Saturday 7th September, 2024

State Minister A. Aravindh Kumar is reported to have been evicted from a house belonging to an estate company, in Lindula, following a court order. In 1987, a case was filed against him for refusal to hand over the house, when he left the estate, where he had worked, according to newspaper reports. It took about 37 long years for the property to be returned to its rightful owner!

Worryingly, court cases over such property disputes usually drag on for decades. Delays in the dispensation of justice are multifactorial, and the need to eliminate them as a national priority cannot be overstated. There is a pressing need to ensure that the judiciary is provided with all necessary resources to overcome delays, which have come to characterise the judicial proceedings much to the resentment of the public.

The State Minister’s eviction from the estate bungalow reminds us of the unauthorised occupation of more than 100 state-owned houses at the Madiwela MPs’ housing scheme. These houses are made available to the MPs on rent, and they are required to vacate them upon retirement or defeat.

In 2022, we reported that acting on a slew of complaints that many of the MPs’ official residences at Madiwela were illegally occupied, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had ordered a probe and called for a report. Media reports placed the number of those houses at 120, and among the culprits were outsiders. The possibility of the ownership of some of them having changed hands illegally cannot be ruled out.

It was also brought to the notice of Speaker Abeywardena that a large number of former MPs continued to stay in the official residences in spite of repeated reminders. Some of these houses have reportedly been turned into political party offices. Our report said the Speaker had ordered a separate probe into the complaints against the former MPs refusing to leave the Madiwala housing scheme; he also directed the Mirihana police to conduct an investigation.

Every house in the MPs’ residential complex consists of three bedrooms with sanitary facilities, a kitchen, a living room, a dining area, a staff washroom and a parking lot. Real estate prices in the area have increased exponentially, and the illegal property grab in the Madiwela MPs’ housing scheme has caused a massive loss to the state coffers.

It was reported that the Speaker would inform Parliament of the findings of the aforesaid probe and action he intended to take against the culprits. Nothing has been reported of the promised probes, and the public will be interested in knowing what has become of them.

Much is spoken in Parliament about the need to restore the rule of law and eliminate illegal practices that have cost the state dear. Shouldn’t the lawmakers put their ‘House’ in order and ensure that legal action is taken against the lawbreakers among them?

Meanwhile, there is a campaign against the provision of state-owned houses as part of the Executive Presidents’ retirement benefit packages. One cannot but endorse the call for discontinuing this practice. None of the former Presidents are without privately-owned houses, and it does not make sense to allocate official residences to them.

Politicians never retire penniless in this country, and therefore they do not deserve any retirement benefits. Even those who identify themselves with the proletariat live high on the hog and outspend their capitalist rivals at elections.

Friday 6th September, 2024

A group of dissident SLPP MPs who are supporting President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the current presidential election, launched a new political alliance—Podujana Eksath Nidahas Peramuna (PENP) yesterday. Having thrown in their lot with the Rajapaksas’ bete noire, Wickremesinghe, and burnt their boats, they cannot return to the SLPP’s fold after the forthcoming presidential poll, much less secure nominations from it for the next parliamentary election, which is expected in quick succession. They seem to have realised that it is not prudent to keep all their political eggs in Wickremesinghe’s basket and therefore thought of having a fallback position in the form of the PENP.

Political alliances have mushroomed during the past several decades, and almost all of them have withered away. The People’s Alliance (PA), the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), the United National Front (UNF), etc., used to dominate national politics as ruling coalitions, but they have been forgotten today. The PA was in power from 1994 to 2004 and the UPFA from 2004 to 2015. The UNF ruled the country from 2001 to 2004 and again from 2015 to 2019.

The biggest challenge before the newly-formed PNEP is to muster enough popular support to gain political traction quickly. In fact, it should be able to perform a vertical takeoff. This is something an alliance cannot accomplish without a robust political party as its main constituent. The PA and the UPFA were led by the SLFP, and the UNF had the UNP as its principal constituent. There is no such party among the constituents of the PNEP, which is therefore like a train without a locomotive. It may be able to gain some political traction if Wickremesinghe succeeds in winning the 21 Sept. presidential election, but he has his work cut out. This is a disconcerting proposition for the SLPP defectors who let go of the saataka and opted to ride on Wickremesinghe’s coattails.

