Features
The Notorious RBG
by Vijaya Chandrasoma
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away on Friday, September 18, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 87-years old, and had served most honorably on the Supreme Court since 1993, only the second woman in history to serve on the nation’s highest court. Her life was yet another celebration of the Promise of America, a woman who overcame all odds in a male dominated world to become a legal, cultural and feminist icon.
Chief Justice Roberts said, “Our nation has lost a justice of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her, a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”
The Notorious RBG, as she was affectionately called, was a diminutive 5 ft. 1 in. in height and under 100 lbs. in weight, but she dwarfed the obese 6 ft. 1 in., 280 lb. Despicable DJT (Donald J Trump) not just in stature, but in integrity, honor, decency and competence.
Born Ruth Bader in New York in 1933, Ginsburg grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Her father, Nathan Bader was a Jewish immigrant from Russia and her mother was born in New York to Polish immigrants. Ginsburg suffered a series of setbacks during her childhood and teens; her older sister died when she was a baby and her mother died shortly after she graduated from high school. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government, and married Martin Ginsburg shortly after graduation.
Ginsburg was one of only nine women accepted at Harvard Law School out of a class of over 500, and even more remarkably, had a one-year-old toddler on enrollment. When her husband took a job in New York, she transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated in 1959 at the top of her class.
After graduation, Ginsburg found difficulty in obtaining employment because she was a woman and a mother. She entered academia in 1963, and was a professor of law at Rutgers Law School till 1972. She then co-founded the Women’s Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), where she participated in hundreds of women’s rights and gender discrimination cases.
Ginsburg was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Clinton in 1993. She continued championing women’s rights, reproductive freedom, health care and progressive legislation until her death last Friday.
Just before her death, Ginsburg dictated this statement to her granddaughter, Clara Spera: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.” Trump is already trying to sully the name of Justice Ginsburg’s family, lying that her final wish about her replacement on the Bench had probably been dictated by Speaker Pelosi or Majority House leader, Adam Schiff.
Nothing is too low for this president, whose decisions are guided by his own abysmal standards.
Within hours of the news of her death, even before her body was cold, Trump and his Senate henchman, Moscow Mitch McConnell, sprang, vulture-like, into action. Trump announced that he would be nominating a justice to the Court later this week, and Moscow Mitch said that he would attempt to have his nominee confirmed before the presidential election on November 3. All Republican senators, currently bar one, have supported what is probably the most disgraceful, hypocritical power-grab in Supreme Court history.
It is a matter of paramount importance for Trump to have a stacked Supreme Court by election date. Current polls indicate that Vice President Biden has a comfortable lead. On Wednesday, Trump was asked at a White House press briefing whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after election day if he loses. Trump said that this would depend on voter fraud because of his distrust of mail-in ballots. He is already paving the way to take a case of election fraud to the Supreme Court. A Court which, with a majority of six to three, will, in the full glory of Republican sycophancy, hold in his favor. Just like the majority Republican Court gifted George W. Bush the election in 2000.
On Justice Scalia’s death in February, 2016, President Obama nominated Justice Merrick Garland to take his place on the Court, a full nine months before the end of his presidential term. Senator McConnell refused to even hold a hearing on Garland’s nomination in the Senate, stating: “The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”. Senator Lindsey Graham concurred, stating that he would oppose the confirmation of a justice to the Court during an election year.
McConnell and Graham, and the Republican Party as a whole, have predictably gone against a precedent they had set for themselves by their determination to appoint Trump’s nominee as a replacement for Justice Ginsburg on the Court, less than two months before the election.
Both Graham and McConnell have proved, once again, that their word is not worth the toilet paper they both use to clean Trump.
The principle of separation of powers is enshrined in the Constitution as a set of checks and balances, under which the executive, legislature and the judiciary are equal and separate branches of government.
In a rare rebuke of Trump’s criticism of a jurist who had ruled against his asylum policy as an “Obama judge”, Chief Justice Roberts said: “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
A commendable sentiment, which unfortunately falls far short of what prevails today. The Supreme Court is highly politicized and polarized. Trump would have appointed three justices during his first term, who will form a majority in the Court and act according to the Christian right agenda of the Republican Party and the president, with scant regard for the legal merits of the case, for generations to come.
With a Republican stacked Court, the younger generation of Americans can kiss goodbye to progressive legislation promoting universal health care, women’s equality and reproductive rights, income equality, protection of the environment and climate change, sensible gun control and a host of progressive measures enjoyed by citizens of all developed nations in the world.
