At the end of probably the most bitterly fought presidential elections in Sri Lankan history, the most talked about political topic seems to be the ‘Election Rigging’. Naturally, this gave us some energy to start digging into the real facts behind an election rigging.

One thing for sure, Mr. Fonseka’s team is giving it a big coverage from all possible angles. However, the team members seem to be doing the similar mistakes they did during the election campaign. Just as Mr. Fonseka made mistakes in changing his view points on hi-corp allegations and teaming up with the TNA, in the post election scenario, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe’s immediate acceptance of ‘Free and fair election’ may have caused Mr. Fonseka’s team many difficulties in building a public opinion on a possible election rigging case.

When discussing election rigging, it is extremely important to list down the possible ways of how an election could be rigged. Below are common methods of vote rigging.
1. Fake voters voting using valid vote papers without consent of the original voter
2. Block voters reaching the polling stations and then poll illegal votes
3. Replace legal ballot boxes with illegal ones

There is another set of vote rigging methods which is being discussed in present political circles. Here are the few of those.

4. Chase away the counting agents and generate a fake result for the counting center
5. Steal vote papers of opponent and burn them
6. Perform computer “Gilmart” (some kind of a computer hack to favor one candidate)

Now, let us analyze what could have happened during the recently concluded presidential elections.

1. Fake voters voting with valid vote papers without consent of the original voter
This methods should not be much of a difficult task to perform. We have seen and heard of this method being used during almost all past elections. So, naturally, we cannot assume that this method of vote rigging did not take place during this president elections as well. Although an identity was mandatory during this elections, it would be ridiculous to assume that forging an identity is a big deal for organized groups. So, this method of vote rigging must have happened just as during all previous elections. But good thing is that, this method of rigging could not be used in a large scale.

2. Block voters reaching the polling stations and then poll illegal votes
Unlike during old days, it is not an easy task even for organized groups to block voters reaching the polling stations in present days. There are large number of independent election monitors in present day elections and sophisticated media reporting take place around the clock. So, any attempt by any party to block voters reaching the polling stations is not a commonly heard about vote rigging attempt.

3. Replace legal ballot boxes with illegal ones
Let us now analyze the process of ballot box transfers. When the polling comes to an end, the ballot boxes are sealed at the polling center and signed by polling agents and transferred to the counting center under the supervision of the polling agent of each political party. If some fraud takes place during this process, it should be either extremely critical (with the use of arms and high caliber thuggery) and could lead to a result nullifying at the particular polling center or it has to be due to pure negligence of the polling agents.

4. Chase away the counting agents and generate a fake result for the counting center
Now, this is one of the main allegations raised by the Mr. Fonseka’s camp. Although we tried our level best o obtain more details about the exact locations where such rigging had taken place, we were not successful. We only received several names of districts. No details of exact polling booths were available. We would highly appreciate if our readers could send us more details about exact places where such rigging took place.

5. Steal vote papers of opponent and burn them
This is an interesting allegation. According to the allegations, this fraud takes place at the counting centers. So this needs to be executed with an utmost precision so that non of the party agents from the opponent’s team is aware of the actions. Again, we do not have any details of exact locations where such rigging had taken place and would welcome if our readers could provide us with any data in this regard as well.

6. Perform computer “Gilmart” (some kind of a computer hack to favor one candidate)
Now, this is most exciting of all the allegations. Since our team includes several experts in computer technology, this allegation created a lot of enthusiasm in our team. So, we started looking at all possible ways where such fraud could take place. But, we could not find any practical method of faking a result via the computers. This is simply because the vote counting is performed manually. However, if electronic voting mechanism was available, there would have been various methods of hacking into the election results which are stored electronically on certain devices. But, in our country, in fact the unofficial result is shared with each party agent at the counting center. So, any attempt to alter that particular number using a computer would be suicidal for the party who commits the fraud as such frauds could easily be identified with sufficient proof.

