DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA

‘[For it is written] Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord’ – (Romans, 12:19)

In September 2015, Maithripala Sirisena pulled a fast one on the UPFA voters who had voted in the August-2015 elections.  He got 45 SLFP MP’s elected under the UPFA banner to join the UNP and carry on a ‘National Government.’ What was really at stake in the 10^th February 2018 Local Government elections was whether the UPFA voters thus betrayed in 2015 would let Sirisena continue with the aforesaid fraud.  The results of the polls show that they replied with a thunderous ‘NO!’  So, Sirisena is finished.

In this article, I shall briefly set out what I think the Sinhalas must now do to prepare for their inevitable takeover of power in 2020.  The last thing they can afford is make the same mistake as J.R. in 1977, to wit, when he had a 5/6 majority, to use that solely in order to consolidate the power of a single person (himself) and a single Party (the UNP):  if I’m not mistaken, as he put it, ‘To roll up the electoral carpet for a decade.’

The Sinhalas cannot fall into the same trap.  As soon as they come to power in 2020, they must see to it that the country is put on the right track by adopting policies and plans that have been thoroughly discussed and reflected on, and which have been formulated with the interests of the country always foremost in mind.  In my view, the Sinhalas should now itself busy themselves in developing the following plans.

1. A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN TO DESTROY THE TAMIL SEPARATIST MOVEMENT ONCE AND FOR ALL

Under the aforesaid topic, the following four matters must be looked into:

• Though the Government defeated the LTTE militarily in May 2009, Tamil separatism has continued to thrive, especially because the Tamil Diaspora has managed to gain sufficient political clout in leading Western countries, to influence the policies of those countries towards Sri Lanka.

Take England, for instance.  At present, the British government is Conservative, but it is a relatively weak Government.  Labour, on the other hand, is on the ascendant.  It is well-known that the Tamils are a significant force behind Labour.  And, just by coincidence, if I’m not mistaken Jeremy Corbyn the leader of the Labour Party has said that if his Party were to come to power it would straightaway recognize the right of the Tamils to Eelam.[1]

The point is that, just to ward off a challenge by Labour, the Conservatives might have to cater to some of the demands of the Tamils.  This sort of thing must end.  The Sinhala Diaspora in the aforesaid countries must also organize and gain the necessary clout to be able to say to the relevant politicians:

‘Look here!  Leave Sri Lanka alone. If you love the Tamils so much and want them to have Eelam, give them a plot of land in this country where they can pursue their ‘dreams.’  As for Sri Lanka, deal with it according to the norms of international law (i.e. Article 2(7) of the UN Charter) and respect the inherent right of all the citizens of that country – including the Sinhalas – to decide what is best for their own country.’

• The Tamil separatists have succeeded in formulating the legal grounds for Eelam and presenting it to the intelligentsia in Western countries, and the said intelligentsia, because the Sinhalas have failed to counter the arguments in question, have swallowed them, hook, line and sinker.

For instance, when the erstwhile Mr. C.V. Vigneswaran –whatever other faults he may have, he knows the law quite well – suggests that at the upcoming UNHRC sessions in March 2018 the Council should begin putting in place a ‘Legal Framework’ for discussing a ‘political settlement’ for the Tamils, he means that the Council should start with the ‘Legal Framework’ for Eelam, as put out by the Tamils themselves.[2]

The Sinhalas must counter once and for all the legal arguments put out by the Tamils.  They have to demonstrate to the whole world that the area of land (i.e. the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka) that the Tamils are demanding as ‘Eelam’ also happens to be the historical homeland of the Sinhalas.

If the Sinhalas have moral and historical rights to the land in question, the Tamils cannot invoke a right to self-determination to justify forming a separate State encompassing such land, even if the Tamils (for the sake of argument) have acquired moral and historical rights in that area, because the one right does not, and cannot, cancel the other.  The Sinhalas have to start pointing this out, systematically, and with evidence.

• The Sinhalas must begin systematically exploring the legal means through which to get the TNA banned in Sri Lanka, and, if TNA-leaders cannot demonstrate – with actions rather than mere words – that they have well and truly given up separatism, to have the scoundrels deported. It is clear that, TNA-leaders have never given up their quest for Eelam, but have figured out ways to avoid being held to account under the law by playing various semantic games.

Also, they have allied with Tamil Diaspora organizations which are openly and avowedly Eelamist, but which are registered in foreign countries, so that they (the TNA) can push the Eelam agenda both within Sri Lanka and especially in the international arena through those organizations, while maintaining the façade that they have abandoned separatism.

As I said, the Sinhalas must find the means to end this game, and have the scoundrels in question deported.  Let them plot against Sri Lanka from India, Canada, England, or wherever else they end up:  they cannot do any more damage than what they’ve done already while operating under our very noses.  Besides, then they’ll be a burden to the taxpayers in those countries, and not to us!

• The Sinhalas must settle a minimum of 100,000 of their number in the Northern Province within two years of coming to power. None of the things mentioned in points ‘a,’ ‘b’ or ‘c’ above will be of any use if the Sinhalas don’t have a robust physical presence in the Northern Province.  So, this has to be done.  The Sinhalas must begin doing the initial surveys as to what are the best areas in the North to move such a large population, how to feed, cloth and house them, and also how to find them gainful employment.  I know some people will say that moving 100,000 Sinhalas to the North is a ‘Pipedream’ or a ‘Nonstarter.’  Let them keep saying it.

2. A COMPRHENSIVE ECONOMIC PLAN

It is no revelation to say that the country needs a good economic plan.  But, one of the most disturbing things one sees in recent years is that certain foreign countries have managed to make Sri Lanka so dependant on them that, by threatening to withdraw or withhold various programs of economic-aid, they can force us to alter our national policies on matters that have nothing to do with the subject-matter of those programs.

The most striking example of this is where, four years ago, the European Union halted the GSP-plus program to Sri Lanka, and said that they would approve it again only if Sri Lanka agreed to 58 conditions, which included recommendations for legal reforms including constitutional reforms.  Needless to say, the present Government agreed to all 58.

If foreign counties can influence the internal affairs of Sri Lanka in this manner, it makes no sense to speak of sovereignty.  So, the Sinhalas need to generate an economic plan that gives the country enough options that, if a foreign country or group of countries try to meddle too much in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs, Sri Lankans can say without fear, ‘We don’t need your stinking dollars!’

3. A COMPRHENSIVE PLAN OF CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Under the aforesaid topic I think two points should be explored:

1. The 13^th Amendment must be put to a referendum as soon as the Sinhalas take power. If the People reject the 13th Amendment, it must be discarded forthwith.   However, the Sinhalas must generate an alternative that addresses the concerns of the Tamils and Muslims.
2. The genius of Sirisena is that, he proved beyond any shadow of doubt the complete bankruptcy of the political system that has developed in Sri Lanka in the last 70 years. The culmination of that system is the bogus ‘constitution-making process’ that began in March 2015.  The Sinhalas were brought to the very edge of losing their country, but it was all done under the colour of the law –i.e. the Government had a 2/3 majority in Parliament to pass the draft Constitution in Parliament, and then, if it passed at a referendum (and a simple majority is sufficient to win a referendum) it will have been legitimate.   So, the Sinhalas must begin a genuine dialogue on constitutional reform, and generate the outline of a future Constitution that would ensure that they will never again be brought to their present sorry state.

[1] See, ‘Labour Party supports self-determination and referenda for Tamils,’ The Tamil Diplomat, 2^nd June 2017, www.tamildiplomat.com ; and also, ‘Labour Party leader backs self-determination for Tamils,’ www.colombogazette.com 14^th April 2016

[2] See, ‘Wiggy wants Intl legal framework,’ www.seithy.com 18^th January 2018

By Dr.Dayan Jayatilleke Courtesy The Daily Mirror

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA

The crisis of the UNP is not reducible to the enormous drop in its vote on Feb 10th, a vertical drop that is unprecedented for a long established party in government and at a local government election at which governmental patronage matters. The Feb 10th shrinkage of the UNP is the consequence, not the cause of the UNP crisis.

That crisis is one of long duration. The crisis of the UNP is a crisis of leadership and it dates back to the assassination of President Premadasa and other senior leaders by the LTTE. The UNP’s crisis is a post-Premadasa leadership crisis and it has lasted for decades.

Either the party resolves it this week or the crisis which has turned cancerous kills the UNP and probably the government.

Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe has been the leader of the party since 1994. No party in the democratic world today has had the same leader for almost quarter century—only Sri Lanka’s United National Party. That’s hardly an achievement and speaks very badly for the UNP.

What is worse is that the past quarter century of leadership by Ranil Wickremesinghe has been one of dismal failure. The UNP has never once led the country in these two and half decades. At best it has held No 2 spot. Put differently, the UNP has not been perceived by the electorate as deserving to lead the country so long as Mr. Wickremesinghe was/is at the helm. He ran for Presidency in 1999 and 2005 and lost. He ran a proxy in 2010 and lost. The fact that he had to run a proxy should have told him and the UNP something but it obviously didn’t.

He reluctantly backed a proxy in 2015 and won, but he forgot that a proxy is not a puppet. The very reason that enabled his proxy to win, i.e. his Sinhala-Buddhist, non-UNP, center-left base, has made that proxy behave autonomously and now demand his resignation.

It is understandable if a democratic party retains the same leadership for a quarter century if it has been successful, produced results. Mr. Wickremesinghe manifestly is not a success in that the UNP, once the Grand Old Party of governance, has not been at the helm of the Sri Lankan state; has not led the country, for a generation or more.

Can’t the UNP grasp the simple, self- evident fact that as long as Ranil Wickremesinghe is the leader, he, and more importantly the UNP, will never lead the country? Which part of that can’t the UNP get?

Why is the UNP not giving Ranil the heave-ho at this moment when it has a sympathetic President who would facilitate and enable the UNP’s blocked transition to a more nationally acceptable, electorally viable leadership? What does this say about the UNP?

If the UNP does not hit the ejector button on Ranil Wickremesinghe and produce an alternative as leader and Prime Minister later this week, it will be in a terminal crisis and that termination will not take long, nor will it be pretty.

The blockage at the moment dates back to a tale of fathers and sons. Mr. Wickremesinghe’s ideologue and chief political ally is Mangala Samaraweera. Both men have fathers with disastrous, interconnected political histories. When the UNP government of 1952 implemented economic shock therapy and was rewarded with a massive uprising in August 1953 known as the Hartal, the liberal PM Dudley Senanayake was sensitive enough to resign and therefore could make a comeback and form a government in the next decade. It would have been prudent for the UNP to shift to a profile which was more consonant with the social mood, but instead, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s father, Esmond, an ex-Trotskyist turned rightwing strategist and ideologue (a precursor of many neoconservatives in the USA who were ex-Trotskyists) urged a “stand firm” stance, just as Ranil Wickremesinghe is adopting today.

The shock of the Hartal of August 1953 was followed, not by a prudent policy pivot and retreat, but a far more strident pro-western, rightwing, hawkish style and substance in the form of Sir John Kotelawela. Ranil’s father Esmond was also the architect of conspicuously pro-Western, anti-Afro Asian tilt at the iconic Bandung summit conference of 1955. The upshot was that of still greater polarization than that which had triggered the Hartal of 1953. Cultural polarization and issues of lifestyle entered the picture powerfully. The moderate opposition, the recently formed Sri Lanka Freedom Party of Mr. Bandaranaike, shifted from social democracy to majoritarian nationalism and swept the UNP away at the national election of 1956, burying it for decade.

Mangala Samaraweera’s father was on the correct side of history at that time but in late 1964 he had been persuaded by Esmond Wickremesinghe, the present PM’s father, to defect from the SLFP to the UNP. Mangala Samaraweera is now where his father wound up. It is social existence that determines social consciousness said Karl Marx. That probably explains why Ranil and Mangala are politico-ideological twins.

So what happens if the UNP allows the Ranil-Mangala line to prevail? The same thing that happened in the 1950s and 1960s. There will be a UNP-TNA government or a UNP government with a TNA prop. This will be a minority government in every sense of the word: a government of the minorities, by the minorities and for the minorities. It will be hemmed in by an unsympathetic and unhelpful president, and a vastly strengthened opposition which has two camps: the rising Pohottuwa-JO led by Mahinda Rajapaksa and a large chunk of SLFPers working with the JVP and a few UNP defectors.

A UNP-TNA government will mean that the whole ball game changes, or to change both metaphor and magnitude, the ground will shift dangerously.

The masses are in an anti-incumbency, anti-establishment mood. When that Establishment is a combination of pro-Western elitism, practicing neoliberal economics and supported by a federalist minority party, then the backlash itself reflects that composition of the ruling elite/Establishment but in an inverted form or turned inside out. As in 1955-56, the growing oppositional tide becomes ethno-nationalist and ethno-religious. That in turn makes for a particular kind of Presidential candidate late next year. Imagine a 1956 mood with a Presidency as the prize!

The tale repeated itself in 1965-1970, when the UNP, once again influenced by Esmond Wickremesinghe, entered a coalition with the Tamil parties (the defection of individual members of which he had engineered). The UNP-Tamil Congress composition of that government led to a ghastly swing in an ethno-populist direction not only of the SLFP but also the trade union based Left parties and even the embryonic JVP. The UNP lost the 1970 election badly, with widespread arson and violence, sometimes lethal, visited on the losers.

The UNP is on the very verge of making the same mistake. It must take a moment to imagine the catastrophic electoral consequences a few months down the road, at the Provincial council elections, of a UNP-TNA government or Pact (in the 1960s, typical SLFP supporters would accuse the UNP government of a “secret packet” with the Tamil parties). This trend will climax late next year with a Presidential candidacy that both the Pohottuwa and the SLFP can agree on and will slam into the UNP like an offensive operation by the hard-charging, elite Gajaba Regiment. It will all culminate in a Parliamentary election at which Mahinda Rajapaksa wins, which would be a good thing, but on an ethnically edgier platform than we and he would prefer.

The UNP can avoid electoral extinction and even turn things around, if it does what it did in a politically similar though exceedingly violent situation in late 1988: change the profile, change course by opting for a conspicuously populist-patriotic leader who can read the mass mood and surf the social wave.

But the UNP must do so today, or rational UNPers must leave and form a new party–their own ‘Pohottuwa’–or join the moderate SLFP in a new centrist formation supported by President Sirisena. Everything is at stake. Never before in UNP history has “the fierce urgency of now” (Dr. Martin Luther King) needed to be felt, experienced and grasped more intensely.

By Eranda Ginige Courtesy Ceylon Today

The people of Sri Lanka have exercised their sovereign power. A clear majority of Lankan citizens have rejected definite representatives together with their policies. Here are the top five people’s representatives who should bow down to the people’s decision and leave their posts immediately.

1. Ranil Wickremesinghe

People have rejected you for the 9th time now! How many times do people have to tell you that the people no longer requires you? You’re the most unsuccessful representative in the history of Sri Lanka. On one of your hands there’s the blood of the 80s youth and on the other, there’s the billions of rupees stolen from the Central Bank. You stutter utter nonsense anywhere you go. You and your cronies have held hostage the UNP for 24 years. You have conspired with foreign forces against the best interest of this country. You have sold national assets without the consent of the people of this nation. Ranil must immediately resign unconditionally from his positions as the UNP leader and prime minister.

