Grievances of The “Mango Friends”-Comment

By Darmitha-Kotte

Sacked former ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi have resorted to a very normal method of reaction in retaliation for the punishment they received at the hands of President Rajapakse- “go on an all out war of words and excuses to justify their actions.”

It is often extremely difficult for people in this country to accept their mistakes humbly, therefore it is to be expected that a mud-slinging campaign will follow suit. Just like the person who expressed his views that he was happy he was out of “the carnival of clowns” when he was sacked, these two former ministers also have many accusations which are coming out only now after they have been kicked out! It is very similar to “a divorce” proceeding between two wedded partners-abuse is the order of the day.

Children in this country are being taught by NGOs that they have “child rights” and can fight against the authority of their parents over them; school children are taught that they can assault and abuse the Principals and Teachers in their schools (worse still is that their parents come to join in the assaults); the youth of this country are encourages to break “the shackles of authority” of their parents over them and encouraged to come out and enjoy free sex and promiscuity for which “condoms” are promoted; university students are taught that they can put their Lecturers, Chancellors/Vice Chancellors under “house arrest” for taking disciplinary action against misdeeds( this is done by political wings active in universities) and we have MPs and Ministers who think that they are not answerable to the Head of their Government – the Executive President of Sri Lanka.

Something is wrong in all these situations-discipline is very sadly lacking just as much as the sense of responsibility vested in them by the masses who vote them in. All politicians have forgotten that they are “ the servants of the people” and that they are expected to set the example for others to follow. To get parliamentarians to attend Parliament-the Government must pay Rs.500/= per day! If not to attend Parliament and serve the people, why were they elected or why did they come forward for elections?

Mangala Samaraweera:

Mangala Samaraweera has put forward a 10 point plan to The President which are:
(1) a clearly defined action plan to address the grievances of those who ensured your victory;
(2) Limit the Cabinet to 35 members;
(3) Re-establish Samurdhi Authority;
(4) Protecting human rights and guaranteeing media freedom;
(5) develop friendly relations with India and the international community;
(6) work towards finding a political solution to the ethnic conflict;
(7) create an environment for the business community where they can conduct business in a peaceful manner;
(8) renew SLFP-UNP MoU so that the government can win the support of JVP;
(9) reduction of cost of living and stop corruption and wastage;
(10) stop bribery wastage and corruption.

It is strange that having been a Cabinet Minister under Chandrika Kumaratunga for 11 years, Mangala Samaraweera never thought of bringing up the above points to her and her government which (inclusive of her own personal participation was full of corruption, bribery and wastage.

Talking of wastage, it is a very well known fact that Mangala Samaraweera himself has been one of the biggest wasters under both CBK and President Rajapakse- each time he has to re-furbish his own office, the cost goes into millions of rupees which is unnecessary-why did he not see his own wastage?

When he did the Galle Face Green landscaping it is learnt that the 40 odd Palmyrah trees lining the Galle Road were transported at a cost of over Rs.100,000 per tree all the way from the North and they have withered away due to the proximity to the sea and the humidity.

When the first batch got burnt out, another batch was transported and re-planted. Anyone who goes to Galle Face can bear witness to this phenomenon! Is this not wastage? Or shall we call it impracticality at State expense?

This was how he planned to “merge the North and South!” When he raised his hand in support to offer the now famous “Madiwela Land” worth millions at the suggestion of Minister Dinesh Gunawardane to CBK “free of charge” do we consider that as bribery, corruption or wastage?

Not so long ago under the CBK government, Mangala Samaraweera at one point was Minister- in-Charge of Media- the “freedom of expression” people enjoyed at that time, is still quite vivid in the minds of our people. The matter of “human rights” at the time is also quite well known.

There is no need to “re-new” the SLFP-UNP MoU because we saw in the news media Mr. Rukman Senanayake tearing the MoU-it was not President Rajapakse who did that! May be Mangala Samaraweera should talk to Ranil Wickramasinghe about it?(cross-overs from UNP took place because of the human rights and freedom of expression record of Ranil Wickramasinghe!).

Sri Lanka does not have “ an ethnic conflict” in this country. What we have is a “terrorist war” between the LTTE and
(1) the Tamil community at large who are yearning for peace and normalcy and who support the GOSL,
(2) the Government and State Organs
(3) the Sinhala and Muslim community who are being harassed, murdered and “cleansed” in the North and East- where is there an “ethnic conflict” when all communities are living harmoniously in all other parts of the country except in the North and East?

