Mawbima News

By H. L. D. Mahindapala –

The post-independent period is a unique segment of Sri Lankan history exactly where everything that ought to have occurred, occurred without having breaking up the democratic foundations of the nation which is a exceptional achievement. In the main, the nation faced (1) two left-wing rebellions, (two) 1 Right-wing coup led by the Westernized elite. (three) a 33-year-old north-south conflict which began in 1976 with Tamil leadership passing the Vadukoddai Resolution, (4) paralyzing strikes by the Marxists who were planning to ride into energy on the back of workers, (5) sporadic ethnic riots, (6) roller-coaster financial rides, (7) student unrest in the universities, (8) periodic adjustments of governments at the state and regional government levels, (9) constitutional adjustments leaping from parliamentary kind of government to presidential, (10) foreign diplomatic and military incursions, Indian in distinct, (11) the influence imported ideological waves that swept influential sections of the intelligentsia and (12) the all round transition from semi-feudal, semi-capitalists, semi-colonial phase to a modern day nation, comprehensive with globe conquering cricket group and a competent military machine that rose from a ceremonial army to meet the greatest internal threats to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation.

Of all the major events two peaks stand out as the highest. The first took location in 1956 and the second in 2009. Both have been lasting defining moments for the nation. Both were grass root forces. Each have been to regain the lost/threatened heritage of the nation. The “Silent Revolution of 1956” was to reclaim and reinforce the historical roots of the nation – a common phenomenon that rose in rebellion against centuries of colonialism in all post-colonial nations. The “The Triumph of 2009”, although violent, was to regain and defend the sovereignty, territorial integrity and the national heritage which were threatened by neighborhood and foreign anti-national forces.

Both dates are interconnected. What was won peacefully and silently in “1956” was threatened from the day it was born by the Westernized Sinhala and Tamil elite. The militarized and violent antithetical forces opposing “1956” came up from the Northern political elite. In 1976 the entire Tamil elite decided to opt out of the democratic mainstream and take the gun to reverse the historical gains of “1956”. It can be argued that “2009” rescued from “1956” fading into oblivion.

The Vadukoddai War, endorsed in the Vadukoddai Resolution (1976) officially, was conceived as a method of the ruling Vellahla elite to ride on the backs of the Tamil youth to ride into power. But it backfired on the fathers of the Vadukoddai Resolution. When they legitimized the Vadukoddai violence, power slipped out of the Vellahla elite for the initial time since they rose to rule Jaffna from feudal instances, and fell into the hands of the lower-castes and the rebellious youth who turned their guns 1st on the high class fathers of the Vadukoddai Resolution. The classic Saivite Vellahla fascism was replaced by the political fascism of Prabhakaran. For some time, the 1-man rule of Tamil fascism seemed unassailable and seemed poised to win by defeating the Sri Lankan forces. But winning the “unwinnable war“ changed the political landscape by eliminating Tamil fascism and restoring democracy from coast to coast. The “Triumph of 2009” not only reinforced the historic achievements of “1956” but also stands out as the second decisive and defining moment in post-independent history that saved the Tamils – and the nation &#8212 from the a single-man dictatorship fascist Prabhakaranism. .

*Picture by way of Marithripala Sirisena&#8217s Facebook page 

Historically speaking, “2009” is the logical and inevitable corollary to “1956”. Both reveal the inner dynamics of the invincible grass root forces that will rise, again and once again, to defend its historical heritage. The greatness of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, who was far superior to the theoretically stunted Marxists, was in recognizing the aspirations of the grass-root individuals who have been gasping for oxygen in an oppressive and suffocating colonial atmosphere. Each as a Christian and a scholar of Western classics Bandaranaike was steeped in the greatest of Occidental culture and its roots. Of the Westernized ruling elite of the day he alone felt the pulse of the individuals, leaving the Right and the Left stranded in their ideological deserts. His intellectual rejection of the Western ideologies made him the most perceptive and far-seeing prophet of his time. The Left was buried as well deep in the dying Western theories of Marxism. The Right was too addicted to the colonial traditions which they inherited and perpetuated with hardly any structural adjustments to address the increasing expectations of one of the most politically alert electorates of S. Asia. .

