Constitutional reform programme launched amidst chaos in the country – Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Posted on December 5th, 2016
Adaderana
December 4, 2016 03:32 pm
Issuing a statement on Sunday, he stated I request all members of the SLFP serving in this government not to allow their enslavement to the UNP to go so far as to betraying every principle that the SLFP has stood for in the past six decades.”
Full statement:
The reports submitted by six subcommittees on constitutional reform appointed by the Constitutional Assembly were tabled in parliament while everybody’s attention was focused on the budget. With that government ministers moved fast to meet the Ven. Mahanayake Theras with a view to obtaining their support for these proposals by saying that no recommendations have been made to alter the unitary character of the constitution, the special status accorded to Buddhism or for the merger of the northern and eastern provinces. Furthermore, leaving aside all the strikes and demonstrations over the budget, the president himself spoke in parliament about the need to devolve power. In the meantime government parliamentarians and ministers are being showered with all kinds of privileges such as new cars and generous special allowances.
All these are signs that portend great danger to the nation. During the last presidential election campaign, the two main constitutional reforms promised to the people by this government were; the abolition of the executive presidency and reform of the electoral system. Neither of these two key issues have been dealt with by the subcommittees appointed by the Constitutional Assembly. Instead, six reports have been released on matters that were never even mentioned during the presidential elections.It is only in reading the subcommittee reports that the connection between the above mentioned events become clear. The subcommittee on ‘Centre Periphery Relations’ has openly stated that the ‘unitary character’ of our constitution is an ‘impediment’ to the functioning of the provincial councils and some of the reports have made recommendations that are designed to end the unitary character of Sri Lanka without however deleting that word from the constitution. I would like to highlight some of the most harmful recommendations as follows:
1. The Subcommittee on Centre-Periphery Relations has made recommendations to strip the provincial Governors of all their powers. The Governor’s discretionary power to sign into law statutes passed by the PC is to be abolished and that authority given to the Chairman of the provincial council. His discretionary power to refer statutes back to the PC suggesting amendments or to refer a statute to the president to be sent to the supreme court for review is to be abolished. The Governor’s authority over the provincial public service is to be transferred to the chief minister and the provincial board of ministers. Furthermore, the Governor is to be appointed only with the concurrence of the chief minister and will have to perform his duties on the advice of the chief minister and the provincial board of ministers. Our system of devolution is modelled on that of India and the Governors of the Indian states have exactly the same powers as the provincial Governors in Sri Lanka. It is through the role of the governor that the provinces and the states are bound to the centre. If the powers of the Governors are taken away, both India and Sri Lanka will cease to be unified nations.
2. The list of concurrent powers which are wielded by both the central government and the provincial councils is to be done sway with and those powers transferred to the provincial councils so that the PCs and the central government become ‘distinct spheres of authority’. To further this objective, it has been recommended that the District Secretaries and the Divisional Secretaries who now function under the central government be placed under the authority of the provincial councils. Furthermore, the provincial public services commissions are to be allowed to decide on their cadre need including that of the local authorities, without Treasury oversight.
3. The Subcommittee on Centre Periphery Relations has also suggested that powers over state land be transferred to the provincial councils. The central government will be able to utilise state land in the provinces only with the concurrence of the provincial authorities. In India, the central government can use any state land with or without the concurrence of the state concerned.
4. The Subcommittee on police and law and order has recommended that the police force be divided into a national police force and nine separate provincial police forces. The national police will exercise jurisdiction over offences against the state and state property, the armed forces, parliamentarians, judicial and public officers, offences relating to elections, currency and government stamps, and international crimes. Everything else including crime investigations, fraud, narcotics, traffic, etcetera, will be under the provincial police forces. An investigation can be referred to the national police only if the provincial police commissioner consents to it. The provincial police forces will conduct their own training and have the final say in the type of weapons their policemen would use. The IGP will not have any oversight regarding the work of the provincial police. Provincial police personnel are to be recruited on linguistic and residential criteria which together with the fact that there will be no inter-provincial transfers, will mean that the provincial police forces in the north and east will be completely separate and will have virtually no interaction with the rest of the police force.
5. If a state of emergency is to be in force continuously for a period in excess of 3 months or for a period of more than 90 days within a period of 180 days, the extension of the state of emergency will require a ‘special majority’ in parliament. The courts will be given the power to review and even invalidate the declaration of emergency and the emergency regulations. The judiciary is not equipped to determine whether a situation warrants a declaration of emergency or not and such matters should be the exclusive preserve of the executive. These provisions are obviously meant to ensure that the state will not be able to respond adequately to an emergency. Everyone knows that there are some elements who want to weaken the Sri Lankan State.
6. The Subcommittee on the Judiciary has recommended that when judges of the Supreme Court and the court of appeal are to be appointed, the nomination of suitable candidates would be done by a panel of former supreme court judges. This panel is to be appointed by the incumbent chief justice after consulting the Attorney General and the President of the Bar Association. The Bar Association is a highly politicised body and once had a UNP parliamentarian serving as President. His successor openly worked against my government and accepted a top political appointment from this government. The manner in which the Bar Association accepts funding from foreign powers has been commented on in the media. Such a body should never be given a role in nominating judges to the highest courts. There is also a serious conflict of interest issue in giving the private bar a say in appointing the judges who will be hearing their cases. This will lead to collusion and corruption and erode public confidence in the entire legal system.
