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Midweek Review

General election:NPP on a tricky wicket

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Who will fill the 225-member Parliament consisting of 196 elected and 29 appointed members?

The following are the key issues that have to be dealt with, regardless of the outcome of tomorrow’s parliamentary election:

* Restoration of the national economy in line with the IMF programme agreed by the previous government. None of the political parties, represented in the last Parliament, including the JVP, voted against the much discussed Economic Transformation Bill approved in terms of the agreement with the IMF

* Foreign policy challenges as China and the US sought to influence the government of the day.

* Accountability investigation led by Geneva-based UNHRC at the behest of the US-UK combine

* A new Constitution that reflected the post-war developments.

*Effective measures to rein in political parties.

* And, finally, consensus on response to terrorism. Those who had been found guilty by courts for acts of terrorism should never be referred to as ‘political prisoners. President AKD caused himself and the country much harm when he declared in the north that ‘political prisoners’ would be released.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), having raised expectations about National People’s Power (NPP) in the eyes of the public as never before by coming to power claiming to be holier than all previous administrations dubbed by them to have been corrupt to the core, now faces the daunting task of securing a simple majority in Parliament at the General Election tomorrow (14), with feet of clay as shown by some of their recent decisions.

In spite of repeated vows, since the Presidential Election, to fill the next Parliament with members of the National People’s Power (NPP), the ruling party won’t find that objective easy to achieve as already reflected in the recent Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha poll held after the Presidential Election that it secured. It clearly showed that there is no groundswell of support for NPP despite it emerging the winner at the important Presidential Election as is the usual case with Lankan voters in the past.

Such NPP rhetoric won’t change the situation on the ground as AKD polled 5,634,915 (42.31 %) votes at the Presidential Election, very much less than the combined Opposition. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sajith Premadasa (SP), independent candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Namal Rajapaksa (NR) polled 4,363,035, 2,299,767 and 342,781, votes respectively.

The bottom line is that together they had polled 7,005,583 votes – in other words 1,370,668 votes more than AKD. That is the ground reality. The above figures do not include preferences received by AKD and SP at the presidential poll.

The issue at hand is whether AKD, the leader of the NPP and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), can now attract a substantial number of those who hadn’t exercised their franchise for him at the presidential poll. Of 17,140,354 eligible to vote, only 13,619,916 (79.46%) exercised their franchise whereas a staggering 3,820,738 didn’t turn up to vote.

Contesting political parties shouldn’t also ignore the fact that the total valid votes polled was 13,319,616 (97.8 %), therefore the rejected number of votes was 300,300 (2.2 %).

AKD should be wary of the unprecedented challenge, particularly because his government hadn’t been able to impress the electorate, especially those who didn’t exercise their franchise at the Sept. 21 election.

The possibility of the NPP falling just short of a simple majority (113 out of 225 seats), too, cannot be ruled out in spite of the party putting on a brave face with countrywide political rallies with hardly any such mass gatherings by the Opposition rivals.

NPP’s much touted stand that it wouldn’t, under any circumstances, accommodate the SJB, the New Democratic Front (NDF) comprising a group of ex-rebel SLPP lawmakers, and the UNP, as well as the SLPP, may compel AKD to reach a consensus with those elected from the Northern and Eastern provinces.

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader and Sarvajana Balaya Colombo District candidate Udaya Gammanpila’s declaration that Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi’s (ITAK) M.A. Sumanthiran, PC, would be the NPP’s Foreign Minister cannot be dismissed. Former Minister Gammanpila also claimed that the NPP and ITAK reached an agreement on a federal structure for the Northern and Eastern provinces in line with their overall arrangement. Jaffna district ITAK’s Sumanthiran flatly denied Attorney-at-Law Gammanpila’s allegation when the writer sought his response.

Against the backdrop of the breaking up of the once ITAK-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA), despite all the bravado about its impending successful electoral outcome, the ITAK may not be able to even secure 10 seats that the grouping garnered at the last parliamentary election. ITAK shouldn’t underestimate the challenge posed by Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) consisting of fractured TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF. Previously known as Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA), DTNA knows the danger of a sharp split in the Tamil vote. (Let me correct the wrong declaration that the DTNA had been formed in the late ’80s in last week’s midweek piece ‘The General election: The Northern vote’. A former Tamil speaking colleague of mine pointed out the writer’s fault.).

In fact, TELO and PLOTE had no option but to resurrect TDNA last year after ITAK decided to terminate the partnership put together by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The EPRLF and some other interested groups joined the DTNA. ITAK is taking a huge risk at the General Election with its elitist face as the bulk of the population in the North and East are said to be those belonging to so-called lower castes (non Vellala). The former Federal Party may end up losing its predominant position in the Northern and Eastern regions since the 2004 General Election when the ITAK-led TNA secured 22 seats with the backing of the LTTE, which included Tigers stuffing ballot boxes on their behalf as was witnessed by none other than EU election monitors. Since then at every general election, the TNA obtained the highest number of seats in the N&E. At the 2010 parliamentary election the TNA won 14 seats, followed by 16 in 2015 and 10 in 2020. The ITAK’s gamble may not pay off.

