A new Political Culture……
Posted on September 7th, 2015
By Charles.S.Perera
It is interesting to investigate what this New Political Culture the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe keeps talking about.. From what one has observed so far it is a dictatorship of the President , a police state of the lowest sort with an extended dictatorship of the Prime Minister within a frame work of a damaged democracy . An experiment perhaps of a new political culture still in a very infantile state and lets hope it will not look to Videla’s Argentine, Salazar’s Portugal or Pinochet’s Chile.
The change of political culture began in January, 2015, with the appointment of Ranil Wickramasinghe unconstitutionally, as there was already a Prime Minister and a Cabinet. After the swearing in of the PM in January,2015, he immediately transferred the democratic Republic of Sri Lanka into a police state with a special police force taking orders from the Prime Minister himself to catch thieves, to make real their hallucinations of thieves of the previous government in every project, every profit making Companies, and even in every hotel in Dubai, and banks in Seychelles.
The Foreign Minister rolled his big eyes trying to get all foreign experts to get the stolen loot hidden in various places by the former President, having accused him of having stolen an enormous sum of money equal to many times the income of the Government of Sri Lanka. The new political culture is not a service for the people , but revenge against the former President Mahinda Rajapakse. All hands to the fore to catch thieves.
There was also an evident don’t care attitude, appointing as Finance Minister against whom a case for money laundering was pending, and strangely the presentation of the Budget was to be on the very day he had to appear in court !!
Weeks later the most scandalous bond issue in the history of the Sri Lanka Banking System took place , and in keeping with the new political culture” all that was hushed up and the falling dirt” swept under the state carpet.
There was again a display of the comedy of reappointing an impeached Chief Justice, making her retire and appointing another kicking out unceremoniously the Chief Justice in place. That is part of the new political culture a unique system in the world.
The new rulers chucked out our greatest friends China and Russia who defended us in the Security Council against USA and West, and have welcomed our enemies USA and the West who presented resolutions after resolutions in the UNHRC in Geneva preparing to take our armed forces to be taken before a tribunal accused for war crime, and India that seconded the USA Resolutions as Sri Lanka’s new friends, to take over the countries development from China.
Ranil Wickramasinghe’s UNP Ministers each had to catch at least one thief of the previous regime. Even Company Directors who held office during the previous government were not spared. They accused various people and the FCID of the Prime Minister took them for questioning and they never came back , as they were immediately arrested and put in remand. There was the JVP marching proudly with files in hand to be handed over to the Bribery Commission. JVP was a part of the new political culture of Ranil Wickramasinghe.
Another facet of the new political culture was seen after the dissolution of the Parliament. Maithripala Sirisena actively contributing to shape the new political culture, proposed by his super intelligent Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. But Maithripala Sirisena’s behaviour was some thing beyond the recitation of the daily Yahapalanaya Manthra, ordinary democracy as we know, or even outside the corrupt regime they had vouched to replace.
There is no democratic country in the world where a President elected by the people does what Maithripala did from the day he was sworn in as the Presidenof Sri Lanka.
The democratic norm is that a President elected by the people belongs to all the people without discrimination against the political parties they belong to , the religion they profess or the language they speak. But in the new political culture being shaped by the present Yahapalanaya government of Ranil Wickramasinghe under the Supervision of Maithripala Sirisena all those accepted political and moral norms have been ripped away. It is a new political culture.
The new political culture apart, it is a government set up to vilify the previous government, and take as much revenge as possible from the deposed President Mahinda Rajapakse his family, friends and those connected distantly or those who pay respect to him for the life they owe to him, who eliminated terrorism.
Maithripala Sirisena the President walked the length and width of the country, saying to the people that if he had lost the election he and his family would have been six feet under ground. That was a most ridiculous, vicious, and unintelligent thing to have been said by a man who occupies the most respected position of the country. Stabbing a man’s back, to gain power is another thing , but to accuse him for what he is incapable of doing is base, low, distasteful and foetid.
