Midweek Review

Significance of US Senator’s visit to SLNS Gajabahu

Published

1 year ago

2023/09/6

SLN Gajabahu (P 626) and SLN Viyayabahu (P 627) at the Colombo Port on 31st August. Senator Hollen shaking hands with VA Perera while Ambassador Chung looks on

The Indian High Commission announced on Friday (01 Sept. ) the postponement of much touted Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit (02-03 Sept.). Cancellation was announced just hours after India declared Singh’s scheduled visit to review bilateral defence ties. Singh was to hold talks with President Wickremesinghe who also holds the defence portfolio and Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. The PM recently reiterated his commitment to Sri Lanka’s unitary status thereby rejecting calls for full implementation of 13th Amendment to the Constitution. According to India HC statement Singh was to review the entire gamut of India’s defence ties with Sri Lanka. The Defence Minister was also scheduled to visit Nuwara Eliya and Trincomalee. “This visit of Shri Rajnath Singh reiterates India’s continued commitment in furthering the existing warm and friendly relations with Sri Lanka. The visit is an important landmark in deepening the enduring bonds of friendship between the two countries in the defence sphere,” HC stated, adding that it was based on a press release issued on 01 Sept. by Press Information Bureau – Defence Wing, Government of India in New Delhi.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

A short video clip of luggage being loaded to SLNS Gajabahu P 626 at the port of Colombo on the afternoon of 9th July, 2022, went viral as the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave up resistance to a public protest campaign. Some television stations, too, carried that video. The print media followed. Until then SLNS Gajabahu hadn’t been in the public domain. Having joined the SLN fleet a decade after the successful conclusion of the war, the vessel never had a real opportunity to grab public attention.

The President and the First Lady Ayoma reached Trincomalee in SLNS Gajabahu on the following day though many believed the vessel’s destination was some foreign land. The couple was accompanied by the then Navy Commander Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne (retired in Dec. 2022). Actually, a vast majority of people hadn’t even heard of that vessel, commissioned on 6th June, 2019, by the then President Maithripala Sirisena.

The then US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz had been among the invitees at the commissioning ceremony as the vessel categorized as AOPV (Advanced Offshore Patrol Vessel) was formerly Sherman of the US Coast Guard. It was the second US vessel received by Sri Lanka (2018). Sri Lanka took delivery of USCGC Courageous in 2004 and the vessel was commissioned SLNS Samudura P 621 in the following year. While SLNS Samudura played a critical role in SLN operations during the then Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda’s campaign against Sea Tigers, SLNS Gajabahu grabbed media attention last year in an unexpected manner when it was used by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and First Lady Ayoma to escape a massive violent mob, obviously instigated by outside forces.

Against the backdrop of accusations that had been directed at the US, both in and outside Parliament, over the role it played in one-time US citizen President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s removal, the United States Senator Chris Van Hollen’s visit to SLNS Gajabahu attracted public interest. The Maryland representative is a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations. Hollen was accompanied by US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Julie Chung, widely accused of playing a central role in the previous President’s ouster.

‘Nine: The Hidden Story’ and ‘Galle Face Protest: System Change or Anarchy?’

authored by lawmaker Wimal Weerawansa and award-winning writer Sena Thoradeniya, respectively, dealt with the US-led project that also involved India. Chung has dismissed Weerawansa’s work as fiction.

Hollen and Chung met Navy Commander Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera onboard SLNS Gajabahu, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s getaway vessel, on 30th Aug. The visitors had been there for about 90 minutes and Hollen fondly remembered his childhood days here, in the ’70s, when his father Christopher Van Hollen, Sr, served as the US Ambassador from 1972 to 1976 during Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s tenure as the Prime Minister. The Senator had been quite happy with the way SLN maintained the three former US Coast Guard Cutters, currently in service with the SLN. In addition to USCGC Courageous and USCGC Sherman, Sri Lanka took delivery of USCGC Douglas Munro which was commissioned in late Nov. 2022 as SLNS Vijayabahu P 621, a few days short of a month before VA Ulugetenne’s retirement. When the US delegation visited SLNS Gajabahu, the third US Coast Guard Cutter, that had been commissioned by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, was anchored next to the vessel where the meeting took place.

US and Sri Lanka are working on the transfer of a fourth US vessel to the latter in line with the overall US policy meant to enhance its influence. Do not forget Sri Lanka entered into ACSA (Access and Cross Servicing Agreement) in Aug. 2017, and the possibility of a consensus on SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) discussed during the Yahapalana administration can never be ruled out. The US strategy seems on track here with USD 2.9 bn loan package spread over a period of four years as part of that scheme. Whatever our concerns, it must be stated that the timely passing of US intelligence, regarding LTTE floating weapon warehouses, at the tail end of the war, hastened the eradication of the conventional fighting power of the enemy. That helped to finish off the LTTE within two years and 10 months.