7. It has also been recommended by the Subcommittee on the Judiciary that a seven member constitutional court made up of judges and ‘specialists in the field’ be set up outside the regular court structure to exercise exclusive jurisdiction in relation to interpreting the constitution, reviewing Bills, the post enactment review of legislation and to adjudicate in disputes between the centre and the provinces. If a constitutional matter comes up in any case in any court in the country, it will have to be referred to this constitutional court. Under the present constitution, the interpretation of the constitution and review of Bills is the exclusive preserve of the Supreme Court and this should not be changed. We also have concerns about who the ‘constitutional experts’ sitting on the bench of this court will be. Furthermore, the principle applied hitherto in this country is that the courts will not have the power of post enactment review of legislation.
8. The Subcommittee on Fundamental Rights has recommended that the standard provision found in most constitutions to the effect that the laws in force at the time the new Constitution comes into force would be valid only to the extent that they don’t clash with the new constitution; be dispensed with in relation to the ‘personal laws’ of certain communities. If any personal law is allowed to stand above the constitution, that would be a case of according to certain communities privileges not available to other communities and will give rise to ethnic and religious tensions.
9. According to Sri Lanka’s legal system, foreign treaties entered into by the government are not automatically incorporated into domestic law and parliament has to legislate the provisions of that treaty into law. The Subcommittee on Fundamental Rights has recommended that treaties to which Sri Lanka is a party at the time the new constitution comes into effect, should automatically get incorporated into domestic law after a lapse of two years. This is a naked attempt to bring into force through the back door, Optional Protocol I of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was ill-advisedly signed in 1998 but due to subsequent enlightenment, never incorporated in our law by parliament because it makes our Supreme Court subordinate to the Human Rights Committee in Geneva. The automatic, unplanned incorporation of foreign treaties in our laws in the manner proposed will lead to confusion within the legal system.
10. One of the principal recommendations of the Sub Committee on Fundamental Rights is that both Sinhala and Tamil be recognised as the official languages of Sri Lanka. In 1957 S.J.V.Chelvanayagam proposed to make Tamil the language of administration in the North and the East with ‘reasonable provision’ for the use of Sinhala for the Sinhala minority living in those areas. This was same the policy that S.W.R.D.Bandaranaike applied to the whole country with Sinhala as the official language and reasonable provision for the use of Tamil especially in the north and east. In India too, Hindi – the language of the largest linguistic group – is the official language while reasonable provision has been made for the use of other languages like Tamil, Malayalam etc. These are arrangements that should not be disturbed with ill-advised experiments.
I call upon the government to act more responsibly in this all important matter of constitutional reform and to take up the two main electoral reform pledges they gave the people first, before dealing with matters that are of interest only to separatists and certain interested foreign parties. None of the recommendations mentioned above should be in the final draft of the constitution. The fact that the government sent an SLFP delegation to mislead the Ven. MahanayakeTheras about the constitutional reform proposals shows that they are trying to use the nationalistic credentials of the SLFP to deceive the MahaSangha and the people to push through a constitution which will divide the country without using the word ‘division’. I request all members of the SLFP serving in this government not to allow their enslavement to the UNP to go so far as to betraying every principle that the SLFP has stood for in the past six decades.
– See more at: http://www.adaderana.lk/news/38105/constitutional-reform-programme-launched-amidst-chaos-in-the-country-mr#sthash.Ml95f4Rj.dpuf
December 4th, 2016 at 11:20 pm
Today Jayaram Jayalatha, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India and a fanatical enemy of Sri Lanka and supporter of Tamil Separatists in Sri Lanka, suffered a serious HEART ATTACK.
The Hatarawaran Guardian Dieties of Sri Lanka CONTINUING to DEFEND & PROTECT Sri Lanka.
Hillary Clinton YESTERDAY, and Hillary’s collaborator in her plots against Sri Lanka, Jayaram Jayalalitha TODAY!
Who will the Guardians PUNISH TOMORROW?
Wait, Watch & LEARN!
December 4th, 2016 at 11:36 pm
Thank you, President Mahinda Rajapaksa for AGAIN raising ALARM on the IMPENDING GREATEST BETRAYAL in the HISTORY of Sri Lanka in the NEW CONSTITUTION!
BRIBES GALORE, Luxury SUVs, Doubling of SALARIES of all Ministers, MP’s and Provincial Councillors, and A PROFUSION of Ministerial jobs contrary to their ELECTION PROMISE to reduce the number of Ministers, to help GREASE the way to THE GREATEST BETRAYAL of our Motherland!
PIECES of EIGHT, PIECES OF EIGHT, PIECES OF EIGHT to ALL WHO HELP TO BURY Sri Lanka as a proud and sovereign unitary nation!
We, the PATRIOTS of Sri Lanka will NEVER FORGIVE THOSE WHO VOTE TO APPROVE THIS CONSTITUTION IN PARLIAMENT!
We are DETERMINED to make the COST of your YES VOTE far GREATER than ANY BENEFIT you will receive!
December 5th, 2016 at 12:00 am
“We are DETERMINED to make the COST of your YES VOTE far GREATER than ANY BENEFIT you will receive!”
Well said Ananda. I am 100% for that seriously!!
It will be far greater than Kent Farm / Dollar Farm Retaliation.
If you dirty money minded and short sighted politicians don’t know what it is… ask from our great Rana Wiruwos what it was… It will come as your own shadow and get you… no escape!!
