28 March, 2024

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Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government: Taking Selfies On The Rail-track

By Tisaranee Gunasekara

“…a longing for a new authoritarianism with some kind of religious orientation and above all a greater communal belongingness.” ~ Fritz Stein (National Socialism as Temptation)

Post-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka suffers from a deadly absence. It has a democratic government, but no democratic opposition.

Had Sri Lanka been a normal democracy – with a democratic government and a democratic opposition (however flawed) – the burgeoning crisis of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government would not have become democracy’s crisis. Elections would have acted as a pressure-releasing mechanism, by ensuring a peaceful transfer of governmental power from one democratic political party to another.

Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka of 2017, the only available alternative to the government is a political formation which is proudly anti-democratic, and extremist in the full sense of the word, without even the saving grace of economic populism.

The ouster of the Rajapaksa regime required a never-before-attempted coalition between the UNP and a segment of the SLFP. This coalition created a vacuum in the Southern oppositional space. The main oppositional party in parliament, the TNA, is democratic but its politico-electoral presence is limited to two provinces. Had the JVP been able to make the transition to a social-democratic party or even a democratic-socialist party, it could have filled this vacuum. It hasn’t; on the contrary the JVP is moving away from political moderation, in an attempt to overtake its latest offshoot, the extremist, über-archaic FSP. Consequently the Southern oppositional vacuum is being filled by the Joint Opposition (JO), that motley collection of parties committed not just to the return of Mahinda Rajapaksa to power but also to the restoration of Rajapaksa power.

During their two-and-a-half years in opposition, the Rajapaksas have become more anti-democratic, more retrogressive and more extremist. There has been no self-criticism, no rethinking, no reset; their defeats were and are blamed on minorities and imperialists. Their agenda is purely revanchist, starting with the destruction of whatever advances made towards democracy and reconciliation since Jan. 2015. They are not coy about what they intend to do – restore familial rule, disembowel democracy from within and use a Sinhala-Buddhist supremacist superstructure as both window-dressing and a dam against inevitable popular disillusionment.

President Sirisena’s antipathy towards and fear of the Rajapaksas are sincere. But Ranil Wickremesinghe is allowing the Rajapaksas to grow in the hope that their growth would hurt only the SLFP. If the crisis festers and explodes, the Rajapaksas won’t need to break up the SLFP. They will take over the SLFP, leaving Maithripala Sirisena with just a handful of supporters. But they will also manipulate a schism in the UNP. The groundwork is already being done, via a manufactured-division in the UNP between ‘patriots’ and ‘anti-patriots’. In this rendition, ‘patriots’ are soft on Sinhala-Buddhist extremism; they are politically and socially illiberal; they equate strong government not with an effective democracy but with any autocracy. When the crisis reaches the breaking point, the Rajapaksas will take over the SLFP and break up the UNP, absorbing the so called patriots into their fold and leaving Ranil Wickremesinghe with a rump. So what is at stake is not just the fate of the SLFP or Maithripala Sirisena. What is at stake is the fate of the UNP and Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Fragility of Democracy

Chaos is not democracy. Drifting into disaster is not good governance.

How did a government which began with so much hope, credibility and legitimacy sink to this level in mere 30 months? The short answer is that it didn’t do what it promised and did what it pledged not to. It stubbornly repeated Rajapaksa errors while ignoring its own good-governance promises. The crisis is a self-made one, as evidenced by a triad of preventable woes.

The Uma Oya project was first mooted in the early 1990’s and abandoned due to its environmental repercussions. Its environmental unfeasibility, as revealed by a feasibility study, meant that no respectable bank would touch it. It was resurrected by the Rajapaksas, as part of their megalomanic plan to turn Hambantota into a world-class city. Those mammoth white-elephants, the Hambantota Port and the Mattala Airport, plus the proposed Hambantota industrial zone needed water. Satiating this gargantuan thirst was the main purpose of the Uma Oya project. The devastation the project would cause in the Badulla district in general and the Bandarawela area in particular did not concern the Rajapaksas.

Since no reputed bank would touch this disastrous venture, President Rajapaksa sought help from his ally, the then Iranian President, Mohammad Ahmadinajad. Mr. Ahmadinajad talked to Iran’s Exim bank. A loan was approved with no feasibility study. The project was inaugurated, with the usual Rajapaksa hype, during Mr. Ahmadinajad’s visit to Sri Lanka.

By January 2015, the ill effects of the project were becoming glaringly obvious. Houses were compromised and wells drying up. People protested and President Sirisena ordered the suspension of the project. But a few months later, the project was recommenced, with no changes in the modus operandi, and no attempt to deal with the consequences.

Now 80% of the project is over, and environmental degradation has reached unimaginable proportions. The project has been suspended again and foreign expertise sought. The proposed solutions include scaling down the project to Uva-Wellassa and the use of a more sophisticated (and supposedly less damaging) earth-digging machine. Why weren’t these solutions implemented in 2015? Why did the government wait until the issue exploded?

