By Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu –
The other day, killing time in the airport lounge, I picked up the Sunday Observer. Not something I do on a regular basis, never having been able to reciprocate the attention the state controlled media has paid to me over the years. On the front page was an article – this was the 13 April issue- titled “Lanka tops Child –Friendliness Index in South Asia” by Ranil Wijayapala. Mr Wijayapala’s article was devoted to remarks made by the Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda on this achievement, which according to the minister – no surprise here – is due to government efforts and initiatives. Clearly no one asked Vibooshika for her views or Sharmila who recently miscarried in detention, her views, either. What caught my eye in particular was the stunning revelation by the minister about His Excellency the President. In Wijeyapala’s words:
He (the minister) said children in Sri Lanka are fortunate to have a leader such as President Mahinda Rajapaksa who loves children more than any other world leader. (Emphasis mine)
Now, how does he know? How many other world leaders does he know and know well enough to make this claim? Does he know Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, who despite international reports of children in his country starving, must surely be incensed by the sheer chutzpah of Karaliyadda’s statement! No Pyongyang for him, surely, but no doubt grace and favour in large and steady doses from our most child-loving chief executive! Kim outdoes him, perhaps only just, in the scale and frequency of personal posters, banners and hoardings. When it comes to flattery and compliments, again Kim has the decided advantage, but, as it is fast becoming clear, only just!
Karaliyadda’s statement is not the first by a politician in this country ridiculously, obsequiously flattering his leader – it may though be the first of this kind – so very up close and personal – that has been given front page coverage in a media organ that was taken over by the state to be broad-based in terms of ownership, but continues for decades to be abused as a propaganda organ. Has Karaliyadda no shame? Actually it is difficult to understand the nature of the beast as it were, since he, Karaliyadda, reportedly advocates legislation to allow rapists to marry their victims!
More importantly, as a reflection of governance and political culture in this country, we have regressed into the surreal – fantastically farcical at one level; chillingly frightening at another. Does Mahinda Rajapaksa acknowledge this bilge and buffoonery, nurture, nourish and reward it? How can this man be a minister? How can this regime even contemplate laws that will provide for rapists marrying their victims? What perverted “child development” is that? Is Mahinda Rajapksa listening, does he care? I think not. This is his creation. The dynastic project over which he presides and of which he is the crucial element requires this over- the –top and absurd rhetoric, repressive and pre-historic legislation.
And there is more………
Consider what happened to the UNP MPs who visited Hambantota, home turf of the dynasty. His Lordship the Mayor, an apparatchik of the dynasty was there to meet and greet and beat and even shoot at them (?) along with a chunk of loyal locals. And with a toy gun, he says. Toy guns are standard issue for local government and governance these days? Let us not forget the ongoing Khuram Shaikh case. No, it is not toy guns that are widely used – rather it is more of a case of guns, real guns as toys for the “nasties” of the regime! And the police look on as if their primary function in contemporary Sri Lanka is not the protection of civilians and the rule of law but the encouragement and observation of their destruction. Let us not forget that vicious vignette of violence at Hotel Nippon and the countless other instances of the police looking on – passive witnesses rather than active watchdogs and guardians of law and order and the rule of law.
The culture of governance spawned by the regime is such that the international profile of the country is being ruined. International investigation into allegations of war crimes and hagiographic personality cult type propaganda around the president and his family, give Kim Jong-un a run for his money. Gun-toting local politicians and thuggish monks visiting violence on their own and others with relative impunity, reports of increased sexual harassment of female foreign tourists, an apparently resurgent LTTE now apparently nipped in the bud, but with spin-offs in cordon and search operations and detentions, cumulatively make for adverse travel advisories, which in turn have obvious economic consequences. Does the regime have a plan to reverse all or any of this? Does it have a purpose beyond its entrenchment in power for posterity? Or, is this the plan? Who is in charge and of what, for what?
I suspect there is a coterie within the regime, which believes that a certain discipline will have to be restored, control asserted and the unseemly, untidy instances of Hambantota and Hotel Nippon, the ludicrous excesses of the likes of Karaliyadda and the advertent or inadvertent penchant for keeping up with the Kims, must all be reined in. For them the regime is on the soundest footing when it is lean and mean, neat and tidy.