According to a US Embassy statement posted on 01 Sept., the core objectives of the Senator’s visit were the promotion of enhanced security cooperation, deepening economic ties, collaborative initiatives to address climate change, and the advancement of democracy and human rights. Regardless of propaganda, the US is one of the worst human rights offenders. The writer is not sure what Senator Hollen learnt from civil society representatives whom he met in Colombo, many of whom are funded by the West to be their hurrah boys and gals here, and the families of the disappeared prior to the 30 August International Day of the Disappeared. The US Embassy statement, while referring to their anguish, stressed the need for transparency, justice, and accountability.

We can even understand the behaviour of the US pursuing its diabolical plans around the world, but how can the UN to be an appendage of American evil policies? The UN’s Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche issuing a lengthy statement last Wednesday on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances highlighted “the profound scars left by enforced disappearances on the nation’s history. He emphasized that these disappearances continue to cast a shadow of ambiguity over the lives of countless Lankans, where loved ones are neither definitively present nor absent”.

However most ironically neither the US nor the United Nations, who wept buckets on the International Day of the Disappeared on 30 August said anything here on the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to the victims of terrorism that fell on 21 August, forgetting the fact that there were thousands of innocent victims of terrorism here, many of whom were Tamils, since the LTTE launched its terror campaign here in pursuit of the Eelam dream with the cold blooded killing of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah in the mid-70s.

There was not a word about victims of terror or their long suffering family members here from the world body or the US when the world marked the Day of victims of terrorism on 21 August.

The UN that sheds so much tears for disappeared here, hardly says anything against terror tactics used by Israelis not only against Palestinian adults who are protesting horrors they have to undergo on a daily basis, but even against their children.

What is more concerning is the fact that Colombo-based UN officials Marc-André Franche and Edward Rees visited the JVP Headquarters on 29 August to meet its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake et al.

Last year soon after American Ambassador Julie Chung visited the same JVP headquarters, homes of several dozen then government politicians were attacked and destroyed across the country, meticulously, in one night, along with, in some cases, properties of their relatives. On the eve of those attacks Ambassador Chung also issued a statement calling on Police and the armed forces not to interfere with those “peaceful protesters.”

As we have reported previously it was not so too long ago a previous UN Resident Representative, a Norwegian, unilaterally tried to declare its compound in Colombo a refugee camp for Tamils. Luckily for us, our then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar told him where to get off. Had that succeeded they would have staged attacks on Tamils here to create a storm of refugees in the country wanting to get into the UN premises for safety, then Sri Lanka as we know it would have become history overnight.

Would the US care to explain disappearances caused by its forces and agents all over the world following interventions on various pretexts? The invasion of Iraq in 2003 on the basis of going after the wholly concocted claim that Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), the abduction of hundreds if not thousands of suspected terrorists and transferring them to other countries where they were tortured. The US called the murderous project an extraordinary rendition. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government once cooperated with the US in such an operation. The Guantanamo Bay US military prison is nothing but an insult to those who really value transparency, justice and accountability. Actually US human rights violations are incalculable.

Briefing on draft Anti-Terrorism Bill

US Ambassador Chung was among those present at a briefing arranged for the diplomatic corps at the Foreign Ministry on 01 Sept. on the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry and Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, both notable President’s Counsels, briefed foreign envoys regarding the Wickremesinghe-Rajapakse government’s efforts in this regard. It would be pertinent to ask the ministers whether they were aware of any foreign governments which consult so called relevant stakeholders, including civil society and international partners, in making laws in their countries.

Having perused the statements issued by Foreign and Justice Ministries following the briefing, it was clear the foreign envoys were consulted before presenting the draft Anti-Terrorism Bill to the Cabinet-of-Ministers. Minister Sabry is on record as having said that the proposed law meant to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) addressed national security requirements, met international standards and best practices. Those who found fault with Sri Lanka for enactment of draconian security law way back in 1979 conveniently forgot why the then President JRJ had to take measures to counter Indian-sponsored terrorism here. The government lacked the backbone at least to set the record straight. This applies to the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government too.

While the US and its allies preach transparency, human rights and accountability to successive governments here some of those terrorists responsible for heinous crimes during the conflict live in those countries having received foreign citizenships and in some cases new identities. Those governments are not worried about their sordid past. Among them are hundreds of Sri Lankans trained in India, Lebanon and in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka. The number of terrorists who had received foreign citizenship in the West over the years is not known though the actual figure can be quite high. Among them can be those who forcibly recruited children and used them as cannon fodder and even in suicide missions. Didn’t one-time Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi fall prey in May 1991 to a child suicide cadre in the run-up to Indian parliamentary polls? Did she (the suicide cadre) receive her cyanide capsule from Australian Adele, wife of the late Anton Balasingham, British citizen of Sri Lankan origin? Balasingham who had served the British High Commission in Colombo as a translator functioned as the LTTE theoretician until he passed away in the UK. The Balasinghams couldn’t have been unaware of the dastardly assassination plot. Adele Balasingham lives in the UK. The former colonial power here hasn’t been bothered about her accountability. Some of those who had been listed as disappeared here were killed during a major Indian manhunt, following Gandhi’s assassination. They were buried there.

Quite a number of Sri Lankan terrorists, who raided the Maldives in Nov. 1988, too, ended up dead while some were arrested by the Indian military. The dead can be still listed as missing as the human rights circus continues 15 years after the eradication of terrorism here.

