Author: TELO Admin

Sri Lanka among South Asia’s top wealth inequality hotspots – UN Report

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A United Nations Development Programme Regional Human Development report has pointed out that the countries exhibiting the highest wealth inequality in South Asia, as measured by the wealth share of the top 10 percent, include Sri Lanka.

The United Nations Development Programme Regional Human Development report, using data tracked by the World Inequality Database showed that Asia and the Pacific have some of the biggest gaps between the rich and the poor in the world.

The UNDP report highlighted that inequality remains deeply entrenched – the richest 10 percent consistently command over half of total income, and in South Asia in particular, income inequality has been worsening.

There are persistent inequalities in the distribution of wealth, especially in South-East Asia and South Asia, with the highest wealth inequality observed in China, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

It added, “human development progress overall has been very uneven.”

The report highlighted that “inequality is further exacerbated by corruption, and weak tax policy and
administration, as well as by the lack of effective social
safety nets.”

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Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa desperately reminds war triumph in party revival attempt

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Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa in a desperate move reminded his achievements during the war and economic development claims under his leadership in at the first convention of the party since 2022 public protests ousted most of his party members from the power.

Rajapaksa-led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has its own president and more than two-third majority in the parliament after 2020 general election.

However, an unprecedented economic crisis and sovereign debt default triggered mass public protest ousted the SLPP government after then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the island under threat to his life.

The SLPP, an ultra nationalist party, still has the control in the parliament, but had been silent from active politics due to fear after the houses and properties of most of its legislators were burnt following the party supporters attacked unarmed protesters in Colombo on May 9 last year.

“In 2005, people asked us to protect the country from division. No leader was able to end the war,” he told the party supporters in Colombo at the convention.

“Some leaders have arms to LTTE,” he said referring to Tamil Tiger rebels, popularly known as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

“The LTTE used the same arms to kill our military and innocent people. We did not allow such a war to continue for another leader.”

“There current youth were kids when the war was ended in 2009. They even don’t know that both parents of them did not go together in bus for jobs and lived in death fears.”

“There is a group which tries to hoodwink these youth.”

“We sustained a 6 percent economic growth from 2006 to 2009 when we were fighting a war. We tripled the country’s per capital income.”

Thousands of party supporters joined the convention despite being ridiculed in social media.
Many social media posts ridiculed SLPP supporters comparing them to cattle.

In some area of the country, the rivals of SLPP kept grass below the party flags as feed is ready for cattle.
The convention comes at a time when the SLPP is facing an imminent split with some have opted to be independent in the parliament while some have indirectly started to back President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s policies.

it was also held a month after Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court issued a symbolic ruling that the powerful Rajapaksa brothers – including ex-presidents Mahinda and Gotabaya – were guilty of triggering the island’s worst financial crisis by mishandling the economy.

Sources from SLPP said the convention was to test the water on the public support to the party and responses from the public.

Gopal Baglay relinquishes charge as Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka

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High Commissioner Gopal Baglay on December 15 has relinquished charge as Indian government’s Head of Mission to Sri Lanka and has been named as the next High Commissioner of India to Australia.

Baglay assumed duties in Sri Lanka in May 2020 and his term as India’s top diplomat in the country witnessed several unmatched milestones in the bilateral partnership, the Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a statement.

“He was instrumental in realizing several crowning achievements in India-Sri Lanka ties.

“Among the key highlights of his term was the multi-pronged assistance worth USD 4 billion, in response to the economic challenges in Sri Lanka in 2022. Signing of Modalities Agreement for the possession, development and use of Trincomalee Tank Farms and Joint Venture between CPC & LIOC in January 2022 also deserve a special mention.”

Under his watch, India supplied more than 25 tons of medicines, Made-in-India COVID vaccine, Rapid Antigen Test kits, Liquid Medical Oxygen, to Sri Lanka to tide over COVID-19 pandemic. Further, Indian Naval and Air Force assets were deployed specially for expediting humanitarian supplies to Sri Lanka during this period.

Further, the economic and commercial engagement between the two countries got a major boost during his tenure. There have been multiple bilateral MoUs including for cooperation in renewable energy, for intergrid connection, for development of Trincomalee, for UPI-application acceptance & digital payments, utilization of INR-denominated trade settlements.

India has also emerged as the largest trading partner of Sri Lanka. While development partnership featured landmark projects such as the Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity Project, generational linkages in Buddhism were reinforced through numerous noble initiatives such as the USD 15 million grant assistance for the promotion Buddhist ties, inaugural international flight from Sri Lanka to the sacred city of Kushinagar in October 2021, with almost 100 monks on board. Various dimensions of connectivity also deepened such as the resumption of Chennai-Jaffna flights and recommencement of ferry services.