For those who believe – God help us. There are signs that the worst is yet to come if like the police, we just watch – as instructed?
Snooty Pooty / April 21, 2014
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/
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Thiru / April 21, 2014
I would like to be a policeman in Sri Lanka in view of the reported fact that one only has to watch crimes, and not prevent it or arrest the culprits. What a risk free job these guys have! Unfortunately as a Tamil I won’t get one. It is reserved mainly for them.
Sinhalese people at last have chosen the best person – Maharajapakse by voting him to lead the country in the 21st century! This is the pinnacle of achievement for them after 66 years of independence, that is not enjoyed by Tamils: Independence seems to be like a garland in monkey’s hands.
This Frankenstein monster they created can only be slain by an international effort. Let’s wait for it.
Isn’t it truly the wonder of Asia like no other?
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Eusense / April 21, 2014
Thiru,
Do you live in SL? Have you applied for a Police job or are you just speculating?
Could you list the specifics of independence the Sinhalese are enjoying but not Tamils?
You may have forgotten that Sri Lanka is a democracy and not everyone has the same intellectual capacity.
Dogs can bark but the caravan moves on.
You say, “This Frankenstein monster they created can only be slain by an international effort. Let’s wait for it.”
It may be a long wait for you until the people of Sri Lanka vote the monster out!
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Ajith / April 21, 2014
Are you paranoid with the word LIST?
Go and prepare a list of children killed by your MR.
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Dodo / April 22, 2014
Nice one Dr. Sara! Keep up your good works..
The Defense Ministry now advertizes life in Beautified and PETRIFIED Colombo on English radio channels.
Its a wonderful life with Gota the Goon in Charge of our city! Every possible piece of earth is being paved and covered with concrete, so the city turns into a hot house concrete jungle of cement!
This is because one of the Jarapassa brats owns the company that makes concrete blocks and tiles for paving roads and pavements..
Its a wonderful life for Sinhala Modayas who vote for the corrupt and criminal Jarapassa family…
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eusense / April 22, 2014
Ajith,
You will have to bear with me. Î will be asking for lists as long as I am not convinced with some posts like these. Do you have any brain? This thiru guy is saying Tamils don’t enjoy independance but Sinhalese do. Wouldn’t you like to know what independence they don’t have? If you know these, you need to educate me on these rather than posting stupid statements.
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Parker / April 22, 2014
@Eusense
Could you list the specifics of independence the Sinhalese are enjoying but not Tamils?
I have noticed in many places you have asked this kinda question on CT.
It’s very simple!! Here we Go!
1) I go to a police station and make a complain against a sinhalese even in jaffna police station, I’m 99.9% sure that I wont get justice. But at the sametime, if my complain was against a tamil, then I can be 99.9% sure that I’ll get justice. In other part of the country where more sinhalese live, the chances of getting justice against a sinhala guy by a tamil is 0%.
2) They ask me to sing national anthem in sinhala, But still tamil is declared as official language in north and east in the constitution(IF NOT, PLS STUDY CONSTITUTION OF SL). You may ask in which country national anthem in two languages like your rapist army leader asked a BBC reporter in an interview. I think that BBC reporter did not do enough ground work to reply that rapist. (Canada national anthem in English and French version, and South Africa national anthem contains lyrics of 5 languages.) I think the first example is enough to say my rights in your so-called democratic country which treats tamils as equal.
Hope I have given the answer to your question which your are asking many people on CT for so long. So PLEASE DO NOT ASK THE SAME QUESTION ON CT AGAIN IF YOU HAVE BRAIN TO UNDERSTAND WHAT I WROTE ABOVE.
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Rationalist / April 22, 2014
The Criterion is not only whether you are Sinhalese or Tamil, but whether you support the Royal Family or not.
Are we a Democracy or a Monarchy?
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eusense / April 22, 2014
Park,
You seem to be a cut and paste guy. Why don’t you go back to the drawing board and come up with some real problems???