Obviously, the West and India wanted Sri Lanka to forget the past and restrict examination of accountability issues pertaining to the last phase of the war against the LTTE (January-May 2009). Following Sri Lanka’s triumph over the separatist Tamil movement, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that recognized the LTTE as the sole representative of Tamil speaking people in late 2001, joined external powers to demand abolition of the security law. The government never bothered at least to remind foreign governments that held the TNA in high esteem how the group served the LTTE’s terrorist programme until the very last moment.

Child recruitment continued in LTTE-held areas regardless of a UN arranged agreement finalized in 1998 during CBK administration until combined security forces destroyed their fighting structure. By late January/early March 2009 the LTTE lost its capacity to sustain its military structure. The TNA remained silent on child recruitment and the use of human shields on the Vanni east front as the military rapidly pushed the ‘defenders’ towards the east coast.

The government should be mindful of the need to take special measures to prevent children being used in terrorism. The 2019 Easter Sunday carnage reminded the complacent and utterly irresponsible Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government how the young could be exploited. Anti-terrorism law should be comprehensive to deal with security threats. The public protest campaign that ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and set Premier Wickremesinghe private residence ablaze and the property of nearly 80 lawmakers, in the current Parliament, underscored the need to be mindful of threats emanating from various quarters. In their haste to satisfy Western powers, civil society and other interested parties, the government shouldn’t disregard growing threats in various other forms though a conventional military challenge is not likely on our soil again.

UNP leader Wickremesinghe acted quickly and decisively within hours after being elected President on 20 July, 2022, to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term. At the behest of President Wickremesinghe, the military and police cleared those who had forcibly occupied the Presidential Secretariat and other government buildings in the guise of Aragalaya, weeks previously. Wickremesinghe simply ignored the US concerns over the use of force to regain control of government buildings. Had the US anticipated Wickremesinghe’s move, Chung condemned the action taken by the new President.

A complaint to Sabry

Chung met Wickremesinghe soon after troops raided a protest site in Colombo, which left nine people injured. The meeting took place before she tweeted Friday 22 July evening that she had expressed her grave concern over the “unnecessary and deeply troubling escalation of violence against protestors overnight”. “The President and Cabinet have an opportunity and an obligation to respond to the calls of Sri Lankans for a better future. This is not the time to crack down on citizens, but instead to look ahead at the immediate and tangible steps the government can take to regain the trust of the people, restore stability, and rebuild the economy. Chung did not reveal the President’s response. The President ordered the crackdown before ministers were sworn in.

A year later, the US and India in spite of their previous reservations work so closely with Wickremesinghe, the Federation of National Organizations (FNO) believes the US envoy is pursuing an agenda inimical to the country.

The day before the briefing for the Colombo-based diplomatic corps, attended by the US envoy, Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, on behalf of the FNO and several other organizations, handed over a petition to the Foreign Ministry drawing Minister Sabry’s attention to Chung’s agenda. Sabry got a subordinate to accept the petition on his behalf. Dr. Wasantha Bandara who recently alleged both the government and the Opposition were dancing to the US tune and Constitutional Council member Dr. Anula Wijewardena accompanied Dr. Amarasekera.

Dr. Amarasekera pointed out how Chung and other Colombo-based envoys pursued a strategy that undermined Sri Lanka and also diminished the armed forces’ triumph over separatist Tamil terrorism. Particularly, the FNO found fault with Chung for advising the Army to build trust with minority communities to ensure lasting peace during her visit to the North. Perhaps the US envoy should be reminded that the predominantly Tamil speaking districts in the now de-merged Northern and Eastern Province at the 2010 presidential election voted overwhelmingly for war-winning Army Commander the then Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The Sinha Regiment veteran lost the election by a huge margin – over 1.8 mn votes – though he won the North and East districts handsomely. So there cannot be a question over building trust.

In spite of being asked by the TNA, the people wouldn’t have done so if they really felt humiliated by the LTTE’s defeat. Advised by the SLMC, the Muslims living in those areas, too, threw their weight behind Fonseka. Tamil speaking people probably felt grateful to the military for bringing the three decades long war to an end. Unfortunately, successive governments failed pathetically to use Fonseka’s performance to challenge the Western narrative. Unfortunately, even those opposed to US and Indian interventions conveniently remain silent. This applies to the FNO, too.

The FNO backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidential candidature much before the SLPP (Pohottuwa party) officially picked him as its man. The SLPP had been in two minds regarding the wartime Defence Secretary therefore nationalist organizations, backed by few UPFA MPs (precursor to SLPP) and the likes of Ali Sabry, in his then capacity as Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s lawyer, campaigned for the much respected administrator. Perhaps an appraisal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency is necessary on the basis of his response to external threats unleashed within a week after the presidential election. The President survived the Swiss Embassy trap close on the heels of that country giving political asylum to CID investigator CI Nishantha Silva. Regrettably, the President never learnt from that episode. Apparently, the President felt that he could come to some sort of arrangement with the US but that never materialized. What Sri Lanka never really understood was that the Indian strategy here even to subjugate Sri Lanka militarily is compatible with that of the US as the latter desperately wants to use New Delhi against Beijing.

