CM’s tirade: MR urges probe
Posted on May 26th, 2016
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Responding to the behaviour of Eastern Province Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed who slandered a Navy officer at an event, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged a full investigation into the matter, and said insults directed at the security forces by political authorities should stop.
Issuing a statement, he said , A video clip of the Eastern Province Chief Minister verbally abusing a naval officer at a public meeting in Sampur has appeared in the media and been posted widely on social networks. The fact that this ugly incident took place in the presence of the American ambassador has added to its seriousness.
The Eastern Province Chief Minister who raised an issue of protocol over his place on the stage can be heard shouting at the naval officer repeatedly using phrases like ‘get out from here’ ‘idiot’ and ‘shut up’. On a previous occasion when TNA politicians forcibly entered an army camp in the north, the government went out of its way to portray this as a minor incident and to sweep it under the carpet.
This is now the second such incident. The incidents that took place in the north and in Sampur should not have taken place anywhere in the country. Politicians in any part of the country should not seek to enter army camps without obtaining prior permission or giving due notice. Likewise no politician in any part of the country should ever speak to a uniformed member of the armed forces at a public meeting the way the EP Chief Minister spoke to that naval officer.
Deliberate insults directed in this manner by the political authorities at the armed forces that rid the country of the scourge of terrorism, should stop. We suspect that this latest incident is a part of the project that began in January last year to demoralise our war heroes.
I call upon the government not to sweep this latest incident under the carpet the way they dodged taking action over the incident in the north. It is the duty of the government to formally investigate the conduct of the EP Chief Minister and to take steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur anywhere in the country in future.,”
– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/110052/CM-s-tirade-MR-urges-probe#sthash.oDv1Cau9.dpuf
May 26th, 2016 at 6:36 am
I FULLY ENDORSE YOUR STATEMENT PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA.
I also wish to state that it is a shame that the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has made no comment on the behaviour of his Eastern Provincial Council Minister or tendered an apology to the Navy, the school authorities and the dignitaries and especially the little school girl who was hurt by the striking of the arm of the CM during the commotion on stage, who had gathered at the function and were embarrassed by the UNRULY behaviour of CM Nazeer Ahamed. This should have been courtesy and etiquette expected of a party leader, especially when it has brought so much pain of mind to an honest Naval Officer discharging his duties and well commended by the Governor and the Navy itself that the said officer was indeed a well mannered and disciplined forces personnel, notwithstanding the fact that, contradictory to the behaviour of CM Nazeer Ahamed, the said officer behaved in a calm and humble way, without any retaliation. News reaching Colombo indicate that there is suspicion or doubt that the whole scenario had been engineered by a Colombo based deceptive Muslim minister dealing with local government matters who had arranged the helicopter ride for the American Ambassador to fly from Kinniya to Sampoor to nurse closer relationship dealings with the American diplomat for personal gains or may be political gains. Questions arising whether the Sri Lanka Air Force was given instructions during the booking/arranging of the helicopter ride by this deceptive Muslim minister to sideline the CM being given a lift in the helicopter from Kinniya to Sampoor on that day in order to put a wedge between the relationship of the Governor and the CM. This is not a definite statement, but should be considered as gossip. In the political playing field of Muslim politics in Sri Lanka, many deceptive games are been played by the Muslim politicians in the race to gain popularity with President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe and Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The President has to get personally involved after his return from the G7 Summit in Japan and make sure without being “POLITICALLY INFLUENCED” to punish the arrogant CM and to meet JUSTICE to the Naval Officer who was the VICTIM of this politicians unwarranted OUTBURST. The President, as the Head of the armed forces, should REWARD this Naval Officer who had suffered so much of “PAIN OF MIND” and for having behaved in the highest order of a good Armed Personal Officer, with a PROMOTION. The President should also make sure that the little school girl (student) who was indeed hurt by the (maybe) accidental strike of the CM is also taken care of and the CM should make a PUBLIC APOLOGY to all those concerned as demanded by the Public response.
Noor Nizam. Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, Former SLFP District Organizer – Trincomalee District and Convener – The Muslim Voice.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:47 am
Noor Nizam our Matara collegue whom I respect much dearly, on this issue I can’t support you because MR is vociferous only after he got defeated. MR never paid any attention to these burning issues when he had the power. MR must shut his face now. I have no bloody faith on him now. I am thoroughly disgusted with his behaviour in his second term. I supported him in his campaign for the second term But in vain I realized harlfway through. MR became a dictator and did not care what was happening to his constituency when his clan went on mass scale rape, drug running, murders, ethanol and methanol scams and swindle of $500 million Indian trade facility gobbled up by his syntatic lawyer, Thajudeen murder Brother-in-law Wickremasinghe’s Air Lanka . List can go on and on. Atleast now MR must gracefully retire. Just leave us alone. You can never become the President or the Prime minister again. Just shut up your gob.
May 26th, 2016 at 10:27 am
Cant believe what I read here.
Stanley Perera’s insults and abuse directed towards MR a National Leader whose name will go down in history as one of the greatest sons of Sri Lankan, for having placed his life in danger and rescuing the nation from a bunch of cowardly terrorists supported by powerful foreign enemies, is worse than the abuse of the Naval Officer by the Chief Minister, who is another ungrateful coward. Both these men are today enjoying the rewards from the defeat of brutal terrorists and are now acting in a disgraceful manner, abusing the very architects of the country’s liberation, from mindless terrorism.
