Contrary to President Maithripala Sirisena’s promises of demilitarisation, the Rajapaksa regime’s attempt to ingrain the military into every aspect of Sri Lankan life still continues.
According to the Sri Lankan Army, the Army managed ‘Laya Leisure Resort‘ in Kukuleganga commenced a refurbishment and renovation project in order to be compatible with competitive standards available elsewhere for local and foreign tourists on July 17th.
Adjutant General, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Chief Executive Officer, Board of Management graced the occasion as the Chief Guest for launch of the renovation project.
At the auspicious minute at 8.43 a.m., Major General Hathurusinghe who is also the Adjutant General of the Army laid the foundation stone symbolizing the commencement of the project.
During the event, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe also launched the new automated system at Laya Leisure in which all the functions within the resort complex are fully computerized at the invitation of Colonel W.M.G.C.S.B. Wijayasundara, Chief Executive Officer.
Brigadier G.R.M.N.K.K. Jayasinghe, Chief Operations Officer, Laya Chain of Hotels Head Office, Mr Trevor Reckerman, Management Consultant for Laya Chain of Hotels, Colonel W.M.G.C.S.B. Wijayasundara, Chief Executive Officer, ‘Laya Leisure’, Kululeganga, senior officers, officers, other ranks and civil staff working at ‘Laya Leisure’ Resort attended the event.During the event, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe also launched the new automated system at Laya Leisure in which all the functions within the resort complex are fully computerized at the invitation of Colonel W.M.G.C.S.B. Wijayasundara, Chief Executive Officer.
Brigadier G.R.M.N.K.K. Jayasinghe, Chief Operations Officer, Laya Chain of Hotels Head Office, Mr Trevor Reckerman, Management Consultant for Laya Chain of Hotels, Colonel W.M.G.C.S.B. Wijayasundara, Chief Executive Officer, ‘Laya Leisure’, Kululeganga, senior officers, officers, other ranks and civil staff working at ‘Laya Leisure’ Resort attended the event.
John / July 30, 2015
What really matters is demilitarization of North & war affected areas in East , returning land back to people, abolishing HSZ, not getting involved in daily life of northern people, limiting the military to barracks & handing back the civilian security to the Police.
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Lanka Watch / July 30, 2015
John – I fully agree with your suggestion. Armed forces should be kept
away from the sight of people unless there is a necessity to be present
in places where people conduct their day to day activities.As you said,
There is Police to look after the homeland security. There is no necessity for army to engage in farming,running hotels, restaurants
and other commercial activities with or without the permission of the
Govt. If the govt. does not want to reduce the strength of the Army in
peace time, tho’ we have a poor economy, they should find countries where peace keeping forces are required and send them there and earn some money to off set the colossal amount of peoples money spent on the upkeep of the armed forces.
If armed forces are taken off the streets in N/E , half the problems
of the Tamils will be solved. why are there as occupying force is the question asked by every Tamil.
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Heretic / August 3, 2015
LW,
“There is Police to look after the homeland security.”
What if soldiers are given short training and new uniforms and then sent to the NP as Special Northern Task Force? Would you accept them if they belong to the police? We can also think about “increasing” the Coast Guard in NP by renaming all of the the Navy. Maybe Helitours can replace the Air Force?
Problem solved?
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alex / August 5, 2015
Brilliant .. just give them all new names. Problem solved. Can’t believe MR didn’t think of that.
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Analyst / July 30, 2015
Why these trained army personnels are involved with running hotels? Are these resorts are just for armed forces or civilians too? If they are looking for jobs and unemployed , train them to do other jobs as civilians in civilian clothes.
Or else are they waiting to create another war? So that all those countries interested in selling war toys hey Presto Srilanka will buy them for the unemployed soldiers to try them on civilians in the North .thats all we need.
We don’t need the soldiers owning hotels and run them.
Disgraceful.
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maalumiris / July 30, 2015
@Analyst
You cannot draw down a trained fighting force at the end of a conflict and just kick them out of the army. That creates far larger problems – you can analyse examples where other countries have simply sacked their soldiers and the results.
