By Dayan Jayatilleka –
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka
“…of battles won or lost—but waged—against the enemy.” – (Che Guevara: ‘Message to the Tricontinental’)
The Mahinda Movement hoped for, believed in and fought determinedly for a victory at the August 17th election, but beneath the rousing nationalist romanticism there was always a tougher-minded realization that what was being waged was a resistance struggle; a peaceful people’s uprising which could well prove to be a rearguard action.
The main reference point of the Mahinda Movement’s public discourse after January 8th was not the 5.8 lakhs of voters, but rather the marker year 1815, the year of the betrayal of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe who had successfully resisted the colonial incursion of 1810.
1815 was the year of the Kandyan convention which sealed the surrender of the whole island to Western colonialism. This year was the 200th anniversary of that surrender.
1815 will be appropriately marked by the joint resolution being drafted for presentation at the UN in Geneva this September by the US together with what Asst Secretary of State Nisha Biswal calls the “international core group on Sri Lanka” (whatever that is), and which is meant to be endorsed by the Sri Lankan Government. US Asst Secretary for Human Rights and Labour Tom Malinowski says that a domestic inquiry mechanism will have to be “led by persons acceptable to the minorities” and have international presence”, “participation and “monitoring”. Reuters reports that the proposed US resolution which is expected to obtain Sri Lankan concurrence will include a US-UN “framework for reconciliation” for postwar Sri Lanka.
In short we are to abandon national self- determination and sovereignty, and return to the centuries when Western imperialism determined our external political destiny and internal political order—the sole difference being that this time around, it will be behind a screen of an elected native administration. That is the neocolonial model pioneered in Latin America but long since overthrown in that part of the world.
I recall the working dinner at which it was resolved to organize the first public meeting after January 8th; a meeting which turned out to be the famous Nugegoda event of February 18th. While I was musing that we should perhaps toss in a maximalist slogan of two thirds of the seats for two thirds of the country and its people, Wimal Weerawansa looked up from his plate and completed the sentence solemnly and unsmilingly, saying “then we’ll at least wind up with one-third of the seats”.
I also remember the young ex-Peterite statistician on the team that drafted what turned out to be the bulk of the UPFA manifesto—but was initially that of the Mahinda Movement—estimating way back the first quarter of the year that we would lose the election, winning 94 seats, but constituting a strong nationalist rearguard in parliament which could serve as a bulwark and base camp for resistance and long-term resurgence. Throughout the months-long campaign that young man’s main conversational motif was Puran Appu’s resistance struggle of 1848.
The project of patriotic resistance had no option of accepting President Sirisena’s leadership over Mahinda Rajapaksa’s simply because the former showed no signs of giving leadership to the anti-UNP struggle. Given President Sirisena’s continuing compact with the UNP—which was inevitable given his compact with CBK—and given the UNP’s capitulationist compliance with the Western-minoritarian bloc, any renunciation of Rajapaksa in favour of Sirisena would have been a disabling of the struggle against the UNP and the project of Western-minoritarian re-moulding of the Sri Lankan state.
The real error was either the alliance with the SLFP rather than running as a new independent force, or far more accurately, allowing the SLFP bureaucracy a free hand in the negotiations with the party leadership instead of fielding a hybrid negotiating team which adequately represented the Mahinda Movement (the Nugegoda –Matara-Medamulana).
Today Sri Lanka has experienced a coincidence of three trends, which some may describe as cycles.
The first is that of the alternation of centre-left and centre-right regimes with their corresponding economic philosophies, namely state-led and market-led.
The second trend is the alternation between ‘Easternisers’ and ‘Westernizers’; between ‘look East/Global Southwards’ and ‘look West/Global Northwards’. In Maoist terms, in Sri Lanka today ‘the West Wind has prevailed over the East Wind’.
The third trend is the expansion and contraction of the ideological and political influence of the Ruhuna, the Deep South, the seat and seedbed of resolute Sinhala resistance in defense of the island.
The defeat of statist nationalism as project and ideology, which began at the ethnic periphery on January 8th, was extended into the heartland by August 17th. The defenses that remain standing in geopolitical terms are the two contiguous areas, the ‘Greater Ruhuna’ or the ‘Greater South’ (Kegalle, Ratnapura, Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Moneragala) and in the heartland, Kurunegala-Anuradhapura. In a return to an ancient historical pattern, these are the ‘free territories’ of Sri Lanka; the liberated zones of the national resistance or national liberation movement.