Both ITAK and DTNA realize that the Tamils may fail to secure at least one seat in the strategically important Trincomalee district. Even the Roman Catholic clergy intervened to pave the way for ITAK and DTNA to submit a joint nomination list for the Trincomalee district where a sharp division of Tamil votes could prevent the community from securing one of the four seats available.

Sumanthiran backs partnership with NPP

During the AKD-led parliamentary election campaign, the NPP repeatedly declared its intention to work with Tamil lawmakers. In spite of Sumanthiran’s categorical denial, the former lawmaker declared his readiness to accept a ministerial position during a meeting with Jaffna-based journalists. The senior lawyer didn’t mince his words when he emphasized the responsibility on the part of his party to consider partnership with the NPP.

This is how Sumanthiran responded to a query regarding future NPP-ITAK partnership raised at the Jaffna Press Club recently. Sumanthiran was asked what they would do if he or members of his party were invited to take up ministerial positions under a government of NPP.

Sumanthiran (verbatim): “That was the expectation of the people at most of the meetings I attended. There was an opinion in recent times that ministerial positions must not be taken. There was also an opinion that we must not join the central government until a permanent political solution is given. But that is not the policy of the party. In 1965 members of our party held ministerial positions. The situation changes with time. Therefore, my opinion is that if we get such an offer, it must be considered. There are photographs of us marching in Jaffna with Anura Kumara Dissanayake, while wearing red sashes on a May Day six years ago. However, we do not take photographs with him targeting ministerial positions. When an effective programme is presented we must move forward together. Our party will not engage in such actions for the sake of positions. We can discuss with them and seek solutions to fulfil fundamental needs of our people, including a political solution. At the same time, we hope to work together to combat fraud and corruption. Even today I am appearing as his counsel in cases filed by that party against fraud and corruption. Therefore, we do not hold different opinions on these matters.”

Among the DTNA candidates are several ex-LTTE combatants though the ITAK-led TNA never accommodated any former fighters. In fact, ITAK wouldn’t have a truck with even TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF, one-time India-sponsored terrorist groups if not for the LTTE’s directive that they contest under one symbol in line with its overall political-military strategy.

Although two prominent ex-eastern LTTE cadres, who fell out with it, namely Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna, and Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilleyan of Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), served as lawmakers the duo never received the respect they sought. Both are in the fray in the eastern Batticaloa district from different political parties.

EPDP Douglas Devananda, who has served several governments as a Minister, has already declared his support for the future NPP government. Having met AKD, Devananda assured the public that he would be delighted to accept a ministerial portfolio. However, the NPP declared in Jaffna that Devananda wouldn’t be accommodated in their Cabinet.

Several readers, including my colleague, found fault with me for asserting that all contesting political parties, without exception, are careful not to condemn the LTTE in any way. They pointed out that Devananda, who had been high on the LTTE hit list and was fortunate to survive a spate of assassination attempts, remained a strong critic of the group until the successful conclusion of the war.

My colleague also queried the assertion that the ITAK may perform better sans nominees of former terrorist groups. He raised the following issues:

* Are you suggesting PLOTE leader Dharmalingam Siddarthan, who is contesting the Jaffna district on the DTNA ticket, should be considered as a former ‘terrorist’?

* Such an assertion could be ironic as some Tamil ‘nationalist’ elements/ITAK/TNPF, etc., have accused the PLOTE of collaborating with the military during the war.

* In fact, Siddarthan, a son of ex-Jaffna district MP Visvanather Dharmalingam, killed by TELO in 1985, is widely believed to have backed Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2005 Presidential Election campaign.

The writer is in touch with Siddarthan since 1990 and never considered him a terrorist though his role in a terrorist group cannot be denied. Siddarthan had been with the PLOTE at the time the group made an abortive bid to assassinate Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in Nov. 1988.

In the last Parliament, five Tamil political parties altogether had 16 seats. Would Tamil parties be able to do better at the 2024 General Election? Twenty-nine MPs are elected from Jaffna (07), Vanni (06), Batticaloa (05), Digamadulla (07) and Trincomalee (04). Obtaining the same number of seats would be a huge challenge. In spite of the NPP leader being the President of the country, his party may not do well in the Northern and Eastern regions.

It would be pertinent to mention that Ariyanethiran Pakkiyaselvam, who contested the recently concluded Presidential Election, is backing ITAK candidates. The former TNA MP (2004-2015) polled 226,343 votes (1.70%) as he couldn’t secure the backing of ITAK. Sajith Premadasa, however, secured Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla and Trincomalee electoral districts with ITAK’s backing.

In spite of the belief that Pakkiyaselvam had the backing of the LTTE rump, and the Tamil Diaspora, he couldn’t win at least the Jaffna electoral district, whereas SP emerged victorious with a slight margin. The votes received by AKD in the N&E electorates were negligible, except Digamadulla where he polled 100,000. However, AKD’s party stands to do better at the General Election now as the President.