2. Anura Kumara Dissanayake

JVP is a disgrace to the Left-wing politics. Their leader is nothing but the class joker who’s only job is togossip on stage. You have betrayed your brothers and sisters who died for your party’slost revolution. You and your old cronies have done absolutely nothing except distraction and destruction to the people and the assets of this nation. And people have been rejecting you and your party, time after time. Your unprincipled policies to align the JVP with “whatever popular” agenda on the table has badly backfired. People have seen through your nonsense. Anura must immediately resign unconditionally from his position as the JVP leader.

3. R Sampanthan

Sampanthan runs racist and divisive politics. Even after being appointed as the Opposition Leader of the Parliament, he chose not to act as a unifier. Instead of helping the Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala people to unite, he acted in complete racial-interests by propagating a divisive constitutional change. Political parties which act on majority vs. minority mentality and play the race and religion card to instigate and divide the people of this country are a disgrace to democracy. As the Opposition Leader you failed to hold the UNP accountable. The joint opposition was formed in the lack of your public duty.We don’t need Sinhala or Tamil or Muslim or Burgher parties and leaders. We need parties that will unite the people and act in the interest of ALL the People.

Sampanthan should resign immediately as the Opposition Leader.

4. Mahinda Deshapriya

Mahinda Deshapriya with his megalomaniacal attitude failed in his duty, first to hold the local elections in time; and then to release the election results in time. There needs to be a public enquiry regarding the results blunder. And whatever the reasons may be, he failed to plan, prepare and execute his duty on tax payers’ money. It is completely unacceptable that he withheld the results for over 12 hours since the time he promised to start releasing the results. His attitude is a disgrace to all public servants with his boastful media briefings and open threats to shoot civilians. May I remind you, Deshapriya that there is a law in this country and it’s not you! Deshapriya is too old for his job and must resign immediately and let modern, technology-savvy people to innovate the election mechanism to suite the 21st century.

5. Maithripala Sirisena

Sirisena has made a complete fool of himself. Every decision he made in the past three years was miscalculated. Every word he spoke was a mistake. More memes have been made with his face than any single human being on Earth, proving that the people have no respect for him. Still, Sirisena kept on bloating and bloating and bloating in his ego, consuming his arrogance until it all blasted on the 10 February 2018. His approval ratings are less than even Ranil’s, which seriously challenges the legitimacy of his presidency. He has no vision for the country. He has not been able to reconcile the Sinhala and Tamil people which is evident from the North and East vote. And the people chose his former contender over him with a huge margin giving Sirisena no chance to even bargain. Sirisena should immediately resign from the party leadership of SLFP.

Mahinda Rajapaksa has been given another chance by the people of this nation. But they can’t keep giving chances. This is not a win or loss to anybody. It’s simply the people’s choice. Before the people, the sovereign owners of this land reject you again, please live up to the people’s mandate. Be the unifier we all need. Listen to the people. Strictly reject the corrupt.

Start the transformation to meet the future social, environmental and economic challenges. But most importantly give way to the other worthy leaders who are standing behind you. Leave at the first chance, at the height of your success. That’s how you will stand apart from the previous failed lot. That’s the most noble thing a leader can ever do. Let the new generation take over.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

February 13, 2018, 8:53 pm
A crushing defeat at a midterm election is the political version of a devastating earthquake. That is not something any government can come to terms with, easily. It is only natural that such traumatic experiences make the ruling politicians take leave of their senses. Some yahapalana leaders, reeling from last Saturday’s local government polls defeat, have claimed that their camp has not lost because the Sri Lanka Progressive Peramuna (SLPP) has polled only 45 percent of the valid votes. They have a remarkable ability not to let reality get in the way of their flawed and misplaced reasoning!

In electoral contests, especially the ones held under the first-past-the-post system, the number of votes polled by the losing candidates is, more often than not, higher than the winners’. But, that doesn’t mean the losers are winners! One may recall that the aforesaid argument was first peddled after the 1970 general election. It was claimed then that the UNP had polled more votes than the victorious SLFP-led United Front. That was the reason why the late President J. R. Jayewardene introduced the Proportional Representation system after capturing power in 1977. (They chose to ignore the fact that some UF constituents had gone it alone in certain electorates in keeping with a no contest pact.)

The yahapalana grandees must come to terms with the fact that they have faced an ignominious defeat and there is no way they can fool the people with statistical lies. What they have to do now is to take a long, hard look at their dismal performance and try to rectify their blunders before the next election. A tall order!

If the yahapalana camp is really confident that its support base remains intact and the SLPP’s win is not worth celebrating, then why has the UNP, which kept on telling us that the country had tremendously benefited from the so-called national unity government, decided to form a government of its own?

The public is aware that both the SLPP and the UNP-SLFP combine consist of elements with sordid track records, save a few. The previous regime earned notoriety for large scale corruption and the yahapalana leaders sought a mandate to bring them to justice. But, within weeks of grabbing power the self-proclaimed champions of good governance proved that they were no better than the thieves they had undertaken to catch; they committed the first mega bond scam in Feb. 2015 and graduated to the second one the following year. If the people had decided against voting for thieves they wouldn’t have been able to vote at all. Given a choice between two groups of rogues the public apparently decided to elect the more efficient one.

Here is an interesting story which explains why the yahapalana government lost. Before the 2015 regime change an Opposition MP while enjoying a drink with a powerful minister wanted to know how the latter with humbling beginnings had amassed so much of wealth to build a palatial house. The minister took the inquisitive friend to his rooftop terrace and showed him a bridge in the wide blue yonder, saying in a hushed tone, “From that project.” A few years elapsed, the minister’s party lost and the other received a ministerial portfolio under the present government. The duo, as thick as thieves, met on the yahapalana minister’s rooftop for a drink. The guy out of power, amazed at the spectacular opulence of the newly built sprawling house complete with an Olympic-size swimming pool, asked how so much of money had been made within a couple of years. The yahapalana minister took the other to his imposing balcony and declared, pointing to the horizon, “From that bridge project!” The latter, with a look of curiosity furrowing his brows, scanned the area and, seeing no structure, said, “I can’t see any bridge.” “Yes, there is no bridge,” the yahapalana minister chuckled.

It behoves the yahapalana potentates to read the public mood and effect a course correction urgently if they are to avoid another electoral disaster, which will be far more devastating like the second wave of a tsunami, unless they get their act together. They can’t go on postponing the Provincial Council elections till the cows come home. If they think they can dupe the public by holding each other responsible for their collective defeat and breaking ranks, they are mistaken.

by Prof.Asanga Abeyagoonasekera

 The most perilous moment for a bad government is one when it seeks to mend its ways.” ― Alexis de Tocqueville,L’Ancien Régime et la Révolution (1856)

At a meeting in Davos in 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a speech supporting the agenda on globalisation. Meanwhile, back in the US, President Trump was highlighting the importance of the US confining its national boundaries. America only does not mean America alone,” said Trump in Davos. The president received a standing ovation for a speech that resonated the importance of collective action to build a better world. However, global reality, with its increasing political fractures, tells a different story.

Sri Lanka too is witness to political bipolarity at a critical moment in the island’s political narrative. For a closer examination of the developments underway in Sri Lanka, a study of the ‘Silent Revolution’ of 2015 against the monumental French Revolution provides illuminating points for analysis. Alexis de Tocqueville ideas on the French Revolution state that the chief permanent achievement of the French revolution was the suppression of those political institutions, commonly described as feudal, which for many centuries had held unquestioned sway in most European countries. The revolution set out to replace them with a new social and political order, at once simple and more uniform, based on the concept of equality of all men.”

In comparison, what did the Sri Lanka’s Silent Revolution achieve? Did the present government take precautions to make sure of importing nothing from the past into the new regime? What kind of process did the new regime follow? And what restrictions were set to differentiate themselves in every possible way? Was the word revolution used simply to fulfill a political aspiration?

Messages from the leadership are loud but inconsistent. Sufficiently exposed to bipolar political promises, public absorption of rhetoric has reached exhaustion. This is a poor note to send the electorate after casting their franchise at the local elections in Sri Lanka. Looking at this bipolarity from the top, one could design a political bipolar index (PBI)” to assess local leaders’ (lack of) responsibility.

For politicians, political power remains the raison d’être. The struggle toward electoral victory, subsequent power struggles, and influence over public policy is visible across societies. In certain dignified societies, persuasion remains an acceptable choice over coercion. However, in some societies, politicians prefer the baton, tear gas, and machine guns. In an orderly society, coercion and conflict are transferred from the battleground to councils of law.

Some regimes have the muscle to ward off a revolution while others fail. Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa regime failed to ward off the Silent Revolution in 2015. It was a peaceful revolution by ballot. To apply de Tocqueville’s words, The regime which is destroyed by a revolution is almost always an improvement on its immediate predecessor, and experience teaches that the most critical moment for bad governments is the one which witnesses their first steps toward reform.” Today, the Sri Lankan government is experiencing what Tocqueville wrote in 1856, in his book on the French Revolution.

The local government election results revealed the mood of the polity. Local elections remain a perfect barometer to identify political cyclones on the horizon. Then one could also name the next revolution ‘Silent Revolution 2.0’ in 2020. An actual revolutionary scenario will offer new faces and fresh voices. However, such a reality remains doubtful.

Sri Lanka celebrated 70 years of independence on 4 February this year. The country displayed its achievements since independence in the print and electronic media. Alongside its achievements, the country has also faced nearly a thirty-year war with two youth insurrections in 1971 and 1989. The revolt was against the political system of that time which failed to create better economic conditions particularly in the field of employment. The situation has not improved. The economic condition worsens with high borrowings and debt. This was clearly indicated by the latest Moody’s Asia Pacific rating. Sri Lanka did not rank favourably, especially when compared to with 24 Asia Pacific countries. Earlier, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index report reflected the same dismal ratings.

Since independence, successive governments have failed to make Sri Lanka a developed nation. A toxic mix of high-level corruption and bad governance remain at the heart of the problem. According to senior journalist, Malinda Senevirathne, a system of government run by the worst, least qualified or most unscrupulous citizens” and an absence of technocrats with the right skill set to deliver could be the cause of this situation.

President Sirisena’s findings from the Central Bank Bond Commission and the revelation of malpractice to the public should be appreciated. His actions reflected transparency at the highest level. In a country like Sri Lanka where the appearance of civil power is little more than a wispy gauze veiling the reality of political power, disclosures from the Bond Commission are grist for the mill of politics-as-usual and not a force disrupting the status quo. Only if appropriate action is taken following the revelations contained in the report and the funds recovered to the public can progress be measured in terms of restoring civil power over political power.

In this revolutionary political moment that began in 2015, revolutions within revolutions are needed to harness the scattered and disgruntled polity. The ballot in hand has proven that the results will be a clear epiphany.

*(The author is a visiting Professor for Geopolitics and Global Leadership at the Northern Kentucky University(USA) and the Director General of the Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka, this article was initially published by the IPCS, New Delhi for Dateline Colombo http://www.ipcs.org/article/south-asia/sri-lanka-the-new-regime-and-the-revolution-5432.html , the views expressed are the author’s own)

The best way to predict the future is to create it – Abraham Lincoln

10^th February 2018 will go down in history as a watershed moment in Sri Lankan politics. It beat previous startling outcomes of 1956 and 1977. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna a lifespan of just 2 years electorally thrashed parties that had been in politics for over 70 years – UNP (1946), ITAK (1949), SLFP (1951), JVP (1965) & UPFA (2004). No bookie would have expected or predicted such a result. Every plan backfired in what has to be some divine intervention (sans astrologers) to safeguard Sri Lanka. None would have expected that in 3 years the people would democratically decimate the very government they helped bring to power in an almost unexpected democratic tsunami. It was a virtual Parliamentary cum Presidential election wherein the people came out to say they reject the Government, the Prime Minister & even the President all players the very voters brought to power in 2015. SLPP’s journey has more daunting challenges and threats than it can fathom. Are they upto the task?

The results no doubt must be a shock to every entity foreign and local that has been working 24×7 to emotional brand Rajapakse Government as rogues believing in the Goebelles theory of repeating a lie to make it a truth. With so many foreign intelligence, NGOs, foreign advisors and others on the ground none expected or even anticipated the outcome. Both local and foreign apparatus was on the side of the yahapalana government and every election rule was bent and violated with no punitive actions taken. 24×7 the SLPP were attacked both on private and state tv and media publications going down to the level of threatening to remove Mahinda Rajapakse’s civic rights & threatening to deny funds for the Local Government bodies that the SLPP may win. All that the SLPP had was the social media that the regime coup operators has found baffling to counter or dilute even with foreign training and the nationalist forces who were intelligent enough to read between the lines and provide all support voluntarily.

Rajapakse’s now given another lease to re-enter politics must not make the same mistakes that the Yahapalana leaders have made. Its well and fine to have foreign patronage but then foreigners do not deliver the votes – the people do. Miscalculations & taking people for granted and thinking people were stupid are a handful of the mistakes made by Ranil fraction. Knowing that in 3 years other than calling Rajapakse’s HORU (rogues) nothing substantial had been proven before any court of law. However, the Bond Scam associated with the EPF and Bank of Ceylon irregularities were enough for people to conclude who the real rogues were. The money lost to the State was evident and the state of the economy was witness. Moreover, it did not require any level of intelligence to conclude that the PM recommended a foreigner as Central Bank chief and that foreigner was not only connected to the LTTE but was also personally protected by the PM even inside the halls of Parliament. There was really no requirement for a Bond Scam investigation for people to conclude Ranil’s involvement in the scam even to the level of accepting him to be the mastermind having taken the Central Bank directly under him after controversially taking over as PM in January 2015 without a parliamentary election.

The psyche of the UNPers is difficult to fathom. They do not hesitate to call Rajapakse as a hora but are reluctant to refer to mass murder Prabakran as a terrorist, they preach anti-corruption but are mum on corruptions of their own leaders – anything UNP does is fine by them. Apart from a handful of UNPers who have been able to sieve the lies and put country first all others are beyond repair even for the sake of the nation.

Having drilled ‘corruption’ ‘anti-corruption’ into the minds of the people – the voters are unlikely to tolerate more than an acceptable level of corruption from any future government. So Rajapakse must immediately identify all players who have had a bleak record and distance himself from them lest he wants to suffer the same fate again. Rajapakse would recall that he would not have suffered defeat in 2015 had he taken action against MPs were being a public nuisance as well as controlled the occasions of going overboard by spouse & children (car races etc) these factors would not have been used as examples to justify the regime change. It hurt the sentiments of many to see the war heroes who had no comes or electricity of their own being used to build homes of Tamil IDPs when it was the duty of the state to raise the salaries of the men who sacrificed their lives to deliver us peace, to attend to pension anomalies & give them something extra which no one would have objected to. President Rajapakse must at all times remember all the ingredients that contributed to the foreign funded campaign to oust him in 2015 & ensure none is repeated.

While UNP’s vote base remains its eternally loyal 3.5m it has always vouched on the support of the Tamil, Muslim & Christian minorities (barring a few of each who have intelligence to put country before party) All of UNP’s actions and statements centre on the demands made by these entities primarily because of their international influence and support. Had Rajapakse heeded advice and appointed a commission to investigate LTTE TNA links and denazified LTTE criminalizing the use of any Eelam emblems/flags/slogans/songs etc even the Tamil victims of LTTE would have been grateful and the LTTE diaspora would not have had any footing to interfere in Sri Lanka’s affairs. Even Northern Chief Minister would not have the guts to be blowing hot and cold as he does if he knew the repercussions and realized that he was dealing with a government that would be scared of him like pansies.

