Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne is a President’s Counsel in Sri Lanka and has also served with the Sri Lankan government in various capacities as Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Constitutional Affairs and member of the Sri Lankan Law Commission. He holds a PhD in Human rights and a Master of Public Administration from University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. His areas of expertise include Constitutional law, Human Rights, Administrative and Criminal law.

We began our conversation on the need for a political solution after the end of war and the ignominious fate of the APRC (read the APRC’s final report, released exclusively on Groundviews). Jayampathy categorically notes that the political leadership today hasn’t shown any progressive movement towards a political solution. I then asked him to juxtapose and critique public apathy over the passing of the 18th amendment to what he had observed from 1994 to 2004 – a high-degree of support for power-sharing by as much as 50% of the voters. This became a leitmotif of our discussion, with Jayampathy later on noting in detail the marked contrast between the rushed introduction – with almost zero public debate and awareness – of the 18th amendment with constitutional reform processes he had been part of in the past.

I asked him about what led to the UNP burning the constitutional proposals in 2000 fashioned under former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Jayampathy, noting that the nearsightedness of the UNP at the time “contributed in a big way” to the constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka today, also went on to blame the PA government itself.

Jayampathy talked about the nature and introduction of the 18th amendment and how it seriously undermines the 17th amendment, the crisis and significant degeneration of the Leftist parties in politics and rumours at the time of the interview that the 13th amendment may also be amended in a manner detrimental to its spirit and form.

When asked as to what can be done to stem the rapid erosion of Sri Lanka’s constitutional rule, Jayampathy notes at the end of the interview that there is no option but to live in hope, continue to talk about key issues and not lest interest wane.

Also see this short video interview done with Dr. Wickramaratne in 2008 on the APRC and 13th Amendment.

• APRC and 13th Amendment: Video interview with Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne
• Interview with Prof. Tissa Vitharana on the 13th Amendment, Constitutional Reform, IT and English language
• Exclusive video interview with Somawansa Amarasinghe, the Leader of JVP, in English
• Outrageous process and substance: The proposed 18th Amendment to the Constitution
• Hansard on 18th Amendment debate, 8 September 2010

A couple of days ago, I watched an inter school girls basketball match in Colombo and I was appalled by the level of refereeing in terms of being biased towards one team.   Refereeing any sport is not easy and human errors have to be excused,  but as a sportsman when I saw so many seemingly biased decisions given in favor of one side leaves a trace of doubt as to whether there is indeed some collusion.  Then when you see the coach of the favored team has no compunction in displaying the close friendship with the referees during breaks, it compounds things.

I could only imagine a conspiracy here, whether or not it is supported by the school’s administration.  Nevertheless, it unfortunately taints the school too, but there are much bigger implications for all of us.   This is about our world, our collective future as a humanity, and yes, even this unethical behavior by the referees is just a microcosm of what is happening around the world for short term gain; selfishness, win at any cost mentality has us in a game of zero sum competition and we hurt each other at a larger level.

Biology of the Brain

In biological terms, this behavior from the team condoned by the coach, parents and the referees is reptilian as this part of the brain acts only as a survival mechanism.  We do have a limbic part of the brain too driving the neo-cortex, which is the seat of compassion, cooperation, fair play and nurture which gets shut off to survive in a dog eat dog world.

The reptilian brain kicks in when we are under threat, the same way I become reptilian when I get behind the wheel of my car in Colombo – I am responding to an unsafe environment, where I have to fight for space, put up with aggressive Leyland buses, dodge three wheelers and more.   I think the only way we can reawaken our limbic part of the brain is to condition it to be more skillful under threat with techniques such as meditation and yoga.  So we have to start with the young to teach them differently to respond more skillfully to the dog eat dog world out there to make it less so.

This seemingly insignificant bad behavior of the referees means a lot, because we are dealing with our future who are very impressionable.  They will define and live the values they learn from their parents, teachers and coaches.  If the parents, teachers, coaches and the school says win at any cost, even at the cost of honesty, integrity and the honor of sportsmanship, that is the way they will live their adult life too and we see plenty of unsociable behavior all around us.

The world we are leaving behind…

I feel guilty as an adult having passed the half way point in life, as we are leaving our children a world behind in tatters, when it comes of social and environmental responsibility.   I really wonder whether we have done enough to change this in our lives so far.

