Tide Rises Against President Maithreepala Sirisena
Posted on February 18th, 2015
Prof. Hudson McLean
As a journalist, I consider LankaWeb to be an Open, Independent, portrayal of genuine opinions of Sri Lankans. There are, over the past ten years, contributors have changed their opinions, political parties, and still succeeded to publish their content in LankaWeb.
Since the recent Regime Change on 9th January 2015, the general opinion was in favour of My3 and his dream of cleansing Bribery & Corruption, which has been a part and parcel of Sri Lankan life.
I too heard from many resident Sri Lankans as well as visitors to the Island that, Corruption is Rife, as I have personally experienced during my visits to Sri Lanka.
UNP as the party which governed Ceylon after Independence, started Corruption soon after the Party came into power. Although the UNP Premier General Sir John Kotalawala was a direct and a honest soldier, except for his loose zipper, his arrogant sub-ordinates were busy building own empires, to some extent which brought SWRD sweeping into power on a Nationalistic feeling.
As I have stated earlier, all allegations against the Rajapaksa Regime should be treated with utmost caution, until an Independent Judiciary decides on the verdict.
Whatever is said against the ex-President Rajapaksa, to his credit, all Sri Lankans owe MR their gratitude for eliminating the Cancer of the Terrorist LTTE.
Now by default, the mandate is given to a UNP government, led by RW, a failed, lame-duck politico, now trying to re-write the “Song Sheet”.
President My3 who managed to win the election, largely due to UNP support combined with Tamil-Muslim-Minority vote, is now making himself look like the “Son-of-Modi”.
Dressed in his “Bullet-Proof” vest, in a contrasting shade of brown, on top of his white Sinhala National Dress, facing ex-PM Manmohan Singhe, and with Sonia Gandhi showing her body language, a picture worth a thousand words.
My3’s insipid, weak handshake with Modi, followed by the My3’s subservient “both hands-on-the-wheel” shake, made him look like a little boy with the Headmaster.
From the contributions in LankaWeb, it looks pretty obvious that majority of the writers do have little or No Confidence in the “Stooge”.
With the Prime Minister RW banging away on Corruption and Buckingham Palace look-alikes in Sri Lanka, making both the President and his Prime Minister, look like the comedians Laurel & Hardy, or Tom & Jerry.
As usual, the Sinhala are renowned for in-fighting, which has now turned into a slight religious whipping against the Christians. In the meantime, the Tamils, both domestic and the expats, are sharpening their horns, and waiting the Sinhala-vs-Sinhala to mature, before the Tamils move in.
Point to Add – As a Catholic, I hasten to add that, before I was born, my family helped finance the construction of a Buddhist Temple in the vicinity of Kelaniya.
Any news on General Sarath Fonseka and his future in politics?
If requested politely, would he re-join MR? Any opinions?
Lorenzo debacle – I have followed Lorenzo, with respect, on LankaWeb for several years. Lorenzo exercised his democratic right to support My3, an ex-MR Minister-of-State, however with a tinted-reputation. I hope Lorenzo gives his own considered opinion on the way things have and are moving in the current government.
The current government is doing 360° turns on many of their pronouncements, I do hope that My3 decides to do an about-turn on the selection of the Prime Minister, Governor Central Bank, Chief Justice, before its too late.
The Tide has already beginning to Turn Against President My3 Sirisena.
Express Your Opinion – Read What Others Say!
The Independent Interactive Voice of Sri Lanka on the Internet.
Please visit -: http://www.lankaweb.com/
February 18th, 2015 at 3:18 pm
The Sinhalese are too fatalistic and tend to shrug off everything as their karma. While the minorities use their plots our people become emotional. Under MR the Muslims benefited a lot. The head of the law faculty was appointed by MR and that person was a Muslim. That year almost all those passed out were Muslims. Same with the Universities. When I was in the University many years ago most of the lecturers were Tamils. They used to favor Tamil students openly. The students used to put the famous Om sign on the test papers. Most of the demonstrators were appointed by the lecturers and heads of the Depts who were all Tamil. I still remember doing my practicals in Chemistry and Physics. The Chemistry titration had been leaked to the Tamil students and luckily at the last minute one of the Sinhala lecturer’s came and changed it. When I was doing my Physics I saw our Tamil lecturer virtually doing the experiment for one of the Tamil students and he came to my experiment and tried to throw me off by shaking his head as if I had got it all wrong. Luckily I was sure in what I did and I passed. They infiltrated the income tax dept, the Railways and every single Govt dept. Most of the govt banks were managed by them and they in turn gave loans to Tamils easily.