The attempt was of course to bring disrepute and make unpopular Mahinda Rajapakse, making people believe that he is a criminal not worthy of trust. Coming from a man who had known Mahinda Rajapakse for more than 47, years he may have thought that people would believe that the Batalanda torturers are angels of sort under the new political culture, compared to Mahinda Rajapakse.
Fortunately the people –the Sinhala Buddhists would say that Mahinda Rajapakse is a man who will not harm even an insect let along burying people six feet under ground. The other woman Chandrika who is not worthy of being called a one time President of Sri Lanka speaks as if she is under the influence of liquor. No wise person would go abroad and condemned a Presidents who had been elected by the people of Sri Lanka as a killer of Civilians who ran a police state.
Chandrika was incapable of stopping the terrorists even after she offered Prabhakaran north of Sri Lanka to be ruled by him for ten years, and therefore she is responsible to the very hilt” for all those deaths of terrorists, soldiers and civilians from 19 August 1994 to 19 May, 2009. She cannot escape from that blame by putting it on Mahinda Rajapakse who saved Sri Lanka from terrorism.
Mahinda Rajapakse is unique. He is a man for all seasons,” how ever much the authors of the New Political Culture, try to portray him differently denigrating him, without thinking for an instance that, none of them are able to hold a candle to former President Mahinda Rajapakse.
People of Sri Lanka refuse to listen to Chandrika , and no one will trust her in Sri Lanka except Sirisena-Ranil duo. Therefore she is gleeful she has a foreign audience who knows nothing about her or her doings as the President of Sri Lanka, and may have not even read the book Queen of Thieves” by Victor Ivan. She is unfortunately a part of Ranil Wickramasinghe’s new political culture.
This Yahapalanaya Government is of course unlike any other government of the world, and what it is going to be with its sworn new political culture is any ones guess. Of what we have experienced since 8th January, 2015, it is not encouraging. It became worse when the Parliamentary elections were to be held on the 17 August,2015.
At that election the former President was contesting to become the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. It was an ordinary Parliamentary election. The difference was that the former President was contesting as an ordinary citizen but sponsored by some political parties to make him the Prime Minister if the UPFA wins with a majority number of seats. Mahinda Rajapakse is very popular despite his defeat at the Presidential election of the 8th January,2015, and all the who done it” stuff with which the yahapalanaya clique was trying to hoodwink the people.
Maithripala Sirisena the President was afraid that Mahinda would win and claim to be the Prime Minister. ( there was a question of an inferiority complex).Hence, under instruction from Ranil and Chandrika or on his own, he descended from his Constitutional and Democratic call to be independent and impartial in Parliamentary elections, to make public announcement that he would not name Mahinda Rajapakse the Prime Minister even if he were to win the election. Thereafter he started an election campaign of his own against Mahinda Rajapakse.
He announced that there are number of persons in the SLFP who deserve to be named as Prime Minister and therefore he will not name Mahinda Rajapakse the Prime Minister even if he wins the election.
These were all happening just a week or two before the election. These were irregularities under the election law. But the Elections Commissioner had not proscribed the President’s actions. Then the President sent an open letter of several pages to the former President Mahinda Rajapakse making lot of accusations and reiterating that he would not be made the Prime Minister as there are others suitable to be considered for the office of Prime Minister.
Mahinda Rajapakse sent a short reply saying that when he lost the Presidential election he bowed to the wishes of the people and left peacefully; and that it is up to the President to bow to the wish of the people if he were to be elected with a majority number of seats for the UPFA.
Then the President Sirisena just a day or two before the election sacked the General Secretaries of both SLFP and the UPFA and replaced them with two of his henchmen.
These are all the part of the new political culture. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason for these show of vengeance against one man, who allowed people to live peacefully and breath freedom in a country without terrorism.
The result was the failure of the Party that sponsored the former President as a Prime Ministerial candidate failed to get the required number of seats.
But now the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe who promises a new political culture and new country in 60 months has taken over from the President Sirisena to carry on the campaign of vengeance against the former President Mahinda Rajapakse. Corruption charges against the former President, his family and those connected to him closely or distantly continue with a promise to make the Prime Ministers police force FCID a permanent and a legal feature.