Meanwhile, senior Indian diplomat Santosh Jha will be assuming duties as the next High Commissioner of India. He is currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Jha has served in diverse capacities in several countries and New Delhi including as Counsellor in High Commission of India, Colombo during 2007-2010.

SLPP’s swan song? -The Island Editorial

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The SLPP held its second national convention yesterday in Colombo. It spared no expense in putting on a grand show by bussing people from all parts of the country to the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, the way all political parties do. Speakers thundered, spewing out streams of rhetoric, and held out hope for the party’s rank and file, whose morale is extremely low, but it is doubtful whether anyone took them or their claims seriously.

The reappointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the SLPP leader came as no surprise. It has become clear once again that the SLPP is Mahinda and Mahinda the SLPP.

Mahinda keeps telling the media that the SLPP should have a young leader, but the party, without any strong second level leadership, seems convinced otherwise. Mahinda is apparently holding the party leadership in the hope that circumstances will be favourable one day for his eldest son, Namal, to take it over. It is highly unlikely that the SLPP’s lot will improve significantly in the foreseeable future. Mahinda seems to be hoping against hope.

Time was when the so-called Mahinda magic worked for the SLPP, which won the local government, presidential and parliamentary elections in a row (in 2018, 2019 and 2020 respectively) with huge majorities, and the SLPP seems to be labouring under the mistaken belief that it will work in the coming election year as well. The Rajapaksas have squandered their electoral fortunes.

Their accountability for the country’s worst-ever economic crisis and a recent Supreme Court judgement confirming that fact have ruined the SLPP’s chances of winning elections in years to come. They bankrupted the economy and caused untold hardships to the public, and then ran away, amidst a popular uprising, unable to find solutions to the problems of their own making. Their failure was so pathetic that they had to bring in Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Prime Minister and then the President to clean up the mess they created. Could there be anything more humiliating, if not demeaning, for the leaders of a political party than having to hitch their wagon to a defeated politician to come out of a crisis?

Meanwhile, luck has been running out for lesser SLPP politicians as well; they acted as if they had been above the law in the heyday of their party. On the eve of the SLPP’s second national convention, the Kurunegala High Court sentenced former Kurunegala Mayor Thushara Sanjeewa Vitharana and four others to three years of rigorous imprisonment for having bulldozed a historical building believed to be King Buwanekabahu’s assembly hall.

The incident took place in 2020, when the SLPP politicians thought they were above the law. The former Mayor and others were also ordered to pay Rs. 13.6 million as compensation and fined. When part of the ancient building was torn down, some SLPP politicians, intoxicated with power, defended Vitharana to the hilt, declaring that they would not allow even ‘a body hair of his’ to be harmed! Prominent among them was the then Minister Johnston Fernando, a close ally of Mahinda. Kurunegala is the district from which Mahinda was elected to Parliament in 2015 and 2020.

Was yesterday’s national convention the SLPP’s swan song? The general consensus is that the SLPP is doomed, and will not be able to make a comeback ever again, but we will have to wait until the next national election to see if it has enough popular support as well as luck to prevent its slide into what looks like a bottomless political abyss.

Glass of hot water costs Rs.100 in Jaffna

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The National Consumer Front today claimed that a glass of hot water had been sold at Rs. 100 before imposing the new VAT.

Its president, Asela Sampath told the Daily Mirror that a similar incident was reported from a vegetarian family restaurant in Jaffna.

He claimed that a glass of hot water was sold to customers at a price of Rs. 100.

He said a bill issued by the restaurant shows a customer who visited the food centre on December 2 had paid Rs. 1,200 for water for 12 persons.

“If a glass of hot water was sold at Rs. 100 before imposing the VAT, it is possible to sell a glass of normal water in restraints at Rs. 50,” Sampath said.

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Landmark US resolution calls for removal of Sri Lankan war criminals

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A landmark resolution has been brought by a group of US senators and representatives from across both parties this week, urging Sri Lanka to demilitarise the North-East, repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act, halt land grabs and remove war criminals from positions of authority.

The resolution lays out a range of concerns and recognises that successive Sri Lankan governments have failed to live up to commitments made on “meaningful justice and accountability” for atrocities committed throughout decades of armed conflict. During the final phase in 2009, tens of thousands of Tamils were massacres amidst the widespread shelling of civilians, in what is becoming increasingly recognised as a genocide.

“Whereas the majority of the LTTE leadership were killed or disappeared during the civil war and therefore cannot stand trial for their crimes, and despite evidence implicating Sri Lankan government officials and security forces in atrocity crimes committed against Sri Lankan civilians during the war, no such officials or forces have faced justice for their crimes,” the resolution noted.