The Sinhalese think if they follow the Dharma it is enough and that the laws of Dharma will look after them. It does not work like that unfortunately now in the end of the Kali Yuga. They must use their heads and learn to think logically and make sure their politicians look after their interests not the interests of the minorities. They have to make sure the education system the universities, law colleges, the medical colleges are not hijacked by the minorities.
Even the election commissioner appears to have worked for the minorities judging by the way the computer had been used in the Colombo Campus. On the huge numbers of Tamils who voted for my3 compared to the number of Tamils in the North who voted in total in 2010 : There is about a 91% increase in the number of voters in Jaffna plus large unusual increases in the rest of the Tamil areas. I guess corruption has prevailed.
The Sinhalese must go through the legal system and remove 13A, use the 6th Amendment to bring TNA to heel and look after the thousands of Sinhala refugees who were chased from the North by Prabahakaran and his goons. Why is that the Sri Lanka Govt is reluctant to bring the LTTE atrocities to the notice of UNHRC. It was Prabahakaran who wiped out entire villages in the East and North of Sinhala peasants. If any one is interested there is a Orphanage in Ratmalana called Yasodara Devi Orphanage. The then children were brought there by a Buddhist nun many years ago after she saw a dream of children with matted hair roaming the jungles there. She was very poor and yet she went there and found many children who were orphaned when LTTE came in to villages and killed all adults and children they could get hold of. These were children who had run and hidden in the jungles. She brought them to Colombo to her temple and looked after them. Who speaks for such people in the international fora ? Abroad, there are foreigners who really think that Lanka majority is Tamil and a vicious minority called the Sinhalese are killing Tamils !!!
What is our present GoSL doing about such incorrect and atrocious spread of false information ?Recently when Mangala S met John Kerry and Kerry made a statement that “we are glad that the 30 year war with the Tamils is over”, Mangala S did not have the presence of mind to correct him and tell him the war was NOT with the Tamils it was with a group of Tamil Terrorists called the LTTE.
As I said many times Callum McRae’s CH4 videos were dubbed videos of LTTE massacres where they speaking in Tamil which were taken and dubbed in to Sinhalese. The original was there on a private web site which I found on Lanka Web some years ago. See http://www.terrorinlanka.com.
I cannot understand for the life of me why even MR’s Govt did not protest these lies and challenge CH4 about these videos. Now Callum McCrae has been given a free hand by my3 Govt to come and go as he pleases and I understand he is doing another video even worse than the last one. When will our politicians stop boot licking India and the West and develop some back bone. Start looking after the Sinhala Buddhists who are a dying race. They are ones who vote for you useless people.
February 18th, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Thank you Prof HM you’ve just hit the nail on the head from many perspectives.
There are some interesting comments and observations pointing to a few salient as well as painful truths here.
It seems a real shame that the Sinhala Nation has been hoodwinked by the lame duck Sirisena as you’ve so aptly put it who is now showing his true colours .He was undoubtedly helped by the Muslim-Tamil -UNP coalition and have granted access to a few deadbeats ( the PM, the Minister of Finance and a few other ne’er do wells who have been trusted posts of high office with with Madame CBK clucking in the background for a basket of eggs to sit on making it all look like a bad joke) whose track records are far from being acceptable and are blemished with so many inconsistencies against their names.The forthcoming General Elections just might be a saving grace where the people who have been misled will have a chance to correct some of the glaring errors of choices they dade in the PE and bring some redemption to Sri Lanka.Your reference in hypothesis to a Sarath Fonseka / Mahinda Rajapaksa reconciliation could be one of the best things that could happen to Sri Lanka down the road before Sri Lanka becomes the Joke( not Miracle) of Asia, unlikely as it sounds but stranger things have happened.
February 18th, 2015 at 6:14 pm
Prof,
The way BR and NR were conducting, MR was DEFINITELY going to lose. But NO RIGHT THNKING person can support Run-nil, Karu or Chandrika for presidency! My3 was the BEST choice. So it is a matter of picking the LEAST bad option.
