Can we afford five years of ‘Yahapalanaya’?
Posted on August 12th, 2016
N.A.de S.Amaratunga Courtesy The Island
August 12, 2016, 8:18 pm
Both heads of ‘yahapalanaya’ say that nothing can stop them from going on merrily for five years until 2020, although the two heads are pulling in two directions and the two tails try to wag each other and sometimes their heads. In 2014 we had a government with one powerful head and one powerless tail, but it was doing alright as it had managed to eliminate totally the terrorism that had plagued the country for three decades overcoming huge obstacles local and foreign, a feat no other government in the world, including world powers, had been able to do in their own countries or in somebody else’s country. And then that all powerful head had launched a massive development project that took the country into the fast track of growth with all economic parameters showing positive values. Roads, electricity and water visibly reached the four corners of the country. New harbours and redundant airports were built disregarding all opposition within and without. Unemployment, inflation, GDP, foreign exchange reserves, foreign debt/GDP ratio etc., improved. Corruption and nepotism, however, as always, were rampant but things were better than what we have now.
What do we have now? There is rampant corruption and nepotism but no development whatsoever. Corruption + Nepotism + Massive Development have to be better than Corruption + Nepotism + Zero Development. The present government bent backwards trying to please the West expecting them to solve all its problems, going to the extent of betraying the country by co-sponsoring a UNHRC resolution that is inimical to the sovereignty of the country, and worse than the betrayal of the country to the colonialists in 1815. The West has taken our country in its grip without giving us a cent except promises with strings attached, and IMF assistance with impossible conditions. Thus the economy is in the doldrums, development projects started by the previous head had been stopped by either or both present heads or tails. No foreign direct investments are coming in, unemployment is rising, people are being burdened with heavy taxes, cost of living is rising, the share market lethargic and what is worse is that this government of two heads and two tails cannot take a clear cut decision on any vital issue.
Take for example the VAT issue. They could not get it through as they had disregarded procedural requirements. Moreover, the government is uncertain about every aspect of taxation, though they are cash strapped. Minister Dilan Perera says people should be taxed the way bees extract nectar without hurting the flower and that is how the SLFP taxes the people, whereas the UNP bludgeons the people with taxes! Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe seems to have an opposition both inside and outside! Tax policy is vital for any government and more so for a government that is almost bankrupt. If this government is divided along party lines regarding this vital issue, how could the people have any confidence that they have put in place a reliable government which could look after them until the year 2020? What more monumental blunders would this divided government commit before its tenure ends? The waste is equally bad, the Ministry of Agriculture has rented a building unnecessarily for Rs.20 million a month. Gen. Sarath Fonseka’s ministry has asked for a vote beyond imagination. Luxury vehicles for MPs would cost the taxpayer dearly. Is VAT being increased to meet these wasteful expenditures?
All this goes to prove the inherent difference between the UNP and the SLFP. People of this country formed the SLFP in order to safeguard themselves against the policies of the UNP, which were subservient to the colonialists who had placed the UNP in power to serve their interests. These imperialist powers have again succeeded in helping the UNP to come back to power as the SLFP was protecting the people and their sovereignty, and not allowing the West to destabilize the country and take control of it to further their imperialist agenda. And the UNP obligingly follows the dictates of the imperialists to the detriment of the security, economy, constitution and sovereignty of the country. It has antagonised our friends who had stood by us through thick and thin without asking anything in return, except space for heavy investment which has helped the country to achieve rapid development. It has made friends, due to whom we don’t need enemies. This inherent contradiction of the coalition partners would make it virtually impossible to run the government. A set of policies agreeable to one partner would not be so to the other.
This is the main reason why the Government has not been able to attract foreign investment, why the share market is sluggish, and not even ever willing China is interested. Sri Lanka has been given a low rating by the international investment and credit worthiness monitors such as Fitch. All these negative outcomes reflect on the dichotomous nature of the governing body, which does not seem to know where it is going. Can the country afford five years of such confused, deranged, bungling “Yahapalanaya”?
N.A.de S.Amaratunga
August 12th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
NO!
This YAPA(LA)NAYA govt. must be brought down ASAP by WHATEVER means.
We have to bring SARATH WEERASEKERA to lead the JOINTED OPPOSITION or any other VIABLE force. Our DISJOINTED OPPOSITION is not good enough. They always FAIL. SAD TRUTH.
VAT victory was won NOT by the JO. WW won it by functioning as an INDIVIDUAL.
August 12th, 2016 at 5:56 pm
There are something things that are beyond value that cannot and should not be TRADED, SOLD, NEGOTIATED, COMPROMISED, or ALIENATED.
