By Rajitha Bandara Gunawardena –

It is now the fashion and trend when one finishes cursing the Rajapaksas’ to turn on the leader of the opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe. He is useless they say, ineffectual, has overstayed his welcome, has doubtful sexual preferences, has no children, takes advice only from his friends, you name it Ranil is it.

Has anyone stopped to think of the alternative? Let’s assume the mantle was given to Karu Jayasuriya. He has gone over to the opposition held office as a minister proved more that ineffectual in the role and hasn’t had even the self-respect to go into oblivion when virtually chased out by the President. He has crawled back to his beginnings and resumed innocuous office as something or the other in the opposition. He was also taken back by this much maligned leader of the opposition.

So look closely at yourselves people of Sri Lanka. Blame yourselves just as much as you blame the leader of the opposition!

Sajith Premadasa has the following of the masses they say. He is relatively young and has his father’s charisma say others, with a faint air of desperation. The reality is that he has too many skeletons in his cupboard for his escapades in Yala during the regime of his father and his penchants for thuggery are still not forgotten by those who know.

Sajith Premadasa to gether with the Dayasiri Jayasekeras’ and all others of his ilk would have if given the mantle turned the UNP into a bunch of thugs. Trying to beat the masters of thuggery at their own game would have been just what the Rajapaksas’ wanted!

Don’t you critics’ understand? The single reason why the UNP hasn’t deteriorated further (I do admit to deterioration) and gone down to a level that would have been unrecognizable to those firmly committed to, it is Ranil Wickremesinghe.

All allegations of homosexuality and the daily insults heaped on him by the TV station run by the Maharaja organization have had no effect. The man doesn’t have to do this! He is wealthy in his own right and to insinuate that he is holding this post just to travel “first class around the world” is nothing but balderdash concocted by those who have desires and standards of this nature. Ranil Wickremesinghe has enough private wealth to travel many times around the world in style without having to undergo all these daily insults and allegations.

Look carefully. He has said no to those with doubtful credentials. He has allowed others up to the maximum level that is suitable to them and stopped them there, before the Peter Principle kicked in. No one has been able to buy him or blackmail him into submission, or to change his mind.

The opposition of this Country led by Ranil Wickremesinghe has been steadily and methodically exposing the shenanigans of the Rajapaka regime to the outside world. Think again people, is there anything else they could have done? What is the use of preaching to the converted in the drawing rooms of Colombo 7? They constitute too small a majority to make any change in an election. Furthermore they are too firmly ensconced in their comfort zones to do anything but pass a pseudo intellectual comment or two while sipping their single malt whiskeys!

The Majority of the Country has been totally brain washed by the war victory and the so-called supremacy of a lazy bunch of cultivators over the hard working industrious but mislead Tamils of the North. The Tamils made a mistake by thinking that terrorism would give them a shortcut to power. There are no shortcuts to power and route they were following before Prabhakaran came on the scene hard work, accumulation of wealth and the top positions in companies of the day would have given them what they wanted and more. They were but a short distance away from gaining economic dominance of the Sinhala people when the shortcut beckoned!

The abovementioned work ethic of the Sinhala race has found ideal release in the newly formed strata of society….the three-wheel driver. This specimen finds some money most often his mothers provident fund or a nest egg carefully saved over the years by that very prudent financial manager (the Sri Lankan Housewife) and makes a down payment on one of those infernal machines introduced to this country by a person whom I considered a motor enthusiast! Have you ever wondered why many three wheelers have slogans such as “Amma Buduwewa!” on the rear?  The reason being the aforesaid contribution provided by the mother to her beloved male child!

I digress but only to try and establish my point, that it is a waste of time trying to convince the majority of the voters in this Country to worry about economic well being or good governance. The mistake of acknowledging a high level of literacy (the mere ability to read) for intellectuality or even the ability to think and reason, has been the main reason.

The mediocre education curriculum probably introduced by the colonial rulers who just wanted clerks or “followers of orders” from the local populace has produced a majority that is only worried about keeping his neighbor down and doing better that him and expecting all free handouts and economic largesse from the Government. What they have forgotten is that the Government is no longer colonial and with all their faults at least the Colonial rulers had respect for the rule of law and took some responsibility for the well being of the people.

Since the Colombo 7 people don’t care and the majority is too busy pursuing their own narrow minded and artificial standards, I repeat what is the use of trying to stir any action from them?

The only hope is to expose these thugs for what they are to the International community and hope that after the international community finishes in dealing with those who provide fossil fuels to them, that they will turn their eyes towards the blatant misrule and open robbery that is being conducted under the guise of a democratic system of governance.

Meanwhile it is essential to maintain the main opposition party the UNP, as a party that people with honor and dignity, respect for the law and decent moral standards will vote for, when the opportunity arises.

In my view the current leader of the opposition has done this job admirably, in the current circumstances.

Before the insults fly let me assure the protagonists’ that I have last been face to face with Ranil Wickremesinghe around 10 years ago, I have received absolutely no payment for this piece but I am related to him as most of us are in this small Island community.

So look closely at yourselves people of Sri Lanka. Blame yourselves just as much as you blame the leader of the opposition!

Related posts;

What is Wrong With Ranil? Did The UNP Win Because Of John’s Charisma Or John’s Smile ? By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya

The UNP’s Leadership Struggle; Ranil,Sinhala-Buddhist Racism and Rosy By Uvindu Kurukulasuriya