14 October, 2024

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Fake News: Destroying The Unity Of The Commission; Lake House Inducted Into Project Against The Franchise

The Election Commission is charged with the important task of conducting the elections upholding the law. To open the floodgates of electoral corruption, what better way than to break up the unity of the Commission. So, according to Ratnajeevan Hoole, 

Prof. GL Peiris has accused the Commission of harbouring a saboteur. Dayasiri Jayasekera, when his party was caught having an illegal office in the Kachcheri, took umbrage and threatened to remove Prof. Hoole from the Commission as soon as the new Parliament is elected. When MP Angajan Ramanathan and Kachcheri officials including the GA were investigated for diverting refugee relief from the public to give as their own donations, Prof. Hoole was accused of working for the TNA. Several news articles accused him and Deputy Elections Commissioner A. Achchuthan of working for the re-election of the TNA’s M.A. Sumanthiran.

Election Commissioners

It was like water off a duck’s back as the Commission, determined to do its duty, interdicted unlawful appointments (called treating in an election context) and transfers contrary to the law. The SLPP’s agents then escalated their insidious campaign. When Hoole’s daughter came from the UK, finished her quarantine and came out with a certificate from Army Commander Shavendra Silva and Dr. Anil Jasinghe saying she had finished her quarantine requirements, persons at the Election Commission claimed she had come skipping her quarantine.  She, Prof. Hoole, his son and their driver had to go into quarantine they insisted. The Commission was like a mob – in fact like the mob attacking Tamils that ran from Colombo upon hearing the rumour in July 1983 that the Tigers had come into Colombo. It recalled to mind the Jesuit Paul Casperz’s description that the Sinhalese are by nature one of the friendliest people in the world but they can be easily whipped up into hatred.” (Vide Sarvan, Public Writings on Sri Lanka, Volume 2, chapter titled ‘Paul Caspersz: Jesuit socialist’). Many who ran upon seeing him as Hoole says were his good friends but now abandoned him like fleas jumping off a putrefying dog’s cadaver.

The army was given Hoole’s number plates and they were checked everywhere on their way to Jaffna. In Jaffna the police HQI came with the MOH and the HQI insisted on quarantine for Hoole while the MOH resisted saying it is his prerogative.

“The law is supreme,” said Rajan Hoole (who joined his brother at the latter’s home on noticing the commotion) to this writer, “The Commission and the Police are acting as if anything they think is the law, is indeed the law. How can they interpret the big laws for elections, when they cannot interpret small things like who should be quarantined?” Here is something that Rajan Hoole sent us on the applicable law:

“The HQI would have been justified if he had told my brother under what law he should quarantine yourself. They have no business to order him. The Police have lost the practice of informing people what law they are contravening, and the regulations under which a person would be arrested unless he took certain steps. What is even worse is Deshapriya telling my brother that he must undergo quarantine. He could have told my brother this is the law, leaving him to face consequences for breach of observance. He has no policing powers. That is the law.

“People have started acting as though orders are coming from an invisible source and you have no alternative, but to comply. This is more like a fascistic state.

“Here is something to read:

https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3754&context=facpub

“Parliament has found it necessary to accord power to ministers, administrative agencies, local authorities and the like. Such power will always be subject to certain conditions   contained in the enabling legislation. The courts’ function is to police the boundaries stipulated by Parliament. The ultra vires principle was used to achieve this end in two related ways. In a narrow sense it captured the idea that the relevant agency must have the legal capacity to act in relation to the topic in question: an institution given power by Parliament to adjudicate on employment matters should not take jurisdiction over non-employment matters. In a broader sense the ultra vires principle has been used as the vehicle through which to impose a number of constraints on the way in which the power given to the agency has been exercised: it must comply with rules of fair procedure, it must exercise its discretion to attain proper and not improper purposes, it must not act unreasonably etc.

“It is clear that the Police and Commission acted ultra vires, going beyond the rules of fair procedure and arrogating powers that Parliament never gave them.”