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Midweek Review

Impact of US policy shift on Sri Lanka

Published

3 days ago

2025/02/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

Early honeymoon period after mission accomplished with toppling of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Julie Chung shares a light moment with Ranil Wickremesinghe during a three-day visit to Nuwara Eliya and Ella in early July 2023. Ella Odyssey was part of Sri Lanka’s commemoration of 75 years of independence. Colombo-based foreign heads of missions and nine heads of mission, based in New Delhi, joined the journey (pic courtesy PMD)

President Trump has unceremoniously overturned US foreign policy. His decision to deport illegal Indian migrants just ahead of a summit with Premier Narendra Modi, underscored the tough stance taken by the new US admiration. The much-touted US-India strategic partnership didn’t deter Trump from carrying out the much-publicized humiliating deportations of Indians. US Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, recently, indicated that Trump has terminated his special relationship with Europe and is charting his own course. The upcoming Trump and Russian leader Putin’s meeting stressed that the US policy wouldn’t be shaped by European concerns over Russia. Against that background, the US is very much unlikely to pursue the Biden policy as regards bankrupt Sri Lanka. Actually, Sri Lanka’s political leadership will have to do some serious thinking and re-examining our position as Trump redraws US foreign policy.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Since the successful conclusion of the war in mid-May 2009, despite all the naysayers, and even the likes of the then British Foreign Secretary David Milliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, rushing here at the eleventh hour with the hope of getting President Mahinda Rajapaksa to halt the offensive to enable them to evacuate the LTTE supremo, his family and their surviving fanatical terrorist band to safety abroad, the US appointed five Ambassadors to Colombo. Of them four were women, namely Patricia A. Butenis, Michele J. Sison, Alaina B. Teplitz and incumbent Julie J. Chung. Between the tenures of Sison and Teplitz, the only male Atul Keshap, of Indian origin, served here for a period of four years (Aug. 2015-July 2018) during the Yahapalana administration.

Ambassador Chung oversaw President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s forced ouster in 2022. In spite of her denial, Amb. Chung’s role in President Rajapaksa’s removal is clear and cannot be disputed. Amb. Chung will soon be replaced by Elizabeth Kathryn Horst, currently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for Pakistan, yet another country in which Washington is mired in regime change operations in the region.

Amb. Chung presented her credentials on Feb. 25, 2022, to President Rajapaksa, at the Janadhipathi Mandiraya. The President was flanked by State Foreign Minister Tharaka Balasuriya and Presidential Secretary Gamini Senarath. The new US envoy took office close on the heels of a major crisis within the government that compelled the President to ask for his Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera’s resignation. Just five weeks after Amb. Chung took over the mission, the ‘GotaGoHome’ campaign got underway and a President, elected with over 6.9 mn votes on the SLPP ticket, was thrown out of office within four and half months by violent mobs armed with meticulous intelligence as to which politicians’ houses were to be ransacked and torched, along with those of their close supporters in a matter of a few hours, especially on May 09, 2022. Exactly two months later they completed their despicable mission by storming the Presidential palace.

The SLPP, both in and outside Parliament, accused Amb. Chung of staging the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Award-winning author Sena Thoradeniya (Galle Face Protest: System Change or Anarchy) and (Nine: The Hidden Story) by National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, dealt with Amb. Chung’s sordid involvement.

However, the writer believes that the whole exercise should be examined as another arrogant US intrusion rather than Amb. Chung’s private agenda. Her job was to do the bidding of Washington. Let me stress that the US made a serious but an abortive attempt to bring President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s reign to an end in 2010. Thanks to Wikileaks we know how the US used a UNP-led coalition, that included the wartime LTTE ally the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), and the JVP, to back retired General Sarath Fonseka at the presidential election. That gamble failed. The war-winning Army Chief ended up with egg on his face with an unforgettable thrashing from the overwhelming southern electorate.

Eyebrows were raised when the outgoing American envoy recently expressed her desire to meet Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) leaders at the Nelum Mawatha party office as she never bothered to do so since her arrival in early 2022.

Contrary to speculation, the outgoing US Ambassador had sought a meeting about two weeks ago before the unprecedented public exposure about the USAID’s (United States Agency for International Agency) sinister operations here and worldwide in the wake of the new US administration deciding to curtail drastically its operations for being a white elephant as America itself is being confronted with a fast developing and yet to be fully fathomed economic crisis, which might even exceed the worldwide Great Depression that came with the 1929 stock market crash. On her arrival at Nelum Mawatha last Friday (14) Amb. Chung was received by SLPP General Secretary and Attorney-at-Law Prasad Kariyawasam. The SLPP delegation was led by its National Organizer Namal Rajapaksa and one of the three lawmakers in the current Parliament. Having accused her of being in the thick of the regime change, the SLPP’s readiness to meet Amb. Chung, too, is a mystery.

It would be pertinent to briefly explain the USAID’s global objectives as the vast majority wrongly believed the agency is meant for humanitarian work. It is definitely not a charity. Its main objective is to strengthen capabilities of US agents, or assets, at local and regional levels regardless of the status of Washington’s relationship with the targeted country.

