Attacking LTTE’s propaganda up

By Sarath Wijesinghe

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The most prominent international institutions are the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation which have now become archaic, ailing and inefficient organisations. International Monetary Fund keeps accounts of international balance of payments and accounts of member States in financial disciplines.

Membership of the institutions are based on quarters, or the amount of money the country provides to be the fund relative to the size of its role in the international trading system. As a result and as usual, it is the USA and the west that have full control and controlling power.

Sri Lanka is a very senior member of the World Family-yet receives step-motherly treatment - due to vigorous anti-Sri Lankan propaganda by LTTE front organisations and adverse publicity by local and international media.

Good news is that the situation is fast changing for good due to timely action taken by the Sri Lankan President and the Foreign Minister to counter adverse propaganda world-wide and to attack the main “HUB” of LTTE propaganda, which is based in the United Kingdom.

Fortunately anti-Sri Lankan “counter lobby” is effective and fast growing worldwide. It is time for our missions and expatriates to help the President and the Foreign Minister in their campaign and fight against the propaganda war by LTTE front organisations and a part of the misguided world community.

In the world politics too, money speaks. Money in NGOs is enormous! It is easy and blood-money in the hands of a few crafty individuals and the network spread all over the world. They do not give up power and money as easily as it is so easy and enormous to give up without resistance.

In Sri Lanka “Fat Cat NGOs” are a powerful lot due to power of funds they receive, which they also misuse as the State has no proper control over their funding.

It is time the State takes immediate steps to regularise as this is directly connected to the war on terror. In Sri Lanka too, most of such funds are tacitly divided among a few crafty NGO leaders who are a handful of powerful and rich individuals.

They will conveniently find a massive house belonging to them and a staff consisting of family members and friends who will enjoy all the benefits, funds, foreign connections, power etc. Internal disputes and disturbances in the country are good sources of funding.

NGOs are most benefited from tsunami or any such disasters. India has full control over NGOs and do not entertain this ‘cancer’ to the nation. The direct and indirect help of NGOs to the terror movement is an encouragement and a money spinner for the terror movements in any country.

A Fat Cat NGO leader who was instrumental in destabilising another African country is involved in one of the two leading NGOs here too responsible for the destabilising of the nation by helping the terror movements.

The Secretary General of the United Nations is always a nominee of the USA. UN itself needs reforms as it is 60 years old and does not meet the requirements and demands of the modern world. USA is the main financial contributor to the UN and always wants to keep control over UN and all other international organisations.

This is not acceptable and it is time to agitate for a change even at this late stage. World must be happy that a group of brave leaders including our President has taken steps to bell the cat and lay the foundation or a new world.

The group agreed that UN has unique role legitimacy and the reforms should link with efficiency, development and democracy - especially in the development and humanitarian sector. Humanitarian sector, the Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner of Human Rights in the UN are the most inefficient and ineffective sectors which need immediate and drastic reforms.

Even USA has declined to be a member of the Human Rights Council for good reasons. Emergence of new economic and world powers such as India, China and Japan has shattered the monopoly of USA and the West in the fields of finance and world power.

Mahinda Rajapaksa is evolving his own strategy by establishing personal and political connections with the emerging new world powers. He is very close to China, India, Iran, Japan and now United Kingdom. I am positive he will develop the same rapport with USA in the near future. It is also good news that the mentality and attitude of the ordinary American citizen is changing.

The presidential campaign in USA speaks thousands of words on the future changes of the emerging leaders of the old world power which is fast diminishing.

The World Bank aims to provide funding, take up credit risk or offer favourable development projects mostly in developing countries that could not be obtained by the private sector. The World Trade Organisation settles trade disputes and negotiates international trade agreements in its rounds of talks.

The concepts and standards are too old and not applicable to the modern economic and world order in this fast changing world. President Rajapaksa and the group of far-thinking and brave leaders have realised this scenario due to their own experiences, fore-sight and hard work.

There were standards based on Gold which is a monetary system in which a regime’s common media and exchange are paper notes which receive substantial premiums because they are normally freely convertible into financial quantities of gold. Gold standards are currently not used in governments.

Under International Monetary and Financial Conference known as “Bretton Woods conference”, a gathering of 730 delegates, from 45 nations in the year 1944, the agreements were signed to set up the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). United Nations was established in 1945 replacing the old League of Nations and the subsidiary NGOs subsequently.

The representative group of Commonwealth Leaders met in order to identify the underlying principles and the actions that should be taken as a global priority to effect reforms of international institutions in the hope of achieving national and international goals to resolve global issues.

They also agreed that the anticipated goals will not be achieved without international collaboration and support. The institutions that were established in the 20th century are not applicable to the present day conditions and circumstances and as a result the people are suffering.

Benefits derived by the majority of States are less and everywhere it is inadequately represented and looked after.

The proposed reforms must be addressed with greater ambition and the institutions as well as their policies and instruments should be redefined so that they could serve the needs of all member countries and the broader global gathering.

Effective management of the global environment and the impact of environment degeneration too were discussed and corrective steps were contemplated. Existing food and fuel crisis was one of the main topics in the agenda.

