{"id":41596,"date":"2015-02-17T11:34:19","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T17:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=41596"},"modified":"2015-02-16T14:05:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T21:05:22","slug":"a-heart-to-heart-talk-with-president-maitripala-sirisena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/02\/17\/a-heart-to-heart-talk-with-president-maitripala-sirisena\/","title":{"rendered":"A heart to heart\u00a0 talk with \u00a0President Maitripala Sirisena,"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

You have said you do not like honorific\u00a0 references and would\u00a0 like to be called the President.<\/p>\n

Well I being much older to you, and taking advantage of your preference for non honorific address I have taken the privilege to\u00a0 address you as Maitripala\u00a0 without any disrespect to you.<\/p>\n

You may be a good man but I personally do not like the way you jumped the queue to obey the call of a set of failed politicians\u00a0 to sacrifice forty seven years of\u00a0 your dedicated attachment to Sri Lanka Freedom Party, to become their common Presidential candidate.\u00a0 Of course it would have been a very tempting proposition, but\u00a0 good people make greater sacrifices\u00a0 to\u00a0 keep their principles.<\/p>\n

Even from a Buddhist point of view what you did is not acceptable.\u00a0 However, now you are the President I congratulate you, even though your victory is a victory gained by the votes of Tamils and Muslims. I have nothing against it, but unfortunately their votes come with conditions like those of American and IMF Aid.\u00a0 That means Maitripala \u00a0with the trio Ranil, Chandrika, Champika\u00a0 and the NAC you are not a free man-a\u00a0 President free to do what you think is best for the country.\u00a0 You are a prisoner of the agreements you have signed and what those Tamils and Muslims who with their conditional votes expect of you.<\/p>\n

You know Maithripala, Mahinda was a visionary leader.\u00a0 He is a born patriot.\u00a0 He was not ambitious for himself but he was ambitious for the country.\u00a0 He knew which way to lead the country.\u00a0 The USA and the West Maitripala\u00a0 are not our friends.\u00a0 They are our friends to the extent to which we are ready to extend\u00a0 them the\u00a0 rights\u00a0 over our strategic position in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

But the West will never be friend to the extent\u00a0 to come to our help when we are in need of them if that would compromise their\u00a0 relationship with other countries. It happened in 1978 when India trespassed into our airspace to drop dry rations to terrorists under siege by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.\u00a0 America did not intervene and\u00a0 the result was the 13 the Amendment to our constitution and the occupation of the north by the Indian Peace Keeping Forces.<\/p>\n

Therefore do not have illusions about the USA and the West.\u00a0 Ranil will mislead you to believe that we should depend on the USA and the West rather than China and Russia. Ranil is looking at the problem from the UNP s\u2019capitalist point of view, which you have been opposed to for the last 47 years as a member of the SLFP.<\/p>\n

Maitripala you said when taking over the leadership of the SLFP, that you also owe a gratitude for the UNP for having made you win at the Presidential election.\u00a0 You are \u00a0now the\u00a0 President and as such you haven\u2019t got to show gratitude to UNP .\u00a0 It is the UNP that will have to show their gratitude to you.<\/p>\n

Because UNP was a party in disarray without any hope of an election victory, rejected 29 times by the people, and today due to your\u00a0 foolishness they have formed a government with the only objective of bringing allegations of corruption against Mahinda , his family and\u00a0 persons closely or distantly connected to him, so that the most popular political leader who was a stumbling block \u00a0against their wining at an election\u00a0 one day to form a government of their own.<\/p>\n

Foolishness I said because Ranil, Chandrika\u00a0 and Champika\u00a0 made of you a pawn to have their own way praising you and paying you excessive respect trying to make of you a gullible fool<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Champika wrote your election manifesto, in that manifesto how much of \u00a0it is your own political philosophy.\u00a0 Why did you allow Ranil to take Mangala Samaraweera in to his cabinet ?\u00a0\u00a0 He is a man with so much of hatred towards \u00a0Mahinda.\u00a0 He will do everything opposed to what Mahinda the great visionary leader did to bring Sri Lanka forward in a formidable path of progress. You who had\u00a0 through out your political life opposed the UNP, are today\u00a0 doing only what they want you to do.<\/p>\n

