Lankaweb Post Election Editorial
Nov.19th 2019 Perhaps the long-awaited New Era for Sri Lanka has dawned amidst firecrackers , Magul Bera and chants of Jayawewa!! which has echoed throughout the night in a post-election celebration which is not only memorable but significant in the manner the tumultuous victory was achieved as the opposition never gave up the fight almost until the end and the minority voters who opposed the SLPP rallied in vast numbers where the Sinhala voters and their supporters who in all probabilities knew the priorities and what was at stake. They stood strong... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
By shenali Waduge
We have always wondered why the BBC is better known as the British Bullshit Corporation and now we can understand why. That together with Mindshare's Power to the People's Report claiming BBC has no credibility kind of puts the icing on the cake on the value of BBC's opinion. Why is BBC so worried about Sri Lanka's new President? We would like BBC to correct the notion that Sri Lanka had a civil war – it didn't. Sri Lanka suffered terrorism and LTTE was an enemy of all including Tamils... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
S. M. D. P. Harsha Senanayake Researcher- Social Scientists' Association M.A. International Relations (New Delhi), B.A (Hons.) International Relations (Colombo)
The election had taken place to elect the 7th executive president of Sri Lanka was concluded by marking a decisive victory by Gotabaya Rajapaksa; former defence secretary and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka's former wartime defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has claimed victory in Presidential election, with over 50 per cent of the votes precisely 52.25% with the total votes of 6, 924, 255. The results manifest as the highest number of votes conceived by a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
wanted to see if you could help by adding your name.
http://chng.it/NBn5phdGBS... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today
In January 2015, Sri Lanka embarked on a new political journey. It was supposed to be the new era of good governance. However, in all seriousness whether Sri Lanka was ready for Good Governance is highly debatable. One of the main goals of those who voted for the Yahapalana Government was somehow to bring the lawbreakers of the Rajapaksa Administration to justice. If there was any economic discourse, it was to disparage on strategic economic assets such as the Hambanthota Port as 'white elephants'. The theme in general was to the effect... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Ada Derana
https://youtu.be/kMPX5D9BmP0... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Courtesy Adaderana
UNP MP Dr. Harsha de Silva has resigned from his portfolio of Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution. In a letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa congratulating him on the victory at the Presidential Election, the parliamentarian said he wished the new President “wisdom and strength to unite our beloved nation that has become deeply divided into ethnic lines.” “This is to inform you of my resignation from my portfolio of Non-Cabinet Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution with immediate effect so that you can appoint a suitable person of your choice to carry out the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 19 (newsin.asia): The Indian Foreign Minister, Dr.Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who arrived in Colombo on Tuesday met the newly elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had won the November 16 Presidential election beating Sajith Premadasa of the United National Party-led alliance by a margin of 1.3 million votes. At the end of the meeting Jaishankar tweeted: With Foreign Minister Jaishankar’s visit, India is clearly forging ahead of its rivals China and Pakistan in cultivating the new Sri Lankan government. Indian Prime Minister Narendra... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 19 (newsin.asia): The appointment of the “tough as nails” Major General (retired) Kamal Gunaratne as Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, is a clear indication that the newly elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is dead serious about ensuring Sri Lanka’s security. The majority Sinhalese, who backed Gotabaya to the hilt in the November 16 election, have been living under the apprehension that the island nation is under threat from Jehadi terrorism, albeit nascent. Sections of the majority community are also apprehensive about the possibility of a revival of Tamil extremism, given... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 18 (Daily Express): The new Sri Lankan President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is likely to cozy up to India but be wary about the US. Sources close to him say that President Gotabaya will view India as Sri Lanka’s “main security provider” and China a key source of funding for infrastructure projects given its deep pocket and willingness to lend. Given neighboring India’s strategic concerns, and the history of Sri Lanka-India relations, Gotabaya will not take China as a strategic ally but only as an important source of funds for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 19 (The Citizen): There are indications that under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka will see India as its “main security provider” given India’s proximity and its status as the regional power. On the other hand, China will be seen as a key source of funds for big infrastructure projects, given its deep pocket and willingness to lend. Sources close to Gotabaya say that given neighboring India’s strategic concerns, and the stormy history of Sri Lanka-India relations, Gotabaya will not take China as a strategic ally but only as an important... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්
