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By Sugeeswara Senadhira

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep” – Robert Frost

President Maithripala Sirisena, addressing the new sessions of Parliament last week said, the last three years has demonstrated that the country is still lacking in political and social maturity that is needed to realize the objectives of a coalition government and added that the power struggle in the Government and political parties in the last three years had driven the people to despair. He acknowledged the failure of the two partners of this consensual government to duly appreciate their own respective roles in the coalition arrangement has led to the present confusion and frustration of the people.

A day prior to making the policy statement in Parliament, the President clarified in his May Day speech, “I am not retiring in 2020. There are so many things to be done.” What he clearly stated was that he has many more goals to achieve and his task as President is only half finished.

He emphasized that, we, as a Government, should fulfil our responsibilities under a strong political thought, which gives prominence to our heritage, our great culture and our unique identities, in the journey of rising as a nation while achieving economic prosperity. “I believe that moving forward; we must work with a vision that represents our heritage and the needs of the common people.”

Outlining the economic policies, he said it is essential that we lead the country towards entrepreneurial management and adapt policies attractive to local and foreign entrepreneurs in order to build a strong and modern Sri Lanka. He emphasized that steps should be taken to beat the so-called ‘economy of friends’ and to build a ‘society and people-friendly economy’. The essence of the economic policy was to ensure an atmosphere conducive to prosperity, where everyone can prosper.

As President Sirisena rightly stated, to overcome the challenges faced by the country, the power struggle between the two main parties in this Coalition Government – UNP and SLFP – must cease.

Even though consensual governance is practiced in many countries in the world, it is a foreign concept to Sri Lanka. In the past three years, there were many occasions where the two parties in the coalition were working at cross purposes. This was due to deliberate political strategies on the one hand and lack of understanding as to how a coalition government should function on the other. The President appealed to the disgruntled elements in the two Parties to desist from attacking each other and work as a single unit for the benefit of the people for the remainder of their tenure, because the Unity Government has promises to deliver.

There is no doubt that the Government succeeded in the path towards establishing a democratic and humanitarian governance which is responsive to citizens and ascertained a path to fulfil the fundamental needs of the people. However, there are many more challenges confronting the country. It is important to pay serious attention to those challenges when choosing the new path of the Government. Furthermore, the new path of the Government should help the poor overcome poverty, and achieve efficiency in public service while delivering a people friendly service. This needs adopting new policies, implementing strategies and making crucial management decisions.

We must commit ourselves to the fast development that the people hope for, including the educated youth, the President stated. This can never be postponed to the future. For the past economic growth, achieving an efficient cooperation between public and private sector, increasing productivity and competition, optimizing resources to increase direct foreign investment, consolidating the country’s fiscal condition are critical.

Platform promises

As President Sirisena pointed out, another unfinished task is true reconciliation and a lasting solution to ensure communal harmony. The steps are necessary to further strengthen rule of law, democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech in the society, recognition of equal rights based on aspirations of the Tamil people, ensure the wellbeing and socio-cultural needs of the Muslim community and empower the upcountry Tamil community socially and economically.

One of the main platform promises during the Presidential election campaign in November 2014 to January 2015 was that stern action would be taken against bribery and corruption. The Government vowed to build efficient State governance free of corruption and fraud. The President’s absolute commitment to fight against corruption is evident from courageous action to appoint Presidential Commission to probe Central Bank bond issue. It became all the more evident when his Chief of Staff, I. H. K. Mahanama and State Timber Corporation Chairman P. Dissanayake who faced bribery charges were sacked immediately. Furthermore, he did not hesitate to suspend the new Chairman of State Timber Corporation, Anuruddha Polgampola, when he came to know about Polgampola’s previous arrests on misappropriation charges.

In his speech, the President has signalled a new beginning for the Unity Government and he also invited the Opposition to assist the Government, shedding the politics of hate and disruption. There is a need for collective efforts to overcome the challenges faced by the country.

Although every promise could not be fulfilled in the last three and a half years, there is an acknowledgement that the task of restoring the Sri Lankan Society as a democratic, humane, and accountable society has been completed successfully during the last three and a half years, which was the main demand of the people of this country who gave the verdict to this Government on 8 January, 2015.

The whole country today wants to achieve the freedom of prosperity. Standing against bribery, corruption and waste is the self defence of a nation, for its future. The people expect the period beginning from the new session of Parliament would provide an opportunity to achieve the noble goals outlined: Ensure economic prosperity of the people, eradicate poverty, generate new employment opportunities for the youth, further strengthen the rule of law, democracy, human rights, and freedom of speech in the society, meet the requirements of people with special needs, and establish a sustainable development vision by bringing together all ethnic and religious groups.(PMD)

By Major General Mohanti Peiris

As defined in the Office on Missing Persons Act, a missing person is someone whose fate or whereabouts are reasonably believed to be unknown or unaccounted for and missing. But for many of our people today the definition of a missing person is something more personal, more perplexing and more painful. For them family now means an empty chair at a table, clothes hanging on a rack that have not been worn in years, an embrace that is forgotten because no one thought it would be the last, hurt deep in the heart that would never be diminished with the passage of time and a vacuum that could never be filled. A missing person is a loved one to whom a goodbye was never said and the endless stream of questions that follow their absence. How did they go missing? Where are they today? Will I get the chance to see them again?

