9 December, 2024

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Doom Loop Of Gota’s Mouthpiece  

By Sarath de Alwis –

Sarath de Alwis

“Who am I? This or the Other?
Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
And before myself a contemptible woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me like a beaten army
Fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved? “

These lines are from an emotive piece of poetry written by the Protestant pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his prison cell in Nazi Germany, shortly before he was executed.  

Vocal opposition to the genocidal persecution of Jews was his crime.    

Pastor Bonhoeffer’s very human anguished cry addressed the pivotal question of self that haunts all of us sane people when confronted with primitive tribal prejudice. It affirmed the ceaseless search for our identity and our values. It grapples with issue that bothers all humans – on what others think of us, or are we after all, what we think we are?  

The protestant theological giant and martyr of the 20th century, gives us a precious glimpse into his struggle. Am I the hero they tell me I am or ought to be or am I the terrified frailty that I know myself to be?

In this presidential election in which the main contenders are engaged in a lethal contest for the will and soul of the majority, minorities are practically powerless nonparticipants asking themselves – who are we? Whither are we drifting? 

Irrespective of whether we belong to a majority or a minority in plural multi religious multiethnic society, at some point or another we must struggle with some essential questions. 

What are our values to the world?  Who are we? In seeking answers some people brilliantly belligerent, pugnaciously profound stumble upon on a dark recess in their light less souls.

Mr. Ali Sabri PC has recently emerged as the principal point man to curry favour with and enlist the support of the urban middle-class Muslims for President aspirant Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s meritocracy.  

He is combative in Social media. With a sharp demonstration of contrived erudition, he celebrated the recent US district court dismissal of Ahimsa’s petition against former Defence Secretary. The dismissal on a technicality of jurisdiction, he claimed was a clear declaration of the innocence of the respondent. 

At a recent pocket meeting where he addressed an exclusively Muslim audience Mr. Ali Sabry has injected a highly toxic rhetoric to persuade Muslims to vote for Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

It was virtually a doom loop he created for the Muslim community. He addressed them in the vernacular Tamil spoken by the Muslims of our west coast. 

Apart from a smattering of Tamil that I picked up during a childhood in a planation, I claim no in-depth command of the Tamil language. 

 For the purpose of this essay I got Mr. Ali Sabri’s pastoral polemic in vernacular Tamil translated by a Muslim academic. For good measure I consulted several Muslim civil society activists to ensure that my reading of Mr. Ali Sabry’s strange delegitimizing of minority rights is consistent with the facts. 

Those precautions were necessary. Comprehending his bizarre epistemology of democracy and minority rights is not easy.    

Mr. Ali Sabry tells his audience that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has already won the presidential race. (“Avar Vendu Olinja”)  

He then exhorts ‘Vote for him and get on to the right side in the contest. If you don’t! and leaves the rest hanging I thin air.   

Here’s how the speech in the video clip goes: 

Ali Sabry:  He will win with Sinhala votes. He has already won. That is the truth. What I wish to tell the Muslim people is that we must become party to that victory. If not, what will happen?

A person from the audience responds” Appadi illaati, ambanekku kedechchum”. 

“If we don’t, we will get it properly” 

‘Ambanekku kedechchem’ has an equivalent in Sinhala folk lexicon – ‘ Ambaanata Hambuwei’ . 

Ali Sabry is pleased that he got it across. He laughingly agrees. 

He says in Tamil;  “Sariya sari, appadi illati enna nadakkum? ambanekku kedekkum. Unmaiyana seithi. Unmaiyana seithi. Athu sutti, naanga atha arinju kollonum. Unmaiyana seithi athuthaan”. 

“Yes. Absolutely correct. If not, what will happen? You will get it properly. That’s true. That’s true. So, we ought to know about that. The truth is that.”

I invite the dispassionate reader to draw his or her rational reconstruction of Sabry’s strange logic. If you get on the wrong side of the future president may god help you is the way a reasonable mind would read Mr.Sabry’s sage advice.  

Ali Sabry speaks in what is referred to as “Sonakar Thamizh”- a vulgar dialect used by Muslims unschooled in Tamil- a nonliterary patois prevalent among Muslims of our western and southern coastline. 

