Destabilisation project: ACBC inquiry underway

By Shamindra Ferdinando

All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) recently launched an inquiry into what it called a state of anarchy prevailing in the country.

An Independent Commission set up by ACBC has initiated a comprehensive probe in a bid to establish the circumstances leading to the eruption of public protests against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his unceremonious exit.

The retired Lieutenant Colonel who secured Office of the President with a staggering 6.9 mn votes at the 2019 presidential election fled the country in July 2022.

The seventh executive President quit within four months of the explosion of public anger outside his private residence in March last year possibly backed by external forces, in the wake of the disruption of all essential supplies consequent to unprecedented balance of payments and debt crises. Before Gotabaya Rajapaksa gave up political power, his government admitted bankruptcy. The ACBC intends to identify those responsible for the high profile ouster of a popularly elected President. The mandate of the commission will be dealt later.

The public protest campaign launched opposite Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s private residence at Pangiriwatte, Mirihana on March 31, 2022 quickly overwhelmed his government. The man who threw his weight behind the public protest campaign and openly encouraged the campaign succeeded Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Parliament elected UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 20, 2022 to complete the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s five-year term.

The ACBC Commission mandated to carry out the task in six months consists of 21 members. Submissions can be forwarded to +94718645554, +94701439996 (both WhatsApp) and buddhistinfo380@gmail.com. Those who are interested in making submissions orally are advised by the Commission to obtain an appointment. Submissions can be made in Sinhala, Tamil or English.

Among the Commissioners is former Army Chief of Staff Jagath Dias, who retired in late Dec 2015 in the rank of Major General. Vijitha Ravipriya, former Director General of Customs is another member. Ravipriya, too, retired in the rank of Maj. Gen. before receiving the top government appointment. Ravipriya retired in January 2020. Dias, as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of 57 Division tasked to liberate Kilinochchi gave his formation resolute leadership, whereas Ravipriya commanded Task Force 08 also on the Vanni front.

The Commissioners include Manohara de Silva, PC (member of the nine-member Committee that prepared a draft Constitution, which was discarded by the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government. The Draft Constitution was never made public), former President of the Bar Association U. R. de Silva, PC (Justice Ministry advisor during President’s Counsel Ali Sabry’s tenure as the Justice Minister), writer and political commentator Shenali Waduge and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Director General of Media Mohan Samaranayake. Samaranayake was moved to the Information Department to pave the way for Sirasa anchor Kingsley Ratnayake and Swarnavahini presenter Sudewa Hettiarachchi to run the presidential media. By the time protests erupted a year ago, Ratnayake, who received appointment as Presidential Spokesman, was not even in the country. He was overseas.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appeared to have failed to comprehend the rapid developments taking place. US Ambassador in Colombo Julie Chung’s response and interventions reflected the mood of the Western diplomatic community. The CIA Director William Joseph Burns’s February clandestine whistle-stop visit underscores the US support for the incumbent administration.

PMD’s response

The Gotabaya Rajapaksa, overwhelmed by evolving turmoil never bothered to make a genuine reassessment of the rapidly developing situation even after Pangiriwatte exploded on the night of March 31, 2022. The first press release issued by the Presidential Media Division (PMD) foolishly blamed it on extremists. A silly reference was also made to the Arab Spring-an organized uprising in the Arab world following initial protests in Tunisia. The PMD declared that the protest campaign organized with the help of social media platforms were meant to cause anarchy. Then PMD owed an explanation as to how it reached such a conclusion within 24 hours after the Pangiriwatte mayhem.

In fact, those who served the Rajapaksa government at different levels blamed the crisis on ill-fated decisions taken by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the ruling SLPP. Instead of examining the still developing crisis as part of the overall measures to address the issues at hand, various interested parties sought to interpret the developments in a way politically advantageous to them.

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, recently faulted war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the crisis. The former JVPer declared that Mahinda Rajapaksa set the stage for the catastrophe by bringing Basil Rajapaksa into parliament in 2021 at the expense of 20th Amendment to the Constitution and opportunity given to Namal Rajapaksa to enter parliament too early. Namal Rajapaksa entered parliament in 2010 at the age of 24.

Pavitra Wanniarachchi, who recently received a ministerial portfolio courtesy President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that they (SLPP) blundered by fielding Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the 2019 presidential election. She questioned the former Defence Secretary’s suitability to receive the SLPP nomination.

