where their role as teacher and researcher will be stressed. But actual results occurring through such dialogue are yet to be seen.
Other than a few nonsystematicchangeshere and there, such as theintroduction of courses in Microbiology and Industrial Science at the University of Kelaniya, and innovative courses
education for a I two-year Diploc course was desi would be more
with six core sub Computer Scien Sri Lanka Environmenta Marketing) wit bent. However points out,"stud the instigation o and the system is down."
AELEt2
PERCENTAGE OF ELIGIBLE STUDENTS AD
UNIVERSITY, 翁
SUBJECT STREAM 89/90 909型
Arts 13.71 莓96 Commerce 12.13 1538 Physical Science 44.78 68.05 Biological Sciences 24.50 31.32
Total Average क्षं.8र्क्ष्य 1874. 24.00
ষ্ট Not even 50% who sit the Advanced Level exam manage to out of those who dopass, as little as around 25% actually
such as a degree in Textiles and the University of Moratuwa, the academia has proved to be resistant to course reform. According to Mr. S. Edirisuriya, Director of Employment Division of the Ministry of Youth Affairs, "The professors are only thinking of their convenience. They just want to teach what they have learnt".
There is much evidence to demonstrate the academics' and students' resistance to changes that would facilitate the enhancement of the job market: a recentexample is the protests against the Affiliated University Colleges system which was part of a programme to create an intermediate tier in higher
except in the case of the Physical Sciences and Medicine.
the Graduate
The point is cannot be awar basis, but that resourcestogo a degree-awardin Lanka, and too needed in ma areas, so that th overlooked.
Whereas in Affiliated Univ students agita awarding cours medical field h Here, attempts Assistant Medi Course to a c vociferously sł doctors and the that their
Coun
 
 

more job-oriented ma course. The gned so students useful on the job, jects (i.e. English, ce, Management, Studies, l Studies and h a professional , as Mr. Piyasena ents agitated with fpolitical groups, s soon to be closed
MITTED TO
s
91.192
重552 1252
6擂24 29.98
20.96
Source: IGC get through and inter university,
not that degrees ded on the same there are too few round for so many ginstitutionsin Sri many specialists ny professional he issue cannot be
the case of the versity Colleges, ted for degreees, the story in the as been different. to upgrade the cal Practitioners' legree has been houted down by GMOA for fear qualifications
(privileges?) will be in jeopardy. What was intended through this upgrading, however, was that a large number will opt for the course and remedy the shortage of medical personnel.
Also, Assistant Medical Practitioners would then have been more instrumental in the developments in paramedical areas, research work and community medicine, and the more capable practitioners would have been able to follow through to an MBBS course. But as always, innovative educational systems to meet the development needs of
the country are hardly seen for
what they are by the professionals in the respective fields, many of whom want to protect vested interests in the name of maintaining unrealistic standards that their own ilk observe in the breach.
Further, student resistance has been evident in the UGCattempts to introduce the progressive step of the course-unit system to universities. The students went on strike as Soon as it was Suggested. The University of Kelaniya is a case in point where the students were able to outmaneuvre the Vice Chancellor and Senate, postponing the changes yet another time.
Now, the UGC has arrived at a compromise with these various strands of objections through the introduction of three modern universities meant to address employment issues and Sri Lanka's development needs in a more direct sense. Of these, the University of Oluvil has already been launched and the Rajarata University, with faculties at Anuradhapura, Kuliyapitiya and Polgola and the Sabaragamuwa University with faculties at Balangoda, Ratnapura and Buttala have also been gazetted. These universities will replace the Affiliated Colleges and award more job-oriented degrees. It is hoped that the new universities
terpoint
OC’t Ober 1995

Page 11
will also cater to the modern concept of the intellectual as a productive individual involved in policy formulations and the addressing of social issues in the country.
This does not mean however, that the traditional universities can reston their laurels, if they possess any, that is. Major changes have to occur in course work so that they fall in line with the three new universities, not to mentionalmost uniform global trends.
Meanwhile, the frustrations created byanineffective university system are reflected in the general student mood. Even as they enter the university, undergraduates know that their degree will have little bearing on their ability to secure a job, and that they are consistently marginalized in a system of employment where the more affluent youth with less qualifications than them, (and perhaps less ability) have better chances of gaining the limited slots in the job market. As one first year student in the Commerce Faculty of the University of Colombo puts it, "We choose out subjects without any target, because there's nothing to choose from, and we end up like a whirlpool caught in a storm".
They also know that the statutory requirement of teaching English to students is only being paid lip service. Groups of students interviewed were in almost unanimousagreement that the regional conducted for them prior to university entrance and the ongoing English courses conducted during term time are not geared to their immediate needs in learning the language, that of English as an aid in their studies.
For with no substantial facilities for reference material irt Sinhala and Tamil, students without the ability to use English reference material are at a distinct disadvantage. Furthermore,
1991/92
GELT course
students in th engineering fa follow their lect with little prior a in the language, English courses, give the student reading comprel fulfil their objecti said, "There is between the Engl the subject matte should train us to textbook materia. more keen on the Schools certail to offer the rurals of English Langu
he high rate of se is due to the fact t respectively, to th succeed, so they er
The hig
The English text schools, as the stuc pointed out,areen in a situation wh leave alone the
proficient in Er undergraduate Anuradhapura s
October 1995
Counter
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover Story
medical and ulties have to ures in English ademic training The university however, fail to s the necessary ension skills to res. One student no relationship sh we learn and we study. They read and teach , then we will be English classes". ly have nothing tudents in terms Lage Education.
book is good for people who already know English. What are we supposed to do with a book like that in 45 minutes?".
Unless the language issue is circumvented, discrimination against 90% of the university student population is going to persist in the job market. As Mr Piyasena points out, language problems cannot be addressed after entrance to the university. It has to be a part of the education system, particularly at Secondary level. But plans to offer students a systematic islandwide English Course from Grades 6-10 (Years 711), rather than from Grade3(Year
ond and third attempts in the Physical and BioSciences at most students in these areas are attempting to get in, ' Medicine and Engineering streams. Very few of thi ter the physical and bio fields instead.
pooks used in ents themselves irely unrealistic re the teacher, tudent, is not glish. As one
from
lys, "that text
οίηί
4) are only being talked about, not implemented.
This many-faceted disillusionment of the undergraduate transforms itself into an aggression which is most evident in the students' approach to issues such as ragging. There is

Page 12
an almost perverse notion among certain groups of university students that ragging is the "only way" of getting to know the freshas."Otherwise they wouldn't come if they are merely called". What they fail to see is that within the culture of ragging, students are certainly not going to heed a mere "call". Another student said, "We decide on the rag according to the people. If a fresha wears a beard, then he will get it bad". Some students went so far as to
say that the name "rag" should be changed because it carried wrong connotations! Even the first years who hadjust gone throughanasty spell of ragging seems to conform to this view.
According to one student, "welcomeparties are all nonsense, we neverget to know the freshers that way" and according to another, "we are able to create a sense of unity through the rag, that is why politicians are against ragging"(). Most seemed to agree.
These stateme: things clear. Fi that aggression among students tendencies of "b politicians", wh in some cases, absurd proporti The students able to draw a line between "harmless" ragg see that even th rag" (whatever
traumatic effect
of student.
Thoseamon, first opposed ra the young won themselves interviews in case ofindirecti who did ventur were jeered at
According undergraduate of Kelaniya, tł starting point
Сои
10
 
 

ts make many it, a perception osters cordiality and that student laming it on the ch is reasonable as been taken to ons here.
also seem to be non-problematic "harmful" and ing. They fail to e most "innocent hat is) can have
s on certain types
, thestudents who gging, particularly en, later silenced during group what was a clear timidation. Those to oppose therag s"cry babies".
to a Fine Arts at the University e rag is also the or political mind
bending to gather support for the university's political parties. And for vulnerable students from rural areas with little financial see table 3) or socialsecurity, these"raggers" become the ultimate Saviours in an alien and unsupportive environment. "It is through the rag that the political groups feed their half-truths about capitalism and so on to the freshers. According to them, even if I wear a pair of denim jeans, the World Bank is to blame."
However, it is important to see these tendencies as springing from a general bitterness towards a system they have little power to fight. This bitterness begins with issues within the university itself, the provision of computer facilities, for example. One Commerce student from the University of Colombo says, "We get no computer literacy at all in the first two years, even though we have one of the most advanced computer institutions in the country. They have made the ICT (The Institute of Computer Technology at the University of Colombo) a money-making institution."
This bitterness extends to the outside world as well where the university studentis prejudicially perceived as an anarchical and unsavoury element in society, a conclusion unjustly drawn from the spate of strikes and demonstrations occurring within universities.
Then there is the battle with the private sector, an increasingly important sphere of employment in a context where many government departments that earlier provided around 90% of the graduates with jobs, are now being closed down to slash state expenditure.
However, the demands of the private sector and the contributions of the local university graduate seems to be increasingly at odds. The university studentisperceived by
terpoint
OCOber 1995

Page 13
the private sector as being overeducated, anti-establishment and non-productive. The prime concern of the private sector employer, naturally, is optimum productivity and not the fate of the disillusioned university student.
As Dian Gomes, Managing Director of Slimline, the one of the largest employers of graduates and CIMA qualified people in the private sector, says, "Graduates are not good trainees, because by the time they pass out, they are about 25 years old, and they don't want to be trainees, they want to be executives. They think their degrees carry a premium, but it means nothing to us until they are trained". Many private sector executives spoken to held similar views about the graduates they had employed.
Sure enough, after a two year wait before entering university, and after three or four more years (or, indeed, five or six) in the university, what they want is immediate results in the job market, an unrealistic objective as far as the employer is concerned. This mismatch between graduate aspiration and employer expectation has unfortunately proved disastrous over and over again.
In one case, twelve engineering graduates recruited by a private firm didn't last more than two weeks on the job because their work didn't fit the career image they had built up for themselves. The undergraduates themselves attest to the fact. As one student said, "Graduates don't like to go in for small jobs. So they take up a teaching postata school, and wait till they get a good post at a company".
For them, then, it is a question of "integrity" and "identity", a question that has to be addressed when designing courses for these students for whom the prime objective is employment. A professional component is
essentialin degré they don't ente novices both inte and knowledge.
Yet the priva culpable inmany isanimplicit, and explicit, classism certain private gives precedence and "polish" in factor, and an ob for foreign degré interpreted as a employees from However, thatma executives are prejudice is a pro here too, the pro have not been tangible results. Thus, highe related issues a problems that nee through a cont
assigned the task According to Su office hadacomp in transcribing ec
Now, a post Students' Counci Rs.2500, the sam tutorial topics wi Sugath loves university. Yet, it is not being enco circumventing in student, but also
chance when he
Соит
October 1995
 

Cover Story
2 courses so that the market as ms of experience
te sector too is instances. There sometimes even that operates in institutions that to "personality" students. This vious preference es, can easily be preference for a certain class. iny private sector fighting this mising sign. Yet, mises of change matched with
education and re fraught with 'd to be addressed inuing and far
reaching dialogue. A dialogue between curriculum developers, university teachers, employers, and most important of all, the students themselves. These issues also have to be discussed within the framework of an overall development plan for the country. There is not much use in implementing curriculum changes, if employment opportunities are not created in keeping with these amendments. It is futile, for example, to launch a degree in pharmacology ifsimultaneoussteps are not taken to develop the local drug manufacturing industry. But within a cohesive development plan, a reformed agenda for higher education and a systematic English LanguageTeaching programme for studentsatall levels cando wonders in finding solutions to the predicaments in Sri Lanka's higher education.
CHESTORY OF SUGATH
an inflexible university system.
Special degree. A First Class is the
he joined the Graduate Training
finding employment for the three enrolled blind students. They were finally recruited by the Government Brail Printing Office, where they were
గా
The story of Sugathis the story of
Sugathis ablind student who passed out of the University of Colombo in 1994 with a First Class in a History
highest honoura student can achieve, and only a handful of the most outstanding have achieved this in History since university education was instituted in the country. No vacancy existed for him in the university's History Department, so
Programme, where they had trouble
of cleaning the rust out of old Brail plates for reprinting. ath, they were also treated badly because the others at the ex due to their lack of education. Sugath also engaged himself
ucational books into Brail. as been created for Sugath as the Information Officer of the or's Office at the University of Colombo, where he still earns amount he earned as a graduate trainee. Here, he discusses hundergraduates and gives them general advice. o teach, but is not bitter about the absence of a post at the is strange that a student in a "dying" subject such as History raged, and unfair that someone who has achieved so much by : only the general obstacles faced by the average university he difficulties resulting from his blindness, should not 羲 eserves it. မ္ပိ
point II