 He says “Vendu Olinja” which literally means won over and done with. The phrase “ambanekku kedechchum” means, you will get it properly or a belly full. 

The message is plainly unambiguous, ear-splittingly loud and brutally palpable. 

With his sure squeeze among the majority community, Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory is inevitable. Therefore, the indulgence and largess of the ‘strongman’ president is an existential imperative for the Muslim minority. 

It is an unmistakable proposition that denotes a racist dictatorship made in the supreme belief that a minority can be badgered into submission by the mere suggestion or hint of ferocious strength. 

The learned President’s counsel fully immersed in his mission to persuade his community to support the candidacy of Gotabaya Rajapaksa does not address the question that pastor Bonhoeffer attempted to answer in his Nazi prison sell. “Who am I? This or the Other? Am I one person to-day and to-morrow another?” 

That kind of dilemma is for those who seek meaning in human values. Those who seek meaning in ‘power’ are not diverted by such dumb decencies.  

A mercenary mind does not torment itself with such disposable profundities. Avarice ambition equips them to construct their own prison cell. They are not only happy and content in them but thrive in them.  

If, however, we adopt the measure that pastor Bonhoeffer applied to himself when confronting the tyranny of a dictator, we must necessarily conclude that Gota’s mouthpiece is a hypocrite and a contemptible woebegone weakling. 

This is the real deal offered by Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. ‘Us versus them’ is his real manifesto.  

Latest comments

  • 3
    12

    I don’t think our comrade Alwis will have to do a Bohnhoeffer because of Ali Sabry’s Doom Loop.

    Manush Nananayakkara a UNP MP has vowed to do a Geeta Kumarasiri(?)
    on Nandasena if Nandasena wins the Presidency.
    Wonder who this Nananyakkara is , because I never heard of him..
    May be Nayakka is a better and more clever PC than Ali Sabry.
    Good on him..

    BTW , I really love Ali now.
    He talks Tamil like our Dalit bros in the west Coast..
    How cool is that?..

    • 1
      2

      “BTW , I really love Ali now” – A blind man’s love is two times blind. Are you a gay?

      • 1
        2

        a. Muslim.

        Are you Gay?..No certainly not. I am sure Ali Sabry will say the same.
        Wonder what your mates are doing in Dr Ranil.s Camp…

  • 12
    1

    Sarath, this not canvassing this is a threat made to his community. I have seen this in previous elections where goons of Mahinda going to Tamil houses in Colombo and making indirect threats to voters of consequence for not voting to Rajapaksas mafia. This is one reason I call Lankan elections are a SHAM. There is not even a law to prevent such bull shit, even if there is (according to other Mahinda D) it is just on paper.

    • 1
      1

      chiv,
      In SL, I’ve never seen candidates firing campaign officials for missteps may be b’cos they are trusted colleagues working on voluntary basis. However, since this video is very damaging to the image GoRa campaign is trying very hard to build withing the Muslim community, GoRa should distance from Ali Sabri ASAP if he is only a hired campaigner. If it is in an advanced democracy, a person of GoRa’s character record wouldn’t even allowed to participate in a campaign, let alone be the candidate -and leading one as well (Al Gore kept Bill Clinton away from his PE campaign b’cos of the Monica Lewinski incident)! The irony is that it is the ruthlessness of this same man that led to the loss of MaRa’s regime just 4 1/2 years ago!

      Here is the biggest question everybody should be pondering: Why did MaRa took a huge risk with GoRa when much softer ChaRa is already available? I think the reason is GoRa’s ruthlessness itself – to be used as a scare tactic against potential trouble makers. Perhaps 2018 PS election results raised their confidence level so high that MaRa became certain that even a wooden log from his side would win. Therefore, it is very likely that GoRa was already in the plan. The security fear after Easter bombing only added an extra boost, I believe.

      Therefore, Ali Sabri’s words may come true not if GoRa lose; but only if Gora win. No matter what GoRa promises, the financial situation in the country will allow him no other option but to be ruthless in order to get his wish-list accomplished. JVP knows this & that is they are trying to take the advantage of the potential misery of the country by acting like the good guys in such a situation. Unfortunately, majority of voters in countries like SL can’t afford to think beyond their immediate daily concerns. Who can blame them when even some of the so-called intellectuals fail to figure things out?

