By Tisaranee Gunasekara –
“There is no Viyath Mawatha; it is just a word for a programme. Clearly this is a carrying forward of Mahinda Chintanaya…” ~ Mahinda Rajapaksa (4.7.2018)[i]
The news was sensational, yet it was downplayed. The chief incumbent of a temple in Ratnapura strangled a police sergeant to death. The monk has been absconding after being charged with sexual abuse. The sergeant went to the temple to hand over the summons. He went alone and unarmed; after all, he was going to a temple to meet a monk.
The sergeant’s screams alerted the neighbours who called 119. When a police team rushed to the temple, the monk greeted them with a hand grenade.
What if this incident happened in a kovil, a mosque or a church? What if a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian religious figure strangled a policeman to death with his bare hands and tried to lob a grenade at a police team? The media would have talked about nothing else for weeks. Politicians, especially those subsisting on patriotism, would have howled about resurgent Tigers, Islamic terrorists or Christian conspirators. Questions would have been asked about how the grenade was procured and what its procurement portends for national security. But a monk was the culprit, so reportage was muted, and there were no cries of alarm or condemnation. The chief prelates, who make it their business to interfere in secular matters beyond their competence, are yet to say a word about the horrendous incident and what it signals about the current state of Sinhala-Buddhist monkhood.
The suspect monk is now being questioned by the police. Hopefully, after a speedy trial, he will join the 15 other monks serving prison sentences for various crimes including murder. According to the prisons’ chief, there are also 10 monks in the remand prison.[ii]
As President, Mahinda Rajapaksa thought persecution was prosecution and replaced due process with witch hunts. Now he thinks prosecution is persecution and sees witch hunts in due process. Addressing a religious ceremony in a temple in Matara last month, the former president depicted monks serving jail sentences as victims of persecution. “These days I think it is important to learn how to turn the robe into a jumper, the way things are going. This is a time when 40-50 Buddhist monks are locked up in jails. We have a great responsibility as Buddhists to protect…” From one that falsehood he moved seamlessly into another one, this time about the reason for the dearth of new entrants to monkhood. “Those days there are nine ten children in a family. Now there’s one or two, maximum three. So our race is systematically vanishing. There are economic difficulties. There is also the programme carried out by the government, a very koota(insidious and evil) programme to reduce population.”[iii]
Mr. Rajapaksa is a master at dog whistling. In that brief statement he alluded to a conspiracy by the current government to eviscerate the monkhood and destroy the Sinhala nation. The caption (by the pro-Rajapaksa channel Derana) says it all – Our race is nearing extinction – Mahinda Rajapaksa.Never mind that the ratio of Sinhalese and Buddhists in Sri Lanka has increased consistently from 66.91% and 61.53% in 1881 to 74.9% and 70.1% in 2012. Never mind that there are only 25 monks behind bars and they are there because they have been accused or convicted of crimes. His audience wouldn’t know the facts and wouldn’t care anyway. His lies fit in with their manufactured reality. (They wouldn’t even wonder why Mahinda Rajapaksa has only three children and his even more patriotic brother Gotabaya just one child. Surely the absence of nine or ten offspring couldn’t have been due to economic reasons or the kootadoings of the current administration? Incidentally, why has no Rajapaksa sibling or offspring entered the monkhood?)
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration is a government of and by clowns. There are a million and one truthful, factual accusations that can be made against the administration, starting with its abysmal failure to improve the living conditions of ordinary Lankans. There is no need to resort to incendiary lies, the kind which enabled Black July, 35 years ago. And, yet, incendiary lies rather than facts and figures constitute the bedrock of the Rajapaksa comeback strategy. Are they creating an anti-democratic mindset in the country so that the rapid dismantling of democratic rights and freedoms will have public support?
A Crime Wave?
Vendaruwe Upali thero (who advised Gotabaya Rajapaksa to become ‘even a Hitler and correct the country) is not the only one suffering from Hitler-mania. A tweet by a self-declared Christian (I will refrain from mentioning his name as he has apologised for his praise of Hitler) says “Looking at the killings in Sri Lanka, I sometimes wonder who is in charge… The situation is reaching serious levels.”
The question is where did this gentleman ‘look’ to conclude that the ‘situation is reaching serious levels?’ Not facts and figures certainly, because according to statistics there are less murders today (and less grave crime) than there were during the Rajapaksa years.
| Year | All grave crimes | Murder |
| 2010 | 57.381 | 742 |
| 2011 | 54,156 | 703 |
| 2012 | Complete data unavailable | Complete data unavailable |
| 2013 | 55,128 | 586 |
| 2014 | 50,804 | 548 |
| 2015 | 40,188 | 474 |
| 2016 | 36,937 | 502 |
| 2017 | 35,978 | 452 |
The data[iv]also shows a decline in other grave crime categories as well, including rape and child abuse.
Sri Lanka is not crime free or violence free. But it is less crime-prone and less-violent than it was four years ago. A fake news pandemic – and not facts on the ground – is responsible for the idea that we are living in an unprecedentedly lawless and bloody time. The aim is political and partisan – exacerbate the ‘feel bad factor,’ and manufacture a pre-emptive justification for dismantling democratic rights and freedoms under a future Rajapaksa government.
