19 March, 2024

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There Is No An Alternative

By Emil van der Poorten

Emil van der Poorten

Emil van der Poorten

As one of those who welcomed the removal of a despot and his entourage on January 8th, I am also one of those who are sick and tired of a Maithri/Ranil (MR2) dispensation which seems only to be adept at issuing “motherhood and apple pie” statements from time to time and has displayed a capacity to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the rape and pillage this country was subjected to for better than a decade and the need to bring the guilty to justice. Not only do they keep trotting out excuses for their lack of action to make the guilty pay the price they owe Sri Lankan society, in more cases than I care to count, they have even appointed some of them to positions of authority and “respect,” and I am not even counting the “camp-followers” of the Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR 1) dispensation in this number!

At best, this can be attributed to naivety, but given the fact that that every one of the decision-makers is a seasoned politician it puts their conduct beyond the pale and implies complicity in what has probably been the most disgraceful chapter in Sri Lanka’s recent history.

Many moons ago, I wrote a piece expressing the opinion that, in the matter of Ranil Wickremesinghe, it was a case of TINA (“There is no alternative”). The title of today’s piece says something very different.

Let me explain why that is not, simply, a matter of me changing my mind.

When MR 1 had succeeded in cowing every media person, self-appointed “opinion-maker” and his mother into subservience, genuflecting metaphorically, if not literally, in the presence of and in respect of every utterance of that horde, it was popular to pillory Ranil Wickremesinghe and blame him for the lack of resistance to truly unbelievable behaviour in what was alleged to be a democratic country. In fact it was those very critics who bore the real responsibility for that state of affairs, displaying little less than abject cowardice before what they saw as MR 1’s wrath. I chose not to join their ranks for the simple reason that I believed that the problem was far bigger than any shortcomings of Ranil Wickremesinghe and the fact that it was patently obvious that the responsibility for lack of resistance to what MR1 was visiting on this country rested squarely on the shoulders of those who tacitly or otherwise gave the MR1 government free rein. I believe that January 8th bore out the accuracy of that evaluation and that of several (primarily female) members of the Sri Lankan “commentariat,” a small minority certainly but one that was distinguished by its adherence to principle and the journalistic skill to express that adherence.

Now, we have had MR2 at the wheel of the Sri Lankan ship of state and they have given no evidence of a real commitment to return this country to anything resembling good governance.

Yes, we acknowledge the fact that the wheels of justice must not be employed like those of a tractor thrashing through the mud of some paddy field. We share the distaste of MR2 for “White Van Justice.” We do not believe that the forces of law and order, be they the judiciary, the police or any of our security services, should be used simply to advance the interests of some ruling clique. We have no quarrel with the government on those matters.

However, we have a right to demand from this government the removal of those individuals, some of whom have been elevated to senior Cabinet rank, from those positions because many of them were specifically voted out by the people of this country and were accused of offences that were often, if not always, of a criminal nature.

I know mine is no longer one of the few male voices to be heard against bribery, corruption and the larger crimes committed during the tenure of MR1, asking that the due process of law be applied against the perpetrators. There is now a host of critics whose voices we never heard during the MR1 reign who are only too ready to have their fingers dance across keyboards critical of what MR1 did. Those of us who were in the trenches then will not begrudge those who’ve joined us now the right to say what they are saying. After all they are voicing the opinion of a majority of our people who are stating unequivocally that they feel the delay in bringing thieves and murderers to trial is totally unacceptable.

What is most disquieting, despite increasing evidence, circumstantial at this stage, is that this procrastination is not accidental or due to simple incompetence..

There appear to be people in decision-making positions who because they “bought insurance” for the eventuality of MR1 returning or for reasons even more crass which have currency signs attached to them are either slowing due process of law or ensuring that even the first steps are never taken to ensure the return of justice to this land.

And make no mistake, even if token prosecutions are launched, justice delayed is justice denied.

The only political organization that has displayed any adherence to principle and the need for the return of the rule of law, and done so with admirable consistency, has been the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Unfortunately, however, rightly or wrongly, it appears that the majority of Sri Lankans have never forgiven that party’s conduct in the late eighties when it ran a reign of terror that challenged that of the government of the day and its less-savoury successors! That they insist on continuing to treat Rohana Wijeweera as some kind of god-head, given his direct association with the most bestial chapter of the “old” JVP is beyond the comprehension of any rational analyst. Dropping Rohana from their one-man pantheon of gods, given historical reality, could not be characterized as some act of political opportunism. It would be consonant with their loudly declared abandonment of armed struggle in favour of the (elective) democratic process.