මංගල සමරවීර, රාජිත සේනාරත්න, රංජන් රාමනායක, පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක ඇතුළු ආණ්ඩුවේ චෝදනාවලට ලක් වූ අමාත්යවරුන්ට එරෙහිව නීතිය ක්රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බව මහා සංඝරත්නය පවසනවා. උන්වහන්සේලා මේ බව සදහන් කළේ අද පැවති ප්රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡා කිහිපයකට එක්වෙමින්. https://youtu.be/ZyUfPW5ceho... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Courtesy Hiru News
Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara says that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has no moral right to continue a government further. Addressing a media conference held in Colombo, Nalin Bandara said that he would step down from the Bingiriya electoral organizer post as well if the office bearers are not elected anew for the party. Meanwhile, Economic Reforms and Public Distribution Minister Harsha de Silva has also forwarded his resignation to the President today.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Courtesy Hiru News
Political sources say that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to hand over his resignation tomorrow. According to the sources, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has decided to appoint a caretaker government with a limited cabinet of 15 ministers until the next general election. https://youtu.be/7OHylmccQMo... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
Gorringe, H Courtesy Journal of South Asian Development Vol. 2 (1): pp51-73
Abstract: Although Dalit orators and slogans threaten (or promise) to 'turn Tamilnadu on its head', the 2006 state elections offer Dalit analysts pause for thought. In compromising its principles and allying with established parties, the Dalit Panther Iyyakkam (Movement) - the largest Dalit movement in the state - has come full circle since 1999. In alternately backing the two dominant parties in the state (the DMK and the AIADMK) the DPI appears to be increasingly institutionalized. Excavating the future of Dalit action from past trends... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/11/19)
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Ranil Wickremesinghe reached the peak of his power on January 8, 2015. Then he was neither the prime minister nor the president. But he had the power to make things happen. It can be argued that he had the world at his feet because he represented the promising moral force of the day. With that power he held his future and the future of the nation in his hands. Led by Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha, the respected moral spearhead of the time, surrounded by NGOs and civil society, backed the West and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By shenali Waduge
UK was a former colonial invader occupying Sri Lanka from 1815 to 1948 & until 1972 when Sri Lanka became a republic. Let us not dwell into the atrocities committed under colonial British rule which mind you has yet to be acknowledge, apologized or compensated. As teacher and preacher of parliamentary democracy, Sri Lanka held a democratic election on 16th November to elect the country’s 7th President who became Gotabaya Rajapakse with a historical vote result. It did not take long for a barrage of anti-Gotabaya articles to emerge and seriously questions... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By shenali Waduge
When SLPP began its campaign – Gotabaya Rajapakse's message was clear – One Nation – One Law. It was an inclusive motto. There was no segregation. There was no discrimination. It was something simple for all to relate to. The Opposite Camp on the other hand were with a bunch of separatists-fundamentalists, politicians and political parties we thought everyone was fed up with. We thought people would not listen to them for Tamils & Muslims themselves publicly denounced their leaders. So our guess... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
KAMALIKA PIERIS
The Eelam wars came to an end on May 2009 with a humiliating defeat for the LTTE and a triumphant win for the government. The entire world was amazed and surprised. None of the other countries had been able to end such a war, said observers. Nalin de Silva observed that Eelam War IV was undoubtedly a great victory. The government of a small country had defeated a terrorist outfit supported and sponsored by the western powers. Col. C.R.Hariharan said LTTE has been outwitted, out-gunned and out-strategized by the Sri Lanka army. “This... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada.
