The United National Party did not allow any female speaker to address the massive public demonstration organized by the party at Galle Face Green this evening.
Although women form nearly 52 per cent of the population and a similar proportion of the country’s total voter-base, the UNP did not acknowledge the female voters by giving a female speaker an opportunity to speak at today’s rally.
UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, in his speech at the rally today, boasted that it was the largest political rally organized by the party in 25 years. The party also often congratulates itself on the legislative reform that ensured 25% female representation at the Local Government level.
Several front-line female politicians of the party, namely Rosy Senanayake, Chandrani Bandara and Hirunika Premachandra, were present at the rally today. None of them was invited to speak by the organizers.
In addition to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, UNP MPs Sajith Premadasa, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Ravi Karunanayake, Sarath Fonseka, Patali Champika Ranawaka and Mujiber Rahuman spoke at the Galle Face rally today.
Suranga Gunasekera / December 18, 2018
Why devide people through gender equality??
I believe we have a special place for our ladies.
The nation is addressed as our mother..Why??
Because of the deep love the motherhood shows us.
Do you want us to send the ladies to clean up the mess created by some crazy men??
I personally don’t like the Idea!!
The flowers are used only at a special occasion.
We have only won a small battle, not the war!!
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JD / December 18, 2018
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Raj / December 18, 2018
Women had no place at the UNP rally!!!!!!!!!! Not a big surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s how the UNP under RW works. At this (his) last political marriage too it was proven true!
This is the PM’s 5th political marriage ceremony (5th time PM!!!). His political Wife is not to be seen this time because according to traditional Peelam rituals ‘she’ is not supposed to be there! (not because she is about 11 years older than him).
Let’s take his 4th wedding with My3 in 2015, for examaple:
In the first year PM, as husband, did the talking, but wife (My3) listened.
In the second year, wife (My3) talked, husband (PM) listened.
in the 3rd year, both husband and wife (RW and My3) started talking, and we, the neighbors listened with amazement! Didn’t we.
In the meantime, there was another guy who was listening to them carefully along with us; that’s the bully-boy Mahinda who got a rare chance that we didn’t get; taking the advantage, he raped PM’ wife (My3) first on Oct 26 and abused RW’s disgruntled daughters (from previous marriages, mainly: Madam democraaaacy, Miss Wet-minister, and teenage daughter Yahapalanaya). After 6 weeks of well-arranged but secret ‘Lune de miel’, Mahinda went back to Madamulana like a virgin teen-boy.
JVP is now furious since they wanted to marry teen miss Y-Palanaya but, alas, she is no longer a virgin!
Most political analysts say, Mahinda will have the last laugh! Why, because everybody suggests his name to be the best-man (Opposition Leader: suitable to be the groom) at any subsequent marriage (commencing with the new parliament.
If/when the current groom and bride die of heart failure at the next elections (which is an obvious fact) he (Mahinda) will be the groom. And remember he loves ‘pohottuwa’.
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Raj / December 18, 2018
Women had no place at the UNP rally!!!!!!!!!! Not a big surprise!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s how the UNP under RW works. At this (his) last political marriage too it was proven true!
This is the PM’s 5th political marriage ceremony (5th time PM!!!). His political Wife is not to be seen this time because according to traditional Peelam rituals ‘she’ is not supposed to be there! (not because she is about 11 years older than him).
Let’s take his 4th wedding with My3 in 2015, for examaple:
In the first year PM, as husband, did the talking, but wife (My3) listened.
In the second year, wife (My3) talked, husband (PM) listened.
in the 3rd year, both husband and wife (RW and My3) started talking, and we, the neighbors listened with amazement! Didn’t we.
In the meantime, there was another guy who was listening to them carefully along with us; that’s the bully-boy Mahinda who got a rare chance that we didn’t get; taking the advantage, he raped PM’ wife (My3) first on Oct 26 and abused RW’s disgruntled daughters (from previous marriages, mainly: Madam democraaaacy, Miss Wet-minister, and teenage daughter Yahapalanaya). After 6 weeks of well-arranged but secret ‘Lune de miel’, Mahinda went back to Madamulana like a virgin teen-boy.
JVP is now furious since they wanted to marry teen miss Y-Palanaya but, alas, she is no longer a virgin!
