By Dayan Jayatilleka –
Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka
The provincial elections–the ones scheduled to be held as well as the one that isn’t—are the subject of political comment. Three are to be held ahead of schedule, resulting in a dual criticism. One is that they are untimely and the other that they serve solely the interests of the ruling bloc. Critique is to be encouraged but it must be well-placed and these aren’t. Indeed they miss the point, and the duty of political analysis is precisely to draw attention to the main point rather than away from it.
In the USA, elections are held on a predictable schedule; predictable since they have been ordained, inscribed in the System. In the UK and Europe, for the most part it is not so, and within the prescribed terms incumbents call elections at moments thought most propitious or when they are politically pressed by crisis. So, the premature holding of provincial elections in Sri Lanka should not be regarded as a mortal sin.
As for the accompanying criticism that the elections are held for sinister and self-serving purpose and are not on anything like a level playing field, I have a two word response: Mohamed Morsi. Egypt provides the latest proof that however entrenched the Establishment, an opposition that is authentically popular, has its roots in town and country, and gets its act together, can prevail.
In systems far more authoritarian than Sri Lanka, even in dictatorial ones such as Pinochet’s Chile, plebiscitary exercises aimed at legitimising the regime have proved to be the beginning of the end of those regimes. Any opening of electoral space is therefore welcomed with a surge of exuberant energy and determined activism by any opposition party. If Sri Lanka is an exception it says more about the state of the opposition than about the State. Sri Lanka’s opposition might learn something from the Arab Spring: the democratic choice of the peoples turned out to be neither pro-Western cosmopolitan civil society liberal-conservatives nor fanatical, sectarian religious fundamentalists but precisely moderate, modernising, nationalists (including Western-educated ones like Egypt’s President Morsi).
The non-holding of the Northern Provincial Council election has been critically remarked upon by the Leader of the Opposition. One might have thought that he would be far more concerned about his party’s upcoming performance at the provincial elections that are to be held than by the issue of an election that is not scheduled to be held. No matter. What is of note is that the problems associated with the immediate holding of an election to the Northern PC do not seem to detain him. What are these problems?
While responsible moderates must remain supportive of power sharing, they must always been mindful of how much power is shared and who with.
The North is the strategically vital frontier of Sri Lanka, across which we have the possibility of external hostility. No other province in the country is in that position. Everywhere in the world, border provinces have their special problems and arrangements, ranging from the US-Mexican border to Kashmir and Nagaland- Mizoram-Manipur. A TNA type party would come under serious security-related scrutiny if not legal obstruction in such places.
How can one be confident that the administration of the Northern province be responsibly carried out by a party that refuses to forswear secessionism, commit unconditionally and unambiguously to a solution within a united Sri Lanka, criticize Prabhakaran and the LTTE even for murdering that party’s own leaders, and claims that its goal is to convince the international community that a solution is NOT possible within a united Sri Lanka’? Surely such a party would be more tempted to prove its thesis that a solution –such as provincial devolution– within a united Sri Lankawill not work?
Even a card-carrying moderate such as Mr. Sumanthiran’s statements to the newspapers reiterating the specious doctrine of ‘internal self-determination’, threatening adherence to ‘external self determination’ if the former was not acceded to and going so far as to advocate a referendum among the Tamil people on whether or not they wish to remain part of a united Sri Lanka, were and are hardly conducive to confidence building and constructive negotiations.
How would one know who the TNA candidate for Chief Minister will be? What is the guarantee that it will be Mr. Sampanthan? How are we to assume that the balance of forces in the TNA and Tamil politics will not force Mr. Sampanthan to agree to a Chief Ministerial candidate other than himself? This is hardly an irrelevant consideration when one recalls that just a few weeks ago a TNA MP stated that the goal remains Tamil Eelam. What if that MP or someone with his views is the TNA’s Chief Ministerial candidate?
‘Eelam is our ultimate goal’ said Sivagnanam Shritharan, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Sri Lankan Parliament from Kilinochchi in an interview given to Dr Paul Newman published this June 8th. The interview was republished in the weblog of the respected journalist DBS Jeyaraj (dbs jeyaraj.com). The article says that “In an exclusive interview to Dr. Paul Newman, he reiterates his position that securing Tamil Eelam is the ultimate goal of TNA.”