Those against our franchise did not stop there. The Chairman of Ceylon Today, according to our sources, handed in an article with no identified author, to the Editor Sri Nisanka to publish.  It claimed that Ms. Hoole had not finished her quarantine and that Hoole was corrupt.  A correction from Hoole was not entertained. The Island also carried the slander. Editor Prabath Sahabandu was untruthful in denying the correction. 

Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya to his credit issued a correction to the lies being carried by SLPP/SLFP propagandists – Deshapriya expressly stated that Hoole was authorized by the Commission to use the Commission car he used and that Ms. Hoole had finished her quarantine. The correction was not carried by the pro-SLPP/SLFP newspapers.  The Island instead launched an editorial attack on the Commission.

Those on the SLPP hate propaganda team then escalated again. During a press conference, Minister  Keheliya Rambukwella attacked the Commission, and launched a personal tirade against Saliya Pieris, PC, who had defended the Commission in the Supreme Court, saying Pieris was partial. “Does he not know that a lawyer is always partial to his clients?” asked our academic consultant.

The latest tirade was calculated to divide the Commission. On 23 May 2020 night Mr. M.A.M. Nilam, one the most senior journalists at Lake House’s Thinakaran wrote a story. It was headlined War Banners Raised Against Ratnajeevan Hoole:

The story claimed that Mahinda Deshapriya was interviewed and said that Hoole is a nuisance. He raises Commission issues in public even before they are discussed. It is a Commission decision to write to the Constitutional Council to do something about him or he Deshapriya will think about resigning. 

That very night itself websites carried it. Kalaikathir and the widely read print edition of Jaffna-based Uthayan carried it the next morning. They said that it appeared in a Lakehouse website and therefore authentic. Obviously they do not know what an unprincipled hell-hole Lake House has become, said a journalist who points to respected editors being chased off as soon as the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime came into office. 

Deshapriya denied he had ever given such an interview. Colombo Telegraph learns that there was some correspondence overnight between Hoole and Deshapriya. That was perhaps the reason for cooking up the story said that journalist, knowingly. Deshapriya then asked Deputy Commissioner of Elections, Mr. S. Achchuthan, to investigate.  Achchuthn got hold of Nilam on the phone. Colombo Telegraph independently verified the conversation which went something like this:

Acchuthan: Did you talk to the Chairman?

Nilam: Yes I did. Friday afternoon.

Achchuthan: But he denies talking to you.

Nilam: No but some months ago he told me to talk to Rizen (his PA) or Mohammed (the Retired Commissioner of Elections) or Channa de Silva (Director of planning). I spoke to Rizan and Mohammed.

Achchuthan: Rizan was not here on Friday because of Mubarak. It is months since Mohammed retired.

Upon being told, Rizan was very upset. He called Nilam and a similar conversation followed. 

Nilam agreed he had not interviewed anyone and to publish a retraction of the article on Monday. What a comedown for Mr Don Richard Wijewardene’s Lake House!  

“We have chairmen who do not care about editorial reputations,” said the journalist who commented earlier. He added “If Nilam had done this for money, he would have been upset that he would be fired. It is clear to me that the Editor asked him to cookup this article. So Nilam does not think he will be punished. That is why he  was so calm and did not seem to care.”

And Ceylon Today’s Chairman and its Editor? “No one should buy these newspapers if they buy newspapers for news and analysis. OK for wrapping groceries,” opined a female academic.

And the SLPP/SLFP? “This is the kind of news on which people will judge their government and vote. How far we have fallen from 1948!” the woman professor concluded.

A Note from Prof. Hoole: Appeal for Safety

Today’s Thinakaran, a government owned Tamil daily, has a long piece by one Gayan Kumara Weerasinghe and M.A.M. Nilam who wrote the alleged interview with Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya where I am blamed for many things and being reported to the Constitutional Council for removal

They, the two reporters, claim that I am under inquiry for traveling under curfew with my son, violating curfew laws, that I have had to give an affidavit to the police, etc. I have neither gone to an inquiry nor summoned to one. Travelling under curfew is allowed for me. Today’s Uthayan (25.05.2020) carries a statement from Deshapriya stating there is no problem in me as a public servant on duty going out in curfew hours, and denying Nilam’s story about the interview with him.

