11 October, 2024

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Sinking Feeling With A Floundering Coalition

By Shyamon Jayasinghe

Shyamon Jayasinghe

What we have experienced over the last three years is a sinking feeling in the country and economy that a floundering and unworkable coalition has caused- far from a Lichchavi style harmonious governance.

Impossible Coalition

The so-called Unity Government myth is finally exposed. It was an impossible coalition to begin with. To be sure, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s model of a Lichchavi style consensual government where diverse parties with diverse interests can meet together is only good in concept. In the ancient Indian polity this was possible. Not in the contemporary Sri Lankan context.

The theoretical model of a consensual government  is predicated on the prevalence of common set of core values of a fundamental nature. In the context we have in our country today the UPFA that came in as the minor partner is embedded with an ulterior power game preset by the beaten Rajapaksa regime. That design was to white-ant the government as much as possible so that it will collapse along with President Maitripala Sirisena well before effective action can be taken to round up the thieves and murderers the former regime. More than what most people saw, the objective had been deliberately planned by the corrupt elements of Rajapakse camp. Most of the UPFA  inflow were acting not in the interests of any common policy objective but as deliberate agents for the old regime.

Destructive Acts from Inside

So, we witnessed Ministers Susil Premajayanth, Dayasiri Jayasekera, Dilan Perera, Mahinda Amaraweera and John Seneviratne performing destructive and comic tactics. They took turns to pine for  a Mahinda return, ostensibly to re-unite Mahinda and Maitripala and so on. Their tactics were never subtle but open and crudely visible to any discriminating political observer. Ranil Wickremesinghe and the UNP, by contrast, knew all this but avoided the escalation that these UPFA fifth column had been trying to cause.

That was very savvy leadership by the Prime Minister who in all his public speeches never forgot to courtesy the President. Any escalation would have led to implosion much before the elections and that was the result that the former regime hoped for. As a contrast, the UPFA limb kept up a hostile rhetoric right throughout. That was too open and transparent a process to be called white-anting. White-anting is a slow rarely discernible and insidious strategy, which these UPFA blokes were hardly capable of. For one thing, there was the urgency to bring down the government because the cases were progressing.

Weakening Role of a Fifth Column

On the other hand, all their undermining talk and rhetoric  achieved one sure overall outcome and that was to confuse the public, cause dismay among yahapalanaya supporters and disenchantment among the electorate. The local government election results reflected this outcome most certainly. More than a personal vote for Mahinda, the results represented a warning to the government.

The underhand efforts of the UPFA limb helped to weaken the yahapalanaya government morale. These Ministers never said anything positive about the achievements of the government- the restoration of democracy; of individual freedom; of transparency in government; of the rule of law; of the justice system; of the positive turn the economy  was visibly taking; of international cordiality and goodwill. These and other achievements had been ignored by these UPFA blokes who sought to highlight and to  openly criticise lapses. In particular, they seized the bond issue and whacked the UNP leadership for that. When the Commission reported no involvement of the UNP leadership in the bond saga these UPFA guys ignored that, too. They knew Ranil Wickremesinghe is the kingpin behind the UNP and the government and so they made it a point to criticise Ranil.

Disruptive Outcomes

Did you ever hear this UPFA fifth column ever criticise and show regrets over the ten year old regime of the Rajapaksa family? No. Did you ever hear any of them press for the completion of the serious cases against some leaders and cohorts of that regime? No. On the other hand, what you and I saw was a continuous undermining and barraging of the Unity Government. The UPFA limb of the yahapalanaya government created so much disruption and dysfunction, which in turn encouraged outside agencies like the GMOA and some trade unions to come out, use the new-found freedom and engage in wild cat strikes. What we have experienced over the last three years is a sinking feeling in the country and economy that a floundering and unworkable coalition has  caused, far from a Lichchavi style harmonious governance.

Besides, I would like to see the progress reports of these  UPFA Ministers. They warmed their seats, sabotaged and did nothing worth mentioning. It is not that these Ministers even as former Ministers of the Rajapaksa government had ever done anything of use; they had been non-performers. Susil Premajayanth, as illustration, was helplessly watching the appalling  petrol

hedging deal. Dayasiri Jayasekera, absorbed by a self-inflated ego, presided over the failure of Sri Lankan Cricket. Our glorious game went down the drain.