Jehan Perera, writing in the Island on 19th November says that the expectation was that neither of the two leading candidates, i.e., Gotabhaya and Sajith, would get a clear mandate, and hence a second preference re-count will be needed. Several urban political Pandits like Kumar David had suggested that while the first preference should be given to the JVP candidate, the second preference should be given to Sajith. This time the JVP has not claimed that the election results are a mere “computer Jilmart”. Most of us do NOT get our nourishment,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
Dr P B Jayasundera brings three vital skills. Financial management, Economic Policy implementation and Public Administration with extensive knowledge of Financial Regulations (FR). In the past, he has successfully managed Spending against Budget. But now as Presidential Secretary, he extends his arms right across. He will not allow distributing, for example, SIL REDI during an election campaign even if the President wishes to do so. The President will have a Peace of Mind with PBJ in charge of the machine so that his attention could be diverted to drive his Policies.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 18 (AIR): As Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as Sri Lankan President on Monday, discussions on dissolving Parliament and holding fresh elections have begun. The Leader of the opposition and Gotabaya’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that with Gotabaya’s victory in the Presidential election, it is best to hold a parliamentary election as soon as possible. The former President said that work cannot commence as the President is from one party while the cabinet, including the Prime Minister, is from another. He said that the mandate... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By Shiran Illanperuma Xinhua Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
COLOMBO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua): Sri Lanka’s business community has expressed hope that the country’s new president would move forward with open market reforms, provide a conducive environment for local industries and attract foreign direct investments. Sri Lanka’s Elections Chief Mahinda Deshapriya on Sunday afternoon confirmed that opposition candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidential election on Saturday. International Business Council President Kosala Wickramanayake told Xinhua on Monday that the business community hoped Rajapaksa would accelerate the development of infrastructure projects, attract more foreign direct investment and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, November 18 (newsin.asia): The United States on Monday congratulated the people of Sri Lanka on their democratic presidential election and said that it looks forward to working with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In a statement released by the US embassy here, Washington said: “Sri Lanka has continued to show the strength and resilience of its republic with a free, fair, and transparent presidential election befitting Asia’s oldest democracy. We commend the Elections Commission, civil society and government authorities for promoting a peaceful election.” “We are ready to continue our work... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්
රාජ්ය ආයතනවල ජනපතිගේ රුව ප්රදර්ශනය කරනවා වෙනුවට රාජ්ය ලාංඡනය ප්රදර්ශනය කරන ලෙස ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ උපදෙස් දීතිබෙනවා. එහිදී ජනපතිවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් උපදෙස් දී ඇත්තේ මාර්ග නාමපුවරුවලින් ද දේශපාලනඥයින්ගේ රුව ඉවත්කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නා ලෙසයි. https://youtu.be/JK0en9rjeaI... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්
ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙරට 7 වන විධායක ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස දිවුරුම්දීමෙන් අනතුරුව දිවයින පුරා විවිධ සැමරුම් පැවැත්වුණා. ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අනුරාධපුර ඓතිහාසික රුවන්වැලිසෑය ඉදිරිපිට ජනාධිපති ධූරයේ දිවුරුම් දීමත් සමගම රට පුරා ස්ථාන රැසක ගිනිකෙළි දල්වමින් ජනතාව සිය සතුට පළ කළා. බස්නාහිර පළාතේ ස්ථාන රැසකම ජනතාව ප්රධාන මාර්ග අසලට පැමිණ කිරිබත් දන්සැල් පවත්වමින් සිය සතුට පලකළ ආකාරයයි මේ. https://youtu.be/3ARuKznRZVA ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්වීම සිහිවීම පිණිස ශ්රී ලංකා රාජ්ය ඉංජිනේරු සංස්ථා සේවකයින් මෙලෙස පැල සිටුවීමේ වැඩසටහනක් ක්රියාත්මක කළා. මේ අතර දිවයිනේ අනෙකුත්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
