{"id":104595,"date":"2020-07-17T17:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T00:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=104595"},"modified":"2020-07-17T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-18T00:01:26","slug":"the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/07\/17\/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The SLPP has called off  its scheduled  propaganda\nrallies for the time being in view of the rising threat of a second wave of the\nCovid-19 pandemic. Its national organizer Basil Rajapaksa has instructed all\nparty organizers to abide by this decision. This must have been a difficult\ndecision to take in a context where the strategically scattered yahapalanites\nare trying to hoodwink the electorate to elect them back to parliament (I say\n\u2018strategically scattered\u2019 because they are probably planning to gather into one\ncamp once again after the election). At a recent election gathering, Ranil\nWickremasinghe expressed his unconvincing disinclination at repeating the\nyahapalana experience by partnering with (presumably) Sirisena\u2019s SLFP \n(curiously though the latter has got Pohottuwa nomination). This was probably a\nFreudian slip on Wickremasinghe\u2019s part: it could be an unconscious giveaway\nabout at least two contrary things occupying his thoughts: his feeling of guilt\nabout having formed and led a dysfunctional coalition government with a\nfragment of the SLFP that spelt disaster to the country, and on the other hand,\nsecret hopes of leading a grand post-election alliance with his former\npartners, now fighting the election severally, against the SLPP, either as the\nopposition, or the government (This, of course, is just a gut feeling of mine).\nNo doubt, the seasoned politicians of the Sri Lanka Freedom Podujana Alliance\n(SLFPA) led by the SLPP have more than an inkling of the survival instincts of\nthe former yahapalanites.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is bound to be an evenly matched contest in the minds of the\nSLPP leaders between the conflicting demands of their understandable\npreoccupation with an indispensable two thirds majority at the election and\ntheir genuine commitment to beating the Corona epidemic; the outcome of the\nmental dilemma  stands doubtful  \u2018As two spent swimmers that do cling\ntogether – And choke their art\u2019 (that is, both the exhausted swimmers get\ndrowned by clinging together, as the Sergeant in the Shakespeare play \u2018Macbeth\u2019\ninforms Malcolm, bringing the latest news from the battlefront where the armies\nof Scotland and Norway are engaged in mortal combat). However, finally, anxiety\nover potentially rampant spread of Covid-19 seems to have trumped concern with\nthe hoped for result of the election in the government camp. No other\nelectioneering party or faction has announced such a suspension of mass\ncampaign rallies for fear of spreading the virus infection yet (July 16) as far\nas I can gather from internet sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition\u2019s approach seems to be the opposite of this.\nApparently, they are not concerned with anything but regaining power to deliver\nthe coup de grace to the unitary state as required by their foreign masters.\nSJB leader Sajith Premadasa and JVP\u2019s Vijitha Herath have both vowed to\ncontinue holding their propaganda rallies, while hypocritically blaming the\ngovernment for its alleged failure to deal properly with the pandemic from the\nvery beginning and for its alleged haste to go ahead with the election for\nsecuring a two thirds majority even at the cost of lives lost to the corona\nvirus. The UNP too seems determined to follow suit. Its leader acknowledges\nthat the government\u2019s management of the pandemic has been effective so far, but\nfinds fault with it for ignoring his call to increase testing. But it seems the\ngovernment appointed task force started doing that well before the idea\noccurred to the former yahapalana pm. He challenged the minister of health to\naccount for the Covid funds he alleged the government had got from \u2018friendly\u2019\nforeign countries like those of the European Union (no hint of a prick of\nconscience about the Central Bank bond scandals during his guard). The minister\nanswered him \u2018by return of post\u2019, as it were, in her characteristic trenchant\nstyle. Wickremasinghe charges that the government is trying to exploit its\ninitial success in its Covid-19 operation for hastening the holding of\nelections and for pursuing its two thirds majority bid.  The opposition\u2019s\ntactless, politics driven targeting of the government over its handling of the\nemergency caused by the totally unforeseen global pandemic cannot be to the\nliking of the ordinary people, who are actually appreciative of the effective\nleadership provided by the new president and prime minister pair of brothers\nand the selfless dedication of the health and military and intelligence\npersonnel working under their unobtrusive but effective direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spokesmen for the health and security services tasked with the management\nof the pandemic emergency (Director General of Health Services medical\nspecialist Dr Anil Jasinghe and Chief of Defence Staff & Commander of the\nArmy Lt Gen Shavendra Silva, respectively) have expressed confidence that it is\nstill under control, and assure the public that there is no need to panic.