STATEMENT BY FOREIGN MINISTER MANGALA SAMARAWEERA -විදේශ අමාත්‍ය ගරු මංගල සමරවීර මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශය
Posted on March 27th, 2015
Media Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The forces of darkness, thought to have been defeated along with the Rajapaksa regime on the 8th of January, are beginning to raise their ugly heads again. A smear campaign against selected members of the Sirisena administration has started, and yet again I too have become a victim of such slander.
Therefore, I place the following facts regarding my recent visit to the United States on the public record.
- I visited the United States of America for an official visit between the 10th and 13th of February. This visit was part of the new government’s strategy to win many of Sri Lanka’s friends in the international community who had been alienated as a result of the Rajapaksa regime’s disastrous foreign policy.
- After meeting Secretary of State John Kerry and other senior U.S. officials of the Obama administration during a two and a half day whirlwind visit to Washington D.C., I arrived in New York by train on the early afternoon of the 13th. I had talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the US Ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, that afternoon.
- I also met the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, before departing from the hotel at around 6.30 pm to fly to New Delhi for the state visit of President Sirisena to India.
- All hotels used during my official visits are booked by the relevant missions. And I have mentioned to the relevant officials not to book ostentatious and extravagant hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and the Dorchester in London where members of the Rajapaksa regime resided during their travels.
- Having known the schedule in advance it is also a mystery why two nights were booked by the Sri Lankan mission in New York.
- On my official trips abroad I take one member of my personal staff from the Minister’s Bureau. They travel economy class unless upgraded complementarily by the airline. During this visit the Public Relations Officer, Sameera Manahara, travelled with me.
- Manahara was also my Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Ports and Aviation between 2004 and 2007. During my seven years in the Opposition he was one of my principal coordinators and campaign managers.
- Manahara is the happily married father of a beautiful baby girl.
I hope this clarification is afforded the same prominence on all websites that published the salacious and misleading slander noted above.
Thank you.
විදේශ අමාත්‍ය ගරු මංගල සමරවීර මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශය
2015 මාර්තු 26
2015 ජනවාරි 8 වන දින රාජපක්ෂ රෙජීමය සමඟින් පරාජයට පත් කළ බවට විශ්වාස කරන ලද අඳුරු සෙවනැලි යළිත් හිස එසවීම අරඹා ඇතග සිරිසේන පාලනයේ තෝරාගත් සාමාජිකයන් අරබයා මඩ ගැසීමේ ව්‍යාපාරයක් දියත් කර ඇති අතරල මා ද එහි ගොඳුරක් බවට පත්ව ඇත
එබැවින් මහජනතාවගේ දැනගැනීම පිණිසල මාගේ එක්සත් ජනපද සංචාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පහත කරුණු දක්වමි.
1 2015 පෙබරවාරි 10 වන දින සිට 13 වන දින දක්වා කාලය තුළ නිල සංචාරයක් සඳහා මා ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය වෙත ගියෙමිග රාජපක්ෂ රෙජිමයේ හානිදායක විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය හේතුවෙන් නොසලකා හරින ලද රාජ්‍යයන් යළිත් මිතුරු කරගැනීම සඳහා වූ නව රජයේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරනු වස් මෙම සංචාරය සිදු කරන ලදි.
2 වොෂින්ටනය වෙත කරන ලද දෙදිනකුත් වරුවක සංචාරය තුළ දීල ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපද රාජ්‍ය ලේකම් ජොන් කෙරී ඇතුළු ඔබාමා රජයේ අනෙකුත් ජ්‍යේෂඨ නිලධාරින් කිහිපදෙනෙකු ද හමුවීමෙන් අනතුරුව මා 13 වන දින පස්වරුවේ දුම්රිය මගින් නිව්යෝක් නුවර වෙත පැමිණියෙමිග එදින පස්වරුවේල එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහ ලේකම් බෑන් කී මූන් මහතා සමඟ සහ එක්සත් පාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ එක්සත් ජනපද තානාපතිනී සමන්තා පවර් මහත්මිය සමඟ සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්වූයෙමි.
3 පස්වරු 6ග30 ට පමණ සිරිසේන ජනපතිතුමන්ගේ ඉන්දීය නිල සංචාරය සදහා නව දිල්ලි නුවරට පියාසර කිරීමට හෝටලයෙන් පිටත් වීමට පෙර මවිසින් හියුමන් රයිට්ස් වොච් සංවිධානයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ කෙනත් රොත් මහතා ද මුණ ගැසෙන ලදි.