The Prime Minister has become a sort of a Dictator, rising to an Order in the Parliament to stop a Parliamentarian making his maiden speech from speaking about arms and armaments in the Parliament. Of course that can be understood , as when Ranil Wickramasinghe was the Prime Minister under Chandrika Bandar anaike did not even present the CFA to the Parliament, probably because he did not want to speak about terrorism and arms and ammunitions in the House.
Ranil Wickramasinghe did not stop at that he also refused to recognise MPs Gamanpila and Weerawansa as leaders of political parties and denied them the priviledges that follow such recognition and even denied them the front seats allocated to them in the Parliament.
That is the New Political Culture that is being set up in Sri Lanka and it would be interesting to know what more is to follow.
September 7th, 2015 at 4:12 pm
Another excellent analysis by Charles!
Please also read the following:
LankaCnews reported:
මෙම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී ජාතික සමගියට බාධා කරන කිසිදු ප්රකාශයක් කිරීමට කිසිදු මන්ත්රීවරයෙකුට අවසර නොදීමට කතානායක කරු ජයසූරිය මහතාගේ ප්රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැති පක්ෂ නායක හමුවේදී තීරණය කර ඇත.
අගමැති රනිල් වික්රමසිංහ මහතා කරන ලද යෝනජාවක් අනුව මෙම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ජාතික සමගියට හානි කරන ආකාරයේ කතා පැවැත්වීමට මන්ත්රීවරැන්ට ඉඩ නොදීමට කතානායකවරයා පක්ෂ නායක හමුවේදී ඉහත තීරණයට එළැඹ ඇතැයි පැවසේ.
Helabima news .com reported:
http://helabima.lk/read.php?as=9283&locationid=1441667471
September 7th, 2015 at 5:16 pm
HOW to and WHO will create a NEW POLITICAL CULTURE we all want?
Certainly not the corrupt, TGTE funded, LLRC driven, TAMIL NADU remote controlled politicians.
We need HEROES to bring a new political culture as they brought a peaceful living culture.
ONLY they can do it. NO ONE else.
We should NOT lose HOPE. Out of the CFA CESSPIT came hope. HOPE still springs eternal. We need the RIGHT perception, RIGHT people and the RIGHT PATH.
We MUST replace the DIYAWANNA culture with DIYASENA culture.
September 7th, 2015 at 9:35 pm
Mr Perera[ in previously articles few years back praised Chandrika highly, now attacks her. What’s the change of mind?i
My3’s election promise was he will appoint Ranil as PM – he carried it out after Jan 8th. What’s wrong with becoming friends with US and UK. You like to live with enemies?
September 7th, 2015 at 10:52 pm
Kosala, Yes I did like her. It was a time Sri Lanka suffered under then Premadasa Regime. Her becoming the Prime Minister and then the President gave hope. I did think she was young and is able to bring new ideas and give a new face to a country that was suffering with terrorism, and then with state terrorism. She had a great opportunity to change Sri Lanka if she at leased followed the path traced by her father, the mother and the leftist leaders who supported the governments of her father and mother. But as she went on she was talking a lot with out taking any positive action for the welfare of the country or the people.
Then I changed and I criticised her as she was taking a wrong path trying to pacify the terrorists. Now I dislike her for condemning our nation and leaders appointed by the people before foreigners.
US and UK are not friendly towards developing nations. They want developing nations as their sattelite states, enlarging their followers to qualify themselves for global leadership. There is no developing country in the world developed by USA or UK. Sri Lanka was able to go forward because there was China and Russia who are genuinely interested in the development of these nations because as developed Nations they would be useful for themselves and for an expanding world with socialist norms.
I do not like to live with enemeies but I would like enemies to change , not strangle nations by trade and economic embargos for their benefit. I would like enemies to understand that what they are doing is wrong and change themselves for the greater good of the world. We have had enough of Libyas , Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Palestine why not give them a chance to develop live together in a peaceful world, without killing innocents by napalm or drones.
