{"id":192197,"date":"2018-07-21T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T18:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=192197"},"modified":"2018-07-26T11:55:24","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T06:25:24","slug":"mangalas-conditional-apology-to-rotarians-lions-suitability-to-be-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mangalas-conditional-apology-to-rotarians-lions-suitability-to-be-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"Mangala\u2019s Conditional Apology To Rotarians\/Lions &#038; Suitability To Be Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>By\u00a0<\/b><b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Amrit+Muttukumaru\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/a> &#8211;<\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_142887\" style=\"width: 154px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Amrit-Muttukumaru.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-142887\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Amrit-Muttukumaru-144x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"144\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-142887\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amrit Muttukumaru<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Among the current crop of politicians in Sri Lanka <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Mangala+Samaraweera\">Mangala Samaraweera<\/a> in relative terms<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>stands tall on matters of integrity despite some perceived blemishes, on competency despite<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>criticism of being a \u2018mere fashion designer\u2019, secular credentials, communication skills and social niceties. Of course this is not saying much of the caliber of politicians in Sri Lanka today. Nevertheless, his suitability to hold public office particularly that of Finance and Media Minister has to be questioned in the context of the harm he does on a regular basis to his own credibility.<\/p>\n<p>This includes (i) his allegation that the Rajapaksa family may have <i>\u201c<\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rajapaksas-siphon-off-18-billion-dollars-foreign-minister-mangala-samaraweera\/\"><i>siphoned off\u201d<\/i> as much as US$ 18 Billion<\/a> from the coffers of the country during the MR presidency (ii) his strident allegation at a press conference few days ago claiming \u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d that Sri Lanka\u2019s top dealers in illicit drugs are not those languishing in jail but some of those holding high posts in social service organizations such as some Presidents of Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs and Buddhist organisations.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5EYkM_tJYI0\" width=\"900\" height=\"500\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>A day or two later Samaraweera <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/drug-lords-mangala-whacks-round-the-wicket-shames-but-doesnt-name\/\">in a press statement<\/a> selectively and conditionally clarified matters inter alia as follows:<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cInadvertently, I also mentioned Rotarians and Lions Clubs, which I deeply regret.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Readers can listen to his words in the above video (3:27 onwards) and decide for themselves whether there is any likelihood of <i>\u201cinadvertence\u201d<\/i>?<\/p>\n<p>There was no <i>\u201cinadvertence\u201d<\/i> from Samaraweera as far as \u2018Buddhist organisations\u2019 were concerned.<\/p>\n<p>It is curious as to why after claiming <i>\u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d<\/i> he has singled out \u201c<i>Rotarians and Lions Clubs\u201d <\/i>for an apology while effectively confirming his damning allegation against \u2018Buddhist organisations\u2019?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>The silence of \u2018Buddhist organisations\u2019 and even \u201c<i>Rotarians and Lions Clubs\u201d <\/i>is deafening. It must be emphasized that Samaraweera has on his own volition unilaterally softened his stance on the Rotary Movement and Lions Movement.<\/p>\n<p>One wonders whether strong bonds of \u2018friendship\u2019 have influenced Samaraweera to selectively soften his ex cathedra edict which he asserted is applicable to Rotary and Lions?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><b> <\/b>This is the man who stridently made the allegations with <i>\u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d<\/i>!<\/p>\n<p>It must be noted that Samaraweera, now Finance Minister has neither taken any credible action in the public domain to recover <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/rajapaksas-siphon-off-18-billion-dollars-foreign-minister-mangala-samaraweera\/\">the US$ 18 Billion he alleged was <i>\u201c<\/i><i>siphoned off\u201d<\/i> under the Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency<\/a> nor offered an apology to Mahinda Rajapaksa. As to why the Rajapaksa camp have not filed a defamation suit against Samaraweera remains a mystery. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Silence of Rotary &amp; Lions<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It must be noted that although Samaraweera now states <i>\u201cInadvertently, I also mentioned Rotarians and Lions Clubs, which I deeply regret.\u201d<\/i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>he has not completely let them off the hook when he asserts:<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThere may be some individuals in society that join various organisations for such reasons.\u00a0\u201c<\/i><\/p>\n<p>To date neither the Rotary or Lions leadership have issued any press statement. Why?<\/p>\n<p>For the credibility of Rotary and Lions<i> <\/i>which over the years have done commendable social service and have had and still have decent well meaning persons as members, should not its leaders (i) Demand that Samaraweera forthwith identify those he claimed with <i>\u201cpersonal knowledge\u201d<\/i> holding high posts as <i>\u201cPresidents\u201d<\/i> were allegedly <i>\u201cSri Lanka\u2019s top dealers in illicit drugs\u201d<\/i>?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>(ii) File a defamation suit against him if he fails to identify the <i>\u201cPresidents\u201d<\/i> concerned?<\/p>\n<p>Their failure to do so will result in immeasurable harm to the credibility and respect of the Rotary and Lions organisations. The Rotary movement in particular owes it to the youth of the country who are members of the Rotary fraternity through its \u2018Rotaract\u2019 and school-based \u2018Interact\u2019 clubs.<\/p>\n<p><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The silence of the parties concerned has the potential to encourage people to surmise there is a vestige of truth in Samaraweera\u2019s allegations.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span> <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Is it not incumbent on the parties concerned<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 Rotary Movement, Lions Movement and Buddhist Charities (i) At least now to issue a strong press statement demanding an unqualified public apology from<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Samaraweera? (ii) if he fails to so to file legal action for defamation?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Although hackneyed it is relevant to cite the quote attributed to Edmund Burke:<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cThe only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":142887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2186,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-192197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-featured-news","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mangala\u2019s Conditional Apology To Rotarians\/Lions &amp; 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