Among them are the lives of our citizens, the liberties of our citizens, the right to pursue happiness of our citizens, the territorial integrity of our nation, the primacy of the Buddhist faith and Sinhala language of the vast majority of our people, and the sole ownership of the entirety of our Motherland by ALL of its citizens in equal measure, and the lives and honour of our war-heroes!
To defend, protect and preserve these gems that we hold dear, we need a PATRIOTIC GOVERNMENT dedicated to these ends.
Therefore, NO! WE SIMPLY CANNOT LET THIS TREACHEROUS YAMAPALANAYA GOVT REMAIN IN POWER FOR 5 MORE YEARS!
IT MUST BE OUSTED FROM POWER by PEACEFUL means supported by MASSIVE PUBLIC PROTESTS & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE …. everyday if need be! Let the WILL OF THE PEOPLE be expressed to banish thsee DEVILS from power!
Each SLFP MP and Cabinet Minister should be presented with a written demand to LEAVE THE GOVT, JOIN THE JO, or face the penalty of being blackisted by patriots if they fail to do so.
Candidates should be nominated to campaign in their electorates to teplace the individuals who fail to comply with this demand.
A SHADOW GOVERNMENT should be created to organize and carryout this political program and assume power if snd when the present government falls.
This SHADOW GOVERNMENT should ALWAYS be present in Parliament to contest Bills inimical to the nation and to systematically contest ILLEGAL BILLS in the Supreme and lower courts as appropriate.
It should be made possible to pass bills in Parliament like the Office of Missing Persons Bill without debate or organize opposition.
WE NEED A SYSTEMATIC AND EFFICIENT OPPOSITION READY TO CONTEST ALL LEGISLATION INIMICAL TO THE NATION!
To that end, the JO should form a SEPARATE PARTY
.. perhaps called the DESHAPREMI SLFP …. IMMEDIATELY and systematically campaign to recruit ALL SLFP MP’s and Ministers and any other patriotic MP’s from other parties who are willing to join.
Let us separate and clearly identify the PATRIOTS from the TRAITORS and prepare to wage an intensive political battle to save our motherland from destruction by this treacherous puppet government of Foreign Neocolonialist powers!
Let 4 more Pada Yatra’s be organize to envelope and sensitize the entire country to the MORTAL DANGER it faces from the Yamapalana Govt!
1. Kandy to Colombo …. DONE
2. Colombo to Kataragama via Galle, Matara and Hambabtota
3. Kandy to Anuradhapura via Dambulla
4. Kandy to Batticaloa via Monaragala
5. Kandy to Puttalam via Kurunegala
6. Kandy to Matara via Udawalawe
NO! NO MORE YEARS for the YAMAPALANAYA GOVT!
August 12th, 2016 at 6:01 pm
Oops!
I meant to say “It should NOT BE POSSIBLE to pass bills like the Office of Missing Persons in Parliament WITHOUT DEBATE or ORGANIZED OPPOSITION”!
August 12th, 2016 at 8:48 pm
Look mates by the end of five years the Sinhalese will be divided in to more factions, politically, religiously, socially, financially, racially and they will be more poor, more dead and less voters.
The Indian colonial parasites will be more, more united, richer, more voters and more powerful and they will decide who will run the country as they have done last time.
August 13th, 2016 at 2:30 am
The missing persons commission, the name is a misnomer. it should be called ‘those combatants on all sides who died in the war i.e. Sri Lankan Forces, Police Force. Civil Defence Forces, IPKF, Tamil Armed Groups against the LTTE and the LTTE terrorists themselves and whose bodies have not be found’. Therefore the name itself is wrong and invented by the UNHRC to tarnish the image of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
The missing persons commission to date has receive 24,000 complaints from 1983-2009 period. Of this number over 5,000 are regarding missing Sri Lankan Forces members, whereabouts unknown, almost certainly executed by the LTTE terrorists. Over 12,000 complaints are against the LTTE itself recruiting young persons by coercion. Therefore over 70% of complaints are against the LTTE itself which amounts to over 17,000 complaints. The rest of the complaints are I am sure about the whereabouts of LTTE combatants or terrorists who died while fighting but whose bodies have not been found.
My question is, why cannot the UNHRC the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India accept that Sri Lankan Forces, Police Force, Civil Defence Forces, IPKF, Tamil Armed Groups against the LTTE and the LTTE terrorists themselves died fighting in this war and leave it at that. What is the point in looking for these combatants now? Why is it that the UNHRC the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India never ever talk about the over 35,000 Sri Lankan Forces, Police Force, civil Defence Force members who died in the war? or the 1,200 IPKF members or the over 2,000 Tamils Armed Groups against the LTTE members who died in the war? or the over 6,000-7,000 Sinhala civilians and even Muslims civilians who were massacred by the LTTE? or the around (my estimate) over 3,000 Tamil civilians massacred by the LTTE?