In the interview Sritharan is quoted as saying “Our leader Sampanthan too has lived inColombo. When a Sinhala flag was thrust in his hands, as a person living in Colombo he had to accept it. It was only a political tactic to hoist the lion flag and invite the Sinhala leaders to talk to the Tamils.”
It would be difficult to ignore the following declaration of intent by Mr. Sritharan:
“Since 1990, 26 countries have been born – twenty-three of them in Europe after the dismantling of the communist world, two countries, namely Eritrea and Southern Sudan in Africa, and East Timor inAsia. All these countries got freedom with the help of some western country. We too will get it one day or the other…We too hope that with the help of the Diaspora and the Tamils of Tamil Nadu we would be able to establish Eelam.”
He concludes by saying: “There may be statements made by our leaders to suit the polity of the time but Eelam is our ultimate goal.”
The contacts, interaction and overlap between the TNA and the Diaspora Tigers (Pulathap Puligal) are well known to anyone who follows the Tamil media, including websites. It would not be wise to assume that these and even more details are unknown to the decision makers in the Sri Lankan state.
The Sri Lankan state won a decisive and complete military victory over the LTTE army. Throughout world history, the aftermath of such a military victory is vastly different from the aftermath of a negotiated end to a conflict or the cessation of a conflict because one side lays down arms. As a Tamil friend told me, a Western journalist had remarked to him that the Tamil nationalists talk as if they won the war rather than lost it! That has to change and reality has to be understood if it is to be transformed positively.
Attempts to threaten, bully and intimidate Sri Lanka from without or within, will simply not work. The answer to the conundrum is not to evade the Parliamentary Select Committee process but to insist on a time-bound PSC exercise; one that is committed to conclude within a compressed time frame.
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
Dayan Jayatilleka says:
“Since 1990, 26 countries have been born”
They were not born but freed from other countries.
/
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
Sorry it should read Sritharan says:
“Since 1990, 26 countries have been born”
They were not born but freed from other countries.
/
Dinuk / July 5, 2012
What a dishonest prat this spinning DJ is! He obviously fears to lose his job after comparing lanka with Burma recently. Now that Tamara Kunanayagam is out he is singing the Rajapakse song for his supper and to save his slippery skin and keep his perks!’
DJ claims that the reason for not holding PC elections in the north is that the TNA cannot be trusted because of the claim of internal self-determination made in Batticloa. The TNA and Tamils have been pushed to the wall, their lands taken, lives militarized and people humiliated by the barbaric Rajapakse regime who have no higher moral sensibility, basic university education or culture and have made a mockery of Buddhist principles of non-violence.
But as this lying DJ says: “the Sri Lankan state won a decisive and complete military victory over the LTTE army” so what’s the problem with giving the defeated equal rights, never mind magnanimity in defeat? He goes on to say: Throughout world history, the aftermath of such a military victory is vastly different from the aftermath of a negotiated end to a conflict or the cessation of a conflict because one side lays down arms. 3 years after the war the Rajapkse regime whose mouth piece is this spinning DJ is paranoid and covering as the people in the north and south alike have had enough and their days are numbered! And this lying DJ also does not know his world history – even that of Emperor Asoka or Duttugemunu stricken with guild after war victory!
/
Don Stanley / July 5, 2012
Quite right Dinuk! This spinner Dayan is a PATHETIC CON MAN who twists truth to serve his ego and greed for POWER!
Defeating the LTTE in Sri Lanka which is a very small country with a tiny land mass is not a big deal or feat especilly as they had a lot of international help because of the Global War on Terror in Af-Pak!
DJ negates the principle of speaking truth to power and defend the brutal, corrupt to the core Rajapkase brothers and sons who think that they are entitled to land-grab, loot the economy and turn Lanka into a barbaric banana republic because they defeated the LTTE – a small terror group in a tiny country. They are also destroying and distorting Buddhism by cultivating a violent public religion to justify their crimes. Gota the goon and his greedy brothers like to exaggerate and make huge claims in a small county about a great feat because they have big egos!
