Politics

Liberal dogmatism and Sri Lanka’s future

Published

3 years ago

2021/12/5

by Uditha Devapriya

At the height of the first wave last year, the JVP and the FSP requested the government to look to Kerala. Led by the Communist Party, the Kerala administration responded well to the virus, deploying State resources and ensuring no one was left behind. It was a litmus test of what governments ought to do during a public health crisis. Although Colombo opted for a different strategy that combined army officials with medical professionals, the second, third, and fourth waves have made us realise the flaws of sticking to it dogmatically.

Colombo’s liberal intelligentsia, as well as the MPs they are attached to, predictably focused more on the West. In Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the pandemic and the tensions it generated, they saw a confirmation of their worst fears. Yet while prognosticating about the dangers of populist politics at a time of a pandemic, very few of them acknowledged that left-of-centre and leftist administrations, Kerala included, had handled it better than most. Indeed, they even failed to note that Jacinda Arden, heroine of countless liberal narratives here and elsewhere, hailed from a centre-left administration.

Supporters of the present government have of course been disdainful of socialist and liberal concerns and recommendations. Thus, they have been as contemptuous of Kerala’s record as they have of Arden’s. Although the government’s handling of the pandemic has obviously seen better days, they stick adamantly to their belief that, as the president himself put it, he and his men are doing it the best. Even if they admit to the flaws of the government’s plans, they would point out that the virus does not always respond to the measures that countries like Kerala have enforced, and that, in many ways, we have performed better.

While the regime has downplayed liberal concerns and socialist recommendations, its liberal critics have been no less apathetic about the latter. This is to be expected. Liberalism in Sri Lanka has almost always been in the economic domain, not the social. Calling for reductions in government intervention, Colombo’s liberal intelligentsia has, for the most, been blind or myopic to the contradiction between their economic paradigms and the social discontent those paradigms have generated elsewhere. That is why you hardly come across free market ideologues mentioning Kerala much less commending it, and why they praise New Zealand’s pandemic response only on the grounds of its leader’s gender.

These ideologues continue to spin their narratives about the need for lesser governments and greater globalisation, failing to note that it is in countries where states have taken less proactive measures that have yielded higher cases and fatalities. It is also in regions worst affected by vaccine inequalities, a result of untrammelled globalisation, that have produced and continue to produce viral variants, perpetuating the pandemic and thereby reinforcing those inequalities even more. Anyone who thinks that globalisation and integration can save us from the pandemic, accordingly, is only seeing half the picture. Clearly, for the virus as for the economy in general, a different paradigm is the call of the hour.

Western governments have already realised this. For all its flaws, Joe Biden’s economic programme is taking the US back to the New Deal days. In the run up to the elections last year, Jake Sullivan rang the alarm on neoliberalism, calling it a failed policy. Even though I am sceptical about whether Washington can pull off a New New Deal, it is true, as a recent interview in Jacobin puts it, that Biden is emphasising a bigger role for the State. In foreign policy his administration remains as predictable as ever. But during a pandemic of this scale, domestic policies are what count more. Hence, while clearly not socialist, the president and his men have committed themselves to a new, different programme.

Yet Sri Lanka’s political liberals, who are in reality economic liberals, remain blind to these developments. Then again, they remain blind to the link between the sort of policies they advocate and the discontent those policies have provoked. They also choose to ignore how the countries they look up to have gone back on those policies.

Despite its Third Way Giddensian roots, the Democratic Party understood the rightwing surge which decades of neoliberal globalisation had unleashed in the American heartland. Though stopping short of conceiving a radical programme, the younger, more progressive part rank-and-filers realised that continuing with such policies, and placing their advocates at the helm, would damage their prospects for an electoral comeback. Revisiting, revising, and revamping old strategies, they adopted new tactics which could win them working and middle class constituencies, without caving into the rightwing fringe.

I don’t know why Sri Lanka’s liberals don’t get this, but I can guess. Among the themes that Rajiva Wijesinha explores in his fascinating book Representing Sri Lanka is what he calls “the death of liberal Sri Lanka.” The title is tongue-in-cheek: he’s not talking about what liberals in the country dread, namely the rise of authoritarian regimes and specifically those led by the Rajapaksas, but what they ought to be dreading, namely the death of liberalism among liberal ranks. Wijesinha is characteristically candid about how liberals operate in the country now. In particular, he points to three developments within Colombo’s liberal and intellectual circles: the tribalism entrenched in their organisations, their affiliations with individuals one just cannot associate with, and their obeisance to foreign interests.

Wijesinha reveals how the very same liberal institutions set up to counter authoritarianism ended up going back on their foundational tenets. This has largely been on account of the presumption, ridiculous to me and I believe to Wijesinha himself, that to be a liberal in Sri Lanka is to be a card-carrying member of the United National Party.

