By Colombo Telegraph –
“Such a situation would not be good for the country and would add to international opprobrium the country is already facing. It would also irreparably damage the country’s confidence in the democratic process. In the circumstances, I would urge you as Head of State and also as the Leader of the U.P.F.A., the ruling party to take steps to ensure that none of the illegal acts feared are allowed to happen, and that a genuine free and fair election is held in the Eastern Province. I respectfully submit that this a duty which you owe the country.” president, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, R. Sampanthan wrote to President Rajapakse.
We reproduce in full MP Sampanthan’s letter to President Rajapakse:
Sampanthan
R.Sampanthan,
Member of Parliament,
Trincomalee.
President, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (I.T.A.K.)
Parliamentary Group Leader,
Tamil NationalAlliance(T.N.A.)
176,Customs Road, Trincomalee.
5th September 2012.
His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapakse,
President, Democratic SocialisticRepublicofSri Lanka,
Presidential Secretariat,Colombo.
Your Excellency,
Provincial Council Election-Eastern Province- 8th September 2012
I write to you in regard to the above.
Certain events have occurred in the past several days which have raised grave misgivings in regard to whether the above election would be free and fair.
i. Candidates and supporters of political parties opposed to the U.P.F.A. – the ruling party and vehicles in which they travelled have been attacked.
ii. Certain personnel claiming to be intelligence personnel have questioned persons engaged in electoral activities on behalf of political parties opposed to the U.P.F.A. – the ruling party, and warned them that they could face unpleasant consequences after the elections.
iii. Certain persons identified as the “Blue Brigade” have asked for the polling cards of voters, inspected the same, and warned them that they could face unpleasant consequences if they did not support the ruling party.
iv. Various development activities have either been commenced or declared opened and functional after the receipt of nominations in the different districts by highly placed persons in the U.P.F.A- the ruling party.
v. Official vehicles have been used for electoral activities and official personnel have been used, sometimes without their free consent for electoral activities by highly placed persons in government corporations.
Such activities have raised serious questions in regard to the elections being free and fair. These activities are seen to be intimidatory and intended to unduly influence the voter.
It is learnt that-
i. events could occur that would dissuade persons inclined to vote against the U.P.F.A, the ruling party from exercising their franchise.
ii. that the voting could be manipulated.
iii. that the counting could be manipulated.
Such fears are accentuated by the reality, that the repeal of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution has resulted in the (a) Elections Commission (b) the Public Services Commission (c) the Police Services Commission not being considered any longer as independent free and fair. It is feared that these institutions could be used to suborn the genuine democratic process, and distort a legitimate electoral verdict.
Such a situation would not be good for the country and would add to international opprobrium the country is already facing. It would also irreparably damage the country’s confidence in the democratic process.
In the circumstances, I would urge you as Head of State and also as the Leader of the U.P.F.A., the ruling party to take steps to ensure that none of the illegal acts feared are allowed to happen, and that a genuine free and fair election is held in the Eastern Province. I respectfully submit that this a duty which you owe the country.
Thanking you and with my regards
Yours Sincerely,
R.Sampanthan,
Member of Parliament, Trincomalee
President, Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (I.T.A.K.)
Parliamentary Group Leader, Tamil NationalAlliance(T.N.A.)
Copies to:-
1. Commissioner of Elections
2. Inspector General of Police
3. Returning Officers Trincomalee/Batticaloa/Amparai
4. D.I.G’s Trincomalee/Batticaloa/Amparai
5. Assistant Commissioners of Elections Trincomalee/Batticaloa/Amparai
TK / September 6, 2012
This is ridiculous, MR’s son is the head of Blue Brigade. So Sampanthan ask father Rajapakse to stop it.
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Ranjith / September 6, 2012
The provincial elections should be declared NULL and VOID due to ruling party abuse of power and rigging that has happened.. EXCEPT is the opposition would win against all odds..
The people are fed up and will vote out the Rajapass family given half a fair chance..
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Punchinilame / September 6, 2012
No different to Gaddaffi and his son in the 42 year rule with Elections
as and when needed.!!
In this case a plane is ready at all times to move the Regime to
China for safety when the need arises and so hiding in Drains will not
arise!!
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Lanka Muslim, UK / September 7, 2012
Ghadafi knew his end will come one day so he set-up safe haven in Tikirt, his birth place; Hosni Mubarak had it in Alexandria and Bashar Al Assad has in Latakia. Similarly Hambantota too is there for the d’day.
