A Stark Revelation That Probably Has Frightening Implications Towards The Well Being Of Sri Lanka
Posted on January 27th, 2015
In Retrospect By Sarath Kumara
January 24th 2015
The following item carries startling as well as revealing information about how the unitarity of the Sinhala Nation once again may have been compromised through covert cunning and how the voting was manipulated to appease Western Powers through Indian involvement and the craftiness of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremasinghe! This also points to a conspiracy of major proportions.So how can the nation trust such opportunists if this is verifiably true regardless of the Chinese angle and the various interpretations which deemed it unsavoury~ not for the Nation of Sri Lanka but those who mulled China’s empathy towards Sri Lanka as detrimental to their own agendas including India!?
And in the greater picture one might be inclined to ask” So what has India done for Sri Lanka in a positive sense that could come within even a fraction of the astronomical assistance provided by China towards what Sri Lanka is today?
Will Sirisena and his allies now reach out to India to reconstruct the Adam’s Bridge at Talaimannar so that Tamil Nadu could have free and unlimited access to saving the “poor suffering Tamils ” while also helping themselves to a piece of the action they have longed for during generations yet thwarted by Sri Lanka’s Sovereignity conscious leaders who have kept India at bay?
While there is popular belief in Sri Lanka that the Election was manipulated through extraneous as well as internal conspiratorial means this item seems to confirm it as well as suggest the manner in which it was done.
As it is a well known fact that both Chandrika K and Ranil W were waiting for just such an opportunity, it is bewildering as well as alarming that such manoeuvring was so easily accomplished and exposes them as well as their allies including Maithripala Sirisena for the bunch of conniving opportunists they are and always have been.
Certainly not a good prospect for the well being of Sri Lanka where based upon the sinister moves pointed out here it may also be an opportune time to make amends and scuttle them out of power as well as any appreciable control of the Nation’s administration at the forthcoming General Elections before greater harm is done to the Nation.
Already there are signs that these are not compassionate tolerant people but some hell bent on extracting revenge, invading the privacies of dignified past Administrators using thuggery and intimidation and undoing much good done by the Rajapaksa Administration from many perspectives that brought recognition to Sri Lanka.
It is as though the present setup is spankingly clean where some of the Sirisena crew also carry dubious track records and shamefully so where in a recent news item they have been described as nincompoops, morons, criminals and thugs and perhaps not far from the truth although these descriptions in a general sense seem to be a feature of most incumbent rulers in varying degrees where once again no one is spankingly clean!!
Most unfortunately towards the metaphor, some of them are indeed traitorous, dangerous as well as untrustworthy individuals who now claim power in Sri Lanka using the Mahinda Rajapaksa Administration’s lapses as as excuse towards what could be a projection of huge inconsistencies, security lapses as well as a massive dent in the nation’s economy if self centered pseudo legislators such as these are allowed to continue their power hungry way with their usual bi-furcated idealogies and forked tongued insinuations and incrimination in a disgusting betrayal of trust and patriotism that suggests only self centered motivations.
It now appears to be plainly visible that these are not individuals to whom the Nation can be entrusted towards smooth functioning, posterity, a continuation of the growth patterns initiated by the previous Administration globally acclaimed, as well as securing Sovereignity, Security and Territorial Integrity being individuals whose past track records have always indicated their incapacities towards, bunglings and shortcomings extending to more than a single term in office.
Hopefully the previous administration would have by now learned where they went wrong albeit bitterly and regretfully where there is always the possibilities that Mahinda Rajapaksa will once again rise as a Phoenix from the ashes of this connived defeat to be the true leader of Sri Lanka and make amends where there are many who continue to love, admire and respect him despite his shortcomings and the likes of Chandrika and Ranil are reviled with the latest to be categorized thus being none other than Maithripala Sirisena himself who has also chosen a group of individuals dangerous to the well being of the Nation and the Sinhalese community in all likelihood of being imperilled and dictated to by the vicious terrorist clan the LTTE ever in readiness to re- emerge and their sympathetic pseudo political backing the TNA as well as the Tamil Diaspora.The rhetoric emerging from the Sirisena camp certainly seems to be indicative of this!
But of course the art of Thespianism is not beyond anyone in the political climate of Sri Lanka today, quality notwithstanding where oratory of the highest calibre has been known to fool the masses in the past and seemingly quite apparent in the present.
The contents of this item need to be viewed not only with great trepidation and anxiety but also prudently in reading between the lines as to how the imminent dangers that may transpire at the hands of such administrators must now be thwarted while the previous Administration needs to be contrite about how such an eventuality ever transpired during its tenure. Much of it in the end perhaps attributable to Sinhala folly!
A danger that could prove to be eventually far worse that the LTTE and their Tamil Nadu sympathisers combined!
It is indeed a chilling prospect where once again there may be an opportunity for the true son of Lanka and his team to play a redemptorist role in the foreseeable future as the soothsayers predict!
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* * * * * * * *
Courtesy of RAW
By K. Ratnayake
21 January 2015
Fresh evidence has emerged pointing to a concerted international effort behind the defeat of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse in the country’s presidential election on January 8.
Reuters reported on Sunday that the Colombo station chief for India’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was recalled to New Delhi before the election, following complaints by the Sri Lankan government that he was helping the opposition parties.
India rejected any suggestion that it meddled in the Sri Lankan election. External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin insisted that the diplomat was recalled as part of a “normal transfer” after a three-year tour of duty in Colombo. The Reuters report, however, based on “political and intelligence sources” in India and Sri Lanka, said Colombo asked New Delhi to recall the agent “for helping gather support for joint opposition candidate Maithripala [Sirisena] after persuading him to ditch Rajapakse’s cabinet.”Sirisena, a senior cabinet minister, defected to the opposition in November, immediately after Rajapakse announced the date for an early presidential election.
Sirisena declared that he would run as the joint opposition candidate. The move was prepared well in advance by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, head of the pro-US United National Party (UNP). UNP leaders discussed this “election strategy” with senior US and UK diplomats in Colombo during early November.It is no surprise that India was also on board. Since the end of the communal war in Sri Lanka against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, New Delhi, like Washington, has been deeply hostile to the Rajapakse government’s economic and strategic relations with China. In 2013, India supported a US-sponsored resolution in the UN Human Rights Council to investigate war crimes in Sri Lanka as a means of pressuring Rajapakse to distance himself from Beijing.
According to Reuters, India was “stunned” when Chinese submarines docked twice in Colombo last September. An Indian security official told the news agency: “The turning point in the relationship was the submarines. There was real danger.” Alarm bells would also have rung in Washington. As part of its “pivot to Asia” to secure its hegemony in Asia, the US has been preparing war plans against China, premised on American naval supremacy in the Indian Ocean that would enable the US to cut off Chinese imports of energy and raw materials from Africa and the Middle East.The first suggestion that India was intervening in the Sri Lankan election was a brief item in the Colombo-based Sunday Times on December 28. It reported that allegations that “RAW’s Colombo station chief K. Ilango had links with the Common Opposition may have cost him his job in Colombo.” According to this report, Ilango’s normal term of service was over, but New Delhi had extended it. However, he suddenly received transfer orders after the Sri Lankan government urged his recall.The Sunday Times report was ignored during the election campaign. Both Rajapakse and Sirisena only hinted at their sharp differences over the alignment of foreign policy. They stifled a debate that could have alerted working people to the acute dangers posed by Sri Lanka’s growing entanglement in geo-political rivalries. Rajapakse, who sought to whip up nationalist sentiment by portraying himself as the victim of an “international conspiracy,” did not want to offend the India, the US and their co-conspirators by providing details of the plot.Sunday’s Reuters article cited an Indian official who said the then Sri Lankan defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, complained about “the agent’s activities to Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval” when Doval visited Colombo in late November to attend a defence seminar. After Doval’s return to New Delhi, the RAW station chief was recalled.During his visit, Doval not only met with Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother Gotabhaya but also with Wickremesinghe, Sirisena and Kumaratunga.
