After successfully completing the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, President Ranil Wickremesinghe went directly to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Kampala, Uganda.
Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Director General of the Department of Government Information Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne, State Minister Chamara Sampath, MPs Nimal Piyatissa, Udayakantha Gunathilaka, Kumarasiri Ratnayake and SJB MP Kings Nelson who were travelling from Colombo to participate in the Non-Aligned Summit also boarded the same flight at Dubai in which the President was travelling.
Although the Ugandan airport was full of State Leaders who came to the Summit and there was heavy traffic, the country’s authorities had taken care to reserve a special place for President Ranil Wickremesinghe. The President stayed at a hotel reserved for many Heads of State. Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry joined the Summit.
On the same day President Wickremesinghe went to Uganda, the Supreme Court’s decision regarding former MP Duminda Silva was announced. The President who spoke to his Secretary Ekanayake and Dinith Chinthaka Karunaratne brought a copy of the decision and read it.
The dinner that day was arranged at a hotel in Uganda owned by an Indian. Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and his group and President Wickremesinghe and his group had dinner at nearby tables.
In conjunction with the Non-Aligned Summit, the G. 77 conference was also held and President Wickremesinghe also participated. During a short break there, the President spoke to the Heads of State and they told the Sri Lankan delegation that it shows the characteristics of a mature leadership.
After meeting the Palestinian Foreign Minister, President Wickremesinghe’s prediction about where Palestine will be in five years was applauded by everyone. Many Heads of State of the African Union had requested an opportunity to meet President Wickremesinghe and he took steps to provide the opportunities to them. Those meetings were held until 10-11 pm.
Those present said since many countries of the African Union had voting rights in the United Nations and its Human Rights Council, President Wickremesinghe met those leaders and made a future investment.
A group of Tamil Nadu businessmen also attended the dinner hosted by Sri Lankan Ambassador to Uganda, Kananathan and State Minister Chamara Sampath spoke to them in Tamil. While Chamara Sampath was talking to them, President Wickremesinghe who was a little further away was watching with a smile.
Visa facilities
State Minister Chamara Sampath and MP Kins Nelson told the President that Tunisia does not provide visa facilities to Sri Lankan gem businessmen to do business in that country.
Since the Head of State of Tunisia was also present at that Summit, President Wickremesinghe who met him raised that question. The Tunisian Head of State, who spoke to the relevant departments on the phone, resolved the problem in a few minutes.
On hearing the news that the delegation including Ministers and officials were hanging around MP Kins Nelson’s room, President Wickremesinghe also heard that the group was hanging around because MP Nelson had brought cuttlefish and dried fish.
President Wickremesinghe, who arrived in the country on Tuesday morning, began to engage in duties as usual that afternoon. On that day, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara met President’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayaka to send a report to the President regarding the party’s future work.
The party’s speaker training program was completed and a certificate and identity card was issued to that group and the party had completed the training of these speakers representing all the districts except three districts.
President Wickremesinghe went to Parliament on Wednesday afternoon to attend the Cabinet meeting. When the President came to his office after finishing it, MP Charles Nirmalanathan was waiting for the President.
Seeing him, President Wickremesinghe said, “Ah.. a leader of the TNA has come” and invited him too and went into the room. The President said that Charles Nirmalanathan was someone who was committed to appoint S. Sridharan to the TNA leadership. The President told MP Nirmalanathan to tell the Tamil Diaspora to invest in the development of the North.
After TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran spoke in Parliament against the Online Safety Bill, and the Attorney General’s Department officials in the officers’ box sent a chit asking if they could meet him. Accordingly, MP Sumanthiran came there along with the Assistant Secretary General.
As the officers of the Attorney General’s Department answered all the issues raised by MP Sumanthiran, he had to accept them. In the meantime, a group of SJB MPs also came to the President’s office to meet and discuss with the President. Then MP Rajika Wickramasinghe told Prof. Ashu Marasinghe, “The group will come and meet the President, won’t they?”
State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe met the President and discussed the collection of State revenues. Thereafter, he told Ministers Manusha Nanayakkara, Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Presidential Adviser Prof. Ashu Marasinghe who were there to tell the MPs to inform the people about ‘Aswesuma’ as those who did not get the relief can apply again.
When the President boarded his vehicle to leave Parliament, Serjeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando greeted him. On seeing him, President Wickremesinghe got off the vehicle because he knew that Narendra Fernando would be retiring by the end of this month. After alighting from the vehicle and greeting Narendra, President Wickremesinghe told Prof. Ashu Marasinghe, “Take a photograph of us. I have worked with him for a long time in my Parliamentary history.” Following the President’s instructions, Ashu took a photograph on his camera phone and after the President left, Narendra appreciated President Wickramasinghe’s gentlemanly quality.