If the present regime is not able to stabilise the nation’s economy and move forward with the valuable projects started and are still on the drawing board, prepared under MR’s regime, then, I guess Sri Lanka needs MR’s return to continue from where he stopped. Talking of corruption under MR’s regime or under Sirisena’s regime is not going to bring peace and economic progress to the nation. Just see how country’s like China, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore etc have progressed, in spite of possible corruption under authoritarian nationalist leaders. Lets not waste time getting bogged down talking of corruption and instead elect leaders with a backbone, vision and will and ability to take the country forward.
May 26th, 2016 at 10:52 am
Soori,
The North and East Provincial councils were made into power blocks by Mara. He had Provincial elections organized in the North and the East in all indecent haste after the war victory, providing them with all legal endowments and facilities, and placing the present CM’s on their pedestals.
Then he had colossal sums of money expended to reconstruct especially the North. Not only did he support the TRAGIC 13A, he publicly and internationally proclaimed he would go beyond it and grant 13A+.
It is MaRa who made the North and East PC’s into the solid unmovable power blocks that they actually are.
MaRa even strengthened Tamil as the official language of the North and East by addressing political meetings in TAMIL. He even addressed the UN in Tamil if I correctly remember.
He led from the front in making the North (especially) a TAMIL stronghold.In doing all he did particularly for the North , but the East as well, he literally castrated the war victory which was won by the blood shed by the youth of the Sinhala nation, and over their corpses.
I personally congratulate Stanley for his correct evaluation of MaRa especially on this forum which is bursting at its seams with ecstatic MaRa devotees loudly crying HARO HARA MaRa,while passing under silence the epithet ‘HORA’
Mario Perera
Kadawata
May 26th, 2016 at 11:58 am
Mr. Stanley Perera. It is nice to hear nice words from a countryman and about the much respect you have for me. Maybe there is a mix-up here. I am not A.A.M.Nizam, the freelance journalist who contributes to lankaweb.l frequently and an ardent admirer of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Yet, because the content in the above article was written by me, I wish to kindly response to your important comments. I appreciate much your saying that you supported President once, but now you are frustrated. Not only you, there are many similar SLFP supporters, but for reasons beyond this column, I cannot quote why they still stand not to let him down politically. Some who have had access to the corridors of Temple Trees and the inner circles of the former strongman, knew how helpless MR was in maintaining equilibrium within the UPFA and an administration that was somewhat full of corrupt officials. Many allegations are made at this “STATESMAN”, but “YET” to be proved. Look at the Yahapalana probing machinery and the national media which is flooded with exposing the actual culprits little by little. Look how corrupt these politicians and officials have been when we begin to know who did what, but are slowly getting attached to the Yahapalana Regime and are covering their corrupt deeds because they have the illicit MONEY power they have amazed, BUT HOW. Worst of all is that these are the once socalled
“PAKSAY SAHODARAYA, MANTHRITHUMA and AMATHITHUMA, APAY NILADHARI who all together are ,back-stabbing the same political Mahinda, wh may have been abetting, but he was not aiding. Similar situations in political administration has happened to the late President R. Premadasa, late President J.R. Jayawardene, the late PM, Madam Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, former President Chandrika Kumaratunge, late PM, Wijetunge and these have to be bridged to continue governance or being in political power for some reason unknown to the ordinary man like you and me. But the ordinary voter like you and the supporters of the former regime definitely need to stand up to eradicate corruption and all and any cost and you were frank to tell it off (write it) the way you have done. Yet ONLY GOD ALLMIGHTY can decide Mahinda’s political destiny and the ordinary citizens (Veda, Guru, Sangha, Kamkaru and Govi) voters who love this man so much will decide this at the next elections. The late Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike was stripped of her political rights and barred her from political office by the then UNP government with the deprivation of her civic rights from 16 October, 1980 until their restoration on 1 January, 1986, NOT EVEN A POLITICAL CROW OF THE SLFP was willing to fly over No: 55, Rosmead Place during her period of been disfranchised from 1980 till 1986. Sirimavo returned triumphantly to power and was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time on 29 May, 1970. Among the very few notables who visited her and stood by her during that period , were the Present President Maithripala Sirisena, the late Ediriweer, SLFP organizer Kalutara, Ariya Bolegoda, Asst. Secretary, Alavi Moulana, Dr. Maharoof, SLFP district organizer, Harispatuwa. Being an SLFP Stalwart since 1969 and a team mate of Dr. Maharoof and later SLFP District Organizer – Trincomalee District, I had the frequent opportunity of visiting Rosmead Place accompanying Dr. Maharoof whenever he came to Colombo or sometimes alone and chat for long hours of the crisis situation in the party. We were in the inner circle of the late Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike then. Thus I believe that President Mahinda Rajapaksa too will come back to power to lead his people and the SLFP will definitely be UNITED soon, maybe as a PM maybe as a President which way or the other that will suits the leader of the two fractions best.
Noor Nizam. Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, Former SLFP District Organizer – Trincomalee District and Convener – The Muslim Voice.
May 26th, 2016 at 12:32 pm
From what we gather from media, the Chief Minister of the EP was NOT invited to the ceremony, but yet came there. Perhaps his name was omitted from the speech made there by the Master of Ceremonies because Mr Ahmed was not even invited for reasons unknown to the public.
We agree with former Pres MR that such disgraceful and childish displays of bad temper as displayed by the CM of EP should not be tolerated at public gatherings.
Perhaps in the future, such people ought to be escorted out the grounds by the security officers in charge.
———
Re MR as President developing the N&E : He HAD to do that as President of the country. What else was MR to do after the war ? He HAD to develop the entire country, not just the South only. He tried his best to unify a disunited country after nearly 30 yrs of war. This was a very difficult task, and yet MR did succeed a great deal for which we are truly grateful.
No President has full CONTROL over the actions of other people working alongside him/her. It is inevitable that all leaders fall short of expectations that are unrealistic.