On the other hand, there were two things that this fifth column succeeded in doing. The first was to press President Sirisena to prevent the Bond Commission from covering the period of transactions from year 2008. As the Commissioners themselves reported malpractice had been going on during these golden years of the former regime.

Sirisena’s Fatal Adventure

The second, was to successfully nudge President Sirisena to take the fatal adventure of heading an election campaign meant to destroy the UNP partner. A classic Facebook image that went viral showed President Maitripala Sirisena seated on a branch of a tree while chopping it! This is the right metaphor to encapsulate what happened during the disastrous local government election campaign, which seriously discredited  and damaged  the public image of the President and partially destroyed the UNP.

Hostage

Right now, the UPFA fifth columnists in the Unity government are busy trying to isolate President Mainripala Sirisena from the Prime Minister and the UNP and carry the President along with them as hostage to the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp. There are good signs that the UNP is aware of this sinister move. The plan is to capture the President and eventually destroy him. The vociferous attempts by these blokes to provoke President Sirisena to try and remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe over a faked claim of having lost mandate is the current pitch in their camp.

President Sirisena should be mindful of these machinations of evil doers. If he sees the videos of the 2015 elections speeches of Dilan Perera and Dayasiri Jayasekera now spreading through social media he will hit his forehead with both palms and then wonder himself where is really is. These two UPFA leaders mocked and insulted Sirisena in such a base manner. Their current pose as “ true friends,” of Maitripala Sirisena is laughable. If these are his friends, then surely President Sirisena needs no enemies.

Sirisena Imperative

The economy is taking a beating through this whole sordid saga. The Rupee has recorded a never-before low. The people are inundated with a sinking feeling of despair.  The need to act fast by bidding goodbye to the UPFA fifth columnists and to lay his trust with the UNP has become a Sirisena imperative. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a gentleman of classic pedigree and heritage and seasoned in public administration would be our President’s safe bet.

*Shyamon Jayasinghe can be contacted on sjturaus@optusnet.com.au

Latest comments

  • 12
    8

    Eh.. what is class pedigree and heritage??

    Shyamon..are you an elitist snob??

    So much class.. So much pedigree .. that he looses 30 elections and refuses to budge!

    Oh .. but that’s because his best time is yet to come isn’t it?

    So stupid it ain’t even funny any more!

    • 8
      2

      Shyamon Jayasinghe,

      RE: Sinking Feeling With A Floundering Coalition

      Everybody is replaceable, and include Ranil Wickramasinghe, Maitripala Sirisena and many others. After all Mahinda Rajapaksa was replaced.

      Lanka, needs new blood, not the archaic blood of Ranil, Sirisena or Mahinda,

      May be Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka is the man for now.

      Can’t the Sri Lankan voters, with an average IQ of 79 do much better? What is in the way? What was in the way during the past 70 years, when the Para-British, average IQ handed over the governance to the Paras? See how Singapore, average IQ 108, have fared.

      Are the Paras going to see more of the same over the next 70 years? The national debt is now almost 90% of the GDP, and it was close to zero in 1948.

      Any thoughts?

      • 1
        0

        Amarasiri:-
        Bring back Education in English! Singapore had the Right idea. They never Ditched English!
        Sri Lanka lost out because a Whole Generation, Educated in Sinhala and Tamil Media, was brought up being isolated from the rest of the World !
        They were like Frogs in a Well, Manipulated by Bigoted ‘King’ Frogs, to jump any way they were Told!

    • 7
      4

      My dear Words,
      Whatever makes you think that Ranil’s job is to win elections? That’s for common crooks like your hero MR. Ranil is a statesman. He does what is right whether or not he loses elections.

      • 1
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        Yep.. the statesman who masterminded srilankas biggest robbery with his Singaporean pal

        What are drinking that makes you so dumb???

        • 0
          0

          Sound bites like “biggest robbery” won’t do. Don’t quote Sirasa. If you have a brain, prove it.

    • 6
      0

      They say, Kant freed the Philosophers by destroying the concept of absolute truth………..but except for good ol’ Nietzsche every other philosopher went back again and created new prisons for themselves ………

      Siresena/Ranil conducted one of the free-est and fairest elections in Lankan history …………using that freedom, the voters voted and the newly freed media whole-heartedly canvassed to go back to prison/bondage

      I’m not making this up, this is what happened ………..easy to observe from afar ……….

      Truth be told, Ranil has class and perhaps nothing much else…….

      Rajapakses have a whole lot else but not class……….