However, what Rajapakse’s must remember but tend to forget is that the forces that have rallied around and supported them to power at every election since 2005 has been the working class, the middle class, the poor southern rural voters many of these sacrificed their sons to fight the enemy terrorists and live to mourn their loss in very poor economic conditions. Rajapakse’s will now regret that they transferred funds meant to develop the South to the North probably on foolish advice of some so called ‘smart patriots’ who had other plans in mind. Rajapakse in his shock defeat would have realized that he had failed the people who without expecting special favors cast their vote for him and supported him without question. These were the people who came in their busloads to boost his morale when he lost and the whole world branded him a rogue. No leader even foreign has had the fortune to have people in their thousands (women, children & even men) cry to see their leader defeated and thereafter go in busloads to see the face of their leader. These gestures were an envy to past leaders & most others who knew they could never even imagine people come to visit them leave alone cry for them. Rajapakse cannot forget these people for new friends.

Factors that contributed to the rejection of this government are many – the cunning manner constitutional changes are being secretly drafted with connivance of foreign NGOs, foreign envoys and LTTE diaspora, the shocking manner that the historical identity of the island Buddhism is being not only diluted but removed from a bogus new constitution, the manner in which military and intelligence personnel are being hurled and put into prison without bail, the controversial destruction of the arms supplies factory leaving Sri Lanka virtually defenceless, the manner in which treacherous locals working for foreign payrolls are given positions in the state and privy to all data that should not be open to them, the shocking manner scores of Buddhist theros are put into prison on sham charges like not having a license to keep an elephant in the temple, the secret deals and pacts with assistance of public officials that are allowing foreigners to enter carte blanche set up businesses like ETCA, ferry/road & rail link with India, to own property and land, bring their families, given tax havens and other concessions all of which will be detrimental to the country and pose serious demographic and security issues in the future. The minorities must be clearly conveyed that they cannot use their minority status to demand and accrue unreasonable demands and that no reconciliation can take place without reciprocation.

The Rajapakse’s cannot agree to any of the above and must commit to nullifying all these agreements and taking action against all corrupt public officials a factor that would bring about discipline to the public service and uplift its service mechanism. Rajapakse’s must remember that their greatest defense are the people who would back them if they do right by the nation and that is more powerful any demarches issued from embassies. One of the first and foremost issues that the Rajapakse’s must deal with is the UNHRC Resolutions and if Rajapakse takes the role as Opposition leader which he must insist upon, the international community must be lobbied and challenged to nullify all false claims for war crimes tribunals and all co-sponsorships by the Government based on handouts by the LTTE diaspora must be nullified forthwith.

Rajapakse’s must not fall for any traps that the Yahapalana coterie will plan to dish out and instead seek to remain in the Opposition using that position together with the hold over the local government bodies to strengthen ties with the people of these areas and develop the areas that had been neglected. There is little use in shouldering the liabilities of Ranil, two years before the big election.

How could Ranil & Sirisena have failed and frustrated the voters so much in 3 years? Both didn’t have Prabakaran blowing bombs causing chaos, the entire international community was on his side even showering awards but the rupee kept climbing and notes kept printing, there were no need to create false flag events, even the Opposition JVP & TNA were virtually on their side, so too was the media but not the social media and these are all lessons that the Rajapakse’s cannot brush aside, forget or believe the same will not happen to them.

The voters are certainly emotional and compassionate people but at the same time they can also hurt, they forgive but they do not forget and they silently watch and are patient enough to wait and deliver the blows when needed. This is what took Ranil, Sirisena, entire yahapalana Government & the foreign supporters & NGOs by surprise.

The SLPP probably would never have thought they would receive such an overwhelming mandate from the people and there was no Sumanasiri Astrologer either!

There are some factors certainly worth revisiting – should we be celebrating a bogus independence day when it should be either 22^nd May when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972 or May 19^th when in 2009 Sri Lanka liberated areas that had been held by terrorists uniting the country as one island.

With people more alert, more informed and not easy to fool they are unlikely to want to tolerate the theatrics and drama as happens presently in parliament. Now men wearing suits behave like clowns.

While professionals are being encouraged to enter politics and bring professionalism to governance, it is advised to keep to a formula of have a reduced number of politicians in parliament and have a separate professional body of experts who are the policy makers and whose policies the politicians (cannot interfere in) but must canvass among the people as politicians know the art of reaching to the masses that professionals lack the expertise in. Better checks and balances, transparency and greater accountability will help leverage Sri Lanka in deciding policies based on Sri Lanka’s terms, for Sri Lanka’s benefit and to serve Sri Lankan citizens first and foremost. Sri Lanka must tap into experts from our own people. We do not need to import advisors or consultants. We must harness and nurture our own but work in a policy of non-alignment with all nations of the world clearly establishing no-go and no-interference areas clearly to foreign neighbors and others.

We are a small nation, our people are united so long as there is a united plan that equally benefits all and sans hidden agendas and other manipulations. These are all lessons that the Rajapakses & the SLPP decision makers need to now take cognizance of. Short-Medium and Long Term plans on economic, social, cultural, political levels must now itself be ironed out.

Its time to build the future – our future, together

Throughout history,

it has been the inaction of those who could have acted;

the indifference of those who should have known better;

the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most;

that has made it possible for evil to triumph

-Haile Selassie-

Shenali D Waduge

පාලිත ආරියරත්න Palitha Ariyarathna Writer, Journalist, Author Publisher

(හෙන පිට හෙන වැදුනත් රකිමු අපේ ලක්මව ! අපේ උරුමය !)

ජාති වාදය  යන වචනය මෝඩ අමන  දෙශපාලකයන්  සැම දිනකම මාධ්‍ය සංදර්ශන පවත්වමින්  මේ දිනවල කතා කරයි. යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව මේ ලක්  පොලව තුල බිහිකිරීමට ප්‍රථමයෙන්ද මෙම  මාතෘකාව , වචන ඉතා පෘතුල මට්ටමින් භාවිතා කලබව සොයාගැනීමට පුළුවන. සර්වාගමික  කාරයින් , කොටියන්ට කත්  ඇදී එන් .ජී .ඕ කාක්කන් යුද්ධය තිබුණු කාලයන්වලදී උදේ ඉදන් රැ වනතුරු නරියන්  මෙන් හු තියමින් උඩ  පැන පැන හු තියුවේ සිංහලයන් ජාතිවාදී බවය කියාය.

Flag of King Dutugamunu, of Anuradhapura

”කලින් තිබු කොටි හඬ තුලින්ද දෙමල භාෂාවෙන් කියූ ප්‍රවෘති තුල විශේසයෙන් හුවා  දැක්කුවේ මෙම වචනයමය. වර්තමානයේ නැවතත් මෙම වචනය හුවා දක්වා කතා කරන්නන් කෙරෙහි විශේෂ අවදානයක සිංහල අපි යෝමු කල  යුතුය” .

ඒ ඇයි  කිවහොත් මුළු සිංහලයේම අයිතිය බලෙන් උදුරාගෙන නොරටුන්ගේ අත මත තැබීමේ මහා කුමන්ත්‍රණයේ ප්‍රථම පියවරේ ආරම්භය මෙය බැවිනි.  දස දහස් ගණන්  දිවි පුදා රැකගත් අප දේශය මල් බන්දේසියක තබා විජාතින්ට පුජා කිරීමට පෙළ ගැසෙන මෙවන් කාලයක අප අඳ ගොළු බිහිරන්සේ නිදා සිටියහොත් අනාගතයේදී මේ යහ පාලනය ( අලුත්ම ආකාරයේ පාලන ක්‍රමයක් ලොව වෙනත් රවල වල තවම භාවිතා කර නැති අතර වෙනත්  රටවලින්  මෙම ක්‍රමය තවම සොයාගෙනද  නැත, සොයා ගත්තද එය අවලංගු කොට දමනවා නියතය ඊට ප්‍රධාන හේතුව විය හැක්කේ සුළු පිරිසකින් , සුළු ජනවර්ගයකින් බලෙන් ඇදගෙන කෑමට,සුළු ජාතියකින්  මහා ජාතියකට වන  ආක්‍රමණය ඇති  කිරීමට ඇති   හොඳම ක්‍රමයක් බැවිනි ) තුලින් භිහිවන මුග්ද ශ්‍රීලන්කාව  තුල සිංහලයාගේ නිත්‍ය ජන්ම භුමියේ අයිතිය අපට අහිමිවී යන බැවිනි.

”ජාති වාදය  වචනය දෙපැත්තකින් කැපෙන  පිහියක් වැනිය කොයි පැත්තෙන් වුවද කැපෙන්නේ සිංහල අපිය පිහිය(අවිය ) දරා දරා  සිටින්නේ සතුරා බැවින්ය”.

ලෝක නායකයන් , අපේ රටේ සිටින යහපාලන  නායකයන් ජාතිවාදී යි කියා බැන වදීන්නේ සිංහලයන් වන අපහට පමණි. කොටින්ට යුධ විරුවන් කියන්නන්, තම ජාතිය වෙනුවෙන්ම පමනක් දේශ පාලනය කරන්නම්, තම දේව ආගම බලෙන් පැතිරීම කෙරෙහි  කටයුතු කරන්නම්, ජාති වාදී , ආගම්  වාදී නොවේ, උන් සාම  කුරුලන්නය, ප්‍රචන්ඩත්වයට (මෙම  වචනයද නොයෙකුත් එන් .ජී .ඕ කාක්කන් යුධ සමයන් වලදී සිහල අප මොට කිරීමට  යොදා ගත්තේය, මෙම කන්ඩායම්වල ප්‍රථම පිරිස් ඉන්දියාවට වන්දි ගෙවා ආපසු හරවා හැරි කම්කරු පිරිස් නැවත හොරෙන් ගේනවා උතුරේ පදිංචි කරවීමට නොර්වේ සංවිධාන එක් ව කටයුතු කොට තිබේ . මෙම සංවිධාන වල ලෝක්කන් මේ දිනවල යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉහල සිවිල් තනතුරු ලබාගැනීමට බලපොරෝතුවෙන් සිටි .

මොවුන්ගේ හොර පදිංචි කිරීමේ වැඩසටහන් සොයා ඒවාට නඩු දැමිය යුතුය) එරෙහිව යන සටන් පාඨ යොදගන්නම් කුණු බිත්තර ගසන්නේ හෙළ බොදු අපටය. ඒ වුන්ගේ පුරුද්දය , අප මේවට භිය විය යුතු නැත. පසු බැසිය යුතුද නැත.

අවසාන වශයෙන් කරුනක් මතක් කරන්නෙමි. එන් .ජී .ඕ කාක්කන් හා  නොයෙකුත් දේශපාලන මර උගුල් කරුවන් බලෙන් ඇතිකළ (අසු ගණන්වල ජුලි කලබවලදී )ඇතිවූ පිඩණ වලින්ද සුළු ජනයා බේරාගත්තේ මේ සිංහල බොදු අපිමය.

එදා දෙමල හෝ මුස්ලිම් නායකයන්ද , සිංහල දේශ පාලන නායකයන්ද, එන් .ජී .ඕ කාක්කන් ද කිසිවෙකු බේරාගැනීමට ඉදිරිපත් වුයේ නැත. ඔවුන් ඇතිකළ ප්‍රශ්නයට මැදිවී මරණය ලඟා කරගැනීමට ඔවුන් භිය  විය. නමුත් ජාති අලය ඇති , බොදු ගති ගුණ ඇති අප සියලුම දේ මැඩපවත්වා විනාශවී යාමට ගිය ජිවිත බේරාගත්තේය.

පසුගිය යුද්ධයද පරාජය කලේ ජාති අලය ඇති සිංහල දු පුතුන් විසිනි. එය එසේ නොවෙයැයි කා හටවත් නොපැවසිය හැක.

හෙන පිට හෙන වැදුනත් රකිමු අපේ ලක්මව ! අපේ උරුමය !

පාලිත ආරියරත්න

ජාතික තොටිල්ල – ටිබෙට් ජාතික ඇස් මහින්ද හිමි
1.
මුනි සිරිපා සිඹිමින්නේ
සමනොළ ගිරි පෙදෙසින්නේ
මඳ සුළඟයි මේ එන්නේ
මගේ පුතා නිඳියන්නේ

2. නිදහස මහ මුහදක් වේ
   එහි උල්පත පුත නුඹ වේ
   ඒ බව සිහිකොට මෙලොවේ
   යුතුකම ඉටු කළ යුතු වේ
3. විජය තුමා තම්මැන්නේ
   පිරිවර සෙන් සමගින්නේ
   සිටි සැටි දැන් සිහිවෙන්නේ
   මගේ පුතා නැළවෙන්නේ
4. දෙන දිවි මුත් රට වෙනුවෙන්
   ජාතික දරුවන් ලැබුවෙන්
   මිදි නොයෙක් සතුරු මුවෙන්
   ලක් මව් විසුවාය සුවෙන්
5. තවුසකු සේ ඇඳ පළඳා
   පඬුවස්දෙව් මහ රාජිඳා
   මාකඳුරින් ගොඩ බට දා
   මඟුලක් වී ලක මුළු දා
6. දෙව් පුර මෙන් දෙවියන්නේ
   සිරි ලක දිව් බබළන්නේ
   එහි සක් දෙව් රජු මෙන්නේ
   මගේ පුතා ලොකු වෙන්නේ
7. ලස්සන මෙන් මහ පොළවේ
   අනුරාපුර ඉදි කෙරුවේ
   දොරමඬලේ කුමරිඳු වේ
   උඹට පුතේ සුව එළවේ

8.

ජාතික රණ දෙරණ මතේ
ගැටී වැටී මළ මොහොතේ
සුනදර සුරඹුනගේ අතේ
නැළවෙන බව සිතනු පුතේ

9. සිරි මහ බෝ සිඹිමින්නේ
   මහමෙවුනා පෙදෙසින්නේ
   සුළං දෑලක් මේ එන්නේ
   මුටසිව රජු සිහිවෙන්නේ
10. ලක් වැසියන් කෙරෙහි නැමී
    අරහත් මහ මිහිඳු හිමි
    පෙව්වෙ උතුම් සදහම් මී
    පුත නුඹටත් පොවමි එ මී

11.

එදා පටන් මෙසිරි ලකේ
සම්මා සම් බුදු මැණිකේ
දම් එළියෙන් අඳුරු මැකේ
මිසදුටු විසකටු නො රැකේ

12. දනන් කෙරෙන් මෙලක් දිවේ
    පළමුව බොදු බැති වුවේ
    අප පියතිස් නරනිඳු වේ
    ඉගෙන ගනින් මගේ පුතේ
13. ලන මෙන් මොක් පුර අරවා
    ලෝවා මහ පහ කරවා
    ඒ අප සිංහල දරුවා
    සිරිලක් මව තුටු කෙරුවා
14. ගොස් මාගම් පුර පවරා
    අප මහ නා දෙරණිසුරා
    මාගම් රජ පරම්පරා
    ඇති කොට විසුවේ එ වරා
15. කරදර දහසක් හමු වී
    ඉන්ටැකි නම් සිනා වෙවී
    ඔහු මෙ ලොවට පහළ දෙවී
    රජෙකැයි සලකනු මැනවී

16.

අවිචියේ කප් දහසෙත්
වහල් කමේ එක් දවසෙත්
වෙනසක් නැති බව සිතතොත්
උඹට පුතේ වැඩ සැලසෙත්

17. තමන් ලැබු දිවි පවෙතේ
    කොටසක් රට සමය වෙතේ
    පුද නොකළොත් නුඹෙන් පුතේ
    මෙ ලොවට කිසි පලක් නැතේ

18.