No details were reported, but undoubtedly Doval discussed India’s concerns over Rajapakse’s government, as well as the opposition’s election plans.Reuters provided details of the RAW agent’s activities, without actually naming him. According to Reuters sources, he was involved in “facilitating meetings to encourage several lawmakers, among them Sirisena, to defect from Rajapakse’s party.” The agent also played a role in convincing Wickremesinghe not to stand against Rajapakse, in order to make way for “someone who can win.” A Sri Lankan parliamentarian told Reuters: “They actively were involved, talking to Ranil [Wickremesinghe], getting those things organised, talking to Chandrika [Kumaratunga].
“Kumaratunga was the linchpin of the plot. A major figure in Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party, she had strong links to Sirisena and other MPs who defected. At the same time, she had close ties in Washington, including to the Obama administration, through her lengthy association with the Clinton Foundation.Wickremesinghe has not denied meeting with the RAW station chief, as well as the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo. His spokesman told theReuters that “they discussed the current political situation” but denied the Indian officials had “advised” Wickremesinghe.
Kumaratunga has remained silent on her discussions with the Indian agent.New Delhi played a significant role in lining up political support for Sirisena via the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main party of the Tamil ruling elite in Sri Lanka. For weeks, the TNA held off making any announcement about the presidential election. But after a trip to New Delhi by TNA leader R. Sambandan, the party openly backed Sirisena, helping to swing Tamil votes in the North and East behind the opposition candidate.Having won the election, Sirisena quickly shifted foreign policy to end Sri Lanka’s “international isolation”—in other words, to move closer to India, the US and its allies. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s first overseas trip was to New Delhi this week. Sirisena is due to visit India next month.In New Delhi, Samaraweera dismissed the Reuters report, declaring that “the people” toppled the Rajapakse regime in a popular uprising, which he compared to the “Arab Spring.” In fact, what happened was a carefully planned operation, backed by the US and India, to exploit widespread opposition to the autocratic Rajapakse government by falsely portraying Sirisena as the “democratic” alternative. Sirisena, Wickremesinghe and Kumaratunga represent layers of the ruling class hostile to Rajapakse’s cronyism and pro-China tilt. They will be just as ruthless in attacking the basic democratic and social rights of working people.The implications of the US and India intervention into the election are not limited to Sri Lanka. As geo-political tensions intensify, the ousting of Rajapakse makes clear that Washington will not tolerate any opposition and will resort to any means to secure its objectives, as it intensifies its preparations for war against China.
January 25th, 2015 at 6:25 pm
I believe this story. RAW may have been involved.
However, Rajapaksas are responsible for the destruction of the country and their stupid assumption that they can party forever by selling a war was the culprit.
Surely, voters will kick out rulers like this even if they are sure of a federal system will be introduced. It happened when Runil won last time and it will happen again , if Rajapaksas contest again.
Only way to clear this mess is find good team of SLFPiers ( not current Maha Raja friends) to contest. Sirisena should catch the thieves and put them in jail before this.
January 25th, 2015 at 6:38 pm
Please do not mislead yourselves by blinding yourself to the stark facts. Do not throw red herrings before your eyes and before those of others. The people were not bothered about the nonsense they were bombarded with day and night, to the absolute exclusion of every other point of view.
You damned well know how MR and his cohorts had recourse to every ‘BALU WEDA’ to keep their tails pointing skywards. Yet the people were not duped. MR and his cohorts and scribes cooked their own goose. They threw their own shit into the pot of curd that was their dream. The MR cohorts have shut their gaps, but the scribes are still on the rampage.
The revelations now appearing on all media papers and screens clearly and unambiguously indicate why Maha Raja was defeated. Do not try to throw dust before the eyes of the reading public.
Mario Perera
Kadawata
January 25th, 2015 at 7:15 pm
Forget SLFP and UNP. They are both full of former thieves criminals, killers and their children. both these parties don’t work for present Sri Lanka. Sri lanka needs a new party. The best thing is to fight for that.
Mahinda Rajapakse had a very unfair election as most of the media outlets, except Sirasa talked only about Mahinda Rajapakse and not about the Oppoistion candidate because of that, most of the rural people did not know about the opposition candidate and only they knew what that Maithri was with Muslims and Tamils even though that is not true.
Needs to think about a new party with some of the existing good politicians and some new nominations who don’t have shady characters.
As JHU suggested, MR could have talked with Modi another possibility and abolish the 13th amendment.
January 25th, 2015 at 7:21 pm
douglas said to Charles
“You still dabble in this vote analysis by indulging in “Tamil”, “Sinhala”, “Buddhist”,”Christian”, classification of votes and voters without getting to know that citizens of the country called Sri Lanka have equal right and “Freedom” to “choose” and vote the candidate whom they want.”
Now, in trying to educate Charles on voters right to decide whom to vote for, you are teaching your grandmother to suck eggs!
Charles LEARNED WELL before you learned your graduated from wearing nappies; he dos not need to be given a lesson on that.
But, what YOU HAVE TOTALLY MISSED in what Charles was SAYING, is that there is an issue here that goes beyond individual voter rights, that is related to how they VOTED EN BLOCK as COMMUNITIES.
You made the same CRITICISM when I pointed out the BLOCK VOTING PATTERN on the day after the Presidential Election. Unfortunately, I did not CALL YOU ON THAT THEN, but I am DOING SO NOW!
So douglas, my man, READ & LEARN why BLOCK VOTING by Communities is COMMUNAL and IS A PROBLEM for the cohesion of Sri Lankan Society and the future integrity of our Nation!
The Sinhala vote was SPLIT nearly 50-50, whereas the minority vote was OVERWHELMINGLY against the war-winning PATRIOTIC President who DEFEATED the SEPARATISTS, REUNIFIED Sri Lanka, and DEVELOPED it at a RAPID PACE never seen before in INDEPENDENT Sri Lanka …. all achievements that are UNDENIAL+BLY in the best interest of ALL Sri Lankans!
On the surface, the exercise of the freedom of choice by the minorities seems innocous but, here is the KEY POINT: If the MINORITIES were NOT COMMUNAL, they too would have voted nearly 50-50 for the two candidates. just like the majority community.
Why didn’t they? What drove them to vote SO DIFFERENTLY? If they feel and act like the majority community exercising their right to vote as they choose, why was that vote so lopsided and not spilt nearly 50-50 like the Sinhala majority?
Therefore, WE MUST CONCLUDE that BLOCK VOTING PATTERN is INCONTROVERTIBLE PROOF that they don’t SHARE THE SAME GOALS and ASPIRE TO A COMMON National DESTINY as the MAJORITY COMMUNITY! Does it mean that the Sinhala peoople are MORE BROAD MINDED, while the MINORITIES are NARROW MINDED looking to always enhance ONLY THEIR OWN COMMUNITY’s NARROW INTEREST? SELFISHNESS at PLAY, shall we say?
If so, we must ask, what DIFFERENT GOALS do they espouse?
If those goals are CONTRARY to those of the majority community, then are they patriotic or anti-national in the sense that they are INIMICAL to the Majority Vision of ONE Sri Lankan Nation, of ONE Sri Lankan People, sharing ONE Sri Lankan National DESTINY?
CLEARLY this Presidential Election showed that ALL MINORITIES, Tamil, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, VOTED in LOCKSTEP with each other to OUST President Mahinda Rajapaksa supported by the VAST MAJORITY of Sinhala Buddhists!
With that INCONTROVERTIBLE CONCLUSION, what can the Sinhala Buddhist community, against whom ALL MINORITIES are ganging up, DO?
In my view, there are SEVERAL IMPORTANT THINGS the Sinhala Buddhist Community should do:
1. CONTINUE TO ESPOUSE the VISION of ONE Sri Lankan Nation, of ONE Sri Lankan People, sharing ONE National Destiny with EQUAL RIGHTS and EQUAL RESPONSIBILITIES for all, irrespective of COMMUNITY. This is consistent with our Dharmishta Mindset as Buddhists, and will find acceptance throughout the world as both Just and Fair.