Forgiving the crooks who robbed us blind or, worse yet, pretending that they didn’t and we, as a nation, “need to get on with our lives and not dwell on the negative past” is unadulterated balderdash and a simple recipe for some kind of self-inflicted annihilation that goes beyond “race” and creed and community.

Either in support of the JVP or in parallel with it, there needs to be a movement to restore democracy and corruption-free governance to this country. This is not simply a matter of morality, principle or ethics. That restoration is a sine qua non for the very existence of this country as one of elementary decency where basic law and order prevails.

If those infesting the Parliament of this country cannot be persuaded to change their behaviour and I am in no way optimistic of the chances of that happening, I believe that we need to take extra-Parliamentary steps to effect the change that we need. Mind you, these will, of necessity not be extra-judicial in the manner of the armed revolts that the JVP was responsible for twice in its relatively short history but relatively passive resistance that has succeeded in the past and can in the future.

We need to draw people of like mind – believers in justice, fairness and the rule of law – together, whether in protest groups or in some other form that the new information technology (IT) provides, to make our collective voice heard. My understanding – as one who is basically semi-literate insofar as the internet is concerned – is that the communication skills that many Sri Lankans already possess – irrespective of the level of their skill in an international language such as English – transcends the traditional barriers that the previous printed or broadcast word encountered. In such circumstances building a coalition of those who share the same beliefs should be more than simply possible and should enter the realm of the probable.

Let me say, though, that any such coming together must be action-oriented and not simply another “think tank” issuing statements about the obvious and simply adopting a holier-than-thou stance. God knows we have enough of such pandithayas shooting off their mouths already and a media only too ready to help them in their quest for publicity for themselves, emitting a load of hot air in the name of this “Forum” and that!

I know that this is not the first time that some of us have issued a “call to arms,” such as this. We did the same during the time that MR1 was white-vanning those they saw as being an impediment to their quest for absolute power. That appeal for resistance worked and I have no doubt that a similar effort will not be in vain to combat the insidious danger that promises to be as large as the one from which we only recently escaped. After all, aren’t those dark days just as unacceptable now as they were then?

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Latest comments

  • 4
    0

    Dear Mr.Van der Pooten, you are absolutely right.It is high time that we said Cheerio to both the UNP and The SLFP.If these two parties continue, our grandchildren will have no country to live with dignity.We need another party with democratic ideals, not pseudo Buddhistic party.

    The 2016 budget is a massive fraud.The Finance Minister says that the Govt has no money.Some of the taxes that are to be imposed will kill the medium and small industries.This make me believe that the purpose of the taxes are to settle I.O.Us with big business. The Taxes on company registration is a killer for the small industrialists.In place of taxing profits this govt had decided to tax upfront even before the small industrialist start making some money.

    The Duty structure imposed as Excise Taxes will kill at least 16 industries, some as old 400-500 years and with an unblemished record.If there were rackets, those loop holes should have been closed.The Excise tax structure will leave only three companies surviving and strangely they are all major importers of alcoholic beverages.The Coconut Arrack industry is killed.

    A proposal to close the loop holes was submitted – not even an acknowledgement received.

    If the country need money what they should have done was to save the money spent on fuel by resorting to biofuels made in SL as in Brazil and US – there are another 112 countries resorting to biofuels. This cane be done with immediate effect and can be completed in five years. Between 2005-2015 Rs 4,149,581,000,000 and during 2014 Rs 626,025,000,000 had been spent to import fuel.This money could have fed all men, women, children, dogs cats and even ants free for over one year.This can be easily produced in SL and the investment will be about Rs 100 Mn and over the next five years about Rs 1000 Mn.The women proceeding to the Middle East can stay at home and assist in this industry.

    We are living in a country of idiots.From where are we going to find money for the Mega Cities, will it be another round of debts?

  • 3
    5

    On 20 November 2014 you made a Jesus Christ out of a Judas and you shall reap what you sow.