4 මාගේ නිල සංචාරවලදී භාවිත කරන සියලු හෝටල් අදාළ දූත මණ්ඩල විසින් වෙන් කරන ලද ඒවා වේග එමෙන්ම රාජපක්ෂ රෙජීමයේ සමාජිකයන් ඔවුන්ගේ සංචාර අතරතුර භාවිතා කරන්නට යෙදුණු නිව්යෝක්හි පිහිටි වැල්ඩෝර්ෆ්-ඇස්ටෝරියා සහ ලන්ඩන් නුවර පිහිටි ඩොචෙස්ටර් වැනි අතිසුඛෝපභෝගී හෝටල් වෙන් නොකරන ලෙස මවිසින් අදාළ නිලධාරීන් දැනුවත් කර ඇත.
5 මාගේ කාලසටහන පිළිබඳ කලින් දැනුවත්ව තිබියදීත් නිව්යෝක් හි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය විසින් රාත්‍රීන් දෙකක් වෙන් කළේ මන්දැයි යන්න අභිරහසකි.
6 මාගේ විදේශීය නිල සංචාරවලදී මාගේ පෞද්ගලික කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයේ එක් සාමාජිකයකු පමණක් මවිසින් රැගෙන යනු ලැබේග අදාළ ගුවන් සමාගම විසින් උසස් කොට සලකනු ලැබුවහොත් මිස ඔවුහු ගුවන් යානයේ සාමාන්‍ය පන්තියේ ගමන් කරතිග මෙම සංචාරයේ දී මාගේ මහජන සම්බන්ධතා නිලධාරී සමීර මනහර මහතා මවිසන් රැගෙන යන ලදි.
7 මනහර මහතා මා 2004 -2007 කාලයේ දී වරා‍ය හා ගුවන් සේවා අමාත්‍ය ධුරය දරන සමයේ ද මාගේ මහජන සම්බන්ධතා නිලධාරී වශයෙන් කටයුතු කළේයග මවිසන් විරුද්ධ පක්ෂය තුළ ගත කරන ලද හත් වසක කාලය තුළ ඔහු මාගේ දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයේ ප්‍රධාන සංවිධායකයකු හා කළමණාකරුවෙකු වශයෙන් කටයුතු කරන ලදි.
8 මනහර මහතා විවාහකයකු වන අතර සිගිති දියණියකගේ පියකු ද වන්නේය
ඒ අනුවල අසත්‍ය හා නොමග යවන සුළු පුවත් පලකරන ලද සියළලු වෙබ් අඩවි වල මවිසින් මෙහි ලා කරන ලද පැහැදිලි කිරීම සඳහා ද ඒ හා සමාන වූ ප්‍රසිද්ධියක් ලබාදෙනු ඇතැයි මම විශ්වාස කරමි.
ස්තූතියි.
March 26th, 2015 at 2:58 pm
Still, as a minister of a poor country you should have instructed them to book hotel rooms for less than $600. there are a number of good famous hotels for that price. Rajapakse’s behaviour shall not be your upper bound.
March 26th, 2015 at 3:01 pm
“The forces of darkness, thought to have been defeated along with the Rajapaksa regime on the 8th of January, are beginning to raise their ugly heads again.”
If reporting on an incident is considered a force of darkness, Mangala should remember that it was these same old forces of darkness that brought the Rajapaksha government down. With the internet, news travels fast. He cannot pick and choose what gets reported. The current government enjoyed these force of darkness with glee when it was working for them.
If the Mission in New York messed up, it needs to dealt with since cutting wastage was an election platform.
March 26th, 2015 at 4:05 pm
Mr Samaraweera’s scriptwriter refers to “Forces of Darkness …” The only real Forces of Darkness Lanka has known over a long period is Terrorism which was removed by the determined efforts of the MR govt. Mr S would not be globetrotting as he does at present without that great effort by the MR govt. together with the efforts by the armed forces of Lanka with timely help from sympathetic regional countries.
March 26th, 2015 at 4:33 pm
“The forces of darkness, thought to have been defeated along with the Rajapaksa regime on the 8th of January, are beginning to raise their ugly heads again.”
-No. Forces of darkness, people thought to have been defeated have in fact have been replaced by another set of similar forces. People defeated the dark forces expecting light. If you have chosen to travel with a ministry secretary there is no need for “personal” “public relations officers”. In that case people could see some light.
May we know the CV of Mr. Manahara for him to be superior to you in “public relations” ? We thought you are more than capable of “public relations”. Next time let Mr. Manahara be the minster so that poor Sri Lanka can same more money.