2. Recognize that it is the SPLITTING of the Sinhala Buddhist vote that ROBS US OF VICTORY, and RESOLVE: TO NEVER LET OUR VOTE BE SPLIT AGAIN, and THUS get ELECTED TO POWER again in the near future, and to DISMANTLE & REVERSE ALL STEPS CURRENTLY BEING TAKEN by current GOSL to undermine and weaken the governance of our Motherland.
In particular,
2.1 RESTORE the Executive Presidency as the MOST STABLE FORM of government for Sri Lanka threatened by a host of external enemies.
2.2 REMOVE Term Limits on the Executive President subject to 6-year Presidential Elections. A term limit is NOT NECESSARY to remove a non-performing president; an election is both NECESSARY & SUFFICIENT. STAGGER the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in time for GREATER Stability,
2.3 REPEAL the 13th Amendment and DISSOLVE the Provincial Councils replacing the PCs with Districts Administered by GOSL Appointed Government Agents. Provincial Governments ONLY serve as CENTERS of REBELLION against the Central Government, FRUSTRATES the National Will on National Development Programs, and CONSTITUTES another layer of USELESS Bureaucracy burdening the people. The FREEDOM to ELECT One’s Candidate to the National Parliament is SUFFICIENT FRANCHISE for any Law Abiding Citizen!
2.4 STRENGTHEN the Laws against TREASON and PROSECUTE Traitors to the Fullest Extent of the Law including those who CONNIVE with Foreign Powers to undermine the elected government of Sri Lanka, and to promote separatism within the country.
2.5 BAN ALL Political Parties and Organizations with Communal Separatist Agendas in their constitutions, party names and election platforms, WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
2.6 BAN ALL NGOs from accepting foreign funds, or collaborating with foreign powers, for ANY POLITICAL or RELIGIOUS MISSIONARY PURPOSE. We don’t lessons on “Human Rights” and “Democracy Building” from the GREATEST Violators of Human Rights, Destabilizing and Overthrowing POPULARLY ELECTED Governments across the world to sere their own National Agendas.
3. ENACT and ENFORCE Laws that INTEGRATE the Nation into ONE INDIVISIBLE SOCIETY, IGNORING the DIVISIVE SEPARATIST DEMANDS of the Minorities designed to convert Sri Lanka into a PATCHWORK of ETHNO-RELIGIOUS BANTUSTANS.
The GOSL should ENCOURAGE settlement by ALL Citizens in the North and East by every means possible, with the OBJECTIVE of achieving a UNIFORM DEMOGRAPHY throughout the Nation as the ONLY PERMANENT Solution to SEPARATISM. What the Tamils enjoy in the Western Province TODAY, the Sinhala People MUST be able to enjoy in the North & East. What is GOOD for the GOOSE, should be GOOD for the GANDER as well.
Anything else is RACIAL & RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION against the Sinhala People!
January 25th, 2015 at 7:29 pm
AnuD,
The problem is SLFP and UNP has a voter base. They always get 30%-40% votes.
You can’t say the parties are thieves. It is the individuals who are thieves. Another fact is Rajapaksa Ali Baba destroyed the possibility of introducing a new constitution with his 2/3 majority. Therefore everyone’s dream of abolition of Pallath Sabha have become a distant dream now. No one is dared to even think of abolition of 13A now , thanks to this Ali Baba
January 25th, 2015 at 7:43 pm
Nanda,
“Sirisena should catch the thieves and put them in jail before this.”
LOL !
That means he will have to put couple of his brothers into jails, together with current Finance Minister, CBK and a few more !!
January 25th, 2015 at 7:54 pm
Nanda,
If the parties cannot expel the individuals in the parties who are THIEVES, and if the individuals in the parties who are NOT thieves do not resign from them, then the whole parties become thieves !!
January 25th, 2015 at 8:08 pm
Wickrama,
You can LOL. But I said, “only way”. If that is not possible, you live with what you have.
January 25th, 2015 at 9:40 pm
Maha Raja is always is a Maharaja in our eyes nothing will change that. Foreign papers are telling that there was a coup plot by Indian and the western Mafia but still our Sinhala traitors who were helping the Yahapalana traitors are not believing because they are well paid stooges.
To put anyone in jail they must prove it without that how can anyone put someone in jail? what do you think just keep in mind the Opposition still have the power although their leader lost. Thief catcher Sirisena must catch his team mates first for their crimes against our people in the past not the Rajapksa’s. They were not only thieves but murderers and coup plotters too. First investigate them and then start the second stage to catch the people you are referring to.
Every traitor to this land want’s to have Rajapksa’s head but it will not be so easy to take it. They are all afraid of him because majority of the good people are still with him. They were blaming Rajapksa’s for giving everything to his family but see now what is happening at the moment, all their brother’s,sister’s Wives are in the cabinet or appointed to high posts in the Govt? Shame,Shame!!!!!
Ali Baba and the Forty thieves is the new Yahapalana Govt not anyone else. They plundered in millions when they were in power. They abused the authority and sold our country to the west and to Tamil Diaspora. No one can deny it as we the citizens of this country knows too well about these gangsters. Did anyone saw a country like now before 2005? what was the position now and then? If we go on with this Palanaya we will end up with disaster very soon believe me. Tamils and Muslims are planning and getting ready slowly,and cunningly. They know the habits of Sinhala stupids. “SINHALAYA MODAYA KAVUN KANNA YODAYA” once told by Portuguese. Day by day they get divided instead of united. We need to have a decent Govt with decent,uncorrupted, Educated (atleast a graduate) sons and daughters from every corner of the country. To do it we need to unite as one irrespective of color,party or religion. We have to save our country from all evil minds within and outside.
January 25th, 2015 at 10:28 pm
SL ISLAMIC terrorists may attack Obama? Hindustan Times.
“Indian intelligence agencies have issued alerts to Delhi police and other security agencies saying US President Barack Obama might be targeted by anti-national elements belonging to Sri Lanka or Maldives during his Delhi visit as the chief guest for the Republic Day parade.
A close watch is being kept on Sri Lankan and Maldivian nationals staying in India, particularly those with longer visa validity or whose visas have expired.
In their alert issued on January 15, intelligence agencies highlighted the possibility that Obama will be shown black flags by some Aam Aadmi Party sympathizers and Hindu Sena members to protest the US President’s visit. Hindu Sena opposed US granting $532 million to Pakistan for checking terrorism and accused US of adopting double standard. Alerts suggest that an AAP’s political advisor from Gujarat has been mobilising people to show black flags to the US President.”
– hindustantimes
Even if there are Islamic terrorists in SL, there is NOTHING we can do. But they will be FOOLISH to attack Obama!!!
January 25th, 2015 at 11:57 pm
OUR BUDDHISTS ARE SO IGNORANT OF WHAT IS GOING ON!
The Sinhala Buddhists do not realise how the country is being subverted. They have allowed themselves to be divided into the proMY3 and proMR camps through the clever appeal to ‘Seelacharaness’ and do not know what is happening under their noses. They have allowed the UNP (check out the International Democrat Union, a Christian far-right organization led by the US & West (see http://www.idu.org/history.aspx . The UNP as IDU member is pulling the strings of MY3 preaching from the moral high ground and keeping the Buddhists happy. Buddhists are stupidly ignorant of the fact that the US-led Western neocolonialists who have been committing more horrors than anything known on this planet before, have devised this plot with RW to regain control of SL through dividing the Buddhists and bringing the UNP back into power. Sinhalaya Modaya is so true!
Unfortunately and very sadly, the Sinhala people are being taken for a big ride in the name of “Seelacharaness” while Buddhism will be destroyed under their noses without them realizing how stupidly their Buddhist leaders were being led into this. Too bad the MR group allowed family and user-‘friends’ to get out of hand, and allow things to deteriorate to this without explaining to the nation and getting the true message out to Buddhists.
