28 March, 2024

Blog

Ranil: The Man & His Era

By Sarath de Alwis

Sarath de Alwis

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political narrative begins in 1977 with his election to Parliament at the age 28. His political path runs parallel to Sri Lanka’s triple lane highway to the Executive Presidency, Market Liberalization and the ethnic firestorm that engulfed and nearly consumed it. A study of his political biography is a discovery of the compelling complexities of our era. It is a vicarious witnessing of our descent in to a cruel ethnic inferno, suppression of a Sothern insurrection with a state brutality that has few parallels in human history, a firsthand experience of political obscenity with the ‘Lampu Kalagedi ‘referendum, the near total collapse of the rule of law and lastly our discovery and realization for a return to political civility and good governance. There remains another hurdle. The military resolution has not appeased memory and prejudice.

The four decades between 1977 and 2017 had different periods. There were periods of hope, change, experiment and promise. There were also periods of decay and degeneration. These multiple periods constitute the era that is mirrored by the political biography of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The time context

When Ranil entered politics the Minster of Telecommunications [He later became Prime Minister and President] was a popular and coveted Minister. He could allocate telephones. He dispensed connectivity. He was the Czar of connectivity.

Today, we review his political biography at a time when the current incumbent of the same Ministry is wrestling with Google’s Internet Booming Balloons. Phone reloads are accessed at every street corner.In this age, connectivity is everybody’s entitlement and nobody’s business. But some things have not changed.

Monks Elle Gunawansa, Medagoda Abayatissa , Bengamuwe Nalaka – a random selection of a larger drift , are still in command and control of memory and prejudice of the majority community. To make matters worse Marxist political scientists have discovered that the Cholas invaded Lanka in 2nd century BC.

The politics of the project 

JR

The grand launch of the book ‘Ranil Wickremesinghe – a political biography’ at the BMICH is evidence of the earnestness of the enterprise.

The presentation of the first copy to the President, the introduction of Ranil – the subject of the book by Rajitha Senaratne the keeper of the conscience of the good governance government [Assuming that it has one] demonstrates that it is a sales pitch for a failing endevour now in its last lap. [This writer has given up hope]

There is an uncanny, spectral similarity to another political biography- ‘Premadasa of Sri Lanka’, brought out at a time when the siege ring was tightening around its protagonist.

Judging Ranil against history is not easy. Marx said ‘… men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please, but under circumstances encountered, given and transmitted from the past.  The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living…”

A study of Ranil’s politics demands empathetic imagination. Concocted history does not help.

Yet, the book serves a serious purpose. It compels us to search for a more authentic account and an honest explanation of events in the period from 1977 to 2017. The sum total of Ranil’s political biography is captured in the sardonic fatalism of poet W.B. Yeats. ‘Life is a long preparation for something that never happens. ‘

A dispassionate assessment

Ranil’s bold bid to reach a final negotiated settlement with Prabhakaran by signing a cease fire agreement testifies to the man’s political courage. A military victory is only a respite. It does not erase or remove the memory of multiple layers and levels of sovereignties that existed before the emergence of the modern nation state. The illusive civic nation made of competing tribal components needs cohesion that can be achieved only through negotiation and accommodation.

Ranil with mother Nalini and father Esmond

Ranil was right in seeking a negotiated settlement. That he failed in the attempt does not diminish his logic of resolving post-colonial nationalisms.

His collusive politics with Mahinda Rajapaksa in the years in opposition can be variously labeled as expedience, cunning, indifference or pure and simple apathy.

Rajapaksa’s blatantly dictatorial attempt of subverting the judiciary saw the Leader of the Opposition Ranil riding Gondolas discovering the romance of Venice. He prohibited his MPs from responding to notices from the court of appeal. His complicity in the impeachment of the chief justice was apparent when he berated the party MPs for attending the Court of Appeal proceedings. In politics truth is a relative term and facts are riddled with counter facts. It is getting worse and wider with alternative facts.

Ranil a product of history

Historical necessity made Ranil a leadership contender. The populist President Premadasa had little patience with the establishment. He picked the remarkably, unremarkable D.B. Wijetunge to be his Prime Minister. He picked Ranil, the relatively junior prototypical UNP figure and therefore less remarkable, to be the Leader of the House. That was Premadasa’s way of telling Lalith and Gamini ‘Up yours.’