  • 8
    0

    This Ali Sabri is seems to be the man who asked to appear for Dr Shafi’s FR case over millions of rupees as initial cost, now says Dr. Shaft arrest and allegation was a drama planned by Pohottuwa as we all know Dr shafy was having over 50,000 vots from the unp camp during last Parliament election from kurunagala distric.

    Also because of this kind of double edge lawyering people hate lawyers as opportunistic experts who exploit clients wealth at maximom level disregarding of their ability to efford.

    Our lawyers profession need reform and the fee structure should be rationalized and regulated. It seems that this man too never paid EPF or etf for his junior lawyers who work for him years.

    • 1
      0

      “Dr shafy was having over 50,000” – When it comes to Dr. Shaft or Shafy, everything is exaggerated; number of women he operated, money he had in his account, and now the votes. But now this might be true as he earned lots of sympathy votes, thanks to rev. Ratna thera

  • 10
    0

    Let PC Ali Sabri lick the boots the so-called politicians. By doing so he might benefit. One should not intimidate the voter to get votes for his master. So unprincipled educated genius!

  • 10
    13

    Oh. Dear ..
    why are you this much of Anti- Gota and Anti Subri.
    why is this ?
    It is his personal choice.
    why you bother about it .
    people have right to do so;
    Sri Lanka is a democratic country..
    why not ?…
    you i know among all 22 Muslim Mps he is the best candidate for Muslim community?…
    all idiot Muslim Mps have done nothing for this nation.
    Let PC Ali Sabri make a difference

  • 7
    0

    Ali Sabry and Varadaraja Perumal are by no means strange bedfellows.They campaign for Gota on the same wavelength and frequency.
    Ali Sabry is asking the Muslims to vote for Gota or else Ambanekku Kedechchum.
    Varatharaja Perumal, a pain in the neck, is asking the Tamils to vote for Gota or else another Mullivaikkal.
    Both have confirmed what everyone else know that Gota is a Thug.
    Who knows another catcher will ask everyone to vote for Gota if you hope to live in one piece or peace?

  • 5
    11

    Ali Sabri seems to be a practical man. This presidential campaign is not about the philosophical questions raised by Bonhoeffer. It’s about power. Benefits of that power would be derived by those who could influence it. Therefore any strata of community (including ethnic minorities & others) if they want to influence the outcomes for the betterment of their respective constituency, they need to be part of the winning coalition.

  • 4
    16

    A word of advice to my Muslim brothers and sisters:
    At this juncture of your history , after what your Wahabi brothers did to us, you need the goodwill of ALL the Sinhalese to move forward. Do not swallow the poisonous UNP propaganda that Rajapaksas are anti minority and risk antagonizing majority of the majority.

    Soma

    • 0
      0

      Soma.
      Minorities know best about marginalized peoples. It was only Tamils at one time now it’s the Muslims too. All packaged and Labeled as misfits, trouble makers, harmful to the Majority race. All citizens born and bred in this Country. Contributing Equally to the Ecconomy. Minorities need the Goodwill of the Sinhala people.

    • 0
      0

      whats wahabi who paid them such a big amount of money and arms bombs . how could bombers brougt thst much money and bombs why authorities did not take any preventive mesures even the information regarding such threat was ther?

  • 9
    2

    Hypocrites like Sabry, are the reason why Muslims won’t vote for a Terrorist like Gota.
    Why I call Gota a Terrorist?

    1. Funded Prabakaran
    2.Funded Zaharan
    3.Funded mercenaries avangaud
    4.Sold the army premises
    5.Mig deal
    6.Abans deal
    I can go more, but remember putting innocent Muslims in jail for Gota trap, will lead to more resistance,

    • 1
      0

      Jehan, Your comment more factual than preaching protestant theology to Allah hypocrite Ali

  • 0
    5

    What is a “doom loop?

