Everyone else blames Merv the perv for the recent Dawson Street incident. I blame Sirasa/Maharaja.
Not that I approve Merv’s dirty job. We know him. I wonder whether this Rastapopoulos ever did an honorable thing in his life. Why mince words condemning him when that makes no difference? Why upset the master by complaining about his ‘above the punishment’ favorite? Let him appoint another ‘special inquiry’ and then go to hell. Should I care?
Instead I blame Sirasa/Maharaja. Not that I have scores to settle. On the contrary, I am an ardent fan of Sirasa. When the vandals smashed its ultra modern studio at Depanama, I created the FaceBook group “Sirasa we are with you, whatever happens”. I have friends at all layers at Maharaja, from top to bottom. From very top to very bottom. One former Maharaja driver now drives me home everyday. The short address book in my mobile starts with a Sirasa employee (Asoka) and ends with a Sirasa employee. (Yasarath). Period.
I blame Sirasa/Maharaja because I believe they still can and should learn. I know its long term objective is to be the best broadcaster in South Asia. An ambitious dream. Still I like to see them achieving it. Any distractions, naturally upset me.
Sirasa/MTV/Shakthi’s achievements within a short period of their existence are momentous. Kingsley redefined radio when it was almost dead. Buddhika turned a new page in political debates. Sirasa news team was always the first in delivery, and when they weren’t CID questioned why. Nilendra created the icons of Shihan Mihiranga and the rest of the super stars. Within just four days of tsunami, Sirasa even beat the government by collecting enough relief material to fill twenty trucks. I can go on, but will stop there.
The sad truth is despite all this, Sirasa faces a serious credibility issue. Sadder that it got into this mess by being independent. But let us face the reality. When the society moves with the singular objective of destroying the terrorist menace of three long decades, any slight distraction is taken with fury. Sirasa/Maharaja paid enough I guess, before realising its mistake. Not that I loved to see the only independent channel being another trumpet for the state. But these are small prices to be paid for a serious long term goal.
Sad that Sirasa/Maharaja had to lock horns with Merv too. In retrospective I see all pre planned. Merv, who could not get even 2,000 votes representing one of the biggest electorate, wanted publicity. He might have preferred good publicity, but even bad publicity is never too bad for a politician. Sirasa News team fell for the trap. It was the vehicle Merv used for creating his image. This totally unnecessary tussle did nothing good to Sirasa. In fact it did irreparable damage.
Few months before its Depanama studios were demolished I suggested Sirasa/Maharaja should try an image rebuilding exercise. I gave even a vague guideline. (Frankly, I never thought things were that bad.) I was listened to but no serious action was taken. I don’t say an image rebuilding would have prevented the attack, but at least Sirasa would have received public sympathy. It wasn’t just Sinhalese extremists complained Sirasa burned their own studio to claim insurance.
Now to Akon. I do not know who initiated, but Maharaja Management to was naïve to endorse the event. I am no pop music fan and I don’t know him from Adam. I have never heard him sing. Still I know bringing him to Sri Lanka is plain stupid. Whether we like it or not ours is a predominantly Sinhalese Buddhist, xenophobic society. It is easy to provoke this society. Merv the perv knows that. It just needs a spark to create a bushfire. I am baffled that Sirasa/Maharaja management never thought about the possibility of a backfire. Can they so easily forget the Shahrukh Khan incident?
Mr.Rajamahendran is one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life. He is a professional with several decades of business experience, but never having been part of the Sinhalese Buddhist society he may find it difficult to understand how narrowly and stupidly it sometimes behaves. Post 2003 era is so unpredictable, that things often surprises even me.
Sirasa/Management should have been educated about these pit falls. I am sure Maharaja has enough middle managers capable of doing this. Sadly I do not see that happening.
I still say Sirasa/Maharaja needs a serious image rebuilding exercise. Sirasa/Maharaja needs to win the trust of the majority Sinhalese Buddhists. That will not happen just by employing 99% Sinhalese. The majority should see Sirasa/Maharaja as a friend not foe. This does not mean they have act like extremists. Understanding what masses and offering them few of their choices is more than enough. There is no need to air eulogies six times a day. Adding few carefully planned serious cultural programs would do. They need to win the respect of the viewers to the extent the latter see the value of safeguarding the channel. Otherwise they will not make a voice even Merv brought down the building flat.