Decades later it is not fair that they must still suffer the plight of not knowing. It cannot be easy to turn away from their pain.

The search for the missing began nearly 30 years ago. The first commission investigating missing persons was set up as far back as 1991, but the story of the missing thus far has not been one of hope or reassurance. It is a story marred with helplessness, and un-kept promises and an endless long road on which they stumble along. Individuals went missing in the 1970s during the political insurrections of the south. Young lives were dispelled with no one to account for their absence. This was not the end. 30 years of civil war held in its grasp the lives of so many, marking no difference between race, cast, or creed. Families in the North and East whose children were taken from their homes, who were split apart by terrorism, and soldiers around the island who never made it back to their camps and loved ones; these are few of the thousands who are missing today. They are lives unaccounted for that need accounting.

Over the years, efforts have been made to address the issue of the missing. Multiple commissions were set up in 1991, 1994, and 2013 to conduct investigations into the missing. However, these commissions did not follow through to completion. One primary challenge was that investigations were limited to certain time periods and did not address all contexts during which individuals went missing. The lack of proper data and information led to incomplete and inaccurate statistics. Investigations were ineffective and inconclusive and therefore many cases were left pending. According to a report made by the ICRC, there were as many as 16,000 cases of missing persons remaining as recently as in 2016. 7 years after the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka had not yet successfully addressed this primary and pressing issue of its people.  

It was essential after all those years to finally find a remedy for the problem of the missing and a preventive for its re-occurrence in the future.The Act to establish the OMP was passed in parliament in 2016, and with a 7 member commission is ready to begin investigations into all reported cases of missing persons. This includes not only those missing in relation to the conflict that took place in the North and East Provinces, but also those missing during the political and civil unrest in the South, armed forces or police who are identified as missing in action, and all enforced disappearances during and in the aftermath of the conflict. This is the chance for the OMP to address grievances made by those of all ethnic and religious backgrounds in all geographical areas of the country. Establishing this office is for the sole purpose of searching for the missing which is a need for our nation.

The office is a transparent and independent body. There is no prosecution through the OMP. Its main purpose is to bring relief to affected families who are suffering the loss of loved ones. What matters is that these families, be it from the North or South get a chance to search for the truth about what happened, receive answers to their questions, and hopefully find relief from the years of pain and uncertainty.

The office has been set up based on the recommendations made by the Consultation Task Force on the Act to establish the OMP. This task force proactively engaged with the victims and affected families around the island, getting their feedback and concerns regarding what can be done to redress this issue. It is their views and worries that matter. Without paying heed to their concerns, the OMP cannot address their grievances.

It has been a long and painful wait for the victims and their families. For parents who lost their children, for families who lost their loved ones, this Office on Missing Persons is a beacon of hope. It is a chance for the answers they have been waiting a long time for, and a necessity for a nation that will resolve and reconcile.

Sri Lanka is currently into the 6th consecutive year of its Malaria free status. To commemorate this as well as the World Malaria Day which falls on the 25th April, Anti Malaria Campaign of Ministry of Health wishes to invite all Sri Lankans to support the national endeavor of keeping the island free of Malaria.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the leader of the UNP, while noting that any decision regarding a No-Confidence motion must be taken at a UNP parliamentary group meeting, has instructed the UNP backbencher parliamentarians to withdraw the No-Confidence motions. Therefore these MPs will withdraw the no confidence motions filed.

Further decisions on the matter will be taken at a UNP group meeting, soon.

The Prime Minister has asserted that the issues arisen with SLFP would be resolved through negotiations.

Sudarshana Gunawardana
Director General
Department of Government Information

To identify their role for a sustainable future

For the 70th Independence Day which is to be held on the 4th of February this year (2018), the youth have come together in celebrating Independence Day for the very first time in Sri Lanka. Under the theme “70th Independence and Youth,” the forum on February 4, 2018, will be held at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute from 2.00 p.m. onwards, organized by The Road to Rights Youth-led Organization.

The nominal market in which workers find paying work, employers find willing workers, and wage rates are determined, is defined as the labour market. Labour market outcomes result from a combination of the demand for labour by firms and the labour that workers supply. Firms are the focus of trying to understand labour demand, whilst workers are the focus of trying to understand labour supply. Holistic understanding of the current supply and demand for skills is required to analyse how the two interact and to inform policies to support an inclusive economic growth path. With the ever-changing labour market and economy, timely and relevant labour market information is critical for decision making. It is also essential for career development, locating employment opportunities, and sourcing skilled workers. Such information should also guide educational and training programmes to suit the demands of the labour market, and more importantly, to influence such demands for the benefit of the country.