A similar trajectory is discernible in the garbage crisis. The government has begun to take concrete steps to deal with the garbage issue at the points of creation (the ban on certain plastic items), collection (sorting of garbage) and disposal (turning garbage into electricity). Why weren’t these measures undertaken in 2015? Why did the government wait till the Meetotamulla tragedy to do the right and doable thing?

The SAITM issue provides a similar case in point. The South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine, like Uma Oya and Meetotamulla, was a Rajapaksa baby the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government adopted as its very own. It was set up with Rajapaksa blessings and active support. SAITM was granted the status of a degree-awarding institution via an extraordinary gazette (1721/19) on 30th August 2011. In the same month, President Rajapaksa gave the institute a financial leg-up when he granted government scholarships, each worth Rs. 7 million, to 10 students to undertake their medical studies at SAITM.

Every year, a significant number of academically promising students from ‘developed’ districts are denied access to government medical colleges, thanks to district-level standardisation, that monstrous instrument of academic levelling-down created by the UF government. Therefore there is an objective need for private medical colleges. The problem with SAITM is not its ownership but its dubious admission criteria and the questionable nature of its training. The government should have studied these issues in 2015 and proposed and implemented solutions, such as making SAITM degrees conditional on students sitting for and getting through a qualifying exam conducted by the Medical Council. That failure has enabled the GMOA to weaponise the issue, possibly as part of the broader Rajapaksa agenda of regaining power by pushing the country towards chaos and mob-rule.

Instead of charting their own path, the government continued on the Rajapaksa one, thereby alienating its own base and reducing the distance between itself and the Rajapaksas. The result is the current crisis.

Back to Tyranny via Ochlocracy

The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration’s crisis isn’t located in too much democracy, as some claim, but in its suicidal inability to distinguish friend from enemy or to understand the special nature of the current political moment. Every mistake the government makes helps not a normal opposition, but an opposition which is a threat to Lankan democracy. .

Elections are decided by people – and numbers. That is what the government has forgotten. In its determination to limp along the Rajapaksa path, the administration is antagonising those segments of the populace which enabled it to defeat the Rajapaksa juggernaut in January 2015, and to beat back a resurgent Rajapaksa challenge in August 2015. 

The government has alienated the minorities with its toleration of the likes of BBS and the execrable monk Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara. It is allowing a segment of Sangha-extremists to decide how the country should be run, as if this is a Sinhala-Buddhist theocracy, a la Saudi Arabia or Iran. This caving into saffron-clad bullies is hardly surprising, since the government also caved into bullying by hardline Muslim clerics and washed its hands of the MMDA, inclusive of ending the egregious practice of child-marriage.

Little is being done to alleviate the economic woes of the war-torn areas. The government has also failed to satisfy those Sinhala voters who voted for it to gain some economic relief.

The UNP and SLFP segments of the government, instead of taking on the Rajapaksas, are too busy attacking and undermining each other.

In the hiatus created by the government’s lack of a common programme and direction, the Rajapaksas are thriving. The former first family seems unwilling to wait till the end of this government’s legal lifespan to get back into power. Their strategy is clear – render the country ungovernable and offer themselves to an electorate tired of the resultant chaos as ‘restorers of order’. As their encouragement of the immoral GMOA strikes (which punish the poorest of the poor) demonstrate, their plan constitute of exacerbating public misery to breaking point, pushing the country towards ochlocracy and using the resultant ‘great disorder under heavens’ to justify the return of familial-tyranny. They are also giving a religio-cultural complexion to economic discontent, and offering themselves to the Sinhala-Buddhist masses as the ‘saviours of a nation threatened from within and without’. (The collusion of extremist-Sangha in this plan is evidenced by their silence on the GMOA’s attempt to impose a continuous strike on the country at a time of Dengue crisis. This attempt failed thanks to the intervention of the Catholic Church and not the politically busy Asgiriya Chapter.)

The challenge before the government therefore is not an easy one. It must defeat a non-democratic foe, democratically. It must outsmart a foe who is angling for an excuse for violent action, non-violently. It must outrun an extremist foe, without resorting to extremism. But to do any of this, it must first understand the threat and the enemy. And so far, such clarity seems beyond its capacity. After a mere thirty months in office, the government has become contemptuous of ‘even the most common rules of commonsense’ and is suffering from a ‘radical loss of self interest.’ (Two of the attributes of Hannah Arendt’s ‘mass man’ – The Origins of Totalitarianism)

Lankan people don’t have very high expectations of their politicians, but Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government is failing to meet even the lowest expectations of those voters who enabled its victory. In the critical absence of a democratic opposition capable of providing an alternative to the current administration, the government’s crisis has become democracy’s crisis. It is reopening the door to a political formation which is exploiting ‘patriotism in the service of hatred’ and ensconcing ‘the sword as the modern God.’(Emile Zola – I AccuseIt is paving the way for a presidential election in which one of the two main contenders is the Ur-fascist Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the godfather of the BBS, who publicly stated that the BBS monks were engaged in a ‘nationally important task’ and mustn’t be feared or doubted by ‘anyone’.(Sri Lanka Mirror – 10.3.2013)The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration is not fiddling while Rome burns. It is taking ‘selfies’ on the railway track ignoring the hurtling express train.