Like all iconic revolutionaries of the colonial and post-colonial era Bandaranaike believed in the superiority of the indigenous culture which he was bent on reviving and reinforcing as a prime political want of the time. Although the Right and the Left had been emphasizing material and bread-and-butter troubles he focused on the cultural aspirations which proved to be stronger than bread. As in most of the post-colonial nation there was nearly a xenophobic rejection of something that came from the West. But Bandaranaike stood in the middle attempting to build bridges amongst the two. He knew he was in an age of transition drifting in between two worlds, one particular dead (colonial) and the other (national) struggling to be born. (Mathew Arnold). If the Western models have been to be incorporated into the neighborhood culture it was to be absorbed with suitable adjustments to local situations. The model for this trend was set, for instance, by Bishop Lakshman Wickremesinghe, the major light of the Anglican Church. He introduced oil lamps as an alternative of candles in Churches. Like in Buddhist temples, he insisted that devotees getting into the Church must leave their shoes at the entrance. He even introduced a tinge of yellow into the cincture that was tied round middle of the cassock.

Blending each cultures without offending any person in certain was the intended middle path selected by Bandaranaike. He not only gave Sinhala Only but Tamil also. This, nevertheless did not go down effectively with the Anglicized ruling elite of all communities who earned their crust via English. At the exact same time, he was conscious of the require to adopt the overarching principle of getting superior to the White Man just to be his equal. That was his motto at Oxford. He wasn’t going to be overawed by the dominant culture of the colonial masters. When he dropped the Western garb and donned the national costume he wasn’t putting on a “kapati koat” like contemporary day politicos. He pioneered the national dress and expressed his contempt for the Western garb by declaring boldly that you put on the coat and trousers only when you go for dog shows.

The intellectual subtleties and nuances that changed the colonial culture and reinforced the people-based culture was either prostituted or neglected by these who succeeded him, employing his name, which includes his third-rate progeny. We can dismiss his daughter who qualified more in imbibing French wine than in political science at Sorbonne. So let’s take the case of President Maithripala Sirisena’s metamorphosis soon after 1st official pay a visit to to London. Soon after he returned residence he has been projecting the image of a born-again evangelist for the West, distancing himself from his initial Marxist days and the current al-lay, val-lay and pal-lay common man from the Polonnaruwa paddy fields. In his address to the SLFP Organizers meeting he was glorifying his check out to Buckingham Palace where the Queen amazed him by shaking his hand with no wearing a glove. The fact that she provided her ungloved hand to him and his wife, Jayanthi, was marketed by him as a mark of particular respect conferred on him by the Queen. Great old Bandaranaike would have taken it in his stride, becoming familiar the Western culture and the Queen’s antecedents greater than the Queen. But not Sirisena, the boy from al-lay, val-lay and pal-lay from Polonnaruwa. It was like gama-yata magic,

Sirisena also announced with some pride that David Cameron walked out of his official residence to get him on the macadamized entrance to No: ten, Downing Street, with a hand shake and to escort him personally into the inner sanctum of the Prime Minister’s residence. Shaking the ungloved hand of the Queen, which enabled him to touch the skin of the Queen, and David Cameron coming out to greet him outside No: ten Downing Street, were reported to the SLFPers as important achievements of his check out to UK. In gloating more than these experiences there is much more than a touch of the naivety of a very first-timer being overawed by the big names in massive locations.

His report to the SLFPers was meant to impress the party large wigs that his first trip to the West was a triumph of his personal diplomacy abroad and that he is no longer the backward rustic from the paddy fields of Polonnaruwa. Shaking the ungloved hands of the Queen was placed just before the SLFP audience as an additional instance of his breaking the international deadlock that has bedeviled post-war relations with the West.

He also claimed credit for acquiring the West to postpone the scheduled presentation of the UN report on Sri Lanka to UNHRC in March. He said that the planet was divided more than Sri Lanka and his initiatives had united the world. He mentioned that the activity now is to unite. “And it is I who did it,” he announced, exuding a touch of personal glory.

There is some symbolism attached to the Queen offering a gloved and the ungloved hand. The Queen who shakes the hands of tens of thousands yearly, wears gloves partly for hygienic causes and partly for decorum. Her royal wave, for instance, is constantly gloved. She provides her ungloved and gloved hand to thousands and there is practically nothing particular in Mr. and Mrs. Sirisena shaking it ungloved, even though Sirisena gave the impression that it was a privileged concession granted to him and his wife.