    Soma

    • 2
      0

      Gota

  • 9
    1

    There is no gainsaying, NGR is a deeply flawed, despicable and reprehensible human being. He is an egomaniac and may be suffering from a deep held psychological trauma (wonder if that is the reason he resigned from active service and fled to USA? Do folks know the reason he gave for his resignation?- mental condition! ). He needs medical intervention to make him a saner and a more acceptable and normal human being. It’s impossible to fathom how such a flawed human being can even think of leading our beloved Nation. That is possible only due to nepotism & family bandyism which are practised by MR and his Party.

    Those around NGR and also advocating and supporting his candidature, surely must have something to gain from his ascendancy to that powerful position. As for NGR himself, the main reason for his candidature has to be to avoid the various litigations against him. NGR, you can run but cannot hide!

    NGR, do you recall how BR ran away soon after MR’s defeat? Please get ready to do the same in a couple of weeks!

    • 5
      0

      Gamini,

      I saw a group of real Ranaweeruwas countering the Rajapakse-war claims with Rajitha: that’s great. You have to win the propaganda-war. You have to always use the truth to counter/obliterate the Rajapakse-side lies. Rajapakses are shameless liars …… no scruples ….. and you have to instil that in the voters’ minds: that the Rajapkses are shameless liars.

      Hit the sympathy-button (like Sirima is known to have used her husband’s death to win the election.) Tell the poor people why only the Rajapakses’s children can have/entitled-to grand wedding …… aren’t Eknaligoda’s, Lasantha’s et al …….. children have to grow up without fathers. ……. I know old/middle-aged ladies like our cook are very sympathetic to this type of truth.

      Make it crystal clear that Gota is with “tie-coated” rich middle-class “professionals” and only Sajith is comfortable among the downtrodden …… and he has already displayed and proved it.

      Gotta counter all the lies and win the propaganda war.

      Good Luck.

  • 3
    7

    The writer in his senility thinks that he can compare the Dietrich Bonhoeffer to the Taqqia masters of Lanka. Sabry is the ultimate Taqqia master. He reads the minds of the people carefully and accurately and wants the Moslems to vote with utmost Taqqia so that they can be safe till a later date when the times have changes, and the demographic apocalypse of Moslem majority Lanka is in full swing. At that time the same Sabry, now much older and wiser and also in the same class as the greatest Taqqia masters since rivalling Mohamed himself, will THREATEN the Sinhalese in a similar fashion. Come 2030, in a not to distant Lanka where Moslems are over 40% nationwide, he will tell the dying Sinhalese elders that whoever wins Lanka MUST appoint a Moslem the Prime Minister. If not all hell will break lose for the Sinhalese, because we Moslems rule industry, commerce, banking, and can bring Lanka to a total standstill if they thus desired.
    That day is coming. This is Taqqia until then. Sinhalese must learn more about these monsters and they must work with the embittered Tamil and other Kaffirs to completely demolish the Jihadi fanatic ISIS threat from Moslems, who are well over 80% radicalized in Lanka now. Its too late to check who is ISIS and who is not. The Kaffir must act decisively and attack the ISIS with annihilating firepower as soon as possible and eliminate the threat and bring a special scheme to control Moslem Taqqia, in all its form. In industry, commerce, education, etc. Moslems should not be allowed to have multiple wives and must be forced to pay a huge tax for the third child onwards.

    • 2
      1

      This is the perfect example of an Islamaphobe.

      Is·lam·ophobe
      /izˈläməˌfōb,iˈsläməˌfōb/
      noun
      a person with a dislike of or prejudice against Islam or Muslims, especially as a political force.

      • 0
        1

        Why is Islam a political force? Its because its a barbaric ideology masquerading as a religion and actively attempting to either convert or kill non-believer Kaffirs. In Lanka the Jihadi ISIS barbarians ran out of patience. Slowly poisoning the Kaffir and slowly grabbing the future from them by exponential population growth and manipulation of commerce by illegal means became too slow for them. Hence the well co-ordinated Easter Sunday attacked which were well known to all seniors in the Moslems community. They felt they have to do something when the New Zealand mosque attack happened and Baghdadi specifically requested an attack on Lanka. Based on what Lanka ISIS carders told him Baghdadi knew that the Catholics are rather subdued lot. He decided to attack them and when the fatwa came down they happily observed.

