ASSESSMENT: GOTABHAYA ENTERS POLITICS
Posted on September 13th, 2017
Gomin Dayasri Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Bemoan the non-availability of fresh material in the upper tiers of politics to replace the decrepit. For survival, the decayed leadership is ready to reach alliance with a devilish opponent. Unsuitable descendants await, both kinsmen and sycophants, located craftily in the wings of the second tier.
- TNA, the official minuscule opposition, unable to reach acceptability outside the province
- Maybe a UNP govt under a new leader is a more pragmatic alternate
- Wings of SLFP will re-merge under a Sirisena and Rajapakse combine
- MR’s chief executive stands convicted of failing to keep his boss on the correct path
Among this wild bunch, TNA’s honest Sampanthan stands like a beacon, living under trying circumstances under his invented avenger Wigneswaran and his crazy coots, making TNA, the official minuscular opposition – an unstable parochial outfit, unable to reach acceptability outside the province.
Return of the UNP under a Wickremasinghe administration is out of the reckoning – a cause long lost. Process will be accelerated if an unacceptable constitution is presented to the South leading to a breakdown. Ongoing stupidity will bind the divided SLFP.
MR’s comprehension was not beyond what he last heard from the last meeeting Understatement of a man that won the war many said was unwinnable. Yet, there is an element of wisdom in the utterance
UNP as a party is ahead of its leader in public esteem. Maybe a UNP govt under a new leader is a more pragmatic alternate: prevents their first line of defence from crossing to enemy territory in disgust? Ranil is less self-centred than Mahinda, prepared to yield place to a stronger candidate, as he did in 2015, decision he rues in hindsight. President Sirisena short on votes; waits long to eat into the disgusted UNP’s bases to strengthen his domain. Wings of the SLFP will re-merge under a Sirisena and Rajapakse combine. Promises another corrupt regime in the making. Join the devil to keep afloat is a staying principle. It sidelines Gota – suits Mahinda and Basil. Necessity will make Gota play second fiddle.
If Gotabhaya stands instead of Mahinda as the Presidential/Premiership candidate, majorities will soar in the south as he reflects the want of the Sinhala youth and voters express confidence in his delivery service. He holds a proven track record as against a lackadaisical Mahinda, whose chief executive stands convicted of failing to keep his boss on the correct path. Amount of Rs. 600 million is not peanuts sanctioned out of public funds near election time in distributing sil clothes to devotees. That is not a form of charity that acquires merit. Amount is mind-boggling but the price is equidistant to the fringe benefits picked by Yes Minister” gentlemen.
Elbowing the entrenched elite is virtually impossible where experienced Mahinda upstaged the politically naïve Gotabhaya Rajapakse – came on invitation but took over the centrefold at a seminar organized by an inexperienced coterie displaying Gota’s bare cupboard of talent from an over-crowded think tank [more a reservoir] that took months to gather. Worse, carries segments of the contaminated muck of the last regime.
Initial reaction was a horror story notwithstanding the presence of astute Kamal Guneratne, the military heavyweight with a spotless record and the wavering intellectual stimulator Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke; appear to be the maestro’s attaches for beckoning. Neglected to tap encyclopedic Prof. Gerry Pieris, an intellect par excellence at a well-attended seminar organized with military precision.
Writer declined an invitation to the podium at the seminar, felt uncomfortable in the company of a few disreputable that makes Gota, no more than a provider of sub standard intellectual feeder to his brother’s ancient wannabe cabinet. Gota committed hara-kiri at a posh seminar while a few good men lost their independence in the allotted six minute cameos to be branded as Gota boys” while the corrupt thrived in showing they are soon in business on the back of Gota’s name to mar him success in politics.
The ‘man of the match’ was Mahinda Rajapakse – his domineering personality made his kid brother look juvenile. Gota in a cabinet will play a lesser role than as Defence Secretary: being feeble in the tricky unaccustomed art of politics. His organization lacks depth in knowledgeable politics. Wasted, a chance of a lifetime, with many expecting a change that did not augur well, looking at the front rows of invitees. He needs to change his palace guards discreetly. Most likely ‘Team Gota’ is congratulating each other for a pop show presented with the same old timers singing the same signature tunes. It is economics that matter: a new economic order counts; constitution is the instrument of jointer of the two wings of the SLFP, to place old faces in new places.
