Character Assasination
Posted on October 24th, 2014
By Charles.S.Perera
In 2005 when the then Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse was elected the President, the Reuter and the Western Media wrote, the hawkish” Prime Minister of Sri Lanka has been elected as the President.
From the beginning the West went all out to discredit the President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka. The West even supported the terrorists and did every thing they can to stop the Sri Lanka Armed Forces eliminate the ruthless terrorism from Sri Lanka. The President Mahinda Rajapakse who was determined to end terrorism, stood unmoved like a rock in the face of the manoeuvrings by the International Community, until the last of the terrorists was eliminated.
The failure of the International Community to save the terrorists is the present incessant activities by Western Governments to discredit the government of Sri Lanka and putting the Tamils against the government, accusing it for violation of human rights. Some of the Ambassadors of the Western Countries such as USA and UK have become spies looking for evidence to accuse the Government and its Armed Forces for violation of the human rights of the Tamil people.
It is sad in the light of the foreign enemies of the President and his Government, there are also the Sinhala politicians( leaving aside the Tamil politicians) carrying on a campaign of character assassination against the President and his government.
In Sri Lanka character assassination is more a Sinhala Buddhist trend. The Tamils do not indulge in it, nor do the Muslims. At the present moment there are all types of accusations of corruption.
Of course corruption should be condemned but it is a virus that cannot be removed overnight. In Buddhism it is said that root course of human suffering lies in desire , craving and attachment (lobha), aversion, hatred, anger and jealousy(dosa), and delusion of a self(moha). Hence there is corruption not only in politics, but also in other human activities.
Now it is more of the Sinhala diaspora that is resorting to character assassination of the President. Some of them like the Colombo elitists are more for the UNP representing the capitalist class. They even make out that the President is an undemocratic person out to take revenge from his opponents.
But the President has not resorted to mudslinging at his opponents as they do against him.
But despite corruption the President and his government is accused of , the President and his government has carried out a considerable amount of work to develop the country in all its aspects. This President did not only bring peace to the country after 30 years of suffering, but developed its infrastructure to an unprecedented level. Those projects he has accomplished will remain to benefit generations of Sri Lankans. Governing is not an easy task, when one section of the population is satisfied there is the other that is not.
Some projects such as the Mattala International Airport, and Hambantota Harbour may not show immediate profit but they are for gains in the future. The future generations will be thankful that there was a man with a great foresight to have accomplished such great tasks.
In India there is a city called Fatehpur Sikri a great city construct by the Mughal Emperor Akhbar. But later he had to abandon it for lack of water. To day it stands a well preserved city visited by thousands of tourists.
But Mattala Airport and the Hambantota Harbour will not have the same fate as they are commercial constructions and will not remain empty but would one day be jewels of commercial construction in the Sothern city of Hambantota.
The last Government of which Ranil Wickramasinghe was the Prime Minister was also accused for corruption. He was the one who signed the CAF causing immense problems to the people of Sri Lanka. He satisfied the whims and fancies of the terrorists at the command of Eric Solheim. R.Premadasa armed the terrorists. But Mahinda Rajapakse cannot be put amoung them.
Can the people expect a corrupt free regime under Ranil Wickramasinghe ?
Mahinda Rajapakse is a man of determination. He would not hesitate to fight against the enemies of the country from within or from outside. He was accused of bribing the terrorist, misappropriation of tsunami funds. He was accused of nepotism and promoting his cronies.
Yet the President went forward with his determination to end the suffering of the people under terrorism.
Often we tend to believe that the persons we like and take into our confidence are honest. We trust them and give them responsibilities, but when they turn out to be unworthy hypocrits we are blamed for trusting them and giving them responsibilities. That is what has happened to the President. He cannot therefore be blamed for the errors committed by others.
The President has given responsibilities to persons he trusted would carry out the functions allotted them correctly. He has done that in the military operations against the terrorists. He handed over the responsibility of the elimination of terrorists to the Defence Secretary and the Armed Forces and occupied only the political aspect of the military operations. It was a success because he could trust the Defence Secretary to be honest and carry out the responsibilities given to him. That is where nepotism paid to get results from the military operations against the terrorists.