Some Opposition MPs, addressing Parliament on Tuesday, highlighted the depressed rate of growth for age among Sri Lankan children, who are rightly called the future of the nation. Malnutrition is a very serious issue that the next President will have to address as a national priority. However, it is not only children who are affected by what is known as ‘failure to thrive’; Sri Lanka’s political party system is also troubled by faltering growth, and some parties are wasting away.

Mass defections from its ranks and its failure to live up to public expectations have debilitated the SLPP, which is only a shadow of its former self. The UNP has not been able to recover lost ground despite its leader Wickremesinghe’s fortuitous rise to the highest position in the land. The SLFP has been split into three factions, which are backing Sajith Premadasa, Wickremesinghe and Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa in the ongoing presidential race. Nothing short of a miracle will enable the SLFP to make a comeback in the foreseeable future. The JVP finds itself in a dilemma; its leaders have stopped promoting its Marxist ideology and they prefer to be identified with the NPP. Its economic policies and those of the NPP are like chalk and cheese.

Interestingly, only two parties with parliamentary representation—the SJB and the debilitated SLPP—have been able to retain their identities in the current presidential contest while their older counterparts are struggling to remain relevant in contemporary politics. Whether the SLPP and the SJB will be able to cope with political and electoral vicissitudes and preserve their identities in time to come remains to be seen.

The devitalisation of the old political parties augurs ill for democracy; it is fraught with the danger of giving a fillip to the rise of anti-politics.

Thursday 5th September, 2024

Former US President Donald Trump has mastered the art of attracting media attention. He has hit international headlines again. The Democrats accused him of having won the 2016 presidential election with the help of Russians. He has vehemently denied that claim. This time around, he has sought to use aliens, of all beings, and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), of all things, to improve his chances in a razor-close presidential race––in a manner of speaking.

In a recent podcast interview, Trump has undertaken to release the Pentagon’s new videos of UFOs if he is re-elected to the White House. He has also pledged to declassify documents on the JFK assassination, and release the Epstein Files (pertaining to US financier Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls.)

Trump has spoken about UFOs in a previous interview as well. He seems intent to pander to Americans’ intrigue about aliens and garner votes. The JFK assassination is now history, but his narrow escape from an assassin’s bullet, which grazed his right ear in July may have reminded him of Kennedy’s tragic death, the so-called magic bullet, etc., and prompted him to think of declassifying the files on the JFK assassination. But what purpose will the release of ‘new UFO footage’ serve? This is an unusual election pledge, but Trump’s propagandists can claim that it indicates his readiness to safeguard the US citizens’ right to information.

A common denominator among politicians the world over is their readiness to do all it takes to garner votes to gain or retain power. Trump has taken his election campaign to the celestial level by talking about aliens and UFOs, as it were. He is facing a situation he did not bargain for; he has had to vie with Vice President Kamala Harris, and not Biden, for the presidency. He is leaving no stone unturned in his efforts to shore up his approval ratings vis-a-vis the rising popularity of Harris.

Trump’s undertaking to release Pentagon videos of UFOs and his admission that there could be life on other planets are bound to give a turbo-boost to the conspiracy theories that aliens have visited Earth, and US President Dwight D Eisenhower met in the 1950s.

The upcoming US presidential election is dominating the international media scene, as usual; it has apparently overshadowed burning global issues such as armed conflicts, poverty, hunger, the rapid spread of Mpox, pollution, climate change, the rise of far right in Europe and the fear of the world economy going into recession.

Trump and Harris are amply demonstrating their speechifying skills. Sri Lankan politicians are not alone in saying so little in so many words. Trump and Harris, in their oratorical outbursts replete with rhetoric and dramatics, deal with many issues comprehensively but do not spell out how they intend to stop the destruction of Palestinian lives in Gaza and bring the Russia-NATO war being fought in Ukraine to an immediate end, in case of being elected to the most powerful position in the world. There have been mere statements expressing shock and dismay at the loss of life in Gaza and pledges to defend the US allies.

Both Trump and Harris have made known their willingness to go to any extent to ensure that the US will retain its global dominance. They have chosen to remain silent on the allegation that Washington is carrying out regime change operations in South Asia. Former Prime Ministers of Pakistan and Bangladesh Imran Khan and Sheikh Hasina have accused the US of having had a hand in their ousters. US involvement in the 2022 uprising in this country has also been alleged.

Sadly, the international media has not questioned Trump or Harris on Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs’ call for a UN probe into the alleged US involvement in regime change operations in South Asia. Perhaps, it considers aliens and UFOs more newsworthy.