Can you imagine what would be the state of the country if unemployed, trained fighters are let loose among the citizenry ? In the face of the existing unemployment numbers in Sri Lanka, what additional “civilian jobs” can the government conjure up out of thin air ?
The army is not running hotels for the fun of it. They have to keep these people occupied.
You may think it’s disgraceful but you might think it’s even more disgraceful when an unemployed former soldier, trained in the use of weapons, in desperation commits a major crime because he cannot afford to feed his family.
If you have any concrete ideas to employ thousands of soldiers instead of just saying “civilian jobs”, please present it to the relevant authorities. I am sure they would be happy to receive your suggestion
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backlash / July 30, 2015
Pakistan is one good example in the region that the role of the armed services in public life and governance should be kept at the very minimum. If the role of the armed services in public life and governance become the norm than the exception this can create very unhealthy precedents. For their own parochial reasons, as it is now known, the Rajapakses broke all established rules to allow favoured army personnel and the armed forces play a larger role than they should in the country’s affairs. Army engaging in business and tourism is something that should be discouraged. The unconfirmed reports of the role some army personnel played in the recent incidents at Welikade Prisons involving violence between competing drug-traffickers is something that brought adverse publicity to our army men.
Backlash
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Jim softy / July 30, 2015
Military should involve in Sri lanka where ever they can.
Military camps are not needed in the South. they all should be in the North.
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Lanka Watch / July 31, 2015
Jimmy – Why should the military stay in the North and not in the South?
Is it, in your opinion that people in the South are saints and people in the North are terrorists.?
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Diluk Desinghe / August 1, 2015
My view is also that there needs to be a strong military presence in the North and their main role at the moment being maintaining a very large and intricate intelligence network. There is still heavy rhetoric and calls for a separate state from the Tamil Diaspora, from Tamil Nadu just 20km off our coast, even from Tamil politicians. Our peace was hard won, both by our military as well as the people in that Region, we cannot let it go to waste.
There is no such secessionist movement in the South, thus the need for it in the North as opposed to the South.
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Just saying / July 30, 2015
Only the dormant LTTE activists are concerned and this is the perfect forum to vent their frustration.
CT has purposely failed to report on the LTTE associate caught in Rameshwaram with 57 cyanide capsules among other distributive paraphernalia on the way to Sri Lanka.
One thing is for sure, when those capsules are ties around the necks of brain-washed youth, there will be not one son or daughter from the elite Tamils who comment here.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / July 30, 2015
This model prevails in Pakistan and the MR government probably copied it. It creates an alternate power center, with an independent income base, within the State and the results have been the curse of Pakistan.
Dr.Rajsingham Narendran
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Kumar R. / July 30, 2015
Rajasingham,
For five years until a year or so ago you were in complete adoration of the Developement work implemented by Gota, using army and Southern labour brought to the North, keeping the Northern youth out of participatory development in foreign funded programs ear marked to help the war-affected families.
Did you not know about the existence of Pakistan then?
Don’t you realize you were also responsible for giving all the cover MR and Gota needed to establish this military domination of civilian lives?
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Heretic / August 2, 2015
Kumar R,
I don’t know very much about this conflict that you have with Dr RN but decided to comment on a more general level.
Please do not misunderstand me. I never have supported MR and dislike most Tamil politicians. Maybe you remember that MR received almost 20% of the Jaffna votes while many more didn’t vote at all?
Like Dr RN I have been accused of being paid by MR, supporting the EPDP, being a traitor etc. All of this because I have some in my opinion independent opinions that most people in Jaffna fail to understand.
“For five years until a year or so ago you were in complete adoration of the Developement work implemented by Gota, using army and Southern labour brought to the North, keeping the Northern youth out of participatory development in foreign funded programs ear marked to help the war-affected families.”
Dr RN and all others have the right to support who they want to do they not? We supposedly live in a democratic country all though I obviously have serious doubts about it.