As far as relations with India and the international community is concerned there does not seem to be any problem provided anti-government elements like Ranil Wickramasinghe(who has visited India many times in the recent past for reason best known to him) will keep themselves from making mischief in the belief that they are being extremely patriotic when they instigate to divide the country into fragments according to western dictates.

What is the political solution except elimination of terrorists, when they do not want peace because, they survive only as long as they hold onto their arms and murder the innocents. They have no future among the Tamil community who have been terrorized for nearly 30 years-the GOSL is actually helping the majority of Tamils living in this country by taking a firm stand against fragmentation.

Why is the “Samurdhi Authority” so important, Mangala Samaraweera had better explain further?

There seems to be no major problem for the business community except for the fake INGOs and NGOs who have been fanning the terrorist war for their own economic survival in Sri Lanka- Mangala Samaraweera had best count the number to find out how many thousands of anti-national elements are thriving doing business in this country instead of leaving our shores- they just love it here and extend their stay for the perks they enjoy in our poor, developing and war ravaged country! They want the war to continue to find excuses for them to stay on.

He also has a grouse that key ministries come under the purview of The President including Finance, Rural Economic Development, Samurdhi and Regional Development plus Land Reforms Commission, The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, Gemediriya, Gama Neguma and PERC. Does he remember how many ministries and organizations were taken over by CBK during her tenure including a part of his own ministry at one time! President Rajapakse has very good reasons as to why he has taken them under his wing because many irregularities were taking place and these sections directly involve “Mahinda Chinthanaya” planning- I suppose he needs to have a check on it. Provided he had a set of ministers he could trust to carry out these policies without personal agendas, he would not have taken this step.

Sripathi Sooriyarachchi:

Also shot out many wild allegations against The President and has also found a lame excuse as to why he was unable to attend a vital parliamentary session on grounds that traffic blocks prevented him from arriving on time! We all know how the ministerial convoys fly past traffic to facilitate punctual arrivals and it is very strange that his vehicle in particular was blocked!

He too joins Mangala Samaraweera in hurling accusations against the government. In the near future, we will hear more of the reasons for the decision taken by The President. Conspiracies of any kind to destabilize the government, must be thwarted.

When he makes wild allegations against our Armed Forces, it is quite obvious Mr. Sooriyarachchi does not know what guerilla war is all about? He is also exposing the fact that he sides with the terrorists rather than the government and our Combined Forces who are out there to sacrifice their lives, for our sake and his as well! His attitude of ingratitude is something he should be ashamed of as a politician in this country.

It is quite obvious that Sripathi Sooriyarachchi with his wild allegations is trying to create dissention between the Armed Forces, Karuna Faction as well as the LTTE which makes it questionable as to which side he is standing on- terrorists or the democratically elected government and the people?

Conclusion:

Under the Executive Presidency system, all parliamentarians must know that they have a bounden duty to work wholeheartedly and unitedly to implement government policies. The President is the Head of Government and loyalty, sincerity and efficiency must be ensured for the government to succeed. If a section of the team were to pull in a direction that is detrimental to the national security and sovereignty of the country, then it is upto the Head of Government to take appropriate action to instill discipline within the team.

We do not condone “Jumbo Cabinets” in any way but if opposition members disgruntled with the UNP Leader’s incompetence wish to do “some work” for the country (which they failed to do earlier while in power), then they should be given the opportunity to prove their worth.

There is no doubt that if they do not perform, appropriate action will be taken against them as well. In many other countries in the world, politicians (government or opposition) work together when the nation is facing a crisis to protect “their nation”- why should we not do the same in this country?

Thanks to late JR Jayawardane and his policies, it is indeed sad that the calibre of persons entering politics in our country during the last 30 years, has deteriorated to extremely low levels and this is the main reason why there is so much of “corruption, bribery and wastage” as Mangala Samaraweera states in his complaints.

This country has been turned into a breeding ground of avaricious and self-serving politicians who are mostly looking for perks and financial benefits but do not think they owe any service to the nation.

Even at this late stage if discipline could be established, then maybe in the next twenty five years we may hopefully see a different class of politicians emerging- is this only an idealistic dream?