Darusman Report, an unwarranted exercise - Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama

*Report utterly redundant

*Issued a few weeks prior to LLRC Report release

*Motivated by codgers and fanatics

By Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Senior Minister for International Monetary Co-operation Dr. Sarath Amunugama said that the Government has totally rejected the Darusman report and maintain the view that they are not competent enough to arrive at their decisions. Dr. Amunugama in an interview with the Sunday Observer said that the Darusman report is a concerted attempt made by some people who want to take revenge on Sri Lanka for having settled the ethnic issue by militarily defeating of the LTTE.

Defeat of the LTTE has created a huge dilemma for its sympathizers and they are behind this report.

According to Dr.Amunugama the release of Darusman report is utterly redundant as there was no internal demand for the appointment of this advisory panel or issue a report of this nature.

The Minister said that there was a universal demand that the Darusman report should be withheld until the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report is released on May 15.

The LLRC appointed by the Government is a high powered commission which has access to evidence from everybody.

It would have been an indispensable piece of information to the panel of the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG). But deliberately they have issued the Darusman report just a few weeks prior to the issue of the LLRC report.

Therefore, either the UNSG has acted mala fide or made a very bad misjudgment.

Q: According to you what made the UNSG to appoint a panel to probe the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka?

A: As far as we know,there was no internal demand for the appointment of an advisory panel.

All the political parties in Sri Lanka who represent the wishes of the people said that they had nothing to do with the establishment of this panel.

Therefore, the conclusion is irresistible that there was lot of pressure from the non-governmental organisations and the diaspora. More than that I feel our victory over the LTTE is a game change. There are so many countries with vested interests NGOs and university dons who held the view that an internal ethnic conflict like this could not be completely eliminated through military means.

Their whole approach was to suggest prolonged discussions and devolution with the idea of resolving this issue.

In fact none of such prescriptions have worked in most of the countries where there are ethnic conflicts.

Sri Lankan experience is totally different because after long years of negotiations due to the intransigence of the LTTE, no political accommodation could be made.

Even the UNP’s efforts under Ranil Wickremesinghe to conduct discussions with the LTTE failed. For example, the LTTE boycotted Tokyo talks.

So Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa was left with an alternative. That is to bring a military solution to end terrorism. This what the countries such as US, UK and France had tried on their own. But they have failed.

I think behind this Darusman report is a philosophy that these things can be resolved by discussion. Some ethnic problems can be resolved through discussions. But it cannot be done with a fanatical and fascist military group like the LTTE. They waved a cult of violence.

They held the view that they could achieve their objective only through violence. Now the Government has defeated the LTTE. This has created a huge dilemma for their support groups. I think they were behind this report. Otherwise, there was no domestic demand for an inquiry or report of this nature.

Q: Has the UNSG exceeded his authority? Because there are some people who argue that it is quite within his mandate to appoint such committees?

A: The UN Secretary General should have some form of invitation from the host country if he is to launch this type of inquiry.

We must remember that the United Nations is a body of sovereign nations. It is not a gathering of non-governmental organisations, cricketers or film stars. It is really a gathering of member States. So action has to be initiated by the member States themselves.

In Sri Lanka’s case, we have not initiated that. The supporters of the UN Secretary General are bringing all sorts of arguments that the Secretary General came to Sri Lanka and some officials met him at the United Nations.

Meeting the Secretary General is one thing and appointing an advisory panel is something else.

We can’t conflate these two elements. Our position has been consistent in that and we don’t want this committee.

We have appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Whatever we have to do regarding the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, it will be done by our domestic body called LLRC and we will fully abide by that.

The declared date is May 15 for the issuing of the LLRC report.

There was a universal demand that the report of the advisory panel of the UN Secretary General(UNSG) should be withheld until this LLRC report is released. Then only both reports could be compared.

In fact, if the panel of the UNSG were genuine in their quest for finding out what happened, naturally they would have waited till this LLRC report was submitted to them.

Any person without a personal agenda unlike these commissioners, would have waited for further information to come from Sri Lanka, because the LLRC is a high powered commission and it has access to evidence from everybody.

It visited to all parts of the island. So it would have been an indispensable piece of information to the UNSG’s commissioners.

But deliberately they have issued this Darusman report just a few weeks prior to the issue of the LLRC report.

Why should the UNSG rush to issue this report, knowing well that two weeks later the LLRC report would be made public? Either the UNSG has acted mala fide or he has made a very bad misjudgment.

Q: What is Sri Lanka’s stand? Will the Government respond to the Darusman report?

A: Sri Lanka’s stand regarding this matter is that we do not recognise this report. We did not ask for this report and we did not cooperate while the report was being prepared.

We have our own domestic investigation called LLRC and there is no need for this report.