All that is properly and good. Sri Lankans ought to share the cordiality that greeted him at Buckingham Palace and No: 10 Downing Street. In Sirisena’s Marxist days, nonetheless, his political guru, Shanmugathasan, would have hooted with belly laughs if he heard that a single of his cadres was ecstatic about the Queen shaking hands, gloved or ungloved. There is no doubt that he would have looked at it disdainfully and dismissively as the hand of a blood-stained imperialist who was heading the global killing machine of UK. But it’s different now. Those days the craze was to pose with Mao Tse Tung. Now the erstwhile radicals take wonderful pride in shaking the ungloved hands of the Queen. Boy, O, boy! How roaring radicals change into pet mice overnight!

The cosmetics at Buckingham Palace and at No:ten Downing Street can be dismissed as much ado about practically nothing. Even prior to Sirisena went to London the West knew that he was there point man in Sri Lanka. They were merely buttering him up to show their appreciation of the shift in foreign policy from the East to the West. It does not price them significantly to shakes hands cordially with their new client state. Clearly, Sirisena has not grasped the hidden meaning of the Queen and David Cameron going out of their way to be added courteous. It could either mean that they were patting President Sirisena on the back for doing the job of overthrowing their bête noir of the West in a bloodless coup. Or it could imply that they are satisfied with the return of a prodigal colonial boy to his old colonial masters. It could also mean that they are glad to welcome one more dependable client state to partner in the Western agenda.

On his return home, the President spoke glowingly of the lovey-dovey affair at Buckingham Palace which, soon after all, is only glove deep. He implied that he had opened up a new era of friendly relationship with UK soon after Mahinda Rajapakse rejected David Milliband’s intrusive intervention to cease the war in 2009. Milliband, working on behalf of the Tamil lobby in UK, was merely attempting to reassert the lost colonial powers by forcing ex-colonial nations to fall in line with their neo-colonial political agenda. That failed. So is it surprising that UK is overjoyed at Sri Lanka returning to the neo-colonial royalty on genuflecting knees?

But, as they say, there is no such factor as a totally free lunch or a handshake. The query, consequently, is how significantly is that handshake going to expense the nation? There is a price tag to be paid. What is the value that the nation is expected to spend in return for the thrill of touching the skin of the Queen? For instance, will it modify the pro-Tamil political stance of David Cameron who is funded heavily by the Tamil Diaspora? When he pressed the hand of Sirisena was he batting for Sri Lanka or for the Tamil Diaspora?

Sirisena’s speech to the SLFPers raised the 4 political sources that matter to him specifically which reflects his new mind set. 1st, he described the Indian Prime Minister Modi who had asked him what he thinks of his experiences following sitting in the Presidential chair for just two months. Oddly sufficient, he skips answering the question, leaving the audience to wonder whether or not he answered the question at all or whether he wants to hold it a secret. Second, he reflects on the Queen’s ungloved handshake in rather ecstatic terms. Third, he gives a glowing account of his meeting David Cameron, the man who hated Sri Lanka below Mahinda Rajapakse. And fourth, he claims that for the 1st time in the history of Sri Lankan politics all the Tamil parties sat with him when he went to Jaffna. All this was wrapped in his general theme of providing into the demands of the TNA. Sirisena appears to have acquired a lot more courage and inspiration following his return from UK to accommodate the demands of the North.

There are two meanings to this constellation of political forces: 1. it is this quartet that brought him into power and he plans to keep it going for his benefit two. it marks the starting of the reversal of history developed in the post-Nandikadal period. Repeatedly he emphasized, most vociferously, the need to give into the 13+ demands &#8212 a common lead to with the quartet that helped him to win. Earlier it was the Wickremesinghe-led UNP that was going all out to accommodate the North. Now the leader of the SLFP too has joined the bandwagon. Is this the which means of the “national government” : giving into the extremist demands of the North with hypocritical JHU and JVP tagging along with Wickremesinghe?

Does this herald the starting of the drift to the dissolution of the state in the guise of constitutional reforms? Or has Wickremesinghe outwitted Sirisena and taken the SLFP below his wing, as the head of the elusive “national government”, to break up the nation? Is this the finish of Bandaranaike’s SLFP, with his daughter, joining hands with Wickremesinghe, to sell the nation down the river? And is the new wave of Mahinda Rajapakse which started in Nugegoda the logical political counter to save “1956” and “2009”? Whichever way you appear at it, the combination of the four forces pointed out above – the Queen, David Cameron, Narendra Modi and the Tamil parties in the Diaspora and Jaffna &#8212 is a significant threat to the nation.