    Soma

    • 6
      2

      somaaaassss

      “On 20 November 2014 you made a Jesus Christ out of a Judas and you shall reap what you sow.”

      On 19 May 2009, you made a war hero out of a crook and a war criminal.

      The people reaped what they sow.

  • 1
    0

    It is obvious and very clear that most of the 200 plus who have infested the Parliament would never change. From January 8th to now they have proved that. But your recommendation to institute that “extra-Parliamentary steps” (I do not know what those are or what you mean by it)would not be accepted. Reason (1): This country has undergone so much of such “upheavals” in different forms and the people are fed up with and that is very “significant” in voting all these “Bastards” over and over again. (2) The PEOPLE, the decision makers too haven been “corrupted” by all these so called “Politicians” by offer of various “goodies” (the names of these “goodies” are so exhaustive to list) during election time and the voters have been “preyed” upon without their knowledge. (3)The major political parties do not attract or promote “deserving” nominees for a vote, mainly because the entire election process up to voting time is all about “MONEY”. (4) These “corrupted” politicians have even “preyed” upon the religious clergy (mainly the Buddhist) and their “Institutions” have been converted to “election platforms” and they have been subjugated to a “slavery level) (sorry to say it that way, but it is a fact)(5) The so called “Academically Qualified”; “Professionals” in every field of expertise (Legal, Law Enforcement etc) have been “Bought Over”, again by allowing them to have “life styles” that do not match their income levels to “intoxicant” levels so that they will always “resist” change or even if a change takes place they will very surreptitiously “sabotage” being holding on to high level “Management Positions”. (6) The ordinary people are not “empowered” to make a “Self Assessment” of what is “right and wrong” and always prevented from going beyond what these politicians preach and promise.

    In the above context, I believe, the FIST is to make a “Social Change” with the participation of the “Selfless” persons at all levels in the society. In the presence of all the above “Situational Pollution” carried out for the last five decades it is not that an “easy task”; yet it is a NEED and a MUST if we are to emerge victorious. If this NEED fails, the next alternative would be definitely for the “Advent” of a “Benevolent Dictator” and that is the Last Resort.

  • 3
    0

    When Emil describes the two regimes MR1 and MR2 it is obvious that he means that the two regimes are two sides of the same coin. Both of them when they are in power sing the same song too often, forgetting that we have a voter base in a very high literacy rate, so much so that they can read between the lines. Mahinda & Co sang the war victory too much. Did the people buy that when he was booted out? The answer is obvious. MS & Co (inclusive of Ranil) sing too much as to how the government is committed to good governance, how they reduced the opulent outlook and not wasteful as before, little realizing that hearing the same story again and again becomes dull. But both the groups are politicians having an alliance to some political party and their supporters, some being the kith & kin wish, to amass wealth, mostly out of public money, cleverly stacked for the use of at least 7 generations. That being the case will one group want to seriously put the other group into trouble? It appears that they would say that their adversary is a rogue only for purposes of creating public antipathy against them and not to prosecute for punishment.

    We need a person above party politics at the helm. The ideally the President, elected by the people should not be from a political party for quite some time before the date of the nominations. Clearly, like in Singapore, some qualifications must be prescribed to bring in mature candidates. He really must be the guardian of the constitution and that of public trust. The Ministers can be the doers. They can play all the politicking in Parliament. What happens now? Despite all the Independent Commissions, Constitutional Council and what not one can appoint one’s college mate as the Auditor General. FOR WHAT? Any fool knows the answer.

  • 1
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    [Edited out]

  • 5
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    Emil, methinks you speak (or write) for what a few millions of us voters think about the sad state of affairs going on with Yahapalanaya.

    Who would have expected that a bunch of proven no-gooders will be back in Parliament in spite of being rejected by the voters? And who would have thought that MR2 would get their family members and pals appointed to positions of importance and responsibility??

    There are so many other glaring actions that are in contradiction to the pre-election promises made to us that most of us are now getting resolved to the fact that it is the same-old-same-old bullshit that we will have to endure.

    By the way, it looks like The Sunday Leader has been blocked, as no access is possible this morning!

    • 0
      0

      “By the way, it looks like The Sunday Leader has been blocked, as no access is possible this morning!”

      I have no access to the Sunday Leader and Island.

      Why?