Is entirely Stamping out Corruption possible ? It would be unrealistic to expect that to happen. We hear that in INDIA, ordinary clerks keep their desk drawer open for the ‘santhosan’. In the salubrious economies, we hear that large sums of money are deposited in safe offshore institutions by the ‘takers’ to do the will of the briber.
Honesty starts in the homes, schools, temples, churches etc. Teach the kids honesty by example and then we will have a honest country.
May 26th, 2016 at 12:44 pm
Re the 13-A :
First, INDIA will have to approve removing the 13-A. It was INDIA that forced the 13-A on Lanka during the time of the UNP (JRJ Govt).
Now that INDIA & the West are together, both parties will first have to approve removing the 13-A.
In the first place, the 13-A was NOT removed all these past years because INDIA (mostly) did not want it removed. Granted that MR made some USE of the 13-A to gain some stabiliity for the country, and also some political advantage for the SLFP/UPFA.
Now that the MR Govt has removed the LTTE at huge costs to the past MR Govt., it is time for the People to stand up and call out loud and clear that we want the 13-A removed, once and for all.
May 26th, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Friends,
Regarding the Patriotic Real Estate Company Proposal that I had floated, I have an earth-shattering announcement to make!
As you may know, in response to expressions of interest from about six of you in joining that effort, I created a password-protected blogsite called PatrioticSriLankanInvestors.blogspot.com and asked those interested to send an email message to me at PatrioticSriLankanInvestors@gmail.com requesting a password to be sent to them. We were going to discuss and plan how to proceed to implement the idea at this site.
After 10 days of waiting for your responses, I am ready to PROUDLY ANNOUNCE the result: IT WAS A MONUMENTAL FAILURE; NO ONE …. ZERO, ZILCH, NADA …. responded!
As such, I will NOW ABORT the PROJECT before it is BORN at the end of this month of May, 2016.
While thanking those who supported the idea in principle, I have MIXED emotions of both DISAPPOINTMENT and GREAT RELIEF about this RESULT.
Thank you all for your very kind attention.
May 26th, 2016 at 6:40 pm
Ananda,
Thank so much for all your great efforts.
We think the response was not there due to the uncertainty factor with the present political situation in Sri Lanka. We hope and pray better times will dawn for Sri Lanka and for the rest of the world too. There are changes happening …. let us wait and see. With so many billions hoping for betterness, it ought to be so …
Good luck to you in other enterprises and thank you for your sincerity – a rare feature now.
May 26th, 2016 at 7:44 pm
Fran,
If Mahinda “had” to develop the north and east as he did during 2010-15, he “had” to leave office for doing so. I warned about this since 2012. Over 87% of voters live outside the north and east. More importantly, over 97% of Sinhala voters live outside the north and east. Only 10% of development funds were allocated to 97% of Sinhalese after 2010. Mahinda’s advisors were idiots to do so. Their conduct may be influenced by very poor arithmetic skills, secretly wishing Mahinda’s defeat or outright insanity. Unfortunately, they have not left Mahinda still.
I like to see Mahinda demanding a similar probe into the genocide resolution passed by the NPC and commemorating terrorists by the NPC and a group of TNA parliamentarians within the parliament. These are far more grave incidents.
May 26th, 2016 at 11:45 pm
Dear Fran Diaz,
Thank you for understanding so well. You may well be correct that the lack of reponse to my proposal reflects the uncertainty and risk of investing in Sri Lanka now, that many find unacceptable.
If this had gone ahead, I would have been duty bound to devote my time to make it succeed, so it is a great relief to me that I don’t have to do that now. My wife criticizes me saying that I take on too many things driven by my love for Sri Lanka, when I should be sitting back and enjoying the fruits of my labors.
What she says is quite true; I am involved in many patriotic, business and charitable activities in Sri Lanka that demand my undivided attention.
May 27th, 2016 at 6:12 am
I agree with Mahinda, as a country we cannot allow this low upbrining, cheap politicians to insult our security forces. I did not expect the Pambaya Sirisena to do anything as he is working under strict orders from India. He is doing his best to undermine the Sinhalese.
Again, on Mahinda’s defeat. It is high time for us to realise that even if he made Sri Lanka another Switzerland still he will be defeated. The reason is that the election campaign of UNP’s Sirisena was handled by countries with vested interests. India would do anything, spend any amount of money to tarnish Mahinda’s image. When Manamohan Singh came to Sri Lanka with CIPA agreement Mahinda refused to sign it saying that it is not good for us. Same with Americans and the West. They could not get Mahinda to do things the way they wanted. Our ungrateful voters were hoodwinked.
See what Sirisena and Ranil have agreed to now.
– The UN Resolution as dictated by the world’s biggest HR abuser America.
– All conditions put forward by the European Union.
– Agreed to CIPA/ETCA (delayed only because of the opposition brewing in the country).
There is much more.
Now you can understand why Mahinda lost. Also, bear in mind in the North the ballot boxes were stuffed. UNP was always good at that. At the Northern PC elections the voter turnout was in the 65% range, but for Sirisena it was in the 90% range. All polling booths were manned by TNA. The actual voter turnout until about 4pm on Jan 8th was around 35%, the increase of up to 90% which is an increase of 55% happened only in the last hour. We have to be still greatful that app: 25% of the Northern vote went Mahinda’s way. That means if the vote was proper democratic then Mahinda would have won even the Tamil areas.
Please read on the USA made Brazilian coup that took place only couple of weeks ago. Dilma Rousseff was the democratically elected President, but American staged a coup to get the people on to the streets against her and got an unelected Michell Temer (another Ranil Wickramasinghe) as the interim president who has already taken measures to destroy Brazil.