By Shyamon Jayasinghe –

This time it is a diverse strategic manipulation. The master stroke of picking Maitripala Sirisena as Typical Candidate had an air of ethical good quality: offered that Maitri had to threat his neck and given that the then President have to be stopped in his damaging track it had been a sort of relief operation. This time, the ethical air has to be evoked with some difficulty and amidst immense controversy.

Official sources urge that a National Government has be formed with the United National Party and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party within a single fold, below the President. The idea of National governments is both salutary and sine qua non in instances of crises. War is the common occasion. Sri Lanka has, for now at least, completed the war. The most crucial national duty is to eradicate the Executive President system. Revd. Maduluwawe Sobitha, Jayamapathy Wickremaratne and a host of other individuals should be credited with possessing developed the necessary social consciousness for the modify. Left to the political parties, the latter would have preferred to engage in musical chairs for the workplace of (executive) President. The far more educated classes, experts, and writers had been quick to sniff the require for radical adjust. Revd. Sobitha’s movement gave leadership, path and technique to achieve the need to have that was flourishing in demand.

The guarantee was created formal in the course of election time that the new government under the widespread candidate will within 100 days exorcise the devil in the constitution. It might be Mahinda Rajapaksa then but could be one more subsequent. The point is that there had been increasing realization that it is the constitution that is the root result in. The constitution offers space and chance for even very good males or women to be monsters. Just before he became President Mahinda had been a really sporty guy but with huge energy in his hands he morphed into one thing foreboding and frightful in possibility. Mahinda did one particular signal service: to bring to the public notice the danger of our constitution. The danger was felt below its creator, JR, and beneath CBK and Premadasa but that was not palpable danger. Under Rajapaksa the danger came out into the open. MR carried the function to its logical and disastrous end like in a fated Greek tragedy.

Quickly after Maitri’s victory all opposition rallied round with promises of assistance for the one hundred-day system and the changes to the constitution that have been spelled out. Nonetheless, as time went on-not months but only days- that enthusiasm dropped and faded away. The possibility of a return of Rajapaksa wearing the same stage costume became a reside 1. Even a government companion, the JHU kept nudging that they by no means wanted the executive Presidential system to go and that all they wanted was for the “excessive powers “of the President taken away. In so attempting to differentiate themselves Minister Champika Ranawaka and other isolated JHU personnel did not understand that to start with Mahinda Rajapaksa had been content to occupy the reduced finish of the spectrum of power presented by the constitution. Seeing the opening available at the other end MR moved swiftly to boost the energy of his office toward plain absolutism. The bigger than life portrait of the Absolute President that now presented itself suggested that he could make a criminal an innocent and an innocent a criminal overnight. He could at will make the living element of the dead and he could make the forthright and honest a cringing and servile particular person worshipping at his feet and asking for morsels. Sri Lanka became the land of the Absolute Star!

In the face of a desperate need for numbers to pass the amendment to the constitution sans modification the Maitri-Ranil government had to devise some move. The option had been frightening to conceive of, namely go to the polls right after the 100 days nonetheless with the constitution unchanged and the possibility of a return of a devil at some future date. Maitri would most possibly not be the devil. Somebody else soon after him? Imagine a Wimal Weerawansa in the function? As the cliché states the government was amongst the devil and the deep blue sea. The ‘devil’ in this case is literal.

“So let’s play the devil’s own game,” would have been the considering of the now duo buddies-Maitri and Ranil. They place their heads with each other and got a page off the former President. Induce the necessary numbers from the SLFP and then we are shaped! In this instance, the inducement was status or ‘thaththwaya.’ The likelihood for generating anything is not there.

In came the old pole vaulters from the SLFP. One particular senior MP was appropriately assigned the portfolio of Minister for Disaster Management. One particular former senior lout was fortunately not place in charge of his former haunt. He hasn’t much muscle now to strip CBK naked and send her on the streets crying. Except for just one portfolio provided to a cultured but term-expired character, all others provided as benefits to the new cross-overs constitute innocuous positions. This is the merciful element of the operation.

It all shows what a lot it indicates to our pollies to be deemed a Minister. In countries like Australia, exactly where I live, there is not this hankering following Ministerial portfolios. The answer is, I suppose, in the nature of the economy. Great jobs are available and excellent space for organization is obtainable to men and ladies who have some standing. In Sri Lanka there is the added possibility of milking portfolios for money and perks.