  • 8
    0

    Good piece Mr Emil van der Poorten,

    Three extraordinary figures have emerged in the last few decades, all to the great misfortune of Sri Lanka.

    1. Velupillai Prabhakaran – A man with exceptional talent to build an organization from ground up and direct it with single-mindedness and utter brutality to try and achieve an objective. People now forget how Prabhakaran held sway the fate of SL for more than a decade. Of all the SL political figures that have emerged in my life time – of people I can make my opinions first-hand without depending on histories or other people’s opinions/writings – there is no one I have higher regard for than good old Prabhakaran (please understand, I am an objective realist; not a Singhalese zealot.) This is not to say I hold him in any high regard but to show how much regard I have for the rest of the clowns. No other Lankan political figure – in spite of their chest-beatings and grand Brandoesque-acting (oh boy!) – would have sacrificed his family for a cause he believed-in, the way Prabhakaran did. And I raise my hat to him for that.

    Although there is no shortage of people lining up (not for truth but for the benefits that it entails) to take credit for the defeat of the LTTE, the main factor that defeated the LTTE is time. People forget that, the 70s SL was a very closed society/country and the only recourse people had against bad-governance was revolt. Don’t forget the Singhalese (JVP) revolted first before the Tamils. The revolts were borne out of sheer hopelessness; that people had to stay-put and cop it for the rest of their lives. When in later years the world opened up and ordinary (not just the educated class) Lankans could emigrate and escape bad-governance the reasons for revolts diminished – not that SL all of sudden became a better place. Most of the Tamils had escaped and were financially supporting the war from overseas and Prabhakaran was left to kidnap children to fight his battles.

    2. Mahinda Rajapakse – Immensely talented charismatic conman that can con a vast swath of Sri Lanka. He cannot tell a truth even if his life depended on it. Great ability to twist everything to his advantage and sell it utilizing body-language, facial-expressions, modulated-voice and all the other tools of the trade. These people are born; never made. His siblings or offsprings can’t do what he does; will be laughed off the stage. His son Namal has got the lying/twisting part down pat but he doesn’t have his other attributes and never will. I don’t condone what he does but I admire the man’s extraordinary talent which no other SL politician posses. In these relative-morality shindigs, where do you start and where do you end? Like my Italian buddy frederico nichelinni sad “Life has not been devised by morality: it wants deception, it lives on deception — but wouldn’t you know it?” Gotta hand it to the man; he does it with great finesse!

    3. Ranil Wickramasinghe – The most inept extraordinarily leadership-talent-less leader. I hold Ranil equally responsible for Mahinda and his merry-men’s excesses. No other leader of opposition would have let Mahinda get away with what he did for such a long time. But give the devil his due. He is the only current SL politician who has even a bird fluttering in his brain about the modern 21st century world; the other’s mind-set is pure medieval. He is the only one, in his own way, trying to drag SL kicking and screaming, at least in to the 19th (if not 21st) century. Knowing Lankans, I don’t know if he will be successful, but I have to acknowledge his effort. My doubts are raised because Lankans are blessed with a special foolishness; without having a plan and implementing it they go and ask others for help. It’s Lankan man’s way of passing the responsibility to others. When he went to Japan and Singapore to ask help my heart sank. JR went to Lee Kuan Yew to ask to release a Lankan pilot working for Singapore airlines to start a Lankan airline and appoint him as the CEO. And Lee Kuan Yew was thinking how a good pilot is going to be a good CEO and run an airline! We Lankans have a special trait/gene of wisdom that is shared by no other.

    I still think we are just analysing the symptoms and not the cause. Our problems at subterranean strata is anthropological – what happens when an advanced culture is imposed on a primitive culture and withdrawn? Do people evolve in to the advanced culture? Do people revert back to their primitive culture? Or do people wallow in a hybrid-purgatory of the two cultures?

    I wish someone like professor Gananath Obeyesekere take time off from the safety of wine and cheese circuit safe-academic exotica and do the motherland a real service by honestly examining our anthropological quagmire.

    • 0
      0

      N.F.

      VP, MR, and RW.

      MS? Unprintable?

  • 3
    3

    “– as one who is basically semi-literate insofar as the internet is concerned –”

    Yes we know Pooten, you poor thing.You wouldn’t know if your arecanuts have fallen!