Many of the allegations against MR are no worse than what the UNP did when they were in power. The UNP are now pretending to be holier than thou as they proceed on the witch hunt against those who have been trying to protect the country against international intervention in cahoots with India to get SL under Western Christian control.
The educated Sinhala Buddhists of Lanka did little to win the war against the Tigers – they stayed in their comfortable homes in Colombo while the rural folks gave their sons for the effort. Now it is history being repeated all over again…
Our Buddhist UNP people will go down in history as the traitors. Unless MY3 understands how he is being manipulated we will be in the clutch of the neocolonial Christians, India, and the West.
Watch how things evolve…the Sinhala Buddhists who blindly choose to look the other way should take Responsibility for what happens.
January 26th, 2015 at 12:05 am
Why is my comment “under moderation”?
Is this the “freedom of speech” that was in the MY3 election manifesto??
January 26th, 2015 at 1:48 am
NL,
I’m only speaking for myself. Not for LW.
I don’t think there is any moderation. There is automatic moderation by wordpress for new commentators. Sometimes when you make a change to your profile it gets activated automatically. If there are links in the comments or certain words not allowed by wordpress then too it is not published.
But keep posting.
BTW My3 has NOTHING to do with this!!
January 26th, 2015 at 2:55 am
Let’s look at the bigger picture.
For arguments sake lets believe this theory of a foreign hand in “regime” change democratically elected by 6.2million Sri Lankans.
Are we saying these foreign hands had persuaded majority of Sri Lankans to their preferred candidate or massive vote rigging in N & E provinces, Nuwara Eliya and Western Districts? I don’t see MR or his Campaign Team complaining of such malpractice. I’m sure they will be the first to cry foul, umpire hora etc.
Under the 100 day program the Electorate have another chance to exercise their vote.
Why would these “foreign” hands go through the trouble of regime change (possibly at enormous expense) and go to the electorate again following constitutional changes?
The efforts of so called “regime change” by the foreign hands are in greater risks at General Elections.
Conspiracy Theorists may argue that as part of this foreign plan was to make MR a political non-entity at the General Election.
Lets wait and see what transpires at the General Election.
WE Sri Lankans have a wonderful sense of imagination if only we could put them into practice!!
January 26th, 2015 at 4:19 am
Research and Analysis Wing RAW is what Indians display to the world as its intelligence service. Among Indian Baratha leaders it is called Third Eye which is appropriate being Hindus. I have come across two of these agents when I was in the West. One was working in the media as a foreign editor and the other is Socialist. It was the Third Eye who backed Mahinda in 2005, Sarah Fonseca in 2010 and Sirisena (through Chandra) this time. India has its own British built union and its Empire to protect.
January 26th, 2015 at 4:21 am
(Chandrika)
January 26th, 2015 at 4:24 am
When the Emperor arrives let us display black flags.
January 26th, 2015 at 8:02 am
nilwala, Why is my comment “under moderation”? mine too.
definitely after MY3 election .
Lorenzo- not agreed
January 26th, 2015 at 8:04 am
sorry Nilwala mine is right opposite of your – I do get any moderation after election
January 26th, 2015 at 9:00 am
Newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Logeswaran Governor of Western Province on 23 January 2015
Now we-Tamil do not have anything to compliant.
Hon MS ,Now We have to believe your 100 day program. Well done Sir You have United Mother Lanka now.
January 26th, 2015 at 9:26 am
Nanda,
You are day dreaming Nanda. That’s why you wish that…
“Sirisena should catch the thieves and put them in jail before this.”
Most of you guys living out of reality. You wish one political thief to catch another political thief and put in jail. Do you think Sirisena is a fool to dig his own grave by attacking his only power base? Sirisena is the Obama in Sri Lanka. Chandrika, Ranil are the Clinton and Bushs. Sirisena cannot do anything unless he take a Kappetipolian decision to dump CBK and Runil.
Sri Lankan people who voted Sirisena- including you guys who glorified your unrealistic wishful thinking toward a victory of Sirisena will be written in the history as crass stupid bunch for cutting off your nose to spite your face.
This news item is not even news to me. I knew this is what will happen in the election. I had serious policy differences with MR. But I knew very well that shaking that pillar will result to collapse entire house. So my wish was to save MR at this crucial point of history. But what happened was disastrous.
January 26th, 2015 at 1:08 pm
Tamils protest against govt. and army in Jaffna and Trinco. NEWS BLOCKADE prevents this new from reaching others.
There are protests against the govt. and army camps in Jaffna and Trinco. People don’t hear because there is a NEWS BLOCKADE.
Lets see how this ends up. Hope MY3 will stand his ground unlike MR.
January 26th, 2015 at 1:15 pm
Quoting the article:
“…And in the greater picture one might be inclined to ask” So what has India done for Sri Lanka in a positive sense that could come within even a fraction of the astronomical assistance provided by China towards what Sri Lanka is today?”
the policy of New Delhi is that “Sri Lanka falls under her sphere of control”. that means India does not need to do anything to help Sri Lanka but Sri Lanka has to watch what she does and it is interpreted by India as a national threat to India.
China on the other hand does not consider Sri Lanka within her sphere, does not have a Tamil population to use as a “weapon’ or a diplomatic card with Sri Lanka. She has to work for it.
But one issue must be made very clear. SRI LANKA IS ONLY UNDER INDIA’S SPHERE OF CONTROL IN THE SOUTHERN REGION OF INDIA AND ONLY IN THAT REGION.
If South India were an independent nation the rest of India would not even consider Sri Lanka an issue. In that sense.
SOUTH INDIA IS ALSO UNDER THE SPHERE OF CONTROL OF SRI LANKA. COLOMBO BEING A CITY THAT COMMANDS A MILITARY AND HAS THE POWER TO MAKE ALLIANCES EFFECTS SOUTH INDIA AND BY THAT THE REST OF INDIA.
PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND. Anything that happens in Sri Lanka from now on MUST HAVE RAMIFICATIONS ON SOUTH INDIA.
THE BIRTH OF ELAM AGAIN WILL MEANS THE WAR WILL BE FOUGHT ON SOUTH INDIAN LAND
THE DELIBERATE ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE CHINA AND SRI LANKA NOW MEANS SOUTH INDIA PAYS IN ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.
THE FUTURE OF ELAM TAMILS (FOR THEY ARE NO LONGER JAFFNA TAMILS) MEANS THE FUTURE STABILITY OF SOUTH INDIA FROM CHENNAI TO BANGALORE. INDIA NOW PAYS DEARLY FOR ANY SUFFERING SHE INFLICTS ON SRI LANKA.
January 26th, 2015 at 1:39 pm
It is MAngala Samaraweera spoiled every thing.
When he said, that military camps would be with drawn and 13 would be implemented, LTTE fraction of Tamils started this.
It is Ranil and Mangala Screwing up Every thing.
It is Maithripala Sirisena who won it. Mangala Has jumped to the front.
January 26th, 2015 at 2:33 pm
AnuD,
You cannot defend My3 like this. It is the same as defending Maa-Hindaa, blaming others.
There is this “executive committee”. Everyone, including your God Ponseka is there. Champika is there. All these people too are responsible.
January 26th, 2015 at 2:36 pm
Lorenzo,
Any buggers rioting now should be arrested and put in Boossa and taught My3 Bhavana.
There is no reason for them to riot now. They go a leader who the voted for. They are very compassionate to them. What else they terribly need to riot ?
January 26th, 2015 at 2:46 pm
It is our leaders, our politicians who mislead us. NOte, foreign countries will never stop interfering us because they have their interests too. It is up to our leaders to defend our interests. CBK is west – educated (that is she was educated at all) and lived. Ranil Wickramasinghe is a Kalusuddha. Maithriapala sirisena is closer to a sinhala man.
So, there is lot of cleaning to do. At lest the president is desending from gamaralas. He also has to survive there. We need to get rid of the others. So, get ready for the general election and stop mourning for what is lost.