Page 14
"lowering of
IT is the general perception of academics and the not-so-general public that standards at universities are steadily on the decline. "In the (good) old days..." has become so common a beginning to any conversation on the university system - be it about ragging, academic performance, English language proficiency, graduate employment, whatever-that the decline in standards has become an incontrovertible factincertain circles. And this, many add, is the direct result of the District Quota System vhich accountsforaround 60% of the studentintake each year. Based on the districtauotasystem, students from educationally disadvantaged districts such as Trincomalee and Moneragala are able to enter university with a much lower aggregate than their counterparts in Colombo or Jaffna. For example, while students from districts such as Colombo and Jaffna needed a minimum aggregate of 289 and 290 respectively to enter the Engineering Faculty last year, students from Moneragala needed only a minimum of 191, a hundred marks less that their counterparts in the more privileged districts.
In addition, certain vacancies, such as the quota for Physical Science in districts such as Vavuniya, Mulaitivu and Mannar cannot be filled because of the absence of qualified applicants in the field. Faculties
this "togetherness" and "loyalty" are certainly not that obvious when it comes to race relations. With the ongoing offensive in the North and the resulting spate of suicide bombers in the South, each Tamil student
within the university, just like each Tamilin society in general, has become
 

Standards'
such as Law which are extremely competitive, but which have the additional requirement of a Creditin English at the GCE Ordinary Level sometimes have a lower cut-off mark than Arts (with the largest number of entrants and often the lowest aggregates within the system) due precisely to the fact that very few candidates from, say, Moneragala have credit passes in English at the O/L.
However, that it is the district-based entrants who are responsible for the poor performance at examinations has not been backed by any official research. Furthermore, in Districts such as Moneragala, educational facilities for A/L students are very poor and sometimes non-existent. The direct effect of this on the students' A/L results, and the improved opportunities offered them within the university system make it impossible for anyone to presume that the correlation between examination failures and the district quota entrants is a positive Oe.
The point is that university teachers and others concerned must look for more complex, more interconnected reasons for this much-vaunted decline in standards, and, to be sure, these reasons must acknowledge the culpability and complicity of the entire academic community within the country.
Racis happens to be one of the few
※ legitimate occupants of the
hostel, whereas those who have
beds are not registered at all. On another occasion,
a Tamil student who was
attending a special class at the university which was over at 8:00pm had great difficulty in gaining admission to the hostel
espite giving prior - notice of the class to the authorities, and despite being brought to the
ostel in the lecturer's ,,,, own vehicle. No small itself has wonder, then, where the Pof following administration, the security
- one for apparatus and the students have
done for the come together to alienate, isolate telof the and even intimidate the Tamil ombo, the only šžMškož ۔۔۔۔
缓释
OC’t Ober 1995

Page 15
THE current crisis at the University of Peradeniya is delicately symptomatic of many of the issues confronting higher education in this country. The root cause of the present stalemate was the ragging offreshers at the beginning of this academic year. Some seven students were caught ragging in the Arts Faculty, an inquiry was duly held, and punishments recommended to the Council, the governing body, which were carried out. Since the offence included the use of a knife, some of those found guilty were expelled, while others were suspended. The students concerned and their associates in the Student Union agitated for leniency, and the Council agreed to consider these requests at the end of the year.This, however, was not good enough for the students who wanted an immediate reconsideration. Tremendous pressure
not the least from the Minister of higher Education, Richard Pathirana, who made uninformed and irresponsible public statements in general sympathy With the raggersbut later (when the going got really tough, of course) faded back into the woodwork, Students staged protest marches, pickets, rallies, sit-ins, boycotts, postercampaigns,asatyagraha,and finally a fast (upavasa) in rotation. They also fished out a red herring in the form of long-standing allegations against the university's Bursar. Their battlecry became the demand foran immediateinvestigation against the Bursar, but the clear subtext was still the reduction of the punishment meted out to the raggers.
Theother faculties did not take partin the boycott of lectures organised by the Arts Faculty, so more radical steps were required if the whole deal was not to fizzle out. Even in the Arts Faculty the agitators formed a small minority, but as '') the majority remained apathetic even in disagreement. Yet, some students defied the threats and harassment of their colleagues, and attended lectures. They were bathed with buckets of water mixed with faecal matterandpromised acid baths next.
In the meantime, some of the same crowd had attacked a vehicle and its occupants on the publichighway that runs through the university, allegedly because they were "defiling the Purly '' campus. Clearly a serious escalation of the situation was required. The students forcibly occupied a part of the Economics
wasbrought to bearon the Vice Chancellor,
The Peradeniya
building and install public address syste all workin the Facult led to legal action authorities, and in th about 20 students are case against those outsiderson the publ some arrests. In the some of the students w and attacked have persuaded by the evidence against th another bunch of charged by the Polic The Governmen capitulated to the stu appointed a three-mc inquire into the enti insisting on any pre students. Thus, the right to continue w disruptive activity premises, while their investigated, and the reject the Commissi do not Come out in t The familiar sym 1 The university hasil tomakеany puni Invariably, afte pressure and the have been reduc faced with this k hardly needs to 2. From the student
cardinal ruleapp (within the univ has the right top whatever reason that both univer national laws c impunity by un the university. 3 Student politicsisi * from outside, b parties or revolt Universities o Jayawardenap Moratuwa and R by the Janatha (UVP), while the is ruled by the group ideologica but even mor chauvinist than controlled InterFederation that Peradeniya prec ends. The sign
Count
OC’t Ober 1995

Cover Story
| Confrontation
ed an unauthorized m which disrupted ..This open defiance being taken by the le court proceedings facing charges. The who assaulted the icroad has also led to latest development,
who wereintimidated
apparently been authorities to give heir assailants, and students has been
È has in the interim idents' pressure and embercommission to re situation, without conditions from the students reserve the ith their illegal and on the university grievances are being ey can also choose to On's findings if they heir favour. ptoms are these: hardly ever been able shment against stick, r the piling on of use of threats, these ed or rescinded, and cind of network, one wonder why perspective, the one ears to be that no one rersity or outside it) unish any student for at all. This means 'sity rules as well as can be broken with dergraduates within
invariably controlled y national political itionary groups. The f Peradeniya, Sri tra, Kelaniya, uhuna are controlled Vimukthi Peramuna Colombo University Janatha Mithuro, a illy similar to the JVP Sinhala-Buddhist them. IT is the JVP. University Students' is manipulating the licament to its own s are that the JVP,
proscribed because of its attemptatan armed insurrection in the 1987-1990 period, is on the prowl again. Clandestine meetings are being held in the provinces, and the universities has always been its main breeding ground. The JVP hand behind the blowing up of this issue is telling, and an onlinous harbinger of things to come. Some analysts estimate that the UNP government decimated 60,000 people in an attempt to root out the JVP, but hardly 5 years later they are back in business. Surely, this must be a warning to the PA government who apparently seek to do the same with the LTTE in the North? Today the JVP to rest (or the LTTE, for that matter), one must address the reasons for its existence, causes for its continuance, otherwise one is doomed "to scotch the Snake, not kill it." 4 Peradeniya also shows the way politicians do not want to antagonize the student body at any cost. In this endeavour, the Vice Chancellor and staffare fairbait, thereby demoralizing and debilitating the university system itself. University autonomy cannot stand up against political expediency even in the newer dispensation. 5History is repeating itself at Peradeniya, and the Police have stepped in, charging altogether over 30 students for various offences, ranging from assault and intimidation to the illegal use of loudspeakers. This means that the originalissuesandprincipleshave be lost in the process, the rest 9' universities will see those charged as victims, even martyrs, and the brave few who defied their threats in attending lectures will now become ogres who have betrayed and destroyed their colleagues. The entire incident has reached epidemic proportions which has to be in the interest of the agitators and their JVP backers because the authorities cannot sustain such a campaign against the entire student body. At the time of going to press, the Engineering Faculty had just decided to join the boycott in support of the Arts Faculty,anda300-400strong Police posse had destroyed the unauthorized
structures put up by the students who
ave occupied a hoster ' Obeyesekera Hall, and are continuing the Protest Fast from there.
point
I3

Page 16
Wasa
AND so the Army will march into Jaffna, the civilians will return, credible Tamil political representation will emerge to take over the civilian administration and to eventually implement devolution, investment will flood in and the Tigers, first contained and then subsequently marginalized in the jungles. This appears to be the Government's scenario for post-offensive conflict resolution. Everything will turn out okay. This is the beginning of the end of ethnic conflict. Or is it? There are sound grounds for arguing that this is a fantasy concocted by a bunch of amateurs whosenotionofstrategy is no more than a hope and a prayer and whose idea of conflict resolution is fatally compromised by arrogance and naivete.
It is more likely that this offensive has led us back to the future of occupation, ambush, attack, atrocity and attrition. Having taken Jaffna, what happens next?
The offensive has not endeared this government to the Tamil civilians. Together with the LTTE, the Government must bear responsibility for the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding and moreover, since it has seen fit in these circumstances to demonstrate its political virility vis-a-vis the NGOs, the Government must take full responsibility for whatever shortcomings there are in the management of this crisis. The Army will be an army of occupation confronting a
Το
population that Shot of them. Par army of occupati an army that Wa there fast and not guerrilla attack. nevertheless cou elusive. It cert, conveniently pos Consequentl mOVement enV fanciful Scenarip outset, will be es to initiate. In thes can the Governr civilians who ar. their credibility cooperating with toget its political the fire ? One wo the civilians war the Government devolution fir importantly, tha effectively marg longer a key pla former militan implement the e question of credibility. Andt not play ball is a In any event, t package is of ind and in limbo. It that long journe committee, approval and referendum. A interim period months, even int. that the process pronto, will be ol stalemate. Whil proceeds throu stages at a pace that of the Army the best we can conflict resolutio

wants to be well adoxically, as an on it will also be nts to get out of be vulnerable to The exit route, uld prove to be ainly won't be sted. y, the political risaged in the outlined at the pecially difficult e circumstances, ment find Tamil e willing to risk y and lives by the Government chestnuts out of uld imagine that ut to be sure that is serious about 'st, and most ut the LTTE are inalized and no yer. Bringing in its to front or xercise, begs the their political hat the TULF will SSured. he Government's eterminatestatus has yet to begin y through select parliamentary t a national ccordingly, the of quite a few he unlikely event is commenced he of tension and lst the package igh its various not dissimilar to getting to Jaffna, hope for is that n will be in limbo
.മീ. മ4
rather than retarded
There is no discounting the possibility that the majority community political constituency, fed on a diet of military victory against terrorism, will turnits back on devolution and powersharing. There is no guarantee that this victory will breed magnanimity and that arguments will not be advanced that a favourable balance of military forces is just as politically unfavourable to devolution and powersharing as an unfavourable military balance was deemed to be!
The impending political disaster stems in large measure from the Government's inability to fully understand the ethnic conflict it says it wants to resolve. As a consequence, it cannot differentiate between what it can do about the LTTE as opposed to what it would like to. The lack of clarity of purpose and the failure to orchestrate the political and military dimensions of conflict in tandem towards a clearly defined goal of conflict resolution, characterize the current offensive and will frame the perpetuation of conflict in its wake.
Whatisthis offensive supposed to achieve in conflict resolution terms? The destruction of the LTTE to the point that they cease to be a key player, the marginalization and containment of the LTTE so that they either join the mainstream of devolutionary politics initiated by the Government or just wither away in the jungles, or the softening up of the LTTE to come to the negotiating table and settle for an agreement that is nearer the Government's interests than their

Page 17
own 2
There has been no clarification of the objective, probably because the Government does not really know what it can achieve. Therefore, strategy is made on the hop or crawl as the case might be, with all the damaging political ramifications caprice entails.
Can the Government knock the LTTE out as political and military players with the available resources at its disposal? Can the Government obtain the necessary sacrifice from the rest of the country to acquire the necessary human and material resources to do this without adverse political repercussions?
Once Jaffna is occupied there is still the question of what is to be done about what remains of the LTTE. The logic of what has been donesofar will impel the Army to go after them, rather than sit in Jaffna, vulnerable to guerilla attack. What if the LTTE shifts its focus to the East 2 Do we have enough forces to defend, consolidate, attack and destroy the LTTE in the peninsula, leave aside the entirety of the territory they claim as the 'traditional Tamil homeland"?
This offensive must thenbreed more conflict before it can be realistically concluded. Any other conclusion, be it the symbolic hoisting of the lion flag over the Jaffna fort or any other salutary photo opportunity will be a sham and more. It would belie the reality that instead of the conclusion of the conflict, it signifies the commencement of a new phase of it. Moreover, it will be as much of apsychological humiliation for the Tamils as it would be a psychological victory for Sinhala nationalists. As such, it would deepen the already deep ethnic divide.
Were the objective to be the softening up of Mr Prabhakaran to impress upon him the futility of conflict and intransigence and thereby lead him to accept a
solution mc Government's te question arises offensive circumstances Prabhakaran wil available evide would be a firm the Government from weakness, Defeat breeds c
162AS AO CO My guess is Prabhakaran be capacity to hara Government c entire northea negotiate. He w he is still a play
ar
This offensi breed mo
before realistical
the costs of th military victo intolerable level Government ex of his use of n Prabhakaran m accurately that the futility of having placed p military force.
There is ano this. Supposing to get him to agreed. Is there to strike a har grounds that successful Government cooperation to That they still claiming to ha daylights out of on the limite thrashing.
It is clear tha
Соит
OCt Ober 1995

e O the rms than his, the s to whether the aS created in which Mr negotiate. On the nce the answer no. As much as will not negotiate neither will he. efiance and this flict. hat as longas Mr tieves he has the ss and deny the ontrol over the st, he will not ill calculate that er who can raise
ve must them
re conflict it can be
y concluded.
Le Government's ry to hopefully s. Rather than the posing the futility hilitary force, Mr ay well calculate he can yet expose the Government imary reliance on
her dimension to the objective was the table and he not room for him i bargain on the even after their offensive, the still needs his end the conflict? need him after ve thrashed the him, must reflect i utility of the
t the Government
Perspective
is unclear as to how to deal with the LTTE. Do they want to finish them off because there can be no honourable settlement with them or do they want to deal with them because they believe they have to, but only after having hammered the LTTEinto a shape that is nearer their heart's desire? Moreover, there is the key task of winning the hearts and minds of the civilians whilst the Government decides what it is to do about the LTTE. The offensive has not helped.
Very clearly, the aggressive attitude towards the NGOs regarding the humanitarian crisis and the use of thuggery to disrupt the meetings of the NGO Forum together indicate that the Government and the Sinhala nationalist lobby are determined that nothing must distract or detract from the taking of Jaffna. That is an objective in itself and it is paramount. Human suffering by a people whose supportis vital to the resolution of this conflict, has been relegated to secondary consideration.
There is a scenario being sketched which, if an accurate account of government thinking, points to a general election on the back of the military victory as the objective of this offensive. It has variations, but the one that offers the most potential in salvaging the political fall-out from the offensive runsalong the following lines:The devolution package will be presented to the Select Committee and the UNP will be pressed for a quick'yea' or 'nay' on it. Were they to opt for the latter, a quick election would follow with the Government silencing the chauvinists with its military victory and winning over the minorities with the promise of implementing the package once re-elected with the requisite majority to do so. This is neverthelessalso problematic.
It will still remain the case that political action will be decisively conditioned by what happens on
erpoint
I5

