Photo courtesy: www.lankaenews.com
BBC Sinhala
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Bennett Rupasinghe, News Editor of LankaeNews was remanded by courts following his arrest by the Wellampitiya police on Thursday.
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that he should be released immediately.
RSF research coordinator Gilles Lordet speaking to BBC Sandeshaya said, "this can be seen as part of ongoing harassment against the LankaeNews".
Bennett 'threatned a man'
The Paris based organisation had earlier made an international appeal for help in finding the means to guarantee the physical safety of LankaeNews' journalists.
Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody says Bennett Rupasinghe, was arrested following a complaint that he had threatened a man by telephone.
Sunil Jayasekara, convener of the group Free Media Movement, says the arrest was made on questionable grounds and is an attempt to silence dissenting media.
"This clearly shows the government is misusing police and judicial powers in addition to extra legal methods against independent media in stifling dissent," said Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS).
Amnesty International's researcher Yolanda Foster called the arrest 'a misuse of executive authority'.
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says that this situation cries out for immediate international support.
"Given that its editor is in exile, its office recently gutted by fire, and its political cartoonist 'disappeared' for more than a year, the threat to the safety of its remaining staff are clear," said Bob Dietz, CPJ's Asia program coordinator.
'Sinister motives'
Maithree Gunarathne, leading the lawyers team representing LankaeNews told journalists accused the government of 'sinister motives' in harassing journalists.
Prageeth Eknaligoda, a cartoonist working with the website had disappeared over a year ago. His wife has asked for UN intervention to find him after the Sri Lankan government has been unable to provide any information.
In January the LankaeNews office in the Colombo suburbs came under an arson attack. Media organisations have expressed scepticism about the two suspects who have been taken into custody.
The chief editor of LankaeNews has already fled the country and is living in exile.
Sri Lanka is ranked 158th out of 178 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
© BBC Sinhala
Thursday, March 31, 2011
International condemnation of journalist arrest
Thursday, March 31, 2011
JDS calls for urgent release of Lanka-E-News journalist
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
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JDS URGENT ALERT
2011 March 31 | 13.10 GMT
This is yet another act of intimidation against media freedom in general and Lankaenews in particular by the incumbent government of Sri Lanka.
A senior Sri Lankan journalist and the News Editor of Lankaenews website, Benett Rupasinghe, has been arrested today (31) by the Sri Lankan Police, dealing yet another blow to the already worsened media freedom and human rights situation in the country. Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) condemns the outrageous arrest of Mr.Rupasinghe in the strongest terms while urging for his immediate release.
This is yet another act of intimidation against media freedom in general and Lankaenews in particular by the incumbent government of Sri Lanka.
Mr. Rupasinghe was arrested when he turned up at the police station on the invitation of the police to record a statement. This clearly shows the government is misusing police and judicial powers in addition to extra-legal methods against independent media in order to stifling dissent.
The office of the Lankaenews in the very outskirts of capital Colombo, was burnt down last month by an “unknown group” of people. No one has been arrested to date in this regard. The Chief Editor of Lankaenews, has already fled the country and is living in exile, fearing persecution.
The JDS appeals to all concerned groups and individuals to take necessary action to demand for immediate release of journalist Benett Rupasinghe.
Please act - Make phone calls and send emails to:
Inspector General of Police Mahinda Balasuriya
Call: +94 1128223788 / +94 1128548865
Email : telligp@police.lk
Executive Committee
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sri Lankan police arrest editor of website critical of government
By The Associated Press | Yahoo! News
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Police spokesman Prishantha Jayakody says Bennett Rupasinghe, the editor of LankaeNews.com, was arrested Thursday following a complaint that he had threatened a man by telephone.
Sunil Jayasekara, convener of the group Free Media Movement, says the arrest was made on questionable grounds and is an attempt to silence dissenting media.
A columnist for the website has been missing for more than a year, and its office was set on fire earlier this year.