These agents, or assets, are available for the US at any time as Washington desired. Pentagon, the State Department or even the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used its resources under whatever circumstances. If we closely examine the pattern of USAID operations, as well as other related organizations that had been active here over a period of time, even our legislature is within the sphere of their influence. In other words, they obviously have direct access to politicians and officials who wield power over key institutions. The private sector, too, became part of the US operation carefully expanded countrywide.

By the time Amb. Chung arrived here. US assets were in place at different levels ready to carry out directives. Those who pointed a finger at Amb. Chung never bothered to examine the background and comprehend the gradual build-up that allowed the gathering of all elements, under the social media fuelled ‘GotaGohome’ campaign.

The US mission here had done a tremendous amount of work, especially beginning with the Amb, Keshap’s time, to enhance the capacities of their existing assets and identify and develop new assets.

What really prompted Amb. Chung to suddenly seek a meeting with the SLPP? Did National List MP Namal Rajapaksa’s call for the setting up of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe USAID funding, influence her decision? But that cannot be as the US Embassy made the request before the USAID controversy. Perhaps, SLPP General Secretary Kariyawasam expressed concern over Amb. Chung’s frequent visits to the JVP headquarters at Pelawatte, whereas she ignored the SLPP.

Appearing on a live television programme, Kariyawasam pointed out that Amb. Chung had plenty of time for the JVP, a party with just three MPs, while the SLPP, in spite of being represented by 145 MPs, never received the US envoy’s attention.

Perhaps Amb. Chung didn’t really feel the requirement to visit Nelum Mawatha as she maintained a close contact with the SLPP founder Basil Rajapaksa.

Ambiguity over objectives

It would be pertinent to ask both the sponsors and recipients whether various foreign-funded projects achieved their objectives.

The following are some of the USAID-funded projects launched, beginning 2017: [1] USD 19 mn social cohesion and reconciliation project implemented by Global Communities (July 2018-Dec, 2023) [2] Analysis of social cohesion and reconciliation implemented by US Institute of Peace at a cost of USD 700,000 (Aug. 2018-Feb. 2024) [3] USD 15 mn project implemented by Chemonics International Inc. to strengthen the justice sector, including the Justice Ministry and Office of Attorney General (Sept. 2021-Sept. 2026) [4] USD 17 mn project carried out by National Democratic Institute, International Republican Institute and International Foundation for Electoral System in support of Parliament and other government institutions, including the Election Commission (June 2020 – June 2024) [5] USD 14 mn worth project in support of civil society meant to achieve good governance reforms and strengthen accountability. Implemented by Management Systems International (Feb. 2018-Aug. 2024) [6] USD 7.9 mn scheme to strengthen media implemented by International Research and Exchanges Board Inc. (Aug. 2017-April 2023) [7] SAFE Foundation implemented a programme at a cost of USD 3.9 mn aimed at combating human trafficking (Oct. 2021-Sept. 2026) [8] USD 1.6 mn project to enhance protection for those threatened by gender-based violence (Oct. 2021-Sept. 2026). Implementing agency Women-in-Need [9] USD 3.6 mn project for the benefit of plantation community implemented by Institute of Social Development (June 2022-June 2027) and [10] a staggering USD 19 mn project meant to strengthen the civil society by unnamed private agencies (Sept. 2022-August 2027).

Interestingly, high profile USAID operations implemented in collaboration with successive governemnts covered the Justice sector (Justice Ministry and Office of Attorney General), Parliament as well as the Election Commission.

Over the years USAID with a massive budget that even exceeded the CIA’s and allied organizations have built up a system that served the interests of the US. That is the truth. Sri Lanka has cooperated not only with the US but other organizations, such as the UNDP, to allow them influence in Parliament. The USAID and UNDP have ‘secured’ Parliament by lavishly spending funds on various projects. In spite of spending millions in USD with the 2016 agreement between Parliament and USAID being the single largest project, what they have achieved here is nothing but a mystery.

Successive governments have encouraged USAID, UNDP and other interventions. They felt happy as external sources provided the funding. Let me give an example of how the UNDP stepped-in for want of sufficient public funding for vital government initiatives. Sometimes, they advanced their political project in the guise of helping the government of the day.

On May 13, 2021, the then Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC, opened the USAID funded state-of-the-training facility that included a boardroom, auditorium, computer laboratory, and other facilities. The outspoken AG also launched an electronic system to track cases and legal files. The launch of the training facility, electronic diary and file management system, and the Attorney General’s Department website were also attended by Supreme Court Judge Justice Yasantha Kodagoda P.C., Acting Solicitor General Sanjay Rajaratnam P.C., the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice M.M.P.K. Mayadunne, and virtually by DCM Kelly and USAID Mission Director Reed Aeschliman.

The US Embassy, in a statement issued on that quoted AG Livera as having said: “This is another first in the 136-year history of the Attorney General’s Department. The opening of the training centre is a notable, salutary achievement that meets a long-felt need for continuous learning and professional development.” The AG was further quoted as having said these new tools would “drive the institution from strength to strength.”