Page 18
the ground in the North. Moreover, given the reaction to the NGO Forum and the rise in chauvinism, there will beanumber of forces to make the point that the objectiveofaFalkland-styleelection is nottobemagnanimousandshare power.Therewill surelybeelements within the PA who are far from enthusiasticabout thepackage who will be returned toparliament, after having campaigned on the basis of military victory. Whilst the devolution package may be dear to the President's heart, there is still a long way for it to go to be seen in similar terms by the overwhelming majority of IPA members.
In this respect, the manner in which politics is played in the South once the Army enters Jaffna, is just as important as how it is conducted in the Northeast. The point needstobemade very clearly that entering Jaffna is not the end of the conflict and that crucially important political issues are outstanding, foremost amongst
which is the political settlement.
What is especially worrying is that the very constituency which is the natural political home of the President, is coming under attack. Liberal political opinion is being allowed to be castigated as anti-Sri Lankan and traitorous.
The President must arrest this descent into vicious, myopic chauvinism and ensure that if there is to be an election, the PA stands firmly on its commitment to a political settlement to the ethnic conflict. Failure to do so would imprison her in the dangerous populism she has hitherto defined herself against, and doom this country to fatal majoritarianism.
When the Government launched this offensive, there was a 'letsseewhat will happen' character to it. Now that the Army is to enter Jaffna, this seems to have changed very littleifatall. The answer to the question of what next, is this and
O8.
Let's see what will happen and lets hope and pray, Some things won't.
Winnin minds
Sri Lan
The question ever
is whether there
resumption of o
operations agai
Tigers in Jaffna;
It will definitely unless the LTTE w surrenders. (laugh How do you asses
months of Eelam
I think we have top. The beating th Weli-Oya I thinks It has been a trem drawback to their control structure. . of operations we h Jaffna Peninsula c with the Leap For Operation to the l 'Operation Thund where they have a killed, but we feel more -- about 300
I6
Counter
 

gtheirhearts and afterthe War.
Counterpoint interviews Kan Army Commander Lieutenant-General
Gerry de Silva
yone is asking
will be a ffensive 1st Tamil
p
happen fithdraws or
) s the first six *11 aupar 3? been right on hey got in et them back. 2ndous command and Also, the series nad in the ommencing ward
atest er Strike"... dmitted to 260 it is a little killed in action
and I think a similar number wounded, more than 60% seriously. So that, for a terrorist organisation of the strength they have, is a severe setback to their plans. Do You believe that these
military offensives can force the Tigers back to the negotiating table? Well, That is the aim of the exercise. Any military action contemplated with the blessing of the national political authority is to bring them to the negotiating table. That is the ultimate aim. Of course, for us it is a better bargaining position. The Tigers seems to be recruiting younger and younger cadres. Can you explain why they are doing that? I think it is because their recruitment campaign has failed.
OC’t Ober 1995

Page 19
They need large numbers; they have appealed to the parents of even students. In fact our intelligence is that they even go and try to forcibly conscript even from schools. Parents have had to escort children to school. Perhaps also because of the severe drawback they have had losing so many in the last couple of months. For a terrorist organisation of that size it is difficult without forced conscription, specially when things are going against them. They have been forced to resort to children of 12 years and
on the terrain. T why they have 1 impression in th will not set us b, to dominate the and when thath completed, the t back to the East, Do you think th
up a fight in t
vithdrav int
the northern n
I am sure they had stiff opposi these recent ope conducted. In fa Operation Thun
sts
But the troops have been warned, troop,
made auare of the lau's of war and up
have behaved very well. So if there ar
casualties, be assured that they are un
above. The Army faced recruitment
problems as well. So how is the recruitment going on now? Very well, I must say. The response has been even better than normal. Perhaps because we are now on a winning note. There is no dearth of recruits joining the Army. While you have concentrated on
the North you have lost ground in the east... Everything has been planned out. When we decided to take the battle to the North, we realised that there would be voids in the East. Because we had to move almost 50% of the manpower that we had in the East to the North. It was during the ceasefire that the LTTE came into the East in a big way. It was during this time that the LTTE re-organised their structure in the East. They started training and recruiting large numbers and generally got a better hold
Achuveli they m and their aim. It drive us back. B say that we wen and we are hold planned to take: square kilometr What does Jaffn
for the army?
Well, to the L. they will try to c all cost. That is t that is where the movement bega going to give it fight. We are ex our part when w that will prove t have been throw stronghold, thei heartland, and t. lose credibility a people whom th
a professed to pro
Obviously the a fight the LTTE How would th monsoon rains
Соитt
/)〜たの/りar 7の9与

Straight Talk
his is probably made an e East. But that ack. Our aim is Jaffna Peninsula as been roops will go
e Tigers will put he peninsula or the jungles of 1ainland?
will. We have ion all along in rations that were ct, during der Strike in
s have been
to now they e civilian
intended.
net us in strength hink was to ut I am happy to it into Achuveli ing the areas we
Around 25 es of land. a really mean
TTE first. I think lefend Jaffna at heir heartland, e LTTE n.They're not up without a pecting that. On ve get to Jaffna o them that they yn out of their r home, their hey are going to mong the Tamil Ley have sofar tect. rmy has decided
in the North, eforthcoming s affect the
epoint
momentum Well, I don't think that it will affect the momentum at all in the sense that that infantry can battle in any weather. It is the mechanized columns because of the nature of the terrain, will find a few draw backs. That is to be expected, we have planed for that and infantry can go anywhere at anytime under any circumstances. There is one school of thought that the monsoon will force the Army to suspend operations in the North. I think I have stated this earlier. Nothing is going to stop us -- this time. Jaffna is a heavily built up area.
There are bound to be civilian casualties in any operation. What are you going to do to minimize civilian casualties? That has been foremost in our minds. This is what delayed us in the last 12 years in going to the peninsula - that number of civilian casualties that would be caught up in the war. You See, despite instructions to the civilians over a period of time to move out from known areas of LTTE camps, despite the operations we conducted earlier, we still find that certain people are stubborn and want to remain in their homes. Specially the older crowd.
But the troops have been warned, troops have been made aware of the laws of war and up to now they have behaved very well. So if there are civilian casualties, be assured that they are unintended. Our aim too is to try and minimize it because some day even after the occupation of the peninsula we have to win the hearts and the minds of the people and it will be counter-productive if there are too many civilian casualties. That is foremost in all field Commanders' minds, and troops have been warned right down to the last infantryman in battle. We are very conscious of this.
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Page 20
Don't make Kilino ofaney
Lucien Rajakarunanal/ake
SAVEmefrom my friends, Ican lookaftermyenemies, issomething the Government would do well to keepinmind, as the initial euphoria of Operation Riviresa, given way to a damnable apathy about the plight of Tamil and Sinhalese refugees (or displaced persons, to give the more sterileand fashionabledescription).
All the international goodwill and sympathy that President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the PA government won, through her bold peace initiative and the manner in which the LTTE forced the resumption of war, could vanish as a mere puff of smoke, unless the Government begins to save itself from its new found friends.
If the ill-informed and crudely racial shouting against the devolution proposals have almost died down, with the weakness of the opposition arguments and the people's unchanged desire for a lasting peace, there is a new cause for the opposition to the wider devolution being muted.
It is the reality of war. The blood-lust of those who have been calling for a military solution is being whetted and even sated by the reports of slow but steady progress on the front, and the numberofTigerskilled. Theready contribution by the Tigers with the massacre of civilians in the border villages only adds to the demand for more blood. It is in this situation that the Government can well find itself in the midst of friends, it could well do without, and had better.
When the D top billing to Jayasuriya an Arakshaka support for th current moves wi operations in the hear the alarm l loud. As for me have been if Mr his self-appointec Service or SSS ha the moves which NGO activity.
While more items about th remain un com officially, a stater quickly and hars by the Presiden And, the state-r carries the rejoin original offendin of old disorde possibly with ev in the racial field
The progress in its trail the w racial extremists opportunity for ti hate, which have the people, an opposed by Kumaratunga. Th as the thrust of th on, the Sound oft the humane tre Tamils will get stifled, underacci NGO agents convenient conspiracy label attached.
The Governm to appoint a Foce called, to direct kind to the pe
18
Соитte

Media Watch
hchi the nursery "enmity
lily News gives Mr. Gamani i the Sinhala an vidhanaya"s government's ihregard toNGO North, one has to ells ringing out the news would Jayasuriya and Sinhala Security d not supported may curb some
important news e Government mented upon nent by MIRJE is hly contradicted tial Secretariat. un Rupavahini der without the g piece. Shades r back again, 2 TO10 VGIO
of war can bring hole rag-tag of who see a new heir messages of peen rejected by i consistently President e danger is that e troops moves ose who cry for atment of the hore and more sations of being r any other anti-Sinhala which could be
nthas done well Centre, as it is d in food and ple crowding
Kilinochchiand Vavuniya. But, the manner in which it was pushed into doingit, after the UN Secretary General issued a statement, and after ignoring the pleas of interested NGOs and diplomats for several weeks, gave a massive score ofnegative points toits image abroad, and possibly caused irreparable damage.
Whether the appeals for help come from NGOs orchurches (who are also in the dump of collective suspicion), from individuals or foreign diplomats, it is not possible to wish away the fact that Sri Lanka is in the midst of a refugee crisis of major proportions.
While many journalists and commentators keep worrying about how the North East monsoon will affect the troops and the fighting, there is little heard or asked how it affects the people who have on their own, or under LTTE compulsion, fled their homes in the Jaffna peninsula. Many of the stories are shocking. Women have given birth on the refugee trail. Kids have died of cold through lack of shelter.
While all this is going on, people debate whether thenumber of displaced persons is 500,000400,000-orjust 100,000. Whatever it is, the number is in hundreds of thousands. As the fighting extends, according to the pronouncements of the Government and Defence spokesmen, the numbers will certainly increase.
There is no point in trying to heap blame on the LTTE that it is planning to use the harassed and suffering civilians as human shields. No doubt that is one of
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October 1995

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their most likely aims. Another is their use as pawns in a call for fresh negotiations, without agreeing to the eminently reasonable terms laid down by the President. •ኡ
The accusations have been many that the PA government was ill prepared for war, in terms of military action. The reported success of the various operations launched by the Security Forces seemsto give thelieto thischarge. But the truthis that no government since this war began has made any plans for the crisis of displaced civilians, refugees dammit, which is now becoming part of the tragic harvest of this war.
The problem is not confined to the Kilinochchicorner of SriLanka alone. The crisis of displaced Tamils is assuming increasing proportions in Colombo too, with the regulations that no shelter be given to un familiar persons. Landlords who have for year had Tamiltenants, arenow demanding the eviction of the relations of their tenants who have sought shelter with their kith and kin. The landlord cannot be blamed. The tenants are often forced to take the painful decision of sending away those who came to them for succur. Lodges and hostels which housed Tamils are been closed, possibly for very good security reasons, but what steps are being taken to house the people who have being living in such places, who have no known links to the LTTE or any other subversive group?
Slowly,butsurely, weare letting things build up to a major refugee crisis in Colombo and the suburbs, unless speedy action is taken to house these people in one or two places, and give them the basic facilities they need. It is obvious that their supervision could thenbe a much easier task too.
While that is the plight of the Tamils, there is also a growing problem of displacement among the Sinhalese. In areas such as Padaviya, the villages are fast
being deplet populations due by the Tigers.Th. means by which could protect al threatened villa euphemistially richerpeople hav such as Anurad poor have to fen Some of these vi no women at all, left live in consta It can wellbea the price one has But the price cert so high. The prob villages can nev issuing arms to To makematterS v mounts attacks ( Ak-47 carrying m well to tell the wo not attack unarm an armed militia.
In as much as closed when fer parents, there is til collective solutic Tamil neighbo scheme. Should entrusted with responsibility, ar like members oft the President s about? A simple could be the impac at Wellawatte is of the Sinhalese c While all th Government wi. showered with who not so lon strongest oppone of progress (or re soonbenoshortag untill recently, vie Kumaratunga suspicionaSonew the Sinhalese, bu to praise her as th the Sinhala race. Maha Devi in the The sign of th this set of racii political villainya obvious absence
OC:t Ober 1995
Counte.