This report has no access to the relevant information. They could not come to Sri Lanka and gather information.

According to our best of knowledge, anybody who had any knowledge on this subject could not provide information to this committee.

There may be various NGOs whose knowledge is either biased or inadequate.

Most of them are failed Phds who can’t find a job. They join these organisations and write various reports. Many of them as we know are university dropouts.

The unemployed dropouts join these NGOs and then they pontificate to others when they can’t even get through their exams. So what is the information that was available to this advisory panel? That is the question we have to ask.

Do they have access to information far superior to those available to the LLRC? The LLRC made a universal appeal that anybody who had information with him could come forward and provide it to them.

The people of varying political parties, religions and regional affiliations, gave evidence.

So why can’t they wait till the Government released the LLRC report? Therefore, the Government has totally rejected this Darusman report and we feel that they are not competent enough to make these decisions.

They have no knowledge on the subject. Actually they are like witch doctors.

This is an inquiry report of three witch doctors who have no knowledge or information about the modern trends in this country. They are speculating on some old formulas.

Q: Why have they singled out only Sri Lanka when there is open violation of human rights, such as indiscriminate killings by powerful countries?

A: As I mentioned earlier, this is a concerted attempt by some people who want to take revenge on Sri Lanka for having settled the ethnic issue militarily defeating the LTTE. So they want to take revenge on President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his relatives and this country.

Unlike other reports, we have to remember that there is no internal demand for this. The President won the Presidential Election by an overwhelming majority while the UPFA won the Parliamentary and Local Government elections with a huge majority.

There was no internal demand for the appointment of this advisory panel. Who asked these people to give this report? This is utterly redundant and unnecessary. Nobody in Sri Lanka has asked for this.

I would like to ask the UNSG to list even hundred people in Sri Lanka who want this report.

To whom is he addressing this report? Both the Government and the people of Sri Lanka have rejected it. When you prepare a report there must be a clientele for the report. So the clientele here is the people who want to take revenge from Sri Lanka, because we have done something that they did not anticipate. There is no basis or demand for this report. This will be put into pigeon-hole in the United Nations and let it be there.

Q: Many developing countries argue that they are being bullied by the powerful nations in the UN despite equal rights by all member countries. How do you comment on this?

A: We have no fight with the United Nations. We are members of the UN and we subscribe to the UN ideals. But what has happened now is that all sort of crack pots like the diaspora and the NGOs who have no constituency have accessed to the UN under various pretexts such as environmental pretexts and safeguard the rights of minorities.

These are all nameboards that they used to cover the fact that they have no representative strength in any of these countries.

Nobody cares them. Tell me any NGO that the people of Sri Lanka have any respect for. They don’t care to hoots specially for the NGOs which deal with the ethnic issue. See how much they have made money. Tell me one single ethnic centre or NGO which has lost one cent because of this.

They all have built houses, bought new cars and they all pay huge salaries for their members.

They are on the gravy train. The gravy train will stop unless they have things like this. So they keep on adding to the gravy train.

Q: Independent sovereign countries have the right to defeat internal terrorism and protect democracy in this civilised world. What sort of help the UN or Western democracies could provide to them?

A: The first thing is that the United Nations should stick to its original Charter. The UN is representative of member States.

The representatives of member States are popularly elected by a majority vote at elections.

If we take countries like India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, we are all democratic countries which have elected leaders through the electoral process. So the UN must respect the voice of the people in those countries.

There can’t be all sort of codgers who supersede the voice of the elected leaders of a country.

You cannot allow the UN to be motivated by all sorts of codgers and fanatics. Even in America today we see fanaticism being unleashed against the leaders like Obama.

If a chance is given to these people, they will go to the UN and they can easily have anything against President Obama. The motivation is that they are fanatics. They don’t like what is going on.

Q: Sri Lanka has a very good economic outlook at the moment. What are the reasons for this?

A: The first reason is the end of the war. The Northern and the Eastern provinces which were outside the national economy have now been integrated.

This is adding greater momentum in all spheres particularly in agriculture, service industries like tourism and manufacture.

Since the war is war, there is a growth potential. Investors are very happy.

Sri Lanka is one of the safest countries in the world today.

Thanks to Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the city of Colombo has turned into one of the cleanest and beautiful cities in Asia.

Earlier when it was under the Municipal Council, it was the garbage pit of Asia.

The roads were full of garbage.

The members of the Municipal Council were really garbage dealers and they were political garbage as well. At present we have cleaned the city. It is a good example of how this country can go forward with some discipline and dedication. What we can see today is that the economy is moving in all three sectors-agriculture, manufacturing and services sector within the environment of peace. So the peace is very necessary and that peace was gained only because we were able to eliminate the LTTE.