All the participants have same or similar problems, mainly based on the rapid and unexpected high fuel prices and the forthcoming food crisis. It gives a ray of hope and signs of the break-up of the uneven and disproportionate USA and the West dominance in world affairs. President Rajapaksa intervened in the deliberations while the agreements and consensus arrived at are far-reaching and long thought out.

President Rajapaksa slowly and steadily won over the International Community. He has mastered the craft for diplomacy and has become an emerging world figure in his own right. His speeches are simple, clear, innovative and natural.

There is a misconception that the international community is the local diplomatic missions controlled by the host country and governed by the convention of diplomatic relations.

Today Rajapaksa has become a popular charismatic and a known figure respected and believed by the international community. LTTE has miserably filed the anti-Sri Lankan Propaganda countered by the President and the group supported by brave expatriate community at the demonstration and all other places of agitations.

Most, if not all organisations are inefficient and ineffective from United Nations downwards struggling for existence for want of funds due to mismanagement and extravagance. Funds are not properly used and distributed.

In the circumstances the NGOs have become the most powerful and grab a major share of the funds allocated for the needy members of the world community. Funds are given to the NGOs and not to governments and thereby the sums allocated are misused and wasted.

In NGOs over 80% of the funds are utilised for management expenses, including the luxury living of the executives. During the summit the President Rajapaksa stressed that “Donors should channel aid to recipient nations direct and not through NGOs”.

He further stated that multinational financial institutions should take cognisance of the real situation existing in recipient countries when giving such aid. Multi-national financial institutions should channel the aid direct to the recipient nations without providing it through NGOs.

He further noted that UN agencies should be transparent and act on a definite agenda identifying people’s needs. Today NGOs are ganged up together and through aid consortiums of NGOsm, a fair share of the aid is given to non- governmental organisations in most suspicious circumstances.

Commonwealth heads which consist of 1/3 of the humanity, more than one quarter of the world’s sovereign governments, and 53 States gathered in London recently in order to explore possibilities to reorganise and reform the international organisations which are not keeping pace with the requirements and growing demands of the modern and changing world.

According to the group assembled, which includes President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the international institutions no longer adequately respond to the challenges of 21st century financial turbulence, record levels of prices of food and fuel, fundamental weaknesses of the international and internal organisational structures and working mechanisms, which prohibit economic stability and sustainable development.

It is lacking in adequate capacity, governance structure and in-built responsiveness. Global needs should be addressed in a timely fashion to meet the future challenges and there is no programme or plan of action by the organisations.

There is no global public policy other than the unlimited exploitation of the poor, based on the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest. Majority of the sovereign States today are politically subordinate and inadequately represented in these institutions. President Rajapaksa and the group further agitated for equal voice and fair representation for all countries.

Though the main agenda was the summit, the President and the Foreign Minister has planned to meet the world leaders, International Institutions and the British Counterparts during their short stay.

The meeting with Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister has been very successful. Gordon Brown is determined to crush terrorism based on his new reforms and anti-terror legislation. He proposed detention up to 42 days and introduction of tough laws to combat terror in the UK which has become a threat to the day to day life of the ordinary citizen.

President Rajapaksa was assisted by the energetic Foreign Minister, able secretary, Lalith Weeratunga, Governor, Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal, and the other officials including the High Commissioner. The meeting between David Cameron, the Leader of the Opposition and the President was very emotional.

He embraced the President and discussed matters freely and exchanged views and concerns on various current issues. This is an important meeting as all indications are that conservatives are winning!

The energetic Foreign Minister has laid the foundation having used his charm and good-will with the Conservative Party machinery to meet a cross section of a large number of Members of Parliament belonging to all parties.

Carlton Club which mainly meant for conservatives invited the Foreign Minister (who happens to be a member of the club) and his group for a dinner and a successful meeting to hear a brilliant and long speech giving the true picture of the current situation and our close relations, challenges and future strategy.

I was fortunate to be at the occasion to witness the warm welcome by Conservative members of the Parliament and business community given to our Foreign Minister by the Shadow Defence Secretary, Liam Fox who is a close and a long-standing friend of Sri Lanka.

LTTE as usual held a demonstration in front of the Commonwealth Secretariat countered by Sri Lankan Expatriates. I was fortunate to be at the demonstration which was very impressive and effective.

The BBC Sinhala service as usual misreported the even as follows: “A parallel protest was held jointly by Tamil and International Organisations” consisting of Nava Samasamaja Party, British Tamil Forum, Tamil Youth Organisation and International Socialist organisation.

How could these organisations be International Organisations, when they are minute raciest organisations acting as front organizations of LTTE exhibiting the photographs of Prabakaran and the division of the country for which the SL expatriates successfully protested?

It has been a very successful mission abroad by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his group at this crucial hour. Foreign Minister, Kim Howells promised that UK will stop illegal fund-raising of the LTTE.

Prime Minister Browns pledge to crush terrorism in the United Kingdom and the goodwill of David Cameron the young future Prime Minister and Liam Fox are great achievements of the President.

The Summit was successful having laid the foundation for a long new journey. We would suggest to the President and the Foreign Minister to organise monthly meetings with the local missions and foreign community brotherhood via modern technology.