Ranil’s brother among those facing legal action for failing to submit election expense reports

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Thirteen cases have been filed against candidates who contested the September 2024 presidential election, as well as the political parties and independent groups that nominated them, for failing to submit their election expense reports, Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake revealed to The Island on Wednesday (1 January).

Among those facing legal action is Channa Wickremesinghe, the brother of former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who nominated him for the presidency, Ratnayake confirmed.

Of the 13 cases, three involve candidates who contested the 21 September presidential election but did not submit their expense reports. The police have initiated legal proceedings against them, the Commissioner General added.

Under campaign finance regulations, two reports must be submitted to the Election Commission: one by the candidate and the other by the political party or individual who proposed their candidacy. For independent candidates, the proposer is responsible for submitting the expense report, while for party candidates, the party’s general secretary must file the report. The deadline for submission was midnight on 13 October 2024.

According to a gazette notification dated 16 August 2024, each presidential candidate was permitted to spend a maximum of 109 rupees per voter on campaign activities, amounting to over 1.8 billion rupees (approximately six million US dollars) per candidate. The expenditure limit was set at 60% for the candidate and 40% for the political party or proposer handling their campaign.

“Battaramulle Seelarathana Thera, Sarath Keerthiratna, and P. Ariyanethiran are the three candidates who have not submitted their expense reports. Moreover, neither their political parties nor the individuals who proposed their candidacy have submitted reports either. We have provided the necessary information to the police, who have filed cases against the candidates as well as the secretaries of the political parties or the proposers,” Ratnayake explained.

He added that seven political parties or independent groups have also failed to submit expense reports, despite their candidates having done so.

“There are four such registered parties: the Democratic Unity Alliance, United Lanka People’s Party, Samabima Party, and Democratic United National Front. Then there are three independent candidates whose nominees had not submitted reports. H.M. Asitha Bandara, who nominated Victor Anthony Perera; Archana Ranatunga, who nominated K.K. Piyadasa; and Channa Wickremesinghe, who nominated Ranil Wickremesinghe, are also facing legal action,” he said.

Ratnayake noted that once expense reports are received, they are displayed for 10 days online and at the Elections Secretariat. Civil society has the responsibility to review and scrutinise these reports, and the Election Commission takes legal action against those who fail to submit them via the police.

“The Election Commission does not have the authority to verify the accuracy of the expense reports submitted by candidates and parties. Civil society is better positioned to identify discrepancies. People can check all expense reports online, even now. Civil society can review these reports and take legal action, if necessary,” he said.

The Commissioner General explained that the Regulation of Election Expenditure Act was passed in 2023, ahead of the local government elections, and many of their suggestions had not been incorporated. “There are many weaknesses in the act. We only play the role of returning officer; we have no power or ability to investigate the reports submitted by candidates. We introduced a standard format for submitting expenditure during the 2024 presidential election period to allow for easier comparison. However, some individuals submitted reports as brief as two pages. I believe civil society and others should review these reports and take action,” he said.

Ratnayake also revealed that 1,042 candidates who contested the 21 November general election have not submitted their expense reports. The deadline for submission was 6 December. “We have instructed district returning officers to collaborate with DIGs in their respective areas to file cases against those who have not submitted reports. We will provide all necessary documents, and the police, after conducting investigations, will file cases through the Attorney General’s Department,” he said.

The Commissioner General urged civil society and political parties to take a more proactive role in scrutinising the expense reports submitted to the Election Commission. “If there is misleading information, they should take action. We all have divided responsibilities, and democracy will only function effectively if we take these matters seriously,” he said.

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Muzarabani, Ervine and Williams keep Zimbabwe ahead

Zimbabwe and Afghanistan wrestled for the advantage on a fast-paced day of Test cricket in Bulawayo, with the hosts only slightly ahead.

Two hundred and eighty three runs were scored and 13 wickets fell on the second day where the momentum see-sawed between the two teams, leaving the Test delicately poised.

Resuming from 6 for 0 after bowling Afghanistan out for 157 on a rain-hit first day, Zimbabwe were in early trouble thanks to a top-order collapse. But half-centuries from Craig Ervine and Sikandar Raza and a knock of equal value from an injured Sean Williams saw Zimbabwe take an 86-run lead – one that was significant given the difficult nature of the pitch.

Zimbabwe then removed three Afghanistan batters – with Blessing Muzarabani accounting for two – to end the day 40 runs ahead, while Afghanistan have just seven wickets in hand to try and set up a challenging target.