තිස්ස රජුන් හට රුහුණේ
එඩිතර කුමරකු ලැබුණේ
ඉන් පසු සිරි ලක් දෙරණේ
ජාතික බැති මල් පිපුණේ

19.

ජාතිය රන් විමනක් වේ
ආගම මිණි පහනක් වේ
එය රුක ගන්නට මෙලොවේ
සමත් වෙතොත් පුත නුඹ වේ

20.

විජිතපුරේ කොටුවේදී
කඩු පිට කඩු පහර දිදී
යුද කොට ජයගත් පරිදී
සිහි කරපන් පුත පැහැදී

21. රුවන්මාලි සෑ තනවා
    මුනි පුත් සඟ ගණ පිනවා
    ගිය එ රජුන් සිහි වෙනවා
    මගේ පුතා නැළවෙනවා

22.

එළාරගේ මළ කුණටත්
ගරු බුහුමන් කළේ ඉමහත්
ගැමුණු පුතාගේ මෙ සිරිත්
පුරුදු කරන් පුතේ උඹත්

23. ලියන ‘තුරින් මෙ ලක් දිවේ
    පළමුව මහ පළ ලැබුවේ
    අප අනුලා දේවි වේ
    එහෙම වෙයන් උඹත් දුවේ
24. සිය රට ගැන ළය උණු වී
    වැද මහ මුහදට බිලි වී
    ආ ඒ කැළණියේ දේවී
    මගේ පුතා නළවාවී

25.

වැද යුධ බිම නොම බිය වී
විහාර මහ රජ දේවී
පෑ විමන් සැටි සිහි වී
මගේ පුතා ඔද වේවී

26.

තුදුස් වසක් වල් වැදිලා
සිට දෙමළුන් බල බිඳලා
පුරඳුරු සිරි ඇර පාලා
ලක එක සේසත් නඟලා

27.

වළගම්බා නිරිඳු මහත්
පෑ දස්කම් සිහි කෙරුවොත්
පුතේ උඹේ ගතත් සිතත්
වෙයි උණුසුම් ලෙයින් සුරත්

28. අබය ගිරි සෑ තනවා
    දඹුලු විහාර ද කොටවා
    ලක් මවගේ ඒ දරුවා
    මුනිඳු සසුන් හෙළි කෙරුවා

29.

සිය රට ගළවමියි සිතා
දිවි දුන් සැඬ රුපුන් වෙතා
සෝමා දේවිගෙ පුවතා
ඉගෙන ගනින් මගේ පුතා

30. මහ සිළු මහ තිස් නිරිඳා
    සඟ සැට දහසකට එදා
    සැට දහසක් සිවුරු පුදා
    කළ පින්කම් සිතනු සොඳා

31.

සොළී පුරේ වැද ගජබා
සොළින්ගේ දප් සිඳ නො තබා
පෑ සිංහල විකුම් සොබා
සිතෙන විටත් සිත් පොළඹා

32. බුදු ගොස් මහ තෙරිඳු ලවා
    දහමට අටුවා ලියවා
    ඒ අප සිංහල දරුවා
    සිරි ලක් දිව හෙළි කෙරුවා

33.

අත්නගලු වනයේ දී
මඟියෙකු හට හිස දන් දී
බුදු බව පැතු සඟබොධී
සිහි කරපන් සිත පෑදී

34. අහසේ නිල් වළාකුලේ
    ගැටෙන රුවන් කොතිනුදුලේ
    දෙව්රම් මහ සෑය කෙළේ
    මහසෙන් මහ රජු ඒ කළේ
35. හේමා රජ කුමරි එදා
    දළදා හිමි ගෙන ආ දා
    සාදු නදින් දෙව් සමුදා
    ගුම් ගති සිරි ලක් සමුදා
36. දැක කළු ලෙඩ නයෙක් එදා
    අප බුදුදස් මහ නිරිඳා
    කළ පිළියම් සිතන සඳා
    උඹට පුතේ සැප ම සදා
37. කුමාරදස් රජු පොරණේ
    බැන්දේ ජානකිහරණේ
    බමුණන්ගේ ඔද බිඳුණේ
    සිහපුන්ගේ නැණ වැඩුණේ
38. මිතුරා හට දිවි පිදුවේ
    ඒ රජු ගේ ගුණ සිහි වේ
    එඩිතර සිංහල පපුවේ
    සැටි ඉන් කාටත් කියවේ

39.

ඉදි කොට පුර පොළොන්නරූ
අප පැරකුම් රජ කුමරූ
දඹදිව ජයගත් අයුරූ
උඹට පුතේ වෙයි මියරූ

40. පද රස එක් කොට මෙ ලොවේ
    කුස ජාතක කව් කෙරුවේ
    දඹදෙනි පැරකුම් රජු වේ
    ඉගෙන ගනින් මගේ දුවේ
41. කළ වියකන විසුදු මගේ
    වික්මැති ඒ රජුගේ රඟේ
    සිහි වන මා පුතුගේ ඇඟේ
    ලේ උණුසුම් වෙවී නැඟේ
42. ඇති නම් මා අත කඩුවක්
    මට සක් දෙව් කෙරෙයි කුමක්
    මේ බස කියු සිහල පුතෙක්
    උඹට පුතේ වෙයිද මතක්

43.

බලනේ කඳු මුඳුනේ දී
පරංගියා මැරුණ විදී
ඇසුවොත් පුත සිත පැහැදී
රාසිං දෙවියන්ට වඳි

44.

ඇහැළේපොළ පුත් කුමරූ
කඩුවට ගෙළ දුන් අයුරූ
පුරුදු කළොත් සිහල දරූ
නිදහස අත්වනු නිබොරූ

45. නිදහස් හිරු දෙව් එනවා
    දෑ බැති මල් පිබිදෙනවා
    සිරි ලක් මව් හිනැහෙනවා
    මගේ පුතා නැළවෙනවා
46. නො දී වැටෙන්නට විපතේ
    තබනට නිදහස් සැපතේ
    මුළු ලක් දිව නුඹේ අතේ
    තබමි ඉතින් ඔන්න පුතේ

47.

විජය අබා රජ්ජුරුවෝ
සැඬි දෙමළුන් වඳ කෙරුවෝ
පෙර අප සිංහල දරුවෝ
මෙ බඳු හපන්කම් කෙරුවෝ

48. පඬි සක්විති තොටගමුවේ
    වීදාගම වැත්තෑවේ
    ඉපදුණ මේ ලංකාවේ
    ඉපදීමත් පිනක් ම වේ
49. කැප්පැටිපොළ සෙනෙවි සුරූ
    කර රුපු සෙන් මන් දැදුරූ
    අබිරු විකුම් පෑ අයුරූ
    උඹට පුතේ වෙයි මියුරූ
50. ඇඳි සළුපට ගෙන සෝදා
    දළදා සමිඳුන්ට පුතා
    කඩුවට ගෙළ දුන්නේ එදා
    ගුරුකමටයි උඹට මෙදා
51. එබඳු උතුම් ලංකාවේ
    දුසිරිත් දසතින් බෝවේ
    මේ ගැන වැඩ කළොත් ලොවේ
    උඹෙත් මගෙත් නම කියවේ

52.

මැරුණොත් යළි උපදින්නේ
අතරක නෑ පවතින්නේ
එම මරණෙට ඉතිකින්නේ
ඇයිද පුතේ බය වෙන්නේ

53.

බියගලුකම නිවට කමයි
එය නැති නම් පිරිමිකමයි
සිංහල සිතුවිලි මෙහෙමයි
පුත නඹටත් එය උරුමයි

54. ගන්නෝරුවේ කඳු මුදුනේ
    සිට රජසිහ එ දිනේ
    නැංවු යුද හඬ මෙ දිනේ
    රැව් දෙයි ම පුතුගේ සවනේ

55.

සිංහල ඊ පහර වැදී
පරංගි සෙන් වැටුණ විදී
සිහි කෙරුවොත් සිතින් ළැදී
නුඹට අදත් පෙනෙයි ඇඳි

56.

නිදහස් ලිය ලියලන්නේ
සම් මස් ඇට පොහොරින්නේ
මේ සිතිවිලි සමඟින්නේ
මගේ පුතා ලොකු වෙන්නේ

57. පිළගම දේවාලේ වැදී
    සිටි නිරිඳෙක් බයෙන් බැඳි
    රෑ සිහිනෙන් දුටු පරිදී
    පින් පැණ යුත් පුතෙක් ලදී
58. ඉන් පසු සිරිලක සිරියා
    වැඩි විය සුර පුරෙක නියා
    වැටෙමින් සිටි සිංහලයා
    ගේ නම ලොව පැතිර ගියා
59. නිවටුන්ගේ බිය සහදයි”
    යනු කීවේ එ මහ රජයි
    පුත නුඹගේ ගතයි හදයි
    එ බසට යොමු කළොත් හොඳයි
60. ලක එක සේසත් සෙවණේ
    තැබු ඒ නිරිඳුගේ සරණේ
    ලද ම පුතුට මුළු දෙරණේ
    වෙන සැප කිම එම පමණේ
61. අහස් දියෙන් බිඳක් පවා
    ඉවත නොගොස් නැවතේවා ”
    ඉටමින් මහ වැව් කණවා
    වැඩ කෙළේ ඒ රජ දරුවා

62.

ලැග සිටිමින් වහල් බවේ
මෙත් කෙරුවත් පලක් නොවේ
පුත නුඹ හද මල් ගොමුවේ
මේ මල් පිබිදිය යුතුවේ

63. කාටත් හිමි පොදු දේ නම්
    නැති බැරි හිඟ අවහිරකම්
    මේ දේ මැඩ ගෙන දස්කම්
    පෑම තමයි සුරුවිරුකම්

64.

සතුරුව පෙරමුණට එතොත්
අර මහමෙර සමඟ වුවත්
සතුරු වෙයන් පුතේ නුඹත්
ඒකයි හරි වීරකමත්

65.

මිතුරුකමින් පෙරට එතොත්
දූවිල්ලක් එක්ක වුවත්
මිතුරු වෙයන් පුතේ නුඹත්
එයයි ලොවේ ගුණය මහත්

66. උස් තැන් දැක හැකිළෙන්නේ
    මිටි තැන් දැක පුප්පන්නේ
    නිවටුන් බව සිතමින්නේ
    මගේ පුතා ලොකු වෙන්නේ
67. සිරිකත මිණි විජිනි පතින්
    පවන් සලයි නුඹට මෙතින්
    බියක් සැකක් නො ව යහතින්
    නිඳා ගනින් පුතේ ඉතින්
68. බීමට එක කිරි උගුරක්
    කෑමට නිසි රස අහරක්
    නැතියෙන් උඹ වැනි දහසක්
    අනේ පුතේ විඳින දුකක්
69. අපිය අපේ රට රැක්කෝ
    කියන අපේ ලොකු ලොක්කෝ
    මේ බව තව නො ම දැක්කෝ
    අපට ඉතින් බලයක් කෝ
70. මේ ගැන වැඩ කොට ඉමහත්
    ලැබෙන දුකක් හිරිහැරයක්
    නිවනට සරි කොට සිතතොත්
    උඹයි මගේ පුතා සමත්

71.

විහාර මහ රජ දේවී
ගැමුණු පුතා හා එක් වී
සිහිනෙන් නුඹ අමතාවී
කළ යුතු දෙය පවසාවී

72. කව්සේකර ගුත්තිල දා
    සසදා සහ මුවදෙව් දා
    මේ සිංහල ගත් සමුදා
    දෙයි ම පුතුට නැණ පහදා
73. මියුරු කොවුල් සැළ පරෙවී
    තිසර ගිරා සරණ අවී
    මේ ගත්වල තියෙන කවී
    රසය උරා බොනු මැනවී
74. විදු සක්විති ඇදුරිඳුගේ
    බුත්සරණේ තිබෙන අගේ
    දැන ගෙන පොඩි පුතා මගේ
    වෙන්න උඹත් මතු එ වගේ
75. විසතුරු පද අරුත් සොමී
    එක් කොට පඬි ගුරුළු ගැමී
    කළ දේ පොතින් වැහෙන එ මී
    මගේ පුතාටත් කවමී
76. සිනිඳු මොළොක් බව මලෙහී
    පිරිසුදු බව පිනි බිඳෙහී
    එක් වී මා පුතුගේ ළෙහී
    අරක් ගනී හැම දිනෙහී
77. ජාතික දෙව් ගී ගයමූ
    මුළු ලෝකෙ මත් කරමූ
    නිදහස් දෙව් දූට හමූ
    වෙන්ට අපිත් පෙරට යමූ
78. කුල බේදය ලියලන්නේ
    ජාතික බැමි පුපුරන්නේ
    මේ රට මේ විපතින්නේ
    උඹ ද පුතේ ගලවන්නේ

By Rohana R. Wasala

“Although voters gave a clear win for Mahinda’s SLPP, they deliberately avoided giving SLPP 50%. In fact, Mahinda’s party received 2% less votes than January 2015 when he was replaced by Sirisena. Put it differently, the Sirisena Alliance (DNA, Swan) retained its 6.2 million votes while Mahinda lost 700,000 votes from his 5.8 million.” So writes Dilrook Kannangara (‘LG Election 2018: Voters Gave the Village to Mahinda for 17 Years, the Nation to Sirisena Alliance for 5 Years’/Posted February 12, 2018 Lankaweb).

Though I admire Dilrook Kannangara for his usually insightful political comments, I am afraid the above observation of his on the sweeping victory of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna unofficially led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa  at the recently concluded local government elections demonstrates some patently false logic. How can a whole electorate vote so as to “deliberately (avoid) giving SLPP 50%”? Mass clairvoyance is unheard of. Isn’t it more rational to compare the current statistics, rather than current ones with those of 2015, which in any case, cannot have remained the same. Probably, the fact that the voter turnout recorded at the LG elections took very high values such 85%, 78%  etc in some places gives the impression that the number of votes cast in favour of any party has no chance of falling compared to 2015. Further, with each year passing new voters get registered and the electorate numerically expands. However, in the 2015 deliberately muddied electioneering background for which the regime change plotters were responsible, there were many unheeded vote rigging allegations in areas friendly towards that project, as Udaya Gammanpila once plausibly pointed out.

As early as just 100 days after the inauguration of the yahapalanaya, people started grumbling against it, because they had realized by then that they had been gravely misled to abandon Rajapaksa on January 8th. So they wanted to install Mahinda back in power as Prime Minister (since he couldn’t become president again) at the August 2015 general election. Even state opinion pollsters predicted a massive Mahinda victory. The UPFA campaign had been galvanized by ‘Mahinda magic’, something that still remains. But, what did Sirisena do? He made those infamous, illegal, immoral, malicious election-eve statements warning  the people that he would not make Mahinda PM even if he won; by that ploy Sirisena succeeded in discouraging a substantial section of  the innocent Mahinda supporters from casting their vote. Wasn’t this a deliberate ruse to baulk the success of the SLFP-led UPFA and that of Mahinda as well? Sirisena’s motive was not national interest; his motive was to fulfill a pledge made to his accomplice Ranil that the latter would not be deprived of his premiership; that Sirisena has always been his acolyte is a different matter. Sirisena himself confessed the fact that he wanted the UPFA to be defeated. He said this several times before, once very recently, too. So, it is beyond doubt that more people support Mahinda today than they had a chance to do during the past three years.