The technology, science and wealth should be utilised to help not to destroy. JR was friendly with USA but in 1978 when JR wanted help the international net he thought he had did not work and he had to accept the 13 Amendment . UNP had no vision, still it has no vision for the development of the country. They have a difficulty in understanding who are friends and who are not. Mahinda Rajapakse was a visionary leader. He did not misappropriate a cent. That is all made up. Still Mahinda Rajapakse or some one like him which can save Sri Lanka. Mahinda’s Chintanaya was an excetional workable manifesto. UNP will never produce any thing like it.
September 8th, 2015 at 4:58 am
The western powers intentions were never to help the developing nations into developed ones, but to get those nations to follow their lines all along thus making them( the developing countries) to depend on them( the western powers) for their own interests. They even want to destroy the countries that seem to be resisting to carry out or blocking their agenda. That’s what we have seen all the way after WWII. Even if a developing nation happen to gather momentum in terms of economy to be self-reliance and promoting apparatus of self-defence, the western powers do not want it happen, and do whatever possible to hinder or block their progress to their course of actions either by imposing sanctions or threats to strike on false accusations, as it happened in Irag and Lybia for example. Even India happened to face sanctions during its course of it’s developing into a nuclear state, and only after India succeeded in its mission, and became a regional power, the western nations trying to be (falsely) friendly with India as they felt antagonizing India would now be not good for their own interests. We therefore should be wary of the western power which just have one fifth of the world population but call themselves ‘international community’.
September 8th, 2015 at 5:32 am
PADDY disaster!!
Bloody UNP govt. converted the H’tota airport to a PADDY STORAGE but UNP govt. says NO MONEY to buy paddy from farmers!!
Now the farmers have threatened to take poison!!
Remember RUN-NIL said before the election the fruits and vegetables of H’tota farmers will be EXPORTED to USA from the airport!!
What a bloody joke is this.
September 8th, 2015 at 5:35 am
Kosala,
Its all relative.
COMPARED to Premathasan and Run-nil, CBK was a gem.
But compared to MR, CBK is just a wicked piece of dirt.
So it made sense to support CBK against RUN-NIL, etc. but when MR is around, CBK is nothing. IF GR is in politics, then he takes the cup above all else.
September 8th, 2015 at 5:36 am
John Maratunga complains no place to have a beer and enjoy pot!
GOOD GOVERNANCE AT ITS BEST!
September 8th, 2015 at 9:49 am
You praised Chandrika recently, Mahinda was then President
September 8th, 2015 at 2:21 pm
Vigneswaran, “Chief Minister of the NPC”, is now MORE EELAMIST than the TNA! This man, who prospered MIGHTILY on the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka with the support of SINHALA people, and is father-in-law to TWO Sinhala men, is a GREATER TRAITOR to his Motherland than the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA, the LTTE Proxy Party!
If this is so, CAN we trust any Tamils to serve in the TOP ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS in Sri Lanka? They are ALL SEPARATISTS! Tamils like Kadirgamar … husband to a SINHALA lady …. are now NON-EXISTENT … a RARE endangered species!
This INABILITY to TRUST Tamils, that Tail people seem to AGGRAVATE EVERYDAY with their Anti-National TREASONOUS pronouncements and actions is the REASON WHY Sri Lanka can NEVER DEVOLVE POWER to the Provinces, or ANY OTHER SUB-NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITY in the FORESEEABLE FUTURE.
It is ALSO the REASON WHY Sri Lanka cannot afford to leave the Power to Govern the Nation in the hands of the UNPatriotic Party aided, abetted and PROPPED UP by Anti-National Minorties who have NEVER LOVED or FOUGHT TO DEFEND our Motherland.
Open your EYES …. O Patriotic Sons and Daughters of Mother Lanka …. UNITE and JOIN HANDS, and WORK TOGETHER to RECOVER the REINS of POWER through PEACEFUL & NON-VIOLENT LEGAL MEANS to STOP the Nation from SLIDING into the HANDS of Sri Lanka’s ENEMIES and being converted into a DIVIDED PATCHWORK of warring Communal Apartheid Bantustans! ACT FAST, ACT NOW!