Ranil’s real ascendancy to leadership begins when random events made him Prime Minister on 7th May 1993. These events of the past continue to haunt us in to the present. The fragments discernible to this day, of those traumatic events defy either accurate reconstruction or our reasoned comprehension.

Clarifying distortions

Ranil’s political biographer while chronicling events since independence resorts to some distortions that need correction. On page 20 in Chapter 2 ‘Political Background’ he writes “It is said that after D.S. Senanayake, independent Sri Lanka’s first Premier’s death in 1952, the premiership of the country should have been passed on to JR. However Buddhist priests vehemently objected to the arrangement, resultantly the premiership ultimately passing to Dudley. Buddhist priests wanted the leadership transferred to Dudley because JR’s father was a Christian.

Premadasa

This is pure fiction. At the time of the death of D.S.Senanayake the first Prime Minister, the next in line was Sir John Kotelawala , who was the Leader of the House.

He continues the fiction further on page 20. “In the case of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (a Christian by birth but who changed his religion for politics) who swept the polls four years later, in 1956, the story was different. S.W.R.D. triumphed primarily under the Sinhala Buddhist card, making race and religion his clarion call, thus appealing to the then 72% Sinhala Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka. The same strategy Mahinda tried to pull off in January 2015, but failed.” Emphasis mine.

Ranil Wickremesinghe has been and will remain a consequential leader. He deserves a better and a more balanced political biography.

That said, we cannot let the gains of 8th January 2015 to be hijacked by philistine pamphleteering.

SWRD looms large even today. The rivalry of Maithree and Mahinda to claim title to the doctrinaire endowment and political mantle of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sufficient proof. Accusing S.W.R.D. Banaranaike of playing the race card is as bad as accusing the Pope of playing the ‘God’ card.

The present day UNP apparatchiks need to learn post-independence history. S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike did not play the Sinhala Buddhist card. His was by far the sharpest intellect of any leader since independence.

That his call for social justice and equity resonated more with the Sinhala Buddhist majority was due to another post-colonial phenomenon – the rise of a vernacular oriented middle class. His emissaries to the people were the quintet of Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi, Kamkaru. This quintet was institutionalized post 1956 and its residual remnants still manages to hold the SLFP wobbly but standing.

JR Jayewardene made Ranil a deputy minister in 1977 not because of his kinship with Ranil. In appointing the manifestly bright and brainy son, to ministerial office, JRJ was acknowledging and repaying a debt he owed to Esmond Wickremesinghe, his trusted consiglieri during his lonely years of waiting.

Once in power, JRJ wasted no time. His destiny was to shape destiny which he did forcefully and furiously. He dragged out a centrally planned economy from its insulated socialist cocoon. He hurled it in to the turbulence of a market economy at one fell swoop. Foreign trade was deregulated overnight. The Rupee was devalued by nearly 45%. Food subsidies that once made a UNP Prime Minister to resign were removed. Export processing zones were introduced. The changes were so swift, that JR redefined progress which was now measured in terms of speed in implementation.

These were not suddenly discovered policies. They were conceived in long hours of deliberations, when lesser men were exercising power and dispensing remedies, when lesser men were taking refuge in orthodoxy and resisting innovation.

Two men of destiny

Esmond Wickeremesinghe and JRJ were ardent free marketers. They strongly urged Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake to open up the economy in 1965. At the time it was a heretical idea. It had no precedent except in Lee Kwan Yew‘s Singapore. Dudley demurred.

He demurred, not because he feared political opposition. Opposition to JR and Esmond came from within.

Upali Wijewardene

Dudley’s trusted economic advisor Dr.Gamani Corea was a disciple of Raúl Prebisch whom he later succeeded as Secretary General of UNCTAD.

They were different times. The Chicago school was yet to make its presence felt. Milton Freidman was yet to discover the cost of a free lunch. The conventional wisdom as advanced by Prebisch and his followers was that third world economies had a way out through internal reforms and not by excessive focus on external trade. The way out for poorer countries was not trade but import substitution. That eliminates the need for manufactured products from richer countries. They should export primary produce to richer countries but save the foreign exchange.