HOWEVER now the UNP (NOT My3) is over stepping into territory they have NO RIGHT TO. That is the problem.
My3 CANNOT be disloged by MR or anyone. NO WAY! Only death can remove him. So the rallies, support, etc. are NOT about remving My3. They are about bringing back MR as PM at MOST.
I listened to WW’s THUNDERING SPEECH yesterday. Even he made it clear they are trying to STRENGTHEN MY3’S HANDS by making MR the PM. He NEVER said anything about disloging My3 which CANNOT be done.
My3 will be the president until 08 January 2021.
February 18th, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Namaste: Dear Professor; corruption started with the arrival of Indian colonial parasites in the island with the British, the story is the same in all the Indian colonies from Fiji to Guyana. The UNP government until 1956 laid a foundation with new Central Colleges, Colombo Harbour, Ratmalana Railway Work Shop, Irrigation Schemes, Settlement schemes such as where the present President comes from, Ceylon Scientific Industrial Research Organization, Industrial complexes like Paranthan Chemical Industries, Kankasanthurai Cement Factory, two lane Galle Road up to Moratuwa, Peradeniya University, Agricultural and Technical School to name some of the foundations . What happened in 2015 is exactly what happened to Sir John a man I met when we visited his Kandawala Estate as a child during a school excursion. We were given tea by his well dressed staff in buttoned white coats while he chatted with us in a sarong and vest not an Indian vetti the so called Sinhala national dress, the dress that Indians put on SWRD with lots of money and lots of policies that destroyed the Sinhala people. The lies used by Indians are similar to lies used by Indians then, mainly coming out of hora ganayas’ mouths then and now. The foundations laid until 1956 were destroyed by the Indian interests. The same is being repeated by Indian imperialists today. Jai Hind
February 18th, 2015 at 9:48 pm
I think corruption should not be the main topic to discuss at the moment. Corruption was all there from the beginning even when we were under Suddas time.
Everyone knows that our country is moving on the wrong path due to take over by UNP thugs. Already people who have fought for our freedom has resigned or sacked from important positions. Although MY3 is the President all the important discussions,transfers,terminations,appointments were done by the story teller Ranil. Gay boy Mangalaya is taking full advantage of his 100 day Ministerial post to go around the world in 80 days enjoying as much as possible, dine and dance with world powers and making false allegation about the man who saved our country from terrorism. These snakes should be eliminated soon if we need to live in Peace.
We have to work hard and educate the people about these liars who almost gave half of the country to terrorists in 2004. They have started to poison the minds of poor people by telling all kinds of lies about the former President and his Govt. I hope people will understand their cowardly acts and their evil intentions and vote them out in the next General elections.
February 18th, 2015 at 10:17 pm
Piyadigama,
You could be my valued friend who penned exquisite Sinhala poems at both Defencewire and SriLankaDefenceForum.
Unfortunately, “Fukumar Thutmoses” now dubbed “Ado Yakko Facebook Lorenzo” by me, also knows everything I know about you and your beautiful Kaviyas. Even though he is a relative NOVICE in Internet hacking, he does not have to be the “War-Games Expert” without “portfolios” that he has declared himself to be, to easily extract your poems from the Archives of SriLankaDefenceForum and present them here under a new LankaWeb handle as “Piyadigama”.
Both of us are very aware of the DIRTY TRICKS played by the Eelamists in the past. Therefore, before I accept you as my old friend, let me ask you to verify your identity by sending me an email on this subject, mentioning the Piyadigama LankaWeb blog handle and your old blog handle at SriLankaDefenceForum, from the SAME email address that you used under your old blogging handle. OK?
As you well know, even in those days, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo was characterized by his EXTREME VIEWS which if adopted, would have brought Sri Lanka and its Patriotic Government into INTERNATIONAL DISREPUTE. As you know, these proposals were resisted by me and several others. As you aware, those views included white-vanning of opponents without prosecution in the courts, ethnic-cleansing, using EXTREME weaponry without regard to civilian casualties, and many other DEVIOUS methods … all in the name of Patriotism. He has CONTINUED to ADVOCATE those strategies, adding to it the engineering of a coup-de-etat by the military against the MR/UPFA GOSL, altough recently in his support of Yahapalanaya he has become the quintessential CHAMPION “Human Rights”, “Democracy” and “Anti-Corruption”, which is why I call him a DIABOLICAL EELAMIST HYPOCRITE! I have resisted HIS EXTREME PROPOSALS before he started on his Yahapalanaya drive at LankaWeb as well, for in my view NO END JUSTIFIES CRIMINAL MEANS.