The FIRST Step should be for the DISSENTING UPFA and SLFP MPs to CREATE a NEW OPPOSITION Party to WREST BACK the Opposition Leadership in Parliament from the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA and PREVENT the NEW CONSTITUTION proposed by the Yamappalanaya Government that wil guarantee the DISINTEGRATION of our Motherland!
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TNA Central Committee likely to discuss anti-party stance of Northern Province CM
Sept 08, Colombo: The Central Committee of Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is likely to discuss the anti-party stance of the Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran at its meeting on 11 September.
Wigneswaran, according to the TNA leadership, has taken an anti-party stance in the run up to the August 17, Sri Lankan parliamentary elections, New Indian Express reports.
Senior leader of TNA, Mavai Senathiraja has said that although the formal agenda does not say that the committee will discuss Wigneswaran’s conduct, if the issue is raised the committee will discuss it.
“If any member raises the issue we will state our view. There is no plan, as such, to discuss disciplinary action against him,” Senathirajah said.
“Wigneswaran had forgotten that he got elected as a TNA candidate, and issued a statement saying he would be neutral in the election. On top of that, he laid out criteria for voting which clearly indicated that he was pushing the case of a rival party,” Senathirajah recalled.
The Chief Minister issuing a statement in July said that it would be wrong for him to be seen at any political meeting of the TNA candidates though it was they who elected him.
Wigneswaran had urged Tamils to vote for candidates who would fight for self-determination and who would not sell themselves to the powers-that-be in Colombo, thus touting the radical line of the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF) led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam.
According to a senior TNA leader, the party lost three of the 20 seats it expected to win, because of Wigneswaran’s utterances.
The Northern Provincial Council led by the Chief Minister unanimously called for an international probe into the alleged war crimes committed during the war while the TNA said there is no need for an international tribunal.
September 8th, 2015 at 8:28 pm
GOOD GOD! If the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA are “Moderates” then the “Radicals” HEADED by that ARCH TRAITOR Wigneswaran must be BLOODY AWFUL! Let the Radicals come …. we KNOW how to DEAL with them!
EVERY DAY, in EVERY WAY, the Tamil People are SHOWING that they have LEARNED NOTHING from the last three DECADES of VIOLENCE and DESTRUCTION!
Suffering from SUICIDAL MYOPIA and Advaced Memory Loss, they are DETERMINED to COMPLETE the DESTRUCTION of the Sri Lankan Tamil Community that the “Tamil Saviour”, the late unlamented SunGod Velupillai Prabhakaran began and nearly completed.
They have STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD that WHATEVER HAPPENS … the SINHALA PEOPLE WILL NOT ALLOW the creation of a Tamils-only EELAM in Sri Lanka … NO MATTER WHAT GOVERNMENT currently holds the REINS of POWER! Governments come and go, but the SINHALA PEOPLE are here to stay! It is not the Anti-National Colombians who will make that DECISION but the ordinary Sinhala, mainly Buddhist, people of Sri Lanka who sent their sons and daughters by the THOUSAND to fight and die for their ONLY Motherland!
The Tamil People SHOULD NOT BE MISLED by the results of the LAST 2 ELECTIONS to put their COLLECTIVE NECK under the Tamil Diaspora’s Guillotine, just as they did RELYING on the ASSURANCES of the SunGod urging Tamil youth to die by the thousands in “Unceasing Waves”.
REMEMBER that STUPIDITY is defined as repeating the same things and expecting a different result.
If you can live in AMITY with the Sinhala people in ONE Indivisible Nation, of ONE Inseparable People, sharing ONE Indomitable Destiny, we welcome you with open arms to stay on in Sri Lanka.
If you CANNOT DO SO, PACK YOUR BAGS NOW FLEE abroad before the NEXT STORM orchestrated by the “Radicals” DESCENDS upon you, to LIVE abroad WITHOUT ANY OF THE UNEQUAL RIGHTS YOU DEMAND In Sri Lanka …. with our HEARTFELT BLESSINGS! Vaya Con Dios!