    But we qualify your statement. May be true, except your knowledge to “attend to” (with the help of international parties) servers that express counter opinion.

    Ruminate on it.

    • 2
      1

      Filthy Genes:
      Here we go again! Monumental stupidity parading as erudition. But then what else is new? You and your ilk babbled in the past and continue to babble now and, I am sure, will continue to do so in the future.
      The unfortunate thing though is the “erudition” you pretend to is totally incomprehensible!
      O, Sri Lanka, the What’s-it of Asia, how you have proceeded to defy Darwin in the matter of the evolution of some of your inhabitants!

  • 1
    0

    Emil

    A good analysis.

    We have had some success at SEC now after almost 11 months. It could have been done in one month and that is how slow the process is. A good lesson to govt officials s who tow the line of politicians and buiness men linked to politicians. Hopefully TRC matter will be dealt with shortly.

    There are enough cases where justice can be meted out after following due process within a short period of time but unfortunately it takes far too long.

    I am willing to give one more year to RW and MS to dish out Yahapalanaya.

    One other issue is that the bureaucrats are simply unable to respond at the same pace that the govt is moving and is a huge drawback.

    Jagath

    • 1
      0

      Jagath,

      “One other issue is that the bureaucrats are simply unable to respond at the same pace that the govt is moving and is a huge drawback.”

      Unable and often unwilling to change.

  • 2
    2

    We know .. Poorten and his mates thought Batalanda Ranil would take total control.

    That is what the hired gun Bodhi Sira said all along, before the Election.

    That he will demolish himself after handing over all the powers to Batalanda Ranil as agreed in Singapore.

    Besides Sira himself , even his minder Whisky Madam had other ideas which have come out in the open..

    Whisky Madam now acts as the grand Ayatolla of Yahapalanaya , going by her vetoing of even CC recommendations.

    Poortens thought Batalanda would banish the Dalit Leaders by jailing them or stripping their civil rights .

    Dalits are already doomed . Except Poorten’s Durian pickers.

    Sira is doing his best to please the Elite and make Poortens of our Lanka happy.

    But the happy endingh has to wait a bit longer.

    Because Sira has to hoodwink the Dalits first by telling fibs , like what he said the other day that he loves Srilanka more than any one else who is dead orv alive.

    That was just after summoning the nine brave Army Commanders who finished off Pirahaparan and his Thamil Terrorists and told them that they are finished too..

    That is no jobs in the Army. But be good boys if they want Sira to help them avoid long jail terms from the Hybrid court presided by While Dudes.

    Batalanda’s buddy from England , Mr Cameron immediately called Sira to a side in Malta, and shook his hands and promised 6.6 Million to improve our Army.

    How caring?..

    Uncle Sam followed Cameron and promised to train our Army boys not to do torture but do Water Boarding perhaps, which UN doesn’t seem to notice much..

    200 LTTE hard core leaders who slipped out from the net are being released to get together with the 11.000 foot soldiers.

    Sira perhaps think they will form an old boys club and become Alma Mater to organize soft ball social cricket in Killinochchi.

    Poorten clans have to be patient.

    Sira will deliver eventually to create Eelaam for Sambandan,

    All the Army , Navy and the AF to jobs to elite, and Dalits in to the dust bin.

    But first he has to make sure that the Siblings and the Off Springs are groomed to carry the Dynasty forward..

    I mean Sira may have sold his soul for Singapore Dollars and Western favours to get the top job.

    But he is no fool after spending 50 years doing politics and making his siblings Elite class at least in monetary stakes.

    • 2
      0

      KAS,

      Can you please try to tell others what you want? Do you have a point or a goal?

      I am new here and cannot understand what you want.

      Can you organize the dalits? Do you want to join the movement for change or just drink whisky and continue your rant about the almost extinct Anglican Vellalahs?

      I assume that we agree on that the economy is the weak point of the “new” rule.

      • 0
        1

        Dirty Harry,

        My goal is to push the handicap under the double digit bogey and enjoy more exquisite Single Malts when I am not playing Golf.

        Anglican Vellalas may be almost extinct.

        But the UNP London, English Diaspora and the Vellalas in Colombo are a formidable unit.. Isn’t it mate.

        How can the Dalits match that?.

        I am afraid you have a lot of home work to do get up to speed, because the Vellalas have been in it for more than three decades..