December 5th, 2016 at 2:28 am
We, the PATRIOTS of Sri Lanka will NEVER FORGIVE THOSE WHO DO NOT VOTE AGAINST THE APPROVE THIS CONSTITUTION IN PARLIAMENT!
So don’t refrain from voting this time at least. So far you did not have guts to vote against even a single motion passed by this governement. We want your active involvement, if you or your relatives want to win next election. Your rating is among the lowest . You are only good in issuing statements, but when it comes to voting you dissapear.
BTW your election manifesto promised to implement LLRC 100% in ONE YEAR ! Lucky you lost !
December 5th, 2016 at 3:46 am
Thank you MR for standing up for SL. We need more from you.
MOST of these were RECOMMENDED by the LLRC (LTTE) report.
“8.296
On the question of the National Anthem, the practice of the National Anthem being sung simultaneously in two languages to the same tune must be maintained and supported. Any change in this practice at the present time would only create a major irritant which would not be conducive to fostering post conflict reconciliation”
“8.204 Interfaith Reconciliation and Peace Committees that may be established at District
and Provincial levels could function as a feeder mechanism to support the functions of the
Special Institution, in particular, by providing grass root level inputs in the
implementation of measures aimed at inter- ethnic and inter – religious harmony.”
These are only easy ones. Worse ones are in the LLRC LTTE report.
MR should DENOUNCE LLRC LTTE report if he is a patriot.
December 5th, 2016 at 4:26 am
If the powers of the Governors are taken away, both India and Sri Lanka will cease to be unified nations .
how this happen ??? what is the relation between our Governors power & Indian nation.
December 5th, 2016 at 6:49 am
Thank your our Great Leader. When the Driving Penalty went up to Rs25,000 I knew, there is a cover up for a greater harm. Just like what Rookadaya tried to do with a young girl’s Bra last year. When the focus is on something stupid our current set of brain dead leaders try to pass harmful legislation.
Remember, Dharmishta JRJ increased the price of sugar when the whole country was in shock on the disappearance of his nephew Upali Wijewardena. With the latest news of Jayalalitha our brain deads must be in shock. So, quickly do something to get them out.
December 5th, 2016 at 7:22 am
I would urge all patriotic Sri Lankan to be beware of treacherous elements namely Kumar David, Pakiasothy Sarvanamuththu, Weliamuna, Gamini Uyangoda, Ravaya Editor, Krishmal (forgot the surname), Jehan Perera, the ICEs, the CPA etc. all of the above are CIA agents and their plan is to talk and write about all other subjects on the planet earth except one which is the proposed federal constitution. This is how the above well known Sri Lanka haters and CIA agents plan to hoodwink the Sinhala people, distract their attention by they and their subordinates talking and writing about all other topics on the planet earth except one which is the proposed federal constitution. In this way, they plan to hoodwink the Sinhala people and get this treacherous federal constitution passed in parliament. Once passed, it cannot ever be reversed and this country will be partitioned as the US,UK,EU, Canada,Norway,Sweden, the TNA and all other separatists want. Their plan is ‘Sinhalayage asata weli gasaa rata hatharata bedana kuuta kumanthranaya’. They plan to make this plan a success.
The reality is that the US State Department has spent US$585 million to bring about regime change in Sri Lanka, Burma, Nigeria and quite a number of other countries as even stated by them. At least US$58 million of this would have been provided to the above mentioned CIA agents i.e. Kumar David, Pakiasothy Sarvanamuththu etc. to launch their koota plan of distracting Sinhala people’s attention talking about all other topics except the most important i.e. the proposed federal constitution.
In this they are ably supported by the UNP/Sirisena SLFP/Ranil/CBK/Mangala/Pacha Ranawaka/Dath Dosthara Rajitha Senaratne/Wijedasa Rajapakshe/JVP/FLSP/TNA/ACTC/ITAK/TULF/SLMC/ACMC etc. who are also being paid by the US,UK,EU, Canada,Norway,Sweden, the TNA and all other separatists in order to pass this federal constitution.
Already parliamentary MPs have been bribed using 2 lakhs cash, pajeros, a seven lakhs cash loan etc. In fact their foreign advisors already told Ranil and the UNP at a conference ‘whatever you do, do not loose the two thirds majority in parliament!!!’. This is to pass this treacherous federal constitution. This is their cunning plan.
Not only that on the 27th of November Shivajilingam said on TV itself, we are so very near obtaining our Eelam!!! That says it all does it not?
In fact the US,EU,UK.Canada, Sweden, Norway, the TNA, all other separatists have spent so much money for three decades to partition Sri Lanka, in fact billions of US dollars by now indirectly supporting the terrorists the LTTE. They want their investment back now with interest. So they are definitely going to pass this proposed federal constitution by bribing parliamentary MPs as shown above.
Please patriotic Sri Lankans do not let this happen. Already we have provincial councils which is a reasonable solution as far as the requirements for decentralisation of power is concerned. There is no need whatsoever to go further than this if Sri Lanka is to remain a unitary state. Already Sri Lanka is quasi federal. If this treacherous federal constitution is passed tiny little Sri Lanka will be in at least four pieces or nine pieces or more and be partitioned forever into pieces. Not even India, Pakistan or South Africa, huge massive countries, have got rid of their concurrent lists. However tiny little Sri Lanka is getting rid of its concurrent list. This is craziness taken to the extreme.
December 5th, 2016 at 12:20 pm
Good news from Tamil Madu. FAT JAYA is finally dead!