This Rajapakse dictatorship should be sent packing and clearly running scared – shutting down web sites and trying to silence critical voices! But people are now speaking up against the corruption and nepotism of this foul and stinking regiem.
/
Rubert Vanderkoon / July 5, 2012
Dinuk, Are you on weed or something? My friendly advice is, you don’t always have to drop tosh in public. DJ says he wouldn’t accept anpther diplomatic posting after the Paris slot ends. So your suspicion/accusation has no basis. Tamils lands are taken?? You must be reading too much Tamilnut as well. It’s not their lands are taken, many things happen during the war but no government can retract as quickly as you wish them to do so. Obama’s promise of withdrawing from Afghanistan has not happened yet even at the last hours of his presidency. Many vehicles and land belong to the public were used by the Army during the JVP troubles in 1989, and they were released only after about 4 years.
“.. never mind magnanimity in defeat?” what and who are you taking about? Are you taking the Nanthikadal lot? Because the government didn’t lose anything.
/
Native Vedda / July 6, 2012
Rubert Vanderkoon says:
“DJ says he wouldn’t accept anpther diplomatic posting after the Paris slot ends”.
We know DJ for a long time he is a man of principles and full of intellectual honesty.
He is now positioning himself for the post of Prime Minister/Foreign Minister in possible Fonseka government supported by India. This requires him to distance himself from present clan.
Had LTTE established its Tamil Eelam Dayan would not have any qualm to serve in LTTE government.
The next logical move for him is to distance himself from the present ruling clan, lie low, gradually increase his praise for Fonseka and India, when the time is right give overt support,…………..and justify his new position, blame the world for changing circumstances…….blame the Tamils for change of his position,…..
/
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
Dayan Jayatilleka says:
“Attempts to threaten, bully and intimidate Sri Lanka from without or within, will simply not work.”
It worked for India will work again.
Your paranoia can be put to rest only if you extract guarantees from benefactor India. As long as you understand that “Beggars can’t be choosers” Sri Lanka is safe in the hands of Delhi Establishment.
Sri Lanka is India’s favourite mistake.
/
Bruno Umbato / July 4, 2012
Dayan writes “….As a Tamil friend told me, a Western journalist had remarked to him that the Tamil nationalists talk as if they won the war rather than lost it!….”
What a observation! .. There are western journalists still around who could really observe!
When Native Vedda says “Beggers can’t be choosers”, I get confused who he meant by Beggers?
Is there any oppostion in the world who would oppose/criticize holding elections whether it is staggered/same day or on the basis of cost?
Yes! There is a one and only one country in the whole history of elections!
That is Sri Lanka … It gives out the true state of opposition in SL … If you can not observe that you like ND could never understand the western journalist remark …
/
Native Vedda / July 5, 2012
Bruno Umbato is confused:
“When Native Vedda says “Beggers can’t be choosers”, I get confused who he meant by Beggers?”
The war between Sri Lankan stupid state and stupid LTTE was fought and won on borrowed money.
India, China and rest of the world financed the war in their own geo strategic interest. Representatives of Sri Lankan state went around the globe with begging bowl to raise funds. They still do in the name of development. The loans are the peace dividend distributed among the ruling clan and class through various development projects.
When a country depended on borrowed funds or handouts to destroy its own people, it can be threaten, bullied and intimidated.
If you find it confusing you must be either a Tamil or a Sinhalese, who cannot see beyond their noses.
/
Thalaivar / July 4, 2012
Native Vedda:
1985, one of the world’s super powers disintegrated. Since then, every thing that happened, happened in the interests of the remaining super power. Most break ups were needed as those break-up provinces or new countries had OIL or Mineral deposits. In some other cases, such as poland, Yugoslovia or Ukraine, it was simply disintegrating the socialist block. In the case of Sri Lanka, Both India and China are preventing that kind of things.
With respect to Sri Lanka, there are so many special interest groups to give different explanations and different faces to everything that happens in Sri Lanka. Because of that, now it has come to a situation even for constructive purposes criticism is not proper because no one can separate what the constructive criticism or what the destructive criticism is. Because for the same reason, it is better to allow the govt to do what ever they want assuming that one day the ship reaches a port that we want to reach.
Out of different special interest groups the Church and Tamils are the most destructive and most visible.