Maitripala, you know you did wrong\u00a0 entering into a secret pact with Chandrika, Ranil , Rajitha and Champika\u00a0 behind the back of the SLFP and its leader Mahinda.\u00a0 But you are making that worse by conniving with the UNP to force allegations against Mahainda , his brother and family.\u00a0\u00a0 You should at least now try to be a good president not vindictive but honest , compassionate and righteous.\u00a0 But your recent\u00a0 pronouncements make you a distasteful person, and the people who voted for you- that is those Sinhala Buddhists are already getting disillusioned.<\/p>\n

If you allow Ranil and his UNP Ministers have their way , Sri Lanka will plunge into unretrievable chaos.\u00a0 Already you see signs of it.\u00a0 Please open your eyes Maitripala and see for your self what the TNA is doing in the North. See the Muslim Ministers who are already starting Muslim settlements.\u00a0 Have a good look at \u00a0the budget presented by Ravi Karunanayake .\u00a0 It is a farce \u00a0to make people lull into a sense of satisfaction while Sri Lanka is slowly turning\u00a0 away from its real friends, from progress to regression falling into the hands of\u00a0 reactionary forces.<\/p>\n

From the beginning you made mistakes blindly following\u00a0 the plan presented to you by Chandrika, Ranil, and Champika.\u00a0 The first error was your\u00a0 announcement that you were going to make Ranil the Prime Minister.\u00a0 That was against the Constitution.\u00a0 Further more when you were elected on the 9th January, there was already \u00a0a Prime Minister, Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne and his Cabinet of Ministers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

If you did not want to work with the Prime Minister D.M.jayaratne and his Cabinet the best thing you could have done respecting the Constitution\u00a0 was to dissolve the Parliament and call for general elections.\u00a0 Instead the trio from the hades_ Ranil, Chandrika and Champika presented you with a 100 day programme.\u00a0 You blindly accepted without asking a question and did every thing against the Constitution, and against democracy.<\/p>\n

Have you reflected\u00a0 on what you had been doing since 9th<\/sup> January,2015 ?<\/p>\n

You are not with friends Maitripala .\u00a0 They will be friends to day; but \u00a0you will not know what they will be tomorrow.\u00a0 Mangala Samaraweera was a one time friend of Mahinda\u00a0 and so was Champika but they are his sworn enemies today.\u00a0 Maitripala to what extent can you count on them.<\/p>\n

Nimal Siripala de Silava believes that he will be the Prime Minister after the April elections, but I am sure there is already a plan to make Ranil the Prime Minister even if the UNP is defeated at the election.\u00a0 Ranil is already saying that he wants the whole Parliament to be his government.<\/p>\n

You too speak of a national government after the election.\u00a0 All that is according to a plan and if\u00a0 the SLFP were to win with a majority, in the National Government you propose you will appoint Ranil as the Prime Minister.\u00a0 You have already breached the Constitution twice and taken undemocratic decision. First to appoint Ranil as the Prime Mi,nister when there is already Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne in place, and secondly when you re-instated the impeached Chief Justice, and sacked the Chief Justice Mohan Pieris.<\/p>\n

In reality Maitripala we have\u00a0 two Prime Ministers \u2013Ranil who does not exist as a Prime Minister in terms of the Constitution and appointed undemocratically as such by you, and\u00a0 the other\u00a0 who exists under the Constitution and appointed democratically. It is the same with the Chief Justice one who has not been impeached and still remains the Chief Justice, and the\u00a0 other appointed by you.<\/p>\n

What a mess Maitripala ?\u00a0 When are you going to take stock of the situation and speak up and say no to Ranil, Chandrika and Champika and disband the unconstitutional NAC ?<\/p>\n

You have to do that before things get worse..\u00a0 Now that you have been accepted back into the fold of the SLFP you should form a SLFP Government, and follow Mahinda Chintanaya. It is the best way out for Sri Lanka. You should appoint Mahinda as your Prime Minister.\u00a0 I am sure Mahinda\u00a0 did not humiliate you in the Presence of the representatives of the CTC.\u00a0 Mahinda always had a plan behind what ever he did and I am sure he was not\u00a0 humiliating you as you pretended he did.<\/p>\n