There was quite a funny technical explanation for a possible electronic result alteration on Sunday Leader newspaper under the heading “Rigging: Truth or Fiction”. In that article, it explains how the number could be altered at the time of election transmission. But then again, it becomes irrelevant as we have already stated above in this article that the actual counting takes place as a manual process and each counting center agent receives the result of the particular counting center. So, if any electronic alteration takes place, it would provide ample evidence of a clear fraud and would create an extremely valid case for the losing party to take legal actions and media coverage.

All in all, what we understand is that it would be hard to categorize any election held in Sri Lanka as a 100% clean election without any rigging taking place. Each party would surely have tried successfully or unsuccessfully to rig the election at various levels. From the ruling party, the use of government media to support the incumbent was The only practical solution for this critical issue would be the implementation of Independent Election commission as suggested by the 17th amendment. In our opinion, until this comes into light, it would be difficult to expect a neutral election taking place in Sri Lanka.

-SL Elections 2010 Team

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We now have obtained the results of the latest pre-election poll conducted by a group of independent professionals including 3 dedicated IT professionals from our own team.

The efforts we had to put on this were massive…! Huge statistical database containing past election data and voter patterns together with ground level pre-election polling data were carefully analyzed with complex statistical tools.

Here is a summary of the results:

NOTE: Above data was based on the past election data and the present ground level opinions of the Sri Lankan citizens.

Our special thanks to everyone who contributed for this poll at the ground level and provided their genuine opinion.

-SL Elections 2010 Team

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An interesting article published on today’s (26th) Asia Times Online website was written by Professor Asoka Bandarage. He is a professor at Georgetown University, Washington DC and is the author of The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka: Terrorism, Ethnicity, Political Economy (Routledge 2009). The book is available at her website at www.bandarage.com

Below text is from atimes.com….

Given changing geopolitical alliances and the increasing importance of Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the Indian Ocean, the outcome of the presidential elections on Tuesday will be decisive domestically, regionally and internationally.

Sri Lanka provided the prototype of 21st century terrorism. According to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, “The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] perfected the use of suicide bombers, invented the suicide bomb belt, pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks … assassinated two world leaders [former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa] – the only terrorist organization to do so.

Despite attempts by powerful actors in the international community to halt the final offensive, the Sri Lankan government last year defeated the LTTE. Whether Sri Lanka shapes the prototype of 21st century post-conflict reconciliation and development or enters a new era of internal political instability and external vulnerability depends heavily on the outcome of the elections.

The administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been blamed for corruption, nepotism and violations of fundamental rights. These are serious charges, and it will require vigilance and pressure to maintain accountability, transparency and Sri Lanka’s hallowed democratic traditions. Still, the achievements of the Rajapaksa government cannot be overlooked. It won a 30-year-old war that had been commonly viewed as unwinnable. In so doing, it made the land safe and secure for all its people, providing a great opportunity to create long-term peace, reconciliation and development. Recent economic growth indicators alone show the enormous potential for Sri Lanka.

In contrast to the focus and determination of the current regime, the opposition coalition led by former army commander Sarath Fonseka does not present a unified vision or direction for change. Fonseka is the figurehead of a coalition made up of groups with fundamentally different ideologies and ambitions, such as the right-wing United National Party (UNP), the left-wing Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the LTTE proxy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

The unity of this group comes from a common desire to gain control of the powerful executive presidency. Its power comes from financial and ideological support from influential international actors, including the LTTE’s diaspora network, non-governmental organizations, media and certain governments.

Although led by the former army commander, a victory for this coalition would only empower forces that earlier attempted to stop the military defeat of LTTE terrorism. Would its victory under a military officer renew the militarization of society? Would the empowerment of the TNA revive Tamil separatism? Would the arch enmity between the UNP and the JVP create confusion and instability? Would international actors step up their intervention, violating Sri Lanka’s sovereignty? Would the country and the region be thrown into a new era of chaos and intrigue?

Read more…

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To all Sri Lankan citizens,

We, at SLelections 2010.com, have decided to do whatever we could do to report any election violence which may arise during this presidential elections.

Therefore, we request all genuine readers and citizens of Sri Lanka to report any sort of violence related to this election, which you may notice during these few days. We are already starting to see extremely unpleasant actions taking place under the guidance of supporters of both the two main candidates.

