Yesterday in Parliament! Important Legislation and NO ONE knows about it! AND THE SRI LANKAN PRESS DON’T SEEM TO CARE TO INFORM!

THE BILL AUTHORIZING THE KOTELAWALA DEFENCE ACADEMY TO ESTABLISH A MEDICAL FACULTY WAS DEBATED AND PASSED

It is very sad that in this day and age of information overflow, very important pieces of legislation gets passed with the people of the Country not realizing it, and are totally unaware of legislation that actually affect their everyday lives.

Instead, giving the chair of the Speaker to a joker MP called Azwer, when the speaker vacated it after opening the session, speaks volumes for the Govt. in ridiculing even this important legislation. Secondly, the Press in ONLY highlighting the UNP opposition demand that Azwer be removed from the Speaker’s chair must be reprimanded for IDIOCY!

Yes that is also news, but not the most important one. Azwer is, to put it simply used by the Govt. as a tool to annoy the opposition as he is full of BS and like Mervyn are used to belittle Governance, Government and all norms of civilized administration. It puts in perspective what this Government thinks of Parliament, and ALL MPS not just in opposition. It is just a joke to GOSL rulers, and Parliament is impotent and all discussions are meaningless, and there is NO threat to passing legislation so it is a wholly rubber stamping body, allowing opposition to blow some air to vent their frustration and anger and that’s JUST ABOU IT!

Yesterday, the whole act of giving this status to the Defense University, is to obfuscate issues, and promote disinformation to the extent that the opposition is also totally led up the garden path. With their energies directed at a useless election, the real truth behind the legislation is shrouded in mystery!

If truth be told, the Kotelawala Defense Academy (on land bequeathed to the state) is another attempt, to strengthen the power of the Defense Establishment, and keep them loyal to the Govt. Huge amounts of money has been allocated to it. The establishment, Gota and his cohorts, chose who they wish to admit to its courses, what they should charge, and who they give scholarships to. This totally undermines the Tertiary State Education system that has fairly clear entrance and Z score guidelines for entry, no matter what our opinions are on its weaknesses. 

 SIMPLY PUT, they will use state resources for their OWN BENEFIT. Yes they charge high fees, if I want to enter, and for instance study for a legal degree which costs Rs1M. However an unqualified son of a Major General, may be at the same course free of charge, claiming he has a scholarship. NO ACCOUNTABILITY.

Isn’t it ODD that the Head of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Mahanama, is on the faculty of the KDU, that is breaking all the HR of the people in Sri Lanka?

If this was a fee paying private institution, I will have NO worry. It is instead funded by OUR PEOPLE’s MONEY to benefit a few chosen GOSL cronies, and that is MY PROBLEM. The Medical Faculty is being funded to the tune of RS 75Billion, yes billion, for the hospital etc. The medical students have been given laptops and benefits NOT given to any student in the state medical faculties of any university and who will enter? what entry requirements? and what cost? SB Dissanayake the Minister of Higher Education, states in parliament that there will be minimum entry standards, yes is it 3 A level passes!!! WHAT A JOKE

Then the foolish Minister of Health gets up and says that the Defense Forces need specialist doctors that KDU can provide. What an asinine comment? He should be sacked for making a statement like that. It is doctors that have trained through the state system who take care of Military casualties, nowhere have they got to be trained throughout a Military University. This is not to shoot people, it is to cure people of illness and trauma!

People of Sri Lanka rise up and agitate and VOTE for people who can read and write, not for people who can lie with impunity as that is all their education has taught them.

I am sad to say that even an opposition MP, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, made a fool of himself, by running down the Malabe Private Medical School, which was not relevant to the debate, and also praising the KDU! He must have got his wires crossed in the heat of a political campaign. What does it matter if Malabe Medical has 90,000 sq ft for teaching. He goes on to state 2,000 medical students there (I quote Lankadeepa of 21^st March Parliamentary page.) All this is totally irrelevant to the debate. He must think it rings a bell with the students, to make a political point. Actually the students, IUSF is BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE.

IUSF convener Najith Indika, stop your useless agitation about non events, when the most important issue is the breakdown of the Free Education principles, NOT the establishment of Private Universities. Any amount of private universities can be established, as people who have the means can then go there, and put less pressure on the state system, allowing more poor students to enter university. 

SRI LANKA cannot educate ALL those who sit A levels in the Free Education system. So it is IMPORTANT that the funds available to the Govt. for education is fairly spent so that the people of Sri Lanka benefit on a MERIT system and NOT on a friends and family basis or to special favored classes such as the defense establishment! When the Govt. spends a total of only Rs8B in 2014 for capital improvements for ALL universities in Sri Lanka and an additional, Rs 35B only for KDU in 2014, there is something GRAVELY WRONG in Govt. if the Defense Establishment gets all the favors. We are then turning into a Militarized State, with all benefits ONLY accruing to the Military to keep the Military happy and powerful and contended, permitting the Govt.

The Govt. choosing a moment when the people are fully engaged in Election activities to hoodwink the electorate and pass legislation that further erodes their freedom is typical of the strategy of this administration.

It is up to the rest of us in opposition to this to rise and up and inform, educate and agitate against brazen behavior of the state in fiddling the Fundamental Rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka. I have nothing personally to gain either way, it is just that I feel the people of Sri Lanka are being ROBBED BLIND in every way, wherever they turn, and that I DISAGREE WITH VEHEMENTLY.

The opposition MUST make a stand, with a platform of points of what is wrong and what they would do to fix it immediately upon gaining power, and show a united force to show the people that the time has come for change. The platform of points must be worded so that it is obvious and understandable to the average person as being one that affects them personally, so they have a right to be concerned. It is important therefore that all the points we present hit the heart, the stomach and the mind all at the same time.

The Country is waiting for leadership to provide answers to their day to day issues, and it is not for want of serious issues to bring forward, this being just one of them.