Sarath Bulathsinghala

2 Aug 2020

THE VOTERS OF SRI LANKA WILL GO TO POLLS ON 5 AUGUST. SIMPLY PUT THE TASK IS TO DECIDE WHOM TO BRING TO POWER TO BRING PROSPERITY TO SRI LANKA IN A COVID-19 SITUATION NOW AND A  POST COVID-19 SITUATION AFTER?

After a disastrous 5 years of gross governmental mismanagement by a coterie of nincompoops and white-collar thieves, Gotabhaya Rajapakse was elected as the President of Sri Lanka for a period of 5 years at the Presidential Elections held in November 2019. The President could not dissolve the corrupt and non-performing parliament due to the provisions of the infamous 19^th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The President had to wait till March 2020 to dissolve the parliament and call for fresh elections in April 2020. However, this was not to be, due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the General Elections had to be delayed till August 2020.

President Gotabhaya diverted his attention to containing the pandemic and by now Sri Lanka has out-performed many other rich and powerful countries in protecting and saving lives of her population.  The pandemic is well contained with only 11 deaths – 0.5 per million population so far and the infected total less than 3000 or 131 per million population. Covid-19 Testing now standing at 7480 per million population. All these figures are well ahead of Japan, just one example – see https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

 The infections within the country were well contained using the ‘Chase and Contain’ policy utilizing the expertise and manpower of the Tri Forces and the Intelligence Services and the excellent Healthcare services.  This the President had to do while governing a country saddled with gross excesses and thievery of the previous regime. This he had to do without a performing parliament and a belligerent and hateful  opposition who keeps on wishing for the worst!

Finally, the 2020 General Elections are upon us. It is no brainer that a country needs to be governed and our current system of governance needs a parliament to do so. However, the objective of the current opposition was to postpone the elections as much as possible after failing to get the President to reconvene the old non-performing parliament. This they failed with the dissolution of the parliament in March 20.

Making of a Failed State

In this background, what is of paramount importance is to understand is the stratagem of the previous Yaha(Jada)palana administration. Taken in totality it is now obvious that the Government mostly controlled by Ranil Wickramasinghe and ‘his gang of white collar thieves’ were intent on making Sri Lanka a Failed State suitable for Big Power intervention and subsequent occupation by the Western Christian Forces led by the USA.

Disruptions in the Financial Sector

It was towards this objective that Bond Scams involving the Central Bank take place – first one within 7 weeks of coming to power and the second a year later. The results were there for all to see – major disruptions to the economy in terms of increased interest rates, higher taxes and rapid devaluation of the Rupee resulting in massive losses to the economy.

Disruptions to Food Security

The Yahapalana inherited an agricultural economy that was self-sufficient in rice and other cash crops. However the Yahapalana  target was to make Sri Lanka dependent on imported food. The farmers were discouraged from cultivating their paddy lands and rice was imported. Millions of tons of rice went bad after storage at the Mattala Airport and was subsequently sold for making alcohol. The Pepper market was destroyed by the import of inferior pepper from Vietnam and subsequent resale of the mixed product eventually destroying the Ceylon Pepper brand. The price of tea, rubber and coconut went down similarly. Import of onions, maize, curcumin (Kaha) and similar made many a farmer destitute.

Disruptions to National Security

Yahapalanaya willfully and purposely disrupted the security establishment set up by Mahinda / Gotabhaya Administration of 2005 – 2015. It was done with a vengeance and in accordance of the wishes of Big Powers and India. It was done ostensibly to promote reconciliation among different ethnicities in Sri Lanka. The end result was Easter Sunday Bombings and furtherance of disparities and distrust between peoples.

Sale of Hambantota Port

It is now abundantly clear that the sale of Hambantota Port to China was the trigger to Big Power intervention in Sri Lanka. It was with this that India is clamoring for Mattala Airport and Eastern Container Terminal of the Colombo Port.

ACSA, SOFA and MCC

The final nail in the coffin was to put American boots on the sacred soil of Sri Lanka.  Simply put the US wants a land corridor from Colombo to Trincomalee with unimpeded access for their armed forces and war materials. This is what these agreements with the US entail. These are in furtherance of their INDO-PACIFIC Strategy to contain the influence of China in the region. What we need to decide is whether Sri Lanka should become a part of the war theatre in a Big Power conflict in the region? As the saying goes – When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers”

Lest we forget

What is apparent during the current political campaigns for the 2020 General Elections are the proverbial memory lapses of the population. They are missing the Big Picture of 5 years of disastrous rule and mismanagement by the Yaha (Jada) Palana Administration. Let us refresh our memories to what took place during this time, lest these are not factors determining the voting at this crucial election.

• Sirisena’s treachery
• The slanderous accusations against the Mahinda Rajapakse Administration which the Yahapalanaya could not prosecute during their term in office
• The unprecedented dismissal of a Chief Justice – Mohan Peiris
• The appointment of Ranil Wickramasinghe to the post of PM going roughshod over the incumbent Prime Minister – D M Jayaratne
  • Splitting of the Ministry of Finance and taking over the Central Bank under the PM
  • Appointment of Arjun Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank
  • The first Central Bank Bond Scam of 26 Feb 2015 – followed by non-result producing bogus investigations by UNP lawyers
  • First Dew Gunasekara COPE Committee Report ending up in the dustbin with the hurried dissolution of the parliament before the COPE Committee report could be tabled in the parliament
  • Sunil Handunnetti COPE Committee that ended up with dozens of footnotes diluting the findings
  • The Presidential Commission of Inquiry over the Bond Scam hidden from the public by SIrisena
• Formation of FCID – a quasi-legal institution for the prosecution of political opponents
• Formation of Independent Commissions and stuffing them with members with dubious credentials

• The SLFP rump that dashed for ministerial positions and supported the Jadapalanaya
• The now infamous 19^th Amendment to the Constitution, how it was brought about promising a follow up 20^th Amendment which never materialized and its disastrous implication for the governance of Sri Lanka
• The Second Central Bank Bond Scam in March 2016 leading to even higher losses than the previous one in Feb 2015.
• Destruction of the Salawa Armory
• Weakening of State Intelligence Services and resulting Easter Sunday Attacks
• Responses to natural disasters – Meethotamulla, Aranayake etc
• Arbitrary postponement of elections local and provincial, depriving the electorate of their democratic rights. 
• Landslide defeat at the Local Government Elections in February 2018
• Postponement of Provincial Council Elections indefinitely due to electorate delimitation fiasco engineered by the government
• Willful destruction and desecration of Buddhist sites of religious worship and of archaeological value – Kuragala, Muhudu Mahaviharaya, Devanagala etc
• Arrest and incarceration of Buddhist Priests
• Denigration of Buddhism and Buddhist practices, aspersions on the role of Buddhism in Sri Lanka by leading Ministers
• Attempts to create dissension among the Buddhist Sects
• Willful destruction and conversion of land into Muslim settlements – Willpattu and other
• 21 April 2018 – Easter Sunday Attacks
  • 97 Early warnings of the attacks including several from India not heeded
  • Parliamentary Select Committee investigations – a scam investigation that included suspected subscribers to Islamic Terrorism

THE NEW GOVERNMENT IS ON THE RIGHT PATH. LET US BRING A NEW PARLIAMENT THAT WILL SUIT THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT GOTABHAYA – A ONE WITH AN OVERWHELMING OVER 2/3 MAJORITY FOR THE POHOTTUWA! IT IS TIME THE AUGEAN STABLES ARE CLEANED UP!