Why is it that the UNHRC the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India is not concerned about the over 10,000 Sri Lankan Forces members permanently disabled by the war, or the over 23,000 Sri Lankan Forces members both temporarily and permanently disabled by the war? or the over 136,000 Sri Lankan Forces members who were injured due to the war?
Why is it that the UNHRC the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India not concerned about the over 65,000 Sinhala people and over 75,000 muslims ethnically cleansed from the North?
Why is it that the only the around 35,000 LTTE terrorists who died inclusive of Prabhakaran are the concern of the UNHRC the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden and India? Perhaps this missing persons commission should answer that question first.
August 13th, 2016 at 2:35 am
The missing persons, the name itself is a misnomer. When a soldier or an LTTE terrorist died in combat and a body was not found due to let us say the other side burying the body, the combatant is considered missing in action. Therefore the name of this commission should be ‘Those who died in the war on all sides and whose bodies have not been found’. Therefore now looking for all of these combatants whether LTTE terrorists or Sri Lanka Forces members is useless since it is a complete waste of time. Also what about all the navy personnel or even LTTE terrorists who died at sea, their bodies certainly would not have been found. So all of these combatants are missing in action.
The missing persons commission to date has receive 24,000 complaints from 1983-2009 period. Of this number over 5,000 are regarding missing Sri Lankan Forces members, whereabouts unknown, almost certainly executed by the LTTE terrorists. Over 12,000 complaints are against the LTTE itself recruiting young persons by coercion. Therefore over 70% of complaints are against the LTTE itself which amounts to over 17,000 complaints. The rest of the complaints are I am sure about the whereabouts of LTTE combatants or terrorists who died while fighting but whose bodies have not been found.
Therefore it is extremely clear that it is the LTTE which should be questioned about these missing persons and this treacherous yahapalanaya has placed our Sri Lankan Armed Forces in deep trouble for no reason as usual.
August 13th, 2016 at 3:04 am
The JVP until around 2010 was an extremely patriotic political party. However after Rathu Ali Patiya or Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the traitor, took over and a few other traitors to their own motherland took over (Sunil Handunneti, Vijitha Herath, Tilvin Silva etc.) the JVP has become traitors to their own Sri Lankan people and to their own motherland and become lakcys of ultra, extreme capitalist forces and lackys of the US,UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Sweden, India (‘mankolla kalliya’ who steal other countries resources by bombing those countries) the racist TNA, the separatist terrorists etc.
The JVP is today being indirectly funded by thousands of US dollars and they are indirectly working for US imperialism. It is absolutely clear to most people. It calls itself ‘socialist’ only to hoodwink its gullible supporters in order to get those gullible supporters votes.
The US imperialists have done this elsewhere, in other countries, who resist their imperialism. They buy off small fake socialist parties indirectly with thousands of US dollars. These fake socialist parties are useful since they are there to raise some valid but not so important issues (but not at all a threat to US imperialism’s aims in the unfortunate country concerned) and hoodwink a few thousand voters to support them. In Sri Lanka the JVP, Wickramabahu and the NSSP, the FLSP they are all indirectly supportive of setting up an Eelam and indirectly supporting US imperialism. It is obvious from their actions, utterances and statements especially regarding national security, sovereignty of the country, independence, freedom. separate state, federalism, lack of any comments about the racist, fascist TNA, lack of any comments about the thousands upon thousands of Sri Lankan armed forces members and civilians massacred by the LTTE terrorists etc.
In other independently thinking countries also where the US wants to bring about ‘regime change’ the US imperialists support small fake socialist parties such as the JVP, FLSP, Wickramabahu of the NSSP. So this is not at all a surprise to anyone who has observed these world trends over many years.
In addition, NORAD wrote a detailed report about why the 2001-20014 treacherous Ranil’s Eelam project failed. There the NORAD report mentions buying off the JVP and the Hela Urumaya for future success in setting up an Eelam. that is exactly what has happened today as anyone can see.
August 13th, 2016 at 3:07 am
There is absolutely no doubt about imperialistic US plans to build a US army, navy and air force base at Trincomalee. Please note that once the US builds their US army, navy and air force base at Trincomalee, they are not going to stop there. They will build other bases within the island. For example, Hambantota harbour could also end up as a US navy base and the Mattala airport a US air force base. Iranawila will again recommence their CIA operations and Palaly in the North in Jaffna will also be converted into a US air force base.
This is the main reason that the US has, from the every beginning, supported the LTTE terrorists, who are their proxy force, wage a war against Sri Lanka to set up a bogus Eelam. The US knows that the only people who are standing against them are the Sinhala people who due to they being majority Buddhist and wanting to preserve Buddhism, being the indigenous people of the island with over 2500 years of history behind them and with our tribal ancestors having over 30,000 years of history within the island and due to they being very socialist in nature and supportive of socialist ideals will never, ever let the US set up any bases in the island.