Of course, the UNP remains the only national party allied with the International Democratic Union, that very distinguished organisation which has, to the best of my knowledge, failed to see or note the contradiction between the UNP’s commitment to the tenets of liberal democracy and its strangling of them within the party hierarchy. Yet, even more ironic have been the hosannas lavished on it by self-defined liberal cosmopolitans, a point Dr Wijesinha notes in his devastating unravelling of their paymasters, associates, and acolytes. Underlying his critique from the perspective of a saner liberalism, he strikes a deeply regretful note. His reading of these developments does not make for happy reading, though I think it should be read, for the simple reason that no one else has written on those developments.

Perhaps the biggest mistake any political commentator in Sri Lanka can make is to define himself or herself negatively in relation to the rightwing fringe. Yet self-defined liberals, who would probably not be classed as liberals elsewhere, insist on describing themselves as such on account of their opposition to (predominantly Sinhala) nationalist politics. Here, as I have mentioned several times in this column, they fail to distinguish between their championing of economic freedom on the one hand and their tacit acceptance of a government that can “bring about” such freedom, even at the cost of civil liberties, on the other. This is hardly the ideology espoused by the likes of Chanaka Amaratunga and Rajiva Wijesinha, but it is in line with the sort supported by their less than brilliant successors.

The bottom line to all this is that nationalists of the most tribalist sort are no different to liberals of the most tribalist sort. Unfortunately for the country, nationalists and liberals alike tend to be more tribalist than most, a point that might come as a surprise for those who associate nationalism with its worst excesses, yet compare it favourably with liberal politics of whatever persuasion. It does not take one much, however, to realise that both have been caving into the same kind of insularity, which lends credence to the point I have made frequently in this column about neoliberals and neoconservatives occupying the same space. Indeed, to rethink Benjamin Barber’s very flawed essay, McWordlists have become the provocateurs and, inadvertently, fellow travellers of the Jihadists.

I don’t see why we have to continue with such a state of affairs. As recent developments in Chile, Peru, and Mexico show, dissatisfaction with rightwing neoliberalism and centre-left reformism has fed into radical formations offering alternatives to both. While many of these formations express an antipathy to politics of all shades, as René Rojas in a recent piece to Jacobin Magazine puts it, it is when the Left has banded together, without letting itself be splintered on personal and factional lines, it has been able to organise the broadest possible resistance against authoritarian regimes and their purported oppositions.

Sri Lanka’s cosmopolitans just don’t possess this kind of moral firepower, partly because they have become toothless against more powerful political movements and ideologies, but also because they themselves have, while opposing the prospect of a Rajapaksa presidency, contributed to a state of affairs which made such a prospect possible. Of course, Sri Lanka’s liberal and left-liberal circles continue to regurgitate old ideas, proving themselves to be no better than their nationalist-populist counterparts. Yet rising social discontent, and dissent, threatens to render their best laid plans insignificant, if not irrelevant. Far from bemoaning such a development, I think we should pay close attention to it.

The writer can be reached at udakdev1@gmail.com

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Features

The Silence of the Speaker and other matters

Published

1 week ago

2024/12/15

Thilina Walpola

Asoka Ranwala

By Anura Gunasekera

It is more than two weeks since the matter of the Speaker, Asoka Ranwala’s doctorate, or lack of it, was raised in public. If he does have one, it is sufficient time for him to have produced the necessary evidence and laid to rest the ongoing speculation. When my daughter acquired a doctorate from a university in England, she was ceremoniously presented with an ornately inscribed scroll, on thick, parchment paper , along with a foolish hat.

To me, a non-academic, it seemed a paltry outcome for the several years of intense study which preceded the award but that, apparently, is how these systems work. Perhaps Waseda University of Japan, the institution alleged to have conferred the doctoral degree on Ranwala, does not emulate old-fashioned British institutions, but there still needs to be tangible, physical evidence of such an award, with which Ranwala came away from that institution.

Ignore the flippancy of the above paragraphs. The issue of the Speaker’s doctorate is a very serious matter. I understand that Ranwala has been using the prefix, “Dr”, for many years before his investiture as the Speaker of the 10th parliament of Sri Lanka. During the run-up to the recent presidential election, he has been introduced on stage as “Dr Ranwala”. Therefore, he deliberately made the world believe that he was a, “Dr.”

Recently there was some talk of Ranwala’s daughter offering an explanation but that is a ridiculous, unacceptable response. An explanation must come from Ranwala, personally, and not from a member of his family. It is a very simple matter, actually; either he has a doctorate or he has been deceiving the world for many years. In the case of the former he needs to furnish immediate proof to the public and if the latter is the reality, he must apologize for having been a public fraud and withdraw from governance.