If such facilities were so important why on earth the Attorney General’s Department failed to take tangible measures to meet that particular requirement.

Those who demand investigations into USAID must realize that their role is much more complicated than alleged and reported in some sections of the media. Among the beneficiaries were the Sri Lanka Judges’ Institute.

American Corner in Jaffna

The US Embassy established an American Corner in Jaffna with the collaboration of Jaffna Social Action Centre (JSAC), an NGO that particularly promoted women and children rights. Formed in 2003 in the North as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was preparing to launch Eelam War IV, JSAC, over the years, developed into a recipient of US funding. JSAC is among the groups promoting LGBTQ in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. JSAC annually participates in the much-touted 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign. The then US Ambassador Butenis attended the opening of the American Corner. JSAC, in its website, has revealed an impressive list of partners and donors.

Perhaps JSAC should explain how it served the interests of ordinary people, especially during the 2003-2009 period when the LTTE stepped up forcible recruitment of children, including girls. Forced conscription continued unabated as the military slowly but steadily rolled back the LTTE fighting formations, towards the east coast, until they were trapped in a sliver of land in the Mullaitivu district.

Sri Lanka should be grateful for US assistance over the past decades. The ordinary people benefited from such help but later Washington weaponized the setup as various interested parties queued up to secure lucrative contracts.

Amb, Chung, in late Sept. 2022, moved the American Centre in Colombo, that had been in existence for over seven decades, to the new US Embassy building. This was a couple of months after Aragalaya (March – July 2022) forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office. The American Centre in Colombo had been first located at the Millers Building in Colombo, then at Galle Face Court, followed by Flower Road, before moving to the Sri Ramya at 44, Galle Road.

The American Corner in Kandy was established in 2004. In addition to Jaffna, Colombo and Kandy, there are similar facilities in Matara and Batticaloa.

The recent declaration by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey, in the Indian Parliament, that the USAID had been funding organisations with a view to creating unrest cannot be ignored. The BJP’s declaration underscored the gravity of the situation. Those who discarded repeated accusations by National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa as regards US interventions here must take a fresh look at the developments taking place since Donald Trump’s return for a second term.

Dubey alleged the USAID funded organizations that carried out protests against the Agniveer initiative of the government, backed caste census, and supported Naxalism in India.

On behalf of the BJP, Dubey asked for a probe into whether Congress and the Gandhi family-controlled Rajiv Gandhi Foundation had received USAID funds through George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF) for conducting activities, including the campaign for a caste census and against the Agniveer scheme introduced by the government. The MP claimed OSF received ₹5,000 crores from USAID to “break up India”. He raised the issue during zero hour.

The BJP MP’s accusations seemed somewhat surprising as India, under Narendra Modi’s leadership, established close relations with Washington and is a member of the four-country Quad, comprising the US, Australia, Japan and India meant to counter Chinese expansion.

Why subvert India? Is the question in everybody’s mind? President Trump, during a joint press conference with Premier Modi, speculated about the possibility of USAID role in the Lok Sabha elections last year. Perhaps Trump is playing politics even at the expense of the US as he sought to dismantle USAID.

The Trump administration has imposed a global stop-work directive on USAID, suspending most aid initiatives, except for critical food relief programmes.

However, India, too, had been blamed for interfering in internal affairs of other countries. Recently Canada alleged that India intervened in its electoral process. Canada named China as the other offender. India has strongly refuted the Canadian allegation. It would be pertinent to mention that Canada had been playing politics with Sri Lanka for many years as major political parties sought to exploit the post-war developments for their advantage. New Delhi also accuses Canada of encouraging Khalistan separatists operating from there.

Canadian Parliament, in May 2022, unanimously declared that Sri Lanka perpetrated genocide in a bid to appease Canadian voters of Sri Lanka origin.

The expansion of the USAID project here should be examined against the backdrop of Geneva adopting a US accountability resolution, co-sponsored by the treacherous Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government in 2015. The US backed Sirisena’s candidature at the 2015 presidential election. That was in line with their overall strategy to end the Rajapaksas rule, perceived to be China-friendly. The US funded the 2015 UNP-led campaign that involved the TNA and JVP as well. A group of civil society groups, led by the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ), backed Sirisena’s candidature, who switched sides at the last moment having been in the Rajapaksas camp throughout his political career and it was done after having a hopper feed with them the previous night.

Having betrayed his own party in 2014, Sirisena has ended up politically irrelevant. That is the price the one-time SLFP General Secretary had to pay for switching sides for personal gain. The former President is most unlikely to get an opportunity to re-enter Parliament ever again.

The NPP will have to be cautious how it handles the situation against the backdrop of developing political and economic upheaval in Washington as we may have never seen hitherto. The way the new administration addressed much more complicated issues, such as the Russia-Ukraine war in a manner seriously inimical to the European powers and pullout from the Geneva-based UNHRC and WHO meant that Trump has already turned US foreign policy upside down.