On Thursday morning, President Wickremesinghe went to the Sapugaskanda Abeysekararamaya. The President, who opened the Bodhi wall with golden fences built by Ven.e Banagala Upatissa Thera, outlined how he developed Biyagama as an electoral organiser and the program he has to develop the country at present as President.
The President on his way home from Sapugaskanda went to State Minister Sanath Nishantha’s residence, who died in a car crash on the Katunayake Expressway and expressed his condolences to his wife and children. When the President returned home, a group of Ministers remained there to talk about the political situation.
“Only two groups are opposing the Online Safety Bill. One is those who work in media organisations and personally work on social media. The other is the Opposition. But both of them know that this Bill was introduced for the sake of children and women,” MP Wajira Abeywardena started the speech.
“Yes, more than seven million children and women have been sexually abused on social media. Does the Opposition say, stopping this is wrong? MP Premanath Dolawatta said.
“Even though they publicly oppose, they ask to bring the Bill when they meet the President,” Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said with a smile.
“India, UK and Singapore have brought such Bills. But only when we bring it, Internet providers such as Google and Meta object. This is very strange. “This is how Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena joined in the conversation. “A number of countries asked the US to control this. But they didn’t do that, so other countries are now starting to control individually.” Everyone approved what Attorney-at-Law Dinesh Vidanapathirana said.
Fake accounts
“We do not censor social media. But there have been complaints that women and children are being abused through this. In traditional media, there is a group that is responsible for what they say and do. But that’s not the case here. You can make a fake account and do much abuse. Women and children can be abused. The Government wants to stop this.” The conversation ended with this statement of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Groups using social media, media organisations and various professionals including trade unions had asked for an opportunity to meet Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa before debating the draft Online Safety Bill that was submitted to Parliament last week. The Opposition Leader joined a discussion with the representatives of the groups.
Representatives of Hashtag Generation, CPA, PAFFREL Organisation, Free Media Movement, Working Journalists’ Association, Tamil Media Forum, Law and Society Collective, Ceylon Teachers’ Association, Inter News, Centre for Policy Alternatives and various other professionals participated in this event.
Sarita Irugalbandara, who represented Hashtag, made a presentation on the facts on this Bill as well as the decision given by the Supreme Court and the problems arising from this for internet service providers. Bhavani Fonseka, who represented the CPA, presented a legal analysis on this and said that this Bill is an extremely harmful act.
Shan Wijayatunga of Inter News said that among the people representing this event, there is a group who believe that all the Bills presented by the Government such as the Online Safety Bill as well as the Anti-Terrorism Bill and the Broadcasting Authority Regulation Bill should be abolished.
Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya said that regulations on social media are in operation in many countries. Dr. Kalansooriya said that the regulations were established following discussions with all parties and following long-term methods, but this Bill is not presented to Parliament following such a procedure and there is a possibility of serious problems.
Jehan Perera said that the Opposition should intervene to postpone or prevent the presentation of this Bill.
All the representatives who spoke told the Opposition Leader that this Bill deprives the freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution. The Opposition Leader said that the idea of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is not to pass it with amendments, but to completely discard this Bill and present a new Bill in consultation with all parties.
Opposition Leader Premadasa said that he will discuss with all the parties of the Opposition and take prompt action that can be taken within Parliament. The Opposition Leader said that if the Government presents the draft Bill, at least the proposals of the organisations should be presented.
As promised on Friday, the Opposition Leader instructed the officials of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition to organise a discussion in Parliament with several groups representing the Opposition. Due to the busy schedule that day, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara attended the meeting on the instructions of the Opposition Leader.
At the meeting, MP Udaya Gammanpila suggested that the Opposition Leader should discuss the impasse in this Bill with the Members of Parliament representing the Opposition and request the Speaker not to debate the Bill. The MP also said that it is important to send a letter signed by the Opposition Leader mentioning this to the Speaker on the same day.
Accordingly, the group of MPs who prepared the letter signed by the Opposition Leader handed it over to the Speaker asking him to postpone the debate on the Bill. It was also decided at the meeting when the Parliament meets on Tuesday, this request should be made verbally after discussing this with all the Opposition party representatives and meeting the speaker.