Sometimes memory is an eel. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has forgotten its solemn promises to the electorate – the inane plan to build a third airport in Polonnaruwa being the latest case in point. Perhaps in tandem, the electorate has forgotten what life was like under the Rajapaksas. Even such causes celebresas the serial killings of Kotakethana in Kahawatte, the slaying of Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra, and the brutal murder of British tourist Khuram Shaikh and the gang rape of his Russian fiancé are no longer remembered. Equally forgotten are the level of impunity enjoyed by Rajapaksa loyalists – such as Mervyn de Silva; or Julampitiye Amare, who had more than 100 arrest warrants against him, including for murder and rape, yet strutted about in Tangalle resplendent in military fatigues and toting a T56.
Forgetting is an integral component of the Rajapaksa comeback project. The past must be remembered as a time of law, order and discipline; let the present be imaged as a time of chaos and anarchy. After all, if Lankans remember what the past was really like, a majority of them would not want to return there.
Crimes today are more brutal, often sickeningly so, but this too is not a post-Rajapaksa development. That tendency began during the war years. As a police spokesman said in 2012, “….the murders committed in recent times have become more gruesome…. They cut and chop without a care. Sometime back rape was not followed by murder, however now rape is followed by murder.”[v]
The Rajapaksa paradise was a land of crime and impunity, violence and indifference, a place where strong abused, weak endured and everything insalubrious was kept under wraps. When a soldier stationed in Jaffna murdered two of his comrades and killed himself, the Rajapaksa regime responded by imposing a news-ban. When asked about the ‘rape problem’ in Sri Lanka, the then ambassador (and Rajapaksa first cousin) Jaliya Wickremesuriya smilingly told The Washington Times, “…oyarapes this and that not taking any place in Sri Lanka… We have very disciplined people in Sri Lanka… Like any other country, we have, like couple of cases.”[vi]
That statement about a couple of rapes was made in 2012. In 2010, three children were raped/abused per day. 1169 child rape cases were reported in 2011 – a rate of over three a day. In the first six months of 2012, over 700 cases of child rape/abuse were reported – a rate of four a day.[vii]The Rajapaksa government’s only solution was a rape-marriage law which, if approved, would have enabled the rapist to escape prosecution by marrying his underage victim. In a related development, the then Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa (who is being touted as a kinder gentler alternative to brother Gotabaya) said, “My opinion is that nobody can make men responsible for the violence against women. Women are responsible for it…”[viii]Little wonder, rape proliferated during the Rajapaksa years, far more than before or since.
That was how the crime-fighting Rajapaksas fought crime.
‘Rajapaksas go together’ – One Family, One Path, One Goal
“Rajapaksas always go together. We don’t have divisions like others,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa claimed after Mahinda Rajapaksa reminded his audience that Viyath Maga was Mahinda Chinthanaya by another name. Gotabaya Rajapaksa can win only if he is anointed by brother Mahinda and assisted by brother Basil. Whatever their personal or other differences, the Rajapaksas are united in a joint enterprise to regain lost power – One Family, One Path, One Goal.
They might succeed, thanks to the infantile conduct of the current administration.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the newly elected president of Mexico had a key campaign slogan. “I will not fail you. I will not disappoint you. I will not betray the people.”[ix]
The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe has done all three. They have forgotten most of their promises and are walking back on some of the implemented ones, such lifting the ban on Glyphosate. After much procrastination, the government banned female genital mutilation (FGM) in Sri Lanka, but might succumb to pressure from conservative Mullahs and re-permit this atrocious and harmful practice. The government gave up pursuing socially liberal policies fearful of antagonising traditionalists; it gave up on the environment to please multinationals. It succumbs to any bully, from the GMOA to the Chinese.
Today’s Sunday Times carries pictures of four of the cheques issued by the China Harbour Engineering Company, effective corroborating The New York Times Story. Even more worryingly, it reveals that the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) carried out an investigation about the matter in 2015, and managed to identify those who cashed the cheques. Then ‘the onetime top official of the CBSL’ i.e. Arjuna Mahendran ‘halted the probe unceremoniously.’ Another chance to clean up the Augean Stable that is Lankan politics was wasted. When this government is buried under the avalanche of its own mistakes, a fitting epitaph would be, And they did nothing.
Three and half years out of power, the Rajapaksas remain unchanged. Violence, verbal or physical, is their first resort. Retired admiral Sarath Weerasekara has threatened the head of the Human Rights Commission, Dr. Deepika Udagama by calling her a Tiger. When the New York Timespiece about Chinese contributions to the presidential campaign coffers of Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared, some SLPP parliamentarians responded by issuing veiled threats against the two local journalists associated with the piece – Dharisha Bastians and Arthur Wanaman. That response was a reminder of what awaits the media, and Sri Lanka, if the Rajapaksas return to power, especially under a President Gotabaya, the man who once said, “If they harm me, it is the country they harm.”[x]
Clowns or murderers, such is the choice before the country currently.Weimer Republic was a pretty broken down place, but Hitler’s Thousand Year Reich (which mercifully for everyone ended in just 12 years) was a hell beyond even the most sadistic of human imaginings.