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Moderates and Radicals Clash in Jaffna Politics
Sept 08 (NIE) COLOMBO- For the first time after the exit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from the Sri Lankan Tamil political scene in May 2009, Jaffna district politics is witnessing a clash between moderates and radicals on the ethnic issue.
The August 17 Lankan parliamentary elections, and the current session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), have brought the conflict into the open, posing a challenge to the 14-year unbroken dominance of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over Jaffna politics. Surprisingly, the TNA is facing such a challenge after convincingly winning five out of the seven seats in the Tamil heartland of Jaffna, and after being named the official opposition in the Lankan parliament.
The challenge comes from both within and outside the TNA. Internally, it is from defeated TNA candidates and the Northern Province Chief Minister, C.V.Wigneswaran. The external challenge comes from the Tamil National Peoples’ Front (TNPF), Tamil civil society, the pro-LTTE Diaspora and the Tamil media.
September 8th, 2015 at 8:41 pm
I have given up even thinking about Chandrika as a good person a long time ago. She is the most vicious, unpatriotic persons Sri Lanka had the misfortune to have elected as a President. I cannot trace any of the articles I had written about Chandrika. She is not good Kosala. She is a disaster to Sri Lanka. If I had said something good about her recently may be it was by an error.
September 8th, 2015 at 9:59 pm
Never fall into this TRICK. This is the trick Tamils played since 1949. It works this way.
The “radical” and the “moderate” discuss a ROBBERY plan in SECRET. They AGREE to it in SECRET. Then the radical robber approaches the victim and threatens to kill him unless he gives his money, gold, etc. within 7 days. Then the moderate middleman goes to the victim pretending to be UNAWARE of what happened, BLASTS the radical robber in his absence, CONDEMNS his action, CURSES him. Then he says, “you give only 50% of your money and gold to me. I will give it to the robber and quieten him down.” This process continues until the victim is TOTALLY ROBBED and CHEATED.
The MODA-RATE is MORE DANGEROUS than the RADICAL. The radical can be killed but the moderate cannot.
The BEST strategy to handle this is to secretly get rid of the moderates and blame the radicals. Get rid of the radicals and blame the moderates. USING their SECRET plans to destroy them.
ITAK and ACTC have been TAKING TURNS to play the RADICAL and MODERATE roles and EXTORTED much from SL.
TULF and LTTE were also playing the same game.
Foolish Singhala people have ALWAYS helped the “moderate” Tamil group with the SAME THINGS PIECE BY PIECE the radicals demanded IN ONE GO.
One good thing LTTE did was to get rid of some CUNNING MODERATES that we could not get rid of.
September 9th, 2015 at 9:31 am
Charles, be aware of disinformation. I have not seen one word you have written about this mentally retarded woman CBK.
KOSELA777 who is he? This is what I found out: He is an ex JVP writer who wrote articles against JRJ government and his cabinet ministers fabricating stories about their private and public life. When he found out that the CID is looking for him (He was hiding at a friends place in Colombo) he escaped to Australia with the help of “Noel Mudalighe” Remember the Man GOTA got deported who had three different passports with different names. This disinformation effort is vast syndicate. Goes back to time when JRJ put the constitution to gather. They keep articles and wake them up when required. Now the Author has lost tract of the article he publish and has to go by what the disinformation writer wrote. This what happed to you. TAMIL SANGHAM owned it, and the data base is in a building in Hownslow it is a suburb of London. Later they duplicated the computer complex at Camden Town, again a suburb of London. Do you now see how the trap was laid out and you fell in to it. For this article even Ananda-USA fell into the trap. Lorenzo got him distracted. This “Moderate” “Radical” story is taken from a CIA training manual used in Vietnam war time frame. This book might be still available from “Dover Publications” http://www.doverpublications.com Please give lot more thought before replying to such disinformation.
September 9th, 2015 at 9:36 am
KOSELA777, Charles replied to your question. NOW ANSWER MY QUESTION TO YOU!