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පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඇති වූ ගැටුම්කාරී අවස්ථාවේදී කාවින්ද ජයවර්ධන මන්ත්රීවරයා හා හිරුණිකා පේ්රමචන්ද්ර මන්ත්රීවරිය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුල්ලක පෙම් කෙලිද්දී මන්ත්රී දිලිප් වෙදආරච්චි සරම උස්සා පෙන්වූ බව ඇමති විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා සදහන් කරයි.
අගමැති කාර්යාලයේදී පැවති මාධ්ය හමුවක් අමතමින් ඔහු කියා සිටියේ අද වන විට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම පිස්සන් කොටුවක් වී ඇති බවත් ‘කරුමයා’ කතානායක ඊට වගකිව යුතු බවත්ය.
![කාවින්ද-හිරුණිකා මුල්ලක පෙම් කෙලිද්දී වෙදආරච්චි සරම උස්සා පෙන්වයි..[Video]](http://lankacnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1213212313.jpg)
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Empathy is a crucial component in healthy living. Empathy is a complex construct, thought to contain multiple components (Bonfils et al., 2017). Empathy is a basic prosocial behavior which is referred to as an ability to understand and share others’ emotional state and also a social-behavioral basis of altruism (Chen et al, 2015). It is the “capacity” to share and understand another’s “state of mind” or emotion. Empathy is considered an essential aspect of social cognition (Lockwood et al., 2017).
According to current models in social neuroscience, prosocial human qualities such as empathy and compassion are based on shared representations of self and other (Preston and Hofelich, 2012; Trautwein et al., 2016).
Empathy refers to the cognitive and emotional processes that bind people together in various kinds of relationships that permit sharing of experiences as well as understanding of others (Eslinger, 1998). George Herbert Mead and Jean Piaget separately addressed the question of empathy, and both offered views that emphasized the cognitive over the emotional (Håkansson, 2003). Carl Rogers too studied the phenomenon of empathy and viewed empathy as a positive element of human nature. Recent evidence suggests that there are two possible systems for empathy: a basic emotional contagion system and a more advanced cognitive perspective-taking system (Shamay-Tsoory et al., 2009).
Dr. S. Nassir Ghaemi, – Professor of Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, and Director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center in Boston states that empathy is not a vague concept but a neuropsychological fact. Biological basis of empathy is connected with mirror neurons. According to Papadourakis and Raos (2017) mirror neurons are sensori-motor neurons that fire both when an animal performs a goal-directed action and when the same animal observes another agent performing the same or a similar transitive action.
Chen and colleagues (2008) indicate that mirror neuron system has been found to involve in empathy. Brain regions such as anterior insula, anterior and midcingulate cortex are important in empathy (Bernhardt & Singer, 2012). Shamay-Tsoory (2011) states that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, temporoparietal junction, and the medial temporal lobe are necessary for cognitive empathy. According to Shamay-Tsoory and colleagues prefrontal structures play an important part in a network mediating the empathic response and specifically that the right ventromedial cortex has a unique role in integrating cognition and affects to produce the empathic response.
Impairment of empathy development may be associated with autism, narcissism, alexithymia, personality disorder, schizophrenia and depression (Chen et al, 2015). In addition empathic changes are particularly evident after focal prefrontal cortex damage and closed head injury in adults (Eslinger, 1998). Empathy can be blocked by personal stress and aversion (Ekman &Krasner, 2016).
Studies concur that meditation help to build empathy also fight against empathy erosion. Loving-kindness meditation and compassion meditation enhance empathy. Kindness-based meditation may enhance the neural systems related to faster and more basic perceptual or motor simulation processes (Mascaro et al., 2015).
Hoenders and colleagues (2016) of the view that interventions based on mindfulness training appear to reduce stress and increase empathy. Barbosa and colleagues (2013) state that mindfulness-based stress reduction training is associated with greater empathy. According to McConville, McAleer and Hahne (2017) mindfulness-based interventions decrease stress, anxiety, and depression and improve mindfulness, mood, self-efficacy, and empathy.
17.11.18 revised 19.11.18
The Yahapalana government of 2015 has been described as a puppet government, dancing to the tune of America. USA has come into Sri Lanka very late, but it has been interested in Sri Lanka for a long time. USA was the natural successor to Britain, when Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. USA was the world’s leading nation after World War II ended. (1939-1945). But Sri Lanka continued its link with Britain. Our legal appeals went to the Privy Council in London.
USA however established a quiet presence in Sri Lanka. In the 1950s there was the magazine ‘Free World’ and the United States Information Centre. Althea Gibson, Martha Graham and Duke Wellington visited. .Sri Lanka‘s strategic location in the Indian Ocean was important to USA and US would have hoped to gain control of the island someday.
The first three Prime Ministers, D.S, Dudley and Sir John were not a threat to the west, but SWRD Bandaranaike, with his tilt to China and Russia was seen as a threat . SWRD was promptly assassinated. Sirimavo Bandaranaike, also very independent minded, was to be assassinated as part of a coup. She survived. The JVP was started in her time.
Things improved for USA when J. R. Jaywardene (‘Yankee Dickie’) became the next Prime Minister. He turned to the USA. He allowed the Voice of America to beam out from Sri Lanka and was planning to let USA bring its 7th Fleet into Trincomalee. America’s aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk, accompanied by other ships of the 7th fleet came to Colombo.
JR introduced the Open Economy. ‘The level of corruption in this country now will be unlike anything we have seen before’ commented Ralph Pieris. Open Economy brought in foreign companies. They set up their factories on prime agricultural land. Open economy also brought in foreign goods, which killed our fledgling SMEs. Inexpensive local pasta vanished, replaced by expensive, not so good foreign pasta which took just as long to cook.
With the emergence of Open Economy policy and foreign policy of the 1977 government, various forms of foreign interference including various meddlesome NGOs started emerging, said S. Akurugoda . Foreign interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka was minimal prior to 1977. After 1977 there was interference from the foreign diplomatic corps based in Colombo notably US, France, Germany and Britain, ‘as never seen before’, he said.
JR introduced Presidential rule to Sri Lanka. In 1978, he became Sri Lanka first Executive President, holding enormous powers, sans checks and balances. These powers were hidden all over the 1978 Constitution. The stage was set for dictatorial rule. The stage was also set for puppet rule.
Sri Lanka’s strategic geopolitical position acquired a new importance with the rise of China. Sri Lanka is in a ‘super position’ though it is not a ‘super power’, observed analysts. Sri Lanka could not be ignored nor could it be antagonized.
USA therefore decided to create a pliable Sri Lanka, with an accommodating government, set in place by regime change. USA has been doing this for years in other countries said analysts. The US routinely uses complaints of corruption and bad government, to bring about ‘regime change’. USA is now building partnerships where the other country provides the manpower and the money. USA no longer has the strength to wage wars by itself, simultaneously, all over the world.
The motivating force behind the US foreign policy is not the America we see, said analysts, There is an invisible force, recently dubbed the ‘Deep state’, consisting of a small group of super rich persons, most of them Jewish, who control the elite banks and businesses of the world, and therefore also need to control the world economy. Politics is just one part of this game. This ‘Deep state’ came briefly into public view in the USA when Kennedy was assassinated in the 1960s.
Political power in Sri Lanka moved from UNP hands to SLFP hands in the last decade of the 20th century .President Chandrika Kumaratunga was not a problem for USA but Mahinda Rajapaksa who became President in 2005 was seen as an obstacle to US plans. Rajapaksa was a strong leader who can elevate the nation to greater heights as seen with the progress in just four years amidst a war, observed Manisha Fernando. It is during Rajapaksa’s time that oil exploration was started. The emergence of a strong political leader with links to nations such as China and Russia, Cuba and Libya was not to the liking of the west, she said. Further Rajapaksa was not prepared to listen to America and do as America said. He had to go.
The role played by the US embassy, since 2009, to bring Rajapaksa rule to an end is now in the public domain, especially after Wikileaks. The first US managed project in Sri Lanka was to stop Mahinda Rajapaksa from securing a second presidential term, at the 2010 January polls, said analysts.
US put forward Sarath Fonseka as the rival candidate for the 2010 election. USA put together a coalition to support him. Thanks to Wiki Leaks, the entire world knows how US brought pressure on the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to throw its weight behind General Fonseka. But even before Wikileaks, US involvement was known. In 2010, Sunday Observer ran a headline, ‘west behind moves to regime change’. ‘There are individuals working as puppets to western big powers’ added the media.
This US plan failed. Fonseka lost, Rajapaksa won. Fonseka lost because many Sri Lankans saw Fonseka as a tool of the US government and western interests, said one critic. They feared that if Fonseka came, there will be external interference in Sri Lanka on an unprecedented scale. We see a clear alignment of political forces here. Those who work for foreign masters are with Fonseka, while forces concerned about the long term interest of Sri Lanka re rallying solidly behind Rajapaksa, said the media.
The US plan failed in 2010 but an almost identical project succeeded in January 2015, when Maitripala Sirisena, the ‘common candidate’, defeated Rajapaksa. The role of the US in the regime change of 2015 is now well known, Thanks to Wiki Leaks, confidential US diplomatic cables that dealt with US efforts to form a political grouping capable of defeating Rajapaksa, is in the public domain. The US played a critically important role in forming the coalition under the ‘swan’ symbol. However, US had to withdraw a project called ‘Election Support through Voter Education’, using local NGOs after the Sri Lanka government objected.
Opinion polls conducted in the five weeks prior to the election showed an overwhelming 80% of the electorate recognized the 2009 war victory and the peace it brought as a major benefit and gave the credit to Rajapaksa. About 36% of the voters also gave Rajapaksa credit for the mega development projects.
The USA also succeeded in getting the ‘minorities’ to vote for Sirisena. The north and east voted for Fonseka and then Sirisena. Sirisena won on the minority vote. The US also put pressure on the SLMC to join a coalition, comprising the UNP, JVP, and TNA. The Sinhalese are now resentful of the power that the minority communities have displayed over the destiny of the Island, said Chandraprema.
Sirisena won the presidential election mainly on Tamil and Muslim votes. The Prime Minister’s media division reported that though Sirisena got about 80% of the vote from the north and east, a survey had shown that 33% of the people there had not even heard of Sirisena before.
Sirisena won only 6 of 16 major districts apart from North, East and Nuwara Eliya districts. Gampaha was won only by a whisker. Puttalam win was only due to the Muslim vote there. Sirisena got around 75% of the Tamil and Muslims votes and about 65% of the Christian votes. Sirisena polled around 65 to 80% of the vote in the large urban centers of Colombo.
Sirisena was not a popular choice. After the election the SLFP discovered ‘the deep visceral dislike that the SLFP voters at the village level had for Sirisena.’ Sirisena came from a family of successful rice millers in Polonnaruwa. His brother Dudley Sirisena established the Araliya group of companies in 1969. It first sold Araliya rice then expanded into real estate, tourism, automobile, construction, and engineering. The Sudu Araliya hotel, in Polonnaruwa, where I once stayed and a new five star hotel in Nuwara Eliya are his.
Initially President Sirisena was happy to belong to Yahapalana. When the 1st anniversary of the Yahapalana government was celebrated at Matara on 19.8.16. TV camera showed President Sirisena turning round after his speech and seeking the approval of Mangala Samaraweera and Ranil Wickremasinghe.
However, Yahapalana was not popular even at the start. At the 65th anniversary of the SLFP, in 2016 the audience sat with long faces. As soon as President Sirisena finished speaking, within minutes the audience had got up and left. This could be contrasted with the enthusiastic crows seen standing at Mahinda Rajapaksa gatherings and the Pada yathra.
USA needed a political party that would readily perform the functions of a puppet government. The most suitable party was the UNP, under the present leadership. JR had turned the UNP firmly towards USA. Its potential leaders, Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake, who could not be easily manipulated, were assassinated. President Premadasa was also assassinated. Ranil Wickremasinghe became Prime Minister in 1993 and head of the UNP in 1994.
If not for the violent deaths of Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake and Ranasinghe Premadasa, it is most unlikely that Wickremesinghe would have become the leader of the UNP and, consequently, the Prime Minister, said analysts. But Ranil Wickremasinghe has admirers. ‘Cassandra’ commented on the poise, calm and stature projected by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. He sits there calm and unruffled both in appearance and stance, cried. Cassandra .
The UNP was never a majority party in Sri Lanka. Therefore the puppet government needed a second party as back up. This was already in place. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna emerged as an important component of the puppet government. JVP is a CIA venture set up in the 1970s during Sirimavo Bandaranaike government. It unleashed two armed uprisings against the ruling governments in 1971 and 1987. Because it killed twice, it is unlikely to emerge as a ruling party. Its role is to collect disgruntled votes that may otherwise go to the opposition.
The JVP had been deeply involved in the both the 2010 and 2015 regime change projects sponsored by the US. Today it is associated with the UNP and is referred to as Rathu Ali . Even though the JVP masquerades as an opposition party, they are an integral part of the Yahapalana collective, observed analysts. JVP mounts attacks on the government with the approval of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. In the first days of the Yahapalana government, JVP cadres took over the functions of the police and raided various government and private premises searching for evidence of wrongdoing by the previous government.
JVP has fully cooperated in every anti-democratic measure taken by the Yahapalana government. It was the JVP that provided the two thirds majority that the government needed to change the electoral system and avoid holding the Provincial Council elections. The JVP leader was a member of the Committee of ministers, politicians and NGO activists formed to oversee the work of the FCID. The Urgent Response Unit of the Anti-Corruption Committee was placed under the personal supervision of JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake spoke at a function I attended in 2018. He said that Sri Lanka was poor and insignificant. We have no important resources, only a few minerals and graphite, but no gas or petroleum. This was intended to create low self esteem.
The puppet government also has the support of the Tamil parties. While masquerading as opposition political parties, the JVP and the TNA have supported every anti-democratic action taken by Yahapalana government in the past three years, said Mahinda Rajapaksa The TNA and the JVP were included in the all-powerful National Executive Council which functioned over and above the Cabinet. When an Anti-Corruption Committee was formed under the leadership of the Prime Minister for the purpose of persecuting and jailing members of the previous government, the JVP and TNA were once again given prominent roles.
The SLFP remained a strong opponent of puppet rule, so President Sirisena was instructed to kill off the SLFP or neutralize it in some way. He did so by taking the SLFP MPs into the UNP and turning them into ‘Nil Ali’ to the utter contempt of the SLFP voters. They hooted at the party headquarters. There was also the ugly spectacle of two SLFP Presidents, Maitripala Sirisena, (present President) and Chandrika Kumaratunge, (past President), sneering and criticizing a third SLFP President, Mahinda Rajapaksa
What the west did not anticipate was that the public would demand a fresh party, brand new. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna was born due to this demand. Usually political parties are formed by interested persons who need a political party to climb to power. In the case of the Pohottuwa, it was the other way round. The electorate demanded a new party, and the politicians had to oblige. They wanted Mahinda Rajapaksa to lead it. But there was a warning.
When Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Kirivehera in kataragama after becoming Prime Minister, the sangha told him ‘don’t make the mistakes that you made last time.’
Pohottuwa created world history when it became the first political party in a mature democracy with a well-established two party system to dislodge the two established political parties to become the largest political party. Pohottuwa attracted the full spectrum of Sri Lanka voters, rich and poor, town and village, English speaking and Sinhala speaking, westernized and non-westernized, without any encouragement at all. How it performs in the future remains to be seen, but one thing is sure. This Pohottuwa will eventually kill off the SLFP. That may be a good thing.
The SLFP always had problems of image. Its leadership was radala, (SWRD, Sirimavo and Chandrika), but its membership was not. SLFPers were never quite sure what they were. They were not communist, they were not socialist, they were not capitalist, so what were they? They will be happy to leave the SLFP, but Pohottuwa must deliver.
Yahapalana Phase One came to an end in a spectacular manner. In October 2018, President Sirisena removed Ranil Wickremasinghe from the office of Prime Minister and installed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. Ranil Wickremasinghe refused to go. He installed himself in Temple Trees and issued statements from there.