May 27th, 2016 at 12:29 pm
Ananda,
We do understand your sense of relief !
Your wife is probably quite right, Ananda ! We all have to look after our health first, and next do what we can for others. Or we are lost to both ourselves and others. Too many tasks can be costly to our health – and that is a no-no.
Take good care first of your health and wellbeing. The country needs people like you and others like you.
May 27th, 2016 at 1:36 pm
Dilrook,
To the best of my knowledge, this is how I have viewed why the MR Govt was removed, hook or by crook, by the Powers that Be :
After the UNHRC false War Crimes charge on the MR govt., I think (my view) MR’s situation would have been far worse if his govt directed most of the govt funds to the South and other so called Sinhala areas, even though more than half the Tamil population lives in the South with the Sinhala and others. Then the critiques would have said that not only did MR govt do War Crimes, the MR govt also discriminated against the Tamil people in fiscal matters, after the war in development of the devasted N&E after nearly 30 yrs of war. In short, either way he could not win.
We must also note and question that the NPC did not use about 75% of the govt funds (MR govt) allocated for use in the North. They wanted that “beggars’ wounds” stuff in order discredit the MR GoSL.
Kumari sums it up well for us re how the MR Govt. was got rid of. Dilrook, it was you yourself who wrote on the rigged elections (two articles to Lankaweb).
It was also the false media blitz that did most of the damage, and this aspect still goes on from time to time. We too received many e mails of a negative nature re MR & the MR govt. Everyone knows that some corruption does happen, whatever govt is in power, but the media blitz lies were beyond belief – we knew that right from the start. Some people close to us got trapped in those false messages.
Do please correct me if what I have written is incorrect.
———
More on why the MR govt was removed, by hook or by crook.
I am of the view that the fact that MR took help from China went against him right from the start, as INDIA considered that inimical to their own interests. Understandable, from INDIA’s point of view, but what else could MR govt do to stop the LTTE ?
Also, MR made a statement (correct me if I am wrong here), that his govt may run with the Yuan for a 3 yr period. That was inimical to western interests. This happened AFTER the war with the LTTE finished and the Contain China program begn in earnest.
Also, Norwegian action in the Vanni area (mini subs plus LTTE suicide cadre), was exposed as a result of the removal of the LTTE.
There are a number of factors that went against the MR Govt., depending on which power bloc looked at the situation.
We do not want to see our War Heroes suffer for other peoples mistakes and use of Lanka for their purposes, without the knowledge of the People and their consent through proper Parliamentary proceedures.
We want the world to see the facts and play fair by Sri Lanka’s War Heroes – for Heroes they are and Heroes they will remain in our eyes, forever ! At this point in time, with the Flood disaster suffering by the local people, it will be a case of ‘gaheng vatunu minihata gona anna wagai’, if the War Crimes charges are forced in a false manner on the MR Govt. and the Armed Forces of Lanka.
Long live our War Heroes !
Long live Justice and Fairplay from the UNHRC & the International Community toward Lanka and other countries !
May 27th, 2016 at 7:54 pm
Fran,
International actors didn’t vote. Only locals voted. It is true some vote rigging took place in the north. However, it was known to the government. It happened at the 2013 NPC election as well (I wrote on this). However, all that could have been overcome very easily had Mahinda served Sinhala areas at least equitably. In that case Sinhala support would not fall to a dismal 58% from 68% in 2010. Even in 2005 Mahinda won 61% of Sinhala votes. Gampaha District has the highest Sinhala population (not Colombo District). Mahinda lost Gampaha too.
It was the fools caled advisors that wrongly advised Maninda to waste 90% of borrowed funds on the north and east depriving 97% of Sinhalese. Even Hirunika’s father was an advisor!
This is the main reason for his defeat. UNP always had stronger media campaigns against Mahinda. Minorities always voted against him. International community was never in favour of him.
Corruption reduced from 2009 to 2014. Our corruption rank improved from 97 to 85 from 2009 to 2014. That was a huge improvement in reducing corruption. Even in 2005 UNP alleged Hambantota Tsunami fraud on Mahinda. It was a very grave allegation give the country suffered enormously from the tsunami. However, fewer Sinhala voters as a percentage was swayed by it.
No alleged killing took place in Mahinda’s second term. All happened in his first term.
It was economic neglect of Sinhala majority districts that led to Mahinda’s defeat. I blame foolish advisors of Mahinda for it.
In my view, no Rajapaksa can become prime minister or president unless they work under (emphasised) Wimal, Udaya and Venerable Ellawala Medhananda. Not the other way round. This was how the war was won. The war winning political commitment was obtained from Mahinda before the 2005 election by Wimal and Venerable Ellawala Medhananda. Thereafter with their 48 seats (JUH and JVP led by Wimal), they held the Mahinda government hostage forcing it to remain committed to the October 2005 commitment to finish the war. Wimal and his JVP could have brought down Mahinda’s government in 2007 if any attempt was made to stop the war. If the war was stopped for some reason, the JVP and JHU would have joined an ever ready UNP and TNA to bring down Mahinda. They had more than 2/3 in parliament sufficient to even abolish executive presidency if needed. People like Basil and Namal must be kept out of the party for it to succeed. They can still engage in politics from the SLFP.
Mahinda is the most experience politician today. His fall was not due to his major faults. It was due to Johnny come lately fools wrongly advising him. Another area of fools advising Mahinda is the war crimes issue. That too was stuffed thanks to wrong advice.
What is most worrying is these advisors are still with Mahinda making sure he cannot win a future election. What can we do to save Mahinda from his “trusted” (foolish) advisors?
