S. B. DISSANAYAKE ALL OUT TO UPSET PROPOSED MOU , MAKES A SCATHING ATTACK ON MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA

By Walter Jayawardhana

The United National Party’s National Organizer S. B. Dissanayaka vehemently attacked President Mahinda Rajapaksa and said the leader was suffering from a war mentality for the military campaigns he wages against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE).

He ridiculed the President and said the head of state was masquerading as Dutugemunu and Parakramabahu , two kings during the periods of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa kingdoms, who brought the country under one rule defeating foreign invasions and divisions.

Dissanayaka was pardoned , only months ago, by President Mahinda Rajapaksa while he was languishing in a prison spending a jail term of two yers RI for contempt of court.

The former Ministers verbal onslaughts came at a time when his own party has officially agreed with the Rajapaksa government to sign a memorandum of understanding on six points to develop the country that include a solution to the conflict in the North and the East.

The former parliamentarian , who has lost his Nuwara Eliya District seat due to the imprisonment , to his own party’s Renuka Herath, obviously made the scathing remarks over the BBC’s Sinhala language service Sandeshaya, to upset the apple cart of some party leaders who have agreed to cooperate with the government like Karu Jayasuriya and Dr. G. L. Peiris, his former colleague.
He attacked the government for trying to devolve power through a unitary system of government and called it the biggest fraud in the world.

While the memorandum of understanding between his party UNP and the ruling SLFP is said to formulate a political consensus and a governance supported by both parties for a limited period of time Dissanayaka said during his interview it should be made use of to challenge the government.
He indirectly expressed his unhappiness for the appointment of Party Secretary Tissa Attanayaka with whom he is quarrelling over the appointment of some one else to the seat vacated by his jail term.

He said there should be a change in the constitution of the party that allows the leader to name party officials. Already , Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has nominated Rukman Senanayaka, the grandson of the founder leader of the party , who has been a critic of both Ranil and his wily uncle J. R. Jayewardene, as the party chairman probably to give a new Senanayaka image to stop the waning popularity of the party among the rural masses. In the same breath Wickremesinghe also has nominated his protégé Tissa Attanayaka as the party secretary. It was Wickremesinghe himself who was instrumental in making S. B. Dissanayaka the national Organizer.

Many think, the people of Sri Lanka deserve an explanation from Wickremesinghe and others of the United National Party since just few months before the cross over of S. B. Dissanayaka, the party leader and his spokesman Dr. karunasena Kodituwakku were promising the people of the country to prosecute S. B. Dissanayaka , the then Minister of Sports,for his criminal activities over the Susanthika Jayasinghe incident. But as soon as he crossed over to the UNP the alleged criminal record was conveniently swept under the carpet. The true nature of Sri Lanka’s freedom of the press was also exhibited then. Sunday Leader, Sunday Times, Ravaya newspapers and TNL TV hid their interviews done with Susanthika Jayasinghe safely in their attics, since in Sri Lanka press freedom is nothing else but to attack only the enemies of one’s political masters. They also proudly lead free media movements!

To know the seriousness of the crime of S.B. Dissanayaka one should refer to the Special Olympic edition of the Los Angeles Times in which the bronze medalist at the Sydney games gave a shocking interview to the world.

The Los Angeles Times reported in a story filed from Sydney that Olympic bronze medal winner in the women's 200 meter race, Susanthika Jayasinghe has accused Sri Lankan sports officials of framing her up in a drug charge by tampering with a urine sample to spite her after she refused sex to the country's powerful Sports Minister, S.B.Dissanayaka.

Written by Mike Penner , a Times staff writer , in the widely read Sydney Olympics special section the shocking news item said Susanthika "won the bronze medal in the 200 meters and bitterly waved the accomplishment in the face of the Sri Lanka Track and Field Federation ,accusing the federation officials of sexual harassment and duplicity surrounding her controversial suspension for a urine sample she believes was tampered with."

The widely circulated newspaper with sales over one million copies said "Jayasinghe became the first Sri Lankan to win an Olympic track and field medal since 1948, representing a national federation she has feuded with since a 1998 out of competition urine sample tested positive for steroids."
The newspaper wrote, "Jayasinghe has maintained her innocense all along , fighting a long legal battle that resulted in the charges being dismissed."

" The battle began , Jayasinghe said, after the man who is the sports minister (of Sri Lanka) wanted to have sex with me . I say , No I am married ."
"Jayasinghe believes," the Times said, " that incident led to Sri Lanka federation officials framing her after taking an out of competition sample in April 1998 and refusing to seal the bottle while she was present."

The Times added: "The test came back positive," said Jayasinghe , who contends the sample was tampered with."This makes no sense . I am a clean girl. I never failed any drug test before."

Only when S. B. Dissanayake crossed over to the United National Party former President Chandrika Kumaratunga thought that he was dishonest. She sent helicopters with photographers to take pictures of his palatial house in Hanguranketha .

The historical place is famed to have had a palace in ancient times but no kandyan king would have had a palace as big as his. But he said this house has got only four rooms and cost only 8 million Rupees. By looking at the picture Chandrika Kumaratunga’s photographer took the readers could judge for themselves the credibility of the National Organizer of the United National Party.
The time he spent under both political parties and the great tasks he performed under Chandrika Kumaratunga and Ranil Wickremesinghe are enough testimony for the sorry plight of the leadership of Sri Lanka and the blatant political opportunism of the highest order practiced by S. B. Dissanayaka