It is no longer a secret to anyone that what happened in 2015 (the so-called regime change) was the result of a conspiracy led from abroad. Why did Ranil have SF, and MS face Mahinda instead of doing so himself at the presidential elections of 2010 and 2015 respectively? As you the readers know the answer, I need not repeat it. MR policies were sound – rural based economic strategies with adequate attention paid to the urban sector, for example; and he achieved much for the country. This is undisputed. Even the plotters didn’t have much to criticize in the Mahinda ‘regime’ in that regard. That’s why they settled on the alleged corruption and autocracy issues as their main election platform. These are actually peripheral matters in governance. But. As is not unknown, Americans use such allegations against good strong leaders of countries that refuse to subserve the ‘American interest’ at the expense of their own national interest in order to bring them down through the strategy that they call ‘regime change’ (as Noam Chomsky points out). Ven Sobitha was roped in by these satanic traitors. They have not been able to think of anything more substantial or convincing against MR than that. In the case of MR’s  ‘corruption’ they made a mountain out of a molehill. These corruption allegations are the same as those war crimes allegations. They remain unsubstantiated. Of course, if the witch hunting yahapalanists had the slightest excuse they’d have tried to invent more false charges against the Rajapaksas as they have tried to do in the case of Gota, who is widely believed to be incorruptible. We now know who the real rogues are.

Those who value the security of the country will not want to have it divided; they will not agree to the selling of the country’s assets; they will not allow their nation to be humiliated among other nations; they will not connive at religious fundamentalist  enclaves (potential foreign terrorist havens) established in land wrongfully reclaimed from the country’s forest reserves on some pretext or other; they will not choose to turn a blind eye to the ancient archaeological sites in the north and the east being encroached upon or vandalized or simply razed to the ground by non-Buddhists. The present government is allowing all this apparently as a part of its policy. It’s true that even under the previous government forest reserve encroachment took place, but it was not meant to happen. The opportunistic Muslim politician whose notoriety in this connection is public knowledge has abused the concession given in a critical situation. Under a future truly patriotic nationalist government these things will stop, we can be sure. Such a government will have to introduce a new constitution which will strengthen the unitary state and eliminate the threat of division for ever. The traitorous attempt to pass a federalist constitution drafted by the sympathizers of the internationally proscribed LTTE under the supervision of interventionist  foreign powers must be defeated at any cost. The victory of the SLPP augurs well for the nation.

අරුන උණවටුන

2015 අගෝස්තු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයෙන් පසු ද්‍රෝහි වූ කිසිවකු නැවත පොහොට්ටුව සමග එකතු කරගත හොත් පොහොට්ටු ඡන්ද ලක්ෂ ගණනත් පොහොට්ටුවෙන් ගිලිහී යනු ඇත. ඇමති කටුවට සියල්ල පාවාදුන් ද්‍රෝහීන්ට ඉතිහාසය විසින් නියම තැන හිමිකර දෙනු ඇත.
වාසි පැත්තට පනිමින් ඇගේ ඉදන් ඇග කන උන් පොහොට්ටුවට ගත හොත් පොහොට්ටුවටත් සොරිම තමා..
මෛත්‍රී ඔහුගේ ලක්ෂ 62ට ද්‍රෝහි වුණා මෙන් පොහොට්ටුවට කතිරය ගැසූ ඡන්ද දායකයන්ට පොහොට්ටු නායකයන් ද්‍රෝහි වනු ඇතැයි සිතිය නොහැකිය. නමුත් දේශපාලනය යනු ආප්ප න්‍යායයි. අද ඉන්න එකා හෙට අනික් පැත්තට යයි. පොහොට්ටුවත් ඒ ආකාරයට අම්බලමක් වුවහොත් පොහොට්ටුවටත් දෙවියන්ගේ පිහිටය.

එදා 2015 අගෝස්තු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයේදී පරාජිතයන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු යවා ඇමති කටු සූප්පු කරන්න දීමට ඊනියා ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවක් අටව ගත්තා සේ පොහොට්ටුවට කතිරය ගැසූ අහිංසක ඡන්ද දායකයන්ට කොකා පෙන්වීමට පොහොට්ටු නායකයන් ක්‍රියා කළහොත් මෛත්‍රී වැටුන කුණු ගොඩට වඩා අන්ත කුණු ගොඩකට පෙහොට්ටු නායකයන් වැටෙනු ඇත. 
පොහොට්ටු නායකයන්ට කළගුණ මතකද? යන්නත් ඉතිහාසය මතකද? යන්නත් බලා සිටිමු…..! 

මාධ්‍යය නිවේදනය –SPUR   (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc)

2018  පෙබරවාරි 13 දින

2018  පෙබරවාරි 10 වන දින පැවැත්වූ පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ යෙන් ශ්‍රී ලoකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ලත්  විශිෂ්ඨ ජයග්‍රණය, ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ සිට ශ්‍රී ලoකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීය භාවය සහ මානව අයිතීන් රැකීම උදෙසා කටයුතු කරන ‘ස්පර්’ නමින් හදුන්වන අප සoවිධානය ඉතා අගේ කොට සලකමු.

මෙම ප්‍රතිඵලය මගින්, ‘යහපාලනය’ පෙරදැරි කරමින් බලයට පැමිණ,  අවුරුදු තුනක කෙටි කාලයක් තුලදී රටේ ආර්ථිකය බිඳහෙලමින් සිදුකල සුප්‍රකට බැඳුම්කර මඟඩිය, ජාතික සම්පත් නොරටුන්ට විකිනීම,  30 වසරක ත්‍රස්තවදය නිමකිරිමට දායකවූ රණවිරුවන් ජිනීවා යෝඡනා හරහා පාවාදීමට කටයුතු කිරීම, රටතුල හා ඉන් පිටත විසුරුනු බෙදුම්වාදීන් සැනසීමට සැකසුනු පෙඩරල්  ව්‍යවස්ථාව වැනි බෙහෙවින් අහිතකර ක්‍රියාදාමයනට   ශ්‍රී ලoකා වාසී ජනතාව ගේ බලවත් විරෝධතාවය මැනවින් පෙන්නුම් කෙරේ.

සමස්තයක් වශයෙන්, මැතිවරණයෙන් වත්මන් පාලනය ලද දරුණු පරාජය හමුවේ රට පත්ව ඇති අස්ථාවරත්වයෙන් මුදා ගැනීමට ජනතාවගේ අභිමතයට ගරුකොට, වහාම පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහ මැතිවරණයක් කැදවා ශක්තිමත් රජයක් බිහි කිරීමට   පියවර ගන්නා මෙන් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගෙන් අප සoවිධානය ඉල්ලා සිටී.

එමෙන්ම, ජනමතයට හිසනමා, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ  විපක්ෂ නායක සහ විපක්ෂ යේ ප්‍රධාන සoවිධායක තනතුරු පැවරීමේ වත්මන් විකෘති මුහුනත වෙනස්කොට එම තනතුරු ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයට ලබාදීමට කථානායක කරු ජයසූරිය මහතා නොපමාව කටයුතු කරනු ඇතැයි බලාපොරොත්තු වේ.

මෙම  මැතිවරණය තුලින් ඇඟවෙන ජනතාවගේ අපේක්ෂාවන් සපුරාලීමට අවශ්‍ය සැලසුම් ප්‍රාදේශීය සහ ජාතික මට්ටමෙන් පිළියෙල කොට ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන මෙන් ශ්‍රී ලoකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණෙන් අප සoවිධානය ඉල්ලා සිටී.,

රoජිත් සොයිසා

මාධ්‍යය සම්බන්ධිකාරක

( තිළිණි ද සිල්වා ) Lanka Deepa 13/2/18

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මානව හිමිකම් කඩවීම සම්බන්ධව   සොයා බැලීමට  ඒක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මහකොමසාරිස්නවනීදන් පිල්ලේ මහත්මිය විසින් පත් කළ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ විද්වත් කමිටුවේ සාමාජිකයෙකු වූ අස්මා ජහන්ගීර් මහත්මිය හදිසියේම අද (12) අභාවප්‍රාප්ත වූවාය.   පකිස්ථාන ජාතික කාන්තාවක වන ඇය හදිසියේ ඇතිවූ හෘදයාබාධයක් හේතුවෙන් මිය යන විට හැට හය හැවිරිදි වියේ පසු වූවාය.වෘත්තීයෙන් නීතිඥවරියක වූ ඇය පකිස්ථාන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ නීතීඥ සංගමයේ හිටපු සභාපතිනියක වන අතර
එරට මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාවේ  සභාපති ලෙසද කටයුතු කර ඇත.

While extending my deepest sympathies to this woman who has been insulted by some politicians in Sri Lanka ,where one eccentric person offered to marry her and commit bigamy ,I wonder whether same person has invoked a curse from God Vishnu at the Kelaniya Hindy temple built by him because his offer was turned down?

Ps

Impression given to Sri Lankans  is that she is of Tamil origin but not Pakistani?

Do these journalist check facts before publishing?

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

ALI SUKHANVER

The war being fought in the name of the Liberation of Balochistan is a war in which the commanding warriors are simply sitting in luxurious rooms, smoking precious cigars, riding the most comfortable limousines and enjoying a lot of VIP protocol in European countries. Seems their masters are taking a good care of them for their services in the so-called war of ‘Liberation of Balochistan’ from the ‘cruel clutches of Pakistan.’ It is also noteworthy they have been doing this difficult ‘assignment’ without any moral or political support of the local people of Balochistan.

The Baloch are a very brave and honest people and the most sacred thing to them is their motherland. Furthermore God has blessed them with a precious ability of differentiating between their friends and foes. They are the real owners of Pakistan as their forefathers had played a very active role in creation of Pakistan. It seems that the so-called and self-claimed ‘freedom-fighters’ are trying to liberate Balochistan from these real owners of the land.

It is also noteworthy that with the proceeding development work on CPEC project, these ‘freedom-fighters’ are becoming more eager and more fervent in depriving the ‘owners of Balochistan’ of the benefits they would be gaining out of this project. Another important point to be noted is that they are trying to liberate a province which has a sovereign political and democratic system, where there is a sovereign Provincial Assembly and the politicians belonging to that ‘captured-territory’ have a very strong representation and say in the National Assembly and the Senate.

As far as the CPEC is concerned, the whole of the country is going to get a huge benefit through this project but the second biggest share would certainly go to the people of Balochistan. The Institute of Strategic Studies Pakistan published a research paper in 2016 with the title ‘CPEC: Benefits for Balochistan.’ The paper said, Pangjur, a district in the west of Balochistan, comprises of three tehsils with a population of around 350,000.

Now, with the construction of the western route of CPEC, property value has skyrocketed in these areas where roads have been built. Other cities like Qalat, Quetta and Zhob will also become more vibrant with the completion of planned road network which will give a boost to economic activities and other development projects under CPEC.” The research report by Mir Sharbaz Khetran further said, Social and economic activities have picked up in Balochistan following the construction of road networks as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Local people have started setting up hotels, shops and houses along the completed portions of the CPEC’s western route linking Gwadar with China. Boom in construction industry and mining of marble and granite industry is expected. New oil storage facilities will also come up. Already social and economic change in Balochistan is becoming visible and this will be further strengthened as more jobs and business opportunities for youth of Balochistan are created.

Along with the CPEC projects, completion of the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and its linkage with CPEC would bring new economic dividends for Balochistan.” It is difficult to understand the aims and objectives of those who are doing so-called struggle for the independence of Balochistan. It has ever been a hard-luck of the people of Balochistan that a handful of miscreants start creating hurdles and hindrances whenever a project leading to their progress and prosperity is in the process. Opposition of the CPEC by the so-called ‘Freedom-Fighters’ of Balochistan is also a matter of the same nature. The value and importance of the CPEC could be well estimated by a recent statement of the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

A few weeks back, addressing a news conference at World Economic Forum in Davos he said, Through China Pakistan Economic Corridor, Pakistan is working to promote connectivity among the countries of the region and across the world as well.”   The people of Balochistan are also well aware of the fact that they are going to play the central role in the difficult task of bringing the nations close to one another; certainly this all is an honour too for the people of Balochistan because they are accomplishing a task which always remained an unfulfilled dream even for the super powers like US. How brutal is the approach of the so-called ‘Freedom-Fighters’ of Balochistan that they are trying their people deprive of this honour in the name of a war which never belonged to the real owners of Balochistan. The CPEC would bring a new era of affluence and prosperity to the people of Balochistan.

New opportunities of jobs, trade and business activities would be available to the local people; their living standards would be uplifted and the comfort level of their life would reach new heights. In short CPEC is going to bring a social and economic revolution in the region. The people of Balochistan would get the lion’s share out of the benefits of the CPEC

Editorial Island 

February 12, 2018, 9:24 pm

The outcome of the just concluded local government (LG) polls is bound to have a domino effect on the political front. It has already taken its toll on the unity of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, which is showing early signs of disintegration. The constitution-making process is also in jeopardy. Now, it is reported that the UNP is going to jettison the SLFP, which has become a liability and form a government of its own.

Their political marriage of convenience has cost both the UNP and the SLFP dear in terms of votes as evident from the LG polls results. That unprecedented power-sharing arrangement may have helped President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe tackle some issues such as the former ruling family’s determined efforts to make a comeback, but their gains haven’t outweighed their losses. Their party members at the grassroots level were never united. The yahapalana government was split down the middle and its leaders were papering over the cracks at the top. In the aftermath of the LG polls disaster, the UNP seems to have told the SLFP, “United we fall, divided we stand.”

It is the SLFP Central Committee (CC) which can decide whether or not the SLFP MPs remain in the UNP-led government. That decision-making body is currently packed with Sirisena loyalists. The Joint Opposition (JO), which is opposed to the SLFP-UNP alliance, is all out to wrest control of the SLFP CC. The UNP apparently doesn’t want to wait till the SLFP, under pressure from the JO, opts for triple talaq, as it were, and pulls out of the unity government.

The Executive President becomes a figurehead to all intents and purposes if he loses control over Parliament. President Chandrika Kumaratunga had to put up with a hostile UNP government from 2001 to 2004. She suffered many indignities at the hands of some UNP ministers at Cabinet meetings even though she could dissolve Parliament. The 19th Amendment has taken away that power and the President now has to grin and bear it even if the party which controls Parliament turns hostile towards him. This must be a worrisome proposition for beleaguered President Sirisena.

In the run-up to Saturday’s polls, President Sirisena called upon the SLFP dissidents to join him so that he could form an SLFP government. Subsequently, he backpedalled obviously under pressure from his yahapalana allies. Ironically, the UNP is now said to be doing what he intended to do—bringing the joint administration to an end.

What will be President Sirisena’s position in the event of the UNP forming its own government? It has 107 seats in Parliament and needs only six more to muster a working majority. Many are the politicians who are ready to sell their souls and the UNP’s goal, therefore, is not unattainable. There are two precedents which President Sirisena can consider following in such an eventuality. He can do as the late President D. B. Wijetunga did under the SLFP-led People’s Alliance government with Chandrika Kumaratunga as the Prime Minister, in 1994. Wijetunga maintained a very low profile without obstructing the PA administration and retired gracefully. Or, President Sirisena can do a Chandrika; he can assert himself and continue to exercise his powers at the risk of antagonising the UNP government. Chandrika sacked the UNP-led UNF government in 2004, regained power in Parliament and then retired after completing her second term. But, the 19th Amendment has clipped President Sirisena’s wings drastically.