Afghanistan 157 in 44.3 overs and 46 for 3 in 15 overs (Rahmat Shah 18*; Blessing Muzarabani 2-17) trailZimbabwe in 73.3 overs 243 (Craig Ervine 75, Sikandar Raza 61, Sean Williams 49;  Rashid Khan 4-94, Yamin Ahmadzai 3-62, Fareed Ahmad 2-27) by 40 runs

[Cricinfo]

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The second term of Donald Trump: What could we expect? – Part III

by Tissa Jayatilaka

(This article is based on a talk given to the members of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service Association on the 10th of December, 2024. First part of it appeared in The Island of 01 Jan. 2025).

Meantime Trump on Monday, 2 December, 2024, in a post on ‘Truth Social’ indicated that he seeks an Israel-Hamas ceasefire before he takes office in January. He has promised that ‘there will be hell to pay’ if captives held in Gaza during Israel’s ongoing war are not released when he becomes President on 20 January, 2025. Whether this is all too familiar Trump bluster or if he is serious in his intent is not yet clear. It also seems contradictory to his ‘America First’ policy.

What of Trump’s likely China policy? Rick Waters, a former State Department specialist on China, who worked for the first Trump term, in a recent ‘China Power Podcast’ with Bonn Lynn, the Director of the ‘China Power Project’ and Senior Advisor at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) in Washington D.C, is of the view that there is likely to be ‘significant volatility’ in the US-China relationship. Biden, Waters observes, did not re-set the China Policy of Trump when he took over the Presidency in 2020. Waters is of the view that a ‘leader level channel’ between the US and China is crucial when Trump begins his second term. He foresees the establishment of ‘Asian NATO’ in the Indo-Pacific to counter China whereby the QUAD and AUKUS will be strengthened, and Washington- Tokyo-Manila and Washington-Tokyo- Seoul trilateral alliances formed.

The entrenched view held in Washington, according to Brian Wong of The Diplomat in his insightful piece titled How will China react to Donald Trump’s Second Term (13 November, 2024) is that the United States is uniquely confronted by a systemic rival in China, and that swift and assertive responses are needed to prevent the displacement of US hegemony by a state beholden to neither the values nor interests of Washington.

Wong’s view is that Trump’s likely approach to China is best likened to “Russian roulette” given Trump’s penchant for risky gambits and transactional diplomacy. Some commentators feel that Trump, as he did in his first term, will broker “deals” in order to steer the East Asian region away from a hot war – – though through what means and with what effects he will do so are not as clear. Trump’s China advisory and foreign policy team seems set to feature a combination of individuals harbouring deeply ideological grievances towards China (Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Robert O’Brien); or a tendency to view China through the lens of a great power competition that the United States must win (Ric Grennell, Elbridge Colby, and Bill Hagerty); or the belief that trade globalisation has been anathema to the U.S. interests of the U.S working class and domestic interests in general (Robert Lighthizer, Peter Navarro).

Few amongst these are interested in “cooperating” with China- – which they construe to be an existential risk to the United States, economically, militarily, and geo-strategically. US engagement with China, they would declare unequivocally, has failed.

Trump will have to moderate some of his extreme and self-undermining protectionist measures so as to deliver for the MAGA crowd that voted him into office- -if he is even remotely committed to bringing down prices, the Achilles’ heel of the Biden administration.

Today’s international, political, and geopolitical scene is dominated primarily by the different worldviews of the United States and China. According to Stephen Roach- -the author of ‘Unbalanced: The Co-dependency of America and China’ (2014) and ‘Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives’ (2022)- – ‘Sinophobia’, which began in the United States at the beginning of the 21st century, is in full swing today based mostly on their competition in the fields of technology and trade. China has responded with ‘Ameriphobia’ demonising the United States for its accusations of Chinese economic espionage, unfair trading practices, and human rights violations.

The U.S has long been intolerant of competing ideologies and alternative systems of government. The claim of ‘American exceptionalism’ seemingly compels the United States to impose American views and values on others. That was true during the Cold War, and it is true again today.

The western bias over ‘losing China’ after the 1949 Revolution warned us of a “Red Peril”. Today we are being warned of a ‘Rising China’, modernising its nuclear and defence programmes. This ‘China bogey’, as the late Jayantha Dhanapala, the former UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and foremost Sri Lankan diplomat noted a few years ago, will continue to be peddled as part of a larger conspiracy to create a new a Cold War in Asia between a ‘democratic’ India and an ‘autocratic’ China.

To put it briefly, if the prevailing Sinophobic tension in the United States-China relations deteriorates further, it will not do any of us any good. The leaders of the U.S “need to avoid the low road and think more in terms of being the adult in the room.” (Roach:2024). Roach quotes Franklin Roosevelt’s memorable line from his inaugural address in 1933, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and notes that amidst Sinophobic frenzy, that message is well worth remembering. Amen, I say.