ed of their to fear of attack reis certainly no he Government the "border" or ges as they are described. The moved to towns hapura. But the for themselves. lages now have and the few men nt fear of attack. rgued that this is
to pay for war. linly need not be em of the border ær be solved by arty favourites. worse, if the LTTE on villages with en, it can be very rld that they did ed civilians but
he schools were ar gripped the he time for some on to keep our urs out of the they also not be a share of the ld made to feel he single nation, peaks so often example. What tif Civil Defence eft in the hands nly? is goes on, the l no doubt be raise by those g ago were its nts. As this rate gress) there will eofpeople who, wed Chandrika with great ho would betray are now ready real saviour of Another Vihara making? 2 emergence of lly motivated eas clear as the of the posters
Joint
which demanded that the "real war" (Niyama Yuddhaya) be launched. The message to the President and her government is very clear. The embrace of these new friends, rushing in on a tidal waveofsuffering of Tamil civilians can only mean the embrace of death. The death of the good image that Chandrika Kumaratunga was able to bring to Sri Lanka, and the death of her persistent position that all peoples in our country should have the right to equality. The achievement of peace at the cost of human dignity can never amount to a lasting peace. The new waves of suspicion and hate that are being spread by both the state and private media may sound like sweet music to some who are ensconced in power. But they have no relevance to Chandrika Kumaratunga's talk of boldly declared commitment to a peace with equality. Civilian travail made worse by governmental delay, indecision and a proneness to blame the bearers of bad news can make a mockery of the President's own laudable concepts which are embodied in the "Sudu Nelum" programme.
There is a whole world to of even greater sympathy too be gained by firm, swift and concerted action to ease the sufferings of all victims of war. There is also a world of re-born sympathy that awaits the LTTE if this is not done. That is the danger that the new camp -- followers in war who say cheers to blood and thunder will never point out. Those who seek to block relief to civilians of whatever ethnic group trapped in the vice of war, are in fact sowing the seeds of further hatred and division in Sri Lanka. If the hope of the Battle for peace is the restoration of mutual trust between Sinhalese and Tamil, then
the real beginnings should be made immediately at Kilinochchi,
with the help of all who offer a genuine measure of relief.
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攤 繼
颗
Like the falf-out of some monstrous atom bomb, the eruption of the Sky With bifoWing black smoke, Though at the time it seemed as if n from burning, the terrorist attack destroyed only a quarter of these/ to douse the fire in five days, but the economic and human cost is i
Counte,
20
 

f/storage tanks at Aolonnawa and Orugodawatta filled the entire thing could prevent every drop of oil/in each of the 40-odd tanks uge containers st took the assistance of a team of/ndianexperts replaceable.
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Jhis Airman's desperation is symptomatic of the pain and frustratic fue/storage facility, At/east three civilians paid the supreme price
O. O. O.
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OCt Ober 1995
 
 

Images
in fest by those who tried to Aeep the crowds away from the blazing for their insatiable curiosity....
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Villagers from the borderareas in the Aast of Sri Lanka are among thi have become refugees finalien sands in the saferregions, as have mos no other viable option have become pawns in the deadypowergam As too terrible to beat, as for these devastated mothers who look up
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22
 

most helpless victims of the war, Many of the Muslims and 7amils fSinhalese. Those who have "chosen "to remain because they have between the military and the Z77A. Ahere, asas, the price to be paid in the mutiated bodies of their children.
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A Celebratio
Rajan Hoole
A war that is being fought by both sides with callous disregard for the civilians, thinking about the futuremayappear futile. Yetit is often because we do not think enough about the future, about what kind of a society we want, that we condemn ourselves to
sectarian strife a fears about othe particular need
vision about wh they envisage fo the North-Ea Pluralism is a w differences incul and yetbeing ple: to discover tha barriers to th
Count
റ്റFറhലr 1996
 

Tamil View
of Pluralis
ld to imaginary s. The Tamils in to have a clear it sort of future what is today st Province. ay of accepting
friendships, together with goodwill and understanding. Once that step is taken it would do a great deal to straighten out one's political outlook.
The Wanderers
ure and outlook, antly surprised
these are no The thought of writing this deepest of piece came to me some months ago when I was placed in a
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situation of being an inadvertent listener to a conversation among a group of Muslims expelled from the North by the LTTE. They were relating their adventures. Some of them had arrived in Kalpitiya upon being expelled from Mannar Island in October 1990, after a 60 mille journey under inclement weatherin overcrowded boats. At first, fellow Muslims at Kalpitiya had welcomed them. Within months relations had turned sour and therefugees found themselves often addressed disparagingly. They warmed up to talk about the exceptions. Some families were on a coconut estate. One night the owner's son-in-law ordered the refugees to quit. A group of despairing refugees went immediately to the house of the owner, an English teacher of about 80years and woke him up. Having given them a hearing, the owner declared, "While I am alive you can stay hereas longas you please. But dolookafter the coconuttrees."
Another group had been placed in a similar position by a lady who had inherited the estate. The refugees appealed to her husband who declared, "As long as the lady desires to be my wife, you stay. If she insists that you leave, I would divorce her, give her custody of the children, and I will follow you whereveryou go."
One described how when he went back to Mannar and was crossing a barrierto look fora cow a Tamil policeman punched him on the chest. A Tamil doctor who came along reprimanded the policeman. The policeman was killed by the LTTE a few days later. "It was not just because he did it to me", the speaker added, "He must also have ill-treated so many others". He went on, "We often experienced the worst from Tamil speaking persons. Look at our own AGAs and GSs. They are also Muslims. But when you are not educated they know that they could mislead you and misappropriate what is your due.
Recently I was
Mannar by boat with my wife andy and so was late. passengers had bc
rating stopped harshly that I can officer interven woman and childr You see, among servicemen, many there is bound to b takes pity at least women and child
He then talked in Puttalam who ha a fire caused by ac supposedly receiv from the LTTE, "It We were in Manr houses and lacked we were chased with suitcases. Itel even those. If you go with a few thir bags. We will som Their culture v their approach to very open. Their simple. They beli who was all-p dispensed justice. readily agree with educated menarel. than others. It wa me of the plea of forebear in their ... I am a stranger sojourner, as all m O spare me a lit recover my streng hence, and be no I
The Nob
It wasan unusu under which to history of a peop aged 77, a native Panahe South of P equally fluent in Tamil and havil Lahugala, worked most pressing pro with his daughter) whose Tamil Tharmaratnam, há
ΟA.
Counter

travelling to from Kalpitiya foung children, All the other barded. A naval me and said not go! But an ed: Mind the en, let them go! the Sinhalese are rough. But e one man who because of the ren." about refugees ld suffered from cident and had ed a quit notice old them, when har We lived in nothing. When away we went lyou now, leave must quit, then gs in shopping ehow manage." vas Islamic, but humanity was theology was eved in a God owerful and One might not their belief that ikelytobebetter s a reminder to king David, a nomadic faith:" with thee: and a ly fathers were. tle, that I may gth: before I go more seen."
leman
alcircumstance encounter the le. Jayasekera, of Panama or ottuvil. He was Sinhalese and ng studied in in Pottuvil. His blem was to do Šumarimenika, husband, ad disappeared
on 2nd August 1990 during those notorious abductions by the STF & Police. Jayasekera now had to support his three fatherless grandchildren (15 & below). After more
than 3/years, the state was yet to
respond to appeals for basic compensation and Tharmaratnam's salary arrears.
Jayasekera'sancestor had been a Nindagama Rala in Miyangoda in the Moneragala District in the Buttala-Wellawaya area and had migrated to the East during the Kandyan Rebellion of 1817/18. Moreabout his origins were found not in any standard book on history, but in the 'Guide to Yala National Park' issued by Fauna International Trust:- viz. "An aristocratic family of Kandyan origin living in the Koslanda area, accompanied by their retinue of attendants migrated down the Kumbukkan Oya to Kumana Wewa (Tank) and settled here during the Uva rebellion in 1818. This family of Kandyan originlater moved from Kumana Wewa to Panama Village, where their progeny live to this day. The attendants opted to stay behind, but later shifted their residence from Kumana Wewa closer to the estuary, where Kumana village stands to this day."
Jayasekera's fate symbolises that of Kandyan nobility who chose obscurity to taking sides with the British and were indeed persecuted by other nobles who took the British side. It is the latter who went on to make history and their descendents to become nationalists and to champion Sinhalese ideology in the 20th century. As for the former, their history was fit only to be lumped with fauna and othercuriosities of the land. In the eyes of today's patriots, even their Sinhaleseness was suspect. Indeed, during the dark days of 1990 following the STF establishing a camp at Panama, even Sinhalese, including a school master had disappeared. They had either been close to
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October 1995

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Tamils or had family connections
with Tamils. Several such Sinhalese villages in the region (eg. Bandaraduwa) have suffered neglect because they did not fit into the dominant ideology and refused to integrate into the electorally important Gal Oya colonies. Yet that did not stop ideologically motivated scholars from using people like Jayasekera, who are victims of ideology, to argue that the "interior of the East, at least, was throughout the traditional homeland of the Sinhalese peasantry".
To add to the misery of these Sinhalese villages that felt no hostility towards the Tamils, some of them had been the targets of brutal LTTE attacks particlarly during 1990/91.
Thiriyai & GOmarankadaWela
There is a great deal in the North-East that would notfit into
either national history. The Nadu (Taprobanean V "Rasapaksa Mud about the 17th prominent reside a benefactor of temple and the K Kovil. Prince conquered Jaffna King of Kotte al credited with bui Nallur Kandas Jaffna town. His daily in the t Sangabodhi Bh (the VIth). The Y Malai also speak in Jaffna of Sinh 15th century.
Today the Tamil village of Trincomalee is l Gomarankadawe Kadavai to whic Kandyan Sinha during the 19th obscurity behi
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Tam WieW
ist Schemes of accadu Chronicle
Vo II) speaks of ali' who perhaps century was a intof the area and the Thirukkovil araitivu Amman Sapumal who on behalf of the pout 1443 AD is lding the famous amy Kovil and name is invoked temple as "Sri Luvaneka Bahu" (alpana Vaipava s of the presence alese during the
predominently Thiriyai North of argely deserted. ela or Kumaresan ch hard pressed lese emigrated
century lies in nd a security
blanket. But not long ago the people from the two villages were very close. The latter used to cultivate the fields of the former, attend each others' weddings and celebrate harvests by having bullock cart picnics. If some one was bitten by a snake at Thiriyai, a snakebite doctor would come from Gomarankadawela and stay on until the victim was cured.
The North-East
The question that confronts the North-East today is, do we take our cue from the pluralism of the past and try to recapture its healthier elements, or do we go along with the politics of fragmentation? The argument for the latter is that it is not easy to erase the bitterness of recent times. At least from July 1983 Tamil politics has pressed for a NorthEast mergeron grounds of security as well as for protection against
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the long pursued agenda of the state to Sinhalise the East and marginalise the Tamils. Weli Oya was among the most brazen and ugliestexpressions of this agenda.
On the other hand, Tamil massacres of Muslims and Sinhalese in the East has created among these communities a fear of living in a Tamil dominated polity. The Government'spackage seems to envisage a compromise by carving out certain Sinhalese dominated areas from the NorthEast. This too would not be easy for the Tamils to accept and to sunder their historical and cultural associations with parts of the region and acquiesce to the intentions and results of state sponsored colonisation as a fait accompli. Kantalai, forexample, was dedicated to Koneswaram Temple in Trincomalee and the tradition was held in great esteem by the Kings of Polonnaruwa, Kotte and Kandy, asborne outbyinscriptional
It is als0 true that Easthave reserv North-East merg political Outlook Jaffna Youth Con much for educat operative mOven
and historical r ViharaorRajaraja testimony to de among 10th and 1 officials and amo!
It is also true t the East have re the North-East healthier poli articulated by tl Congress in the many service ori who did much fo the co-operative East. The politics c
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the Tamils in the tions about the r. The healthier rticulated by the ress... who did ion and the coent in the East,
ecords. Vilgam Perumpallibears vout Buddhists thcentury Chola ng Tamils.
hat the Tamils in servations about I merger. The tical outlook he Jaffna Youth 1930s produced ented Jaffna men or education and movement in the if Jaffna today isa
very different matter. Ialso suspect that given a time of peace the differences between the communities in the East are not unbridgeable. Therearestill several schools that take in both Tamils and Muslims. In the Mutur area Tamil farmers and Sinhalese farmercolonists too get on pretty well.
Apossibleapproach to resolving the dilemma may be to retain the North-East merger as it is, with the regional body having powers as envisaged, while maintaining institutions that recognise administratively thedistinctiveness of the East. If at some point of time the three communities in the East reach a consensus on separating from the North, that could be done painlessly. Such an arrangement would also pose a challenge to those in the North and to those running the central Government, to conduct their politics in a more sensible manner. Then, whatever happens would be for the better.
ERALE
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HNoLoGY O PROVENROAD SAFETY teNISSAN FORT O COST-EFFECTIVE BUY (S) TOYOTA వడి :PTANCE O 40 YEARS EXPERIENCE
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Condro Tom Ayod
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October 1995