A controversial appointment

Perhaps, the decision on the part of the government not to reduce the price of Octane 92 (current price Rest 311), auto diesel (Rest 283) and kerosene (Rs 183) when the latest revision was effected on Oct 31 may have dismayed those who voted for AKD at the Presidential Plection.

Having accused successive governments of unfairly taxing fuel imports, thereby robbing the people, in addition to corruption, the NPP struggled to explain why Octane 92, auto diesel and kerosene couldn’t be substantially reduced.

The Opposition questioned the rationale in reducing the price of a high end litre of Octane 95 and super diesel by Rs 6 each when those struggling to make ends meet couldn’t be provided any such relief.

The JVP-led NPP shouldn’t forget that 5.7 mn voters who exercised their franchise in support of AKD, less than two months ago, are not card carrying members of the ruling party or its leading partner. Therefore, the government cannot, under any circumstances, antagonize the electorate ahead of the General Election. If the Octane 92 and auto diesel cannot be reduced, under the present circumstances, all those who had accused successive governments of unfair taxation owed the public an explanation.

Having campaigned relentlessly on an anti-corruption platform, the NPP shouldn’t take unnecessary risk by making controversial appointments. The appointment of a JVP trade union activist D.A. Rajakaruna as the Chairperson of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC/CEYPETCO) attracted media attention in the wake of the latest fuel price revision. That wouldn’t have happened if Rajakaruna, who had served as the Manager of the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Limited’s Muthurajawela Terminal years ago, didn’t appear before the media to defend the government decision not to reduce Octane 92 and auto diesel prices.

Convener of United Trade Union Alliance (UTUA) Ananda Pallitha recently questioned the appointment of a person whose integrity had been questioned as Chairman of a vital state enterprise after being accused of corruption. Rajakaruna’s media briefing was nothing but a fiasco. The JVPer simply couldn’t handle the media as journalists fired a spate of questions as the man was caught lying. As a longstanding employee of the CPC, Rajakaruna couldn’t have side-stepped the issues raised, after having been so critical of previous administrations.

The NPP cannot afford to make appointments to appease long standing party men. Previous governments have paid a huge price for accommodating alleged wrongdoers in key positions. This issue can cause friction among the NPPers.

The government has pathetically failed to explain why prices of Octane 92 and auto diesel couldn’t be reduced against the backdrop of its repeated allegations regarding the entire pricing process being corrupt.

The electorate will give its verdict tomorrow. Make no mistake, no political party can take things for granted, especially in the backdrop of Aragalaya two years ago that caused so much mayhem and that helped NPP stock to go up as never before by playing a Mr. Clean image. The NPP seems to have caused itself irreparable damage ahead of the General Election.

The sudden disclosure of the NPP government plan to shut down the state-owned Thriposha Company can also have a detrimental impact on the government. Such a course of action will lead to further deterioration of the nutritional intake of many already malnourished Lankan children.

FSP Education Secretary and Colombo District Jana Aragala Sandhanaya candidate Pubudu Jayagoda declared the closure would benefit private sector cereal manufacturers, an extremely serious accusation. The government remained silent as it couldn’t have explained the issuance of the Gazette Notification No. 2403/53 dated 27 September 2024 that dealt with the proposed abolition of the Thriposha Company.

The handling of fuel price revision and the proposed closure of the Thriposha Company that met 100% of the demand (free supply to the needy), since 2016, and also catered to the private market, dominated the media over the past few days. The two issues will have far more impact on the electorate than the arrest of former State Minister Lohan Ratwatte and his wife Shashi Prabha remanded till Nov. 18 on a charge of using an illegally assembled vehicle, investigation into former State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe using an illegally assembled super luxury vehicle, the much-touted investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage and depriving former Presidents and an ex-President’s widow of various privileges.

Having overwhelmed SP, RW and NR at the Presidential Election just weeks ago, the NPP seems to be on a tricky wicket. Contrary to perception among some, the General Election is not going to be a cakewalk for the government.



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Midweek Review

How Prof. Dewasiri’s FB post brought about Speaker Ranwala’s exit

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By Shamindra Ferdinando

Prof. Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri was the first to question the National People’s Power government over Speaker ‘Dr.’ Asoka Sapumal Ranwala regarding his academic qualifications.

Dewasiri’s shock query caught the NPP by surprise. The academic questioned the government on his social media account on 05 Dec. The Parliament unanimously appointed Ranwala as Speaker of the Tenth Parliament on 21 Nov.

Dewasiri demanded that the government compel Speaker Ranwala to resign in case the parliamentarian deliberately provided false information. If the Speaker declined to do so, appropriate measures should be taken to remove him, Prof. Dewasiri declared, while finding fault with the new entrant for (i) falsely claiming to have a degree and (ii) believe he could hold such an important position regardless of the deceit perpetrated by him.