After having DONE HIS VERY BEST to UNDERMINE & OUST the MR/UPFA GOSL from power, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo is NOW continuing to execute a complex KOLAM dance here with an entire TEAM of AVATARS in tow, to MISLEAD & DIRECT Patriots over a CLIFF that would DESTROY Sri Lanka and ENABLE the CREATION of an EELAM. His favorite ploy to drag Patriots into the net is that he would support MR again if he REPEALS the 13A! Should we TRUST this SNAKE AGAIN, I ask, and fall into the same deep pit in mid-day that we fell into in the pitch darkness of mid-night?
Judging ALL of his POST-WAR ACTIVITIES I have CONCLUDED that he was an EELAMIST all along, a MOLE who BURROWED DEEP INTO THE FABRIC OF THE PATRIOTIC COMMUNITY, to EMERGE at the CRITICAL MOMENT to STAB THEM IN THE BACK. OAOAsithri, whom you know well, has also come to the same conclusion.
The OUSTER of MR was a SEVERE SETBACK for Sri Lanka’s Sovereignty, Territorial Integrity and Economic Growth that now threatens to CREATE an EELAM in Sri Lanka and RESTORE the Sri Lankan Anti-National and Foreign Neo-Colonial Forces attempting to DIVIDE & ENSLAVE Sri Lanka. “Facebook” Lorenzo has been helping that effort to the BEST of his ability, and is now trying hard to ensure that an MR-led UPFA does not emerge VICTORIOUS in the upcoming General Elections to rescue our Motherland from the grip of its ENEMIES …. AGAIN.
When Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo’s AVATARS are found out and banished with their SHEEPSKIN cloaks trailing in the dust, NEW AVATARS are inserted into LankaWeb trying various ALTERNATIVE TACTICS to CONTINUE the program to mislead and misdirect patriots ahead of the CRITICAL upcoming General Election. As in the past, he uses his BAND of AVATARS to shore up his arguments and carry on debates with them in a MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY consisting solely of he, himself, his creations, and his lapdog followers. This is a strategy we have seen him REPEATEDLY deploy in the past as well.
In a moment of MISGUIDED EGOTISTICAL BOASTFUL BRAVADO, that is characteristic of him, Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo has COMPLETELY DISCREDITED himself by ADMITTING and TAKING CREDIT at LankaWeb for the BAG OF DIRTY TRICKS he used to DISCREDIT & UNDERMINE MR in the Presidential Election.
If you are trying to “Rehabilitate” Lorenzo in my eyes … please be aware that it is an ABSOLUTELY WASTED effort. I do not make such DECISIONS LIGHTLY and WITHOUT CAUSE; but when I do, it is VERY UNLIKELY that I will change my mind. ONCE BITTEN; TWICE SHY!
February 18th, 2015 at 10:57 pm
Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo” Piously Proclaims ….
“A TYPICAL TAMIL!
“Untruthfulness comes as naturally to a Tamil as mother’s milk “. – William Sabonadiere, 1866”
BULLSHIT! This is a Racist Comment against Tamils with which Ado Yakko “Facebook” Lorenzo hopes to REVIVE his TATTERED credentials as a PATRIOT! Tamils are NO LESS or NO MORE untruthful than other people! This is plainly ANOTHER EXAMPLE of his DEVIOUS EXTREMIST STRATEGIES … to curry favor with LankaWeb readers thinking they are as RACIST and AS DEVIOUS as HE IS!
MORE HYPOCRISY from the failed “War-Games” DISINFORMATION EXPERT! More EXTREME PRONOUNCEMENTS to BURROW DEEP INTO THE PATRIOTIC WOODWORK!
BEGONE … BUGGER OFF …. without DISCREDITING LankaWeb with your EELAMIST EXTREMISM!