President Sirisena then made a statement to the country. In this statement the President openly admitted that he had allowed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to usurp the power of the President. You have acquired my powers to do what you did. I silently gave you that power in gratitude as you took leadership to bring me to power.”
Sirisena said he was getting rid of Ranil Wickremasinghe because Ranil was exceeding his limits. Ranil was running the country, arrogantly, the way he wanted. He ignored collective decisions, and made individual decisions. Ranil was ruining the country, Sirisena said and gave a long list of what Ranil had done wrong.
Wickremesinghe and his group of close friends, described as a ‘samanala group’ conducted themselves as if shaping the future of the country was a fun game they played, said Sirisena. The committee set up by Ranil Wickremesinghe to manage the economy was totally fraudulent. The decisions made by that committee were fraudulent. It was a major challenge to abolish it, continued Sirisena. As an alternative to that committee, I established the National Economic Council. Wickremesinghe took steps to prevent the Commission from functioning. The monthly payment to its head was stopped by Ranil.
Sirisena referred to the Land Ordinance Special Act , which was presented to the Cabinet in September 2018. If this was passed by the Cabinet and then by Parliament, all the land in Sri Lanka could be bought outright by foreigners.
When I decided to visit the Central Bank and meet the staff of the Bank, Ranil Wickremasinghe suddenly came to my residence and asked me, The Central Bank belongs to me, why do you want to go there continued Sirisena.
The UNP had strongly objected to the commission to investigate the Central Bank bond issue. ‘They asked why I appointed this Commission. The IGP did not hand the investigation to the Criminal Investigations Department. ‘In this plot, there is a wide range of information which has not been disclosed to the public.’
The Commission on Bribery or Corruption and Attorney-General’s Department recommended amendments to the Bribery Act, to speed up the bond scam inquiry. We drafted the amendments to the Act at the Presidential Secretariat and sent to Parliament, but Parliament has postponed the approval of the Amendments Act indefinitely concluded Sirisena.
An important feature in the Yahapalana puppet movement is the appearance of the Maha Sangha as an opposing force. The Yahapalana puppet government has a formidable opponent in the Maha sangha. I have never seen the Maha sangha so angry ever before. The Bhikshu Peramuna of 1956 was merely forceful, not angry. This time the sangha are very, very angry. They repeatedly called media conferences, where they ‘gave it tight’ to Yahapalana .
The Maha Sangha, it must be pointed out, are citizens of Sri Lanka , with all rights and privileges enjoyed by citizens. They can vote at elections, speak at meetings and have the right to study and comment on political issues. The argument that the Maha sangha should only deal with Buddhist matters and keep quiet about everything else cannot be accepted. That argument has been concocted to silence the sangha.
When the UNP went in delegation to Asgiri and Malvatu, they were listened to by a panel of monks, not the Mahanayake alone. Television news showed the monks trooping in. A group of nine monks held a press conference at SLFI, Colombo on November 3. 2018. This came on television news.
At this press conference, Ven. Kadawara Gnanaratana said , ‘We support Mahinda Rajapaksa. He is rejected only by USA and European countries. The public also support Mahinda Rajapaksa. The Mahanaykes and sangha also support him’. Ven. Kotapola Amarakeerthi said that Ranil was picking up from where the Portuguese and British had left off. Ven Hegoda Vipassi said ‘they are all the time talking of new Constitution, new Constitution . We say if necessary bring in amendments. This constitution is to create a federal state. President appointing Mahinda Rajapaksa was a timely, brave decision. Ven. Devalagama Dhammaratana, sangha nayake of Hambantota said Hambantota lands were to be taken over, they had already measured them.. About 100 temples and their lands were included in this takeover.
Television news regularly carried interviews with the sangha. Here is a selection of utterances..’The public do not want Yahapalana, Licchavi, Wifi or Laptop. They want food’, said Ven Nitiyawela Palitha of the Sri Lanka Maha Bodhi Sangamaya, bluntly.
The 2015 election was the result of a conspiracy, said Ven. Medagoda Abhayatissa. Foreign countries were interfering with Sri Lanka said Elle Gunawansa and Elle Medhananda. Western countries have penetrated deeply into our government, they control the Speaker and Ranil. They have brought in money and given bribes to MPs, said Elle Gunawansa.
The government is unpopular, nava rajayak bihiwewa, said Ven Kirimbaruwe Gunananda. ‘. We need a person who can save the country. We must support Mahinda Rajapaksa’, said Ven Kumbalwela Upatissa . Ven Kollupitiye Mahinda of Kelaniya temple, made a long speech which was televised. He said our culture and our nations is under siege. He had voted for Yahapalana at the last election and regretted it. He now supports Mahinda Rajapaksa .
Ven. Bellanwila Dharmaratana criticized Ranil Wickremasinghe by name, saying he had promised ten things to the TNA. Medagama Dhammananda and Medagoda Abhayatissa criticized the JVP. The real image of the JVP has now emerged they said. JVP had said that it was only after a society had completely rotted that socialism could come in. All that will be left then will be the worms, the monk remarked, contemptuously. Yahapalana wants to reduce this country to dust, they added.
The monks spoke very disparagingly of the NGOs, calling them ‘NGO karayo’ .Ven. Vendaruwe Upali said ‘now it is NGO’s voice that is important, not ours. Also the voices of India, America, and UN HRC. This is very dangerous’.
Jathika Niyojitha Maha Sangha Samuluva spoke out against the 20th amendment, saying that it was a device to create a federal state not abolish the presidency. Tri nikaya Maha Sangaratane had issued a 16 point statement against it.
Ven. Athureliye Ratana said the assassination plot should not be dismissed. It should be taken note of. He also said ‘this government is far more corrupt than the previous government.’ Elle Gunawansa said at a Yuthukama meeting, ‘this is the last chance to save the country, use your vote wisely.’
The Yahapalana puppet government has come as a rude shock to a complacent Sri Lanka . It has been a wakeup call. There is now a call for a ‘strong leader’. Until now Sri Lanka never wanted a strong leader, they wanted a leader they could push around.
The Anunayake of Asgiriya Chapter Ven. Wendaruwe Upali said that a Hitler type of person was needed in Sri Lanka today. Susirith Mendis pointed out that the Anunayake was not talking of Nazi Germany and Auschwitz. He was voicing the public demand for a strong effective leader to save Sri Lanka and Buddhism. ‘Rata godaganna ekadipathi palanayak ona’, said a critic. ‘ Pavula godanagana palanayak neve, rata godanagana palanayak’. (Derana news 24.10.18) Ella Gunawansa advised, ‘next time, use your brain and vote not for party but for a person who can get us out of this mess. This is our last chance.
This unpopular puppet government is scared of elections. Yahapalana delayed the local government elections, postponed the Provincial Council Election and now are trying to stop a general election Several Yahapalana MP have gone to Supreme Court on a Fundamental Rights application to stop Parliament being dissolved and a general election called. However, the country wants a general election. They want this puppet government out.
Prof. S.Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, a member of the Election commission filed a Fundamental Rights petition seeking an Interim Order restraining the Elections Commission from proceeding to take any steps to conduct the Parliamentary election upon the virtue of the proclamation issued by President. He believes that the order to conduct elections is illegal and therefore the Commission should not proceed with conducting the Parliamentary Election. it was observed that Hoole, a member of the Election Commission was actually objecting to the holding of an election.
Opinions were expressed after the performance in Parliament on 15.11.18 and 16.11.18, when the Speaker arrived escorted by police, with Ranil Wickremasinghe arriving just before, like a Peramuna rala, to get a vote of no confidence against Mahinda Rajapaksa passed.
S Akurugoda said the entire Sri Lankan community is aware of what has happened in the parliament on that day. The country’s President had no other alternative but to reject the so-called ‘No Confidence Motion’ which was said to have been passed by the Parliament, since the entire act of the Speaker was against the normal parliamentary procedures when taking up such issues.
Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharadhipathi Ven. Prof. Kollupitiye Mahinda blamed the Speaker for what happened. Ven. Yatamalagala Sumanasara Thera, the Executive Director of Daham Handa Centre, Pattivila, said it was necessary to carefully study the reasons behind the current situation in Parliament. The only solution is to call for a General Election. There is no other solution,” he said.
But Yahapalana is not prepared to go that easily. They hope that outsiders will come in and protect them. Global Tamil Forum (GTF)wanted the international community to come in. CAFFE said the intervention of a third party is needed to solve the conflict in Parliament there could be bloodshed and the loss of life if a third party does not intervene and help resolve the conflict between the top politicians in Parliament. The third party was not named.
Akurugoda pointed out that Foreign diplomats in Colombo, notably US held secret visits to discuss ‘undisclosed’ matters concerning the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. These countries didn’t utter a single word against the undemocratic, unconstitutional and mega level corruption issues which took place under the Yahapalana government they installed, but started to complain soon after the removal of Ranil Wickremasinghe, said Akurugoda.
The ethnic basis on which the puppet government rests was made clear. Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress, Rishad Bathiudeen hailed Speaker Karu Jayasuriya for his courageous stand against anti-democratic forces. Global Tamil Forum accused President Sirisena of illegal transfer of power from a sitting Prime Minister, proroguing the Parliament without consulting the Speaker and dissolving Parliament without any legitimate explanation. Sri Lanka has been a quasi-democracy where the Tamils were oppressed.
Global Tamil Forum said A broad spectrum of small but significant political parties representing different community interests and political philosophies – such as the Tamil National Alliance, Tamil Progressive Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, All Ceylon Makalu Congress, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya could collectively promote constitutional democracy’
Postscript.
Some argue that Sri Lanka is now in an utter state of chaos. Parliament has become rowdy, administration is at a standstill, and businesses are moving out. All because President Sirisena acted wrongly in removing Ranil Wickremasinghe from the post of Prime Minister. That is not so.
President Sirisena has given his reasons for removing Ranil Wickremasinghe and has now stated firmly that he will not reappoint him. This was of course obvious to everybody except those who were relying on Ranil Wickremasinghe to gain their objectives. TNA’s Sampanthan had pleaded with Sirisena, ‘please don’t do that Sir,’ and UNP MPs said ‘give Ranil Wickremasinghe another chance.’ (Sunday Times 18.11.18 p 15).
President Sirisena has made a smooth transfer of power in accordance with the Constitution .He removed one Prime Minister and cabinet and substituted another Prime Minister and cabinet ensuring that there was no break in government. Ranil Wickremasinghe as the sitting Prime Minister had an obligation to go to Supreme Court to contest the matter, if the appointment was illegal, He did not do so.
President Sirisena then dissolved Parliament and called for elections. The date for the next general election was announced. President Sirisena‘s action were welcomed by the public but not by the USA supported puppet government. Yahapalana went to courts to stop the dissolution of Parliament. The present uncertain situation is a direct result of this. Yahapalana alone is responsible. Supreme Court has given a ‘stay order’. That does not mean that Parliament carries on as usual. Parliament is frozen.
It is argued that President Sirisena’s actions were unconstitutional because he has violated the 19th amendment.” There is no 19th amendment today. The 19th amendment clauses are now a part of the Constitution of Sri Lanka and they have to be read along with the other clauses. While clause 70/1 (19th amendment) says President cannot dissolve parliament for 4 ½ years, clause 33/2 says he can. Clause 33/2 says In addition to the powers, duties and functions expressly conferred or imposed on, or assigned to the President by the Constitution or other written law, the President shall have the power to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament”. (33/2 and 33/2/e)
Something else is under attack here, the inalienable rights of the citizens of Sri Lanka. Clause 3 states In the Republic of Sri Lanka sovereignty is in the People and is inalienable. Sovereignty includes the powers of government, fundamental rights and the franchise.” Clause 3/4/e then elaborates, The franchise shall be exercisable at the election of the members of Parliament”. Clause 70/1 is a violation of this primary clause, which is also a guiding principle of the Constitution. I do not think any other constitution in the world has a crippling clause such as 70/1.
There has been a smooth, (if sudden) transfer of government power. Section 42/4 says ‘The President shall appoint as Prime Minister the Member of Parliament, who, in the President’s opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of Parliament.’
The present argument that the majority of the MPs in Parliament are against Mahinda Rajapaksa is a weak argument and everybody knows it. The anti-Mahinda Rajapaksa ‘majority’ vote does not come from a formal Parliamentary coalition. The ‘majority’ comes from MPs, representing separatist movements. These MPs have expressly come to Parliament to divide up the country. It is nonsense to argue that they are a part of ‘the confidence of Parliament’. (Continued)
බටහිර න්යාය පත්රයකට අනුව කතානායක කරු ජයසුරිය මහතා පක්ෂග්රාහි ලෙස හැසිරීමට බලපෑ බව කියන සිද්ධියට මුල් වී ඇත්තේ විදෙස් නියෝජිතයින් පිරිසක් කොළඹ සුපිරි හෝටලයක පැවැත්වූ ඉතා රහසිගත හමුවකදී ගත් තීරණයක් බව දේශපාලන ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.
අදාළ විදෙස් නියෝජිත පිරිස ඔවුන්ට හිතවත් තීන්දුවක් ලැබෙන තුරු ඉතා රහසිගත ලෙස මෙම මෙහෙයුම ඉදිරියටත් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා එම හෝටලයේ පැවැති හමුවේදී ගිවිස ගෙන තිබේ.
ඒ අනුව අදාළ විදෙස් නියෝජිත මෙහෙයුම ලබන 07 වැනිදා උසාවි නියෝගය ලැබෙන තෙක් ඊට බලපෑම් එල්ල කෙරෙන අයුරින් මෙහෙයවීමට නියමිත බව විශ්වාස කටයුතු ආරංචි මාර්ගවලින් රිවිර ඉරිදා සංග්රහයට වාර්තා විය.
එම විදෙස් නියෝජිත පිරිසට කොටි හිතවාදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පොරාවේ පිරිසක්ද ඇතුළත්ය. ඔවුන් අදාළ හමුවේදී ගත් තීරණ පසුගියදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ක්රියාකාරී ලෙස හැසිරී තිබෙන දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ මන්ත්රීවරයකු හමු වී වෙනමම පවසා ඇත.
ජාත්යන්තර වශයෙන් රටට බලපෑම් එල්ල කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්ය පසුබිම සකස් කිරීම මෙම විදෙස් නියෝජිත පිරිසේ ඉලක්කය වී තිබේ.
අදාළ තත්ත්වය උද්ගත කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පවතින මෙහෙයුම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්රීවරුන් කිහිප දෙනෙක් දැන සිට ඇති අතර එක් හිටපු රාජ්ය අමාත්යවරයෙක් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්යයට දුන් හඬ පටයකින් මේ බව අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවූ පසුගිය 14 වැනිදා පටන් ඒ සෑම සැසිවාරයක් සඳහාම තානාපතිවරුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට කැඳවීම, ඔවුන්ට සභා ගර්භය වීඩියෝ කිරීමට සැලැස්වීම සහ සෑම දිනකම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිදුවන දෑ වාර්තා කරමින් ජාත්යන්තරයට මාධ්ය නිවේදන නිකුත් කිරීමද අදාළ මෙහෙයුමට අනුව සිදුව ඇත.
මේ අතර දැනට පවතින දේශපාලන තත්ත්වය පිළිබඳව රටවල් කිහිපයක් සමීපව අධීක්ෂණය කිරීම ආරම්භ කර ඇති බව පසුගිය සිකුරාදා වන විට විදෙස් මාධ්ය වාර්තා කළේය.
ඇමෙරිකාව, ඉන්දියාව, ඕස්ට්රේලියාව, මහා බ්රිතාන්ය සහ ජපානය ඇතුළු රටවල් ඒ අතර වේ.
ඇමෙරිකාව, ඕස්ට්රේලියාව, ඉන්දියාව පසුගියදා සිංගප්පුරුවේ පැවැති ජාත්යන්තර හමුවකදී ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වර්තමාන තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළ කර තිබේ.
– rivira
බලවත් රටවල් විසින් තමුන්ට රිසි පරිදි රටවල් සූරා කෑම සඳහා අවශ්ය පාලකයින් තුන්වන ලෝකයේ විවිධ රටවල් සඳහා පත් කර ගැනීමත් ඔවුන් ලවා තම යුධෝපායත්මක, දේශපාලන හා ආර්ථික ප්රතිපත්ති ක්රියාත්මක කරවා ගැනීමත් දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු ඇතිවන ගෝලීය දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතියේ ප්රධානතම ලක්ෂණයක් බව අවිවාදයෙන් පිළිගතයුතු කරුණකි.