Prof. Dewasiri emphasized that the second fault was far worse than the first. One-time spokesperson for the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) and advocate of the Yahapalana administration warned the government of far reaching consequences as it was badly exposed.

The government obviously didn’t take Prof. Dewasiri’s social media post seriously. Perhaps the top leadership felt that the issue at hand wouldn’t attract much public attention. However, the Opposition, both in Parliament and outside, launched an all-out attack.

The SJB declared its intention to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. In spite of the NPP having an unprecedented 2/3 majority in Parliament, the ruling party feared to face the Opposition move. The NPP could have easily routed the combined Opposition in Parliament, but to defend an obvious wrongdoer would have ruined President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s (AKD) parliamentary group as they came to power, less than three months ago, promising to correct all the shenanigans that had been going on in the country, under the guise of democracy, since independence.

Beleaguered AKD had no option but to ask Speaker Ranwala to step down. The NPP could have avoided a lot of flak if the party acted immediately after Prof. Dewasiri’s disclosure. If not for the intervention made by the academic and a vociferous critic of wrongs done by the previous regimes, particularly to academics, Ranwala would still have been the Speaker.

The utterly dispirited SJB wouldn’t have inquired into Ranwala’s credentials under any circumstances. Thanks to Prof. Dewasiri, the Opposition received a mega opportunity to question the very basis of the NPP’s presidential and parliamentary election campaigns.

The SJB and new Democratic Front (NDF) had been rejected by the electorate to such an extent, even if they challenged Ranwala over his educational qualifications, the people may have ignored the issue as the rantings of a frustrated Opposition still licking the wounds of their routing at the polls. Prof. Dewasiri’s disclosure obviously delivered a knockout blow to the government.

Ranwala resigned on 13 Dec., just over a week after Prof. Dewasiri’s bombshell revelation. It would be pertinent to mention that just before the announcemnt of the Speaker’s resignation, President AKD told government media bosses that he wouldn’t protect any wrongdoer.

Having asked the electorate to reject unscrupulous political parties that had ruined the country, the NPP couldn’t have risked its political project to save Ranwala, one-time President of the Ceylon Petroleum Common Workers’ Union, until he was sent on compulsory retirement in March 2023 by the then Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera. The Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government accused Ranwala of obstructing fuel distribution services.

The NPP couldn’t have been unaware of Ranwala’s bogus claim. If Ranwala deliberately deceived the NPP, he should be dealt with harshly. Perhaps Ranwala should be asked to resign his parliamentary seat forthwith for deceiving the whole country, to pave the way for the NPP to fill that Gampaha District vacancy thereafter. Having vowed to clean up Parliament, the NPP cannot, under any circumstances, protect any wrongdoer.

But, corrupt political parties shouldn’t think for a moment that they can capitalize on the Speaker’s issue. The people rejected the SJB, NDF and SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) twice this year as they earned the wrath of the people. It would be a grave fault on their part if they believed Ranwala’s ouster could strengthen their campaign against the government.

The NPP should, without delay, set the record straight. The issue is whether Ranwala deceived the NPP with regard to his doctorate, or the party knew all along that their CPC trade unionist didn’t have the academic qualification which he proudly flaunted.

House tricked

Premier Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath, together, accompanied Ranwela to the Speaker’s chair. The Opposition accepted the appointment. The Premier proposed Ranwala, while Minister Herath seconded that proposal.

Premier Amarasuriya, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa, and Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Rauff Hakeem congratulated National Executive Committee member Ranwala on that occasion.

One-time member of the Biyagama Local government body, Ranwala twice represented the JVP in the Western Provincial Council. According to Parliament website, Ranwala holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Moratuwa and a doctorate in Biochemistry from Waseda University, Japan.

To make matters worse for the NPP, the Opposition challenged Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih’s specialist tag. Salih answered his critics. His FB post explained his nearly 40-year career, with 12 years with the public sector, though he is not a specialist.

The Deputy Speaker told Parliament, on Tuesday, that he is not a specialist and never used the title in his official letterheads, visiting cards and prescriptions. ” I have categorically told that I should not be called a specialist in propaganda material during elections,” he said. In other words, he had found fault with those who handled the propaganda campaign for the NPP

Interested parties also challenged the doctorate of Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, another first time entrant to Parliament.

The controversy over Nanayakkara’s doctorate took an unexpected turn when the Parliament claimed that the doctorate had been inadvertently mentioned by Parliament. Let me reproduce the clarification issued by M. Jayalath Perera, Director Legislative Services / Director Communication (Acting), Parliament: Clarification Regarding the Title of “Dr.” mentioned before the name of the Minister of Justice, Attorney-at-Law, Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, on the Parliament website.

“I would like to emphasize the following points in relation to reports published in the media regarding the title of ‘’Dr.’’ mentioned before the name of the Minister of Justice and National Integration, Attorney-at-Law, Harshana Nanayakkara, in the directory of Members of Parliament on the Parliament website.