The geopolitical rivalry emanating from the fraught U.S.- China power competition is complicated further, by what appears to be, India’s ambiguous role. True, India is a part of the QUAD and I2U2 (a security partnership among India, Israel, United Arab Republic and the United States), but India also has close relations with Russia and Iran. The recent border agreement between India and China is viewed as a diplomatic breakthrough, given the heightened tensions between the two sides after the Galwan Valley clash in 2020. Some observers suggest that the current breakthrough signals a significant change in India’s threat perceptions of China, with some India- China watchers interpreting it as a desire on India’s part to operate independently of its relationship with the United States. It may also be indicative of India’s interest to bolster its economy while continuing to flaunt, what India refers to as, its multialigned foreign policy.

In the emerging scenario in which complex geopolitical developments are at play in Asia and the Indian Ocean Region, Sri Lanka would do well to steer clear of them and adopt what I would term the ‘Penelope strategy’ that we encounter in Homer’s epic poem ‘Odyssey’. This is the non-committal path, that Sri Lanka, given its unalterable geographic location, needs to take if it wishes to avoid harm arising from ‘big’ power conflict in our region.

In 2002, during a Fulbright Visiting Scholar Enrichment Conference held in Washington D.C, Prof. Benjamin Barber of the University of Maryland gave a memorable keynote speech titled Democracy vs. Jihad vs. McWorld. In this speech he urged the United States, which has lived for almost 226 years with the ‘Declaration of Independence’, to now issue a ‘Declaration of Interdependence’. Given, especially the non-traditional security threats all of us face today, such as, resource scarcity, climate change which can lead to environmental degradation, natural disasters, poverty, infectious diseases, drug trafficking and terrorism that affect all of humanity, Prof. Barber’s call is even more urgent today than when he first articulated it. In the 21st century that we live in, ‘smart weapons’ are much less important than ‘smart ideas’.

The reality of the world of today is interdependence, as Prof. Barber pointed out almost 25 years ago. I would add one other ingredient and say that today we need both interdependence and multilateralism (however anathematic that may be to Mr. Trump and his colleagues-to-be). As the former Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and one of Sri Lanka’s outstanding diplomats (now retired) said a few months ago when he delivered the inaugural Jayantha Dhanapala Memorial Oration, given that all threats or concerns humanity faces ‘are borderless in form and content, negotiating solutions and mitigating measures must, of necessity, be multilateral’. In a multipolar world, and in an order that is in flux we need more multilateralism than ever before, opined Palihakkara.

As a lead-up to this conclusion of his, Palihakkara told us the following:

As one of my dialogue partners from across Palk Straits commented in a lighter vein, the multilateral system needs to respond quicker before the AI-equipped cheap drones can become the poor man’s weapon of mass destruction.

Although stated in a lighter vein, one notes a serious underlying point in the above quote which underscores the direction in which we should head if we are to live in a peaceful world. (Concluded)

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Palestinian Authority suspends Al Jazeera TV channel in West Bank

The Palestinian Authority says it has suspended broadcasting by the prominent Arab channel Al Jazeera in parts of the occupied West Bank, citing incitement and bias.

Qatari-owned Al Jazeera expressed shock and denounced the decision as “an attempt to hide the truth about events in the occupied territories”.

It links the closure to news coverage of the recent major crackdown by Palestinian security forces on armed Islamist groups in Jenin refugee camp where at least 11 people have been killed.

Al Jazeera, which is widely watched by Palestinians particularly for its exhaustive coverage of the Gaza war, has already been stopped in Arabic and English in Israel.

For the second time in months, Al Jazeera has broadcast the scene from within its own office in Ramallah as security forces enter and order it to close. Last year, it was Israeli soldiers who raided and this time, Palestinian police went in.

On Wednesday evening, a uniformed officer was shown handing an official order to an Al Jazeera correspondent who reads and signs it.

Fatah, the Palestinian faction which dominates the Palestinian Authority (PA), has accused the Al Jazeera network of sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular”. Al Jazeera insists it is impartial.

The PA, which cooperates with Israel on security, is increasingly unpopular with the Palestinian public and has little control over Jenin’s urban refugee camp, historically seen as a stronghold for armed groups.

Since early December, its forces have been fighting members of the Jenin Battalion, most of whom are affiliated with Islamic Jihad or Hamas, whose 7 October 2023 attack on Israel triggered war in Gaza.

Analysts say that the PA is trying to reassert its authority in the West Bank and prove its potential value to the incoming Trump administration. They suggest it may also want to show its ability to take a role in the future governance of Gaza.

However, ongoing events have drawn condemnation from many Palestinians.

