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Stripe tease: Dullas and Gammanpila at the demonstration outside CIABOC

The “Kingdom of Kandy”-or so it would seem-descended upon the Commission Investigating Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) on Thursday when former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa went there in response to summons. Angry protesters, led by Buddhist monks and Parliamentarians from the United People’s Freedom Alliance, converged on the road alongside the Commission at Malalasekera Mawatha in Colombo.

Shouting slogans, they waved what looked like the Sri Lanka national flag but the flags were not quite that. The flags they brandished in large numbers contained only the lion and the bo leaves symbolising the four Buddhist virtues of “Metta” (loving kindness), “Karuna” (compassion”, “Muditha” (sympathetic joy) and “Upekha” (equanimity).

Glaring in their absence were the two vertical stripes of orange and green symbolising the country’s minority Tamil and Muslim communities. As photographs and footage of the demonstration became widely circulated, the use of this dated version of the national flag-the royal standard of the Kingdom of Kandy-caused a raging storm.

Mild criticism snowballed into questions regarding legality. On social media, the authorities were being asked why they did not make arrests on the basis of distortion of the national flag. Many politicians had been seen holding these flags. But they were the first to distance themselves from the controversy.
The first to apologise was former minister Dullas Alahapperuma. Despite the fact that he was also present at the demonstration and was photographed waving the flag, he said: “This is a serious matter. We apologise for having used this particular flag. We say sorry to any person or group that may have been hurt by this incident.”

Udaya Gammanpila, Western Provincial Council member and founder of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya, also maintained his innocence and…passed the buck. The flags were distributed by a private entity called Swarna Hansa Foundation, he claimed. “We had nothing to do with it and there was no particular motive, sinister or otherwise,” he said, all the while gripping tightly on to one flag. “We cannot take responsibility for the actions of others.” He, too, later apologised.

Gallage Punyawardena, Chairman of the Swarna Hansa Foundation, insisted that the creation of the new flag was aimed mainly towards demonstrating national unity minus stripes and borders. He found nothing wrong with it. “There was no intention to insult any particular person or group,” he said. “The stripes symbolising the minorities were intentionally taken out to display national unity, nothing else. Therefore, the case ends there.”
He claimed the flag was similar to one used before 1948 which “represented all communities”.

Lost and found in  Parliament: Rohitha’s magic ring
There were many interesting incidents during the all night sit-in protests by some UPFA Parliamentarians this week. One of these was the case of the lost and found ring of MP Rohitha Abeygunawardena.The Kalutara District MP who like many other politicians wears rings embedded with precious stones on astrological advice had taken his morning bath and had used the dressing room for MPs in the Parliament complex to change into fresh clothing after the long night sitting on the Chamber floor.

However, accidently his ring had got entangled on his towel and had been left behind. Later a member of the cleaning staff had found it and handed it over to the Sergeant-at-Arms who in turn had located the owner and returned it to him.

19A-struck MPs stumped by Microsoft strikethrough
Some people don’t know the difference between a scribble and a “strikethrough”. G.L. Peiris, former Minister of External Affairs and legal pundit, is one of them.
He protested loudly this week that the version of the 19th Amendment given to the Opposition by the Government was scribbled all over and had lines across it. It was worse work than a first year university student, he complained.

Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala also found the draft objectionable on similar grounds. He called untidy. A copy was obtained by the Sunday Times and what was found was that the strikethrough option in Microsoft Word had been used on certain sections to denote that those clauses had been removed. This enabled a clear reading of the deleted sections. Computer lessons might be of benefit to some of Sri Lanka’s most senior MPs.

Career diplomats as new envoys
The Government is finalising the list of those who are to be sent to head Sri Lanka missions abroad to fill the vacancies created by the en masse recall in March of those political appointees of the previous regime.

A list containing the names of potential appointees was being discussed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Few appointments have been confirmed, all consisting of members of the Sri Lanka Overseas Service (SLOS). They include Manish Gunasekera to South Korea, Hasanthi Dissanayake to Vietnam, Aruni Ranarajah to the Philippines, Darshana Perera to Indonesia and A.M.J. Sadiq to the Netherlands.

Drunken supporters outside, BIA arrival lounge shut down as Basil comes
It was Tuesday, the day the former big boss responsible for developing the economy of the country was returning home from a three-month stint of self-exile. Former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa had fled the country in a hurry after the fall of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime on January 08, apparently to dodge a series of corruption charges.

It was around 10 a.m. when the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA)’s arrival lounge was closed without a warning shutting out hundreds of people who had turned up to receive relatives, friends, business contacts and others. These people were taken by surprise and no valid reason was given for the closure of the arrival lounge.

