News

SL should not stop trading with Moscow to please Washington, London – Ranil

Published

4 years ago

2022/03/5

Sri Lanka should not be stopped from trading with Russia because placing sanctions on Russia is something that the US and UK want, United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday at a meeting with a group of youth activists.

Wickremesinghe said: “The war in Ukraine will affect everyone and there is a lot of potential in Asia to overcome the challenges posed by war and western sanctions.

“Firstly, no one wants SWIFT and other such tools to be used as a political weapon. If the US and UK want to place sanctions against Russia, that is their business. But we should not be stopped from trading with Russia and others. We live in a globalised economy, but we have agreed that the West would run the system. But if the system is going to be used for political purposes, where we lose, then I think Asia has to look at another system. China is starting a China-centric one, some of the others may not want a China-centric one, but will want one that is acceptable to all. I think Africa may also join it. That is where the power is. The West is losing that power it had,” he said.

When this confrontation comes to an end, Indonesia, which is the chair of the G20 and is also where the first Asian conference was held, should get together with China, India, and the UAE to summon a conference of all Asian nations and re-invent Asia. Indonesia was the country that hosted the Bandung Conference, and so they should take the lead and call for such a conference, he said.

Asia must step in and ensure the war in Ukraine does not reach global proportions, Wickremesinghe said, adding that while most countries around the world agree that Russia invaded Ukraine, they do not approve of what the West has done.

“The fact is Asia is silent. The African Union has also not taken part, Brazil and Argentina have supported the US but the Mexicans have stayed out. Asia hasn’t condemned Russia the way America expected them to. They have raised issues with the invasion. In the Security Council India, China and the UAE are all silent. They were non-committal. Indonesia, the leader of the G20 is non-committal. Pakistan is also going around Russia. So it looks like most of Asia is going along with Russia. Now that is what is important, because Asia counts today. Everyone is neglecting this, nobody wants to report it,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said that Asian countries do not want to be affected by a war that can cause global economic fallout. Despite many problems among them, Asian countries have ensured that they do not escalate into full blown war.

“Therefore, the Asian view is that we cannot only allow the West to decide the rules of the world. Asia must come in, and that is a view I have, and many others have. The Government of Sri Lanka has been non-committal like all the others, such as Bangladesh. Some of them who have commented have not said who has invaded whom, the invasions are bad, and the war must stop. This is what the media is not highlighting, because the West cannot accept that Asia today is also calling the shots,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka exports low country and mid-grown tea to countries such as Russia. Due to the war a lot of the low-grown and mid-grown smallholders’ families will be having problems. Factory holders too will be affected, and this will become a serious issue for Sri Lanka.

Ukraine is basically a part of the old Soviet Union and Russians think of Ukraine like we think of Kandy, the UNP leader said. Wickremesinghe said that the war between Russia and Ukraine could have been prevented

“There were problems between Russia and Ukraine because NATO wanted to bring in missiles, and that is part of the old Soviet Union territory, which they should not have done. This went on for some time, and then there is the famous case of Russians taking over Crimea, which originally belonged to them and then they got into Donbas and other areas,” he said.

Wickremesinghe added that President Obama and President Trump did not make Ukraine an issue, but President Biden’s foreign policy seems to be to take on both Russia and China. He wants to be the defender of the Western Order, Wickremesinghe said.

“Especially President Trump reached out and had a good rapport with President Putin. Now after President Biden came in, his foreign policy seems to be to take on both Russia and China. Recently Russia and China signed an agreement which is called the “no-limit friendship”, which is a friendship without limits and boundaries or prohibitions. Thereafter Russia was emboldened further to ask that nuclear missiles not be put in Ukraine and Ukraine should not become a member of NATO. The U.S. and U.K., not the other NATO members, tried to play their own game and corner Russia and make Russia back down by getting Ukraine to say they want to be part of NATO. They expected Putin to climb down. Putin thought was ready, or thought he was ready, and he invaded Ukraine. So the real issue is about the security of Russia and what are they going to do. They took the West and the Americans by surprise,” he said.