Most political analysts say, Mahinda will have the last laugh! Why, because everybody suggests his name to be the best-man (Opposition Leader: suitable to be the groom) at any subsequent marriage (commencing with the new parliament.
If/when the current groom and bride die of heart failure at the next elections (which is an obvious fact) he (Mahinda) will be the groom. And remember he loves ‘pohottuwa’.
(Please take note that the above is only a political comparison)!
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K.Anaga / December 18, 2018
Is it because he was referred to as a Samanalaya? by the President. (Butterfly)
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Kalu Nangi / December 19, 2018
What a sill comment!
It seems women opted not to speak out of respect to the Maha Sangha present at the podium.
It is not necessary to speak at a rally to show the power and intellect of a woman.
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Raj / December 19, 2018
Oh! the maha sanga too participated in the musical drama ‘juste pour rire’. That’s an interesting development on UNP’s side.
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rajash / December 18, 2018
the sri lanka rupee depreciated further on this news item
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shankar / December 18, 2018
instead of ravi it should have been rosy.There was a mistake in the spelling by the organizers.
hiruniker was asked speak but she had forgotten her knickers and was worried about the breeze.
chandrani has too good a personality to be allowed to speak.Ranil is clinging on to the palm tree for dear life here.The last thing he wants is more and more potential leaders to be given prominence.
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shankar / December 18, 2018
what maithree is telling ranil is “you only think of politics,never think about me and my needs.”
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nalmen / December 18, 2018
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shankar / December 18, 2018
“Although women form nearly 52 per cent of the population and a similar proportion of the country’s total voter-base,”
don’t know whether they are still recovering from sirimavo and chandrika and are still in a daze.
“The party also often congratulates itself on the legislative reform that ensured 25% female representation at the Local Government level”
that is indeed a good start for gender equality.How about extending it to public service jobs too?
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kolla / December 18, 2018
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Hard Truth / December 18, 2018
I
OK, this is an interesting perspective. This addresses the classical double-dipping rights of the suppressed groups. Let me explain why.
It is true that no women spoke there. It is also true that that is not a good outlook for the rally. But the reality is that there are no front line leaders in UNP. If you made a ‘fair’ranking of UNP leaders based on their seniority, experience etc, then the cut-off for this event was reached before any female could be included. In that sense it was ‘fair.’
The UNP, as the article says, has made some moves to increase female leadership in politics. Therefore, it could be expected that in time, there could be leaders who could make the top list on ‘merit’ alone. The question is, should some women be allowed to leapfrog the merit list, while women are also supported to rise higher based on merit? I think that is ‘double-dipping’ and that is wrong. I think that if a group is suppressed, the suppression should be taken away or reduced as much as possible, and everybody should be given a fair go, and we should wait until the equal opportunities result in equal participation, rather than ‘leap-frogging’ members of a suppressed group over and above their merit.
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Hard Truth / December 18, 2018
II
Indeed I am not here talking about women alone, I am certainly not talking about the questionable ‘merits’ accrued in a political system. I am talking about the fundamentals of how suppressed groups should be supported. Take South African Cricket team. Obviously, the blacks there were the suppressed group. But once the blacks took power, the black players were given equal opportunities and resources overnight, but the composition of the team was NOT changed overnight to reflect the majority black nature of the country. For a long time, we saw a predominantly white team playing for a predominantly black country, because the selection was largely merit based. (They also have a ‘quota’ system but ignore that for the moment, to make the argument simple). They WAITED until the new crop of black players, who were now given equal opportunity, could compete with the whites on merits. These days, there are more black players, but they are able to stand up and perform in the world stage, because they came up through merit.
In Sri Lanka, the Tamils long held positions of power and had the best schools, so obviously the Sinhalese were disadvantaged at University admissions. The right thing that should have been done is to give resources to schools in the south, and wait until such a policy of equal opportunity bore fruit and Sinhala student numbers at University based on merit matched the demographics. Instead, Sinhala numbers at University were boosted by a quota system which resulted in Sinhala students with less merit leapfrogging the Tamil students. The Tamils felt aggrieved, and the rest is history. Right now, if a completely merit based University admission system were to be introduced, the Sinhalese would still be the majority in University admissions, since so many good schools have come up in the south. A bit of impatience has led to a lof of bloodshed. Was it worth it?