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Parker / April 23, 2014
@Eusense
First off, before calling me copy and paste guy….you first stop asking the same question again & again (though your question already answered by me , you still ask)
All over the places your question is same…. So do i need to spend time to type again & again for you who do not understand the simple thing what i wrote in one place and ask the same question in different places again again….??? So my answer is same again and again by simply copying and paste….
How can you say it is not real problem, and imaginative? This is what happened and happening here in your so-called mother lanka…..
if you are in complete denial mood to listen or understand what i said, no one can do nothing….
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Parker / April 23, 2014
@ eusense
This is the comment for the question you raised in another article…. I am just pasting here in case you missed it to read there…
///Check what the blacks in the US had to go through to be where they are now. No right to vote, own land, have an education, sit or dine with the whites etc. Etc. Did they raise arms against the gov? ///
So you are comparing US and your f***ing SL….
I always thought if it was in US or somewhere in Europe by this 50 yrs time we could have achieved what Blacks got in US right now…. Since we fought with shit people like you still we are in this situation and it still goes on….
By the way, keep in mind that LTTE took arms in 1973. Almost 25 yrs since Independence, tamils fought for rights in non-violent way…
When tamils fought in non-voilent way, sinhala rulers used the military and sinhala thugs to attack tamils…… Then, tamil had no option but to take arms to protect themselves from the military and your thugs….
So before blaming tamils, you first study history…..
I’m not childish….you are child here who do not fully understand the history and what happened in the past asking & saying stupidest things like we took arm in the first day itself…..
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eusense / April 23, 2014
Parker,
As long as you and others write of “no rights/no independence” I will be asking this question over and over again. Sorry, I am yet to receive a valid answer to this question! Why don’t you try again without writing garbage?
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Parker / April 23, 2014
if you dont understand no can make you understand ….
even getting a justice itself again a sinhala guy is basic right denial….
still you still ask the same F****…. question….. and simply say this is not a valid answer….
Continue your F***….
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Eusense / April 24, 2014
Park,
Your use of words and language shows your intellectual capacity. How can one expect any answers from people like you? Let me re-state your problems so far,
1. Singing National anthem in Tamil (can I ask, when did you last sing the national Anthem?)
2. Police station don’t take you seriously (did you experience this or it is 3rd hand info you got from some diaspora?)
3. ……
4. ……
5. ……
So, what do you want? a separate Tamil nation or take up arms against Sri lanaka?
No wonder no one take you seriously!
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Seelawathi Jayasinghe / April 21, 2014
“Is Mahinda Rajapksa listening, does he care? I think not. This is his creation. The dynastic project over which he presides and of which he is the crucial element requires this over- the –top and absurd rhetoric, repressive and pre-historic legislation.”
This is clearly the plain truth. Yes absurd rhetoric make the gaping folks further hopeful. That is adavantageous for his political survival. This he is well aware of having had the chance to be in Parliament politics for last 45 years. Not much of his experience, could use for the progress of the nation though. If this was otherway around, we could have achieved a lot ALONE during the last 5 years since the war is no longer there, the country´s spirit has relieved the nation to some extent. Any genuine leader would have done so much to bring the country to the order after 30 years of struggle.
Today, almost many are divided. Like school principle would have gone fully wrong, no ministers of the current regime earns respect -whatever the issue it has been at the hand. Let alone, if those ministers were able to show MR (most abusive leader the country ever produced), people would have been somewhat happier. To this day- not many would hail MR politics anymore.
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Seelawathi Jayasinghe / April 22, 2014
What Sarath Fonseka added
http://www.dailymirror.lk/news/46098-geneva-resolution-justified-by-htota-attack-sf.html
in the video is fearless statement that a leader could make studying the the ground reality of highly corrupted MR administration.
How can one expect this kind of Adminitration to have better diplomatic relations.
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Banda´s cousin / April 22, 2014
I heard from my Arab colleagues, even Gadafi was touching babies, even teenagers and men many a time to paint a nice picture about his unestimable love towards young generations. But what came to light after his tyranny was – all far abusive activities that had been practising by him along his reign.