[i]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=58&v=dPzseWEcVl8
[ii]https://www.srilankamirror.com/news/9113-15-imprisoned-monks-are-wearing-prison-jumpers
[iii]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwdlFPFqw0s&feature=youtu.be&a=
[iv]https://www.police.lk/index.php/crime-trends
[v]The Sunday Leader – 1.12.2012
[vii]The real figure may be significantly higher; over 20,000 cases of child abuse may have happened in the first half of 2012, according to the National Child Protection Authority.
[viii]http://www.therepublicsquare.com/politics/2014/03/12/speaker-chamal-rajapaksa-says-violence-against-women-is-their-own-fault/
[ix]https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-donald-trump-and-the-error-of-comparison
[x]http://srilankabrief.org/2011/10/i-dont-want-to-be-the-prime-minister-i-am-not-interested-in-that-gotabhaya-rajapaksa/
Estate Labourer / July 15, 2018
Does Ranil Wickremasinghe, our clown prime minister, read Colombo Telegraph? He could learn so much!
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Mathugamagodaya / July 15, 2018
Keeping Wadakaya in the middle, thse 3 siblings wait as if frogs do so for their next prey.
Their terms have proved, for what they are well talented.
Now again, just because the numbers of allegations levelled at them to be buried under the carpet, they are on the race to grab power again. People would do the same mistake again, since MEDIA men are on the side of wrong parties by today. People have been kept in dark by boasting about their gains in terms of terror elemination in 2009. The same mantra has been repeating not once thousands of time. Apart from that soldiers and buddhist clergy have been made above their lists to get attention from the gulliable.
These 3 men shoudl rather be kept in prisons for all the high harms their adminstrations done with no having proper knowledge to manage it. Rajapakshe ‘s behaviorus are no known to even their own families. He had been long known in 70ties. Beliatthe rascals were the names that were in the air to that time.
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mike / July 15, 2018
Mathugamagodaya – Not prison, the three siblings and their cronies should be hung by the scruff of their necks until pronounced….!! for robbery, rape, murder – the list goes on and on. These bastards are scot -free because of Sillysena and Ranilpaksha.
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Emil van der Poorten / July 15, 2018
Mike:
I believe you are right on every count in the matter of guilt and the covering up that continues to take place!
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Native Vedda / July 15, 2018
mike
–
“the three siblings and their cronies should be hung by the scruff of their necks until pronounced….!! “
–
Would you like to be Gota’s right hand man after 2019 in case he wins?
Where were you all these years, the Army Needed You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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LEELAGEMALLI / July 15, 2018
These three men in above picture are provable murderers.
MR’s satakaya became even more reddned due to his pvt mediation in some human crimes. Leaving war brutalities aside, but in the post war scenario, no matter if anyone stood against the bugger et al, were persecuted and let go missing. Human rights organizations of various walks are well known and revealed to the world, but investigatons lag for no proper reasons. The world is made clear that we have independent judiciary, but how can we ever explain the very same, the reasoning all high crimes – not just one dozen but mulitple to be not finished yet.
Who have we been deceiving ? Media is clutched by powerful goons but continue to work to Rajapkashe. The reason for that their commercial purposes.
Media should SEE it right LET alone today and feed the very same naive folks with the facts but with the facts. Then only, PEOPLE s thoughts can change accordingly.
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nimal fernando / July 15, 2018
Actors, actors and damned actors ………….them all.
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Amarasiri / July 15, 2018
Estate Labourer,
“Does Ranil Wickremasinghe, our clown prime minister, read Colombo Telegraph? He could learn so much!”
No!. He is a Royalist from Colombo.
Our clown President, Maitripala Sirisena is a Royalist too, from Polonnaruwa.
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thrishu / July 15, 2018
On the nail Mr Estate Labourer ………. could anyone get any more clownish and murderous than ranil W the PM. A man with self-declared no memory holding the top job of the government, yet had the presence of mind to tell his fellow bank robber to escape to Singapore. No memory of what he did to thousands of youngsters during the JVP uprising in the late 80s. Go to the “kamatha” (threshing field) adjacent to the river at Kirindiwita near Gampaha; one could still find layers of burnt ground with fragments of kids’ burnt bones, evidence of Ranil’s policy of how to deal with misguided youth as well as any other innocent kid that just happened to know a JVP member..
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Simon De Silva / July 16, 2018
Thrisu seems to have a personal grudge against RW. Nothing cares, but stand against RW. The huge losses ranging to 4000 billions are just pea nuts to him when talking about bank scam which creates some 12 billions of loss – latter is actually no loss sinc ethe funds have been blocked in the bank now. Anyways, Thrisu s too is manipulated as si the case with thousands of punnnaku eaters in and out of country.
That is it.. else he would not support Rajapakshe lickers. Why the moronic THrisu to support a barbarian Gotler ? Can any PhD students of him work on finding the bits ? Has he been loosing his brain cells with the time ? Our people should finally see it right. We had no life by end of 2014. Ballige putha Rjaapkshes had looted it to the core. Today, taxes are being imposed to cover the huge debts left and made by Rajapakshe ballige putha during their terms. Is there any other source current men to collect the sums ?