So, as citizens of this island nation, we must not keep blind eye to such violence. Its time you report…!

You can send all your complaints to complaints@slelections2010.com. You may also send your complaint as a comment to this article as well.

NOTE: all complaints will be carefully moderated before publishing. So, we highly appreciate your support in reporting genuine violence related to the elections.

-SL Elections 2010 Team.

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NOTE: We received below text from one of our readers, Dr. Gamini Ilangakoon, as a comment on our previous article with the title of “Two manifestos compared”. In his comment, Dr. Ilangakoon writes…

Any commentary should be unbiased, non-prejudiced, must not be a result of viewing through coloured glasses of any party. The criterion of it must be objectivity. It is objective has to be welfare of all in general, comprehending in it, in “All”, men, women, children, animals, fauna and flora.

1. SF talks about democracy and peace. MR has no mention about it.
The lack of the aspect of democracy is a negative moment. EVEN if it is to be infered that MR is a democratic leader, who has dedicated himself to democratic politics, the present empirical context of pragmatic politics, by which the absence of democracy is being emphasized,  as a burning issue,specially by MR opposition, is one discerning component, in no case, to be dispensed with. This is simply political immatuarity of those who diagnosed and constituted manifesto. Hence this not-presence of the visage of democracy, in MR Manifesto, pervades as a shocking intimidation, across the entire edifice of democratic governance in the country.

2. SF writes about the elimination of fraude and corruption. MR Manifesto does not mention it as precisely as SF.
There is a stipulation about “Dicsiplined and law abiding society”, in MR Manifesto(MRM). Yet it is an indirect taliking. It has to be rather implied than perceived directly. Implications are always not explicit. Then it is reduced to political cadjoling. And that is what has been happening in Sri lankan politics upto now. Deception of gullible people. Now this dirty trick of politics is, for the most part known and revealed.
On the other hand, huge propaganda campaign has been launched by MR opposition, against MR and his family, to blemish their dignity and reputation, declaring in it, that MR and his family members, thanks to MR’s unwaivering Nepotism, have plundered the wealth of the people of Sri Lanka, through the war, development projects, foriegn loans etc.
Hence the presence of no-mention in MRM, about the extirpation of fraud and corruption generates lots of pressure to suffocate MR victory in Presidential polls.
This clear negativity portrays several significant features of the designers of the MR Manifesto, i.e., their unintelligent rush, absence of insight and short sightedness.
Fraud and corruption uprooting is an aspect not to be dispensed with.

3. SF says,”Will help families to become financially secure”. Herein SF is precise. Concrete. He is not to be implied. He can be discerned directly. His approach is in particular. Not in general. Positive for an election campaign. MR counters SF via pledges ”Prosperous country, land of plenty, comforts, convenience and satisfactory life styles”. MR is not so precise. He is only close. He is not concrete. But general. In MR’s statement a kind of inference seems to be involved. His statement is to be discerned through an oblique perception. MR’s statement target has to be implied. “Prosperous country” he says. Question arises,”Prosperity for whom”???
It may be affluent class???. Perhaps, nepotism based MR’s Family???. May be general public???. One herein is in a guess. Any guess seeds one into uncertainty. In an election campaign this is going to be a definite negative mark.
Hence SF is more precise. ”I will help families to improve financially”. This is more understanding. When a statement is concrete, the intensity of comprehension is relatively discerning.
Again this is a huge blunder, commited by MR’s Manifesto designers.

4. SF stresses”I will ease cost of living”.
This is wonderful. This is what is needed. This is what can be felt by all with no exception. MR has failed to underline this. SF seems to have clearly apprehended the economic difficulties people are undergoing. He is having a vision of it. And there is a mission to fulfil the vision. Cost of living is one constituent, the people of this country are really crazy to eraze.
Absence of this component in MRM is very unfortunate. Actually all his speeches contain this aspect. It is rightful for us to have the attitude that MR is very keen in this aspect.
Yet MR is so unlucky that his Manifesto designers have totally failed to include this vast point-adding aspect in to MRM.