So I believe, the days ahead of us – starting from latest attack made on his parliamentarians all other hidden nature of his inhuman mechanisms will come to surface. Many raise the question today – why not Sajith Premadasa was not disturbed by the very same gangster groups with armed in the same manner, but UNPers of impartial kind. This hints that the rulers may have some hidden agendas with Sajitha premadas fraction, former president premadasa´s son.
I heard one of the goons attacked MP Ajith Perera was scolding him ” you the bitch´s sons killed many of our people during late 80ties, but dont repeat those acts again, I warn you etc”. If my memory permit right, it was Premadasa regime claimed those killings being unable to keep the control over the administration in late 80ties.
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Seenuwa / April 21, 2014
Dr Saravanamuttu,
We salute you for your fearless upright stance against the failed regime and we demand other so called ‘public figures’ to express their stand on this corrupt to the core administration.
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Eusense / April 21, 2014
See,
If you are genuinely waiting for the outset of this regime, it can be done only by the people of Sri Lanka and at the polling booth.
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Palmsquirrell / April 22, 2014
You and I know Rajapaksa clan has a monopoly on power, so what are the odds of them allowing a viable contender to outseat them at the voting booth.
Rajapaksa will try all manner of dirty tricks to sabotage any serious opposition , and they have all the resources of the State (including the Armed Forces) to do this with.
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Eusense / April 22, 2014
Palm,
Be positive. No regime can go on for ever. Don’t you know what happened to many middle eastern leaders?
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Sapumal / April 21, 2014
very well written piece of writing by Dr. Saravanamuttu. Keep up your good work to achieve better country for the suffering masses. We have to defeat this regime and change the system for future generation without any hesitation.
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Andreasappuhamy / April 21, 2014
Dr Sara,
thanks for your article. Please write more.
You can definitely make a big voice about the grave realities of the regime. All right thinking ones will support you along. This country has now reached to a level of human rights violations as none of us ever dreamt, but their obsequious men to repeatedly misguide the nation this way has now become familiar with the society. People gape, do nothing.
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Sama / April 21, 2014
IF CBK or any of the past leaders would not have taken the side of culprits as the incumbent president covers and makes every effort to misguide the nation saying that the attack against UNP MPs during their visit to Hambantota was not serious.
http://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/46058-unp-mps-dismiss-claims-made-by-mr.html
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lionking / April 22, 2014
MR is the biggest culprit in the world
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Seelawathi Jayasinghe / April 23, 2014
We had leaders
But none of them reacted with this kind of rascal nation, this kind of corrupted ways, this kind of hypocratic nature. Even Premadasa was not not abusive as MR has been.
He has all hidden agendas to deceive the people.
But gawky people would not learn it either.
We the ones that are against from that day on are caught by the system:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
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Andreasappuhamy / April 21, 2014
This is what I found being explained in English, not a single man is taken to custody yet, in terms of the brutal attacked on the MPs… instead, the man in power -Murderous Rajapakshe has added it was all because that UNP critcised those development projects…. so … people wake up. tomorrow is too late
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqxRpVvko_Y
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Ally Weerasinghe / April 21, 2014
Still the people of Sri Lanka wish to elect them to rule. For EXAMPLE you see what happened at Negombe recently, A UNP candidate who was alleged to have been behind a robbery was elected by the people of Gampaha. These are the type of thanksgiving people Sri Lanka has. Luckily he was a UNP er. If he was a UPFA man you would have dragged him to Meda Mulana.
What did you do with your NGO pl. Why don’t you spend some money to educate the people on the how to act in a democracy and to train them to weigh the democratic values in time of elections.
Untill and unless the people do not think of the real value of their ballets the politicians will be up in their arms to win by whiiping up communalism as it is the taste of the people. Now the rational selection is inciting nationalism and even the fair thinking people also fall prey to this gimmik.
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Senerath K / April 21, 2014
‘Why don’t you spend some money to educate the people on the how to act in a democracy and to train them to weigh the democratic values in time of elections’.