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Latest comments

  • 17
    7

    There she goes rambling again! And she calls this government democratic! Helloooo??? We haven’t had an election in the last 2 years!! Hail democracy!!

    We have listened to your never ending screams of hora hora.. but it now seems that was all just nonsense and the actual horas are in the yaha government

    We are fed up..there is a shortage of good drugs and basic food in the markets.. the rupee continues to slide with some banks predicting it will be close upon 300 by year end..cities are overflowing with garbage, dengue is rampant and hospital rooms for the sick are unavailable..

    Your good governance knights in shining armour have failed miserably.

    Time to GO!

    Ranil has been and always will be a FAILURE!

    • 4
      1

      Yes, thi sis the only nation to have caused over 25 deaths/within a 6-months period in terms of selfi taking related. issues. They dont care about their life, just to show off, behave such.

      Yes, the govt is also comparable tothe behaviours of those mad selfi takers behaviours.

      Not a single high shark have been caught to say, that they did, but it took over 24 months since so called consensul came into being.
      Ballige putha et al behave even as if Mr Sirisena did lot more crimes than Mahinda s two terms.
      No matter it is, people go after Mahinda for their thuggish nature.
      I met few guys, from Uwa, they were telling us – had ballige putha been reelected, they could earn lot more by any kind of illegal businesses related to UWa tunnel project.
      Most of the people in this country are after corrution and abusive politcians.
      So they deserve highly corrupted politcians only.
      Else, we should hand over the lanken control to OUR COLONIAL masters again, so that we can finally learn it how this nation to be trained to face the life for the future.

    • 6
      0

      Certainly my friend she keeps on rambling. It is her (provided it is a she)pastime. This faceless writer and other similar faceless writer “Visawamithra” have something in common. Must be a league on its own. Why talk about only about this government only all governments since SWRDB regime all were same. Inept,corrupt and bent on retaining power either by ” hook or by crook”.

      • 5
        0

        “Why talk about only about this government only all governments since SWRDB regime all were same.””
        Then may it be known that pseudo rani drinks from the goblet of the viper . the viper is an exception and you cannot enter that dynasty unless by marriage. So to make in lankawe you need to pay the commission directly and the % indirectly by taxes that they alone control. So make friends with dynasty – and your wealth will go. So make friends with priests – and sign subscription lists. There has got to be some way out of here! So export your women and produce but don’t bring back the $$ because mara dynasty undervalued it then took control to harvest the loot into a offshore bank at africa just like vipers harry’s inter married dynasties.

    • 0
      0

      Words:
      You forgot to add, “signifying f-all” because that is what your b.s. adds up to. Among the rubbish you utter is “We haven’t had an election in the last 2 years!! Hail democracy!! Since when did ANY DEMOCRACY have an election every two years? Is that what your Rajapaksa buddies are going to institute after you’ve done shining their shoes?
      Remember: better to keep your mouth shut and let people think you’re stupid than to open it and confirm the fact.

  • 11
    4

    Let me get the premise of this article, the govt which stole franchise the of the over 47lacks people and suppress their voice in the parliament by appointing a bunch of racists which support the same govt as the official opposition, the govt which harass the main opposition voices with dubious charges and law bending, the govt which didn’t hold elections for close to two years that was overdue…etc, is “democratic” and the people who fight this treachery is “undemocratic” merely being its opposition to its undemocratic conduct ….and the way forward is to subjugate rajapakses by the crook or hook ???????
    man…. the epitome of the #yahapalana hypocrisy, amazing thing is still this person thinks she holds high moral ground while saying all this without any remorse.
    shows the caliber of the people who championed so called social justice few years back, these are nothing but political hooligans who wants their man in power no matter what….look at the hatred towards the rajapakse clan merely because their are outsiders from the coffee shop colombians …pathetic to say the least…

    • 4
      1

      You said it all , Billy
      ——–
      Soma

    • 6
      6

      silly billy

      The essence of Yahapalanaya was to protect the crooks of the previous kleptocracy including the clan chief. Most of the crooks from previous government are being looked after well and rewarded with places in the cabinet. No serious charges have been brought to bear on the crooks from previous regime. impunity has been extended well into next elections, war crime investigation and charges have been differed indefinitely, political brats not only enjoy impunity but enjoy travelling overseas which the ordinary stupid voters cannot afford, ………………What more could you possibly demand from Yahapalanaya? What crap did you type in your very first paragraph?

      By any chance you are part of Mrrgamuve Gaenus who are/were the professional mourners at funerals. They lament for a fee.