To be the Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, a person must be compliant with the conditions of Articles 89 and 91, of the Constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Neither of those articles specify that the Speaker should be literate, or that he should even be able to read, write and speak, in any known language. In fact, there are simply no minimum educational qualifications for those aspiring to represent the people of Sri Lanka in parliament, although there are clearly specified minimum educational qualifications for any person who applies for employment within the Parliament premises, even if it be the position of security guard, premises cleaner, or a minor employee, respectfully distributing glasses of water and cups of tea, to thirsty legislators within the chamber of representatives.

Then why is the issue of the Speaker’s qualifications of such importance?

When public figures, especially those occupying vital positions such as the Speaker of the Parliament, make a false claim about their educational qualifications, it undermines public trust in the political system. The NPP-JVP machine captured power in the last general election, largely on the promise of restoring principled governance to a corrupt country. I voted for candidate AKD at the presidential election in the fervent expectation of transparent governance. Thus, every elector who contributed to elevating the NPP to power, has the right to know whether Ranwala actually possesses the educational qualifications he claims, although those have no relevance to his current position in Parliament, or to the effective delivery of his responsibilities.

This matter is important because it highlights broader issues of accountability and transparency within governance. When public officials are permitted to misrepresent themselves, it points to a lack of scrutiny in the vetting of candidates for positions of power and influence. The fact that such claims go unchecked, also calls in to question the mechanism the party has in place, for ensuring ethical standards and honesty among its members.

Therefore, the quick and equitable resolution of this issue is crucial and central to entire ethos of the NPP regime, as the expectations of honourable conduct it has inspired within the public, is greater by an order of magnitude than that which was expected of any previous regime. It is also an issue which has been seized gleefully by an enfeebled Opposition, to discredit the government, and to move public focus away from the investigations into issues of corruption within earlier regimes, represented by many members now in the Opposition. The Ranwala affair is the first litmus test, of the present regime’s publicly declared ethos of doing only what is right. It needs to prove to the expectant polity that it means business, on every front.

Speaking of the Opposition, the ridiculous, just concluded (or is it?) charade regarding the appointment of individuals to the respective national lists of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and the New Democratic Front ( NDF), illustrates the incompetence, the indecisiveness and the lack of leadership ability of the two party chiefs concerned. It is relevant to remind the reader that these two, Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) and Sajith Premadasa (SP), were highly vocal in the run-up to both the presidential and the general election, about the lack of governance experience within the NPP. It immediately begs the question, if one does not have the necessary control and influence within the party, to decide on a simple but important internal party issue like a nomination, how can one aspire to govern the country? In reality it is not just an internal party issue but one that concerns the entire national polity, as it is entitled, as of civic right, to see that all 225 seats in the legislature are filled.

Moving on to two equally pressing issues, the high price of coconuts and the non-availability of popular varieties of rice, both are embedded in histories which long precede the installation of the present government.

Coconuts have become progressively more expensive because of increasing consumption and declining production. According to the Sri Lanka Export Development Board (EDB), the annual production ranges from 2,800 mn nuts to 3,000 mn, whilst the combined domestic and export processing demand is around 4,000 mn nuts, annually.

The year-to-year variability of production is linked to climate variations, further compounded by a steady increase in coconut based products since 2012 (EDB). Coconut trees have an economically productive life-span and need to be replaced periodically. However, new planting has also declined drastically, with 2.28 million seedlings being issued in 2021, as against 9.73 million in 2012 and 6.81 million in 2013 (EDB). The 2021 crop had been very high (CRI) but the embargo on inorganic fertilizer imposed around that time by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has resulted in declining yields thereafter.

Wild animal depredation also has had a significant impact, suppressing yields and discouraging new planting, resulting in possible decline of production for the future as well. The industry assessment is that the 2024 production will reflect a 40% decline on the 2023 output. Around 33% of the total production is assigned for value added export products with the balance going in to domestic consumption. Thus, with the off-take by industries remaining constant, the volume available to the domestic sector has declined drastically. The grim reality is that unless the national industry is realigned, with viable, sustainable solutions for current problems, coconut prices will continue to rise periodically, well in to the foreseeable future. Solutions should also be able to strike a sensible balance between animal rights and farmer requirements. Animal rights activism, which takes place largely in affluent zones of residential Colombo- acted out by well-to-do urbanites of the city who have never had to defend a paddy harvest from a hungry elephant- has no relevance to the desperate realities of destroyed crops in Dehiattakandiya, Girandurukotte and Ethiliwewa.

The rice shortage, notwithstanding the obvious causes which have been ignored by successive governments in thrall to wealthy rice millers – again not attributable to the present regime – needs both a short-term and a long-term solution. Importing rice from India, as a knee-jerk response to the hunger of an angry nation, is not a sustainable solution but a one-time fix. It cannot happen again as the same scenario is played out the next year as well. The unalterable reality is that we are a rice eating nation and irrespective of the obstacles, that need must be appeased. “Let them eat cake”, whether Marie Antoinette said it or not, is not acceptable.