Thrisu was once sent to north with some Mongoose for a project run by Gota et al. THERE gota and the lke men gave him more support. Just becuase of that to forget the harm done by gotler at this moment, I never expected from a man scholar that contriubted to Engineering that much.
Thrisu s example is common to lankens. OVER 90% go after Astrology or bali thowil.
Thrisu as onld Richmandian does the same. He just put his feet in UK thanks to UK migrant laws. But the man never joined lanken Unis since then. That is how his patriotsm works.
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Ben Hurling / July 15, 2018
CLOWNS for sure! TOTALLY UNEMPLOYABLE! Except in the stinking GOSL.
Cheers!
PS: These clowns are enabled by an even more corrupt & utterly stupid electorate of SL. Hoping for a few crumbs falling off the table of Clowns.
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Tamil from the north / July 15, 2018
Ben take it from me, these Rajapaksas are not clowns but they are mastermind murderers who murdered everyone who opposed them, pilfered 21 billion USD out of this country without a trace (audit trail), jailed the man who won the war, etc. They are coming back to repeat the same thing and this time will be the last time this country will ever see another election.
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nimal fernando / July 16, 2018
“TOTALLY UNEMPLOYABLE! Except in the stinking GOSL.”
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Brilliant! …………. the whole shindig in a nutshell
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Why couldn’t I think of that line.
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
He’s written something here:
.
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/power-struggle-in-the-indian-ocean-sri-lankas-foreign-policy/
.
More accurately, it is a speech that he has made that appears here.
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Justice and Fairplay / July 15, 2018
The CPM reads a lot they say , but obviously not the CT.
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Fathima / July 16, 2018
Rajafucksa plan is this.
1. Call any political opponent a tiger
2. Kill that person
3. Blame people for the killing
4. Ridicule those who seek justice.
5. Cover their tracks.
If Gotler Rajafucksa unfortunately becomes president Tamils, Muslims and Christians must leave the island or he will send them where Lasantha was sent. Look at their blood drenched shawls!
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Rohan / July 16, 2018
Fathima for once I agree with your comment
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John / July 15, 2018
Idiot,
H1t1er was bad guy in the Europe, but his misadventure made independence quick and possible for Sri Lanka and other such colonies who lived centuries under brutal and utter barbaric rule of France, Britain, Belgium, Spain, Dutch, etc. Hitty made the Europeans to look hard in their own barbaric selves.
Hope one day those who are on LTTE terrorist diaspora’s payroll write about Prabakaran.
/
So you now accept that Sri Lanka’s Muslims are above the law and only they can cause grievous bodily harm to young boys and girl. Muslim Imams, Mufties, Moulavies, etc all must be in prison for life for this.
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rbh / July 15, 2018
This the message of the monk advising to be like a Hitler next the orders will come trapping Muslim Imams, Mufties, Moulavies, etc to put in prison.
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mike / July 15, 2018
John – You can be described as a toilet or a prostitute’s client!
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Appalled / July 15, 2018
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
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Ajith / July 15, 2018
“What if this incident happened in a kovil, a mosque or a church? What if a Hindu, Muslim or a Christian religious figure strangled a policeman to death with his bare hands and tried to lob a grenade at a police team?”
It all depends on where the murderer goes. For example, former LTTE leader Karuna (former Vice president of SLFP, minister in SLFP govt) who murdered 600 innocent policemen, attacked the Daladha Maligawa – highest Buddhist establishment) and lead several rapes, murders was welcomed and provided him with illegal passport to travel to UK to join his family but he caughtand went jail, then he was brought back and gave ministerial post and used him to abduct and murder along with ministerial post by Mahinda & Gotapaya. The media is silent. politicians are silent, military is silent, people are in silent. This is what the culture we built for past 70 years. Inthis land we never had a cultural development like this in our history of 2500 years.
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Eagle Eye / July 15, 2018
Ajith,
Karuna renounced terrorism and provided valuable information to eliminate Prabhakaran and LTTE. People have no problem in treating a person who helped to eliminate terrorism as a friend.
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Ajith / July 15, 2018
Eagle eye,
He did not renounced terrorism, he did not apologise to public those crimes, he continued with the crimes even after changing side until he was removed from his power along with Mahinda & Gotapaya.
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Rohan / July 16, 2018
He was also forcibly recruiting children in the east with the blessings of the Rajapakses
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Leelawathi / July 15, 2018
Why Srilanken media men would not react against NYT articles ?
Why do we the citizens of the country have no rights to know the truths ?
Why Rajaapskeh repeatedly deny it but no come to discussions ?
Why people stay mum ?
Why lanken Media MEAN dont give it a publicity if they really LOVE own people ?
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rbh / July 15, 2018
What did the Panama Papers reveal, among them was the Pakistani prime minister’s family who use ill-gotten wealth don’t keep assets in their own names, Judiciary-led investigation he and his family have had to acknowledge they used offshore companies to acquire foreign assets. presently he is sentenced by an accountability court.
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Ansar / July 15, 2018
Any person with a sane mind will come to some senses, of whats in store to come.