      • 4
        3

        Wtf are you talking dimwit ..if any crooks are protected, then it is done so to keep the rouge ranil hamu to keep his power so the colombian clan loot what is left after hamu cleaned up the central bank..n the colombian clans and their native stooges are whining like bitches when their is real opposition for their fraud of a govt….and they deemed that thier chance to loot after 30 years in limbo being resisted as undemocratic …get a life moron

        • 3
          2

          Silly Billy, ———-Am I talking to a Wtf dimwit? This is bit sophisticated for you therefore can you move out of the way so that we don’t have to address others over your dim head.

          • 1
            3

            dimwit who crossed my path and questioned me with his so called sophisticated jargon is asking me to move away…..typical yahapalu whining just like the original article … reminds me of social justice worrier nut cases who go to town with so much noise and soon runaway crying like a little girl who wets her pants as soon as some one counter them …lol

            • 2
              1

              Silly Billy ——–Why did you take your grand daughter to such places? Was she your human shield? Honestly you must be the only Wtf dimwit.

            • 0
              0

              To the Editor of Colombo Telegraph;
              By permitting space for the “billys,” “somas” etc.etc. (assuming they are not all the same person), you are contributing to the biggest single issue facing Sri Lanka today : garbage. You don’t dispose of it or recycle it by giving it space. Please, please in the name of journalistic hygiene, don’t give these unmentionables space.

    • 3
      0

      So much thunder yet very little it rains and when it rains the floods get the better of you to stretch both hands like tsunami horas. The 3 of you took away what we built as picturesque with the ballot and went for the bullet. your independence is coming to an end because you can govern no more ambude putas. to be logical is not enough one has to be reasonable to be human. It’s just that the vanni and you eat different food yet share the same in private and enjoy wattalapam commissions- goni billas.

  • 14
    12

    ” It is taking ‘selfies’ on the railway track ignoring the hurtling express train”.

    A brilliant metaphor that explains the current situation in the country. Maithri and Ranil are displaying false bravado like teenagers, in the face of the disasters that have hit us. A return of a Rajapakse government to negate even the gains the current government has made, is a reality we cannot any longer ignore.

    It is only strong public pressure that can goad the Maithri -Ranil combine to understand
    the realities or face the consequences.

    First step in the ‘ Shock’ treatment required is to arrest and prosecute everyone – big and small, against whom corruption and criminal charges can be sustained and proven in our courts. Those in the current government should not be exempted.

    This is what the people expect. Do it at least now.

    Dr.Rajasingham Narendran

    • 7
      3

      “”Ranil are displaying false bravado like teenagers, in the face of the disasters that have hit us. “2
      Thus spake the para demala tiger of yore from his liar.
      Vaada karrupa, we have a bone to pick off you and your vaiko vedda bogeyman.

      Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry. Winston Churchill

    • 4
      2

      Lol.. what gains? Delusional aren’t you?

    • 5
      3

      gains????? u mean the allocious-wickramasinghe clan?

    • 3
      1

      Welcome back Dr.RN after a long spell of silence. You seem to have woken up from a long sleep, still feeling dizzy to say “Those in the current government should not be exempted.” – you are asking the current government!
      ——–
      Soma

      • 0
        0

        Stupid somass ji———-

        “Welcome back Dr.RN after a long spell of silence.You seem to have woken up from a long sleep, “

        Dr.Rajasingham Narendran is too busy, unlike you he has been running projects for the destitute in the East. He is the project manager for two projects which are funded by a temple in the UK. I watched a short social media clip and gave the link in these forums some months ago.

        You must be in deep slumber for a long time and once in a while come on this forum to stink bomb us so as to remind us you are still politically alive and stinking.

    • 2
      2

      DR.R:” It is taking ‘selfies’ on the railway track ignoring the hurtling express train”. >>>>yup need to stop the Rajapakses’ on their tracks.
      Rajash

    • 5
      0

      No shock treatment can be expected, too late the, express train is within a whisker distance, no time for the selfie takers on the track to jump they are intentionally suicidal.
      Wait for obituary notice.

  • 2
    2

    I took a selfie with My3 and Ranil…but Manda Rajapakse photo bombed it …..

  • 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

      So Kurakkan, this is what you’ve been up to now:

      Comments Policy

      2. We acknowledge criticism of the articles we publish, but will not allow persistent misrepresentation of the Colombo Telegraph and our journalists/contributors to be published on our website. For the sake of robust debate, we will distinguish between constructive, focused argument and smear tactics.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Good! And a fortnight ago:

      https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/new-secretary-to-the-president-austin-fernando/comment-page-1/#comments

      kurakkan / July 2, 2017 23:57

      Village Mahadana Muttha, . . .
      . . . sorry to say you have no class of torrington CH&FC club which was the club of the elite of colombo 7. (have you ever seen `kalu` ratnam bros play- it was always a try and conversion . . . . Stick to your school books and public schools in the hills you are bound to be heard but not St Thomas- learn to live with it and don’t argue for the sake of arguing.

      Yes, smear tactics, those were – of the crudest sort!

      • 5
        1

        flameback, kicked off the school- a gun is not an argument and an argument is not a gun. forget the difference, we will end up with guns settling our disputes, rather than arguments. it had nothing to do with you just followed the queue.
        clueless like a bored monkey you have no imagination to be human.
        you will never come right again ……..