This came to light for me when I attended an Authentic Leadership workshop in Halifax, Canada a few years ago, at an intergenerational session.  Over 30’s went to one side of the room and we discussed the kind of world we are leaving behind to our children.  The under 30’s went to the other side to discuss the kind of world they are inheriting from us.

We regrouped on either side of the room and faced each other for the discussion.  I was blown away when one young person got up, pointed finger at all of us and said, “Your generation gave us, money and materials like great houses, gadgets, cars, food, but you did not give us love”.   He went onto say that, most of his friends in the room like him feel a great void in their lives, an emptiness as a result of not having their parents around to talk to them, play with them, touch them, read stories to them, instead they were out there making money to give them things.  They do not want to repeat this with their children, but can they as long as the world’s way of life is to be reptilian?.

I am not blaming our generation alone, but this session was very emotional for all of us over 30s and it certainly gave me a jolt into thinking how I am with my own kids amidst my busy professional life.  Fortunately, we live in Sri Lanka with its social support network, from the domestic help at home to extended family and friends, very different to the loneliness of the west.

Yet, I amended my ways to spend more time with them, to play with them, make dinner a regular family  meeting time and looking back as they grow up, I am so happy I made the time to give them our love and a bit of wisdom too.   We are rewarded with a great relationship and more so I marvel at how they inspire us all the time with what they do out there in the world.   Likewise, I also realized that we as adults and parents have to focus on our children to nurture them differently through a foundation of respect and positive relationships.   This will empower them through a higher self esteem.

So, when I see, adults like these referees, for whatever reason, ethical or not, using children as their pawns to meet their own selfish ends, I feel sad.  The coach wants their school to win, maybe his job is at stake and the referee for friendship or favor, is helping him to keep his job, but the children, they are innocent, but learning that putting an elbow into the opposing teammates face or a kick in the shins is all ok as long as they win.   Some day they may become victims of this thinking, but even if they do not realize it, they come out to the world thinking winning at any cost is important.

Micromanaging

A while ago, I facilitated a British Council sponsored Sportsmanship, Leadership and Ethics, a pilot program for school cricket captains of central and the north western provinces through Sri Lanka Cricket.  In both programs, I was appalled to hear from the captains that they were not allowed to set the batting order, the field or decide on the bowlers or make any other decision as a captain. All these orders came from the coach in the sidelines.   As I had heard it in both provinces, I asked to meet with some of the coaches in Kandy.  When I asked them this, they reluctantly agreed and said, “We are under tremendous pressure from the Principal and parents to win at any cost, or we lose our job”.

So, this was very clear, that the leadership of the school and parents set such a bad example for their own egos to win matches on their behalf, and the coach is under tremendous pressure to deliver, so he or she will go to great lengths to win, losing the plot of why all these sports are there in the first place in schools – to teach children leadership, values, ethics, fair play cooperation, teamwork, sportsmanship…

So, we wonder what is happening to our world full of zero sum competition, violence and hatred.

We are compassionate beings:

It is doubly sad, as the human is a compassionate being with the limbic part of the brain operating in default.  The reptilian brain comes into play only when we are in danger and have to fight to survive.   In this world of ours, the reptilian brain has become default driving the neo-cortex into acting like animals and not humans, as if we are in danger all the time.  This danger is an illusion created by man himself – not evolved and deceived by a large ego.

The only way to change this is to guide our children.  Let us teach them young to look inward, to meditate, do yoga and martial arts, so they can be centered, confident and skillful even in the face of difficulty to be ethical, compassionate, to respect self and each other and win in life.   For that, we have to walk the talk too…. Checking on the difference between what we say and what we actually do… as parents, teachers, coaches and referees.

• The Breadwinner or the Nurturing Mother
• Crows and Reptiles
• School admissions
• Can we End this Cycle of Hatred?
• Concentration camps for animals

Nominating TNA National list MP Sumanthiran to the newly created Parliamentary Council under the 18^th Amendment, by Opposition Leader and UNP MP Wickramasinghe, was rightly rejected immediately by Sumanthiran himself and by the TNA also. Wickramasinghe was rightly condemned too, for his stupidity and slimy politics by other political observers, in a round of disgust and dismay. The reason was apparent. The 18^th Amendment is seen as wholly anti democratic by most in progressive politics and the TNA did not want to be part of a Rajapaksa scheme, they opposed.

