Cannot go back to ‘Premadasa era’ – Mahinda
Posted on September 26th, 2019
Courtesy Adaderana
Trade and commerce have suffered great losses under the incumbent government, claims Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He made these remarks addressing the national convention on businesses at the Sri Lanka Exhibition & Convention Centre in Colombo this morning (26). The event was held under the patronage of SLPP presidential aspirant, former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Opposition Leader.
Commenting further, he said the ‘Good Governance’ government has Sri Lankan rupee had depreciated against the US Dollar marking the selling price per 1 USD as Rs 182. He added that, in 2014, under his administration, the selling price of Sri Lankan rupee against the US Dollar stood at Rs 131.
However, the export earnings have not increased,” the Opposition Leader said, pointing out that due to the devaluation of the rupee, the debt burden of the nation has increased to Rs 1,790 billion.
We paid close attention to loan interest. We maintained single-digit interest rates during our time,” Rajapaksa said further.
The country is not moving forward as unsuitable leaders were appointed to lead the nation, the Opposition Leader claimed.
Speaking on SLPP’s presidential rival Minister Sajith Premadasa and his father’s administration, Rajapaksa said the country cannot go back to a ‘Premadasa era’.
September 26th, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Sajith has far less support than Gotabaya among Sinhalas.
However, Sajith is not Premadasa (senior). He has no war crimes, murder or abduction allegations. Sajith is educated and has the support of educated sections of the UNP.
However, Sajith seriously lacks leadership skills.
If he is a leader, he should be able to win JVP support as both suppose to cater to the same vote base. He cannot win against Gotabaya at this stage but he can easily defeat Chamal.
September 26th, 2019 at 5:52 pm
I hope Sajith (although I don’t like what he did last 2 months) will become another Bandaranakaye and destroy other candidates completely. Create fever and heart attacks on these greedy old men.
Good sign was Patali supporting him. Hopefully they will formulate tricks such as,
1. Bring up the federal issue BIG and promise to ONE COUNTRY by removing 13A.
2. One LAW for all
3. Protect heritage ( which he stole 20 years ago when his daddy was in power)
If he can do some creative, innovative tricks to beat others, OTHERS will change too (FEAR of Failure). This is the only way Sinhalaya can survive until proper nationalist leader arrives.
September 27th, 2019 at 12:48 am
Clear-cut daylight robbery here.
වරාය නගර ව්‍යාපෘතිය සඳහා අවශ්‍ය වැලි කියුබ් මිලියන 3ක් සඳහා භූ විද්‍යා සමීක්ෂණ හා පතල් කාර්යාංශය වෙත චීන සමාගමෙන් ලැබිය යුතුව තිබූ මිලියන 625ක මුදලක් 2013 වසරේදී නීතිවිරෝධී ලෙස වරාය අධිකාරිය සම්බන්ධ කරගනිමින් කපා හැර ඇති බව කෝප් කමිටුවේදී අනාවරණය වූ අතර එම චීන සමාගමෙන් අයවිය යුතු මුදල නැවත අයකර ගැනීම සඳහා කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාවක් යොමුකරන ෙලෙස කෝප් කමිටුව නිර්දේශ කරන ලදි.
2019-09-18 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තු කෝප් කමිටුව විසින් භූ විද්‍යා සමීක්ෂණ හා පතල් කාර්යාංශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සිදුකළ විමර්ෂණ‌ෙයේදී මේ බව අනාවරණය විය.
එම සම්පූර්ණ වැඩසටහන – https://youtu.be/p0ISptZV3wI
September 27th, 2019 at 7:06 am
The big PLUS that Sajith has over his rivals is his GENUINE love for the underprivileged.
We need infrastructure development. We need investments. But not to make the rich richer.
Sajith brings with him the promise of a new dawn for the villagers and the villages of this country.
Voices against him say that giving things free is not the solution. Yet to empower the poor they have to be placed on secure foundations. Housing is the most important among them. It is having a roof over one’s head that endows one with aura of self-respectability. A sense of respectability creates a new identity. People who have nothing cannot give something to others. Indeed nothing comes from nothing.
Sajith with his inherited vision will surely know how much a home and work counts in uplifting the poor.
Give the homeless homes. give the unemployed work.
It is now the time to engage in developing the country by developing the villages which also means developing the villagers. With Sajith one can expect a return to the country’s roots: gama, wewa, dagaba.
The idea of making this country a Singapore is ridiculous: it is sheer nonsense. We hae a glorious past that Singapore does not have. Developing this country means imbibing from its rich heritage.
Mario Perera, Kadawata
September 27th, 2019 at 4:03 pm
Dilrook saysb
“Sajith is not Premadasa (senior). He has no war crimes, murder or abduction allegations.”