Your explanation of Mr. Manahara having babies does not exclude the possibility of having “some truth” in the accusations, as we are not babies. That is why his CV is important to us. We expected a better explanation from a person capable to be a Foreign Minister.
March 26th, 2015 at 5:38 pm
You have whitewashed the whole thing. Some of us are not agents of darkness. We are intelligent, educated people who can’t be fooled! The Four Seasons is one of the most expensive hotels.
March 26th, 2015 at 6:16 pm
“8.Manahara is the happily married father of a beautiful baby girl.”
The problem is not Manahara but MANGALA.
He seems to be avoiding the point. In SL as the law stands homsexual activity is ILLEGAL. Right or wrong this is the law and LAWMAKERS are supposed to uphold the law. So tell the world Mangala what is your orientation? I’m not discriminating but people have the RIGHT to know.
March 27th, 2015 at 3:53 am
We are intelligent, educated people should not ask tell the world Mangala what is your orientation?
We are living in 21st century not Mahavamsa time !
March 27th, 2015 at 5:38 am
Oh my god, that poor beautiful baby girl’s future is also shattered !!
March 27th, 2015 at 6:46 am
Wickrama – come onnnnnnnnnn , please what happened to you sinhalase … be human at least …
March 27th, 2015 at 7:33 am
Mr S further says ” …to win many of Sri Lanka’s friends in the international community who had been alienated as a result of the Rajapaksa regime’s disastrous foreign policy”.
MR policies were sound to tackle a war that was created by foreign countries riding on Tamil Caste/poverty problems coming from Tamil Nadu – the ‘Divide & Rule’ policies, y’know !
We wonder what the marking grade would be for the new illegal govt of Lanka on handling this matter ? -‘F’ from both communities ?
March 27th, 2015 at 8:21 am
Most of the points put forward by our Mangala to justify his financial and other irregularities cannot be accepted as true because he can manipulate any facts to suit his personal agenda. In fact he is notorious for fabricating lies to sling mud on others. Most probably he is the originator of false and malicious propaganda such as Lamborghini, three helicopters and white horses from Buckingham palace imported specially for the use of Rajapakse sons which were proved to be blatant lies. Now the lies created by him are haunting against him and returning like boomerangs.
He not only fabricated lies against Rajapakses but also against Thoppigala Ranil. When our Mangala was a cabinet minister in then UPFA govt of Chandrika, Ranil’s UNF government came into power in around year 2000. Immediately after winning that general election by UNP, its general secretary Gamini Athukorale passed away due to illness. But Mangala trying to get political advantage out of it and to sling mud on Ranil, invented a story to effect that it was not a natural death and Ranil is responsible for Gamini’s death.
Appointing Manahara as our Mangala’s secretary and campaign manager is a popular trick to hoodwink general public and hid his illicit affair with that young fellow. Chandrika too did the same thing. She appointed Sanath G as her media advisor to avoid suspicion but they were caught red handed when Sinhala Cinema Chakrawarthi Gamini Fonseka visited her uninformed. When Gamini came back, he publicly ridiculed Sanath by naming him “Oodokku Kukka”.
I agree with Wickrama, if the baby girls father loves his daughter, he should distance himself from personalities such as our Mangala who are practicing high risk and immoral activities.
March 27th, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Mr. Minister, I have a suggestion to get out of this criticism of taking Mr. Manahara with you during your foreign visits. You can get Mr. Manahara appointed as the “Monitoring Secretary” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to fill the void created with the departure of Mr. Sajin Vas Gunawarden – the ex “Monitoring MP” of your Ministry. That “Monitoring MP’ though, he did not posses any type of knowledge/experience, traveled with our ex President and sat with him in all official discussions; not a single criticism was leveled against him or the ex President. Even the then Minister addressed him “Sir”. Though, we do not have a CV of Mr. Manahara, the little you have said about his background, work related experience quite well fit with that of Mr. Sajin Vas Gunawardane. Only thing, give him strict instructions not to resort to “slap” our Diplomats at “hopper parties”. How about giving serious consideration to my suggestion?
March 27th, 2015 at 2:37 pm
Mangala is not just scr*wing Manahara but also the entire country.
People didn’t vote for him to become FOREIGN MINISTER!
Unless CBK is put out of business, SL is in DEEP TROUBLE. This is why the SL FORCES must be INDEPENDENT. They should be able to THINK and do what is BEST for the country.
March 27th, 2015 at 5:41 pm
Truth said by Douglas. But I don’t like your statement because it encourages acting without moral fear and moral shame, even though I know it is a joke. Moral fear and moral shame should not be subjected to jokes, as it is the last defence of morality.
