The Rajapaksa Clout!
Posted on April 26th, 2010
Prof. Hudson McLean
Two notable appointees into Cabinet Portfolios highlight the Presidential ambitions.
Although Rohitha Bogollagama was by-passed after suffering an electorial defeat, the appointment of Prof. G.L.Peries as the Foreign Secretary is a good choice. Rohitha as the Foreign Secretary brought character and personality, and changed the Sri Lanka the substance of the image on the international stage.
Perhaps President Rajapaksa has a different mandate for Rohitha in the future.
Prof. G.L Peries will bring-in an academic and the intelligentsia look, to match with the likes of Hillary Clinton, and the Russian Sergei Lavrov, the Sinhala speaking friend.
Perhaps the message from the President is that, “It’s The Brain but Not the Brawn!”
The most important Portfolio in the cabinet is under Basil Rajapaksa, the Minister for Economic Development. The dynamic policies of President Rajapaksa will “make or break” under the administrative skills of his brother Basil. Here the President has combined both “The Brain & The Brawn!”
Basil’s biggest objective to make Sri Lanka grow into another Singapore will be a piece of cake, if he steps and leans heavily on Bribery & Corruption. A muddy little fishing backwater less than fifty years ago was turned round by the ruthless leadership and hungry vision of the Founding Father Lee Kwan Yew. Today Singapore stands proud amongst the most advanced First World countries.
And Sri Lanka has all the natural resources, land mass, manpower and an unenviable strategic location.
Basil’s vision and administrative skills are able to support Mahinda’s dream to become a reality in less than twenty years, when another generation of Rajapaksa might be ready to take over the reins.
The Rajapaksa brothers and their kith & kin in the Sri Lankan Administration will be under continuous microscopic scrutiny of the Electorate as well as the foreign observers. They have taken a very high profile in the Administration. However, President has carefully guided them into the correct “slots”.
On a personal note, I would like more Readers of Lankaweb to maintain their vigil on B&C, since this “Cancer” affects the entire population. It cannot be totally eradicated but continuous pressure would make it easier for Basil Rajapaksa to bring home the “goodies” using The Rajapaksa Clout.
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April 26th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Wasn’t Rohitha Bogollogama Foreign Minister rather than Foreign Secretary?
I suppose you are right when you say he “brought character and personality, and changed the Sri Lanka the substance of the image on the international stage”. But in what manner did he change the international image of Sri Lanka, for the better or otherwise?
April 26th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Rohitha made a positive contribution, by projecting a Gentlemanly, Statesmanlike personality.
I wish him luck in his future endeavours!
April 26th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
G L Pieris is a man who will bend many times and cringe before the international heavy weights in the diplomatic field. He is an ambitious multi-turncoat creepy crawly who pandered to Choura Ragina Chandrika and Don Juan Ranil and now with the Sandhanaya and the President. He may have the brains, but will he have the stature to stand up to the heavy weights in the world stage with his elastic backbone? He once addressed the Tiger Terrorist Balasingham as “His Excellency” and brought immense loss of face to our nation. I hope he has matured – otherwise it is for the President to watch out and keep him under constant vigilance. In the absence of showoff – Rohitha Bogollagama, perhaps Mahinda Samarasinghe would have done the job with much finesse and decorum.
It is important that Sri Lanka must be able to keep her head high and carry on the momentum of our victory over Tamil Tiger Terrorism.
April 26th, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Thanks, Ratanapala. I didn’t know all this of GLP. So, are we no better off now that RB is no more the Foreign Minister? I thought his ‘record’ would have been hard to beat!
April 28th, 2010 at 4:05 am
GLP will take Sri Lanka to the feet of the masters of LTTE criminals. I did not see anything proven by him as any job done “intelligently”. He is always a policyless person. Dissaters are ahead! He will suggest to have talks with overseas LTTE in the future.
April 28th, 2010 at 6:56 am
Wasn’t it Bogolls who got rid of UNHRC hero Dayan, not even allowing him to complete his term 2 months away ?
April 29th, 2010 at 5:20 am
Mahnda Rajapaksa is now playing the game better than ever.By appointing Prof. G.L. Peris he just put his first trump card in the game.Bogolls will come in time when needs arise.Excellent planing.