        • 1
          0

          KAS,

          “My goal is to push the handicap under the double digit bogey and enjoy more exquisite Single Malts when I am not playing Golf.”

          Is that your only contribution to the planned revolution? Looks like…..nothing.

          “How can the Dalits match that?”

          Who has said that they can? Not me.

          “I am afraid you have a lot of home work to do get up to speed, because the Vellalas have been in it for more than three decades.”

          You made me smile. Thanks.

    • 1
      0

      Sumaney:
      Do you REALLY have to use so very many words to say …..NOTHING?
      What 2500 years of Sinhala Buddhist Civilization has produced!!

  • 2
    0

    Correction!
    The type setting of the title has destroyed its meaning. It should have read “There is no/an alternative” with “No” stroked out leaving “an” only as part of the title.

    • 1
      1

      What the fruck do you mean?

      • 5
        1

        Amden

        “What the fruck do you mean?”

        I am not a pandithaya to interpret what Emil van der Poorten meant.

        What I understood with my little or no education is as follows:

        There is no alternative.

        There is an alternative.

        What did you mean when you typed “fruck”?

        • 0
          0

          This is todays hybrid-English or Politics available freely after the Change?

        • 0
          0

          Dear Native,

          Take it easy mate…

          Amden seems a bit fluent in the new generation English in the West..

          My Elders tell me it is just a cool term to express your confusion.

          You ought to have some sort of understanding when our English Scholar and the guarding of all English etiquette in Sinhala land didn’t know himself what he wanted.

          • 2
            0

            KASmaa K.A Sumanasekera

            I was pretty much sure what Emil van der Poorten meant until I read your typing.

            Thanks for confusing us.

          • 2
            0

            KASmaa K.A Sumanasekera

            Were you at the protest against the stoning of Dalit woman (from Maradana)? I don’t remember seeing you.

            • 0
              0

              Dear Native,

              You must have at least heard about what happened to your mate Abraham in Parliament ,when he tried to stand up for the poor Sinhala Dalit woman..

              What I am worried is what will happen to our Dalits living in Lanka, when Baththa carves out his Wahabi Homeland when your Vellala mates get their Eelaam soon after the White Judges dismantle the Army Camps and put the 9 Commanders in the slammer….

      • 2
        0

        Amden:
        If you can’t comprehend elementary English you are obviously beyond redemption and one would be tempted to use your own terminology and say “fruck” you!

        • 0
          0

          Mr Poorten,

          ” Fuq You …” is what the Dalits in the West say when they don’t have a good come back strategy..

          Are our Elite being adulterated by their association with one time Dalits, like Hybrid Champaka , Rathne ,Rajitha and his mongrel pup ?.

          Look how cool your Idol and Role Model pommy Cameron behave in London, even when he is under the pump from ISIS in England.

  • 2
    0

    Caal to arms? The idea of an internet Forum is a stale one.

    There was a Forum Party in Alberta Canada in the late nineties, with a Sri Lankan involved too, from memory.

    But they disappeared in to thin air (loosing deposits at the elections!) despite the growth of the Internet.

    So how do you plan to make it a success this time?

  • 3
    0

    Mr. Emil Van der Poorten,

    A revolution is a radical rejection of the status quo. We are guilty of forgetting this essential truth. I am as dejected as you are. I think you have identified the fault line. Sinhalese is our Achilles heel. I weep with you. Let us continue the civic enterprise as long as we can.

    • 0
      6

      “Sinhalese is our Achilles heel”

      Many in Sri Lanka wish that their mother slept with a white man.

      • 4
        0

        somaaassss

        “Many in Sri Lanka wish that their mother slept with a white man.”

        Did your father sleep with a white woman? Did he sleep with a brown woman? Irrespective of your mother’s colour your old man chose to father you which makes you a racist coconut Plonka. He should have used a Plonka.

        • 3
          0

          Somass, the name that Vedda has given you is richly deserved. Who is using your family brain cell this month? Obviously not you.

          • 0
            0

            Paul, Soma is struggling to maintain his sanity in a world where Jathika HELA Urumaya is a racial outfit while TAMIL National Alliance and MUSLIM Congress are not. He is an ‘ass’ because he is unable to understand this “North AND East are for us only while the rest is for all of us” stuff. Doesn’t comprehend “Vedibana”. Smells wolves in sheep clothing.