May 27th, 2016 at 10:46 pm
dingiri bandara,
Thank you for being the FIRST to join the PatrioticSriLankanInvestors.blogspot.com BLOG. I have sent you an invitation by email. You will see the material I have posted in the first post and subsequent comments.
Please be aware that it seems unlikely that more Patriots will join as the response has been quite poor.
If we do not get more members joining by the end of this month to make it worth continuing, I will terminate the effort, as I have stated above.
Thank you again.
May 28th, 2016 at 11:18 am
Dilrook,
Right now we are more concerned re the War Crimes issue and the ongoing ugly campaign to villify MR, his Family, people connected to him, plus parts of the Armed Forces.
It is the outcome of this FALSE War Crimes matter we are most concerned about. The ‘divide & rule’ folk must be happy that politically Lanka is being torn up.
Who governs Lanka in the future can be discussed after the War Crimes issues are sorted out, once and for all. I still say that a team of 5-8, time trusted, savvy, educated people to govern Lanka, is the best option, given the odds against the country.
May 28th, 2016 at 11:27 am
Dear Ananda,
Wonderful that you are proceeding ….
Great good luck to you all to Save Lanka.
People are watching the politics. If that settles down to acceptable levels of fairplay and ethics, investor confidence will return and good projects are bound to flourish.
Wish you all good health and good luck.
May 28th, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Dilrook,
I want to highlight two doosras in your explanation to Fran, if you don’t mind.
1. The war winning political commitment was obtained from Mahinda before the 2005 election by Wimal and Venerable Ellawala Medhananda. Thereafter with their 48 seats (JUH and JVP led by Wimal), ..
JVP was not led by Wimal but Somawansa
2. Corruption reduced from 2009 to 2014. Our corruption rank improved from 97 to 85 from 2009 to 2014. That was a huge improvement in reducing corruption.
Whilst the statement is true, it cannot credit MR. When he took over it was 67 and after he left it is 79 now ( even better than China now).
Although you keep saying “Sri Lankans are attached to politicians too much” you yourself cannot really understand the TRUE situation since you too have a soft corner to someone. I don’t really blame you, my “corners” are the same, but I try not to support them in a cunning way, because then it doesn’t serve the purpose of making good use of them.
May 28th, 2016 at 10:50 pm
Dham,
1. No; it was Wimal who was the parliamentary group leader. Somawansa was only a nominal leader who never made it to parliament. SF called Wimal in 2007 and asked him not to vote against the budget (excluding the defence budget which was passed by then separately). Wimal was in charge of JVP’s stand. They decided to abstain from voting.
2. Yes. Ending the war massively reduced corruption although other areas emerged like development.
I do have hope on Wimal and Udaya. I’m not overly reliant on them and certainly I look at them with usual skepticism. After all they too are politicians.
May 28th, 2016 at 11:00 pm
Fran,
Protecting Sri Lanka and converting it back to unitary status are more important than saving war heroes. They became war heroes for this reason! They won the war to protect the nation and advance its unitary status, not to give Wigneswaran and Ahmed what we denied to Parabhakaran.
True war heroes don’t mind sacrificing their life for the nation, again. They don’t rely on people and the nation to protect them.
As a grateful nation people will save war heroes without depriving the nation in anyway. If it requires to implement 13A and LLRC to save war heroes, it defeats the purpose. No such is needed. The price to pay to save war heroes must never infringe the nation.
May 29th, 2016 at 3:46 am
Has ANY of the Battara Mullas risked his/her life for the country.
Answer is a big NO. It is only Ellawala medhananda Thero and Ratana Thero who at least went without 1000 man security. Others watched TV in A/C bunkers.
War heroes are ready to die for the country even now. Battara Mullas are ready to rob the country and rob the great sacrifices they made.
May 29th, 2016 at 4:05 am
Dilrook,
I have always stated that the 13-A MUST GO !
I have also stated that since the 13-A was imposed under Duress by INDIA during the JRJ (UNP) govt., the time is right for UNP led Yahap to remove it now.
It stands to reason that INDIA has to first approve of the removal of the 13-A. The west has to approve removal of the 13-A too, as INDIA & the west act in unison now.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was appointed as Exec PM by Pres Sirisena ‘because the WEST wanted it so’, he said.
UNP leader Ranil is the ideal candidate to remove the 13-A.
Make it so.
WAR HEROES have to be protected through all the other actions. That comes first and must continue till the War Crimes charges are lifted.
We hope you agree.
May 29th, 2016 at 4:41 am
Fran,
By war heroes if you mean uniformed service personnel in 2009, I agree to the extend such saving does not compromise national interests.
Although 13A was imposed during UNP time, others continued with it. Others are equally at fault. UNP to its credit disrupted Tamil controlled NEPC and even dissolved it. I have not seen that from others.
If UNP removes 13A, patriotic Sri Lankans must totally reject the JO and rally around the UNP. However, UNP will never remove it as UNP is voted by minorities. If the JO is serious about winning the next election, it must promise to abrogate 13A. That is because the JO is voted by Sinhalese only. Otherwise it will always remain in the Opposition. So it is about the seriousness of the JO to win the next election. A similar commitment on the war was obtained from Mahinda in 2005 by the JVP and the JHU before they decided to support him. Together they had 49 seats and UPFA other than the JVP had only 67 seats. It was this commitment that led to the political leadership in war victory.
After the appointment of Wigneswaran as the NPC chief minister and letting him survive in the post unlike Perumal, I don’t trust politicians to save Sri Lanka without a strong stranglehold on them.
May 29th, 2016 at 10:14 am
Dilrook,
Thanks for response. But I disagree.
It is not a question of the next Election. It is a question of here and now, before the country gets bifurcated. It is the Yahap chaps in power in now, with high approval from INDIA & the WEST. Ranil as leader of the UNP leads the Yahap lot.