To audacious and exuberant Esmond Wickremasinghe, the dependency theory was positively repugnant. He detested controls that inhibited entrepreneurial initiatives. To him the sedate highbrow economist Gamini Corea was a control freak. JR was an equally enthusiastic collaborator and an unhesitant free market missionary.

Already, Cousin Upali Wijewardene was showing signs of an entrepreneurial Ninja. He took advantage of the ‘Open General License Scheme’ that Dr.Corea had grudgingly acquiesced in. He assembled a modern Mazda car by importing its components under OGL. JRJ liked his Mazda and used it with fond care.

Esmond scoffed at the Dependency theory experts who allowed the import of Mini Mokes ostensibly to grow more food but used by the affluent class to take children to school.

The differences between J.R. Jayewardene and Dudley Senanayake had more to do with their respective approaches to power than their personal ambitions.

Autopsy of a nation

Once in power, JRJ had to pay a heavy price for those market reforms. He had to ensure that his economic reforms will not be subverted by chauvinist segments who could and would construe opening of the economy as adulterating pristine values of an imagined heritage.

Dr. Rajesh Venugopal of the London School of Economics has made an incisive analysis of the Jayawardene years when Sri Lanka adopted a market economy. He captures its internal contradictions with dazzling clarity.

“Why did the UNP, a party identified primarily with the interests of Sri Lanka‟s capitalist class and committed to market reform, become a key participant in the escalation of a brutal civil war that was counter-productive to their material interests?

The answer is profoundly penetrating. Market reforms had the latent potential of provoking Sinhala nationalist opposition. [Listen to present day GMOA lunatics on India Sri Lanka ETCA agreement]

In JRJ’s zeitgeist, Market liberalization held the key to ‘nirvana.’ The UNP decided to outflank the insular nationalist forces. His fears were genuine.

He never comprehended why his dear friend and class mate Colvin, the Bolshevik Leninist, ended up drafting a constitution that conferred constitutional primacy on Buddhism. If a doctrinaire Trotskyites can be tamed in to an ecclesiastic enthusiast, anything was possible.

He was not ready to allow chauvinist racist elements to hijack his economic agenda. The Tower hall melody ‘Danno Budunge’ appeared to be popular at national and presidential events. The President, however was quietly humming to himself ‘I did it my way’.

In Cyril Mathew, JRJ found what he thought was the perfect counter to the opposition he feared. That the antitoxic was more toxic than the perceived threat is the story of the four decades from 1977 to 2017 less the five years 2010-2015 – the brazenly neo fascist Rajapaksa rule. No wonder, Mahinda Rajapaksa made son Nanda Mathew a provincial governor.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Latest comments

  • 17
    10

    when did this incompetent scoundrel become the president of the country?

    • 15
      2

      The writer got it wrong there. RW was never the president of Sri Lanka. He has/had the aspiration to be the president.

    • 9
      5

      RW never became the President of Sri Lanka. RW is overrated and glorified for nothing. His political career will come to an end after the next election.

      • 12
        10

        Even if he would have been defeated, I thank RW for his perserverance. He is the political leader who faced all these obstacles in lanken politcs. Today we can see them correctly the manner, rascal uncultured idiots almost killed him during the last 10 years. Today thanks to him and Mr President Sirisen, we the people have the right to enjoy the basic democratic rights.

        • 0
          1

          batalada murder hte saviour of basic human rights, ru part of FCID dog squad trying to silence the dissent of the country…only thing the incompetent nincompoop did other than bankrupting the country is that let the tamil racists a free hand together with their ngo backers

          • 2
            0

            billy boy

            What on earth are you typing?

    • 5
      1

      Disaster in Meethotamulla.

      Now garbage collected in Colombo with no place to dump it.

      What a glorious start to the new year. More to come.

      • 1
        1

        Mari Kakkaa

        “Now garbage collected in Colombo with no place to dump it.”

        How about Gota’s big filthy mouth?

        How about temporally dumping garbage in Wimal Sangili Karuppan Weerawansa’s properties, on Mangala Mawatha in Hokandara South, 13-acre land in Waga, Padukka, four-perch land in Millegahawatte, Pahala Biyanwila, …… ?