© Yahoo! News
Monday, March 21, 2011
Living in clover
By Kishali Pinto Jayawardene | The Sunday Times
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This time around too, we had Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake, (besides quite amusingly characterizing this as a ‘pleasant election’), castigating government politicians for abusing state resources. Mr Dissanayake should conserve his energies and refrain from even making such statements when it is patently clear that he intends to do nothing about it.
Inability to be shocked
A courageous and principled Commissioner of Elections would have acted very differently at a point long time ago. It is clear that there is neither courage nor principles involved here in any sense whatsoever. But it is also clear that the situation will not be very different even if we had an Elections Commission, given that its members would be appointed under the 18th Amendment to the Constitution on the President’s sole dictates with little effective intervention by a proverbially toothless Parliamentary Council.
The basic integrity of the electoral process in this country has become deeply suspect following the Presidential polls of 2010 when we witnessed the ghastly spectacle of Mr Dissanayake literally weeping and wailing, though not quite gnashing his teeth, on national television amidst laments that he could not do his job anymore. The fact that he withdrew his unseemly laments three short days later and seemed happier than ever to continue in his job is, of course, old news. But as much as when the nadir is reached, very little has the power to shock or surprise any more, reports of violence, chasing away of polls agents and the misuse of state resources and the state media at the recent polls fail to stir any interest. How can they when so much has gone on before?
Crossing the line
Let me be clear on this point. This is not to say that we had elections as pure as the driven snow in previous years. On the contrary, the Wayamba elections will always be an ugly scar on the face of the Kumaratunge administration and many were the instances in previous years when elections were marred by violence and fraud. However, there was always a sense that a line should not be crossed. Indeed, the Wayamba example is a good one in this respect. As ugly as it was, public outrage at the level of intimidation and violence was strong and compelled a political response on the part of the then government. We have little of that public outrage left now regrettably.
On its part, a weak and pathetically ineffective Opposition is only able to issue frivolous statements from time to time urging the masses to rise up in revolt against a corrupt government. Cumulatively, the collapse of the Opposition is to the detriment of not only itself or indeed to the wider public interest as a whole. It is also to the detriment of the government. History always teaches us that a government with no opposition, either from public opinion or from alternative political parties, will tend towards despotism and ultimately its own destruction. What we see in the Middle East is a good reflection. This is perhaps a fitting lesson that Sri Lanka will learn in the years ahead.
Ironies in the negation of the law
At each and every point, the ironies in the manner in which the law is negated, are enormous. In the old systems, as flawed and problematic as public offices were, there was a semblance of dignity and integrity about them. We are already painfully aware of the fate that has befallen the Elections Commissioner. Another example is our doing away with the office of the Bribery Commissioner and instead installing a Bribery Commission in place along with what was said to be a vastly improved law on bribery and corruption. The effects and results of this ‘vastly improved law’ (however true this may be in theory) are negligible down the years.
Even when efforts are taken by the Commission to bring corrupt officials to justice, these efforts are negated at various levels, either through insufficiency of state resources, political infiltration of the Commission and at a higher level, political infiltration of the legal process. How can the result be any different when the overpowering authority of the executive determines the manner in which decisions are taken at all stages of the legal process? The bringing of the Department of the Attorney General under the direct supervision of the Presidential Secretariat was no accident after all surely?
Living in corruption and clover
In the meantime, the spoils are there for the most visible taking. Those victorious at the jostling for seats at the polls this week are now for a grand time in office where the pickings at the local government level (though nothing compared to the stupendous corruption at the national level) will still suffice to keep them in clover for a considerable period of time. We should wish them well indeed.
© The Sunday Times
Monday, March 21, 2011
Sri Lanka: Using elections to disable democracy
By Tisaranee Gunasekara | The Sunday Leader
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“His smiling picture is everywhere…. He’s given his name to all the squares….
He’s burned the last soothsayer — Who failed to kneel before the idol….
From the Caribbean to China’s Great Wall — The dictator-dragon is being cloned.”
— Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayyati (The Dragon)
The election took place in a context totally advantageous to the regime. The 18th Amendment had tilted the electoral-field firmly in its favour. The opposition is in unprecedented disarray. Polling took place mostly in rural/suburban areas where the Rajapaksas enjoy considerable popularity. Elections for all municipal councils were postponed, to save the UPFA from a humiliating defeat in Colombo. The governing coalition ignored election laws with impunity and abused state power and resources at will.
Defeat was impossible under such conditions.
And yet, instead of taking the election in their stride, the Rajapaksas campaigned with manic energy. This poll, though unimportant as an electoral battle, was of immense significance as a political contestation. What was at stake was not just power at the local government level but also the Rajapaksas’ capacity to maintain their hegemony in the South, including within the SLFP. A less-than-total win would weaken the Ruling Family’s standing in the country and loosen its grip on the SLFP.
A stunning victory would enhance the ‘Rajapaksa magic’ and convince rank and file SLFPers to shift their allegiance unreservedly from the Bandaranaike-dynasty to the Rajapaksa-dynasty.
So the President and his siblings spearheaded the election campaign while senior SLFPers were reduced to a barely visible ancillary role. Under Rajapaksa tutelage, the campaign became a hot-war against the opposition and a cold-war against the remaining pockets of (passive) resistance to Rajapaksa Rule within the SLFP. The main focus was on Hambantota, the traditional Rajapaksa fiefdom and Gampaha, the former Bandaranaike stronghold, which Basil Rajapaksa is intent on taking over.
Interestingly, Brother Basil, rather than First Son Namal, functioned as the second-in-command to the President, demonstrating that this is still Rajapaksa Brothers Inc. (though it may metamorphose into Rajapaksa and Sons Inc. someday.) The campaign also debunked persistent rumours about a major ‘fall-out’ within the Ruling Family.
There would be differences of opinion among various members of the family, as well as incompatibilities created by competitive personal agendas (for instance, between Uncle Basil and Nephew Namal). But these are mere ‘tiffs’ of no strategic import and do not prevent genuine unity in defence of the overall Familial Project.
A Dysfunctional Society
Despots want their people to become permanent navel-gazers. A despot’s utopia is a society in which people live in their own petty private worlds surrounded by massive psychological ramparts. Milton Meyer has pointed out that non-interference was what the Nazis wanted from ordinary Germans: “Absolutely nothing was expected of them except to go on as they had paying their taxes, reading their local paper and listening to the radio” (They Thought They were Free). Similarly the Rajapaksas want nothing more from Sri Lankans than passive, silent acquiescence to their rule. Their ideal is an accommodationist mindset, characterised by indifference and apathy, and a temperament which ignores even the most obvious injustices because of a deep-seated belief that ‘nothing can be done’. A Rajapaksa landslide at the election will etch this deadly and deadening fatalism ever more deeply into the collective Southern-psyche by making long term Rajapaksa Rule seem even more of a fait accompli than before.
Despots prefer dysfunctional societies purged of natural compassion and human solidarity, especially across primordial or political barriers. They compel people to focus on dividing lines rather than on unifying factors, thereby reducing drastically the politico-psychological space for common vision and common action.
The Rajapaksas would want their Southern base to believe that their draconian policies towards civilian Tamils or Colombo’s poor are correct. They would want the Sinhalese to be indifferent to the forced registration of Tamils, the non-poor to be indifferent to mass eviction of the poor and the well-fed to be indifferent to the fact that 20% of Lankan children are undernourished.
The Rajapaksas would regard with paranoia the idea of oppositional unity across ethnic, religious and class lines on the basis of political freedom and socio-economic justice (a project of politico-social liberalism in contradistinction to economic neo-liberalism). Their counter is Sinhala Supremacism masquerading as patriotism; and resurrecting the dead Tiger periodically to keep ethnic over determination alive.