I love to see the day Sirasa becomes the best broadcaster in South Asia. Maharaja should focus on this long term business priority instead of fighting with petty politicians on petty issues.
___________________________________________________________________________
(NB: I use the term ‘Sirasa’ as it is closer to my heart, but I mean the gamut of brands Maharaja/MBC/MTV/Shakthi.)
An armed group believed to be associated with a notorious Deputy Minister attacked the MTV/MBC office at Braybrooke Place a short while ago severely damaging the place, an MBC official told Daily Mirror online.
When asked if the Minister was also present at the scene, the official said that the Minister was not to be seen at the time of the incident.
He also said that the MTV staff members were attacked by stones and the staff had retaliated by throwing the same stones at the gang afterwhich the gang fled the scene.
Police who arrived at the scene made ateleast 16 arrests.
Government and Opposition members also rushed to the scene to see the extent of damage and hold discussions with the MTV/MBC management.
Members of the Special Task Force and the police have been deployed outside the premises.
A journalist attached to the Lanka e news website was reported missing since last night. Prageeth Eknaligoda was on his way home from work late last night at the time he went missing. The Editor of Lanka e news speaking to Daily Mirror online said that a police complaint has been lodged.
More information at: http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=9007
Appeal:
Current PA regime has a negative reputation for media freedom. This was not the first journalist to face a similar fate. During the last four years abducted journalists either found dead (eg. Dharmeratnam Sivaram aka Taraki) or ruthlessly tortured. (eg. Keith Noyahr) Not to mention the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, editor The Sunday Leader and murder attempt of Upali Tennekoon, editor, Rivira.
I appeal to all international journalists, bloggers and readers to expose this event using whatever the channels you have. (email, web, blogs, Facebook) That will be the only way perhaps to save his life in this critical juncture.
While Sinhala print and electronic media, with the rare exception of the Sinhala weekly Ravaya, showing either indifference or the endorsement of the twenty year rigorous imprisonment sentence given to journalist J. S. Tissainayagam for two articles he has written and purely based on his ‘confession’, some of the Sinhala bloggers have taken a hundred and eighty degree approach by expressing their solidarity and in some cases censure.
Beyond Frame, arguably the most popular Sinhala blogger, in his own way expresses the anguish – in verse. “Tissa, why didn’t you swim downstream (like everyone else)?” asks Beyond Frame. “Why you swam upstream? Then why you had to be a Tissainayagam, not a Tissanayake?” The two are slightly different Tamils and Sinhala versions of the same name.
W3Lanka, the first Sinhala blogger to discuss the issue, obviously taking a certain amount of risk gets an interesting comment. “In 1989, Tissainayagam translated some documents on the human rights violations of then regime for (now President) Mahinda Rajapakse, a key human rights activist of the day, to be taken to Geneva. He was a hero then, but now a villain. Is this because then he was fighting for rights of the Sinhalese and now for Tamil rights?” Asks the commentator Pathum.
Two more popular Sinhala bloggers ‘Taboo Subjects’ and ‘Makabass’ innovatively use published Sinhala verses and songs in place of their comments. Taboo Subjects use a verse by poet Dayasena Gunasinghe, while Makabaas gets the best use of Nanda Malini’s popular ‘Nidahas Bailava’ – with its catchy line “This is the great country with the freedom to write, speak and reprimand” as his title. Their reluctance to comment further is understandable as not everyone is certain about the legal implications.
Ramachandra, a keen political analyst blogger goes a step ahead by questioning if Tissainayagam were to be imprisoned for twenty years what should be the punishment for Gunadasa Amarasekera, who had made worse racist remarks about the Tamils, for not voting for Rajapakse regime. Ramachandra asks why Amarasekera were not punished for equating Tamils to cows in an article to a racist Sinhala weekly.