/
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
“Because for the same reason, it is better to allow the govt to do what ever they want assuming that one day the ship reaches a port that we want to reach.”
The Sinhala/Buddhists steered the ship since independence it ended up in a 30 year destructive war. LTTE commanded the Tamil ship for nearly 30 years it ended up in Vellai Mullivaaikal with its leader wearing only an under wear.
Allowing the present clan chief a free hand with all their undemocratic attributes intact is inviting disaster on a permanent basis.
Feudalism practiced in crude form in the island is a recipe for disaster. I for one not constructively criticizing the current regime. On the contrary I want the clan to seek asylum elsewhere India or China like their ancestors Vijaya and his goons.
The clan was useful idiots for India and the International Community to expunge another onetime useful idiot Prabaharan and his LTTE. The country has been cleansed of Tamil terrorism. Remember India and International Community helped to cleanse Sinhala terrorism 20 years ago.
Now the country has been ridden of both Tamil and Sinhala terrorism India and IC wants to see stability in the island. The way the country is governed the clan should be counting months if not years. The time may come the door will be shown to this clan through people protest or a coup.
India is trying to sell Fonseka as a benevolent liberal leader to the Tamil speaking people all over the world, including Tamilnadu, Sri Lanka and the Diaspora.
Watch out the ship may not withstand storms if India and International community determine to send a tsunami. The ship will not reach the destination under the present captain who stole the votes from UNP with the support of the LTTE (of course for a small fees).
Rule of law, accountability, empowerment, democracy, human rights, respecting dignity and safety are vital components for the survival of a country. None of this exist in this island.
I think this metaphorical ship is commandeered by Sri Lankan pirates.
/
sajeeva samaranayake / July 4, 2012
I like this rudderless ship analogy because it hangs nicely with one of my favourite conclusions – WE ARE LOST.
We are lost no matter how elegant and clever we think we are…. with our smart theories
Sri lankans with their penchant for ceremonies have a problem in separating the false from the real as half the time they live within an imaginary world of politics, cricket and a media which is a mirror image of their madness.
If the war was real – the aftermath was definitely unreal – even insane.
The real issue – the reason why we cannot even have a proper conversation – cannot listen – cannot read – and only hear our own egos – is that we have no culture. Nothing to make us relax, laugh at life and be at peace – all games from politics to cricket are becoming nasty, brutish and short. Everything fits our short attention span – and everything is designed to guarantee that sri lankans will never learn –
Intellectual and verbal Bravado is not enough. Can sri lankans themselves prevent this society from disintegrating?
/
Panda / July 4, 2012
You are absolutely right. Until the Sri Lankan mentality changes, we are doomed to live in this peace less state. After achieving peace from a long and bloody war, we still have a country in turmoil, and getting worse.
The initial blame lies with the politicians, leaders, and government. They have taken advantage of their positions for personal gain, and have done NOTHING for the people. If you follow the money (especially the ones in the Swiss banks) the culprits will be known. Elections are called here as a ruse to fool the people.
We all know what the outcome will be. Having cricket matches, road races, and Bollywood stars, are only
a distraction, and the illusion the country is thriving. It is an attempt at distracting the people, while the criminals can get away with anything.
/
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
sajeeva samaranayake asks:
“Can sri lankans themselves prevent this society from disintegrating?”
Simple answer no.
My answer is not based on the often boringly repeated dichotomy between Tamil Lanka and Sinhala Eelam. It is much deeper than the fear instilled by the LTTE.
The rulers including Dayan Jayatilleka is conditioned by their historical mind set and by their own perverted logic, believing that empowering people is always lead to division within the country therefore the country needs a strong leader irrespective of the costs to the people.
Cronies ensure the prolonging of the tyranny. Their gain is loss to the people many times over. Cronies and democracy don’t mix. They are mutually exclusive.
/
Thalaivar / July 4, 2012
[Intellectual and verbal Bravado is not enough. Can sri lankans themselves prevent this society from disintegrating? ]
This is true.
