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
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Getting “Yahapālanaya” Is A Process?
By Ravindra Galhena –June 28, 2016
The word “Yahapalanaya”
(good governance) has been the most used lexis in Sri Lankan politics
since Maithripala Sirisena decided to run for the office of President in
November 2014. Sri Lankans would not find it difficult to understand
the reasons behind this mind-set. In a nutshell, ensuring ‘Yahapalanaya’
was an attractive promise (given the situation that the people were in)
made to the public and many of us Sri Lankans considered it as an
immediate panacea for all our woes!
On January 10 2015, Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as President. As
per his manifesto and the mandate, Ranil Wickremesinghe took office as
Prime Minister despite the meagre parliamentary support he was able to
garner single-handedly at the time. However, the life of the said
government was not meant to last over 100 days. The promise and the plan
was to go for a parliamentary election having successfully delivered
the promised ‘100 Day Programme’. A young person would think that this
was the most chaotic 100 days in our political history! President
Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had to work very closely to
harness the support in parliament to pass an emergency budget and the
legislature to trim the presidential powers etc.
However, due to numerous reasons, the ‘100-day Government’ had to last
beyond the designated period and it was still legitimate. In August last
year, we the Sri Lankans voted for a new parliament. At this election,
United National Front (UNF = United National Party + other smaller
parties) was able to win only 106 out of 225 parliamentary seats and the
President Sirisena faction of the United People’s Freedom Alliance
(UPFA) joined hands with the UNF under the premiership of Ranil
Wickremesinghe to form a government which now accounts for more than two
thirds altogether.