UNP can only cut down losses (not win of course) if it brings in more dynamic players into key offices – otherwise leaves the field wide open in bringing – the twice rejected MR back to office with Gota in a reduced role, that would falter from the beginning to fail miserably only to re-establish the UNP at the next session of electioneering. In short the prime cry is for a leadership change. Spirit of our electorate is to rightly fault the holders in office and look lovingly at the team they defeated once, forgetting their sordid past. This psyche leaves Mother Lanka in a state of a troubled trauma?
UNP dropped a ‘sitter’ in a dream situation. They had overcome MR, colossus that won the war overcoming terrorism that created a mini world record; brought a majority of the SLFP under the UNP fold to present a coalition govt; split the SLFP down the centre; won goodwill by restoring the independence of justice; made friends with the heirs of terrorism in the north; replaced the opposition in the hands of a sympathetic TNA; boosted the confidence of a shattered police force that was loyal to the UNP at the elections. UNP are the repository of financial wizardly but handed the subject to the least qualified for the assignment – Ravi Karunanayake. That was the beginning of serial undoing for the UNP. It is finance and economics that bodes ill for the UNP with Ranil Wickremasinghe shattering his claim of a clean image after the bond issue.
Both Ranil and MR are fighting for survival and have no time to think long. Ranil begotten with affairs of state, with a few to rescue him from the mess his countrymen are facing due to the economic collapse caused by two successive regimes. A more leisurely paced MR was never a thinking man, as a esteemed columnist once stated – his comprehension was not beyond what he last heard from the last meeeting. Understatement of a man that won the war many said was unwinnable. Yet, there is an element of wisdom in the utterance.
Sirimavo Bandaranaike rid the party of corrupt parliamentarians that were found guilty of bribery under the Commission of Inquiry Act. She held bye-elections on schedule, won most but lost a few, but never feared of an ouster. She lost a Bill in Parliament and called for general elections and lost it, handed over power and returned to be restored at the next election with a 2/3 majority. MR’s and Ranil’s problems are that they give cover to many alleged crooks and inevitably carry questions marks on their shoulders?
It needs a hostile take over for a genuine regime-change within the political parties: a friendly succession would carry the renewable sewage, reincarnated to resurface as the next coming leader adapts on coming to power. Leaders are preferable to their handlers as they held moments of worthwhile glory. ‘Follow the Leader’ should not be the motto. A parallel leadership must be placed on a gradient/incline where few more of the front liners are trained to succeed in times of need. MR out of office looks at dowdy kinsmen and the boot licking fraternity while Wickremasinghe in office goes for dude friends alienated from realities of local conditions making amiable friends for fellowship on dull evenings. Maithripala Sirisena is a victim of hanging on with too many of dead wood sycophants waiting to jump ship and MR waits to pick any discarded rubbish let loose as he hopes to come to power without the peoples vote if possible under the queer provisions of the constitution. Old men are often in a hurry.
Remember both MR (a great man that dethroned deadly terrorism with bare local hands) and Ranil (never in the mould of the great UNP’s of the past like Gamini Jayasuriya, U.B. Wanninayake, M.D.Banda and M.D.H. Jayewardene) came to politics in the 1970s in the midst of two violent insurrections in the North and South.
Two generations have by-passed them but yet there is no replacement in a country sprouting with emerging unexposed talent because the party structures are non-democratic to any challenge to the leadership, is off-set by a kept second tier. Both leaders need each other to keep them in office as they work in tandem. If one falls other is likely to fade away by compulsion. Ranil – the more likely candidate to back down made a compelling sacrifice being the less selfish in agreeing to make way for Sirisena at a time UNP peaked in popularity after the Badulla provincial election results. Parliamentarians matter as their sole desire is to be re-elected unlikely for many under Ranil’s leadership.
Nation can be proud of a born-again judiciary with brave and bold like Judge Gihan Kulatunga at the helm who listens to both sides attentively, studies the law and gives judgements on the merits, mindful of the needs of society, without delay. What more can be asked from a Judge? Most of his judgements stood in appeal and the respected young Judge has won esteem. We live in hope, as is in many Asian societies to be kept within civilized bounds by an un-kept judiciary.
September 13th, 2017 at 4:29 pm
In the interim Sri Lanka burns.
September 13th, 2017 at 5:00 pm
Another excellent writing by Gomin undoubtedly the best political analyst.
I fully agree with the last paragraph as well. Young judge Gihan Kulatunga who gave the ‘Sil redi’ verdict has stood appeal and is a rare good judge.