She caused IMMENSE trouble for SL. Her death will save SL from more trouble.
SL’s good times have started. A month ago HILARIOUS CLITORIS suffered a DEFEAT and that will be the end of her. Now FAT JAYA is gone. Next may be CBK.
December 5th, 2016 at 3:09 pm
May her seek and attain Nibbana in a future life.
Unfortunately this episode of her life on earth of course, is a bad news… She might be reborn as a beach crab in Katchchativ.. holding the dear ground with all the multiple claws and blaming everyone else for not walking straight, while walking side ways…..always in fear of dear life.. going into ground and hiding in a hole.. 24×7 in fear!!!
Great laws of the Universe is always at work!!! Everyone leads their life by their own deeds to either the heaven or hell or attain Nibbana and get the highest blissful state. No one else to blame.. we setup and maintain our own account. The moment we realise, we can correct the course and stop accumulating bad karmas and tread in the right path similar to Angulimala – who ended up attaining Nibbana..
Not only CBK… there is a long list of traitors lined up for punishment for betraying innocent, beautiful and caring Mother Lanka. Betraying ones mother land is against the nature and history proves that they had always got the punishment by the nature and universe.
Now that Jaya has gone, it will leave mother Lanka in peace.
December 5th, 2016 at 3:38 pm
Hiranthe,
Unfortunately, Jayalalitha biting the dust will not make Tamil Nadu leave Sri Lanka in peace.
There are LOADS of fanatical Tamil supremacist Racists in Tamil Nadu who are very willing to take up the task of extending the Greater Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu is a PERMANENT THREAT to Sri Lanka that will not go away, that we must be prepared to CONFRONT and PREVAIL AGAINST as we did in our 3000 year national history.
However, there will be some relief for a while as a “night of the long knives” sets in and contenders for Jayalalitha’s mantle begin to attack each other.
Jayalalitha was a ONE WOMAN SHOW, she did not groom a successor, craving all glory for herself and herself alone.
That means, there is no clear successor …. it will take 5 years for a dominant leader to emerge, and consolidate his/her position sufficiently to begin eyeing Sri Lanka!
In the meatime, “saving” the Sri Lankan Tamils will be used as a convenient tool to gain political advantage in Tamil Nadu politics, but it will not become the sustained threat that Jayalalitha posed.
December 5th, 2016 at 4:00 pm
Thank god at last TN got a Tamil (Thamizh) CM Panneerselvam !!!
December 5th, 2016 at 4:02 pm
Reminds me of a ONE MAN SHOW, which did not groom a successor, craving all glory for oneself and his clan alone.
Whilst TN will have another “Tamil” successor, who need not be humane but “Tamil”, we should hope for a Sinhala successor, who is humane and “Sinhala Buddhist ” too not by birth but by action.
December 5th, 2016 at 4:46 pm
There are other traitors LEFT other than CBK. But CBK is a good start. Then the SLFP SIRA group will collapse.
I’m sure SL’s bad times (SINCE LLRC REPORT) are coming to an end slowly. IF CBK, Maru Sira, Sambandan, Run-nil, Ten Percent and Aston Martin follow Jayalalitha soon SL will be a better place.
December 5th, 2016 at 4:49 pm
You need to add more names, particularly your Wiggie and more and more ! almost all in the parliament are traitors !
December 5th, 2016 at 5:43 pm
Phantoms of Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka’s reign of terror
The Australian
12:00AM November 26, 2016
Greg Bearup
South Asia correspondent
Mahinda Rajapaksa sits at a desk in his party office beneath a photo of himself. He’s not especially tall but solid in the chest and arms; like an old rugby prop, his head seems to rest on his shoulders without much need for a neck. He’s never seen in public without his brown scarf, supposedly signifying the sweaty rags of Sri Lanka’s hard-toiling farmers. On his fingers this man of the people wears three chunky gold rings and on his wrist a bracelet of jade balls. Everyone here still calls him Mr President.
The photo hanging over him was shot a few years ago, back when he was Mr President, and back when things were very different for the Rajapaksa clan. His rule was absolute. The Rajapaksas controlled the treasury and Sri Lanka became one of the most expensive places on the planet to “build” a road. He and his family ran the country as if they owned it. They acted with impunity. His sons, ordinary footballers by all accounts, were selected to play rugby for Sri Lanka. Foreign coaches who dropped them were deported. They were lucky; others who displeased the clan disappeared.
The Rajapaksas — president Mahinda, defence secretary Gotabaya, economic development minister Basil and a couple of bus-loads of sons, cousins and aunts who held various government posts — felt the nation owed them for having crushed the Tamil Tigers, ending the ugly 26-year civil war. Then, in 2014, the voters of Sri Lanka turfed Mahinda out.
And now the many bodies buried during his long reign are being exhumed, figuratively and with shovels. In January, Rajapaksa’s second son, Yoshitha, a naval officer, was arrested over allegations he had transferred millions of government dollars into a sports network owned by the family.
His eldest son, Namal, his anointed political heir, is under investigation in several money-laundering cases.
The family’s minister for war, Gotabaya — said to have been more powerful than his brother and certainly more feared — has been implicated in a $130 million corruption case. It has been alleged some of the money was used to fund an armoury for the family’s private militia that was then used to terrorise political opponents.
His other brother, Basil, the clan’s man for economic development, has been arrested four times on charges of corruption, financial irregularity and abuse of state property. Interpol warrants have been issued for Mahinda’s cousin, a former ambassador to Russia, over $18m that went missing in a deal for MiG fighter jets. The list goes on.
