By Mangala Samaraweera – MP –

Mangala Samaraweera

Over a month ago in June, we said in a statement released to the media, “This country, can not afford to allow such an inefficient, non administrative service person to handle a serious and important ministry as its Secretary, and allow the country to go chaotic and into anarchy. People of this country, what ever their political affiliations can not live with such unsolved crime, dictated by politically backed armed thugs under a Secretary, who is not even willing to accept he is a total failure as a State officer.”

Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has again proved us more than right. He has not only proved he is “inefficient”, he has also proved he is wholly uncultured and uncivilised too, to hold even the most menial of all public posts. His verbal purging thrown on journalist cum editor of the Sunday Leader, Ms. Fredrica Jansz, should have immediately grounded the entire print and electronic media into a loud halt in any other country. Most unfortunately it is not that here. Even those men and women who talk about internet obscenity and want websites banned for polluting a great ‘Sinhala culture’, is yet to speak their first words on how vulgar and threatening, the language of the Defence Ministry Secretary is.

With such a person who continues to break all the rules of the establishment code with his arrogant, uncouth and psychotic behaviour giving leadership to the Ministry of Defence, it is not suprising that the law and order situation in the country has totally collapsed. The law of the jungle is preailing today and it is not surprising no to hear the Police media spokesperson say, during the first 06 months of this year, the police have recorded 975 cases of rape against women and 700 of them were against teenage and little girls. This society knows it is Rajapaksa’s ruling political party thugs brought in as local government nominees and voted as members who have gone maniac in raping and sexually abusing young girls. A new and insane political culture at grass roots is now being nurtured with rape against women and young girls growing and drugs pedalled into villages with political patronage. This most certainly would be the local election machine of this Rajapaksa regime, when elections are fixed in the future. The police are therefore kept inactive and at times complicit in crimes committed by these political thugs, with pressure brought on the police.

We therefore once again say quite clearly and with responsibility, its the culture of impunity under this Ministry Secretary, who does not know his language is foul and vulgar, knows not his ways of reacting to queries and criticism is much less than sane, that had allowed this society to go this beastly and wild.

Unbridled power, he thinks he could wield with vulgar threats, is definitely intolerably anti social. If still the President does not remove Gotabhaya Rajapaksa from the post of Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, we don’t hesitate to say, its the right of the people to demand his removal from his office, immediately.

We therefore call upon all democratic organisations, trade unions and independent professional organisations to join us in bringing this maniacal administrator to leave his post for a saner, competent person to have law and order re established, in a decent and a disciplined way.