February 18th, 2015 at 11:10 pm
Prof. Hudson McLean,
Could you please tell us a little about yourself, like your affiliation as a professor, your field of expertise, and your academic experience over the years?
Since you title yourself a Professor, I think LankaWeb readers are entitled to know your credentials.
February 19th, 2015 at 12:04 am
good one Ananda – USA, the professor sounds like a con-man. Coming from Australia where English is the national language this so called professor sounds like a gamaya.
February 19th, 2015 at 1:49 am
Hello Ananda-USA and Jayantha, I think Prof Hudson McClean is a Scot, who lives in Scotland. But whose Scottish family has a strong connection to Sri Lanka. Due to the fact his family owned tea plantations during the British Colonial times. Hence his affinity with Sri Lanka. As many Brits, Scots and English owned tea plantations during the early to mid twentieth century when the Brits were directly ruling Sri Lanka pre 1950s. When the British Empire folded in the 1950s to be replaced by the American Empire (all those miliary bases around the world) which itself is folding in the early 21st century. A lot of Brits and their families in Sri Lanka upped sticks and went back to UK,Australia, New Zealand, Canada and USA in the 1950s. Thats why I think the Prof has a strong affinity with Sri Lanka. Maybe I am wrong, hopefully the Prof himself can answer Ananda-USA and Jayantha.
February 19th, 2015 at 3:30 am
MR statement read ,
Neither the SLFP nor the UPFA has really lost. They still have the majority in Parliament as anyone could see. I will never disregard people’s hopes and aspiration.
than how come SLFP sitting in opposite side of parliament?
this is waster than 33 years our VP’s TE Government .
where is so call people elected Democrat Govt ???
Mother Lanka …… Why Indian flag is flying in Jalpanam !!! not Lion flag or our Koddiya flag.
February 19th, 2015 at 9:12 am
Looks like some of us are finding the home truths being presented by the Prof. as hard to swallow.
His identity is immaterial and anyone with a bit of savvy should have by now ascertained that our “Prof Hudson Maclean is neither Scot nor a foreigner but a very perceptive, educated son of Lanka in all probabilities a Sinhalese in the same vein as the famous late Tarzie Wittachy who wrote brilliantly albeit laced in satire at times. Someone who follows Sri Lanka political matters closely and is very knowledgeable about the political environment in Sri Lanka by virtue of being right in the centre of things.
February 19th, 2015 at 9:33 am
Ananda-USA,
You have undergone an unbelievable transformation from normal decency to being abnormally uncouth and vulgar.
You have shown yourself to even have poetic traits. A poet is a sensitive individual. How come a man who should demonstrate sensitive qualities has suddenly become uncouth and vulgar? Your language has become that of the street hooligan.
A return to respectability will do you much good. You owe it to yourself to write a decent language instead of continuing your descent into vulgarity. What we do, be it writing or whatever else, reflects the state of our mind. Man is a mind made entity. what your mind has made you into does not do justice to you.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
February 19th, 2015 at 12:05 pm
Annda -USA and Jayantha
When you write your comments why don’t you identify yourself with your full name like Mario Perera. There are thousands of Anadas in USA and Jayanthas in the world.
Journalists can use pen names instead of the actual name. So don’t ask their identity
Pen Names: What You Need To Know About Using A Pseudonym (WRITER’S RELIEF, INC)
Many writers use pen names—but there’s a right way and a wrong way to publish your book, stories, poems, or essays under a pseudonym. Actors and artists often use fictitious names, and writers sometimes choose to create under a different persona as well. So how do you know if you should use a pen name or not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of noms de plume for writers? There are several good reasons to use pseudonyms, and there are also some reasons not to.
Writing under a fictitious name was a very common practice in the eighteenth century, when writers and journalists used pseudonyms to pen controversial or even illegal articles and letters to the editor. Some examples of writers who use pen names: Ben Franklin used this practice extensively, and when he used a pen name, he often created an entire character to go along with it. Dean Koontz and Stephen King, both prolific writers, used pen names at the suggestion of their publishers to avoid overexposure. And George Eliot was actually Mary Ann Evans, who used a male pen name in order to be taken seriously in a male-dominated society.
February 19th, 2015 at 12:36 pm
“Looks like some of us are finding the home truths being presented by the Prof. as hard to swallow.
