SRI LANKA NEWS – JUNE 2019 – By Victor Melder

All Muslim ministers in the UNF-led government resigned, yesterday. They had done so to allow the government to bring about reconciliation and conduct an impartial investigation into various allegations, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader, Rauff Hakeem told the media at Temple Trees. The decision had been taken after a lengthy discussion with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and others, Hakeem said. Hakeem requested the government to have an investigation conducted by the CID into the allegations and take legal action within one month if there was ample evidence. The Muslim community and the politicians who represented them had fully cooperated with the authorities to ensure the safety of the country following the Easter Sunday Bombings, and attacks on Muslims had to be condemned, Hakeem said. Although they had resigned from their ministerial posts, they would not resort to any action that would weaken the government, Hakeem said, adding that they would protect the government as backbenchers. The Muslim community expected them to do so, Hakeem said. Muslims were extremely worried about and scared of the developments during the last several days and it was not fair to vilify the entire community for the actions of a few, he added. Hakeem said he did not believe that any solution could be reached through parliamentary select committees and there had to be an immediate CID investigation into the allegations at issue. (Daily Island, 4.6.2019)

Sri Lanka has reduced electrocutions by over 50 per cent to just 89 such incidents in 2018 compared to 2012, the Electrocution Report 2018 prepared by Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) says. There were 180 electrocutions in 2012. According to the international benchmark, the possibility of electrocution occurring is only one electrocution for one million people, per year. In 2012, Sri Lanka was at the position of nine electrocutions for one million people which was reduced to five electrocutions for one million people per year in 2018. PUCSL as the safety regulator of the industry has adopted various measures to make public aware of the safe use of electricity and introduced several regulatory tools including the licensing of electricians in Sri Lanka, national standard for plugs and sockets, rules and regulations with regard to the minimum distance of power lines to the premises and etc. to create an electrical safety environment for public and premises. The latest statistics show that males are more exposed to electrocutions as they accounted for 83 per cent of total electrocutions reported in 2018. Southern province reports the highest number of electrocutions in 2018 while Sabaragamuwa reported the lowest. The Southern Province reported 67 electrocutions in the 2015-18 period. Laying power lines illegally to protect cultivations or to kill wild animals has been identified as the main cause of electrocutions in the country while carelessness and improper or unsafe wiring and bad maintenance practices also contributed largely to the electrocutions in 2018. (Daily Island, 7.6.2019)

Scientists have identified a new species of endemic day gecko (Reptilia: Gekkonidae: Cnemaspis) from a wet zone forest in second peneplain of Southern Sri Lanka. The team comprises Anslem de Silva of the Amphibia and Reptile Research Organization of Sri Lanka, Aaron M Bauer Department of Biology, Villanova University, Madhava Boteju of the Biodiversity Conservation Society, and Suranjan Karunaratna of Nature Explorations and Education. The new day gecko species of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch, 1887 is described from a geographically separated forested area at Ensalwatte in the Matara district. This species is medium in size and can be differentiated from all other Sri Lankan congeners by a suite of distinct morphometric, meristic and colour characteristics. The species is recorded from rock outcrop habitats in wet, cool and shady forest with minimal anthropogenic disturbance at low-elevations (below 860m). Existing data suggest that this gecko is a point endemic. Being rupicolous micro habitat specialists with a scansorial mode of life, this species is susceptible to both localized and widespread threats. Therefore, isolated forest patches warrant special conservation action, including habitat protection, in depth research and species specific hands-on management practices. They possess comparatively large, forward and upwardly-directed eyes with round pupils, and widely-splayed limbs bearing elongate slender digits that are bent at an angle and bear entire sub digital lamellae (Deraniyagala, 1953; Manamendra-Arachchi et al. 2007; Wood et al. 2017). These crepuscular geckos though mostly rupicolous, but a few are arboreal and ground-dwelling, most members of the genus Cnemaspis have a cryptic morphology and coloration, both of which help in camouflaging (Grismer et al. 2014; Wood et al. 2017). Genus Cnemaspis has been the subject of numerous taxonomic revisions and new species descriptions in recent years.  Currently, 26 Cnemaspis, all of which are endemic to the island, are known to inhabit Sri Lanka. (Daily Island, 7.6.2019)