තමන්ට රිසි නොවන දේශපාලන නායකයින් කෙලින්ම ඝාතනය කිරීමට අමතරව, යුධ හමුදා කුමන්ත්රණ, ජනතා නියෝජිතයින් අල්ලසින් මිලට ගැනීම්, වර්ණ විප්ලව, ලිබියානු මොඩලය, සිරියානු මොඩලය හා යුක්රේන මොඩලය වශයෙන් නේකවිධ ක්රමවේද රාශියක් තුන්වන ලෝකයේ ආණ්ඩු පෙරලීමටත්, බලවත් ජාතීන්ට ගැති ආණ්ඩු එමරටවල පිහිටුවීමටත් බටහිර බලවත් රටවල් විසින් අත්හදා බලා ක්රියාවට යොදවා ඇත. ශ්රී ලංකාව තුල මෙම කාර්යය ඉන්දියාව ලවා කරවා ගැනීමට බටහිර බලවතුන් ක්රියාත්මක වනු ඇත්ද?
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් දේශපාලන අර්බුධය හමුවේ ඉහතකී මොඩල වලින් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමේ ශක්යතාවය ඇති මොඩල කීයක් බටහිර රටවල් හා අසල්වැසි ඉන්දියාව සතුව පවතීද? මීට පිළිතුරු සෙවීමට පෙර ශ්රී ලංකාවේ දැනට පවතින අර්බුදයේ පසුබිම තේරුම් ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කරමු.
තත්කාලීන ව්යවස්ථාම අර්බුධය තව දුරටත් තීව්ර වන්නේ කථා නායක තුමා විසින් ව්යවස්ථාපිත නීති හෝ ස්ථාවර නොයෝග නොතකා නීතිය සියතට ගැනීම තුලය. අධිකරණයේ තීන්දුව එනතෙක් ඉවසීමෙන් කටයුතු කලානම් මෙය වලක්වා ගත හැකිව පැවතිනි. කතා නායක තුමාගේ හැසිරීම වගකීමෙන් තොර යැයි අපට කිව හැක්කේ මක් නිසාද?
උදාහරණයක් ලෙස ගතහොත්, කිසියම් ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් ඉඳි කරනවිට ඊට එරෙහි යම් පාර්ශවයක් අධිකරණයෙන් තහනම් නියෝගයක් ලබා ගතහොත් සිදුවන්නේ එම ගොඩනැගිල්ල තවදුරටත් ඉඳිකිරීම නඩු තීන්දුව දෙනතෙක් අත්හිටුවීම විනා එම තහනම් නියෝගය වැරදි ලෙස අර්ථකථනය කොට හැදෙමින් පවතී ගොඩනැගිල්ල බිමට සමතලා කිරීමට බලපත්රයක් ලෙස යොදාගැනීම නොවේ. ශ්රේෂ්ටාධිකරණය පවසා ඇත්තේ ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවීම නීත්යානුකුලද නැද්ද යන්න තීරණය වන තෙක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීමේ නියෝගය බල පවත්වන්නේ නැති බව පමණි. අධිකරණයේ අවධානයට ලක් වන්නේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවීම පිළිබඳව පමණි. එසේ නැතිව රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතාගේ අගමැති ධුරය හෝ ඔහුගේ කැබිනට්ටුව පිළිබඳව නොවේ. එයින් බල රහිත වූ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතාගේ ආණ්ඩුව ස්වයන්ක්රීයව නැවත බලයට පත් වන්නේ නැත. මන්දයත්, නව ආණ්ඩුවක් ජනාධිපති තුමා විසින් පත්කොට තිබෙන නිසාවෙනි.
මෙවැනි අර්බුධකාරී මොහොතක වගකීමක් සහිත කතා නායක වරයෙකුගේ වගකීම විය යුත්තේ අධිකරණ තීන්දුව එනතෙක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව රැස් නොකොට මේ ක්රියාදාමයට අවශ්ය කාලය ලභාදීමයි. වත්මන් කතා නායක වරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නැවත කැඳවන විට, එම කැඳවීම තුලින් මෙවන් ගැටුම්කාරී තත්වයක් ඇති වන බව දැනසිටියේම නැත්තද? ස්බවින්ම ඔහු එය දැනසිටි බව අපගේ වැටහීමයි. ඔහු එය දන සිටියා පමණක් නොව, එහි අශෝභන, අශික්ෂිත ප්රතිපල නැරඹීමට බටහිර තානාපති වරුනට හා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයටද ඔහු ආරාධනා කර තිබුනේය. එපමණක් නොව, බටහිර තානාපති නිලධාරීන් අත්පොලසන් දෙමින් ප්රතික්රියා දක්වන වීඩියෝ පට ජනමාධ්ය සතුව ඇතැයිද ප්රකාශ විය. එයින් හැංගී යන්නේ, අප කතානායක තුමා මේ රඟපෑ ජංජාලය එතුමා රඟපා තිබෙන්නේ බටහිර තානාපතිවරුන් නමැති ගැලරිය සඳහා බව නොවේද?
ව්යවස්තාවට අනුව විධායක බලය හිමි ජනාධිපති තුමාත් සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ප්රධානියා වන කතානායක තුමාත් අතර නිර්මාණය වී ඇති බල අරගලය අතිශය බිහිසුණු ලේ වැගිරීමක් දක්වා වර්ධනය කිරීම UNP හා JVP නායකත්වයේ හා ඊට අනුබල දෙන විදේශීය බලවේග වල අවශ්යතාව බව ඉතා පැහැදිලිය.
ලබන 7 වැනි දින අධිකරණය විසින් දෙනු ලබන තීන්දුව කුමක් වුවද, වත්මන් ජනාධිපති සහ පැවතී UNP රජය සමග සාම්යයක් ඇති වෙතයි අපේක්ෂා කල නොහැක. පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම සඳහා ජනාධිපති සතුව බලතල ඇති බව අධිකරණය තීරණය කළහොත් තත්වය යහපත් වෙතැයි අපේක්ෂා කල හැකි වුවද, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමේ බලයක් ඔහු සතුව නැතැයි අධිකරණය විසින් තීන්දු කළහොත් තත්වය වඩාත් බරපතල වීමේ සියලු නිමිති පහල වී තිබේ. දැන් අපි බලමු මෙවන් SCENARIO වක් තුල ක්රියාත්මක විය හැකි අනෙකුත් බලවේග හා ප්රවණතා මොනවාද කියා.
දේශ පාලන නායකයින් ඝාතනය
මෙම ක්රමවේදය පිලිබඳ ඇති අවධානම අතිශය විශාලය. රටේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ හෝ විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන නායකයන් ඝාතන හරහා නිර්මාණයවන සිවිල් නොසන්සුන්තා තුලින් විදේශ හමුදා රට තුලට ගෙනවිත් විශාල ප්රමාණයේ ජන්ඝාතනයකට මුල පුරවා ගැනීම මේ තුලින් සිදු විය හැක. මේ සඳහා අවශ්ය නීතිමය ආවරණයකට අවශ්ය වන ආරාධනය මේ වන විටත් හිටපු අග්රාමාත්ය රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා විසින් විදේශ රටවල තානාපති වරුන් වෙත යවා ඇති බව දිනේෂ් ගුනවර්දන මැති තුමා විසින් හෙළි කොට තිබිණි.
යුධ හමුදා කුමන්ත්රණයකට මග පැදීම
ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වාසනාවට අප සතුව තිබෙන්නේ බටහිරට ඕන ඕන තාලයට නැටවියහැකි යුධ හමුදාවක් නොවේ. ඊලාම් යුද්ධයට පෙර අපසතුව තිබුනේ එවන් යුධ හමුදාවක් වුවද, දැන් තිබෙන්නේ ඉතාමත්ම විනය ගරුක යුධ හමුදාවක් බව බහුතරයකගේ වැටහීමයි. එත් රටෙහි අස්ථාවරත්වය දිගටම පැවතුනහොත් වෙනත් විකල්පයක් නැති බැවින් හමුදාව බලය අත්පත් කරගැනීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ සියයට සියයක් බැහැරකළ හැකි නොවේ.
ජනතා නියෝජිතයින් මිලට ගැනීම
මෙම ක්රමවේදය මේ වන විටත් ක්රියාත්මක වෙන බව විවිධ පාර්ශව වලින් ප්රකාශ විය. වැඩිම ලන්සුවට විකිනෙන ජනතා නියෝජිතයින්ගෙන් අඩුවක් නැති ශ්රී ලංකා දේශපාලන පොරපිටියේ වැඩිම ලන්සුව ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ මුල්යමය හැකියාව ඇත්තේ බටහිර රටවල් නියෝජනය වන පාර්ශවයටය. එබැවින් විදේශයන්ගෙන් ගලා එන ඩොලර් මිලියන ගනනින් රට තුල සංසරණය වන බව ජනමාධ්යට වාර්තා වී පැවතිනි.
ලිබියානු හා සිරියානු මොඩලය
ලිබියානු මොඩලය හෝ සිරියානු මොඩලය ශ්රී ලංකාව තුල ක්රියාත්මක කෙරෙනු ඇතැයි සිතිය නොහැක්කේ එවන් මැදිහත්වීමකට අවශ්ය සාධක ශ්රී ලංකාවේ සැපිරී නොමැති නිසාවෙනි. අද වන විට ලිබියාවේ හෝ සිරියාවේ මෙන් බටහිර ජනමාධ්යය විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද ඒකාධිපති පාලකයෙකු හෝ එවන් පාලකයෙකුට එරෙහිව සටන් කල හැකි සන්නද්ධ කණ්ඩායම් නොමැත. බටහිරට හෝ ඉන්දියාවට ආයුධ සැපයිය හැක්කේ එවන් සන්නද්ධ කණ්ඩායම් සිටීනම් පමණි. පසුගිය රාජපක්ෂ රජයට පින්සිදුවන්නට, වාසනාවකට එවන් සන්නද්ධ කණ්ඩායම් ශ්රී ලංකාව තුල නොමැත. එහෙත් යුක්රේනියානු මොඩලය ඊට වඩා වෙනස්ය. යුක්රේනියානු මොඩලයට අවශ්ය වාස්තවික තත්වය ශ්රී ලංකාව තුල නිර්මාණය වී තිබේද?
වර්ණ විප්ලව (COLOR REVOLUTIONS) හා යුක්රේනියානු මොඩලය
සැබවින්ම යුක්රේනියානු මොඩලයට අවශ්ය වාස්තවික තත්වය ශ්රී ලංකාව තුල නිර්මාණය වී තිබේ. මෙම ප්රවණතාවයට බොහෝ ඉඩකඩ හා අවශ්ය පසුබිම UNP දේශපාලකයින් විසින් නිර්මාණය කරදී තිබේ. පවත්නා අර්බුධය තුල ඇති අවධානම වන්නේ, බලවත් විදෙස් ඔත්තු සේවා විසින් යුක්රේන මොඩලයේ බල හුවමාරුවක් ඇති කිරීමට අවශ්ය පසුබිම නිර්මාණය කරාවිද යන සැකය යි.
ලිප්ටන් වට රවුමේ පැවති ජන රැලියේදී UNP දේශපාලකයින්ගේ ප්රකාශ වලින් හෙළි වුයේ ඔවුන් තම පාක්ෂිකයින් වීදි බැස්වීමට වුවද සුදානමින් සිටින බවය. කෙසේ වුවද, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට හෝ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට බහුතර ජන බලයක් නොමැති බව පසුගිය පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයෙන් හෙළිවිය. එසේ බෙදී ඇති ජන බලයේ බහුතර ජන බලය ඇත්තේ මොන පාර්ශවය වෙත දැයි උරගා බැලීමට සුදුසුම ආකාරය වන්නේ මහා මැති වාරණයක් වුවත්, විරුද්ධ පක්ෂය ඊට එකඟ වන බවක් පෙනෙන්නට නොමැත. ඊට හේතුව වන්නේ, ජවිපෙ හා එජාප දේශපාලකයන් තමුන් මැතිවරණයකින් පරාජය වන බව හොඳින් දන්නා නිසාය.
දැන් ඔවුන් සතුව ඇති එකම දේශපාලන උපාය වී ඇත්තේ ගිලිහුණු දේශපාලන බලය, නැතහොත් ආණ්ඩු බලය විදෙශීය මැදිහත් වීමකින් නැවත තමන් සන්තක කර ගැනීමය. ජවිපෙ මෙය නොදන්නෙහිද? නැත ඔවුන් මෙය මුග්ධ එජාප පාක්ෂිකයනට වඩා හොඳින් දනිති. ඔවුන්ද මැතිවරණයකින් ඔවුනට නැතිවී යාහැකි පාර්ලිමේන්තු ආසන රක ගැනීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ විදේශ ඇත පෙවීමක් මගිනි. වාමාංශික පක්ෂයක් යයි කියාගන්නා මෙම බත් බලයන්ගේ කුජීතු දේශපාලන කුණු කම මෙයින් මොනවට පැහැදිලි වේ.
මෙම විදේශ මැදිහත්වීමේ සෙනාරිය SCENARIO ක්රියාත්මක විය හැක්කේ කෙසේද, ඊට අවශ්ය වාස්තවික මූල සාධක මොනවාද?
විදේශ හමුදා මැදිහත්වීමකට අවශ්ය කරනු ලබන පූර්ව කොන්දේසි එජාපය හා ජවිපෙ විසින් සපුරා ඇද්දැයි දැන් සලකා බලමු.
මෙලෙස රජයේ ආරක්ෂක අංශ වලට පරිබාහිරව විවිධ ඝාතක කණ්ඩායම් බටහිර න්යායපත්රයට අනුව විශාල ජන ඝාතනයක් ක්රියාත්මක කරනු ඇත. එසේ කරන්නේ මක් නිසාද යත්, මෙම සිවිල් නොසන්සුන්තාව විශාල ජන ඝාතනයක් ලෙස ලෝකයට හුවා දැක්වීමට බටහිර රටවලට අවශ්ය බැවිනි. ඔවුනට සිය හමුදා එවීමට අවශ්ය දේශපාලන පසුබිම සාධාරනී කරණය කරගත හැකි වන්නේ එවිට පමණි. UNP ය කවදත් සිටියේ රටට ජාතියට ද්රෝහී වන න්යාය පත්රයකය. එහෙත් ජවිපෙය එවන් න්යාය පත්රයක සිටින බව ජනතාව දැනගත්තේ මෙවරය. අද ඔවුන් පෙනී සිටින්නේ ශ්රී ලංකාව යටත් විජිතයක් කරගැනීමේ බටහිර න්යාය පත්රය වෙනුවෙනි. ඔවුන්ගේ දේශපාලන සගයන් වන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ සාමාජිකයින් දහස් ගණනින් ඝාතනය කල එජාපය හා ප්රා” සංවිධානයේ රාජිත සේනාරත්නය. ඔවුන්ගේ දේශපාලන උපදේශකයන් වී තිබෙන්නේ මහා ධර්ශනවාදී රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ උතුමාණන් වහන්සේ හා බටහිර තානාපති වරුන්ය. මෙය ජවිපෙය නොදැන ගත ක්රියාමාර්ගයක්ද? නැත එය ඔවුන් හොඳින් දන දන ගත ක්රියා මාර්ගයකි.
මෙය විශේෂ මෙන්ම අත්යාවශය නීතිමය ලියවිල්ලකි. එය මේ වනවිටත් රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා විසින් තානාපති වරුනට හා UN එකට යවා තිබේ.
අපගේ හමුදාවනට මෙලෙස එන ආක්රමණික හමුදාවනට දැරිය නොහැකි තරම් හානි පැමිණවීමේ හැකියාවක් තිබේද? මෙවන් හානි පැමිණවිය හැකි නම්, ආක්රමණිකයාගේ රට තුල ඇතිවන ජනතා විරෝධය ශ්රී ලංකාවේ වාසියට යොදාගත හැකි වෙනු ඇත. එබැවින් ඔවුනට කල හැක්කේ කුමක්ද යන්න අප සතු අනුමානයක් පමණි.
