6 October, 2024

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No Flowers Bloomed In The First Hundred Days

By H. L. D. Mahindapala

H. L. D. Mahindapala

H. L. D. Mahindapala

At the end of the glorified 100 days the nation is left with a sense of déjà vu, if not disappointment and frustration. Nothing significant stands out as exemplary achievements of the SirisenaWickremesinghe regime to crow about the promised “difference” (when-a-suck). The failure of the Yahapalanaya (good governance) to achieve its promised objectives – not to mention upholding the higher values promised in the manifesto of the Yahapalanaya – has left the people standing empty handed at square one. No government has risen to heights of great expectations within such a short time and no government has sunk to low depths within 100 days as the Yahapalanaya led by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime. Like all promising alternatives in politics it began as the sweetest thing. But then “the sweetest things turn sour by their deeds. / Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” (Sonnet 94 – Shakespeare).

Worst of all, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime had no compunction in riding rough shod over basic norms respected and accepted in a democratic polity, let alone the vaunted values of Yahapalanaya. From day one it was in such a mighty hurry to reinforce its grip on power that it resorted to arbitrary strokes of the Presidential pen to legitimize its illegal acts to retain power of a minority government which was not elected by the people. Wickremesinghe claims a mandate because he helped the President to win. This no better than the best man claiming after the wedding the right to go to bed first with the bride because he helped the couple all the way to the final act of handing the ring to seal the marriage and make the ceremony a success.

MaithripalaAs confirmed by the former Chief Justice, Sarath N. Silva, the very first two acts of President Sirisena – appointing 1. the Chief Justice and 2. the Prime Minister — were illegal. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s appointment of a Singaporean to head the Central Bank was illegal because the new head, Arjuna Mahendran, had sworn an oath of allegiance to the state of Singapore. The first major act of the new head of the Central Bank that led to biggest Treasury bond scandal was illegal. Wickremesinghe’s political instrument, the Financial Crimes Investigating Division, (FCID), a.k.a., the Fascist Centre for Indicting Dissidents, was illegal from the inception. Wickremesinghe usurping the powers of the IGP and directing operations to handpick dissidents for remanding is illegal. As of now the entire edifice of Yahapalanaya built after January 8, 2015 hangs on illegality and immorality.

The new regime is sailing on the myth that they were vested with absolute power in the presidential election to override all norms, practices, conventions, traditions, laws to consolidate their new regime, including the appointment of a prime minister who had no majority in Parliament. A candidate who has been defeated 29 times in the polls claims the right to be the prime minister because he piggy-backed on the shoulders of a winning presidential candidate. Can the parasitic leech have the right to survive by sucking on the blood of the body politic? Or should the creature be removed for the healthy survival of the body politic?

The failure to fulfill the pre-January 8th promises condemns the Yahapalanaya as one of the biggest hoaxes of our time. But there is one notable achievement. Though the marketed propaganda promised to make a “difference” (when-a-suck) to the prevailing political culture the ulterior political objective was to enthrone Wickremesinghe as Numero Uno which the people had refused to grant him 29 times before. In the guise of constitutional changes he tried deviously this time to transfer the presidential powers to his office of prime minister. But his pet 19th Amendment failed. And it is this failure that can be listed as the biggest achievement of the “100 days”. His failure to stage a constitutional coup saved the nation from manipulations to presidential powers which he is incapable of handling responsibly, with due regard to the rule of law. Combining the presidential powers with his prime ministerial powers would have been the dangerous concentration of political power in the hands of any one individual leading decisively nd unerringly to a untrammeled constitutional dictatorship..

Wickremesinghe cannot be trusted with even a sub-atomic particle of power put into his hands. His record shows (as in the notorious CFA) that he uses power to sell the nation to its enemies. He uses power arbitrarily and dictatorially to betray the vital interests that protect the future and the security of the nation. He signed the CFA with Velupillai Prabhakaran without telling the President, parliament, Cabinet, his party and, above all, the people. Fortunately, his stupidity was neutralized by the stupidity of arrogant and power-drunk Prabhakaran who proved to the world that he can run rings round Wickremesinghe – even to sign the nation’s death warrant.