            Soma

            • 2
              0

              somaass

              “Paul, Soma is struggling to maintain his sanity”

              Nothing new, that is because you are paranoid.

              “Doesn’t comprehend “Vedibana”.”

              Is it similar to satan quoting scripture?

              “North AND East are for us only while the rest is for all of us” stuff

              This was coming from you and you only.

              You offered to give the stupid Tamils an independent unit provided they moved out of the south.

              You cannot have the cake and eat it.

              “Jathika HELA Urumaya is a racial outfit”

              Have you read or heard Hela’s statements?

              Cobra head has been rampaging through out the country until Gota was sacked from job as the executioner in chief. You wholeheartedly support him.

              You are a confused racist aren’t you?

              • 0
                0

                “You offered to give the stupid Tamils an independent unit provided they moved out of the south.”

                Precisely. They must. You can’t have the cake and eat it.

                Why do you want to live among murderous, genocidal Sinhala Buddhists? (I want you and Wigeswaran to educate the Tamil school children over the true nature of Sinhala Buddhists)

                Your proposal for paradise for 50% and hell for the other 50% is good for donkeys. Why not paradise for all?

                Lately you have not been very careful-your sheep skin is showing.

                Soma

      • 1
        0

        No Soma, Sinhalese is NOT our Achilles heel, it is Good Governance.

        Ever since we had that first whiff of independence, and the withdrawal of the big white dick, our very own power-hungry, crooked thieving bastards have made politics their happy hunting ground, divided our communities and ‘frucked’ (as Amden would say) us all up.

        The poor people of this land, just like with their religion, have been mesmerised into following without question, and voting just like their mothers and fathers did. It will take a sea-change to bring them round to question, challenge and change. But first, more of our smartest people will need to find the cojones to stand up, enter our political firmament, and drive out the scum.

        EvdP (and others) are right to point out the hopelessness of the situation that we find ourselves in. There is hope still, though it is right to be aware that the longer the current government takes to nail the thieving shits of the MR regime, the more chance there will be of MR making a ‘truimphant’ return, to forgive, and rule, once again, his beloved people. Hell, then we all will be well and truly ‘frucked’!

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      De Alwis. Hm….. let me think.

      Oh yes, Like begets like.

      Sounds as foreign as the Belgic/Dutch/Jewish label ‘Man of the Port’ beggar who got in to a Dutch East Indies ship to grab land in the Orient.

      You have failed for 500 years and not going to succeed now!

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    I have, for a while, been mulling a movement along the lines envisaged by Emil – a single-issue movement focussed on good governance (ie. actual, pragmatic, good governance) that can exert significant electoral pressure on politicians of all hues.

    In brief, we need to develop a coalition of like-minded people who can agree on the most fundamental of principles, resolve collectively not to support any candidate who would (or has previously proven to) undermine these principles, and make all candidates know of their intentions. The shared principles should be very narrowly defined to allow us to include as many people as possible who would otherwise begin to disagree if broader issues are included.

    I remember doing something much like this and achieving a modicum of success at the Univ. of Colombo where a small coalition of 50 of us were able to swing the pendulum of power between the JVP-supported IUSF (`anthare, as it was known) and the equally-puerile Eksath students’ front. Another example is the recently-concluded election in Canada, where a grassroots organization called Leadnow successfully galvanized people to avoid progressive vote splitting and vote for the candidate in each electorate who was most likely to defeat the conservative. The result (which I partially attribute to the Leadnow campaign) was a rout of the Conservative party.

    So, my friends, it can be done. And can be done online, and using available communication technologies that young folks in SL use nowadays.

    But as we all know, most Sri Lankans are committed to political parties and would be reluctant to switch allegiance. What I propose would allow them to continue to do so, but resolve publicly to choose from among that 0.1 percent of candidates who are not (yet) corrupted by power.

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    Soma,
    That is very civil of you.