Simply understand Mahinda Rajapakse was a street thug and and ran Sri lanka like his street. His sons were play boys and thugs too. At least one brother was second only the great train robber. Now, it is past.
Look for the future. You guys did something good the day when Mahinda Rajapakse lost.
there are many more to get rid of.
If Sinhala-buddhsitts survived during the european time, they will survive unless we our selves destroy us.
January 26th, 2015 at 3:24 pm
Nanda,
NO WAY!
My3 won thanks to Tamil votes and he cannot jail Tamils NOW.
Endia is also behind Tamils. Jailing them now is NOT an option.
For Tamils, there is a SMALL window of opportunity until the parliament election where TNA will win ALL Tamil votes. They have to get everything they can BEFORE that.
Strike when the iron is hot!
January 26th, 2015 at 3:58 pm
Nanda,
I did not comment on your “only way” sentence.
My comment was on your utterly hilarious supposition that Sirisena should catch the thieves. !!
January 26th, 2015 at 5:01 pm
Anandaz USA: Thank you. One comment I have on your remark ” Your are teaching your grandmother to suck eggs”. I learned so many lessons from her and much valuable teachings than from you or Charles. I am grateful for her. “TIME” will heal your wounds.
January 26th, 2015 at 6:13 pm
The manner in which the new Maithripala government is taking revenge from the Rajapaksa clan, the Chief Justice, ministers and public officers is despicable. BASL is taking the law in its own hands and threatening the Chief Justice to resign! Such disgusting interference with the judiciary doesn’t happen anywhere in the world. Hatred is the governing principle of the new government, not good governance. There is little hope for the SLFP and democracy if Chandrika and Sirisena continue with the SLFP. Nationalists must exhaust all options to save the party from this vengeful duo. Otherwise the days of democracy is numbered.
What happens in Sri Lanka today resembles the immediate aftermath of General Zia Ul Haqq or Parvez Musharaff taking over Pakistan.
January 26th, 2015 at 6:15 pm
Ananda:
What you say is partly true and we brought it to the attention of the Mahinda regime many times since 2012. No interest was shown by the former president. Over 90% of borrowed funds were wasted on the north and the east. TNA and SLMC were empowered via the 13A. No attempt was made to dilute these parties by weakening 13A.
Now there is no chance of doing any of the proposals you make. The Indian proxy government has its own agenda. Saving the national identity is not one of them.
If you do the math, Mahinda lost not because of the minority vote which shows a drop of 3% for him from 58% in 2010 to 55%. Still he would have won a landslide. But his votes percentage shows a drop of 8% in areas other than the north, east and Nuwara Eliya. That is what defeated him. Had he prioritised Sinhala people in his development plan (not the mega deal development plan which is useless but grassroots level plan), he would have won easily.
A good reference point is the 1982 election. President Jayawardana’s atrocities against Tamils are legendary. Tamils were falsely imprisoned, tortured, attacked in riots (1977, etc.), their iconic places including the famous library was burnt, an undeclared war was imposed on them and their local economy was destroyed from 1977 to 1982. He came third in Jaffna behind Ponnambalam and Kobbekaduwa at the election but comfortably won the election because he looked after the majority.
Rajapaksas will not be given nominations from any SLFP led alliance as long as Chandrika or Maithripala are associated with the party. All SLFP factions must embrace for another 17 years in the opposition unless they can change the duo soon with very limited available options.
January 26th, 2015 at 7:23 pm
Dilrook,
I AGREE with you, that the crossover Sinhala Buddhist vote was what DEFEATED MR, not the OVERWHELMING minority vote against him, as I had stated above also.
Even with the OVERWHELMING MINORITY vote against him, MR would have won, as in the past, even by a LANDSLIDE, if a SUFFICIENT NUMBER of Sinhala Buddhists had not DESERTED him.
But unfortunately, in doing so, the Sinhala Buddhist Community CUT THEIR OWN NOSES to SPITE THEIR OWN FACES, and have FALLEN FROM THE FRYING PAN into a BLAZING FIRE.
THAT IS WHAT Charles and I were WARNING LankaWeb readers about, UNSUCCESSFULLY as it turned out, while others like “Facebook” Lorenzo and Nanda, were VOCIFEROUSLY trying to UNSEAT MR to achieve their EELAMIST ends.
In saying that “All SLFP factions must embrace for another 17 years in the opposition UNLESS they can change the duo soon with very limited available options” you are begging the question.
THERE IS NO “UNLESS” but a “MUST”; there is NO OTHER OPTION LEFT for the PATRIOTS in the SLFP but to DISTANCE THEMSELVES from BOTH MS and CBK, and RALLY AROUND WHOEVER in SLFP CORE that will provde the leadership to OPPOSE the Anti-National Agenda of this UNP-led government.
In my view, MR did a VERY BAD THING in not contesting the SFFP Party Leadership, even at the risk of SPLITTING the SLFP. He took that decision without consulting the SLFP member base, and left the PATRIOTS both leaderless and rudderless.
Hopefully, MR may decide to REVERSE his DECISION, GIRD HIS LOINS, and lead the charge of the PATRIOTS, while RESOLVING NOT TO AGAIN DO THOSE THINGS that alienated some of his GULLIBLE supporters who embraced the SIREN SONG of “Corruption” and “Abuse of Democracy” of the Common Opposition.
His PRINCIPAL MISTAKE was not to REPEAL the 13A, and PROSECUTE the TNA for their TREASONOUS CRIMES, while he had the power to do so.
January 26th, 2015 at 7:26 pm
douglas,
Your grandmother seems have taught you only to SUCK EGGS; that is why you failed to appreciate the POINT that both Charles and I were making. Sad, but true!
Disce aut, Discede, old chap!
January 27th, 2015 at 12:22 pm
“Yahapalanaya” in FULL SWING:
……………………….
Rajapaksa Sees Sinister Motive Behind Media Blitz Against Him
Jan 27 (NIE) COLOMBO- Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has slammed the on-going media blitz against him and has charged that the vilification campaign is meant to mislead the public.
In a letter to the Buddhist Maha Sangha and Lankans at large, Rajapaksa said that the accusation that he sought the Attorney General’s advice on how to remain in power illegally, is by its very nature, an “absurdity”.
“I was saddened by the comments made about this alleged incident and other matters by the incumbent President (Maithripala Sirisena) at a rally in Polonnaruwa,” he added.
About the TV images of the interior of his official residence “Temple Trees” which “insinuated” that he and his family had led an extravagant lifestyle at state expense, he said that these facilities had been created to cater to foreign delegates during the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in accordance with international specifications.
About the accusation that his wife Shiranthi was trying to sell 100 kilos of gold belonging to the government Treasury, he pointed out that the police had already responded to that “ridiculous” allegation.
On the search for hidden Lamborghinis, Rajapaksa said: “Vehicles that even remotely resemble sports cars are being taken by the police from the houses of their owners in their search for Lamborghinis belonging to my sons. But no Lamborghinis have been found.”
“Two containers of personal belongings of my family have been examined by the police on suspicion of being items ‘stolen’ from Temple Trees. These items were stored in containers because I had no place to go to in Colombo after vacating my official residence,” he said.
On alleged shady deals with foreign project contractors, Rajapaksa said that all agreements had been vetted by the Attorney General and approved by the cabinet. Many parties were involved in these projects and with so many eyes watching them, it would be impossible to inflate costs, Rajapaksa argued.
Pointing out that Chinese aided projected are being specially targeted, Rajapaksa said that China has helped Sri Lanka for six decades, and suggested that such mud-slinging be stopped.
“Outrageous and totally unsubstantiated accusations against me were disseminated through various websites and social media networks such as facebook both before and after the election. I self-critically admit that my government did not take these baseless allegations seriously and counter them in time.However, I am confident that the truth will prevail one day,” the former President said.
January 27th, 2015 at 11:37 pm
Looks like the YAHAPALANAYA is turning out to be a YAKAPALANAYA with a few yakkas who have been given carte blanche to their devilry by a maha Yaka!!But in time he too will be vanquished with the Mahahene Riri Yaka’s daughter and the Yaka who got away with the Batalanda Massacres! There time for accountability will surely come!