This regime has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and is headed by a president with supreme power. Should he, as an immediate solution, decide to take the most drastic steps in order to break the rice-millers’ stranglehold on rice stocks, a famished nation will applaud and the Opposition, if they understand what is good for them politically, will not dare raise a whisper in protest.

There are also the many questions which are being asked, regarding the status of pending investigations related to past corruption in high places. The difficulties in resurrecting dormant criminal investigations are understood; files are mislaid, papers vanish, evidence is lost, witnesses die, disappear or are terrorized in to silence, impartial investigators are neutralized and replaced with compliant stooges, cases by the dozen, against the high and mighty, are dismissed whilst authority is subverted. Previous regimes, especially those with the members of the Mahinda Rajapaksa “famiglia” in the right places, reduced these tactics to an exact science.

President AKD himself, in his speech at the recent Anti-Corruption Day, with brutal clarity, exposed the issues involved with reference to actual cases. In the audience were officials who, during previous regimes, may have been complicit in the very acts described in the previous paragraph. This nation, which catapulted the NPP-JVP to power as a last resort, will appreciate a commentary from the president himself, on all of the above issues. From time to time it needs to be assured that the regime is moving in the right direction, and the best person to put its collective mind at rest is the president himself.

Features

JRJ to Nehru: “India’s freedom is Lanka’s freedom too”

Published

1 week ago

2024/12/15

Thilina Walpola

‘We in Lanka feel that our fight for freedom is being fought largely in India’

We continue the correspondence between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Mr. J.R. Jayewardene in the pre-independence period excerpted from Jayewardene’s book, Men and Memories.

Wardha August 24, 1940.
J.R. Jayewardene Esqr.
Braemar
66, Ward Place
Colombo

Dear Mr Jayewardene,

Thank you for your letter of the 15th August which I have shown to our President, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. We shall be glad to meet the deputation from the Ceylon National Congress whenever it comes here. I agree with you entirely that our discussions should not be restricted to any particular issues but should cover future relations with India and Ceylon.

If you have been following developments in India, you will no doubt notice that the situation here is undergoing a complete change and the crisis that I hinted at in my last letter has arrived. This makes it very difficult for us to say definitely when and where we can meet you. It may be that long before November we shall not be in a position to meet you, or rather, that we shall be incapacitated from doing so. But apart from this uncertainty about the future, we shall look forward to meeting you early in November. Gandhiji will be pleased to meet your deputation.

The developing world situation makes in incumbent on all of us to look ahead and to think of the future. Whatever this future may be, it is certain that it will be very different from the past and the present.

About the exact position of the Communist Party in the Indian Congress not much can be said. The Communist Party is not a legal party in India. For many years the Government of India has banned it. Nevertheless, many individual Communists exist and proclaim their faith in communism. They describe themselves openly as Communists. There area fair number of others who, though not official Communists, are near Communists. Between the Communist and Socialist Party here there has been almost continuous conflict. For sometime the Communists were members of the Congress Socialist Party but later many of them left it. Since the War began many of the well-known Communists have been arrested under the Defence of India Act and interned.

So far as the Congress is concerned, it has no rule banning any organization or individual except one preventing members of communal organizations with objectives opposed to that of the Congress. All other persons can join the Congress if they accept its objectives and methods. Of course they are supposed to remain within the general discipline of the Congress. If Communists wish to join the Congress, they are perfectly at liberty to do so and, indeed, many have joined it in the past. Some of these have been important office bearers in different Provinces or districts. There has often been some trouble in local committees with Communist members and strictly speaking they have not always kept with Congress discipline. But no disciplinary action has been taken against them except in very rare instances. This may party be due to the fact that they are often good and earnest workers and partly because the British Government here is persecuting them so much.

It is not easy to write briefly about the recent differences of opinion between Gandhiji and the Working Committee. These differences are largely based on the theory and application of non-violence. They have been exaggerated somewhat in the press and it is quite likely that they will not affect materially any action that the Congress might take. There is no question of Gandhiji doing anything hostile to the Congress or of forming a different organization. All that he intended doing at one time was to invite those who fully believed in non-violence, even for a future state, to get into touch with him so that he might take some action through them. Such action would of course not have been against the Congress in any way. It is quite possible, and indeed probable, that by the time you come here all these problems will be of the past.

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) Jawaharlal Nehru
17th Sept.
The President,
The Indian National Congress,
Swaraj Bhawan,
Allahabad

Dear Friend,

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has written to us, that you as President of the Indian National Congress and other leading members of the Congress welcome the idea of meeting a deputation from the Ceylon National Congress to discuss all present and future relations between India and Ceylon.