“The resolution recognizes that the people of Sri Lanka have faced a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis which has had devastating human impact,” said a press release from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “Many of those responsible for this crisis are also implicated in human rights abuses against Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims across Sri Lanka dating back to the civil war.”

The move was introduced by US Senators Ben Cardin and Jim Risch – who is also Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – along with Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Bill Johnson.

Amongst the many points, the resolution “calls for an immediate moratorium on the appropriation of land facilitated by the Government of Sri Lanka in the North and East”, “urges the Government of Sri Lanka to immediately repeal or amend the Prevention of Terrorism Act”, “urges the Government and security forces of Sri Lanka to respect the rights of all Sri Lankans, including the right to protest peacefully, associate freely, and commemorate their dead”, and “ensure those credibly implicated in human rights abuses are removed from positions of authority”.

It also “urges the Government of Sri Lanka to fully implement the Constitution of Sri Lanka, including the 13th Amendment’s commitments to devolve specified powers over land, the police, education, health, agriculture, housing, and finances to the provinces”.

“The people of Sri Lanka deserve peace, prosperity, and justice,” said Chair Cardin. “Sri Lanka’s ongoing economic, governance, and humanitarian crises – which have had crippling impacts on the Sri Lankan people – are exacerbated by the Sri Lankan government’s unwillingness to meaningfully address the devastating legacy and impacts of its civil war and provide justice to those who suffered serious human rights abuses. This resolution makes clear that the United States stands with the people of Sri Lanka in their effort to form a more inclusive, just, democratic, and economically sustainable future.”

“Strengthening Sri Lanka’s democracy supports a more secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific. This resolution urges the government of Sri Lanka to hold free and fair local elections as soon as possible and to strengthen good governance, rule of law, corruption, justice, accountability, and human rights measures,” said Ranking Member Risch.

“The people of Sri Lanka have experienced decades of war, economic crisis, and political suppression that have led to this moment of inflection in the nation’s history,” said Congressman Krishnamoorthi. “As a result of our resolution, the U.S. House of Representatives will express its strong support for the Sri Lankan citizenry and their ongoing efforts to bring about a peaceful, democratic society that will ensure prosperity for the nation and accountability for the tragic actions of the past.”

“It would further reinforce the principle that Sri Lanka’s leaders must safeguard the political, economic, and social rights of the populace, including and especially the ethnic and religious communities who have been deliberately suppressed and targeted by previous governments.”

“As a co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Ethnic and Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka, I have long advocated for increasing civil and human rights for all ethnicities and religions in Sri Lanka who are being excluded from society, the economy, and political life through discrimination, harassment, and persecution,” said Congressman Johnson.

“I am hopeful that it encourages the Sri Lankan government to take positive, visible, and concrete actions to provide greater transparency, increased human rights, and accountability for past alleged war crimes and violations of human and civil rights.”

“As the resolution recognizes, more must be done to ensure accountability for human rights abuses and to address the root causes of the conflict and current political and economic crises in Sri Lanka,” said People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL).

“Bilateral engagement between the United States and Sri Lanka must embrace solutions that meaningfully address the Tamil people’s longstanding demands for justice, demilitarization, land returns, and a durable political solution to ensure stability and sustainable peace.”

“It is clear that justice, accountability and a permanent political solution is the only way forward for the Eelam Tamil people in the North-East of Sri Lanka.”

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India red flags Colombo and Male over inbound Chinese survey vessel By Shishir Gupta/Hindustan Times

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After Chinese Research Survey Vessel Shi Yan 6 completed its survey off the coast of Sri Lanka and reached Singapore on December 2, Beijing has asked permission from Colombo and Male to allow another Research Survey Vessel to dock at their ports and conduct a deep water exploration of South Indian Ocean from January 5 till late May, 2024.

While India has already raised objections with both Sri Lanka and Maldives and asked them not to allow the Chinese vessel to conduct exploration of Indian Ocean for future military operations, the vessel Xiang Yang Hong 03 is currently off the coast of Xiamen in South China Sea and will travel via Malacca to these countries after securing permission.

Made in 20126, Xiang Yang Hong 03 is a 4813 ton vessel equipped with latest survey and surveillance equipment and is registered at the port of Xiamen. The previous survey vessel, Shi Yan 6, which was allowed permission by Ranil Wickremesinghe government despite India’s strong objections exited Malacca Straits on November 20- after conducting exploration of Sri Lankan EEZ and South Indian Ocean. The ship was also seen 500 nautical miles off Chennai before it entered Colombo port on October 25, 2023.