January 27th, 2015 at 11:51 pm
Therefore, if “Tamil Nationalism” does not accept FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 13th Amendment as a Lasting Solution, what would satisfy “Tamil Nationalism”?
The ANSWER TODAY is the SAME AS THE ANSWER I GAVE 30 years ago in my article “Devolution .. A Recipe for National Suicide”: What the EElamists want is FULL SOVEREIGNTY as a separate country followed by UNION with Tamil Nadu of India!
In other words, the REALIZATION of the Greater Tamil Nadu Dream of Karunanidhi as shown in the MAPS he has already published!
Therefore, whisper to me softly Effendi Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa if my lips do not UTTER THE TRUTH when I SAY you are ENABLING Karunanidhi’s Greater Tamil Nadu Dream with your promise to FULLY IMPLEMENT 13A INSTEAD of FULLY REPEALING IT?
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What are you DOING to our Motherland???
………………
Tamil Nationalism has Never Accepted that a Lasting Solution Could be Arrived at Through Full Devolution Within a Unitary State.
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
DBSJeyaray.com
January 27, 2015
PRE-INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS 2015: THE FUTURE STATE OF THE NATION
In the run-up to Independence Day 2015, we must thank God for Mr. Sumanthiran. He is indubitably a moderate and an intellectual. Let us give thanks also for the Sunday Observer, which is a state-run newspaper not given to running stories or distorting them in a manner inimical or embarrassing to the government of the day. Therefore, when Mr. Sumanthiran says something to the Sunday Observer, I take it seriously because I know I am on safe ground. Mr. Sumanthiran tells the newspaper that the TNA doesn’t expect much movement on addressing the Tamil political question during the Hundred Day program. That is realistic –and anyway, who’d want to affect the UNP’s chances at the General election by pressing home Tamil political demands? He also says that the full implementation of the 13th amendment would be a good first step. Then comes the bottom-line: “The PM said that devolution will now be given under the 13th Amendment which the previous government was blocking. But we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th Amendment is no lasting solution.” (‘Current political trend signals harmony among communities’ – M.A.Sumanthiran MP, by P.Krishnaswamy, Sunday Observer, January 25th 2015)
MA Sumanthiran MP
MA Sumanthiran MP
There’s always that ‘but’ isn’t there? There’s always that ‘but’ even for a moderate Tamil nationalist intellectual. The truth as disclosed or rather, reiterated by the cosmopolitan, Colombo based Mr. Sumanthiran is that the proposed removal of the roadblocks to the full implementation of the 13th amendment just isn’t enough. This is because “full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
Some readers may think I am making something of a mountain out of a molehill, but interestingly and appropriately the caption of the interview when reproduced on the website of veteran (expatriate) journalist DBS Jeyaraj reflected what was most newsworthy about the story: “Full Implementation of the 13th Amendment is No Lasting Solution- MA Sumanthiran, MP”.
Now this also goes some way in explaining why the 13th amendment was never fully implemented. That’s because successive Southern leaders understood that if it was fully implemented, matters would not stop there. That would not put a cap on it. The full implementation of the 13th amendment would be but a stepping stone for more. Why? Because “we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution” and therefore “we” would strive to push beyond it. Worse still, that “we” would not try our very best to make the 13th amendment work because if it did, “we” would not be able to prove “our” dogmatic, politically fundamentalist point that “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
This shows that even on the morning after a democratic renovation, the most moderate of Tamil nationalists isn’t willing to settle for what the most moderate Sinhalese political leader is willing to implement. The deficit or gap still exists as far as the desirable goal; the final status agreement goes. Why so? What is at the root of this?
To answer this we have to ask ourselves what Sri Lanka would be if the 13th amendment were fully implemented under the existing system. To my mind it would be a unitary system with full devolution or, to put it slightly differently, it would amount to the maximum devolution possible within a unitary system at full stretch. Why then does the moderate Mr. Sumanthiran reiterate the consistent stand of democratic Tamil nationalism, namely that even “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution?”
This is simply because Tamil nationalism has never accepted that a lasting solution could be arrived at through full devolution within a unitary state. It has always held that a lasting solution is not possible within a state that remains basically unitary. Even moderate Tamil nationalism holds the view that a lasting solution lies somewhere beyond the unitary state; even one endowed with the most generous devolution.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s answer may be that Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to consider going beyond the 13th amendment. He did, but the distance he was willing to go even in theory was a quantitative, not a qualitative one; it was for a Second Chamber and another look at the concurrent list for the purpose of redistribution of powers between center and periphery. It would not have entailed a referendum. In any event, going quantitatively and incrementally beyond the 13th amendment within a strong Presidential system and explicitly unitary framework is drastically different from going qualitatively beyond the 13th amendment within a system divested of a strong executive Presidency.
Quite apart from the debate on desirability, there is one of feasibility. Any such “lasting solution”, indeed anything beyond the 13th amendment, would require an island-wide referendum. How does the TNA propose to win a referendum for a qualitative shift beyond the 13th amendment? Not even the help of its current political partners in the South would be able to secure such an outcome.
So far, so bad– but it is about to get worse. There is a brand new element in the mix. While the old element remains, namely that the TNA envisages the full implementation of the 13th amendment only as a first step which it intends to push beyond in its striving for a lasting settlement, the new element that arises is the proposed downsizing and downshifting of the executive Presidency. So, while the Tamil nationalists hope to stretch the relationship between center and periphery by means of a settlement beyond the full implementation of 13A, the center itself is about to diminish.
The TNA is not unaware of this. Indeed the TNA presented this as the main reason for its support for the common candidate of the Opposition. Now we have the hitherto un-contradicted Tamilnet report that the abolition of the executive Presidency and its replacement by a parliamentary system of government was agreed upon in 2013 at a meeting in Singapore, organized by a South African peace NGO and attended by, among others, Messrs. Mangala Samaraweera and MA Sumanthiran. The abolition of the executive Presidency was, according to the report, point 4 of the agreement. (‘Singapore Principles of 2013’, TamilNet, January 22, 2015).
The story is prefaced in DBS Jeyaraj.com in the following manner:
‘The “Tamilnet” website long regarded as the mouthpiece of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has in a news report revealed details of an alleged “understanding” involving among others the current Foreign Affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran that was arrived at in Singapore in the year 2013. The “Tamilnet” website claims that the understanding reached in 2013 formulated a conceptual framework on abolishing the executive presidency based on ten basic principles described as the “Singapore principles”.
The news report further states that current Presidential adviser Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Colombo University Law professor VT Thamilmaran and unnamed representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) along with a lawyer from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also participated in the conclave. The conference was organized by South Africa and funded by two European countries alleges the “Tamilnet”. Quoting an unnamed participant in the meeting the “TamilNet” says “Mangala Samaraweera came as a ‘beggar’ urging Tamil support for regime change and abolition of the executive presidency. It was 2013.
The Tamilnet report also outlines the ten ‘Singapore principles’ described as “hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013” ’. (“Tamilnet Reveals Ten Point Accord for Regime Change and Executive Presidency abolition reached in 2013 at Meeting in Singapore Involving Mangala Samaraweera”, http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/37635)
Mr. Sumanthiran is fully conscious of the relationship between the Executive Presidency and the issue of devolution. In his Sunday Observer interview he states as follows:
“…the Governor is a chief executive officer possessing executive powers. This means that there is no power devolution. The governor is appointed by the President and holds powers during his tenure. The President in the centre nominates him and gives powers and says I have devolved powers. That is no devolution. Practically it is the President who is exercising power through the governor. We want that radically changed so that power is actually given to a body or people who have been elected by the people. So that is the arrangement that we will seek to go beyond the 13 th Amendment and make it meaningful.” (Ibid.)