  • 2
    7

    Brilliant master piece as usual.

    A few quick wins are required to restore confidence in the govt.

    1 resolve the SAITM issue by end July by gazetting minimum standards for medical education and recognizing private medical education.

    2 sign the Hambantota deal by the end of July.

    3 Uma Oya way forward to be decided by end Aug

    4 Pay all compensation pending from recent natural disasters within next three months.

    5 Find a buyer for Sri Lankan at any price

    6 implement Puttalam solution for garbage immediately

    • 2
      0

      Indeed the most penetrating of Tisaranee’s expositions in recent times. However much warning signals are made to blare forth, the march into bottomless depths seems unstoppable. The Weimar Republic had sealed Germany’s doom. Yet Hitler was clear and firm in choosing the constitutional path and democratic means to dump them both.

      The relevant entities in Sri Lanka are waiting just for that to mete out their revanchist dispensation in a mere 30 months. The hapless polity is getting prepared for a riveting of those fetters.

  • 8
    0

    Ranil & MS got our vote by saying that the Rajapakses were playing out billions .

    So far all we see are small coins as charges in court.

    But the Bond scam is in billions.

    The government is totally inefficient.

    RW is thinking that he is a suitable president for the country( in 2020!).

    That tells you what an depraved and unscrupulous man he is.

    By making the UNP defend the Bond rogues he has dishonoured the UNP too.

    How can a writer ignore all that and associate democracy and development with men like this !

    • 2
      0

      That is how low Thisaranee as a journalist stooped on to and the hate for Rajapakse!
      How can a educated/intelligent person can justify the leadership of these two imbeciles?

  • 4
    1

    A Rajapaksa take over would probably save the coutry from a totally directionles explosion. A UNP rule always carries this potential, for reasons that could be traced to a very complex interaction between Colombo elite and rural masses. (It must be mentioned in this connection that 1971 is incorrectly credited to Sirimawo’ account. Though it exploded a year after she took over the movement was born and grew to be a monster lying waiting during the previous UNP regime.) There was JVP behind 1971 and 1889 , LTTE behind the war – monsters to bludgeon down whatever is the cost. But a totally directionless collapse with no idenfiable physically imposing enemy is unpredictable in terms of potential disaster. Hate purveyors like Thisaranee, Vishvamitra, who wielded a sharp poisonous pen contributed in no small measure to this calamity.
    ——-
    Soma

    • 6
      2

      “”A Rajapaksa take over would probably save the coutry from a totally directionles explosion””
      He can’t do and won’t pass the mark- no more Chino because Xi is preoccupied.
      Gotabaya signed his death warrant with a stupid display of subs. Today chinese subs close to east/andaman are very ineffective thanks to the 3 on lease from russia and the 12 state of the art drones from the trump hug.
      The wholesale robber passa clan clung onto finance portfolio while undervaluing the dollar to start his own bank deep down at africa.

    • 2
      3

      somass ji ——

      ” Hate purveyors like Thisaranee, Vishvamitra, who wielded a sharp poisonous pen contributed in no small measure to this calamity.”————-On the other hand volunteer b***s carriers to the clan and its chief hora are suffering from withdrawal syndrome.

      I could see somass ji, Kasmaalam, sach, thirish, Champa, ………………….. are in pain. In Dayan’s case he types non stop and publishes in electronic media.

      • 2
        0

        There you go some sophisticated(as the bugger think of his rumbling ) bootlicking for the rouge ranil hamu….oooh let our hamu loot the country for few more years, who knows this may be the last for thw incompetent douch …lol

        • 0
          0

          Silly Billy

          I didn’t cross your path but as a descendant of Kallathonie you are on my land. By the way have you had the opportunity to see and hear Rumble in the Jungle. Next time don’t miss it.

  • 0
    3

    best analysis in a long while of the current situ
    dj must be terribly jealous that he cant match up
    but how can we get out of this hole with this bunch

  • 3
    1

    Native Vedda: You said what I wanted to say. I have now realized my suspicion of that “Visit” of Ranil in the early hours of 9th January 2015 to the Temple Trees accompanied by the “Dealer” of MR, Thiru Nadeson, even before the final result of the Presidential Election was declared, was absolutely CORRECT and nothing but CORRECT. All that happened, because the contestant “Common Candidate” was “hiding” in a coconut estate in Dodangaslanda, Kurunegala. That action itself was enough to assess the degree of “courage” and “stamina” he possessed to face and handle matters of utmost importance in Governance. One Leader – Ranil TRICKED everyone (People an all others who campigned for a change) while the other Leader, “Common Candidate” against MR, Maithri spinelessly SUCCUMBED to a well laid out PLAN. Now, after two and a half years of operations, a large majority had come to realize how all have got caught to a well KNITTED PLOT spear headed by Ranil & Co. That is why even the President has got agitated and resorts to “Outbursts” at Cabinet meetings. As it is, there is no “EXIT”, (meaning a “Solution) for both (Maithri & Ranil) from the present crisis. The PEOPLE will finally open an EXIT for both the Leaders. Till then, simply carry on.