5. SF accentuates,”Will start a process of national reconcilliation”.
Now this is very strange. National reconciliation is not an undemocratic thing. It certainly would impact into positivity. Yet SF, being the ex-General of the Sri Lankan army, having being subjected to LTTE bomb attack, merely escaping the death and thereafter mercilessly eraicating the LTTE with the help of other forces and under the political leadership of MR, does contain no mention about the unity of the country, about it’s territorial integrity and about the country’s indivisibility.
As a disciplined, persevering, untiring Army Officer at the highest command, who almost was forced to embrace death by Prabhakaran does not contain this terrific aspect in his Manifesto and for people this seems to be totally imposible. Yet as being evident that is the truth.
This engenders lots of confusion in the minds of the majority. SF’s mind cannot drop this aspet even by a mistake. In to this all his rights are exhausted. Instead suspicion dominates souls.
On the top of that TNA has expressed their support to SF. Yet TNA had discusions with MR too, before they dialogued with SF. They were not satisfied with MR. There are allegations that SF and TNA have reached a clandestine agreement, an agreement, so to say as said, ”Of Betrayal”.
There were propaganda speeches by SF that he never had any agreement with none. And in such context TNA is not an exclusion.
But this burning issue is not clearly comprised in the SF Manifesto. The Indivisibility of Sri Lanka. It’s territorial Integrity. It’s Unity.

Now clearly contradicting SFM, MR not only precisely, but also emphatically states in his Manifesto…:
“A UNITARY STATE NOT TO BE DIVIDED”.
Wonderfully mentioned. It is a statement which is electric. Truly discernible. Over-powers all. Dominates all. Pervades everywhere. All other statements helplessly melt into this. There in no excuse indeed. It pictures MR’s true, dedicated, devoted political leadership that ushered to total eradication of the LTTE and absolute victory of the Motherland which MR seems to be loving, admiring and fascinating so honestly, so candidly and so stongly.
And after such a victory, such a difficult victory, being subjected to so much international pressure of the vested interest, loosing so many lives of people and soldiers, dispossessing so many limbs and organs of men and women, so much wealth being devastated, procrastinating and discarding so many economy-vitalizing projects, to drop this blazing issue from one’s own mind or from an election manifesto is to be totally crazy or absolutely dead.
In his statement MR shines. And shines infinitely. This generates faith. Engenders trust. Germinates hope. Carries towards stability. Dispels distress. Lodges in peace. Involves national reconciliation in an undevided country. In it’s unity with territorial integrity.
People, have undergone so much sufffering for this. They starved. Tightened their stomach-belts. Tolerated frustration. Sacrificed lives. Donated their children to the Army as martyres. And enough. Definitely enough.
Now it comes to the proverb: ”Known devil is better than an unknown angel”.
Indeed, there is the statement of SF:
“I will safeguard the security of nations”.
This does not satisfy us. The “s” at the end of the word”nation” is confusing. It may be two nations. Three nations. One can be out. Hence vague. Disputable. Debtable.
Now, with all blunders, done by MRM designers, MR herein rises to the top. It is unstoppable. MR emerges as an unconquerable winner with victory.