That done, the TNA announced a Committee of their own to sit with the Rajapaksa regime in overseeing Northern resettlement and rehabilitation. The Committee comprises of 07 MPs including Sampanthan, Suresh Premachandra, Senathirajah, Adaikilanathan, Shritharan, Selvarasah and Sumanthiran. This is an agreement reached not with President Rajapaksa, but with Basil Rajapaksa on 23 August. Thereafter BR had left to India, according to Sumanthiran who spoke to “Nation” on 29 August, asking them to submit the names to President. The TNA expect their nominated names to be co-opted to some sort of a joint mechanism, that would help them oversee resettlement of Tamil IDPs in the Vanni.

Before that, the TNA officially met with President Rajapaksa, on the eve of his departure to India in early June this year, over 03 months ago. It seems the TNA meets the Rajapaksa brothers, only when they leave to India. It seems also, that TNA is expecting India to deliver palatable answers for their problems, through this Rajapaksa regime. Could they gain anything from such contractual, collaborative politics ? Especially with this Rajapaksa regime?

Its stupid for TNA to sit with this Rajapaksa regime in overseeing resettlement now. By now, the government has sent a massive number of IDPs to their villages, almost empty handed. As Sumanthiran told “Nation”, these IDPs have been sent with “certain roofing materials, tin sheets, certain poles, tarpaulin sheets and some bags of cement” and expected to live with them. That being the situation in the Vanni, it is regretful to say the least, that the TNA stayed for over one year, till all those people were sent out of camps, to seek a joint mechanism with Basil, in overseeing resettlement and rehabilitation. Now when the TNA announces their 7 member committee, its less than 25,000 IDPs in camps, from the original 300,000 plus that was held behind barbed wire, in Chettikulum.

This alone proves, the old TNA brigade led by the triumvirate, Sampanthan, Suresh and Senathirajah known in Tamil circles as the “Triple S”, is now out of gear and drained of political thinking. What are they planning to oversee? What resettlement and what rehabilitation? Has the Rajapaksa regime drawn up a plan or a programme for resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs in the North – East, for the TNA to oversee its implementation? Who helped draw it and what allocations are available for any resettlement and rehabilitation?

We know the Delhi administration has pledged some LKR 1.2 billion for Northern rehabilitation, 50,000 houses included. There is also a 520 MW coal power plant in Sampur that has displaced 1,600 Tamil families, who have not been provided with any decent alternatives. Delhi has previously signed an agreement for railway transport improvement in the North, including rolling stock.

This is certainly not, how the TNA should accept rehabilitation for their own kith and kin, for whose devastated lives the TNA is also responsible. These pledges, grants and aid, whether from Delhi or Beijing, should be servicing and fulfilling components of a clearly designed programme for rehabilitation. It is not for Delhi to decide and Colombo to accept 50,000 houses. Its the rehabilitation programme that should decide numbers, sizes and their locations, with a system, a criteria, to select beneficiaries. That goes for all decisions on rehabilitation and reconstruction, that a clear programme would have to include.

Today there is no clear indication to the people, to society, as to who does the planning and on what priorities. No one knows who is responsible for what and where the monies go, in resettlement and rehabilitation in devastated North – East. The present minister of “Resettlement” is Milroy Fernando, who very recently claimed the number of internally displaced people are more than the actual numbers previously recorded. The present minister of “Rehabilitation” is DEW Gunasekera, who does not appear to be doing any outside prison reforms. Yet the TNA has to work with Basil Rajapaksa, who is only the minister of Economic Development.

This certainly explains where political power lies with this Rajapaksa government, but it does not necessarily explain where a programme for resettlement and rehabilitation is and who has funds for that. It is this clenched power with the Rajapaksa regime with no systems and programmes, the TNA would first have to politically encounter and challenge. Though very much late for resettlement, there is every purpose in still campaigning for a “Comprehensive Programme for Reconciliation and Rehabilitation” to be presented in parliament with financial provisions.

Approved in parliament for two major reasons. One, it has to be a well debated, open programme that all citizens would know about in detail. Two, it is not only the Tamil and Muslim people who have a right to know how much money is available and for what rehabilitation in their areas and for reconciliation. The Sinhala South has a right to know all of it as well, as money that is spent on all of it is public money. It is a parliamentary approved programme the TNA could thereafter monitor when implemented.