Mahinda Rajapaksa — now leader of the opposition — tells me the myriad charges against his family are part of a grand conspiracy headed by the incumbent government. Britain, India, Switzerland, the US, the World Bank and others have all recently signed agreements with Sri Lanka to help recover billions of dollars alleged to have been siphoned off and hidden overseas. These countries and the World Bank are in on the conspiracy, Rajapaksa says, along with the UN.
“I will cut my neck if they find a dollar in one of my accounts,” he bellows. What about your family, I ask, will you slit your throat if they find money in accounts associated with them?” “Yes,” he says, less forcefully. “Yeah, yes. Yes, I would, of course. With my sons and brothers.”
Cabinet ministers in the new government have claimed that many billions of dollars are missing and serious efforts are now being made to recover it.
But JC Weliamuna, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on the Recovery of Stolen Assets, says it’s an incredibly complex task that will take time and international co-operation. “Let me put it this way, it can’t be a small amount if you are doing an operation of this size about looted assets … the problem was that Sri Lanka did not have the capacity to investigate huge financial crimes of this complex nature. We have now built up this capacity.”
Rajapaksa doesn’t often talk to the foreign press; perhaps Inquirer has been granted an interview because of his fondness for our former prime minister Tony Abbott. Rajapaksa is keen to reminisce about his friendship with Abbott and how they would meet in the gym for chats at international forums. “He’s an interesting man,” he says of Abbott. “Very friendly.”
Abbott praised Rajapaksa in a recent essay, saying he was sure the former Sri Lankan president was pleased Australia didn’t join the “human rights lobby against tough but probably unavoidable actions taken to end one of the world’s most vicious civil wars”. It was a human rights “lobby” that included the US, Canada and Britain and many of the leaders of the Western world.
The UN estimates that 40,000 people died in the final months of the conflict, mainly civilians. Many died at the hands of the ruthless Tigers, shot as they tried to escape to safety. The annihilation of the odious Tigers was undoubtedly a victory for humanity, but many thousands of civilians also died from indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan forces.
Rajapaksa says he has no regrets over how the war was conducted. “No regrets at all. I did my duty to the people, to the nation, and I am happy about it. It was my duty.” But he was, indeed, very pleased for Abbott’s support when Britain’s David Cameron and many others were raising the country’s alleged complicity in torture, kidnappings and war crimes.
“At that time we needed it, we needed your support,” he says. “We solved some of your problems because people were going there, boatpeople. We managed to stop that. We helped your government and they helped us (by not criticising the regime) … they gave us some (navy) ships.”
The fact is, of course, that since Rajapaksa was voted out Sri Lankans are no longer fleeing in great numbers. The fear that gripped Sri Lanka has dissipated.
We move on to several murders that now have been linked to the clan.
Lasantha Wickrematunge, an old friend of Rajapaksa and editor of The Sunday Leader, became a strident critic of Rajapaksa’s government. He was shot dead in broad daylight in Colombo in January 2009, a few days before he was to give evidence about Gotabaya’s alleged corruption in an arms deal in a defamation case.
Wickrematunge’s body was exhumed in September this year, two months after a military intelligence officer was arrested in connection with his murder. The officer then committed suicide, leaving a note claiming responsibility for the editor’s death. Now the officer’s body also has been exhumed after suspicions were raised over the suicide and the note.
Wickrematunge predicted his own death and left an editorial on his computer that was published after his murder. He said if he were to be killed it would be at the hands of the government. Addressing his old mate Mahinda, he wrote, “In the wake of my death I know you will make all the usual sanctimonious noises and call upon the police to hold a swift and thorough inquiry. But like all the inquiries you have ordered in the past, nothing will come of this one, too.”
“I was very sad, of course, he was a friend,” Rajapaksa says of the editor’s assassination. “I knew him when he was a schoolboy.” He denies any family involvement in his death.
What about Sri Lankan rugby player Wasim Thajudeen, I ask. Did you know him? Thajudeen was one of the stars of the national rugby team, a solid, hard-running outside centre and fullback, selected because of his skills, not his parentage. He played in teams with and against Rajapaksa’s sons and Mahinda went to all the games. In May 2012 Thajudeen was found dead in a burnt-out car in Colombo, aged 28.
“I think I must have met him because all these rugger players used to come to my place,” Rajapaksa says, shifting his bulk in the leather chair. “I have seen him but I can’t remember him exactly. I would remember him because he was a big guy.
“I mean, can you imagine,” he continues, palms open, in a charmingly dismissive tone, “it was an accident. I believe it was an accident and this is another political game here. They will use anybody. First, they blame my second son … then they blame my first son. It was an accident.”
No, Mr President, Thajudeen’s death was no accident. It was when you were president but not now.
Rugby in Sri Lanka is a bit like polo or big-yacht racing in Australia. It’s a game for the elite. Thajudeen came from one of these families. His father was a successful businessman and his brother Asfan is an accountant living with his family in Melbourne. His sister Ayesha is a dental surgeon in Colombo. Wasim Thajudeen was a manager for an international travel agency and was due to complete an MBA from the Australian College of Business and Technology Colombo, an offshoot of Perth’s Edith Cowan University. He was handsome and charismatic, and in 2008 was voted Sri Lanka’s most popular rugby player.