I do not know what Dr RN did in that past but people change and whatever he did or does was and is his democratic right as long as it was and is not illegal. Was not MR a human rights lawyer and President of Amnesty International many years ago? What did he become later? Did he not change?
In case you have not noticed we have rehabilitated former tigers as candidates in the elections. Do they not have political rights because of their past?
“Don’t you realize you were also responsible for giving all the cover MR and Gota needed to establish this military domination of civilian lives?”
What is the military domination of civilian lives? Where can I find it? I have seen these claims many times in media but nobody has so far provided any proof of it.
Are you among the people who claim or maybe even believe that we in Jaffna need a military or police permit for a family or any other function? Did the SIS or Military Intelligence manage to cover all the church services in Jaffna earlier today? Did they report on all the Hindu services on Friday?
I might live in an area that has been abandoned by the security forces because I almost never see them. I believe that the police wouldn’t manage to come even if I called them and reported a gang rape in progress.
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soma / August 4, 2015
Kumar R
Don’t blame RN. Five years ago every one (sorry majority) was admiring MR until he planned to remain life time president and Western supported propaganda war against MR kicked into full gear.
Just compare January 2015 results to the previous results.
Soma
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Usha S Sri-Skanda-Rajah / July 30, 2015
I don’t care what they do in Kalutara, it’s their land but I have something to say to the “Occupier’ who has made himself comfortable in our homeland and exploiting our resourses! LEAVE NOW! Tamil Lives Matter! Actually I’d be delighted if they move to Kalutara and leave us Tamils alone!
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HomelandV / July 30, 2015
Were the British “occupiers” also?
If so whose homelands did they occupy?
This may help:
Full Definition of HOMELAND (merriam-webster.com)
1: native land : fatherland
2: a state or area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural, or racial origin; especially : bantustan
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taraki / July 30, 2015
Usha, who the hell do you think you are to make demands? The North and East is not your land. You are well aware of the history behind all this. I too would be delighted if you move to TamilNadu and leave us alone. Fortunately all Tamils are not two-faced lying traitors like you.
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Lanka Watch / July 31, 2015
Taraki – How could she know the past history when the Sri Lankan
history is rewritten and boundaries are redrawn . Do you know why
the world renowned Jaffna library was burnt,? it is because it
contained authentic ancient history books on Sri Lanka.
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Paul / July 30, 2015
Usha whose land did the up-country Tamils occupy? What are you and the TGTE going to do about it? I’ll be amazed if you answer.
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kumaran / July 30, 2015
“I don’t care what they do in Kalutara”. This shows the level of extreme prejudice of this lady, Tamil or whatever. This kind of comment will not endear to the general public, Tamil or whatever. Certainly NOT to the Sinhala brothers.
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Uthungan / July 31, 2015
It must be understood any government that is elected in this country will always has to prioritize it’s need to serve the interests of the majority community and that can be be done only at the expense of the minority communities,That is why the constitution is geared up in such a way to serve the task.
I am not justifying that.But we must see the realities.
Unless there is a fundamental change from profit driven mode of production,distribution and exchange system of economic planning brought about,it is going to be a story ‘me first,you be damned’
That is the way the system works and for that there has to be an army and the army has to be stationed in the region where the minorities predominate to lull the majority into a state of intoxication and a false sense of security by diverting their attention with an excess of religious opium and false patriotism.
The people from the majority community are not intrinsically devious or
evil just because they have a different culture and religion,but they too are also caught up along with the minority in the same stormy universe in which big corporate business’s love for money predominates.
In that universe we in a developing island country with small resources and a faltering GDP are also victims driven by a kind of psychopathic version of self interest like them and willing to do just anything to survive.
This is what it is all about.
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Heretic / August 1, 2015
Usha,
“I don’t care what they do in Kalutara, it’s their land but I have something to say to the “Occupier’ who has made himself comfortable in our homeland and exploiting our resourses! LEAVE NOW! Tamil Lives Matter! Actually I’d be delighted if they move to Kalutara and leave us Tamils alone!”