උපුටා ගැන්ම හිරු නිව්ස්
පාරිශුද්ධත්වයේ සංකේතය වන සුදු නෙළුම් මල තේමාව කර ගනිමින් මෙරට 7 වන විධායක ජනපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ නිල ධජය නිර්මාණය කර තිබෙනවා. කොඩියේ ප්රධාන වර්ණය ලෙස යොදාගෙන ඇත්තේ කුරහන් ධාන්යයේ වර්ණය වන තද දුඹුරු පැහැයයි. ජනාධිපති ධජයේ නෙළුම් මලෙන් පාලකයා සතු නිර්මලභාවයත්, පිවිතුරු පාලනයත් පිළිඹිබු කෙරෙනවා. නෙළුමේ කලංකයේ සිට සිව් දිශාවන්ට විහිදෙන සුත්රිකා මගින් නිරූපණය වන්නේ කීර්තිය සැම අත පැතිරී යෑමයි. ඒ වටා ඇති කහ පැහැති රවුමෙන් ප්රඥාව ද සුදු පැහැති රවුමෙන් සත්යවාදී බවද නිරූපණය කෙරෙනවා. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy Hiru News
Lawyers of Rayynor Silva, Chairman of HIRU TV, sends letters of demand to MP Mangala Samaraweera and two others for recent defamatory comments made against him and his family demanding 1 Billion rupees each. https://youtu.be/KgXkuVNCWY8... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Hindustan Times
China on Monday congratulated the newly-elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, saying Beijing is ready to work with the new leadership for “high-quality” cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the ambitious intercontinental connectivity project launched by President Xi Jinping. The Rajapaksa family, including the new president and his elder brother, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, are considered close to Beijing. It was under the elder Rajapaksa’s presidential reign between 2005 and 2015 that Beijing emerged as a key economic ally and major investor of the war-torn country. “Sri Lanka has successfully... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy Ceylon Today
P. B. Jayasundera has been appointed as the Presidential Secretary to the newly-elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He served as an Economist, Economic Adviser and the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and the Treasury from 2009 until 2015 during the tenure of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy Ceylon Today
A news saying that Major General Kamal Gunaratne has been appointed as the Defence Sectary is circulating on social media. However, when Ceylon Today Web contacted the media unit of the Defence Ministry, they denied and said they cannot confirm the news. The Defence Ministry said that they weren't notified about such a news.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Courtesy Hiru News
The UNP has decided to hand over the government to the new President. The decision has been taken following a special meeting of UNP Parliamentarians chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this afternoon However, party presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa was conspicuously absent in this discussion. https://youtu.be/zvDxSqlM68c In addition to the UNP ministers who resigned yesterday following the defeat of their candidate, Ministers Patali Champika Ranawaka and Ashok Abeysinghe have also tendered their resignations today. Meanwhile,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Sudath Gunasekara Kandy
Your victory as well as that of the country is a foregone conclusion. I am repeating, you will be definitely starting with at least 65 lakhs the minimum that is what the SLPP UPF and SLFP got at the 2018 Local Government Elections as I see. Looking at the present trend no one should be surprised even if it exceeds 70 lahks. (This is a copy of an email sent to Gothabhaya on 14.Oct 2019) Extremely Important Whoever opens this note please bring it to Mr. Gotabhays immediate attention.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Sarath Bulathsinghala
Congratulations and well done. It is with enormous pride that we accept you as the 7th President of Sri Lanka. Your conducted an exemplary campaign which culminated in your getting elected as the President of our beleaguered Motherland, Sri Lanka. I am sure your election will see the end of dirty politics as we know it today. Those who threw mud at you bit the dust the day before yesterday - on 16 Nov. The unpatriotic UNP is well-nigh done and finished! The decisive loss Sajith Premadasa at the Presidential Election shows the bankruptcy... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
