Champika towards Good Governance
Posted on July 29th, 2015

Palitha Senanayake (The writer of this article is a founder member and an ex. District organiser of Sihala Urumaya)

Champika Ranawake and his Hela Urumaya has now joined the UNP in a coalition to promote Good Governance.  Good governance, no doubt, is what every citizen in a country aspires for, but this alignment of Champika with Ranil’s UNP certainly come as a surprise because it was just two days before that Champika, holding a press conference, accused the UNP Government of getting the Parliament dissolved to save face from its many corrupt activities, including the tabling of the COPE report on the Central bank BOND scam. During the run up to the 19A vote Champika even called Ranil Wicremesinghe, ‘a cheat’ stating that the gazetted version of the 19 A by the Prime Minister’s office is not what the party leaders amended and agreed upon but the original version drafted by Ranil. In addition, Nishantha Warnainghe, the JHU spokesman, continuously criticised the UNP Government action in public press stating that ‘Ranil is day dreaming of a UNP victory’. Judging by all that, this unprecedented alliance of anti-nationalist and ultra-nationalist appear more of an alliance for political survival than an alliance for ‘good governance’. This fact however was admitted by both Ranil and Champika at their ‘yaha palana’ agreement signing ceremony where they inferred the need to be strong to face Rajapakse.

Patali Champika Ranawake came to political lime light when he took up the Sinhala cause with Sihala Urumaya back in the years 1999 with SL Gunasekara and Thilak Karunaratne. That was the time when Chandrika with her ‘no war’ philosophy had brought a ‘no peace’ situation subjecting the country to ‘‘no hope’. Coffins of soldiers from the north was the order of the day and you could witness those being carried across Colombo to be delivered to some part or other in the country. Singhala patriotism was non-existent and anybody who voiced for the rights of the Singhalese would be labelled as ‘jathivadiya’ or extremist by the government press aided and abetted by the pro-Tiger NGO’s. To add insult to injury Chandrika and Ranil were expressing accommodative views on brutal terrorism blaming it all on unfounded ‘Sinhala extremism’.

The situation certainly brought about a political vacuum for the nationalist and what was even worst was that the national psych was being atoned to accept terrorism and its attendant exigencies as a way of life. In this milieu a set of intellectuals headed by former Central bank governor Neville Karunatileke and Prof. AKDS Indraratne formed an organization called the National Movement Against Terrorism and invited eminent lawyer S L Gunesekera, who had written a few books exposing the ‘Tamil grievances’ hoax, to re-orient the national psych and to halt the country from being devoured by terrorism.  Among the crowd that gathered Patali champika Ranawke stood out with his articulated Singhala speech and the rebelling attitude to effect change.  The activities of NMAT gathered momentum but yet it was ignored by the ruling parties of both Chandrika and Ranil since it was but only a pressure group lacking a vote bank among the polity.

This prompted the organizers to contemplate entering main stream politics and Thilak Karunarate who had resigned from both the SLFP and the UNP, due to their competing anti national agendas offered to be the political God- father for the movement. SL Gunesekara whose sincerity of purpose and integrity were beyond question became the President of the party with Thilak Karunarate , the Secretary, and PCK, the National organiser.

The idea in entering electoral politics is to become the third and decisive force that would control the two main parties headed by anti-national leaders; a task up to then performed by Ashraf’s Muslim Congress and Thondaman’s CWC. However, the name of the party became a much debated issue and initially the idea was that the name should signify the party’s opposition to terror and racialism as pursued by the Tamil chauvinistic political establishment. PCR and his team including Ven. Athuraliya Ratana however wanted to the name of the party to be more focussed on the Singhala cause and argued that ‘if we are afraid to identify with the Sinhala cause how could, we then say that we would serve the Singhala cause’. Thus the party became known as the Sihala Urumaya. The main agenda of the party was to campaign against the federal constitution of Chandrika but the team headed by Champika that included Athuraliye Ratana and Sujith Akkarawatte wanted a campaign against proselytization too to be included. This proposal however was deferred as the party leaders preferred to concentrate more on the immediate dangers brought about by Chandrika’s asinine ‘solutions’.

