INTERNAL
DEVELOPMENTS
Internally,
the month of November 2011 saw a politically turbulent period and the country’s
economy was facing the heat from the international economic downturn.
Acquiring
of private enterprises
The
hurried enactment of the bill “The Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and
Underutilized Assets Bill” to take over 37 private enterprises, which the
government said were not performing well, created strong reaction from most of
the business houses and political parties. The bill had drawn widespread
criticism from business, political circles and even Buddhist clergy. Even two
partners of the ruling coalition the right wing Jatiya Hela Urumaiah (JHU) and
the National Freedom Front (NFF) abstained from voting although the bill was
passed with 122 votes in favour and 46 against.
The
international rating agency Fitch Rating commenting on the enactment said,
"There is a risk that it will set a precedent for further expropriation
and will be applied to a broader range of businesses and assets; this would be
a disincentive for both local and foreign investors." The chamber of
commerce expressed similar concerns. As though to underline their fears, such
precipitate action without detailed discussion would discourage foreign
investments. As though to underline this concern, media reports indicate Sri
Lanka's Board of Investment, the state investment promotion agency, has deleted
a page which 'guaranteed' investors freedom from expropriation, raising
questions of heightened political risk, lawmakers said.
Former
army chief Fonseka’s second conviction
Sri
Lanka’s opposition parties have rallied against the supreme court’s conviction of former Sri
Lanka army chief Sarath Fonseka to three years imprisonment after finding him
guilty of “propagating a false rumour” in violation of emergency regulations
and the Criminal Procedure Code in “the White Flag case” as an act of
vindictiveness. The case relates to Fonseka’s interview given to an English daily
The Sunday Leader soon after the war. In the interview he had alleged that the
Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered the killing of LTTE cadres wanting
to surrender with white flags. Fonseka pleaded not guilty claiming he was
quoted out of context in the article. The opposition United National Party
(UNP) has taken up the issue on the floor of Parliament also; public protests
have also been organised.
Already
the former General is serving a jail term of 30 months awarded by an army court
martial for engaging in politics while in active military service. Opposition
parties had put him up as their common candidate against President Rajapaksa in
the last presidential poll. And they consider the cases have been foisted on
Fonseka out of vindictiveness for contesting against Rajapaksa. According to
Sri Lanka media, the U.S. is reported to have warned the Government that the
United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva would be moved against
Sri Lanka unless Fonseka is released from prison. The U.S. also considers him a
political prisoner.
Political
confrontation
The
confrontation between the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance coalition and
opposition parties, particularly the UNP, has become sharp as the latter is
smarting under the government’s efforts to crush the opposition while ignoring
the misdeeds of its own constituents. The enactment to acquire the 37 private
enterprises and the second conviction of Fonseka have provided rallying point
for the opposition as they have generated fear and discontent among sections of
the public.
The
UPFA’s lack of sensitivity in handling these issues in the parliament resulted
in fisticuffs between members in the House during the budget presentation. The
UNP’s Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya accused the ruling coalition members of
attacking UNP MPs in the presence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa in parliament.
In the follow up action, the The Parliament yesterday suspended Deputy
Petroleum Industries Minister, Sarana Gunawardena for a week for throwing a
bottle of water at UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe during what media described
as “a mini-battle” in parliament. The confrontation is likely to continue as
both sides appear to be in no mood to cool their passions and come to operate
within the norms of parliamentary democracy. Of course much of the
responsibility for this state of affairs lies with the UPFA and the government.
Economy
The
Budget for the year 2012 presented by the President in Parliament on November
21 has been structured in response to the gloomy global economic scene. The
salient aspects of the budget include, devaluation of the Sri Lanka rupee
(SLRs) by 3 percent from current level of SLRs 110.40 per US $. It anticipated
a fall in gross domestic product to 6.2 percent from this year’s 7 percent. The
government hopes to bridge the gap by achieving 14.7 percent increase in total
revenue over this year’s figure.
The
total expenditure growth has been pegged at 21.2 percent growth marginally less
by 0.2 percent than this year’s growth. To attract investments a tax holiday of
6 to 12 years is being proposed to be offered for investments ranging from SLRs
300 million to 2.5 billion. A total of
SLRs 190.3 billion is proposed to be spent on urban development and improvement
of roads while SLRs 35.8 billion will be spent on irrigation. A 10 percent hike in public sector wages is
also proposed.
However,
it is doubtful whether these measures would be able to insulate the
export-dependent economy from the effects of economic slump in Europe and the
U.S.and its global fall out.
Miscellaneous
The
government has informed the parliament that 893 persons had been detained under
the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Of them 64 were currently on trial, and
in the case 259 others cases have not been filed pending instructions from
Attorney General’s office. Ten detainees under PTA have been released.
Mrs
Chandrika Kumaratunga, former President, has strongly criticised the government
for the way it has handled the internally displaced persons in the Eelam-war
affected areas. She was critical of entrusting the reconstruction work to the
army, which had kept 450,000 people confined in camps for two years. She cited
her own experience in handling the situation with greater sensitivity after
Jaffna was captured during her tenure. She also accused the army of grabbing
large chunks of land.
EXTERNAL
DEVELOPMENTS
Belying
the government expectations, Sri Lanka lost its bid to host 2018 Commonwealth
Games to Australia’s Gold Coast by 43 votes to 27. It was expected to promote Hambantota and its
new port and infrastructure facilities. At the back of the decision could be
the efforts of non-Asian members of the Commonwealth many of who are unhappy
with Sri Lanka’s lack of response to international concerns over its human
rights record and alleged war crimes.
President
Rajapaksa met the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of
the 18th SAARC summit at Addu. The perennial topics of discussion –
rehabilitation of war displaced Tamils, construction of houses gifted by India
and inevitably, the Tamil Nadu fishermen’s issue (of violence by Sri Lankans) -
came up in the discussion at their meeting. The fishermen’s issue has been an
increasing cause of concern as Tamil Nadu chief minister Ms Jayalalithaa is
increasing the hype over the issue much to the discomfort of the Congress party
and the DMK. This issue is likely to stoke more passions inTamil Nadu the
coming months as the state government already has Centre under fire over number
of other contentious issues including the Kudankulam nuclear reactor and
decision to introduce foreign direct investment in retail business.
An
evaluation report of Norway’s peace effort in Sri Lanka from 1997 to 2009
commissioned by the Norwegian government last year released during the month
created a lot of local interest. The report prepared jointly by experts from
the Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI), Bergen, and the School of Oriental and
African studies (SOAS), London, made a critical analysis of both the positive and
negative results of Norwegian facilitation. However, it stated “The Sri Lankan
peace process is largely a story of failure in terms of bringing an end to the
civil war” although Norway could not be held responsible for this ultimate
failure. The Norwegian report has kindled the report of the Lessons Learned and
Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) which was also submitted in mid November 2011.
However, the government has not yet made the report public.
Written on November 30, 2011
Courtesy: South Asia Security Trends, Vol 5 No 11, December 2011
URL: www.security-risks.com
No comments:
Post a Comment