His identity is immaterial”
AGREE.
February 19th, 2015 at 1:22 pm
There is no other leader to match Mahinda
An interview with Dinesh Gunawardena
February 19, 2015, 12:00 pm
“President Sirisena’s political career has been in the SLFP except for the past few months. If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he is an SLFP thinking man. He has taken over the presidency of the SLFP and he has a moral commitment to that party now.”
MEP parliamentarian Dinesh Gunawardene was one of four party leaders who organised the meeting in Nugegoda last Wednesday with a view to bringing Mahinda Rajapaksa back into politics. That meeting drew a crowd never before seen at a political meeting held in Nugegoda despite the fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa was not scheduled to appear on the stage. In this interview, Gunawardene speaks to C.A.Chandraprema on why Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only viable prime ministerial candidate for the UPFA at the next parliamentary election.*
Q. President Maithripala Sirisena himself has characterised the attempt that you and three other UPFA coalition leaders are making to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa back into politics as an attempt to split the SLFP. How would you respond to that?
A. The fact that Mahinda Rajapaksa got 5.8 million votes cannot be forgotten by any realistic politician. Those votes were cast in Mahinda’s favour against Maithripala Sirsena and the UNP. So there is a political division whether one likes it or not. Mahinda Rajapaksa remains the most popular political leader in the country today. The people who were with the UPFA are with Mahinda Rajapaksa and he is still the leader of the patriotic and progressive forces.
Q. Usually when a political leader is defeated, he is shunned by the public and it takes years for him to recover. But, this time around things seem to be different.
A. Mahinda Rajapaksa brought an end to terrorism which four previous presidents failed to do. That is a matter that people cannot forget. President Sirisena’s partners today laughed at the war even when it was reaching the final days.
Under Mahinda’s rule economic development also was given a new impetus. Despite criticism from certain quarters, there was genuine growth in the country and living standards improved. He also was the leader of the common man and he brought tremendous change to the lives of the rural folk. He stood up to the international powers in the defence of the motherland. It is etched in the people’s mind that there is no other leader to match Mahinda. Thousands of people go to see him in his village daily – a phenomenon that has never occurred before.
Q. Champika Ranawaka was saying that this unending stream of visitors to Tangalle and Medamulana is organised by the racketeers who benefitted from the Rajapaksa regime and that they provide buses for people to go and see Mahinda and that there is ‘organised weeping’ there.
A. Those are petty minded remarks. People have to travel obviously by bus and van. This is not organised by anybody. People in the villages organise pilgrimages on their own and they have been going to see Mahinda in the same way. I have seen a similar phenomenon of people going to see a defeated leader – though certainly not on the same scale – when Mrs Bandaranaike lost in 1977 and again in 1981 when she lost her civic rights.
Q. The unmentioned factor appears to be that Mahinda clearly won the majority of the Sinhala vote whereas president Sirisena was elected on the margin provided by Tamil and Muslim votes. The majority of the Sinhala people still consider Mahinda their leader. That seems to be a factor that nobody is talking about openly but is nevertheless a patent reality.
A. Yes, Mahinda is the most popular political figure if you take out the votes of the north and east.
Q. President Maithripala Sirisena as the leader of the SLFP, will have to think of some way to win the parliamentary election which is due in a few months or he will be held responsible for the SLFP’s defeat.
A. President Sirisena’s political career has been in the SLFP except for the past few months. If you give him the benefit of the doubt, he is an SLFP thinking man. He has taken over the presidency of the SLFP and he has a moral commitment to that party now. The majority of the opposition does not want to go in for a political coalition with the UNP. This is a deep political difference. You can’t just say overnight. We are now united, forget everything else. Things just don’t happen that way. If the president dissolves parliament in April as has been promised, he will have to work with the SLFP and the UPFA to get a comfortable majority in parliament. The UPFA has more than double the number of MPs as the UNP. If you take Mahinda Rajapaksa’s vote, the trend is very clear.
The country is now committed to the abolition of the executive presidency. So the prime minister will be in a strong position if we go through with the constitutional amendments. If they don’t make the amendments, people will further reject them for giving false promises. SLFPers all over the country want Mahinda Rajapaksa to return to politics.