6. In other statements I don’t see much difference,save for sameness, except for women’s empowering of SFM.

CONCLUSION:
IN RELATION TO HIS INTEGRITY, IN CONNECTION WITH THE COUNTRY, IT’S INDIVISIBILITY AND TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY, SF HAS FAILED TO SHOW HIS GENUINE AND UNEQUIVOCAL COMMITMENT. MR HAS, IN IT, BEEN SUCCESSFUL.
WHATEVER IT IS PEOPLE MUST HAVE THEIR UNITED COUNTRY IN WHICH THEY ARE TO LIVE IN PEACE. IT IS UNITY THAT GUARANTEES PEACE. NO DIVISION CAN GRANT PEACE WHAT EVER THE RECONCILLIATION MAY BE INTRODUCED TO. RECONCILIATION IS A PERIOD FOR A PRPARATION OF ANOTHER WAR. BUT IT MAY GRANT SOME CONSOLATION. YET CONSOLATION IS NOT RECONCILING + PEACE.
THEREFORE PEOPLE ARE INTERESTED ONLY IN UNITY. THEY ARE NOT AGAINST REONCILIATION. THEY ARE FOR IT. BUT THE RECONCILLIATIN MUST BE FOUNDED ON THE UNIQUENESS OF THE UNITY.
A PROPSPERITY WITH ABSENCE OF PEACE IN RECONCILLIATION IS TOTALLY FUTILE. WE HAD SUCH SO CALLED PREOSPERITY DURING THE TIME OF PREVIOUS GOVERNMENTS,  PARTICULARLY DURING THE GOVERNANCE OF THE OPPOSITION LEADER, MR.RW. IT’S RESULT WAS TOTAL FORTIFICATION AND RE-FORTIFICATION OF THE LTTE. WE DONT NEED THIS ANY MORE.
IF THERE IS NEPOTISM AND CORRUPTION WE HAVE TO FIND OUT A WAYOUT TO ERADICATE THEM. BUT TO SACRIFICE THE UNITY OF THE COUNTRY,IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR US.
IT IS REALLY SAD THAT THE ASPECT OF THE INDIVISIBILITY OF THE COUNTRY COULD NOT HAVE ANY SPACE IN SF MANIFESTO. HAD IT BEEN,WONDERFUL IT WOULD HAVE BEEN. ORAL GUARANTEES IN PUBLIC SPEECHES WOULD HAVE BEEN OKAY, HAD SF BEEN STANDING ON HIS OWN FOOT. HIS HANDS ARE TOUCHIG CANCEROUS ULCERS WHICH WERE DEAVOURING THE FLESH OF OUR MOTHERLAND MUSCLE BY MUSCLE.
SF, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
BUT NOW YOU ARE NOT INDEPENDENT AS YOU WERE DURING THE TIME OF WAR.THEN WE HAD ABSOLUTE TRUST IN YOU, IN YOUR WORDS, IN YOUR DEEDS.
YET PLEASE DON’T COMPARE SUCH WONDERFUL WORDS, UTTERED IN TOTAL INDEPENDENCE, WITH WORDS SPOKEN IN DEPENDENCE ON CANCEROUS ELEMENTS.
WE LOVE YOU GENERAL.
THE MARVELLOUS THINGS YOU DID FOR US, YOUR WONDROUS COURAGE, THE MASTERY OF YOUR WORDS, OUR PEACE YOU CONTRIBUTED TO IMMENSLY, WE CAN NEVER FORGET, EVEN IF WE TRY TO. WE DON’T WANT YOU TO LOOK LIKE A TRAITER. SOME POWER-GREEDY POLITICIANS HAVE ALREADY STARTED BRANDING YOU AS TRECHEROUS.
PLEASE DON’T FALL INTO THIS CATEGORY. DON’T ALLOW OTHERS TO MAKE YOU FALL TOO.
WE FASCINATE YOU SO MUCH THAT WE WANT YOU TO BE THE SAME GENERAL WHO WAS HEADING THE WAR IN THE MONTH OF MAY 2009. AND YOU CAN BE THAT. BE FOREVER THAT.
WE LOVE TO SEE YOU GENERAL, AS A POLITICIAN TOO. BUT WITH THE ABSENCE OF TRECHEROUS ELEMENTS. SHOULD YOU HAVE SOME MENTAL DESIGNS TO USE THESE TRAITORS, TO BE A REAL POLITICIAN+GENERAL, YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN.
WHY???
BEFORE YOUR BECOMING A POLITIIAN YOU WILL BE A TRAITOR. TO RECTIFY THAT IT WILL TAKE A LONG TIME. BY THAT TIME YOUR SENELITY WILL, AS TO ALL, FLEX IT’S POWERFUL MUSCLE.
HENCE GENERAL, STILL YOU HAVE TIME. DON’T FALL VICTIME IN TO THE TRAP, ENSNARED BY TRAITORS AND VESTED INTERNATIONAL INTEREST. THEY LOVE NEITHER YOU NOR OUR MOTHERLAND.

kindly note that above is written based on the points of the two manifestos stipulated in this column above.