Page 29
The state of th
Of rotten apples,
ruling
A Special Correspondent
IT came as a shock to this country when recently personnel from the elite STF and other intelligence operatives were detained in connection with the waterborne corpses of Tamils that had being making their appearance during June and July. Among the things revealed was that some of those killed had been held in the corridors of the STF HQ in Buller's Road amidst very respectable surroundings. This suggests that the killers had been confident of the impunity they enjoyed even after the election of a new government that espoused a Human Rights platform. Such would seem rash and even stupid unless one takes into account the
social dimensio. interests. To bla events on a few r understatement to reality.
A remarkabl made in the Sun September by officer, Majo Athukorale. W. years 1979-83 h period in Jaffn climate being launching of stat followed with th Jaffna Libra disappearance o during the DDC) 1981). There w that were ac 'operation'. T politicized commissars em
 

Tam: View |
e art in the STF
state terror 6 the
class
n of ruling class ame these recent otten applesisan having no relation
e revelation was lay Times of 10th a retired army r Gen. H.V. riting about the e averred. "This a witnessed the created for the eterrorism which he burning of the ry and the f the ballot boxes Elections (i.e. June ere many things hieved in this he Army was and political 'rged. The Army
4ه ۔ }حہ مهمه ـ
Commander's powers were usurped by these political Commissars to carry out acts of state terrorism and torture against innocent civilians."
Athukorale was referring to the immediate aftermath of the passing of the Prevention of Terrorism Act in July 1979. President Jayewardene then had bypassed the Army Commander and given a written brief to his relative Brigadier Tissa Weeratunga, 'to wipeout terrorism in all its forms from the Jaffna District' by the end of the year, placing at his disposal 'all the resources of the state'. Claiming successful accomplishment of the mission, Weeratunga submitted a secret report to Jayewardene, the contents of which remained unknown even to the Army

Page 30
Commander. This article was the first time such a stark admission came from within.
We shall see that such actions remained a part of the scheme of things bequeathed by Jayewardene as the country plunged further into chaos, and terror as a means became inseparable from ruling interests. As a result, the Army is yet to recover anything like a disciplined structure capable of carrying out rational policy.
POSt July 1983
We now turn to the very informative book For a Sovereign State written by Herman Gunaratne, who comes out as a very honest narrator except about what was then happening to ordinary Tamil people. He was among a group of officials and professionals in the Mahaweli Authority, who even in the wake of the battering the Tamil people received throughout the island during July 1983, saw Tamil ghosts haunting them from every quarter. Inspired by the "revelations" of high conspiracy by the vanishing breed of Tamil government officials, as related by civil servant T.H. Karunatilleke, this group purposed to act urgently to save the Sinhalese Race. While the Tamils were cowering as refugees, this group received alarming "reports of organised Tamil encroachments on Mahaweli project lands. They then used the Mahaweli Ministry's funds to organise a crusade of Sinhalese encroachers marching into the Maduru Oya basin led by the monk Dimbulagala Thero.
Jayewardene himself was seeing his share of ghosts during themonths that followed July 1983, and imagined himself surrounded by conspirators. For this reason he came down hard on the Maduru Oya affair. The India-brokered Annexure C Proposals were first accepted by Jayewardene and
turned down. In Tamil militants as geared itself fo
appointment
Athula thmuda Security Ministe) Ravi Jayewarder country in aid c President, as a He also, at least on the National Although not kn he comes out as than Athulat relations betwee doubt tense. Th. Jayewardene's si During the cc Government dri settlers from the farms in Manal and brought in c SentenceS tO Sta Settlement. This massacres. In th run by Jayewal responsible for question. Weli C executed by th among the se agencies, headed Asoka de Silva, Bandaragoda, fo Secretary to Ministry. The pla report submitte T. H. Karuna t Mahaw eli Mi October 1983, alternative settle expelled M encroachers.
Lalith Athula 1984 announce conquering the T criminals and elements amc certainly got lots we do not know initiated policy which he was a profile Scapegoa others. Whateve hopes of being successor kepth With the LTT Kent & Dollar
Count

dia then trained s the Government r war with the of Lalith li as National r. About this time le returned to this of his father, the security advisor. on Occasions, Sat Security Council. own at that time, more powerful hmu dali, and n the two were no at was President yle. burse of 1984, the ove away Tamil Kent aid Dollar Aru, Mullaitivu, riminals serving rt the Weli Oya set off a series of e kind of set up dene, who was what, is a tricky ya was of course e JOSSOP, one veral nebulous by ex-Navy chief assisted by D.J. primer Additional the Maha weli an was based on a d by the zealous illeke of the nistry on 12th on a suitable ment site for the Iaduru Oya
thmudali in late d the policy of Camils by settling other rough ong them. He of brickbats. But to what extent he and the extent to icting as a highit for the ideas of r the discomfort, ; Jayewardene's im going. E massacre at the farms on 30th
terpoint
November 1984 and the fleeing of Sinhalese settlers, Government policy was facing a crisis. A group comprising Some of the cream of Colombo's highborn met on 23rd December 1984 as part of Ravi Jayewardene's team, most of them old Thomians and Royalists. Gunaratne it appears had already converted Ravi to the Mahaweli Ministry's ideas for saving the Sinhalese Race. Ravi Jayewardene, closely admired by Guneratne, got involved in the task of arming and training Sinhalese villagers in border areas -- a tragic fiasco as it later turned out.
One incident gives up some idea of the power wielded by this group. Following the Anuradhapura massacre of May 1985, a new chief for the newly created Joint Operations Command had to be found to replace Lt. Gen. Tissa Weeratunga who was retiring to become High Commissioner in Canada. Ravi J decided on Brigadier Cyril Ranatunga who had retired for appointmentasJOCChief. Among his qualifications as presented euphemistically by Gunaratne, is this:
"During the 1971 JVP) insurgency he was co-ordinating officer -- Kegalle. Kegalle was underinsurgent control for several days.... Brigadier Ranatunga brought Kegalle under control quickly. A number of lives of Sinhala youths were lost during this period."
RJ asked his team to exert maximum pressure at every level, while he would speak to the National Security Minister & the President. Months later Ranatunga was promoted to Lt. General and made JOC chief.
The Special Task Force (STF)
The STF, as Gunaratne confirms, was created by Ravi Jayewardene in 1984 as a unit in the police force, using 'handpicked' men, under Zernie
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Wijesuriya as its first commandant. He conceived this as a striking force along the lines of the British SAS. For this purpose ex-SAS mercenaries were hired from the Channel Islands-based security firm Keeny Meeny Services (KMS), run by an ex-SAS Major David Walker. The 40 or so mercenaries were paid about £ 20000 per annum tax free. According to security sources in Britain, the deal was endorsed by MI6 and approved by Whitehall. The mercenaries are said to have trained in addition specialist army & navy units.
KMS had already drawn attention to itself for other reasons. Because of possible repercussions in the USA, President Reagan had sub-contracted KMS for the Administration's covertoperation in Nicaragua, where it was funding, arming and training Contra rebels to overthrow the LeftistSandinistagovernmentthat overthrew the US-backed dictator Somoza in 1979. Neither this nor the STF deal were ordinary ones. The Labour Foreign Affairs spokesman George Foulkes had tabled questions in Parliament asking Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher about her meetings with David Walker and the commitments she had made.
Mrs. Thatcher's personal interest in pushing security deals may have sounded a bit odd then. The British ruling establishment's close, and no doubt profitable, friendships with arms merchants Khasoggi and Said are now common knowledge. That Mrs. Thatcher's son Mark, for one made about £10 million in commissions out of British Aerospace's £ 20 billion Tornado deal has been alleged repeatedly in the British press (eg. London Observer 10/5/ 92).
Once on the job, discontent grew in mercenary ranks and there were rowdy Scenesatlocal resorts. The British side of the story was given in an exclusive report by
Nick Davies in News of 4/3 headline "Sol Protest". "...But more se followed. T Force moved Eastern Prov men began t atrocities. T many of who experience insurgency, this was a f wanted the "TI the hearts an villagers to cl
Once depl East the insurgenc) the STF m reading. O tasks was Tamil Musl From 12th to 1985 they p. a band of M and took attack the Kara
they offered They complai Force was ma them all and protests to mercenary or ex-SAS colone KMS after be Irish terrorist nothing. Dis mercenary ra qualified reinforcemen London, incl who had servi for armed rob "Then Israeli sec. consultants al
M)- - - - - - 7 O ( A
Counte

Tamil View
he London Daily 87 under the iers in Tamil
rious problems e Special Task into the island's ince and the KMS hear reports of he mercenaries, m have long SAS
of counter'omplained that atal error. They ask Force" to win I minds of Tamil it off the support
yed in the COller
efforts by ake gory ne of their to stir up im enmity.
14th April ut together uslim thugs
them to Tamils in itivu
amil guerrillas. hed that the Task king enemies of made a series of the senior the ground, en l who joined the ng targeted by . He could do ontent among nks grew. Less "cowboy" s were sent from ding one man da jail sentence ery. rity ived on the
point
island, and unhampered by restrictions from their own Government, began to take over the KMS operation. "Now senior ex-SAS men have
refused to renew their contracts and others have walked out.... David Walker, who is believed to be still in Sri Lanka, is reported to have sacked KMS teams who had been training other specialist army and navy units for the Sri Lankans, in an attempt to save the contract with the STF---" Once deployed in the East the counter-insurgency efforts by the STF make gory reading. One of their tasks was to stir up Tamil Muslim enmity. From 12th to 14th April 1985 they put togetheraband of Muslim thugs and took them to attack the Tamils in Karaitivu. This policy has had tragic repercussions down the years for both Tamils and Muslims. On 11th May the STF's mob set fire to Tamil houses in Oluvil. On 17th May 1985 the STFabducted 23young Tamilmen from Naipattimunai, who were killed and buried in Thambattai, South of Akkaraipattu. It was this that brought the STF into the limelight when Paul Nallanayagam, a Citizens' Committee activist publicised the incident. He was charged under the catch-all Prevention of Terrorism Act. His case was successfully fought by the Civil Rights Movement. The STF became a byword for terror-cumimpunity.
Among the worst incidents from 1985-July 1987 were the Kokkadichcholai Killings, particularly of the prawn factory employees at the end of the first week of 1987. Reports then said that 120 civilians were killed by the STFsoon after they took control of the area from the LTTE, losing 20 of their own men. Gunaratne who visited the area soon afterwards in a party that included the journalist Iqbal Athas was

Page 32
characteristically complacent. He wrote, "I too started talking to the civilians ... They did not seem to have any fear of the STF. I asked... "Does the STF harass civilians?". Their clear answer was 'No'... Iqbal Athas too was convinced that the stories against the STF were gravely overstated. John Rettie of the BBC later admitted that one of his sources had misled him..."
The families of those killed have since received compensation. People of the area, many of whom lost their family members, had this to say: "More than 80 prawn factory employees were lined up and asked to come one by one with their identity cards into a screened area. They were killed one at a time. The executions went on until late in the evening." The STF probably has a record of this somewhere...
The JVP insurgency August
1987-89.
With the coming of the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the outbreak of the JVP insurgency, the STF was deployed in the South. A notorious group known as the 'Green Tigers' then emerged, Ravi Jayewardene was accused of being in charge of this unit and the unit which was identified with the STF.
In an interview Wickrematunge Island of 21/2/88 charges. Howeve this to say:"He (I times "This is not war. They must b He was batting
politicians to wi he finally succeec July 1988..."Victo Niyathai' was the was talking abou theseparatist reb disappointed ma dirtied their han To state it differe: meant to kill Tam now killed Sinha
POSt Ju
Once the IP LTTE unexpecte War in June continuing talks Premadasa, the form. Lionel Kar chief, told thepec if any had links v and the STF were They, he said, ha the business of su with arms and v agreed to betwe the Governmen against the IPKF promised not to
Соитt
19th
 