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gamini / September 6, 2012
The synthetic Lawyer has taken to Politics, like a duck to water. All the signs of the father’s traits are seen very early in the son. No wonder it is said Like Father Like Son. Now how many Elections have Ranil lost? Twenty Four? with the defeat of the up coming PC Elections it will be 25? Then comes the Last and the Final Election, the Presidential Election that is going to be the Last for either MR or for Ranil or for both.
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Mohamed Marzook / September 8, 2012
Agree with you on this Gamini, although we differ on religious issues (not provoking you for another debate. Elections have become a fake in the country although people turn out in numbers to cast their votes because they believe in living with hopes. But with the fast emerging new trend where civil society movements have begun to challenge and expose this fraud people too will fall in line.
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Kamani / September 6, 2012
MARA is the main culprit , no justice for Tamils from him Mr Sampanthan. Tamil youth will start again. You are a man for all season. Please be sharp and work for Tamil rights.
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Rama / September 6, 2012
Complaining about his Son’s activities to his father, ;) ;) :)
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Lanka Muslim, UK / September 6, 2012
What else to do when the father is the ultimate authority and the son in the ultimate offender.
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Lanka Muslim, UK / September 7, 2012
A Govt. of the TNA in Sri Lanka will be truly democratic and efficient.
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Jim Hardy / September 6, 2012
Hey this is not new, its routine in all UPFA victories, who believes their fraudulent election.
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Sam / September 6, 2012
Election by Thuggery & Intimidation is NOT FREE or FAIR.
So far, there have NOT BEEN Free and Fair elections,since the MR regime commenced.
MR is unwilling to order his army and police, to ensure this.
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Senguttuvan / September 6, 2012
Given the ground reality in the country about popular elections and the unenviable reputation of the Rajapakse brothers to remain in power come what may, it will be only “an absolute fool” (Dr S. Radhakrisnan) who will expect the Govt to be defeated in this week’s elections.
One is reminded here of Josef Stalin “it is not who votes that determines victory in an election, but who does the counting”
Counting in this regard is not merely the exercise of physical counting but the process that begins from a voter casting his vote until the time the results are announced. Mr Sampanthan is in record Namal’s blue-brigade is already appropriating ballot cards.
Karu Jayasuriya complained to the Kandy Prelates sometime ago casted votes were found in bundles – somewhere in Ratmalana (?)
Senguttuvan
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dicky Bird / September 6, 2012
Since when has sampanthan the old fox who has been misleading the Tamils for his owm survival begun to yeild to the “BLUE BRIGADE” ?
Kamani… don’t attempt to suggest or to force the Tamil Youth to face another blood bath. If you need to rise against GOSL, kindly return to SL with your family & begin the struggle.
Do not look for pawns. leave your safe heaven obtain a visa & return to SL.
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Native Vedda / September 6, 2012
dicky Bird
is worried:
“don’t attempt to suggest or to force the Tamil Youth to face another blood bath.”
Next time around it would be Sinhala/Buddhist youth’s turn to get whacked by the Sinhala/Buddhist state and its armed forces.
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Anura / September 6, 2012
It’s time for real Sinhalese and all other communities to rise up and fight against these fake thugs who try to repeat the same game they played last time. These baya gota and baya lawyer paid thugs are no better than pig sh.t in front of the brave, courageous and determined real Sri Lankan patriots.
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Piranha / September 6, 2012
It is not just in the Eastern province but also in the other two provinces the UPFA is indulging in illegal activities to win the elections. The UPFA machinery is in full force using intimidation, government resources and stste employees to ensure victory.
The question is when are the sinhala people going to make a stsnd and challenge the dictatorial Rajapaksa regime to save their democracy and human rights. Mr Sampanthan has the courage to question Rajapaksa but few others in the sinhala community have the guts to do so. I am sure it will be sooner rather than later that both the sinhala and tamil masses will rise up in a violent struggle to topple this dictator if the so called leaders of the opposition don’t do their best to defend the rights of the people.
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SAM THAMBY / September 6, 2012
It is really dis-heartening to see none in here have come to the defense of GOSL, Granted not everybody agrees/disagrees with the GOSL.In this day and age voter intimidation is one thing of the past the Premadasa era not that it does not happen now but not at that scale. Media is all over.
Never mind that but when has this Sampathan thought of the country SRILANKA, he was and still is for the diaspora/LTTE, hell bent on trying to tarnish ruin and disgrace the country SriLanka.