More immediately, the Court, with its iron clad majority, is scheduled to make a ruling on the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which is due to be heard on December 10, 2020. Repeal of Obamacare, without a replacement healthcare plan, will cost at least 20 million Americans their healthcare insurance, plus 100 million more will be destitute, when treatment for Covid19 will be withdrawn as a pre-existing condition. Trump has been promising a healthcare plan to replace Obamacare “in two weeks”, since his inauguration in 2017. Another blatant lie.
Democrats are not without teeth against the injustices of the composition of the Supreme Court. The Judicial Act of 1789 created the Court with six justices. Over the years, Congress has altered the number of seats in the Supreme Court, from a low number of five to a high of 10. If the Biden/Harris ticket is successful in November, and the Senate flips as seems likely, Democrats can add to the number of seats on the Bench and so mitigate the domination of a radical Republican Supreme Court.
However, if Trump wins, Americans would be faced with the establishment of the Trump dynasty, patterned on the Kim Jung-un regime of North Korea. Or the system of an autocratic kleptocracy, as practiced by his Russian mentor. We can only hope that American democracy will be resilient enough to withstand the onslaught which will certainly be engineered by Trump and Putin if he loses re-election in November.
The death of Justice Ginsburg has provided Trump with another talking point as a distraction to his colossal mismanagement of Covid19 during the last vital weeks before the election. The virus approaches seven million+ infections and 201,000+ preventable deaths, numbers far higher, per capita, than any other nation in the world. But Trump keeps lying that he has done a phenomenal job and recently awarded himself an A+++ for his management of the virus. In fact, he showed monumental contempt for the millions of families who have lost their loved ones to the virus, when he declared at a rally in Ohio on Monday, that “it (Covid19) affects virtually nobody”.
In his desperation to win re-election showing no regard for the safety of regular Americans, Trump is holding “super spreader” rallies for his supporters, with no masks or social distancing, contravening local regulations with impunity. Rallies which will only contribute to another spike in the spread of the virus. A senior member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, Ms. Olivia Troye, who resigned from the Task Force last week, said that “Trump had a flat-out disregard for human life during the pandemic.”
The honored memory of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will endure long after the treasonous corruption of the past four years is a distant memory. Trump’s presidency, and the behavior of his neo-Nazi cult of enablers, will be denounced by future generations as one of the most contemptible aberrations in the nation’s history. Or as veteran journalist and author of the most recent book exposing Trump’s criminal mismanagement of the pandemic, Bob Woodward put it, “Historians writing about Donald Trump’s presidency and his handling of the Coronavirus will be asking, ‘What the F… happened to America?’”
by Dr Gotabhya Ranasinghe
Senior Consultant Cardiologist
National Hospital Sri Lanka
When we sought a meeting with Hon Dr. Ramesh Pathirana, Minister of Health, he graciously cleared his busy schedule to accommodate us. Renowned for his attentive listening and deep understanding, Minister Pathirana is dedicated to advancing the health sector. His openness and transparency exemplify the qualities of an exemplary politician and minister.
Dr. Palitha Mahipala, the current Health Secretary, demonstrates both commendable enthusiasm and unwavering support. This combination of attributes makes him a highly compatible colleague for the esteemed Minister of Health.
Our discussion centered on a project that has been in the works for the past 30 years, one that no other minister had managed to advance.
Minister Pathirana, however, recognized the project’s significance and its potential to revolutionize care for heart patients.
The project involves the construction of a state-of-the-art facility at the premises of the National Hospital Colombo. The project’s location within the premises of the National Hospital underscores its importance and relevance to the healthcare infrastructure of the nation.
This facility will include a cardiology building and a tertiary care center, equipped with the latest technology to handle and treat all types of heart-related conditions and surgeries.
Securing funding was a major milestone for this initiative. Minister Pathirana successfully obtained approval for a $40 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank. With the funding in place, the foundation stone is scheduled to be laid in September this year, and construction will begin in January 2025.
This project guarantees a consistent and uninterrupted supply of stents and related medications for heart patients. As a result, patients will have timely access to essential medical supplies during their treatment and recovery. By securing these critical resources, the project aims to enhance patient outcomes, minimize treatment delays, and maintain the highest standards of cardiac care.