People are fed up of the four political clans – Rajapaksa, Wicramasinghe/Wijewardhana, Kumaratunga and Sirisena. If the options available to voters in 2019 are these, it is very unfortunate. A newcomer from a major party has a clear edge. Sagala Rathnayaka can make unwinnable UNP win if a Rajapaksa contests.
Nagananda Kodituwakku will also contest who can divide a considerable percentage of Sinhala votes.
September 13th, 2017 at 6:21 pm
Although Gomin Dayasri is trying to remain rational (he used to be so in the past), he is definitely erratic in his reasoning now. Because of this, there is something unusually wrong with his logic. He fails to relate the key political figures (only Gota is a neophyte among them) he comments on here to the different personal and social realities that motivate the actions of each of them. Hence Dayasri can’t but misrepresent his subjects (that he degrades as ‘this wild bunch’).
“Among this wild bunch, TNA’s honest Sampanthan stands like a beacon, living under trying circumstances under his invented avenger Wigneswaran and his crazy coots,….”
Dayasri must be crazy to praise this rabidly communalistic, murderously opportunistic, crafty old regional politico in such superlative terms while pitting him against national politicians of the caliber of MR and Ranil. Can any sane political analyst compare this rascal to the extremely gentlemanly Gota?
“Ranil is less self-centred than Mahinda” My foot! Dayasri. Are you gone bonkers?
Ask Sajith, about that, or Wijedasa or Karu J. Ranil had Fonseka and the Sirisena contest in his place in the elections in 2010 and 2015, because that was the only way he could beat MR. Egoism and wicked cruelty (both of which he succeeds in hiding from fools who, unfortunately, are in the majority in this country) characterizes Ranil.
“ Elbowing the entrenched elite is virtually impossible where experienced Mahinda upstaged the politically naïve Gotabhaya Rajapakse – came on invitation but took over the centrefold at a seminar organized by an inexperienced coterie displaying Gota’s bare cupboard of talent from an over-crowded think tank [more a reservoir] that took months to gather. Worse, carries segments of the contaminated muck of the last regime.” Balderdash, Dayasri!
Gota may be inexperienced as a politician, but he is a patriot to the country and a loving sibling brother to MR. They are not rivals. Most probably, he is doing what he is doing here out of love for MR, not because he loves the rough and tumble of politics. He will like to serve the country again as a government functionary, rather than as a pm or a prez. Both of them are creative thinkers. But MR is the politician of the two. It is a pity that the majority fools of the country seem to take their mortally threatened status (because they helped defeat terrorism) for granted and to be ready to leave them to their fate as if they led the war effort for personal gain, and for nothing else.
“Writer declined an invitation to the podium at the seminar, felt uncomfortable in the company of a few disreputable that makes Gota, no more than a provider of sub standard intellectual feeder to his brother’s ancient wannabe cabinet. Gota committed hara-kiri at a posh seminar while a few good men lost their independence in the allotted six minute cameos to be branded as Gota boys” while the corrupt thrived in showing they are soon in business on the back of Gota’s name to mar him success in politics.” Thank you, Dayasri, for not wasting valuable time by taking the podium at that meeting.
Gota is not a substandard intellectual feeder. He is a thinker of a high standard. He is no idle thinker either. Given the right sponsorship, he will prove to be an efficient enforcer as well.
“The ‘man of the match’ was Mahinda Rajapakse – his domineering personality made his kid brother look juvenile. Gota in a cabinet will play a lesser role than as Defence Secretary: being feeble in the tricky unaccustomed art of politics.” You are not 100% correct here.
If Gota’s lack of experience showed, that was only natural. But they are working in tandem, not against one another.
“UNP dropped a ‘sitter’ in a dream situation. They had overcome MR, colossus that won the war overcoming terrorism that created a mini world record; brought a majority of the SLFP under the UNP fold to present a coalition govt; split the SLFP down the centre; won goodwill by restoring the independence of justice; made friends with the heirs of terrorism in the north; replaced the opposition in the hands of a sympathetic TNA;” A load of bullshit!
You ignore the now universally accepted and well known fact that the 2015 regime change was engineered by the West, India and the Tamil economic refugees in the West by bribing traitors to the nation. Your other claims also ring hollow, you poor decrepit Dayasri.
“Both Ranil and MR are fighting for survival and have no time to think long.” An utterly wrong comparison!
Ranil is fighting for survival. True. But to say that he has no time to think long. He doesn’t need any for that. He devotes all the time at his disposal for trying to keep MR back, which, of course, is a curse for the wellbeing of our motherland.
September 13th, 2017 at 6:41 pm
@Vaisrawana
My two cents worth on your comment since the writer may not respond.