Q. If by some chance president Sirisena did not make Mahinda the prime ministerial candidate, what would the prospects of the UPFA be?
A. I don’t think a decision on that matter will be made in haste because Mahinda remains the most popular leader of the UPFA. All over the country there is only one cry – Mahinda must come back. Mahinda has not uttered a word against the UPFA or disassociated himself from the SLFP. People are asking Mahinda to lead the UPFA at the parliamentary election.
Q. If we look at the pledges made by the new government, we are hearing less and less about the abolition of the executive presidency. Now the only talk is about removing some of the powers of that position.
A. They are now well behind the schedule given in their 100 day programme of action. They have put out discussion papers on which no serious discussion has started as yet. There are issues among the parties in the government. They have been preoccupied with flexing their muscles as for example by getting rid of the chief justice the wrong way. That happens to governments that don’t have a proper vision. It is said that you can win an election but to manage thereafter is the real challenge. They have won giving various promises but thereafter what? There is only about 60 days left to complete their programme. Making constitutional amendments is not something that can be done overnight.
Q. The current parliament can sit for another two years. But we have been hearing people saying that the next election as well will be held under the current proportional representation/preference vote system because there isn’t enough time to change the electoral system. In fact the new government put electoral reform on the back burner from the very first week after the presidential election.
A. Before the election we heard a lot about electoral reform and people were saying that the Dinesh Gunawardena Select Committee report will be implemented. But after the election they have deviated from that vision. Now, they are apparently saying that the proportional representation system should be retained because even, it would be the best option for the UNP and all its partners. Only the TNA is not worried about changing the electoral system. Ven Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, the former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, and the former CJ Sarath N Silva all pledged that electoral reform would be the first step that they would take. It’s sad that when people come into power they think only of their narrow interests.
Q. Though it is said that Maithripala Sirisena did not get many Sinhala votes, he himself came on TV and pointed out that in places like Maharagama and Kaduwela which the UPFA used to win with huge margins, the gap between the UPFA and the rest had narrowed to next to nothing. So Sirisena did get a lot of Sinhala votes even though Mahinda Rajapaksa got still more. Why was the gap so narrow in your view?
A. There has definitely been a drop in the UPFA vote. But you must remember that the UPFA was contesting alone against everybody else – the UNP, TNA, the Muslim parties, the JHU all combined. Despite this, if you do an electorate by electorate analysis, the vote has very clearly not been with Sirisena.
Q. In your view, will the margin of the UPFA increase or decrease at the next parliamentary election?
A. It will increase because of a factor that is not discussed openly. There was an organised effort to destabilise the UPFA from within. Some people deliberately crippled the election campaign of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Posters were not put up on time, canvassing was not done, leaflets were not distributed. The culprits are now known.
There was an internal conspiracy against him by certain individuals. That factor will be absent at the next parliamentary election.
Q. Both before and after the elections, various allegations of corruption and wrongdoing were made against Mahinda Rajapaksa. Do you think this would have made a permanent dent on his support base?
A. Various allegations were made even against Mrs Bandaranaike, Hector Kobbekaduwa and others. But the people did not abandon those leaders. Already most of the allegations against Mahinda Rajapaksa have been found to be baseless and they have boomeranged on the government. There was a good analysis by Mr S.Piyasena which said that after elections all governments have been accused of corruption but the veracity of those allegations were never proved.
February 19th, 2015 at 1:46 pm
Mario and NMY,
Thank you very much for some mind medicine.
All decent writers agree with you, but unfortunately when it comes to something against MR, ignorance governess. Decent people must remind these people to slow down and look back to check oneself – not others.
February 19th, 2015 at 3:54 pm
Jayantha,
Ananda-USA asked Prof. Hudson McLean, “Could you please tell us a little about yourself, like your affiliation as a professor, your field of expertise, and your academic experience over the years?……Since you title yourself a Professor, I think LankaWeb readers are entitled to know your credentials.”
Then you have said in your comment…… “good one Ananda – USA, the professor sounds like a con-man. Coming from Australia where English is the national language this so called professor sounds like a gamaya.”
Jayantha,
Can you explain how English, the national language of Australia all of a sudden would make this prof. Hudson McLean to sound like a gamaya? How did you come to that conclusion Jayantha? I am just curious.