Upon its fruition, this monumental building will serve as a beacon of hope and healing, symbolizing the unwavering dedication to improving patient outcomes and fostering a healthier society.We anticipate a future marked by significant progress and positive outcomes in Sri Lanka’s cardiovascular treatment landscape within the foreseeable timeframe.
by Fr. Emmanuel Fernando, OMI
Jesuit Fr. Aloysius Pieris (affectionately called Fr. Aloy) celebrated his 90th birthday on April 9, 2024 and I, as the editor of our Oblate Journal, THE MISSIONARY OBLATE had gone to press by that time. Immediately I decided to publish an article, appreciating the untiring selfless services he continues to offer for inter-Faith dialogue, the renewal of the Catholic Church, his concern for the poor and the suffering Sri Lankan masses and to me, the present writer.
It was in 1988, when I was appointed Director of the Oblate Scholastics at Ampitiya by the then Oblate Provincial Fr. Anselm Silva, that I came to know Fr. Aloy more closely. Knowing well his expertise in matters spiritual, theological, Indological and pastoral, and with the collaborative spirit of my companion-formators, our Oblate Scholastics were sent to Tulana, the Research and Encounter Centre, Kelaniya, of which he is the Founder-Director, for ‘exposure-programmes’ on matters spiritual, biblical, theological and pastoral. Some of these dimensions according to my view and that of my companion-formators, were not available at the National Seminary, Ampitiya.
Ever since that time, our Oblate formators/ accompaniers at the Oblate Scholasticate, Ampitiya , have continued to send our Oblate Scholastics to Tulana Centre for deepening their insights and convictions regarding matters needed to serve the people in today’s context. Fr. Aloy also had tried very enthusiastically with the Oblate team headed by Frs. Oswald Firth and Clement Waidyasekara to begin a Theologate, directed by the Religious Congregations in Sri Lanka, for the contextual formation/ accompaniment of their members. It should very well be a desired goal of the Leaders / Provincials of the Religious Congregations.
Besides being a formator/accompanier at the Oblate Scholasticate, I was entrusted also with the task of editing and publishing our Oblate journal, ‘The Missionary Oblate’. To maintain the quality of the journal I continue to depend on Fr. Aloy for his thought-provoking and stimulating articles on Biblical Spirituality, Biblical Theology and Ecclesiology. I am very grateful to him for his generous assistance. Of late, his writings on renewal of the Church, initiated by Pope St. John XX111 and continued by Pope Francis through the Synodal path, published in our Oblate journal, enable our readers to focus their attention also on the needed renewal in the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka. Fr. Aloy appreciated very much the Synodal path adopted by the Jesuit Pope Francis for the renewal of the Church, rooted very much on prayerful discernment. In my Religious and presbyteral life, Fr.Aloy continues to be my spiritual animator / guide and ongoing formator / acccompanier.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris, BA Hons (Lond), LPh (SHC, India), STL (PFT, Naples), PhD (SLU/VC), ThD (Tilburg), D.Ltt (KU), has been one of the eminent Asian theologians well recognized internationally and one who has lectured and held visiting chairs in many universities both in the West and in the East. Many members of Religious Congregations from Asian countries have benefited from his lectures and guidance in the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Manila, Philippines. He had been a Theologian consulted by the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences for many years. During his professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome, he was called to be a member of a special group of advisers on other religions consulted by Pope Paul VI.
Fr. Aloy is the author of more than 30 books and well over 500 Research Papers. Some of his books and articles have been translated and published in several countries. Among those books, one can find the following: 1) The Genesis of an Asian Theology of Liberation (An Autobiographical Excursus on the Art of Theologising in Asia, 2) An Asian Theology of Liberation, 3) Providential Timeliness of Vatican 11 (a long-overdue halt to a scandalous millennium, 4) Give Vatican 11 a chance, 5) Leadership in the Church, 6) Relishing our faith in working for justice (Themes for study and discussion), 7) A Message meant mainly, not exclusively for Jesuits (Background information necessary for helping Francis renew the Church), 8) Lent in Lanka (Reflections and Resolutions, 9) Love meets wisdom (A Christian Experience of Buddhism, 10) Fire and Water 11) God’s Reign for God’s poor, 12) Our Unhiddden Agenda (How we Jesuits work, pray and form our men). He is also the Editor of two journals, Vagdevi, Journal of Religious Reflection and Dialogue, New Series.