Zoom meeting
General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara informed the Opposition Leader about this and added that the MPs who met emphasised the importance of discussing with all party representatives. The Opposition Leader told the General Secretary to instruct the officials of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition to arrange this meeting at the Office of the Opposition Leader in the Parliament on Tuesday morning.
The Opposition Leader also told the General Secretary that it is important to inform the Parliamentary Group of Samagi Jana Balawegaya and Samagi Jana Sandanaya about this in the Opposition Parliamentary Group meeting held on Sunday night via Zoom technology. The Opposition Leader, who explained this to the group of MPs in the group meeting, emphasised that it is their position to completely withdraw this Bill.
On Tuesday, Opposition MPs were seen eagerly visiting the office of the Opposition Leader in Parliament. MP Lakshman Kiriella said that there was not enough space in the office of the Opposition Leader due to the meeting of many MPs including Rauf Hakeem, Mano Ganesan, M.A.Sumanthiran, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam and Gevindu Kumarathunga. MP Chandima Weerakkodi said that the presence of all Opposition MPs except JVP has created a very important opportunity.
The Opposition Leader said that according to the proposal of the Executive Council of the Opposition which met on Friday under the chairmanship of General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, everyone had decided to meet the Speaker to request him to stop debating the proposed Bill in Parliament. MP Eran Wickramaratne said that all the MPs who agreed to it went to the office to meet the Speaker, pointing out that despite having different ideologies, they should come together to achieve the aspirations of the people.
The Opposition Leader told the Speaker that this Bill was not presented in keeping with the proper traditions of the Parliament. At least, the Sectoral Oversight Committee dealing with the relevant ministry had not discussed the amendments proposed by the Supreme Court. The Opposition leader explained to the Speaker and all the MPs about the dangers of this Bill saying that it will even affect the economy of Sri Lanka. MP Chandima Weerakkodi said that according to some clauses of this Act even tourism will be severely affected. “Mr. Speaker, you will not be able even to go to the village,” he said.
“How can that happen?” asked the Speaker. MP Weerakkodi said that even applications such as Booking.com are affected. The Speaker said that a meeting of the Party Leaders will be called to discuss this matter.
After adjourning the House for a Parliamentary meeting, the Speaker called a meeting of Party Leaders and inquired whether the Bill would be debated or not. There, the Opposition Party Leaders said that this Bill should be submitted to the Parliament again with amendments without debating it. But Ministers Kanchana Wijesekara and Mahinda Amaraweera, who opposed it and argued that this Bill should be debated as proposed.
A member of the Opposition said that although the postponement of the debate was reflected as the Speaker’s idea, the intervention of the Government Ministers had some effect on it. At the end, the Speaker had to take a vote in Parliament whether it should be debated or not, rejecting the Opposition’s request.
Later, the Opposition Leader said that the Government is trying to pass the Bill somehow or the other. Therefore, he instructed the group MPs to take steps to present amendments to several sections of the Bill. The Opposition Leader emphasised to take into account the opinions presented by various media organisations, social media users and scholars.
Accordingly, in the debate, a proposal with amendments made in relation to Sections 3 / 5 / 15 / 19 / 31/ 36 of the Bill was presented to the Speaker by MP Chandima Weerakkodi. MP Lakshman Kiriella said the present Government attempts to use this act to suppress the people to consolidate its power. Under a SJB Government, steps will be taken to abolish this Act, he said.
Road renovation
The renovation and improvement of 25 km of the road network from Keviliyamaduwa to Mahaoya on the Ampara-Uhana-Mahaoya road at a cost of Rs.3 billion under the Saudi Investment Fund commenced last Thursday under the patronage of Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media, Dr. Bandula Gunawardena.
Many Buddhist monks including Sangha Nayaka Theras of the Ampara district were also present.
Many roads in that area were also destroyed by the recent floods.
Ampara district Coordinating Committee Chairman W. D. Weerasinghe MP said that he spent Rs. 4.8 million from the compensation he received for his house which was recently burnt down by ‘Aragalaya’ activists and worked hard to provide relief to the people affected by the flood. None of the ‘Aragalaya’ activists came to give anything to the flood-affected people.
Six to join SJB
Six members of the ‘Nidahasa Janatha Sabawa’ led by former Minister Dullas Alahapperuma have decided to join the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). It is no secret that Prof. G.L. Peiris and Nalaka Godahewa’s group is already working very closely with Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. Godahewa was in charge of building up the image of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prof. G.L. Peiris gave legal advice to him. It is also reported that Prof. Peiris is now working with Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to engage in the same activity.