Very True!
Sara – Very well written. Thank you.
Can we educate the Medamoolana Gon Raja and his cronies as Alley Weerasinghe suggests? The trouble is nothing good go into their dumb brain.
About the attack on the UNP MP’s, I guarantee that nothing concreat would come out. I bet my bottom dollar. It was planned by Raja-PinGona.
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Seelawathi Jayasinghe / April 22, 2014
God will tame Medmulana thugs very soon.
There dates are numbers. Instead of taking the side of the victimized MPs, this man – today president is making every efforts to convince the nation that his goons´activities against the MPs were not avoidable.
Is this the statement of MINISTER of defence of the nation today ?
Should be the statement of the President of the country ?
Entire world would even go further and make every efforts to corner the man and his adminsitration, studying these incidents very closely.
He has been digging his own pit by this kind of acts..
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lionking / April 22, 2014
Murderous MaRa monkey is the one behind attacks, so protects himself
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Grammarian / April 21, 2014
May not matter to most people but if we want to use formal titles, then better be right about them:
A Mayor is His Worship not His Lordship.
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Crazyoldmansl / April 21, 2014
“The culture of governance spawned by the regime is such that the international profile of the country is being ruined.”
It has nothing to do with the regime. THIS IS THE SINHALA BUDDHIST CULTURE!! get it!!!
The profile of the country may be ruined but EVERY SINGLE SINHALA BUDDHIST IS PROUD OF THIS CULTURE!!! and every single SINHALA BUDDHIST SUPPORTS AND DEFENDS HIS/HER BELOVED PRESIDENT AND GOVERNMENT.
THIS IS THE MAJORITY. DO YOU GET IT???
This is what happened to JAPAN. This is what happened to GERMANY. THEY HAD THE SAME CULTURE. How did it change? Has it changed? This is where INDIA is heading.
WE KNOW WHAT IS WRONG BUT WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PUT IT RIGHT. DO YOU KNOW HOW? EVERYTHING ELSE IS IRRELEVANT.
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Dr.Goebells / April 22, 2014
Crazyoldman
All you do is exhibit your bigotry by bashing Buddhism . Get a life , old man – it’s never too late .
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K.A.Sumanasekara / April 21, 2014
May be Dr Paikiosothy is pissed off that Mahinda doesn’t give these Children Military training as his Diaspora buddies ‘and TNA MP’ s one time ally did..
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Sama / April 21, 2014
This is what the reality of Rajapakshe administration
————————————————————————
H’tota mayor adding insult to injury-Mano
April 20, 2014, 10:10 pm
article_image
By Lal Gunasekera
Mayor of the Hambantota Municipal Council Eraj Fernando instead of damage control was further discrediting the Government and was a joker to say that he was only carrying a toy weapon when the video footage and photographs in the newspapers proved otherwise, declared leader of the Democratic People’s Front (DPF) Mano Ganeshan in a brief interview with The Island yesterday (20) on the attack on the UNP Parliamentarians who visited the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Airport in Mattala and the Magampura Harbour built by the Government which he too charged were white elephants.
The DPF condemned the violent incidents on April 17 (Thursday) whole heartedly on the UNP MPs who went to investigate the waste and corruption that went to build those two massive projects and congratulated those five UNP MP’s and others who were with them, he said adding that the attacks proved what the opposition claimed right from the start that those projects would only heap more burdens on the people as they were was full of corruption.
It was a systematic arrangement to prevent the country at large from knowing the truth. Both the airport and harbour did not belong to a family, but the people of Sri Lanka who had a right to know the truth, the DPF leader said.
He said that opposition MP’s had a right to visit such mega projects of the government and went to prove that there was no law and order in the country.
Ganeshan said that Speaker of Parliament Chamal Rajapaksa should take action for violating the rights of the people’s representatives and that the Police too should not only attempt to investigate this incident, but bring the culprits to book without delay instead of bowing down to government pressure.