Fr. Aloy has a BA in Pali and Sanskrit from the University of London and a Ph.D in Buddhist Philosophy from the University of Sri Lankan, Vidyodaya Campus. On Nov. 23, 2019, he was awarded the prestigious honorary Doctorate of Literature (D.Litt) by the Chancellor of the University of Kelaniya, the Most Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusala Dhamma Thera.
Fr. Aloy continues to be a promoter of Gospel values and virtues. Justice as a constitutive dimension of love and social concern for the downtrodden masses are very much noted in his life and work. He had very much appreciated the commitment of the late Fr. Joseph (Joe) Fernando, the National Director of the Social and Economic Centre (SEDEC) for the poor.
In Sri Lanka, a few religious Congregations – the Good Shepherd Sisters, the Christian Brothers, the Marist Brothers and the Oblates – have invited him to animate their members especially during their Provincial Congresses, Chapters and International Conferences. The mainline Christian Churches also have sought his advice and followed his seminars. I, for one, regret very much, that the Sri Lankan authorities of the Catholic Church –today’s Hierarchy—- have not sought Fr.
Aloy’s expertise for the renewal of the Catholic Church in Sri Lanka and thus have not benefited from the immense store of wisdom and insight that he can offer to our local Church while the Sri Lankan bishops who governed the Catholic church in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council (Edmund Fernando OMI, Anthony de Saram, Leo Nanayakkara OSB, Frank Marcus Fernando, Paul Perera,) visited him and consulted him on many matters. Among the Tamil Bishops, Bishop Rayappu Joseph was keeping close contact with him and Bishop J. Deogupillai hosted him and his team visiting him after the horrible Black July massacre of Tamils.
Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement
By Gomi Senadhira
senadhiragomi@gmail.com
“You might tell fairy tales, but the progress of a country cannot be achieved through such narratives. A country cannot be developed by making false promises. The country moved backward because of the electoral promises made by political parties throughout time. We have witnessed that the ultimate result of this is the country becoming bankrupt. Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet.” – President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 2024 Budget speech
Any Sri Lankan would agree with the above words of President Wickremesinghe on the false promises our politicians and officials make and the fairy tales they narrate which bankrupted this country. So, to understand this, let’s look at one such fairy tale with lots of false promises; Ranil Wickremesinghe’s greatest achievement in the area of international trade and investment promotion during the Yahapalana period, Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (SLSFTA).
It is appropriate and timely to do it now as Finance Minister Wickremesinghe has just presented to parliament a bill on the National Policy on Economic Transformation which includes the establishment of an Office for International Trade and the Sri Lanka Institute of Economics and International Trade.
Was SLSFTA a “Cleverly negotiated Free Trade Agreement” as stated by the (former) Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate on the SLSFTA in July 2018, or a colossal blunder covered up with lies, false promises, and fairy tales? After SLSFTA was signed there were a number of fairy tales published on this agreement by the Ministry of Development Strategies and International, Institute of Policy Studies, and others.
However, for this article, I would like to limit my comments to the speech by Minister Samarawickrama during the Parliamentary Debate, and the two most important areas in the agreement which were covered up with lies, fairy tales, and false promises, namely: revenue loss for Sri Lanka and Investment from Singapore. On the other important area, “Waste products dumping” I do not want to comment here as I have written extensively on the issue.
1. The revenue loss
During the Parliamentary Debate in July 2018, Minister Samarawickrama stated “…. let me reiterate that this FTA with Singapore has been very cleverly negotiated by us…. The liberalisation programme under this FTA has been carefully designed to have the least impact on domestic industry and revenue collection. We have included all revenue sensitive items in the negative list of items which will not be subject to removal of tariff. Therefore, 97.8% revenue from Customs duty is protected. Our tariff liberalisation will take place over a period of 12-15 years! In fact, the revenue earned through tariffs on goods imported from Singapore last year was Rs. 35 billion.
The revenue loss for over the next 15 years due to the FTA is only Rs. 733 million– which when annualised, on average, is just Rs. 51 million. That is just 0.14% per year! So anyone who claims the Singapore FTA causes revenue loss to the Government cannot do basic arithmetic! Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I call on my fellow members of this House – don’t mislead the public with baseless criticism that is not grounded in facts. Don’t look at petty politics and use these issues for your own political survival.”
I was surprised to read the minister’s speech because an article published in January 2018 in “The Straits Times“, based on information released by the Singaporean Negotiators stated, “…. With the FTA, tariff savings for Singapore exports are estimated to hit $10 million annually“.