President Sirisena is in a dilemma. Many SLFPers who threw in their lot with him are dependent on him for their political survival. It was no secret that they expected him to seek a second term, but their plans have gone awry owing to the shocking LG polls results. Their strength or lack of it has now been exposed. They know the instauration of their political project is well-nigh impossible under the present circumstances. They will have a choice between defecting and retiring.

Immediately after forming the yahapalana government in 2015, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe likened the political journey he and President Sirisena had set out on to a smooth drive along the Southern Expressway. We argued in this space that the pleasure of their journey would be over when they reached the end of the expressway. Now, they have ahead of them an ordinary highway which may be called ‘hemingway’.

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

February 12, 2018, 11:03 pm

The UNP has decided to form a United National Front (UNF) government ending the coalition with the SLFP Maithri faction, party sources say.

The decision to form a UNF government was taken following discussions between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the President’s official residence at Pajet Road in Colombo 07 on Sunday night, according to sources.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya was also present at the talks between the President and the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe informed the President that he had been asked by UNP and its allies to form its own government if there was no practical means to continue with the national unity government with the SLFP (Maithri faction).

In response to the Prime Minister’s statement, the President told him to prove that the UNF could muster a majority in Parliament and if so it could form a government of its own.

Following the meeting with the President, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe met UNF’s coalition members and representatives of other parties represented in Parliament on the same evening and decided to form a UNF government without the SLFP.

Sources said as per the provisions of the Section 43 (3) of the Constitution an MP who commands the trust of majority of MPs in Parliament should be appointed Prime Minister by the President.

“Even if we leave out MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, we have 107 seats in Parliament including those of the SLMC. We need only six more to prove Parliament majority,” a senior UNP MP said.

He said that during the Sunday meeting, the President had told the Prime Minister the SLFP MPs who were not willing to join the SLPP would join the UNF government within the next two days.

UNP MP Nalin Bandara said their party would submit a list of names of MPs who were willing to form the UNF government to the President on Thursday evening and the list would prove the UNF’s majority in the House.

The portfolios of the SLFP ministers joining the UNF government would not change as per an agreement between the President and the Prime Minister. However, the two leaders have agreed to effect a change with regard to the Foreign Minister post which was now under the UNP, sources said.

The TNA had expressed its willingness to support the UNF government but would not accept any ministerial portfolios, its parliament group leader R Sampanthan said.

Dr. Sarath Obeysekera

Government advertisements in newspapers are usually boring but not this one. An advertisement on Friday by the Provincial Road Development Authority in the Western Province called for public bids for a peculiar assignment – pulling out an excavator that is stuck in the mud!The bids will be opened on February 23, with the excavator continuing to be stuck in the mud till then for a job that would have taken a few hours with the right equipment or is it such a complicated exercise?

The authority says the Sunny-135 excavator belonging to the authority is mired in mud in the canal around 1 km away from the Jaela Bund road bordering the Muthurajawela marshy lands”. It was seeking bids from individuals and institutions with the capacity and the facilities to pull out the said machine. As per state rules, bid documents were available at Rs. 500 each.

Yahaplanaya in full swing !

Officers are scared to take any decision .Last year one of the new dredgers called Sayura got partially  grounded in Hakkaduwa and Fishery Harbour Corporation had to call tenders to salvage before it gets fully grounded  due to adverse weather conditions

.By the time tenders were opened and a shipyard was selected Dredget was full grounded on a rock .

It cost double the amount to salvage !!!!
 

SPUR   (Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc)

Reg:  A 003 0777 MPO Box 4066, Mulgrave, VIC 3170, AustraliaTele/Fax: (03) 97957143  Fax: (03) 97957142 ranjiths@spur.asn.au

Website: www.spur.asn.au

MEDIA RELEASE – 11 February 2018

The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) congratulates the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) for its stunning victory at the long awaited Local Government Elections held on 10 February 2108.

The Sri Lankan people have dealt a crushing blow to the Yahapalana regime which, in a short space of three years, has become synonymous with broken promises, economic stagnation, selling of national assets, the Central Bank bond scam, hounding of political opponents, Geneva betrayal of the war winning security forces, appeasement of the LTTE diaspora and the surreptitious agenda for a federal constitution.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, members of the parliamentary Joint Opposition, nationalist organisations and grass-root activists have guided the people to this historic result in spite of the enormous advantages of state power enjoyed the by the parties in government.

SPUR calls on President Maithripala Sirisena to exercise the powers vested in him to reconstitute the Parliament in line with the will of the people and call for a General Election at the earliest opportunity.

We also urge the Speaker, Mr Karu Jayasuriya, to immediately end the current façade and recognise the Joint Opposition as the legitimate holders of the position of Opposition Leader and Chief Opposition Whip.

We are of the view that the election results signify the demand for good governance and would request the SLPP to implement a plan immediately to launch a program locally as well as nationally

to manage the affairs of government to achieve the expectations of the voters.

In conclusion, SPUR appeals to all Sri Lankans to be vigilant in the face of both internal and external forces that seek to weaken the unitary status of the nation and to reject any proposal for constitutional changes that would encourage ethnic separatism or compromise national security.

Ranjith Soysa

(Spokesperson)

Nimal Tissa Wijetunga

Your Excellency, Mahinda Rajapakse,

Masses or people of Sri Lanka has voted to you mainly as a Mark of Gratitude to your leadership in annihilating terrorist LTTE and its leader Prabhakaran and it is only the 06th occasion a Head of the State of Sri Lanka among long line of kings and residents did so in the history of more than 2500 years as you never ever bowed down to so called western powers.

In view of the above, we would like to bring to your serious attention to the following:

1) No to Constitutional reforms to give Tamil Elam on a platter where terrorists failed after 30 years of violence.

2) Must maintain the Unitary nature of Sri Lanka and its territorial integrity.

3) Maintain the very fabrication of Sri Lanka as Sinhalese Buddhist country.

4) No Corruption and accountability must be maintained.

5) Must take action to Ranil, Ravi, Mahendran, Aloysius, Palisena, Cope committee members involved in foot notes in the investigation of Bod Scam, whom involved in day light Robbery or Plunder of Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

6) No Human right cases or Prosecution by foreign or local judiciary for any act by victorious Armed forces of Sri Lanka during annihilation of Terrorist LTTE and its leader Prabhakaran.

7) Taking care of subsidies rovided to farmers, other governmental officials and Sri Lankan masses as a whole for their Economic development and day to day living.

8) Approach to so called Tamil problem as mere Economic problem as same as to all the people of Sri Lanka. Must make inroads to Northern Province with concerted effort to convince the Tamil People that their bretheran are mostly living out side the Northern Province among other races in the country without any problem and so called Tamil Leaders since the formation of Tamil Arasu Katchichi in 1933 by S.J.V.Chelvanayagam up to Appailai Amirthalingam’s Waddukodai resolution and finally by terrorist LTTE led by Prabhakaran taken them in violent path with unrealistic and non-existing demands with no benefits rather than destruction to the ordinary tamil population.

9) No ECTA under any circumstances with India as it is really detrimental to service market of Sri Lanka.

10) No Air or sea ports to be given to India on outright or as a joint venture. Please note that India was never ever a friend of Sri Lanka except for a brief period where Emperor Dharmasoka sent his son and daughter to inculcate Buddhism here. In fact, India the so called biggest democracy in the world aided, abetted, funded, trained LTTE Terrorist to destabilize another democratic country of Sri Lanka.

Finally, we wish you all the best for the re-emergence and look forward to a great country and great future to the people of Sri Lanka under your great leadership.

Thanking you.

Sincerely,

Nimal Tissa Wijetunga.

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA

It was the well-established, UNP and West-friendly website ECONOMYNEXT that broke the story using the ‘L’ Word—Landslide:

“Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s proxy was set for an unexpected landslide victory in Saturday’s local council elections…Unofficial results showed that the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was leading in almost all the districts outside the north and the east and was on its way to secure an unassailable 51 percent of the total votes polled.Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) was being pushed to a humiliating second place…”(‘Rajapaksa proxy heads for landslide in Sri Lanka vote’- Feb 10th)

“Landslide” certainly, “unexpected landslide”—er, not entirely. I was probably one of the very few (to put it exceedingly charitably) in the mainstream media who called it right, quite unambiguously, and on the record: “…or whether (as I think) the Pohottuwa will wind up quite simply, the largest single party, displacing the UNP from that historical role and status.” (‘Feb 10th and the Electoral Gamble that Failed’, The Island, Wednesday, Feb 7th 2018)

February 11, 2018, 9:58 pm

The fact that I predicted this result proves that the result was predictable—all it needed was not to be blinded by the veils of Maya.My personal favourite piece of pre-election punditry was Sunanda Deshapriya’s firm prediction of MR’s crushing defeat, in a signed column in the Ravaya,saying that “Mahinda’s Pohottuwa won’t succeed in getting even 51% of the Sinhala majority”. The Island’s Political columnist CA Chandraprema and I cannot be faulted if we were the only ones to take serious note, repeatedly and in print (in my case, also on my fortnightly TV show on Sirasa), of the results of the Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) elections of last year in which the pro-Mahinda camp swept the board against all comers and all combinations of all comers. They were the precursor of what has now arrived.

Thus my initial response is not to write at length on the why and wherefore of the result, because my political writings in these pages have consistently given the reasons why this should and would happen.

What I am more concerned about are the larger strategic picture and what I had defined in the title of my first book (Vikas, New Delhi 1995) as Sri Lanka’s “Protracted Crisis”.

Sri Lankan politics is determined by the dynamics on two axis: the horizontal and the vertical. The horizontal axis pertains to the contestation for political power at the center between parties or blocs. This is the dimension of South-South competition. The vertical axis of Sri Lankan politics is the North-South one, dealing with the dynamics of the Northeastern and the South, as well as what I termed in my Deshamanya Nandadasa Kodagoda Lecture of 2013 as the Greater North or the Far North, i.e. the world. This horizontal dimension is that of Center-Periphery politics in which Colombo is the center and Jaffna the periphery , but this gets inverted the further away we move, and Colombo is the periphery while the developed world’s capitals are the center.

On the day of the election, the news broke that the TNA had joined 10 Tamil diaspora organizations to demand that Brigadier Priyanka Fernando be declared persona non grata.

What does this mean and portend? Let’s start with the ten Tamil Diaspora organizations which cover the entire politico-ideological spectrum in the UK: Tamil Conservatives, Tamils for Labour and Tamil Lib-Dems. They’ve written a lengthy petition to the British authorities in support of their demand.

These Tamil groups in the UK have petitioned Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson, requesting that the British government to “declare the Sri Lankan Military Attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando a Persona non Grata for committing a serious offence under British law, abusing diplomatic immunity in the UK and committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka and therefore, to curtail his leave to remain in the UK.”

The Tamil Diaspora groups that have made this request are the British Tamil Conservatives (BTC),British Tamils Forum (BTF),Global Tamil Forum (GTF),International Centre for the Prevention and Prosecution of Genocide (ICPPG),Tamils Coordinating Committee (TCC-UK), Tamils for Labour, Tamil Friends of the Liberal Democrats, Tamil Information Centre (TIC), Tamil National Alliance – UK (TNA-UK), Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Tamil Solidarity (TS), Tamil Youth Organization (TYO), and World Tamils Historical Society (WTHS).

Very significantly the petition is not merely against Brigadier Fernando but is a 14 page long diatribe against the waging of the war, and the Sri Lankan state and government. The critique of Brigadier Fernando does not pertain merely to his hand gesture but to his role as a combat officer in our war of liberation from terrorism.

Not once in the petition do the signatories condemn or even refer to the incontrovertible fact that the demonstration by ‘Tamil Solidarity’ was replete with Tiger banners, sundry regalia and pro-terrorist slogans (‘Our Leader-Prabhakaran’).

The fact that they have not tried to put any distance between themselves and the LTTE driven nature of the mobilization shows they have no problem whatsoever with that Tiger/pro-Prabhakaran character. This in turn logically means that these ten Tamil Diaspora organizations are pro-separatist, pro-terrorist and pro-totalitarian. This is not democratic dissent.

It is also noteworthy that there has not been a Tamil political voice which is critical of both the Brigadier and the Tiger demonstrators. This means that the Tamil diaspora political space is either pro-separatist terrorist or lacks a strong and bold enough alternative within it; an alternative that could be anti-government and even anti-state, but is anti-LTTE.

What is striking is that this pro-Tiger militancy was demonstrated on Sri Lanka’s 70th Independence Day, with no Tamil cautionary note against it, precisely while there is a liberal Sri Lankan government in place, not a militantly majoritarian nationalist one.

If this is how the Tamil Diaspora treats the liberal reformist Sirisena government, we can clearly understand the true nature of that Diaspora and the underlying community.

If push comes to shove, the Tamil Diaspora is pro-Tiger or too scared to be otherwise, then it cannot be a legitimate partner for dialogue on the part of Sri Lankan democrats, progressives, liberals or the democratic Sri Lankan state.

But these are the UNP’s partners and allies! What is most striking and strikingly dangerous, is that these organizations are partners of the UNP in government. These are organizations that were unbanned by Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister.

These are organizations which accompanied Samaraweera to Singapore before the election of January 2015. These are organizations which Samaraweera met officially in London when he was Foreign Minister. These are organizations which were received over the past three dismal years at the offices of the Sri Lankan Government and State in Colombo, including the Foreign Ministry.

Just several weeks ago, the GTF/BTF posted photographs and a statement announcing the discussion at the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry in Colombo, between the GTF-BTF’s Fr. Emmanuel and the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and his closest comrade-in-arms.

Now we come to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) whose logo accompanies the statement of the ten Tamil Diaspora organizations. The TNA is supposed to be the “moderate” Tamil nationalist party. If this is Tamil moderation, one can well imagine what Tamil radicalism is like.

Whether or not the TNA logo at the bottom of the letter refers only to its UK branch (it does not say so), the results of the election and the TNA’s political behavior including the boycott by Mr. Sampanthan of our 70th Independence celebrations, show a yawning and growing gap which is perhaps unbridgeable.

The TNA is the Yahapalana government’s chosen Opposition. The Government chose the TNA with its 16 seats over Mahinda Rajapaksa and Dinesh Gunawardena’s Joint Opposition with its 50 plus seats, as the official Parliamentary Opposition.

The TNA chose to reciprocate this unwarranted and illegitimate generosity by pushing the government and the country for a new constitution instead of greater autonomy within the existing one, adding insult to injury by pushing for Geneva–driven accountability with an international aspect or component. The results of the Local Government election show the complete rejection of the Government’s West-backed or designed political experiment.

The Government’s pro-Western elitist minoritarianism has been decisively rejected at this election. On the one hand, the election result is a massive populist protest vote; a majoritarian backlash against liberal elitist cosmopolitanism. On the other hand, the mood of the largest minority, the Tamils living in and outside Sri Lanka, has become less accommodating and pragmatic, more unrealistic, militant and obdurate.

The nonsensical attempt at a new Constitution, killing off the unitary state, is itself now dead in the water. The Ranil-Mangala-Chandrika-Sumanthiran project, backed by the West, has been decisively defeated. The West’s allies have been crushed, leaving it with its traditional clients, the Tamils.

The Tamil nationalists’ allies, the UNP and Chandrika’s SLFP have lost. Even more so, the apt responses of UNP ‘Young Turks’ Navin Dissanayake and Ruwan Wijewardene to the issue of Brigadier Fernando show that not only have the Tamil nationalists’ Southern allies lost but that the Tamil nationalists have lost the support of their Southern allies. Similarly, the Southern liberals are no longer in any position to negotiate with the Tamils. They need to first renegotiate their political viability with the Sinhalese, including their own voters.

