By Granville Perera –
It is time that all those who believe in the ideals of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) immediately gather around any opposition candidate who would genuinely work towards abolishing the executive presidency and save the future of the SLFP.
Those who fail to act now will realize that a 3rd Term for Mahinda Rajapaksa would ensure that Gota will succeed him and the baton would be passed on to Namal and there is no hope for any in the SLFP to climb up the ladder of executive office for the next twenty five years or more. What would be the fate of the SLFPers who have toiled all their lives to bring the party back in to power, especially surviving the iron fisted rule set in motion by the late cunning fox – J R Jayewardene and the UNP rule of 17 years that disfranchised Madam Bandaranayike. Today, the old guards of the SLFP are confined to the old peoples home tagged as “Senior Ministers” and their future in politics systematically destroyed.
A notable and probably the most corrupt after the Rajapaksa clan – Nimal Siripala de Silva was removed from his lucrative ministry of health and shoved to Irrigation and Mahaweli development to ensure that he would not be a future presidential competitor with his ill-gotten wealth. Now, when he is settling down to continue his corrupt practices, he has been brought down to earth with the debacle in Uva through the crafty use of Dilan Perera to attack him that ensured his electorate defeat. The entire blame for the mediocre performance in Uva has been placed on Nimal Siripala in private discussions with the president. His file is already at the bribery commission in case of any attempt at defection. This has ensured that Nimal Siripala has been reined in and will not harbor any thought of sleeping with the enemy for fear of losing everything. Maithripala on the other hand is one stubborn mule who still holds on, and a carrot of premiership has been offered, but Maithripala knows better. Gota will be the next prime minister, should Mahinda get his 3rd term. If there is sufficient numbers that would cross over to the opposition along with Chandrika and Maithripala, the man from Polonnaruwa will become the obvious choice for the common candidate. In such a scenario, how will the UNPers vote? Would they trust the SLFPer? More importantly, will the Sajith clan accept Maithripala? Will Ranil genuinely consider supporting? The million dollar question would be – will Maithripala be satisfied in a non-executive presidency?
Whatever the decision that the old guard of the SLFP take will make or break the SLFP. Should they support an opposition candidate to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa, they have the opportunity of building a coalition to challenge the UNP in the parliamentary elections that would follow which could elect a government that would be answerable to the parliament. With the divided UNP, it is the SLFP that stands the biggest chance of forming a successful alliance. The JVP too would be more inclined to support a SLFP coalition than one led by the UNP whom they still consider as traitors because of Ranil’s peace process with the LTTE.
The only choice left for Ranil is probably to support fielding the most capable common candidate and get him elected so that he has the chance of becoming a powerful premier. Never in his dreams should he entertain the thought of contesting Mahinda Rajapaksa as he is a brand that cannot be marketed. Most would admit that Ranil is best suited to steer the country out of the economic mess that has been the hallmark of the SLFP, but someone else should win the election for him.
The crisis with the JHU has exploded beyond the expectations of the Rajapaksa clan. Pavithra is no spring chicken to blurt out corruption charges on Champika Ranawaka out of the blues. It was Basil’s strategy to rein in Champika and the JHU to support the Rajapaksa third term which totally back-fired due to the amateurish handling of it. Whatever kickbacks that came Champika’s way from the contracts was not taken by him, but was taken over by the JHU which was in deep financial crisis. This was with the full approval of His Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The self proclaimed Mr clean who ditched Chandrika and sought refuge in USA claiming her to be the Chaura Rajina (Queen of deceit), Dullas Alahapperuma is probably the schemer for the Rajapaksas. His ability to keep throwing stones at everyone showing his big grip probably has cost Mahinda Rajapaksa his 3rd term. With Maithripala packing his bags and Wasantha Senanayake set to go, the flood gates would soon open, and then it would be too late for Mahinda to withdraw in to his presidential cocoon. There is no one to blame but himself for creating his own down fall.
Matilda Ellepola / November 18, 2014
An interesting article for sure.
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Amarasiri / November 18, 2014
Granville Perera –
Save The Lankans From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Buddhists From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Tamils From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Muslims From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Christians From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Women From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Girls From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
Save The Boys From The Rajapaksa Dynasty
and to do that
Write Publish and distribute the Sri Lanka Common Sense. What are you waiting for?
Common Sense Phamplet
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Ben Hurling / November 19, 2014
Granville Perera,
Your call for dismissal of the ruling, corrupt family clan is welcome.
However, you target seems to be saving the SLFP. Why?
Not necessary at all. SLFP is an utterly rotten entity. Packed with extremely corrupt individuals. Waiting in the wings for their turn to feed off Sri Lanka’s national wealth. Once Rajapassa clan is somehow kicked out.
Current King is a product of the rotten SLFP. So is Nimal Siripala. And countless others. Including corrupt Sirisena.