Even then the Defence Secretary was accused of various malpractices which were not proved against him. Hence the people will accuse the President whether there is reason or not.
There are accusations of tender procedures where the Ministers interfere to accept bids preferred by them. These are matters that should be brought to the knowledge of the President instead of spreading them as rumours to tarnish the good name of the President. The President cannot be every where surveying the actions of every Ministry and Department . It is the duty of those to whom responsibilities have been given to carry them out.
If the President were to remove every one against whom accusations are made all the development projects may come to a stand still. In the circumstances he has to follow a more diplomatic attitude to see that the Government activities continue providing benefits to the people.
Recently a young man who had won the trust and confidence of the President misbehaved in a foreign country assaulting a Sri Lankan diplomat. May be the President had made a mistake in the choice of the monitoring MP for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the incident should not be made another issue to tarnish the name of the President. Human behaviour is incomprehensible.
No where in the world the University students manifests as they do in Sri Lankan Universities. It will not be surprising if that too may be put against the President .
The Tamil people of the North has been endowed for the first time with the chance to elect their representatives into a Provincial Council. But those who had the chance to get elected and serve the people as Councillors are instead going all out to get separated from the Government and work for the setting up of a separate Tamil Provincial Council, ignoring to perform their duties for the welfare of the people who elected them.
The President Mahinda Rajapakse from the time he was elected was determined to unite the different Communities in Sri Lanka to make a nation of them. Despite the constant obstacles that have been put in front of him the President has nevertheless not deviated from his resolve to unite the people and take the country towards progress and property.
Sri Lanka has had the good fortune to have elected Mahinda Rajapakse as the President, without which Sri Lanka would have never seen the unimaginable development that is taking place in Sri Lanka today.
His opponents make him out to be the reason for all the corruption they claim there is in Sri Lanka, but nevertheless no other President would have had the determination to go forward to develop Sri Lanka which a few years ago was unimaginably poor and destitute and dependent on small handouts from the West.
Sri Lanka has reached a very high level of democracy, and freedom such that any body is able to make any type of accusations against the President , his government and the Armed Forces with impunity.
The President and his government are accused for White Van kidnappings, disappearance of journalists, communal confrontation in Aluthgama, shooting in Weliweriya. Any thing is good if there is an element to destroy the credibility and tarnishing the reputation of the President.
This character assassination continues in such large measures that one would think, what Sri Lanka needs today is not an executive President but a Dictator.
October 20th, 2014 at 12:56 pm
“what Sri Lanka needs today is not an executive President but a Dictator.”
AGREE. A GOOD dictator from military rule who will SCRAP 13 amendment and other WASTEFUL nonsense. AND village level democracy.
Our ancient kings were dictators and how great the country was then. WESTERN democracy didn’t work outside the west.
We need SOME FORM of rigid characteristics of DICTATORSHIP mixed with PEOPLE governing themselves at grassroots level.
October 20th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
“But Mattala Airport and the Hambantota Harbour will not have the same fate as they are commercial constructions and will not remain empty but would one day be in the Sothern city of Hambantota.”
– Dear Charles. These are commercial ventures, built on loans serviced by the tax payer and the producers of the country. Only those who have NO LOVE for the country will construct Airports and Ports to be “jewels of commercial construction ” “one day”.
Instead, they MUST bring returns from day ONE.
All airports and ports remain empty for two years are GREAT FAILURES.
Please do not assassinate the character of “the truth”.
October 20th, 2014 at 2:54 pm
Interestingly i note that MR has stated that he would get rid of the Executive Presidency if the Tamil Diaspora give up the Tamil elam separatist demand whilst we read in these very column from Sinhala Diaspora demanding the repeal of the 13th Amendment.
Both the Tamil and Sinhala Diaspora don’t live in the country and have no vote, whilst our President is more concern of the Tamil Diasporas and its influence on the electorate rather than the Sinhala Diaspora.
I wonder what that says.