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දැනට ජාත්යන්තර ජනමාද්යය තුල ශ්රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන අර්බුධය අර්ථකථනය වී ඇත්තේ ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන මහතා විසින් නීති විරෝධී ලෙස අග්රාමාත්ය වික්රමසිංහ මහතා ඉවත්කොට සුළුතරයක් සහිත මහින්ද එරජපක්ෂ මහතාට බලය ලබා දුන් බවකි. මෙය ව්යවස්ථා විරෝධීව සිදුකල බව ප්රධාන පෙලේ බටහිර හා ජාත්යන්තර ජනමාධ්ය විසින් වාර්තා කර තිබේ. මේ පිළිබඳව ඉදිරිපත්කොට ඇති අර්ථ කථනය හා විවරණය (EXPLANTION ) ශ්රී ලංකාවට, ජනාධිපති තුමාට හෝ රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට වාසිදායක නැත. මෙවන් විවරණයකින් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා හා ඔහුගේ කැබිනට්ටුව විශාල දේශපාලන අසාධාරණයකට ලක්ව අසරණව ඇති බව (VICTIMOLOGY) ලෝකය ඉදිරියේ නිරුපනය කොට ඇත. මේ අනුව විදෙස් හමුදාවක් එන්නේ අසාධාරණයක් සාධාරණය කිරීමටය. මෙම අසාධාරණය සාධාරණ කිරීමට ශ්රී ලංකා ජනතාවට හැකි බවත්, එය චන්න්දය මගින් ඔවුනට කල හැකි බවත් ඔවුනට වැදගත් නැත. ඔවුනට වැදගත් වන්නේ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහත්, කරු ජයසූරියත්, අනුර දිසානායක, විජිත හේරත් යන අයවලුන් විදේශීය බලවේග වලට අවශ්ය සියලු සාධක සපයා දී තිබීමය.
එජාපය හා ජවිපෙ විසින් බටහිර බලවතුනට ඉහත කී සාධක සපයා දී ඇත්නම් ඔවුන් හමුදාමය මැදිහත්වීමක් කිරීමට මැලි නොවනු ඇත. සැබවින්ම එජාපය සහ ජවිපෙ ය විසින් ඉහත කී බොහොමයක් සාධක සපයා දී හමාරය. දැන් ඔවුනට ඉතිරිව ඇත්තේ විශාල ලේ වැගිරීමකට පාර කැපීම පමණි..
KEERTHI GODAYAYA
Newspapers and other media in Sri Lanka clearly express that the country needs a free and fair general election with a view to relieve from the current political crisis and more than three forth of the population also show that a free and fair general election is the solution and there are no alternatives for an election. The other significant opinion of the population is that the country should not align with the opinion of the foreign forces, which should allow the country to deal with own problems without unnecessary influences or forces. The reality is that constitutional authority regarding the appointment of a prime minister and ministers to the cabinet is the authority of the president and the speaker of the parliament has no authority to undermine the power of the president in terms of the constitution.
The behaviour of the speaker of the parliament clearly displayed that he has violated his role disrespecting the order and the rule of the house. The speaker has clearly violated his role and responsibilities. It also seems that he has aligned with the outside forces that is contrary to the wishes of the people of the country. What is the use of this type of a speaker? If this type of behaviour is continuing the problem will be continued. The best option to the speaker is to resign from the position and allow to appoint an impartial speaker to the parliament until a general election be completed and appoint a new government and a speaker.
The problem began in 2015 and the 19th amendment to the constitution created problems complicating the constitution and the amendment supported to create an instability in the country. Now it is quite clear that after a fresh fair and free election, new government must abolish the 19th amendment and thoroughly review the constitution and amend with strong clauses. Sri Lanka has experts for this purpose and they need to listen to the community. Sri Lanka doesn’t need to listen outside forces, which have different interests than the interests of the people of the country.
The current crisis in the country clearly indicated that the executive presidency is highly advantageous to the country where needs a strong command than a collective authority. The president must have a council of advisors with a variety of ideology. The president needs to consider such advised but not strongly obliged to follow them but always need to consider the national interest than any other.
The 2017 Man Booker Prize winning novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by American writer of fiction George Saunders is almost entirely peopled by corpses or ghosts in the Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown, Washington DC, on a February night in 1862. The text reads like a film or drama script that comprises an assortment of conversations among the shades of some recently dead and a biographical scrapbook about Abraham Lincoln the 16th president of America containing diary entries, and extracts from actual and invented historical accounts of the American Civil War period (1861-65), which are carefully attributed to sources.
George Saunders was born at Amarillo, Texas, USA on December 2, 1958. He graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a BS, and later obtained an MFA for creative writing from Syracuse University, New York, where he now teaches a course in the same subject. He is a practicing Buddhist and a student of Nyingma Buddhism, oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. His scientific/engineering background and training in creative writing impart a unique quality to his fiction. Until Saunders was awarded the Man Booker Prize 2017 for this his first novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ he was best known for his satirical short stories. Saunders is described as an extremely kindhearted man, something that comes out in this novel.
‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ is the efflorescence of an idea conceived in Saunders’s creative imagination on hearing in the 1990s a heartrending detail in the story of how president Lincoln absorbed the shock of his son Willie’s unexpected death of typhoid. What Saunders heard was that Lincoln visited Willie’s crypt several times by himself in the night to hold his son’s lifeless body in his arms. This affected the writer very much. The circumstances of Willie’s death tended to aggravate his parents’ grief. The Lincolns were in the midst of a customary wintertime state dinner in the White House while the boy was dying in a room upstairs. They had wanted to stop the function because of their son’s critical condition, but the doctor looking after the patient assured them that he would soon recover and asked them to go ahead with the party as planned. Lincoln was president; the civil war, still in its first year, was intensifying. Young soldiers were dying in their numbers. People immediately started criticizing the Lincolns for holding parties while their son was mortally ill. The implicit criticism of the president was in fact on a national scale: What was this unfeeling man doing about stopping the civil war that was claiming so many young lives? On the other hand, Lincoln himself realized that thousands of other American parents were experiencing the same agonizing grief that he was feeling over his son’s death.
Now, turning to the book, the most loquacious among the wraiths are the three known by the names of Hans Vollman, Roger Bevins III, and Reverend Everly Thomas, who also feature most prominently in the narrative. The shade of Hans Vollman, who was a printer, an elderly man married to an eighteen year old bride, goes about naked with a dent on his forehead caused by a falling roof beam that killed him, and a distended male organ that resulted from his death occurring some time before a long delayed consummation of his marriage could be performed; he is ‘bearing his tremendous member in his hands, so as not to trip himself on it’, as fellow ghost Roger Bevins III comments. The ghostly body of Roger Bevins III, a young homosexual man who killed himself by cutting his wrist, is covered with multiple sets of eyes and hands because of unfulfilled desires; the spirit of Reverend Everly Thomas is in dread of his impending judgement. The ghosts don’t know that they are not among the living. They believe that they are temporarily sick and are lying in their ‘sick-beds’ (coffins) in a ‘hospital yard’ (cemetery) awaiting recovery. They tarry in this situation (bardo) out of their attachment to their previous lives. Willie wants to stay here waiting for visits from his father. The ghosts must encounter a strange ‘matterlightblooming’ phenomenon that escorts them to a terrible judgement.
The action centres round the crypt of William Wallace Lincoln (Willie), the latest arrival in the graveyard, the recently dead eleven year old third son of the president. An interesting fact is that all these ghosts are unaware that they are dead, and engage in verbal disputes as if they are alive. ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ records a mighty struggle among these ghosts who are wrangling over the ‘soul’ of Willie. The only two living characters who appear in this ghostly drama are the gravedigger (or the night watchman) and Abraham Lincoln, the bereaved father. The struggle among the ghosts may be seen as a reflection of the agitated state of grief stricken Abraham Lincoln’s own mind. In my opinion as a common reader, the novel’s most striking feature is this unconventional device for communicating the central experience of the novel, the most dominant aspect of which is the spiritual enlightenment that the senior Lincoln achieved in coming to terms with the loss of his beloved son.
The title of the novel needs some comment. The word ‘Bardo’ is taken from Tibetan Buddhism, where it refers to an intermediate plane between the death and the reincarnation of an individual. The name of the Tibetan language book composed by Guru Padmasambhava of the 8th century CE, which used to be known to the West as the ‘Tibetan Book of the Dead’ is ‘Bardo Thodol’. ‘Bardo Thodol’ means ‘The Great Liberation upon Hearing on the Intermediate State’. Actually, the book contains elaborate instructions for a dying person to follow in order to be reborn on a wholesome plane of existence. Something similar to the concept of bardo is known to the Theravada Buddhists of Sri Lanka. It is the metempsychotic state known as the ‘gandhabba’ or transmigration state of consciousness (passing on at death to be reincarnated elsewhere). Saunders is not strictly adopting the authentic bardo or gandhabba idea; he is only adapting it for his fictional purpose.
The folk wisdom expressed in the English ballad ‘The Unquiet Grave’ seems to be present at the back of Saunders’s mind: A young lover sits and weeps ‘twelvemonth and a day’ by the grave of his beloved; the dead woman wakes up, and asks why he is weeping like that. He says he wants to kiss her ‘clay-cold lips’ once. But the woman warns him that if he does that he will die. So she admonishes the young man:
…………..our hearts decay;
So make yourself content, my love,
Till God calls you away
The ‘Lincoln’ in the title is more Abraham Lincoln than his young son Willie, who is actually in the grave, and has a better claim to be imagined to be in the bardo state. The implication is that Abraham Lincon, the private individual as a distraught parent and the public man shouldering grave responsibilities, particularly at the time of a fratricidal civil war, as president of America, finds himself in his own bardo. This is not surprising when we realize that, through his novel, Saunders temporarily consigns not only himself, but also the reader, to the same state of positive inner transformation (equivalent to the Buddhist concept of ‘transmigration’ of personality or consciousness at the time of death).
The literary form known as the novel, as distinct from other forms of creative fiction, is in general defined as an invented prose narrative that is usually long and complex and deals especially with human experience through a usually connected sequence of events” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). A novel can incorporate elements from other literary forms (e.g., drama, poetry, film, etc.) in its ‘narrative structure’ (the story and the way it is told). For this reason, we might say that the novel is the most adaptable form of verbal art. In ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ Saunders uses this high adaptability of the novel form to have the reader participate with him in a kind of shared literary tour de force that leads to a certain state of becalming spiritual awareness of the innate human capacity for love (compassion) and of the inescapable reality of death. He put it in different words in an interview when he said that the book is about loving in a world where the objects of your love are so ‘conditional’ (depending on conditions being met, or subject to change).
Saunders hints at this obviously Buddhist theme in a pre-publication telephone conversation (the interview mentioned above) with the ‘Arts and Entertainment’ magazine on February 8, 2017. The book was published six days later on February 14 by Random House, USA. During the phone exchange, Saunders claimed that he wanted to make the novel emotionally compelling, while avoiding the approach of other novelists who produce successful big novels with multi-generational narratives, by which, he confesses, he can’t pull his work off; his own way he describes as ‘making verbal overflow’ (as readers can see demonstrated in ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’), walling himself off within a narrow restricted area. To the interviewer’s suggestion that, if he set out to ‘convey the sadness of losing someone dear’, his strategy was successful, he responds:
………. For me it was also about that, and you know how a book just writes its way into some other thing than you planned. It was that conundrum that… if I look at my intuitions about things, the one thing that I know is that affection and love comes naturally. In difficult times, I’m sustained by that, I look to that as kind of a bedrock. That seems to be true for most of us. And then, the conditionality of everything. It’s so harsh, the juxtaposition of those two truths: that you love, and that everything is gonna…… [change].”
For this informal description of the first George Saunders novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’, I am using the Bloomsbury UK paperback edition of 2017. There are 108 chapters indicated in Roman numerals in the book, which are grouped into two roughly equal sections as ONE (55 chapters) occupying pages 3 to 176, and TWO (53 chapters) taking up pages 179 to 343. I don’t know whether this particular 108-fold chapter division is by design, though it appears to be so considering the fact that the chapter lengths are uneven ranging from the shortest chapter LXXXIX (89) consisting of a single short sentence of just eight words to the longest chapter XXVII (27) running to 14 pages; almost 75% of the chapters are only three pages or less. Why is this apparent concern with dividing the text into exactly 108 unequal chapters? As far as we know, 108 is a mystical or sacred number in popular Buddhism, even in Theravada Buddhist Sri Lanka, like in other Indian religions such as Hinduism and Jainism and even in some Abrahamic religions. Its significance is variously interpreted, but one common strand in all such explanations is its connection with the Eastern tradition of meditation. The purpose of meditation is to train the mind to be non-judgmentally aware. This is supposed to relieve the mind of unwholesome feelings such as fear, anxiety, anger, etc. The practice of meditation leads to the cultivation of compassion towards others, and personal happiness. The rosary that Buddhist meditation practitioners use while meditating has 108 beads. This seems to be relevant to the contemplative attitude towards the fact of death that is central to the novel.
Saunders says that he, in reaction to the tragic existential contradiction that you love, and that everything is gonna…… [change]” makes up a kind of New Age reassurance (‘New Age’ refers to a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture): Yeah, but that’s why life is beautiful”. However, he immediately qualifies this, referring to his real life experience of about fifteen minutes of scary uncertainty when one of the engines of a plane he was travelling in stopped working. It was then that he realized to his amazement how ill-prepared he was for such a situation. He adds: I’m Buddhist and I meditate and everything, but when that happened, it was almost like if you think you’re in really good shape, and you talk yourself into that, and then somebody suddenly leads you on a leash on a 20 mile run. I didn’t realize how off my perception was from reality. In that moment, I saw how ill-prepared I was for death. So I’m trying to figure out a way to engage that stuff without being so depressing that it can’t be taken, but in the thought that, if you could walk right up to that truth, and figure out a way to live joyfully and live safely with it that would be a real spiritual accomplishment.” Here, Saunders is touching on the general thematic preoccupation that characterizes his short fiction. This applies to his first novel ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ as well.
Let me end this essay with an admirable comment on ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ from the Elle magazine, which probably cannot be bettered:
A brilliant, Buddhist reimagining of an American story of great loss and great love…. Saunders has written an unsentimental novel of Shakespearean proportions, gorgeously stuffed with tragic characters, bawdy humor, terrifying visions, throat-catching tenderness, and a galloping narrative, all twined around the luminous cord connecting a father and son and backlit by a nation engulfed in fire”.
(Note: Quotations used here are from the public domain of the internet. An abridged version of this article was carried in the Sri Lanka national dailies The Daily Mirror and The Island on 16 and 17 November 2018 respectively under different titles.)
Good Afternoon. Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. The title of my presentation is ‘Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western domination – Time to Express Asia`s Gratitude to Japan`. This is a very important topic not only for the people of Japan but also for people of Asia and beyond.
I am indeed honoured and privileged to be among such a distinguished audience in the Japanese Diet. I am grateful to the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact for providing me this precious opportunity and in particular Mr. Hideaki Kase (President), Mr. Hiromichi Moteki, Mr. Hiroyuki Fujita and Mr. Yukio Tanimoto, with all of whom I have been having informative and cordial correspondence on matters relating to accurate dispersal of news and views particularly relating to the Japanese involvement in the Greater East Asian War.
The Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact is doing something marvelous and timely. To correct distortions in historical narratives which are usually biased, euro- centric and prejudiced against Japan. Ever since the end of the war Japan has been the victim of malicious propaganda that is directed against Japan, demonizing Japan and its people as the guilty party or the wrong doers, who deserve to be punished and shamed. This has to be challenged and countered in the interest of ensuring truth and establishing historical fact. The existence of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact is therefore warranted and its work eminently justifiable.
Mr. Hideaki Kase’s book ‘The Greater East Asian War: How Japan Changed the World’ and British Journalist Henry Scott Stokes book ‘ Fallacies in the Allied Nations’ Historical Perception as observed by a British Journalist’ serve as excellent resource material towards obtaining an insight into the true causes that forced Japan to enter the war.