with Lasantha
in the Sunday 3RJ rejected both r, Gunaratne has RJ) told me many : the STF type of pe recalled soon.' it out with the thdraw the STF; led in doing so in ry is certain''Jaya STF motto. Ravi it victory against els. He was a very in when the STF
ds in the South".
ntly, the STF was nils, but they had lese instead.
ne 1990
KF left and the dly resumed the
1990 amidst
with President STF was back to unasena, the STF plepublicly that ith the LTTE, he the most guilty. d been of late in pplying the LTTE var materials, as in the LTTE and , for it to fight and its allies. He unish people for
past links with the LTTE, but that future links would not be tolerated. This was just public relations. The STF had already been killing people only because they were Tamils.
In Arugam Bay, near Pottuvil, then under the command of Inspector Hassan, women looking for their sons saw them in the STF compound, but could not talk to them.They had since disappeared. On 2nd August, 120 or so Tamil refugees who returned on an assurance of safety from the STF were rounded up by the STF and Police. Billows of smoke were then seen rising from the Police compound. About that time 35 refugees were lined up on Kallar beach and mowed down by an STF Buffel armoured car. In Thirukko vil, then under the command of Inspector Ratnayake, from late September to early October 1990, more than 40 headlessbodies and severedheads were washed ashore alonga5 mile stretch of the beach. Ratnayake, subsequently promoted to ASP, was under the new Government moved to the Presidential Security Division, another of RJ's creations. Akkaraipattu, then under Inspector"Kalu Ranjith'too earned notoriety. Torture and executions were routine at the larger camps. The STF has since improved its
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public relations. But impunity remains an essential part of its functioning. The recent 20 or so corpses around Colombo have been incomparison withits past, a greater embarrassment. One should not, however, put down the whole history and ethos of an institution to a few rotten apples. The founder and his high society pals clearly knew what they wanted, orhadwillingly subjected themselves to a grand delusion.
Institutionalisation of
Anarchy
To get back to the point made by Major General Athukorale, we shall see how this culture of terror with its shuffling of responsibility affected the Armed Forces as a coherent operational unit.
On 5th September 1990, 159 refugees were taken from the Eastern University by the Army Brigade at Valaichenai under the command of Brigadier P.A. Karunatilleke, first to Valaichenai. (It is not clear from Gunaratne's book if he is the Major Karunatilleke who attended the first meeting of Ravi Jayewardene's group in December 1984 to give them advice.) All the detainees disappeared. Major General Gerry de Silva then in charge of the East visited Eastern University 3 days later on 8th September, along with Brigadiers Karuna tilleke and A.M.U. Seneviratne. General de Silva was already aware of 159 refugees having been taken away, but could not giveany assurances about their release. Most people believe the detainees to have been killed by then. Many believe General de Silva to be a 'gentleman' who would not do nasty things, but simply had to cover up.
A.M.U. Seneviratne who communicated better and was in charge of Batticaloa did not earn the same notoriety as Karunatilleke. But there were also
many disappeara command. In one September 1990 villagers in the area were march Army and murde To a query r abducted from Eas Defence Secretar Walter Fernando 1 31 were taken for that all of them ha Try to imagine works. General d want to know v Karunatilleke c Seneviratne did ni whathisColonels doing. The Defen not want to know Silva did. That e deal about the Sri performance. suggested that in given to the Foro down the Tamily in the East. There some revealingbc coming from thc Forces.
The SOCial D
Ter
The instituti terror is ultimate the insecurity ar the ruling establis structures for accountability are individuals have impunity, thos themselves arent to trust. Then we of anarchy with agencies keeping other, and headec individuals.
The Mahaw cornering the Ta. establishing settlements of Si the expression o that is no longers ordinary Sinha whom this bro
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October 1995

Tam Wew
nces under his incident on 9th more than 180 Sathurukondan ed off by the red. 2garding those tern University, y Air Marshal eplied that only uestioning and d been released. how the system e Silva did not what Brigadier lid. Brigadier otwant to know and Majors were ce Secretary did w what Gen. de xplains a good Lankan Army's It has been 1990 the order ces was to thin outhpopulation will no doubt be boks and articles pse leaving the
imension of
ΟΥ
onalisation of ly a product of d arrogance of hment. Once the
democratic dismantled and bower to act with e at the top versure whom are in a situation multiplicity of watch over each by sycophantic
li doctrine of mil minority by
militarised halese is again f a ruling class ure of itself. The ese people to ght enormous
suffering were just objects in this scheme. Terror findsanatural, and even indispensable, place in the articulation of such a doctrine. Once it had been decided that this was the only way to deal with the Tamils and that there were no otheroptions, thenanyimmorality could be justified, even 'going to the devil', toborrowan expression from President Jayewardene. It is the same with Tamil nationalists who have decided that Thamil Eelam is the only option.
The result was that internationally Sri Lanka was taken down the street of shame. All the time the strategists were working towards their discomfiture, giving India occasion tointerveneas it did. The Indian intervention, it must be remembered, was approved with relief worldwide because of the shame this country had brought on itself, particularly since July 1983. TheJVPuprisingit triggered off flowed from the banning of the JVPasascapegoat for July'83. The uprising was thus not so much an anti-Indian expression, as the final unravelling of the bankruptcy of the ruling class.
The group around Ravi Jayewardene and their associates who approved of their actions did not want to take their share of the blame. They had treated politicians with disdain for being cautious and two-timing, who for reasons of their own survival were forced to recognise more than one side to a matter. Thus, S.L. Gunasekera could indignantly break off links with the UNP leadership and stay with his legal practice. RaviJayewardene whose stated aim it was to protect Sri Lanka and the Buddha Sasana' could go back to Australia after having placed both in further jeopardy. For the ordinary people of the country it was very different. How deeply entrenched this culture of terror, was and the vested interests it represented became very evident soon after
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the new PA Government came to power in August 1994. The first moves were made to bring tobook those in the armed services responsible for violations in the South. Some soldiers, including a brigadier, wereproduced incourt. "Undercurrent' writing in the newly launched pro-UNPSunday Leader accused the Government of a Dracula-like obsession for digging up graves. A similar line was taken by "Islander' in the Sunday Island. The chorus was joined in by Ranil Wickremasinghe, who is now the leader of the UNP. The line of argument was that these men in the services had acted to protect democracy and restore law and order, and that bringing them to account would demoralise the services at a time they were fighting the LTTE. Their answer to discredited policies that had made the LTTE larger than life, was, more of the same.
Thereis more to this than meets the eye. The Counterpoint in its November 1993 issue and Amnesty International broke the story of a covert operation in Colombo where some Tamil youths were killed. Among those security operatives revealed as havingbeen involved was Captain Munas, alias Dias Richard, alias Martinersz, who earned notoriety in Batticaloa. Late in November 1993, the Sunday Island's columnist on security matters writing under the pseudonym "Ravana' claimed that Munas had been killed during the relief of Pooneryn camp that was partially overrun by the LTTE. The Yukthiya however reported that Munas was much alive and was among those detained over the recent corpses in Colombo. Following the Government's imposition of censorship on security matters, Ravana, Munas' killer on paper, resurfaced in the Sunday Island withapleaforpress freedom! Unconfirmed reports allege that "Munas" is now free
again to terrorise
Rumoursbege August that the C going to move ag the STF and I personnel on th The Island came item by Shamin quoting unna sources, expressi
the anticipated cr
jeopardize securi Colombo.
This leaves us that the role of sig of the mainline other than siniste the press und Government is concern. But also significant sectic combining to just conspire in denyi of thousands of who were victin had lost near one state terror. Tha picture of the in called journalist whom they work values they artici do with truth, free and justice for thi Many of them w Free Media Move UNP regime a advocates of it.
One need not country produ journalism wi investigative particularly in th during the UN would find th 's alues also beir many of Colomb professional bod A most irc appearing towa Gunaratne's bo wondered at: " ultimately Prabhakaran [th took on the mig! To the Sri Lank,
say 'what alterna
Prabhakaran :
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32

Tamils at will.
ntocirculatelast Government was ainst sections of ther security corpses affair. out with a lead dra Ferdinando med security ng concern that ackdown would ty in the City of
with the picture nificant sections press is hardly r. Harassment of 2r the present a matter for serious is that of ons of the press ify, cover up and ngjustice to tens ordinary people ns of terror and es as the result of at gives a grim terests these sos represent and closely with. The ulate have little to dom, democracy e people at large. ho despised the ment during the ce noW earnest
wonder why this ced a stunted th hardly any reporting e English media, P regime. One ese totalitarian g articulated in os elite fora and ies.
nic sentiment irds the end of ok is not to be History must record that le LTTE leader] it of the Indians. an Fat Cats who tive do we have'
nas given the
answer".
The difference is that the LTTE developed a machinery to trap the entireTamilpeople and drive them as a suicidal machine. The Sri Lankan establishmenton the other hand had to make do with a few prisoners, such as whom they used at Weli Oya, and with poor and helpless Sinhaleseborder villagers whom they could neither control completely nor deny the alternative of running away.
Something about the author of For a Sovereign state is also in general very instructive about the ruling class. He had admired Brigadier Ranatunga for the severity with he had crushed the JVP rebellion in Kegalle in 1971. But during 1987-89 the JVP had becomea muchharder nuttocrack and was paralysing the South. But this time the author and his friend MinisterThondaman had become trusted go-betweens, trying to negotiate between the JVP and the Sri Lankan Government. Likewise, his other friend and fellow Thomian, S.L. Gunasekera, an advocate of the Mahawelidoctrine who could not see that the Tamils had any serious problem, and who also held the Tamil militants in contempt. But as the civil war approached a stalemate in 1985, he went for the talks at Thimpu hosted by India and sat with the Tamil militants.
The first thing about the ruling class is that they worship power, whatever its source, and are little concerned about the moral and political rightness or wrongness of actions. That is what a good public school education is about: First respect power, and then play the game.
The most important thing is to recognise that the totalitarian mindset among the rulingeliteisa pathological condition rooted in ideology.Thestruggle for Human Rights will therefore be a difficult one and the risks should not be underestimated. : !
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Arjuna Parakrama
CONTRAY to popular misconception, I am not always hell-bent on shocking people, on being an iconoclast. I resent the patronizing niche of enfant terrible that I have been slotted into by the literatiwho then don't have to take what I write/say seriously. I have become increasinglypeace-loving, even conservative in my old age; so much so that the powers-thatbe in the Arts Council in general, and the Drama Panelin particular, have really taken advantage of my naive timidity.
But, enough is bloody enough, and the literary establishment is hereby challenged to justify itself or be damned. My reluctance to
make grandiose in public on the improved as I sh. Arts Council we premise that they a chance; these, si were the progres travellers who h UNP'slegacy ofp sycophancy, ar valiantly to brea years of corrupt seem that the olc we used to justif PA election cam replicated here suffered the same where these a kicked our teeth
I was one oft for thesemi-final State Drama Fes
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October 1995
 

nein Ottles
brOn OuncementS New (but hardly all demonstrate) is based on the had to be given o the story went, sives, our fellow ad inherited the ropaganda-cumld were trying k away from 17 on. Yes, it does arguments that supporting the paign are being , and we have disillusionment guments have in.
he judges picked round of the 1994 tival. The severa
judges were Prof Tissa Kariyawasam (Chair), Mr Jayantha Aravinda, Dr G Delabandara, Dr Neloufer de Mel, Mr E.M.G. Edirisinghe,Mr.Sugath Watagedera and myself. At the meeting held to decide on which plays were to be selected for the final round we reached a unanimous decision that three plays Yakshagamanaya, Antigone and Baraniya were to go in. After some discussion Adhipathiyage Marana Manchakaya was added to this list, and the unanimity of the panel was maintained. There was some question about the absence of any original plays in the list selected, but the general view was thatnone of the original plays staged at the semi-finals were worthy of
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inclusionin the final. This decision (the inclusion of the four plays) was duly recorded, the entirepanel signed it and the meeting was adjourned. Ihad mentioned earlier that Ihad to leave by 4.00 p.m., but this wasn'taproblemsince by then it was all over. I left at about 3.55 pm and so did Dr de Mel since there was nothing more to discuss. Incidentally, the Chairman, Professor Kariyawasam was over 20 minutes late for the meeting which was scheduled for 3.00pm on July 9, 1995.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I read a month later that (in addition to the four plays listed above) a fifth play, Prometheus, had been selected for the finals. I was so sure that it was a mistake that I tried desperately to contact the Chairman and other members of the panel in order to have an immediate correction issued.
It was only at this point that I was informed that the rest of the panel had changed its decision after we had left, after the meeting had been officially terminated, and afterwehadallsigned the decisionsheet certifying that four plays had been selected for the finals. In this connection too was laterinformed by panelists Dr Delabandara and Mr Watagedera that they had been dissenters but had acquiesced since the other three members had been in the majority. Now, I had made it very clear that I was opposed to Prometheus being selected and so had Dr de Mel during the discussion at the properly constituted meeting. This meant that of the panel of 7, 4 members were clearly opposed to the selection of Prometheus whereas only 3 were in favour.
Yet, by the ruse of terminating and thereafter "reopening" the meeting, the minority of 3 prevailed, lending an aura of premeditation and conspiracy to the proceedings and implying that some members may have had a hidden agenda. This surmise is borne out by the fact that we were
neverinformed, e in writing, of t another play to th though this woul most natural thin circumstances. explanation that that it was deem keep this informa Dr de Mel and became "too late" and legitimate. meeting to discus As soon as II ł change I wrote to of the Arts Coun great detail these of the meeting. ) hearing of my some members of had visited my written message imputing that m stemmed from disagreed with decision of the Pa my letter to the categorically state to the manner decision was take it contradicted a arrived at by the the "reconvening was both irregula and that, perhal neither Dr de Me been afforded th intimation of "decision". Thes outrage is not til was unfit to goint (about this too Il all!), but that it w through the back majority of the j its selection, thereafter both t the Panel of Judg: Panel itself we covering up th disgusting chara
All I got in Drama Panel wa self- righteous account of its interference in th panels. There w;
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34