Politically the best is to lay down a condition that all rehabilitation activities identified in a parliamentary approved comprehensive programme, should be carried out by the North and East Provincial Councils. Tsunami rehabilitation and construction is one disastrous experience of centralised rehabilitation and reconstruction that totally ignored the PC system and left the people uprooted for years and some are still neglected. PCs have all the powers necessary for rehabilitation and reconstruction, devolved to them that includes,

• law and order in the provinces
• planning and implementation of provincial economy
• education
• health
• agriculture with necessary extension services
• housing and construction
• social services and rehabilitation
• rural development and
• co-operatives

This PC system, with all its drawbacks and timidity one may talk about, is still a closer apparatus to the affected people than the centralised Colombo State. The centralised Colombo State and its agencies under the Rajapaksa regime can not say they are any better, except in waste and corruption. At least they have been proved inefficient in accounting the IDPs, with Minister Fernando saying in Vaharai alone there are 200 unaccounted for refugees. Whole North could definitely have more ?

The East remains ignored as always. The lobby had been and is always a Northern lobby. This is also a reason to have a wide spread, well discussed programme for both N-E provinces. It would then allow those Eastern province representatives to see where they are in rehabilitation and reconciliation.

Thus it would be much saner for the TNA to campaign for a parliamentary approved rehabilitation and reconciliation programme, implementable under the North and East Provincial Council authorities, instead of Rajapaksa’s crude projects with popular Sinhala tags like “Negenahira Navodaya and Uthuru Vasanthaya”, inefficiently let lose from Colombo with much waste and corruption.

What the TNA immediately need though, is a draft “programme for rehabilitation and reconciliation”, and a new team to head the campaign from Colombo. A new team with a new perspective, that no more keeps the TNA dependent on Gandhis and Chidambarams in Delhi and the only Rajapaksas in Colombo.

• Final text of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in Parliament opposing the 18th Amendment
• “Sound is no substitute for argument”: Exclusive video of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in parliament against 18th Amendment
• Hansard on 18th Amendment debate, 8 September 2010
• Going beyond Sarath Fonseka in achieving democracy for people
• “Believable Change” with unbelievable evasiveness: Sarath Fonseka’s manifesto

Nominating TNA National list MP Sumanthiran to the newly created Parliamentary Council under the 18^th Amendment, by Opposition Leader and UNP MP Wickramasinghe, was rightly rejected immediately by Sumanthiran himself and by the TNA also. Wickramasinghe was rightly condemned too, for his stupidity and slimy politics by other political observers, in a round of disgust and dismay. The reason was apparent. The 18^th Amendment is seen as wholly anti democratic by most in progressive politics and the TNA did not want to be part of a Rajapaksa scheme, they opposed.

That done, the TNA announced a Committee of their own to sit with the Rajapaksa regime in overseeing Northern resettlement and rehabilitation. The Committee comprises of 07 MPs including Sampanthan, Suresh Premachandra, Senathirajah, Adaikilanathan, Shritharan, Selvarasah and Sumanthiran. This is an agreement reached not with President Rajapaksa, but with Basil Rajapaksa on 23 August. Thereafter BR had left to India, according to Sumanthiran who spoke to “Nation” on 29 August, asking them to submit the names to President. The TNA expect their nominated names to be co-opted to some sort of a joint mechanism, that would help them oversee resettlement of Tamil IDPs in the Vanni.

Before that, the TNA officially met with President Rajapaksa, on the eve of his departure to India in early June this year, over 03 months ago. It seems the TNA meets the Rajapaksa brothers, only when they leave to India. It seems also, that TNA is expecting India to deliver palatable answers for their problems, through this Rajapaksa regime. Could they gain anything from such contractual, collaborative politics ? Especially with this Rajapaksa regime?

Its stupid for TNA to sit with this Rajapaksa regime in overseeing resettlement now. By now, the government has sent a massive number of IDPs to their villages, almost empty handed. As Sumanthiran told “Nation”, these IDPs have been sent with “certain roofing materials, tin sheets, certain poles, tarpaulin sheets and some bags of cement” and expected to live with them. That being the situation in the Vanni, it is regretful to say the least, that the TNA stayed for over one year, till all those people were sent out of camps, to seek a joint mechanism with Basil, in overseeing resettlement and rehabilitation. Now when the TNA announces their 7 member committee, its less than 25,000 IDPs in camps, from the original 300,000 plus that was held behind barbed wire, in Chettikulum.