Meanwhile some pro-Rajapakse and pro-Sinhala extremist bloggers have posted approving the judgment.
Colombo High Court yesterday sentenced J. S. Tissainayagam to 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment for publishing a magazine named North Eastern Monthly which ‘provoked racism’. Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundara sentenced him after convicting him on three counts indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency Law. This is an appealable judgement, and I am certain there will be one.
The judgement per se does not surprise me. What surprises me is the local media response. There was not a single print media – in English and Sinhalese, I do not read Tamil – that did an editorial on this. Not a single editor, including Tissainayagam’s own stood for his/her own colleague. Some Sinhalese media, notably Lankadeepa of the very Wijeya Group that employed Tissainayagam for nearly a decade showed no reservations in expressing their pleasure. I thought there was something called ethics in fourth estate. I was wrong. These are the times of invertebrates.
I never knew Tissainayagam personally. I have glanced over some of his articles to Sunday Times. I never read the controversial magazine. Basically I have little idea what he stood for. But as a lawyer none of the above stops me commenting on the case.
What was the basis of conviction? Let me quote from the press release of International Press Institute.
The evidence against the journalist is based on two articles he wrote in the North Eastern Monthly, and a signed confession, which Tissainayagam later said had been written under duress. According to the written submission made by his defense counsel to the court, the confession was tampered with to suggest that the journalist had taken money from the LTTE. The document says: “The only allegation that he (the accused) did (accept money from a terrorist organization), is based on a fraudulent alteration of the Accused’s purported confession.”
In other words, the judgement was not based on any serious evidence other than a confession. The only occasion a court should take a confession seriously is when the behaviour of the accused supports such confession. One makes a voluntary confession only when one is convinced about guilt and regrets one’s actions. In this case Tissanayagam’s behaviour clearly was the opposite. Then the next factor is to whom he made his confession. Don’t we know about Sri Lanka’s police? Don’t we know how these confessions were taken?
This reminds me the old joke about KGB. Having left no other way of determining the time, Soviet archaeologists handed over a mummy to KGB. They didn’t have to wait for long. Pat came the answer. Apparently, the mummy has ‘confessed’.
As a lawyer, I have appeared for hundreds of ‘JVP suspects’ during the 1988-9 era who had made similar ‘confessions’. So I know how confessions are made. I know who makes them. Thanks to Inspector K. P. Newton, former-OIC of Angulana Police station and Vass Gunawardena, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), I do not have to mince words explaining. The entire island knows.
Neither does International Press Institute (IPI) mince words. This is what it says:
No less than twelve journalists have been killed in Sri Lanka since 2006, according to its Death Watch list, with many more harassed, threatened, and arrested.
In January 2009, Lasantha Wickrematunga, editor-in-chief of the Sunday Leader, was shot at close range in the head and chest by two men on a motorcycle as he drove to work in a suburb of Colombo. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he received emergency surgery, but died a few hours later. Known for his critical reporting on the government, Wickrematunga was a frequent victim of harassment and intimidation, and predicted his own murder in the pages of his newspaper. The initial results of the investigation of his death have not been released.
Obviously the Sinhalese racists are jubilant. Seeing a Tamil in mess always makes them happy. To them, we have the best police and the leagal system in the whole world.
Sadly, on the other hand, this furthers us from civilised world. Sri Lanka was hardly known for its Media Freedom, but this takes us even lower. No better confirmation of the fact than the following brief story on from Chinese Xinhua:
JOURNALIST SENTENCED TO 20 YEARS FOR AIDING TERRORISM IN SRI LANKA
COLOMBO, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) — The High Court on Monday sentenced journalist to 20 years at hard labor for aiding terrorism. J. S. Tissainayagam was arrested by the police’s Terrorism Investigation Division in March 2008 for alleged aiding and abetting terrorism through a magazine he edited.
Thanks guys, for your warm welcome to the club. We owe you one.
Winston Churchill wrote in his history of the Second World War that the first trait required of victors was “magnanimity.” The Sri Lankan government would do well to remember that lesson in its treatment of its Tamil minority, whose insurgents it mercilessly crushed this past spring to end a 26-year civil war.