Ranil/CBK/MS have the approval of the IC, UNHRC, etc. Poor MR, after saving the Nation from extreme terrorism, with all odds against him and his govt., has to now pay the price of the ‘Fall Guy’ for everything negative under the sun in Lanka. Someone said on L’web that even if the cat ran away, that would be the fault of the past MR govt. – such is the silliness/absurdity/dangerous game prevailing in the country right now. No one who truly cares about Lanka would put MR on the chopping block again, this time re the 13-A.
Now we have a siutation in Sri Lanka where ‘United we Stand’ applies. ALL parties must get together to remove the 13-A which is dangerous to the very lives of the citizens, rich & poor, whatever ethnicity or religion.
It is NOT the survival of political party that matters now, it is the survival of the country. To this end, the UNP which accepted the 13-A, must now abrogate it. ALL parties in Lanka will support such a move, except as expected, the TNA and other minority parties. Even the Muslim parties may support the removal of the 13-A – who knows !
What is needed now is TRUE Democracy in Lanka (as per Izeth Hussein’s article in the Island of May 28, 2016), and not the Fascist type of governance/and non-governance, as with Yahap now. Then the minorities can have the Rights given in other countries without any hindrance per the Law of the Land. The irony is that these Rights and more already exists in Lanka and by throwing out false accusations on any GoSL, they are merely jeopardising the existing Rights. Any GoSL on their part must exercise the Laws such as the 6-A and safeguard the country. It is more than possible that the Cold War politics that prevented that.
I am reiterating what you already know.
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End the colonial ‘Divide & Rule’ and end most of the strife in Lanka. The Lankans can concentrate on survival from extreme weather, poverty, health matters, job creation, education etc. – in short, things that really matter in life. Makes good sense to me.
The political party system seems to make a mockery of Democracy. In ancient Greece, where Democracy started, the country elders would vote on a topic using black (for ‘no’) & white (for ‘yes’) stones, put into a container, in the presence of the others. How simple ! No fuss of ‘your side and my side’ – just vote for the common good.
May 29th, 2016 at 11:17 am
Fran Diaz,
I agree with you completely. ALL Patriotic Sri Lankans MUST ACT NOW to avoid the DISASTER by REPEALING the 13A and DISSOLVING the PCs, and empowering a PATRIOTIC Government again.
However, the Sinhala Buddhist Community should be the CORE of this PATRIOTIC STRUGGLE; it is they who are the MOST THREATENED with DISPOSSESSION & ENSLAVEMENT and MUST COME TOGETHER to RESCUE our Motherland NOW. Other Communities …. especially the Tamils and the Christians ….. will OPPPOSE this TOOTH & NAIL!
WE MUST RELY on the Joint Opposition (JO) led by the SLFP because it now seems UNLIKELY that a NEW PATRIOTIC Party will be formed to lead the Charge.
This FOREIGN REGIME CHANGE NEOCOLONIAL PLOT, orchestrated by the USA, UK, Norway and other Western Neocolonialist Powers, was planned and orchestrated by their PUPPETS like RW and CBK.
They and others were who were TRAINED at US universities and other think tanks in the REGIME CHANGE strategies that they had PERFECTED to DESTABILIZE and OVERTURN government across the world during the Arab Spring in Egypt, Libya, Syria etc. The fact that those countries are now ANARCHIES or DICTATORSHIPS and NOT DEMOCRACIES as intended, does not seem to DETER the SERIAL REGIME CHANGE BUNGLERS who are continuing their merry way of destroying Developing Countries and sowing UTTER DESTRUCTION in their wake.
The FUNDING for these activities are provided by these Machiavellis both overtly and covertly. Covertly, they transfer large sums of funds to their TRojan Horses through unnumbered accounts and embassies. Overtly, they fund NGOs for “Human Rights” and “Democracy Enhancement”, open embassies and plant “Training Institutions” in conflict areas with disaffected populations …. all to further their destabilization programme.
If the alarmed governments take action against these moves to establish 5-th columns, an outcry of suppression of media freedoms and human rights is immediately raised, sanctions are imposed, and War Crimes and other criminal allegations are made against the patriotic leaders of the nation. To engineer REGIME CHANGES they make promises to REPLACE all secure investment funding from countries such as China and Russia, and BACK OUT from providing those funds when the REGIME CHANGE has taken place and the original lenders have been alienated. Now in comes the World Bank, the IMF and other assorted Western tools offering a PITTANCE compared to the funds funds from the previous lenders, IMPOSING DRACONIAN CONDITIONS that impoverish the majority of the people in the country. IN a short while, ALL OF THE PROGRESS made previously is DEMOLISHED, the country has been reduced to a BASKET-CASE subject to RIDICULE by those who orchestrated that DEBACLE, and the majority Community of that nation is HELD HELPLESS in FINANCIAL CHAINS to the COMMANDS of the NEW NeoColonialist Masters. The country will have RAPIDLY DESCENDED from the FRYING PAN into THE FIRE, its people CONFUSED and ANGRY at the DISASTER, and LOOKING FOR but NOT FINDING the UNSEEN HANDS and FORCES that manipulated them!
That, IN A NUTSHELL, is the SITUATION that Sri Lanka finds itself in today …. DUE LARGELY to the IDIOCY of those FEW Sinhala Buddhists who helped to USHER IN the Yamapalanaya GoSL believing in the CHANTED MANTRA of UNLIMITED CORRUPTION, SUPPRESSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS, and EXERCISE OF DICTATORIAL POWER coined and perfected in the West and SUNG at FULL THROAT in Sri Lanka.
