Going Global

reposted

The mainstream media of Sri Lanka has failed to do its job; again and again and again. Absurdity after absurdity of the government’s actions have passed repeatedly into the public limelight only to be cast aside by the media by the means of ridiculous well-quoted statements from top government officials.

Take Dayan Jayathileke for instance. He was reduced from hero to zero when he was quoted in the media implying that the government was realistically considering implementing the 13th amendment. This to the man who according to government propaganda 'rescued us from unanimous defeat' at the hands of the Western pro-human rights anti-Sri Lankan coalition at the UN.

Where is the media outcry? if not against the sacking of DJ, at least against the implications of the actions taken by the government to the very initiation of the 13th amendment; an integral part of our constitution. The upholding of which is the duty of any free media framework in a country.

Other Epic fails include the lack of initiative in the investigating and reporting of all the dead bodies turning up everywhere even after the war, not that I think dead bodies being found while the war was on is any less justifiable, but the war is over now, and there should at least be a more rational base to justify the revelation of the goings on behind such atrocious activities to the general public. Even to a media prepared to convolute the already very bendable set of 'ethics' it is governed by.

Other epic fails include the complete lack of interest in questioning intelligently the apparent lack of power of the Sri Lankan judiciary (which is also an epic fail of its own but I’ll write about that later), the exorbitant and skewed taxing system and questionable economic policies (economic and financial critical analysis is almost unheard of except for a bit on LBO), the questions on the justification behind the implementation behind seemingly irrational laws (do i need to go into porno and mobile phones? its been well harped about in the blogosphere) and the apparent disregard to intimidation and coercion in undemocratic provincial council elections (like Jaffna for instance). And nobody even gives a rat’s behind about discussing the age old 'problem' of the executive presidency.

The media is a meek dog that barks only when the government wants it to. It is the government’s smokescreen, a tyrannical propaganda machine. Perhaps I wax too lyrical maybe? What; am I a paranoid conspiracy theorist then?

There has been an influx of new rules and regulations, mostly seemingly meaningless, imposed upon the general public.

Take new motor traffic regulations. Some of the stuff I’ve heard belies all logic, like the imposition of restrictions on modifications. Let’s not even go near the banning of cell phones in schools which is obviously a badly thought out knee jerk reaction that bears almost no consequence on the actual issue. Even the 'porno rules' strike me as absurd, seeing as only a few locally visited smut sites have been removed.

But what the purpose these outcries are serving, intentionally or not, is to divert the public's attention away from the important issues. Like the political situation; is there any serious reform going to happen? What of the pro devolution and anti executive presidency lobby? It’s turned into a pro-porno one. And let’s not even talk about economic development; we can leave that in the expert hands of the government's mathematicians

What about all the dead bodies turning up, again? Sure we may say that it is a good thing because most of them are apparent gangsters. but do we seriously think that this is an idealistically motivated killing spree? I think it’s just about control. Whoever is instigating these killings, and I’m not accusing anyone, is aiming at consolidating power. The drug industry fills the coffers of a lot of people and, on a completely unrelated note, rumour has it that Potta Naufer is driven by the police to his home every night to enjoy his mothers meals.

Meanwhile, no one in power is going to stop sending their kids to school without phones; neither are they going to stop jerking off to the internet, doing drugs, dealing drugs, driving souped up cars without seatbelts and engaging in other general abuses of power.

So whats the relationship? Does oppression necessarily result in fundamentalism? This is a theme explored in a book i'm reading right now. As per the authors and evidence put forward there is a clear correlation between the rising of fundamentalist groups and the opression of those classes of a society.

This is plainly obvious generally, one has just got to look at numerous examples all over the world like the Uighurs, the Iraquis, Hezbollah, Christian fundamentalists in the US and not to put too fine a point on it; the LTTE.

Tamils in Sri Lanka are still, if not opressed, a very restricted group in terms of movement in society. Take their representation in the government and public sector for instance, this has spiralled down at an alarming rate since the de-nationalization of the Tamil language since 1956; an act seen by many Tamils as aimed at disowning the Tamil speaking population from Sri Lanka.

Now there is only scant representation of Tamil youth in Sri Lankan governance and none of it can be called particularly strong. Older and more powerful tamil politicians are few and far between.

Language is a major issue here. Its almost impossible to get anything done at most public services if you cannot communicate in Sinhalese or perhaps English. This arguably, is one of the first issues that needs to be addressed, along with the issue of the devolution_of power. (TEDx Colombo will be hosting a talk by Dr. Rohan Samarajiva on language policy for the future, this weekend.)

More power to provincial governments will give them incentive to serve the local population. In turn giving more power to voters in deciding who they want to take office. These are but some of the changes brought on by the 13th ammendment and its many modifications aimed at promoting diversity rather than supressing it; which has seemed to be the general overall trend of politics since independence from the Brits.