In strictly politico-electoral terms the pro-Mahinda SLFP voters (the anti-Mahinda ones stayed home) and the broadly Mahindaist chunk of the SLFP parliamentary group constitute the anti- foreign hegemonist, patriotic zone of the Sri Lankan polity.
How will the three trends play out and in what patterns of intersection and interplay? The most literate social scientist of the ‘Yahapalana’ bloc, Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda, commendably eschewed the hysteria, both denunciatory and triumphalist, of untrained ideologues, in his postmortem of the election, and rightly defined the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa as a defeat precisely of ‘Putinism’.
To extend the analogy, the fate of Putinism – as that of its arguable predecessors of wartime patriotic leadership, Gaullism, or the career of Churchill– is never linear; it demonstrates ebbs and flows in response to perceived threats to the nation.
Putinism as a phenomenon rises whenever it is perceived that sufficient political space and respect is not granted to the state and the undergirding national heartland of any country (Russia being the classic example).
The political narrative of Mahinda Rajapaksa is not yet at an end. As that of Mark Twain, the political obituaries for Mahinda may prove to be greatly exaggerated. At its simplest level, he is still younger than JR Jayewardene was when he first led Sri Lanka. Winston Churchill, voted out in 1945, made his comeback in 1951 at the age of 76. De Gaulle had to step down as the leader of wartime and postwar France, only to return in 1958.
Much less dramatically, Mahinda Rajapaksa can draw satisfaction from the splendid yet understated performance of his son Namal, whom I have come to know as a much smarter politician and more seriously policy-oriented young man than I had ever reckoned him to be.
The future of the anti-UNP struggle and the patriotic center-left in Sri Lankan politics is presently bound up with but must not be reduced to the trajectory of Mahinda Rajapaksa or indeed the Rajapaksas. It is contingent upon (a) the gap between the political space and leading role in determining the island’s destiny that the Sinhala majority feels it is entitled to, and that it actually feels it enjoys under the status quo and (b) whether or not the existential concerns and core strategic interests of the Sinhala majority are realistically recognized, respected and guaranteed, in negotiations with the minorities and the West, India and the UN, over the destiny of Sri Lanka. Some say “geography is destiny” while others say “demography is destiny”. They are both right.
The period of dramatic frontal political warfare and open clashes is over. The patriotic resistance struggle will be a protracted political guerrilla war of attrition. The elections are over and have ended in defeat, but to borrow the watchword of African liberation movements fighting against Portuguese colonialism, “A Luta Continua”—the struggle continues.
Girigoris / August 28, 2015
Dr. Jayan
You can join the band wagon for a free ride to the oblivion with Balangoda man, Dried Pumpkin and Pachawansa to experience the peace in Abyss.
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das / August 28, 2015
“Balangoda man, Dried Pumpkin and Pachawansa”
Sounds like the gang from “wizard of Oz. :-)
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Native Vedda / August 28, 2015
Girigoris
“You can join the band wagon for a free ride to the oblivion with Balangoda man,”
Descendants of Balangoda Man/Woman still liveth.
“His/her body is buried in peace, but his name liveth forevermore.”
– King James Bible “Authorized Version”,
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roy / August 28, 2015
Dayan you are sad pessimist,grow up and be happy. Chris Nonis didn’t deserve that slap from Vass . You do………
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sama / August 28, 2015
No no he is just an antoher teenage politician. He can get on with Gommanpila very well. I wonder this man ever has experience in lanken politics though keep comparing ours with those of many country again and again.
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Sapumal / August 28, 2015
Dear Dayan , We know that you gave the advise to MR for comeback. but didn’t work this time. Now you may understand that ground reality is deferent from your fantasies. You have no what so ever right to talk about 1815 or 1848 or Puran Appu sagas.Those are stories. But your ancestors are the ones who came to battle with us. you may know better than us. MR also has no roots anywhere in SL other than south India. don’t TRY TO TEACH US ABOUT kandyan kindom and Puran Appu now. We know who robed and who surrender to the West. Ask from your heart.
