Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole
I just read The Indian Express report by P.K. Balakrishnan dated 03rd July 2015, that President Maithri Sirisena has agreed to give SLFP/UPFA nomination to former President Mahintha Rajapaksa. I sensed things would turn out this way from Sirisena’s repeatedly telling us that he would not give Rajapaksa his party’s nomination, while keeping the subject open all the time until now. Uva Chief Minister Harin Fernando confirmed secret meetings between the President and Rajapaksa. Suspicions deepened when there were reports that Rajapaksa had been offered freedom from prosecution by the President if he agreed not to contest at the upcoming elections. Is that offer not the biggest betrayal of all those who voted for President Sirisena? Is this nomination by Sirisena not his asking us to vote for Rajapaksa? Is such asking not an endorsement of the murder and corruption under Rajapaksa? I am devastated.
Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne (who recently said this nomination would never happen) is reported by The Indian Express as giving the weak excuse that “The President has now agreed to allow Rajapaksa to contest the election as an ordinary candidate of the UPFA and not as its group leader or its Prime Ministerial candidate.” Enough of this nonsense. We have been lied to and continue to be lied to. At least grant us the intelligence to see through this, instead of adding insult to injury by taking us to be fools. If Rajapaksa wins from a safe seat with an SLFP majority in parliament, and his MPs elect him their leader, what will happen? Can Rajapaksa’s becoming Prime Minister be prevented in that confluence of horrible happenings? God forbid! We must guard against that in every way we can.
This nomination for Rajapaksa is a betrayal of those of us who worked for his ouster. Tamils and Muslims who voted for President Sirisena will feel most strongly this betrayal. They will now say with some justification, “See, never trust the Sinhalese.” And that will put back all efforts at national reconciliation. This will be the biggest negative fallout from this betrayal – that minorities already estranged from the Sri Lankan state will lose all hope. Tamil moderates like Mr. R. Sampanthan and Mr. M. A. Sumanthiran who endorsed Maithri Sirisena’s election as President will have this betrayal used by Tamil extremists to question their leadership. We all lose, Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, by this effective endorsement of corruption, murder and mayhem.
The only thing we can hope for is a UNP victory at the upcoming elections and then further hope that he will do something to address the insecurity that all Sri Lankan minorities feel and restore Tamil and Muslim confidence in the Sinhalese and redeem the state.
For myself, in my enthusiasm for the 8 January 2015 verdict, I have told my office that I will leave for Sri Lanka once my two senior-most students defend their doctoral theses this Summer; for the others I have made suitable arrangements. It is too late for me to back off now. So go I will, back to Sri Lanka, come what may.
God save me. And God save all Sri Lankans.
Mallaiyuran / July 5, 2015
“I just read The Indian Express report by P.K. Balakrishnan dated 03rd July 2015, that President Maithri Sirisena has agreed to give SLFP/UPFA nomination to former President Mahintha Rajapaksa.”
This comedian is a Hi-Fi guy!. He would read only if his equal Indian high class comedian P.K. Balakirishnan wrote. Then he come to trade his garden vegetable to CT. Thank good Indian high class does not recognize Rajan Hcool’s Hi-Fi Journalism.
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Hard Truth / July 5, 2015
I can see that now that MR has got nomination, all the Sinhala hardliners are out in force, proclaiming this island as the Sinhala land where the Sinhalese will decide who rules, abusing an intellectual of Prof. Hoole’s standing because he is after all just a Tamil, and even accusing him of being a follower of VP, forgetting that for all his sins, including his idiosyncrasies, his own greed for the post of VC, his views that could be classified as anti-Hindu or even anti-Tamil, he never committed the sin of supporting VP. In fact, he would sooner trust MR (and did trust him for a while) rather than trusting VP, but for our Sinhala Lions it makes no difference – a Tamil is a Tamil.
Our Lions may get their wish, to be ruled again by MR. Yes, you can get your wish to be ruled by the leader who is chosen by the majority of Sinhalese alone, except that you will get to wallow in corruption, nepotism, poverty,and international isolation, and will get even your Sinhala daughters raped by your Sinhala royalty. What you fail to realise is that many Tamils now have a choice, including Prof. Hoole. They live in first world countries, are economically well-off, most of them are professionals and really do not wash toilets as you like to imagine in your jealousy, and they might be disappointed with MR’s return no more than a person is disappointed when his cricket team loses. Whereas your elation with MRs return will be no more than that of a poor guy who sees his cricket team winning. So, enjoy the return of your ‘hero’, and all the misery he will bring back to your lives, living in denial, while Tamils like Hoole who have an option to escape all this laugh their backsides off at you. The people deserve the governments they get!
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Maximus Profundus / July 6, 2015
Hoole, I’m surprised with all your intellect and experience you jumped the gun as usual, belligerent as you usually are, in being critical of a man who truly means what he says. How did you figure out that Sirisena was in agreement with those who signed that hastily drawn up party document?
By now, astute as you are, you should have figured out that Sirisena has a master plan to deal with that despicable lot, once and for all. He never said at anytime that he would give in. He always stood firm on his principles, and even now is as affirming as he can be. A true statesman lead by higher principles. What we desparately need at this hour.
Don’t jump to conclusions too hastily, my friend. Apply your well rounded locally born and foreign earned intellect and try and figure out Sirisena’s strategy. If only you would stop to think before hastily putting pen to paper in your usual inimicable way, you would know the master game plan of his, is yet to unfold. The crooks and morons he is dealing with, will be swept away by him under the rug, one by one. Watch and see in the coming days and weeks…
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M. K. Premasiri / August 7, 2015
The Last Hopper: Betrayal and Resurrection
Mr. (Dr.?) Ratnajeevan Hoole, in the 5th July 2015 columns of the Island raised, in large fonts, the
issue of betrayal. He slated newly elected President Sirisena (MS) for having betrayed the mandate
vested in him in the January 8th elections. The betrayal lay, in Hoole’s view, in giving defeated
candidate of the same election, Mahinda Rajapakse (MR), nomination as a candidate to fill one of
the positions of the 225 member parliament at the forth coming election scheduled for 17th August
2015. An all-powerful Executive President, MR, having served in this position for over ten years, is
berated by Hoole for daring to continue to serve the people as a humble member of parliament.