There was this interview wherein a prominent lawyer highlighted the site of how the bulls are reared by one individual and posed the question whether that is what the Sri Lankans want, to be ruled over by a Murderous Family, like slaves.
Sadly, that seems to be the trend unless and otherwise, the Clowns become Men and deliver on their pledge to the 6.2 Million voters by prosecuting the Murderers and Robbers in the remaining period, at least.
Once that is done, half of the Murderous MARA/GOTLER family together with their henchmen will be behind bars, for all the crimes committed, parallel y prosecute James Bond too . Otherwise, the bulls will be ruled over by the Murderers, as quite rightly highlighted by the prominent lawyer, in the said interview.
Tissaranee, you please continue writing which may open up some warped/slave minds of MARA/GOTLER clan in this forum too. I dont want to name names, any Tom,Jim and Harry will know.
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Tyronne Petersz / July 15, 2018
Fully endorse this article. Brilliant.
Ranil wake up! Disce aut discede ammata.
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shankar / July 15, 2018
2 clowns and one murderer.
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Paul / July 15, 2018
and three thieves?
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Steve / July 15, 2018
Why don’t all three brothers dress alike ?
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mike / July 15, 2018
Steve – The three rogues/rapists/murderers are implying “All for one and one for all”!
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shankar / July 15, 2018
steve
gota is not a clown.Can anyone say hitler was a clown.His message to his brothers is if you want to be a clown go ahead,but don’t make me also a clownI am a pest controller.
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Paul / July 15, 2018
They are catering to different sections of the electorate. MR the people’s man, GR the Westernized cosmopolitan who gets things done whatever the cost, BR the softer alternative to GR’s ruthlessness. Why have one when you can have all three? – the logic of the imbecile voter.
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Native Vedda / July 15, 2018
Paul
–
How did they share the loot was it on 1/3 basis or by some other complicated formula? How will they share potential loot?
–
Being the Chief National Hangman Gota might have demanded more.
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Paul / July 16, 2018
Native,
Complicated formulae are beyond them. I think they might consult the family lowyer to decide on the split Apparently he keeps the file.
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Ajith / July 15, 2018
They are specialists in three subjects
.Mahinda: His speciality cheating all Sinhalese as a patriotic.
Gota: His speciality is abduction & murder.
Basil: His speciality is 15-25% commission.
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Rajash / July 16, 2018
Except Gota the other brothers do dress alike. Never seen Gota in the “Rajapakse attire”… Gota prefers the saffron robe. so that he can take refuge in it when the judicial noose gets tightened around his neck
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CHANAKYAN / July 16, 2018
Steve
With thuppai dress it is easier for the Hitler Aspirant to slide into NAZI uniform.
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Rajash / July 15, 2018
The biggest clowns of all is the Sri Lankan public. The murderers know that they can clown around with Sri Lankans.
You can fool some of the people all of the time
you can fool all of the people some of the time
you can fool all of the Sri Lankan people all of the time
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Lasith / July 15, 2018
TG
Brilliant as always.
Your article is absolutely to the point with all logic and reasoning in line.
.
But I tell you, with our buffaloes no amount of logic will make any sense. Majority of our people are hardwired to accept Mara’s bullshit ideas that hold no water over most obvious truths that stare them right in their faces. What a pity that a large portion of our society are mutts.
.
The question what we should be asking is not why the politicians are behaving badly, but why grown men and women who make up our society choose to reason like children? We cannot afford the luxury of being ignorant in a country with less resources, we shouldn’t take anything for granted or at face value.
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If we don’t ask the right questions we will never get the right answers. If we don’t choose logical thinking over emotional or illogical thinking we will neither be able to comprehend the truth nor will we be able to ask relevant questions.
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We should stop using our ear to decide on everything, our people should start using the Brain to understand reality and accept reality for what it is, only then will we be able to change our system for the better.
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In short why can’t our people be more like you, able to breakdown, analyze, extract and wield the truth like a sword at those who fool us day in and day out. If there were 1,000 TGs in Sri Lanka, cheap politicians would have long migrated to other countries asking for asylum!
Redhi galawagena un duwnne.
Lasith
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Lucky / July 15, 2018
That picture should make Sri Lankans afraid. These is a ruthless family, who will stop at nothing, even resort to brutal murders, to achieve their objectives, and stop those who dare stand up to them. Two names come to mind, Lasantha W. and Thajudeen, who were killed for reasons we can only guess. To this day, there has been no justice for these two families, and the scumbags who were responsible, still walk our streets.
I also blame the present lot for being either incompetent, or disinterested, in bringing these criminals to face a court of law. If this thug Gota becomes president, we can predict what will happen to this country – murders, threats, silencing the media, white vans, and ex Army thugs doing the bidding of the Rajapaksa’s, acting like the Mossad and killing off civilians, who get in their way.
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Lasith / July 15, 2018
Lucky
.
…and most of all they will never leave power again….
Another North Korea in the making.
.
Lasith
.
How can one family be given so much leverage that even while out of power they manage to confuse and disorientate everyone.