October 20th, 2014 at 2:55 pm
Sri Lanka does not have corrupt politicians because there had been no politician in the history ever been charged for bribery and corruption except for the Sinhala Marikkar from Kadugannawa. No politician has ever resigned from politics even they are caught red handed importing container loads of drugs and methanol.The minister’s sons are not involved in drugs. Minister’s son did not kill six muslims in Kandy district. Minister’s son did not drain off the reservoir to ell the generators. It is only our neighbour Jayalalitha who is corrupt.
October 20th, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Micro,
Tamil diaspora does NOT belong to SL. They have NOTHING to do with SL. They belong to the TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL ELAM (TGTE). That is their country. Too bad it has no territory!
October 20th, 2014 at 6:42 pm
Stanley,
Don’t be so sarcastic.
Wimal Weerawansa’s pen did not cost 100000 Rs. He is the minister for development not Koloppam.
October 20th, 2014 at 7:00 pm
Sri Lanka deserves a president who is not afraid of war crimes. Unfortunately the ruling clan fears war crimes and this dictates their behaviour. No one in the ruling clan is suitable to lead the nation unless they overcome this fear and favour. Ranil is absolutely incomeptent to lead the country. A leader outside them must be sought.
I’m very glad JHU is taking bold decisions although Ven Ratana Thero’s demands and threats are misplaced. As I explained to Patali Ranawaka, JHU, NFF and BBS will be the “kingmakers” (a term he disliked) at the forthcoming presidential election due to the heavy ethnic polarisation of the electorate. As Tamils and Muslims are not going to vote for the ruling party, it must heavily depend on Sinhala Buddhist voters who were forgotten all this time. The three small parties can make the difference between UPFA winning and losing.
Weerawansa and BBS must join the JHU attempt than just go with the flow. The constructive fear of war crimes must be instilled in the ruling clan (if they lose the election, they will surely face war crimes trials). In order to avoid defeat, it must serve the Sinhala voters as Tamils and Muslims are not going to vote for UPFA. Trying to woo them is counterproductive and useless. It doesn’t work.
October 20th, 2014 at 7:06 pm
Dear Charles:
There is a big difference between character assasination (defamation) and criticism. For anything not to be defamation 2 things must be proven – what is alleged is factual (as the maker of these allegations believes in them for good reasons) and the revelations are made for public good. There are many things about the President that satisfies these two and they are not defamation.
October 21st, 2014 at 6:32 am
when we talk about character assassination, I think government’s top most peoples campaign to put a tiger label on Ranil over the removal of LTTE ban by Eu is also a very dirty act.
it is a failure of government due to poor foreign relations .The rowdy behaviour of present government reminds me JR’s era. I am a traditional SLFEr . But this time I determined not to vote for anyone.
October 21st, 2014 at 1:08 pm
“Bandara” is trying to fool the readers.
Run-nil is a tiger sympathizer! Run-nil LOVES to wear the tiger label.
Here are IRREFUTABLE reasons.
1. RW signed CFA with LTTE. NO ONE in history signed a ceasefire agreement with TERRORISTS!
2. He signed it in 2002 when the WAR ON TERROR was in full swing to kill terrorists.
3. He REGULARLY met LTTE leaders (Charles Gnanakone, etc. It was CG who killed Lakshamn Kadirgamar).
4. Run-nil’s best buddy jayalath Jayawardana regularly supported Tamil separatists! Now he is no more and Run-nil does it himself.
Look at SAJITH. Does he do this type of treason? NO! Does the govt. blame SAJITH for these? NO!
No wonder Run-nil has LOST 31 elections and is the LONGEST opposition leader in the world!!
October 21st, 2014 at 1:40 pm
I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT the BAN ON THE SALE OF LAND in Sri Lanka to Foreigners
ONCE the LAND is ALIENATED, citizenship becomes MEANINGLESS in a country where the citizens become RENTERS to be exploited, and foreigners become the OWNERS empowered to exploit and profit at will!