Midweek Review

Revisiting Humanism in Education:

Published

3 days ago

2025/02/19

Sahan Weerasooriya

Tagore

Insights from Tagore – III

by Panduka Karunanayake

Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicineand former Director, Staff Development Centre,

University of Colombo

The 34th J.E. Jayasuriya Memorial Lecture

14 February 2025

SLFI Auditorium, Colombo

(Continued from18 Feb.)

Tagore had an important answer to the question of whether the economic or the political should enjoy the primacy of place, in designing educational policy. He said: “Economic life covers the whole base of society, because its necessities are simplest and the most universal. Educational institutions, in order to obtain the fullness of truth, must have close association with this economic life.”

Sometimes I have difficulty understanding why Tagore, in spite of his appreciation of science and disdain for superstition, still lavishly exalted his traditional dieties and the scriptures. I think he did so because he saw a remarkable practical utility in them for the organisation of society and because they carried innumerable lessons for human conduct – for which science and technology, or even modern administration, had not yet furnished any suitable alternative.

Besides, it is clear that he admired religion’s potential to bring peoples together. In The Religion of Man, he wrote: “On the surface of our being we have the ever-changing phases of the individual self, but in the depth there dwells the Eternal Spirit of human unity beyond our direct knowledge.” But of course, religion seldom brought humanity together. And whenever it played the divisive role, he did not blindly follow its precepts.

The stickiest issue in India for the modern philosopher is probably its caste system, and Tagore had no qualms about repudiating it:

“…differentiation and separation of vocations and trades, professions and callings on which the caste system originally rested has become totally extinct and it is altogether impossible to maintain it any longer. Yet all the taboos, external restrictions and customs associated with the varna system are still in place, static and intact. It seems we must put up with the cage with all its iron bars and fetters though the bird for which it was made is dead and gone. We provide bird feed every day but no bird feeds on it. In this way, due to the cleavage between our social life and social customs, we are not only being inhibited and obstructed by unnecessary, outmoded arrangements, we cannot live up to our professed social ideals, either.”

Prof. Carlo Fonseka / Dr. Abrahm T. Kovoor

I wish that for our country, we could replace the phrase ‘caste system’ with our own ‘outmoded arrangements’ – such as astrology, superstitious rituals and harmful so-called healing practices – and carefully re-read that quote. Sadly, our populace is filled with superstition, myth and pseudoscience – as a cursory glance at the supplements of any weekend Sinhala newspaper would show. Here, the high literacy rate actually works against the nation! Our public intellectuals must also take the blame, because they have failed to sustain the good work that had been done in the 1970s by intellectuals like Dr E.W. Adikaram, Abraham Kovoor and Professor Carlo Fonseka.

Another interesting point in his ideas is his desire to see education as a tool for everyone, not just the educated few. Reminding us on ancient Indian education and learning, he said:

“There was a regular traffic between specialised knowledge and ordinary knowledge. Scholars, pundits or learned society did not have an antithetical relationship with the less learned segments of society…There was hardly a place in the country where the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Puranic myths and religious discourse did not spread in a variety of ways. Even the theoretical philosophical issues which were rigorously, relentlessly discussed and debated in philosophy and metaphysics always filtered down to the mind of the people…In those days learning was the asset of the entire society and not the acquisition of the learned few.”

In our own country, in contrast, I wonder whether expanded access to education has had a similar effect. In spite of decades of education in swabhasha and wide access to education, knowledge is a tool of separation, seclusion and self-aggrandisement for the few who win the lottery. Is this the fault of the education or the educated? Perhaps both. The educated use their learning as a weapon rather than as a tool to serve, a manifestation of the fierce competitiveness and the fixed mindset that pervades the successful products of our education. At the same time, as Tagore pointed out, it is the fault of education too:

“The rains of our education are falling a long distance away from where the roots of our whole life lie…Our ordinary daily life has no use for the education we acquire…It is unjust to blame this on students. Their world of books and the world in which they live everyday are poles apart…That is why it is seen that the same person who has formidable erudition in European philosophy, science and ethics tenaciously clings to the age old superstitions…We are no more amazed when we see that on the one hand he is separately enjoying literature full of varied sentiments while on the other he is busy only with making money…”

These are a few fundamentals that can be gleaned from Tagore’s second phase. They aren’t many, and perhaps they aren’t as earth-shattering as one might expect. But I feel that they are exactly what we are lacking today and prevent education from playing a nation-building role. If we can get these right, we actually need to get very little else right.

Phase 3: ‘Freedom from bondage’

Tagore’s role and position as an unrepentant internationalist at the time when India was demanding swaraj is well known. He was opposed to nationalism, and in fact correctly identified colonialism itself as a manifestation of the nationalism of the British – so he asked, if one were anti-colonialist, how could one be nationalist also?

But his internationalism was not a rootless existence floating aimlessly in the air. He was clear that one must be rooted in one’s own soil, strongly and firmly – it is from here that one must reach out to the wealth of the world. In another beautiful simile, he urged us not to fear the wind, and to open the windows of our house to let that wind in. He would assure us that we would be able to retain the good that the wind blew in and get rid of the bad. He also said that as long as our house had a firm foundation, the wind will not blow it away. So for him, the first step of being an internationalist is studying one’s own soil and placing a firm foundation for one’s existence. He admired and studied tradition without being a traditionalist.