Sri Lanka will be better off without the SLFP altogether.
Cheers!
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Matilda Ellepola / November 18, 2014
an interesting article for sure.,
this means ONLY Maithripala Sirisena and Wasantha Sennanayake are the only defectors?
I still believe the common candidate should be Karu J and none other can unite the forces against the Rajapaksas.
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Devil's Advocate / November 18, 2014
Will Maithreepala cross-over giving up a ministry and the SG of SLFP just to spite the Rajapaksas? Therefore, why not parties negotiate with him to go down in history as the political leader who gave up Executive Presidency by challenging MR and agree to be a Minister with the party that polls the highest number of votes/ seats? The winner may be the UNP, but he can show his humility and democratic upbringing by doing this.
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Ansar / November 18, 2014
They say even the meticulous serial killers who so meticulously plan their prey, not to leave any traces for the sleuths, do a silly dumb thing in one stage even a normal person wouldn’t do, and that is the day they get caught.
This is exactly what has happened to the MURDEROUS MARA CLAN and the empire has started to collapse and the ship has started to sink.
No amount of jettisoning is going to save the ship and the Titanic has hit the iceberg.It is only a matter of time, before it goes down.
Now everybody is scrambling for their lives. At least the captain of Titanic shot himself, not knowing how to save the passengers, but I am sure MARA will kill as many as he can, once he knows that the downfall has begun. “DEIYO SAKI”.
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burt / November 18, 2014
Knowing the clan don’t count anything out. This is the guy who was able to buy out VP. Remember he has still not called the Presidential election if he thinks its not going his way he could always create and issue and call off the whole thing.
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Native Vedda / November 19, 2014
burt
Mahinda Rajapaksa the human rights activist says Sri Lanka might become part of India.
Watch this clip (late 1980s)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhmary_K62Q
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MMR / November 18, 2014
Well said and all points are logical. Common candidate should be from UNP.Ranil is out.Karu may get support of other parties but doubt on if he able to attract uneducated voters.so best option is Sajith who can the attraction of uneducated voters.but once he win he should be kept a side.bcs when Rajapaksa family get powers it is like a monkey has got a sharp knife.but if Sajith get powers it is like when 6 months baby has got the knife in hand.so dangerous to the nation.
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Solon / November 18, 2014
Granville Perera,
The need of the hour is to save Sri Lanka: not the SLFP.
Once that is accepted all other priorities get sorted out.
There is a consensus among all who want to save Sri Lanka that the FIRST STEP should be to chase out the Ruling UFPA and the Rajapaksa Gang.
The guaranteed method of achieving this is to field a Common Candidate on a pre-agreed Manifesto, to which all constituents are committed.
Important commitments among others will be that :
After winning the Presidential Elections, the Common Candidate will assume the role of President.
His main role will be to promulgate a new Constitution which will abolish The Executive Presidency and institute a Parliamentary form of government within an agreed time frame.
The Constitution to provide inter alia that after the swearing in of MPs, crossovers from one Party to another is not permitted. This will eliminate bribery and or intimidation. An MP does not agree with his Party, he must resign his seat and contest again.
Any change to the Constitution will require agreement of 75% of all the members who constitute Parliament.
Conduct Parliamentary Elections under the New Constitution.
Appoint a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers who enjoy the confidence of Parliament, to exercise the Executive Powers of State.
Abrogate all the laws that exist today, which led to the rise of the present Dictatorship.
Reinstate all the laws that are a must to ensure adequate separation of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers of State, so that all State Officers can be held accountable, and Sri Lanka will never again deviate from the path of the Rule of Law.
The next question is who is most fit for the role of Common Candidate.
The UVA elections proved that the UNP has the most support next to the UFPA. If the UFPA and the SLFP split, then UNP comes first.
Ranil Wickremasinge is the leader of the UNP. As generating internal squabbles will not help the cause of the Common Candidacy, let him be accepted as the Common Candidate – whose job will be nothing but to abolish the Executive Presidency and limited to a certain specified period. Cannot see anyone will want to object to that. RW will not personally have the guts to dishonor such a solemn public undertaking.
There have been espousals in favour of Sajith and Karu. But one is a hollow head, the other is a Judas, having nearly annihilated the UNP with his defection to Mara with 18 UNPers. That Ranil cannot win against Mahinda is also a hollow unsupported claim in the circumstances in which he will contest as a Common Candidate.
After the above tasks are implemented, RW as President will arrange for Parliamentary Elections. According to the results of such election, which ever political party is able to command a simple majority in Parliament gets to Choose a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers. The road is open to any Political Party to form the Government. If we are unlucky it could again be Rajapakse. May be it is JHU. Most likely it will be UNP because SLFP will be badly mutilated by the strife between blue SLFPers and Kurakkanites; also defections to the UNP. Probably the TNA and JVP will vie for role of the main Opposition Party. That should be ok I think. Sri Lanka will be respected again in the World.