I remember what the police did to Hejaaz Hizbullah. I recall disappearances. I fear the police are preparing for something bad.

I only ask to be allowed to do my work as a Member of the Election Commission to do my work. The government and the Police have a responsibility to enable me to do my duty. Lake House (under which Thinakaran is) is under them. They should take action. (By Arjun Balaratnam) 

Latest comments

  • 36
    21

    Guys, Any thing new in Sorry Lanka ????? I read both, one stating EC was unhappy with Hoole and wants him out, the other stated EC telling there is nothing wrong in Hoole travelling and he is allowed to visit EC office anytime he wish (exact words ) and there is NO necessity for him to go through quarantine. I also remember Hoole writing here in CT, prior to his visit taking all necessary steps and coordinating with EC , yet apprehensive of the unexpected (from govt and police ). At the end Hoole was absolutely right. People who jump to criticize (genuine ones), should realize the odds against him as EC member. People who called Hoole a liar are not just liar but racist liar.

    • 4
      13

      Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole must resign from the election commission.
      He has no moral right what so ever to stay in that position.
      .
      He…..
      – Being a US citizen himself…..
      – Being a dual citizen himself…..
      – Knowing very well how to renounce a US citizenship…..
      – Knowing very well that GR has renounced his US citizenship well before November election…..
      – While being a member of the election commission…..
      Repeatedly accused GR of his citizenship status.
      .
      He…
      Shamelessly tried to use his position and status to block GR from contesting in the last presidential election to satisfy his fellow minority manipulators and political sympathizers.

  • 35
    16

    This is what happens when people get carried away by racist hate-mongering and fake news. They vote with their eyes shut and elect a criminal who white-vanned those who criticized his corrupt, illegal actions and grave human rights violations. Now what? The government is heavily militarized and uniformed thuggery is reigning the country. The already corrupt institutions like the police, judiciary, medical profession and the media are now reduced to the level of Rajapaksa Mafia’s house servants and have turned into enemies of the people.

  • 19
    39

    Arjuna Balaratnam, whose silver do I hear clicking in your shoulder bag?
    /
    This is list of outrageous allegation through which Hoole is imposing his own subversive agenda on others, and cry ‘poor me’.
    /
    This is nonsense. He is the outlaw who is breaking up the ‘unity’ of the Commission by trying to undermine the Commissioner at every turn. It is obvious that he, together with Sumanthiran, is running the Tamil Protestant Christian agenda against the Hindus.
    /
    The quarantine story vomited again here is common knowledge in the country and there are not any reasonable people who disagree that he has broken the quarantine regulations and has abused government (public) property. He blames all the media that reported the events as anit- whatever, and he has the gaul to plead for protection./
    /
    The good thing is that propaganda like this will not matter because the police are going to charge him and his daughter/niece with breaking the law for which the punishment could involve Rs. 10000 fine and/or six months imprisonment. It looks like he will get both.
    /
    Rule of law must prevail.

    • 16
      9

      helios the sun struck stoned moron is back with his usual drivel filled with vile bile, slander and racist bigotry. A tormented soul unburdening its putrefied contents on CT. Voicing dissent or critical opinion is quite different from using these sites to spread low life racism and hatred. He must be having to show proof of his “comments” to collect his paycheck from his masters.

  • 34
    14

    No doubt Lake House is an unprincipled Hell-Hole.
    No one needs to look far with respect to Ceylon To-Day. Tiran Alles its owner,publisher, Chairman etc etc was the go between MaRa and the LTTE in the year 2005 where the LTTE was bribed to prevent the Northern voter from exercising his vote at the Presidential Election of 2015 .Ranil.W. was the casualty.