Barriers to devolution like strong vested interest in the Executive Presidency continue to bar progress. the EP is almost a tyrannical representation of everything wrong with the current system of governance to some; above the law, all powerful, unquestionable. It throws the concept of a government that 'serves the public' right out the kitchen window.

Change is needed, and it is needed now. Opression at this point will only create outlet to more fundamentalism and resentment among the unfairly treated. The LTTE is down, but not completely out. They still have support from the diaspora who burn from the wounds suffered a long time ago.

If the government avoids making serious long term policy changes to secure equality and yeilds to the easy way out and decides to rule the country with an iron fist-like approach by supressing dissent; perhaps it wouldn't not that far fetched to imagine a re-emeregence of the LTTE or some other similar group in the next few decades, if they manage to raise enough grassroots level support from a group of people that feels 'left out' of Sri Lankan society.

Milinda Moragoda, accused of corruption and mishandling in many corporate scandals leading from Pramuka Bank to the recent Ceylinco and SLIC brouhahas, crossed over to the government (in an effort to escape these allegations?) a while ago.

Today he was appointed the Minister of Justice and Law Reform before the president.

This must herald a new age of disintegration in the Sri Lankan judiciary system, esp the corporate governance area of it. Law reform in his eyes surely must mean the sale of public assets at dirt cheap prices to private interest and surely must facilitate the deterioration of public resources to even greater levels.

Mahinda Rajapakse promised that right after combating the terrorists; he would focus on eradicating corruption. Nice move Mr. President, no irony here at all. Another corrupt minister in an already unnecessarily huge cabinet is just what we need to make this land prosper.

Economic Hitmen




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The rioters against the President were met by rioters for the President. There was a shooting  incident, and Chavez was accused of opening fire on the people protesting against him. This was then used to catalyze more opposition against him when several chiefs of the army denounced him on the media (which had taken the lead in painting him black for a long time by then), which subsequently led to the overthrowing of the presidential  palace guard and the taking over of the country with a rich businessman at the helm.

Ultimately as it turned out, the army itself had instigated the shooting and reports that the president had abdicated were falsified (his signature was forged and he was kidnapped). There was a major uproar and hundreds of thousands of people stormed the presidential palace, overwhelmed the army and succeeded in reinstating the president - War on Democracy

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It's interesting to speculate on world affairs based on controversy and what are generally regarded as crackpot conspicay theories by the genral public who live and die by what is seen and heard in the mainstream media, but its more than just idle indulgence. There is more than meets the eye most of the time. The order of power and the lines of command are mere illusions. The world operates on a whole different spectrum from where it pretends to.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Iran now. It seems that most candidates are withdrawing their claims while reports from the media increasingly stress on the 'violent' crackdowns of the government. Perhaps an effort at dragging this as far as possible? Protests are still to spread outside of Tehran so we can't really say that the majority is behind the opposition. Until this whole issue clears up and some perspective can be gained, the story of what is really going on in Iran will not be known.

This media hallabaloo about Iran seems to be based on nothing but cheap conjecture. No facts were uncovered about actual malpractice occuring with regard to the elections. Accusations were made that there was a shortage of ballot papers, 'pressurizing' of voters to vote for Ahmedinejad and candidate's representatives not being allowed to gain access to events at polling stations.

But none of this atually deals with the final count that emerged, the actual problem. Which showed president Ahmedinajad winning the election by a massive margin. Where are the errors pointed out in the actual counting mechanism? none of the protesters could actualy point out what sort of rigging had taken place. There was just a general consensus among them that some sort of rigging had to have taken place. On the surface, as any sane minded person would deduce, they just appear to be acting like sore losers.

Most of the protests were carried out in Tehran, which has a population of 14 million people. Iran itself has 70 million people in it. So how can the conviction of such a small fraction of a population be made to seem like the general consensus of the whole of its population? It just doesnt make sense.

And thats what these types of news stories are made for. To try and convey shallow messages in an attempt to shake up the basket a bit. They are aimed at the sort of people who just glance at the news and do not check their facts. This was simply a badly organized negative PR campaign against the Iranian leadership carried out by the Western media, if we want to get conspiratorial about it. Or rather, as i see it, it was just an opportunity to 'make some news' and all objectivity was lost as the media got blinded by a preconception that Iran's current leadership is essentially 'evil'.

Polls have shown that Ahmedinejad has secured major victories even in areas thought to be Mousavi strongholds and the margin by which he won (60%) is far too large to have been rigged.