“It is important to note that Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara has not indicated holding a doctoral degree in the information provided to Parliament. The appearance of the title “Dr.” before the Minister’s name was a result of an error in entering the relevant data. Accordingly, steps have been taken to rectify this mistake.

“I express my deepest regret for the inconvenience caused to the Minister of Justice and National Integration, Attorney-at-Law, Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, in this regard.

“Also, the process of re-checking and updating the information of all Members of Parliament on the Parliament website is currently underway.”

But those who cannot stomach the NPP’s victory ask why didn’t Nanayakkara get that corrected himself if he was not entitled to be called “Dr.”? However, the Justice Minister lodged a complaint with the CID on Monday (16). The investigation can help ascertain whether some interested party conspired to discredit the NPP.

That clarification issued by Parliament meant that Ranwala provided false information to Parliament. According to Jayalath Perera, the parliamentary staff entered the relevant data provided by lawmakers, hence the only mistake on their part pertained to the Justice Minister’s data.

Power Minister Kumara Jayakody, too, lodged a complaint with police seeking an investigation into what he called an organized attempt to discredit him by challenging his academic qualifications. Both Nanayakkara and Jayakody speculated about the possibility of those who had been rejected by the people and their associates and supporters being involved in the high profile campaign.

The NPP cannot afford to disappoint 5.7 mn people who voted for AKD at the presidential election and 6.8 mn at the general election. The NPP increased its voter tally from 5.7 mn to 6.8 mn within a couple of weeks whereas the SJB was reduced to 1.9 mn votes from 4.3 mn at the presidential poll. The NDF was reduced to just 500,000 votes from 2.2mn at the presidential election while the SLPP increased its tally from 340,000 to 350,000. The Opposition is in disarray and in a pathetic situation.

Ranwala’s fiasco has sort of given the Opposition false hopes of a quick comeback. The forthcoming local government polls will show the ground situation. The NPP must keep in mind that in addition to the Ranwala affair, the failure on its part to provide sufficient relief to fuel and electricity consumers as promised has caused much public anger. Having repeatedly alleged that the previous government couldn’t substantially reduce fuel prices as the then Minister Kanchana Wijesekera pocketed the money, and having made those claims against the previous Minister in charge of the subject, the NPP brought down the price of a litre of Octane 92 by just 2 rupees much to the public’s resentment.

The pathetic handling of the rice mafia, too, didn’t do the NPP any good. Throughout the polls campaigns, the NPP repeatedly assured that the rice mafia would be appropriately dealt with and prices brought down and stabilized. The NPP also promised that rice wouldn’t be imported at all though imports would meet the tourist sector requirement. That much touted promise, too, was broken. However, the electorate, the writer is certain, doesn’t see any point in once again pinning their hopes on the utterly corrupt and dishonest lot rejected at the presidential and parliamentary polls.

Why Parliament shouldn’t defend wrongdoers

During the general election campaign, AKD explained why Parliament shouldn’t protect wrongdoers. The President said that the Yahapalana Parliament (2015-2019), during Karu Jayasuriya’s tenure as the Speaker, defeated a no-confidence motion moved against Ravi Karunanayake over the Treasury bond scams, especially after he told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry that probed it, he could not remember the person who gave him a luxury penthouse at Kollupitiya. Then in 2023 the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government defended Keheliya Rambukwella when a no-faith motion was moved against him over corruption in the health sector procurement, the President said.

Having said so, AKD couldn’t have defended Ranwala in case the SJB handed over a no-confidence motion against him. In fact, the NPP has created an environment that may prevent those exercising political power from coming to the rescue of wrongdoers under any circumstances.

During Ranwala’s very short stint as the Speaker, he had the opportunity to receive several foreign dignitaries. Press releases issued by Parliament following those meetings referred to Ranwala as Dr. Ranwala.

South Korean Ambassador Miyon Lee paid a courtesy call on Speaker Ranwala on 04 Dec. at the Parliament complex. Secretary General of the Parliament Mrs. Kushani Rohanadeera, was also present on the occasion. This happened the day before Prof. Dewasiri exposed the NPP parliamentarian.

Ranwala, not aware of what was coming, addressed the newly elected members on 25 Nov., in Parliament, where he emphasized the responsibility on the part of newcomers (he, too, was a newcomer struggling to handle responsibilities for want of parliamentary experience) to familiarize with parliamentary procedures. Speaker Ranwala said that public expectations couldn’t be met unless they learnt about parliamentary procedures. Ranwala was addressing the inaugural session of the orientation programme for lawmakers.

The Parliament website quoted Speaker Ranwala as having emphasized the importance of organizing such workshops, noting that a thorough understanding of parliamentary traditions, constitutional frameworks, standing orders, and related parliamentary procedures is crucial for serving the people through the diverse debates conducted within Parliament.

Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Ambassador Qi Zhenhong was the first envoy to pay a courtesy call on Ranwala at the Parliament. The Chinese Ambassador conveyed the greetings of the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (Speaker of the Parliament of the People’s Republic of China) Zhao Leji, to the newly elected Speaker of the Tenth Parliament during the meeting.

The Chinese envoy was followed by Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha. Jha paid a courtesy call on the Speaker on 28 Nov. at the Parliament.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche, met Speaker Ranwala on 04 Dec.

In the wake of Prof. Dewasiri’s shocking disclosure, Speaker Ranwala received a high-level US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. The meeting took place on 06 Dec.

The delegation included Ms. Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Asia at USAID, and Mr. Robert Kaproth, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Department of the Treasury.

According to a press release issued by Parliament the meeting focused on Sri Lanka’s reform priorities and the critical role of the House in advancing the people’s mandate for accountability, transparency, and inclusive governance.

Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Sri Lanka Khaled Nasser AlAmeri was the next to pay a courtesy call on Speaker Ranwala. That meeting took place on 09 Dec. amidst a stepped-up campaign against Speaker Ranwala. The NPP seems to have operated on the premise that the controversy over the Speaker’s credentials would gradually fade away. But, the media pressed the Cabinet spokesperson Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa over the simmering serious issue. That controversy sort of overwhelmed the NPP that worked so hard to portray all other political parties, other than them, as corrupt to the core.

In fact, the NPP had nothing else but to depend on what it called a new clean political culture. Having impressed the electorate with nothing but promises and assurances that it would do the right thing, it couldn’t have a blatant liar as the Speaker.

If not for the political culture that had been introduced by the NPP, in the wake of Aragalaya in 2022, the false declaration made by Ranwala wouldn’t have been an issue at all. The people would have simply accepted it as just another lie. Our inefficient and useless Parliament had been so disgraceful in its conduct and encouraged public resentment that a Speaker’s false claim wouldn’t have caused a public furore.

The NPP’s failed bid to storm Parliament during the final push against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa should be examined taking into consideration the pathetic state of our Parliament. Some of those unscrupulous men who represented Parliament over the past two to three decades brought about the Parliament’s collapse. Instead of taking remedial measures, political parties allowed the deterioration to continue, unabated. Nothing can be as ridiculous as conducting student parliaments all over the provinces. What the Parliament really expected to achieve by promoting student parliaments at a time the very basis of the parliamentary system is under threat due to overall failure of the political party system.

Parliament must take appropriate measures to restore public confidence in the highest institution in the country. Ranwala’s affair proved beyond doubt that the Speaker, who is also the Chairman of the Constitutional Council, could manipulate the system. No one and no political party should be above the law. War-winning Sri Lanka had suffered unbearable losses for want of proper parliamentary control over public finance over the years.

Let us hope the NPP has learnt a hard lesson at the onset of AKD’s five-year term that would help the party to navigate choppy waters. The daunting challenges faced by a bankrupt country should prompt all political parties, represented in Parliament, to reach consensus on Sri Lanka’s response to the deal with the IMF, signed by Ranil Wickremesinghe. The issue the Parliament must grapple with is how to transform the sick national economy to make it possible for us to start repaying foreign debt in 2028 without making most of us absolute paupers, but many Lankans are already in dire straits economically.

The Parliament can begin by making the Supreme Court judgment on the economic crisis that led to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s removal available to new members of Parliament. Of the 225 MPs, 162 are new entrants. The Supreme Court in Nov. 2023 issued a symbolic ruling that Rajapaksa brothers – including two ex-Presidents – were guilty of triggering the worst financial crisis by mishandling the economy.

In a majority verdict on multiple petitions filed by academics and civil rights activists, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court ruled that the respondents, who all later resigned or were sacked, had violated public trust. But that verdict should be examined along with massive foreign loans taken by the Yahapalana government during the 2015-2019 period at high interests that contributed massively to the crisis.

Let there be no holds barred examination of the economic crisis and exposure of all responsible, regardless of their status. However, that wouldn’t be a reality unless the legislature fulfils its basic obligations in terms of the Constitution.

Let us also not lose sight of hidden hands, especially from the West who make matters worse through their cloak and dagger operations worldwide as also was put into operation here during Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency, like even cutting off worker remittances from our banking system thereby we couldn’t even scrape together a few million dollars to clear even a shipment of cooking gas. They have done similar jugglery to so many other countries, even in our neighbourhood, as has been the case already in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Modi should not feel all that smug as we do not know what plots are being hatched against him.

Remember the uncompromising Aragalaya activists who were threatening to die for a system change in the country, but disappeared into thin air no sooner Ranil Wickremesimnghe was installed in the seat of power with the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa by extra parliamentary means.