    • 1
      0

      I think reference is made to D.B.Wijethunge.

  • 22
    1

    Actually i was a fan of RW.I thought time time he has a chace to make a difference in Srilanka.But he utterly failed up to now.An overated politician.He doesnt start from A,B or C .But from X,y and Z.

  • 17
    6

    I thought RW as a breath of fresh air in a smelly political world that is SL today. I had a lot of faith in him as the only contender among the current political elite who could stand up in an international forum with respect & dignity. Disappointingly, he has given into cronyism, unable to crack the whip on his friends whoam he, obviously, had a lot of faith in. His leadership has not been strong enough to stand by the principals of ‘good governance’. A political strategist he may be but unless he gets his act together now, he will be forever remembered as a failure, which he doesn’t deserve, compared to Premadasa, who was (arguably) not a real visionary, unlike Athulathmudali / Gamini Dissanayaka, nor highly corrupt Rajapakse, ineffective CBK & ‘good for nothing’ DB Wijethunga & Sirisena.

    This is his last chance to restore faith in him as an able & uncorrupt President & it’s not too late for him to get tough with his party members to tow the line. He has nothing to lose as his political career ends at the next election unless he does something about it now.

  • 15
    5

    Ravi Daniel: “He doesnt stat from A,B or C. But from X,Y and Z”. To make a start from A,B or C, one must first know “WHAT” and “WHERE” A, B. C are. Does Ranil know those “WHAT” and “WHERE” are to start? From the beginning in 1977 to date, he has FAILED to see WHAT and Where A, B, C, or even X, Y, Z are. Can you expect any GOOD from such a “Confused” man and a “BLIND” Political Leader? I doubt it very much.

  • 10
    3

    Had a lot of faith in Ranil but a big disappointment todate.

    He needs to get the big projects rolling without loans but with FDI

    Hambantota port and related projects
    East Terminal
    Central highway
    Ratnapura highway
    Refinery project
    LNG terminal
    Port City

    We need a minimum USD 25 billion projects over the next 5 years and waiting in hope.

    GOSL has no money and FDI is the name of the game.

  • 13
    4

    Could the the author comment on Ranil’s stance during the pogrom of 83?

    The carnage of 87-89 ?

  • 8
    7

    DS,Dudley,SirJohn,JR,Premadasa were the Leaders of the UNP; They were indeed men with a strong presence in the Public mind.It was the lot of Ranil to take over from such giants;Something like President MS carrying the SLFP mantle after SWRD.
    True,Ranil has read far and wide,and has considerable political craft and cunning,but he is still perceived to be a weak leader of the UNP COMPARED TO THE AFORESAID FIVE LEADERS.
    True his approach is Long-Term,the fruits of which takes time to percolate down.
    However,credit goes to him for the split of Karuna from the LTTE,making a huge dent in their strength,making it easier for MaRa later.
    It was the Peace-Accord of 2002,when Ranil was PM that clinched the issue.

    • 11
      0

      “However,credit goes to him for the split of Karuna from the LTTE,making a huge dent in their strength,making it easier for MaRa later.
      It was the Peace-Accord of 2002,when Ranil was PM that clinched the issue.”

      This is true but it wasn’t Ranil’s intention; believe it or not, he signed the peace-accord in good faith! Once the LTTE stopped fighting and got accustomed to “peace” Prabakarn couldn’t get them going again as before.

      Ranil is still the only SL politician with a “modern vision” even though it might be half-baked, old-fashioned and “unimplementable” in comparison to some other “emerging” countries.

      But I am waiting for him to show courage and boldness in at least one act in his entire life. So far he has been a tremendous disappointment, and the disappointment is heightened by the fact that the expectations were so high.

      • 7
        7

        A man who wouldn’t be where he is without his links to the media (through his father) and politics (uncle JR) is not going to show courage now ehen he has NEVER shown it before.

        Imagine a man like Ranil without the money, media and connections. A nobody.

        You will continue to be disappointed by him.

        • 11
          4

          What about Mahinda Rajapakshe ? how he became a president, if his rascal tricks were not in place. Compared to RW, MR is thousand times abusive and uncultured person. but for some reasons, where fools dominated nation, paved the way him to get elected as the president.
          Today, as facts prove, had MR been able to manage the state funds, we the folks would not have fallen this much of depth in terms of economy. Levels achieved by LANKEN state by end of 2014, is much similar to the fate of greece.