    • 0
      0

      Douglas is making an unfair assessment or a dumb analysis. Ranil is Rajapakse Relative, he is the opposition leader and is a powerful politician even to contact India and the West. Maithripala even though he was the common candidate he was not yet elected. So, how can he work as a powerful politician. On the other hand, I am not sure wherhther all the western embassies and Indian embassy contacted Maitripala and showed their support when there is in any need. Probably, you know that he had.

      • 4
        1

        Jim softy,
        Better make preparations to your mari kottuva at tasmania.
        Europe has no say or sway on the independence of Sri lanka because it’s up for sale!
        BoJo badly needs Modi help to salvage the lease agreement he had with USA.
        Like diego garcia anyone and every one could be kicked into the sea.- the sinhalaya, marekala and demla has been taking the piss for too long.
        Ravi K promised to make it like Hong Kong so it shall be but not to his liking.
        mama no papa no salli no!
        The second largest sales of ammunition has been to india. largest to saudi and Qatar is target- coming soon.

  • 0
    0

    The Unity Government with Sirisensa as president who was elected by the Tamils and the Muslims, Wickremasinghe as Prime Minister and most importantly our Sambanthan as Opposition Leader in the Unity Government is in crises. It is important to get the unambiguous view of the TNA trio as they were right through supporting the government having given unconditional support to Sirisena. The TNA trio attended the Independence day celebrations when the Tamils have not obtained their Independence and treated as second class citizens. Mr.sambanthan raised the Lion flag which flag was not accepted by the Minorities. The TNA trio gave all the support to the Sirisena government against the will of the Tamil people. Nothing was achieved by the TNA for the Tamil people as promised.
    The Unity government is going to be ununited and the TNA leadership is going to retire from politics having damaged the will of the Tamil people. Back to square one where the Tamils started.

  • 0
    0

    Selfies are for those unable to find someone else to click – it is a sign of praising self.
    Metaphorically the express train monster is the corrupt governance that has gotten established. The monster is fuelled by the language/religious divide.
    The passengers are MPs from both sides getting drunk with bribes by voting themselves perks like cars etc etc. Of course the train driver will stop in time if the selfie is wearing a certain coloured set of cloths.
    Seriously speaking, the train has gone through hell for some seventy years. Should we reach the destination Hellpura or stop the train, change tracks and reverse?

  • 8
    1

    When media dictatorship is a fact, they enslave the people, revolution becomes a right.
    Pseudo Rani, paid for by Goni billa dynasty from Banda Island that introduced race and religious fanatic fascists is led by[Edited out]CBK the [Edited out] ill-famed.
    The American and British media misled the American and British people but the unswayable did not fail the people.

  • 2
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    TG’s hatred for MR and Gota is boundless. Stewing in venom is a pathetic and undignified pre-occupation. TG must see that there is no democracy in the present government (in the article she/he totally ignores that LG elections have been postponed by two years), and instead she/he makes a desperate, oh so desperate attempt of self consolation by making an ridiculous argument about the lack of a democratic opposition. Has TG even seen the amazing Sangupiddy bridge, or the beautiful rebuilt towns in the Vanni such as Killinocci, or the multiple, daily, Colombo-Jaffna express trains, are they too white elephants? Get real TG, you are reaching for the last straws of elitism!

  • 1
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    “The government has alienated the minorities with its toleration of the likes of BBS and the execrable monk Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara. It is allowing a segment of Sangha-extremists to decide how the country should be run, as if this is a Sinhala-Buddhist theocracy, a la Saudi Arabia or Iran.”

    It is a typical irrational comment made by someone bent on denying the rights of SINHALA-BUDDHISTS. For these theoreticians of newly established order of the power hungry politicians roaming the corridors of power in Colombo, the Buddhists monks have become the enemies of Sri Lankan nation.

    A non Buddhist under an assumption of a Sinhala Buddhist name has tried a fast one on the readers. My dear lady for you and others like you thinks Sri Lanka achieved statehood only in 1948. You are wrong dear we were a sovereign UNITARY state recognized and respected internationally prior to colonial masters came in 1505. We were ruled by Sinhala Buddhist kings. We would like to claim our true identity, heritage and way of life that you despise. And by the way we all are Sinhala Buddhists and we support the stance taken by the chief prelates of our Buddhist country, there are no extremists among us, so do not try to divide us further by quoting names like Galagoda Atte Gnanasara thero. He just identified what is bitter for you and other enemies of Sinhala Buddhists. Our nation was established way before your faith or religion was founded. So stop masquerading further.