In the absence of a much needed parliamentary probe, ACBC should strive to ascertain the truth. The Commission consists of retired District judge Pearl Karaliyedde (Chairperson), Prof. Nimal de Silva, Prof. Malini Andagama, Lt. Gen. Jagath Dias (retd), one time Director General, Government Information Department Mohan Samaranayake, Maj. Gen. Vijitha Ravipriya (retd), U.R. de Silva, PC, Manohara de Silva, PC, ex-chairman YMBA Suren Abeygunasekera, lecturer and Dr. Dulip Palihawadana (Secretary to the Commission), former Foreign Service officer Gamini Munasinghe, Pani Wewala (formerly of the ‘One Country, One Law’ Presidential Task Force headed by Ven. Galagodaatte Gnanasara), Dr. L.M.K.Tillekeratne, Dr. Harsha Wijeyawardena, lecturer Chaminda Karunaratne, Senior DIG (retd) Lalindra Ranaweera, international and political affairs analyst Shenali Waduge, Dr. Narendra Pinto, Dr. Chandika Epikakaduwa, attorney-at-law Samitha Kalhara and Deputy Chairman of ACBC Roshan Madduage.

Perhaps, the Commissioners should obtain video footage of Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe’s no holds barred attack on the utterly irresponsible parliamentary system of governance practiced here on August 31, 2022. There had never been a previous instance of a former CBSL Governor addressing MPs in parliament under such critical circumstances.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena presided over the meeting that was also attended by a section of the MPs. Referring to public protests that forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of Office a few weeks ago, Dr. Weerasinghe warned of a far worse situation unless political parties represented in parliament changed their ill-fated strategies.

The CBSL Chief’s warning was loud and clear. Do away with political strategies implemented at the expense of the national economy or be prepared to face the consequences. Unfortunately, political parties represented in parliament never bothered to take tangible measures on the basis of Dr. Weerasinghe’s advice.

The ACBC’s decision to investigate the overall developments should be appreciated.

Conspiracy or self-made disaster

There is no point in denying the fact that interested parties brazenly exploited the public protest campaign to achieve their objectives. None of those who genuinely expected a system change would have anticipated UNP National List MP Ranil Wickremesinghe replacing Gotabaya Rajapaksa under any circumstances. Whatever their objectives, the public protest campaign couldn’t sustain their project and a consensus between the ruling SLPP and Wickremesinghe sealed the fate of Aragalaya.

Within hours after parliament elected him as the eighth President, Wickremesinghe acted swiftly and decisively to chase out those who had been occupying the Presidential Secretariat. Wickremesinghe warned that street protests wouldn’t be tolerated. In spite of the absence of emergency, the military is always on hand to assist law enforcement authorities, in case they require muscle.

Those sincerely interested in knowing what really caused the explosion of public anger needs to understand underlying economic reasons and social realities. It would be easy to blame it all on Western conspiracies, Indian machinations, the JVP led Jathika Jana Balawegaya and breakaway JVP faction Frontline Socialist Party, NGO community, especially those recipients of foreign funds, and the Inter-University Students’ Federation. The current political-economic-social crisis should be examined taking into consideration the conduct of the executive, legislature and the judiciary.

Scrapping of time-tested provisions of Exchange Control Act (ECA) of 1953 in 2017 at the behest of yahapalana leadership is a case in point. The UNP and the breakaway UNP faction, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya never responded to accusations that the new Act enacted in 2017 resulted in exporters parking export proceeds running into billions of USD abroad. The issue at hand is whether someone in yahpalana government benefited by repealing the original Act that served the country well for decades. Yahapalana President Maithripala Sirisena cannot absolve himself of the responsibility as he as the head of the cabinet of ministers must have approved the cabinet decision on bringing in a new Act. It would be pertinent to ask the SJB leader as well as his senior colleagues like Lakshman Kiriella and Kabir Hashim whether they, too, backed the move to replace the Exchange Control Act. Perhaps, the yahapalana leaders never took it up at the cabinet level or there was never an open dialogue regarding the scrapping of the original Act.

Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa has declared in parliament that funds parked overseas were sufficient to overcome the crisis. But, has he raised this issue with the President who is also the Minister of Finance.

The ACBC Commission can inquire into why Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government failed to restore the original Act when the financial situation was deteriorating fast, especially with underground illegal money transfers were depriving the legitimate banks the remittances of our expatriate workers running into billions of dollars. Then cabinet minister Wimal Weerawansa is on record as having said that Basil Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the Finance Minister, dismissed Weerawansa’s plea to restore the time-tested provisions in the 1953 Act. Did Weerawansa make the same request from Basil Rajapaksa’s predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who held the finance portfolio, in addition to being the Prime Minister? Basil Rajapaksa re-entered parliament in the first week of July 2021 amidst political turmoil caused by the economic crisis.