          • 4
            2

            We are not talking about MR. The article is talking about Ranil W.

            However,MR was able to abuse the country so much because we had a weakling of a leader of opposition. Ranil refused to quit the leadership of UNP despite many defeats (like it is the tradition in mature leaders). His weaknesses left MR to do anything he liked. So Ranil bears blame for the crisis we found ourselves in!

          • 4
            0

            Sure, bond scame could have been managed, if they had studied it CLOSELY.

            However, it happened, and RW has to accept it. But that means not that previous men and their high profile frauds should be covered by bond issue.

            The loans taken by former president and their men have ruined this nation making even unborn one be a debtor of 0.45 million of rupees (4.5 lacks of lanken rupees).
            TOday the heavy loads of debts and interests of loans are more then annual income of the country. The levels are no far from the records known about Greece. Greece is an isolated country today in Europe. They are forced to go for all austerity measures due to the grave problem that the nation face today.

            Had MR been reelected as the Prez, IMF would have imposed all the restrictions on lanka, while all others organations would have imposed trade sactions against us.
            We are not a grateful folk to be thankful to the current govt on the issue. Why ? Is that because we are so uncivlized ?s

          • 2
            1

            Simon De Silva,

            You have no idea about the economy of Sri Lanka. Please read Mr. Abdul Samad’s articles in CT.

            Ranil signed the peace accord not because he is smart. Any idiot would have guessed the game Prabhakaran was playing with peace accords. Ranil signed the peace accord because the western pundits who were advising him told that LTTE is so strong and it is not possible to defeat militarily.

            I do not know where the hell you live but for the Sinhalese who live in Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse is a king who saved the country from south Hindian invaders, united the country and brought peace. Because of Ranil’s peace accord nearly one third of the country was controlled by Prabhakaran. Ranil’s peace accord gave the opportunity to Prabhakaran to smuggle arms and communication equipment. On Ranil’s orders containers were released without checking. Some are trying to give credit to Ranil for breaking Karuna. That may be true but the peace accord made Prabhakaran militarily stronger to challenge the army and continue with killing Sinhalese.

            I agree with Prabhakaran on one thing. I hear that he told ‘Sinhalese have a short memory’. That is however is not applicable to all Sinhalese. It certainly applies to some. Those Sinhalese who voted to ‘Hansaya’ at the Presidential election and voted to UNP at the general election belong to that category.I am really surprised to see the ‘Kepuwath Kolapata’ dumb Sinhalese still voting to UNP led by this dumb leader.

  • 2
    0

    The difference between 1965 and 1977 was that since WW2, forces of anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism were on the rise.
    First Korea and then Vietnam were humiliations for US imperialism. But Imperialism was working out its post-colonial strategy.

    The national bourgeoisie of the ex-colonies could not go the whole hog with the anti-imperialist agenda nor could they beat imperialism in its own game of global market.

    The political climate in the Third World was shifted in favour of imperialism after 1975. (There were other factors too that concerned changes in the USSR, Sino-Soviet conflict etc.)

    I have a suspicion that JRJ expected that escalating the national conflict will divert the attention of a somewhat centre-left Sinhalese population from the impact of open economy.
    A weak and divided opposition from 1977 until after 1983 and a demoralized SLFP leadership (wrecked further by disenfranchising Mrs B) are also matters that counted.

  • 7
    0

    “Batalanda detention center

    It was alleged by the People’s Alliance government that Wickremesinghe, then a Minister, was the political authority behind an illegal detention centre in the Batalanda housing and industrial complex outside Colombo between 1988 and 1990 which was allegedly run by a government-backed counter-subversive unit as part of the state’s operation to put down an armed insurgency by the JVP.[95][96]
    The People’s Alliance government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, appointed a “Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry Act” to investigate activities of Batalanda and on 3 September 1997 Wickremesinghe was summoned to testify before the commission.[97][98] The commissions report was released on 12 April 1998.[99] The commission was a fact-finding mission and had no judicial powers, however it recommended the government to “bring the guilty to book”. One of its findings was that “Wickremesinghe and the SSP Nalin Delgoda, are indirectly responsible for the maintenance of places of unlawful detention and torture chambers in houses at the Batalanda Housing Scheme”.[100][101] It further stated that Wickremesinghe held “unauthorised meetings of police officers involved in counter-insurgency operations in the housing complex, and that as such, he had abused his authority”.[95] No criminal proceedings took pace thereafter.”