    Here is that same man Tiran Alles who is accusing Prof: Ratnajeevan Hoole as corrupt!
    Taking a Principled stand and being outspoken does not constitute corruption!

  • 30
    14

    Making up, Fabrication, Fake propaganda, Lies, thereat, abduction, murder are familiar weapons used by Mahinda Family under the leadership of Gotabaya is a well known facts. I do not understand how some highly educated professionals like Dr. Dayan Jeyatilake, Prof.G.L. Peries, Prof. Vitharane, Dr. Lasiri Fernando back these cruel, brutal, unlawful, unconstitutional acts of violence, acts of hatred against humanity? It is also surprised me a highly educated Buddhist Sinhala leadership and the Sinhalese people are also in support of these crimes against humanity, crimes against Buddha’s teaching in this civilised historical country.Is Humanity lost in this country?

    • 6
      4

      Unfortunate!

  • 13
    6

    What a damn disgusting shame this once upon a time serendipity of a nation has fallen to ever since 1956 and now been despicable after the November poll.
    The Disgraceful SLPP along with the kallathoni are annoyed that their godfather’s gift to the world has successfully put a damper on their grandoise plans of rigging the general election to obtain the much needed 2/3rd majority to play pandu of a bandu.
    As their world is falling apart at the seams they are trying to make the honest straight shooter prof hoole to carry their bastard immoral babies.
    We Tamils have won the war by being silent and the Yakkos will drown themselves in their own shit in their own magnanimity created bog in the rajapuka cesspit.
    Alleluia for the truth is now going uphill whilst the Yaks are going down and down the pallan where a major crash will occur.
    This will be the end of Lord Buddha’s criminal racist bastard clan.
    How cool.

  • 18
    4

    Prof. Hoole has appealed for his safety. He says the police are preparing for something bad. Is there anything that can be done to protect him?

  • 13
    5

    Sri Lanka political culture is hit back at those who oppose the party in power. We should congratulate Dr. Holle a mathematician is logical in thinking. The Chairman of EC should save the integrity of his name by being with the members of EC It is dirty politics practiced by the Gota government. Just imagine what will happen if he gets a two-third majority? thee are few media dancing to the tune of Gota. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

  • 10
    2

    Members of the Elections Commission must be respected for their forthright views including Professor Hoole. The Government view point is also being ably presented in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is doing a great job to conclude these cases as early as possible.

  • 12
    7

    Guys, There is something I observed which is obvious but deserves to be mentioned. Its almost 8 pm now and there are only 9 comments including Helios. People who agreed with Helios have all given thumps down to rest , but none bothered to write a comment. ( guess , now there is none ). I am sure these are the same people who rushed to comment earlier based on fake news , accusing Hoole of wrong doing and one had the audacity to even call him a liar. Now when the news is proved fake by same EC at least they should have the courtesy to make some amends (which I do not expect from Sorry Lankans). This is the country we live in where govt through paid mouth pieces/media try to vilify their own EC member and their racist followers follow the cue to rush in with further disparaging abusive comments , but when proved fake none to be seen, because they have moved on else where to continue the same. . Land like no other.

    • 11
      8

      A very interesting observation Chiv. Thanks

    • 1
      3

      Dear chiv,
      .
      I saw this article all right but it was not only all about what was happening at the other end of our “little island”, and there was that banner from Thinakaran in Tamil which I don’t understand. Of course we’ve been told what it is about.
      .
      The problem that I had is somewhat similar to what you may be faced with when you see this:
      .
      https://lankacnews.com/%e0%b6%b1%e0%b7%93%e0%b6%ad%e0%b7%92-%e0%b6%9a%e0%b7%90%e0%b6%a9%e0%b7%96-%e0%b7%84%e0%b7%96%e0%b6%bd%e0%b7%8a-%e0%b6%85%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%8f%e0%b6%bb%e0%b7%94%e0%b7%80%e0%b7%99%e0%b7%8a-%e0%b6%b4/
      .
      I saw that about 36 hours ago, and made three comments in English, of which two have appeared. I have been allowed to keep my “Sinhala_Man” identity.
      .
      It is great that the Intenet allows us to exchange ideas, but now we discover that there is too much going on that we don’t understand. Before anybody starts insulting the “Swabasha” languages and tries to sing “Hallelujahs” to the language that our last colonisers bestowed upon us, let me state emphatically that the users of each have every right to their own language.
      .
      I can see no easy solution; the fleeting nature of what appears on digital screens makes it all the more important that we display a great deal of responsibility in how we use the media.