Therefore the imperialistic US, UK ,EU, Canada, Sweden, Norway and India supported the LTTE terrorists and the TNA set up their Eelam within the island for sure so that they can then set up US army, navy, air force bases within the island.
Sri Lanka lies along the world’s busiest sea route or the maritime silk road. South of Sri Lanka is a the vast Indian ocean. Sri Lanka is located at a most strategic location with the Middle East, Africa and Europe to the North West, with India to the North and with South East Asia and East Asia to the North East of Sri Lanka.
At present the US uses its Diego Garcia base extensively to subdue, bomb, decimate and dominate the rest of the world. However, due to sea level rises, low lying Diego Garcia may even be taken over by the sea. What better place therefore to build a US base than Sri Lanka? This is the reason that the US supports Eelam since sepoy, slavish LTTE, TNA will do whatever the US tells them to do. The only people standing in the way of the US building bases in Sri Lanka are the Sinhala people and they have been slapped with bogus US resolutions at the UNHRC with a view to partitioning the island and bringing on an Eelam with these constitutional changes to turn Sri Lanka into federal states or to even implement the13th amendment to the full which should never ever be implemented and no more powers should be given to the provincial councils, especially no land, police or fiscal powers should be given to the provincial councils under any circumstances. Also the concurrent list subjects should be given over to the national list.
About Trincomalee Harbour, please visit this absolutely stunningly and vast harbour and then anyone can see its potential. Already, the road from Trincomalee has been built and the roads and bridges around Trincomalee harbour has been built. There are over 99 oil tanks near the harbour. There is the existing Sri Lankan air force, army and navy bases. Trincomalee town has been refurbished. Trincomalee harbour is the world’s second largest natural harbour. It has a submarine canyon along its sea floor which is a very deep canyon along the sea floor which can accommodate submarines which then cannot be detected by radar. The harbour itself can accommodate a large fleet of ships. There is also a railwayline all the way from Colombo to Trincomalee. All the infrastructure development was completed by the previous government.
Therefore, there is no doubt that the US would want to build a US army, navy, airbase at Trincomalee. For that they only need an Eelam or federal state and this treacherous Ranil, Sirisena, CBK and Mangala will make sure that happens since they have accepted the bogus US resolution at the UNHRC and placed our armed forces in deep trouble when our armed forces are totally not guilty but the LTTE war criminals are now suddenly totally innocent of all the war crimes that the LTTE terrorists committed for over three decades. Also all Sri Lankans should totally oppose implementing the 13th amendment to the full or any more powers being given to the provincial councils than they have at present. Especially no land, police or fiscal powers should be given to the provincial councils under any circumstances. Also the concurrent list subjects should be given over to the national list.
August 13th, 2016 at 4:26 am
The JVP was extremely patriotic especially during 1987 when they campaigned against the infamous Indo-Lanka Accord and was at the forefront of the patriotic struggle to rescue Sri Lanka from being dismembered by India and imperialistic forces led by the US, UK, EU, Canada, Sweden, Norway etc. and the TNA and the LTTE terrorists led by Prabhakaran. The JVP was so patriotic that they fully supported UPFA governments to keep Sri Lanka’s unitary status and to preserve Sri Lanka’s independence and freedom and worked towards social justice and was again at the forefront of opposing totally the separatist terrorists. The JVP even went to court to nullify the illegal merging of the North and the East.
However from 2010 onwards, after Rathu Ali Patiya or Anura Kumara Dissanayake took over, the JVP has become a treacherous party who have become lackeys of ultra capitalists such as the UNP the US, UK, EU, Canada, Sweden, Norway imperialists, the racist TNA and the separatist terrorists. The JVP today is totally working against the interests of the Sri Lankan people and is being treacherous to its own motherland and this is having a very deleterious effect on Sri Lanka as a country.
August 13th, 2016 at 11:11 am
Dear All,
All funds and property earned by anyone in power – politician, or other, UNP, SLFP or other should be turned over to charity programs such as Gammadda conducted by Sirasa and such for the benefit of the poor and needy in Sri Lanka.
Without mincing words, to face the truth, Sri Lanka is a beggar nation, living day to day with the help of handouts from the wealthy countries. In this scenarios the so called politicians elected mostly by the poor, helpless and the ill-informed, rip-off the the wealth produced by the working population. Don’t these so called representatives of the masses feel guilty when they drive around in 60 million Rupee luxury vehicles – whether it is Ranil Wickramasinghe, Mahinda Rajapaksa or Wimal Weerawansa.
JP / USA
These are ardent buddhists aren’t they?
August 13th, 2016 at 5:40 pm
Jayatha,
We have to await some miracle to happen, wait for someone to appear for Sinhalese.