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wannihami / July 15, 2018
What hog wash! 10% population is Muslim and 50% of that is women who are under the thumb of the MMDA, and girls as young as 13 are legally raped by men as old as 40 under the Muslim law, and this woman Tisaranee talks of child rape during previous government, what Hypocrisy! One murder committed by a man in a yellow robe is brought forward to dis-credit all Buddhist monks, look at the numbers, how many Buddhist monks are there compared to Muslim and Hindu and Cristian clergy,
And for murders going down…if this women has iota of brains she will see the downward trend against time and has nothing to do with the government in power.
[Edited out]
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old codger / July 16, 2018
“One murder committed by a man in a yellow robe is brought forward to dis-credit all Buddhist monks, “
There is now an active industry putting out “evidence” that Somarama and his pal Buddharakhitha were innocent.
Even given that there are more Buddhist monks, the number in jail is way out of proportion. It would be even higher if monks were not afforded undue privileges and their crimes covered up by a superstitious media.
The hoo-ha about the shooting of the Kirivehera incumbent is a good example, The man is a well-known womanizer (also covered up by the media) and that probably had something to do with the shooting. But the tax-payers have to pay his hospital bills!
It is time that Buddhists stopped blindly worshipping every robe covering a crook.
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krakatoa / July 15, 2018
My choice for next Presidency is Vidyakala and Thisaranee as PM.
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
Dear krakatoa,
.
Who is Vidyakala?
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sathsidu ganasara / July 15, 2018
Krakota, I am with you 100%
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lal / July 15, 2018
What a piece of humbuggery! When the writer’s favourite Tamil terrorist sons were throwing grenades, setting off landmines, planting bombs in buses and trains killing hundreds of Sinhalese civilians there was no condemnation. A sudden awakening of the conscious when a Bhudhist priest commits murder! The fear of Rajapakses return to power, perhaps. Tens of thousands were being murdered a year for 30 years until the Rajapakses put a stop to that by eliminating the racist, fascist, murderous thugs in May 2009. Of course, those with racist agendas do not like the Rajapakses for the humiliating defeat they suffered but, make no mistake, they’ll be back soon. No amount of slinging mud is going to help. Nor would mere accusations. They are needed more than ever to deal with criminals as they did with Tamil Terrorists.
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Lasith / July 15, 2018
Lal
You stupid narrow minded pig. Shame on you for your one sided view.
.
Didn’t we murder and kill Tamils indiscriminately? Didn’t we commit gross human rights violations, against them? Didn’t we do the Black July Pogrom 1983. And several against Muslims after 2009?
.
Just because you don’t have a conscience or a broadmind don’t expect others to be frogs in the same well like you. Stop stewing in ignorance. The first concept in Buddhism.
.
On what grounds do you down play the barbaric murder of a police officer on duty, that too by a known criminal wanted on many other counts as well, in a saffron robe. People like you will continue to go and blindly worship these bastards irrespective of their character. Height of Ignorance.
.
This should open your eyes to the nature and attitude of most of the saffron clad beast. Most of them are leading people like you away from the Buddhist path, onto the depths of samsara. How I pity you.
.
Don’t be so childish and worship those self-serving scum, the Rajapaksha’s, just because they massage your fragile ego through their mass propaganda. Open your eyes at least at this age. You have been just zombie all these years. Wake up, reason, accept the truth for what it is, not on the basis of religion or language or cast. Don’t expose your blatant lack of education and pedigree. Buddhism teaches us to consider all humans with equal dignity. Do you even know that or are you a two penny psycophant on a payroll for some cheap self-serving politician. Either way I feel so sorry for you.
.
Lasith
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Native Vedda / July 16, 2018
Lasith
–
Lal loo normally sits on his left side brain.
Hence he/she/it cannot articulate anything that involves, logic, sequencing,
linear thinking, mathematics, facts, thinking in word, ………………..
You should bear with him.
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old codger / July 16, 2018
Lal,
“When the writer’s favourite Tamil terrorist sons were throwing grenades, setting off landmines, planting bombs in buses and trains killing hundreds of Sinhalese civilians there was no condemnation. “
It is quite clear that you learned to read only recently. Otherwise how could you have missed Tisaranee’s regular condemnations of the Tigers during the war?
Look up wartime issues of the Sunday Island for example on the Net, and you will find plenty of her writing. It is easy for hypocrites to sit in their armchairs and write rubbish about people who actually do something to change society.
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
To clearly identify four racists, look at the picture above; after that, lal, look at a mirror.
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Simon De Silva / July 16, 2018
Dear SInhala Man,
whatever we discuss on CT platform – what I got to know from some videos today, that Gotler is being mapped for the next prez candidate.
Oour punnakku eaters would not get it easily. I really dont know why media give that much of publicity. May be MEDIA mudalalies are being paid by Rajapakshes for the hidden kind of pressw ork.
TOday, govt is there, but they have no control over Media Mudalalies that spread or give priority to no goo dhead lines whic hbelong to the rulers.
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Tamil from the north / July 16, 2018
Dumbass Johnny boy, the LTTE happily wiped out the entire intellectual Tamil community as well. Therefore, they were not biased in the quest for human bllod, they shared their love of death equally. So stop writing like a jackarse and go to bed.
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mike / July 15, 2018
TG – Excellent. A translation of this article should appear in the Sinhala media day in and day out so that the uneducated masses can understand. BTW, Sillysena and Ranilpaksha don’t understand!