        This is what happened dear friends. Do NOT ler your guars an innocent man. He may help you selecttvey but he hates you.

        • 0
          0

          The racist Bull *hitter spewing hate again.

    • 7
      1

      Jay Chambers,
      You speak very well for your master Gota. Torture Chambers are used during the war by Gota extensively.Jihadi Saharan and BBS was trained and funded by Gotabaya to demolish ordinary Muslims. There was no Jihadi before 2005. A Human being will tell there should not be violence, corruption unlawful abduction, murder and bribe but you are bothered about Muslims should not have education, health, job and multiple marriage. What a human you are. Threat, Fear mongering, Bribe and murder are the fundamentals of Gotaism.

      • 0
        1

        Lankan has always had murder, bribery, etc. Sadly it was Pax Britannica that kept Lanka and the entire Subcontinent in a certain state of discipline with low corruption and minimal violence. Its the way of the Lankan people, you people probably had better governance under ancient kings, just going by the extant remains of the ancient hydraulic civilization in North Central area. Migration of low caste South Indians, some of the low caste converts to Islam, had wreaked havoc on Lanka’s civility and this has gone on for several centuries. Ask yourself why the ethnically homogeneous Thais were able to withstand colonial incursions while Lanka Sinhalese could not. Its because of the pollution of Lanka by South Indian low caste migrants and their depraved ways. Just read your history.

        You need a strong leader who is willing and ready to risk collateral damage to address this lawless, corrupt situation. It may mean some nepotism from his extended family but you cannot do better than that. The man who is talking about his father’s achievements and retard type promises to Lankan people is very low IQ person. He cannot run the country. A junta will run it with him as the puppet which will be extremely detrimental to Lanka.

  • 6
    0

    Ali Sabry is a piece of work. His ass is going to get busted Ambaanata when SF takes over law and order pretty soon.

  • 4
    0

    In the community, Ali Sabry is known as a person who does ANYTHING for his own benefit. So selling out his community (“his community” meaning that assuming he still considers him a Muslim) is not surprising

  • 1
    3

    More reasons to vote GR, then!!

  • 3
    0

    PC – Pohottu Counsel?

    • 3
      0

      Think of the brighter side of Ali Baba Sabri’s threat. All Muslims en-masse should be adviced to vote against Gota to prevent him win. Then the Muslim Community will not be subject to a ‘Ambanaka’. but Ali Baba Sabri will.

  • 0
    3

    Look at some of these sentences which are bluntly wrong. The tuition educated generation of people is probably where Sarath de Alwis fits in. An old time English master would not have spared the cane when confronted with such serial acts of murdering the Queen.
    It grapples with issue that bothers all humans – on what others think of us, or are we after all, what we think we are?
    Even the punctuation and the question mark do not conform to educated usage, leave aside sentance structure. Is this writer using some sort of “vernacular English” learnt in his plantation days?
    “In seeking answers some people brilliantly belligerent, pugnaciously profound stumble upon on a dark recess in their light less souls.”
    The brilliantly belligerent person must be this writer who fires with his eyes closed and has no time to read what he writes and “stumbles upon on a…“
    He says ” I claim no in-depth command of the Tamil language. “
    This reminds me of the sweet old Colombo lady who confessed that Aiyoo , I do not really know sinhalese – I know just enough to address the servants in their Yakko baasaava that I learnt from my Aayah. As for Tamil, I only know the Inga Va level of language that I use when I call Ramayiah to clean up the cake crumbs “
    Indeed, why would I learn these vernacular languages of natives? I know French; I title my essays in French, although the “de Alevs,” has been converted to a vernacular form, viz,., Alwis.
    pastoral polemic in vernacular Tamil translated by a Muslim academic.”
    How did Aly Sabry’s discourse become “pastoral”? This misuse of the adjective has been executed purely to get something with the letter “p” to go with the “p” in polemic. The reader can only pee when faced with such travesties.

    • 0
      1


      Close the italicization.

    • 0
      1


      Close the italicization.

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