The party contested the Parliamentary election in the year 2000 as the youngest political party in the fray but the polling results fell far short of the buoyancy manifested at the electoral level. Party stalwarts like SLG, TK and PCR failed to gain the minimum vote percentage required to secure a parliamentary seat. The day after the election however, the news came that Sihala Urumay had obtained a total vote at the national level to win a single seat in the Parliament. And with that news all the Sihala Urumaya organisers and district leaders were summoned to the party head-quarters at Narahenpita. The idea of this invitation was to thank the party rank and file for the country wide vote that secured a single seat for the party, but in its midst Nishantha Warnasinghe who was in charge of the poster distribution had initiated action in one corner to collect signatures of party men to a petition that said that Champika Ranawaka is the most suitable candidate for the single seat that has come the party way.  This created confusion and disunity within the party and a few heated debates, official and unofficial, ensued.

The party Ex- Co decided that SL Gunesekara, being the Chairman should represent the party in the Parliament. This decision was vehemently criticised by Athraliya Ratana and Sujith Akkarawatta who maintained that Gunesekra, being a Christian should not be the only representative of the party in a Busdddhist country. This created religious issues in the party but the rebellion in Athuraliya Ratana and Akkarawatte even went to the extent of physically attacking the members of the Ex. Co and ten they went in a procession to Prof. Indraratne’s house that was located in the vicinity and attacked it prompting Prof. Indraratne to lodge a complaint with the police. The Government press, where forming of Sihala Urumaya did not make news, gave headline publicity to the incidents at Narahenpita, with an ‘extremist’ twist. SL Gunesekera and Prof. Indraratne resigned from the party calling Champika and his cohorts ‘Sinhala Taliban’.Thilak karunaratne and Champika Ranawaka shared the Parliamentary seat that the party became entitled to.

Ven. Gangodavila Soma thera has been adding a strong dash of nationalism to his regular bana preaching’s since the late 90’s and as a result his bana became popular among Singhala Buddhist who were disenchanted with the anti-national agenda a of the two main stream political parties. The thera expressed forebodings that the Sinhala Buddhist would be extinct in a few more years at the rate the power greedy Sinhala politicians betray their interest for minority votes.

During the 2000 election campaign an unofficial delegation from Sihala Urumaya met Ven. Soma to obtain his patronisation for the party. The response of Ven. Soma was that SL Gunasekara, the leader of SU was not a Buddhist and that Champika Ranawake, he did not know. Ven Soma however cautioned us not to be fodder to persons with dubious agendas now fishing in troubled waters in the guise of Sinhala nationalism. By this time aspersions were also cast on Champika when Prof. Nalin de Silva called him a ‘Signhala Prabhakaran’ and when Dr. Harischandra Wijetunge described him as a ‘political opportunist’. It became known that Champika had been an ex. JVPer and also ex Janatha mithuro supporter of mangala samarawera.  But the supporters of Sihala Urumaya continued to patronize the party as that was the only means of political expression available to the Sinhalese at the time.

The death of Gangodavila Soma thera and the questionable circumstances under which he died in 2003 became an emotional issue for the Sinhala Buddhist and thus, a finger was pointed at the prominent businessman and UNP supporter Lalith Kothalawala.  Champika and company cashed in this situation by suggesting that the political sentiments expressed by Ven. Soma should be realized and in order to do that the priest should form a political party. He then managed to persuade Thilak Karunaratne to offer (puja) the party to the Sanga with himself continuing to be the Gen. Secretary. The prominent priest led by Ven. Ellawala Medhananda, though popular among the Buddhist, were clueless in politics and hence expected Champika, now an MP, to show them the way. This movement of Buddhist priest, championing the vision of late Soma thera, achieved at the 2004 election what Champik and SU could not in the 2000 elections. They polled more than 500,000 vote and obtained 11 seats in Parliament becoming the crucial third force in Sri Lankan politics.

