Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared today that even if the government jailed him and his entire family, he will continue to fight for the rights of the people.
“If they think they can intimidate me and get me out of politics by arresting my children, then they are mistaken. Even if they jail my entire family, and me, we will continue our fight for the people. We won’t give up and no one can stop us,” Rajapaksa declared while addressing a large gathering at the joint opposition rally held in Hyde Park, Colombo this evening.
Rajapaksa went on to say that at the time he gave over the country to the new administration after his nine year rule, he had made it among the strongest in Asia, only second to China. “Today see the state our country is in. They give excuses saying I took loans, but for all the loans I took I ensured that development took place,” Rajapaksa noted.
Listing out the loans he took during his tenure as President, Rajapaksa said, “I took a US $ 190 million loan for the Mattala Airport, which was done, I took US $ 426 million for the Hambantota Port, which was also done. I took US $ 1340 million for the Norochcholai coal power plant and that was done. Then I took US $ 630 million for the Colombo – Matara expressway and US $ 248 million for the Colombo – Katunayake expressway and those were completed too.”
While emphasizing that he had taken the above amount as loans over a period of nine years, he accused the current administration of obtaining loans to the tune of a staggering US $ 6361 million in just one year. “How the record?,” he asked, while demanding the government to show the people even a single canal they may have built from these loans.
“They say I took loans, and that I hid it. You try to go to a shop and ask for a loan and see if they will give you a loan without recording it?,” he told the mass gathering at the rally.
“I don’t understand what the big problem is, if I took loans on the sly and there is no record, then they don’t even have to pay it back, so why are they screaming about it if there is no record of such transactions, which means then they don’t have to pay it back,” he declared amidst loud cheering. (By Munza Mushtaq © Colombo Telegraph)
Ruvan / March 19, 2016
Dear Lankan!
I don’know if you are currently living in Sri Lanka or abroad.
If you think that the majority of Sri Lankans are jokers, you may be perhaps right and you are proving my point at the same time because it was these ‘jokers'(your word; not mine) who elected two gentlemen called Sirisena and Wickremasinghe with a majority. And the whole world celebrated it!
Mr. My3 was called and experienced politician and so was Mr. Ranil who had already held the premiership for 3 times. You believed them and many ‘jokers’ too (again your word; not mine) did so. Only difference between you and these ‘jokers’ are that they feel the heat of myopic decisions made by the RW+MY3 government on a daily basis. I don’t want to talk about the on-going power-cut.
Just like you and other blog screamers on CT, during the last 14 months RW+MY3 had been doing a lot of talking; they now say Sri Lanka has an excellent government that respects media freedom; democracy; transparency etc. etc. A few days ago, Minister of Higher Ed. Mr. Kirialla threatens a journalist. He lashed out media for no apparent reason. The innocent journalist kept his coolness and tried his best to stay on the track. Mr. Kiriella was lucky because he was not interviewed by one of CT editors! No sooner this black hole of Yahapalana media freedom was patched up another Yahapalana guy jumped to a journalist; this time right in front of Colombo court house. He is the chairman of Ports Authority, a brother of the minister Arjuna Ranatunga.
So, Mr. Lankan! you are telling that the majority Sri Lankans are jokers and unfortunately it is now in the process of being proved! And MR is laughing!
Dayan Jayathileka writes “Ironically, the UNP and its patrons were boasting of an Arab Spring in South Asia. Now, it may be about to get one right in the face.”
Dear Lankan! you may scream at DayanJ too. Instead, why don’t we think of a way to avoid the impending disaster, and bring normalcy to this beautiful island called Sri Lanka?
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Hamlet / March 19, 2016
Ruvan:-
Maybe, What the People Think They Want, is not so Good for the Country!
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Lankan / March 19, 2016
Ruvan,
Yes they are jokers..that’s why this country
has such scoundrels at the helm.MR, MS, RW, the
whole lot of them.
P.S. Some are worse than others of course, MR and clan
undoubtedly the worst.
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Ruvan / March 19, 2016
To Mr. Samuel Jayaweera!