However, considering the over-ambitious agenda outlined in the 100-day program, a point can be stretched to excuse the failure to fulfill all the promises. What cannot be excused is the corruption that shocked the nation even before the Yahapalana-yakos could warm their chairs of power. The main plank in the promised agenda of making “difference” was to run a clean administration, free from corruption. Those who expected the political nirvana at the end of 100 days were left flabbergasted by the financial, political and judicial scandals that make all those who preceded the Yahapalana-yakos look like arahats. The current political theatre unfolding in Sri Lanka is reminiscent of the hapless people condemned to live in Shakespeare’s Denmark – a state rotten to core.

Some of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies dealt with politics of the state. Macbeth focused on behind-the-scene criminal machinations aimed at grabbing power at any cost. Julius Caesar dealt with the fate of idealistic Brutus, trapped in brutal politics to grapple with the dictatorial state. Coriolanus is the brilliant general whose flawed character leads him to fall on his sword of pride and arrogance. Antony and Cleopatra depicts the catastrophic consequences of mixing politics with sex. Distracted and infatuated Antony dismisses Rome as irrelevant (“Let Rome in Tiber melt)” and he sees nobleness only in kissing Cleopatra. Lear paints the pathetic plight of a man fallen from power. Hamlet, the greatest and the most philosophical of Shakespeare’s plays, traced the tragic course of the youth rebelling against a corrupt state. Like all youth the options available to Hamlet was to either withdraw and “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune / Or to take up arms against a sea of troubles / And by opposing end them. (III – 1).

Here, I admit, I have reduced the luminous insights and thematic profundities in the tragedies of Shakespeare to one-liners — a device adopted purely to highlight Shakespeare’s magisterial grasp of realpolitik without indulging in theoretical mumbo-jumbo. The focus here is on Hamlet because he is the most relevant figure to us. Hamlet’s task is to clean up the rotten state. That is the message his father gives him, rising from his grave. The play opens with Claudius who had not only grabbed power after killing his brother, Hamlet, father of young Hamlet, but also marrying Gertrude, his brother’s wife to consolidate his grip on the throne. In the opening scene Claudius’ court is merry-making in a drunken orgy while Hamlet is haunted by the spectral figure of the murdered father goading him for revenge from the grave.

In Hamlet Shakespeare delineates the most rotten of the states he has surveyed. There isn’t a single redeeming feature in the state of Denmark. From the obsequious Polonious, the spineless bureaucrat who sees only whatever his master sees without demur, to the “incestuous” bed of Hamlet’s mother, the corrupted state of Denmark is in a state of tense vacuum and dithering, uncontrolled chaos, with key decision-makers plotting against each other, or speculating on what the next move would be. Hamlet, haunted by the injustice done to his father, poses the most serious threat to the state of Claudius, the ruling king who murdered his brother, Hamlet’s father, to grab the throne. Claudius, feigning innocence and purity, is nervous that his disjointed “warlike state” is “out of frame,..” (Hamlet, 1.2).

Young Hamlet, in this sense, is the universal symbol fighting against the most common evils in politics : corruption, sex, murder, violence and disorder with the least ability/power to take on the state. Of the many interpretations that go to explain Hamlet, there is the possibility of reading it as a Jacobean play of bloody vindictive violence. But Hamlet is not the Machiavellian Prince. He is generally viewed as the idealistic intellectual looking for noble redemption which is almost verging on a kind of madness There is, however, a method in Hamlet’s madness. He feigns madness to retain his sanity. Hamlet is in a state of despair, not knowing how to act decisively to challenge the corrupt politics of his time and end it. He is burdened by the unbearable weight of his time lying heavily on his conscience. What is more he does not know how to resolve it. Therein lies his dilemma. He is virtually paralyzed by the moral responsibility cast upon him to set it right. He says: “The time is out of joint. O, cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right.” (Ibid – 1.5)

His conscience is divided, if not paralyzed, not knowing whether to go into action against his own kith and kin which would end invariably in death and destruction. Hence his vacillation. His oft-quoted question, “To be or not to be” echoes the central theme in the sacred book of the Hindus, Bhagavad Gita, where Arjuna is faced with the identical problem paralyzing his conscience : to kill or not to kill his kith and kin in the battlefield. The parallels are remarkable. Stunning! There is enough material for a doctoral thesis in this theme. Shakespeare’s genius shines in all its glory in this philosophical play.