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Midweek Review

Seeking cultural transmission between bodies

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Mavin Khoo in an Odissi Solo to live music. © Foteini Christofilopoulou (L) / Taji Dias performing low country dance (14th Dec 2024) at Chitrasena Dance Company. Photo credit: Saumya Liyanage 2024 (R)

From Chitrasena to Akram Khan:

by Saumya Liyanage

Akram Khan is a world-renowned dancer, choreographer and the founder of Akram Khan Company (AKC) in the UK. He has been an impactful dancer and choreographer who was initially trained as a Kathak dancer during his apprenticeship under various Kathak Gurus in Asia and elsewhere. He and his dance company have created numerous dance productions that surpass the traditional boundaries. Akram Khan is a recipient of top awards including two Laurence Olivier Awards, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award), the prestigious ISPA (International Society for the Performing Arts) Distinguished Artist Award, the Fred and Adele Astaire Award, the Herald Archangel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival, the South Bank Sky Arts Award, and ten Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for his company.

With the initiative of the British Council in Colombo, the Akram Khan Dance Company contacted me a few months ago. The Legacy International Project Manager of the AKC, Varsha Kumar sent me an email informing me of an exciting project the dance company wanted to initiate in Jaffna. It was an upcoming collaboration between Akram Khan Company supported by the British Council Colombo to conduct an intense dance exchange workshop. This initiative facilitated a five-day intensive cultural transmission of Bharatanatyam dance conducted by Mavin Khoo, the artistic associate of the Akram Khan Company with a selected group of youth from Jaffna.

The idea was to continue and sustain the traditional dance forms and explore how they could be sustained and continued further through innovative practices. Mavin Khoo visited Jaffna for the first time to initiate this cultural transmission project with the hope of conducting this intense workshop on Bharatanatyam. Mavin Khoo, trained as a traditional dancer in Bharatanatyam in Malaysia, is a choreographer and the creative collaborator of Akram Khan. Mavin holds an MA in Choreography from Middlesex University and was a faculty member of the Dance Studies Department, School of Performing Arts at the University of Malta in 2014. He has been working as the rehearsal director of the Akram Khan Company and is exploring traditional dance and its contemporary relevance as a mode of human agency and provocation.

It is an ongoing work that the AKC initiated and this collaboration will continue further in future. Here is something interesting about what happened when Khoo, Varsha and their team came to Colombo after finishing the Jaffna Classical Intensive project. The British council director Edward Orlando invited me to a networking lunch in Colombo, where Khoo and Varsha were present. At lunch, I met some of the Sri Lankan dance community representatives. They included versatile dancers such as Upeka Chitrasena, Heshma Wignaraja, and Kapila Palihawadana. We shared our thoughts and ideas about dance and future collaborations during lunch. After this session, Upeka Chitrasena invited us to visit Chitrasena Dance Company. Akram Khan Company focused on helping peripheral dance groups to sustain and continue their traditional dance heritage and encouraged them to expand their possibilities of innovations, and the Chitrasena Dance Company in Colombo is also dedicated to preserving and continuing Sri Lankan traditional dance practices for posterity.

Dance as Ekstasis

I am not a dancer, but I have been interested in dance and dance theatre throughout my academic career. Dance and theatre share many elements and it is the body that is central to the dancer and actor’s work. A few days ago, at the Faculty of Medicine, a session was conducted by the Centre for Meditation Research on how movement facilitates happiness and wellbeing. With my research collaborators, Kanchana Malshani and Chamanee Darshika, I demonstrated how movement is central to our understanding of the self and the world. The key question that I posed at the seminar is that movement allows us to understand our body, time and space and allows us to understand how we could connect with other bodies. Movement is the primal element of the body of the animated being.

What fascinates me here is that actor/dancer experiences time and space and the Other, in a different way than we experience the same phenomena on the daily basis. Dance scholar and Philosopher Sheets Maxine-Johnston argues that Man comprises temporality within himself, for he is such an ekstatic being. He is always at a distance of himself, always in flight” (Sheets-Johnston, 2015, pp. 16-17). This statement clearly indicates how the dance and dance experience override the objective time and space. Greek etymology of the word ekstatic means how one emancipates from her/his own self and transcends for the daily reality. In this sense, the moving body of the dancer, as I witnessed at the Chitrasena Dance Company, shows that dancers’ “being” is not in the daily reality when they intensely move their bodies in the space and time with the complex drum ensemble. Hence, I argue that our understanding about time and space is constructed through the physiological and mathematical understanding of time and space. The other is understood in a way that we as selves are constructed and defined through various lingual and cultural discourses. In this sense, the dancer/actor surpasses these constructed boundaries when the body becomes animated through dance and acting.

We sat at the Chitrasena Dance Company in the afternoon of Dec., 14 2024, and Khoo and Varsha were scheduled to leave Colombo a few hours later. An intense and galvanising performance was unveiled at the bare stage of Chitrasena Dance Company with Thaji Dias and the dance ensemble with seven master drum players. One after the other, a series of traditional dance repertoires unfolded before our eyes. Particularly Thaji Dias’ mesmerising and electrifying bodily motility of Kandyan, Low Country and Sabaragamuwa styles blended with intense rigor and precision. It was evident that some of the dance repertoires that Thaji and the lead male dancer performed were somewhat improvisational, bringing key elements of Kandyan dance into an ecstasy of performance. Both dancers seemed to be connected with each other through somatic means, communicating with facial and bodily gestures to trigger certain dance repertoire to perform together. I witnessed that both dancers were kinesthetically and sensorially joined through learned repertoires to perform a new interpretation of Kandyan dance form.

