| by Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah
( November 01, 2012, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) As Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) gets underway
on today, November 1, 2012, the Rajapaksas seem impregnable, their grip on
power stronger than ever before.
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The Rajapaksas have so much at stake at Sri Lanka’s UPR what with “credible allegations” of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity hanging over their heads and an awful human rights record to defend, with a poor ‘action plan’ that would not end or investigate abuses. It’s obvious the administration is doing everything to impress the key players selected for the review process but thus far their submissions show that the administration has made very little progress in implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the main thrust of the resolution passed at the 19th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC).The Rajapaksas still basking in their victory against the LTTE use that victory as their rallying point, the Sinhala South blinded to the prevailing Rajapaksa autocracy. With Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the helm at the Défense Ministry and the biggest allocation from the 2013 Budget going to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development amounting to nearly Rs. 290 billion” showing an increase of nearly Rs. 60 billion from what was allocated for defence in 2012, the Rajapaksas have the loyalty and the might of the army behind them.
The Rajapaksas
wield absolute power in Sri Lanka, Theirs is essentially a ‘one
family rule’ bolstered by political patronage and the unwavering support
of the Sinhala Buddhist Sangha; a dictatorship that has now embraced
the extremist Sinhala Buddhist supremacist philosophy as a means of
survival; the JHU and JVP now playing only second fiddle.
Nepotism and corruption are the norm in Sri Lanka.
The last ‘US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’
made particular mention of the ‘family rule’ in Sri Lanka : The
government is dominated by the President’s (Mahinda Rajapaksa) family;
two of the President’s brothers hold key executive branch posts as
defence secretary and the minister of economic development, while a
third brother is the speaker of Parliament,” the report said.
Additionally Namal Rajapaksa the son is now known
to be the anointed successor to the father, Mahinda.
The Rajapaksa brothers and their families together control 70% of the country’s
budget. The ‘Divineguma Bill’ that has created much controversy,
apart from the much resented 18th amendment, is in itself designed to
bolster the executive presidency over provincial councils, increase
avenues for amassing more wealth and to fortifying the family’s hold
on power.
A statement
by the former US Assistant Secretary of State for public affairs, Philip
J. Crowley expressing his view on the 18th amendment bulldozed
through parliament by the Rajapaksas within a span of day, illustrates
the extent of that power: (The 18th amendment) “eliminates
term limits for the president and expands the power of the president
over independent institutions, including the elections, police, and
human rights commissions, as well as the judiciary. The United States
is concerned that this constitutional amendment weakens checks and balances
and thus undermines the principles of constitutional democracy. The
United States calls on the Government of Sri Lanka to promote the principles
of good governance, democracy, and independent State institutions. The
United States looks to the government to take measures that will strengthen
democracy including appointing appropriately qualified officials to
bolster independent institutions, increase transparency, enhance power
sharing and dialogue, and promote national reconciliation,” the statement
held.
During his recent visit to Sri Lanka in September, Robert O’ Blake,
the US Assistant Secretary of State expressly mentioning corruption,
has called on Sri Lanka to “cut corruption and create transparent
processes for investors and also avoid unpredictable actions such as
expropriating property.” The resignations of Securities and Exchange
Commission Chief Tilak Karunaratne and his predecessor Indrani Sugathadasa
are indicative of the corruption that is endemic everywhere in the country.
Ahilan Kadirgamar in his article ‘Stock Market Crisis and Oligarchic
Interests’ explains the crisis in the stock market, quoting Tilak
Karunaratne as blaming "a mafia of high net worth investors and
their crony stockbrokers" for his resignation.
Tisaranee Gunasekera for the Sunday Chronicle
in an article ‘Corruption as a Tool of Rajapaksa Rule’ exposes some
of the irregularities the Rajapaksas and in this case Basil Rajapaksa is involved in: Basil
Rajapaksa and “Maga Neguma” (Improving Roads) are accused of by
the “Committee on Public Enterprises” (COPE) for “defaulting road-contractors
of “a massive Rs 1.2 billion”. She writes, “The defrauded contractors
have not sought legal redress because they fear Rajapaksa’s ire, according
to a COPE member.
The Rajapaksa family rules with an iron fist. Most at the receiving
end are frightened to speak openly of the anomalies, Tisaranee explains:
The officials of Maga Neguma act as if they are above the law. They
do not submit their accounts to the Auditor General; according to a
COPE member, “they even produced letters from the Attorney General’s
department to support their argument that the COPE has no powers to
probe them”. Such arrogant insouciance is natural in a familial state.
Lankan officials, like Lankan politicians, know that they can break
laws and contravene rules with impunity, so long as they do not commit
the cardinal sin of opposing the Rajapaksas.
The Rajapaksas still basking in their victory against the LTTE
use that victory as their rallying point, the Sinhala South blinded
to the prevailing Rajapaksa autocracy. With Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the
helm at the Défense Ministry and the biggest allocation from the 2013
Budget going to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development amounting
to nearly Rs. 290 billion” showing an increase of nearly Rs. 60 billion
from what was allocated for defence in 2012, the Rajapaksas have the
loyalty and the might of the army behind them.
In an article “Near site of LTTE’s last stand, a victory
memorial that Tamils don’t visit” for The Hindu, Nirupama Subramanian
writes about the victory memorial that has been erected in the very
spot “where thousands of Tamil civilians are believed to have been
killed during the military’s last successful push against the LTTE,”
which she adds, “…stands as a powerful assertion of that victory.”
This demonstration of triumphalism pursued to further entrench the family’s
hold on power is not going to bring about the promised reconciliation.
In a troubling development, the Defense Secretary Gotabaya
Rajapaksa, has appointed select school principals as “brevet colonels,”
which could be implemented across the board to all schools island wide.
“This curious militarization of state schools” according to press
reports “involves selecting school principals after 10 days of armed
training and appointing them as “brevet colonels”, complete with
uniform and title.
The Rajapaksas have not allowed international human rights organisations
or the international media free access into the country especially to
the North and East. They have muzzled local journalists to the extent
that those who have dared to speak out against the administration have
been murdered, disappeared or forced to go into self exile.
The ‘White Van’ abductions that are common
place in Sri Lanka is a method widely used by the Rajapaksas to stifle
and silence their opponents.
The Rajapaksas have not spared the judiciary either. The independence of the judiciary is under threat in Sri Lanka with the Rajapaksas showing real contempt for the rule of law attacking a Supreme Court ruling relating to the ‘Divineguma Bill’ resulting in the Chief Justice being summoned by a government minister that’s quite unheard of under the principles of separation of powers. Recent attack on the judiciary in Mannar by a Cabinet Minister and assault on a District Judge Manjula Tillakaratne by unidentified persons are clear examples say The Friday Forum, a group of legal and political luminaries, of the “erosion of democracy and judicial independence” in Sri Lanka under the Rajapaksas.
Eastern Provincial The fraudulent Council Elections saw the Rajapaksa’s
whole government machinery and support systems including intelligence
personnel being utilized to rig the elections. It has been reported
by the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that at least five
Tamil candidates were offered cash and other material incentives to
switch allegiance.
The ‘US
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ commenting on the
last “presidential and parliamentary elections as problematic,”
further held that “Both elections were fraught with violations of
the election law by all major parties and were influenced by the governing
coalition’s massive use of state resources. There were instances in
which elements of the security forces acted independently of civilian
control,” the report said.
These fraudulent
election practices are ominous of things to come and do not augur well
for future free and fair elections; a trend that is seen as firmly
establishing Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family dynasty in power indefinitely.
 As Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) gets ...){kind=link}