    • 4
      0

      Now when the news is proved fake by same EC at least they should have the courtesy to make some amends (which I do not expect from Sorry Lankans).
      *
      How grateful should we ‘Sorry Lankans’ be to you for this patronizing pronouncement!
      Thank you Sir!
      I trust that you will not fault me for ingratitude!

    • 0
      4

      Mr. chiv,
      .
      Do you want to repeat the questionnaire here also…?
      .
      As per the “”Election Commission of Sri Lanka””
      .
      1. Is Gotabaya Rajapaksa Sri Lankan citizen…..?
      .
      2. When does Gotabaya Rajapaksa renounced his US citizenship…..?
      .
      3. Does Gotabaya Rajapaksa produced his “Certificate of Loss of Nationality” (CLN) issued by the US State Department to the election commission of Sri Lanka.
      .
      4. If your answer to the first question is “yes” when did you learn that Gotabaya Rajapaksa has successfully renounced his US citizenship.

  • 11
    4

    If the supreme courts give a verdict against the government in coming days IT WILL BE M.A.SUMANTHIRAN who will face the same fate as MR.HOOLE.already the the tamil media went to the town regarding an interview he gave to singala media.AFTER THE VERDICT IT WILL BE THE TURN FOR SINGALA MEDIA TO ATTACK SUMANTHIRAN AND HOOLE TOGETHER TO GO ROUND THE COUNTRY.CAN SEE A MEDIA CARNIVAL AND CIRCUS IN FEW DAYS TIME.

  • 13
    8

    One more thing. Rajapaksa are also targeting M. Deshapriya by releasing statements accusing EC of preventing them from giving 5,000 to their supporters as Covid relief. EC came out rejecting such claim stating they did not prevent relief work but they only objected to the portrait attached , witch they thought was morphed.(just kidding). I do not blame EC, because most photos which are circulating in fake media were taken during the time MR was making frequent trips to Geneva as activist. Though he may have had some Botox , still pictures seems very deceptive.

  • 6
    0

    “To open the floodgates of electoral corruption, what better way than to break up the unity of the Commission.”
    Having seen many a story about the Commission on these pages, I wonder what unity of the Commission the author has in mind.

  • 6
    0

    Sinhala, man I am with you on that. SJ, do you have any word better than Sorry Lankans, let me know. . In fact, I am being generous in addressing so, such pathetic people. SCP I have nothing to comment other than thanks.

    • 1
      0

      I have not thanked you, so rare a humble soul, for lack of a stronger word than desired by you.
      Now that you insist, may I say that we pathetic people are (as ever since good old days of foreign rule) eternally grateful for such condescending generosity.
      Are you pleased or wish more to delight you?

  • 0
    0

    Thank you SJ. As I had mentioned before Grief has many stages. People can be in different stages such as Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and few who are fortunate may get over by getting to final stage of Closure or Heeling. I understand where I am and hoping to find some closure in future. (in case of Lanka it will be near impossible). And you ????? I have no desire to abuse or condescend anyone or for that matter any country. I also avoid making any judgement, unless it is obvious and warranted.

    • 0
      0

      So, Master, thy grandfather clause “unless it is obvious and warranted” shalt allow thee a free for all.
      Thus, may I humbly plead ‘Carry on Regardless Doctor’? (It was hard to decide between two movie titles.)

  • 0
    0

    SJ, I am not hear to master a foreign language. Try on some one lse.

  • 0
    0

    sorry try on some one else.

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