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A motley crowd led by onetime presidential candidate Siritunga Jayasuriya staged a protest last Tuesday outside the Myanmar Embassy at Flower Road in Colombo.

Their aim was to condemn the military coup d’etat in Myanmar (former Burma) on February 1. Troops captured power and arrested Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi whose National League for Democracy won a landslide victory at the general elections in November last year. Since then, there have been protests in the streets including the Myanmar capital of Naypidaw. Troops and Police are reported to be shooting the protestors, killing and wounding them.

Even before this protest, questions were raised over why Sri Lanka had not joined other nations in condemning this anti-democratic move by military dictators.

The protest outside the Myanmar Embassy on Flower Road last Tuesday. Pic by M. D. Nissanka

Amid this came a letter Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena wrote to “H.E. Wunna Huang Lwin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.”

This is what the letter said:

“Your Excellency,

It is with great pleasure I invite Your Excellency to participate at the 17th Ministerial Meeting of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation to be held in the afternoon of April 1, 2021 preceded by a special Senior Officials Meeting on March 31, 2021 virtually in Colombo.

Despite the ongoing global challenge of COVID-19, BIMSTEC took the challenge and had several meetings to finalise documents for the consideration of the upcoming ministerial meeting. This is only evident of the resilience and unwavering commitment of all member states to ensure that the mandate of our leaders are (sic) fulfilled for the betterment of the region and its peoples.

The ministerial meeting will bring all our efforts to culmination before the 5th summit to be held later in the year by enabling us to formalise/endorse decisions that were taken at the 21st Senior Officials meetings (Soft) under the Chair of Sri Lanka.

The 17th ministerial meeting will greatly benefit from Your Excellency’s valued participation, and I look forward to our close engagement over the course of the meeting. The programme of the ministerial meeting and the agenda will follow in due course.”

Now, does this amount to Sri Lanka granting recognition to the government of a military junta in Myanmar? Sections in Colombo’s diplomatic community opine it does.

“Otherwise, Sri Lanka should have addressed the invitation to the government of Myanmar and not by name,” said one diplomat.

Added another “Sri Lanka could have consulted member countries before the invitation was sent. This is because none has granted recognition so far.”

The news of the invitation drew ire from the social media covering events in Myanmar now. Sri Lanka came in for bitter criticism.

The Foreign Ministry reacted with a statement which said:

“There have been reports on social media platforms in regard to an invitation extended to the Foreign Minister of Myanmar to attend the 17th BIMSTEC Ministerial Meeting hosted virtually on April 1, 2021, in Colombo.

Sri Lanka as the Chair of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Co-operation (BIMSTEC) and the host of the Ministerial Meeting has invited all member states (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Thailand) to participate in the discussions in order to finalise documents of the 5th BIMSTEC Summit expected to be held later this year in Sri Lanka.”

Former Govt.’s Gampereliya billboards removed secretly

The billboards erected along the streets under the ‘Gampereliya’ village development initiatives by the previous Yahapalana government are being removed silently with the indirect support of local politicos.

The bill boards consist of project details and images of former heads of the government and local representatives. Since almost all of those featured in the billboards are out of office, the rival party politicos in the North gave the green light to remove them through their supporters in local government bodies.

Why the delay? The question is positively pregnant with possibilities

In the public sector female graduates and diploma holder trainees have so far not been allocated their full quota of maternity leave.

It was only last week it came to light where the delay has been.

This was when Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Government Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon wrote to his secretary J. J. Ratnasiri.

In a letter sent by the minister to his secretary, he said even though two reminders had been sent in November and December last year, the Cabinet paper to seek approval to give the full quota of 84 days of maternity leave, similar to what is entitled to all employees has not been prepared.

He expressed disappointment about the delay in preparing the Cabinet paper and said no explanation was given for the delay.

The Minister has now set a 14 day deadline to submit the draft Cabinet paper or if not explain if there were any obstacles in preparing the paper.

Hindu groups plant statues of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva on main streets in Jaffna

This week as Hindus marked the Maha Sivaratri on Thursday, there were more than half a dozen incidents reported in the North alone, where ‘certain groups’ have branded themselves to ‘protect Hindus.’ They planted statues of Lord Ganesha and Lord Shiva’s Shiva Lingam along the main streets to create unnecessary trouble for local authorities when it comes to removing them.

One such statue of Lord Ganesha was placed on the busy street of Kantharmadam in Jaffna and another was planted at Sankupitty bridge by ‘unknown persons’ at midnight.

The group claimed that the Hindu identity is under threat with similar tactics followed by those who planted Lord Buddha’s statue at Bo trees in the province. The Jaffna Municipal Council is yet to decide whether to keep the statues or remove them since it is a sensitive subject to the locals.

Opposition accuses Speaker of masking his bias 

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena came under severe criticism from Opposition parliamentarians on Wednesday as they accused him of bias following a row over wearing face masks in the chamber. The row however, overshadowed the fact that many MPs continue to flout face mask rules within the chamber.

Opposition parliamentarians were incensed after the Speaker warned Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Hesha Withanage to put on his mask when speaking but did not give the same warning to Minister Chamal Rajapaksa, who also spoke without a mask.

Face masks are mandatory in Parliament, but as with most things, the rules apply different to the powerful. The majority of MPs remove their masks when making their speeches. Even if one were to excuse that on the grounds that it makes it easier to hear clearly what the person is saying, what excuse is there for those who are sitting in their seats for not wearing masks?

Social distancing in the chamber is impossible on account of the seats being so close together, so one would think MPs would appreciate that the least they can do is wear their masks when sitting so close to each other. After all, seven of their number did contract COVID-19.

One wonders whether MPs think they are now immune after getting the COVID-19 vaccine ahead of other groups.

Businessman announces formation of BJP in the north

In recent weeks, there was much hype in local media on reports of leaders of India’s ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), suggesting it might contest elections in neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Last month, Indian media quoted India’s Tripura State Chief Minister Biplab Deb as saying that Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah intended to establish BJP governments in the two countries as part of an ‘Atmanirbhar South Asia.’

Last Saturday, a group of individuals led by a businessman held a media briefing at the Jaffna Press Club to announce the formation of a new political party named ‘Sri Lanka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’. The representatives claimed the party would work for the betterment of the Tamil people in the country with a special focus on economic development.

Though the formation of the new Sri Lankan version of the BJP came as a surprise, if not coincidentally, local Tamil nationalist parties expressed concerns suggesting that certain elements are at play to exploit the people on religious and caste basis to engage in petty politics similar to the politics of South India.

The matter was raised at a Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) media briefing given by its leader parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam last week. He said it was not surprising since “almost all the Tamil nationalist parties are working on the agenda of a ‘neighbouring country’, now that same country has fielded its own direct representatives here to do politics. Anybody can engage in any political work here but it is up to the people to decide”, he said.