Our deputation will consist of myself as President of the Ceylon Congress, D.S. Senanayake, Minister of Agriculture and Lands and a few others. We hope to be in India during the first week of November and shall make arrangements to be free to meet you during the second week of November, probably 9th and 10th November. As we are anxious to meet Gandhiji also, I take it the meeting will be arranged at Wardha.

With best wishes, Yours truly,
(Signed) G.C.S. Corea,
President, Ceylon National Congress
17th October 1940.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

“Anand Bhawan”
Allahabad

India

Dear Mr Nehru,

I delayed writing to you as we were expecting a reply from President Azad to our letter dated the 17 September 1940, a copy of which I am enclosing.

I do not know whether he has received the letter. We are making all arrangements to meet the Indian Congress on the days mentioned in that letter.

Please let me know when you intend to hold the meeting. I have just read in the papers that Gandhiji has started the Civil Disobedience Campaign instructing Mr Vinoba to make an anti-War speech. I will not detain you longer but please accept my very sincere wishes for the success of India’s struggle. It is our struggle to that you are waging.

Yours sincerely,
(Signed) J.R. Jayewardene
7th May, 1941
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,
Swaraj Bhawan,
Allahabad.
India.

Dear Mr Nehru,

I have not written to you since you were interned, because, I was not sure whether you would receive my letters. I wonder whether you will receive even this? I am however writing in the hope that the censor may pass it. I suppose any reference to politics would mean that the letter may not be passed. Therefore I have refrained from writing about things which are now playing such a large part in the lives of the people of India and Ceylon.

You may have read in the papers about the Indo-Ceylonese differences. They exist. Yet, the wish of an increasing number here is that a free Ceylon should some day, and that very soon, march together with a free India.

Our Congress Party in Ceylon had much success in the Colombo Municipal elections last December, and we were able to have our Congress Mayor.

The 21st Session of our Congress Party was held in December and It was modeled on the lines of the Indian Congress with Swadeshi exhibitions, open air mass meetings & etc. Our visit to Ramgarh enabled us to introduce many of the features we saw there.

I have sent today to Swaraj Bhawan a small memento of out visit, a few hand-woven Ceylon mats.

Wishing you are in the best health,
Yours truly,
(Signed) J.R. Jayewardene
By Air Mail
May 29, 1941 (This letter is handwritten)
From Jawaharlal Nehru
District Jail Dehra Dun
To J.R. Jayewardene Esqr.
Braemar,
66 Ward Place, Colombo

Dear Mr Jayewardene,

Your letter of the 7th May has reached me and I was happy to hear from you again. As you realize it is not possible for me at present to carry on an intelligent correspondence about things that matter and are in our minds. Events are marching fast all over the world and it surprises me that many people are still thinking in the old way and cannot get out of the ruts. But the future, whatever it is going to be, is not going to wait or to confirm itself to their slow-moving minds.

In person especially, when one is cut off from the present, the mind fixes itself more on the future. In the thoughts that fill my mind, Ceylon often recurs and the difficulties of the present day do not worry me much.

My good wishes to you and to the people of Lanka.

Sincerely yours,
(Signed) Jawaharlal Nehru
5th December, 1941

Dear Pandit Nehru,

It is with great relief that we in Ceylon read in the papers of your release and the release of the other political prisoners from gaol.

Does this mean that, at long last, the British Government intends to consider the question of India’s freedom? We too hope that if any discussion takes place between the British Government and the Indian Congress, you will advocate Lanka’s claims to freedom too. Do you think it will be useful to send a representative of ours to India at this time?

The Ceylon National Congress is meeting at its 22nd sessions from 27th-30th December. We hope to hold one of the biggest national assemblies ever held in Ceylon. We have invited representatives from India and Burma, but unfortunately the Indian National Congress has not be able to accept our invitation.

I wonder whether you could come, or sent a message? If you could come even for a short stay, I can make arrangements for a quiet holiday in the Hills. I trust you received the books I sent to you in gaol.

With best wishes, Yours truly,
(Signed) J.R. Jayewardene
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,
Swaraj Bhawan
Allahabad
India
J.R. Jayewardene Braemar
66, Ward Place
Colombo
28th July, 1942
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Anand Bhawan
Allahabad
India

Dear Pandit Nehru,

My letter to you dated the 5th December 1941, and the books I sent with that letter have evidently been stopped by the censor, for I have received no reply or acknowledgment. Though I wanted very much to write to you again, I thought it better that I should not, as any reference to political affairs would have met with the censor’s disapproval.

I have therefore refrained from any such reference and only wish to ask you whether it would be possible for me to meet you if I happen to be in Bombay between the 4th and 8th August.

I am sending separately a small booklet of Essays on Buddhism which I published recently.