Be that as it may possibly. The move by the government is bad and smelly when looked in isolation from context. But, then, one particular does not interpret events without having the relevant context. In contextual terms the move can only have justification as a signifies to a noble end and as a short-term arrangement to get more than a crisis. The Devil’s Game can, certainly, extricate the devil from our constitution.

From the snares of the devil in the constitution totally free us , Oh Lord!

By Sumanasiri Liyanage –

Spinoza after stated, “those who laugh last, laugh best”. People who voted to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa regime out of power on January eight may have celebrated their victory. Nevertheless, even ahead of passing magical one hundred days, numerous of them may possibly be pondering the modify is just a chimera. New Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Minister were sworn in creating the size of the cabinet of ministers to 44. If you add the number of state minsters and deputy ministers the total number may be closer to the quantity of ministers in the MR regime. As The Island reported, &#8220The quantity of Cabinet, State and Deputy ministers rose to 77 yesterday as 26 SLFPers had been sworn in prior to President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat.” In this sense and in numerous others, Maithripala–Ranil (that I call MR II) regime has no much difference from Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR I) regime. Even in the climax of war, Sri Lanka did not have a national government, nor throughout the Tsunami catastrophe. So one particular may possibly justifiably ask: why now? For what? Prior to answer these concerns, it is crucial to raise two points.

Initial, if we reflect on some of the views expressed by men and women who wholeheartedly supported Maithripala Sirisena candidacy on January eight, a single thing is clear. All of them have currently disappointed over the overall performance of the regime. The MR II regime has currently shown political impotency, financial sterility and administrative incapacity so that it is extremely unlikely to materialize what had been promised by Maithripala Sirisena for the duration of the election campaign. Despite the fact that some prominent citizen oriented civil society practitioners hoped and anticipated that MR II regime would be primarily distinct from the MR I regime, in the context what has been taking place now it is clear that much more affinities than differences exist among the two. This convergence is clearly depicted by the formation of the so-named national government that is in fact a coalition among the UNP and the SLFP.

Secondly, it is required to comprehend the nature of the MR I regime and its technologies and modalities of governance. Let me concentrate only on crucial characteristics. Mahinda Rajapaksa preferred unipolar governance in a seemingly bipolar or multipolar political context. He did not want to crush the opposition, he in fact stated that he stood for a robust opposition. Nonetheless, he utilised both the carrot and stick in order to weaken the opposition by inviting opposition members to the cabinet. He had occasional coffee with the leader of the opposition. The presence of formal bipolarity was not an concern for him. This technologies of governance worked fairly well with neo-liberal financial policies place into practice in a nation in which democratic elections are a function with of great significance.

Three demands that created Maithripala Sirisena candidacy eye-catching to a wide spectrum of peoples are: (1) relief from economic hardships (two) democracy and democratization and (3) good governance. However, it is required to maintain in mind that these three demands had been understood by various segments of society in various way. The way in which democracy and democratization was understood by the Internally displaced individuals in the North differed significantly from the way in which it was understood and interpreted by Colombo civil society. In spite of preparing one hundred days or 180 days calendars, these 3 demand can not be implemented totally inside the neo-liberal financial framework. However, MR II like MR I has no selection. The class configuration of the MR II regime may not be in a position to develop an alternative financial framework. As soon as once more, it has resorted to loans from the private sector as nicely as from the international economic organizations. IMF has already warned that it will not lend cash to this regime till and unless it shows ‘fiscal discipline’.

The formation of the so-known as national government demonstrates how and in what way MR II regime has proposed its governance strategy. MR I weakened the opposition whilst MR II brought in both the government and the opposition below a single rubric of the government, the President and the Prime Minister (Subha and Yasa as I mentioned in my previous report). So it was quite logical to amend the draft bill of 19th Amendment specifically mentioning that the President would appoint each the PM and the Leader of the Opposition. As the Minister Rajith Senaratne informed us that the two parties would contest subsequent election separately but to form when again a ‘united’ government reshuffling the members of the Parliament into government and opposition. Hence MR II is organizing to strengthen the unipolarity that was one of the characteristics of the MR I regime.