The tragedy facing the nation today too is that of Hamlet in Denmark : the heavy duty of cleaning up the rot in Sri Lankan politics. The magic cure was to come within the “promised 100 days”. It has come and gone without the promised “difference” (when-a-suck) making any significant impact on the lives of those who voted in hope. Apart from the state of rottenness, the entire political framework on which it stands is incredibly bizarre, imaginable only in a Kafkesque nightmare. An elected President is watching passively, with his arms folded, while an unelected Prime Minister, without a mandate, is running a vindictive Jacobean drama of persecuting and remanding members of the opposition on charges far less than those committed by some of the biggest crooks in his government swindling billions of people’s money.

As stated by Sarath Silva, the former Chief Justice, President Maithripala Sirisena’s action in creating his government was “illegal from its inception.” As he states the Yahapalanaya began with two illegal strokes of the President’s pen. First, by breaking all traditions and established legal procedure, he removes the sitting Chief Justice and appoints another with a stroke of his pen. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was in an indecent hurry to capture the strategic seat in the judiciary that it abandoned all traditions upheld at Hulftsdorp and rushed to install a new Chief Justice. It was more than a case of where justice was not seen to be done : it smacked of grabbing the judiciary from the Rajapakses and securing it for the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime. Commenting on this Sarath Silva said that “the manner in which Mohan Peiris, the then sitting Chief Justice was removed reduced the judiciary to a ‘comedy.’”

He added : “That’s the first thing. And then suddenly Ranil Wickremesinghe takes oaths as Prime Minister. This is whilst a Prime Minister was still in his seat. Is that good governance? This government was illegal since its inception,” he said. (Daily Mirror — 29/5/2015)

The removal of a Chief Justice and the Prime Minister with two strokes of a Presidential pen violates all the respected and accepted traditions and legal norms in a democratic polity. If anyone deserved to be removed any regime has a right to do so within the accepted norms of the law. But when President Sirisena cashiered Mohan Pieirs with a stroke of his pen he knew he was violating the legal procedure because he participated in the Select Committee process laid down in the Constitution when Parliament decided to remove Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. So why did President Sirisena, aided and abetted by Wickremesinghe, step out of the law known to him and remove the Chief Justice with a stroke of his pen? It is the illegality of the process adopted by Sirisena – Wickremesinghe regime in removing and appointing the Chief Justices and the Prime Ministers that exposes them as corrupting the state from day one.

If President Mahinda Rajapakse is summoned before the Bribery Commission for offering Tissa Attanayake a ministerial portfolio – a common practice accepted by both sides of the House to consolidate power — how should these two illegal acts, committed by two strokes of the President’s pen to consolidate two of his key power bases be judged by those who yearn for a Yahapalanayak? Put another way, has President Sirisena reduced the rule of law to the rule of his pen? Is he trying to prove that his pen is mightier than the law of the land?

*To be continued

Latest comments

  • 16
    2

    Nope, no flowers bloomed. No sign of brain cell regeneration for Mahaindapala either.

    • 12
      1

      Well said BB, MAHINDA-pala’s brains are embedded elsewhere!

    • 4
      2

      Mahindapala Shill of Mara Mahinda Rajapaksa,

      RE: No Flowers Bloomed In The First Hundred Days

      During the 10 years of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime, Rapists and White Vans Bloomed.

      See What WFR press conference on CSR is doing. They are real women.

      You are a Fake man, just like the Shills and white-washers of Mahinda Rajapaksa.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7Ugokb4GAY8

    • 0
      0

      H. L. D. Mahindapala , Shill and White-Washer of Mahinda Rajapaksa,

      RE: No Flowers Bloomed In The First Hundred Days

      Yes, we see a lot of pictures of the Former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa and the current President Mr. Maitripala sirisena, going to temples and others places and doing “Pooja” with Flowers, based on “Tradition”, Hindu and Buddhist Tradition. (The Eskimos do not do that. They do not need flowers. They need seals.}

      The flowers they used for “pooja” must have been picked from elsewhere and it must have bloomed elsewhere.

      So, H. L. D. Mahindapala, flowers still bloom, and Flower 19A bloomed as well.

      What Is the Purpose of a Flower on a Plant?

      What Is the Purpose of a Flower on a Plant? To be plucked a and made “Pooja” by Devotees and Politicians and others? NO, No and No. Flowers were there, before, Krishna, Buddha, the Monks and the Polititians

      http://www.gardenguides.com/87349-purpose-flower-plant.html

      Reproduction

      The sole purpose of a flower is reproduction, and for that purpose, a flower comes armed for the job. Every part of a flower, including scent and beauty, furthers the plant’s reproductive strategy. When it blooms, a flower reveals male and/or female parts. The male part is the stamen, which consists of a filament topped by an anther. The anther produces pollen, and within that pollen are sperm. The female part of the flower is a carpel or carpels that might be fused to form a pistil. Within the pistil is an ovary that contains ovules ready for pollination. Some flowers have both male and female parts; other flowers are either male or female.