YES, but that means HE DODGED his DUTY to do what Gota and Mahinda did to SAVE our Nation and our LIVES.
People WHO DO NOTHING usually have “clear records” WITHOUT ALLEGATIONS, because DOING SOMETHING means those who are affected, will cry foul, even if they are KNEE DEEP in CRIMINAL ACTIVITY. In Gota’s case it is the MURDEROUS LTTE and the Tamils who supported him for 30 long years who are the REAL WAR CRIMINALS!
They are the TRUE WAR CRIMINALS, but NOW ALL of them have become WEEPING INNOCENT VICTIMS! Bah! Stuff & Nonsense!
Dilrook also said
“Sajith is educated and has the support of educated sections of the UNP.”
WHAT the !#**? Sajith could not even pass the GCE O/L. His father, the then President, sent him abroad to get SOMETHING! He attended a college but did not sit for the exams and graduate like a normal student. Because he was the SL President’s son, they gave him a restricted “honorary” degree which is what we call a PIN PASS!
No, Sajith is FAR FROM EDUCATED in the Normal Sense of the word!
Why are you trying so assiduously to WHITEWASH & REHABILITATE this MUTT of a formerPresident’s son and give him a NEW FABRICATED IDENTITY??
Come ON, Dilrook! Give us a BREAK from this horse manure!
September 27th, 2019 at 5:19 pm
WHY SAJITH PREMADASA MATTERS:
”The failure of the State of Sri Lanka can be explained in terms of the decline in the rural agriculture and diminution of the livelihood of the rural peasantry.”
Victor Ivan in
OURS IS A FAILED STATE
Daily FT
27 Sept.2019
Mario Perera, Kadawata
September 27th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
@Ananda
I don’t wish to see Sajith or Chamal or Gotabaya as president. I prefer Mahesh, Naga or Gamini.
However, facts are facts.
Please listen to MR’s speech. He talks about tyre pyres and tries to relate it to Sajith. Won’t stick.
Sajith (and Gota) are no clever men by any means if you listen to their plans. Very cheap. But the fool helped the poorest of the poor. He could have easily settled for a Colombo, Gampaha or Kalutara district candidacy in parliamentary elections. Winning it is very easy. But he chose to do it the hard way. He made it from London to Giruwapatthuwa whereas others made it the other way! He holds his political meetings in muddy grounds with common people, not in seven star foreign (emphasis) hotels with a ticket price over $200.
Needless to say SL’s poor have become poorer since 2009. The biggest recruiter of the poor shut its doors. Massive loans and interest tax the poor to the hilt. Over 85% of loans are channeled to the north and east by both Rajapaksas and Yamapalanaya. But unless the poor is saved, there is no economic future for SL.
If SL is to remain as one nation (I have very serious reservations on this if SL’s Sinhala Buddhist identity cannot be reestablished.) we need a leader who is backed by Sinhalas, Tamils and Muslims. Sajith has all that but Gota does not. Gota is only a Sinhala leader. He is not a national (Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim) leader. Tamil Eelam Perumal cannot bring Tamil votes. Tamil people are not that (emphasis) ultra separatist.
September 27th, 2019 at 5:32 pm
@Mario
Does SL need a president who holds meetings in a seven star foreign (very high emphasis) hotel with a ticket price of $200 (I was invited but I gave that money to an orphanage in Kalutara), or a president who holds his meetings in a village muddy puddle?
(Sajith is a little foolish compared to Gota which is beside the point.)
From the time you land at BIA you see poverty. Over 22% of children under 5 are suffering chronic malnutrition (the worse in Asia after Afghanistan). As a man with my conscience still in tact, I felt guilty to go to such places.
Going after politicians has messed up people’s moral compass. It always points towards their political masters, to hell with what is right.
September 27th, 2019 at 5:54 pm
Sajith knows how to fool poor people. Opponent knows how to fool ‘poor, average and high income’ people. Both do not know a way of fooling honest, intelligent and good people because they cannot be fooled.
This election is about a fight between intelligent and the fool.
The fool will have the pleasure of winning the election but will loose the country.
September 27th, 2019 at 8:15 pm
“Sajith (and Gota) are no clever men by any means if you listen to their plans. Very cheap. But the fool helped the poorest of the poor.”
Now that Dilrook has acknowledged above that Sajith is a FOOL, and not quite the “EDUCATED” man he had claimed
he changes tack now, and says that by “helping the poorest of the poor” Sajith has gained the necessary credentials to be President!
NOT SO! I can name a thousand compassionate people who “help the poorest of the poor”, but they are UNIFORMLY UNSUITED to serve as President!
A President must have CLARITY of a COHESIVE LONG TERM VISION for the Nation, and the INTESTINAL FORTITUDE to make the HARD CHOICES required DEFEND & PROTECT the Nation and its PEOPLE.