This is the situation TODAY in Hawaii, where Christian Missionaries stealthily married into the royal family, gradually took control of the land, and finally engineered a coup-de-etat against Queen Lilieukalani’s Govt of Hawaii to capture the reins of power, and converted the sovereign people of Hawaii into RENTERS living in backwoods HOVELS to be trotted out to do HULA DANCES for the Western tourists rolling in the lap of luxury in foreign owned hotels.
NO! This must NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN IN Sri Lanka! The native people of Sri Lanka MUST OWN ALL OF THE LAND FOREVER and FOREVER ENJOY ALL THE BENEFITS that flow from that land ownership.
Land ownership is the ULTIMATE DETERMINANT of a peoples Sovereignty.
Again I say: Without exclusive LAND ownership, citizenship is MEANINGLESS!
Let us LEARN from the fate of formerly SOVEREIGN LAND OWNERS of other nations, now become TENANTS of foreigners!
………………………………….
Sri Lanka enacts ban on foreigners buying land
By Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, Oct 21 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka passed legislation banning land purchases by foreigners, a move the government said would curb tax evasion but critics said could hinder its offshore investment ambitions.
The Land Bill adopted by parliament late on Monday prohibits foreign individuals, companies and locally incorporated firms with over 50 percent foreign ownership from buying land in the South Asian island nation.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also finance minister, had flagged the ban plan in his November 2012 budget speech.
Deputy Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama said that since 2004 foreign individuals had been able to buy land by paying a 100 percent transfer tax, and locally incorporated firms with over 25 percent foreign ownership were also subject to the levy.
But Amunugama said some foreigners with a minority stake in company had sidestepped the tax system by buying land in the firm’s name and then transferring remaining shares of the company into their name to end up as sole owner of the land.
“This was used to evade tax (by buying land through companies and then transferring shares). These common malpractices associated with transfer of land to foreigners disguised under the veil of incorporation have been prevented through this act,” he told parliament.
The new act will allow foreigners to acquire land only on a lease basis of up to 99 years with an annual 15 percent tax on the total rental paid upfront.
“Though it is not unprecedented to restrict foreign ownership, Sri Lanka has just given a red light to foreign investors, specially at a time the country is trying to attract long term foreign investments,” said Anushka Wijesinghe, a research economist at the Institute of Policy Studies.
The bill, however, said all strategic development projects under its Board of Investment are exempt from the new rules.
Sri Lanka’s foreign direct investment rose 49 percent in the first nine months of 2014 from the same period a year earlier to $1.3 billion. Colombo has set a $2 billion FDI goal this year, after it failed to meet that target for two years in a row.
(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
October 21st, 2014 at 1:55 pm
The BASL Fox wants to mind the EU-Ban Henhouse!
The BASL that has acquired a reputation as an anti-national organization that undermines the popularly elected GOSL at every turn, now wants to “help” the GOSL to restore the EU Ban on the LTTE!
Has this “kotiya” changed its stripes, or is it jockeying for leverage to undermine Sri Lanka’s national security AGAIN from a crucial position?
Even if the GOSL accepts BASL’s offer of cooperation in this matter, it must NEVER give BASL members a leadership opportunity to undermine the national agenda. Keep them under close OBSERVATION & CONTROL, until … years from now … they have PROVEN themselves by their CONTRIBUTIONS to Sri Lanka’s DEFENCE & SECURITY to be members of a PATRIOTIC NATIONAL ORGANIZATION.
At present, the BASL is merely one of the many anti-national NGOs operating in Sri Lanka; it operates under the guise of a standards setting institution of the legal profession.
……………………….
BASL ready to help govt.
DailyMirrorr.lk
October 21, 2014
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said yesterday it was ready to help if the Government takes up the legal battle in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to reintroduce the proscription on the LTTE.
While condemning the Foreign Ministry’s failure to maintain the LTTE in the European Union’s proscribed list, the BASL said in this hour of need it was prepared to share the knowledge of its eminent members to defend the country.
“I note with shock and anger that the proscription of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation in the European Union has been temporarily reversed,” BASL President Upul Jayasuriya said.