This alone proves, the old TNA brigade led by the triumvirate, Sampanthan, Suresh and Senathirajah known in Tamil circles as the “Triple S”, is now out of gear and drained of political thinking. What are they planning to oversee? What resettlement and what rehabilitation? Has the Rajapaksa regime drawn up a plan or a programme for resettlement and rehabilitation of IDPs in the North – East, for the TNA to oversee its implementation? Who helped draw it and what allocations are available for any resettlement and rehabilitation?

We know the Delhi administration has pledged some LKR 1.2 billion for Northern rehabilitation, 50,000 houses included. There is also a 520 MW coal power plant in Sampur that has displaced 1,600 Tamil families, who have not been provided with any decent alternatives. Delhi has previously signed an agreement for railway transport improvement in the North, including rolling stock.

This is certainly not, how the TNA should accept rehabilitation for their own kith and kin, for whose devastated lives the TNA is also responsible. These pledges, grants and aid, whether from Delhi or Beijing, should be servicing and fulfilling components of a clearly designed programme for rehabilitation. It is not for Delhi to decide and Colombo to accept 50,000 houses. Its the rehabilitation programme that should decide numbers, sizes and their locations, with a system, a criteria, to select beneficiaries. That goes for all decisions on rehabilitation and reconstruction, that a clear programme would have to include.

Today there is no clear indication to the people, to society, as to who does the planning and on what priorities. No one knows who is responsible for what and where the monies go, in resettlement and rehabilitation in devastated North – East. The present minister of “Resettlement” is Milroy Fernando, who very recently claimed the number of internally displaced people are more than the actual numbers previously recorded. The present minister of “Rehabilitation” is DEW Gunasekera, who does not appear to be doing any outside prison reforms. Yet the TNA has to work with Basil Rajapaksa, who is only the minister of Economic Development.

This certainly explains where political power lies with this Rajapaksa government, but it does not necessarily explain where a programme for resettlement and rehabilitation is and who has funds for that. It is this clenched power with the Rajapaksa regime with no systems and programmes, the TNA would first have to politically encounter and challenge. Though very much late for resettlement, there is every purpose in still campaigning for a “Comprehensive Programme for Reconciliation and Rehabilitation” to be presented in parliament with financial provisions.

Approved in parliament for two major reasons. One, it has to be a well debated, open programme that all citizens would know about in detail. Two, it is not only the Tamil and Muslim people who have a right to know how much money is available and for what rehabilitation in their areas and for reconciliation. The Sinhala South has a right to know all of it as well, as money that is spent on all of it is public money. It is a parliamentary approved programme the TNA could thereafter monitor when implemented.

Politically the best is to lay down a condition that all rehabilitation activities identified in a parliamentary approved comprehensive programme, should be carried out by the North and East Provincial Councils. Tsunami rehabilitation and construction is one disastrous experience of centralised rehabilitation and reconstruction that totally ignored the PC system and left the people uprooted for years and some are still neglected. PCs have all the powers necessary for rehabilitation and reconstruction, devolved to them that includes,

• law and order in the provinces
• planning and implementation of provincial economy
• education
• health
• agriculture with necessary extension services
• housing and construction
• social services and rehabilitation
• rural development and
• co-operatives

This PC system, with all its drawbacks and timidity one may talk about, is still a closer apparatus to the affected people than the centralised Colombo State. The centralised Colombo State and its agencies under the Rajapaksa regime can not say they are any better, except in waste and corruption. At least they have been proved inefficient in accounting the IDPs, with Minister Fernando saying in Vaharai alone there are 200 unaccounted for refugees. Whole North could definitely have more ?

The East remains ignored as always. The lobby had been and is always a Northern lobby. This is also a reason to have a wide spread, well discussed programme for both N-E provinces. It would then allow those Eastern province representatives to see where they are in rehabilitation and reconciliation.

Thus it would be much saner for the TNA to campaign for a parliamentary approved rehabilitation and reconciliation programme, implementable under the North and East Provincial Council authorities, instead of Rajapaksa’s crude projects with popular Sinhala tags like “Negenahira Navodaya and Uthuru Vasanthaya”, inefficiently let lose from Colombo with much waste and corruption.

