{"id":238944,"date":"2024-09-22T17:36:29","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T12:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=238944"},"modified":"2024-09-28T18:01:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-28T12:31:56","slug":"there-is-no-free-press-in-sri-lanka-reform-is-urgent-to-make-elections-truly-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/there-is-no-free-press-in-sri-lanka-reform-is-urgent-to-make-elections-truly-free\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Free Press In Sri Lanka: Reform Is Urgent To Make Elections Truly Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole<\/a> –<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole<\/p><\/div>\n

I am writing from Hong Kong Airport on my way to a meeting in Seoul beginning today. I missed Day 1 so that I may vote. I had judged my vote to be critical to the candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake<\/a><\/span>, the best in my judgement. So I went at 7 am to my voting centre and was the first in line with my wife. I then took a CTB Bus to the airport and without WIFI on flight had no access to the results until I reached Hong Kong. I was pleasantly surprised this morning to learn using Hong Kong Airport\u2019s free WIFI that Mr. Dissanayake had been elected President on the first round itself, in defiance of all predictions to the contrary in the press, the polls and predictions by so-called experts.<\/p>\n

How did that come to be? How did many believe that the decrepit Ranil Wickremesinghe even stood a chance when, in the event, he was a distant third. Namal Rajpakse was very far behind even Ranil. But, if you read pre-election news reports he too was a serious candidate. Tosh and nonsense!<\/p>\n

In the week preceding elections, a fairly reputed news agency interviewed me. The first question was preceded by a preamble saying, \u201cWe are facing a critical election where it is a tight race between President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and Sajith Premadasa.\u201d<\/p>\n

I responded firmly, \u201cNo. It is an election where only Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa stand a chance. President Wickremesinghe\u2019s candidature is no candidature. He stands no chance. His candidature is a dud and a creature of the Colombo press.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interview was published only after deleting my comment that it is a 2-way race not three-way.<\/p>\n

I was sure of myself after speaking to many. That propaganda for Ranil reached a crescendo as the Colombo-press tried to make us believe he really had a chance. The press even suggested that without Ranil the fuel and gas shortages would return. Somehow the Election Commission gave him the gas-cylinder as his symbol as if to suggest that the gas shortages would return.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s results tell the true story. The press in Sri Lanka is ugly and manipulative. They direct votes towards dud candidates to induce us to vote for the duds.\u00a0 <\/span>As a result, many believed that Ranil could possibly win and therefore voted for him. Those who believed this and voted for him are essentially Sri Lankan voters who are the Anglos, businessfolk enriched by Ranil, and those whose appointments by Ranil need renewal. They badly believed in Ranil because their futures and appointments were tied to his re-election.<\/p>\n

We need reform of the press. The state newspapers mut be freed of politics to facilitate the return of editors who left. TV stations like the one that tried to bribe me and Nagananda Kodituwakku with a bribe of Rs. 10,000,000 to withdraw a case against a potential SLPP Presidential candidate need to be brought to heel. We should be enabled to name names without fear of retribution. This reform needs to be carefully thought through by serious journalists and lawyers to ensure that the threat of punishment by imprisonment merely on the complaint of being offended is removed. All these little tricks by Ranil like the ICCPR-Act to stave off criticism must go, retaining defamation only when it is serious. Certainly, building up dud candidates as serious candidates also must go. Ranil is gone. Now his legacy must go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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