May 29th, 2016 at 12:27 pm
Ananda & Dilrook,
Since the vast majority of People in Lanka want to see the 13-A gone (a large number of Tamils & Muslims included), it is reasonable that ALL the possible leaders ought to get together and remove it, with prior approval from the WEST & INDIA, in that order. INDIA will go along with the WEST, as matters stand.
Ananda, this project of removing the 13-A is not a thing the JO can do alone – besides, it is right that the UNP joins in as Ranil was made Exec PM ‘as the West wants it so’ said Pres Sirisena. It is incumbent on the UNP to join in the removal of the 13-A as they allowed the original mess to happen by forcing the 13-A on the People of Lanka, even though they in turn were forced to do so by INDIA.
The UNP should never forget that the LTTE decimated their leadership, and afford some gratitude to the MR Govt for removal of the LTTE. INDIA shoud do the same as the LTTE killed their PM Rajiv Gandhi.
There must be a huge show from the grass roots upwards in Lanka to REMOVE the 13-A, led on by ALL leaders.
May 29th, 2016 at 3:43 pm
Fran Diaz,
I HOPE you are right and that the UNP can help REPEAL the 13A!
While HOPE DOES SPRING ETERNAL in my very human breast, I won’t be so FOOLISH as to hold my breath for the UNPatriotic Party to do it!
May 29th, 2016 at 4:31 pm
A proposal to Maithri from Mahinda faction Featured
– May 29, 2016
SLFP pro Mahinda faction has submitted a fascinating proposal to the chairman of the SLFP and president Maithripala Sirisena. The Mahinda faction asserts that this proposal would be helpful for the UNP and SLFP to jointly continue its national government under a new policy agreement.
The following are the points described in the proposal
Enhancing the country’s economic program (Developing the economic coordination with China and building a corporate plan of the country’s economy.
Actions taken for war related incidents (releasing the soldiers connected to the war incidents, releasing the LTTE carders under a common amnesty, Giving concessions to convicts connected to the war and gradually releasing. Giving punishment to soldiers who are not directly involved to the war but connected to war crimes through a domestic inquiry)
Solution to the national problem (Starting a dialog to find a permanent solution for the national problem, devolve more powers to the provincial council from the 13th amendment, Create a mechanism for the public representatives who able to take majority of votes and allow them to involve with the executive, establishing a national planning commission and provide lands for the landless people)
Amending the executive presidency (not abolishing the executive presidency but curtail its powers and change the electoral system)
Indo Lanka trade agreement (This disadvantage agreement should be nullified and create a new agreement benefiting both the country’s)
Combating corruption (Stop troubling the accused who are not directly connected to serious crimes and frauds and continue the allegations which only connected to serious crimes)
In addition to these proposal a poison free country, electricity crisis and official uniform, four proposals regarding education and jobs are included. In order come to a final policy conclusion the panel experts representing the Maithri and the Mahinda faction has participated in a discussion.
May 29th, 2016 at 5:34 pm
Dham,
From where did you get this information. I have not seen it anywhere in the news. Please give the reference.
May 29th, 2016 at 6:04 pm
Fran,
What you say is contradictory. If it has to be democratic as you say, elections are a must. No UPFA MP can be appointed PM democratically as UPFA trails UNP 95 to 106. Such an appointment is as undemocratic as the appointment of Ranil as PM from January to July 2015.
Joint Opposition should take the lead in abrogating 13A for these reasons.
1. Mahinda as president made a commitment to the UN on May 26, 2009 for the implementation of 13A. This is a much more serious commitment than Indo Lanka Peace Accord (1987) commitment to India to enact and implement 13A. UN has more than 170 member countries. Therefore, it is his duty to retract that commitment and initiate the abrogation of 13A.
Similarly, although JR is along dead, UNP also has a duty to support the abrogation of 13A.
2. Dayan Jayatilake reinforced the commitment to the UN two days later by committing to the UNHRC that Sri Lanka will fully implement 13A and resettle Tamils (only). Unfortunately, both Mahinda and Dayan are in the Joint Opposition and it is its duty by the nation to reverse these commitments that lead to Tamil Eelam via 13A.
I confronted the then Geneva office of Sri Lanka and demanded an answer why they acted beyond their power and tie Sri Lanka to the 13A commitment. Their reply was it was the reinforcement of the President’s commitment to the UN two days ago! It further read, since the UNHRC resolution by Sri Lanka was backed by the President’s commitment to the UN two days ago (contained in the Joint Statement), most UNHRC members trusted it.
Now it is time to reverse it.
3. The current NPC (worst in history) and EPC (worst in history) were established during the term of the former regime. Therefore the leaders of the former regime (Mahinda as president, DM Jayarathna as PM and Dinesh as Chief Government Whip) are duty bounds to reverse this damage by abrogating 13A.
4. Joint Opposition has the most number of devolution supporters (Basil, GL, Dayan, DEW Gunasekara, Tissa Vitharana, Vasudeva, Raja Collure, etc.). Therefore, it is extremely dangerous to bring them to power unless it sheds these people or make a believable commitment to abrogate 13A. The presence of patriots like Mahinda, Wimal and Udaya does not reduce that danger.
5. Although the UNP can win an election without the promise to abrogate 13A due to overwhelming minority support, the Mahinda group cannot even come close to forming a government without promising to abrogate 13A as it is supported almost entirely by the Sinhalese. The Joint Opposition MP group is Sinhala only reflecting its vote base.
If for some reason I cannot think of the UNP initiates the abrogation of 13A, patriots must vote for the UNP in gratefulness for saving Sri Lanka from the worst threat it faces today.
