{"id":165729,"date":"2016-07-25T13:58:50","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T08:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=165729"},"modified":"2016-08-01T01:49:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T20:19:46","slug":"ranils-attack-on-kesara-the-yahapalanaya-media-freedom-bluff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/ranils-attack-on-kesara-the-yahapalanaya-media-freedom-bluff\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranil\u2019s Attack On Kesara & The Yahap\u0101lanaya Media Freedom Bluff"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

Ranil Wickremesinghe<\/span><\/a>\u2019s views on media freedom are two-faced. One, when in the opposition and one when in power. One sports a smile and the other a scowl. This two-facedness, if you will, is not Mr Wickremesinghe\u2019s preserve. It\u2019s part of the political culture. In general those in power mimic those they replaced and those who are replaced mimic those who replaced them. On most counts.<\/p>\n

It is typical for the Opposition to champion media freedom<\/span><\/a> and for those in power to curb the same, directly or indirectly. It is also typical for those in power, especially those who feel insecure, to vilify critics by claiming that they are serving the interest of \u2018the enemy\u2019 (variously defined of course). During the Rajapaksa regime those who criticized the government were labeled traitors in the pay of separatists or foreign powers intent on dividing the country. During the regime of Chandrika Kumaratunga critics were called \u2018Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists\u2019 or \u2018war-mongers\u2019. Today\u2019s critics are called \u2018Rajapaksa loyalists\u2019.<\/p>\n

\"Ranil\"<\/a>

Ranil<\/p><\/div>\n

So there\u2019s really no \u2018venasa\u2019 (change) in Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s occasional attacks on and not-so-veiled threats against journalists and media houses. Not too long ago he referred to a journalist as a dog and called for the control of certain \u2018dog-media-institutions\u2019 thereby clearly indicating that he\u2019s moved from good-governance to dog-governance; quite unbecoming, especially for a man who his wide-eyed loyalists consider \u2018a brain and nothing else\u2019 (thanikara molayak<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Just the other day he ranted once again, targeting his longtime bugbear, the genial and quite nondescript editor of the Daily Mirror, Kesara Abeywardena<\/span><\/a>. This is what he said<\/span><\/a>:<\/p>\n

“Last Monday’s Daily Mirror called for the removal of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. I know the editor of the Daily Mirror. He once wrote saying I too should be removed from UNP leadership. We will have to see what we should do if he does not resign from his post. He is possessed by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Daily Mirror carried anti Tamil, anti Muslim articles. Now they want ministers to resign. We must teach journalists a good lesson.”<\/p>\n

What was Kesara\u2019s crime, though? Did he publish a news item where he craftily threw in a quote by some political maverick making a speech in an unrelated context, selectively extracting the line \u2018Mangala should be removed?\u2019 Did he write an editorial calling for the Foreign Minister\u2019s removal? No. All he did was to publish a political commentary titled \u201cWhy Mangala must exit and Amunugama must enter<\/span><\/a>\u201d. The columnist, Dayan Jayatilleka<\/span><\/a>, to be fair, makes a cogent argument for the Foreign Minister\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n

Dayan has his preferred political outcomes. His commentary is informed by the same. He is clever with words and he knows enough history, political science and sociology to make his conclusions sound like they are the only ones that are logical. There have been times when I\u2019ve disagreed with Dayan, but on this occasion I concur with him totally. But let\u2019s assume that he is way off the mark. Let\u2019s assume that he is just making a case for an outcome that serves his political objectives. The fact is, however, that his is only a comment.<\/p>\n

A comment, Mr Wickremesinghe. It\u2019s free, Mr Wickremesinghe. He is offering an opinion on facts which he has not distorted. Weighted maybe, but that\u2019s allowed Mr Wickremesinghe. You should know this. Editors, especially liberal editors, reserve space for regular columnists from across the political spectrum. Kesara gives space to people who are rabidly opposed to Dayan Jayatilleka and who regularly trot out what I would call nauseatingly servile pieces about your administration, Mr Wickremesinghe. I don\u2019t know of any occasion when someone objecting to such views called him names and declared that Kesara would be taught a lesson.<\/p>\n

What does Ranil Wickremesinghe want, I wonder. The entire media to come together and call him \u2018saviour\u2019, salaam him at every turn, sing hosannas and crack down hard on his detractors? Is that the \u2018media freedom\u2019 that this good-governance government envisaged, never mind what was promised?<\/p>\n

Ranil has issued a threat in no uncertain terms. He\u2019s basically told Kesara \u2018Resign or else!\u2019 He\u2019s read the riot act and he has the riot police ready. That\u2019s the message he\u2019s given and not just to Kesara but anyone who dares question his judgment. Well, speaking of judgment, he was found lacking when he appointed Arjuna Mahendran<\/span><\/a> as Governor, Central Bank. He did fire some shots at those who criticized Mahendran, ably supported of course by his loyal sidekick Lakshman Kiriella<\/span><\/a>, the Minister of Higher Education whose judgment too has been called to question after it was found that he had appointed dozens of advisors with hardly any educational qualifications and even tried to justify the use of public funds to pay the salaries of these \u2018party loyalists\u2019. Ranil\u2019s tirades did not stop the media. It did not stop commentators. Arjuna Mahendran had to go. At this rate, the call will not be for the exit of a bad-judgment-appointee but the appointer himself, Ranil should understand. Arrogance was a key factor that saw the \u2018exiting\u2019 of Mahinda Rajapaksa. This too he should not forget.<\/p>\n

He says that the Daily Mirror has carried anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim articles? Maybe that\u2019s how he reads and maybe that\u2019s an indication of his ability to read, but then again others can say that the Daily Mirror has carried \u2018anti-Sinhala\u2019 and \u2018anti-Buddhist\u2019 articles. After all, the Daily Mirror gives as much or more space to anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist commentators or, if you want to be sweet about it, those who attack Sinhala and Buddhist extremists and slip in crass generalizations to attack the entire collective. Hasn\u2019t Wickremesinghe seen any of these pieces?<\/p>\n

Those who know Wickremesinghe\u2019s ways will not be surprised at this manifest inability to stomach any criticism and especially calling his judgment to question. What might surprise a lot of people is the deafening silence of the bleeding-heart media-rights advocates who could barely hold their tongues at the slightest perceived wrong done to journalists. What happened to the Editors\u2019 Guild? What of the Free Media Movement<\/span><\/a>? What of their lords and ladies abroad who regurgitate their whines in international forums and fire off strongly worded missives to anyone who might be willing to listen? How about the rights-bloc (shall we call them?), those who cheered the yahapaalanists all the way? How about Dr Ranga Kalansooriya<\/span><\/a>? How many such tirades from Wickremesinghe will it take for them to wake up or will that never happen because they are simple in pretend-slumber?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s stop there. There\u2019s no point doing the horage-ammagen-pena-ahana<\/em> number (asking the crook\u2019s mother about the crook\u2019s whereabouts).<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get back to Ranil Wickremesinghe. On the 16th of May, 2004 the \u2018Sunday Observer\u2019 published an article titled \u2018Move over Ranil, your time\u2019s up<\/span><\/a>\u2019. It was a political comment. It was an exit call. Wickremesinghe didn\u2019t say a word. He didn\u2019t call for the particular editor\u2019s blood. He didn\u2019t say \u2018we must teach journalists a good lesson\u2019. He was quite the lamb. He was in the Opposition then. Says a lot doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer. Blog: malindawords.blogspot.com. Email: malindasenevi@gmail.com. Twitter: malindasene.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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