February 19th, 2015 at 5:14 pm
NMY,
You asked me in regarding to my request for Prof. Hudson McClean’s university association and credentials, “When you write your comments why don’t you identify yourself with your full name like Mario Perera. ”
Well, “Prof” Hudson McClean is being given a lot of leeway and respect at LankaWeb JUST BECAUSE he claims to be a “Prof”. Furthermore, in his articles he resorts to supporting some commenters at LankaWeb, but not others, displaying a high degree of bias in those comments. This in not a good practice for article authors and academics to adopt. As Jayantha pointed out, his English also does not measure up to the academic standards to be expected of a “Professor”, and is inconsistent with his Scottish name!
If we are to evaluate his comments with due respect to his “Professor” status, at least we should know whether he is actually a university professor, which university or college he is associated with, what his field of expertise is, and what experience he brings to bear to Sri Lankan politics. Many of us, including myself, who have such academic credentials, choose not to wield them at LankaWeb, perhaps out of a sense of modesty if not security. But if we do, we should disclose the associations freely and bear the repercussions! You can’t have it BOTHWAYS …. the respect and the title should go hand in hand!
I, myself, have taken a lot of flak on having the -USA suffix to my blog handle which was intended to give those who read my comments some information on my expatriate status. The latter has changed significantly now because now I live half the year in Sri Lanka.
In my view, if Prof. Hudson McClean is unwilling to disclose that information, as he is entitled to, then he should consider leaving out the “Prof.” in his name, as many writing under Pseudonyms do, so commentors can respond freely unburdened by his “Professorship”.
February 19th, 2015 at 5:26 pm
It is not surprising that “Facebook” Lorenzo rises to defend “Prof.” Hudson McClean, because “Facebook” Lorenzo and his REGIME CHANGE crew are primarily those that the esteemed professor regularly “respects” and “defers to” in his articles!
Whenever the LankaWeb Moderator moderates “Facebook” Lorenzo’s PROPAGANDA, the dear professor publishes an article DEFERRING to Lorenzo by name, and supporting that PROPAGANDA! IS THIS MERELY A HUGE COINCIDENCE, a HAPPENSTANCE, or is there a NEXUS?
Which PROMPTS me to fondly ask the esteemed professor, why is that so?
February 19th, 2015 at 8:02 pm
The biggest threat to Sri Lanka’s unitarity since Velupillai Prabhakaran and the Tamil Tigers, could manifest itself though the policies of Maithripala Sirisena where the People of Sri Lanka may have a day of reckoning to rue the day they voted for him in a huge error of judgement based on trivialities where Mahinda Rajapaksa was crucified through lack of Sinhala insight and the propaganda crying out for restitution for the ordinary man ( undoubtedly a clever UNP Ploy) which was swallowed hook line and sinker! Hopefully they will not live to regret the day Sri Lanka falls into the hands of her enemies and the Sinhala Nation is ripped apart by dead beat Muslims, Eelamists and directionless UNP ers (the Tamil Nadu extremists notwithstanding)who should have been coralled and incarcerated decades ago for their sins and now have free access to undeserving privileges. For example- Ravi Karunanayake in Washington sounds like a nightmare that could project financial misery for years to come! and the powers vested in the liikes of reversibles like Rauf Hakeem, Rajitha Senaratna, Lakshman Kiriella et al whose credibilities seem apathetically insignificant and a danger that Sri Lanka never envisioned .
February 20th, 2015 at 7:43 am
The regime change brought a set of would be incarcerated for their felonies. Rajitha and his life jackets for fishermen deal, Ravi and his transactions with the Galleon funds and having UB40 concert with Sathosa money, Rauf with Iranian carpet deal, Rishad and Wilpattu Sanctuary encroachment, and so on .. What they all up to this time is to make sure all the US led India policies implemented so they can whack the island. So we need counter force
February 20th, 2015 at 9:27 am
Ananda-USA,
Why are you running away? You don’t answer my questions posted in HLDM’s article. You owe me an answer. Are you still thinking you are a patriot? Or accept the indisputable fact that you are a paid agent of RAW working hard 24X7 as a bathgotta to drive away all sane people and intellectuals from this forum to give your deadly kiss of death to MR?