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General Rommel / August 28, 2015
Dr. DJ’s anaylsis is bunkum as usual. “Sinhala Buddhist nationalism” is what Anagarika Dharmapala likes introduced to us. What Mahinda practiced by anyone’s stretch of imagination is not nationalism but Sinhalese Neo-Fascism. Fortunately, both recently held elections proved that communal politics in Sri Lanka is not tolerated. What the previous tyrants, psychopaths and narcissist of the Mahinda faction unleashed in this country will never be repeated. One might take it one step further to say that what Mahinda perpetrated against our own people is a crime against humanity called “Terrorism”. Legendary nationalist like Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh and Joszip (Marshal) Tito had a code of conduct for guerrilla tactics and warfare aimed not in cannibalizing their own people but a strategically planned subversive movement against oppressors, abusers and occupational forces against external threats. The silent and bloodless revolution that ousted Mahinda will continues and the forces behind this bloodless overthrow will not succumb to attrition, intimidation or threats.
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ramona therese fernando / August 29, 2015
General Rommel,
I agree for some part. However, Sri Lankan heritage (with Sinhala Buddhism as majority), endured for over 2 millennia before the likes of Anagrika Dharamapala. Therefore, Sri Lanka’s heritage needs to be nurtured and safeguarded, as this heritage is what is inherent to Sri Lanka’s majority, and will secure her as a nation with a national identity.
This heritage has also had a long relationship with the Tamil heritage, and before such persons like Anagrika Dharamapala, Sinhalese Monarchs pridefully being married Tamil aristocracy. Sinhalese and Tamils intermingled with each other, shared each other’s languages, cuisine, genes and gods (in spite of any kingly wars between them that were normal part of human history).
But to punish Sri Lanka by selling her over to forces of foreign interference, hell bent on securing their global positionings, over our national heritage – now that is a no, no!
30-150 years of Anagrika Dharamapala mindset must be put to rest. For example, I doubt Sinhala elite families in this day and age would consider intermingling with Tamil lineage. Such alliances are shunned, and if they do, it is given a special position as one, that needs to be tolerated as a higher human virtue, albeit its awkwardness.
Sinhalese who voted for UNP did so, because in this day and age, they brush aside their heritage, and are lured by the outward success of capitalistic societies. They are made to feel unintelligent and ineffectual and short-term benefits and perks entice them to move away from what is enduring.
Many Tamils have the same awareness of heritage together with the Sinhalese. Together with a more socialized and post-modern structure of government (one that takes into account environment and humanistic values), Sri Lanka can regain her composure and pride as a nation.
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Truthspeaker / August 29, 2015
“What Mahinda practiced by anyone’s stretch of imagination is not nationalism but Sinhalese Neo-Fascism”
Correction: What Mahinda Rajapaksa practiced was daylight robbery: all else were tools in that pursuit including race, religion, country, the bo tree, temples, monks, sill redi, gnanasara, even his m’s cunt.
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R.M.B Senanayake / August 28, 2015
Dayen is living in the post and is not aware of the movement to uphold human rights even during a war; which commenced after the Crimean War of the 1850s. Then countries agreed to abide by human rights even of the enemy. A code for treating prisoners was drawn up and agreed to by former combatants. These human rights even of the enemy came to be part of International Law. Now Human Rights are part of International Law and they are not abrogated during a war.
We saw terrible violations of Human rights during the JVP insurrecton. I myself saw bodes strung up in the Paiyagala junction where there is a turn off.
We should have investigated them not so much to punish the evil doers but to enlighten society about the sad truth of the behavior of some of our people.Society cannot become more humane and civilized unless the truth is acknowledged
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Jim softy / August 28, 2015
RMB Senanayake is living in a different world.
YOU TALK ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS.
Hod do vietnamese have defective children even today ?
what happened to Afghans, iraqs, Libynas ?
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Vibhushana / August 28, 2015
RMB Senanayake is Kochi Kade Tamil. He has Sinhala name but everything else is pretty much Tamil.
So when one is Tamil, the package comes with the usual gamut of psychological issues.
JVP era killed many unknown people without testing their innocence. There was no need to test LTTE top brass for innocence.
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Lankan / August 28, 2015
Vibhushana,
I can’t see why you have to bring in the matter of ethnicity over what
RMB Senanayake has written. Stop being so communal and be more objective and speak about facts please. After all, who is a Sinhalese and who is a Tamil- both human beings, both can think for themselves and take the right or wrong path.