Re: Sampanthan. The writer compares him to the rest of the TNA, particularly to the challenger. It is not an across the board comparison
“Ranil is less self-centred than Mahinda”. This is a factual statement going by the 2015 election. If Ranil was as self-centred as Mahinda, he would have contested instead of Sirisena and lost. This is the problem with Mahinda. In his inability to allow a non-Rajapaksa contest the 2019 election on their behalf, they have limited options and possibly can cost them victory in 2019.
Not just the 2015 election but also the 2005, 2010 and 2019 elections were/will be influenced by the West, Tamil diaspora, etc. This is a fact. We need a candidate who can defeat all these than complain.
Eliya team has well known federalists and the same old crowd that was rejected twice by the people in 2015. They must be replaced for it to go ahead.
“Both Ranil and MR are fighting for survival and have no time to think long.” This is a fact. Both must stop, take time and take stock of the situation.
The best chance for the Rajapaksa camp to get back to power is to field someone outside the clan who can amass Sirisena votes and JVP votes. Otherwise they stand no chance of winning. Gotabhaya stood a great chance of winning the presidential election in 2015. That golden opportunity was wasted.
It is best to read into what the messenger says than shoot the messenger. Facts remain unchanged whether the messenger is praised or shot.
September 13th, 2017 at 7:10 pm
Who ever wins will be the one backed by India and Cabal and Cartel of local Indian colonial parasites.
This has been the case since 1956.
Bandas- JRJ- Premadas- Mahinnda- Sirisena.
The recipe has been simple, divide the Sinhala vote with money from India, and Cartel and Cabal of Indians and then cast the Indian colonial parasite block vote to the one backed by India.
September 13th, 2017 at 9:06 pm
@Christie
If so, it is Mahinda who will come to power next time, because India is not happy at all with Ranil/My3 after giving H’tota to China.
September 14th, 2017 at 1:21 am
Dayasri has lost his marbles for sure. You are spot on Vaisravana except for one tiny detail.
Ranil put Fonseka in 2010 and Sirisena in 2015 only to avoid himself being defeated by MR. In either case Ranil would have been kicked out of the UNP.
Ranil is hanging on for his survival whose days are numbered but its not the case with MR.He is a king in waiting.
September 14th, 2017 at 3:35 am
A few key words Voters will have to use when choosing a future Leader :
TIME TESTED, PATRIOTIC, TRUSTWORTHY, ABLE, NON-PARTISAN WITH FOREIGN POWERS WITH LANKA FIRST, LANKA FIRST IN ALL FOREIGN DEALS – LANKA FIRST !
Please add other Key Words.
September 14th, 2017 at 4:30 pm
@Fran
Absence of nepotism and corruption charges, opposed to power devolution (supports otherwise power sharing), objective and clear mind (without running after astrologers, soothsayers and aliens), modest lifestyle of self and family and not rejected by the people previously. He must not be a citizen of a foreign country, particularly those neo-colonial messed up nations including the UK and USA.
September 15th, 2017 at 3:27 am
Beggars cannot be choosers! In Sri Lanka, there is a serious lack of leadership material.
This is the reason we still have to support Mahinda and Gota. They are proven and well-rounded leaders who carry the people’s trust – of course not of the racist Tamils and Jihadi Muslims and a majority of Christian / Catholics, whose votes are fiat votes that are dictated by their leaders, their mullahs or church leaders. If Sri Lanka is to make progress and move forward we need leaders of Mahinda and Gota’s caliber. In the coming years, we should be able to attract many former armed forces personnel of proven leadership material into politics. Sirisena and Ranil have demonstrated beyond any doubt how ineffective they are as leaders.
What we have in politics in the country today are mostly illiterate thugs and boot lickers who have educated themselves on the fine art of surviving in politics hook or by crook. In comparison to Sri Lanka, there are better and more educated politicians in third world African countries than in Sri Lanka! I hope Gota’s Vyath Maga will become a means to attract the educated and the learned into the political fray.
It is leaders who make it possible to make progress in nations. Democracy and Human Rights are just distracting slogans that are now established as the latest tools of Western Capitalist nations to destabilize the rest of the developing world. It is patently clear that these countries do not care tuppence about these high ideals when it comes to affairs in their own countries as British Prime Minister Theresa May demonstrated recently.
A nations forward march should not be sacrificed at the altar of unrealistic high ideals. South Korea, Malaysia or Singapore will not be where they are today if not for their authoritarian leaders.