I presented a few points in order for you gentlemen to ponder and reply. Instead two of you have started the same old game that you had been playing after the Yahapalana government came to power: beating around the bush!!!!!
Once again please try to understand at least the first few points and write a sensible reply/comment.
1. MR held P/Election in 2014, 2 years prior to the official end of his tenure. This paved the way for him to avoid a disastrous UNCHR inquiry and terrible country situation which would have haunted and annihilated him if he had been in power. (This was a brilliant sixer!)
2. He lost as he expected and he wished it; then he took the opportunity to leave office like a gentleman reminding us of the departure of Dudley. (Floating voters really liked the way he did it and again he scored several points).
3.Then he proved he was like a defeated US president enjoying his country life. (All coup stories concocted by Ranil’s so called political ‘strategists’ and actor-politikkos fell on deaf ears; many Sri Lankans voted for them during the 2 elections but now we know they acted like in movies and the gullible voter took them for real). (Again he scored with a no-ball)!
3. He handed over the chairmanship to MyThree and My3 swallowed the hook even without a bait. He is now struggling and people around him see his sorry situation day and night. TC reported his son’s foolhardy behavior at R/T match a few days ago. TC editors used (hitherto unheard) Fxxk word (by an editorial board) to describe his behavior and also justified the ‘use of this word’ vehemently. (Guess who scored here again?)
Please read what I have written about Minister Kiriella and the Minister’s brother: Ranatunga. I repeat! Mr. Kiriella and this brother guy are lucky because they were not confronted by CT editors when they used unprintable words to threaten innocent journalists. Do you want us readers to white-wash them and sing hosannas to their type of Yahapalanaya?
Gentlemen! Please don’t write for the sake of writing! Please write comments that make sense and logical so that we can have a fair discussion!
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B S Perera / March 19, 2016
Quote “why don’t we think of a way to avoid the impending disaster, and
bring normalcy to this beautiful island called Sri Lanka?”
Good, but not with MR
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senthil / March 19, 2016
There is a storey – boy shouted wolf and eventually wolf came . This man shouting Jail, electric chair – eventually those thing will happen. He is demanding for those things – why the government is hesitating to carryout – after all he jailed SF which was unbelievable. Please send him to what he is asking for.
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bo / March 19, 2016
Yeah, he thinks he is smart! He might NOT have KEPT his records for FCID to get heir hands on, but stashed away in some bank vault somewhere or in one of their relatives home abroad.
But definitely the other party (The Lender) would surely have KEPT their copy of the RECORD, and most likely the Original Record.
This man is still conning the gullible people and try to make Sri Lankans smart yet foreigners idiotic. When the time comes Lenders will be knocking on the then President’s home with a party of debt collectors, and the gunboats anchored in the sea outside Colombo. Just wait for it, and these fraudsters would probably be under the Earth by then to answer for their crimes.
Catch the buggers now and lock them up and make them account for their misdeeds.
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DPJ / March 19, 2016
MARA! You should thank God for not being jailed as yet, because of two Pinguttaras, Sirisena and Ranil. I admire you MARA, for withstanding all odds. You stole Rs. 83 million, mind you Tsunami Funds donated by concerned people world over and got away with it, helped by you best man, potentially crooked, unscrupulous, licentious scumbag by the name Nanda Silva, who defecated the seat of the Chief Justice of this blessed land. You should be behind bars for;
1.selling 40 metric tons of gold with the connivance of the man behind the Gold Quest, Ajit Nivard Cabral, the former Governor of the Central Bank, who was grossly inadequate to to hold that coveted post, held by such greats like D W Rajapathirana, H E Tennekoon, A S Jayawardene and H N S Karunatilleke.
2.losing over 15.6 million Euros in CB’s imprudent investment of 22 million Euros in the Greek Bonds.
3. spending over US $8 million or Rs. 1 billion in the failed unscrupulous bid to host 2018 Commonwealth Games helped by your own son Namal, Governor Cabral and Aluthgamage,taking a plane load of people to St. Kitts, including actresses as well to bribe the certain African countries.The bid was won by Australia, whose contingent was only 15. Do you know that the failure was a blessing in disguise as staging the games could come only from borrowings, which would definitely added to the already burdening debt. It also saved a lot of fauna and flora in the Hambantota area including Yala.