The Indian concerns over Chinese ballistic missile trackers and Research Surveillance Ships being allowed by Sri Lanka and now with a pro-China government in Maldives are over Beijing using these vessels to spy on India in the name of marine exploration. Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue with visiting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 21, 2023 that Sri Lanka should respect strategic concerns of India.

With the PLA Navy rapidly acquiring maritime assets including three aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines and guided missile destroyers, China is expanding its footprint all over the Indian Ocean with a string of naval bases from Cambodia to Djibouti on the mouth of the Red Sea. China has already acquired/invested in ports in Cambodia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iran and in UAE with an eye towards future naval operations.

In the name of marine exploration, Beijing is actually mapping the Indian Ocean bed from the ninety degree ridge south of Andamans and Nicobar Islands to the deep South Indian Ocean. Detailed ocean bed maps are prepared for future submarine operations all the way up to the coast of Africa. With the PLA already operating off the coast of Africa and the Gulf of Aden in the name of anti-piracy operations, it is only a matter of time that Chinese carrier strike forces will be patrolling in international waters of the Indian Ocean. Last month, the Chinese Navy conducted an exercise with the Pakistan Navy off the Makran Coast with a PLA Song class diesel hunter-killer submarine participating in specialized “sea bottoming” operations along with client state Pakistan.

Shishir Gupta is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (2011, Hachette) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (2014, Hachette). Awarded K Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 by Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) and the 2011 Ben Gurion Prize.

Sri Lanka GDP expands 1.6-pct in third quarter

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Sri Lanka’s gross domestic product has expanded by 1.6 percent in the third quarter, the state statistics office said, as the economy recovered from the worst crisis triggered by aggressive macro-economic policy.

The economy grew amid rising taxes, but exchange rate stability provided by largely deflationary policy and interest rates also eased as confidence returned.

“The input costs were declined parallel to the favorable change in exchange rate and the demand for debts which were at a lower level, showed a positive indication in this quarter along with the reduction in interest rate,” the census department said.

Agriculture expanded 3 percent in the quarter from the previous year, industries expanded 0.3 percent and services expanded 1.3 percent.

In agriculture, rice expanded 23.3 percent, vegetables 3.2 percent, fruits 5.4 percent.

Coconut sector contracted 6.1 percent and tea also contracted 1.4 percent.

In industry, textile and wearing apparel fell 10.1 percent, electricity and gas expanded 4.2 percent.

Construction continued to contract 5.5 percent. When a central bank fires a bubble by cutting rates, construction and capital good sectors are among those that take the biggest hit.

In services, wholesale and retail trade expanded 0.9 percent, transport and warehousing 5.7 percent.

Accommodation food and beverages expanded 34.9 percent amid a tourism recover and banking and insurance also expanded 29.6 percent.

British Princess to visit Sri Lanka to mark 75 years of diplomacy

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Britain’s Princess Anne, the Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, will visit Sri Lanka next month, a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

“Her Royal Highness has been invited by the Government of Sri Lanka to participate in events connected with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and the UK.”

She will be accompanied by her spouse Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.

The visit is planned for January 10-13, 2024.

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SLPP National Convention: MR Unanimously Re-elected as Leader Amidst Preparations for Upcoming Election

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Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was reappointed leader of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) at its convention today said his party would become the most formidable political force at the next presidential elections.

Addressing the convention convened at a challenging time, the former President referred to the achievements of his government during the 2005/2014 period under two consecutive terms including the end of the war and infrastructure projects such as the Hambantota port. He said the per capita income improved from US $ 1200 to US $ 3,819 during his time and the middle class expanded.

“Still some people resorted to mudslinging. When we built the expressway, some people harped on it saying it was meant for transportation of Ambul Thiyal for my consumption,” he said.

He said there was an era when the country was engulfed by the fear of terrorist attacks and parents used to travel separately from each other to avoid both getting killed in a bomb blast.

“Youths who have no wartime experience have been misled today by some political forces acting according to the interests of foreign elements inimical to the country’s interests,” he said.

SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa who addressed the gathering said people were struck by fear for life on two occasions – the war and Covid-19 – and the governments led by his party openly ended both.

“We are proud about it,” he said.

In an obvious response to reports about planned attacks on SLPPers who attended the event on their way back from Colombo, he said security measures had been taken, and asked participants to exercise extra caution to avoid any mistake on their part.

“When you cross the road, you have to make sure that you use only Zebra crossings. Social media teams with vested interests are alert on our movements to find any mistake to be blown up political ends,” he said.

While asking his supporters to be patient, he said others should not consider it as cowardice.

“One should not consider our patience as cowardice. When a stone is thrown at a dog, it will bark and run away. But, when a stone is pelted at a lion, it will turn back and explore who did it,” he said.