Lorenzo said,
“People didn’t vote for him to become FOREIGN MINISTER!”
– Also valid for other ministers.
March 27th, 2015 at 5:43 pm
Lorenzo, you got it correct!
March 27th, 2015 at 8:06 pm
යමපාලනයේ ආරම්භය සිංහලේ අවසානයය්,, උන්ට චන්දයදුන් පවිට න්ට සාපා වදිනු ඇත. චන්ද්‍රිකා රනිල් හා මංගල උන්ට සුපුරුදු උන්-ගේ — අවලම් සංස්කෘතියෙන් බොදු සංස්කෘතිය විනාශ කිරීම උන්-ගේ – අරමුනය්.
March 28th, 2015 at 7:45 am
Rajapaksa did not alienate the West. They alienated themselves. He in fact went all out and spent a lot of money to have the Commonwealth Conference in Sri Lanka and tried to be friendly to U.K, USA and Europe. It is they who decided that MR was not a puppet they could manipulate and decided to give him the cold shoulder. U.K. insulted him by inviting him to speak at Oxford and then then sending back because the LTTE diaspora did not want him there. When the war ended the West wanted Sri Lanka to let Prabahakaran and the hardcore LTTE cadre go free and because he was killed they decided to prosecute him and the armed forces for war crimes.
The western powers launched a war against Iraq on grounds which were later found to be false. Close to a million innocent women and children died. Did the UN pursue war crimes charges on these crimes with the same intensity as for Sri Lanka Army for killing the double of a well known terrorist?There appears to be a double standard when it comes to war crimes. Some of the best legal minds who have commented have stated that the UN has no case against Sri Lanka.
Some foreign powers wanted to create a separate state for Tamils who are compliant to them so that they have the Trincomalee harbor and manpower to use as cannon fodder. MR also turned down a request from Robert O’Blake to send our army to Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda which would have been certain death for our army. That was also not well received by the West. MR, his Govt., and the armed forces are heroes for Sri Lanka and the UN is trying to prosecute them. According to the best legal opinion they do not have a case. Please see attached below.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=120653
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121064
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121568
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121960
March 28th, 2015 at 8:18 am
“1.I visited the United States of America for an official visit between the 10th and 13th of February. This visit was part of the new government’s strategy to win many of Sri Lanka’s friends in the international community who had been alienated as a result of the Rajapaksa regime’s disastrous foreign policy.”
I don’t agree with this statement! The main reason for his visit is to thank them for their support to defeat the Rajapake government and to install Sirisena, Ranil, Chandrika puppet government.
Chandrika, Ranil and Mangala are the worst enemies of Sinhala nation. They are worst than Velu!!!
March 28th, 2015 at 9:47 am
As Douglas said, Mangala should appoint Manahara as his ”Monitoring Officer”. In any case that is what he does…. isn’t it.?
Next govt that comes in to power should make it a priority to take this pathetic man to courts for violating the constitution that prohibits homo sexual behaviour and also setting an immoral precedent that totally disagrees with his position as a legislator of the country. Every dollar spent on his Monitoring Officer should too be recovered.
If he is clean, then he should be publishing Manahara’s qualifications on the web for everyone to see and justify taking Manahara with him spending public money.
Mangala, YOU ARE A TOTAL DISGRACE TO SRI LANKA.!
March 28th, 2015 at 9:51 am
No would ever believe Mangala. People have not forgotten him using the government credit card to pay thousands of dollars for watching internet sex, during his first term as a minister. He got away due to being a politician. It is a serious offence punishable with a jail term.
March 28th, 2015 at 10:04 am
I had no idea till now that there was a Law in Sri Lanka PROHIBITING homosexual behavior. I am no expert in this topic, but common sense tells me that people so inclined in sexual orientation cannot help it as their nature made them so. In some ways, they have my sympathy, as society and medicine still do not fully understand why things are that way for some people. Anyway, we ought to be more enlightened in our law making. The Law of the Land ought to be such that People can engage in their orientation so long as they keep it discreet ?
There ought to be a Law in Sri Lanka prohibiting engaging CHILDREN in sex and in any form of sexual behavior.
March 28th, 2015 at 12:31 pm
Mangala admits that “And I have mentioned to the relevant officials not to book ostentatious and extravagant hotels like the Waldorf-Astoria in New York”.
Did Mangala know that the Rajapaksas’ stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in New York and Paid $ 1,500.00 per night. Mangala stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and Paid $ 3,000.00 per night. Now what has President Sirisena to say about this? Who is he going to blame for this kind of extravagance? Is this the kind of good govanance they they promised.