One Sunday afternoon I meet up with his sister Ayesha in her dental surgery in Colombo as she’s attending to the last of her patients, an old man in a shalwar kameez and a prayer cap. Wasim, she tells me, after saying goodbye to her patient, was extremely popular and very happy.
“You must have seen his pictures in the media, there is not a single one without a smile … he seemed not to have any enemies,” she says. But it seems he did.
On the night of May 17, 2012, Ayesha returned home from work — she was then an officer in the Sri Lankan Air Force, working in its medical corps. Wasim, she was told by her mother, had gone out with some friends who had dropped in to pick him up.
Early the next morning, about 1am, two police officers knocked on the front door. Wasim had been in an accident and they asked her to come and identify the car he’d been driving, a Toyota hatchback belonging to her.
At the scene, she looked at the charred vehicle and thought her brother must have been taken to hospital. For more than an hour the police questioned her about who he’d been with and what he’d been doing. It was odd, she thought, to be questioned like this about a car accident.
“Then eventually they told me, ‘You need to come tomorrow to identify the body.’ And only then I understood that Wasim was no more.” Her brother was dead in the incinerated vehicle beside the road. She relays all these facts as if she is on autopilot. “I have been through a lot,” she says at one point. “Now I have come to a numb state.”
She went home in shock and at 5am returned to the crash site. Ayesha noticed something peculiar; the petrol tank was out of the vehicle on the road. “When I asked the police why, they said that they had to break open the petrol tank to cease the fire,” she says.
She was given the ghastly task of looking in the vehicle to identify her brother — he was unrecognisable apart from his massive frame.
But something else was very odd; Wasim was in the front passenger seat, not the driver’s seat. “When I asked the police officer why Wasim’s body is like this, he told me, ‘The seatbelt had got burned and he has fallen over.’ ”
The car was in a drain, but there didn’t appear to have been an impact great enough to cause the vehicle to catch fire or for Wasim to be rendered unconscious and hurled from one side of the small vehicle, over the console, and for his feet to land on the other side.
His body then was taken to the police mortuary to be examined by the chief judicial medical officer, Ananda Samarasekara. The family wanted to take Wasim, a Muslim, to be buried within 24 hours of his death, as is the custom, but the JMO seemed to be stalling and was refusing to sign the certificate to release his body. He claimed it could not be properly identified.
Ayesha recalled that Wasim had surgery on his knee and had metal plates and pins inserted. A second set of X-rays was ordered.
“When the second set of the X-rays from the body came, I saw the JMO was like furious and he was throwing tantrums at the juniors (doctors),” she says. “I didn’t know why. I heard him shouting. He was not behaving professionally or calm.” He refused to show her the X-rays and then refused to release the body until he had evidence from the surgeon who performed the operation.
When his hospital records were finally obtained, the JMO still refused to sign the body over, saying Ayesha’s affidavit had to be witnessed by a justice of the peace. Many friends had gathered to comfort the family and one was a JP; he said he’d sign it. The JMO then refused to accept this until it had the JP’s official seal on it. Finally, another JP was summoned, with a seal, to witness Ayesha’s declaration.
The JMO then moved Wasim’s body back into the mortuary, again, before releasing it to the family. Ayesha says she knew by this stage that her brother had not died a natural death. His body was wrapped in plastic so that blood would not seep into the white burial cloth. He was buried after sunset, about 7pm.
As they were returning home from the funeral, Ayesha’s father got a call from a police station, not the one involved in investigating Wasim’s death. Someone had found Wasim’s wallet on the street and handed it in. It was found about 5km from the crash site.
The day after that, her father was called to a meeting at the Colombo police headquarters with the second most senior police officer in Sri Lanka, deputy inspector general Anura Senanayake, and Sumith Perera, the officer in charge of the Narahenpita Police Station which was investigating the crash. The police were in a conference when he arrived and when they emerged Senanayake said to him, “Your son’s death; we had a meeting and we have concluded it was an accident.”
The JMO then stalled and stalled on issuing a report into Wasim’s death. Nine months later he issued what he termed “a preliminary report” stating Wasim’s death was caused, Ayeshsa says, from “injuries sustained to the head and because of excessive burning, and possible carbon monoxide poisoning”.
Then Rajapaksa was voted out of power. The new President, Maithripala Sirisena, handed the case over to the Criminal Investigation Department and one of the country’s best detectives was assigned. It was only then, with Rajapaksa gone, that the JMO submitted his final report, which indicated possible foul play.
It was decided that Wasim’s body needed to be exhumed and re-examined by a fresh and independent team of doctors. This was done on August 10 last year.
Ayesha was allowed into the morgue to view the procedure. Her brother’s remains were laid out on a large slab and it was immediately obvious that something was horribly wrong: both of Wasim’s thigh bones were missing. The report from the new team of doctors was different to the JMO’s preliminary findings, but closer to his final report. It found he had multiple fractures to his ribs, to his left tibia and his fibula. His teeth had been smashed. His hip was fractured. There was a stab wound to his throat. There was an injury to his skull. And his femurs were missing.
It was clear what had happened. Wasim Thajudeen had been bashed, tortured and then murdered. His body was driven to the alleged crash site and the vehicle set on fire to make it appear like an accident. Then the apparatuses of the state, the country’s second most senior police officer and its senior judicial medical officer and their underlings, conspired to cover it up.
The matter is now a murder investigation in the hands of Colombo’s Additional Magistrate. The two senior police have been arrested and are in custody on charges of hindering an investigation and concealing evidence.