Idrees Ali CourtesyReuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned two Army officers accused of war crimes in Afghanistan and restored the rank of a Navy SEAL platoon commander who was demoted for actions in Iraq, a move critics have said would undermine military justice and send a message that battlefield atrocities will be tolerated. The White House said in a statement Trump granted full pardons to First Lieutenant Clint Lorance and Major Mathew Golsteyn, and ordered that the rank Edward Gallagher held before he was convicted in a military trial... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/11/19)
By shenali Waduge
Sri Lanka re-reversed a regime change orchestrated in January 2015 which spiraled Sri Lanka towards a wave of catastrophic changes unbeknown to most, outcomes which will be felt only as the new administration now takes over. The election is one that will enter history books for several reasons and resonates the resilience of a proud nation grappling to preserve their history and heritage protecting the islands every inch of turf. As we enter the closure of 2019 and look ahead to 2020 it has a lot of promise in store but there are some factors... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/11/19)
MEDIA RELEASE Mahinda Rajapaksa Leader of the Opposition
The candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Joint Opposition, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has won a decisive victory at this presidential election. I request all our party activists and supporters to celebrate this victory peacefully and without causing inconvenience to anyone. The people have voted decisively in our favour at this election because of disaffection with the conduct of this government over the past five years. Therefore it is our duty by the people of this country, to conduct ourselves in a manner that will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/11/19)
මාධ්ය නිවේදනය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ විපක්ෂ නායක
ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ, ශ්රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ සහ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂක ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙම ජනාධිපතිවරණය විශිෂ්ඨ ලෙස ජයගෙන ඇත. අවුරුදු පහක් මුළුල්ලේ අනේකවිධ දුෂ්කරතා විද ලබාගත් මේ ජයග්රහණය ඉතාමත්ම සාමකාමීව, අනුන්ට කිසිඳු කරදරයක් නොවන ආකාරයට භුක්ති විදින මෙන් මම අපගේ පාක්ෂිකයන්ගෙන් මෙන්ම සියලුම ශ්රී ලංකාවාසී ජනතාවගෙන්ද ඉල්ලා සිටිමි. මහජනතාව මේ තීරණාත්මක ජයග්රහණය අප වෙත ලබාදී තිබෙන්නේ, පසුගිය අවුරුදු පහ පුරාවටම පැවති මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ක්රියා පිළිවෙත එපා වී ඇති නිසාය. එම නිසා කිසිවෙකුටත් කරදරයක් නොවෙන ආකාරයට හැසිරීම අපි පොදු මහජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් ඉටු කළ යුතු යුතුකමකි. පසුගිය අවුරුදු... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/11/19)
ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්රකීර්ති
2018 අවුරුද්දේ නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ 23 වැනි දා සිකුරාදා පූර්ව භාග 11:07 ට ගරු විජිත හේරත් මන්ත්රීතුමා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ දී සභාව කල් තැබීමේ යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ඒ, ගරු කථානායකතුමාත් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ගරු මන්ත්රීතුමන්ලාත් සහභාගී වුනු සොඳුරු ජවනිකා ගණනාවක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ රඟ දැක්වෙමින් තිබුණු දවස් කීපයක්. ගරු කථානායකතුමා පන්දුවක් දැම්මාම ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ ගරු මන්ත්රිතුමන්ලා (විශේෂයෙන් ම ගරු විජිත හේරත් මන්ත්රිතුමා සහ ගරු අනුර ක්රමාර දිසානායක මන්ත්රිතුමා) ඒකට ඉතාමත් චමත්කාර අන්දමින් පහර දෙනවා. ඒ වැඩේ අනිත් පැත්තටත් වෙනවා. හරි ම සොඳුරුයි. ඉතින් එදා ඔය කියපු වෙලාවට ගරු විජිත හේරත් මන්ත්රිතුමා සභාව කල් තැබීමේ යෝජනාව ඉදිරිපත් කරලා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/11/19)
By Noor Nizam - Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart and Convener - "The Muslim Voice" - 17th., November 2019.
The election of HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to the office of the 7th., President of Sri Lanka on the 16th., of November 2019 is a happy day for those Sri Lankans who love their "Maathruboomiya", Mother Sri Lanka, be they Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Malays or Burghers. The section of Muslims who voted HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to become the 7th., Executive President of Sri Lanka feel honoured to be partners in the victory of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/11/19)