With best wishes,
Yours truly,
(Signed) J.R. Jayewardene

J.R. Jayewardene 66, Ward Place
Colombo
29.6.45 Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Swaraj Bhawan
Allahabad
India

My dear Pandit Nehru,

I wonder whether you remember our last meeting? It was on the day before the AICC Meeting, in August 1942. A few of us, members of the Ceylon National. Congress had come to Bombay, and you very kindly spared a few minutes of your time, discussing with us, problems affecting our two countries, at Mr Huthee Singh’s residence.

With your help we were able to attend the first day’s meeting. The next day the leaders were arrested, and on our way to the meeting place, we found the Police dispersing the crowds, with violence. We visited your residence that same day, bade good-bye to Mrs Huthee Singh, and left for Ceylon that very evening. On our way back, our train was stoned at one or two places, near Bombay, but without injury to anyone. My Satyamurthi, who was traveling with us, was arrested near Madras. We reached Colombo a few days later.

Three years have gone by since then; years which have seen many changes and stirring events, but few have been so eagerly received here as the release of the Indian leaders. I hope you received our message of goodwill. I think the main reason for this is, that we in Lanka feel that our fight for freedom is being fought largely in India, and India’s freedom is Lanka’s freedom too.

The urge for freedom has grown immensely here, during these three years. Soon after our return, the Ceylon National Congress in December 1942 rejected Dominion Status and adopted Freedom as its objective. Soon after this, I was nominated as the Congress candidate, for the vacancy created, by Sir D.B. Jayatilleke’s appointment as Representative in India, and fighting the election on the issue of “independence” vs “Reforms”, against an elder politician, E.W. Perera, I was able to win by over 10,000 votes. The State Council and all political parties too, now ask for freedom, and India’s help will be a great asset to us. It is to acquaint you with the latest developments in Ceylon that I thought of writing these few lines.

I am sending you the following Sessional Papers which give an account of what has happened here; S.P. 13 of 1943; S.P. 17 of 1943; S.P. 12 of 1944; S.P. 14 of 1944, the draft of an Ordinance to provide a new constitution for Lanka, and the Agenda of the 25th Congress Sessions.

On the 26th May 1943, the British Government declared that it would grant full responsible government to Ceylon, in all matters of internal civil administration. This declaration is printed in S.P. 17 of 1943, together with the Ministers interpretation of it. The Ministers drafted a Constitution and sent it to the Secretary of State in February 1944. They were then informed that a Commission would be sent out to Ceylon. The Ministers objected to the sending out of this Commission, withdrew their Draft and decided not to cooperate with the Commission, vide S.P. 12 of 1944. The Ministers’ Draft Constitution is in S.P. 14 of 1944.

The Commission, an “all White one”, held its sittings from December 1944 to April 1945, and was boycotted by all progressive political bodies, following the lead of the Ceylon National Congress.

While the Commission, which consisted of Lord Soulbury, Sir F.J. Rees and Mr F.J. Burrows, was hearing evidence, we introduced in the State Council, an Ordinance to provide a new Constitution for Lanka. This Ordinance contained the Ministers’ Draft Constitution, shorn of certain limitations, and provided a Constitution of the recognized Dominion type for a Free Lanka. The third reading of this Ordinance was passed in March 1945, with only two elected members, both members of the Tamil Congress, a new body created to give evidence before the Commission voting against it. The Ordinance has now been reserved for His Majesty’s assent.

I understand that the Soulbury Report is now ready, and the Leader of the State Council, Mr D.S. Senanayake, has been invited to England to discuss future constitutional problems with the British Government. I do not think that either the State Council, or the country will accept anything less than has already been promised to India and Burma, that is the status of a free and equal partner, in the Commonwealth of Nations.

The latest Resolution of the Indian Congress Working Committee, demanding freedom for the Colonies, has heartened us, for even the moral support of a powerful neighbour gives strength to our cause.

You may remember in August 1942, I suggested that Ceylon too, should be included in the resolution to be placed before the AICC, as one of the countries for whose freedom the Indian Congress would strive. Specific reference of this nature to Ceylon is of great psychological value to us, in our work.

It is not possible to suggest, just now, any means whereby India can help us. We anxiously await the outcome of the Simla Talks. I have only attempted to provide you, with a summary of recent political events in Ceylon, so that, if you have the time and the desire, you may yourself consider what help you can render us. I am afraid, I have already taken too much of your time, but I cannot close, without extending to you and to any of your friends, you wish to bring, a cordial invitation to be my guests in Ceylon, if you can find the time for a short holiday. The best time would be January, a cool month, when moreover, we will be holding our 26th Congress Session.

With my best wishes to you,
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) J.R. Jayewardene

Features

Republicans’ most lethal political weapon – A father’s love for his son

Published

1 week ago

2024/12/15

Thilina Walpola

Pete Hegseth Defense Secretary confirmation likely – Thanks, mom

by Vijaya Chandrasoma

The Republicans, not satisfied with their recent electoral triumph, continue to vilify President Biden for the pardon of his son, Hunter. Wresting power from the Democrats has not satisfied their blood-lust; they now seek to disgrace Biden, dishonor him and destroy the legacy of one of the most decent and selfless presidents in history, with a first-term record second to none.