So far, the government in Colombo has shown little if any magnanimity toward the vanquished Tamils. More than a quarter of a million of them remain in refugee camps from which foreign aid workers and international journalists are barred. Conditions in some of these camps are “desperate,” according to the United Nation’s High Commission on Refugees.
Then on Monday, a Tamil journalist — the quiet, slight J. S. Tissainayagam — was sentenced to 20 years hard labour for alleged violations of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act.
While he is accused of having taken money from the outlawed (and brutal) Tamil Tigers to operate a website providing the Tamil version of facts about the civil war, Mr. Tissainayagam’s main crime seems to have been writing two articles in the now-defunct Northeastern Monthly magazine in 2006 and 2007 criticizing the Sri Lankan persecution of the Tamils, who were seeking an independent homeland in the north-east corner of the island nation.
Mr. Tissainayagam criticized wartime tactics employed by Sri Lankan leaders, including the alleged withholding of food, medicine and other essential items from Tamil areas as a way to strike back at the Tigers. He also complained that the Sri Lankan army was conducting extrajudicial executions — murdering civilian Tamils as a warning to the Tigers that Colombo was not to be messed with and a caution to ordinary Tamils not to abet the Tigers.
For this, the Sri Lankans — who are mostly ethnic Sinhalese, not Tamil– charged Mr. Tissainayagam with “causing communal disharmony,” a serious offence under anti-terrorism laws there. His supporters, along with Amnesty International and the Asian Human Rights Commission, claim the evidence that he purportedly co-operated with the Tamil Tigers was fabricated.
They claim he is a political prisoner and that the criminal charges against him were trumped up in order to silence his anti-government views.
Sri Lanka has an abysmal record of press freedom. Not only is it keeping international reporters from its 30, soldier-guarded refugee camps for Tamil civilians, but over the course of the quarter-century-long civil war, at least 20 journalists critical of Colombo disappeared in a practice that became known as “white vanning.” A white van would pull up next to a target as he walked down the street. Masked men would jump out, throw the journalist inside and he would never be seen again. The International Committee to Protect Journalists ranks only Iran, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Colombia as worse in their mistreatment of reporters.
Throughout the final years of Sri Lanka’s civil war, this newspaper was broadly sympathetic to the Sri Lankan government’s goal of confronting and subduing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers. While the Tamil people had legitimate gripes against the Sinhalese majority government, nothing could justify the Tigers’ tactics.
The LTTE murdered civilians, including Tamils, to strike terror into the hearts of the Sinhalese and compel obedience from ordinary Tamils. They perfected the use of suicide bombers long before Palestinians employed the tactic against Israel. Tigers threatened the lives of Tamil families effectively held hostage within Tiger-held areas in Sri Lanka in order to extract war funds from expatriates worldwide.
Still, it is clear the Tamils have been persecuted since Sri Lanka was granted its independence in 1948. The ruling caste when Britain ruled the island, the Tamils have since been legally denied government jobs and places in business merely because of their ethnicity. In 1983, hundreds of innocent Tamils were murdered by roving Sinhalese mobs in what became known as Bloody July.
The U. S. State Department has urged Colombo to release Mr. Tissainayagam. U. S. President Barack Obama even singled him out for mention in his Press Freedom Day speech in May.
Now that it is at peace again, Sri Lanka has an obligation to honour freedom of the press and of speech.
Source: National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=1948907&p=1
This is how the officers of the President talk to the media, taking the powers of their masters. (Of course, it is not too different from the master using the same language to Lasantha Waickramatunga!)
We do not mind Kumarasiri Hettige using language of this nature to address his wife, children or parents. Still as a public officer whose salary is paid by the general public he is expected to respect them. The public of this country is not as cheap as his wife or mother.
May be it is time for the public of this country to use the same language to Hettige’s wife, returning the compliment!
(I am sorry to reproduce the filth here, but the damage so done is far smaller to the damage caused by retaining such rotten individuals in public service.)
