{"id":94547,"date":"2019-10-30T18:33:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T01:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=94547"},"modified":"2019-10-30T18:37:54","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T01:37:54","slug":"yahapalana-as-a-puppet-regime-part-14b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/30\/yahapalana-as-a-puppet-regime-part-14b\/","title":{"rendered":"YAHAPALANA AS A PUPPET REGIME Part 14(B)"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Yahapalana\ntried various tactics to rouse the population. Police were encouraged to be\naggressive. Here is one instance shown on television news in April 2018. At\nEppawela, the whole village turned out to object to the return of the\nViharadhipati of Nallamudawa Sri Sailabimbarama Raja Maha vihara, because he\nhad misbehaved. Police arrived and started hitting villagers with poles.\nTelevision cameras showed women battling with the police. Seven persons\nincluding women were arrested. The OIC of Eppawela police station was shown on\ncamera, emerging with a pole and hitting a woman. He was later suspended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately for Yahapalana the public reacted with the aggressiveness of their own. In December 2018, angry residents of Gomadiya surrounded the Katuwana police station accusing the police of assaulting and killing a man.\u00a0 The police had gone to his house, pulled him out and assaulted him, asking for information about an illicit liquor den. A thousand or so villagers went to the police station that night, shouted at the police and threw stones. The STF rushed in and brought them under control with tear gas and baton charge. This was shown on television news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the Easter Sunday bomb blast did not create the shock reaction that the USA expected. The USA forgot that this was not the first bomb blast for Sri Lanka.\u00a0 It was the worst certainly, but not the first. Instead of getting rattled and losing its head, as the USA expected, Sri Lanka simply became more furious and even more determined to get Yahapalana out. Parents were told to come to school to protect their children from future bombs. They were indignant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The intelligentsia looked at the bomb blasts\nfrom the legal angle. They wanted to know who was to blame. They were so angry\nthat Yahapalana had no alternative but to set up commissions of inquiry. Facts\nemerged and the public pounced on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attorney General told the Colombo High Court\nthat the State Intelligence Service had submitted 347 reports on Zahran Hashim\nand National Thowheed Jama\u2019ath  to IGP\nPujitha Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando from\n2016  onwards.  Deputy Solicitor General told the court that\n131 of the reports on Zahran Hashim and the NTJ were directed to the IGP while\n97 of them were submitted to the former Defence Secretary. In September 2019,\nthe public demanded that the IGP and Defense Secretary be arrested. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is great rejoicing,\u00a0 today, about the \u2018Failed coup\u2019 of October 2018. If Mahinda Rajapaksa had continued at Prime Minister after October 2018, the Easter Sunday Bomb explosions would not have been allowed to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three groups feature\nprominently in Yahapalana rule, they are the \u2018civil society\u2019, the \u2018Yahapalana killer\nbreed\u2019 and the Maha Sangha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called \u2018civil society\u2019  has been given a less dignified label, by the Sangha,\nwho call them  \u2018NGO karayas\u2019. The NGO\ncommunity\/civil society played a significant role in the Yahapalana   government\u2019s overall strategy said A.J.M. Mussamil, former Mayor of Colombo.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chandraprema observed that the blood-thirstiest and most vindictive calls to put the Rajapaksas behind bars by any means possible came from the so-called members of \u2018civil society\u2019 \u00a0and so-called liberal intellectuals associated with the Yahapalana project through foreign-funded NGOs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This so-called \u2018civil society\u2019 has now come out into the open. Civil society organizations were present at JVP 2019 Presidential nomination ceremony at Galle Face, Colombo. \u2018\u201d Those on the platform included left-wing progressive political parties and civil society organizations,\u2019 reported the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2019, the Civil Society and Trade Unions Collective including over fifty trade unions and civic action groups from across the country met at a convention in Colombo and pledged to support the\u00a0 2019 presidential candidacy of Sajith Premadasa. A slew of pro-democracy civil society organizations declared their support for UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa at the forthcoming presidential elections reported the\u00a0 media.\u201d Gamini Viyangoda said, We are civil society organizations, unconnected to the UNP, but we find freedom through the UNP camp.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to \u2018civil society\u2019 , the nation is now waking up to the fact that there is a particular segment of society that is promoting the \u00a0US occupation of Sri Lanka.\u00a0\u00a0 There was a cartoon in the newspapers, of the island of Sri Lanka carved into three pieces, each held by India, USA, and China. The cartoon showed Ranil Wickremesinghe and President\u00a0 Sirisena standing by and laughing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country has now divided into those who wish to protect the country and those who wish to cut it into bits, said, critics. \u00a0The elitist Colombo still thinks that the world is dominated by the west and is happy to be servile and subservient to these powers. They do not believe in the capability for the native sons of the soil, said, critics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pro-Yahapalana group comes from a certain social class, critics observed.