Mahinda saw through the hypocrisy of USA and the West and was able to stand up to them and say no when necessary.\u00a0 Mitripala we had been subjugated by the Westas an ancient colony.\u00a0 We had to struggle to free ourselves from the subjugation of the West.\u00a0\u00a0 They were never our friends.\u00a0\u00a0 Our friends are the Nations of Asia, Middle East and Africa.\u00a0 China is one of our great friends , so are Japan,\u00a0 Russia, Vietnam, and Burma etc., Therefore Maitripala we have to remain in our Asian \u00a0orbit. USA thinks it can always dictate terms to us despite the fact that USA remains the country responsible for more war crimes and violation of human rights of other nations.\u00a0 Therefore, we have to keep our distance from them without breaking away completely from them.<\/p>\n

India cannot be counted as our best friend despite her being our next door neighbour.\u00a0 India has her own agenda .\u00a0 We should not let India \u00a0interfere into our internal affairs.\u00a0 Implementing or discarding the 13 Amendment is our business and we should not allow India to have a say in it.<\/p>\n

Maitripala, please ask yourself why all these people Chandeika, Ranil and Champika want you to give up\u00a0 executive powers you have.\u00a0 You should make a reappraisal of the situation and judge for yourself whether its advisable that you give up your executive powers as long as the problems with the Tamils have not been solved.<\/p>\n

Once you have given up your executive powers, they- Ranil, Chandrika, Champika and the NAC will be the masters.\u00a0 On top of that if they pass the 19 Amendment, they can even bring a motion of no confidence against you and remove you with a two third majority vote.\u00a0 What a pathetic situation that would be ?\u00a0 They are quite capable of doing that as they are taking orders from USA and the West.<\/p>\n

Maitripala, have you asked yourself why Mangala went to USA and met\u00a0 the Secretary of State and other Officials and then met Ban ki Moon of the UN to request that the Special report on War crimes in Sri Lanka should not be presented on the 25th<\/sup> March this year as scheduled but later in August ?\u00a0 Do they tell you every thing or do they do things behind your back keeping you ignorant of what is going on behind the scene. ?\u00a0 Do not forget that it is UNP against the SLFP in the new set up.<\/p>\n

Maitripala,\u00a0 some thing that is evident under yahapalanaya you have\u00a0 initiated\u00a0 has benefited the Tamils; even the Budget of the UNP Minister\u00a0 is a budget to make life easier for the Tamils.\u00a0 The Tamils in the North have been given mores facilities and every body can now go to the North.\u00a0 Even Mcrae of the UKChannel 4is in North of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 Former terrorists who escaped to Europe can now come\u00a0 and even organise\u00a0 former terrorist groups.\u00a0 Omanthai check point has been removed. Chief\u00a0 Minister has moved a resolution calling for investigation of genocide against Tamils since independence.\u00a0 Muslims are also organising themselves\u00a0 soon they may claim the East of Sri Lanka for themselves.<\/p>\n

Christian Ministers of\u00a0 Ranil are raiding even Buddhist Meditation Centres. Sinhala Buddhists are being discriminated \u00a0\u00a0and their concerns come after those of Tamils and Muslims.\u00a0 Maitripala you are a Sinhala Buddhist, don\u2019t you think that you should pay more attention to them-the Sinhala Buddhists ?<\/p>\n

Your friend Champika is trying to split Buddhists vote they say by JHU contesting at the coming elections on its own.<\/p>\n

Sajith Premadasa was speaking about a marriage between you and Ranil, he said, \u00a0Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s UNP and President Maithripala Sirisena\u2019s SLFP had entered into an unbreakable marriage. “We have no intention of divorcing.” Of course Maitripala the UNP would not like a divorce , because this is the only chance \u00a0they have to be in a government as Ministers.<\/p>\n