“Al Jazeera has successfully maintained its professionalism throughout its coverage of the unfolding events in Jenin,” it said in a statement earlier this week.

According to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, Al Jazeera network has been deemed in violation of Palestinian laws and regulations and its operations suspended temporarily. The stoppage order applies to all work by its journalists and staff.

The network is accused of broadcasting “inciting materials” and “misleading reports” that “provoke strife and interfere in Palestinian internal affairs,” Wafa said.

Israel’s parliament voted to close Al Jazeera in Israel last May saying it threatened national security. Israeli police then raided a Jerusalem hotel room used by Al Jazeera for broadcasting and some of its equipment was confiscated. The channel’s Arabic staff relocated to the West Bank.

In September, Israeli troops ordered the Al Jazeera office in Ramallah in the West Bank to close for 45 days claiming it was being used to support terrorist activities.

Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have often accused Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for Hamas.

Israel has also accused Al Jazeera staff in Gaza of belonging to the Islamist group. In July, the Israeli military killed Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera reporter in Gaza City, claiming he was a member of Hamas’ s armed wing. Al Jazeera strongly rejects all the allegations.

There is also a long history of hostility between Al Jazeera and the PA, with some PA officials accusing it of showing support for Hamas, a political rival of Fatah.

In 2011, Al Jazeera’s publication of the so-called Palestine Papers, a leak of confidential files detailing years of negotiations between Israel and Palestinian teams, embarrassed PA officials who accused the network of distortion. The documents purported to show offers of major concessions to Israel.

Some Palestinian journalists have criticised the PA decision to bar Al Jazeera saying it comes against a background of an increasingly authoritarian crackdown on dissent. The Foreign Press Association expressed “grave concern” over the action saying that it “raises serious questions about press freedom and democratic values in the region.”

[BBC]

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Bank of Ceylon welcomes 2025 with religious ceremonies

The Bank of Ceylon, Sri Lanka’s No. 1 Bank, commenced the new year 2025, jubilantly announcing its newest achievement, being accorded recognition as ‘Bank of the Year – Sri Lanka 2024’ awarded by the prestigious The Banker Magazine U.K.

The official January 1st event was held at the bank’s head office building with the patronage of the Chairman Kavinda de Zoysa, and General Manager/CEO Russel Fonseka. Customers, Members of the bank’s Board of Directors, Corporate and Executive Management, staff, and well-wishers of the bank also gathered there for the occasion.

The proceedings began with a series of multi-religious sermons to invoke blessings on all stakeholders of the bank for the New Year. This was followed by the ceremonious presenting of the plaque received in honour of being ‘Bank of the Year Sri Lanka 2024’ from The Banker magazine U.K. by the General Manager Russel Fonseka and the Chief Financial Officer M.P. Ruwan Kumara, to the Chairman Kavinda de Zoysa.

In addition to this accolade, the Chairman was presented with a distinguished award received at the People’s Excellency Awards 2024, organized by Iconic Awards. These included the title ‘The Best SME Service Provider,’ which highlight BOC’s unwavering dedication to providing exceptional banking services and supporting small and medium enterprises across the nation.

The event then continued with the launch of the bank’s newest initiative the ‘Ranliya Loan Scheme,’ designed to empower women entrepreneurs and the relaunch of BOC Youth Loan Scheme exclusively for young entrepreneurs. As a responsible corporate citizen and a trusted financial partner to all Sri Lankans, BOC continues to make steadfast strides toward fulfilling its commitment to society and the environment meaningfully through digitally-driven and inclusive banking.

For over 85 years, Bank of Ceylon has been a cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s financial landscape, connecting individuals and businesses to global opportunities. BOC’s extensive network with over 2,300 touch points spread across the nation, ensures that bank’s customers have convenient access to a wide range of financial services. Moreover, BOC was ranked as the only Sri Lankan Bank among the Top 1000 world banks 2024 and Bank of the Year 2021 and 2023 by The Banker Magazine UK, The Number 1 Banking Brand in Sri Lanka by Brand Finance Lanka. BOC also received the People’s Banking Services Brand of the year at the SLIM KANTAR People’s Awards 2024. Internationally, Bank of Ceylon has established a strong presence in key locations, such as a Subsidiary in London, UK; branches in Male and Hulhumalé in the Maldives; Chennai, India; and the Seychelles.

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Underwater 'submarine volcano' set to erupt in 2025 after 'swelling' - scientists warn

An underwater volcano, with a diameter of 2 km, located 470 km off the coast of Oregon is set to erupt in 2025, warn scientists

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Elon Musk breaks silence after Tesla explodes killing one outside Trump hotel

A fire has broken out near Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, with witnesses reporting a "massive explosion" from a Tesla Cybertruck.

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