\u00a0 They are sleek, good looking and well-fed. They are smooth-talking. Nothing fazes them. They do not hesitate to commit white-collar crimes. These white-collar crimes were well known in mercantile circles but became known to the general public only with the Bond scam. \u2018Maha bankuwe horakama kele tie dala ingirisien kathakarana aya\u2019 said the public. The bond probe has shown us that the rich don’t steal bread. They raid the bakery, added others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This group can be described as a killer breed. They are insensitive to suffering. They do not mind if the farmers starve or commit suicide. They were openly indifferent to the Easter Sunday Bomb blasts. People were shocked at their \u2018grinning behavior\u2018on television. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana government has led to the political mobilization of the Maha Sangha in a manner never seen before. The last time the Sangha tried to influence events was in 1956. The Bhikkhu Peramuna of 1956 was ridiculed, especially by the confident non\u2013Buddhist elite of the time. In 2019, it is different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The Maha Sangha have emerged as articulate and\nfearless opponents of Yahapalana. It is difficult to push them aside. They are\ncitizens of Sri Lanka and are entitled to all rights of citizens. This includes\nthe right to vote. That is an inalienable right. The right to vote carries with\nit the right to participate in politics as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent gathering of the Maha Sangha was a special meeting of the Samastha Lanka Sasana Sangha samuluwa in Kelaniya on October 22, 2019. Television camera showed rows and rows of saffron-clad bhikkhus, looking, as usual, very grim. Kelaniya Vice-Chancellor Ven. Induragare Dhammarathana had arranged the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0He said that this was a very crucial election. Think of it as a multiple-choice question, where you have to tick off the best answer. The best answer is not Ranil Wickremesinghe or Sajith Premadasa. It is Gota. Medagoda Abeyatissa said that the bhikkhus had a historical right to involve themselves in politics. \u00a0I have shown that they have a modern right to do so as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana’s rule was intended to crush the public. Instead, it has acted as a wakeup call. It is\u00a0 Sri Lanka\u2019s first wake up call. \u00a0Until now, Sri Lanka\u00a0 was \u00a0dozing. The country needed this shakeup. The people needed this shakeup,\u201d said Chandraprema. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The jarringly woken up public is now in a\u00a0 hurry. They want, among other things, \u00a0national policies for everything. Foreign policy,\u00a0\u00a0 economy, trade, trade agreements, professional services, foreign ownership, the lot. They are now objecting to political interference in state administration as well. This is most unusual. Until now, no one objected to political interference, because everybody secretly hoped to make use of this loophole to advance themselves or their family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lanka\nAdministrative Service Association staged a two-day sick note campaign in\nSeptember 2019, demanding, inter alia, an end to political interference in\ntheir official work. They want the strict implementation of established\ncriteria on recruitment, transfers and promotions. Recruitment, transfers and\npromotions should be done based on established criteria and not because\nsomeone is known to this or that minister, they said. This is some\n\u2018Wake up call\u2019, commented analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana rule has also led to strong resistance at the local level where earlier there was none. In November 2018, residents of Kaladiya staged a protest opposite a factory where discarded iron is smelted saying it caused environmental pollution. Residents of Kalumulla, Marawila staged a protest in January 2019 against an attempt by a leading poultry farm to open another farm on a 50 acre land at Mahawewa. I cannot recall ever hearing of such protests before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The silver lining in this saga of corruption in high-level Government, especially with the Central Bank bond scam as the focus, \u00a0said observers, is that there were upright officials of the Central Bank who objected. Whistleblowers within the Bank gave the stories to the media while the then Governor tried desperately to stop the leaks by checking on mobile phone calls and then effecting mass transfers of staff, reported the media. In contrast, there were also many public officers, mentioned by name, who had knowingly helped in\u00a0\u00a0 Yahapalana \u2018s corrupt activities, for example, the cows from Australia\u201d project and the export of gold-mixed soil\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the\ndiabolical nature of  some of the\nthings  done by Yahapalana  seem to have gone unnoticed. Here are some\ninstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derana\nnews  of 3.10 18 reported that the\nHousing authority is building a housing scheme bang in the middle of the elephant \ncorridor<\/em>, where  elephants\ncome for water. The location is Kurudana alimankada  near Mattala, near the 10 mile post close to\nKatanwewa. Cancer hospital, Maharagama\nlacked a drug that was needed for cancer patients who could be cured. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parliamentary\nCommittee on Public Enterprises (COPE)  \nfound that in 2016 an imported cough syrup\u201d which should have been\ntested on animals, has  instead, been tested on a group of patients <\/em>who\nhad sought medical treatment from the Ayurvedic Teaching Hospital, Colombo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President of\nthe Cosmetics Manufacturers\u2019 Association of Sri Lanka (CMAS) said that\nYahapalana government had, soon after coming to power, replaced the Cosmetics\nDrugs and Devices Authority with National Medicines Regulatory Authority.