A legacy of achievements, the results of which have only now begun to show in what is today the strongest economy in the world. An economy created of bipartisan legislative miracles which will endure for decades to come. Which the contemptible Trump will claim he personally built, on the first day of his office, in January 2025. Just as he claimed he built the booming economy he inherited from President Obama in 2017, only to criminally mismanage it to recession by the end of his first term.

As he will in his second term. Trump is already admitting that he was lying when he promised to reduce grocery prices and inflation. Does anyone doubt that his other pie-in-the-sky campaign promises will prove to be similarly false? Remember the border wall to be paid by Mexico? Not all of us suffer from amnesia.

I recently read about a similar repulsive act of political abuse committed by Republican politicians 70 years ago, to destroy the reputation and, in this case, ultimately cause the suicide of, another fine man, using the most potent weapon in the world – the love of a father for his son. Purely to destroy his reputation and gain political power.

In the 1940s, the general public was becoming more aware of homosexuality, especially after Alfred Kynsey’s bestseller on Sexual Behavior in the Human Male drew attention to the fact that same-sex experiences were not just common, but normal. Homosexuality, even same-sex marriages, are now legal in most intellectually enlightened countries. Though it continues to be treated with contempt, as a perversion (“abomination”) in some, usually religious, sectors in many of these developed nations, including the USA.

Of course, there are primitive countries even today where homosexuality is a crime, liable for punishments up to and including the death penalty. Sri Lanka technically falls into this category of primitive nations. Strictly according to the Sri Lanka Penal Code of 1883, same-sex sexual activity is prohibited, and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and a fine. Fortunately, these laws are more honored in the breach; otherwise many of our eminent politicians would have been behind bars, along with their cronies and security personnel. Of course, they would have been granted shared cells, where they would have been able to continue to get their jollies at government expense.

In the days of the “Red Scare” in the USA in the 1950s, homosexuality was linked to communism, as, according to now disgraced Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy, “homosexuals had peculiar mental twists” that made them “unsafe risks susceptible to communism”. Ironically, McCarthy was himself a homosexual.

In 1947, the United States Park Police initiated a “Sex Perversion Elimination Program”, a sting operation targeting gay men for arrest for homosexual solicitation. Generally, those arrested as a result of this Program, if they had no prior criminal record, were released with a night in jail and a fine.

In June, 1953, a young man, Lester C. (Buddy) Hunt, Jr, was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer, in Lafayette Square, Washington D.C. Buddy was the president of the student body at the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had no prior criminal record, so the charges were dismissed with a slap on the wrist.

Buddy Hunt was also the son of Wyoming Democratic Senator, Lester C. Hunt. Hunt had an outstanding career in politics, working in the Wyoming state legislature as secretary of state, the state’s first two-term governor and a most popular Senator from a traditionally Republican state.

More importantly, in 1934, he had shown his love for his son by giving bone grafts to his then six-year-old son, Buddy to treat his bone cysts. A dentist by profession, Hunt had trouble standing by his dental chair after this selfless act of paternal love.

Hunt had made an enemy of Joseph McCarthy, disgusted as he was at McCarthy’s notorious anti-communist campaign and legally questionable tactics. At that time, Democrats held a razor-thin majority in the Senate. One of McCarthy’s Republican allies in the Senate, Idaho Senator Herman Welker, saw an opportunity to eliminate this majority. Welker had Buddy Hunt’s case re-opened, and made sure he was prosecuted. The Republican judge found him guilty of, as he put it, “one of the most heinous crimes a man can commit”. He had obviously not heard of crimes like rape and murder. For this “most heinous crime” of homosexuality, the politically corrupted judge fined Buddy $100 and dismissed the case.

The Republicans threatened Hunt that they would publicize this incident in the Senate. When Senator Hunt resisted, they threatened to blanket Wyoming with flyers about his son’s homosexuality. Hunt gave in and resigned. The Republicans achieved their goal. They disgraced the reputation of a fine Senator and achieved majority in the Senate, as Wyoming’s Republican Governor Rogers would appoint a Republican to replace Senator Hunt.

The Republicans’ “witch Hunt” reached its cruel perfection when Senator Hunt committed suicide in his Washington DC office in 1954.

70 Years later, we are now in the Trump era. Donald Trump was elected president in 2016. He immediately showed his love for his children in more substantial ways, which brought him only praise and devotion in Republican eyes.

Trump dearly loves his daughter, Ivanka and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump loved them so much that he gave them senior posts in the White House during his first presidential term; Ivanka as Senior Advisor and Director of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship (Ivanka had vast experience as a ladies’ handbag saleswoman); and Jared, a real estate developer facing bankruptcy, as Senior White House Consultant, with the responsibility, inter alia, of Bringing Peace to the Middle East. He even loved Jared’s father, Charles, so much that he pardoned him for crimes of tax evasion, witness intimidation and illegal campaign contributions, for which he had spent two years in prison.