“The External Affairs Ministry has failed in its duty to maintain the LTTE organisation in the proscribed list. With the Foreign Service in a shambles and all its powers usurped, it is not surprising that those who have been tasked with the responsibility of defending Sri Lanka overseas have failed miserably,” he said in a statement. “However in this hour of need we find it is the duty of the BASL with the wealth of knowledge of some of its eminent members to offer its assistance and pledge our support to the nation to discharge our duty and to have the proscription reintroduced and support our application before the European Court of Justice.” (Susitha R. Fernando)
– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/54587/basl-ready-to-help-govt#sthash.YZJ18TUd.dpuf
October 21st, 2014 at 2:20 pm
Sri Lanka must AVOID EXCESSIVE DEPENDENCE Indian military hardware!
Let us keep in mind what would happen if the Modi Govt is driven out of power … as it inevitably will … sometime in the future, and Tamil Nadu grows as a threat to Sri Lanka.
Will the then Govt of India continue to support, upgrade and supply parts for this hardware, or will they support the Tamil Nadu Racists and DENY Sri Lanka Military Assistance … as India did when we were confronting the LTTE.
My bet is that India will place a Military Embargo on Sri Lanka. In that case, all these Indian Military assets … paid for by Sri Lanka, with Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel trained and become captive to this hardware … will become so much USELESS JUNK to be thrown away.
In BUYING WEAPONS for national defence, we must keep uppermost in our minds who are the most likely enemies we will confront in the foreseeable future, and rely mostly on those nations we will not come into conflict with.
India, unfortunately, is the country posing the greatest threat to Sri Lanka’s national security, and we must act accordingly.
We must understand that Modi’s BJP Govt of India, though a welcome change, may not survive, or may change its posture towards Sri Lanka if their electoral strength erodes, and dependence on Tamil Nadu increases as in the case of previous Congress Union governments of India.
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India to supply two naval offshore patrol vessels to Sri Lanka – report
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 21, New Delhi: India is planning to supply two naval offshore patrol vessels and other military equipment to Sri Lanka, according to an Indian media report.
India has earlier provided 24 L-70 guns, 24 battle-field surveillance radars, 11 USFM radars, four Indra-II radars and 10 mine-protected vehicles, among other things, to the Sri Lankan forces, the Times of India reported Monday describing India’s military assistance to Sri Lanka.
In addition around 800 to 900 Sri Lankan military personnel are trained in Indian military establishments every year.
India reportedly is taking measures to step up defence cooperation with the neighboring countries in Indian Ocean including Sri Lanka to counter China’s growing strategic influence in the region.
In addition to providing hardware, India has agreed to provide assistance to Sri Lanka and Maldives in capacity-building of their armed forces through training to steadily boost overall military ties with the neighbors.
Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Monday, October 20 met with India’s Defense Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi and discussed a number of issues including stepping-up military ties.
October 21st, 2014 at 2:50 pm
Gota has done must better than his brothers in Endia.
He will definitely do better in Sri Lanaka too!
October 21st, 2014 at 4:08 pm
“India, unfortunately, is the country posing the greatest threat to Sri Lanka’s national security, and we must act accordingly.”
I agree.
I smell a massive dead bandicoot rat in this arms deal with Endia.
“24 L-70 guns, 24 battle-field surveillance radars, 11 USFM radars, four Indra-II radars and 10 mine-protected vehicles and 2 patrol vessels”?
Tamil Homelandists must be weeping from their backsides!!
October 21st, 2014 at 4:35 pm
A person’s character is determined by the moral value system built into his/her daily life cycle. In the case of ordinary people this is not much visible as the encounters with very many are not frequent. But in the case of Leaders who come into play prominently with the people are visible and could be identified easily. This is most applicable to Politicians, Religious Leaders, Social Workers, to mention few, and their day to day interactions with people would be assessed and judged mainly on the manner in which such functions are carried out.