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Funlover / August 29, 2015
That’s because Vibhushan (Tamil version of his name) is so pissed off with his biological father (the grocery man next door).
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Patriot / August 29, 2015
@Lankan
YOU are spot on Sir.
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lal / August 29, 2015
Very true indeed! All atrocities committed since 1971 JVP uprising ought to be investigated. Murder, torture of those in custody of goverments from 1971, 1983 July mass murders, 1988 – 89 second JVP uprising including Batalanda facility, April to May 2009 should be investigated impartially. We need to know the truth to map out a fair and civilised society. Perhaps, an amnesty ought to be declared for lower level officials and operators who have participated or have knowledge of those ghastly incidents to make it possible for the truth to surface. There are too many murders occuring even now, mostly domestic and revenge based as a result of what I believe to be as Sri Lanka has become a brutalised society and brutality continues. There are too many mothers, wives and loved ones of missing ones who deserve to know the truth.
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Mahesh Nirmalan / August 28, 2015
Dear Dr Jayatilleka, this is a very sad piece of writing. When the final stages of the war drew to a close, you were one of the saner and progressive voices calling for the full implementation of 13A and the LLRC proposals. By doing so you lost you posting in Geneva, was referred to as the agent of the NGOs by the President and became the villain of the ‘Jathika Chintanaya’ folks. During your brief stay in Paris, you were again bold in your attempts at developing an inclusive agenda, and again you were criticized for this and called names (and accused of being anti-Buddhist). For these reasons I admired you and have said so in these forums. But what a transformation you have gone through…………..and I am struggling to understand why. Your recent articles seem to suggest that you want to take the mantle from the likes of Dr Gunadasa Amarasekara and Professor Nalin de Silva. Perhaps as the latter two grow older, you see a significant place for yourself within the National political arena through this avenue, in which case good luck.
While you are entitled to try this time-tested strategy, you seem to forget the fact that the Sri Lankan electorate has moved on and is not as gullible as it used to be…….thanks to Mr CWW Kannangara and the internet. As you quite correctly point out geography and demography are both products of destiny and there is nothing that any of us can do about it. History, like time only flows in one direction and the sooner we come to terms with that, the better it is for our country. The only way through which external interference can be stopped is through developing an inclusive ‘Sri Lankan’ identity rather than a much narrower ‘Hela’ identity. The latter is bound to fail due to both the ‘products of destiny’ you allude to.
Good luck and best wishes.
Professor Mahesan Nirmalan
Manchester Medical School
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Burning Issue / August 28, 2015
Mahesh,
“Dear Dr Jayatilleka, this is a very sad piece of writing. When the final stages of the war drew to a close, you were one of the saner and progressive voices calling for the full implementation of 13A and the LLRC proposals.”
Like you I also thought that Dayan was an advocate of moderation. But it was all a well calculated utterances! He knows that by implementing the 13A in full, Sri Lanka would have India on board and by doing so she can keep the West at bay. Now, what will the Sinhala Buddhists lose by implementing the 13A in full? Nothing whatsoever because the President will have the control of the governance through his agent. This is why TNA was advocating for more meaningful power-sharing arrangement. Had indeed MR heeded to Dayan’s advice and implemented the 13A in full, MR would have successfully nullified the Tamil nationalistic platform for good and at the same time he would safeguarded his political future for his family dynasty. This would have ensured Dayan’s enigma to keep the UNP out of power for a foreseeable future.
This man Dayan justified the elaborate triumphalism of the war victory and exclaimed that the Sinhala prevailed over the Tamils at the full of the LTTE. He never sought good governance as a means of progress but insidiously promoting Sinhala Buddhist Hegemony as the basis for building Sri Lanka where the Other need to fit in whether the Other like it or not! This was/is his platform! I hope he is relegated to a fringe that will stay in dark forever!
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Mahesh Nirmalan / August 28, 2015
Burning issue, DJ at one time was progressive enough to be part of the NE provincial council. So I am hopeful that, he can become a force for the good, if……just if, he could resist that inherent desire common to all of us for power. As you know, we are all imperfect in many ways and DJ is no exception. I am sure the Sri Lankan people through their inherent wisdom will guide him in the correct path so that his talents could be used to build a better, harmonious and inclusive society, rather than a fractured country heading towards a ‘South Sudan type of solution’ through the interventions of the International Community.