Sri Lanka is stretched from and to every side because of the special interest groups. People are taught to believe that economically and technologically developed world is the Shangrila or the hevean to reach. So, they are trying that in their best. What is introduced from the developed western world is destroying the social web. Politicians, for their benefit, talk about and promote development. But, they don’t have any idea what and how the developed Sri Lanka should look like or will look like. We everybody know that we function the best when we are ourselves and when we work with our own mindset. Can the country be a developed country when the society does not have it’s own mind set ?
Think, if Sri Lanka is trying to be Singapore, USA or India will it have it’s own mind set. I think, finally, it will be a disaster.
See, how in the economically rich societies, family unit has broekn down, so many divorces, teenage pregnancies, children are druggies.
Elections are nothing. Money is spent for elections when money can be used for development or to build another road. Anyway, at least election money stay in the country unlike money used to build roads which, I think, is moving overseas.
/
Native Vedda / July 4, 2012
Thalaivar
My comment Native Vedda – July 4, 2012 3:49 pm was in response to your comment Thalaivar – July 4, 2012 3:00 pm
/
Sri Krishna / July 5, 2012
Dayan says’” In systems far more authoritarian than Sri Lanka………..,” so Dayan admits that the Government in Sri Lanka is authoritarian and not democratic.
Dayan says again,” Any opening of electoral space……….”Are you sure? In how many countries such as Cuba where there is such openings the incumbent gets 99 %of the votes.
Does it not invalidate your argument?
Further,In the Northern Province nearer home your government does not even grant any opening because it is self evident to the most authoritarian government that even a slight opening with any amount of electoral fraud backed by massive rigging will not change the anticipated overwhelming verdict.
I am sure that If there is a referendum or plebiscite in the Northern Province you yourself has no doubt about the results!
The same results even among the Eastern Province Tamils.
This is a strange article uncharacteristic of Dayan.
When he writes about Northern Province He compares it with USA ns Mexico-two sovereign countries.
Californiya and Texas are the border states.
Do elections conducted in these states regularly?
Again he compares Northern Province with Kashmir – Nagaland- Mizoram-Manipur -Boarder provinces with special problems.
All are problem states to India!
I was under the impression that the war was over in Sri Lanka once for all and that there is no question of Eelam in Sri Lanka.
But Dayan seems to think otherwise. Northern Province is not like any other province in Sri Lanka.
It is like Kashmir- a contested territory.
UN Security Council Resolution 47 of 21 April 1948 states that the final disposition of the State of Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite conducted under the auspices of the United Nations.
The plebiscite was not conducted to date. The plebiscite would have decided whether Kashmir remains independent or be a part of India or Pakistan.
Dayan do you envisage a similar situation in the Northern Province?
/
DAS / July 5, 2012
Sri Krishna,
You are correct.
Nothern Province is much worse than Kashmir in human rights violations against the populace. Atrocities by the armed forces are common, but rarely reported by media in the south.
Recently, a hindu priest was brutally assaulted by the army for politely requesting a soldier to remove his boots before entering the temple.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=35342
In the south,houses of tamils were torched because one man did not address a soldier as “Sir”.
Now, staggered polls are planned which will enable the entire machinery for subverting free and fair polling can be conveniantly shifted/moved from one provincial election to another.
The elections commissioner is helpless & tries to justify this.
As you say, a referendum will be disastrous for the regime as the peoples’ will to be ruled by their own elected provincial representatives and not by military governers will be confirmed.
/
Muliyawaikkal / July 6, 2012
Tamils are a minority in the Eastern Province today. They have next to no clout overall.
Even if the Northern Province tries to gain independence, it has no worth without the strategic eastern province.
/
Bamboo Warrior / July 5, 2012
Since the Government has no intention of holding elections in the North we may as well as repeal the 13th amendment altogether.
All it has done in breed a new set of bandits who prey on the population. The less we have of them the better. The 225 at the Diyawanna are bad enough.
/
Punchinilame / July 5, 2012
This Political Scientist of the Regime has ruled out a SL Govt.ever
having a NP Election just because so and so said this and that – the
opinions as in any true Democracy. Thanks for this stand as GOSL is
now unwittingly paving the way external interference willy nilly.
The universe is in the 21st century including S.Lanka!
/
Thalaivar / July 5, 2012
Why do we need elections We should go to the ancient times. One king governs the country with justice. Ancient times had better govts than today.