ther verbally or he addition of elist of finalists, id have been the to doin normal The only I can adduce is ed important to tion away from myself until it to call for a new y constituted s the change. leard about this he Drama Panel cil, outlining in uence of events Prior to this, on dissatisfaction, the Drama Panel nome, leaving a in my absence, y unhappiness the fact that I the majority nel ofJudges. In Drama Panel II ed that I objected in which this n, to the fact that formal decision full panel, that " of the meeting ur and unethical, Ds worst of all, l nor I had even e courtesy of an this changed ubstance of my nat Prometheus o the final round have no doubt at as smuggled in ; door, despite a udges opposing und that even he Chairman of sand the Drama re culpable in is shoddy and ide. reply from the a long-winded, nd patronizing policy of non2 decisions of the is not one word
about the serious charges I had made, nor was there any attempt to inquire into the matter further. I was asked to forget the whole issue by putting it down as a mere "misunderstanding" of no real consequence, and was invited in a subsequent letter to serve as a judge for the finals! No doubt this was a consolation prize, and was also meant to show me that the Drama Panel harboured no hard feelings againstme for rocking the boat. It was also a shrewd move in order to show to the world how magnanimous, impartial and liberal they were.
I had remained publicly silent because I felt that I owed it to the members of the Drama Panel, many of whom I knew and respected (note the past tense), to give them a chance to inquire into the matter and do the right thing. To this end I repeatedly spoke to members of the Drama Panel as well as my fellow judges. There was already much dissatisfaction overtheexclusion of Sakvadawela and the inclusion of Kapuva Kapothi in the semi-finals. Kapuva Kapothi,Sarachchandra's etal translation of Chekhov's The Proposal was originally staged over 20 years ago. Now, his wife has "revived" the play, using the same translation with no changes whatsoever. Yet, the Drama Panel saw no problem in allowing this play to enter the second and final rounds for the year 1993, the main criterion of eligibility for which has traditionally been that theplay "must be NEW", either as an original work or as a translation/ adaptation. It is indeed shocking to me when Irecall that two years earlier Dr Sunil Wijesiriwardena himself was instrumental in the elimination of a version of Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle on the grounds that the translation was too similar to Henry Jayasena's Hun u wa taye Kathawa, even though the acting and direction was clearly different. Sunil examined the two texts carefully,
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reporting to the panel of judges for theSemi-Finals (of which I was a member together with many others who hold office today) who determined that the translation was not sufficiently original for consideration for the final round. That was during the UNP's "Reign of terror", of course, where everyone was a rotter, no?
Now, under the enlightened new dispensation, it appears that the same old judges are more free to make self-seeking new judgements! The fact that Mrs Sarachchandra was originally on the Drama Panel would certainly not have had anything to do with this, perish the thought
I am reliably told that the "argument" used at the meeting was that since the Director of the play was different this time, the production had to be different. True. And the actors, and the audience, and the costumes, and the make up used, and the sound system, even the venues, and the over-arching social context, all these and more are different, surely? But, then, in this sense, every play is an original. The Drama Panel should scrap the category of translation altogether, and consider every play as an "original" of some form oranother. Moreover, each performance is different from its predecessor, so what's being evaluated is a unique single, never-to-be-repeated theatrical event and not "a play" which presupposes continuity and a common sense understanding of theatre.
I am suggesting here that Kapuwa Kapothi was included bothin the second and final rounds for reasons which are not in any way connected to judgements as to what is or is not eligible for selection in terms of the tradition and mandate of the Drama Festival. Personal reasons triumphed here too, and a hasty make- shift rationalization was trotted to give it thesemblance of objectivity. Naively, perhaps, I
decided that I h become a pawn game ofchess. Al friends, fel progressives, pt hearts in the rig thought.
My only regri left it too late. I a results of the 19 write this piece country. This is sure. Orelse, I'd b discover that Pro the award for the of the year.
This is not Prometheus, no and criteria of ju particular or li general in this c continuing dialo overdue. It is partisan decision friends by giving of playing safe a everyone happy of trying to bulls of a crisis. Don't think all these is here, but there' bedrock concerr valuing basic de common denom human life.
Mr Ariyawa Mr Lakshman Fe Wijesiriwardena and the other members of the Panel of the Al appall, disgusta I find it hard to
you are su compromisers This piece, then, joltyou into stan you believe, at you feel that y thing to ignore my letter, to consciously kee myself in the "revised" decisic condone the b Chairman of o letter to yol
Соитt
റ~-റhമr 1996

Arts
had no desire to in Someone else's terall, these were low-travellers, ople with their ht place, or so I
et now is that I've m unaware of the 94 Festival as I while out of the for the best, I'm pe even angrier to metheus has won best original play
: really about 'aboutstandards 1dging drama in terary work in puntry, though a gue onthisis long not even about is, about pleasing , them awards, or nd trying to keep , of covering up, hit one's way out get me wrong. I sues are at stake
S an eVen Ore which is about cency, the lowest inator of civilised
nsa Ranaweera, Ernando, Dr Sunil , Mr Edirisinghe
distinguished Sinhala Drama its Council, you hd disillusionme. believe, still, that uch cowards, and charlatans. salast attempt to ding up for what whatever cost. If ou did the right the substance of
wilfully and p Dr de Mel and dark as to the n of our panel, to haviour of the ur panel whose a contains, I
understand, a gratuitous diatribe againstusin particularand English academics in general, then stand up and publicly defend yourselves. If you sincerely believe that it is more important to close ranks and pretend that nothing is wrong, then say so in the press. Sadly, I have no further recourse through the "privacy" of personal correspondence since you trivialise my protests. I can only, therefore, demandan open public response from you.
Remember what is at stake, finally, is the theatre that we all love so much. You are merely the politically-favoured trustees, not the owners of the Sinhala stage today. Therefore, you do not have the luxury of your individual idiosyncrasy for Oconfrontation.
History may or may not judge you for your peculiar taste in drama, or for the real or imagined conflicts of interest you straddle. My own hunch is that hindsight is a poor teacher, and some of us can fool the people all the time. No, your nemesis will not be posterity -- non-entities like us will be swallowed up without a trace - but the fact that you have lost the courage of your conviction forever. You can cling to your niches of cultural power until this government gives way to another (some of you are sure to even survive a newer dispensation), but you have failed the acid test. You are no different from the rest.
The point, is course, that nothing has really changed: a brand new set of clowns with a brand new set of vested interests have emerged. Moreover, the hegemony of dominant culture being what it is, the new power bloc does not differ radically from the old. History repeatsitself, Marx wrote, first as tragedy and then as farce. Marx was wrong. History keeps repeating itself as tragicomedy. We're the fools who want to believe that there's some improvement.
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Translati Or where igno
Arjuna Parakrama
SARACHCHANDRA and Ariyaratne won not merely the main award for the Best Dramatic Translation at the State Literary Festival in 1994, they remain, in the dominant view, both the epitome andstandard of all thatisbest among the Sinhala literati. Sarachchandra wields a tremendous influence on both academics and creative spirits alike. In fact, at the awards of the Drama Festival for 1993, virtually all the prize winners worshipped at the altar of Sarachchandra, seated among the distinguished invitees in the front row, both on the way up to receive their trophies and on the way down after bagging them.
Not only is it the case that whatever Sarachchandra does receives accolades, the conferring of the award for Yerma further reinforces this as a model translation, an example for all to follow. The question is, of course, whether Sarachchandra's name has proved more important than the quality of this translation, ensuring all the bouquets that it received by scholars and critics.
I hope to establish that as a translation/adaptation of Lorca this work is woefully inadequate and slipshod, while as a text in its own right it is superficial and unsatisfactory.
Gross Mistakes
First, then, the charge of crass ignorance and, worse, ut ter unconcern for the original text. Lorca's play is well-known and much studied. There are numerous critical works that discuss his achievement. There'seven a Spanish learners' text with glosses on difficult
words, explanatio a host of backg Sarachchandraan however, chosent English transla Graham-Lujan O'Connell (publis their only sourc explanation or de sure about these t at four of the sev translations avail Spanish original, much less Spani smaller English men. It is, I kee question of respo fashioned hone commitment to th the act of translat transgression.
Here, then, are glaring of misu gratuitous distort ignorance that translation. In a sor in Act One, she sa The oxen lov for the which has beel Sarachchandra an ගව රැළ එනතුරු ගර් where the absurc lowing for the he resulted from the translators who ha herd" literally.
The crassly k translators have discover what the v "arroyo" means despiteitsusein th a capital letter appearance as "th text, they have pres is a place name. I that the second stream, therefo ඇරෝයෝවලට යනවා still, We'll go as far as th
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36

g lema anCelis bliSS
hs of nuancesand round material. Ariyaratnehave. ) use the Penguin tion by James nd Richard L. hed in 1946) as e, without any fence. I am less hings, So I looked en of so English able, and at the
though I have sh and perhaps han these great p reiterating, a nsibility, a newst-to-goodness he seriousness of ion/adaptation/
a few of the most nderstandings, ons and general permea te this ng sung by Yerma ys
ox-herd
rendered by d Ariyaratne as )යෝ හඩතී. lp.14] ity of the cattle ird of cattle has ignorance of the vetranslated"ox
now-nothingist not bothered to ell-known word in Spanish, so, English without und despite its e arroyo" in the umed thatarroyo stead of saying irl went to the re, they say, (p27), and worse
'arroyo
is translated as අපි මෙයාව ඇරෝයෙjවලට ඇරලමු.!p57]
One gets the impression that the entire translation was done with an English dictionary and/or an English-Sinhala dictionary by people who have no understanding of idiomatic English. For instance, Dolores who is "disturbed" (as in worried, uneasy) when she tells Yerma that she'll come with her as far as the corner if Yerma is afraid, has been described as 6oao ag&a
p 56) which, though one of the dictionary meanings of the word "disturbed" is clearly inappropriate in context as she is neither cutting into Yerma's speech, nor interrupting her in any other way.
Similarly, stagedirections as well as the descriptions that build up atmosphereare distorted, travestied. "The FIRST SISTER enters with a lamp that must not give the stage any light other than its own" has been rendered as පළමු නෑනණඩිය පහනක් රැගෙන එයි. එයින් එළියක් රංගභූමිය මත නො වැටිය යුතුය.lp 51]
There are many, many more such examples, but surely, my point has been made?
Rough or Gist Translation
Yet, one can argue that these are mere trifles, and that where it matters the translators have got it right. The defenders of the faith would say that as a translation, even as a work on its own terms, it is effective despite these slighterrors. The truth of the matter, however, is that these are no less than symptoms of the malaise, and that these symptoms cannot be wished away purely on the basis of the fetishizing of individual genius, whatever that
eaS.
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Missing the Bus
One of the key elements of Lorca's play is the question of Yerma's sexuality. It is not only the motor that runs the plot, it also provides the dramatic tension and intensity which leads to the final denouement. All this requires, however, a careful attention to the nuance of the language, the tone and variation of Yerma's responses to her husband, for example in contrast to herdialogues with Victor. This translation remains blissfully oblivious to Yerma's predicament, as it is painstakingly built up by Lorca, as the following extracts will show:
Juan says laughingly to Yerma, "Our work goes well, we've no children to worry about." To this she responds, "We've no children. Juan!" There is a certain uniformity here in all the English translations I read, and the difference in attitude between Juan who doesn't want children and Yerma who does is clear, if understated. Moreover, Yerma's maternalurgeisher driving force for which she is willing to sacrifice everything, even her freedom. The Sinhala translation of this dialogue is self-explanatory in its careless obliteration of this difference: යුවන් (sic): අපේ වැඩ කටයුතු හොඳින් කෙරෙන ව: ළමයා ළපටින'ගෙන' කරදරයක් නෑ. යෙර්මා: ළමා ළපටින්ගෙන් කරදරයක් o . gzo pp 12-13 (my emphasis) In the very next lines we see further examples of this crass reduction of Lorca's writing to the lowestcommon denominatorofplot (or "what happens next"). The repeated citing of these lapses and faux pa will make boring reading and the exigencies ofspace requirea stringent economy, so I shall rest my case with one more from the same section.
Yerma is describing to Juan how different she was from othergirlson her wedding night. Shesays, "I know girls who trembled and cried before getting to bed with their husbands. Did I cry the first time I went to bed with you? Didn't I sing as I turned
back the fine liner didn't I tell you smell of apples!" third sentence ist remark as she tu just before gettir Juan for the first now become a pr in futility, Sara Ariyaratne trans passage as follow මං දන්නව තමුන්ටෝ ඇඳට යනකොට ගෙ ගැන.. මං ඉස්සෙල්ලම ගිය වෙලාවේ ඵහෙl සිනිදු ඇඳ ඇතිරිලි කිව්වේ නැද්ද? ඒ ද දූවද තියනව කියල.
Here, Yerma involved in the d arranging the bed act of entering her also that the "alier has been retained lending credibility that the translato attempting as fait as possible.
Adaptation
Close to th
Though there fast rules about wh should stick close beinnovative, it isg to use the protocols itself to determing and efficacy of the the translators. I a suggesting that a seeks meticulousl exact nuances of priori, better than and indigenizes.
Throughout th been no attempt to any of the contexts more familiar to th In fact, "fields" in th
has been translate
41 which shows t strongdesiretoloc
Inconsist Ignor
So the tra
OC:t Ober 1995
Counte.