CAUTION: All citizens who treasure the survival of democratic government beware! Gotabaya Rajapakse is waiting in the wings to create mayhem a couple of days before the elections and seize power through a coup d’etat. Steps to be taken to avert such an eventuality have been spelt out elsewhere in the Colombo Telegraph. See Navin comment at :
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/gota-pledges-to-fight-drug-war-just-like-he-did-with-ltte/
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S.R.H. Hoole / November 19, 2014
I am not sure how this will work out.
Even if the Common Candidate wins the presidency, Rajapakse will be the President for 2 more years. What will the common candidate do for those 2 years? More to the point, what will Rajapakse do during those 2 years?
At the end of those 2 years he or she will become President and even then to abolish the Executive Presidency 2/3 of parliament will need to support that. Can the Common Candidate get such a supportive Parliament under proportional representation? If there is no support from Parliament, there is potential for chaos and anarchy.
Our leaders need to discuss these before raising huge expectations in us. I hope we do not end up with another huge disappointment even if the common candidate wins.
It would be wise for the common candidate to lay out all these before the electorate. If not, at some point, if the Executive Presidency cannot be abolished after the Common Candidate wins, he or she will be perceived as a liar and get undone. That would not be good for anyone.
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Upali Wijewardene / November 19, 2014
Hoole, you need to wake up. If the opposition candidate wins, MR has to leave. Nbody asked him to forego his two yeras, he did it himself. When a winner is announced, he becomes president elect, and MR will be given only time to pack. He would have to have 50 containers to take his loot, but the public will send him with just a carry bag.
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gamini / November 18, 2014
The stage is all set for MR to notify the Election Commissioner the date of the PE and he will notify the Nomination date. On the day of Nomination a certain issue which I do not want to speculate just now, will end up in Courts and the person will be debarred from contesting the PE thanks to the lackey CJ. This Legal action is going to cost MR dearly because from them on, MR will have to face the barrage of attacks exposing MR from many fronts, SLFP, JHU, JVP and the Left Parties on his corruption and nepotism. The choice before the masses is the Family or the Country. MR will have no time to attack his true opponent. After all said and done by his critics, the Gentleman Politician who shuns Confrontational Politics will have a comfortable win to be the next President. So brace till the day of Nominations and you will see light at the end of the Tunnel.
The pendulum of power will never stay on one side. It swings from one side to the other, at the least expected hour. Many Public Serpents who have unduly served this Corrupt regime will start to shiver closer to the PE.
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Janz / November 19, 2014
Gamini, where did you learn this science of predicting the future?
How about a bet?
1) Whoever who comes to power, none of the Rajapaksha family will be procecuted for corruption.
2) cost of living will not be reduced by so much as one single rupee.
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Sylvia Haik / November 18, 2014
I too believe sadly that the Rajapakse clan had impegrenated a false sense of superiority in the minds of the village idiots, with Sinhala only and Buddhist only rhetoric that enmasse they will vote for no matter whoever emerges from the clan. We will have to brace ourselves for more years of this corrupt regime. Their day will come, but by then they would have enmassed a fortune for themselves and exercising their Dual Citizenship, migrate to USA, buy up a mansio and live in luxury. Sri Lanka would be bankrupt by then unable to service the mind boggling debt we owe China even after letting them have a military and naval base and more on our shores.
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wala / November 19, 2014
‘Save Srilanka from the Modayas’ would have been a better heading…
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MirakRajBanda / November 19, 2014
Exactly! Stakes are high if Mr. Sirisena crosses and become a common candidate.
I hope so…..
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anonymous / November 19, 2014
Well It is not the best strategy n my book,
Defeat the Budget and let the government be dissolved.
Isolate Mahinda and prevent him holding a Presidential Election , Give him the ULTIMATE ( PENULTIMATE) Surprise.
There is enough money to trade the horses.
That is exactly how Mahinda made a 2/3rd He never got a People’s vote
So give him a chance to tast his own medicine.
Then subsequent elections make sure non of those who came for money are not included in the list.
this country need clean professionals who love the motherland to make it the ‘WONDER of Aisa’ in real!!!
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K.A Sumanasekera / November 19, 2014
SLFP’s first ever PM or the President to come from the South has done more for the Dalits than all the other leaders of the party which is supposed to look after the Dalits.
Bandas who owned the party and the Leadership for most of the time ,lost the plot along the way and became the peers of the Elite, and suckers of the West.
Present Prez not only liberated the country from Terrorists,and ensured the territorial integrity but also lifted the living standards of the population across the board.
He did that just in five years, because he had to devote the first 5 years to fight the LTTE and also battle against the LTTE Buddies in the West.