DR.GAMINI ILANGAKOON
dr.ilangakoon@gmail.com

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Veteran political analyst Dayan Jayatilleka has emphasized that the sole desire of Tamil National Alliance is to rout President Rajapaksa at the elections with the aim of resurrecting the LTTE. This is the reason they are supporting the Opposition candidate. Joining in the Round table discussion telecast over Prime TV, he said

The TNA has not yet said a word of criticism against the tigers. They know that during the war it was virtually a proxy for the LTTE. He said he had yet to hear the TNA say that any solution to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka has to be within Sri Lanka as one country.
The LTTE has been defeated on the soil of this island. But he said that they saw in Geneva 200,000 people demonstrating under the LTTE banner, Others demonstrated in Toronto. So the global tiger network is very much intact. And they want to win politically what they had lost militarily.

The respected newspaper The Independent London ran a story by a British journalist and its title was Tigers throw weight behind General who crushed them. This is not what the Government of Sri Lanka or a Sinhala Organisation or Douglas Devananda said. It has been stated by the Inddependent UK newspaper. Dr. Jayatilleke added that the tigers want President Rajapaksa defeated and the only way to do it was for the Opposition candidate to win.

Click Here to read the news article published on “The Independent”, UK.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tamils-throw-weight-behind-general-who-crushed-them-1859872.html

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Breaking NEWS…

An unconfirmed report stated that an election rally organised in support of UNF-TNA-JVP presidential candidate Sararth Fonseka last evening (JAN 23) in Jaffna , observed 5 minutes silence to honour the dead LTTE Terrorists. The meeting was held at Sattadar Kovil , Nallur had been organised by Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

According to the sources in Jaffna, TNA leader R.Sambandan, and TNA parliamentarians, Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikalanathan Solomon Cyril, K Thureiratnasingha and Padmini Sidambaram had participated for the event.

The meeting had started at 4.30 PM, yesterday with the participation of about 500 people. At the outset itself , the organizers had blamed the EPDP , another Tamil Political party for less turn up for the meeting saying that the EPDP had threatened their supporters .

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Just like in all previous presidential campaigns, the word “corruption” has become an extremely decisive buzz word during this time around as well. However, due to the technological improvement, the responses for such allegations seem to be arriving faster than we would have anticipated, countering these allegations. As a result, it was not so difficult for our team to collect the details of these allegations and the corresponding responses for the same.

In this article, we try to put these allegations and the responses in one place and give it a better look. However, we need to stress on the fact that the below discussed allegations may not be factual and we are not in a position to analyze the accuracy of these allegations. Therefore, we discuss the allegations only for which we have managed to collect responses from opposite party.

PART 2 (Note: Part 1 of this article remains on the bottom of the page)

Below are some more allegations from the popular list which we got some time back and with corresponding responses from the government camp.

Topic: Kerawalapitiya Power Plant

Allegation-1: Kerawalapitiya power plant cost US $ 400 Million. Actual cost US $ 200 Million.

Response: The cost of the Kerawalapitiya Power Plant was originally estimated in 2002 as US$ 390 million.  However, due to careful planning and execution, the cost of the project is now estimated to be only about US$ 295 million for the power plant of 300 megawatts when fully completed.  That works out to roughly about a million US Dollars per megawatt. That is close to the current industry norm of about 1 million dollars per megawatt for petroleum based thermal power plants.

Allegation-2: Planned for 300 Mega Watts built for 200 mega watts.

Response: The Kerawalapitiya plant is a combined power cycle plant. The first 200 megawatts is generated with furnace oil. The exhaust from the first phase is to be converted into steam to generate another 100 megawatts. The first phase is already in operation and the second phase will be operational soon. The cost of setting up this plant will thus be distributed over the entire 300 megawatts.