A key lesson of Arab revolutions is the decisive role of the military. If the army is not a national entity but the security force of the Ruling Family, it does not cavil at reacting with overwhelming violence to unarmed protests. Such an army would either crush a peaceful uprising immediately or cause it to change its peaceful character and become violent, by compelling protestors to arm themselves in sheer self-defence. The regime can then characterise the revolution as a civil war and drown it in a blood-tide, as Muammar Gaddafi is doing in Libya. The Libyan Army (unlike the armies in Egypt and Tunisia and even in Bahrain) is not a national entity but a mere praetorian guard for the Gaddafi Family. This is no accident but the outcome of deliberate policy; during his 42 year rule, Gaddafi destroyed the relative autonomy of the Libyan Army and turned it into his personal tool.
In Sri Lanka, the process of Rajapaksising the Armed Forces is well underway. The siblings have deployed for this purpose their signature carrot-and-stick policy, symbolised in the contrasting fates of Gen. Sarath Fonseka and Gen. Shavendra Silva. Gen. Fonseka is a prisoner in Welikada jail, while Gen. Silva is in New York, as Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Ambassador to the UN. The message these antipodal ends send to every serving or retired officer is as unmistakable as the message sent by the pre-emptive sacking of Mangala Samaraweera to SLFP seniors – no one is big enough to escape the wrath of the Rajapaksas.
Total, unquestioning loyalty to the Ruling Family is the only option available to those who want to avoid trouble and get ahead in life. Mussolini defined his fascist model as “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state”. ‘All within the Family, nothing outside the Family, nothing against the Family’ is the Rajapaksa ethos.
Despots believe that their rule represent the end of history. But a day comes when the promise of bread, the reality of expensive circuses and the fear of barbarians at the gate cease to suffice. The Rajapaksa Rule will last for a while, but this ‘low dishonest decade’ (or decades) will end someday. The democracy tsunami cannot be confined to the Arab World, nor will Sri Lanka be immune to the democratic Zeitgeist of the new century. The Rajapaksas have already begun to prepare for this future danger by working diligently to erase the line of demarcation between the Ruling Family and the Armed Forces. Their aim would be to turn the Lankan military into their praetorian guard, a debased force which will not balk at mowing down unarmed and peaceful Sinhala protesters.
© The Sunday Leader
Saturday, March 19, 2011
In Sri Lanka, seeking to square the circle
Photo courtesy: Yamuni Rashmika
By K. Venkataramanan | The Hindu
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Indian High Commissioner Nirupam Sen's suggestion did not convince Mr. Wickremesinghe, from whose Cabinet the Defence, Interior and Mass Commuication portfolios were taken away by Ms. Kumaratunga in November 2003. However, according to the contents of a conversation between Milinda Moragoda, a senior Cabinet Minister who was coordinating the peace process from the government side, and Jeffrey J. Lunstead, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, the Prime Minister had no objection to India trying to sell the proposal to the President while she was in Islamabad for the SAARC summit in January 2004.
Mr. Lunstead reported the development in a cable dated December 29, 2003 (12953: confidential), accessed by The Hindu through WikiLeaks. The context was the lengthy stalemate in the peace process after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) withdrew from the peace talks in April 2003 and, six months and hundreds of ceasefire violations later, came up, on October 31, with a controversial proposal for an ‘Interim Self-Governing Authority' for the northeast. Four days later, Ms. Kumaratunga, marginalised in the decision-making regarding the peace process and left with the feeling that her presidency was not given the respect it deserved, divested the Defence, Interior and Information Ministers of their portfolios. This resulted in the ‘cohabitation crisis' reaching a point of no-return. Mr. Wickremesinghe thought he could not pursue peace without control over the military – as maintaining the ceasefire was the foundation of the process – and believed that a fresh parliamentary election was the only way out.
