{"id":118209,"date":"2021-09-16T16:31:15","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T23:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=118209"},"modified":"2021-09-16T16:31:15","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T23:31:15","slug":"your-excellency-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-please-let-this-be-a-turning-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/16\/your-excellency-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-please-let-this-be-a-turning-point\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Excellency President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, please let this be a turning point!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

When\nI pen these words, average Sri Lankans are still sleeping. I am ahead of them\nand awake. That is because of the time zone difference between where I live and\nSri Lanka, my country of birth. As usual, as the first thing I do in the\nmorning, particularly these days, I glanced at the headlines in The Island\nepaper, and was depressed to read the banner headline Ratwatte remains a state\nminister despite resignation over running amok in prisons\u201d,  with the\nfollowing underneath it: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

State\nMinister of Prison Reform and Rehabilitation Lohan Ratwatte yesterday told The\nIsland<\/em> that he had informed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa that he would step\ndown immediately from his post as the State Minister of Prisons. However, he\nwill continue to be the State Minister of Gem and Jewellery Industries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having\nearlier read and heard over the media about Lohan Ratwatte\u2019s alleged escapades\nin prisons on Sunday (12) night, I have been eagerly waiting to read a\nnewspaper headline like Deputy minister remanded; a good start to meeting\nchallenge to rule of law\u201d, for I expect nothing less from President Gotabaya\nRajapaksa. As a disciplined and determined executive with a military\nbackground, he, I assume, tries to handle the toughest cases with the strictest\nadherence to the law. He appears to rely on the ministers and the government\nservants serving  under him to follow his perfectly lawful commands in a\nspirit of military discipline, mutatis mutandis, in the context of civil\ngovernment. Whatever the likely or actual response to the extremely\nembarrassing deputy-ministerial episode (not the first involving LR), it should\nbe of a kind that contributes to  a restoration of the fast eroding public\nfaith in the hoped-for Gotabaya rule. The Island editorial today (16) under the\narresting heading Arrest them\u201d offers sound advice. I drew some solace from\nthat. For I realised that there is at least another person of a like mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nwas even more shocked and disappointed by Commissioner of Prisons Thushara\nUpuldeniya\u2019s attempted absolution of the deputy minister. According to the\nonline Lanka C News (September 16), the Commissioner has said that the minister\nvisited the prison to discuss about pardoning some prisoners and that the\nminister has the right to visit the prison to discuss with the inmates at any\ntime of the day. The Commissioner might be technically right, but I am doubtful\nabout the lawfulness of what the minister has done, especially in his alleged\ninebriated state. Upuldeniya was handpicked by the President for the extremely\ndemanding job. His coming to the defence of LR was a bolt from the blue to the\ninnocent peace loving law abiding citizens of the country who have been for\ndecades persecuted by the persistent menace posed by the unholy alliance\nbetween criminals and some jailors and a handful of politicos providing\ntogether an impregnable bulwark for the first. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However,\nsince the case hasn\u2019t yet been verified or investigated, we don\u2019t know for sure\nwhether the deputy minister is guilty of going berserk under the influence of\nliquor as alleged. As a person embroiled in politics, he could be a victim of\nsome calumnious effort of his detractors, and we must be cautious in passing\njudgement on him. But again, as he, who has a previous thuggish reputation, has\nvirtually accepted guilt in this case by tendering his resignation, citizens\nare justified if they expect, as I do, a tougher reaction from the President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthis moment we should anticipate a presidential response different from the\nmild rebuke Anthimai!\u201d (equivalent of a sarcastic Great!\u201d) that the then\npresident Mahinda Rajapaksa greeted the hospitalized labour minister Mervin\nSilva with, on December 27, 2007. (I eagerly hope that President\u2019s deterrent\nreaction would be known before this reaches The Island readers.) The latter was\nadmitted to hospital  after being given a taste of his own medicine\nfollowing a rowdy interference he committed with the work of a news editor by\nthe name of T.M.G. Chandrasekera at the state-owned Rupavahini TV station over\nnot giving enough coverage as he alleged to a public event that he had\norganized in Matara the day before. Though very close to MR, he was not an\nelected MP; he was only a national list MP from the SLFP that MR led. In any\ncase, it was inexcusable that he conducted himself the way he did, for what he\ndid was bound to reflect badly on the president himself. The other employees of\nthe TV station, angered by the uncouth highhanded behaviour of Mervin Silva,\nforced him and his notorious sidekick, suspected drug trafficker Kudu Nuwan or\nLal or someone (I am not too sure about these trivial details now) to a room\nand held them there, handling them roughly. Mervin Silva was heard pleading :\nI will tender an apology if you say I have done wrong\u201d. He had. The workers\nwere providing manual proof as best they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mervin\nSilva was beaten up right royally, and bundled into his prestigious ministerial\nPajero and was briskly driven away to hospital safety. The state Rupavahini\ntelecast the proceedings live for the whole world to see in repeated \u2018news\nflashes\u2019 most of the day that day, as my older readers might clearly remember.\nIt was a sort of news carnival for the wrathful Rupavahini broadcasters and for\nthe scandalized viewers. While watching the scenario live, I convinced myself\nthat president Mahinda Rajapaksa would kick his you-know-what-I-mean within the\nhour, or at least after his discharge from hospital. To my great disgust and\ndisappointment, nothing like that happened. The fellow flourished for another\neight years under MR\u2019s wing until he betrayed him utterly in 2015. Lately, he\nseemed to try to cozy up to the boss he so treacherously let down; but MR\u2019s\nbrothers have saved him from his erstwhile unequal friend Mervin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\npersonally believe that we are not going to be so wretched under President\nGotabaya Rajapaksa during the remainder of his term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala When I pen these words, average Sri Lankans are still sleeping. I am ahead of them and awake. That is because of the time zone difference between where I live and Sri Lanka, my country of birth. As usual, as the first thing I do in the morning, particularly these days, […]<\/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-118209","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\/118209","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=118209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}