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranil_Wickremesinghe

  • 5
    2

    “Allegations on conspiring against Gamini Dissanayake

    On August 2012, Minister of Health and SLFP general secretary Maithripala Sirisena alleged that during the 1994 presidential election campaign, all campaign details concerning the UNP presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake were being secretly passed on to his opponent, Chandrika Kumaratunga by Wickremesinghe. Minister Sirisena made this disclosure while addressing an election committee meeting held at Siripura, Polonnaruwa. Sirisena asserted that he has ample proof to validate his claim and allegations.[102][103]”

    Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranil_Wickremesinghe

    • 5
      0

      We have a duo who have mastered the art of ‘stabbing behind the Back’ running the country.

  • 2
    5

    I fully agree with Raj’s comment. Ranil W is a widely read, intelligent, uncorrupt person. His tragic flaw is his apparent cronyism, which again is less of an evil than that of the profiteering, murderous variety we are all familiar with. That however does not make it acceptable.

    I wish Ranil can be persuaded to change course. If he does even at this late stage in his watch, I have no doubt that he will be reelected, with the distinct possibility of becoming one of the greatest leaders of our time. If he fails to change course, the chances are that he lost the opportunity, both for himself, and more tragically for the country. “There is a tide in the affairs of men…”

    I am also bit concerned about Ranil’s economic policies. While they are bold and futuristic, and certainly deserve to be tried, it is prudent to also give parallel attention to our traditional agricultural sector — tea, rubber, coconut and other types of produce — and modernizing it, including value addition. There is a vast export market for organic fruits and vegetables, and with modern transport facilities these can be marketed swiftly and efficiently. These are items people need for their sustenance, and thus will always be in demand, unlike the abstractions of a “financial hub”.

    Thanks to Sarath de Alwis for an as usual preceptive column.

    • 0
      0

      Thanks for having the courage to disagree with most of us.

      What you have written may help Ranil to improve himself, and if that happens, it’ll be good.

      But my view is that his contribution to our civic life has not so far been great, and if he continues much longer, it will be disastrous.

  • 2
    1

    aiyo ! This Ranil doesn’t even wear suspenders ,how on earth he became the prime minister of Srilanka under a spineless u turn president.

  • 4
    0

    his uncle overlooked many senior unpers like naina to elevate his nephew who was totally unsuited fo the job
    he has been in politics long enough to know that he should groom a successor for the 2020 elections otherwise the unp will end up like the lssp
    he lacks the ability to have a rapport with the masses like raja
    as gomin said its time for the younger generation to take over sl politics

  • 3
    0

    Ranil is an agent of the west or the US or the global rulers. If he continues to tow the line his future is still alive. Srilankan will alway be ruled by global dominators. No leader has ever had the ability nor the balls to go it alone. Looking at the state of affairs in Srilanka you have to wonder, waht do they have to lose. Things can’t get to much worse than what has occurred in the last 30+ years.

  • 2
    0

    Can Hon. RW. give acceptable solutions to the following serious issues that affects all the people in the country.1. How can every child in the country at all Grades be provided with equal opportunities in education . 2. How can public security specially at grass route level be secured so that home garden crops ill be protected. 3. How can traffic congestion in the country be minimised. 4. How can medical facilities be equitably distributed in the country. 5. How can all human settlements specially those so called remote settlements be ensured of reasonable transport facilities. 5.Why not all illegal arms be taken immediately.How can a public letter be replied in final within two weeks and prevent the public visiting government offices. How can the be people be ensured of a descent house without burdening the government. How can Dengue menace be irredicated.

  • 3
    1

    Ranil has failed, because not a single of the so called robbers of this land, are behind bars.

    There is enough innuendo circulating that Ranil is the man behind the freedom enjoyed by the murderous thieves of 2005 – 2015.