      Attraction

      With sperm and ovule ready, flowers use either wind or creatures to help them get the sperm to the ovule. Small flowers that aren’t showy use the wind to spread pollen to other flowers, the pollen landing on stigmas, which sit at the top of pistils. Showy flowers go to greater lengths to reproduce. Petals are colored and have markings to attract insects and animals. The scent, too, draws pollinators to the flower. To ensure that bugs and animals keep returning, flowers produce nectar from glands at the base of their petals. Pollinators, such as bees, birds and bats, pick up pollen as they visit and deposit it to the female stigmas as the pollinators move from flower to flower.

      Seeds and Fruit

      Once a flower has been successfully pollinated, the sperm joins with the egg. A second sperm fuses with what are called polar nuclei to create food storage tissue, which will feed the developing plant embryo. The whole thing becomes the seed for new life. The ovary that originally contained the ovule, meanwhile, develops into a fruit. Sometimes the ovary wall becomes an outer layer, as is the case, for instance, when a pod is formed. Sometimes part of the flower’s tube swells around the ovary, forming a fleshy fruit like an apple. The ovary wall becomes the core.

      What Is the Purpose of H. L. D. Mahindapala ? To Shill and White-Wash for Mahinda Rajapaksa ubtul the current contract is over, and a new contract is in place.

  • 10
    2

    If MS get couple of his brothers to parliament through list and appoint them as PM, Speaker and Defence Sec, then this Modapala would defined it as “Flowers bloomed in 100 days”, might praise MS as stronger man than MR.. I can’t understand how this sort of third class journalist survive in the long run, but this guy has.. Is this only happens in SL???

    • 1
      0

      Avb are you aware that. All the brothers in parliment were elected by the people Where were you when this happened. ?????

  • 9
    1

    the weedkillers take time to work its way …but the poisonous flowers are withering and
    drooping towards extinction…..then the beautiful flowers will bloom…..

  • 6
    2

    Yeah as you say few flowers were wilted and some not bloom, but more than thousands of lights of HOPE of candles were lit in hearts all over the island which would have never seen before. Please make your self useful to country. And remember MS is not Morsi. People have gathered behind him without invitation.

  • 9
    2

    Sure Mahindapal, no flowers bloomed for the likes of you!

  • 8
    2

    Mo……pala back again hanging behind Sarah Silva recent story ” on the way back home”. Every one knows who this man is and what he did in his official position. Recently he regretted the “helping Hambantota” verdict given by him and what more do you need to certify.
    Mo….pala is quoting Sarath Silva’s utterance and building his article. What a shame. How will a guy who is hiding in Australia with a Tamil wife know what freedom is which is what Sri Lankans have been blessed with adequately under the Maithre/Ranil governance.

  • 12
    3

    Unbelievable this old man is still breathing.
    Hope that he will depart soon.

    Still he is unable to change his proclivities and propensities of previous lives.

    It is very sad this old man can not stop boot-licking of Mahinda Rajapaksa

    • 3
      8

      It is ok for you to boot lick Maaru Sira-Don Jun clique, Ganda Saman?

      Your “proclivities and propensities” look similar to those of ourMangala’s and Ranil’s! Right?

  • 6
    16

    As always a good read!

    • 1
      2

      Yes. For those who want to have a good laugh!

  • 8
    0

    No corruption, intimidation, rapes, shooting on protestors, brandishing toy guns, etc either…

  • 10
    2

    HLDM,
    If you think you have so many facts that honourable President MS has done illegal things why don’t you file a case against him from Australia if you have given up your SL citizenship. On the other hand if you are a dual citizen why don’t you visit SL and file the case against the President elected by the SL citizens. You have three colourful legal experts Sarath Silva , Mohan Peris and G L Peris to argue for you in the courts for free.

    The way you write it looks like that you are a VIP who has a private line to Tony Abbot to brief him on SL matters

    By the way what are you going to do about the new high commissioner of SL to Australia ? Are you going to have a word with Tony Abbot that the appointment is illegal because it was with the stroke of honourable President MS.

    You can also tell Tony Abbot that majority of the Singhalese Buddhist voted for your MR and therefore MS is not the legal President of SL.