Incidentally, Hoole does not get his facts straight. Nominations for parliamentary elections are given
by the secretary of the party not the president of the country or even the president of the party. But
to understand his contention, it is first necessary to place him in context. Who is Hoole?
Using some amateur forensic insights, derived reading Sherlock Holmes’s adventures, Hoole appears
to be an academic, for, he says he will leave for Sri Lanka “once my senior most students defend
their doctoral theses.” One can conclude that he must be a professor. Being entrusted with the
review of doctoral theses, he must also be a PhD at least, most probably a DSC or D.LIT. He is also a
member of the diaspora. Judging from his name, he is a Jaffna Tamil Christian. Jaffna Tamil
Christians, often take the name of the priest who baptises them (Meadows, Shakespeare, Mather,
etc.). There are occasional Sinhalese names, like Mathew, but they are rare, not as wide spread as
among the Jaffna Tamils.
Hoole is not a great enthusiast of MR. His nomination, as a parliamentary contestant is, Hoole says,
‘an effective endorsement of corruption, murder, and mayhem.’ As an academic, an examiner of
doctorial theses to boot, Hoole may reflect on the nature of knowledge and coming to conclusions.
Knowledge starts with the formulation of a hypothesis (Kuhn et al). MR, so hypotheses Hoole, had
engaged in corruption, committed murder and created mayhem. A hypothesis has to be sustained
by evidence, the assaying of which leads to conclusions. Stating a hypothesis (murder, corruption) is
not a conclusion. It’s a mere viewpoint, in this case an abusive viewpoint much indulged in at the
Pettah bus stand. One of the elements of the 8th January mandate given to MS, was to take
appropriate action against those who were engaged in corruption and committed murder. Six
months have lapsed and not one indictment has been made nor a case filed, not to mention a
sentence delivered. Pending such sentence, an accused is considered innocent. It is hoped that
Hoole’s doctoral students go through this rigorous process of acquiring scientific knowledge, not to
come to conclusions based on gossip and speculation, an approach more appropriate to alchemy
than chemistry. It is the same as an examiner of doctoral thesis were to be accused of selling PHDs
without a scrap of evidence being submitted to sustain the charge.
Hoole considers the nomination of MR, to contest a parliamentary election, as a betrayal of the
mandate of 8th January. What are the components of this mandate? It had three parts, first, the
appointment of Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe as the prime minister- although it does not strictly
conform to constitutional provisions. The second was to implement a number of date-fixed promises
within 100 days, and, third, was, after hundred days, call for a parliamentary election.
The last provision is now being implemented. There is no promise in the 8th January mandate that
MR will be denied nomination to a parliamentary election. Every citizen of Sri Lanka is entitled to
contest a parliamentary election. The conclusion that one can draw is that Hoole is a buffoon, full of
gossipy words and bluster, meaning nothing.
Psephologists, analyzing the 8th January election results, where MR obtained 5.8 million votes as
against 6.4 million by MS, concluded that MR gained substantial support from the rural Sinhala
Buddhist 70% demographic of Sri Lanka. His defeat has left this 5.8 million bereft, left out in the cold.
Reviewing the margin of defeat, it is evident that, if MR had been able to derive a modicum of
support from the Tamil and Muslim minorities, he would have been home and dry. What Hoole is
really condemning, is the new president’s action of, by endorsing the candidature of MR, as a
betrayal of Tamil and Muslim minority. He gives no thought to the 5.8 million left out. He, a diaspora
Jaffna Tamil Christian, wants to deny the possible return of MR, not as president, but as a humble
member of parliament, thus giving leadership to this left out 5.8 million, thereby recreating 1956.
What Hoole is saying is that the rural Sinhala Buddhist electorate which 70% of the Sri Lanka
population should not be given a chance to indicate his preferences at this parliamentary election. It
is the same as males advising females – who are the only ones who know the particular intimate
business – on their choice of sanitary pads.
Hoole, who from all derived evidence is a Christian, may reflect on the betrayal of his adored
religious leader Jesus Christ. He was betrayed by one of the His respected disciples (twelve of whom
formed the equivalent of the cabinet). MR too was betrayed by one of MR’s cabinet ministers. The
Last Supper is the equivalent of the Last Hopper ( a delicious evening snack) where this senior
cabinet minister denied he was ever going to contest MR and proceeded to declare his candidature
the next morning. What a delight Leonardo da Vinci would have experienced in painting this Last
Hopper betrayal! The Redeemer was brought before Pontius Pilate, the representative of unipolar
imperialism headquartered in Rome, who handed Him to a Kangaroo court to deliver the judicial
decision taken by imperialism’s representative. The predetermined decision was death, like the
death of hopes and aspirations suffered by the left out 5.8 million. No one expected that the
imperialist determined death sentence of 8th January 2015, will have a resurrection like that of the
Redeemer. The Redeemer’s resurrection was within three days: the hopes and aspirations for a
leader for the 5.8 million left out, should be within 8 months. It is this fear of the imperialists that is
now articulated by Hoole.
A specter is haunting the imperialists, that of the resurrection of the betrayed embodiment of rural
Sinhala Buddhist. History repeats itself and it will, with 1956 phase II.
Mahinda Agamethi !
Ranil ? Maga athi.
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