Q: Where will Sri Lanka be in terms of per capita income and economic growth by year 2016?

A: Our idea is to have sustainable 8 to 10 percent economic growth in 2016 which would give us a per capita income of US$ 4,000. This is virtually the double of what we are getting now and that should come mainly through the service sectors like tourism, remittances, agriculture growth and investment in the new economy.

Q: Lots of new investments are coming in. What is the reason for this?

A: Actually most of the investments are coming through the State sector. At present the public sector investment program is going on very well. We have a shortfall in the private sector investments.

In order to get the private sector investments, firstly we should have peace in the country. Secondly a democratic country should be there. We have that. Now we have to promote the country.

In certain areas like education, labour force, public service and bureaucracy which have become an impediment toady to a speedy growth are being reformed.

It is very important that we have made lots of reforms in these sectors.

This would lead to speedy growth. If you ask me why there is a shortage of investments in Sri Lanka, it is because of the bureaucracy which is over-bloated and under performing.

Q: There are allegations that there is no transparency in some deals such as Shangri La. Your comments?

A: These are absurd remarks made by certain sections. If I were the Minister, I would have given the land free.

This is what the countries like Singapore, Malaysia and the Maldives are doing. If we want to promote tourism, we cannot get market rates for the lands.

Those who negotiated Shangri La investment should be complimented.

But my personal view is that the lands should be given free to big investors. That is how the countries like Singapore and Hongkong have developed. When the economy is developed and hotels have come up, they will pay us regular rates by tax. There is a debt tax in developed countries for tourism. If Shangri La has 2000 rooms and when it is occupied everyday, the Government will also get a slice of that investment.

Though my views are not the main views on this matter,I think the investors should be given lands free and we should tax them later when they have made money. Nobody objects to pay taxes and dues when they have made money. But if we put it as a pre-condition that they have to pay a huge amount of money to get the lands, nobody will come to invest in Sri Lanka.

We have to remember that Sri Lanka is not the only girl on the beach! If an investor specially a hotel investor wants to come here, we should realise that there is an attraction for them from all over the world. People are trying to get them. If we miss them, they will go to another country. So we have to do everything to get them. My personal view is that we are charging too much from investors. We should give them much cheaper rates.

Q: There are allegations that taxes are going up as a result of World Bank and IMF dictates and also to pay back massive loans. Your comments?

A: No not all. That is completely untrue. Our debts to the GDP ratio have come down from 110 percent to 80 percent. We want it to come down further.

If the country has developed its assets and it is wealthy, we will be in a position to pay our debts.

Otherwise, how can the country become rich? It is only when we become rich, we can pay back the debts. So I personally feel when we invest more, we can earn more. Then we can be in a very good position to pay our debts.

Instead of borrowing and doing anything, if we just stay put, then we will be going back every year.

If we look at the American economy, the present standard of living in US is entirely because of Chinese, Saudi and Middle East money. They are all in US Dollars. So the America is getting a benefit of that. America is the highest indebted country in the world. I am not saying it is the best thing. But we have to invest for the future.

Q: The apparel export sector is thriving even without GSP Plus. How did this happen?

A: Sometimes it was not only the GSP. The Western markets were coming down because of the economic down turn. Now they have recovered from it. With the expanding market, we can find some relief there. Secondly, the China is now moving out from some of these industries like the apparel industry.

So there is a very good chance for them to come here, because the Chinese economy is undergoing a transformation.

They know that they cannot forever be an export- oriented economy. Because other countries will stop it due to political and other reasons.

Though the Americans know that the Chinese product is cheaper, they are forced to go to other markets by various laws and statutes, because the American Congressmen are ever ready to bring laws to prevent other countries bringing their products into the country.

So we are getting the benefit of the transformation that is taking place in the leading economies in Asia. Of course, we must make use of that.

With all these problems, there will be a lot of investors who will go out of Japan till the matters get settled.

We should try to attract them here. We should have a much more positive and aggressive promotional policy to attract these investments.

Q: Sri Lanka is receiving less foreign aid as it is now a middle income country. How is the Government coping with this situation?

A: No, we are not getting less foreign aid. When we are a Least Developed Country (LDC), we get handouts. The people pity for us and give us money.

As a middle income country, we should have good projects and we borrow on different terms. When we are a middle income country, our people are much better off. If anybody wants to become a middle income country, there are some matters that may have to forego.

Everyday we can’t be in the same position and receive alms from everybody. We should go to higher points and earn our living.

Q: In a hypothetical situations where sanctions are imposed on Sri Lanka by certain Western powers, is our economy fully geared to handle such a situation?

A: My considered view is that no sanctions will be imposed on Sri Lanka. I can assure of that.