At the 2005 Presidential election, the JHU knowing what to expect if Ranil wins the election offered its support to Mahinda Rajapakse as the candidate with a sense of ‘Apey kama’.  The Government of Mahinda Rajapakse during the last 10 years, has achieved most of what the Sihala Urumaya and JHU stood for, against heavy international odds, even though the JHU’s anti conversion bill could not see the light of day due to shenanigans of the human rights NGO’s. The popular perception is that the Rajapakse regime’s accomplishments in the fields of national security, infrastructure development, education and national reconciliation during the last 10 years would never have been possible if the Government followed the flawed vision of Chandrika and Ranil. The issue now before the voters of SU and JHU is; should Champika and Ven.Ratana compromise at this stage with proven enemies for what they could not get from natural allies?

There is no way that the supporters of JHU could ever think of pursuing further the goals Champika and Ven. Ratana espoused so far by coming in to an alliance with Chandrika and Ranil and instead there is the danger that all what has been achieved would now be compromised, rock stock and barrel, at the altar of ‘Yaha palanaya’. An example is that Mr. Sumanthiran, former TNA MP disclosed in a recent interview with Shakthi TV that the understanding they reached with the present President at the time of Jan.8 elections is that the Tamils cannot solve their problems within the ‘Single state’ concept and to this, according to Mr. smanthiran, even the JHU agreed.  Thus the signs are that Champika and Ven. Ratana are now beginning to be the most politically expedient leaders to have been elected with the Singhala vote bank, even beating the record of betrayal by Chandrika and Ranil. Sihala Urumaya and JHU firmly believed that ‘Prabhakaran was only a terrorist attempting the bifurcation of Sri Lanka and the day he is over-powered the problem is over, but the real enemies of the nation are the ones who proposed legitimacy for bifurcation in the name of ‘solutions’ paving the way for a permanent war’.

Champika authored the book ‘Challenge of the Singhalay’ and said that there are Tiger terrorist (Tamil) in the North, Camel terrorist (Muslim) in the East and Cock bird terrorist( Estate Tamil) in the Centre posing the challenge to the existence of the Sinhala race. But today he has come in to an alliance with these very same terrorist and their natural ally, Ranil’s UNP, for supposedly good governance. If good governance is found only among the minorities and their promoters Champika and Ven. Ratana has been deceiving us for the past 15 years!

It was the JHU that said that Wickremebahu Karunaratne is in the pay of the Tamil Diaspora. It was the JHU that maintained that Mano Ganeshan is the ‘Colomba kotiya’. It was the JHU that said TUF are the Prajathanthravadi Koti (democratic Tigers). It is the JHU that said that Jehan Perera and Pakyaothy Saravanamuttu are paid by the church to destabilise the Sinhala Buddhist state. It was the JHU that maintained that Chandrika is the reincarnation of Kuveni who cursed the Singhalese that an ‘Ali-Koti sapaya’( Elephant-Tiger curse) will finish their race. It was the JHU that said that Ranil is a fool who plans to be an ‘internationalist’ by failing his own nation.

The other aspect of Champika Ranawaka politics is that he has by now offended all the ex. leaders who have accommodated him in politics. If SL Gunesekera is living today he would give a good account of Champika’s betrayals for his own personal aggrandisement. Speak to Thilak Karunaratne, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda and now Mahinda Rajapakse and they will say in one voice the calculating agenda of the character called PCR. It is, but a trail of betrayals. Now that he has joined Ranil, providence will prove that Ranil would be the next casualty. However, as for the UNP, it is now or never and hence it will align itself even with a devil, to come to power.  As for PCK ‘yahapalanaya’ is but only another vehicle for power, just as the Sinhala cause, Soma Hamuduruwo, has been.