Even USA has election mal-practices. Recently, it was revealed that Political parties phone the voters of the other party and give wrong information about their voting booths.
IT is well knownw that LTTE contributed donated to Hilary Clinton and also indirectly to Obama.
/
Native Vedda / July 5, 2012
Thalaivar says:
“IT is well knownw that LTTE contributed donated to Hilary Clinton and also indirectly to Obama.”
LTTE received its fees from MR for its services to democracy and transferred it to Hilary as a contribution which ensured democracy in the USA.
According to reports the funds came from our large neighbour. In fact India indirectly funded American democracy.
So Thalaivar what is your point if there is one.
“When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”
-Voltaire
Or more appropriately “everybody is of the same party”
/
Thanga / July 6, 2012
The problem with Dayan Jayatilleka is his assumption/ego that he belongs to the master race and therefore Tamils the children of lesser gods. He will and he alone will decide what is good for the Tamils. He unashamedly confesses to the fact the TNA will win the elections for the Northern Provincial Councils despite Rajapaksa’s claim he has liberated the Tamils from the clutches of LTTE terrorism. The fact of the matter is that these so called terrorists enjoyed 95% support of the Tamil people. What is more fascinating the LTTE still enjoys support despite its defeat in the battle against a superior enemy. And Prabhakaran continues to be deified by the Tamil people. It serves well if DJ could come out his cocoon of self- deception and hypocrisy.
/
Muliyawaikkal / July 6, 2012
There are 89,000 LTTE war widows and ITAK has still not learnt the lesson. It is very easy to slide the country back to war and the losers will be the same. That is another 89,000 LTTE war widows and countless number of howling of war crimes cries.
For SL defence expenses is a fixed cost and SL keeps buying weapons even after the war. Defence expenses have increased from $1.5 B in 2009 to $1.7 B in 2012. Using what is already in the inventory does not cost anything. In short it is more profitable for GOSL to use the inventory than introduce political solutions! 13 amendment’s provincial councils cost the country $ 1.3B a year! What for? For whom?
The good thing about them is the more they demand poltiical solutions the more the masses hate them making political solutions impossible.
Don’t worry too much about the Tamil Diaspora. They will go extinct in another 30 years. Their host countries don’t recognize Tamil as a national or official language the worst way of structural genocide.
In September 2012 Eastern Province will have a Muslim Chief Minister and that is the end of Tamil Homelands. Don’t forget Trincomalee is in the Eastern province not the Northern province. Tamils’ strategic worth (if any) has been permanantly dismantled in the island. Best Tamil minds in the country are in Colombo which is not possible to be carved out for a Tamil homeland. Thondaman has more voters than TNA! This is the future. So they more we delay a political solution, the better will be the ground situation for a diluted solution.
/
Naga / July 6, 2012
Sritharan is a nutter coming from a Tamil generation that was made to believe that Tamil Eelam is the only solution to the problems of the Sri Lankan Tamils. He is also a product of the “suabasha” education that made communication between Tamils and Sinhalese impossible. Australian journalist Nadesan once wrote that Sritharan was an LTTE deserter and was punished by LTTE military command for running away from a battle front in the Vanni. This nutter was nominated by TNA as a parliamentary candidate in the Vanni district only because they could not find any other decent Tamils to contest the general elections.
Dayan is using this nutter’s stupid interview to cast aspersions on TNA because it suits him. Dayan should realize that it is President Mahinda Rajapakse who has given oxygen to the “Pulathu Puligal”. They were clueless and were thoroughly demoralised after the total annihilation of LTTE and its leadership. Had the President been wise enough to end the Tamil problem shortly after the war by finding a reasonable solution, these diaspora tigers would not have raised their heads. Even now it is not too late for the Sri Lankan President to find a solution. If he is genuine about convening a Parliamentary Select Committee he should go ahead and convene it whether or not TNA participates. In 1972 the then SLFP leadership went ahead with constitutional reforms when the then Tamil leadership boycotted sittings of the Constituent Assembly. TNA, like a beggar who does not want his wound healed, would not like to see an end to the Tamil problem.