      And many Lankans would say ……”what can you do with class?” ……. “Eat it?”

      Where would Lanka be without Lankans?

    • 2
      1

      W.
      S is a snob all right.
      RW is not only a cunning crook and probably in cahoots with ex Governor of the CB and the bond scam.
      Time will tell.
      His time in politics is almost up.

    • 0
      2

      Shymon is trying to do a whitewash of the UNP. Of course the paint is cheap quality and can’t really mask the filth.

  • 10
    3

    its all everybody else’s fault than the thief RW…lol

  • 5
    1

    “Ranil Wickremesinghe, a gentleman of classic pedigree and heritage and seasoned in public administration would be our President’s safe bet.”

    [edited out]

  • 14
    3

    Ha…Ha… Ha…Tears must have dried now, hey. Last time you wrote your praise for our backbone-less hero Ranil, I advised you to wait till Feb 11 before you wrote again. At least you took that advice. Now you are worshipping a man who has set a Guinness record for losing 30 national and local government elections in 24 yrs of UNP leadership, and is still refusing to resign. You may write more about that aspect of the thief’s character. Anyway, by Thursday he will be history. So spend the rest of your days crying.

  • 6
    0

    Mr. Symon Jayasinghe: In one instance you say: “Ranil Wickramasinghe and the UNP by contrast knew all this but avoided the escalation that these UPFA fifth column has been trying to cause” Then in conclusion you say: ” Ranil Wickramasinghe, a gentleman of pedigree and heritage and seasoned in public administration will be our President’s safe bet”. Leave aside the “Pedigree & Heritage”, Do you think a PM “Seasoned in Public Administration” who elects to “Know what is going on” and “Avoids escalation” and remains silent (in your own words) is a “Safe Bet” for the President? For your information, your Ranil Wickramasinghe has been always a “SILENT OPERATOR” though out his political career, starting from being the Minister of Education, with underworld gang leader “Gonawala Sunil”; “Batalanda Operation”; “CFA Agreement with LTTE” to the latest “Central Bank Robbery” by his chosen friend Mahendran (another “Gonawala Sunil in a Three piece suite) are some of the “Seasoned performances in Public Administration”. Do you still recommend your friend RW a “Safe Bet”?

  • 3
    3

    The foreign governments that interfered in the 2015 Election are unhappy with the course of events and are back in business, pumping in huge sums of money to influence the election results; even media outlets that did not take a sycophantic line are now receiving money in the form of advertisements.

    CT might be manipulated too. We know some of the major groups have been approached by USA and India.

    • 5
      2

      Yakko Simon,
      What foreign governments paid for all those giant cut-outs of Mahinda which lined every street in the country from Nov 2014? Who paid for all those grinning Mahinda adverts which made it impossible to watch TV?
      Do you actually live in SL?

  • 4
    2

    Shamon Jayasinghe,

    RE: Sinking Feeling With A Floundering Coalition

    Bring the White Knight, Sarath Fonseka. Go with what we have. The Rajapaksas will pee in their pants, and Ranil can respectfully step aside. in 2020.

    Quick results if I am appointed minister of Law and Order: SF
    2018-02-18 17:05:41

    http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Quick-results-if-I-am-appointed-minister-of-Law-and-Order-SF-146038.html

    Minister of Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka today said he could show quick results in apprehending wrong-doers if he is appointed as the minister of Law and order.

    “I will show results in six months if I am given the portfolio of Law and Order” he told journalists.

    Further, he said it is not advisable to appoint former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the leader of Opposition.

    “Country will go back to the era of depressing media rights if those who were rejected by the people are given an opportunity” he said.

    Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake also said he too will work towards arresting wrong-doers quickly if he is at least appointed as the Deputy Minister of Law and Order.

    • 1
      0

      The Order of preference to L&O minister is Ponny, Mangala, Rajitha. But is looks like Ranil’s choice Bottom up. That is how he can protect Old Royal while leaving a feeling for the mass that he is acting this time. Two years has to go. Rajitha is marginally better than Sagala or as bad as Sagala. One can change Rajitha to Sagala, but unggiest in that line in order is AG and Jeyam. Unless the Colombo Municipality drainage system willingly open up and invite them, no fixing in L & O.