  • 3
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    Aiyo…. Does Ms T want her buddy Dr Ranil t o form another UNP Police Force to ” Fix ” Rajapaksa?
    May be the Lady has a point……. Dr Ranil’s hand picked IGP ‘s Senior DIG has provided an escort for Swiss Kumar to travel to BIA to catch a Flight a Oslo……BTW the Lady hasn’t mentioned even one word about Dr Ranil’s good mate who is appearing in Yahapalana Courts every day with his SIL………….Poor Elite Anglicans and the Vellalas in Harbour city now have to sort out Plastic Wrap and Banana Leaves in Bath Parcels from the previous Night…..I can see it every Morning from my Balcony in Wellala gardens…

  • 0
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    Author ignorant and absolutely WRONG WRONG WRONG saying “The problem with SAITM is not its ownership but its dubious admission criteria and the questionable nature of its training. The government should have studied these issues in 2015 and proposed and implemented solutions, such as making SAITM degrees conditional on students sitting for and getting through a qualifying exam conducted by the Medical Council. That failure has enabled the GMOA to weaponise the issue, possibly as part of the broader Rajapaksa agenda of regaining power by pushing the country towards chaos and mob-rule.”
    When SAITM was approved, Dr.HHR prez SLMC wrote to SAITM there were no minimal stds. When Prof. Lalitha prez. she wrote ACT 16/ERPM not necessary for SAITM under local UGC recorded now in court verdict. Author is doing unbecoming accusatory gossip of injustice. Study the topic

  • 0
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    Bringing the helping Hambantota thieves and killers before the courts will end the lunacy of their return.

  • 4
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    “”Post-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka suffers from a deadly absence. It has a democratic government, but no democratic opposition.””

    4th Feb 1948 – wasn’t that Independence day for the Yakooos to expel the men and women bringing in the much needed foreign exchange to keep the island picturesque and the envy of her motherland across the palk straits?

    Before this day We had Freedom, Failure, Success and Responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

    pseudo rani, please go back to the viper and never return.
    Democracy consists of choosing your dictators after they’ve told you what you think it is you want to hear.

  • 3
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    TG is getting exposed in right royal fashion. No one believes her BS any more. This is what happens when one tries to defend the indefensible. After 30 months of yahapalana project in operation how many times TG has to hide behind Rajapakse phobia (count the times that name is mentioned here)? Yahapalanaya is over TG. Accept it and move on babe……………

  • 2
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    Just been to the shit hole for two weeks, It looks like it is beyond repair!
    Anarchy reins!
    Only hope is Gota!
    Don’t worry, even the Muslims I spoke in Arugambay wants Gota back! Soon Tamils will say the same!

    • 1
      1

      srinathan gunaratnam

      “Only hope is Gota!” For a final solution. The national hangman needs efficient gas chambers. You must bid for the contract. You should also approach his 10, 20, 30% one stop shop brother Basil.

      • 0
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        What do you do with your garbage these days?
        Is mega polish nana coming to collect it? Looks like he is the god father!

  • 2
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    If you talk to 100 people 99 would say the Rajapaksas (MR, GR with other Rs: Chamal, Basil, Namal etc) are the only solution to the current series of problems, because they have a vision, a plan, a team, a consistency, and the political will to finish any job (right or wrong). That’s what you need today to rectify the situation in Sri Lanka and to get out of this socio-political and economic quagmire.
    My cousin brother tried to speak against a Rakapaksa come back recently, and got almost beaten up by a young crowd in Ratnapura. Actually he wanted to test the people’s dissatisfaction and anger about this government. He jokingly told me that he had a ‘narrow escape’ (anu namayen berune!)
    Today you can not find a single person either in the city or any village, who voted for this Yahapalana government; it is as if the Yahapalanaya had fallen from the sky in Jan 2015. Look at Thisaranee G’s article; how much she and other CT writers praised and boasted about this government at the beginning and now what do they throw up? Some still look for a way out just like the proverbial cat that shit on the rock. Are these people responsible writers?
    My god, if an election is held today, Ranil Maithree combo will be political mincemeat.

    • 0
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      Gema from Ratnapura

      ” and got almost beaten up by a young crowd in Ratnapura.”

      By bringing MR clan to power you are also going to bring the kind of mob rule that your cousin luckily escaped from. You seem proud of MR’s mobs in action aren’t you? You deserve the mob to rule you.

      Of course MR, GR with other Rs: Chamal, Basil, Namal etc have a vision, a plan, a team, a consistency, and the political will to finish any job that they started when they were in power for 10 years, white vanning, robbing the country, committing human rights abuses, war crimes, nepotism, total impunity for crimes committed by the regime and its cronies, blanket bigotry, freedom for the saffron clad thugs to instigate violence, …………………and finally establishing a Sinhala/Buddhist fascist state.

      Are you a friend of Dayan or his partner?

  • 1
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    After so much time waving so many flags and carrying God knows how many buckets of water for “Yahapalanaya”, and much time and ink invested in critiquing “Mahinda Chinthanaya” with that very sharp pen, it must be indeed be a horrid awakening for Thisaranee, to be brought down to earth with such a thud !!

    • 0
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      maalumiris

      Am sorry what is your point if there is one?