I am here today not only to share thoughts on what needs to be done to rectify a blatant historical injustice done to the leaders and people of Japan in the aftermath of the second world war through manipulation of the media and history writing, but also to fulfill a long overdue duty as a Buddhist Sinhalese from Sri Lanka, as a representative of South Asia and a fellow Asian, to thank Japan for setting in motion a phenomenal process that brought about the liberation of Asia from western colonial domination.
This year on December 8th 2018 the 77th anniversary of the Japanese bombing raid on Pearl Harbour will be commemorated. Special ceremonies will be held to remember the loss of the loved ones, friends and relatives. We share their grief.
On December 8, 1941, Pearl Harbour was attacked by 353 Japanese fighter planes, bombers, and torpedo planes in two waves, launched from six aircraft carriers. All eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, with four sunk. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and one minelayer. 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. Japanese losses were light: 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 64 servicemen killed.
The purpose of my presentation today is not to embark on an inquiry to determine who was at fault and who was not. This is a complex issue with enough evidence readily available today to show that Japan was not the aggressor nation but was pushed under unavoidable circumstances to enter the war. Japan had no other option left to secure oil to sustain its existence as a nation, after USA regardless of probable consequences deliberately ceased oil exports to Japan in July 1941.
What is intended here is to examine the effects of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour and other western colonial possessions in Asia, on the psychology and morale of the people of Asia then mostly under western colonial domination, and ask whether Japan’s anti–colonial leadership and battle success in the early phase of the War helped Asia’s freedom fighters to step up their campaign for liberation from foreign occupation and achieve independence.
In the early part of the 20th century, it is undisputed that Japan was the only major country in the world that stood out openly for the liberation of Asia from western colonialism and had the capacity and resources to take on the challenge. ‘Asia for Asians’ became a battle cry of the Japanese. No other Asian country including China and India, took up such a Pan–Asian slogan or was placed in such militarily strong position.
On the day of the attack on Pearl Harbour i.e. December 8, 1941, an Imperial Rescript described Japan’s war aims: to ensure Japan’s integrity and to remove European colonialism from and bring stability to East and Southeast Asia.
On December 08, 1941, the Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo read out the Japanese Emperor Hirohito’s proclamation of war to the Empire, excerpt of which are as follows:
It has been unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has been brought to cross swords with America and Britain.
Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambitions to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, …. have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia. Moreover, these two powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge us. They have obstructed by every means our peaceful commerce and finally resorted to direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire.
Patiently have we waited and long have we endured in the hope that Our Government might retrieve the situation in peace.
But our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement, and in the meantime they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel thereby Our Empire to submission.
This turn of affairs would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of our nation.
The situation being such as it is Our Empire for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path.”
President Roosevelt called the attack on Pearl Harbour ‘a day of infamy’.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was a staggering blow” and our prestige suffered with the loss of Hong Kong”. In early 1942, Churchill reassured the House of Commons amidst widespread, mass resistance to colonialism in India, that the Atlantic Charter’s provisions were not applicable to [the] Coloured Races in [the] colonial empire, and that [the phrase] ‘restoration of sovereignty, self-government and national life’…[was] applicable only to the States and the Nations of Europe’.
Japan’s war policy intended a total break from Western dependence, including a rejection of bankrupt Western cultural traditions, which had been slavishly adopted since the Meiji restoration, and a return to an Asian consciousness (as opposed to Western) and civilizational values as a source for national greatness. Critical to the nation’s survival in the midst of unbridled Westernization was political and cultural regeneration and a pan-Asian solidarity under Japanese leadership which was articulated as a new Order for Asia in resistance to Western imperialism.
Matsuoka Yosuke, Japanese Foreign Minister, proclaimed the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” in August 1940. The idea of decolonization under Japanese leadership resonated with Asians widely because, in the words of former U.S. President Herbert Hoover in 1942, universally, the white man is hated by the Chinese, Malayan, Indian and Japanese alike,” due to his heartless and spiteful conduct as a colonial master over a few hundred years.
Japan’s military success in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905 fired the dreams of Asians and Africans for freedom.
Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany appealed to Europe to rise above its parochial disputes to defend your holiest possession,” Christianity and European civilization, against the rising threat of the Yellow Peril”.
Within a decade of the German Kaiser’s raising of the alarm of the danger of the yellow peril,” Japan defeated Russia in 1905.
It prompted a young Oxford lecturer, Alfred Zimmern, to put aside his lesson on Greek history to announce to his class the most historical event which has happened, or is likely to happen, in our lifetime has happened; the victory of a non-white people over a white people.”
Japan’s spectacular military victories at the beginning of the 20th century and their impact on Asian intellectuals are well documented in Pankaj Mishra’s book titled, From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia.”
This work is a survey of Asian intellectuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and their role in pan-Asian, pan-Islamic, and anti-colonial movements. The book begins with an electrifying moment in Asia’s struggle for liberation from Western domination: the spectacular Japanese naval victory over Russia at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, which stunned Asians and Africans living at the time under the yoke of colonialism.
This victory of the small but resurgent Japanese navy over the imperial might of what was then accepted as a major European power fired the imagination of an entire generation of Asian leaders.
Jawarharlal Nehru, Mohandas Gandhi, Sun Yat-Sen, Mao Zedong, the young Kemal Ataturk and nationalists in Egypt, Vietnam and many other countries welcomed Japan’s decisive triumph in the Russo-Japanese War with euphoric zeal. And they all drew the same lesson from Japan’s victory,” Pankaj Mishra writes. White men, conquerors of the world, were no longer invincible.”
Even Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, noted that the reverberations of that victory have gone like a thunderclap through the whispering galleries of the East.” The world wars that followed further shrunk Europe of much of what remained of its moral and political authority in Asian eyes. In the long view, however,” Mishra concludes, it is the battle of Tsushima that seems to have struck the opening chords of the recessional of the West.”
Japan’s defeat of Russia in 1905 was uplifting news for Asians. For the first time since the middle ages, a non-European country had vanquished a European power in a major war. And Japan’s victory gave way to a hundred- and-one fantasies – of national freedom, racial dignity, or simple vengefulness – in the minds of those who had bitterly endured European occupation of their lands.
Mahatma Gandhi then made an astute far reaching forecast. He remarked that so far and wide have the roots of Japanese victory spread that we cannot now visualise all the fruit it will put forth.”
Japan’s proposal for equality of races at League of Nations
Japan had championed the cause of peoples under European colonial rule at the Treaty of Paris (1918–19) and the formation of the League of Nations. Japan proposed an amendment to the League’s covenant that would ensure equal and just treatment in every respect, making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality.” To their great shame, the western colonial powers rejected the notion of equality between human beings, fearing that it would become a challenge to white supremacy and the Colonial Order which suppressed non–white people. However, Japan by this proposal for recognition of equality of all, gained the esteem of Asians and Africans as the logical leader of all coloured peoples.”
In respect to the Second World War, Jawaharlal Nehru observed;
it became ever clearer that the western democracies were fighting not for a change but for a perpetuation of the old order, ” and both the Allied and Axis powers shared a common war interest, the preservation of white supremacy and the colonial status quo. Both sides, he noted, embraced legacies of empire and racial discrimination,” and in affirmation after the war, the old imperialisms still functioned….”
Japan’s stunning military victories in 1941 – 1942
Thirty-six years after its victory in the Battle of Tsushima, Japan struck the greatest decisive blow ever by any non – white country or non – white people to European power in Asia with the attack on Pearl Harbour. In about 90 days, beginning on December 8, 1941, Japan overran the possessions of Britain, the US and the Netherlands in east and south-east Asia, taking the Philippines, Singapore, Malaya, Hong Kong, the Dutch East Indies, much of Siam and French Indochina, and Burma with bewildering swiftness to stand poised at the borders of India by early 1942. All over Asia, subject people cheered the Japanese advance into countries forcibly held and occupied by western colonial powers.
Days before Singapore fell to the Japanese in early 1942, the Dutch Prime Minister-in-Exile, Pieter Gerbrandy, had conveyed his fears and anxieties to Churchill and other Allied leaders in the following words Japanese injuries and insults to the White population … would irreparably damage white prestige unless severely punished within a short time”.
Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, has said most Asians felt inferior to the European colonisers and rarely did we even consider independence a viable option.” The colonies, he explained, were structured to serve the European demand for raw materials and natural resources,” and were thus dependencies. But Japan’s expulsion of the British changed our view of the world,” showing that an Asian race, the Japanese” could defeat whites and with that reality dawned a new awakening amongst us that if we wanted to, we could be like the Japanese. We did have the ability to govern our own country and compete with the Europeans on an equal footing.” So despite the suffering under Japanese wartime occupation and the tremendous disappointment” over the return of the British after the war, Mohamad wrote, the shackles of mental servitude” had been broken.
Similarly, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew testified that Japan’s defeat of the British completely changed our world”.
General Tomoyuki Yamashita – Tiger of Malaya
The brilliant military campaign of General Tomoyuki Yamashita in the Malay Peninsula in early 1942 is described in great detail and displayed with graphics in the Yushukan Museum which is found next to the Yasukuni Jinja (Shrine) in Tokyo.
The Japanese conquest of Malaya and Singapore (considered impregnable by the British colonial rulers) in a mere 70 days under the leadership of General Yamashita and the sinking of the British warships Prince of Wales (Pride of the British Royal Navy) and Repulse by Japanese carrier – borne torpedo aircraft led to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill calling the humiliating fall of Singapore to Japan as the “worst disaster” and “largest capitulation” in British military history. It was one of the biggest blows to Western prestige in Asia as it was coupled with the surrender of 130, 000 British Empire troops to General Yamashita’s Japanese army of 30,000 troops. This was the death blow to European colonialism and it was never able to recover their supremacy in Asia thereafter.
Expressions of praise and gratitude to Japan
The Japanese with their stunning military victories over a common foe had made Asian people proud and stand erect with their heads held high.
Britain was colonizing, enslaving Asian people before WW2. They ruled the Indian people for 180 years. It was Japan that got rid of the British from most of Asia and later all those countries gained independence.”
Japan lost WW2 but as the consequence of Japan’s entry to war all S E Asian countries and India achieved their long hoped for independence from the Western colonial powers within 15 years after the end of the War.”
British historian Arnold Toynbee said: Japan put an end to West’s colonialism in Asia once and for all.”
Toynbee added In World War II, Japanese people left a great history. Not for their own country but for countries that achieved benefit from the War. Those countries were ones that were included in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a short-lived ideal that Japan held out. The biggest achievement Japanese people left in history is that they succeeded in displaying the fact that Westerners who dominated the world were not Undefeatable Gods.”
Former Thai Prime Minister Kukrit Pramoj Expressed his Admiration for Japan
The former Prime Minister of Thailand, Kukrit Pramoj, who was Chief Editor of the newspaper ‘Siam Rath’ at the time and who took office as Prime Minister in 1973, stated:
It was thanks to Japan that all nations of Asia gained independence. For Mother Japan, it was a difficult birth which resulted in much suffering, yet her children are growing up quickly to be healthy and strong.
Who was it that enabled the citizens of the nations of Southeast Asia to gain equal status alongside the United States and Britain today? It is because Japan, who acted like a mother to us all, carried out acts of benevolence towards us and performed feats of self-sacrifice. December 8th (1941) is the day when Mother Japan – who taught us this important lesson – laid her life on the line for us, after making a momentous decision and risking her own well-being for our sake.
Furthermore, August 15th (1945) is the day when our beloved and revered mother was frail and ailing. Neither of these two days should ever be forgotten.”
Long accustomed to servility in colonial countries, western powers grossly underestimated the post-war nationalism that the Japanese had both wittingly and unwittingly unleashed. They had also severely miscalculated their own staying power among foreign subject people innately hostile to them. Despite futile counter-insurgency operations and full-scale wars, especially in Indochina, the spread of de – colonisation was swift and extraordinary.
Burma, which hardly had a full blown nationalist movement before 1935, became free in 1948. The Dutch in Indonesia resisted with a rear guard defense and US and British assistance but Indonesian nationalists led by Sukarno finally overpowered them and pushed them out in 1953. Postwar chaos forced Malaya, Singapore and Vietnam into long periods of insurgencies and wars, but an ultimate European retreat was never in doubt.
Japan’s unsung role in India’s independence struggle
British governance in India — three centuries of exorbitant taxation, unfair trade practices, rampant free-marketeering and deliberate starvation had led to the deaths of millions of Indians in preventable famines. Japan played a critical (largely unsung) role in India’s struggle for independence by supporting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and assisting him to form the Indian National Army (INA).
It is argued with vehemence by informed observers that without Bose’s INA, India might never have achieved independence.
This is because, although the INA failed militarily in the Battles at Kohima and Imphal along the India–Burma border in 1944 as part of the Japanese attempted entry to India, its troops (INA) got another opportunity to challenge the British Colonial Government in a Delhi courtroom in 1945. Three INA Officers were put on trial for treason at Red Fort. This move backfired on the British. The accused a Muslim, Sikh and Hindu justified their roles as liberators of a colonized nation and won the sympathy of the Indian public.
This led to support for the defendants spreading throughout the nation — including among Indians serving in the British Indian Army. These newly radicalized troops staged strikes and mutinies across the subcontinent in 1946 against the British occupation. With its once-solid military foundation shaken to the core — and facing widespread, huge demonstrations and possible mutinies by the three forces, Army, Navy and Air Force, on a scale bigger than the Indian Mutiny in 1857 — the British authorities decided that it was time to pack up and leave. On August 15, 1947, they granted India its independence.
An unwise partition of the Indian subcontinent, which placed two new nation-states in endless conflict, marked Britain’s humiliating departure from India in 1947.
Europe,” Jean-Paul Sartre claimed in his preface to Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, seemed to be springing leaks everywhere.” In the past we made history,” Sartre asserted, and now it is being made of us.”
The retreat of the West from its colonies in the East may well be said to be the singular most important event of the 20th century.
My presentation is also intended to make a plea to right a great wrong done to Japan. In other words, to call on Asian countries to shun looking at Japan as an aggressor with criminal intent to plunder and loot other Asian countries a line pushed by massive western propaganda but to look at Japan as the real spark that ignited the fight all over Asia for independence from western domination. The time has come for fellow Asians who have benefited from Japan’s massive war effort and the blood sacrifices of Japanese soldiers to concede due acknowledgement to Japan.
To single out Japan for war crimes selectively while avoiding any mention of the crimes committed by western countries in third-world countries including calling for reparations which both Germany and Japan have paid, is anything but a travesty of justice.
What is surprising and morally repugnant today is the unrepentant nostalgia for western hegemony that has not only gripped many prominent Anglo-American leaders and opinion-makers but also several servile Asian politicians, NGOs and columnists writing as cheer leaders of neo–colonialism, who strive to see Asia through the narrow angle of protecting western colonial interests, leaving unexamined the historical memory and the collective experiences of Asian peoples during the dark period of western colonial rule.
Colonialism and foreign occupation constitute crimes against humanity. They represent some of the most serious violations of national sovereignty of states and breach of international law, and in almost all colonial territories in Asia, Africa, North and South America horrendous crimes against humanity have been committed by the occupying colonial powers. The perpetrators have yet to be held accountable and brought to book under international law for these genocidal crimes.
De-colonise Asian minds and show gratitude to Japan.
The challenge before fellow Asians is to de-colonise our minds and look at Japan’s conduct before and during the Second World War afresh. Though Japan eventually lost the war its military effort was not in vain. It substantially weakened and demoralised the western countries then in occupation of large tracts of Asia, such as Britain, France, Netherlands, Portugal and the US, that they were forced to quit Asia in next to no time.
Tragically today the legacy of Japan’s heroic contributions and sacrifices as the first Asian country that stood up and fought to drive out European colonialism from Asia in the 20th century, is seldom acknowledged, rarely celebrated, and hardly observed as a form of thanksgiving.
It is never too late to show Asia’s gratitude to Japan and re-write the historical narrative.
Sri Lanka’s Independence – a direct outcome of Japan’s entry to the Second World War which sealed the fate of European Colonialism in Asia
Now let me talk about Sri Lanka’s Independence.