Cultural Transmission

These traditional dance performances triggered several important questions related to the dance body and cultural transmission of somatic knowledge. First, when Heshma, the artistic director and choreographer of Chitrasena Dance Company introduced a particular dance repertoire developed and choreographed by Vajira Chitrasena, she articulated this as a cultural transmission of choreographic knowledge which came through two generations of dancers. This statement triggered several important questions related to dance historiography. When Chitrasena and Vajira choreographed their works, it may have been done through the embodied knowledge that they possessed through what they learnt and mastered from the traditional Gurus. However, Chitrasena and Vijira may have understood that replicating traditional dance and its repertoire would not add any innovation to their dance interventions. My interest was drawn to this phenomenon and the question emerged on how these individual dance artists have distilled the traditional Kandyan dance to modernist choreographic works through adding innovative elements to their newly founded body notations.

Researchers who are working on the intangible cultural heritage mainly focus on how traditional dance and heritage can be transmitted. They are mainly concerned about how these traditions are continued and sustained through contemporary dance ensembles. However, the intangible heritage discourse has least focused on how these dance traditions have been changing through time and how these new elemental changes have been transformed and transmitted to the next generation of dancers. During our encounters with dance choreographer and artistic director of Chitrasena Dance Company, Heshma discussed how they “do” dance. Her articulation of “doing” dance rather than talking about dance explains how they transmit knowledge of somatic elements of dance through bodies. She said, “We rarely talk … we do not use language but we do dance”. One of the challenges posed by these issues is that the corporeal learning and embodied knowledge cannot be objectified in the researcher’s eyes. They are somatically embedded in the dancers’ bodies and are sedimented within their dance repertoires. A meticulous observation, analysis and categorisation will be required for someone to understand and identify how these dance elements have been changed and embedded in the dancer’s body. As I believe, new dance ethnographic research would be useful for researchers to extricate those elemental dance repertoires to understand how contemporary dancers’ bodies embody dance heritage in their somatic memories.

Conclusion

Akram Khan and his creative associate Mavin Khoo explore the possibilities of preserving traditional dance forms while seeking opportunities to revive them through innovative practices. The Chitrasena Dance Company working in the field of traditional Sri Lankan dance ambitiously is in search of a new era of Sri Lankan dance while passing the Chitrasena -Vajira dance heritage to the next generation of dancers and choreographers. Both companies share similar objectives in dance preservation and innovations within the highly contested Global cultural domains. Khan, Khoo, Chitrasena, Vajira, Thaji and other dancers embody a vast knowledge of somatic practices akin to their own dance traditions. Yet, these ekstatic bodies transcend the daily constructed selves, which carry the somatic knowledge of dance that are waiting to be disseminated in the bodies of the next generation of dancers. These areas of dance-ethnography should be further developed to understand the embodied knowledge and the somatic practices infiltrated through the generations of dancers and drummers. New dance-ethnography, dance historiography and new methodologies should be developed and applied to deepen our understanding of dance as an explicit knowledge of human expressions, emotions and ecstasy.

References

Sheets-Johnston, M. (2015). The phenomenology of dance. Philadelphia (Pensilvania, Estados Unidos) Temple University Press.

Company, Akram Khan. n.d. “Our Biographies.” Akram Khan Company. Cog. Accessed 2024. https://www.akramkhancompany.net/about-us/our-biographies/.

Company, Akram Khan. n.d. “Our Biographies.” Akram Khan Company. Cog. Accessed 2024. https://www.akramkhancompany.net/about-us/our-biographies/.

Nürnberger, Marianne. 2014. “Vajira – the First Professional Female Dancer of the Sinhalese Style.” Sri Lanka Journal of Humanities 40 (0): 99. https://doi.org/10.4038/sljh.v40i0.7232.

Raheem, Mirak. 2022. “Vajira: The Pioneering Female Dancer.” South Asian Dance Intersections 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.55370/sadi.v1i1.1475.

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Saumya Liyanage is an actor and professor in Drama and Theatre, currently working at the Department of Theatre Ballet and Modern Dance, Faculty of Dance and Drama, University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo, Sri Lanka. saumya.l@vpa.ac.lk

The author wishes to thank Himansi Dehigama for her assistance in preparing this article.

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Midweek Review

Motherhood Triumphs

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(Photo by Mahmoud Zaki/Xinhua)

By Lynn Ockersz

Out of war’s destructive wastes,

And piles of mortal remains,

There emerge buds of promise,

Hardly into their teenage years,

That radiate childhood innocence,

And a motherhood of selflessness,

That would give fragile humans,

Their only security guarantee,

In a life rifled with uncertainties.

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