Wickremesinghe added that the sanctions against Russia will not deter them. Sanctions are the only tool available to the West because they are not prepared to fight the Russians. The West has also removed Russian banks from SWIFT and both President Biden and Prime Minister Boris Johnson are acting tough because of domestic politics, the UNP leader said.

“President Biden also is in a problematic area. (Former) President Trump says he knew how to deal with Putin and handle Ukraine. So, he (Biden) had to show he can bring results, and he needs to bring results quickly because he is going to lose in the midterm elections. So, he is pushing hard on the sanctions thinking Russia will come down and he can save himself. Basically, many of the issues will be domestic issues, and the Republicans won’t be unhappy if the Russians stay on in Ukraine a bit longer because they can get the advantage of it. The third man with elections is President Macron of France. But he is playing a different role, he is showing that he can talk to Russia, he can talk to the West, and he can talk to China. So, he is telling the Frenchmen that if you remove me you will not have a leader who is recognised globally. So, he is playing a different game to the other two. The Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is also having elections and he is also upping his stakes to show he can be tough on China. But all this means is that we do not know where this will end. They are playing for their politics, and this will bring the global economy down,” he said.

Wickremesinghe said that China, India, Pakistan, Iran, and the Central Asian republics would help Russia.” These are all members of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, and the events of the past week have shown that the Organisation has held together. On the other hand, although India is a part of the Quad, it has not taken the same line as the US.”

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CIABOC probe: CC under pressure to ask Speaker to step down as Chairman

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/9

Thilina Walpola

Dayasiri questions legitimacy of appointments made by Council

The Constitutional Council (CC) should ask its head, Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne, to step down temporarily pending an investigation by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) into a complaint lodged by sacked Deputy Secretary General of Parliament Chaminda Kularatne, SJB MP Dayasiri Jayasekera has said.

Former Minister Jayasekera said so in response to The Island queries pertaining to Kularatne’s recent complaint to the CIABOC.

Jayasekera pointed out that the CC, which is responsible for key appointments, couldn’t afford to have a person under CIABOC investigation as its head. “We have never experienced a similar situation since the establishment of the CC in 2000,” the Kurunegala District lawmaker said.

Parliament introduced CC under the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. It was abolished in 2010, reinstated in 2015 through the 19th Amendment, then replaced by a Parliamentary Council in 2020, and reintroduced via the 21st Amendment in October 2022.

MP Jayasekera said that the NPP government had turned a blind eye to his recent request made in Parliament for the Speaker to step down. He said that subsequently he had discussed the issue with other MPs and they were of the view that Dr. Wickramaratne’s continuation as the Chairman of the CC undermined the integrity of the council.

A parliamentary committee headed by Dr. Wickramaratne sacked Kularatne on January 23 over alleged irregularities pertaining to his appointment as Deputy Secretary General of Parliament and Chief of Staff. Kularatne lodged the complaint with the CIABOC on 2 February.

Austin Fernando, Professor Wasantha Seneviratne and Ranjith Ariyaratne were appointed as non-Members of Parliament to the CC on 23 January, the day Parliament sacked Kularatne.

MP Jayasekera said that the CC should discuss the issue with the Speaker. Political parties represented in parliament should intervene to ensure that the controversy over the Speaker’s conduct didn’t undermine the apex body.

The CC consists of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya (Ex-officio), Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne (Ex-officio), Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa (Ex-officio), one MP appointed by the President (Bimal Rathnayake), five persons appointed by the President, upon being nominated as follows: one MP nominated by agreement of the majority of the Members of Parliament representing the Government (Aboobucker Athambawa, M.P), one MP nominated by agreement of the majority of the MPs of the political party or independent group to which the Leader of the Opposition belongs—Ajith P. Perera—and three persons nominated by the Speaker by agreement of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition—Austin Fernando, Professor Wasantha Seneviratne and Ranjith Ariyaratne—and one MP nominated by agreement of the MPs other than those representing the Government and those belonging to the political party or independent group to which the Leader of the Opposition belongs, and appointed by the President (Sivagnanam Shritharan, M.P).