Allegation-3: (Additional Losses) Cost per day to CEB Rs 70 million. Per year Rs 25, 550 Million (25.5 Billion) Initial agreed purchasing price per unit Rs 18. Current purchasing price Rs 40/‐ Loss to the CEB from a unit Rs 22/‐

Response: The pricing of electricity is done on a pre-determined formula which includes the price of furnace oil as well. Therefore, no one can set out a specific amount forever, since the price of furnace oil changes regularly.  At current fuel oil prices, the unit cost, although higher when only the first phase of the plant is operational, will decline to around Rs. 14 to 16 per unit, when the Phase 2 of the Kerawalapitiya power plant is in operation. The Kerawalapitiya power plant is owned by West Coast Power Ltd in which 56% is held by the Government, 10% by LECO, 24% by EPF and 4% by Lakdanavavi Co.

Topic: Uma Oya Project

Allegation: projected value US$ 265 Million enhanced value US $ 545 Million. Increase of US$ 280 Million. Rs. 28 Billion ( Rs. 28,000 Million). Two reservoirs that are built have an extent of only 50 acres. Victoria project has an extent of 7,500 acres.

Response: The structure of a project can change from time to time. The original estimate of the Uma Oya project amounted to 265 million US dollars based on input prices in 1999.  At that time, this project was meant to produce 50 megawatts of hydropower and irrigate around 5,000 acres of paddy land. Later, the project scope was expanded to 120 megawatts and 12,500 acres of paddy land.  As a result of such add-ons, the project cost has been re-estimated at US dollars 545 million in 2009 prices. It is generally estimated that the capital cost to produce one megawatt of hydroelectricity is about 3 million U.S. dollars. For the Upper Kotmale project which aims to produce 150 megawatts, the project cost is 460 million U.S. dollars.

Topic: Purchase of Cranes for Colombo port

Allegation: Cabinet of Ministers have approved purchase of 35 Gantry Cranes at a price US $ 600,000 higher than the last purchase price. This purchase has not been effected yet.

Response: Thirty transfer cranes with a capacity of 50 tonnes each were purchased by the Ports Authority at 1.507,000 dollars each. Twenty five years ago, in 1985, they had got 35 tonne transfer cranes at  1,570,000 dollars each. So a quarter of a century later, they have bought transfer cranes at 63,000 dollars less, and that too with an increased capacity of 15 tonnes.

Topic: Contract signed with Dilhan Wicremasinghe Shiranthi’s brother’s son (Chairman Air Lanka) to supply branded computers to all divisional Secretariats at a cost of US $ 16 Million (price per computer Rs. 150,000/=). He supplied all unbranded computers which are available at unity plaza at Rs. 50,000/=. Amount robbed Rs. 1,200 Million

Response: This question relates to the Lanka Government Network (LGN) project which was funded by the Korean Government.  Under this project, 325 Government organizations were connected to the LGN.  The contract value of the project was US dollars 14.5 million. The value of the computer equipment (computers, monitors, keyboards etc.) out of the above was 2.3 million US dollars.  The balance 12.2 million US dollars was for licensing software, network equipment, servers, LGN hub, setting up of data centre equipment and the cost of broad band connectivity for three years for 325 locations, where 3,235 computers have been installed.

The computers are of a Korean brand and here too, only Korean manufactured computers have been allowed under the aid conditions.  Hence, they are not locally assembled machines as reported. Also, as of now, 3,223 computers are in proper working condition.  I am also told that 12 computers are presently under repair and are being fixed under a three year warranty and maintenance which is also included in the contract.

-SL Elections 2010 Team

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Yes. One can think this question as an extremely radical question which should not be discussed on public forum. So, we had our own internal debates before we publish this article. Finally, we decided… we are no journalists… and we don’t have the habit of white washing a side based on hypothetical terms. We do believe in realities of life. So, we decided to discuss this debatable issue in open public…

However, as we do always, we stick to our basics… let us discuss facts…not our personal views.

When discussing which side (of course, there are only two sides to think of Mr. Fonseka or Mr. Rajapaksa) the Tamils would take during this Presidential Election, we have to ask the question of which Tamils are we talking about here?