bedclothes? And These bedclothes The point in the latshemakes this ns back the linen g into bed with ime. In what has dictable exercise chchandra and late this crucial
Ø මිනිහත් එක්කල 2ථුලරූ අඩපු ගෑනු ඔහෙත් ඒකක ඇඳට ම ඇඬුවද? ලස්සන අයත් කර කර සින්දු ඇඳ ඇතිරිවල ඇපල්
[p 13] is singing while omestic chore of linen, not in the nuptial bed. Note "smell of apples without change, to the conclusion rs were, in fact, hfuil a translation
or Sticking e Original
are no hard and ethera translation to the original or generally possible of the translation the consistency choices made by m not, therefore,
translation that y to capture the the original is, a one that adapts
e text there has ocalizedrchange o that it becomes e Sinhala reader. e English version das Cresco SSS) Ip hat there was no alize the material.
'ncy and
C
nslators have
Arts
attempted a faithful copy, not an adaptation. The deviations, then, are, most often, errors of omission and commission. Heretoo, however, an inconsistency has crept in which can best be explained as the result of carelessness and unconcern for the original. Anyone familiar with Lorca's work, or anyone who takes the trouble to find out, would know how carefully realistic his settings are, how topical his allusions and references, how significant his locations in terms of the practical effects they have on the lives of the people he portrays. The very translators who chose to insert apple orchards into the text in order to achieve an authentic atmosphere have "chosen" (through ignorance?) to substitute for the image of the miracle-working saint (which Lorca in turn substituted for the portrait of Christon a tapestry in a temple at Moclin) the zos &cosiacso p 60). Considering that Lorca is using this section to launch a powerful attack on the Catholic church and its belief in miracles, this localizing misses the bus badly.
Interpretation, Nuance and the Murder of Lorca
The tragedy is that none of these considerations probably even figured in the deliberations of the panel of judges, just as they hardly concerned the two illustrious translators. Sri Lankan critics have established a strange tradition of evaluatinga translation without any reference whatsoever to the original. If this were a matter of literary principle it would have been something, but, alas, this is only the recourse of the lazy and theignorant.
Despite everything I still find it difficult to believe that Professor Sarachchandra can be both so ignorant and so careless. Perhaps, his crime was merely to "lend" his name to Ariyaratne's work, but this cannot let him off either the moral or literary hook. Over to those of you who find me insufferable, Sarachchandra et al infallible, and adjudged Yerma the BestTranslation for 1994.
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AWEPOUCH THE
"Twixt Slip & Gully
THE Sri Lankan cricketers left for their nine week tour of Australia with their morale skyhigh and a determination to do well against what is now arguably the best cricketing team in the world.
Enjoying one of their finest periods in recent times, our cricketers set off for an arduous tour of Australia where they will play three tests and travel over 25,000 km on a nine-week tour which also features a Triangular one-day series with West Indies and hosts Australia.
On our previous tours to Australia too we have had to crisscross the country several times and the Aussiesheretoo are only doing what most host nations do these days - ensure that the touring team has the roughest possible touritinerary to give the hosts as much advantage as possible.
Unlike our previous tours, however, our present form has earned a new respect for Sri Lankan cricket among the other test playing countries and we are no longer there only to make up the numbers and to enable other players and countries to feed on us for their records.
We embark on our fourth overseas tour this year after having returned triumphant from all three previous tours.
In March this year we recorded our first overseas test win when we beat New Zealand in the first testand then tookour first overseas series win by drawing the second test.
In October, after suffering an innings defeat in the first test we bounced back to beat Pakistan convincingly in the next two tests
to take the three We repeated the the one-day serie
Later in the beat West Indies triangular one da and fully justific the pre-tournam Most connoiss reckonour one-d the West Indies stuff right out of refusal to be c mammoth target just short in a la: West Indies clea that Sri Lanka's c of age. The fact t batsmen totalled of 329 says it all.
Our Squad to . familiar look wit the side having for some time -- reason for our cha Captain Arjun be making his fou second as skipper, of the others have at least once befo 59 tests Ranatung longest surviving also one of the shı around.
The batting revolve round experienced pla Rana tunga, V Aravinda de Silva Mahanama and b Gurusinha. The played a total of 1. 21 test centuries :
Aravinda de his exploits in stummer, will no to repeathis form to Australia w heavily in the tes Chandika Ha eight fifties in tes
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38

match series 2-1. performance in s to win 2-1. same month we and Pakistan in a v series in Sharjah 'd being tagged ent favourites. eurs of the game ay match against at Sharjah was the movies! Our verawed by a of 333 and falling st gasp effort by irly emphasised ricket had come hat our top four just 26 in a total
Australia bears a h the majority of played together perhaps another ange in fortunes! a Ranatunga will urth tour and his , and the majority been to Australia re. A veteran of a is not only the g test player but 'ewdest captains
will once again the four most yers -- Skipper 'ice Captain , Opener Roshan Datsman Asanka foursome have 30 tests and have amongst them. Silva, fresh from
England this ioubt be hoping on their last tour hen he scored
ES.
AGAAOOSTOO)
average of 32.31 although he is still striving to record his first century. He, however, seems set to open the batting with Mahanama but could well find Sanath Jayasuriyabreathing down his neck for the opener's berth if he fails.
With two test centuries in seven tests and an ability to bat anywhere in the order, Sanjeeva Ranatunga is a useful player to have on a long tour when players are bound toget injured.
Notest playing country has ever had the luxury of having their number six batsman leading the batting averages but that is where the most reliable batsman Hashan Tillekeratne has to bat. With an average of 40.87 and three centuries to his credit, Tillekeratne is the only Sri Lankan to figure in the top ten world ranking for batsmen.
The wicketkeeperis berth is likely to be a close contest between Romesh Kalluvitharana and Chamara Dunusinghe with little to choosebetween their ability behind the stumps. Both players distinguished themselves with the bat in their test debuts. Kaluvitharana makingan unbeaten 132 against Australia in 1993 and Dunusinghe a gallant 91 against New Zealand early this year.
Kumara Dharmasena isanother talented all-rounder and lends a lot of balance to the side.
Our most potent weapons however will be left arm fast bowler Chaminda Vaas and off spinner Muttiah Muralidharan. Vaas our most promising discovery in recent years, has 39 wickets in just nine tests while Muralidharan, our leading wickettaker, has a similar strikerate with 78 wickets in 21 tests.
hurusinghe has Paceman Pramodaya ts and a healthy Wickremasinghe rediscovered his
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October 1995

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form in the latter part of the Pakistantour and should give Vaas good support. Eric Upashanta, Ravindra Pushpakumara and new boy Manjula Munasinghe lend a certain depth to our fast bowling cupboard which has been quite bare for some time.
Left arm leg Silva isaninteres he could prov handful to the are susceptible t
It would tak for the selectors with twohigh cla
S US AN
VICTIM OF EAOUSY
The Trackmarker
SUSANTHIKA Jayasinghe won the hearts of all Sri Lankans when running the race of her life she took the Gold medal in the 200m sprint event at the Asian Games in Manila. Only the previous day she had been denied a Gold medal by the merest fraction of a second in the 100m
eVent.
We Sri Lankans have had hardly anything to cheer about on the athletic field and now in Susanthika we have a top class athlete who if properly handled could bring Sri Lanka its first ever Olympic medal at the next Olimpics in 1996.
Many forei, witnessed Susan the Chinese an "invincible" Asia a bright future f who can easily whole Asian reg
Then sudd burst-Susanthi for a banned dr anti-Susanthik jubilant. An aff have been treat and tactfully w. out of hand by i A well-planned began and Sc Ministry was cc conference to a that Susanthikal for use of a
Coun,
October 1995
 

Sports
spinner Jayantha sting selection and e to be quite a Australians who o genuine spin.
e a lot of courage to go into a test isspinnersinSilva
and Muralidharan and two
fastbowlers supported by Hasthurusinghe's medium pacers but that could be the winning combination for us.
We would certainly have the kangaroos on the hop then!
TKA
ANDINEPT OFFICIALS
gn experts who thikaripping past d other hitherto inshave predicted or this village girl be a star for the gion.
2nly the bubble ika tested positive ug- and the local ca rabble were air which should ed confidentially as allowed to get interested parties. leak to the media pon the Sports onducting a press nnounce the fact had tested positive performance
enhancing drug.
Susanthika is still considered the holder of the Gold medal until the IAAF gives its final verdict and decides to strip her of her award, but sadly, the young woman who is yet to be proved guilty by the IAAF has already been condemned by her own people! Within 24 hours of the "press conference" all the local newspapers and officials had condemned a lass who has not yet been prove guilty even by the International Federation.
The total apathy of the sports administrators in this case has left many Sri Lankans wondering whether there are other sinister motives behind all this.
It is well known that Susanthika
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has been continually harassed by a certain faction within the athletic association, her only fault being that she is the best among the sprinters and has begun to attract more attention than others. At different times in her career she has had her shoes stolen, her bag pinched and her camera and other personal effects stolen. All these incidents occured at crucial points just prior to her event at important meets and were all calculated to upset a person who was bringing credit to her country. Matters didn't stop there - when Susanthika was overseas her house was stoned and the windows are still smashed -- a testimony to how we Sri Lankans treat our heroes!
To this date NO formal inquiry into Susanthika's case has been held by the local authorities which is the most basic step that the authorities should have taken. Nobody is disputing the findings of the IAAF but neither does anybody believe that Susanthika took drugs to enhance her performance. Somewhere in between these two premises lies the truth and it is the duty of the authorities to clear the name of the country and the innocent young woman!
Did Susanthikatakemore than the normal dosage of the PERMITTED drug Primulat_N by starting the dosage earlier than expected? It is well known that the onset of menstrual periods cannot be always predicted accurately and Susanthika herself had begun taking Primulat_N regularly for about ten days. Has the good doctor prescribed any OTHER drug which could give the same results, and have the authorities suppressed this fact? Were the forms accurately filled in at the time of the taking of the urine samples regarding the dosage that
Susanthika had other vital inform even from those
tests?
Why didn' competent persc testing of the Sar Sports Ministry that Dr Geeth (remember the fi our cricketers?) i. for the job? Can foran experience is knowledge of a more importa type of investiga It is high t Ministry appoin understands spo and whose unquestionable. competitive envi Lanka too is or international ci essential that a person or perso as Consultan medications. T Thurairajah, Gunasekera, D
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40
 

spring readily to mind and all these people have graced the sports field with distinction.
It wasn't until A.R.L. Wijesekera a former Government Analyst and W.H.O.Consultant raised this matter on his own that the authorities even considered that some grave injustice may have occurred. Wijesekera, himself a former Sri Lankansportsman, came forward with the theory that both the permitted drug Primalut_N and Nandrolone which is banned have similar properties.
Anotheraspect which most international sports bodies should lookintois the present system of
taken? Was any nation kept secret conducting the
t we have a in present at the mple B? Does the sincerely believe vanjan Mendis tness fiasco with s the right person a Doctor stand in danalyst when it Chemistry that is nt factor at this tion? me the Sports ed a doctor who itsandsportsmen integrity is In today's highly "onment when Sri par with other mpetition it is very competent is are appointed is on Sports le names of Dr Dr Maiya r Fred Perera,
having both samples of urine tested at the SAMElaboratory. Why go to the same Doctor for a second opinion??
When the samples of urine are taken the specimens are sealed in tamper-proof containers under Supervision of the team managers. Sample B is deep frozen to be used only if necessary and Sample A is tested immediately. If the laboratory used for testing has any malfunctioning equipmentorif the technician (and it is actually only a technician) makes an error in judgementitis likely that these will occur again if the second test is conducted in the same place under identical conditions.
There is talk now of a THIRD samplebeing taken from Susanthika and the use of this sample would be only to establish a basic level of normalurinecharacteristics. If there is a high level of testerone in the SampleC,Susanthikamay wellhave Some other medical complication which is showing excess testerone.
Over to you Mr Minister: Clear the name of an innocent lass and this country, before all is lost.
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October 1995

Page 43
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At Sri Lanka Telecom one of the biggest challenges we face as we approach the millennium is keeping Sri Lanka abreast of these rapidly developing communication technology.
Two decades back - in 1976- under the guidance of the then Prime Minister Of Sri Lanka, Hon. Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, we took the initial step towards this challenge - the commissioning of Sri Lanka's first earth Station, Padukka-1A. That was Sri Lanka's entry in to the era of satellite communications. And today weareabout to takeanothergiant step with the commissioning of the 3rd earth Station, Padukka 2A. Themaindifference being that thisearth stationis indigital mode of operation in keeping with latest international Standards.
The Padukka -2A earth Station will enhance Sri Lanka's Communication links with the world. It will provide for 2000 more simultaneous international telephone calls and 450 data lines along with facilities for the exchange of international TV programmes. Its state-of-theart technology and advanced features will pave the way for highly reliable, accurate communication facilities with low operational costs. For Sri Lanka's rapidly developing economy this new earth station would be a big boom.