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Dan / April 21, 2014
The “paradise” island under the Rajapakse regime has become a lawless land where the powerful can get away with murder. Now the poor sinhala people are also going through what the Tamils have been going through for decades. a regime change is a must for the betterment of the people.
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Truth / April 21, 2014
The attack on UNP members of Parliament by a gun toting Mayor and his goons is a disgraceful incident. It will increase the fear of both foreign and local tourists considering a stop over in either Hambantota or Tangalla. It will also deter foreign investors from investing in Hambantota where the law of the jungle appears to rein.
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Spring Koha / April 22, 2014
Ho ho ho….First we had Hollywood Westerns,……..then came the Spaghetti Westerns…..now, NEW from the southern badlands of Sri Lanka, we give the world the first CURRY Western. Bang! Bang! Duddi-Biddi! Ammata Siri! Now showing ‘Gunfight at Magampura Corral’
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Piranha / April 22, 2014
Dr Sara, being a fearless defender of human rights, must expose the excesses of this dreadful regime more frequently. People like Tissa Karaliyadde should never have been appointed a minister let alone an MP and their words and actions are a shame for the country’s name.
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georgethebushpig / April 22, 2014
Dear Dr. Saravanamuttu,
You couldn’t have articulated my anger and frustration better than this! May the force be with you in your continuing fight for equality and justice. Respect!
Regards
GTBP
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Native Vedda / April 22, 2014
georgethebushpig
“May the force be with you”
Sorry, are you the hermit Obi-Wan Kenobi from planet Tatooine?
Or General Dodonna?
Or Han Solo?
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georgethebushpig / April 22, 2014
From Bintanne.
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michael pereira / April 22, 2014
[Edited out] signing for his supper yet again. Mahinda rajapakse is the presidrnt thst dri lsnka needed, and needs to be in power to safeguard the integrity of the country. The minorities needd to be given yheir tights within a unitary and united sri lanka.
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Piranha / April 23, 2014
Dr Sara has hit a raw nerve, no?
BTW, minorities need to be given their rights? When? Will never happen, mate, as long as opportunistic Sinhala politicians like Rajapaksa are in power.
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george jilmart / April 22, 2014
Dr Sara, could not agree with you more. This regime is sliding Sri Lanka into the gutter in a cesspool of dog urine and pig shit. This law on rape reflects the brutality, ignorance and barbaric behavior of the royal family and entourage of goons and puppets and drug dealers. The sooner we get rid of them the better and I do hope and pray that the international investigation will culminate in destroying these imbeciles who are ruling the country. Time for the citizens to come out now and I am disappointed that the likes of JD and Justice Weeramantry are keeping silent. Of course Ranil and team are spineless and not coming out strong like they should. Exposure and expression by the citizens is vital now.
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Safa / April 22, 2014
The Minister of Indigenous Medicine wears a Black Chequered Sataka as compared to the Kurrakan Sataka worn by the Prez. So he must have cast himself into a lower role of indigenous vassal of the high and mighty.
Prez may love children but his alter ego sibling Gota simply hates children of what he calls LTTE rump. Except of course for children of KP and Karuna and Military Personnel. We are confronted by a situation of Good Cop, Bad Cop; Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde; Gota and Mahinda; Ugly American, Dharmishta Prez.
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lionking / April 22, 2014
Medamoolana MR Mee Haraka is ruining the country. Disgrace.
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Spring Koha / April 22, 2014
Every action of the odious Child Development and Women’s Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda is targeted to please his lord and master. This man got this job only because he is without cojones. He does his job from a supine horizontal position, occasionally taking the trouble to get up and bend over for his political superiors. One would have thought that in a country that elected the world’s first woman prime minister, we would have found at least one woman who could handle the interest of child and woman with common sense and good focus. Fat chance given the warped qualifications needed for appointment to a Rajapaksa cabinet.
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Bensen Burner / April 22, 2014
Well said P.Sara. your papers are very refreshing. Bensen
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justice / April 22, 2014
Dr. Sara had better watch out.The President and his state terror enforcers do not like home truths.
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Aman Faris / April 22, 2014
Well written piece, doc, as is expected from you but do take care.
Aman
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