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J Matthews / December 18, 2018
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Wijeyabahu / December 18, 2018
CT you lot like to stir sh8 no? Have to focus on a negative. Do you know why the lady folk didn’t speak or are you just going to hypothesise? A great moment for democracy and you report on a matter you have no inside information on? Common, let’s be bigger than this.
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shankar / December 19, 2018
are you a descendent of gajabahu.can we invade india once more to send a message.
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rbh / December 18, 2018
The United National Party did not allow any female speaker to address .
We need only the good messages not male or female speaking, keep working on your goals,The Way Get thing done stop giving speeches talking and act Begin Doing , to create the path to success.
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Walk The Talk Prime Minister / December 18, 2018
FACTS are not stubborn ,Facts are to be faced…..
———————————————-
If The PM appoints ,
Malik again(and please never again) ,Ravi as Finance Minister again (any other is okay ,almost the entire Parliament members are under question so he too must be allowed the justice of innocent till proved guilty just as the previous members ,let our police handle that ,no need for our biased speculation,)
Navin must be handed the Tourism Ministry on a platter .
MPs Like Harsha ,Eran ,Budka,Hiran Fernando (real Gentlemen’) should be given special portfolios of importance ,and housing to be firmly vested With Hon.Sajith our future leader .
Kind and humble request to our Senior MPS with due respect ,if you care for the nation and people please step a side and let our able Dynamic young UNPERS to take the task on.
And finally once again .
—————————–
Remember the permanent healing ,would be achieved only ,if you abolish the executive and install a Parliament with a senate and a deputy Premier ,with deputy ministers and self administrations with independent budgets at every single Province but accountable to one main central Parliament ,except their own Police under independent commissions .
You have to do it even if it takes you to a referendum poles in case those with vested interests in the current system against accountability & transparency blocks it , the inner most sincerity of our President too can seen too, is he willing to serve the people as a ceremonial President not caring for autocratic power that can be used to harm .the people and country if goes to a tyrant in the future ?
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An Innocent Bystander / December 18, 2018
This is such a shockingly biased article from CT I am so disappointed! Stop spreading anarchy!
There is a huge difference between not invited to speak and not allowed !!
The article headline says “No Female Speaker ALLOWED To Speak At UNP’s”
and then it says …….”None of them was INVITED to speak by the organizers.”
Also try and find a woman speaking in MARA’s or Shittysena’s rallies if you can!
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T. Devendra / December 18, 2018
This charge is most unfair.
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With male ‘receivers’ like Mangala, Ranil, Akila and Harshana around why does the UNP need women for politics? There is ‘poththa rathu’ Rosie for show and Hirunika the drag queen for those who like that sort of stuff.
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Take it to your heads that UNP is a party of Homo Sapiens these days, and that is why they can’t win elections.
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Native Vedda / December 18, 2018
T. Devendra
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“With male ‘receivers’ like Mangala, Ranil, Akila and Harshana around why does the UNP need women for politics?”
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The UNP should have provided Men/Women/Transgender/beast to titillate you despite your age. Is that what you want?
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T. Devendra / December 18, 2018
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Native Vedda / December 18, 2018
T. Devendra
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Brilliant
Thanks for keeping it brief.
Keep up your good work.
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jslal / December 19, 2018
“Ms Serasinghe”, did not get to speak at the rally eh?? And, the grapes are sour?
Oh by the way, thanks for entertaining us with tweets, from sweet nothings to threats, etc etc….. and shows your agenda quite clearly.
Keep making a fool of yourself… We are enjoying.
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RP / December 19, 2018
Dear Innocent! I heard a different story from another by-stander. He said Rosy and Juicy Hirunika were ready in their evening gowns to speak and sing couple songs. However, the wise organizers were not sure about the intoxicated crowd around the stage! Don’t forget the John Amaratunga factor here which is common among politicos.
I think the organizers made the right decision and you should agree with it. If you want women folks of the UNP to speak at future rallies, I have just one simple suggestion: next time the UNP should not give any Kasippu but only a packet of Indian nadu rice and parippu to whom you may bring to this type of rallies.
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Hamlet / December 20, 2018
“No Female Speaker Allowed To Speak At UNP’s ‘Largest Political Rally In 25 Years’”
Looking at the Photograph, do you see any Women in the Rally?
They would have better things to do than sit in the Sun listening to Boring Men, Going On and On about how they would give Everyone a better Life!
They would be at Home looking after the future of their Children, that these Male Politicians give no thought to!
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