  • 13
    2

    H. L. D. Mahindapala , Mahinda Rajapaksa Shill and White-Washer

    We really missed your white-washing. Where were you?

    Can we talk about Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the White Vans.

    Can we also talk about the Rape rate going up from 1 per week to 56 per week, Courtesy \of Mahinda Rajapaksa?

    MaRa MaRa Chati MaRa Mara MaRa Amana MaRa ..

    WFR press conference on CSR

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ugokb4GAY8

  • 10
    1

    As a defender of Sinhala Buddhists, HLDM should make an effort to be fairer to the current administration. As a Buddhist, he should pay attention to abide by Right Speech, Right Action and Right Living in his regular columns. Then readers will appreciate his mindful journalism.

    I do not question HLDM’s right to free speech. but ethics require the responsible application of that right. While he criticizes his political adversaries mercilessly, he looks askance at the misdeeds of his current political allies. Buddhists believe that when you spit at others, you spit at yourself because we are all composites of the Five Aggregates of Craving.

    i hope that HLDM will not consider this letter to be a hostile reaction engendered by ill-will. I believe that he should retire from one-sided political discourse to apply his journalistic talents in middle-path writing intended to improve the state of the downtrodden.

  • 10
    1

    [Edited out] Pala,

    You didn’t know that Sarath Silva legalized the looting of Tsunami funds?

  • 7
    1

    Dear Sir,

    if you go to listen to sarath silva all the time youll be completely lost. Clearly you are cause if your old memory cant remind you that first he said this was good now hes saying this is bad.
    he also cleared Mr rajapakshe of crimes and then later he said it was a mistake.

    Clearly your another fool in writing and CT should start reading articles like this without posting it as news.

    where were you when all the rajapakshes came out runnign around in mercedez jeeps and lambogihinis and ferraris?

    Clearly your a mahinda supporter maybe cause your name includes his.

    till then please be quiet cause everytime you open your mouth crap comes out

  • 10
    0

    HLDPM,

    Focus on countless “Fields of Flower” destroyed by the uneducated dictator who was rejected by the people on 8th January.

    Cheers!

  • 7
    1

    The only flowers that bloomed after 10 years (3,650 days)of Rajapakse rule were the Rajapakse assets.

  • 7
    2

    “No Flowers Bloomed In The First Hundred Days”
    As always, this senile fool has looked in the wrong place. No wonder he cannot see the blooms.

  • 3
    1

    HLDM is speaking about Hamlet. The only thing your
    politico yakkos will know is omlettes. If you
    tell them about Hamlet, they would wish to know
    whether it is a kind of omlette with ham.

    I fully agree with his references to Ranil Wickremesinghe.
    He is acknowledgedly the worst politician in Sri Lanka
    for displacing public trust. Publicly he says one thing.
    Privately he works deals and is a puppet led on a string
    by cronies like Malik Samarawickrema, Sagala Ratnayake, Akila
    Viraj Kariyawasam and the like. They are all birds of the
    same feather but I will not complete the other part of
    the adage.

    RW, Ravi Karunanayake, Arjun Aloysius and Malik Samarawickrema
    were behind the Central Bank bond issue. The truth will come
    out very soon. Whether anything would happen is the question.

  • 10
    2

    Yes HLD, it’s better to talk about the flowers that didn’t bloom in the first 100 days rather than talk about the tens of thousands of piles of shit that were unloaded on the heads of the citizens of this country by your fake hero Mahinda during the last 9 years.

  • 10
    1

    Quoting Shakespeare extensively, Mahindapala is not only delusional, but also must be suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers.

    When he says, “No government has risen to heights of great expectations within such a short time and no government has sunk to low depths… . Like all promising alternatives in politics it began as the sweetest thing. But then “the sweetest things turn sour by their deeds. / Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.” (Sonnet 94 – Shakespeare)”, he must mean the Rajapakse regime, surely?

    Either that, or he must be the obsequious lickspittle that Shalespeare often featured.

  • 3
    14

    Don Juan Sirisena is destroying the SLFP! Don Juan Wickramasinghe is selling the whole country.
    This gon palana drama needs to end soon and people must select a government that represent the nations interests.
    In UK we also hear these fairy tales of democracy, rule of law, and other sugar coated turds, But to run the country, you have MI6 MI5. that is how the Britons interests are protected.

    The reality is always ugly and US bombs villages full of kids and women to protect their country! Nobody can say anything. We should have bumped off offshore ltte rump just like Mosad did!

