THE DEVOLUTION DEBATE & HISTORICISM

By Dayan Jayatilleka

“It is this sort of polarisation and distrust which, running through the whole tragic history of the Tamil issue, now permits the past to hold the future hostage…Each fresh confrontation and every violent eruption becomes an instant invitation to an overpowering onrush of self-righteous recidivism, against which reason can only erect the feeblest defences.…”

  “Zeno the Stoic’s  follower Iambulus (ca.250 BC) … described a Blessed Isle in the Indian Ocean (perhaps Ceylon): there, he reported, all men were  equal, not only in rights but in ability and intelligence; all worked equally, and shared equally in the product; all took equal part, turn by turn, in administering the government; neither wealth nor poverty existed there, nor any war of the classes;  nature produced fruit abundantly of her  own accord, and men lived in harmony and universal love.” Will Durant: The Story of Civilisation,

Project worth Rs, 1,058 m for IDP children:  

Nadira GUNATILLEKE  

The Sri Lankan Government has launched projects worth Rs.1,058 million to provide higher education facilities for children of displaced families as part of the Uthuru Wasanthaya program. (Northern Spring).

By: Dinisha Fernando

The Ministerial Declaration titled “Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to global public health” was adopted at the end of the High-level Segment of the ECOSOC on 9^th of July 2009.  Sri Lanka was referred to twice in the preamble, with appreciative comments regarding its initiative to host a Regional Preparatory Ministerial Meeting and its Voluntary National Presentation.

Foreign Minister of Bangladesh Dr. Dipu Moni who is in Sri Lanka to attend the Fourth SAARC Ministerial Conference on Children held on 9 – 10 July 2009 in Colombo, met with Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on 10 July 2009 at the Ministry. 

Welcoming the visiting Foreign Minister, Minister Bogollagama referred to the excellent relations that the two countries have maintained for decades.   

The auditorium of the Media Centre for National Security was teeming with media personnel as more than 70 odd members of the fourth estate, the highest number of them ever to attend a press briefing in recent times, gathered there at the auditorium on Wednesday afternoon.

All media personnel had arrived well before the scheduled time, 3 p.m. despite the short notice issued to them in the morning to see the five Tamil doctors namely Dr. Sathyamoorthy, Dr. Ilancheliyan, Dr. Sivapalan, Dr. Shanmugaraja and Dr. Vartharaja.

Lakshmi DE SILVA in Jaffna

Jaffna’s famous Windsor cinema hall will be turned into a Lak Sathosa outlet within two weeks to bring down the prevailing high prices of essential goods in Jaffna, Trade, Commerce and Cooperatives Minister Bandula Gunawardena told a meeting in Jaffna yesterday.

By Kurulu Kariyakarawana  

The living standards of over 3000 Internally Displaced Persons, who are currently residing at the Menik farm IDP Camp in Settikulam, had been considerably enhanced with the facilities and special care granted to them by Rotary International, amidst various organisations committed to do so along with the government.

Iran has recognized Sri Lanka as one of its best friends. Iran will stand by Sri Lanka and extend its fullest support to safeguard Sri Lanka's sovereignty and freedom and help consolidate the peace President Mahinda Rajapaksa has achieved for the country, said, Iranian Ambassador As Shaik Mahmood Rahimi Gorgi addressing a felicitation ceremony at the Ishaniya Arabic College, Peer Saibo Street, Colombo 12. Gorji said no power on earth could destabilise Iran and all foreign conspiracies will be thwarted. Dr. Mahmood Ahmadi Najath, who has been elected again as the President of Iran is a close friend of President Rajapaksa and people of Sri Lanka.

STATEMENT BY DR.H.A.P.Kahandaliyanage, Secretary/Healthcare and Nutrition at HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT ECOSOC ANNUAL MINISTERIAL REVIEW, GENEVA, 9^TH JULY 2009

“Implementing the Internationally Agreed Goals and Commitments In Regard of Global Public Health” 

Madam Chairperson, 

Sri Lanka is pleased to participate in the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of ECOSOC relating to the Annual Ministerial Review on “Implementing the Internationally Agreed Goals and Commitments in the Health Sector.”

July 08, Colombo: Five Sri Lankan Tamil doctors who provided civilian casualty figures during the military offensive in the North recanted their stories today during a media conference held at the Media Center for National Security.

Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil doctors, V. Shanmugarajah, Thurairaja Varatharajah, Thangamuttu Sathyamurthi, Sivapalan and Ilancheliyan Pallavan who escaped into the government controlled areas during the final days of war before the security forces took control of the entire North, said today that they were forced by the LTTE to provide inflated civilian casualty figures to the media.

Acknowledging that Sri Lanka had gone through an extremely difficult period of grappling with terrorism for nearly three decades, Deepak Obhrai, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada pledged that Canada will be partners in this country’s post conflict development, when he met Rohitha Bogollagama, Minister of Foreign Affairs recently.

A novel training scheme in the hotel trade has been launched in the Eastern Province by the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management with the Eastern Provincial Council.  

It is designed as a measure for the youth in the East, interested in the hotel trade as a profession. 

Initially 90 youth in the province have been selected for the training course.  

By Nizla Naizer

Department of Technical Education arms over 800 former LTTE combatants with skills and a future; Over 12,000 IDPs in Jaffna empowered as well with vocational training

Over 800 former LTTE combatants and 12000 IDPs in Jaffna are to be provided with a new lease of life with training in technical skills provided by the Technical Training Colleges situated in various parts of the country.

In keeping with the policies and development effort to re-awaken the Northern Province, BOI has taken to priority to open up a branch office in the Jaffna Peninsula.

The presence of a BOI office in Jaffna will enhance and help to expedite the development plan envisaged by the BOI.  BOI has identified in the provinces with the Government Agent of Jaffna the potential land for various development projects.

A Sri Lankan success story   

Sri Lanka has emerged as a success story in promoting safer childbirth. The country's significant decline in maternal deaths will be presented today at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) South Asia Day. The conference gathers together a group of international experts to discuss maternal and child health in South Asia.

Statement by Dr. H.A.P. Kahandaliyanage, Secretary, Ministry of Healthcare & Nutrition of Sri Lanka at the High –Level Segment ECOSOC, Geneva, 8^th July 2009

Annual Ministerial Review – Sri Lanka’s National Voluntary Presentation on “National Development Strategies and Commitments to Achieve IADGs including MDGs”: Sri Lanka’s National Report

by Kath Noble 

It would be foolhardy to assume that the conflict in Sri Lanka was irretrievably over. Prabhakaran is gone, but the Tiger diaspora is sounding as fierce as ever. They won’t do anything that involves moving from the comfort of their Western armchairs, internet cafes and lobby bars, but they have money. Whether this can be translated into bombs in Colombo depends to a large extent on the mentality of the Tiger cadres on the ground, so I was particularly interested during my recent trip northwards to meet some of those who had been detained by the Army.

By: Dinisha Fernando

The National Voluntary Presentations were the hallmark of ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review on Tuesday the 7^th July 2007. Representatives from Bolivia, China, the Dominican Republic, Japan, Jamaica, and Mali gave informative presentations about their respective nation’s progress toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).  Each country outlined the positive changes that have been implemented as well as the challenges that are still being faced.  The Chinese presentation was of particular interest to Sri Lanka because of China’s experience in working with public financing for healthcare.