They do not see or pretend to see that the Ranil Wickramasinghe\u2019s government is illegal\u00a0 not being Constitutional.\u00a0 Ranil does not command the confidence of the majority in\u00a0 the Parliament.\u00a0 The legal,\u00a0 therefore the Constitutional Government is that of the SLFP\u00a0 Prime Minister D.M.Jayaratne.\u00a0 If they decide to go to courts and if the judges are not influenced by you and Ranil, the Courts may declare Ranil\u2019s premiership and his cabinet of Ministers are null and void.<\/p>\n

You see Maitripala the situation is precarious, with your talk about a unitary government and Ranil\u2019s declared wish that he wants the whole Parliament to be a one whole government.\u00a0 There is the intention for him to continue to be the Prime Minister of this united government without an opposition. And Nimal Siripala de Silva too \u00a0hopes to be the Prime Minister\u00a0 after the April elections. It will be a great disappointment for him if Ranil continues to be the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Nimal Siripala has so much of hope of being elected by you as the Prime Minister\u00a0 after the April elections if the SLFP wins,\u00a0 to the extent that \u00a0he seems to oppose the idea of some political parties of the UPFA proposing to bring in Mahinda as the next Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

I wander what you really think of that latter situation.<\/p>\n

Maitripala I did not like what you said in Polonnaruw about what would have happened to you if you had lost at the election.\u00a0 You said you would have ended up in a grave somewhere, and they had plans for your children as well. That was really mean of you to have said that.\u00a0 Because you know having been with Mahinda for such a long time that he is not a vindictive person, \u00a0as much as he is not corrupt.\u00a0 Ravi Karunanayake and Mangala Samaraweera are making it their lives ambition to prove that Mahinda is corrupt , but they have failed to do so so far, and they will not succeed because Mahinda is not corrupt, as much as Gotabhaya.<\/p>\n

I think I will end this conversation for now.\u00a0 I have told you some home truths and it is for you to think over all that and change your attitude towards Mahinda. It is a quality of a good leader to know his friends.\u00a0 You may think that you owe them\u00a0 gratitude , but for them you were the means to have got what they would have never got in \u00a0an election.<\/p>\n

Maitripala you may have heard about that story about the snake which wanted to meditate.\u00a0 He went to a meditation teacher and asked him how to meditate.\u00a0 The teacher said go to a quiet place where you will not be disturbed and lie quietly.\u00a0 The snake did like wise.\u00a0 In the meantime there was a woman collecting\u00a0 firewood\u00a0 around \u00a0the place where the snake had decided to stretch himself and meditate.<\/p>\n

The woman after having collected firewood was looking for some thing with which to tie the bundle of firewood.\u00a0 Looking around she saw what she thought was a long bark, and picking it up she tied the bundle of firewood and took it home .Having arrived at home she untied the bark and threw it away and took the firewood inside.\u00a0 The bark with which the woman had tied the bundle of firewood was unfortunately the meditating snake. The poor snake was bruised and twisted and in great pain.\u00a0 He dragged himself painfully to see the\u00a0 meditation teacher.\u00a0 When the teacher heard the story he was very sorry and told the Snake that he should have raised his head and shooed to show that he was a snake.<\/p>\n

Therefore Maitripala with all this talk about removing the executive powers of the President and proposals by the JVP; JHU , UNP to curtail \u00a0your executive powers, it is time you raise your head and show of what metal you are made, and keep your executive powers by all means and take the reins of governance into your own hands.<\/p>\n

It is enough with the witch hunt?\u00a0 Get your Ministers to stop talking\u00a0 and stop the ignoble hunt for instances of corruption\u00a0 and start to do some beneficial work and stop terrorism from raising its head again, and above all stop the TNA and the Tamil Politicians of the north \u00a0begin their dastardly work\u00a0 of separatism.<\/p>\n

Good luck Maitripala,<\/p>\n

theruwan saranai as Mahinda would have said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera You have said you do not like honorific\u00a0 references and would\u00a0 like to be called the President. Well I being much older to you, and taking advantage of your preference for non honorific address I have taken the privilege to\u00a0 address you as Maitripala\u00a0 without any disrespect to you. You may be a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41596","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=41596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}