The CC recommend nominations to the President for the appointment of Chairpersons and Members of Election Commission, Public Service Commission, National Police Commission, Audit Service Commission, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption, Finance Commission, Delimitation Commission and National Procurement Commission.

Jayasekera asked how Dr. Wickramaratne could continue as CC head as appointments to CIABOC, too, are made by the 10-member body.

The CC also approve/disapprove recommendations by the President for the appointment Chief Justice and the Judges of the Supreme Court, President and the Judges of the Court of Appeal, Members of the Judicial Service Commission, other than the Chairman, Attorney-General, Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Auditor-General, Inspector-General of Police, Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman) and Secretary General of Parliament.

MP Jayasekera said that it would be really interesting to see the response of the newly appointed civil society members to the developing situation. The SJBer pointed out that the recent appointment of Samudika Jayaratne, a Senior Deputy Auditor General as the Auditor General was made after Kularatne moved the CIABOC against the Speaker.

The JVP and NPP, having preached other political parties of transparency, couldn’t pretend the Speaker’s issue was not serious. Dr. Wickramaratne was appointed Speaker in Dec 2024 after Asoka Ranwala had to step down after being exposed for making false higher education qualifications.

by Shamindra Ferdinando

News

Auditor General urged to probe coal scam

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/9

Thilina Walpola

The Electricity Consumers’ Association (ECA) Friday (6) called on newly appointed Auditor General Samudika Jayarathne to begin her tenure by launching an investigation into the controversial coal procurement deal, which has drawn widespread public criticism.

Addressing a media briefing in Marandagahamula, Gampaha, ECA Secretary, Sanjeewa Dhammika, said the probe should be conducted independently. The appointment of a new Auditor General, following a vacancy of nearly six to seven months, was a crucial step in restoring the effectiveness of the state audit system, he said, extending congratulations to Jayarathne.

Dhammika urged the Auditor General to carry out a swift, independent investigation into the questionable coal procurement deals, alleging that they had caused significant economic and environmental harm to the country.

He called for the findings of such an investigation to be disclosed to the public as a priority.

He also called for an immediate audit of Lanka Transformer Ltd, which has faced severe criticism from the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE). Dhammika said the audit should reveal details of alleged irregularities, identify those responsible, and disclose any misuse of public funds.

Noting that the government held a substantial share in Lanka Transformer Ltd, he stressed that the matter constituted a direct responsibility of the State.

“The audit system should not function to provide political protection, but to safeguard public funds,” Dhammika said, adding that the Association expected the new Auditor General to uphold this principle.

By Anuradha Hiripitiyage

News

First-ever monkey holding centre to be set up in Matale

Published

16 hours ago

2026/02/9

Thilina Walpola

A 150-hectare site near the Kalu Ganga Reservoir in Matale District has been earmarked for Sri Lanka’s first-ever holding centre for Toque Macaques, the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) announced.

The centre will feature water, food, and security facilities, providing a safe environment to manage macaques that cause damage in nearby communities. The Matale District Development Committee has approved the project, following a recommendation from the DWC.

Wildlife Range Officer Chamath Lakshman Perera told the Committee that similar holding centres operate in several countries, including Malaysia. A total of Rs. 283.87 million has been allocated for the project.

Under the plan, macaques causing destruction will be captured and relocated to the centre. Population control measures will include fitting loops on female monkeys to prevent breeding. The facility will be secured to ensure the animals cannot escape back into the wild.

Officials said the site has sufficient natural food sources, but additional supplies will be provided if necessary. Each macaque is expected to require around 70 grams of food per day.

The project aims to balance wildlife conservation with community protection, offering a model for managing human-macaque conflicts in the country, Perera said.

by Nimal Gunathilake