A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, July 8, 2017
Is it necessary to nurse, nurture and feed a ‘Maithri dragon’ to escape from MR ? President bringing Police and AG under him is a horrendous joke.!
(Lanka-e-News
- 08.July.2017, 2.25AM) The president said on the 4 th at the Cabinet
meeting that if the law and order ministry and the Attorney General’s
department are entrusted to him, he would show how to seize the rogues
before three months elapse , cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne at the
media briefing recounted at the meeting to reveal the cabinet
decisions. Rajitha went on to say he expressed his consent at that very
moment. Irrespective of what revelations the rumors and idle gossips
made , Lanka e news reported that the president is moving heaven and
earth during the past several months to bring the law and order
ministry, and the Attorney General’s (AG) department under him .The
police and a number of related departments come under the purview of
the law and order ministry , whose minister is Sagala Ratnayake . Indeed
the methods and modes followed by Sagala to bring the crooks and the
corrupt before the law had been most controversial and dubious from our
point of view.
May we recall Lanka e news earlier on reported with great concern that
about 100 files forwarded to the AG’s department after conclusion of
investigations by the CID and FCID are languishing there without cases
being filed. Although the statement made by the president seems well
intentioned, it is not. Hence it is our duty in the best interests of
the masses to delve deeper into it .
Though we have no personal issues in relation to Maithripala
Sirisena , as a pro good governance group we are against the theory of
the president to bring the law and order ministry, and the AG’s
department under him. This is because when the urgent need is to
abolish the Executive powers of the president, this change on the
contrary will only further augment those powers .
It is well to recall late president J. R. Jayawardena the founder of the
executive presidency did not have the defense ministry under him. His
defense minister was Late Lalith Athulathmudali. Late Premadasa who was
J.R.’s successor broke with the tradition and took over the defense
minister post . Yet after introducing a state defense minister post
appointed Ranjan Wijeratne as the minister . Thereafter he carried on
the functions smoothly after delegating all those duties to Ranjan
Wijeratne.
Former president Chandrika Bandaranaike too followed the same route . Though she had the defense ministry under her name it was her uncle Anurudha Ratwatte who carried out all the duties at defense ministry as deputy defense minister. It is also significant to note, not a single ex president mentioned abovementioned brought the AG’s department under him/her
Former president Chandrika Bandaranaike too followed the same route . Though she had the defense ministry under her name it was her uncle Anurudha Ratwatte who carried out all the duties at defense ministry as deputy defense minister. It is also significant to note, not a single ex president mentioned abovementioned brought the AG’s department under him/her
It was Machiavellian despotic ex president Mahinda Rajapakse the evil
personified who brought all those under his control thereby changing the
entire political and Democratic landscape to the detriment of the
country . He grabbed everything and became a despot. It is a well and
widely known fact he even totally overturned the legal traditions and
brazenly disregarded the rule of law. That is something that everybody
knows , and will endorse.
Theory behind the opposition …
The Rainbow revolution emerged victorious on 2015-01-08 after
saying the executive presidency will be abolished within 100 days of
capturing power . If that promise was fulfilled duly there cannot be
an executive president today. Hence based on our theory , Maithripala
Sirisena who became president in order to abolish the executive
presidency , continuing as executive president now is unethical ,
unacceptable and against the wishes of the people.
The executive presidency while having all the three forces under it is
divested of the police force not without reason or for nothing . A
civil ministry being allocated in the name of law and order , and
bringing the police force under the independent commissions is a great
Democratic move. It is with the view that the police force shall have a
civil character and not military this measure was taken .
In that backdrop, the police force being brought under the executive
president who is also the commander in chief of the forces is a
regressive step , and an usurpation of the democracy won on
2015-01-08. In the same way , bringing the AG’s department under the
Executive president too is to tread the same despotic path. That is ,
to follow the same odious and rejected route of deposed ,discarded
,despotic Rajapakse. The pro good governance masses personally may not
be with president Maithripala , yet at the cabinet meeting on the 4 th ,
the theory proposed before the cabinet should have been rejected in
toto.
Opposing sans personal reasons
Let us analyze whether president Maithripala Sirisena would personally
initiate measures against the corrupt in keeping with his brags , his
proposed theory notwithstanding .
1. It is Malith Jayatileke the national list M.P. and
not us who disclosed that Maithripala Sirisena within a few hours of his
becoming the president negotiated a deal with Gotabaya Rajapakse after
meeting him at the residence of Mahinda Amaraweera. This is mentioned
in the essays of the book ‘ January 8 th that I witnessed’ of Malith
Jayatileke. Curiously this revelation has not been contradicted by
Maithripala until today.