Sri Lanka together with several other Asian countries owe much in winning their freedom, to Japan’s entry to the Second World War and the resulting chain of events that sealed the fate of European colonialism in Asia.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister (1947 – 1964) when asked in the 1930s to name a likely date that India would win independence from Britain, replied by saying it would probably be in the late 1970s i.e. long after their time.
According to Major – General Mohan Singh of the Indian National Army (INA) The British had not given even an empty promise to grant us complete freedom after the war” ( The Reader’s Digest Illustrated History of World War II).
The fact that India gained freedom in 1947 much earlier than the date that Nehru thought was possible, followed by Burma and Ceylon in 1948, was largely due to the interplay of both external and internal factors.
Today, there is a great turn around in Historiography in respect to the role of Japan in the Second World War. Japan no longer has a pariah status or subject to isolation because of its conduct in the war. In fact, except in a couple of Far Eastern nations, Japan is increasingly gaining acceptance and recognition in much of Asia for being the catalyst in igniting the relatively dormant Asian Independence movements.
Nehru himself refused to take part in the San Francisco Peace Treaty Conference held in 1951 on several specified grounds and declared that Japan has done no wrong to India for India to seek an apology and reparations from Japan. India’s sympathies beginning with Subash Chandra Bose and Judge Radhabinod Pal ( the only dissenting Judge in the Tokyo War Crimes Trial) have always been with Japan. J.R. Jayewardene from Ceylon made a resounding plea for Japan citing the Buddha’s insightful words that ‘Hatred does not cease by hatred,but only by love;this is the eternal law.”
Asia’s leaders and Historians now see a direct and incontrovertible connection between the Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour and Western Colonial bases in Asia, and the subsequent success of the independence movements which drew inspiration from Japan’s courage to take on the West and liberate Asian colonies. Japan more than any other Asian country was responsible for sealing the fate of European colonialism in the Orient.
Historiography and the narrative on who won Independence for India in 1947 is also rapidly changing with an increasing number of writers prepared to give credit to Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, Indian National Army and Japan for the eventual liberation of India, while conceding to Mahatma Gandhi and his followers due respect for their noble and sustained efforts in seeking freedom from British colonial rule.
New Book – ‘ Bose: An Indian Samurai’
In a new Book ‘ Bose: An Indian Samurai’ by military historian General GD Bakshi, claims that the former British Prime Minister Clement Atlee had said that the role played by Netaji’s Indian National Army was paramount in India being granted Independence, while the non-violent movement led by Gandhi was dismissed as having had minimal effect.
In the book, Bakshi cites a conversation between the then British PM Attlee and then Governor of West Bengal Justice PB Chakraborty in 1956 when Attlee – the leader of Labour Party and the British premier who had signed the decision to grant Independence to India in 1947 – had come to India and stayed in Kolkata as Chakraborty’s guest.
Chakraborty, who was then the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and was serving as the acting Governor of West Bengal, is quoted as saying : When I was acting governor, Lord Attlee, who had given us Independence by withdrawing British rule from India, spent two days in the governor’s palace at Calcutta during his tour of India. At that time I had a prolonged discussion with him regarding the real factors that had led the British to quit India.”
My direct question to Attlee was that since Gandhi’s Quit India Movement had tapered off quite some time ago and in 1947 no such new compelling situation had arisen that would necessitate a hasty British departure, why did they had to leave?”
In his reply Attlee cited several reasons, the main among them being the erosion of loyalty to the British crown among the Indian Army and Navy personnel as a result of the military activities of Netaji,” Chakraborty said.
Toward the end of our discussion I asked Attlee what was the extent of Gandhi’s influence upon the British decision to leave India. Hearing this question, Attlee’s lips became twisted in a sarcastic smile as he slowly chewed out the word, ‘m-i-n-i-m-a-l’,” Chakraborty added.
Fear of another Indian Mutiny
Though Japan lost in 1945, the legacy of Subhas Chandra Bose endured to stir the Indian masses and soldiers of the British Indian Army and ratings of the Royal Indian Navy to mutiny following the trial of the INA Officers at the Red Fort. It was the fear of such a Mutiny on a scale bigger than the Indian Mutiny in 1857, that convinced the British that it was time to quit India, and Burma and Ceylon within a few months.
No colonial country withdraws voluntarily from its colonies unless there are insurmountable ‘ push ‘ factors or except under compelling circumstances. The best illustration of this proposition is the shameful return of the Dutch and the French to regain their colonies in Asia after the end of the second world war. Japanese occupation during World War II had ended Dutch rule, and the Japanese encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement.
Despite their opposition to the tyranny of Nazi rule of France and Netherlands (1940 -1944), and delight in being liberated by the Allies, these two colonial powers were not prepared to share the freedom they gained in Europe with the subject people in Asia ( and Africa). They were not welcomed when they returned. Indonesians under Sukarno with the help of Japanese volunteers that remained in Indonesia after the defeat of Japan, defeated the Dutch in a series of military battles to finally gain independence in 1949. Likewise the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh performed admirably to wrest control from the
French by defeating them at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 and finally resulting in their withdrawal from all colonies of French Indo – China under the Geneva Accords of 1954.
External factors
Mainstream writings on the Independence movement in British occupied Ceylon have so far failed to account for the external factors that contributed to advancement of the date of independence.
A study of colonial history of Ceylon shows clearly that local Kings have sought external help to end foreign occupation of parts of Ceylon. Several Kings of Kandy had contacts with the Dutch finally leading to the Treaty of 1638 signed in Kandy where the Dutch undertook to assist the Kandyan Kingdom under King Rajasinghe the Second to expel the Portuguese which was successfully achieved in 1658.
Likewise the Kings of Kandy solicited the assistance of the British Empire towards the end of the 18th century to end Dutch occupation of Ceylon. This was achieved in 1796.
It is necessary to show that external factors again contributed substantially to end British occupation of Ceylon finally leading to independence in 1948.
To remain oblivious to these external factors and extend credit exclusively to the locals on the ground that they were ‘Freedom Fighters’ is an exercise in fantasy. There were no authentic freedom fighters in Ceylon after 1848. The last shot for freedom from colonial rule was fired in Matale in 1848 during the second war of independence (also called the Matale Rebellion).
The succeeding generations yearning for freedom produced marvelous orators, letter writers, pen pushers and even collaborators who preferred British colonial rule to continue rather than handing over the country to the locals. Several were quite happy to accept knighthoods and other perks, and co – exist with the colonial administration. There was no fight in them compared to what we have seen in warriors such as Keppetipola Disawe, Gongalegoda Banda, Puran Appu or even earlier in Kings such as Sitavaka Rajasinghe, Mayadunne, Veediya Bandara ( son in law of Buvanekabahu the 7th), Wimaladharmasuriya I, Senerath and Rajasinghe the Second, among others.
Local leaders pursued ‘ Constitutional Reform’ and not total independence though armed resistance e.g. Indonesia, or even large scale civil disobedience movements e.g. India. They were far removed from the type of fight and determination we have seen in other Asian nationalist leaders who fought against Western domination of Asia such as Hideki Tojo ( Japan), Subhas Chandra Bose (India), Mao Tse Tung (China), Ho Chi Minh ( Vietnam), Sukarno ( Indonesia), and Aung San ( Burma). These Asian freedom fighters and patriots preferred to use the only language that the West really understood and respected i.e. force of arms.
Except for Angarika Dharmapala, the world`s first Global Buddhist missionary, the freedom movement in Ceylon never produced a single leader of repute who enjoyed widespread support and admiration overseas for speaking out and engaging in battle for the liberation of Asia.
Historiography – a neglected field in Sri Lanka
Ceylon was very fortunate in gaining independence in 1948 despite not having fought in the real sense of the word to rid the country of foreign occupation. It is soldiers from other Asian countries e.g. Japan, who primarily made blood sacrifices to fight western domination of Asia during the Second World War. We were beneficiaries of these sacrifices and battles. We have to acknowledge this support from fellow Asians at some point in time.
Historiography in Sri Lanka is lagging behind the rest of the world. It is a relatively neglected field. In respect to the narrative relating to the Second World War, our Historians have been merely echoing western perspectives and self – serving interpretations instead of carving out a separate original and independent path of research and writing.
It is time that we learn to look at historical events not from the angle of the colonizer but from the angle of those who have resisted foreign occupation both within and outside Sri Lanka.
Finally, as a lawyer, I would like to end this speech by sharing some of my perspectives, on the International Military Tribunal for the Far East ( Tokyo Trials):
When both Germany and Japan stood condemned like outlaws or pariahs of the international community by the victorious Allies at the end of the Second World War, seeking huge amounts of reparations and heavy punishments for their leaders, political and military, as war criminals, the leaders and people of Ceylon / Sri Lanka adopted an entirely different approach to both these countries. It was an approach based on the Buddha´s teachings.
The words of Ceylon´s delegate Finance Minister J.R. Jayawardene ( who later became President of Sri Lanka in 1978) in defense of a free Japan at the San Francisco Peace Conference on September 06, 1951 are worthy of reproduction here. He said:
We in Ceylon were fortunate that we were not invaded, but the damage caused by air raids, by the stationing of enormous armies under the South-East Asia Command, and by the slaughter-tapping of one of our main commodities, rubber, when we were the only producer of natural rubber for the Allies, entitles us to ask that the damage so caused should be repaired. We do not intend to do so for we believe in the words of the Great Teacher the Buddha whose message has ennobled the lives of countless millions in Asia that hatred ceases not by hatred but by love.
It is the message of the Buddha, the Founder of Buddhism which spread a wave of humanism through South Asia, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Siam, Indonesia and Ceylon and also northwards through the Himalayas into Tibet, China and finally Japan, which bound us together for hundreds of years with a common culture and heritage.
This common culture still exists, as I found on my visit to Japan last week on my way to attend this Conference; and from the leaders of Japan, Ministers of State as well as private citizens and from their priests in the temples, I gathered the impression that the common people of Japan are still influenced by’ the shadow of that Great Teacher of peace, and wish to follow it. We must give them that opportunity.”
Mr. Kase`s father Kase Toshikaz participated in the surrender ceremony accompanying plenipotentiary Shigemitsu Mamoru. He was standing right beside Foreign Minister Shigemitsu on USS Missouri as he held back his tears and signed the Instrument of Surrender at the table placed directly in front of General MacArthur.
When Hideaki Kase was in middle school, he had asked his father what was going through his mind while he was on board the USS Missouri. His father`s reply was as follows：
Although Japan had been defeated in battle, we had liberated the people of Asia from hundreds of years of oppression and enslavement. As I stood on the deck of the USS Missouri, I knew in my heart with pride that Japan had actually won the war, insofar as we had led Asia into a great new era of history. Shigemitsu felt the same way.”
Mr. Kase says: As I grew up, I felt the same pride and sorrow that my father did the day that he stood on the deck of the USS Missouri. These feelings have still not left me. The impact of Asia’s liberation, which Japan had won at such a high price, was soon felt on the African continent as well. The peoples of Africa, who had been oppressed by Western powers, achieved their independence, one after another. Japan played a monumental role in human history. Today’s world of racial equality was forged through battles fought by Japan.”
I wish to end this presentation by reminding the people of Asia as a fellow Asian that the time has now come for Asia to express its gratitude to Japan.
Thank you, Japan.
Senaka Weeraratna
2018.11.16 දින පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී මා විසින් ශුද්ධ වූ බයිබලයකින් දමා ගැසූ බවට රනිල් වික්රමසිංහගේ නායකත්වයෙන් යුතු විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලනඥයින් විසින් සමාජ ජාල මාධ්ය ඔස්සේ ගෙන යන ප්රචාරයන් සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම සාවද්ය හා ද්වේශ සහගත ප්රචාරයන් බව අවධාරණය කරන අතරම එම චෝදනාව සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම ප්රතික්ෂේප කරමි.ඒවගේම මා අදහන ආගමට මා කොතරම් ගරු කරනවාද යන්න ආගමික නායකයින් හොදාකාරවම දන්නා බවද විශේෂයෙන් කියනු කැමැත්තෙමි .
ජනතාව තුල අප කෙරෙහි අප්රසාදයක් ඇතිකරවීමට මෙවැනි ආගම හා ශුද්ධ වූ බයිබලය යොදා ගනිමින් සිදු කරන මඩ ප්රචාර වලින් පෙනී යන්නේ රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ප්රමුඛ විපක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන බංකොලොත්බවයි.ප්රජාතන්ත්ර විරෝධී කථානායකවරයාගේ අත්තනෝමතික හැසිරීමට විරෝධය පලකරමින් අප විසින් ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය රැක ගැනීම උදෙසා කල සටන හා උද්ඝෝෂණ නිසා ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණු ඉටු කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය.එබැවින් විපක්ෂය විසින් ආගම ධර්මය හා ශුද්ධ
වූ බයිබලයට පවා අපහාස කරමින් නිහීන දේශපාලනයක් කිරීමට තරම් පහත් මට්ටමකට ඇද වැටීම අතිශය ශෝකජනකය.තවද මෙවැනි ආගම් යොදාගෙන කරන මඩ ප්රචාර සදහා රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ හා කථානායක කරූ ජයසූරිය අනුබල දීම කණගාටුදායකය.
විශේෂයෙන්ම විපක්ෂයේ කතෝලික මන්ත්රීවරුන් වන නිරෝෂන් පෙරේරා හරින් ප්රනාන්දු රන්ජන් රාමනායක ආණ්ඩුවට මඩ ගැසීම සදහා තමුන් අදහන ආගම පවා පාවිච්චි කිරීම කණගාටුවට කරුණක් වන අතර කණගාටුවකටත් වඩා මා දකින්නේ එය පවුකාරකමක් ලෙසය.වරක් හිටපු මුදල් අමාත්යවරයාවූ මංගල සමරවීර දේශපාලනික කරුණු අරභයා අති උතුම් මැල්කම් රංජිත් හිමිපාණන් නිර්දය ලෙස විවේචනය කරද්දි කට වහගෙන සිටි මේ විපක්ෂයේ කතෝලික මන්ත්රීවරුන් රාජ්ය ලාංජනය මුද්රණය කල පොතක්, ශුද්ධ වූ බයිබලයක් බවට පවසමින් කරන මඩ ගැසීම අතිශයින්ම අප්රසන්නය.එබැවින් කතෝලික ආගමවත් ශුද්ධ වූ බයිබලයවත් තමුන්ගේ පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු වෙනුවෙන් යොදා නොගන්නා ලෙස රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ ප්රමුඛ විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්රීවරුන්ට දන්වා සිටිනු කැමැත්තෙමි.
ජොන්ස්ටන් ප්රනාන්දු
වෙළද, පාරිභෝගික, සමුපකාර සංවර්ධන හා ක්රිස්තියානි කටයුතු පිලිබඳ අමාත්ය
My dear Lanka Web Readers,
Re- hiring and firing of the Prime minister
My simple clarification of the mind boggling constitution is as follows:
If I have the power to hire the bastard, and when the bastard playing pugs I have the power to fire the bastard. Simple as that. Forget the mind boggling constitution.
A retired supreme court judge told me once that he could have given the judgement order in my arbitration case whichever the way he could have liked.
When Sumathipala got his release from the remand and case thrown out of court on a hearing on a poya day do I have to say any more?
Traitor RW had never been a patriotic Sinhalaya.
BORN AGAIN DUTU GEMUNU: MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE you are saviour of Sri Lankans. Long live MR, GR and BR.
Stanley Perera
writing from Melbourme.
Before proceeding to apprise on the latest developments on election phobia UNPs thuggery in Parliament, President’s meeting with demented Speaker and UNP proxies including money voracious JVP Hooligans, evidence on fraudulent lists presented to the President let us complete the balance portion Prime Minister Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s parliament speech on 15th.
When I was coming to parliament, I saw a Poster which asks whose fundamental rights .are being infringed by an election?
It was to allow the people to express the power of their sovereignty and allow them to appoint a government as per their choice that governments of this country in 1947, 1951, 1956 and 1960 dissolved prematurely. It was because of that the people’s sovereignty was safeguarded at those times. It was because the President realised that the government that existed could not solve the problems of this country, he asked me to take over the country. With the moment of my taking over the country as the Prime Minister there was an enthusiastic expectation throughout the country.