Can the so-named national government guarantee democracy, great governance and relief for poor classes? In my opinion, the JVP Parliamentarian, Sunil Hadunneththi was definitely right when he told that this is an try to hide some of the malpractices and corruption of the politicians of the prior government and to prepare the condition for UNPers to engage in the exact same practices. The cabinet technique of government is preferred against the presidential technique of government primarily since the later brings in multipolarity into the method of governance. Democracy also demands independent MPs who do not belong to group politics. These two circumstances have been erased when the Second Republican Constitution of 1978 was enacted. JR had absolute majority in the Parliament while his successors had to maintain the majority in the Parliament by throwing carrots in the kind of minister posts. It began with President R Premadasa. Maithripala Sirisena is adopting a distinct approaches by bringing in each the government and the opposition under him using not only the Constitution but also the Constitution of the SLFP. Hence the national government is a naked try at redesigning neo-liberalist rule.

Soon following the announcement of the so-known as national government, company neighborhood seems to have responded favorably. Ceylon Finance Today reported: “The formation of a national government as reported in the lead story of this newspaper on its yesterday&#8217s (Sunday, 22 March) edition will augur properly for the economy, market place sources told Ceylon FT.

A national government will give the needed political stability to attract that significantly wanted foreign direct investments (FDI) in to the country, the sources mentioned. That will lend stability to the beleaguered rupee, at the moment buffeted by depreciating stress due to a combination of import demand, foreigners exiting from the government securities marketplace and Government of Sri Lanka&#8217s (GoSL&#8217s) foreign debt servicing commitments.”

*The writer is the co-coordinator of the Marx School &#8211 e-mail: [email protected]

By Lasantha Pethiyagoda –

Passing an age of decimation of civil liberties and individual freedom, carried out in the name of fighting manufactured enemies of selection, any civic selection will have shackled citizens to an interconnected police and safety state, unprecedented in modern Sri Lankan political history just before the preceding regime.

In a tyrannic serfdom, the freedom of the wild ass is no freedom at all, as the popular dictum exclaims, whilst the search for unbridled power and limitless terms of office, symbolised these in explicit kind.

Contemporary tyrannies are deceptive. In the age of technology, it has to do with the need to hide its true nature from the eyes of those on whose assistance and indifference its maintenance depends. Effective tyrannies excel at hiding reality from public view, turning the truth on its head and criminalising its manifest victims.

The greatest purveyor of corruption, vice and violence in the country have to surely have had state patronage not merely to survive but thrive. Its varied mechanisms, as properly as getting the major exponent of the deadly arrogance that has poisoned the atmosphere for so extended and having been whitewashed from the discourse should constitute the most significant threat to civil society.

If not for its timely finish in January it would have installed a far deeper malady within the Sri Lankan spirit than had hitherto been seasoned. No significant social issue &#8211 wealth inequality, underworld violence, racial and religious disharmony- could be resolved whilst the state remained an entity that continues year in year out, spending much more cash on military “defence” and grandiose projects than on applications of social upliftment &#8211 a most specific recipe for a spiritual death of the nation. It ought to be incandescently apparent that no one particular who has any concern for the integrity and life of Sri Lanka could have ignored that status quo.

This is the overarching point that drives our existing debates about injustice and militarism even by way of right now. The debasement of the national psyche, the callousness toward continuous targeted killing and violence, the belief that the state has not only the correct but the duty to bring violence anyplace in the land that it wants: that is what lay at the heart of Sri Lanka&#8217s embrace of endless militancy. A rotted national soul does certainly allow leaders to wage endless wars of attrition, but endless violence also rots the national soul. At times this seems to be an inescapable, self-perpetuating cycle of degeneration and degradation.

Sri Lanka’s elite despised the subjugated, poor, malnourished and weak. They felt unequal and wanted a discriminatory technique that lacked any sense of frequent decency. They have been pretentious and cowardly they encouraged religious bigotry with out morality or compassion. They helped the authorities to criminalise independence and freedom abuse ladies and kids revel in vulgar exhibitionism of wealth and opulence, largely in undesirable taste.

For Sri Lankans to endure what lies ahead they will have to harness the human imagination. It is this imagination that makes possible transcendence from darkness to light. In order to nourish and sustain this imagination, the people require to form a basis for widespread grounds.

These will be the forces that they will have in spot of the freedom they lack. The oppressed would be the first, since they know their fate, to admit that on a rational level such a notion may appear absurd, but they also know that it is only by way of the imagination that they or their future generation will survive.

The collective consciousness of ordinary citizens is the most potent power that can turn the tide towards a saner atmosphere.