The 70th Independence Day behavior and the London affair show that Tamil sentiment is so far out on a limb that no deal seems possible with any Southern partner, be it the incoming SLPP, the struggling Government or the JVP. Having damaged their UNP-SLFP partners by putting them out of reach of their own Sinhala voters, and with a rather more nationalist-populist SLPP on the march, the Tamil nationalists no longer have any Southern partner. There are no Southern takers for the new Constitution, still less a new Constitution and the implementation of the Geneva resolution on accountability. There is no deal on the table, except perhaps for the one that was always there: a modest rectification and upgrade of really existing devolution. That too may be off the table at the moment and for the moment, i.e. not because of substance but timing. The time for a deal even on adjusting existing autonomy arrangements may have passed.

Reason dictates that the Tamil mainstream regards as its Southern partner or prospective partner, that political entity and personality most likely to form the next administration, in 2019-2020. That would mean entering serious negotiations on a basis that won’t be laughed out of court by the incoming national political formation and resisted by its vote base. The problem is that logic and reason have vacated the Tamil nationalist political space quite some time ago.

The vast majority of the country’s citizens, living in the bulk of the island and decisive in the matter of state power at the center, have gone one way; Tamil nationalist politics the other. One movement is clockwise, the other, counter-clockwise. The election is over, but Sri Lanka’s Long Crisis continues.

S. Navaratne  

February 11, 2018, 10:01 pm
One feels somewhat disconcerted when a highly respected public servant makes comments that go far and beyond his remit albeit in his view to further yahapalana aims. The job of the Auditor General on matters relating to public debt is to provide to the public evidence based facts after stringent auditing of the Government`s domestic and foreign debt. It should include full disclosure of dummy accounts; accurate Government borrowings (foreign and local) to bridge the shortfalls of revenue to meet Government current and capital expenditure; aggregating  figures of annual interest on government foreign and local borrowing separately and their impact on the rise in foreign and local debt annually, and a breakdown of assets created  from borrowings. Likewise it is within his remit to quantify the monetary losses from waste, corruption and named irregularities.

In his recent media briefing, however, the Auditor General made a string of political, economic, administrative assessments including (i) the President should not be Finance Minister too, (ii) questioning so-called unproductive investments and (iii) the country faces an unprecedented massive debt crisis.

Do these assessments undermine public perception of the role of the Auditor General? The allocation of Cabinet portfolios surely is a political decision best left to politicians.

So, too, the government priorities on revenue and expenditure. It is a political decision, for example, for Governments to decide how much the Government borrows to construct public goods such as schools, hospitals, public toilets, playgrounds, roads for which there is little or no money return on investment. These investments on public goods from borrowed money may not generate income but conform to government policy. It is disingenuous, moreover, to say that there is nothing to show from borrowings for public goods even though the current value of these investments are deemed low for accountancy purposes.

The Auditor General view that the country is in the midst of a “massive debt crisis” is an opinion, some would say an egregious exaggeration of the situation. The truth is that it depends on “unknown unknowns” such as future surpluses or deficits in the Budget, net inflows of foreign exchange on services such as remittances and tourism, and on FDI. Last but not least, the pieces of family silver such as the Hambantota port, the Mattala airport, the Trincomalee oil tanks and the Trincomalee port that the Prime Minister flogs for dollars to pay off debts that have vastly increased in the past three years. Moreover, intact for sale if required to pay off debts are the “Crown Jewels”, the Government holdings in banks and the financial sector that are worth billions of dollars. Crisis? What Crisis?

No one disputes that the forthcoming National Audit Bill should provide wide-ranging powers to the National Audit Commission with regard to accounting and auditing of government financial activities, publicizing its shortcomings as well as making recommendations for changes.  Is there a case, however, for the National Audit Commission and its staff to have license to go beyond evidence and facts and give opinions of a political and economic nature regarding public policy? Commonsense suggest that public officials should be discreet on matters outside their remit.

 Dilrook Kannangara

It is important to decipher the signals of the LG election 2018 correctly without bias. The king (voter) has spoken. But the arrogant king doesn’t repeat! If his signal is interpreted wrongly, there will be dire consequences for (public) servants. Readers must calmly analyze the outcome without hatred or favour.

Although voters gave a clear win for Mahinda’s SLPP, they deliberately avoided giving SLPP 50%. In fact, Mahinda’s party received 2% less votes than January 2015 when he was replaced by Sirisena. Put it differently, the Sirisena Alliance (DNA, Swan) retained its 6.2 million votes while Mahinda lost 700,000 votes from his 5.8 million.

It means the voter gave the village to Mahinda for another 5 years and at the same time gave the Sirisena alliance another 2 years to work together. Mahinda has been winning the village since 2006 and with this extension his continuing reign over the village goes on for 17 years (until 2023). Sirisena has already spent 3 years and with this extension for his alliance, he can legally and morally stay on for another 2 years.

JVP has dramatically improved their national standing for its small size from August 2015 and TNA has also increased their share within the Swan Alliance. UNP has suffered since August 2015. SLFP managed to hang in there. SLPP will be elated with their performance. All parties are now looking forward for the provincial council election.

Voters want the DNA alliance to keep pursuing the corrupt and punish them. This is particularly true about JVP and SLFP voters making up 20%. They are the kingmakers of any national election. Sirisena must recognize at least now that he cannot rely on Ranil and Sagala to deliver FCID goods. He must hand over the function to a competent minister or do it himself. Sirisena must realize that he would be sitting on a vote base of 56% had he punished the culprits by now. SLPP and UNP owners must not think voters delivered justice. Voters have no intention of messing with the courts system. They cannot do so even if they wished.

While the village needs Mahinda policies and the nation Sirisena policies (according to voters), they also want the two policies to work together. Hope politicians of all sides hear this loud and clear. Next stop PC elections followed by national elections.

Lionel Rajapakse

Electorate has spoken. There is a clear message to politicians who still keep alliance with SLFP. Leave SLFP now”. Yes, right now. Feb 10 election results proved people don’t care about the future of the SLFP and they do not trust the SLFP leadership any more. Hope, politicos who play a double game understand this clear message and honour people’s wish.

It is not a secret, most of the SLPP politicians still have their SLFP membership. For the sake of what? There is no need for these politicians to play a double game from now on. If they still think it is a risk to cut their ties with the SLFP, that is an insult for the millions of voters who voted for SLPP. Voters clearly said, they are ready to support for a third force. If these politicians who still have ties with SLFP thinks it is impossible to form a government without SLFP, this election proved they are wrong. Also, someone can argue if these politicos give up their SLFP memberships, they are going lose their parliament membership as well. Who cares. Voters like to see the leaders who play the game straight. So, the politicians in SLPP who still keep a foot in the rotten SLFP, should come out of that muddy puddle right now.

Same with the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). It is high time for Dinesh, Wimal, Wasu and rest of the members to come out of this so-called Alliance. People clearly rejected President Sirisena’s leadership, so what kind of alliance with a party led by him? Now the electorate has chosen a new front to fight the UNP. So, let the Sirisena’s SLFP to have its own demise.

Feb 10 election is a good signal for the JVP as well. Now they should realise their dream to capture the power in 2020 is not real. Rather than supporting their real enemy UNP, JVP should re-consider where they should stand. If they want to make their dream a reality, it is better to let Ranil’s UNP to have the same fate as the Sirisena’s SLFP.

Also, this election result is the amber light given by the SLPP voters for their next presidential candidate, whoever that person is.  No need to play hide and seek. That person should come forward and lead this third force for the next victory.

Jayawewa!

P.A.Samaraweera

There had been an unexpected turnout at the recent local govt polls and as anticipated Mahinda Rajapaksa’s SLPP made a landslide victory. This noteworthy victory should open the eyes of Maithreepala Sirisena (MS) and Ranil, who under the pretext of ‘Yahapalanaya’ entertained the corrupt. The victory is a clear indication that the people are fed up with both of them. MS is an opportunist and he was eyeing the post of PM in Mahinda’s govt. By any chance if he had been offered the post of PM he would have never left MR.

Local govt polls involves the outskirts and the rural folk. During the war it was the rural youth who joined the forces to fight the terrorists. But since this govt came to power their welfare had been completely ignored. Many disabled soldiers had not been paid the promised pensions. They fought for 30 years and MS and Ranil cancelled the victory parade on the advise of western powers and in the name of so called ‘reconciliation’. Further, a number of army personnel had been remanded on various dubious allegations and not charged. During MR’s regime the morale of the army was high. So no wonder they all voted for MR at the local govt polls.

The SLFP-UPFA took a heavy beating at the polls coming third while the JVP came fourth. The UNP which expected to lead was humiliated, coming second. As expected, the Colombians voted for the UNP and won 60 seats. The SLPP 23, UPFA 12, and the JVP 6. Traditionally Colombo is UNP. 

During the elections, cracked appeared in the alliance between the SLFP-UNP govt. At election meetings, MS repeatedly said that he is not ready to work with corrupt politicians. In his SLFP frontline as well, there are  Ministers accused of corruption. Further, politicians who had been rejected at the polls had been appointed as Ministers. Now that the much awaited local govt polls are over, people are waiting to see what next !

Some say that the SLPP based on the public confidence it had obtained will push for a General Election. 

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando

The British created the first Constitution for British-Ceylon and crafted the Donoughmore Commission in 1927. It being not very successful, Ceylonese demanded a Constitutional reform. Consequently the State Council of Ceylon, consisting 58 members was formed in 1932, with A.F.Molamure as the first Chairman. The State Council granted the universal franchise to Ceylonese for the first time.

The Ceylon Constitution Order, in Council 1946, established the Soulbury Commission that consisted of a Board comprising several Ministers, along with D.S.Senanayake, and Lord Soulbury decided upon the      Independence for Ceylon. On 4 February 1948, Ceylon gained independence from the British, without      having to shed a single drop of blood; Lord Soulbury became the Ceylon’s first Governor General.

British planters and business tycoons trained Ceylonese politicians, in both legislative and executive         functions, during the struggle for independence, in order to become masters of their own. However, the    general consensus at the time was that ‘Ceylonese were not ready for Independence,’ which confirmed this fact, after 70 years of independence, by the ghastly display of behaviour of the present day parliamentarians, on 10^th January 2018 from the August assembly. That may be the reason why Sri Lankans have failed     completely so far, in terms of progress in the country

Harmony                                                                                                        

Harmony among the Ceylonese appeared to be paramount during the British rule. It managed to preserve the centuries old moral, cultural, and economic values within a nation, where even the mighty colonials had to knuckle under to peoples’ apprehensions and agitations. Since achieving the so-called ‘ independence’, Sri Lankan leaders, through their self-importance and expansive egos, have turned a deaf ear to any public    concern, causing a steep decline in the overall progress of the country.

The biggest blunder made by politicians, after achieving independence, is believed to be the fragmentation of the nation into various political groups of different hues, concentrating only on their power, rather than    reaping the full benefit out of the gained freedom, which has continued up to date debauching the country’s overall values and progress.

Celebrations

Ever since 4 February 1948, every Sri Lankan administration has been ‘celebrating’ its anniversary;         Tomorrow, it will mark 70 years of ‘sovereignty! In the present political scenario, one becomes confused with the analysis of this hollow word ‘independence’ as, for far too long, Sri Lanka’s educational standards have gone down, health sector deteriorated, cost of living sky rocketed and the country has gone into more and more debt affecting the citizenry, who are even yet to be born!

This makes people to point an accusing finger at politicians for their utter failure to look into the general welfare of the society, whilst they enjoy fixed salaries with umpteen number of perks and privileges,        including special allowances to woo them to parliamentary sessions, and to enjoy an opulent canteen meal paying only Rs.06, Rs.20 and Rs.60 respectively, and the worst crime being dumping all the excesses into the  Diyawanna Oya to feed crocodiles, whilst millions in the country are starving. Despite all such          misdemeanor, politicians of all hues have been displaying how self-centred they could be when they nod their heads to salary increases, various allowances, and issuance of duty-free luxury car permits.

The word ‘Independence’ has turned into a hollow word in Sri Lanka, when one looks back at the historical background of the county, where people have suffered over seven decades due to riots of many a kind,     humanity downgraded to beastly levels where decapitated human bodies were seen burning on road sides on spikes, dead bodies floating on rivers, followed by a 30 year war from the North, and allowing the LTTE to become one of the coldblooded terrorist groups in the world, and to pioneer the suicide bombing novelty in terrorism. The million-dollar question, therefore, would be whether the meaning of the word independence has had any effect on Sri Lanka? What have the rulers have been doing for the past 70 years? Twiddling their thumbs and allowing the country to go downhill on roller coasters?

Election Gimmicks

Politicians intermingling with the voters, during election times, and promising the sun, moon and stars, in order to get them elected to power, is gradually getting diluted after seventy long years, and the people in this country have begun to use their wisdom through trial and error, and started to understand how politicians were and are dabbling in corruption, bribery & nepotism, to make only themselves richer, and to let the   people in this country go to hell!

After 67 years of independence, the majority of the nation voted for a change in January 2015, to appoint a common candidate as President, with the collaboration of all other political parties, in an attempt to get rid of what was termed as an existed ‘a corrupt regime’! The new administration, in a marriage with the UNP, formed a ‘Yahapalanaya,’ and absorbed several rotten apples, rejected by the voters, once again, and given them vital portfolios for the discontent of the society. As an election pledge, the Prime Minister was            appointed from the UNP.

At the very infant stages of Yahapalanaya, the biggest scandal of robbing the Central Bank for billions of taxpayers’ money slandered the new regime by appointing a foreigner to the Central Bank. Due to excessive media pressure, President Sirisena appointed a special Commission to investigate into the irregularities of the Bond Scam. ” Hairline cracks appearing at first, have begun to form prominent furrows in the                  Yahapalanaya itself, where the political rhetoric has become the order of the day, from local election        platforms, to the extent that the unruffled President too has begun to fly off the handle!

One does not have to be a political pundit to realise that Sri Lankans haven’t achieved any independence to its true meaning up to date. Unless and until a new political climate emerges, with new blood that can feel the pulse of the people, the meaning of independence will remain as an unfulfilled dream.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

පහත සිදුවීම මා දුටුවේ දිවයින පුවත්පතිනි. මෙම සිදුවීමට සබැඳි ඩයස් යනු යුද හමුදා රෝහලේදී (2002 – 2006 ) කාලයේදී මා විසින් ප්‍රතිකාරක කරන ලද රෝගියෙකි. ඔහු ක්‍ෂිතිමය ක්‍රියාන්විත සිදුවීම වල නියැලීම නිසා පශ්චාත් වියසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවයට (PTSD) ගොදුරු වූ සොල්දාදුවෙකි. මෙම සොල්දාදුවා මනෝ වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු සහ මා යටතේ කොලඹ යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ ප්‍රතිකාර ලැබීය​. එක්සත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවක් වෙනුවෙන් තමන් ගේ කායික මානසික සුවය කැප කල මෙවැනි ආබාධිත සොල්දාදුවන් සමාජයේ හිංසනයට ලක් වන්නේ නම් එය ඉතාම අවාසනාවන්ත තත්වයකි.

පහත විස්තරය 2018 පෙබරවාරි 11 දින දිවයින පුවත්පතෙනි.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

කෝප්‍රල් ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ 

විශ්‍රාම ලැබූ බුද්ධි අංශ සෙබළාට නුවරඑළියේදී එළව එළවා පහර දුන්නේ ඇයි…?