At the moment we still live in a united country. If you accept an army run resort in Kalutara you should accept them in the North also.
Is this a call for separatism? Please make it very clear.
The three Army and Navy resorts in the North that I know of do not bother me. I am quite happy with the service Helitours provides.
Is Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe not the officer who as a young man had a possibly controversial role in Welikada prison?
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Ranjan Rajakaruna / August 2, 2015
Usha [Edited out]
Can you show us any evidence of your Thamil homeland? [Edited out]
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soma / August 4, 2015
Madam Usha
I don’t care what they do in Jaffna, but I have something to say to the 50+% Tamil speaking people presently made themselves comfortable in areas outside North and East. LEAVE NOW! You can’t have it both ways. One exclusive area for 50-% and to occupy the rest of the country by the other 50+%.
Ask Wingeshwaran and Sumathitharan to get the hell out of here. I assume you are residing in Jaffna.
Soma
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Marwan / July 30, 2015
The army is a bloated outfit now and needs to be maintained from state income. The only way to raise revenue inn order to support them is to employ them in sources that generate income. Thus they use them for serving meals at wedding halls run by the Forces that are hired out to the general public, banquet halls and even hiring out rooms at hotels and resorts. They are young men and women trained by the Forces who are dress very smart in civilian clothing and provide a professional and well disciplined, supervised service appreciated by all who attend, unlike any ordinary folks who provide similar type of service. It is unique and extraordinary and I have met and spoken to a lot of high profile attendees who speak high of their service. So lets give them their due praise, although they may not be liked for their past actions during times of war. They too are our sons and daughters in service to the nation.
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justice / July 30, 2015
We may end up like Pakistan where there is an entrenched military government and the civilian state exists only in name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Inc.
In most democracies, military is subservient to the civilian government.
But, this is not so now, in Sri Lanka.
The army controls almost all aspects of civilian life in the “occupied territories” of north mainly, and to a lesser extent, in the east.
In the north, the army has plundered all arable & fertile land and has driven away all inhabitants.
This does not happen in any other democracy.
Hundreds of Buddha statues, alone or inside vihares have been erected in areas where there are hardly any Buddhists.
Buddhist clergy assist in this activity.
Hindu shrines were mostly destroyed during the war, and now the army ‘invades’ functioning hindu temples en masse during festivals wearing uniform ostensibly to pray to hindu gods.
No one wearing uniform – army, police or any other – attend Buddhist temples, in the south, in uniform.
Police do not accept complaints regarding the army.
The PTA strengthens this behaviour of police and army.
All businesses are now controlled by the army, assisted by the police.
The armed forces are allocated the largest chunk of the national budget – no government dares to reduce the amount – and is recruiting more soldiers.
The armed forces enjoy free food, clothing and shelter while on “duty” and their salaries are full savings. They even get pensions.
Officers’ clubs are stocked with duty-free liquor.
Hence the armed forces do not like to “go home” losing all these benefits including surreptitious sex whenever required.
Though the terror tactics of “grease yakkas” are no more, no civilian dares to complain.
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maalumiris / July 31, 2015
@justice
Certainly there is that danger but in the past 40 years, succeeding governments of Sri Lanka have kept the military subservient to the Administration.
Thats why, to remind you of a recent example, Sarath Fonseka was sidelined by the MR administration and now by the MS administration as well. SL cannot afford to have charismatic commanders who get involved in politics. You can see what happens regularly in Thailand and Burma
In any country that has a regular military force (other than those maintaining a token ceremonial force like the Vatican), a large (possibly the largest) chunk of the budget is allocated to defence. If you doubt, just look at our new Best Friend Forever, the United States. Even Japan, after so many years of having a pacifist constitution is now arming actively spending more money on its armed forces.
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Punitham / July 30, 2015
Thank you for posting it here.
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Vanguard / July 30, 2015
The military including Sarath Fonseka protected all your lives (unless of course you were terrorists). Don’t forget that.