/
Gabriel / July 11, 2012
Firstly the elections in Sri Lanka must be conducted as in USA i.e. according to a predetermined schedule and also all at once devoid of sporadic conduct because so far as has been amply demonstrated and proved such piecemeal elections have only deprived the citizenry of their democratic and fundamental rights in addition to deceiving misleading and perplexing the general public.
No election can be conducted in Sri Lanka in free and fair manner until the infamous 18th amendment exists and also the independent commissions such as police commission, election commission etc. are restored and come into operation. Since this regime has destroyed the very foundation and framework of democracy elections have now become merely a showpiece of the government to project a fake public opinion. We are well aware how elections were rigged, how the entire state infrastructure and facilities were misused to garner votes for the regime. The very Election Commissioner had been hijacked to conduct the most abhorrent and glaring instance of election theft! This regime has never come out clean from these allegations by conducting fair investigations on the allegations.
Under no circumstances whatsoever should the sitting president be allowed a second term let alone third or lifetime presidency because this unlimited power has divested the citizenry of their sovereignty. The President must also be made answerable to parliament and his dictatorial powers must be removed. Another more viable and excellent option is to totally abolish the Executive Presidency and devolve his powers to Prime Minister and the parliament and commissions.
This spin doctor is shamelessly lecturing about a strong opposition and criticizing Ranil but the fact he does not understand or is willingly blindfolded to is that the regime he so painstakingly props up headed by an uneducated rogue family has used every corrupt dishonest unlawful underhand and criminal means to destroy the dissent and opposition which is sine quo non of a democracy-no opposition, no democracy! How did Rajapaksha do this? Take for example COPE which is an investigative body incorporated in to the constitutional body to implement the democratic rule more efficiently and meaningfully and in fairness by investigating into various irregularities malpractices and frauds in state enterprises. When the report of COPE came out what did this thief Rajapaksha did? He used that report to highjack opposition members and took all of the culprits to the government side whereas according to law what he should have done was to punish the culprits after trial in a court of law! Thereafter the president gathered all the foul and dustbin-mouthed idiots in the country around him and using the state media and bribed or threatened private media began disseminating the utter lie that the opposition leader is a weak person without any PR capacity and all his supporters are leaving him because of his thousands and one faults and mistakes towards the best leader ever to be born in Sri Lanka with all the such attributes as Proud Father of the Nation, Man from the Village who can walk on paddy fields, Niyara and Kurakkan fields wearing a Kurakkan shawl, Ranil sold the assets of the country to foreigners and carved out north to LTTE but Mahinda saved and recovered every inch of motherland from foreigners and LTTE! (who sold even the Galleface Green to Chinese and Mannar Basin Oil Reserves to India would be an interesting side event!). Some were bribed to abandon opposition and those who did not agree to MR’s corrupt means were either destroyed or forced to shift allegiance by various threats or influences. The other mishap this country is facing is that most of the so called educated people including Dayan Jayathilake himself are an egotistic opportunistic bunch of idiots who are still willing to support this rogue Rajapaksha and his despotic regime despite all the mischief, robbery, theft, plunder, misappropriation, wastage and destruction they have done in the country. Consider the destruction and degradation they have caused in the areas of education, health, agriculture, irrigation, economy, foreign relations, country’s fame, law and order, the whole country has retarded 50 years back! Carpeted roads alone are not development! Imagine a country where the people’s representatives are drug dealers and rapists, the appalling rape spree of under-aged children, politicization of everything, destruction of religion due to Mahinda Chinthanaya Policies, general decline of human qualities in Sri Lankans. Against such a destructive backdrop in the country these so called educated people, artists, dignitaries, religious leaders are dumfounded!
Except for a few pro-Rajapaksha elements in the whole cross section of the society all the others are silence not because they are blind to these facts but due to the fear of Rajapaksha sanctioned white van abductions! This is a fact that every fool knows including the international community and the UN body. This is how this rogue regime sustains its existence. The whole scenario has been blanketed by a façade of falsification, chauvinism, Goebbelsification, patriotism, national security and alien enemy! Those were some of the measures this rogue president used to destroy the opposition. However it is only a matter of time until the stupid general public of Sri Lanka become aware of the real world reality rather than Rajapaksha planted reality!
/