2. It was only ex Bribery commissioner Dilrukshi Dias
Wickremesinghe who hauled up Gotabaya Rajapakse before the Commission .
Interestingly and intriguingly it was the same president Maithripala who
is trying to bring the AG’s department and the law and order ministry
under him now who got cold feet no sooner than he heard Gota had been
hauled up before court. He panicked so much so that he blurted out ‘
war heroes are being taken without my knowledge’ , while relating his
infamous ‘cyanide theory’ story.
Some days later it was Maithripala himself who retracted his statement
shamelessly , by saying , ‘ It was not Gotabaya I was referring to.’
This deplorable denial was given credence to only by Maithripala and his
former media secretary Nimal Bopage. If Maithripala truly was
antagonistic to the corrupt culprits , when Dilrukshi tendered her
resignation folowing Maithripala’s abhorrent utterance , the president
could have refused to accept her resignation. Strangely , the president
did not do that , thereby confirming that he is not against the corrupt
but with them.
3. Unbelievably , the army officers who were
responsible for the abduction and murder of Prageeth Ekneliyagoda, (one
of our staff members) were granted bail after the abominable ‘cyanide
theory’ story of president .It was president Maithripala who made a
huge din that criminals are ‘war heroes’, and said therefore they
should be considered as such and granted bail. What’s more ! these
criminals were reinstated in their posts by the president as defense
minister flagrantly violating all the army regulations as well as
government administrative and financial regulations.
Thereafter these suspects using their official powers intimidated the
witnesses , and crippled all the investigations. It is Maithripala who
should hold himself responsible for all those criminalities therefore.
The one who suffered most in this ghastly ruthless murder was the
victim Prageeth’s wife, Sandya. When the latter requested the president
to give her an opportunity to meet him, she was never given an
appointment even until today despite her repeated requests. Even UN
general secretary realizing her plight gave Sandya an opportunity to
meet her , but our own president of good governance had still not found
the time . This again bears testimony that our president is with the
criminals and not with the victims.
There is a long list of instances which clearly proves that
president Maithripala has extended protection to the corrupt and
criminals most outrageously.
The dangerous ‘joke’ that ought to be opposed
No matter who says what , it is president Maithripala Sirisena who has
been giving calls to the FCID and CID , and exerting pressures. We
have still not received a single report that the prime minister gave
calls .The JVP will corroborate this . Since those departments have kept
a record of the calls received , this is no secret.( We exposed these
details earlier on , and recently a group of pro Mathri gossip mongers
revealed this)
We are having in our possession evidence to prove that
Maithripala gave calls recently to the FCID to suppress the corruption
crimes of Dilan Perera. In addition we have evidence which confirms
that Western province chief minister Isuru Devapriya went along with
culprit Mahindananda Aluthgamage recently, and met the president to
rescue the latter from the grave criminal charges against him . We have
also all the evidence to attest that the president gave a guarantee he
will help Aluthgamage out. If he denies this accusation we can reveal
the relevant audio tape to substantiate our allegation.
It is in this factual and lurid background we have revealed the
afore-noted three main grounds . The latest shocking rudely example
which everyone is aware of is the appointment Maithripala Sirisena
made recently ….
The president recently appointed Rohitha Bogollagama a most
notorious corrupt scoundrel of the Rajapakse era as the Eastern province
Governor. Much worse than that was the ludicrous and ridiculous
announcement made by president Maithripala , a few hours after that
appointment . He said , punishment will be meted out to the corrupt and
the criminals within three months after appointing that notorious crook
just a few hours prior to that announcement. In the circumstances ,
are we to laugh at Maithripala Sirisena or mock at his antics and
acrobatics ? Thankfully we haven’t the mouth of Maithripala
to glibly lie . We can therefore only laugh at him rather than laugh
with him.
UNP is not free from blame
In any event we are not gainsaying the fact that the ministry of law
and order , as well as the ministry of justice (which includes the AG’s
department) of the UNP faction of the consensual government are not
discharging the duties duly and efficiently or without any illicit
deals.
It is we who reported how P.M. Ranil Wickremesinghe met with corrupt
discarded ex president Mahinda Rajapakse in Singapore , and about Sagala
Ratnayake meeting with Gotabaya at the residence of a lawyer. In
addition we exposed how minister of justice Wijedasa Rajapakse spoke
to Kaduwela magistrate and requested not to remand Yoshitha Rajapakse
(another crooked sibling of ex president MR) , and that if the
corrupt and crooks are to be punished this rascally minister should be
changed .