On December 26, Mr. Moragoda met Mr. Lunstead to review his upcoming visit to the U.S. and told the latter that the only effort to resolve the political stalemate “was a proposal being brokered by Indian High Commissioner Sen following his consultations in Delhi.” The Ambassador said: “Sen was pushing the idea that the regional commands (for the North and the East, presumably) could be carved out of the Defense Ministry and put under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's control. This would give him the operational control he needed to resume the peace negotiations. Milinda [Moragoda] did not know if this idea would fly. Even the PM was not fully convinced it was useful, but he was willing to let Sen try it out on the President. Milinda thought that the Indians would push this idea with President Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga (CBK) at the SAARC summit in Islamabad in early January.”
In a cable sent two days later, on December 31, 2003, containing a report on the handing over of a letter from Secretary of State Colin Powell to Mr. Wickremesinghe (12992: confidential), Mr. Lunstead said he had asked the Prime Minister if there was any chance of Mr. Sen's initiative succeeding. “PM said he did not think this would go anywhere, and even if he liked it, he did not think the Service Chiefs would accept it.”
Chandrika willing
According to a cable sent on January 5, 2004, Mr. Lunstead spoke on January 2 to Mr. Sen, who, “without any prompting,” said: “The technical means of squaring the circle are available. The problem is that Ranil does not want that much – he wants everything. She (the president) is willing to compromise, the problem now is his objection to accepting any piecemeal solution” (13027: confidential).
Mr. Sen explained that the President was looking for a way out by offering to delegate a number of defence matters to the Prime Minister, “but the PM was trying to get everything.” He added that External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee might raise the issue with the President during the SAARC summit.
Throwing light on what exactly Ms. Kumaratunga's ‘way out' was, Mr. Lunstead said in another part of the same cable, while recounting his meeting with Ms. Kumaratunga to deliver a separate letter from Mr. Powell, that she was willing to make Mr. Wickremesinghe Minister of National Security and turn over to him parts of the Defence portfolio related to the peace process.
Mr. Lunstead's own comments show that the U.S. did believe that the Prime Minister could not be blamed for the impasse, but at the same time he should be told that he should “give some meaningful role to the President, if he expects her to give him back operational control over defense.”
“We have urged her to compromise, and will continue to do so, but she will not listen to us if we ask her to consent to her own political oblivion,” he observed.
When Mr. Moragoda said on December 26 that during his U.S. visit he planned to convey to the Deputy Secretary [Richard Armitage] that the international community should understand that the President caused the crisis and was prolonging it with her obstinacy, Mr. Lunstead replied that the U.S. understood that the President had caused the crisis but its public statements had to be relatively even-handed.
The Indian efforts, however, did not bear fruit as Ms. Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament soon and called fresh elections that were held in April 2004 and brought her party back to power.
© The Hindu
Saturday, March 19, 2011
5,653 cases of ‘disappeared’ pending in Sri Lanka: Forum-Asia at 16th session of UNHRC
Tamil Net
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Increased militarization in the Northeast has created an environment of intense insecurity for resettled communities especially for female-headed families who are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation and abuse, Ms. Patel pointed out.
Participating the 16th sessions of the UNHRC, Ms Patel said that Sri Lanka did not positively respond to Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Independent Expert on Minority Rights (2007/2009), Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary disappearances (2006,2007,2008 and 2009), Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders (2008) and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression (2009), to visit the island.
She was also referring to the Systematic erosion of democratic structures and institutions, the removal of safeguards against the concentration of power on the Executive President through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and the placement of the NGO Secretariat under the Ministry of Defence.
© Tamil Net
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Sri Lanka's Polls Chief regrets misuse of state media
Daily Mirror
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He said several incidents of thuggery were reported during the period between nomination day and Election Day.
“One marked feature of the election campaign was the competition even among candidates of the same party for preference votes.
However, it was possible to conduct the poll in a fairly pleasant atmosphere when compared with previous local council elections,” he said in his statement at the conclusion of the elections.