“They blame them,” Rajapaksa says incredulously to me, “just for doing their duty.”
The Sri Lankan Medical Council has told the magistrate that the JMO will face disciplinary proceedings and could face criminal charges.
When detectives from the Criminal Investigation Division began delving into phone records they found that on the night of the murder numerous phone calls had been made between the senior police in question and someone at the Presidential Secretariat. Other phone calls were made to the president’s official residence, Temple Trees. There were more calls still between members of the president’s security team and the police.
When the detectives sought to recover the official phone records they found they had been wiped. The CID detectives called in international experts and are said to have recovered the lost data.
A source privy to the investigation, not authorised to speak to the media, told Inquirer “the investigating magistrates already know the handlers. They have identified how it has been done. The only missing link is who gave the orders.” They have all the scientific evidence they need to bring about charges.
Now, they are trying to crack who it was within the presidential circle who ordered the killing.
The problem, he says, is that while Rajapaksa was voted out, his powerful military intelligence remains. It, too, has much to fear from a conviction in this and other cases. “The military intelligence is blocking this investigation as far as it possibly can,” the source says.
But why did someone want Thajudeen dead?
There has been speculation in the Sri Lankan media — a matter that has been investigated by detectives from the CID — that Thajudeen had been having an affair with the girlfriend of Mahinda’s second son, Yoshitha. Ayesha Thajudeen doesn’t think that’s the case. She and Wasim were close and he shared all his secrets and details of his private life with her.
Inquirer’s source says the detectives also believe the affair theory to be unlikely. The more plausible explanation, which is also under investigation, is that Mahinda’s eldest son, Namal, had been behind a syndicate that was trying to buy the Havelock Sports Club to redevelop it.
Wasim was the captain of its rugby team, its best and most influential player. He opposed the sale to Namal Rajapaksa’s syndicate. He didn’t particularly like or trust the family. He went in hard when playing against them, when others would generally go soft. He stood up to the Rajapaksas.
The motive could be as pathetic as that, Inquirer’s source says. “That it is all over some petty ruggerite jealousy.”
Ayesha Thajudeen says she will not rest until she gets justice for her brother. Her brother was one of many hundreds who died in nefarious circumstances during Rajapaksa’s rule but is one of a few that can be directly linked to the family.
Mahinda Rajapaksa is still immensely popular in Sri Lanka for having ended the civil war. But this case in particular has the potential to dent that popularity as Sri Lankans have found this crime particularly repugnant. Nishan de Mel from the think tank Verite Research says Sri Lanka has a long history of “using violence as a means of governance” to oppress political opponents and journalists, but that the murder of Wasim Thajudeen was something else.
“This one stands out,” de Mel says, “because it appears to be a personal vendetta.”
But, he says, the present coalition government, headed by Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could well blow this opportunity to ensure that another Rajapaksa does not come along in future.
“These kinds of political moments don’t come along often,” de Mel says. “Sri Lanka needs to find a way of entrenching law and order and good governance with independent commissions like they have in Hong Kong or Singapore and their failure to do that has been their biggest failure … if you don’t entrench that institutional change and you simply offer change that still depends on political discretion then that change can be gradually eroded.
“Sri Lankans are so accustomed to politicians being the source for remedies for whatever problem they have, be it a land dispute, getting their kids into a school, trouble with the courts and police … that has to change and the institutions strengthened.”
Many believe that Rajapaksa, now 70, is hanging on in politics to do whatever he can to stymie these cases against his family. They say he is using his contacts within the military intelligence to pull strings. He has publicly attacked the investigating detectives. They say he wants to hold out until he can pass the baton to his eldest son, Namal.
But the man himself tells me he is staying on for the good of the people of Sri Lanka, for the commoners who have approached him in droves, begging him to stay. He watched on in horror as his son was driven off in a police van earlier this year. If they can do this to his family, he says, what chance do the ordinary folk have?
“My people need me,” says Mahinda Rajapaksa.
In the weeks following our interview Basil Rajapaksa split from the Sri Lankan Freedom Party to form the Sri Lankan People’s Front. Mahinda has indicated he will soon join and lead that new party.
Sri Lanka has not seen the last of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his clan.
December 5th, 2016 at 7:12 pm
The article pasted above about Rajapaksas is spiteful and contains many deliberate mistakes. It seems written to cause maximum disgust. Shameful journalism.
It assumes 21 million people’s fate is as same as Lasantha and Thajudeen. The deaths of these two individuals are nothing compared to the hundreds of thousands of deaths caused by Tamil terrorists until 2009. It doesn’t mean crime should go unpunished. It means Sri Lankans can’t care less about Lasantha and Thajudeen when faced with life threatening situations as during the war and now (due to economic horrors). Two or a few unexplained deaths doesn’t make it a reign of terror. In fact what happens today is more akin to reign of terror.
Although the writer hails the reduction of asylum seekers his country has to deal with, it is the opposite sentiment in Tamil areas of Sri Lanka. They want those ‘good old’ days restarted so that they too can get refugee visas to a better life Sri Lanka can never offer. With Sri Lanka’s economy in shambles, they would do everything possible to restart those days.
At the same time Mahinda should have reduced nepotism so that there would not be high level suspicion on collusion. Mahinda should have punished fraudsters identified during his term. His opponents will not be as “kind” as him.