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Peace Lover / July 31, 2015
Its good that the military is involved in all areas I think they should also be kept in each house especially K A Sumamasekeras and Jim Softly’s house and posted to keep watch outside their bedrooms too when they are with their missus’s ;-)
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Analyst / July 31, 2015
Including Malumiris’ Bedroom inside and outside. Good job for the unemployed soldiers THROUGH THE KEY HOLE ????
Of course on government payroll.
It’s absurd ,,, train them to become farmers or computer trained to be self sufficient rather than remain to be state suckers. Just because they were recruited as soldiers they should remain so.
Million or so soldiers are unemployed do they need to be on state pay roll??
Hope MALU MIRIS WILL REPLY TO THIS QUICKLY.
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maalumiris / August 1, 2015
@Analyst
Not sure what your reference to “keyhole” means (can you elaborate) ?
Can you tell me one single country where the National Army is paid for by the Private Sector ?
The army does run and manage farms already and large computer installations as well. Though I assume YOU mean let them become chena cultivators instead. In that case, will you offer up some of your land for them to cultivate or shall we take some of the national parks or other protected areas ?
Will you and like-minded folk be willing to employ a few ex-army types and pay them a living wage or give up some of your property for farming by army folk and put your money where your mouth is ?
You don’t need to answer since I already know what your response will be!
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maalumiris / August 1, 2015
@Analyst/@Peace Lover
It’s a pity that you both have to descend to cheap insults and irrelevant asides in order to try get your point across.
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Analyst / July 31, 2015
Keep the unemployed soldiers on state pay roll to PEEP THROUGH THE KEY HOLES.
WHAT SUCKERS ARE THEY TO MAKE THEM IDLE AND BRAIN DEAD CURTESY OF THE STATE of the
Srilanka
Just because how Pakistan is treating their unemployed soldiers as builders to their masters playgrounds on state payroll and srilanka need not to follow the same method.
May be these Soldiers have too many state secrets to hide of the dirty war of Srilanka which prevailed and they cannot be let loose away from their masters.
IS IT TO DO WITH THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT?? AND THEY NEED TO BE KEPT AS SLAVES??
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Diluk Desinghe / August 1, 2015
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces has around 280,000 persons within its ranks, do you suggest that we confine all of them to barracks since the war is over. Or perhaps you suggest that we throw all these young people who fought on our behalf out on the street?
I agree that land of citizens should be returned, I agree that the military must not get involved in civil administration as in the north (including law enforcement).
I however have no problem whatsoever in the military getting involved in commercial activity including construction work via the expertise of the Army Corps of Engineers. We must keep these young minds working and more importantly, we must re-train these young people to vocations that will enable them to integrate once again into civilian life and not throw them into a life of crime and destitution.
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paul / August 3, 2015
Diluk, these idiots think that you can simply disband large chunks of the military and have thousands of trained men roaming the streets looking for non-existent jobs. They will simply turn to violent crime and they will be very good at it. Is that what we want?
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maalumiris / August 3, 2015
@Diluk Desinghe
Agree 100%
Seems that some contributors don’t think much beyond the next few minutes
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whywhy / August 7, 2015
1978 constitution of JRJ was beneficial for the country
but deadly to the party. Single party dominance slowly
came to an end with JVP managing to rise up slow and
steady as a force not to be ignored . These two older
Green and Blue are struggling to cope with the emerging
trend of losing ground to real challenges they have to
live with . JVP changed its approached to become the
traffic police as a result. JVP grabs the mastermind
piece of every decisive show organised by the greens
and blues. So, greens and blues depend on each other
for survival until such time that a third force is
unstoppable in the near future .
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harshana / August 8, 2015
What is the provision of law that Forces are allowed to engage with Business? AF -Heli Tours, Navy – Malima and Army – Laya are illegal according to E Code of SL.
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maalumiris / August 10, 2015
@harshana
Can you cite the specific parts of this Employment Code that states this please ?
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