How this is inspired and sequestered by accountable forces, from within or without in the a variety of factions, will establish what follows in the decades to come.

The effective elite had been specifically interested in moulding their younger generation into becoming a chosen individuals. They wanted their offspring to be folks who esteem energy and strength with awe even though despising and getting contemptuous of financial, physical and social weakness in their serfs.

This young generation will be incapable of becoming outraged with indignation of a society in which the powerful, influential and rich would invariably have had their way whilst the marginalized majority poor and powerless masses were denied even their impotently ineffectual say a new generation habituated into perceiving intolerance as the moral-ethical regular and raw violence as the only solution to all issues or variations future generations only focused on ‘getting ahead’ and incapable of resisting the unrelenting tide of injustice.

Operating against this endogenous imperialism is the privilege and the burden of all who deem themselves bound by allegiances and loyalties which are broader and deeper than the superficial nationalist humbug of racist bigots headed by some militant saffron clad traitors, and which go beyond our nation&#8217s self-defined ambitions and positions. We should speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for these the ruling elite fictitiously referred to as the enemy.

For centuries, minorities and the marginalised had small handle over their destinies. Forces of bigotry and violence kept them subjugated by the majority aristocrats. Suffering, for the oppressed, was tangible. Death was a continual companion.

For a state whose leaders had historically been guided, in most instances by nobler dictates and motivations, like the ten leadership qualities (dasa raja dhamma), and the general populace&#8217s belief that all blessed things, like timely rains, fair climate and bountiful harvests, and general effectively-becoming and prosperity of the populace comply with when rulers reign justly and righteously (devo vassathu kalena, raja bhavathu dhammiko), our contemporary history leaves a lot to be desired, for numerous good and clear causes.

“Despite what we say or do, at the end of the day we are all like crabs dancing in a boiling pot of water,” stated President Maithripala Sirisena as he added that it is his experiences during the previous two months as the President that created him recognize the true nature of politics.

“I have had the opportunity to meet the Indian Prime Minister, the British PM and the Queen of England. Those meetings created me recognize that there are a lot of challenges that Sri Lanka has to face and we can not do it alone,” he mentioned addressing a meeting organized for the SLFP electoral organizers earlier this week (17.03.2015) in Colombo.

The President, in a very powerful and emotional speech criticized particular aggressive and racist statements made by some SLFP MPs in public rallies and to the media as he described them as ‘primitive statements’ and warned them to stop Sri Lanka from being pushed into yet another war.

“It was PM Bandaranaike that showed us that it’s impossible to establish a government only via Sinhala Buddhist votes. In this country, the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communities all have to come with each other – without such unity this country can not be taken forward, there will be no future for this country, please comprehend that,” he mentioned.

The President addressed specific factions of the SLFP who have started openly challenging and criticizing him and said, “You all have created various statements about me but none commended the deferral of the OISL report which was achieved following my election. I can say for sure the deferral of the report was granted due to my election as the President. If that report had been tabled in March, it is the extremely men and women you campaign for and hold in high regard that would fall into difficulty&#8230”

President Sirisena went on to state that because it was upon the invitation of the former SLFP Chairman and the celebration members that he assumed duties as the SLFP chairman, he must be allowed to fulfill his duties.

“This is not a position that a single can come into by force or coercion. Throughout the previous two months I have brought about democracy into the celebration and simply because of that, many are freely making statements and for the first time, has began difficult the Chairman of the celebration. Although I observe the freedom of speech as a positive improvement I also urge you all to enable me to continue my perform,” he mentioned.

Meanwhile, speaking of the upcoming elections, the President said the SLFP need to cast aside primitive slogans that stir racial hatred and sideline particular communities and adopt a slogan that fits the celebration and ensures the well becoming of the country and its individuals.

Watch the full speech

By Emil van der Poorten –

I produced a specific effort to attend the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vs Kandy Sports Club (KSC) game for a range of causes, chief of which was to see whether or not there had been a alter in what has grow to be a war rather than a rugby encounter and I use the word “war” literally rather than metaphorically!

The early indications had been that, as that American master of the malapropism said, so several years ago, it was “déjà vu all over once again.”

The stage appeared set when, in spite of being 1 of a relatively couple of current paid-up members of the KSC, I was not permitted access even up to the club gates (on the public road that goes past them!) to drop off my companion who has a critical heart condition that precludes walking any distance. The police manning the entry point told me that my car was NOT among those permitted access to the location adjacent to the club. I am beginning to wonder no matter whether I am now regarded as a “security risk” in some circles, a status now even the late-unlamented Rajapaksa Regime did not accord me (not to my expertise anyway!)