Also, on a side note. Iran only has 35% internet penetration and 60% of its population is based in urban areas. Deduce of this what you will, but how can twitter updates from such a narrow margin of the population signify broad based protests sufficint enought to spark talk of the 'next Iranian revolution'?

the government of Iran does not appear to be completely innocent in this though. Apparently there has been some supression of protest activity and a cut down of media broadcasts from within. Though this may be standard government action to prevent things getting out of hand, as we have seen happen over here in SL, it is still enough to cause widespread speculation and concern about what is really happening inside.

Watch this Al-Jazeera take on it, its an interesting one.

Sri Lanka will not accept any conditions on a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the island's president has said.

"We will not pawn or sell our motherland to obtain any monetary aid," said Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan government is in talks with the IMF about a $1.9bn (£1.4bn) loan to help combat the economic downturn and pay for reconstruction.

The IMF usually insists on conditions for any emergency loans.

No forced measures

These involve taking steps such as cutting public spending or raising interest rates.

But Sri Lanka has made it clear.... (more at BBC)


Hmmm.. no  I have not got many thoughts there. As of late the West seems to have simpered a bit to the war efforts and have indicated a lot more support than they used to. With Hillary Clinton's call to the president and her supposed 'support extended with regard to the 'humanitarian improvements' and the elimination of terrorism etc. I still have the Derana News Alert on my phone.

Except she didn't. Well she did call him but internet news reports seem to deny the fact that she had anything good to say, while some others agree a little more with the Temple Trees version of the tale. This phone conversation and what was really said and implied could play a big role on our future relations with the West and entities such as the IMF and World Bank.

SL is very much an import dependent economy for many of its basic essentials and therefore foreign help in terms of loans, exports tariffs, trade deals etc are essential to its survival. And these rarely come completely devoid of conditions. It seems in a polarized world, the only way to maintain true independence is to have a completely closed economy or be the strongest player around. Since we're nothing of either, it looks as if we will have to go through some changes based on the whims of others soon enough.

But obviously, the government will not make it look like they were 'conditions' when they implement them in the economy oh no. And since we seem to have pretty much of a dormant opposition it looks like the real news of what is going to happen in the in the future may not be too clear till months later. By which time it'll be too late to do anything about it. Not that anything much could be done about it anyway. But at least we'll know.

for one hundred bucks a few months ago may have seemed like a dream to many, well i know it was dream to me. now, thanks to lanka IOC at least, the dream seems to have materialized again.

Now here's the deal though. petrol prices still haven't 'officially' been reduced to one hundred bucks, and IOC controlling only one third of the petrol market, will soon begin to feel the demand pressure with the full market force focused on it. Since no one in their right minds would buy petrol from CPC at 122 when they could guzzle it down at 100 bucks at IOC.

This is going to put a definite strain on their operations. Also, if CPC as the only wholesale supplier of petrol to the local market, refuse to reduce their wholesale price in compliance with the SC order, then that’s going to put a tough constraints on margins.

So they've got reduced margins, but increased demand, by almost 200 percent as a matter of fact. Assuming constant supply of oil, will this still be a profitable formula for IOC? they'll definitely bring in tons of new revenue but will their cost model be able to hold it up.

They've probably thought about all this. And maybe they know something about the political situation that I don't. One thing’s for sure this was a pretty good marketing ploy. Remember back in the day when IOC had a bad reputation because of perceived exploitative motives in the SL petroleum market? They hadn't quite untarnished their image as yet but hell, this hundred bucks thing will definitely put them in the public's affectionate eye.

Going on like this while the official price remains at 122 will not last though. if they keep at it and absorb reserves from India to cover up losses made through giving oil at 100 bucks, they could completely destroy the image, market share and business of CPC's retail division and hell man I’m all for that. Not too sure of they'll be able to get away with such anti competitive practices, but the possibility definitely exists.

If they can't then they'll simply switch back to 122 bucks a liter in a little while. But there is still hope that our block headed cabinet will actually move and reduce the prices. What’s the point of law if the government doesn't adhere to it?

I mean what is this place coming to? We have a petroleum corporation that claims it’s making losses no matter how much the Oil price fluctuates in the market and the consumer prices raised nevertheless. They claim the cost of oil is too high and that we barely pay for it with 150 rupees a liter! Well I’ve got news for you my dear Mr. Fowzie, when a corporation such as the PET Corp operates; the costs that are incurred are not just those of purchasing of the forsaken oil barrels. It’s the fixed and operational costs of the petroleum corporations itself. And you have massive inefficiencies on your PET ORG that will probably see you making losses even if oil rises to 500 effing dollars per barrel.

I heard that there are around 600 employees in your so called organization signing and out of every day and peacefully taking home their month end salary without putting in an ounce of work. Chiefly because they are never really physically present to work! I’ve heard about free petrol to hordes of mostly unnecessary top officials and their family members driving massively fuel inefficient SUVs (duty free I might add) which obviously incurs the necessity to transfer the cost of their maintenance upon us, the average Siripala of the Sri Lankan economy.