“Nominations of candidates for 301 local authorities comprising four Municipal Councils, 39 Urban Councils and 258 Pradeshiya Sabhas took place from January 20 to January 27. A total of 2,047 nomination papers were received of which 1,595 were accepted and 452 rejected for various reasons,” he said.
Mr. Dissanayake said some of the affected parties sought legal remedy in regard to 68 rejected nominations.
“I wish to thank District Returning Officers, Deputy, Senior Assistant and Assistant Commissioners of the districts who performed a heavy task in a short period in the midst of various obstacles. The services rendered by Divisional Secretaries at the Divisional level and Grama Niladharis at the village level have to be appreciated. I highly value the services rendered in managing the organizational work at the Elections Secretariat by the Additional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, Accountants, Staff Officers in the Computer Division, Administrative Officer and the Consultants who have been assisting the Department at various times,” he said.
Mr. Dissanayake said the Police Department was called upon to provide security at all polling stations and to election staff; voters and candidates. “The Sri Lanka Police, which understood its responsibility in this connection, gave of their best in providing the security required. My thanks go to the Police Department, Civil Security Force, Special Task Force and the Sri Lanka Army for the services rendered in this connection. A word of thanks is also due to the Government Printer and his staff for assisting the Department by executing all the printing requirements in time and also the staff of the Ceylon Electricity Board, Sri Lanka Telecom, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and the Government Factory for executing our demands expeditiously,” he said.
“I also appreciate the services rendered by the Sri Lanka Government Railway, Sri Lanka Transport Board and Private Bus Operators by providing transport facilities to the poll staff and voters. Many polling stations were situated in religious premises and on private lands. I thank the owners of such premises for readily releasing the facilities,” Mr. Dissanayake said. “The officers who assisted in scrutinizing the results of the election prepared by the Returning Officers, the staff of the University of Colombo School of computing who facilitated the release of the results to the media and the Sri Lanka Telecom which provided the communication facility in this connection and helped in releasing the results to the public. The active participation by PAFFREL and CMEV and other non-governmental organizations, which rendered a much needed service in ensuring a free and fair election was invaluable and finally, I take this opportunity to thank the leaders and secretaries of political parties, candidates and the voters who co-operated with me in conducting a peaceful, free and fair election.”
© Daily Mirror
Friday, March 18, 2011
Sri Lanka: The son also rises
The Economist
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Sri Lanka’s president since 2005, Mahinda Rajapaksa, is evidently giving the matter some thought. His government is already dominated by several Rajapaksa brothers, including a fierce one, Gotabaya, who oversees defence, and a more nimble-minded one, Basil, who runs economic policy. Now the 65 year-old president, who last month denied a rumour that he was being treated for cancer, is increasingly eager to promote his son, Namal Rajapaksa.
The 24-year-old MP is frequently taken on foreign trips by his father. In January he was dispatched to Libya to deliver a formal invitation for Muammar Qaddafi to visit Sri Lanka, to improve the “strong personal relationship” between the two country’s leaders.
At home excuses are rustled up to keep him in the limelight. Last month he dispensed the man-of-the-match award at Sri Lanka’s opening game of the cricket world cup, which took place in a newly built stadium in—by happy coincidence—his own constituency, Hambantota, in the south of the country. A few days earlier the portly young politician had been shown laying a foundation stone for a new office complex, funded by the Asian Development Bank; just before that he was named chairman of a new fund to protect a forest and an ancient pink quartz mountain range, the National Namal Uyana.
He is on hand to inaugurate new bridges and roads. As the head of a national body, Tharunyata Hetak (“aspiring youth”), he is whisked north—a chopper is usually on call—to dish out cash, books and other aid to victims of the civil war. His group has its own television channel, which shows him doing the dishing. He enjoys fawning—sorry, perceptive—coverage from state press and broadcasters.
His year-long political career has been charmed. His constituency, a Rajapaksa family stronghold since the 1930s, has been chosen as the site of a new international airport, a conference centre, hotels and other big projects. In November he officiated with his father at the opening of a large, Chinese-built harbour in Hambantota. Now young Mr Rajapaksa, charming, London-educated and fond of rugby, is leading a bid for Hambantota to host the 2018 Commonwealth games.
