In Brief

J.V.P. Embraces Private Sector

The economy is in the hands of the private sector, a Marxist leader said. J.V.P. leader Somawansa Amarasinghe addressing private sector leaders on Tuesday said that they expected the private sector to be styled in the form of Japanese private sector companies, where the employees are treated as family members. The occasion was when the opposition’s common presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka met with private sector leaders at Cinnamon Grand Hotel on Tuesday.

Amarasinghe said that the fact that the U.N.P. believes in regulating the private sector is proof that the opposition subscribes to J.V.P.’s policies.

Both the J.V.P. and the U.N.P. are backing Fonseka at the January 26 elections against incumbent president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Earlier, U.N.P. leader Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing the gathering said that at a recent meeting of Europe’s centre right parties, excluding the Conservatives who were not represented at this event, the consensus among participants was that the market should be regulated, in the backdrop of the global recession.

He further said that this was the first time that there was a presidential candidate who did not belong to any party, who were being supported by the J.V.P. and U.N.P.

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Corruption

Corruption by the government hits property business. A high end property sales person speaking on the grounds of anonymity to The Sunday Leader said how corrupt government politicos demand various kickbacks from them, making their work that much more difficult. Her hope was that Common Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka would win the January 26 poll to make that change for the better.
She further said that signs were that the property market was reviving.

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S.F. & Corruption
Common Opposition Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka said that he never made any money while serving in the army. He said that after 40 years of service, he built a three bedroom house.

However one of his corporals who was killed when the L.T.T.E. attempted to blow-up Fonseka, was building a two storeyed house with six bedrooms at the time of his death.

Fonseka said that one of the first steps that he took after becoming army commander was to stamp out corruption in the army.

Fonseka made these comments while addressing the business community in Colombo on Tuesday.

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Misuse & Abuse

Monday’s Presidential election meetings at Homagama and Matugama saw hundreds of C.T.B. buses from far away depots such as Kattankudi, Badulla, Anuradhapura and Wellawaya being used to bring in Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters to those meetings.

In contrast, no C.T.B. buses are being used to transport supporters to common opposition candidate General Sarath Fonseka’s meetings.

One wag said that despite Fonseka being bereft of such privileges, his meeting at Maharagama last Friday drew in such a vast crowd, the number of which Maharagama has never seen before. It was also so in regard to Fonseka’s meeting at Matugama, another wag said.

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Mathata Thitha

Four bottles of Gal arrack were bought by two of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters who broke away from a group, on their way to Rajapaksa’s election meeting at Ratmalana on Tuesday.

The purchase was from a supermarket store in Mount Lavinia.

Earlier on, this reporter saw a small group of young supporters, whilst on their way to the meeting, “tinkering” with a bottle of Gal. This was also at Mt. Lavinia.

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2.5% Incentive

Exporters will be paid a 2.5% incentive on the f.o.b. value of their exports this year, subject to a maximum payment of Rs. 50 million, if they are able to maintain last year’s export levels.

This promise was made by opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at a meeting with business leaders on Tuesday.

He said that the country has some 3,000 exporters.
Presidential Elections are due on January 26 and Parliamentary elections a few months later.
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Pugilists

Common Opposition Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka likened himself to a referee in a boxing ring, with the two contenders being the U.N.P. and the J.V.P.
This was when the question was raised as to how the U.N.P. and the J.V.P., which have different ideologies, could work together.

The occasion was when Fonseka addressed business leaders at the Cinnamon Grand on Tuesday. Both those parties are supporting Fonseka at the January 26 Presidential Polls.
Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the fact that J.V.P. leader Somawansa Amarasinghe was dressed in a full suit showed that he had changed.

Amarasinghe in reply said that he was threatened with expulsion when he came to school dressed in a national in 1957.Fonseka in the sidelines said that the two have already begun sparring.

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Bureaucrats

Bureaucracy is holding back Sri Lanka, a Swedish investor said.

Rune Flinth, Chairman, Flinth Industrial Park, Kadawatha, speaking at the park opening on Monday, paid tribute to the incumbent B.o.I. Chairman Dhammika Perera, and one of its former chairmen Thilan Wijesinghe, as the only two chairmen of the B.o.I. whom he knows, who fought the bureaucracy. If people like Perera succeed in fighting the bureaucracy, there will be a bright future for Sri Lanka, said Flinth. However the bureaucrats will fight to keep their positions, he warned.

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Aggrandizement

The nonchalant attitude of the leadership to the pressing post war needs of the country was that which led me take to politics, common presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka said. Addressing business leaders on Tuesday, he charged that instead of seeing to the development of the country, issues facing disabled service and police personnel and the i.d.p. question, the leadership was more interested in celebrating the war victory and engaging in corruption and nepotism.

He said that credit for the war win should be given to the military and the police, and the masses who suffered with them. Credit cannot be given to the leadership, he contended.

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M.R. & C.o.L.

Cost of living will decide the fate of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the January 26 election, a wag told The Sunday Leader. Can a labourer earning a daily wage of Rs. 500 survive in the present context of high food prices, he asked?

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L.T.T.E. assets

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe raised the question as to what happened to L.T.T.E.’s assets? He said that Minister Keheliya Rambukwella in December said that there are 600 terrorist bank accounts and five ships belonging to “K.P.” Wickremesinghe said that three of those five ships had been interdicted, but the government had only two of those to show. He said that one of the first things that the new government would do, would be to get those stolen assets back.

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Tea up 49%

Tea prices at the Colombo Auctions increased by 48.5% year on year (y.o.y.) to U.S.$ 3.52 a kilo in October 2009. Meanwhile rice and wheat import prices during the period declined by 13.4% and 42.8% to U.S.$ 605.5 per metric ton (p.m.t.) and U.S. 260.1 p.m.t. respectively, c&f. However, white sugar and crude oil import prices in the period under review increased by 39.6% and 4.1% to U.S.$ 552,3 p.m.t. and U.S.$ 72.8 per barrel respectively, c&f. (Source: Central Bank)

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$ 4 bn. Industry

The private sector creates wealth and employment, pays taxes and helps to run the government, Deputy U.N.P. leader Karu Jaysuriya said.

Addressing the business community on Tuesday, where the opposition’s common presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka was the main speaker, Jayasuriya said that he believed that the private sector was the engine of growth.

In return, the private sector wants the rule of law and professional management, he said.
Jayasuriya further said that if Fonseka is elected to power he would implement the 17th amendment, bring in good governance and negotiate to keep the G.S.P.+ concession. He further said that there focus would be to make the b.p.o./i.t. industry a U.S.$ four billion industry by 2012 and also to develop tourism.

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S.F.’s Portfolios

The common presidential candidate wants the education and health portfolios, a party leader said.J.V.P. party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe addressing the business community on Tuesday said that those were the only conditions laid down by General Sarath Fonseka, when they approached him to be their common presidential candidate.

Fonseka at that meeting said that he doesn’t want to be a figure head like the late President William Gopallawa, added Amarasinghe.

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Taking on E.U.

The Opposition’s Common Presidential Candidate General Sarath Fonseka said that he would thrash out matters pertaining to the military with the E.U. on the G.S.P. + issue. “I have nothing to hide, those who are hiding are those who have done wrong,” Fonseka addressing the business community on Tuesday said.

G.S.P. + concession allows Sri Lanka to export over 7,000 items to the E.U. on a duty free basis. But this facility is being threatened due to Colombo’s alleged human rights abuse, especially in the final stages of the L.T.T.E. war. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said that what the E.U. wants from Sri Lanka is good governance, observe labour rights and to be a signatory to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.