    What reconciliation with racists who want monoethnic enclaves!

    We are wrong, they are right!
    We must give up, They must take in!

    Sooner we finish this tragicomedy is better for the country.
    The economic prosperity must come first and rest of the democracy will follow later.
    People who betrayed our forces are not suitable to run this country!

    • 0
      0

      You the idiots who abused asylum laws in Europe and finally got the chance to stay in Uk would not see it other way around. Give us constructive comments to deny MY3 ?

      Compare My3 and MR – in their perfomrance in politics – and name us please what you find more good in most abusive MR

  • 7
    1

    why not that we achieved long due – 19A.. this would never been if Mr Medamulana the crime promotor was in the office. Today, we are becoming aware – Mr Sannasagalal made it very clear in his Sathyagaraya last session, if a country s leader is fallen to the levels that Saththara Karaya (Astrologer) can manipulate him to the core… so what cant be the consequence. ? Who ever thought that this country would ever have been ruled by that kind of funny men. But people were manipulated with the assistance of you and Dayan Jayathilaka most disgusting figure among the education community today. So I believe, the biggest SUN flower we could see blooming is having passed the 19A. Those who work for their pvt agendas – guys of your kind would never see it beyond in this life. This is what I feel.

  • 8
    0

    …and neither have there been parties held to celebrate hundreds deflowered with royal patronage .

    • 4
      1

      Dr.Goebells

      “..and neither have there been parties held to celebrate hundreds deflowered with royal patronage.”

      MAHINDApala may be having a head count of the number deflowered with royal patronage by playboy Namal and uncle Nishanta !

  • 8
    1

    Mr.Mahindapala

    Under your Rajapakse regime you could not written such articles? At least there is media freedom today.

  • 6
    1

    This is seriously sick stuff. Why do we entertain this kind of sick thinking on colombotelegraph?

  • 4
    0

    Predictable long distance bullocks! Skakes Perera makes his seasonal appearance.The worst part of the article is the ‘to be continued’. What to do, free speech comes at a price.

  • 7
    0

    “Put another way, has President Sirisena reduced the rule of law to the rule of his pen? Is he trying to prove that his pen is mightier than the law of the land?” MR did it the other way – lest we forget the death
    of those who wieled the pen under MR the PM-elect????”:-