3. investing EPF monies in the loss making Mihin Air, Sri Lankan Airlines, and the Finance Co., through dubious dealings in the CSE.
4. losing over over US$ 260 million in the infamous hedging deal of your wife’s kith not even GCE qualified Asantha De Mel.
There are many other 101 deals of yours which cost this country billions of rupees that will take another few pages to write.
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Muslim / March 20, 2016
Yes this man with all the crimes committed is still free because of the two pignattarays Ranil and Sirisena.
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rocky / March 19, 2016
Although this bare-faced liar is saying that he is fighting for the people, he is really fighting to save himself and his family from imminent incarceration. We know how he `fought for the people` during his tenure!
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rocky / March 19, 2016
Send this rogue to jail , at least to prevent him from this type of `Fighting for the people`. Sooner the better!
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Adrian / March 19, 2016
Only donkeys give importance to MR.
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Ruvan / March 19, 2016
To S.B. Perera! Agree to a certain extent. The question is: what’s the replacement; RW+MY3? I don’t think many would agree after 14 months trial; let’s take the most recent example when Minister Kiriella behaved like a fool. What did RW+MY3 do? Did they reprimand the guy and apologize to Media? RW has already threatened a few media personnel and media institutions a few weeks ago. Hasn’t he? When I saw it I told myself “this is not what we expected from our educated Prime Minister! Is this the Yahapalanaya policy on media?
To Sentil: I’m sorry I don’t think you have understood my point. Remember ‘beating around the bush’ is not the answer.
To Bo and DPJ: Please take extra care when you write: unsubstantiated, hypothetical, and imagined figures that you guys have been using like UNP politicians due to shear arrogance and hate-filled vengeance! These useless bogus figures and sentences won’t help for any investigations or litigation. Such figures lead our valuable attention and time to a Cul de sac; and won’t do any convincing either for the CT reader. Just take one of your figures: “1.selling 40 metric tons of gold”. (Metric Tons!!!: do you know the difference between a kilo and a ton). This is like Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s story of the 18 billion US$ hidden somewhere in someone’s backyard. The FCID ordered to dig this back yard in the South for hidden gold and the news item became the Joke of the Day! Once again who scored a run! Your MARA!
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senthil / March 19, 2016
Adrian , sorry to say, looks like srilanka full of donkeys because more people to MR’s meeting than people go to work(really work not to rest).When I was working in srilanka, all these TA’s steal sand, cement, gravel etc. and if I ask, I can’t go home safe – what a pathetic country. If some one ask question from MR,JR etc. surely that person will disappear in white van- how this beautiful country reached to this pathetic situation – we have jungle law and this srisena & Ranil says they can deal war crime investigation without external judges – first allow external judges and change jungle law to a decent system and talk – otherwise we will be laughing maters permanently. Think how Gotha(holing big post in defence) talked in channel4 interview like a thug, very shameful.
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shankar / March 20, 2016
chest beater.
self proclaimed jungle man of the south,who killed the jungle man of the north.oooieeee,oooieee tarzan oooiee come to me animals.protect and follow me.
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paul / March 20, 2016
There is a comment attributed to Adolf Hitler – All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.
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DPJ / March 21, 2016
If Sirisena & Ranil runs away from jailing MARA, the people of this should take care of them.They should not be allowed to taste the rice and curry of Sri Lanka.
If Sirisena & Ranil duo fails to jail Mara for the crimes committed against the poor citizenry of this land they should be given a thrashing to remember.
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Rohan Polwatte / March 21, 2016
if MR would have been born in the US
if MR would have been born in the US he wont be politician. In US rogeus thieves politicians vont be voted in to office.
THANK Q!
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Hamlet / March 22, 2016
I can see that MR is holding the Golden Amulet in His Right Hand again.
Has He not learnt yet, that Astrologers, Devales and Coconuts don’t Work, When Past Karma comes into Action?
We should Not be calling Sri Lanka, Dharmadveepa anymore, because what is being Practised Here now, is Hinduism!
Isn’t there a Somarama out there who would perform the Needful?
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