Based on above, ” the President” becomes more visible and would be scrutinized thoroughly more than the others. In such a case the person who holds this “position” cannot escape him being assessed and judged according to how he carry on his assigned job of “Governance” of the country’s affairs entrusted to him by the people. In that context the “President” is an equal to a “CEO” of a very large “Corporate Body” who needs to measure up to the high standards of “moral values” and “competency” levels and requires to “perform” the duties in a manner exemplary to the rest of his team who have been assigned varying functions by him.
Now the question is: Has our President measured up to the expected standards? In certain respects, e.g. the “defeat of the Terrorists” and “bringing peace to all of us”; “getting involved and gearing up a re-constructions and initiation of development are noteworthy. Yet, that alone does not exclude him from “mishandling”, “mismanagement”, “misdirection” of affairs of governing the peoples’ affairs. In my opinion, this is the area where he has FAILED. Being comparable to a “CEO” of the entire governing functions of the country, he should have displayed extraordinary competent levels in the “SELECTION”, “PLACEMENT” and “DELEGATION” of a whole range of functions for which he would be held responsible. For example, look at what he did with those crossed over from the Opposition knowing very well that they were a bunch of “crooks” and “vultures” who looked for nothing but building their empire form themselves, family and friends. Next look at the way he handed over some of the public enterprises to his own family members who even did not comply with the “BASIC” qualifications or competency levels. Look at what he did with the most important function of Foreign Affairs and he knowingly selected people with no competency levels to function at those portfolios. The writer, Charles quite correctly mentioned above of one person who is supposed to have won the President,s confidence. The President had ample information of this person and he opted to bring him from “nowhere” and entrusted him to run a massive venture called Mihin Air” and completely closed his supervisory eyes until he busted Rs.3.00 Billions of PEOPLES’ MONEY. He should have “kicked this man out” at least at that point of me; but what did he (President) do. He brought him to the Legislature and “decorated” him with an “unknown” designation called “Monitoring MP” . After that our President could not do without him whenever he visited other countries. He little realized the “contempt” of the dignitaries of those visiting countries secretly displayed when he was occupying the front raw seats side by side of him. Now he has become a monster and openly says: “President cannot get rid of me” What does that convey and what a lot of meaning and interpretations would be forthcoming?
Above is only a “GLIMPSE” into how this “Character Assassination” bought about by no one else, but HIMSELF.
October 21st, 2014 at 5:10 pm
“Above is only a “GLIMPSE” into how this “Character Assassination” bought about by no one else, but HIMSELF.”
Thank you Douglas for the precise explanation. We need more commentators realising truth rather than more fools acting like Koran followers with unshakable gratitude to Allah.
This particular Character Assassination has been self-inflicted by sheer excessive greed and stupidity.
October 26th, 2014 at 8:37 pm
මේ නන්දාවතී මංගලගේ පච හමුදාවෙ එක්කෙනෙක්නෙ. එයාට ඔය එක කොමෙන්ට් එකකට ඩයස්පෝරාවෙන් මංගල හරහා ඩොලර් 20ක් ලැබෙනවලු කියල මං ඇහුව.එයාට පේන්නෙ ජනාදිපති තුමාගෙ ඇදමයි. මෙතුමිය/මෙතුමා මේ කොමෙන්ටිං පටන් ගත්තෙ අර පච බලකාය හැදුවට පස්සෙ 2013 දෙසැම්බර් වලට පස්සෙ. අනික මෙයා කොමෙන්ට් එක පිට එක හතරක් පහක් දානව එකම ලිපිය යට. මාර ගානක් හම්බ කරනව එක ලිපියකින්. දැං ඔබතුමාට තේරෙනව ඇතිනේ. මෙවුන්ට හොඳ පේන්නෙම නැහැ.
October 27th, 2014 at 12:48 am
Calli(ng for)Is(laming)St(ate are)US,
මම ලැම්බොගිනි එකක් ගන්න සල්ලි එකතු කරනවා ඩාලිං.
අර නූගත් උලමා මර්වින්ට මහඑකාගේ පගාවෙන් ගන්න පුලුවන් නම්, ඇත්ත ලියා කීයක් හරි හො යා ගත්තාම පව් සිද්ද වෙන්නෙ නෑනෙ අනේ.