Sri Lanka’s first satellite Ravana 1, designed and developed by two Sri Lankan research engineers will be released into orbit on Monday, June 17th, Director Communication Engineering (Project Manager Nanosatellite projects) at Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, Kavindra Jayawardena told Daily Mirror. On Monday, June 17th, 2019 at 2.15PM Sri Lanka time Raavana-1 will be deployed to the 400km orbit at an inclination of 51.6 degrees using the JAXA (Japanese Aerospace and Exploration Agency) owned Kibo experiment module. ‘Ravana 1’ would be deployed to 400km orbit, using the Kibo experiment module by JAXA scientists in the International Space Station (ISS). Mr. Jayawardena said Ravana 1 was launched to the ISS in the 400km orbit by the Cygnus spacecraft of NASA on April 18 at 2.16 am Sri Lanka time by the rocket ‘ANTRAS.’ “The spacecraft CYGNUS was connected to ISS by April 20 and it was accepted by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency section in the ISS. “Ravana – 1, the nanosatellite, signified Sri Lanka’s entry to the field of space research. RAAVANA-1 which is a cube-seized miniature satellite and Sri Lanka’s first research satellite built by two Sri Lankan youth Tharindu Dayaratne and Dulani Chamika marking our entrance into the space age. Tharindu Dayaratne is an Electrical and Electronics engineer of the University of Peradeniya and a research engineer at the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies and Dulani Chamika is a Mechatronics engineer from the same institute. The satellite which was designed and built at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Japan is 1000 cubic cm in size and weighs 1.1 kg. The RAAVANA-1 was officially handed over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on February 18, 2019. The satellite is expected to fulfil five missions including the capturing of pictures of Sri Lanka and surrounding regions, active attitude stabilization which ensures that satellite’s attitude is stable under the influence of external talks. (Daily Mirror, 14.6.2019)

Sri Lanka’s beleaguered tourism industry, reeling under the impact of the devastating Easter Sunday terror attacks, has suffered a loss of more than Rs. 62 billion, a senior Minister revealed. When losses all around are assessed and taken into account, the figure could exceed the present estimate of Rs. 62 billion plus, Economic Reform and Public Distribution Minister, Dr. Harsha de Silva told a news conference convened by Sri Lanka Tourism last week. As confirmed by the Bank of Ceylon, 1,001 applications amounting to Rs. 8 billion are already being processed to extend relief to some of the businesses affected. The Minister explained that the affected businesses were small entrepreneurs, micro level businesses, for example those in the ‘home stay’ enterprises, tourist vehicle owners, amongst others. He said the process to accommodate appeals for relief is a priority consideration and would continue based on the urgent need of existing necessities. Private banks, according to information at hand, are also actively contributing towards the moratorium scheme. However, the position of leasing companies is somewhat hazy. The Central Bank has been asked to provide weekly reports on the current position of relief to the tourist industry to ensure its revival to the pre 21/4 position. Small time entrepreneurs present at the media briefing complained that they had to pay Rs. 25,000 to have their loans processed. However, they have now been assured this would not be necessary for a limited period of three months. Minister John Amaratunga asserted that tourist arrivals have improved. Around 2,000 tourists are registered on a daily basis, which, he said, is encouraging. China, India, Germany and The Netherlands have lifted their travel advisories, and there is every reason to believe the position would improve, he noted. Asked about the existing security situation, the Minister asked an officer from the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to address the media. The security officer assured that there is no threat of a repetition of 21/4. (Sunday Island, 16.6.2019)

St. Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade celebrated its 185th feast on Thursday with a trilingual festive High Mass. The Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith officiated at the shrine, which was repaired by the Sri Lanka Navy after the Easter Sunday bomb attack. The bomb blast triggered immense interest on the shrine and on St. Anthony with worldwide media focus on the tragic 21/4 incidents in Sri Lanka. (Sunday Island, 16.6.2019)