    “RECORDED LIST OF KILLINGS OF JOURNALISTS AND MEDIA WORKERS APRIL 2004 – MARCH 2009 2004 1. Aiyathurai A. Nadesan – Journalist / 31 May 2. Kandaswamy Aiyer Balanadaraj – Writer / 16 August 3. Lanka Jayasundera – Photo journalist / 11 December 2005 4. Dharmaratnam Sivaram – Editor / 28 April 5. Kannamuttu Arsakumar – Media worker/ 29 June 6. Relangee Selvarajah – Journalist / 12 August 7. D. Selvaratnam – Media worker/ 29 August 8. Yogakumar Krishnapillai – Media Worker / 30 September 9. L. M. Faleel (Netpittimunai Faleel) – Writer / 02 December 10. K. Navaratnam – Media worker / 22 December 2006 11. Subramaniam Suhirtharajan – Journalist / 24 January 12. S. T. Gananathan – Patron, Tamil News and Information Centre / 01 February 13. Bastian George Sagayathas – Media worker / 03 May 14. Rajaratnam Ranjith Kumar – Media worker / 03 May 15. Sampath Lakmal de Silva – Journalist / 02 July – killed by Army Intelligence 16. Mariadasan Manojanraj – Media worker / 01 August 17. Pathmanathan Vismananthan – Singer and musician / 02 August 18. Sathasivam Baskaran – Media worker / 15 August 19. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah – Media owner / 20 August 2007 20. S. Raveendran – Media worker / 12 February 21. Subramaniam Ramachandran – Media personnel / 15 February 22. Chandrabose Suthakar – Journalist / 16 April 23. Selvarasah Rajeevarman – Journalist / 29 April 24. Sahadevan Neelakshan – Journalist / 01 August 25. Anthonypillai Sherin Siththiranjan – Media worker / 05 November 26. Vadivel Nimalarajah – Media worker / 17 November 27. Isaivizhi Chempian (Subhajini) – Media worker / 27 November 28. Suresh Limbiyo – Media Worker / 27 November 29. T.Tharmalingam – Media Worker / 27 November 2008 30. Paranirupesingham Devakumar – Journalist / 28 May 31. Rasmi Mohamad – Journalist / 06 October 2009 32. Lasantha Wickrematunga – Editor / 08 January 33. Punniyamurthy Sathyamurthy – Journalist / 12 February 34. Sasi Mathan – Media worker / 06 March Permalink – See more at: http://blogs.channel4.com/miller-on-foreign-affairs/open-letter-sri-lankan-journalists/524#sthash.tYkkRfgD.dpuf 19 Journalists Killed in Sri Lanka/ Source: Tamil H.R. ( Paris) Shoba, O’liveechchu May 18 or 19, in Mullivaikkal, Sri Lanka Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy, freelance February 12, 2009, in Mullaitheevu district, Sri Lanka Lasantha Wickramatunga, The Sunday Leader January 8, 2009, in an area outside Colombo, Sri Lanka Rashmi Mohamed, Sirasa TV October 6, 2008, in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka Paranirupasingham Devakumar, News 1st May 28, 2008, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka Suresh Linbiyo, Voice of Tigers November 27, 2007, in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka T. Tharmalingam, Voice of Tigers November 27, 2007, in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka Isaivizhi Chempiyan, Voice of Tigers November 27, 2007, in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka Selvarajah Rajeewarnam, Uthayan April 29, 2007, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka Subash Chandraboas, Nilam April 16, 2007, in an area near Vavuniya, Sri Lanka Subramaniyam Sugitharajah, Sudar Oli January 24, 2006, in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka Relangi Selvarajah, Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corp. August 12, 2005, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Dharmeratnam Sivaram, TamilNet and Daily Mirror April 29, 2005, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Lanka Jayasundara, Wijeya Publications December 11, 2004, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Bala Nadarajah Iyer, Thinamurasu and Thinakaran August 16, 2004, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Aiyathurai Nadesan, Virakesari May 31, 2004, in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, BBC, Virakesari, Ravaya October 19, 2000, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka Anura Priyantha, Independent Television Network December 18, 1999, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Indika Pathinivasan, Maharaja Television Network December 18, 1999, in Colombo, Sri Lanka 6 Journalists Killed in Sri Lanka/Motive Unconfirmed http://www.cpj.org/killed/terminology.php Sahadevan Nilakshan, Chaalaram August 1, 2007, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, Namathu Eelanadu August 20, 2006, in Jaffna, Sri Lanka Sampath Lakmal, Sathdina July 1, 2006, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Vasthian Anthony Mariyadas, Freelancer December 31, 1999, in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka Atputharajah Nadarajah, Thinamurusu November 2, 1999, in Colombo, Sri Lanka Rohana Kumara, Satana September 7, 1999, in Colombo, Sri Lanka http://www.cpj.org/killed/terminology.php

    • 1
      0

      Why have you excluded Richard. De. Zoysa. was he not a journalist who was taken from his house in the night in front of his mother and killed. ????

  • 6
    0

    “Good governance” is similar to “Zero casualty policy” of the army.

    Its a deceleration of an intention, a policy and an end-goal. Its a start of a long process with success and failures.

    Contrast the situation with how the Gon Raja behaved.

    The Gon Raja asserted they had “stolen enough”! They went onto say if another party comes a fresh round of stealing will ensue. Therefore the cost to the public will be less he said.

    Gosh! what a relief the rouges are gone.

  • 5
    0

    Dear Mr Mahindapala,
    Could you please show us any flower bloomed in the first 100 days of 2005-2010 period or 2010 -2015 period under MR’s government.At least the present government was able to reduced cost of living to certain extend and give a pay hike promised at the last presidential election.

    If you said the economy has been collapsed during such a short period, any sensible person would understand the strength of the economy that had been established by MR.
    In your letter you are trying to say that MS should fulfill all the things he promised within the first 100 days although MR could not do those even in 10 years.You are misleading general public by devaluing the things done so far by MS.
    And one more, if any one try to say that the war ,against LTTE was won by MR
    it is utterly wrong. Only the truth is Sri Lankan forces used their own strategies and courage and won the war while MR was in power.He shamelessly took the credit.

  • 3
    7

    We “PEOPLE” waiting to teach a lesson to yahapalana liars, including current regime & its lackeys very soon. Let us have our election.

    • 4
      0

      What can you villagers teach them?

    • 3
      0

      Let the Village Man have the election he wants!

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