A presidential change will not happen overnight. Mr Rajapaksa père remains popular among the Sinhalese majority for helping to force a decisive, brutal end to a civil war two years ago. He won a thumping re-election last year and has since pushed through constitutional changes that give him more clout and let him seek a third term, probably at an election in 2016. But preparing the son looks to be a form of insurance policy.
The opposition is hoping for a ruling family feud, as the son vies with his uncle to be heir-apparent (Basil had previously been touted as a successor). But Namal’s promotion may suit the whole family. It must fend off accusations that thousands of Tamil Tiger opponents and civilians were massacred at the dreadful climax of the war. Frequent foreign demands for an inquiry, and an attempt by the United Nations to launch one, have soured Western relations with Sri Lanka.
Patching up foreign ties and reconciliation with the aggrieved Tamils are the most important tasks facing Sri Lanka’s rulers. These are much harder while Mahinda remains the face of government. If the Rajapaksas want a dynasty preserved for many years, preparing the way for a young insider, untainted by any role in the war, could be the family’s canniest strategy.
© The Economist
Friday, March 18, 2011
Global Energy eyeing refinery deal in Sri Lanka's Hambantota
By Santhush Fernando | The Bottom Line
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The refinery estimated to cost between US $ 1.5 to 2bn (Rs.166.5 to 222bn), is said to be thrice the size of the current state-run Sapugaskanda Refinery and will mainly refine crude oil for the export market, with Hambantota poised to become a mega global hub in energy, shipping and aviation.
Petroleum Corporation and a current director of Chevron Lubricants Lanka Plc is the local coordinator for the project while a former DGM of CPC and a Geology professor of University of Peradeniya is also involved in the project. Already they have 24 employees with them,” a high ranking official of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry told The Bottom Line.
However, he added that it was unfortunate that the line ministry was not kept informed that a MoU on a petroleum industry-related project was signed.
“No one knows which government institution has signed this MoU. The Ministry Secretary Titus Jayawardene was not aware of these developments. How can the ministry take a proper decision on whether to go ahead with the US $ 2.2bn Sapugaskanda Project if it is not aware of the private project! The Ministry or the CPC cannot gamble with funds because these are public moneys which the country must repay later on. If the private refinery is coming up, it is good because we may not have to find a staggering amount such as Rs. 244.2bn (US $ 2.2bn),” he lamented.
Numerous energy experts and think tanks have time and again emphasised the need to have a refinery in Hambantota if the country was to emerge as a global player in the energy industry.
“Various parties have applied for refineries in Hambantota. South Korea, ETA Ascon of Dubai and Petrochina subsidiary - China HuanQiu Contracting and Engineering Corporation that built the Muthurajawela tank farm, are among them. But Global Energy is said to have been eying this since 2000 and had also concluded a preliminary feasibility study. They seem to be very serious about the refinery project,” he added.
Meanwhile The Bottom Line exclusively reported last week that a high-powered government delegation was scheduled to visit Iran, in a bid to revive the Rs. 244bn Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery Expansion and Modernisation (SOREM) project that has been in the limbo since 2007 and to appeal Iranian authorities to extend repayment period up to twenty years.
In 2007, The Nation exclusively reported that UAE-based ETA Aston Group was planning to invest US 1.2bn in mega oil refinery in Hambantota, and had also identified a 400 acres of Mahaweli land in Mirrijjawila.
Last year, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha announced that he had received a proposal from Petrochina subsidiary - China Huanqiu Contracting and Engineering Corp to set up a refinery in the Hambantota district targeting the export market. Petrochina or China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is China’s largest oil and gas producer and supplier, as well as one of the world’s major oilfield service providers and a globally reputed contractor in engineering construction, with a presence in nearly 70 countries.
© The Bottom Line
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