  • 12
    0

    RW is not worth writing about unless we want to take low cunning as a virtue.His kind of cunning anybody can be , but most don’t want to spend their life scheming like him.

    By the way the chap who wrote the book, Dinesh Weerakkody is looking for a high appointment.He is an adviser to RW, he is a director of the Access Group.

    Was he an objective writer ?Normally this kind of biographies are written by objective writers

    It is the stranglehold that RW and a few old Royalist have on the UNP that must be understood. RW and Co dont represent the majority and are very unpopular. But they retain power in the UNP.But when you realize what mediocre jokers most of our politicians are, this is also not hard to understand.

    A psychological insight to the rest was provided by Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera who turned up at the Royal-Thomian to sing baila.He is not from a colombo school.RW would have loved it because Jayasekera showed he wanted to join the band-wagon. RW thinks the rest of the country are stupid and think he is a Gentleman( lady ?)and a very clever man. But is he ?

    In the bond scam the world was able to see what kind of a man RW really is.As to how clever he is, just follow what he did with the Port City project. The country ended up paying a fine to the Chinese!

  • 3
    0

    As a responsible citizen who is engaged in the apparel trade I can confidently say that: Sri Lanka screwed up GSP under RW’s preview!! Later we found if approved LGBTQ legislation and the MMDA we would get GSP+ which amounts to only 0.1% of Sri lankan exports which accounts to $ 1.6 billion of exports. On the flip side, We could have stopped 0.2% of European imports, their cars etc coming into the country. In reality, Sri lanka should use foreign exachange to improve manufcturing inside the country. Instead, Ranil and he’s narcissistic economic juggernauts are going on borrowing from every overseas bank including IMF, world bank, ADB – and from countries, cash exachanges from china and India, bond and treasury bill sales.

    All in all the market is dry and depleted, MS-RW’s Sri lanka only seems good at borrowing, and unfortunately they are borrowing until the money flow from the middle east stops and at that very time we as a country are poised to go bankrupt.

    As expected, Jobs arnt being created for the locals, instead MS-RW are using their strategic assets to pay for their groceries. The only thing they are good at is to pawn what the people send from the middleast and borrow more and pay for the recurring capital expenses. Just as it was during MR’s tenture, heavy wastage is at its optimum.

    Unfortunately nothing productive and tangible has happened since January 2015. ‘Yes’ passing a bunch of legislation is good, but legislative measures should come into play impartially!! Instead this government is only interested in intacting legislations which are favoring their stay in office.. Eg: the audit act!! Where on earth has this piece of legislation gone?? Must be stuck in limbo.. (fyi, this was one of those 100 day promises, and now its 837 days since the jan ’15 victory)

    Bottom line Ranil and Maitree needs to understand that the wasting of political capital is a mortal sin.. they might not get another chance at state-management ever again.

  • 2
    0

    Ranil reportedly prevented interrogation of Shiranthi Rajapakse by the FCID.
    Many others who became rich during the Rajapakse era too, are not being investigated.

  • 0
    0

    [Edited out] Comments should not exceed 300 words.Please read our Comments Policy for further details.

  • 1
    0

    Ranil was never the minister of telecommunications. He was 1st made the deputy minister of foreign affairs by JR and later the minister of education.

  • 1
    0

    Right now the Country is bankrupt and the govt is negotiating for more bail outs.

    All thans to Ranil and Ravi Karunanayake.

  • 6
    0

    “Ranil’s bold bid to reach a final negotiated settlement with Prabhakaran by signing a cease fire agreement testifies to the man’s political courage.”

    You know very little about this dirty Machiavellian, your synopsis is based on what you have read in the the warped media in Sri Lanka.

    “Esmond Wickeremesinghe and JRJ were ardent free marketers. They strongly urged Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake to open up the economy in 1965.”

    Once again you have made a feeble attempt to hide the truth. My dear fellow “Danno Danithi”. Those who know these bastards know what prompted to hijack the agenda of D.S.Senanayake. Dudley was the victim of scheming and backstabbing actions of JRJ. Esmond, a devout Christian father of Ranil, dreamt like Banda’s father to make his son the “King of Sri Lanka” one day. Dream on fellow, it will never happen. Esmond, JRJ, Bandas and Rajapaksas are nothing but dirty Machiavellians. They were driven by end-result ethics.