Thanks
Mahesh
PS: The same considerations go for his twin brother Professor Rajiva Wijesinghe.
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Sinhala_Man / August 29, 2015
Dear Nirmalan,
It’s good to see your sane comments. You are the guys whom some keep referring to as the “Tamil Diaspora”, and when you write this sort of thing it contributes greatly towards re-assuring the many Sinhalese for whom the greatest evil is Tamils being happy with the way things are moving!
I’ve had young Sinhalese, generally those who’ve had the History of Sri Lanka dished out to them, by the State, while they were children, referring to how there was once a Tamil “Leader of the Opposition” (Appapillai Amirthalingam, of course – but they don’t even know the name.) I usually then remind them of how Junius Rex got them thrown out of Parliament with disastrous consequences for us all. And of how one lone UNP MP (Shelton Ranaraja) voted against the then government. Come to think of it Ranil W., too, would have voted with a view to seeing the TULF leaving Parliament in 1983.
The difference between Ranil and his cousin Rajiva W. (and Dayan) is that the two latter are self-regarding voluble intellectuals. They just must keep saying seemingly clever things. Ranil is saved, in that respect, by not being a great orator!
Yes, Nirmalan, we, Sinhalese, have a great deal to aplogise for.
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Mahesh Nirmalan / August 29, 2015
Sinhala man, history is full of ironies. When we look back at these events, some of us may wish that some of these things did not happen. But they did happen and there is nothing that can be done to undo these. Therefore, in general such sentiments are of limited value. We must learn from these events and move on. In the Sri Lankan context, our efforts must be focused on building an inclusive Sri Lankan identity…… a country which is as much mine as it is yours. It must be an identity where I could celebrate my links to the land from antiquity as represented by ‘Koneswaram’ and ‘Ketheeswaram’, while being able to sing ‘Disa wawai Sigiriyai Mageth urumayai’. Men like DJ will come and go, but the country must go on to regain all its past glories and to be a land that stands for the greater good. If we do not achieve that all the talk about our religious heritage, bodhi poojas, Abishekams, fasting, observing sil, meditation, katina poojas etc. etc. become mere slogans devoid of any real meaning.
Best wishes
Mahesh Nirmalan
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Bishan / August 28, 2015
I share the same sentiments. Sad to see DJ stoop to the same level as Wimal Weerawansa!
DJ is definitely capable of contributing positively to current political discourse, but his the kind of guy who is unable to accept defeat or that he was wrong. Instead he is willing to plunge to the garbage bin to find some way to justify his position. Real sad!
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Native Vedda / August 29, 2015
Bishan, Mahesh Nirmalan, Burning Issue,
Please don’t waste time.
He wrote a lot of bull, sold it you as if a honest man’s liberal view and you bought it wholesale.
Every piece of his typing is aimed at taking a dig at minorities though decorated with all sorts of name dropping. Many thought he was doing a good job simply because they didn’t understand most what he typed or the vocabulary he used to impress his readership. He too didn’t understand what he wrote.
Many years ago I thought he typed load of garbage in order to impress his wife. Later it transpired he typed recycled garbage to impress himself. This man never had any good ideas therefore he has been repackaging the old bombastic rhetoric in different wrappers.
Please select few of his typing and see if you get anything useful out of the garbage.
Please refer to his typing in Island, Trancecurrent and DBS J.
He is a self confessed war monger and a war crime denier. He has been constantly keeping company with despots since late 1980s. A man who supported the Tamil Eelam project, he was with EPRLF since early 1980s. Never uttered a word against IPKF occupation in fact he supported it and never questioned its atrocities against the Tamil speaking men and women.
He has never been honest, nor been intellectually honesty.
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Bishan / August 29, 2015
Well the chap did a great job at the UN. He was fast and efficient! A rare breed in Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry.
I am convinced he can be of service if he can get him self to accept he was wrong! Some body tell him its OK to be wrong once in a while!!
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Native Vedda / August 29, 2015
Bishan
“Some body tell him its OK to be wrong once in a while!!”
Ask him to get it at least once in his life time.
“Well the chap did a great job at the UN. He was fast and efficient! A rare breed in Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry.”