\nAccording to the Covid-19 Situation Report of the government for July 16, 2020\nby noon,  the total number of cases stood at 2674, of which 656 were\nactive cases. At the Kandakadu and Senapura Treatment and Rehabilitation\ncentres for drug addicts, 533 inmates had tested positive the previous day. But\nthe Kandakadu cluster is being successfully contained, according to the\nauthorities. The infected health personnel are from various places across the\nisland such as Maravila, Rajangane, Ratnapura, and Kundasale. The DGHS said\nthat contact tracing has found over a thousand persons potentially exposed to\ninfection as the health workers involved have used public transport to commute\nbetween their hometowns and the workplaces; all these have been directed to\nself quarantine. Though there was a danger of community transmission of the\ndisease due to this, the strict observance of the health guidelines including\nwearing protective face masks, avoiding physical touch during greeting,\nmaintaining constant hand hygiene, and keeping proper social distance in\ncrowded places will minimise this risk. Lt Gen Shavendra stated that\nintelligence personnel have been deployed across the country to immediately\nrespond to emerging cases if any, round the clock. Dr Jasinghe expressed his\nopinion that the election could go ahead as scheduled provided the stringent\nhealth requirements laid down are met.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya is still head of the\nConstitutional Council. He has urged the government to gazette the health\nguidelines issued by the DGHS in order that they become legal; he believes this\nwill enable the public officials and law enforcement authorities to impose\ncompliance among the public for containing the possible rapid spread of the\npandemic. Mahinda Deshapriya, the chairman of the Election Commission, also\njoined him in making this call. The prejudicial, idiosyncratic behaviours of\nsome members of both these institutions have gravely compromised the independence\nof those statutory bodies and rendered the genuineness of their intentions\nhighly suspect. EC member Ratnajeewan Hoole didn\u2019t want the dysfunctional\nyahapalana parliament to be dissolved making way for elections to be held. He\nwas later reliably reported to have advised  Tamil voters in his hometown\nJaffna not to vote for the SLPP. At a recent NGO event, attorney at law Javed\nYusuf, one of the three civil society members in the CC, took the liberty to\nmake the entirely reprehensible partisan comment that, had it not been for the\ntimely intervention of the EC, the present government would have gone ahead\nwith the general election, originally slated for April 25, despite the deadly\ncoronavirus threat. All these people are balking at the emergence of an\nopportunity for the lawful assertion by the Sri Lankan people of their\ndemocratic right to escape from the evil legacy of the yahapalana\nnightmare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For such an opportunity to emerge, it will be necessary for the\nSLFPA to get a two thirds majority at the forthcoming election. That will be in\norder to abolish the ill conceived 19A, in terms of which, by the way, the EC\nwas created. 19A is responsible for having allowed the dysfunctional yahapalana\ngovernment to complete at least the first four and a half years of its full\nfive year term despite strong public disaffection with its performance, landing\nthe whole country in the present misery that is being deepened by the effects\nof the Covid-19 global pandemic and the overhanging Sword of Damocles of the\nsecretly introduced MCC Compact. Javed Yusuf made his questionable statement at\nan event organized by the new civil society grouping called \u2018Freedom: People\u2019s\nCollective\u2019 in the New Town Hall premises in Colombo, as reported in The Island\nof July 15, 2020 (\u2018Fresh civil society project: \u2018Forward. Not Backward\u2019\nlaunched ahead of Aug 2020 polls\u2019\/Shamindra Ferdinando). Mangala Samaraweera,\nwho has left the SJB, sat in the first row of seats, while M.A. Sumanthiran was\non the stage with others. But Shamindra says Mangala Samaraweera is fully\ncommitted to the this latest project. The new outfit is determined to thwart\nthe Gotabaya-led  incumbent government\u2019s attempt to win a two thirds\nmajority at the August 5 polls with a view to abolishing the 19A. Among the backers\nof the new cabalistic clique are Sinhala professor Sarath Wijesuriya of the\nNational Movement for Justice, Gamini Viyangoda of Purawesi Balaya, and others\nlike them. Why spend our precious time and this paper\u2019s valuable space by\nwriting more about these individuals, when I can  easily and aptly quote\nShamindra\u2019s concluding sentence: Their call to place Defence and Law and\nOrder, under Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, after him having accused his own\nArmy of killing thousands of Tamils, seemed as ridiculous as the TNA voting for\nthe war-winning Army Chief at the 2010 presidential poll. Politics and NGOs, in\nthis country, are obviously dabbled in by many an opportunist and scoundrel.\nThe forthcoming parliamentary poll is no exception\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SLPP-led SLFPA is set to win the coming election. But the\nforces that engineered the unwanted regime change of 2015 and squashed the\nburgeoning hopes of the Sri Lankan people just freed from the separatist\nterrorism of thirty years seem to be conspiring again to frustrate their\ndemocratic efforts to restore normalcy; for them the global pandemic is a\ngodsend. May the people be wise to their dissimulations this time and vote in\nthose who are committed to the real national interest. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island The SLPP has called off  its scheduled  propaganda rallies for the time being in view of the rising threat of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Its national organizer Basil Rajapaksa has instructed all party organizers to abide by this decision. This must have been a difficult […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}