  • 0
    0

    Ranil Wick is man he goes to history that who has betray whole our land to the Western colonialists -Indians. The era of Ranil by is era of politics of Western puppet regime?

    UNP Man of Ranil W… a man without backbone.

    What a wicked Era promoted by Ranil.W.. UNP who surrender whole country to LTTE Tamil Terrorist ?

    How can he be intelligent?

    [Edited out]

  • 1
    1

    After DS death it was JR’s turn to takeover the country but Buddhist priests wanted the leadership transferred to Dudley because JR’s father was a Christian.” What about the father of SWRD whos was a Catholic was backed heavily by Buddhist Monks during 1956 election see what happen to my united country. At that time there was a myth that mythical PRINCE DIYASENA will come to rescue the Buddhism. It happen to be BLACK PRINCE (SWRD) who wreath havoc to this peaceful Island. The Party he created SLFP was a CURSE (KODIVINAYAK) to Srilanka.

    • 2
      0

      Aptly put. It is great;We need few more thousands to think like you. Then we can bring the changes that we are dreaming of and build a prosperous Country without the hoodlums in power since 1948 that includes “Red kodivinaya”

  • 1
    0

    Ranil is a disgrace.He dreses in suit and coat, thrusts his belly forard, puts hands in pockets (to play with balls probably!) and thumps the table in parliament. But he can’t hide his voice without personality or authority, and extremely poor diction.

    People like Dinesh Weerakkody and Sarath de Alwis are sycophants with ulterior motives. Weerakkody wants the governer job at the Central Bank badly and got his F-I-L to ‘erect’ the book.

    Probably he meant to give Ranil a message!

    • 0
      0

      I had no ulterior motive in publishing this book. I started this project way before he became PM. Given my involvements in the Private Sector I had to do it in small doses. As for the Governor’s Job I have said publicly many times I have no interest. I am productively engaged in the private sector. The book was totally a private project and not an attempt to boost the image of Ranil W, rather to pay a tribute to a senior leader I have worked with for over two decades, who still remains an enigma to those who do not know him well. The sole purpose of bring out his unseen side through a personal account. Hope this clarifies my position.

  • 1
    1

    I read the book it is well written and very objective. He is very direct on the bond issue.
    Sarath is Anti Ranil and UNP . He takes pleasure in writing against Ranil. His writing is garbage.

  • 0
    0

    This comment was removed by a moderator because it didn’t abide by our Comment policy.For more detail see our Comment policy https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/comments-policy-2/

  • 0
    0

    Dear Readers,
    The sad commentary today is that there is no leader to lead the country to a direction that political,social and economic stability and prosperity of many will be ensured.After nearly 70 years of independence as a country we are still grappling with the basics of establishing a “modern State” which could deals with the imperatives of a modern country including forging of a national identity, political stability,social harmony and economic prosperity. We have a President (Who is basically a gentleman)like a Sinhala Veda Mahaththaya going from one market place tO another praising the virtues of his medicinal oil (Beheth Kuppi)delivering daily speeches/addresses over media. We have a PM who is floating in the mid air not having feet on ground and uttering utterly impractical and irrelevant things not knowing the ground realities/situation. We have a self-inflated Finance Minister who has messed up everything. We have a Parliament filled with uneducated anti social elements in many respect.We have a Cabinet and a two party coalition government devided on party lines and increasingly at loggerhead. We have a past President who wants to be a communal champion to recapture power. All of them get together when they want to screw the people as in the case of duty free vehicle permits but fight like dogs at a temple dhana (Balu Pore).How on earth this country could move forward? In the last an analysis all are in different ways engaged in either retaining power or capturing power and fattening themselves.No one is interested or bothered of the long term prosperity of the country or the people.
    The solution is with the people. We need a revolution in our thinking. We should think and act differently. A mental revolution to throw the whole lot out at the next election and elect an non-curruptable lot who are committed genuinely to serve the people and the country.
    Please comment.

Leave A Comment

Comments should not exceed 200 words. Embedding external links and writing in capital letters are discouraged. Commenting is automatically disabled after 5 days and approval may take up to 24 hours. Please read our Comments Policy for further details. Your email address will not be published.