The failure on the part of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to seek IMF assistance remains a mystery. Having knelt before the IMF on 16 previous occasions, it wouldn’t have made any difference to seek yet another bailout package again. Was it part of the overall plan to create an environment necessary for the collapse of the Rajapaksa administration?

Matters to ponder

The Commission should carefully examine major ill-fated decisions, including the hasty ban on chemical fertiliser and agro chemicals that overnight caused massive fallout, import of carbonic fertiliser from China and liquid fertiliser from India as well as slashing of import duty on a kilo of sugar from Rs 50 to 25 cents. But, perhaps the focus should be on the abolishing of taxes that deprived the government as much as Rs 600 bn against the backdrop of a sharp drop in tourist arrivals consequent to 2019 Easter Sunday attacks and overall shrinking of economy due to Covid-19. Who advised the cabinet of ministers on abolition of taxes? Can that be part of a conspiracy? Maj. Gen. Ravipriya, who had been the DG, Customs, can explain how the Customs, Inland Revenue and Excise fared during the turmoil.

The abolition of the Exchange Control Act proved again the failure on the part of parliament in law making and public finance.

It would be really silly to blame NGOs when parliamentary watchdogs continuously point out the Revenue collection system conveniently failed to achieve targets due to mismanagement and corruption and frequent exchanges between the government and the Opposition reveal waste, corruption, irregularities and mismanagement at every level. Maybe the Commission should seek a clarification from Auditor General W.P. C. Wickremaratne why the Inland Revenue Department declined to share its agreement with a Singaporean company that installed a faulty system.

In terms of the mandate, the ACBC focus on (1) efforts to undermine and demean Buddhism by NGOs, separatist groups and non-Buddhist groups (2) funding made available by these groups for anti-Buddhist activities (3) manipulation of young Buddhist monks studying at higher education institutes thereby resulting in indiscipline and them disrobing (4) identify those who worked against ‘Sinhala Buddhist culture’ (5) what caused Ven. Maha Sangha and patriotic organisations to remain silent (6) incidents at the Galle Face on May 09, 2022, statements made by some interested parties therein and eruption of violence in many parts of the country, killings and damages to property. (Among those who addressed the Galle Face crowd on the particular day were Ven. Omalpe Sobhitha and Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith) (7) the circumstances leading to the disposal of constitutionally elected President and the conduct of the armed forces, law enforcement authorities and the intelligence services (8) Direct or indirect connection between Sri Lanka’s triumph over separatist Tamil terrorism and the public protest campaign that forced President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of Office (treacherous failure on the part of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa government to use all available information, particularly confidential documents made available by Lord Naseby of the House of Lords despite the External Affairs Ministry being under a distinguished retired law professor, too, should be inquired into) (9) how successive governments contributed to current economic crisis by not adhering with Buddhist economic principles (10) conduct of some members of the judiciary during this period to establish how they contributed to the intensification of violence (This is obviously reference to the role played by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka during the tenure of Saliya Pieris, PC, as its President) (11) involvement of both public and private media in the destabilisation project and the role played by the owners of privately-owned media groups (12) influence exerted by narcotics dealers and users (13) the failure on the part of the incumbent government to take tangible measures against those who engaged in violence (14) the environment in which the adults were degraded (15) examination of developments relating to the destabilisation and cause of disorder and (16) address issues that hadn’t been dealt with. The commission intends to make recommendations.

All concerned parties need to shed their differences and adopt a common strategy to address the challenges faced by Sri Lanka. It would be pertinent to examine how the parliament neglected its primary responsibilities over the past several decades, thereby creating an environment that facilitated external interventions. It would be nothing but a grave mistake on the part of all concerned to believe the latest IMF bailout could restore normalcy when 16 previous such interventions failed. That is the ugly reality. Sri Lanka has been fully opened for external interventions. The developing crisis should be discussed taking into consideration the further increase in Sri Lanka’s debt since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster. The ousted President and those who led him on the wrong path cannot absolve themselves of the culpability for Sri Lanka’s predicament. Perhaps, the ACBC inquiry should pay attention to the unilateral cancellation of a Japanese funded light rail project in Sept 2020. That may help ascertain how the President was influenced by interested parties, thereby facilitating the destabilisation project.