With regard to Indian universities of his day, he lamented the fact that these were European grafts and nothing like India’s ancient intellectual heritage, such as Nalanda, Wikramshila or Takshasila. He lamented the type of intellectual this would produce. He wrote in 1932:

“We receive European learning as something static and immutable and consider it the height of modernity to cull and recite sentences from it. For this reason we lack the courage to reconsider it or think about it from a new angle. Our universities have nothing to do with and are cut off from the acute questions, dire necessities and extreme hardship facing the people of the country…Like parasites our mind, attached to text books, has lost its ability to find its food and invent by itself.”

These words seem no less relevant to our own universities, 90 years after they were written.

Tagore’s belief in internationalism and its effect on his philosophy of education is captured by his description of Visva-Bharati, the higher education institute he set up in 1921 using the Nobel Prize money: “Visva-Bharati represents India where she has her wealth of mind which is for all. Visva-Bharati acknowledges India’s obligation to offer to others the hospitality of her best culture and India’s right to accept from others their best.”

Conclusion

Prof. J. E. Jayasuriya / Dr. E. W. Adhikaram

Ladies and Gentlemen: I am afraid time would not permit me to cover the whole breadth of Rabindranath Tagore’s complete educational philosophy, and I wouldn’t even pretend to cover it in depth. For example, I didn’t touch on other important aspects that Tagore spoke of, such as school administration, advice for teachers, maintaining discipline without corporeal punishment, carrying out research and promoting creativity, women and education and so on. Forgive me for only scratching the surface. But the topic of Tagore’s educational philosophy is so vast that nothing wider would be possible in a short time.

You will also note that my talk was not filled with anecdotes of incidents and peculiarities at Santiniketan – like how classes were conducted under trees or how the gurudev once conducted a class in the rain for cattle when the students didn’t want to come out and get wet. These are not the timeless substance of the tale; they are only its time-sensitive ornaments.

If, on the other hand, I have been able to whet your appetite for his educational philosophy, and also convinced you that he had patiently worked on and presciently invented an antidote to today’s problems of education, I would be content for now. Balance was his antidote. My goal this evening was to place the seeds of his ideas in your minds, and hope that they will grow, be nourished and be pruned and manicured into a contextually appropriate shape in the months or years to come.

Selected bibliography

Dasgupta, U. (2013). Rabindranath Tagore: A Biography. Oxford University Press. (Translated by hiisß ckl l=udr- mßj¾;l (2024).rúkaøkd;a ;df.da¾-udkj ksoyi iy úúO;ajh kqf.af.dv iriú m%ldYlfhdaව)

Dore, R. (1976). The Diploma Disease: Education, Qualification and Development. London: George Allen & Unwin (republished in 1977 by Institute of Education, University of London).

Gunasekara, P. (2013). moaud .=Kfialr – kkaofiak .%duSh wOHdmk l%uh^1932-1939) lkakka.r;=udf.a wu;l l< fkdyels w;ayod ne,Sula fld<U iQßh m%ldYlfhda: කන්නunasekara, S.P. (2012). iuka mqIamd .=Kfialrම(2012). rúkaøkd;a ;df.da¾ fld<U tia f.dvf.aසහiyifydaorfhda(Basedon Rabindranath Tagore: The Myriad Minded Man (1995) by Krishna Dutta and Andrew Robinson, and other works.)

Illich, I. (1970). Deschooling Society. USA: Harper & Row (republished in 1973 by Penguin Education, Harmondsworth, England).

Iyengar, K.R.S. (1987). Rabindranath Tagore: A Critical Introduction. London: Oriental University Press.

Kripalani, K. (1961). Tagore: A Life. New Delhi: National Book Trust, India (author publication, republished in 1971 by National Book Trust, India).

Maithra, S., translator (2014). Education as Freedom: Tagore’s Paradigm. New Delhi: Niyogi Books.

Navaratnam, R. (1958). New Frontiers in East-West Philosophies of Education. Calcutta: Orient Longmans.

Neogy, A.K. (2010). Santiniketan and Sriniketan: The Twin Dreams of Rabindranath Tagore. New Delhi: National Book Trust, India.

Samuel Ravi, S. (2024). Philosophical and Sociological Bases of Education (2nd edn). Delhi: PHI Learning. (Chapter 13: ‘Rabindranath Tagore’, pp. 163-179.)

Sarathchandra, E.R. de S. (1942). ‘Through Santiniketan eyes’. Kesari People’s Weekly (Jaffna) serialised from 2(9) to 2(17) and compiled by Goonetileke, H.A.I., also available translated to Sinhala ^iqpß; .ï,;a-mßj¾;l ප(2001). ශYdka;s ksfla;kfha weiska fld<U tia f.dvf.a iy ifydaorfhda).

Venn, G. (1965). Man, education and work. In, Cosin, B.R., editor: Education: Structure and Society. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. (Chapter 6, pp. 97-107.)

Venn, G. (1971). Preparation for further preparation (editorial). Educational Leadership 1: 339-341.