This brings us to the question–what is the TNA’s real problem with the 13th amendment? Is it the less than full implementation? No, because if that were the case, it would not take the view that full implementation is not a lasting solution. Is it perhaps that the concurrent list is too thick and that the provincial unit should have some of the powers listed therein? Not really because that is not mentioned. The real problem the TNA has is elsewhere—with the role and powers of the Governor, and inter alia, those of the executive president.
What does the existing arrangement as critically described by TNA moderate Sumanthiran mean? It means that the executive Presidency, as that office which rests on the elected consent of a majority of voters on the island taken as a single unit, is the repository of the sovereign power of the citizenry and is the fount from which from which power is devolved to the periphery.
Thus the TNA’s objection is to the fundamental principle that power is devolved to the periphery from a strong center resting upon the broadest possible basis; a presidency that represents the nation as a whole. The TNA’s problem is with the mediatory role of the Governor, who acts as the elevator between the devolved peripheral unit and the presidential apex of the system. The TNA objects to a strong presidency representing the totality of the nation, which is raised above the peripheral unit. The Tamil moderate, Mr. Sumanthiran’s underlying objection is to the very principle that the institution that represents the totality, the whole, should be raised above the part; that the center should be above the periphery and that power should be devolved, i.e. flow downward.
In the TNA’s vision, power should flow from a center outward to the periphery, but not from an apex, downward to the unit. No wonder then that the TNA wants the Executive Presidency abolished. This means that the system is transformed—I would say debauched—from a pyramid to a flat circle, with the parliament at its center. This means the minority parties are able to influence government formation at the center, through coalitions in parliament, as well as push beyond the unitary framework which would have been weakened by the decapitation of the executive presidency and the severance of the “neck” that links the executive head with the devolved peripheral unit, i.e. the Governor.
Who will appoint the Governor under the arrangement the TNA seeks: the Parliament, the Cabinet, the PM, or the enfeebled essentially non-executive President? Or will there be no Governor at all? Or will there only be a ceremonial Governor, representing a largely nominal presidency?
With the TNA intent on moving beyond the full implementation of the 13th amendment, and pushing together with its Southern allies (now in power) for the abolition or radical weakening of the Executive Presidency, what will be the future power relations within Sri Lanka be like, especially between the weaker center and a stronger periphery historically and currently subject to the ideological and politico-strategic pulls and emotional-psychological osmosis from their 70 million co-ethnics across a narrow strip of water, in neighboring Tamil Nadu?
The TNA is strategically very lucid about what it is about. It is pushing for something beyond even the full implementation of the 13th amendment while it has simultaneously advocated and agreed upon the abolition of the Executive Presidency and thereby the radical diminution of the strong center.
The division of labor is clear: the governing Sinhala elite (fronted by a non-elite political leader) weakens the center by dismantling or eroding the centripetal executive Presidency, thereby loosening the systemic ties between center and periphery, while the Tamil elite for its part, presses on far beyond the parameters of the unitary state.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:11 am
BREAKING NEWS! ANOTHER CAMPAIGN PROMISE VIOLATED; Executive Presidency to CONTINUE together with an EXECUTIVE Prime Minister!!!
When a CONFLICT arises between these two EXECUTIVES, who will have PRIORITY?? What a jury-rigged unworkable system this is!!
If the President will have OVERRIDING AUTHORITY, how is this SUBSTANTIALLY DIFFERENT from the previous system??
In ANY CASE, Eliminating the Executive Presidency has gone the way of SMALL CABINET LIMITED to 25 Ministers. Also, don;t forget the much balleyhooed “Maithripalanaya” DITCHED in favor of the “VairaPalanaya”!!!
However, we have to be somewhat reassured that the EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY will CONTINUE, as Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa moves ahead to EMPOWER the SEPARATISTS with Land and Police Powers under the 13A.
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. DO YOU KNOW you are ENDANGERING OUR Motherland??
…………………
Sri Lanka’s government coalition reaches agreement on constitutional proposals
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jan 28, Colombo: The National Executive Council of Sri Lanka has reached an agreement on proposed constitutional amendments to be introduced during the 100 day programme.
The proposed amendment will look at introducing a dual executive system of governance and re-establishment of the independent commissions.
The proposals have been prepared by a special committee appointed by the National Executive Committee comprising President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and representatives of other parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
The proposals are expected to be presented in Parliament early next month.
According to reports, the proposed reforms state that President Sirisena will remain as the Head of State with reduced powers while retaining the defence portfolio and the power to appointment provincial governors and on several other subjects including that of appointing the heads of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions abroad.
The Prime Minister according to the latest proposals will be the Head of the Cabinet. Therefore the proposed system will be a dual executive system of governance.
January 28th, 2015 at 12:51 am
Therefore, if “Tamil Nationalism” does not accept FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 13th Amendment as a Lasting Solution, what would satisfy “Tamil Nationalism”?
The ANSWER TODAY is the SAME AS THE ANSWER I GAVE 30 years ago in my article “Devolution .. A Recipe for National Suicide”: What the EElamists
want is FULL SOVEREIGNTY as a separate country followed by UNION with Tamil Nadu of India!
In other words, the REALIZATION of the Greater Tamil Nadu Dream of Karunanidhi as shown in the MAPS he has already published!
Therefore, whisper to me softly Effendi Aiyoooo Sirisenaaa if my lips do not UTTER THE TRUTH when I SAY you are ENABLING Karunanidhi’s
Greater Tamil Nadu Dream with your promise to FULLY IMPLEMENT 13A INSTEAD of FULLY REPEALING IT?
Aiyoooo Sirisenaaaa …. What are you DOING to our Motherland???
………………
Tamil Nationalism has Never Accepted that a Lasting Solution Could be Arrived at Through Full Devolution Within a Unitary State.
BY DR DAYAN JAYATILLEKA
DBSJeyaray.com
January 27, 2015
PRE-INDEPENDENCE DAY THOUGHTS 2015: THE FUTURE STATE OF THE NATION
In the run-up to Independence Day 2015, we must thank God for Mr. Sumanthiran. He is indubitably a moderate and an intellectual. Let us give thanks also for the Sunday Observer, which is a state-run newspaper not given to running stories or distorting them in a manner inimical or embarrassing to the government of the day. Therefore, when Mr. Sumanthiran says something to the Sunday Observer, I take it seriously because I know I am on safe ground. Mr. Sumanthiran tells the newspaper that the TNA doesn’t expect much movement on addressing the Tamil political question during the Hundred Day program. That is realistic –and anyway, who’d want to affect the UNP’s chances at the General election by pressing home Tamil political demands? He also says that the full implementation of the 13th amendment would be a good first step. Then comes the bottom-line: “The PM said that devolution will now be given under the 13th Amendment which the previous government was blocking. But we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th Amendment is no lasting solution.” (‘Current political trend signals harmony among communities’ – M.A.Sumanthiran MP, by P.Krishnaswamy, Sunday Observer, January 25th 2015)
MA Sumanthiran MP
MA Sumanthiran MP
There’s always that ‘but’ isn’t there? There’s always that ‘but’ even for a moderate Tamil nationalist intellectual. The truth as disclosed or rather, reiterated by the cosmopolitan, Colombo based Mr. Sumanthiran is that the proposed removal of the roadblocks to the full implementation of the 13th amendment just isn’t enough. This is because “full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
Some readers may think I am making something of a mountain out of a molehill, but interestingly and appropriately the caption of the interview when reproduced on the website of veteran (expatriate) journalist DBS Jeyaraj reflected what was most newsworthy about the story: “Full Implementation of the 13th Amendment is No Lasting Solution- MA Sumanthiran, MP”.
Now this also goes some way in explaining why the 13th amendment was never fully implemented. That’s because successive Southern leaders understood that if it was fully implemented, matters would not stop there. That would not put a cap on it. The full implementation of the 13th amendment would be but a stepping stone for more. Why? Because “we have clearly said that the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution” and therefore “we” would strive to push beyond it. Worse still, that “we” would not try our very best to make the 13th amendment work because if it did, “we” would not be able to prove “our” dogmatic, politically fundamentalist point that “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution”.