In reality, there are Tamil speaking Hindu people living in pretty much every part of this Island nation. And it is a well know truth that except the Tamils live in urban areas, most of the rural Tamils are below par educated and in grave poverty conditions. Now, who is responsible for this crisis? One could point finger at the ruling government, immediately. Yes, officially they should be held responsible. But then again, how many Tamil politicians are there to represent them and uplift their livelihood? The answer is plenty. So, what have these politicians done to the rural Tamils of Sri Lanka? Let’s try discussing them in a broader note.

The largest Tamil representation lies with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). It is a fact that, when the LTTE was military existing, TNA was representing LTTE who in turn represented the “Tamils in north and east”. We assume one does not need to produce Hanzard records from the parliament to prove it. However, what have the TNA done to uplift the livelihoods of the Tamils during the war and the post war conditions? The real truth is “absolutely nothing…!” They always had the war to be blamed. But, with the galore of funds pouring to the LTTE from the Tamil Diaspora, couldn’t they do anything at all? At least, provide them shelter… provide them education… medical facilities…develop infrastructure… the list can go on and on. But, we can provide the list of foreign trips these Tamil political representatives had made during past few years. Of course, one cannot ignore the limitations they had to face to exist in the Majority Sinhalese parliament. But, even if we completely forget about obtaining funds from the Government of Sri Lanka, why did they fail to properly utilize the funds received from the Tamil Diaspora? Did the Sri Lankan Tamils never receive any funding from the Tamil Diaspora? Did the Diaspora send funds only to the LTTE? Was it not meant to be to uplift the appalling living conditions of the Tamils? All these are questions which need to be answered only by the so called Political Representatives of the Tamils.

In fairness to the TNA members, we shall not leave out the difficulties of their existence under the military rule of the LTTE. However, in the post war scenario, the situation has completely changed. Now this is a golden opportunity for the TNA members to start their engines on full throttle and start working for their own citizens. For the obvious reasons, they are going to get very tough competition from various other Tamil politicians in this run up to develop the North and East.

But alas…! We see these so called “political representatives” of the Tamils are going back to square one… landing on to same mere political slogans… or the wish list, instead of starting to serve their own people they represent. They are again trying to bring in the so called Tamil Diaspora’s expectations into the table. Demands such as merging the north and east…. How can such demands help to uplift the livelihood of the Tamils living in north and east? Such demands will only create division among Tamils, Muslims (high concentration in the east) and the Sinhalese. Why do they give false promises to the helpless Tamils? Why did they open this can of worms, dumping this golden opportunity they have got after 30 years of this evil curse? What did the Tamils get at the end of 30 years of grueling war? The Tamils living on the ground did not get anything. Not even a place to live or clothes to wear. That’s the naked truth. But, there is enough evidence on the benefits which “Tamil representatives” had gained at the end of the war.

Moreever, when we see the super luxurious living conditions of the so called Tamil political representatives, we naturally tend to think… do these representatives care two cents about the livelihood of the poor Tamil people living in grave conditions? Or do they simply want to join hands with international community who has deep pockets and has completely different agenda on this strategically important island nation?

One thing for sure…the day the poor Tamils who live in grave conditions get to know these basic facts, the so called Tamil political representatives will have to find hiding places in the west. But, then again, when that happens, we guess they would have made their pockets so deep so that they could live safely in safe heavens..!

In contrast, the majority Sinhalese government’s approach on developing the north and east is quite an interesting topic to discuss. With the extremely shrewd political motives, the Rajapaksa regime managed to get the 100% (not 99%) credit on the post war development work in north and east. (Good for the Tamil politicians aligned with the ruling government..! They got a free ride home without any sweat!). The Rajapaksas made sure that no one except their regime would get the credit on the development work. This was very evident when one of our good old school mates (now a media person) visited several recent political rallies held in the north and east. According to our friend, who was there in person, there had been an unprecedented interest among the ground level Tamil people whom most of us rarely meet, towards Mr. Rajapaksa.

Now, again, we fall into a confused state of mind…! While many Tamil political representatives are backing Mr. Fonseka, the ground level Tamil people seem to be rallying behind Mr. Rajapaksa. Is it an illusion or the ground reality? Let us wait till 27^th January 2010 to see the political future of the Tamils in Sri Lanka!

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