(The writer of this article is a founder member and an ex. District organiser of Sihala Urumaya)

11 Responses to “Champika towards Good Governance”

  1. ranjit Says:

    The people who do not know this dirty guy individually will now know something about him after reading this article. Some knows him as sex maniac because there was an article about him on that account once here in the web. This is a guy who changes his colors when ever requires. People knows very well about this guy now and he will get the answer on Aug 17th without any doubt. He has no principles or decency but a scavenger who roams on the streets in search of power. Greedy liar with no shame and a pretender. These type of political beggars must be defeated and send them to exile. Be aware of these type of political criminals.

  2. NAK Says:

    Pa.Cha. has reached the end of the road. If there are UNPers to who are prepared to vote for this greedy,ungrateful liar,other real UNPers better find another occupation.

  3. Ananda-USA Says:

    Chamipka the Chimp has leapt from the Patriotic branch to hang from the Un-Patriotic branch …. Once a BACKSTABBER …. ALWAYS a BACKSTABBER! He will SOON RUN OUT OF branches to swing from!

    His VOTE for the Un-Patriotic Party (UNP) is a VOTE FOR EELAM led by the Tiger Nominated Agents (TNA)!

    Oh My God …… is the Jathika Hela Urumaya of the Sinhalese to be ….. a truncated divided Motherland?

  4. Ananda-USA Says:

    TRICKY WICKY the Eelamist is getting Cold Feet! Suddenly …. he wants to remain impartial having been INCURABLY COMMUNAL until now demonizing the UPFA GoSL with Genocide and War Crimes ….. and distance himself from the TNA! Oh, My …. is the water getting too cold for ya, TRICKY WICKY?

    This UNABASHED REPROBATE ….. who thrived with Sinhala support on the Supreme Court ….. a father-in-law to Sinhala men …. FORGOT his Jucicial Prerogative to be Fair, Just and Patritic and joined the EELAMIST Bandwagon to curry favor with the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA once he became Chief Minister!

    Now he senses that the direction of the wind is going to suffer a SEA CHANGE on August 17, 2015 and is moving to a LESS COMMUNAL position saying “I am one who would be able to work with whomsoever our people are pleased to elect.”

    May God Damn his Black Hide …. and THROW HIM INTO the FIRE to ROAST on August 17, 2015. Once a BACKSTABBER …. ALWAYS a BACKSTABBER! TRICKY WICKY the Bloody HYPOCRITE!

    ………………………..
    Northern Province CM to remain neutral at Sri Lanka election

    Colombopage.com

    July 30, Colombo: The chief minister of the Northern Province, C V Wigneswaran has said that he would remain neutral and non-partisan during next month’s general election, despite being elected to his seat by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).

    The Chief Minister has said that it would be wrong for him to be seen at any political meeting of the TNA candidates though it was they who elected him.

    “I am one who would be able to work with whomsoever our people are pleased to elect. Whatever the result may be it is hoped that whosoever is elected should work united for the betterment and wellbeing of our people. The welfare and wellbeing of our people takes precedence over Party considerations,” he says in a statement released yesterday and obtained by Tamil Guardian.

    Wigneswaran said he expects the people to elect in the coming Election those who would work for “our people dedicatedly.”

    He said that the Tamil people need people’s representatives who are “honest in politics, strong in principles, dedicated in people’s service, far in sight and incorruptible in spirit.”

    The former justice of the Supreme Court highlighted that the post war rehabilitation, resettlement and development remains a “piece-meal exercise” that is “not in tune with the needs and priorities of our People.” While permanent political solution to the conflict remains elusive, Justice for the war affected remains distant, he noted.

    “You the people have a paramount duty to send the best among us to tackle these challenges,” he said in his statement.

    Recalling a question posed to him by a politician from the South – whether the TNA would accept ministerships in the new government if offered, Mr Wigneswaran said “my view was that under no circumstances should our representatives accept portfolios until a political solution is found.”

    “Otherwise the demands of our people would get dissipated and we would be engulfed by the majority community. The Ministers would be stifled by Cabinet Responsibility. lt would be the surest way to compromise our rights and aspirations.”

    He said, whatever the outcome at the election is, they will look for the support of the international community to support the Tamil people as they attempt to shape a future that is built on strong democratic foundations.

