By Thivanka Amarakoon –

Thivanka Amarakoon

It seems like you do not have a clear idea about what democracy is, let me explain what it is, it is “a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives” that is the meaning of so called Democracy. Please tell me, does this present parliament reflect the democratic requirements of all Sri Lankans? Any country with democracy has to fulfill the aspirations of whole population and in doing so has the right to talk, hear & know about what is happening. It doesn’t matter whether he or she is or was a current leader or a past leader. When considering your statements none of them prove that you believe that the Ex- President promoted free and fair elections and the establishing of democracy in a country that couldn’t dream of such a democratic transformation prior to 19th May 2009.

Thisuri Wanniarachchi in your state of dementia you have naively focused on the past 4 years, whereby as you highlight the Sri Lankan society was deprived of any kind of freedom, be it thought, movement or gathering. During the period of your adulthood you have conveniently forgotten that there was also a period of dark, despicable and undemocratic behavior by the very same UNP Yahaplanaya regime members that you now support and raise your vocal cords for. A refreshing is in order as like you there are those who have forgotten the period of July 1983 or ‘Black July’ which brought about the scourges of racism and terrorism to the entire country. Along with the rise of LTTE terrorism and racism post Black July, the suppression of democratic gathering in 1989 of the Southerners saw one of the bloodiest reprisal by the then UNP Yahapalanya regime members against the bright youth of this country. The mournful reference that you make in terms of the response to protest to water is only but a drop of water considering the rivers of blood that washed across this country which was caused by the UNP Yahapalanya regime members during these periods (i.e.1983 and 1989). Thisuri your rebuttal toward the Ex-President on the topic of democratic lack of freedom of assembly and the present government’s approach is matter of hysteria, “You see, this government happens to encourage the democratic freedom of assembly, an act that was met with real bullets during your tenure, killing innocent civilians whose demands were as simple as access to clean water”. Little do you know that the then government which the current President was also a Cabinet Minister was part of the team that made tangible progress in providing access to pipe borne water supply to households increasing it from 35 percent in 2010 to 60 percent by 2017. This was to be done by increasing the consumer base by 175,000 connections annually. Therefore, similar to the Ex-President the current President too takes unequivocally responsible for the good, bad and ugly actions and thus cannot be absolved from all forms of just and unjust behavior because now he has changed his color from a once Blue to now a Green member of government.

Furthermore, its astonishing to note that you also do not seem to know that the Ex-President had received 5.7Mn votes from the Sri Lankan voters, while the incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena had received 6.2Mn, therefore, I personally fail to understand how you calculated the whole 22.0 Mn population as against the Ex-President. This would mean that you are ignorant or unaware of the age limit of universal suffrage in order to participate in the democratic election process, which you seem to take pride in given the US allegiance (which incidentally was not made available to the USA even after the Emancipation Act of 1863, taking it nearly 100 years to recognize the rights of the ‘Black Americans’) or you may be having your own American version of democracy which you hope to infect Sri Lanka with, given that it was disclosed recently by RT News that the US government had approved a funding line of USD 585 million for such propaganda activity during 2015 (RT News, 18th November 2016).

It is also astonishing to find that Thisuri may have been in hibernation when this very nice, democratic, assembly loving Yahapalanya regime was out beating university students, Buddhist priest’s, and Disabled Army soldiers. I know you are not up to date with these incidents, as you seem to be preoccupied displacing historic facts and the bloodshed caused by the UNP Yahapalanya regime. Did you know that it was these very same army personnel that were humiliated by the adopting of the Co-sponsored UN resolution and subsequently assaulted were those who in pure abnegation sacrificed their bodies and souls to bring an end to the racism and ethnic conflict which were caused by the incumbent members of the UNP Yahapalanya regime? Where were you after having witnessed these incidents which occurred in Sri Lanka? Yet you seem to be extremely displeased at Ex President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, for having saved this country from the scourges of terrorism and racism but take pride in highlighting the lack of media freedom during his tenure. If there was a lack of press freedom it was only claimed by the US/Western funded ‘good governance’s activist, individuals and institutions.

Thisuri you claim that you are democratic, a free thinker, and also espouse the character of a good governance activist. If TV Derana telecasted Namal’s simple incident in their news line why does that trouble you? Shouldn’t that be the democratic right of the private TV station to telecast what they chose fit to do? Does Rupavahini or ITN stop its telecasting of the UNP Yahapalanya regimes propaganda programs, despite its pledge not to abuse such public institutions? Did not see you ever raise questions about that abuse of freedom with those pro government media institutions which fabricate the truth? You seem to have one obvious agenda, which is not a bad thing, as that too is your democratic right, given that you live off such cannibalistic journalism which also gives rise and causality to inflate your deflating ego. Well, I really think that with such cannibalistic skills and overtures you should advice the incumbent government on matters of ethnic reconciliation as there is a lacuna and your profile seem to have a natural fit which if put to use could be the answer to dropping one form of cannibalism for another and could turn out to be beneficial to the country. Given the extraordinary skills displayed in mapping the minds of two politicians. Your allegation that TV Derana is promoting the Rajapaksha family is unreasonable is indeed bemusing. Therefore, it is your democratic right to take revenge and display such hate based actions against a private TV station? Is this justified by you a so called self professed democracy and good governance activist? Is revenge to all those loyal to the Ex-President the modus operandi in a society that you claim is now more democratic post 8th January 2015?

Indeed Thisuri, Mahinda is not one of you (us) and he does not represent the shallow values displayed by a few Sri Lankans who want to see Sri Lanka lose its national mindset and local entrepreneurial orientation, yes you are spot on, Mahinda is not one of you in that regard. When the Ex-President was in power the country had a clear vision and a comprehensive national economic plan to develop this nation to be an international competitor, standing shoulder to shoulder with the best, which is glaringly missing today. This country has now fallen prey to a ruthless aristocratic class and school cult that is not satisfied until Sri Lanka is torn apart and its economic resources redistributed to unscrupulous Western interest that have benefited from the blood money of LTTE sympathizers. The current President Prime Minister and Finance Minister are pawns of this ring of thieves while the larger divisive scheme is yet to unfold, but that too is now evident to the country.

Yes Thisuri, this government has a long way to go, and that road is going to get longer given the rise of the patriotic people of this country. If the plan is to achieve artificial progress by selling national assets then we as a country would have to rise in order to protect what is ours, that’s for sure. The “Central Bank Bond Robbery” issue as an another example, of how the government has shown what they really are, and the mindset of making progress for the rich, while taxing the poor, similar to the Sheriff of Nottingham. And that too no- sooner they came into power. It’s been two years since they came into power, during this period they have done only thing that is to blame the previous government, about their debt and high cost borrowings, but ironically what is obvious is that the governments own published debt and interest cost data have shown that the debt burden increased year on year by 11.5 percent to 78.7 percent from 70.6 percent in 2014. While the interest cost of borrowing too has doubled. If you dispute this facts kindly open the budget speech or the Central Bank Annual report of 2015 and read for yourself, as you seem to be reading into many other non-relevant subject matters, than the one that calls for true investigative journalism.