Furthermore, he must be an EFFECTIVE LEADER able get things done to COMPLETION; not just PROPOSE grandiose plans and abandon them MIDSTREAM and switch to a new set of proposals at the first sign of trouble.
Gota has DEMONSTRATED his VISION, his commitment to PURPOSE, his PERSISTENCE and his ability to PREVAIL against INSURMOUNTABLE odds. That is what we need in a President.
A well meaning person who lavishly spends the National Budget building thousands of matchbox homes for the poorest of the poor on the eve of an ELECTIONin which he hopes to be elected President, like Sajith has done, does not quite fit the requirements for the job of President!
Neither does the Chief Thief Ranil Ali Baba Wikunanasinghe who during his long tenure at the helm of the UNP has not been able to continue his stewardship of the ship of state without being FORCED TO ABANDONSHIP half way, EVERYTIME!
He has during that TENURE DRIVEN the ONCE PROUD UNP into the ground with his Machiavellian exercise of the UNP party leadership, pitting its emerging leaders against each other, and driven all potential alternatives to him right out of the party!
He has done that as UNP Leader, and he has done that as the Prime Minister of the country …. EVERYTIME!
September 28th, 2019 at 6:46 am
Whatever be the terms we use to describe the chief contenders for the presidency of Sri Lanka, we still cannot avoid the fact that the winner will be either Sajith of Gota. So has the system destined it to be. Many of us, commentators, have a radical issue with the system (the institutions and the procedures grounded on or dictated by or even assumed to be deriving from, the constitution). The truth of the matter however is that the vast majority of the electors will vote for one or the other above mentioned contenders. Whether their meetings are held, as Dilrook puts it, ”in a seven star foreign (very high emphasis) hotel with a ticket price of $200”. or ”in a village muddy puddle” the electors have no other choice.
It is also true that ”From the time you land at BIA you see poverty. Over 22% of children under 5 are suffering chronic malnutrition (the worse in Asia after Afghanistan).” Poverty will also be. As a great religious leader once said: the poor you will” always have with you”. The observation mentioned between brackets is quite obvious when it comes to a country such as Sri Lanka where the vast majority of the population range from less than lower middle class to the poorest in the literal sense. The overwhelming majority of such poor live in villages which are infinitely greater in number than the petty urban areas of the country.
Urban poverty is generally the overflow of rural poverty. The poor youth (especially) leave their rural settings to wander into the urban areas in search of jobs and the better living conditions that come with it. But the country being so poor, such opportunities are sadly extremely restricted. And so the vast majority of these youth find themselves exiled in townships and their suburbs. they easily are led to have recourse to illegal means to keep ‘body and soul’ together. The easiest is access to narcotics. Being so poor and so destitute does not mean that they do not fall in love and procreate children (naturally out of wedlock) who are as or more miserable than they are. That chronic malnutrition is the lot of such children is an obvious conclusion. And so poverty and accompanying misery get multiplied in geometric proportions.
The best solution to this problem is the development of infrastructures and mob opportunities WITHIN the villages. That is the best possible way to prevent or stem migrations into urban areas and the confrontation with hopelessness.
The question immediately in issue is, which of the two candidates above mentioned would make it his vocation to ventures into these villages – into village muddy puddles, totally bent on redressing this situation at village level?
A president with such a mentality and attitude will necessarily have to undergo a radical metamorphosis in his life style. No more palatial residences and no more super luxury transport facilities. No more elitist minded colleagues. Such a life style will invariably gather around him similar minded co-workers. It will invariably ostracize seekers of luxury and opulence. Such a pattern of thinking and living will indeed be of a revolutionary nature being a radical break from the past.
Mario Perera, Kadawata
September 28th, 2019 at 8:12 am
Please read:
The best solution to this problem is the development of infrastructures and MORE opportunities WITHIN the villages.
Mario
September 28th, 2019 at 2:51 pm
@Mario,
You accidentally wrote the correct one, which actually exists right now.
“MOB” opportunities have been created in the villages.
“The mob” start at village level and capture “Pradeshiya Sabhas”.
Then it goes to “Palaath Sabha”, and finally, to Battaramula Hora Guhawa.
As always, I am more optimistic, within a short time, intelligent voters will educate the fools and fool’s paradise will soon be destroyed. A new Dahmmadeepa will be created.
Let me stress, there is no point of any PLAN without straightening the barbed wire entangling the whole country. That is the thought of STEALING from others.
No where in the world, BORUWA ruled forever.
Most of the 225+++ are mentally sick, sickest of them get selected be the presidential candidate. It is time for some VERY BRAVE competent psychologists to come forward and declare this.
September 28th, 2019 at 7:46 pm
Dear Randeniyage,
I hope you are right
Kind regards
Mario