    “We urge the International Community to walk along with us as we strive to live up to the hopes and aspirations of our peoples,” the Chief Minister said.

  5. Indrajith Says:

    Thank you, Mr. Senanayake for writing this excellent article and exposing the true colours of those wolves in sheep’s clothing. Thank you also for reminding us about the beginning of Hela Urumaya and the prevailing political environment at that time. I totally agree with all what you say in this article.

    Now, having heard the story from the horse’s mouth it-self, we all have a duty to perform in this critical junction in the history of our beloved mother land. Please spread this message/story as much as possible among your friends, relatives in any way; photocopies, e-mails. At the same time please also keep in mind that all are not as fortunate as us to read and hear this story in English. As such can one of our patriots kindly translate this wonderful article into Sinhala for the benefit of our Sinhala speaking readers and then distribute it in every nook and corner.

    Will, Mr. Ananda –USA translate this article into Sinhala and publish it here? He did a few excellent translations in the past on my request. Once this is translated into Sinhala, I’ll post it in some other websites such as “Lanka C news”. Thank you Ananda in advance!

  6. Samanthi Says:

    Quoting from Daily Mirror, Lanka Page reported:
    “Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, who accused former President Mahinda Rajapaksa of bribing the LTTE at that time, challenged him to prove his innocence if possible.

    Addressing an election meeting, Mr. Ranawaka, who is contesting the upcoming election on the UNP ticket, said he would challenge Mr. Rajapaksa to make an announcement on the allegation regarding the bribing of the LTTE with money.

    He alleged the Rajapaksas used the ‘white van culture’ to achieve their personal gains and all would be exposed before the people.

    He said the people would come to know who was responsible for the disappearance of journalist Pradeep Ekneligoda and the assassination of newspaper editor Lasantha Wickramatunga.

    “All will be revealed before the people’s court on August 17,” he said.”
    This Aalapaalu Ranawaka is an idiot as well as a cunning fox at the same time.
    How can a person prove that he is not guilty for a crime one he/she has not committed?
    The burden of proof of this allegation is with the person who makes this complain. So, if Ranawaka first proved that MR gave money to LieTTE and then challenged MR to prove it otherwise, it would have made some sense.
    Since he very well knows that this a false accusation created by him, he presented it in a twisted way. Since there is no legal basis even to charge this in a court, he very craftily says “All will be revealed before the people’s court on August 17” meaning that the general public will give MR their verdict by ballot on Aug. 17. What a cunning way to insult by slinging mud at a national leader?
    A very effective way of nullifying this kind of low level activity is to send him a letter of demand by the lawyers of MR. It works very well as proved in the case of Awamangala Samaraweera. A/S used to spread lies against MR until MR sends him the LOD. Soon thereafter it stooped completely!

  7. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:

    This is the same Champuka the Chimp that super imposed the Face of KP on an Elderly celebrity before last Elections. So where is his Character for Good Governance ? In his Puka Eh ? Scheming to become President. He would fit the bill to be Presidents House gate-keeper.

  8. Indrajith Says:

    Today’s Divaina reports:

    ‘බැඳුම්කර මගඩිය’ අනිද්දා එළිදකී

    රට තුළ ඉමහත් ආන්දොaලනයට තුඩු දී තිබෙන මහ බැංකුවේ භාණ්‌ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුව පිළිබඳව ‘බැඳුම්කර මගඩිය’ නමින් ලියෑවුණු නවතම ග්‍රන්ථය එළිදැක්‌වීම අනිද්දා (03 වැනි සඳුදා) සවස 3.30 ට කොළඹ 07, නිදහස්‌ මාවතේ, ජාතික පුස්‌තකාල හා ප්‍රලේඛන සේවා මණ්‌ඩල ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී සම්භාවනීය ආරාධිතයන් රැසකගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් සිදු කෙරේ.