At the same time if anybody says if this incompetent ministry is to be
made efficient it should be brought under the purview of the president
nothing can be more nonsensical . The president is there to see to it ,
if a ministry is not functioning efficiently or duly to make it
efficient and effective- not to bring everything under his
purview.Maithripala who has not still abolished the executive presidency
has those powers even now .
The president who is already having a number of ministries under his control , and is in a muddle and muddy puddle ,clearly unable to discharge those duties duly , seeking to take over some more responsibilities is not because he is capable of efficiently discharging them or in the best interests of the people. Rather it is only another facet of his political struggle and power greed which has surfaced. It is unfortunate we cannot elaborate those details in this article , however it is our conviction we will be failing in our duties towards the people if we do not reveal the Democratic remedial measures that ought to be taken pertaining to the inefficient ministries of Sagala and Wijedasa .
The president who is already having a number of ministries under his control , and is in a muddle and muddy puddle ,clearly unable to discharge those duties duly , seeking to take over some more responsibilities is not because he is capable of efficiently discharging them or in the best interests of the people. Rather it is only another facet of his political struggle and power greed which has surfaced. It is unfortunate we cannot elaborate those details in this article , however it is our conviction we will be failing in our duties towards the people if we do not reveal the Democratic remedial measures that ought to be taken pertaining to the inefficient ministries of Sagala and Wijedasa .
….Those can be made efficient without taking over
1. The ministers in charge of the two ministries -
ministry of law and order , and ministry of justice should be
compulsorily changed . The president has every right to take
appropriate action in that direction.
2. As any change of ministries should be effected
along with the UNP leader after discussions , the president in the
interim can change the two secretaries of the ministries, because the
president has legal powers to do that.
3. The IGP dubbed Imbecile General of Police who has by
now been confirmed as a koloma (eccentric) can be ordered to resign .
Though president cannot dismiss the IGP, the former can explain the true
situation to Poojitha in the best interests of the country , and
appoint a new IGP .
4. The delays at the AG’s department can be averted
mainly by eliminating the human resource shortfalls . We understand
there are only six members of the staff to finalize files . Some files
contain as many as 3000 pages. To read and complete one file may take
several days. In any case , so far we have not received any report that
the AG is a political pimp or a wheeler dealer. Hence , more staff shall
be recruited to clear the backlog and rid delays , as well as install
latest technologies for which funds shall be allocated.
5. One more important thing can be done to improve the services in order that those can efficiently and effectively mete out punishment to the culprits: The civil organization leaders have met with the president and the P.M. on 21 occasions to tell about this, and both of them have accepted their views though nothing was implemented. The civil organization leaders had advised to commence an additional court to hear these cases and to continue the hearings without interruption. This can be done without bringing new enactments, merely by introducing another court , and allocating the necessary grants towards that.
In the circumstances , the announcements made by the president to bring the ministries under him are something the pro good governance masses must frown upon and think carefully not once or twice but many times.
In the Russian drama “The Dragon’ , of Evgeny Schwartz, there is a piece of dialogue in which a crafty ruler advises the people , ‘in order to escape from a dragon, have your own dragon close to you. ’ However in order to escape from a dragon like Mahinda Rajapakse , it is not necessary at all for the pro good governance masses to nurse and nurture a ‘Maithri dragon ‘
5. One more important thing can be done to improve the services in order that those can efficiently and effectively mete out punishment to the culprits: The civil organization leaders have met with the president and the P.M. on 21 occasions to tell about this, and both of them have accepted their views though nothing was implemented. The civil organization leaders had advised to commence an additional court to hear these cases and to continue the hearings without interruption. This can be done without bringing new enactments, merely by introducing another court , and allocating the necessary grants towards that.
In the circumstances , the announcements made by the president to bring the ministries under him are something the pro good governance masses must frown upon and think carefully not once or twice but many times.
In the Russian drama “The Dragon’ , of Evgeny Schwartz, there is a piece of dialogue in which a crafty ruler advises the people , ‘in order to escape from a dragon, have your own dragon close to you. ’ However in order to escape from a dragon like Mahinda Rajapakse , it is not necessary at all for the pro good governance masses to nurse and nurture a ‘Maithri dragon ‘
We shall via another article dissect the hidden political motives of
president Maithripala and Ranil Wickremesinghe behind the attempts made
by the president to take over the ministries .
By Wimal Dheerasekera
Translated by Jeff
---------------------------
by (2017-07-07 21:02:45)
by (2017-07-07 21:02:45)