මේ වනවිට හතළිස්‌ හත් හැවිරිදි වියේ පසුවන ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ යුද හමුදා සෙබළකු ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද හමුදාවට බැඳී ඇත්තේ මීට වසර විසි දෙකකට පමණ පෙරදීය.යාපනය, ඌරලුව, මනිපායි ආදී ප්‍රදේශවල ක්‍රියාන්විත රාජකාරි කටයුතුවල නියෑළුණු ඔහුගේ උපන් ගම වන්නේ නුවරඑළිය වජිරපුර ගම්මානයයි.

 වැඩිමහල් සහෝදරියන් දෙදෙනකු වැඩිමහල් සහෝදරයකු හා එක්‌ බාල සහෝදරයකුගෙන් යුත් පවුලක ඔහු හතර වැන්නාය.

නුවරඑළිය බීර නිෂ්පාදන කම්හලේ සේවය කළ ඔහුගේ පියා මේ වනවිට ජීවතුන් අතර නොමැති අතර මව ජීවත්වන්නේය.

දැනට වසර හතකට පමණ පෙරදී පිළියන්දල රේණුකා ද සිල්වා සමඟ විවාහ දිවියට පිවිසි ඔහු සිඟිති දියණියකගේ පියකු ද වන්නේය.

 උතුර නැගෙනහිර ක්‍රියාන්විත රාජකාරියේ නියෑළි සමයේ ඌරලුව මංසන්ධියේදී ඔහු ගමන්ගත් මෝටර් බයිසිකලය අනතුරකට ලක්‌වීමෙන් ඔලුවට සිදු වූ හානි හේතුවෙන් යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ නේවාසිකව ප්‍රතිකාර ගැනීමට ඔහුට සිදු විය.

 ඉන්පසුව යුද හමුදාව සුළු රාජකාරි සඳහා යොදවා ඇති මොහු සේවය කොට ඇත්තේ යුද හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශයේය.

 සිය උපන් ගම වූ නුවරඑළියේ වරින් වර ඔහු බුද්ධි අංශ රාජකාරියේ නිරත වී ඇත. 

 වසර විසි දෙකක හමුදා සේවාවෙන් පසුව විශ්‍රාම යැම සඳහා ඔහු විශ්‍රාම නිවාඩු (පෙන්ෂන් නිවාඩු) ලබාගත්තේ මීට දින කිහිපයකට පෙරදීය.

 ඉකුත් තුන්වැනිදා සවස ඔහු නුවරඑළිය වජිර පුරයේ සිය නිවසින් පිටව ගොස්‌ ඇත්තේ ගමේ පැවති දේශපාලන රැස්‌වීමකට ද සහභාගි වී අනතුරුව ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික හිතවතකුගේ අවමංගල්‍ය නිවසකට ද යැම සඳහාය.

 සියල්ලක්‌ අවසානයේ සිය මිතුරකු ද සමඟ ත්‍රීවීල් රථයකින් නිවස වෙත පිටත් වනවිට මැදියම් රාත්‍රිය ඉකුත් වී තිබුණි.

 තම නිවසට නුදුරු මාර්ගයේ මැදියම් රෑ කෑ ගසමින් සිටි පිරිසක්‌ අසල ත්‍රීවීල් රථය නතර වී ඇත.

 ඉන් පසුව ඇති වූ ආරවුලකින් පසුව මේ දෙදෙනාටම ත්‍රීවීල් රථය ද දමා දෙපැත්තකට දිවයැමට සිදු විය.

 පොලු, මුගුරු අතැතිව ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ පසුපස හඹා ආ ඔවුන් ඒවායින් ඔහුට ඉතාමත් අමානුෂික ලෙස වරින් වර පහර දුන්නේය.

 පහළොස්‌ දෙනකුට අධික පිරිසක්‌ ඔවුන් අතර විය. ඒ සියලු දෙනාම ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිකයෝ වෙති.

 මැදියම් රෑ අඳුරේ වුව ද මේ සියල්ලක්‌ ඒ අසල 

 පිහිටි ලැගුම් හලක සී. සී. ටී. වී. කැමරාවක සටහන් විය.

 මොහුට පහරදීමෙන් පසුව ත්‍රීවීල් රථය ද එම ස්‌ථානයේ දමා පහර දුන් පිරිස ඉවත්ව ගියහ.

පෙර වාසනා මහිමයකට දෝ ඔහුගේ බාල සොහොයුරු සංජය ලාල් ඩයස්‌ කිසියම් ගමනක්‌ ගොස්‌ මෝටර් රථයකින් නිවස වෙත ගමන් කරමින් සිටියදී ත්‍රීවීල් රථයක්‌ හා ඒ අසල වැටී සිටි පුද්ගලයකු දුටුවේය.

 මෝටර් රථයෙන් බැස බැලූ විට ඔහු දුටුවේ තම සොයුරා ලේ විලක්‌ මැද වැටී සිටින අයුරුය.

 ඒ සමඟම ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ සමඟින් ත්‍රීවීල් රථයේ පැමිණි මිතුරාද එම ස්‌ථානයට පැමිණ ඇත.

 වහා ලසන්ත නුවරඑළිය දිස්‌ත්‍රික්‌ මහ රෝහලට රැගෙන ගිය ඔවුන් මේ බව නුවරඑළිය පොලිසියට ද දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

 සී. සී. ටී. වී. කැමරා දර්ශන හා ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ සමඟින් සිටි මිතුරාගෙන් ලබාගත් තොරතුරු අනුව මේ වනවිට පොලිස්‌ අත්අඩංගුවට පත් ප්‍රධාන ගනයේ සැකකරුවන් හතර දෙනකු ලබන 19 දා දක්‌වා රිමාන්ඩ් සිර භාරයට පත්කොට ඇත.

 මීට සම්බන්ධ තවත් සැකකරුවන් පිරිසක්‌ සිටින අතර කිහිප දෙනකු තම පවුලේ උදවිය ද සමඟ නිවෙස්‌ හැරදමා සැඟවී සිටින බව නුවරඑළිය මූලස්‌ථාන පොලිස්‌ පරීක්‌ෂක චන්දන බස්‌නායක මහතා පැවසීය.

 ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ගේ බාල සොයුරු සංජය ලාල් ඩයස්‌ ‘දිවයින‘ට කියා සිටියේ මේ සිද්ධියට පෙර දෙවතාවක්‌ යම් යම් ද්‍රවිඩ පිරිස්‌ ‘ආමිකාරයා‘, ‘ආමිකාරය‘ කියමින් තම සොයුරාට පහරදී ඇති බවය.

 මෙය තුන්වැනි සිද්ධිය බවත් යුද හමුදා බුද්ධි අංශයේ සේවය කළ නිසා එයින් වෙනත් ගැටලුවක්‌ මතුවිය හැකි බවට ඇති වූ සැකය හේතුවෙන් තම සොහොයුරා ඒ සම්බන්ධව කිසිවකුට පැමිණිලි නොකළ බවත් සංජය ලාල් ඩයස්‌ කියා සිටියේය.

 මුහුණට ඔලුවට කොඳු පෙදෙසට හා දෙපාවලට දැඩි ලෙස පහර කෑමට ලක්‌වූ ලසන්ත ඩයස්‌ට තවමත් කතා කිරීමේ හැකියාවක්‌ නොමැත.

 ඩග්ලස්‌ නානායක්‌කාර – නුවරඑළිය විශේෂ

For 3 years’ people’s democratic voice was stifled by denying elections. The so called international community kept silent not insisting on elections being held. However, finally after an island wide local government election, the People have spoken – the silent majority have spoken and the Government is bound to now listen. Though the official election results are being controversially delayed unofficial results reveal that an Arab Spring model does not work in Sri Lanka. The people have clearly rejected the Government, the President & the Prime Minister.

No political party has been able to create such an island wide impact within less than 2 years of its birth. The Prime Ministers party has come second while the President’s party (not the one he contested from) has come a distant third. The defeat was not so much for the candidates of the defeated parties but a clear rejection of all that the leaders of the defeated parties were forcefully promoting in Sri Lanka sans the approval of the citizens.

After denying people three years of their right to vote people came out to say they had had enough of the lies, drama and treacheries taking place before their eyes.

While official election results are yet to be revealed President Rajapakse has issued a statement asking victors to enjoy the victory in a peaceful manner. We can recall the former President accepting defeat and leaving office even before the official results were revealed. It is unfortunate that the elections office are delaying declaring the final results and exposes the biased nature of that office & its head and necessitates calls for his removal.

From 2015 an unprecedented list of unbelievable changes had taken place leaving the people voiceless and democratically unable to voice their objection. Even the international community chose to shower awards on rogues.

Every shocking action and decision taken by the yahapalana government has been democratically rejected and the Government must now listen and the President is now bound to take necessary action to nullify and veto the constitutional changes being drafted secretly, the removal of Buddhism which has been and must remain the national identity of Sri Lanka, the attempts to permanently divide Sri Lanka by changing its unitary form to create a Kosovo and South Sudan and the sale of national assets to foreigners. People have said they do not want to have a government that has to ask West & India permission to govern Sri Lanka or take decisions after seeking their approval first!

Moreso, people were angered by the manner that the armed forces personnel & intelligence officers were hurled on bogus charges and placed behind bars with bail denied. The mental agony that they suffered culminated in the suicide of a mother-in-law whose last letter pleaded that her son-in-law served the nation patriotically and was no murderer. The manner the 3 naval ratings were released and their faces revealed their relief. These were moments that touched the hearts of many a citizen who were angered by the manner that the government was going after the men who sacrificed their lives to give us peace from terrorism. The event that took place in London where pro-LTTE supporters influenced the removal of the Military attache Brig. Priyankara Fernando would have largely influenced many voters too even Tamils.

The results are certainly a major setback and embarrassment to both the President & the Prime Minister who in all of their speeches at election platforms chose to not talk on policy or what they had delivered but adapt a very crude form of attack which by the results have revealed that the people are not only not impressed but have chosen not to be fooled by them. The leadership ability, capability & effectiveness of both the President & the PM are now seriously in question. It will be an eye opener to the foreign forces that brought them to power and they must already be conniving and conspiring on plan B.

Over 2000 public officials were brought before an illegally constituted corruption body, questioned and humiliated while the magnitude of corruptions by the people that came to power on the platform of bringing good governance was not only ignored but completely immune from prosecution. The bending of law & order, the interference of judicial decision making even had magistrate courts opened in late hours of the night and people sent to prison and kept in prison without bail. The cleaning of the Central Bank took away the cake with committee after committee being appointed to exonerate themselves but using the platform of the Parliament turning it into a circus to cry ‘kawda hora’ at others.

The people watched, waited and waited hoping for an election to voice their dismay. It came finally on 10^th February 2018. In many ways it was an apology by the people who had been taken for a ride and fooled and people had decided to put Country before their political party barring a handful who remained loyal to the party over the country.

The people had enough of lies fed to them on a daily basis undermining people’s intelligence with promises of starting factories like Volkswagen, propaganda using dead people became unacceptable, the people have rejected ETCA and the manner state enterprises are being doled out to India & the West while controversial figures are being strategically placed to put into effect promises and assurances given to LTTE diaspora from whom favors and perks have exchanged hands.

The results have clearly hailed the demise of the SLFP and exposed the JVP too.

For those that have been conspiring with the Government it was a message that clearly established that the Sinhalese are never for the division for the Island nation and that all citizens must live as ONE in this One Island. The results conveyed that any form of attempt to separate or divide the country would not be allowed.

The inefficiencies, lack of leadership, patriotism, nationalism largely contributed to an unprecedented show of citizens at a local government election to defeat all of the lies and drama of the present government.

The People have given a clear message to this government – You can fool some people for some time but you cannot fool all the people all the time. The only exclusion are those willing and proud to be fools!

It is ironically that days before the election the Prime Minister was chief guest at a new venture named ‘Drop Me’.

Shenali D Waduge

lanka C news

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාට අගමැති ධුරය බාරගන්නැයි ආරාධනා කල බවට පලවන වාර්තා සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප කල විමසීමකදී හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අතිශය සමීපතමයෙකු කියා සිටියේ මෙම මැතිවරණය පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයක් මිස පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අගමැතිවරයා තෝරන මැතිවරණයක් නොවන නිසා අගමැති ධුරය කිසිසේත්ම බාර නොගන්නා බවයි.

හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් කිසිසේත්ම පිං අගමැතිකම් බාර නොගනු ඇති බවත් ඔහු තහවුරු කලේය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් වහාම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ යෝජනා සම්මත කර පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැර පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයක් කැදවීමට ආණ්ඩුව වහා කටයුතු කල යුතු යයිද ඒ මහතා සදහන් කර ඇත.

නමුන් ආණ්ඩු විරෝධි ජනමතය ශ‍්‍රි ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණට ලැබී ඇති බැවින් වත්මන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ විපක්‍ෂ නායක ධුරය ඒකාබද්ද විපක්‍ෂයට ලබා දිය යුතුම බවත් එය බාර ගැනීමට සූදානම් බවත් ඔහු වැඩි දුරටත් කියා සිටියේය.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති  

මෙවර පලාත් පාලන මැතිවරණයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ අති විශිෂ්ඨ ජයග්‍රහණයක් ලබමින් සිටින බව නන් දෙසින් ලැබෙන පුවත් වලින් සනාථ වේ. අනේක විධි බාධා මැද මෙවන් සුවිශේෂී ජයග්‍රහණයක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණට ලබා දුන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සියළුම ඡන්ද දායකයින්ට මගේ ප්‍රණාමය පුදකර සිටිමි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විපාක්‍ෂික බලවේගය වන ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ඉතිහාසයේ අන් කවරදාකටත් වඩා ඉතාමත්ම දුෂ්කර හා පීඩාකාරී තත්වයන් යටතේ මේ ජයග්‍රහණය ලබාගෙන තිබේ.

පසුගිය වකවාණුවේ තමන් ආණ්ඩුව පැත්තෙන් කොතරම් පීඩනයකට, දඩයමකට ලක් වී සිටියත්, ජනතාව අපට ලබා දී ඇති මේ විශිෂ්ඨ ජයග්‍රහණ ඉතාමත්ම සාමකාමීව, සංවරයකින් යුතුව, පරාජිත පාර්ශව වලට අගෞරවයක් සිදුනොවන ආකාරයට භුක්ති විදින මෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ යටතේ තරඟ කළ සියලුම පාර්ශව වලින් මම සහෝදරත්වයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි. අප මේ රටේ ඡන්ද දායකයන්ට උපහාර දක්වන ප්‍රධානම විදිය එය බව කවුරුත් සිහිපත් කළ යුතු වේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවට ජයවේවා !

ඔබ සැමට තෙරුවන් සරණයි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති  

MEDIA RELEASE MahindaRajapaksa Former President of Sri Lanka

 Reports coming in from all corners of the island, indicate that the Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna is heading for a historic victory at the local government elections. I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the voting public of Sri Lanka who have reposed their trust in us, and made this victory possible. The opposition has been able to achieve this victory amidst unprecedented persecution and harassment.

Despite the personal harassment they may have had to face over the past three years, I earnestly request all those who contested under the Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna to celebrate this hard won victory peacefully and with restraint and in a manner that will not inconvenience the defeated side. Members of the SLPP should be mindful that such is the way we should show our appreciation to the voting public of Sri Lanka.

Victory to all Sri Lankans!

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be upon you.

MahindaRajapaksa

Former President of Sri Lanka