The speaker says that he in collaboration with western ambassadors and his political got a No Confidence Motion (NCM)against me passed by Voice Votes” (What a joker he is – emphasis mine) It is not possible to get motions passed by sounds. After the speaker’s so-called NCM the former Ministers who thought that the former Prime Minister has become the Prime Minister again have even gone to their former Ministries. It is the President who appoints the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers of the country. The speaker has not been given this authority by our constitution.
I propose that rather than attempting to get this problem solved among 225 members of the Parliament in the parliament it should be entrusted to the people who exceed 15 million voters. Now there is a clash of opinion between two groups in the Parliament. Therefore, instead of trying to solve this problem among 225 members of parliament it should be entrusted to the people who exceed 15 million voters. That is the parliament tradition. As politicians we all should understand this fact. As per our constitution our sovereignty does not rests on the parliament. It rests on the people only. I am happy that the JVP said yesterday that if a proposal was submitted to dissolve the parliament and hold election that they would vote in favour that proposal. I hope that the UNP will announce in this parliament today about their stance on this matter.
I appeal to all the 225 members of this Parliament to join hands with me to facilitate the people to appoint a new government as per their choice and to hold a free and fair election for that purpose.
Thank you.
During the speech the Prime Minister announced that fuel prices will be further reduced, and it will be reduced last night as well and further concessions will be given to ease the cost of living burden of the people. Referring to the UNP government’s fuel pricing formula he said under vicious formula the fuel prices were only increased and never came down if even the world market prices came down.
The people remained glued to their televisions yesterday and watched the brawl created by the demented and arrogant speaker by the unwarranted and unconstitutional attempt to take a vote on the Prime Minister’s speech.
At the outset, the Speaker announced that he would not recognize any MP as the Prime Minister, Minister, State or Deputy Minister, Chief Government Whip or Leader of the House as the Cabinet of Ministers stood dissolved in view of the No-Confidence Motion on Wednesday. He said a new Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers have not been appointed and there is free seating for the convenience of business of the House He also stated that the final decision on all Parliamentary affairs lies with him and such decisions can only be challenged inside the Chamber,
This created strong protests from the government benches leading ultimately to a huge pandemonium and a brawl between MPs of both sides. For people who watched these ashes. The UNP MPs behaved like their ancestor thugs Mariakade Choppe, Gonawela Sunil and Kalu Lucky. With the connivance of the demented speaker their current thugs such as Ranjan Ramanauyake and Palitha Thevarapperuma have brought knives to the Parliament. It was also reported that the demented speaker whose duty is to take measures to maintain peace in parliament and provide protections to MPs while in parliament is reported to have t5old the thug type MPs of UMNP to bring any type of weapons to teach suitable lessons to Sirisena-Mahinda’s fellows.
We really do not know who else brought weapons other than Ranjan Ramanauyake and Palitha Thevarapperuma. Many UNP MPs have assaulted government NPs who are reported to have suffered injuries. The Kandy district MP Dilum Amunugama has said that Karu Jayasuriya has passed out urine in his dress and remained in his seat for a long time without being able to move out in that status. Television pictured showed MPs of both sides attacking each other with water bottles, books and documents and dust bins.
MP Indika Anuruddha has complained to the Police post at the Parliamentary complex that both Ranjan Ramanayake and Palitha Thewarapperuma threatened him with a knife inside the chamber. He has said they when he brought Speaker’s attention to this, he said not knives, but swords should also be brought in because of the current.
Minister Johnston Fernando said the MPs who allegedly threatened others with a knife should be arrested and it is necessary to find out how a knife was brought into parliament ne will bring this issue to the attention of both the President and IGP as well,
The Island editorial said today (16th) that now, Parliament finds itself in the same predicament as a patient with a serious bowel obstruction, given a potent laxative. The country has come within the hailing distance of anarchy. It said that, all three tiers of government are in chaos; the newly introduced, harebrained electoral system has rendered most LG bodies hung and, thereby, ungovernable; the PCs are without elected representatives and the Speaker does not recognise the ruling party in Parliament and the President has refused to accept the party which, the Speaker says, is in power.
UNP MP Ruwan Wijewardene’s Daily Mirror says the whole country watching the drama, unfold within the parliament premises, from their homes and work places have little knowledge of the constitutional procedure regarding the removal of a prime minister, appointing another and how the Cabinet can be dissolved. The editorial says the imbroglio is continuing with neither party giving in. It points out that during the days that passed following the dissolving of parliament on November 9, the people of this country have leaned on their conscience rather than depend on how people quote the Constitution. It says that this is solely to understand the big picture associated with this impasse.
For the record, no party has sought the help of the law challenging the removal of the Prime Minister of the Yahapalana regime the editorial concludes saying with MPs changing sides and some claiming they were offered huge amounts of money the instability continues.
The Ambassadors of the Western countries the former imperialists stupidly falling themselves as the international community with only 20 odd countries whereas there are nearly 200 countries in the world seems to be having no diplomatic work these days and are seated in the parliament gallery watching their minion demented speaker’s arrogant drama in parliament. Unlike these white skinned modern imperialists one of Sri Lanka’s true friends China has said that it hoped that Sri Lanka can maintain stability and find ways to end the current political impasse. The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying has said that as a traditional friendly neighbour of Sri Lanka, China has been closely following the developments of the situation in Sri Lanka and hope that Sri Lanka can maintain stability and that all relevant parties in Sri Lanka have the wits and ways needed to deal with the current situation.
(To be continued)
It was hilarious to find MP Rishad Badiudeeen who went on an unlawful Umrah pilgrimage recently allegedly sponsored by the reactionary and neo liberal UMNP with Bond Scam funds together with his bête noir Rauf Hakeem has hailed the highly partisan anti Sri Lankan dictatorial and anti democratic acts of the speaker. It is prudent to ask him whether it followed parliament and democratic traditions that this demented speaker allowed UNP MPs to bring in life threatening dangerous weapons to parliament.
වවුනියාවේ සමලන්කුලම පුරාවිද්යා ස්ථානය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමට ගිය පුරාවිද්යා නිලධාරීන් පිරිසකට එම ස්ථානය බලහත්කාරයෙන් අල්ලා ගෙන සිටින හින්දු පූජකවරු පිරිසක් හා ගම්වාසීන් එක්ව 16 දා පහර දීමට උත්සහ කොට තිබේ.
වවුනියාවේ සමලන්කුලම පුරාවිද්යා ස්ථානය බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථානයකි.
යුද සමයේදී නිලධාරීන්ට එම ප්රදේශයට යාමට නොහැකි වූ නිසා හින්දු පිරිසක් එම ස්ථානය බලහත්කාරයෙන් අල්ලාගෙන හින්දු කෝවිලක් ඉදිකොට ඇත්තේ 1985 වසරේදීය.
පසුගිය නොවැම්බර් 3 දා දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ දේශපාලනඥයින් පිරිසක් මේ ස්ථානයට පැමිණ කෝවිල සංවර්ධනය කිරීම සදහා මුදල් ආධාර සපයා දීමත් සමගම කෝවිලේ කටයුතු සංවර්ධනය කිරීමට ඉපැරණි බෞද්ධ නටබුන් කඩා ඉවත් කොට තිබේ.
කඩා ඉවත් කරණ ලද ස්ථානයේ නව ඉදිකිරීම් සිදු කිරීමට ගඩොල් වැලි ඇතුළු දේ රැගෙන විත් තිබේ.
සමලන්කුලම පුරා විද්යා ස්ථානයේ ඉපැරණි දාගැබක් හා නටබුන් පිහිටා ඇති අතර ඒවා විනාශ කොට ඇති බවට පුරා විද්යා නිලධාරීන්ට ලැබුණු තොරතුරක් මත එය නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමට ගිය අවස්ථාවේදී හින්දු පූජකවරු හා ගම්වැසියෝ එක්ව නිලධාරීන්ට පහර දීමට උත්සහ කොට ඔවුන්ව එම ස්ථානයෙන් එළවා දමා තිබේ.
ඉන්දියාවේ චෙන්නායි නුවරදී 17 දා සවස බලු මස් කිළෝ ග්රෑම් දහසක් සමග පොලීසිය විසින් අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇති සැකකරුවන් දෙදෙනාගෙන් එක් අයෙකු යාපනයේ කරවෙඩ් ප්රදේශයේ පදිංචි කරුවකු බවට තොරතුරු හෙලිවී තිබේ.
මේ දෙදෙනා අත් අඩංගුවට පත්ව ඇත්තේ ඉන්දියාවේ චෙන්නායි නුවර ජායිපූර් දුම් රිය ස්ථානය අසලදීය.
පොලීසියට ලැබුණු තොරතුරක් මත මේ දෙදෙනා අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන ප්රශ්න කළ අවස්ථාවේදී ඔවුන් පොලීසියට පවසා ඇත්තේ ඔවුන් සේවය කරණ ආපන ශාලාවේ එළු මස් බුරියානි සදහා ඔවුන් එළු මස් රැගෙන යන බවයි.
පොලීසිය දිගින් දිගටම කළ ප්රශ්න කිරීම් වලදී ඔවුන් රැගෙන යන්නේ බලු මස් බව අනාවරණය වී තිබේ.
ඔවුන් අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලද අවස්ථාවේදී ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා ළග බලුමස් කිලෝ ග්රෑම් 150 ක් තිබී ඇති අතර ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා සේවය කරණ ආපන ශාලාව පරීක්ෂා කිරීමේදී ශීතකරණ වල දමා තිබූ තවත් බලුමස් කිලෝ 850 ක් පොලීසියට හමු වී තිබේ.
ඉන්දියාවේ රාජස්ථාන් පළාතෙ ”එළුමස් බුරියානී”නමින්ම පවත්වා ගෙන යන ආපන ශාලාවක එළුමස් බව පවසමින් බලුමස් යොදාගෙන කාලයක සිට මේ ජාවාරම කරගෙන යන බව පොලීසිය විසින් අනාවරණය කරගෙන තිබේ.
බලුමස් සමග අත් අඩංගුවට ගත් සේවකයින් දෙදෙනා එක් ස්ථානයකින් බලු මස් රැගෙන දුම් රියෙන් අදාල ආපන ශාලාව වෙත මස් ප්රවාහනය කිරීමට සූදානම් වූ අවස්ථාවේදී ඔවුන්ව පොලීසියට කොටු වී තිබේ.
මේ ආරංචිය ලැබීමත් සමගම ආපන ශාලාවේ හිමිකරු ආපන ශාලාවෙන් පැන ගොස් ඇති අතර චෙන්නායි පොලීසිය ඔහුව අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට පරීක්ෂණ ආරම්භ කොට තිබේ.
I am a european, but I am astonished to see how USA and UK and others feel their opinion is important as to Sri Lankan political situation.
What happens in Sri Lanka is internal affairs. It is not the business of USA and Uk or any other country. They refer to constitutions as all constitutions in the world are the same.
Next: USA hav as long I remember, had their big nose in the affairs of other countries, and even invaded them starting war—–the same with UK who for centuries found it ok to invade countries and create colonies, in order to benefit financially.
SHUT your mouth USA and Uk—–shame on you.—-not only for your previous behavior—–but especially for the present behavior—–Let Sri Lanka handle their own affairs and shut your mouth now—
Have any of you paid back what you owe the countries you invaded?????DO that—-and then come back with comments—–At present you dont have any saying in what is going on in Sri Lanka.———–sweep for your own door before you order others to sweep in front of their door.
Has Sri Lanka anytime questend the constitution of your countries, and told how to administrate them?–
Mahinda Rajapaksha did his duty —–as president of a soverign country—–never interfered in other countries politics.
USA and UK wanted him to stand trial for warcrimes———what a joke, considering what those two countries have done in the Middle East and the Arabian world.
When will people get their eyes open?
https://youtu.be/2zgTl6-KWqg
එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධාන ආණ්ඩුවට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතරය පෙන්වීමට සූදානම් බව ජනාධිපති මෛත්රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා සඳහන් කර ඇත.
අද පැවැති මන්ත්රී හමුවේදී ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ බව කියා සිටි බව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රී ලක්ෂ්මන් යාපා අබේවර්ධන මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.
ඒ අනුව ඉදිරි පාර්ලිමේන්තු දිනයකදී අවශ්ය මොහොතක පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතරය ගෙන්වීමට සූදානම් වන්නැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයා කියා සිටි බවද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.
ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නව අග්රාමාත්ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පත් කිරීම මෙන්ම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවද විසුරවන ලද්දේ ශ්රී ලංකා ප්රජාතාන්ත්රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවට අනුකුලව බවත් තමන් යලි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සමග එකතු වෙනවා යැයි පවසන කටකතා සියල්ල අසත්යයක් බවද අධ්යාපන හා උසස් අධ්යාපන අමාත්ය ආචාර්ය ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ විජයදාස රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සදහන් කරයි.
ජනාධිපතිතුමා සමග ජනපති නිල නිවසේ පැවති විශේෂ සාකච්ඡවකින් අනතුරුව අධ්යාපන හා උසස් අධ්යාපන අමාත්යවරයා මේ බව ප්රකාශ කළේය.
මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අධ්යාපන හා උසස් අධ්යාපන අමාත්යවරයා කියා සිටියේ ජනතා පරමාධිපත්යය උල්ලංඝනය කරන බංකොලොත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සමග තමන් කිසි විටකත් එක් නොවන බවයි.
කතානායක කරු ජයසුරිය මහතා දඩමීමා කර ගනිමින් ව්යවස්ථානුකුලව විසිරවූ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල වගේම රට තුලත් අර්බුධයක් නිර්මාණය කරමින් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය සැබෑවටම ජනතාව ඉදිරියට යාමට විශාල බියක් දැක්වීම නිසා මැතිවරණය වලක්වමින් මේ සිදු කරන මේ නිහීන ක්රියාව තරයේ හෙලා දකින අතර බල තණ්හාව පෙරදැරි කරගත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ බංකොලොත් කිහිප දෙනෙකුට අවශ්ය පරිදි සිදු කරන බල අරගලය සදහා තමන් කිසිවිටෙකත් සම්බන්ධ නොවන බවද ඔහු කියා සිටී.
මේ දිනවල එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය විසින් මහ බැංකු බැදුම්කර මංකොල්ලයේ සල්ලි විසික් කරමින් මන්ත්රී ඔළු ගෙඩි මිලදී ගැනීම සිදු කලත් තමන් එම මුදල් වලට විකිණෙන්නේ නැති බවත් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.
Even Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of all, would have found it extremely difficult to pen a political drama to match what is unfolding in the ‘Land like no other’. It was left to my very good friend and retired senior administrative service officer, Dharme Hewamadduma, to remind me of a prediction I had made after the last presidential election. I could sense the excitement in his voice when he rang me to inform that President Sirisena has appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister but his excitement was for a different reason.”Upul, do you remember telling me that Sirisena will do the same to Ranil, what he did to Mahinda?” Frankly, I could not remember but am indebted to Dharme for having reminded me that I predicted MS would do a Brutus again.
Well, that sums up the first of the three actors in this political drama. Yes, they really are actors with very bad performances at times. Maithri has done a Brutus not once but twice. He stabbed his former boss in the back, shortly after enjoying a hopper dinner at the President’s House in 2014. Ranil, on the other hand, was stabbed in the back several times before. Well, Maithri had to stomach many an indiscretion from Ranil because he had to show gratitude as he admitted in his address to the nation. After all, he would never have been President, if not for the support extended by the UNP, which, however, did so because its leader could not win a presidential election.
Ranil has been ridiculed and praised in equal measure since he was sacked as Prime Minister. He holds the unique distinction of being fired from that exalted position twice! Chandrika, his great ally, who is in and out of Temple Trees, was the first to do so. I cannot remember what Ranil did then but, on this occasion, what he displayed was hypocrisy. Instead of leaving Temple Trees, he stayed put, converting Temple Trees to a huge ‘Pirith Mandapppaya’. Perhaps, we should not single him out for criticism because Sri Lankans’ religiosity knows no bounds in times of distress. Paradoxically, the sacking may have been a blessing in disguise for Ranil, whose image has been tarnished by the bond scams.