What the TNA immediately need though, is a draft “programme for rehabilitation and reconciliation”, and a new team to head the campaign from Colombo. A new team with a new perspective, that no more keeps the TNA dependent on Gandhis and Chidambarams in Delhi and the only Rajapaksas in Colombo.

• Final text of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in Parliament opposing the 18th Amendment
• “Sound is no substitute for argument”: Exclusive video of TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran’s speech in parliament against 18th Amendment
• Hansard on 18th Amendment debate, 8 September 2010
• Going beyond Sarath Fonseka in achieving democracy for people
• “Believable Change” with unbelievable evasiveness: Sarath Fonseka’s manifesto

S. M. Samarakoon Esq.
Secretary,
Presidential Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation,
24, Horton Place,
Colombo 7.

Dear Mr. Samarakoon,

Recommendations for ICT and Research Supported Enhancement of the Effectiveness of the LLRC

As a follow up to the submissions made before the Presidential Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation on 23^rd September 2010, I have pleasure in submitting the following recommendations for enhancement of the effectiveness of the LLRC, leveraging Information Communications Technology and Research options;

1. The LLRC to take urgent steps to set up a widely publicized, fully functional multi lingual web site,  to serve the following facilitation needs of the Commission and at the same time satisfy the communication needs and expectations of the stakeholder publics;
   • Information on the Warrant of the Commission, Details of Commissioners, Staff of the Commission, Contact details, Progress to date including public hearings and visits, Notices published by the Commission,  Events and hearings calendar, Picture Gallery, News/Publications and Press Releases, FAQ’s, Useful Links,
   • Stakeholder public duly identifying themselves and stating their full personal and identity details be allowed to file their submissions before the Commission via the web, in the language of their choice. This will provide a link in effective networking with the Commission via the web, using the communications service centre’s spread across island, with the web allowing the discretion to be exercised by the subscriber in regard to the choice as to whether  such submissions are to be available for public viewing or not. The webmaster will however retain the final authority on publication related decisions. Where full transparent information communications are desired, the public at large can also be allowed to make comments on these web entries publicly available for viewing. (ie similar to the facilities available to subscribers of Groundviews and Transparency International Web sites).
   • The Commission could place for public comment strategic questions as well as requests for comments on focused subjects and areas. The Commission can thereby invite public comments, information requests, and even public vote for and against stated issues, positions and suggestions.
   • Interim Reports ( non Confidential nature ) of the Commission
2. Initiate setting up of a web facilitated “Integration and Reconciliation Fund” for voluntary subscription by  Sri Lankan citizens including the Diaspora, Local and Multi National Businesses, International Community, International Funding Agencies, NGO’s and Philanthropists. The Fund should be administered by duly appointed Trustees with a Bank as the Fund Manager. The resources so mobilized will be used for provision of  essential and prioritized spends in supporting relief, resettlement, reconstruction, reconciliation and re-awakening needs of conflict affected areas  and residents of the North and East, as directed by the Commissioners
3. Set up Research Unit to support the information needs of the Commission. This Unit comprising of young multi-disciplinary professionals with required language proficiency and technology capability, be recruited on contract or as volunteers to serve as apprentices and engage them to scan the available publications, research reports, surveys, workshop outcomes, available on the web, libraries and with civil society organizations, as well international experiences in areas of relevance and any focused areas determined by the Commission
4. Set up an Information Processing and Validation Unit which will inter alia process, analyze, summarize, validate and control all submissions, complaints and information received by the Commission  / Commissioners via delivery, post or web (including the responsibilities for the facilities referred to in 1 above) and should include some professionals with expertise in investigations, web management and information technology management
5. All staff members, volunteers, apprentices and service providers be required to enter in to Information Secrecy and Non Disclosure contractual commitments.

I trust that you will kindly share these suggestions with the Commissioners and take early steps towards the implementation of accepted recommendations.

Wishing you and your team all success in effectively supporting the Commissioners in delivering the desired outcomes as per the Presidential Warrant..

Yours Sincerely,

Chandra Jayaratne

[Editors note: Also read Submission before Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) by Chandra Jayaratne]

• Official transcript of LLRC oral submission by Mr. Jayantha Dhanapala (Updated)
• Behind the IMF bail-out and the state of the Sri Lankan economy with Harsha de Silva
• ‘Learning Lessons’ from those affected by war: Does the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission really listen?
• Groundviews Wins 2007 Award of Excellence in New Communications from Society for New Communications Research
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