    මාධ්‍යවේදී ශ්‍යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත විසින් රචිත මේ ග්‍රන්ථය ඔහු විසින් රචනා කරනු ලබන ආර්ථික ග්‍රන්ථ මාලාවේ හත්වැනි ග්‍රන්ථයයි. මෙතෙක්‌ රජයට විශාලතම මූල්‍ය පාඩුව සිදු කළ බවට චෝදනා එල්ල වූ මහ බැංකු බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුවේ ඇතුල් කතාව ලෙස හඳුන්වාදී ඇති මේ ග්‍රන්ථය මගින්, එම බැඳුම්කර නිකුතුවට අදාළ ආර්ථිකමය කරුණු රැසක්‌ ඉතා සරළව විවරණය කර ඇත.

    මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය එළිදැක්‌වීමේ උත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරාධිත දෙසුම පවත්වනු ලබන්නේ හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. ද සිල්වා මහතා ය. හිටපු කෝප් සභාපති ඩිව් ගුණසේකර, හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සහ කෝප් කමිටු සාමාජික මහාචාර්ය රජීව විඡේසිංහ සහ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඩ් කබ්රාල් යන මහත්වරු ද මෙහිදී අදහස්‌ දක්‌වනු ලබයි. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් උනන්දුවක්‌ දක්‌වන ඔබ සැමට මේ උළෙලට සහභාගි වන ලෙස ආරාධනා කෙරේ. සියලු විමසීම් 0714834627 දුරකථන අංකයෙනි.

  9. Ananda-USA Says:

    Dear Indrajith,

    I am sorry that I cannot translate Palitha Senanayake’s article into Sinhala for you.

    I don’t have Sinhala font installed on my PC anymore (I replaced my old PC that had it installed), and I am not used to typing in Sinhala, and find it difficult to do so except for the shortest of messages. This article is much too long.

    However, I would be happy to translate articles from Sinhala into English.

    My apologies!

  10. Indrajith Says:

    It is OK, Ananda! Thank you very much for responding to my request.

    However, if you need Sinhala fonts in future, please try this link. It is a very comprehensive one!

    http://www.ucsc.cmb.ac.lk/ltrl/services/keyboard/

  11. Ananda-USA Says:

    And President Mahinda Rajapaksa has HEARD our CONCERNS & PLEAS. He VOWS NOT TO LEAVE ANY ROOM for Enemies to Divide our Motherland.

    Do we NEED any more REASONS to VOTE HIM INTO POWER with a Landslide Victory that will REVERBERATE through the AGES?

    He has DONE HIS PART; now it is UP TO US Patriots to do OURS!

    Let us SEND A MESSAGE to the Foreign Powers, the Tamil Eelamist Diaspora and the Ungrateful Treacherous Anti-Nationalists of Sri Lanka that will BURN THEIR EARS!

    JAYAWEWA Dehapremini! JAYAWEWA!
    …………………………
    Former Sri Lankan leader vows not to leave any room to divide the country

    Aug 03, Colombo: Former Sri Lankan leader Mahinda Rajapakse says that his alliance United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) will stand for a country which establishes the right of all ethnic groups to venerate a religion of their choice.

    He made these remarks addressing the national unity conference held at the Viharamahadevi outdoor theatre today where 64 national organizations have signed a national convention.

    Mr Rajapaksa said that certain groups are trying to destroy national unity by presenting federal opinions and stressed that no room will be allowed to divide the country.

    Addressing an UPFA election rally at Kalutara North this evening Mr. Rajapaksa said programs will be introduced to generate 1.5 million job opportunities to address the unemployment faced by the youth. He also disclosed that prices of essential goods will be reduced to provide relief for the public. Rajapaksa further said no one was able to prove allegations leveled against him true.

    According to independent political analysts in Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa’s popularity is waning despite his assurances. They estimate that out of the 5.8 million voted for him at the presidential election around 1-5 -2 million have become disenchanted with him.

    However, that group may not necessarily vote for the United National Party either, the analysts believe. Majority of that group of voters are expected to vote for the Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna at the upcoming elections.

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