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Tyronne Petersz / July 15, 2018
Mike
Our Sinkhala Buddhist village idiotic morons are fed by hiru and derana
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
Thanks, mike,
.
Now that would be a truly patriotic act: your translating this in to Sinhala.
.
The article appears in the Sunday Island as well, but we must begin to understand who the voters who matter are.
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Buddhist / July 15, 2018
In my humble opinion the fault of not taking the Rajapakse family to task lies with President Sirisena. President did not blink an eye to appoint a Bond Presidential Commission and present the report to the Parliament. But at the same time the other Corruption Presidential Commission report which was submitted at the same time as the Bond Commission report was not presented to the Parliament and to the Public..Why? Its because SLFP MPs were involved in that and as usual President Sirisena as the President of the Country first is not a neutral person, be is bias towards SLFP. When we have a President acting in such a manner how can we expect civilians or the Government Servants to behave differently, they too a bias. President who sits in the Cabinet as the Head of the Cabinet comes out after the Cabinet has accepted certain proposals, watches the reaction of the Buddhist Monks and SLPP and then orders against the cabinet decision. This is the flip flop mentality of the President. First of all President should learn to act as an independent neutral person. At least now he should appoint a Presidential Commission to investigate the New York Times article re: funding Rajapaske campaign. Why is he not doing it?
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soma / July 15, 2018
Buddhist
Would you object the scope of the proposed Commission to cover all campaign funding?
Soma
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Buddhist / July 16, 2018
Not at all. But if found fault every one who was involved in these illegal dealings should lose their civic rights for life.
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Jim softy / July 15, 2018
In 2014, Basil Rajapakse had imported australian Cows $ 500,000 a head. had sold each Rs 200,000 and some had gone to butcher.
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mike / July 15, 2018
Jim Boar – Exercise caution on your statement, Basil may try to sell you for peanuts and you may be “gone to butcher”!
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
Substantiate those figures, please, Jimmy.
.
Half a million $ for a cow! Can’t be.
.
Not to mention that few Sri Lankans would pay Rs 200,000 for a cow: they’ll probably buy a tuk tuk. No productivity; much pollution. Partly our fault, I fear.
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shankar / July 16, 2018
same order has been made now for cows from the same company.350000 rupees a cow.the balance 150000 rupees last time is bagman basil’s cut i suppose.It is all because of te exchange rate.i australian dollar must be at least 120 rupees.
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thilan / July 15, 2018
Who have the power and strength who can compete with rajapaksas and their slfp.unp the party only have 23% vote base who has the mixed type janasaviya type economic policy of Jr or premadsa.this is not a problem of unp after 2005.since 1994 unp only had 26% vote base when slfp had 42%. After 2005 unp vote base reduced In to 23 and slfp vote base increased in to 42% to 46%. Now the slfp vote base of 46% is with raja paksas pohottuwa. Slfp of Mahinda is the only high class capitalist business party ever formed in srilanka.they have power,money ,entire business class support base,support of the media which owns the same business class . the unp still does not have a president for their own for 25 years and they were in opposition for 20 years. With the power of a party like mahindas slfp what the parties like unp can do. Rajapksas are the architects of this huge neo liberal 80 billion business economy of srilanka which they got 20 billion 3rd world economy In 2005. The poor parties like unp of jr or premadsa which never seen economy more than 15 billion in their rule will note be take serious by this society while the largest power full capitalist business party of mahindas slfp is in srilanka.what ever you write or cry for the parties like unp or JVP it is a joke when you are trying compete this parties with a one and only top level capitalist business party In srilankan history the slfp of Mahinda.
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rbh / July 15, 2018
What did the Panama Papers reveal, among them was the Pakistani prime minister’s family who use ill-gotten wealth don’t keep assets in their own names, Judiciary-led investigation he and his family have had to acknowledge they used offshore companies to acquire foreign assets. His sentenced by an accountability court. this paper unveiled vital facts.
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Jim softy / July 15, 2018
This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/
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Buwa / July 15, 2018
Your chart is wrong. Please correct. In 2010-2014 and 2015 onwards the crime data published are in completely different categories. please take a closer look at your data before drawing conclusions. It looks a lot like premature ejaculation.
This lack of professionalism and comprehension pretty much sums up the state of the so called journalists and intellectuals of this country, all made of card board.
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Raj / July 15, 2018
Clowns, Murderers & uneducated yobs, not to mentions bum sucking parasites, we have them all in SL, running the countryt. Here is a country which hopes to hang drug dealers, not necessarily murders (a lesser crime?), religious leaders condoning a murderous megalomaniac like Hitler (probably due to ignorance), all security personnel, irrespective if they were deserters, rapists, mass murderers, all celebrated as ‘war heroes’ & a (proposed) separate courts of law (obviously with a different set of laws) for the Buddhist clergy.
Is it still the ‘miracle of Asia’, or will be shortly, with Rajapakse clan coming back to finish off what they started?
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soma / July 15, 2018
Where was TG in 1988/89 I wonder. Yes memory is an eel. In TG’s case it is a cross between an eel and a fox.