Its a story of India/US the monkey trainers and a monkey.
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Jango / August 29, 2015
You hit the nail on the head NV – especially in that last line!
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Truthspeaker / August 29, 2015
Native is right. Bishan, Mahesh Nirmalan, Burning Issue, and like minded others, please note Dayan is the devil incarnate, evil to the core. The Biblical advice to invoke God’s mercy to exorcise the devil’s spirit will not work with a devil incarnate.
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Raj / August 28, 2015
”The main reference point of the Mahinda Movement’s public discourse after January 8th was not the 5.8 lakhs of voters, but rather the marker year 1815, the year of the betrayal of Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe who had successfully resisted the colonial incursion of 1810.
1815 was the year of the Kandyan convention which sealed the surrender of the whole island to Western colonialism. This year was the 200th anniversary of that surrender”
Are you saying that MR was betrayed by a majority of citizens & that without the leadership of MR, from now on, SL will be under the influence of Western conspirators? As far as I am aware, it’s a matter of switching allegiance from the Chinese to the West. Apart from a strategic geographical location useful to some countries, SL has no other clout to stand alone. Of course, not having a PhD, I have a simple mind & could be wrong but your theory of ”…. we are to abandon national self- determination and sovereignty, and return to the centuries when Western imperialism determined our external political destiny and internal political order—the sole difference being that this time around, it will be behind a screen of an elected native administration. That is the neocolonial model pioneered in Latin America but long since overthrown in that part of the world” is irrelevant & a load of bull.
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sama rajeeva / August 28, 2015
One wonders whether Mahinda R understands what you are saying, Sir
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Native Vedda / August 28, 2015
sama rajeeva
“One wonders whether Mahinda R understands what you are saying, Sir”
Does Dayan understand what he has been typing?
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arthagnani / August 28, 2015
DJ:quotes Guevera:
“of battles won or lost—but waged—against the enemy.” – (Che Guevara:”
‘Message to the Tricontinental’
It would be more prudent and wise for him to ponder another anonymous quotation:
“Generals(and war mongers) are always fighting the last war” !!
1815 war indeed!! How crazy can you get.
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Park / August 28, 2015
Dayan, you, Rajiva, Sarath (CJ) and GL are the reason why Rajapakse lost this time. You painted a rosy picture to Rajapakse who could have stayed at home and enjoyed a retired life, but he got dung on his face. You educated fools who jocky for position are the reasons why SL had gone to dogs.
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Patrito / August 28, 2015
Many Tamils who are asking for some reassurance from the US that they won’t be forgotten now that there is a new GOSL that is pro-west. I’m not one of them. The only reassurance I need is that the United States flag is still flying over the process at Geneva. I remain supremely confident that the US is not going to throw the Tamil people under the bus. This is not because I have a naïve belief in American altruism, but because I understand that the events of 2009 represent a direct threat to American leadership and the international legal framework that was painstakingly built up by the US and its allies over many decades. I don’t believe that this is a case of petty X’s and O’s geopolitics. I think in this instance, the US values are its strategic interests, and its strategic interests are its values.
Since this process has been going on for years, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. 2012 marked the first time the US has assumed a leadership role on the NE problem in response to the events of 2009. This is much like India becoming involved after the events of July 1983. The price that the GOSL had to pay for the transgressions in 1983 was the 13th Amendment. They haven’t had to face any consequences at all for the events of 2009 and frankly, there haven’t been any tangible changes on the ground or in the constitution that are specifically meant to address the NE. However, the process is not complete yet, and I think that those of who love the NE and trust the US, should step back and support them as they continue to lead the process.
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soma / August 29, 2015
Mr Patrito
” I remain supremely confident that the US is not going to throw the Tamil people under the bus. “
What can the USA do about the 50+% of Tamil speaking people who have voluntarily crept under the bus. As a first step TNA should launch a public campaign to encourage those living outside North and East to move into the area designated for “devolution”.
There is no way the Sinhalese can be forced to accept anything against their will without risking any severe backlash on the Tamils living in areas out side North and East. Of course they don’t care as evidenced in infighting in the Middle East.
The formula of sacrificing the present for the future is persisting in the mindset of the Tamil political class. I remain supremely confident that following the leadership of USA is destined to be 1000 times worse than the sacrifice entailed in following Mr. Velupillei Prabakaran.