You don’t agree with me !!!! well tell why he did not and refrained (His party members too) from hoisting the NATIONAL FLAG, runs to India and all the western countries asking at the drop of a hat without resorting discussions here in Srilanka. When has he stood for Srilanka as a united country.And he talks about “international opprobrium” and where are you people just blindly shouting at GOSL where is your reason people…
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Native Vedda / September 6, 2012
SAM THAMBY
assures us:
“In this day and age voter intimidation is one thing of the past the Premadasa era not that it does not happen now but not at that scale.”
What sort of scale are we talking about?
logarithmic scale,
economy of scale,
bud scale
Likert scale
pH scale
quantitative scale
Sequence scale
Moh’s scale
Richter scale
Please choose your scaling device and let us know the comparative measures of voter intimidation by both regime.
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Lanka Muslim, UK / September 6, 2012
Sam Thamby do not think that only Sampanthan is talking about the corrupt, communal and violent rule in Sri Lanka, more and more Sinhalese too are coming out now. You will realise this when you read the comments here.
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h.m.bandara / September 6, 2012
when one is sure to be defeated it is always better to be prepared with excuses.Preparing the background like this could make any victory(in case u happen to win}look great by saying that u won inspite of all these.Have the moral strengh to face an election and accelt the peoples’ verdit without excuses.
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shanthini M / September 6, 2012
Mr.Sampanthan,when you were enjoying honey moon with the Tigers:
1.Tigers were involved in vote rigging and didnt even allow the other parties to cast their votes in 2004.What did you do then?Did you write to Prabakaran to stop those nonsense?Even you yourself got elected with the mercy of the Tigers.
2.When a family man in Vanni ,defied Tiger’s order to boycott his fingers were chopped for having voted.what did you do?Did you write to Prabakaran?
Mr.Sampanthan,you a failed leader.What did the tamils achieve under the leadership federal party,tulf and TNA?Nothing but,loss of lives,displacements,loss of properties etc. etc.
Under the leadership of Thondaman,upcountry tamils got their citizenship.Under the leadership of Ashroff,muslims are prospering.
You are a failed leader,you should resign.
Shanthini M
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Native Vedda / September 7, 2012
shanthini M:
“When a family man in Vanni ,defied Tiger’s order to boycott his fingers were chopped for having voted.what did you do?”
Now that Sampanthan has defied MR, would you like his fingers to be chopped by MR’s goons?
You say:
“Tigers were involved in vote rigging and didnt even allow the other parties to cast their votes in 2004”
Therefore you would like more vote rigging by MR party. Good practice, keep it up.
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Jamec Corea / September 7, 2012
Looks like man just started to feel the heat of defeate that is why guy is talking rubbish like this. This idiot want to internationalize its defeate then diaspora can pick up from that. This idiot know exactly there is no point writing to president if there is any irragularities in the election he only needs to inform election commissioner. If there is any problem he will take action. Apperantly he dont want that because the complaint is not true if this is true election commissioner will find it out. He has done so in this election. My advice to all media personal is dont believe this idiot he is depent on LTTE Diaspora.
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Dr.Rajasingham Narendran / September 7, 2012
Mr.Sambanthan has referred to ‘certain events’ and has gone on to identify them. However, he has failed to indicate the locations, vehicle numbers etc., and quantify the extent. I wish he provides this information to the Election Commisioner before the voting commences. Mr.Sambanthan is a veteran lawyer and should know that blanket statements are meaningless in these circumstances. There should be concrete evidence or substantial and specific evidence to butress suspicions. How can the Election Commisioner take action to ensure reasonably fair polling if exact locations and other relevant details are not pin-pointed?
This information will also permit us to judge the extent to which the results would be distorted in favour of the UPFA or any other party.
However, it is a fact that elections in Sri Lanka can be flawed, since they have been flawed before. Sri Lanka is however not an exception. Elections in the US have also many flaws, if not, Bush Jr would not have become the president the first time.
I hope this is not a political ploy to pre-emptively cry wolf, to damn the results, in case they are not what he wishes? Shanthini.M’s comment points to another dimension of the quality of Sambanthan’s politics.
Dr.Rajasingham Narendran
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Lanka Muslim, UK / September 7, 2012
Any action on malpractices that affected the results of the election is taken after the results are announced. So any evidence of such malpractices cannot be revealed before the elections. If done so the offenders could take precautionary steps to erase such evidence. Mr. Sampanthan making a general statement without details is warning to the offenders. He need not reveal details at this stage.