      If the thing have to automatically roll, Ranil has to offer a corporation president job to an 8th grade backbencher and have to bring in Chandrika to that vacancy. If she sit on the L & O, it is irrelevant who is Jeyam or who is Jayantha. Even if these guys don’t cooperate with her, she knows ways to come back though back door. He will not act for Ranil needs to show one thing to IC and one thing to Locals and one thing with Old Royals(saving them). She would be on her own way when it comes to the rowdy-ness of Old Royals.

  • 6
    3

    Spot on, Shyamon Jayasinghe!

  • 7
    3

    Why is this gentlemen ( with various inclinations ) trying to remain PM ?

    For the country? For the UNP ? Ego ? To give jobs to the boys ? To cover his tracks regarding the Bond scam and other frauds like SriLankan airline

    Or to give people like Jayasinghe a false god ?

    For whose good does he do politics ? Who wants him ? Dissolve the parliament and ask the people if they want him . We all know what the people will say .

    Only Jayasinghe does not know.

  • 2
    0

    What we have is Goo Licking Peiris and Grama sevaka. JR was a misfortune who didn’t realize that he was a cock eyed visionary and made a weaker society. That is what has happened. MS should to contain his index within his limits.

    • 0
      0

      JR messed the whole thing. No exception

  • 0
    1

    Shyamon Jayasighe is taking different turns. I am wondering which way to believe. what will be your article following this ?

  • 3
    1

    Beautiful piece, Shyamon Jayasinghe. Always a pleasure to read you

  • 0
    2

    Down Under matters.
    A. How exactly is RW experienced in ADMINISTRATION> SHOW **CKING proof dude. He was an obscure rich Varuna Printers famous father’s son until he came into Parliament in the Sweep in 1977. He came to Parliament from Biyagama because his UNCLE JR pappa selected him. In 1977 even a pol piththak nominated by the UNP WON. We know these all the way from Hambantota.

    By the 1990 and in 1994 and thereafter RW FAILED TO WIN BIYAGAMA everytime. He was hurriedly moved to Colombo because Colombo is the UNP’s safe pocket borough. So get lost.

    B. WHERE did he learn to be a public administrator besides being a Batalanda peeper?

    C. YEs great family but under CIA payroll. So stop being a pathetic propaganda commode for RW. You are the Dyan or actually Malinda of the UNP.

    PLEASE STOP insulting our intelligence.

  • 0
    1

    He…..he…..buggers still don’t know what hit them………They are trying to continue their journey in the same old vehicle with the same old drivers. They are blinded to the fact that the vehicle hit a concrete wall head on and the engine is smashed due to the sheer stupidity of the drivers. Let them hobble until the wheels falls off which would not be that far off. Going till 2019/20 seems a dream at this point.

  • 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

    Shyamon, Ever heard about the Swiss magic formula of Government.

  • 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/

  • 1
    1

    Opposition wants Ranil removed. Why? Because they fear his ability. Simple explanation

  • 1
    1

    Please come back and carry RW’s umbrella or his Palanquin. Sycophant!

  • 1
    2

    Mr. Shyamon Jayasinghe: I was looking for the DIsclaim which says This is an advertisement bythe UNP propganda brach for the future President Ranil wickramwinghe. Bond Scam money working for Ranil.

  • 1
    0

    Dear Readers ,
    Reading most of the comments , I find some of them fall into the category of people
    who have loss of memory .
    What Shyamon. J has stated is the best explanation one could give to the current
    situation the country is in .
    Maybe the choice of words he used could be different .But In a pathetic situation as we are in right now what you have to look for is the crux of the matter and not just
    growl .
    The current Govt. set up has done a lot of ground work and on the road for implemetation .But one of the major mistakes are that none of the perpertrators and those who did the worst damange to the country and economy are still at large and appears to go freee. MS as the persident has been unable to put his step down on anythig major, as he has in his camp some of the defaulters and RW has an understanding not to dig into these for his own benfits.
    Right now the best option is Rw to continue ,but he has to go retire for good sometime soon .
    If you carefully read what SJ has written is the true situation in the country . we do not want another oppressive set of the noted poloticians or any family to domination to come bank.
    75 % of the people say the LG polls results were a jolt to the current regime to get the act straight. and not a nod to say the former regime was good.

    Thanks Gayan .

    • 1
      0

      Why does Sri Lanka need Political Parties for a Local Government Election?
      There are People in these Constituencies, Who Live there, and Understand their Needs, and are Genuinely interested in their Welfare.
      But, they are not Interested in joining any Political Party!

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