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    Mr. EmilVan derPooten: Your proposal to “change” those who have “infested” the Legislature is to resort to “extra Parliamentary” methods. I have a proposal which I think falls within the “Democratic” system. This is how it should work: Get all these Professionals who have lost “Duty Free Car Permits” ; Government servants who are concerned of losing “Pension Rights”; the Farmers, in all sectors of agriculture, who are affected by the “Subsidy of Manure” withdrawal or reduction; the Parents who are against the “Voucher System” in place of Uniforms; the Private Sector employees who were not granted a wage hike, SET ASIDE THOSE GRIEVANCES for NOW and DECIDE ON ONE DEMAND: THE DUTY FREE CAR PERMITS; ALLOWANCES FOR ATTENDANCE IN PARLIAMENT; PENSION RIGHT; PROVISION OF HOUSES TO LIVE IN COLOMBO; SUBSIDIZED MEAL FROM THE CANTEEN AT THE PARLIAMENT and ALL OTHER PERKS presently granted to all 225 Members of Parliament be WITHDRAWN IMMEDIATELY and if this COMMON DEMAND is not MET within THREE MONTHS; a GENERAL STRIKE will be staged until the Parliament accept and agree to implement that COMMON DEMAND. Within that “Three Months” all support must be organized for the FINAL SHOW DOWN. Then we will see on whose side the People would be and I am certain that “Infestation” you speak of can be removed once and for all by way of Democratic Means rather than by “extra Parliamentary” methods.

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      Great idea, Douglas. Combine this idea with what Yakadaya suggests and we just may have something that will expose the narrow, personal intentions of the individuals in Parliament.

      And if the demands could also include getting rid of all relatives of Parliamentarians (and President) from their (nepotistic) appointments, we should have an excellent chance of cleaning up at least SOME of the crap that is going on and expose the hypocrites and liars that are in charge of governing us.

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      Nice one Douglas!

      However, just in case you didn’t know, the present government did inherit a legacy that has not faded away. A Special Task Force, in training and available to deal with, how shall I put this?, any breakdown in civil discipline. Dammit! let’s put it another way; the minions are ‘in training’ and keen to show their latest moves. Weliveriya will be but a Sunday School picnic. After all, even Maithripala (for it is he, and he still remembers those bygone times) cannot be seen to go weak at the knee in the face of a ‘foreign’ led threat to national security.

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    Emile,

    “We need to draw people of like mind – believers in justice, fairness and the rule of law – together, whether in protest groups or in some other form that the new information technology (IT) provides, to make our collective voice heard. My understanding – as one who is basically semi-literate insofar as the internet is concerned – is that the communication skills that many Sri Lankans already possess – irrespective of the level of their skill in an international language such as English – transcends the traditional barriers that the previous printed or broadcast word encountered. In such circumstances building a coalition of those who share the same beliefs should be more than simply possible and should enter the realm of the probable.”

    I agree with you about the need and the methods.

    I have lately been thinking about how to protest and how to put pressure on different people and institutions to achieve change.

    Using tools like Facebook, Whats Upp and Twitter cannot be that difficult all though I have to admit that I have never tried. Now I have a reason to start.

    Don’t worry about your age. All you have to do is to type. If you manage CT the rest is possible to learn. I am not very young myself.

    I am in SL and still worried about white vans when and if the “new” rulers feel threatened.

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    All this vision is good, but we must find a credible and acceptable person to lead the movement.That is the difficulty.Can you find one such person? The come the curse of the Religion, race caste and the Up/country people.

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    Upali Wickramasinghe

    “Can you find one such person?”

    Of course not.

    Now that the scientists are optimistic about finding life forms on Mars we should wait a couple of years for confirmation. Then import a few from Mars and expect miracles to happen as we once did with imported free rice from the moon.

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    Dear Sir,

    Have you perchance chosen to ignore the good work and progress done by the MS and Ranil team so far.

    Consider that the independent institutions are more free to go about their duty than ever before. Consider that MR1 himself is still immensely popular, and it will take time to bring him and his kin to justice without causing utter chaos within the country. Consider that the strong vested interests will only be exposed after strong cases are made – which will take time. Consider that the government has taken real genuine positive steps towards reconciliation with the Tamil diaspora. Consider that this government actually seems to care about minorities. Consider that deep within the fluff of the budget the core concepts of economic freedom is being gently put in place.

    Consider also that it would take years to straighten out the mess created by MR1. Consider that we do not see everything that goes on underneath the good.

    Give this government a chance. 4 years is not too much to ask before dishing out the criticisms.

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