One of Trump’s first acts as President-elect last month was to nominate this distinguished ex-con, Charles Kushner as the Ambassador of the United States to France. Trump’s love for his children knows no bounds. Last Thursday, he announced the appointment of Fox News hostess and his son Don Jr’s ex-fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, as the US Ambassador to Greece.

Trump also intends to pardon, “within minutes” of assuming power on January 20, 2025, the “patriots” who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as he loves them like his own children! His message to his supporters: “If you commit acts of violence on my behalf in the future, I will pardon you”. A chilling precedent for all future presidents.

Pardons, ambassadorships will be available, along with Trump Bibles, guitars, wristwatches, sneakers, even the latest Trump “Fight, Fight, Fight” fragrance, a haunting aroma of blood, sweat and perfidy, at bargain-basement prices at the White House Gift Shop from January 21, 2025.

Now the Republicans, even some Sri Trumpians, are up in their incredibly hypocritical arms about President Biden issuing a “full and unconditional pardon” for his son. Hunter had earlier been convicted of felony charges of tax evasion and gun related charge while he was a drug addict, crimes committed in 2018. The back taxes have been completely settled, the weapon was never used in the commission of a crime and Hunter has been sober for over five years.

Biden had indeed lied at a time when justice was being administered constitutionally. However, justice will take a different guise when the Trump administration takes control. Instead of being released with a slap on the wrist, the regular punishment for these types of crimes, Hunter will be facing the maximum sentence of 17 years’ imprisonment under the Justice Department to be headed by Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, Trump’s nominees for Attorney General and Director, FBI, respectively, who have both vowed to pursue diligently Trump’s threats of retribution.

Extracts from President Biden’s December 1 statement explains his reason for this rare instance of being forced to deviate from the truth:

“Today, I signed a pardon for my son, Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision making, and I kept my word even as I watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. …People brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form….or were late for paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions.

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out because he is my son – and that is wrong….In trying to break Hunter, they are trying to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.

“For my entire career, I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. And here’s the truth. I believe in the justice system…I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice….I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision”.

There is another currently ongoing instance of love, this time the love of a mother for her son, which will surely bring tears to your eyes.

Pete Hegseth is Trump’s choice for one of the top jobs in his cabinet. The Defense Secretary is not just the head of the largest bureaucracy, probably in the world, with nearly three million employees worldwide and an annual budget of $850 billion. The Defense Secretary is also the key link between the presidency and the uniformed military, including the nuclear chain of command.

Hegseth, 44, a war veteran of two tours in Cuba and Iraq, had led a platoon of 35 soldiers in Iraq. He is currently a weekend television presenter with Fox News, and has no administrative experience whatsoever. An alcoholic with a police record of numerous drunken sexual assaults, he recently had an intervention with his employer, Fox News, for being drunk on his program – which starts at 6 a.m. Hegseth flaunts a white supremacist tattoo, considers war crimes such as torture, including waterboarding, justified under certain circumstances, and believes that women have no role to play in military combat. Hegseth has vowed to “fight like hell” to win this coveted job, so long as he enjoys Trump’s confidence.

When his mommy, Penelope Hegseth, heard of her darling son’s nomination to one of the most powerful jobs in the nation, she sprang to his aid with an outpouring of love, rivaling that of legendary Sojourner Truth, the first African-American mother to fight for, and win, her son’s freedom from slavery; the first time an African-American prevailed in court against a white man. Penelope prays her maternal love will similarly have her totally unqualified, misogynistic, racist, alcoholic, sexual predator son confirmed to one of the most powerful, complex jobs in the world.

Mommy went on Fox TV, pleading that her son was a “changed man”; she called Senators, begging for their confirmation. She responded in the negative to a question from a Senator if a breathalyzer test would be required at the entrance to the White House Situation Room, insisting that her darling Pete had undergone a recent epiphany and has promised not to touch alcohol, if he gets the job. In any event, she vowed she that will be right there by his side to help him with the nuclear football, the briefcase which has the launch codes for nuclear weapons, if he ever fell off the wagon.

Although there have been whispers of dissonance among some Republican Senators, chances are they will all fall in line with Trump’s choices. In the end, few, if any of them will dare go against the Fuhrer.

Every one of Trump’s terrifyingly controversial and unqualified cabinet nominations is a test. A test to ensure that every single Republican member of the House, every single Republican Senator bends to his will with unquestioning fealty. A test that establishes his dominance over his party, arming him with the absolute power to carry out his stated dictatorial policies without any of the guard rails provided in the constitution. From the first day of his presidency.