Anyway, having dropped off my partner some considerable distance from the Club, on the promise that she would stroll additional slowly to the club premises, I parked about two miles away and walked back to the grounds. If nothing at all else, even if not by decision, that provided a “constitutional” that I may well not otherwise have had that afternoon!

Coming events seemed to cast their (prior) shadows when I observed scores of SLN personnel along the road, armed with assault rifles. Also, while I do not know regardless of whether the SLN had bought, actually, thousands of tickets for their personnel, at this match as they have accomplished in the previous, a part of the “parking problem” was the quantity of buses bearing SLN licence- and private-plates parked along the roads serving the Nittawela grounds of the KSC. In case there is any doubt on that score, no Kandy supporters use charter buses to get to the grounds of the Club they support, the vast majority merely trudge up the hill!

When I arrived in the Members’ seating location of the pavilion, I discovered that my partner had succeeded in persuading a couple of non-members to give up their seats to a couple of septuagenarians who had paid an annual membership charge for the privilege of watching a handful of rugby matches every single year. I was also somewhat bemused to see, seated in a single of the better seats in that very enclosure a lady who was, until relatively recently a member of a single of the “ruling Kandyan families” that is reported to be in the process of participating in a dynastic coming-collectively. It does look that ANY association with the “right” folks, no matter how short-term, brings with it particular privileges not available to those who go the orthodox route of paying their dues!

Anyway, the rugby game itself was closely contested and the SLN eked out a 1-point win which proved to be a Pyrrhic victory since, it wasn’t enough to give them the championship the complicated rules of which saw the KSC as the 2015 Champions. One particular of the bright spots of the afternoon was the absence, compared to matches past, of violent or hazardous play and a referee who did not seem to be “under orders” of any kind!

Once the stage was set up for the distribution of the awards and trophy, with the usual bellowing by an announcer who believed in the superiority of volume more than clarity, we had been treated to yet another dose of déjà vu.

At this point, rather than more than-use the word “bizarre” I’d like to replace it with the a lot more appropriate “sinister” for what follows.

Not even during the playing days of the Rajapaksa Crown Princes on the SLN team had we observed the kind of armed presence on public access roads around the Nittawela grounds that we saw on March 15th. Now, we had a sailor in uniform, armed with an assault rifle on the stage exactly where the presentation was to be created! This was certainly an additional “first” for The Debacle of Asia in the matter of an occasion celebrating a national sports championship. There had been sufficient cameras flashing and video becoming shot to prove this beyond the semblance of a doubt. And given the presence of Very Extremely Senior SLN personnel all through this bizarre sequence of events, there can be small doubt that all of it had their seal of approval, not to mention that of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union and the Kandy Sports Club’s notoriously supine “leaders.”

You want a bit of icing on this distinct cake? The trophy that was presented was courtesy of Dialog, the Telco, and doing so, front and centre, actually, was no significantly less that Hans Wijesuriya, the man beneath whose watch, this very publication, Colombo Telegraph (CT) and many other websites, had been blocked, stopping each and every Sri Lankan’s proper to details. I would suggest that this gentleman’s time could have been much more appropriately spent in explaining to the Criminal Investigation Division of this nation the certain democratic practice he was applying by presiding over the blocking of such as CT rather than becoming the cynosure of all eyes at a national sporting occasion!

On the other hand, I suppose that this could be regarded as straightforward proof, if such proof is needed, that it pays handsomely to act in assistance of a violent and corrupt government with no risk whatsoever of any so-known as subsequent “reformers” making sure that the law and order they claimed to champion is applied against those who prevented the citizens of this nation from enjoying their elementary democratic rights.

And for the seal of (current) government approval, if one had been necessary, you had the lately-minted President of the United National Celebration who is also the economic Godfather of the KSC as everybody knows, as an active participant in all of this, with customary smile and bonhomie!

Does any person need to have the irony of all this pointed out to them? Or is it simply yet an additional instance of what several of us preserve pointing out: that the current lot, claiming to rescue us from the most corrupt and violent regime this nation has ever knowledgeable, are no far better than those they replaced? Is this simply farce, Sri Lankan style, or a Greek Tragedy getting played out on an Asian stage?