As the annual tariff savings (that is the revenue loss for Sri Lanka) calculated by the Singaporean Negotiators, Singaporean $ 10 million (Sri Lankan rupees 1,200 million in 2018) was way above the rupees’ 733 million revenue loss for 15 years estimated by the Sri Lankan negotiators, it was clear to any observer that one of the parties to the agreement had not done the basic arithmetic!
Six years later, according to a report published by “The Morning” newspaper, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) on 7th May 2024, Mr Samarawickrama’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghehad had admitted “…. that forecasted revenue loss for the Government of Sri Lanka through the Singapore FTA is Rs. 450 million in 2023 and Rs. 1.3 billion in 2024.”
If these numbers are correct, as tariff liberalisation under the SLSFTA has just started, we will pass Rs 2 billion very soon. Then, the question is how Sri Lanka’s trade negotiators made such a colossal blunder. Didn’t they do their basic arithmetic? If they didn’t know how to do basic arithmetic they should have at least done their basic readings. For example, the headline of the article published in The Straits Times in January 2018 was “Singapore, Sri Lanka sign FTA, annual savings of $10m expected”.
Anyway, as Sri Lanka’s chief negotiator reiterated at the COPF meeting that “…. since 99% of the tariffs in Singapore have zero rates of duty, Sri Lanka has agreed on 80% tariff liberalisation over a period of 15 years while expecting Singapore investments to address the imbalance in trade,” let’s turn towards investment.
Investment from Singapore
In July 2018, speaking during the Parliamentary Debate on the FTA this is what Minister Malik Samarawickrama stated on investment from Singapore, “Already, thanks to this FTA, in just the past two-and-a-half months since the agreement came into effect we have received a proposal from Singapore for investment amounting to $ 14.8 billion in an oil refinery for export of petroleum products. In addition, we have proposals for a steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million), sugar refinery ($ 200 million). This adds up to more than $ 16.05 billion in the pipeline on these projects alone.
And all of these projects will create thousands of more jobs for our people. In principle approval has already been granted by the BOI and the investors are awaiting the release of land the environmental approvals to commence the project.
I request the Opposition and those with vested interests to change their narrow-minded thinking and join us to develop our country. We must always look at what is best for the whole community, not just the few who may oppose. We owe it to our people to courageously take decisions that will change their lives for the better.”
According to the media report I quoted earlier, speaking at the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) Chief Negotiator Weerasinghe has admitted that Sri Lanka was not happy with overall Singapore investments that have come in the past few years in return for the trade liberalisation under the Singapore-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement. He has added that between 2021 and 2023 the total investment from Singapore had been around $162 million!
What happened to those projects worth $16 billion negotiated, thanks to the SLSFTA, in just the two-and-a-half months after the agreement came into effect and approved by the BOI? I do not know about the steel manufacturing plant for exports ($ 1 billion investment), flour milling plant ($ 50 million) and sugar refinery ($ 200 million).
However, story of the multibillion-dollar investment in the Petroleum Refinery unfolded in a manner that would qualify it as the best fairy tale with false promises presented by our politicians and the officials, prior to 2019 elections.
Though many Sri Lankans got to know, through the media which repeatedly highlighted a plethora of issues surrounding the project and the questionable credentials of the Singaporean investor, the construction work on the Mirrijiwela Oil Refinery along with the cement factory began on the24th of March 2019 with a bang and Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his ministers along with the foreign and local dignitaries laid the foundation stones.
That was few months before the 2019 Presidential elections. Inaugurating the construction work Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the projects will create thousands of job opportunities in the area and surrounding districts.
The oil refinery, which was to be built over 200 acres of land, with the capacity to refine 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day, was to generate US$7 billion of exports and create 1,500 direct and 3,000 indirect jobs. The construction of the refinery was to be completed in 44 months. Four years later, in August 2023 the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to cancel the agreement with the investors of the refinery as the project has not been implemented! Can they explain to the country how much money was wasted to produce that fairy tale?
It is obvious that the President, ministers, and officials had made huge blunders and had deliberately misled the public and the parliament on the revenue loss and potential investment from SLSFTA with fairy tales and false promises.
As the president himself said, a country cannot be developed by making false promises or with fairy tales and these false promises and fairy tales had bankrupted the country. “Unfortunately, many segments of the population have not come to realize this yet”.
(The writer, a specialist and an activist on trade and development issues . )