Soma
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Jim softy / August 28, 2015
US Asst Secretary for Human Rights and Labour Tom Malinowski says that a domestic inquiry mechanism will have to be “led by persons acceptable to the minorities” and have international presence”,
This is another set up as LLRC.
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Raymond / August 28, 2015
Dayan, your racist views are quite obvious. No race can or their leaders can get away with human right violations. In such a situation the international community has a right to interfere. You know the international laws because you have served in the UN.
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Jim softy / August 28, 2015
British could take kanda udarata because King Started going behind Disawa’s wives.
Mahinda Rajapakse lost because he did not have Sinhala nationalism. but he had Sinhala Tribalism as in Tamilnadu politics in which Tamilnadu politicians used Tamil to get rich and to keep voters in the dark.
Mahinda Rajapaks eis addicted to corruption. Even at the end he could not gang up with good people. He gave nominations to accused -thieves.
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Jim softy / August 28, 2015
Dayan Jayathilake.
Don’t trust Mahinda Rajapakse uneducated, vision-less politicians.
IF you can start organizing. One people understand you they will help.
Sinhala -nationalism needs leaders.
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Diluk Desinghe / August 28, 2015
Oh dear Diyan,
What a tangled web we weave!! Mihnda MAY languish in opposition for the next 5 years, he will not be forgotten, he’s too dynamic a character to “go gently into that good night”. Your friends Wimal, Germanpulle, Dinesh and other UPFA piggy-backers got an unprecedented vote as they were seen as MR proxys in Colombo, mission accomplished for them……….but, that about you??
Discarded by the SLFP and despised by the UNP, with the virtues of neither and the vices of both!!
Gone are the dreams of a lofty ambassadorship, perhaps even FM; can we expect you to languish in the obscurity of a literary effort every now and then? Perhaps China will fund a “think tank” type funding mechanism for you………..sin men………such a good fellow a few years back!
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Sylvia Haik / August 28, 2015
Dear Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka,
Welcome back. Your conspicuous silence after the Aug.17 election led me to believe you’ve had retired, or worse, died. I missed your drivel. it is clear you have convinced yourself that your future lies with the Rajapakse version of neo-fascism that has already failed miserably thanks to the astute Sri Lankans, sadly, you are not one of them, and still hanging onto to the coat tails of the Rajapakses, despite your idol, declaring he would be giving up politics, you are hoping for a comeback of the Rajapakses. Namal Rajapakse will have a future in politics if he, unlike his father, never follows your advice.
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Emil van der Poorten / August 28, 2015
Dayan:
What I find truly offensive are your never-ending efforts to place yourself in the same category as Che and Fidel when, even if one did not agree with the Argentine or the Cuban, they were deserving of admiration as people who could not be bought. A greater difference in the matter of principled conduct could not exist even in some demented imagination!
You certainly deserve to continue to exist in the same pen as your mentor and paymaster, Mahinda, and those other creatures such as Rajpal Abeynaike, Malinda Seneviratne and Rajiva Wijesinha.
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Amden / August 29, 2015
Hear the view of the local fifth column(ist)!
They always attack the ‘people’ who stand against international neocon (jewish) conspiracies in the world.
In this case, Pooten is totally silent on the substantive and 100% accurate issues Dayan J points to, but tries to attack his integrity with unfounded accusations.
These rhesus monkeys will be ent to the ball grinder when the battle succeeds!
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namal jeyam / August 28, 2015
What utter drivel from a neo-fascist masquerading as a Marxist. Like Emile I find most offensive your attempt to camaflage your fascism in liberationist language.
Is there no limit to your plagarizing sincere liberationist movements for your nasty agenda.
Emile’s words..
Dayan: What I find truly offensive are your never-ending efforts to place yourself in the same category as Che and Fidel when, even if one did not agree with the Argentine or the Cuban, they were deserving of admiration as people who could not be bought. A greater difference in the matter of principled conduct could not exist even in some demented imagination! You certainly deserve to continue to exist in the same pen as your mentor and paymaster, Mahinda, and those other creatures such as Rajpal Abeynaike, Malinda Seneviratne and Rajiva Wijesinha.