I’ve heard of fantastically inefficient red taped management cultures, tedious process driven operations, excess staff, yawny HR policies (I don’t even know if you have an HR department) and every single textbook management practice that is typical of a stone age corporation. You Mr. Fowzie need to wake up and smell the garbage under your bed.

Do you think we are fools Mr. Fowzie that we cannot see the idiotic logic behind your argument? Do you think we are brainless? Well apparently you do. And apparently we are. Because the vast majority of us Lankans haven’t actually realized exactly why you are making losses. It has largely nothing to do with the prices of international oil. It has however, a lot to do with a corrupt and staggering government bureaucracy.

What shall we do Mr Fowzie, go out into the streets and riot? Riot against the burden of pampering your useless corporation which eats up reserves like a king having his breakfast? Oh but to do that we’ll need to have the support of the masses at large now wouldn’t we? We’ll need to have the farmers and various artificers and small time traders that make up almost 80% of this country’s economy. And you’ve got them nicely tied up to a coconut tree eating pani rambutan off your hand and believing that your government is actually doing the best it possibly can for the country now haven’t you?

Is that why Mr. Fowzie that you and Mr. Rajapakse’s government are suppressing technological development in the vast rural areas of Sri Lanka? Is that why IT is so restricted in its spread in this country? Is that why the internet is so little used except by us city-slickers with nothing better to do than browse Facebook and surf porn? Is that what you are afraid of? Are you afraid of knowledge?

Is that why u are clamping down on the media? So that you and your cronies can keep milking the country’s masses till the economy is just taut skin on a mass of bones? Are you using the war as an excuse? I must admit, as far as excuses go, it’s a great excuse.

You’ve sold patriotism to everybody; everybody is buying into your definition of it. Well I’ve got news for you, this place is still supposed to be a democracy. And in a democracy patriotism need only be defined as sense of love for your country, and that does NOT necessarily mean Mr. Fowzie that patriots need to support the war or be behind the government in every single thing they do. But you obviously think otherwise don’t you? Oh yes, anyone who speaks out against the administration’s policies is obviously a scourge on society, he deserves to be kidnapped, decapitated and dumped in the Kelani river. And I’m with you on that, like I was with George frigging Bush-eater when he invaded Iraq.

Needless to say, it was not well received by the Obama campaign...

”...political author Jeffrey Feldman said in an interview with CBC News.

"The idea [is] that somehow Barack Obama is an urban terrorist with a secret agenda that is aligned with al-Qaeda and the second he gets in the White House, he's going to launch some covert plan in order to bring down the United States," Feldman said.

"It's such a ridiculous claim, but no matter how many times people fight back against it — including on the Obama website [where] they have an entire section dedicated to just fighting these smears…it still seems to be gaining ground. There's almost an exhaustion, a frustration that this type of smear campaign is working to spread these ideas."

Jimmy gets vocal

Former US president Jimmy Carter states that Israel has over 150 nuclear weapons in its arsenal. He also reiterates his belief that Israel’s suppression of the civilians in the West Bank is "One of the greatest human rights crimes on earth is the starvation and imprisonment of 1.6m Palestinians," well really Mister Carter thanks for saying that and still showing your support for Israel ‘As a country’??? (Quotes; the BBC).


The big dog

In the same story former Israeli Military intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi-Farkash has told Reuters that he finds Mr. Carters comments “irresponsible” and goes on to say that "The problem is that there are those who can use these statements when it comes to discussing the international effort to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons," he said. Oh, he must mean the few of us with a bit of sense in our heads who can somehow find the brains to ask the question; “If you can possess nuclear weapons, why can’t anyone else??”


Sir, would you please let us protect you in exchange for some entertainment for our troops?

UN peacekeeping sexually abusing children? Well that certainly seems to be the case in Africa where one 13 year old girl claims to have been gang raped by ten (that’s right TEN) peacekeeping soldiers and left bleeding cold and vomiting in the ground in a field near her Ivory Coast home. Other incidents of such a nature have been reporter from Sudan and Haiti and that’s only because a research was carried out in these areas. If that study was never done by we would go on being ignorant of these heinous crimes. And to think the UN positions itself as the savior of the world? What are they going to do about this?


Bloody Rogues

In two more interesting news stories, one Peruvian politician has come under fire for popping a bullet in a neighbor’s dog which was ‘bothering his ducks’ and Canada’s foreign minister has resigned after leaving a classified document in a ‘non-secure’ place (an ex-girlfriend’s apartment) . Man, am I glad our Sri Lankan politicians are not rogues like these. Arent you?