This shows that even on the morning after a democratic renovation, the most moderate of Tamil nationalists isn’t willing to settle for what the most moderate Sinhalese political leader is willing to implement. The deficit or gap still exists as far as the desirable goal; the final status agreement goes. Why so? What is at the root of this?
To answer this we have to ask ourselves what Sri Lanka would be if the 13th amendment were fully implemented under the existing system. To my mind it would be a unitary system with full devolution or, to put it slightly differently, it would amount to the maximum devolution possible within a unitary system at full stretch. Why then does the moderate Mr. Sumanthiran reiterate the consistent stand of democratic Tamil nationalism, namely that even “the full implementation of the 13th amendment is no lasting solution?”
This is simply because Tamil nationalism has never accepted that a lasting solution could be arrived at through full devolution within a unitary state. It has always held that a lasting solution is not possible within a state that remains basically unitary. Even moderate Tamil nationalism holds the view that a lasting solution lies somewhere beyond the unitary state; even one endowed with the most generous devolution.
Mr. Sumanthiran’s answer may be that Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to consider going beyond the 13th amendment. He did, but the distance he was willing to go even in theory was a quantitative, not a qualitative one; it was for a Second Chamber and another look at the concurrent list for the purpose of redistribution of powers between center and periphery. It would not have entailed a referendum. In any event, going quantitatively and incrementally beyond the 13th amendment within a strong Presidential system and explicitly unitary framework is drastically different from going qualitatively beyond the 13th amendment within a system divested of a strong executive Presidency.
Quite apart from the debate on desirability, there is one of feasibility. Any such “lasting solution”, indeed anything beyond the 13th amendment, would require an island-wide referendum. How does the TNA propose to win a referendum for a qualitative shift beyond the 13th amendment? Not even the help of its current political partners in the South would be able to secure such an outcome.
So far, so bad– but it is about to get worse. There is a brand new element in the mix. While the old element remains, namely that the TNA envisages the full implementation of the 13th amendment only as a first step which it intends to push beyond in its striving for a lasting settlement, the new element that arises is the proposed downsizing and downshifting of the executive Presidency. So, while the Tamil nationalists hope to stretch the relationship between center and periphery by means of a settlement beyond the full implementation of 13A, the center itself is about to diminish.
The TNA is not unaware of this. Indeed the TNA presented this as the main reason for its support for the common candidate of the Opposition. Now we have the hitherto un-contradicted Tamilnet report that the abolition of the executive Presidency and its replacement by a parliamentary system of government was agreed upon in 2013 at a meeting in Singapore, organized by a South African peace NGO and attended by, among others, Messrs. Mangala Samaraweera and MA Sumanthiran. The abolition of the executive Presidency was, according to the report, point 4 of the agreement. (‘Singapore Principles of 2013’, TamilNet, January 22, 2015).
The story is prefaced in DBS Jeyaraj.com in the following manner:
‘The “Tamilnet” website long regarded as the mouthpiece of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organization has in a news report revealed details of an alleged “understanding” involving among others the current Foreign Affairs minister Mangala Samaraweera and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) national list parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran that was arrived at in Singapore in the year 2013. The “Tamilnet” website claims that the understanding reached in 2013 formulated a conceptual framework on abolishing the executive presidency based on ten basic principles described as the “Singapore principles”.
The news report further states that current Presidential adviser Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Colombo University Law professor VT Thamilmaran and unnamed representatives of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) along with a lawyer from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress also participated in the conclave. The conference was organized by South Africa and funded by two European countries alleges the “Tamilnet”. Quoting an unnamed participant in the meeting the “TamilNet” says “Mangala Samaraweera came as a ‘beggar’ urging Tamil support for regime change and abolition of the executive presidency. It was 2013.
The Tamilnet report also outlines the ten ‘Singapore principles’ described as “hitherto unrevealed Singapore Principles of 2013” ’. (“Tamilnet Reveals Ten Point Accord for Regime Change and Executive Presidency abolition reached in 2013 at Meeting in Singapore Involving Mangala Samaraweera”)
Mr. Sumanthiran is fully conscious of the relationship between the Executive Presidency and the issue of devolution. In his Sunday Observer interview he states as follows:
“…the Governor is a chief executive officer possessing executive powers. This means that there is no power devolution. The governor is appointed by the President and holds powers during his tenure. The President in the centre nominates him and gives powers and says I have devolved powers.
That is no devolution. Practically it is the President who is exercising power through the governor. We want that radically changed so that power is actually given to a body or people who have been elected by the people. So that is the arrangement that we will seek to go beyond the 13th Amendment and make it meaningful.” (Ibid.)
This brings us to the question–what is the TNA’s real problem with the 13th amendment? Is it the less than full implementation? No, because if that were the case, it would not take the view that full implementation is not a lasting solution. Is it perhaps that the concurrent list is too thick and that the provincial unit should have some of the powers listed therein? Not really because that is not mentioned. The real problem the TNA has is elsewhere—with the role and powers of the Governor, and inter alia, those of the executive president.
What does the existing arrangement as critically described by TNA moderate Sumanthiran mean? It means that the executive Presidency, as that office which rests on the elected consent of a majority of voters on the island taken as a single unit, is the repository of the sovereign power of the citizenry and is the fount from which from which power is devolved to the periphery.
Thus the TNA’s objection is to the fundamental principle that power is devolved to the periphery from a strong center resting upon the broadest possible basis; a presidency that represents the nation as a whole. The TNA’s problem is with the mediatory role of the Governor, who acts as the elevator between the devolved peripheral unit and the presidential apex of the system. The TNA objects to a strong presidency representing the totality of the nation, which is raised above the peripheral unit. The Tamil moderate, Mr. Sumanthiran’s underlying objection is to the very principle that the institution that represents the totality, the whole, should be raised above the part; that the center should be above the periphery and that power should be devolved, i.e. flow downward.
In the TNA’s vision, power should flow from a center outward to the periphery, but not from an apex, downward to the unit. No wonder then that the TNA wants the Executive Presidency abolished. This means that the system is transformed—I would say debauched—from a pyramid to a flat circle, with the parliament at its center. This means the minority parties are able to influence government formation at the center, through coalitions in parliament, as well as push beyond the unitary framework which would have been weakened by the decapitation of the executive presidency and the severance of the “neck” that links the executive head with the devolved peripheral unit, i.e. the Governor.
Who will appoint the Governor under the arrangement the TNA seeks: the Parliament, the Cabinet, the PM, or the enfeebled essentially non-executive President? Or will there be no Governor at all? Or will there only be a ceremonial Governor, representing a largely nominal presidency?
With the TNA intent on moving beyond the full implementation of the 13th amendment, and pushing together with its Southern allies (now in power) for the abolition or radical weakening of the Executive Presidency, what will be the future power relations within Sri Lanka be like, especially between the weaker center and a stronger periphery historically and currently subject to the ideological and politico-strategic pulls and emotional-psychological osmosis from their 70 million co-ethnics across a narrow strip of water, in neighboring Tamil Nadu?
The TNA is strategically very lucid about what it is about. It is pushing for something beyond even the full implementation of the 13th amendment while it has simultaneously advocated and agreed upon the abolition of the Executive Presidency and thereby the radical diminution of the strong center.
The division of labor is clear: the governing Sinhala elite (fronted by a non-elite political leader) weakens the center by dismantling or eroding the centripetal executive Presidency, thereby loosening the systemic ties between center and periphery, while the Tamil elite for its part, presses on far beyond the parameters of the unitary state.
January 30th, 2015 at 7:32 am
if “Tamil Nationalism” does not accept FULL IMPLEMENTATION of the 13th Amendment as a Lasting Solution, what would satisfy “Tamil Nationalism”?
No Tamil Nationalism , Eelam Nationalism in Mother Lanka because We are Hela Demilayas ( Eelath Thamil(zh)an !!
Naalai pirrakkum TE , Velu where are you?