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Sriyani Mangalika / August 28, 2015
[Edited out]
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Saras / August 28, 2015
Why can’t this pseudo political scientist understand that MR tried his best to come back to power not with any nationalistic/Buddhist agenda but to save his skin and that of his corrupt family members and cronies all of whom now seem to be heading up towards jails? Just wait another three months to see the fireworks!
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Eagle / August 28, 2015
“The Future Of Sinhala Nationalism…”
Ha..ha..haaaa!
What a display of shameless pathetic abhorable obstinacy in complete idiocy! This lunatic Dayan stood vanguard and led Rajapakshas to complete jeopardy and destruction along with the whole citizenry. The loony bugger represented the very extremes of tribalism, nationalism, hegemony, xenophobia, racism and opportunism mixed with a terrible dose of complete ignorance. I am puzzled as to why this imbecile is writing still at all because no one will be there to care to read his filth!
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Ben Dover / August 28, 2015
Ah, what erudition doth Dayan display in his written word! He’s such an astute political scientist that Sri Lanka will be foolish not to allow him a prominent role in the international interface….
So astute he is, that he recognises the imminent end of MR-s disgraceful innings, as this subtext demonstrates: “The political narrative of Mahinda Rajapaksa is not yet at an end.”
And then here is the statement of investment in his machiavellian future: “Much less dramatically, Mahinda Rajapaksa can draw satisfaction from the splendid yet understated performance of his son Namal, whom I have come to know as a much smarter politician and more seriously policy-oriented young man than I had ever reckoned him to be.”
This, my friends, is called making a ‘win and place’ bet in his future to remain relevant!!!
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Pot Shot / August 28, 2015
DJ, your appalling and pathetic opinions and projections have failed you. A man on the street who has less qualifications but more dignity and self-respect than you can think better and vote wisely for a better Sri Lanka.
You were an integral part and an architect of the “Bring back Mahinda” campaign and now you write as a third party giving an opinion as to why Mahinda failed. You are a spineless man who runs away from failure at least have backbone and write saying my judgements were wrong. You can never do that because like Mahinda you are never about the country but all about yourself and use “Sri Lanka” as tool for your own selfish gain. Just do us a favour stay away from CT as you sicken all of us with your warped writing.
You, Wimal, Vasu, Dinesh, Udaya G are equal to Prabakaran who put our country in danger. So please retire and stay away from national affairs. You just plain incapable.
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simon / August 28, 2015
” Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel “
What better example than your holiness Dayan ?
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suki / August 28, 2015
Dear Dayan
I think you have missed this article that appeared here.
‘SIS Submits Report On Rajapaksa’s Buddhist Temple Based Neo-Fascist Movement’
It is unfortunate that you live in dream world.
please wake up….
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Lanka Watch / August 28, 2015
Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke,
You are still left with some youthful years
to go and suggest you do some good service to the people in some other
fields as USA has certainly set foot firmly in Sri Lanka and all your howling will be in vain and more over,your financier and your paramount
leader is retiring from all forms of politics in three months time and
you should not be left in the lurch.
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B Mackka / August 28, 2015
You dare label this group of Murderers, Thieves, Drug Mudalalis, Ethanol Mudalalis as a Sinhalese Nationalist Movement. Shame on you.
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Jackie / August 28, 2015
Dayan, you are trying to mislead people by writing nonsense. You have no place in society and you should retire like MARA. I wonder what benefits you receive from the Rajapakse clan????? So pathetic.
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EDWIN RODRIGO / August 28, 2015
It is a good thing that Vietnam has been mentioned in this discussion.
VN is a country that successfully fought the full might of the US military (sans nuclear weapons), defeated them and threw them out of the country. We were young and romantic leftists when the VN war was raging and personalities such as Ho chi Minh, Vo Ngyuen Giap were our great heroes those days.
Now VN and US are good friends and the policies of the still left government of VN has drawn in a lot of investment.
While Buddhist VN has forgiven and a made peace with a foreign invader (US) that killed thousands of Vietnamese men, women and children and destroyed its environment by dropping Agent Orange in their forests, and gone forward, we in SL are now raising the American bogey just the way we raised the Tamil Diaspora bogey so that some may remain in power.
If VN could make peace with US a totally foreign entity, why cannot we Sinhala Buddhists make peace with the Tamils and Muslims who are the citizens of our country.
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