President Maithripala Sirisena is gearing to carry out the first hanging in the near future raising fresh concerns within the diplomatic and rights activists. According to sources in Presidential Secretariat, “it has been put in motion”, to carry out the first hanging in the near future, but not as “early as next week, as rumoured”. The President decided to carry out executions on repeated drug offenders who are on death row, proposing the move as an effective deterrent to address the drug trafficking in Sri Lanka. The move will end a 43-year-long moratorium on the death penalty, where the country has not carried out executions although the death penalty has been given by court rulings. The Sri Lankan Government voted to maintain its moratorium at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in December 2018.  Earlier this year, the Commissioner of Prisons called for applications to recruit two hangmen to fill the positions that have remained vacant for over a decade. The diplomatic community who on earlier occasions too have raised concerns over Sirisena’s decision to re-enact the death penalty, are now raising fresh concerns on the matter with warnings that the decision will likely negatively affect GSP+ while also having personal repercussions.  The President on several occasions has reiterated that he is going to carry out the death penalty regardless of what the international community feels about the move. Earlier this year President Sirisena said that he has already decided on a date on which the death penalty would be implemented, but declined to publicise the date. However, there has been concerns from both the international community and rights activist against the President’s decision to restart executions. In April this year, the EU in a joint statement with Embassies of France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania and the UK High Commission, the Embassies of Norway and Switzerland, as well as the High Commissions of Canada and Australia called on the Government to reconsider its decision noting that evidence does not show the move as an effective deterrent to address drug trafficking. “We call on the Sri Lankan Government to maintain its moratorium on the death penalty in line with its vote at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly in December 2018,” the statement said.  (Daily Financial Times, 22.6.2019)

Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of nearly $1.0 billion from China for energy and highways as the island recovers from the devastating Easter Sunday bombings, the finance ministry. Talks are underway with China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to raise the new loan in addition to the $1.2 billion obtained from international agencies this year, the ministry said. “We have been discussing with the AIIB to obtain nearly an additional US$ 1,000 million for further development of the Power and Highway sectors,” the ministry quoted Finance minister Mangala Samaraweera. Sri Lanka’s former government borrowed heavily to rollout ports, highways and railroads, but several ambitious infrastructure projects ended up as white elephants and left the country facing a mountain of debt — mainly to China. Unable to service its loans, the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe leased a Chinese-built port at Hambantota to a Beijing company for $1.12 billion in 2017. Samaraweera said the country was able to maintain economic stability despite the April 21 attacks that killed at least 258 people at three churches and three luxury hotels. The government expects tourism to decline 30 percent this year as a result of the suicide bombings. The loss of revenue has been estimated at $1.5 billion. The minister’s remarks came as the census department said the country’s economic growth in the first quarter of this year was 3.7 percent — better than the 3.5 percent forecast by the authorities. That compares to 1.79 percent in the final quarter of 2018 and 4.02 percent a year earlier. Last month, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka cut its main lending rate by 50 basis points to 8.5 percent to encourage borrowing and mitigate any fallout from the bombings. The government has begun subsidising loans to hotels which were already suffering a declining in foreign guests following last year’s political crisis. The country had plunged into turmoil in October when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and called fresh elections. However, the Supreme Court held that the president’s actions were illegal and restored the status quo. But, three international credit rating agencies downgraded the country’s debt making it more expensive to borrow abroad. Official figures show that Sri Lanka will have to repay a record $5.9 billion in foreign loans in 2019. Officials say about two-thirds of it has already been paid. (Sunday Sun, 23.6.2019)

Sri Lanka’s per capita consumption of liquor has increased up to a staggering 95 percent, a report by the WHO has revealed. According to the 2018 Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health by the WHO, the total number of new alcohol users in Sri Lanka had increased up to 10.4 percent by 2016. According to the report a majority of new alcohol users have been termed as addicts,  adding that every one in three alcohol users are heavy drinkers. The report also revealed that 40 percent have been consuming illicit liquor.  Accordingly, the global health body insisted that both health and financial policies must be collectively considered while preparing Excise laws in a bid to control liquor consumption in the country. However, the WHO had appreciated the steps taken to introduce the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol Act, No. 27 of 2006 in Sri Lanka. (Times online, 29.6.2019)