It is sad to see the Bandas of the SLFP now sucking up to the West and working with the Elite and the LTTE proxies to destabilize the country and give the Terrorist supporting Political party . what the Terrorist Leader Prabakaran wanted.
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Upali Wijewardene / November 19, 2014
What a sucker?
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Lasantha / November 19, 2014
Granville Perera,
A well written article and a good eye opener for SLFPers.
First of all I should thank Ven.Athuraliye Rathna Thero, Patali and Gamanpila for standing upto corrupt Rajapakse Regime.
But my point is currently almost all the SLFPers are enjoying Free Food offered by Rajapakses. All the Government contracts with easy ill gotten money, free mega deals and perks offered to them and their family members, relatives, friends and party members have made them happy.
What else can you expect from a Prime Minister who imports container loads of Cocain and still go scot free without any charge when caught.
Maithreepala Sirisena’s Brother in law and his goons have monopolize paddy and rice business in Sri Lanka. Jhonny, Keheliya and their gangs have monopolised Ethenol, tavern and liquor business. All the rest of the SLFP/ UPFA Ministers and MPs and their family members, relatives and friends are given ample opportunity to monopolize, loot and to rob the country without any problem by the Biggest corrupt Alibaba in Sri Lanka’s history.
Therefore you cannot trust these leeches who are satisfied with what they get now, and they want their leader to stay in power eternally to so they could further screw our country and finally will sell to China for Peanuts.
Rajapakses will never allow free and fair elections. They have already activated their thugs, media, press, forces, police and state enterprises for this purpose and have started to intimidate, impose fear and throw mud at opposition parties and their candidates and this will continue until elections are over.
There is also doubt on Popes visit if Presidential elections are to take place in January 2015.
I think the best option available for the opposition parties is to boycott the Presidential elections with street protests and by holding peaceful demonstrations and meetings throughout Sri Lanka to educate public and informing them on illegality of Pres.Rajapakse contesting for a third term.
At the moment JVP is doing a wonderful job on this issue. Where is UNP….. Gota with his white van gang, Nil Balakaya criminals and his BBS thugs are ever ready to create havoc during the Presidential elections.
Election commissioner, Judiciary, Police and all other heads of state officers are mere Rajapakse Puppets and there will be no fair elections under these circumstances.
Therefore my suggestion is all opposition parties should boycott elections until they get a fair playing field with UN presence.
I still feel confident that Madam CBK should contest as the common candidate so she who could break up the UPFA and win back UPFA votes and take back her father’s SLFP party from UPFA corrupt thugs, looters, criminals and murderers.
It is Madam CBK that Rajapakses are most feared of.
If not CBK it could be Karu who should be the common candidate and he has to show his worth.
Ranil should be the new Prime Minister under a new United Opposition Coalition Party with Gen.SF as the new Defense Minister and JVP leader AKD as Economic Development Minister.
Hope elections came as a blessing in disguise and there will be light at the end of the Tunnel.
Thanks to JHU again.
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marlan de silva / November 19, 2014
now the time for people of sri lanka to think and act fast,because the MR govemant is heading towards awrong direction.even the way he behaves like he is the founder of SLFP,blaming the stalwarts who brought SLFP untill he starts the corrupt marathan till his last stages.SLFPers must find corruption free new leader.people of the country has to find corrupt free lawful genuine leader and good small cabinet that doing best to devolop the country to the highest,not like millions to devolop and half to there pockets.no second word he did to the country by the support of others with lots of corruptions,and also shows that he is the only person who can do and his family.the funny thing his priminister who cant talk propely said singapore,malaysia and some countries did many years of ruled to devolop there countries,may be, but the same time has to say they didnt put there names from toilet to the top every where.over here in sri lanka even made drain or make a garbage dump ect… put MRs name like the country belonges to them thats one fo his down fall.why cant he put mattathala international air port,hambantota habour that would have been nicer,he should have put all things like by president MRs govenment under the subject minister.the way he is doing it shows to the world his dictatership.the terrarisem is over everybody in the country and the world knows musnt reapet it like(hignnage thuwale wage),to get win voters heart to keep your dynasty alive.time to take over by somebody and to continue with out corruption good law and oder,security of the people and to live peace prosperity and happy as a devolop nation, with allowingnot to rais the shadows of terrarisem.same way have to most of this rajapaksas and some parliment ministers are US citizens,some are permanent recidents,with all this how they chanting bana to others.
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Upali Wijewardene / November 20, 2014
If SLFP stalwarts really care about the party, they should support the opposition and get rid of the current president so that they can face a new general election as SLFP and try to win and continue the SLFP policies and principles. This will also help to eliminate the historic blunder of JRJ by bringing in the executive presidency. As Granville Perera clearly states, failure on the part of the SLFP members to act now will result in a continued dominance by the Rajapaksas and even the SLFP could be renamed RAJA Ge Pakshaya
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