Journalists attempting to enter the area were told by security officials that the area had been shut for some urgent renovation work. However, as events unfolded in the passing hours the real reason was clear. It appears that a regional politician had transported some 2,000 persons in private hired vehicles to greet Basil Rajapaksa. It was feared that the crowd, many of them in an intoxicated state, might attempt to breach security and gain access into the building to greet their one-time idol.

This place has a large concentration of police and security forces personnel with an Air Force camp located nearby. “But for some reason known only to the ground management at the BIA, it was decided to close the arrival lounge altogether,” said a pensioner who had arrived to pick up his wheel chair bound daughter who had arrived on a morning flight.

Miliband makes amends for New Year bloomer
Following an uproar that the British Opposition Leader Ed Miliband only wished Sri Lankan Tamils living in the UK a happy “Tamil New Year’ when in fact, it is a New Year celebrated by the Sinhalese also, the Acting High Commissioner for Sri Lanka has received a letter from the man who wants to be Britain’s next Prime Minister.

This follows a letter sent to Mr. Miliband by the Acting High Commissioner Chanaka Talpahewa drawing the British Labour Party leader’s attention to his faux pas in wishing only the Sri Lankan Tamil community a “Happy Tamil New Year” (the Sunday Times of last week).

The bloomer on the eve of the British general elections due in early May is expected to have cost the Labour Party a sizeable vote base from among those of Sri Lankan origin who are from the Sinhala community. Many of them have written to their local Labour MPs decrying the stand of their party leader who was, they said, trying to drive a wedge between the two communities when the country back home was trying to bring them together.

They also pointed out that Miliband’s opponent, Prime Minister David Cameron had, on the other hand, wished both communities for the Sinhala and Tamil New Year earlier this month.In his letter to the Sri Lankan Acting High Commissioner, Mr. Miliband says “the Labour Party indeed has a long standing policy of encouraging Sri Lanka to further strengthen unity amongst its diverse communities”.

He goes on to refer to his meetings with President Sirisena and then reaches out to pacify the Sinhalese community in Britain with ” I would like to take this opportunity to also recognise the contribution of all Sri Lankans to the economy, business, public services and our cultural life in the UK”.

“I would like to reiterate my warm wishes to the Sinhalese, Tamil and the wider Sri Lankan community in the UK on the auspicious occasion of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year”, he now says.

In case they missed the point, he says it again; “I wish all the Sri Lankan community very best wishes at this special time”.
Significantly, the letter is not dated.

Vasu sour: Rs. 10 for hopper, but Rs. 20 for lunumiris
The fixed price on cups of tea and hoppers by the Government, impractical as it was, clearly has left a sour taste in the once fiery socialist Parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara.
At a media conference held on Friday, his complaint was that previously when hoppers were sold at a higher price, he was given free lunu miris.
“Now I have to pay Rs. 10 for a hopper and another Rs. 20 for the lunu miris, he complained. He probably wants the Government now to control the price of the lunumiris.

Wigneswaran says his letter was twisted
Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran was in a for a shock this week after he saw Indian media reports which said that he had sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release three persons who have been convicted in cases of rape and murder in India.

The reports said the Chief Minister had requested the Indian Premier to release three life convicts in the sensational Swamy Premananda case in 1994. However, all that Chief Minister Wigneswaran had done was to forward an appeal he had received from the family members of the convicts to the Indian Premier.
In this case three Sri Lankans — Kamalananda, Balan alias Balendiran and Sathis alias Sathishkumar — were convicted and sentenced along with Premananda for raping 13 girls, including minors, and conspiring to murder an inmate in the godman’s ashram near Trichy.

They were sentenced to double life imprisonment, and the punishment was upheld by the Indian Supreme Court in 2005. While Premananda died in Cuddalore prison in 2011, the other three are now in the Puzhal jail in Chennai. The Chief Minister had forwarded an appeal by the family members to the Indian Premier. The Chief Minister in his letter said; ’I have been sent the following documents by K. Sivathy, daughter of convict 4220 by e-mail and post.
I am aware of their plight.

Since this girl’s father and mother hail from our province I take the liberty of forwarding the said documents for your kind consideration. Mr. Ram Jethmalani who is known to me is fully aware of the false case filed’.The Indian media have said senior officials expressed surprise and shock over Mr. Wigneswaran questioning the Indian judicial system. And — the Chief Minister as everyone knows is a former Supreme Court judge of Sri Lanka.