Soma
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wannihami / July 15, 2018
Buwa the crime data shows that there is a general downward trend which has nothing to do with the prevailing government. TG is unlikely to have the brains to see that and we have to pity for her that, on the other hand she knows very well MMDA law allows legal rape of 13 year olds by 40 year olds in the name of marriage under Muslim law and TG does not mention that does she?
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buwa / July 15, 2018
wanniami,
there is no downward trend in crime even in data.
here are two original data sets
2014
https://www.police.lk/images/others/crime_trends/2014/grave_crime_abstract_for_the_2014.pdf
2016
https://www.police.lk/images/others/crime_trends/2016/grave_crime%20.pdf
the two data sets have categorised grave crimes very differently.
ill give one example.
Murder:
TG says murder as gone down from 2014 to 2016 from 548 to 502. but the truth is in 2014 “murder” and “abetment to commit suicide” were lumped together. whereas in 2016, they are in separate categories.
there are many other differences. TG is either or stupid, probably both.
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wannihami / July 16, 2018
Buwa, do keep publishing this kind of data/links, TG’s venomous diatribe become more toxic daily as she realizes she cannot fool the people this time around as she did at 2014 elections.
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LAC3(rtd) Buddhadasa / July 16, 2018
Wannihamy,
“allows legal rape of 13 year olds by 40 year olds “
Yes, and I suppose that justifies legal rape of 5 year old boys in temples by the Most Venerable Maha Sangha?
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Thondamany / July 15, 2018
How could anyone take these Clowns to book when those who robbed the Central bank within 40 days of coming to power could surpass these CLOWNs.
Now Royal Clowns are Clowning in Sri Lanka has turned out to be Master Clowns.
Like no other to lead Sri Lanka…. this Royal Clown rubbed sh.t on all our faces and yet continue to clown………..
Sooooooooo how can we point the finger at these Clowns when there are Royal CLOWNS running the country?
Just travelled from Yaalpanam without crashing
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S. Thevaram / July 15, 2018
Astute piece (as ever) from TG, but “clowns” is too parsimonious an explanation. Available data is more consistent with a deal struck on the night of the election in 2015 (“will go quietly, protect the Royals”), and RW keeping his side of the bargain. Everything else we see — corruption, nepotism, incompetence, broken promises and the utter disregard for the long term interest of our country — come naturally to the Sri Lankan political class.
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Sinhala_Man / July 15, 2018
Oh, S. Thevaram,
.
How I miss those wonderful stories; so many of them. This is one that I must now start reading – written when I didn’t know how to access proxy servers.
.
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-story-of-an-identity-being-born/
.
Why no stories now? Wot, no inspiration?
.
I’ve never met you, but you sound nice!
.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ3EWNxG9sY&list=UUGVu5Op-zr3Pbw6WifSJY_w&index=6&t=0s
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Sinhala_Man / July 16, 2018
Dear S. Thevaram
Why don’t we have more of those wonderful stories that you used to write?
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Nimal / July 15, 2018
Man, man, please don’t make all of your blood to boil, take it easy, and calm down forks. In the Rajapakse camp there is big ah oh going on, though they show in public that they are united but inside their is volcano is breaking out. It seems, MR wants to see Namal as President in his life time, he is opposeed to all of them, Gota, Basil and Chanel. If any of them becomes president, they would go for two terms, and there wouldn’t be any chance for Namal in MR’s life time, finally MR decided to put forward Siranthi, even she looses, there would be chance for Namal in the future. It’s same like In Pakistan, when the party, and all supporters requested Nawaz Shariff to appoint his brother, the CM of Punjab, the next most popular man in the party but he refused, and kept his own figure ahead man who would make way for his son. Also none of them would win for the minorities wouldn’t vote for them at all, no man would become a president without the minorities votes.
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Lasith / July 15, 2018
Lal
Shame on you for your one sided view.
.
Didn’t we murder and kill Tamils indiscriminately? Didn’t we commit gross human rights violations, against them? Didn’t we do the Black July Pogrom 1983. And several against Muslims after 2009?
.
Just because you don’t have a conscience or a broadmind don’t expect others to be frogs in the same well like you. Stop stewing in ignorance. The first concept in Buddhism.
.
On what grounds do you down play the barbaric murder of a police officer on duty, that too by a known criminal wanted on many other counts as well, in a saffron robe. People like you will continue to go and blindly worship these bastards irrespective of their character. Height of Ignorance.
.
This should open your eyes to the nature and attitude of most of the saffron clad beast. Most of them are leading people like you away from the Buddhist path, onto the depths of samsara. How I pity you.
.
Don’t be so childish and worship those self-serving scum, the Rajapaksha’s, just because they massage your fragile ego through their mass propaganda. Open your eyes at least at this age. You have been just zombie all these years. Wake up, reason, accept the truth for what it is, not on the basis of religion or language or cast. Don’t expose your blatant lack of education and pedigree. Buddhism teaches us to consider all humans with equal dignity. Do you even know that or are you a two penny psycophant on a payroll for some cheap self-serving politician. Either way I feel so sorry for you.
.
Lasith
/
K.Pillai / July 15, 2018
Hobson’s choice?
AKA having to choose between two baddies.
/