{"id":165792,"date":"2016-07-26T19:43:36","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T14:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=165792"},"modified":"2016-08-01T16:07:26","modified_gmt":"2016-08-01T10:37:26","slug":"blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Malinda<\/a>

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

President Maithripala did it. Quite unabashedly. The President, who is also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) summoned those Members of Parliament who identify with the \u2018Joint Opposition\u2019 and outlined what was licit and what was illicit in his (Maithripala\u2019s) book of \u2018good governance\u2019. He declared that<\/span><\/a> \u2018any member who continues to contravene party decisions and work in an unacceptable manner, they will be removed from their organization positions\u2019. What was unacceptable, going by what\u2019s been reported is \u2018working against the party\u2019.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all subjective. It\u2019s all about what Sirisena considers right and wrong. If \u2018working against the party\u2019 is a cardinal sin, then first and foremost Sirisena should strip himself of leadership for two serious \u2018contraventions\u2019. He crossed party lines and sided with the party\u2019s arch enemy the United National Party (UNP) to run for president. Secondly he actively worked against the coalition led by the SLFP during the last General Election, frequently appearing on the UNP stage to support that party\u2019s candidates. Moreover he worked against both the SLFP and the coalition (United People\u2019s Freedom Alliance \u2013 UPFA) by crippling its central committee and unceremoniously and undemocratically removing the General Secretarties of both entities. The fact that the evicted later embraced him is irrelevant to the relevant principles \u2013 party loyalty and democratic spirit.<\/p>\n

\"President<\/a>

President Sirisena<\/p><\/div>\n

Sirisena would be hard pressed to defend his decision to allow candidates rejected by the electorate to enter Parliament through the back door called the \u2018National List<\/span><\/a>\u2019. He was, in that moment, clearly \u2018working against the party and those who voted for the party\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now Sirisena would have to claim that all this was \u2018acceptable\u2019. Acceptable for what reason? Simple: Sirisena saying it is acceptable, nothing more and nothing less. That\u2019s \u2018democracy\u2019? Yes. Why? Simple: Sirisena says it is so.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s he doing here? What\u2019s happening here? Well, he\u2019s doing what his predecessors did. He\u2019s doing what JRJ did with undated letters of registration and what Mahinda did with his famous \u2018files\u2019 (on MPs). He\u2019s blackmailing members of his party. He\u2019s told them that if they don\u2019t \u2018think, see and do what pleases Sirisena, then they\u2019ll lose their posts as party organizers\u2019.<\/p>\n

Of course he has the power to do so without issuing such threats, but then again he has to issue the threats in order to dissuade them from taking part in the planned Joint Opposition march from Kandy to Colombo. If he said nothing then they\u2019ll go ahead without any fear (only to be disappointed later when he dumps them, one supposes). Clever.<\/p>\n

Clever, but out of order. \u2018Out of order\u2019 because Sirisena came to power promising change. Sirisena came to power vowing not to do what Mahinda did. Sirisena came to power vowing to uphold democratic principles. He came to power waving two flags, one embroidered with the word \u2018Democracy\u2019 and the other sporting the term \u2018Good Governance\u2019.<\/p>\n

Perhaps people believed that Sirisena actually knew what these terms meant. Perhaps they suspected that he didn\u2019t have a clue but went along either because they felt Rajapaksa had to go or because they wanted the tyrant they favoured (the \u2018our man\u2019 factor). Nevertheless Sirisena cannot run away from promises without being called out. He cannot pretend not to know for he\u2019s always been surrounded by good governance tuition masters. They would have told him, as Uvindu Kurukulasuriya correctly points out that allowing members give voice to conscience is a fundamental principle of parliamentary democracy. Party leaders, secretaries of any other office bearers cannot presume on the behalf of any member. Well they can, but then they lose the moral authority to wax eloquent about democracy. Not that they would lose any sleep about such things of course, going by what we\u2019ve seen since January 8, 2016, but nevertheless the point that the good governance tuition masters are not making must be made.<\/p>\n

So, ladies and gentlemen, it is official. You can all retire any hopes you\u2019ve entertained about Sirisena (and Wickremesinghe) delivering good governance and democracy. Blackmail has been scripted in and it\u2019s not even in small print. It joins nepotism, intimidation of political opponents, threatening of journalists, grand theft, protection of thieves and so on. Did someone whisper \u2018change\u2019? Did someone else say \u2018Quite Mahinda-like\u2019? Did a third person say \u2018You could also say Chandrika-like or Ranil-like or Premadasa-like or JR-like\u2019? Bottom line: threat is in, conscience out, never mind that the targeted are, like the targeting, conscience-less. There\u2019s a flag fluttering from the lead vehicle of the \u2018Good Governance Government\u2019. There\u2019s bold lettering: BLACKMAIL.<\/p>\n

POSTCRIPT:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through all of Sirisena\u2019s anti democratic antics and through all the many instances where he\u2019s thumbed his nose at \u2018good governance\u2019 Ranil Wickremesinghe has been silent. We have to bring him in here because \u2018Good Governance\u2019 is a house in which the two are co-heads of household. They said it. That\u2019s Ranil and Maithri. They spoke of cohabitation, of marriage and the strength of the marital bonds.<\/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":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":137374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nBlackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-26T14:13:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-01T10:37:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"356\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/\",\"name\":\"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-26T14:13:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-01T10:37:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg\",\"width\":279,\"height\":356,\"caption\":\"Malinda Seneviratne\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2016-07-26T14:13:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-01T10:37:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":279,"height":356,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/","name":"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-26T14:13:36+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-01T10:37:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","width":279,"height":356,"caption":"Malinda Seneviratne"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/blackmail-brazenly-scripted-into-good-governance\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Blackmail Brazenly Scripted Into \u2018Good Governance\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Malinda.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165792"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166008,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165792\/revisions\/166008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}