  • 0
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    To Native Vedda,
    Why did you and the 6.2 million gullible bring this Yahapalanaya to power; to eradicate all kinds of evils having cited a lot of evil done by the Rajapaksas, and having believed Yahapalana lies like Gospel truth? Didn’t you? So, don’t talk about MR’s evils if you have failed to bring him to books. 99% Sri Lankans believe now he did an excellent job as a ruler since the country was full of crooks, thieves, robbers, and fraudsters. He managed all of them and still steered the country in the right direction. Apparently what happened in 2015 was to herd all criminals under one banner called ‘Yahapalanaya’ and give the power with a carte Blanche to rob the innocent Sri Lankans openly and inhumanly.
    Resultantly, what has now happened?
    MR’s famous quote: ‘Venasa Sapada’ says it all.
    Don’t you have mobs, goons, and thugs now? Underworld kingpin Angoda Lokka operates from India now. Correct me if I am wrong. Only verbal promises from the Big duo (Ranil and Maithree) but nothing works to alleviate the agony of the poor.
    BBS is doing even better now. Is there a democratic opposition in SL, I’m just curious?
    Not only white vans now we have a brand new introduction of black defenders! Don’t we?
    Do you want more? If you want let me know; I’ve a special file called ‘YPala’s Pie Jokes. Therefore, please get out of your jungle cocoon, leave your bow and arrow behind for a moment, and meet the people on the streets of Sri Lanka.

  • 0
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    The writer questions about Uma Oya: “Why did the government wait until the issue exploded?”
    It looks like the Y-Palan supporter and writer Thisaranee has become an Asaranee (one who has no refuge).
    Do you know today, 20 million Sri Lankans have no refuge either!
    So, keep blaming the Rajapaksas and everything will be hunky dory in the next 2 years!
    Let the readers comment!

    • 0
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      I was one of the few who predicted this shit storm, But relentlessly condemned by the MR hate gang!

      Lunatics waiting for Foreign direct investments to develop the country!
      Why on earth one would come to this shit hole where they have decent places like Malaysia, Thaiwan, China.Indonesia?

      Nobody talks about providing capitol our own blue chips and get them to develop the country.

      Imagine SL companies making highways, Tunnels, Big farms to feed the country.. Guess I am the only one see this dream!

      Anyway Gemma, Good to have you in the forum. Keep writing!

      • 0
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        Rajakashe backlicker – Srinatha is back to his usual business.

        Anyways, you the buggers would yet to see why Rajapakshes failed it.

        By March 2015, The world had been ready to impose trade sanctions against SRILANKA. If ballige putha had been ruining the country, being reelected, today, things would well have been smilar to that of Quatar, but still no fully comparable, since we the country is one another poor country.

        So, if you still see it other way around, matching with your goons, please bring us good examples Rajapakshe to have generated investments in the country.
        Instead of doing so, bugger et al did all harm, even today, crisis created in lanken economy is showing today aftershocks. How can a country be further bearable the kind of debts, loands, interests, and further running the govt … with all unexpected disasters keep coming one behind the other ?
        Srinath, please see it right at least today ?
        Rajaakshes were no means leaders that the folks should ever have to have elected.
        They today, make every advantage to paint the picture in favour of them using and abusing the press freedom and democray overflowing in the country.

  • 0
    1

    Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government: Taking Selfies On The Rail-track

    “Sirisena-Wickremesinghe Government: Taking Selfies On The Rail-track”

    Everyone bar themselves can see where they are heading, but none other than they themselves, can help. .

  • 0
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    To Samuel Jayaweera,
    You write about a ‘world’ that was ready to impose trade sanctions; I think you mean Hilary Clinton’s world and/or David Cameron’s world.
    You may not know but majority Sri Lanka is well aware the fact that this fake ‘world’ (Goni-billa) shown by Hilary C and D. Cameron has now vanished to thin air with those two. Their remnants are still haunting the entire developing world but they too would learn a lesson in the near future. It’s true they hated MR since he showed them the middle finger when they tried (through Milliband and Kouchner) to rescue Pirabaharan and his terrorist movement in 2009. In order to take revenge they conspired and toppled MR and brought in a slavish government. They chose the best puppet and gullible 6.2 million believed all lies then uttered.
    It was good for MR to leave the office in 2015. Why?
    1. It made the gullible 6.2 to realize not to repeat their mistake. They are rotting in hell-fire under Y-palan government today: Dengue, garbage, murders, underworld kidnaps, flood, landslides, Salawa fire, Central Bank robbery, and famine, you name it; every curse is on SL today.
    2. It taught the ‘puppet’ and his cohort who tried to stab MR after the infamous hopper dinner that governing a country is not a cake-walk. It requires a specialized knowledge and lot of experience, team work, and more than anything else, the people’s blessings. (If you hold an election today you would see how freaking blessed this government is!)
    3. It also teaches Samuel Jayaweera-type men who comment on CT just for the sake of commenting that readers should be careful of arm-chair journalists like Thisaranee G.

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