\n(NMRA) This had\nresulted in the market being opened for many cosmetic imports sans any\nregulation. There are\nloopholes in the law. Anyone could\nbring in any type of cosmetics and sell they them as they wished. These\nwhitening creams for sale at beauty parlours and shops contained mercury\namounts very harmful to the users and the environment. “There is one cream which has 10,000 times\nmore mercury than the permitted amount. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ministry of Rural\nEconomic Development had imported pregnant \nmilch cows,  which were carrying\nhighly contagious and deadly diseases, which were new to Sri Lanka . The  dairy farmers were  at the same time  <\/strong>advised to get rid of the Sri Lankan animals  they already \nhad. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Derana news\n14.7.19 showed  the drought ravages areas\nof Rajarata. Villagers at Moragahakanda \nsaid on camera, to television news, that all they needed was just one\nmore round of water and their harvest would be ok. The Kaudulla engineer had\nsent water, but an order had come from\nhigh up, to close the  sluice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Residents of\nTissapura in Uhana, Ampara spend  the\nnight on treetops fearing wild elephants. They have not been issued  with firecrackers to drive away the\nelephants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A reader wrote to the newspapers in\nAugust 2019 saying the Rudra playground \nin Wellawatte is to be handed over to a contractor to be used for a\nwaste treatment project. Rudra playground, is the only playground available for\nrecreation of children as well as adults in densely populated Wellawatte, apart\nfrom the Peterson playground  close to\nPamankada. It is used by a large number\nof area residents including children, nearby schools, youth, elderly and\nmilitary personnel for their recreational activities daily and is maintained by\nthe Colombo Municipal Council. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An important\nresult of   Yahapalana rule, is the call\nfor a strong leader as\nPresident of Sri Lanka . Until now no one wanted a strong leader. They wanted a\nweak leader who could be pushed around. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Mahinda\nRajapaksa was disqualified from a third try, the popular choice was his\nbrother, Gotabhaya. Even the prestigious \nEconomist<\/em>  mentioned his\nname. Whether or not\nGotabhaya  wins the election, he has\nalready won the popular vote. Crackers were lit when Gota\u2019s nomination was\nannounced. Crackers  were also lit  when Premadasa\u2019 s assassination was announced.\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The public, specially the intelligentsia\nhave   linked  Yahapalana with the USA. They spoke of the\n\u2018USA led conspiracy that installed the present government\u2019. They said, \u2018the\ngovernment is  pursuing a Western agenda  and\nis hell bent on destabilizing post-war Sri Lanka\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Yahapalana  government is following a course of action\nthat is likely to result in a foreign dominated, bankrupt dependent economy\nthat places enormous burdens on the people, and destroys Sri Lanka\u2019s\nindependence and sovereignty, making us a semi-colony of the USA and its\nallies,   said Tissa Vitarana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yahapalana government was seen as the  run up to yet another bout of foreign rule. When\nYahapalana took power in 2015, there was an immediate comparison with  1815. Sri Lanka is definite that it does not\nwant another bout of foreign rule. They think that three rounds of it, Portuguese,\nDutch and British is  more than enough. They\ndo not want to be under the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is  also no longer any great regard for USA\neither. At a conference\nin Colombo, which I attended,   a\nparticipant got up and  said that he\nthinks the USA is a fine country and is better than China. The audience\nlaughed.  Now\nthat  India has linked with USA, India is\nno longer respected either. Analysts are  puzzled as to why India would allow USA to station\nan aircraft carrier in Trincomalee. USA could then literally, turn their guns\non India. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was initially the possibility that Bay\nof Bengal, with Sri Lanka in it, would be the centre of the next war. The media\ncarried a cartoon of USA, UK, India and China warships converging on Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is now unlikely that there will be a war in\nthe Indian Ocean between USA and China. China does not plan to come all  the way to the Indian Ocean to fight  America. The days when wars were fought while bobbing\nup and down in boats on the sea are  also\nnow over. China\nplans to bomb America direct, flying over the Pacific Ocean to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to USA,\nthere is now a silent tilt to China. The link with China is seen as a natural\none for Sri Lanka.  There were cordial\ndiplomatic relations between the Sinhala king and the Chinese emperor in\nancient and medieval times.\nChina is offering trillions of dollars which no other country can match, but\nthey do not bully  us. When the west\nhelps it leads to bankruptcy as in the case of Greece, said analysts.. Analysts\npoint out that  a country should link, if\nat all,  with  the rising power, China and not with the\nfading power, USA. (CONCLUDED,  appendix\nfollows.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Yahapalana tried various tactics to rouse the population. Police were encouraged to be aggressive. Here is one instance shown on television news in April 2018. At Eppawela, the whole village turned out to object to the return of the Viharadhipati of Nallamudawa Sri Sailabimbarama Raja Maha vihara, because he had misbehaved. Police arrived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94547","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=94547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94547\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}