Another point of disagreement is your wrong equation of saving the nation to saving war heroes. The two are not the same and at times even contradictory. For instance, LLRC report was supposedly an attempt to save war heroes but it panders into Tamil demands detrimental to the nation. Allowing the election of Wigneswaran and continuation is the biggest threat to national security.
As I said before, real war heroes are willing even today to sacrifice their life for a nation without 13A and do not seek to hide behind the nation or people’s gratefulness to survive. I have never heard any real war hero asking people to save them or their family as they are more than willing to risk these for the nation, again.
Sirisena’s attempt to change the constitution failed. Due to rising disagreements within his SLFP and between him and the UNP, constitution change process is dead. Even if it restarts, it will be totally rejected at a referendum as people are opposed to this government. Without constitution change, it is not possible to have hybrid courts. Therefore, punishing war heroes cannot be done as easily as punishing the killers of Wasim Thajudin. On the other hand, punishing the killers of Thajudin (if any) will hugely increase the confidence in the court system of Sri Lanka both locally and internationally that the international community may trust a local judicial investigation than demand a hybrid court. Hopefully it will not be a cheap political stunt.
May 29th, 2016 at 6:07 pm
I don’t think the information Dham shared is accurate. It is not from a reputed media. However, if it is true (the “national question” part at least), it is better for JO leaders to retire from politics than worsen the situation.
May 29th, 2016 at 7:24 pm
Dilrook,
I too don’t consider that media as “reputed”, and I deleted a paragraph of it, but I wanted to share it because the highlighted section sounds very Basil+MR chintanaya. Therefore I considered it has fairly accurate proposal in order to unify the two SLFP gangs.
I don’t consider any of Lanka A.B,C…News whatever you find on the web as proper media. They are all one sided. Nevertheless some of the secrets they present can be true.
May 29th, 2016 at 7:27 pm
Strangely, only few of us even talk abut getting rid of Palaath Sabha.
Actually we should consider Palaath Sabha= LLRC proposals = LTTE and declare war on them urgently.
May 29th, 2016 at 9:25 pm
We all have ups and downs, that’s the human nature. Mahinda did more good things than bad things and he did something which we all can be proud of and be happy. Freeing our country was unthinkable for many years under so many Presidents during war. MR won it for us under the pressure of so many foreign Govts.and individuls. Mahinda had charisma and brains as well as energy and a vision for our future, not like the current Gobbels backed by CIA and Indian parasites. Already people have realized their mistake and the time will come soon for the day of judgment for these traitors to the Motherland.
May 29th, 2016 at 11:12 pm
Dham,
Thanks for sharing anyway. I too see the hand of Basil in that demand. If the JO comes up with LLRC, devolution and more powers to provinces, it should be electorally annihilated. We certainly don’t need a second UNP.
May 30th, 2016 at 4:32 am
Dilrook,
Thank you for continued response.
I still don’t agree with your arguments.
Most of all, I think that saving War Heroes is the important item here. The other matters can progress alongside that. We do NOT want to sacrifice any more Lanka lives for crazy Man Made causes – there are enough human problems to tackle without more non-sense getting heaped on Lanka.
1. Whatever the MR Govt was forced to do with the 13-A after the war was prompted by actions-to-be from the UNHRC & IC – both not happy with the war and removal of the LTTE dur to various reasons and the Contain China program. A War Crimes charge was slapped on the MR Govt. & Armed Forces. Therefore, it was continued action under Duress, same as the imposition of the 13-A by INDIA under the JRJ Govt.
However, it would be fair to say that the MR Govt. did USE the 13-A to some advantage politically prior to the war. It was a smart move.
If the MR Govt was ALLOWED as an option to REMOVE THE 13-A after the war, they would certainly have done so !
2. Therefore, we can consider that BOTH the UNP JRJ govt as well as the MR govt were FORCED to be party to the 13-A, under Duress. The parties who FORCED this unwanted 13-A on Lanka have got off scott free – not even an apology !
2A. But Lanka too had conditions to attract cheap Tamil labor to enter Lanka from Tamil Nadu to service the then lucrative plantations sector and other labor needs. One might say SWRD’s Social Disabilities Act (1957) was one such very attractive aspect for Dalit Tamils to enter Lanka, with the Tamil Language (Prov Act) (1958) added on.
3. Therefore, we have to conclude that BOTH the JRJ Govt & the MR Govt were FORCED TO COMPLY WITH THE UNHRC & THE IC, re the 13-A. That the JRJ Govt played a larger role to a greater extent than the MR Govt is evident, as that was the start of the 13-A troubles. So both parties have to get together and remove it.
4. Why did INDIA force the 13-A on the JRJ Govt ?
Has to be because the JRJ Govt was ultra pro-west during the Cold War times, and INDIA did not like that then. The Cold War officially finished only in 1991, and by then the 13-A was imposed on Lanka (1987), a tad too late for Lanka to stop it.
5. Now that the Cold War is over, and INDIA runs with the west, and is an ideal time to remove the 13-A. Both the UNP with Ranil in place (because ‘the west wants it so’ – so Ranil is the ideal person for this venture), and the leaders of the then MR Govt can get together and see that the unwanted 13-A is removed.
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I might add that the purpose of life is not politics or to die for one’s country, but to seek Truth.
May 30th, 2016 at 4:48 am
Fran,
In response to the facts and figures I provided, you failed to provide any counter facts. I see no worth in mere opinions and empty philosophical statements on these important issues. In my view, so do the countrymen.
May 30th, 2016 at 7:13 am
Dear Dilrook
In myhumble opinion, Facts and figures mean nothing in the face of life and death …
People want to Survive first and then talk facts and figures.
It is a matter of Globalised Economics – and Sri Lanka people are mere bits of sand on the shore in this matter ?
I too shall close my case.