{"id":187785,"date":"2018-02-22T03:11:54","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T21:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=187785"},"modified":"2018-02-24T23:53:33","modified_gmt":"2018-02-24T18:23:33","slug":"calm-down-wake-up-change-fulfil-the-promises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/calm-down-wake-up-change-fulfil-the-promises\/","title":{"rendered":"Calm Down, Wake Up, Change & Fulfil The Promises"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Gamini Jayaweera<\/a> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Gamini Jayaweera<\/p><\/div>\n

President\u2019s Vision\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as Mr. Maithripala Sirisena<\/a> became the President of Sri Lanka on 8<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> January 2015, an article titled \u201cNew President\u2019s Vision \u2013 A Fantasy Or A Reality<\/a>?\u201d which was published in the Colombo Telegraph<\/em> (CT) on 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> February 2015, I gave full credit to the new President for his speech on the 30<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> January for explaining his vision of creating a new political culture in Sri Lanka and the humility which he demonstrated as the leader of our nation which had not been seen in the history of our political sphere. I also went on to say, \u201cIf the new President governs our country exactly the way he has outlined in his address to the nation, there is no doubt that he will become one of the great leaders in Sri Lanka.\u201d The new President did not have an ego like many other politicians in the country and indicated that he would like to solve problems with discussions, respecting other opinions and compromising wherever possible to achieve the maximum benefits for the people of Sri Lanka. <\/span><\/p>\n

Peaceful Election <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

One of the main objectives of his Vision, as he explained in his address, was to change the political culture in Sri Lanka to eradicate unlawful behaviour by the politicians and their supporters during pre and post-election periods. Though there were some minor incidents, by and large the recent Local Government elections were peaceful compared to the previous elections where fear, intimidation, thuggery, and murder were the highlights of the elections. Full credit to the President and his Unity government for setting up Independent Commissions and implementing the Law and Order in the country to maintain the peace during the election period.<\/span><\/p>\n

New Found Freedom<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Another important part of the vision was to allow the people to enjoy the freedom of speech without intimidation, freely exercise the workers\u2019 right to take industrial action for their rightful demands, stage peaceful and legitimate protests without fear, publicly expose the fraudsters irrespective of their status or the political affiliation and exercise our freedom to criticise the government activities\/policies which are harmful to the nation. It is a fact that the Unity Government has liberated the society from the brink of dictatorship. They freed the media outlets to make constructive and destructive criticism without any punishments. They allowed legitimate and unjustifiable demonstrations to take place against the government organised by the Opposition parties, Trade Unions, and Citizen Groups without fear and intimidation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Failed Partnership<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The other important objective was to change the mind-set of the politicians in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) to work together in partnership to govern the country for the duration of the current parliament. Both the President and the Prime Minister agreed on this strategy with the blessings of the MPs in the UNP and most of the MPs in the SLFP to set up the Unity Government. In another article titled \u201cCan the UNP\/SLFP Partnership Survive In The Long-Run?<\/a>\u201d published in <\/b>the CT on 30 August 2015, I challenged the members of both parties whether they can change their deep-rooted attachments to certain party policies, agreeing to work on Mutual Objectives, and changing their firmly established behaviours to embrace the general principles of Partnering Culture. I also questioned whether the newly elected MPs from the UNP and the SLFP would be able to seize this opportunity that was open to them because it required a great deal of time and effort to change the hearts and minds of the membership to embrace the new partnership culture. But both parties have failed to take up the challenge for narrow minded political and personal gains.<\/span><\/p>\n

The UNP and the SLFP partnership failed because both partners had hidden agendas, were holding secret meetings to undermine each other, acted dishonestly and did not trust each other, but raised accusations against each other to try and demonstrate to the country that one party is better than the other. At the same time both parties were engaged in \u201cdeals\u201d to protect corrupt politicians for political and personal survival. Both parties also failed to take the responsibility for praise and blame as a single partnership for the successes and the failures without undermining each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

LG Elections<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

After the Local Government (LG) election results on 10 February, the government and the opposition politicians, media outlets, and some party supporters are asking to remove the Prime Minister and dissolve the Unity Government, etc. It is reported that even the President has asked the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe to step down from the premiership and hand it over to someone else because the members of the United People\u2019s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) are not willing to support the Unity Government if Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe continues to be the Prime Minister. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is an unfair and unethical demand by the President and the members of the UPFA because they are also equally to be blamed for the substandard performance. It is a fact that most of these UPFA MPs did not whole heartedly support the Unity Government. It is also a fact that most of these MPs have one foot in Mahinda camp and the other foot in Sirisena camp and are waiting to jump in to any camp if they could grab a position with perks. Even the President Maithripala Sirisena has recently stated that some Ministers and MPs are having friendly talks with him in the day time and the same Ministers and MPs are having discussions with the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in the night time. That is one of the factors which contributed for the down fall of UPFA & SLFP in the LG elections. If so, a reasonable person would expect that the President would ask those Ministers & MPs to resign from the UPFA before he requests for the PM to step down. After all, in this LG election UNP polled 32.61% of the total votes where as UPFA polled only 8.90% and SLFP polled a mere 6.26%. Is there any legitimacy or justification for their demand for the PM to step down?<\/span><\/p>\n

Mistakes and Inactions<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

The President and the Prime Minister must accept the fact that both made some deplorable mistakes during the last 3 years. The President was praying for the future, hoping that one day the SLFP would become a united party under his leadership hence turning a blind eye to the members who often contravened the party discipline. The Prime Minister has made many errors in his judgements including his dealings with the nominations and appointments of personnel to important positions in the government institutions. The following is a summary of some of those mistakes that in my opinion have given a bloody nose to the Unity Government in the LG elections:<\/span><\/p>\n