Surely, Ranil should have taken the responsibility and resigned when the bond-scam occurred as the Central Bank was under his purview. In the democratic world, many ministers have resigned for much less, and those who lavish Ranil with hosannas should not forget this vital element of good governance. He should, at least, have ensured that Arjuna Mahendran faced trial.
The third player, of course, is Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose supporters want him to be the saviour again. Even the harshest of his critics cannot deny the fact that MR achieved the impossible. Remember, there was no dearth of experts who harped, repeatedly, that the Tigers could not be defeated militarily. Sri Lanka holds the unique distinction of being the only country to have comprehensively defeated terrorists, a fact often forgotten when demanding concessions for the defeated terrorists. Even the mighty British Empire could not defeat terrorists but came to agreements with them. We did not and we are under no obligation, a fact we need to remind the foreign funded NGOs, which Ranil’s government failed to do; it bent over backwards to please foreign interferers. We lost national pride in the process, the beneficiary being MR, who has become the most powerful politician in the country today. Whether he can be double saviour depends on many factors, the most important of which is whether he had learned a lesson from the slap he received from the electorate. The other vital consideration is whether anyone can turn the economy around.
The less you talk of the bunch in the ‘Diyawanna Asylum’ the better. Their behaviour, to say the least, is despicable and clearly shows why a fresh election is needed with the hope that the major political parties would have the guts to nominate fresh untainted persons; a fat hope a cynic may say!
I do not know whether Ranil was surrounded by butterflies, as the President claimed recently, or bees but it looks as if there was a bunch of leeches misleading him. Why he did not want to go to the Supreme Court, when he was sacked, remains a mystery. However, when the Parliament was dissolved they went to the Supreme Court, the ensuing legal battle demonstrating how badly the 19th Amendment had been drafted. Barring those who drafted this, most experts believed, nothing short of a divine intervention, would go against the President. Well, what the Supreme Court will decide soon, after listening to all arguments, we do not know. It may make Ranil the great survivor, provided the party does not decide that enough is enough in the interim. Sajith Premadasa’s speech at the massive UNP rally had some hints. Or, it may give the chance for MR to be double saviour.
Unfortunately, the biggest loser in this political drama is Karu Jayasuriya, who has completely ruined his reputation. Having first accepted the President’s decision, he had a change of heart. He realised he is a member of the UNP, after all, though he is the Speaker and reversed his earlier decision, insulting the office he holds. How he could have issued contradictory statements is beyond belief! His inability to control MPs displayed his incompetence. The only way he can save his reputation is by summoning a meeting of party leaders and convincing them that the only decent thing to do is to seek a mandate from the voters.
The Prime Minister’s Secretary, S. Amarasekara, has issued a statement listing 12 steps that need to be followed to bring forth a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister and for it to legally be adopted in the Parliament.
It also states that the Parliament should ensure all processes mentioned are carried according to the Constitution, Standing Orders, Parliamentary tradition and procedures.
The statement issued by the Secretary to the Prime Minister also states that the motion of no confidence brought against the former Prime Minister in April 2018 had been presented legally following such due process.
Posted on November 16th, 2018
2018 නොවැම්බර් 16
ඉහත කී සියලුම ක්රියාවලියන් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවටද, ස්ථාවර නියෝගවලටද, පාර්ලිමේන්තු සම්ප්රදායන් සහ ක්රියා පටිපාටියන් වලට අනුකූලව සිදු කිරීමට පාර්ලමේන්තුව වගබලා ගත යුතුය.
2018 අප්රේල් මාසයේදී හිටපු අග්රාමාත්යවරයාට එරෙහිව ගෙනා විශ්වස භංගය ඉහත සදහන් ආකාරයට නීත්යාණුකුලව ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.
එස්. අමරසේකර
අග්රාමාත්ය ලේකම්
President Maithripala Sirisena said he does not accept the results of today’s vote in Parliament since his instructions yesterday were not followed, according to UPFA MP Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena.
He stated that what they did in Parliament was wrong. He said it was not done the way said yesterday,” the MP said, speaking to reporters following a meeting with the President.
He said that the president had asked the opposition parties yesterday to act according to Standing Order 113, but that did not happen today and that they have not removed the clause from the no-confidence motion as requested by the President.
Therefore he (the President) said that the vote today is not valid and that he will not accept it,” Abeywardena said.
The MP said that the President instructed the UPFA parliamentary group to show their majority in the Parliament and to continue their work.
The Office of the Speaker had announced that the second clause of the motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government was passed in the Parliament today (16) according to the parliamentary Standing Orders and that the President has been informed of the passage of the resolution.
Issuing a press release, it said that the motion has been presented to the Parliament by MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake and seconded by MP Vijitha Herath.
This was in accordance with the decision taken at the special meeting held with the President, the Speaker and party leaders last evening (15).
The press release issued by the Speaker’s Office stated that, in terms with the Article 48(2) of the Constitution, the parliament accepts the official statement on the dissolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, as well as the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government.
The Speaker’s Office said that the no-confidence motion, which was passed along with the signatures of 112 Parliamentarians, has been sent to the President Maithripala Sirisena by the Speaker.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, for the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, entered the floor of the House protected behind dozens of police officials as MPs from the government side disrupted the house and delayed the proceedings.
The session was delayed for over 30 minutes as government MPs had begun a protest surrounding the Speaker’s chair and an MP occupying the Speaker’s seat.
They had begun the protest, calling for the immediate arrest of two MPs from the United National Party (UNP), for bringing in knives into the Parliament a day earlier.
President Maithripala Sirisena, issuing a statement on his official Twitter account urged all parliamentarians to uphold the principles of democracy and parliamentary traditions at all times.
He also said he will not prorogue Parliament under any circumstances.
The intervenient petitioners had submitted in their motion that they requested under Article 132 of the Constitution a bench comprising five judges or seven judges or a full bench to hear the FR petitions against the Attorney General challenging the dissolution of the Parliament.
The intervenient petitioners who had made this request through Attorneys Nilantha Wijesinghe and Atula de Silva were Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris, Minister Udaya Gammanpila, Wellawatte Jagath, Professor Channa Jayasumana and Attorney Premnath C. Dolawatte.
They have submitted that the gazette issued by the President dissolving the Parliament has made a tremendous impact on the society and what is before the court is a nationally important Constitutional matter and as such it is appropriate to appoint a bench comprising more than five judges.
The three member bench of the Supreme Court that heard the fundamental rights petitions filed by the UNP, TNA, JVP, ACMC, former Parliamentarian Mano Ganeshan, Centre for Policy Alternatives, Attorney Aruna Laksiri and the member of the National Election Commission Professor Samuel Ratnajeevan Hoole, issued an order on Tuesday staying the President’s gazette on the dissolution of Parliament and holding the general election under that gazette till December 7.
Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the motion was not passed as per the understanding that the opposition leaders had arrived at in their meeting with the President.
The President had said that he will abide by the result of the No Trust Vote if the set procedures and the Standing Orders were followed and a vote by counting of hands was taken.
But what happened in the House on Friday was a replay of Wednesday’s rumbustious scene. There was commotion and chaos, and in the midst of the commotion and din, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya accepted a revised No Confidence Motion signed by 112 MPs from fthe JVP and then called for a voice vote and declared that motion was passed”. He then promptly adjourned parliament till November 19.
Prior to this, the Speaker had walked in police escort , which according to government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, is very unusual.
The government immediately confronted the Speaker to ask why men with knives had come into the House and wanted them to be arrested before the business for the day is taken up.
The rioting United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) members demanded the arrest of two legislators of the Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP). They charged that two UNP legislators, Palitha Thewarapperuma and Ranjan Ramanayake were carrying knives during the brawl which took place.
Yesterday, UPFA MP Dilum Amunugama was injured in clashes inside the chamber.
Police protected Jayasuriya from the rioting MPs as he called the Tamil National Alliance MP. M.A. Sumanthiran to propose the suspension of the Standing Orders.
The Speaker summoned police inside Parliament chamber after 45 minutes of disruption. One of the rioting MPs Arundika Fernando occupied the seat of the Speaker with many MPs surrounding it. Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, a senior parliamentarian, was injured in the melee.
On the basis of a voice vote Speaker Jayasuriya announced that the motion against Rajapaksa was accepted because physical voting by show of hands could not take place due to the brawl.
When the rioting government MPs threw books at the police, Jayasuriya immediately suspended the sittings until November 19 and left the House surrounded by police.
Government spokesman Rambukwella that the No Trust Motion passed under such circumstance cannot be accepted.
Political observers said that under these circumstances mediation is called for because parliament has to pass a Vote on Account to enable the government to pay their salaries from January 2019.
With both sides sticking to their respective stands, parliament will not be able to function.
The opposition insists that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has no right to continue, given the fact that he had been defeated” twice in a No Trust Vote. But the government keeps saying that the votes were not taken as per the set procedure.
The procedure is notice has to be given and a debate has to be held before voting is called. In the presnt case none of this was done though the opposition had said that the Standing Orders will be adhered to.
The next course of action was discussed later on Friday between President Sirisena and the MPs of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by Prime Minister Rajapaksa.
(The image at the top is that of Sri Lankan government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella)
2018 නොවැම්බර් 16
ඉහත කී සියලුම ක්රියාවලියන් ආණ්ඩුක්රම ව්යවස්ථාවටද, ස්ථාවර නියෝගවලටද, පාර්ලිමේන්තු සම්ප්රදායන් සහ ක්රියා පටිපාටියන් වලට අනුකූලව සිදු කිරීමට පාර්ලමේන්තුව වගබලා ගත යුතුය.
2018 අප්රේල් මාසයේදී හිටපු අග්රාමාත්යවරයාට එරෙහිව ගෙනා විශ්වස භංගය ඉහත සදහන් ආකාරයට නීත්යාණුකුලව ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.
එස්. අමරසේකර
අග්රාමාත්ය ලේකම්
කථානායක කරු ජයසූරිය මහතා දැඩි පොලිස් ආරක්ෂාවක් සහිතව පාර්මේන්තු සභා ගැබට ඇතුළු විය.
ඒ වනවිටත් කථානායක පුටුව අල්ලාගෙන සිටි මන්ත්රීවරුන් ඊට දැඩි විරෝධයක් එල්ල විය.
පොලිස් බල ඇණි සමගින් සබාවේ කටයුතු සිදු කිරීමට ගත් උත්සාහයේදී එල්ල වූයේ දැඩි විරෝදයකි.
විශ්වාස භංගයක් සම්මත කලේ යයි කියා අනතුරුව කතානායකවරයා විසින් සබාව 19 වැනිදා පස්වරැු 01.00 දක්වා කල් තැබීය.
මන්ත්රිවරුන්ගෙන් එල්ල වූ පොත්පත් වතුර බෝතල් කුණු බාල්දි ප්රහාරය හේතුවන් පොලිස් බල ඇණි සමග කතානායකවරයා පිට විය.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ස්ථාවර නියෝග කඩා දමමින් අද දිනයේම විශ්වාස භංගයක් ඉදිරිපත් කර අදම සම්මත කිරීමට ගත් උත්සාහයට විරෝධය පල කරමින් කතානායකවරයාට මෙම ප්රහාරය එල්ල කර ඇත.
The Speaker has failed to proceed with the parliamentary sessions, alleges UFPA MP Susil Premajayantha.
He stated this addressing a press conference held at the Parliament Complex this afternoon (16).
The Parliamentarian pointed out that the requests made by President Maithripala Sirisena last evening (15) during the special meeting with the Speaker and the party leaders have been completely disregarded at the House today.
Commenting further, Premajayantha said that MP Sumanthiran is the producer of the series of these events, and its director is the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, while Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is only an actor in it.
President Maithripala Sirisena says that he will not prorogue the Parliament under any circumstances.
He also urged all parliamentarians to uphold the principles of democracy and parliamentary traditions at all times.
I urge all Parliamentarians to uphold principles of democracy parliamentary traditions at all times. I will not prorogue the Parliament under any circumstances,” the President tweeted.
The Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has announced that the Parliament will be adjourned until November 19.
He said that the parliament will reconvene at 1.00 p.m. on that date.
Reportedly, the Speaker has taken a vote on the removal of Clause 01 of no-confidence motion by voice instead of names.
The parliament reconvened this afternoon (16) for the consecutive date, however due to the tense situation that emerged within the House, commencing the parliamentary session was obstructed.
Police personnel had entered the Parliament chamber to control the situation due to the protest by government MPs, who are obstructing the commencement of the parliamentary session.
However, the government MPs gathered near the chair and protesting, while also occupying the chair prevented the police officers from coming close by throwing various objects at them.
As several government MPs proceeded to take away the chair of the Speaker, he attempted to take a vote on a new motion of no confidence using a microphone, while standing.
The government MPs also obstructed this by staging a protest in the chamber, while attacking and throwing various objects at the direction of the police officers guarding the Speaker.
This resulted in the Speaker’s announcement of adjourning the parliament.
15. 11. 2018.
As I was watching the behavior of the Speaker Karu Jayasuriye this morning in Parliament I felt ridiculously ashamed of his common sense, apart from his knowledge regarding Parliamentary procedure and the constitution of this country he has to uphold as the Chairman of this august assembly.
His body language seen as he entered the House and sat down in the Speaker’s chair aptly displayed full confidence brimming on his face that he is going to end up the day’s proceedings victoriously at the end of the day as he had preplanned and conspired with his master RW in consultation with their Western Ambassadorial advisors in the previous night. The behavior of the Diplomuts of the Western countries in the visitor’s gallery clearly proved their interference and involvement in this conspiracy.
He opened the day saying that as the Speaker hereafter he will not accept any PM or Cabinet of Ministers in the parliament since a No Confidence motion had been passed yesterday (15).
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya mentioned this at the beginning of the parliamentary session held today (15). He says that he will not recognize all current Prime Minister, Ministers, State Ministers, Deputy Ministers as well as the current Leader of the House and the Chief Government Whip. This reminds me what my small granddaughter Sandali who was only 5 years then, telling her father ‘This is my room and this is my law” when one day she was asked to keep he room clean. Therefore isn’t this a five year old child’s behavior, the septuagenarian (78 years old) Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka has displayed. Shame isn’t it?
He also did not address the legitimate Prime Minister as Prime Minister when he invited him reluctantly to address the House. He just said now Mr Mahinda Rajapaksa to speak. Isn’t it disgraceful and demean to behave like that for a Speaker of a Parliament. After all the Prime minister is the second citizen in the country next to the President and the Speaker is only the third in the precedence list. One would expect at least that much of wisdom and decency from the Speaker of the House. See to what mean level a man could be pushed by this ugly legacy of dirty Party politics introduced by the British to our country.
I don’t want to mention about all ugly things followed in the house. Suffice it to say that his Speaker should take full responsibility for all ugly things that followed in the House due to his misbehavior including an MP being hospitalized for injuries caused by the ensuing brawl.
If the Speaker has a wee bit of self-respect and dignity, by the time I write these few lines he should have signed his letter of resignation from the post of Speaker and put it to an envelope to be sent to the Clerk of the House early morning tomorrow without waiting him to be pulled out from his chair disgraced and humiliated as a kihilikaru Speaker.
If he does not do that he will go down in the history of this country as the most disgraced and humiliated and chased out Speaker ever in the entire history of Independent Sri Lanka.
On the other hand if he still hopelessly hopes to remain as the Speaker of a government headed by Ranil Wickramasinha it will be only a wild day dream. Even a mega conspiracy by the Western world and the anti- Sinhala anti- Buddhist local NGOO, as they did in 2015 succeed in a temporary win still he will go down in the history of this country as a modern UDARATA NILAME who betrayed the proud Sinhala Jatiya and Sambuddha sasana in the 21st century, once again to the Western Colonial invaders along with Ranil Wickramasinha and who helped RW to cede the land of the Sinhale to the communal Tamil EELAmists and extremist Muslims Jehadists for few Tamil and Muslim votes in Parliament to remain in power for few months.
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