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Jegath / September 9, 2012
Speaking of concrete evidence, there was no such thing when it came to LTTE, I wonder why you did not question all the bus bombings, VIP killings and other similar incidents that were blamed on LTTE, also your obsession with evidence should make your conscience demand a war crime tribunal for MR siblings as “evidence” for such crimes are in plenty and in some cases too obvious.
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suryagamage nilan / September 8, 2012
Dr. Narendran:
Maybe he should have some medicine from Gota in order to realize that he will not be spared because he is talking against the Tamil struggle.
Perhaps Gota will give him a private practice where he can look after all those whose fingers the Govt has chopped off.
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Senguttuvan / September 9, 2012
Liberal minded readers like Suryagamage Nilan on the Sinhala side will note that the justification and the integrity of the Tamil struggle for reason grows stronger post-5/2009 and is now engaging global attention. They are beginning to realise VP and the LTTE are not the Tamil people, per se. In India almost all main parties are agreed Tamils have been wronged since 1956 and their right to rule themselves internally within an undivided Island cannot be delayed any longer. The outside world is aware what is taking place is subtle below the surface, State-aided and financed attempts meticulously engineered to reduce Tamils to a demographic minority in their own areas. One welcome feature against this is the outrage expressed by the Sinhala intellegentsia, as opposed to the Sinhala State. Even the once bitter anti-Tamil JVP has changed its stance towards what is right. It is eventually the Sinhala people – lead by the Buddhist clergy – who may well right the wrong sooner than later and save the country.
Senguttuvan
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Jim Hardy / September 11, 2012
As a poling agent in many areas I know the ruling regimes power who buy the poling cards from innocent poor people for 1000/= bucks or giving false promises & obtain & send their thugs to vote, the poling agents threatened not to object, all officials who are incharge are UPFA lackeys, many areas have no opposition poling agents. Only one official from Caffe comes to each poling booth who signs a document & leave.
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N .Wimaladasa / September 11, 2012
regert my comment has been deleated by colombo telegraphy on your policy of reveal the truth.hope and wish need blance of human thinking in every side of view of politics is important.one sided story will leads to against democarcy and promated facsaism and terrorism as well as extreamism.
The people of Sri lankan is one country who suffered from extermism & terrorism and anrachism since 1965 May of last 45 years.Case by case handling also important,but your certin policies dark in public are, not positive move.keep on allowing opposite view air among public other side story also important.
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Senguttuvan / September 12, 2012
The results of the Sept 08 PC elections in the Eastern Province turned out to what I predicted here on Sept 06. TNA won the EP conclusively but the Rajapkses and their hordes subverted the result placing the Govt/UPFA in front with 200,000+ votes and the TNA 2nd at 193,000+
This is no different to what happened to Ranil in 2004 and to Sarath Fonseka later. Old habits die hard says the old adage.
In as much as the language based extremist politics of 1956 divided the country, at least emotionally, the current deceptive politics based on crass trickery will result in the 2 Nations 1 country result at best. So let us not blame India, the West, TNA/FP, Navi Pillay, LTTE, disapora or others for our own destructive capability. The Sinhala extremists,who started this in the early 1950s, are doing all so very well by themselves. See what is being done to undermine the integrity of the process of law and order itself. While we are told Mervin’s illustrious son Malaka has gone underground after an ‘ecstasy’
attack on an army officer and the Police are unable to locate him, we see TV/media pictures yesterday showing him (Malaka) with clasped hands with Dear Father at Kelaniya Temple. The Rajapakses and Mervin Silva may be congratulating themselves at their tremendous achievement for taking the country for a ride, but the truth is the country is aghast they are once again insulting the intelligence of the entire nation. Matters such as this always have the obvious end elsewhere.
Why should it be different here?
Senguttuvan
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Senguttuvan / September 13, 2012
Nowithstanding continuing and deliberate machinations to alter the demographic pattern of the Tamil-majority Eastern Province to reduce Tamils to a minority, TNA should stand by principle and continue to lay due claim for a Tamil Chief Minister. Tamils may have lost their numbers due to the war and other factors where their numbers did not increase via the natural process. Continued and subtle State-aided colonisation/private investment in the hospitality industry further reduced the Tamil majority reality. It is a delicate situation where peaceful Tamils and Muslims should work out a formulae to live in peace, harmony and an environment characterised by justice.
Senguttuvan
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