70 years though old is not unusual in Sri Lanka. JR Jayawardana became president at 71 after spending more than 40 years in the political ditch. He was president until 82 years of age. Mahinda has 11 more years to go. Hope he will use them wisely in wide contrast to how he wasted his last 5 years in power.
December 5th, 2016 at 7:16 pm
Good to note here
“I will cut my neck if they find a dollar in one of my accounts,” he bellows. What about your family, I ask, will you slit your throat if they find money in accounts associated with them?” “Yes,” he says, less forcefully. “Yeah, yes. Yes, I would, of course. With my sons and brothers.”
He is saying he will cut his “neck” and then he would cut his nech together with his sons and brothers if any of his family members were proven guilty. Obviously he has to cut many “necks” before cutting his own. One could interpret this statement as he, his family all hold hands togetehr in carring out the cutting of his own neck.
ඔබට තෙරුවණ් සරණයි !
December 5th, 2016 at 7:37 pm
Our grateful thanks to Pres Mahinda Rajapakse. He always points out the Facts of the case, as briefly as possible and to the point.
The New Constitution is another TRAP for Sri Lankans, same as the ILLEGAL 13-A imposed under Duress by INDIA on the JRJ govt.
We wonder who REALLY wrote up the New Constitution ?
Sri Lanka does not need a New Constitution.
We need to get rid of the ILLEGAL 13-A.
December 5th, 2016 at 7:50 pm
I have a different take on Jayalalitha Jayaram. As a Sinhalese, my disgust and anger towards her ends upon her death. We are not a community that eternally hates.
Although she was a much hated figure among us, I wish she be reborn to become a Sinhala nationalist. She would become a much better leader (if she does the same she did in Tamil Nadu) than all we have seen in Lanka. She was bad to Sri Lanka because she was born to India.
Under her leadership Tamil Nadu developed rapidly. She never hesitated to look after her people (Tamils) no matter what. A noble quality I’m yet to see from Sri Lankan leaders after DS Senanayake and SWRD Bandaranaike. She probably was corrupt as alleged but given the economic miracle she achieved, its pittance. Her passion for Tamils (her chosen community to serve) is very well known despite being born a non-Tamil.
She was far from perfect. However, given her circumstances and Tamil Nadu (and Tamil) achievements attributable to her, there are commendable qualities.
While Tamil Nadu mourns her death, Sri Lanka must mourn the absence of a leader to shoulder the Sinhala nation single-minded.
December 5th, 2016 at 8:14 pm
ජනාධිපති මෛත්රීට ඕසටේ්රලියාවෙන් දැවැන්ත අල්ලස් චෝදනාවක්.. ෆෙඩරල් පොලීසිය පරීක්ෂණ අරඹයි..Yahapalana President Sirisena accused of Bribery by Australian Federal Police (See Comments)
Posted on August 25th, 2016
Hot News From Australia
Two Australian companies are embroiled in bribery scandals that reach into the offices of the presidents of Sri Lanka and the Republic of Congo, as the firms sought to secure multi-million dollar contracts.
වත්මන් ජනාධිපති මෛත්රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා කලින් රජයේ සෞඛ්ය ඇමතිවරයාව සිටි කාලයේ ලෝක බැංකු ව්යාපෘතියක් සඳහා ඔස්ටේ්රලියානු සමාගම් දෙකකින් අල්ලස් ලබා ගත්තේ යයි කියන සිදුවීමක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් එරට ෆෙඩරල් පොලීසිය පරීක්ෂණ ආරම්භ කර තිබේ.
මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් දීර්ඝ තොරතුරු සහිත වාර්තා ඔස්ටේ්රලියානු ප්රධාන පෙලේ වෙබ් අඩවි කිහිපයකම වාර්තා කර ඇත.
A Fairfax Media investigation has separately uncovered evidence – which is the subject of a major AFP probe – involving the iconic Snowy Mountains Engineering Company (SMEC).
The firm’s overseas staff allegedly bribed officials to secure a $2.3 million aid-funded sewerage project in Sri Lanka in 2011 and, in partnership with a Canadian company, a $2.2 million power plant project in Bangladesh in 2007.
Company emails also reveal Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and his adviser allegedly demanded a political “donation” to be paid by SMEC when Mr Sirisena was a cabinet minister.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. Photo: AP
The emails show a plot to skim the money off a World Bank-funded dam project in 2009. In return, Mr Sirisena was to approve the awarding of the dam contract to SMEC, worth $1.82 million .
SMEC’s Sri Lankan manager, who was recently sacked, wrote in emails to two Australian colleagues that he wanted to “inform the minister/co-ordinating secretary” of the size of an alleged kickback to be paid and that he needed to “prioritise” certain payments to unnamed parties “since the signing of the contract would depend” on it.
SMEC has confirmed a “request for a political donation”, but insists an internal investigation found no donation was made and the firm “continues to fully cooperate with the AFP.”
Australia prides itself on being a clean place to do business, but revelations by Fairfax Media and others over a decade show that many companies agree to corrupt practices in developing countries.
The government gave the AFP an extra $15 million in April to fight corporate bribery after Fairfax Media revealed the global Unaoil bribery scandal, which involved construction giant Leighton Holdings, and allegations that Tabcorp bribed the sister of Cambodia’s president.
In addition to the World Bank inquiry, internal company emails reveal bribery allegations involving a second Sri Lankan contract, a dam project also funded by the World Bank. Emails from SMEC’s recently sacked Sri Lankan manager to two Australian colleagues detail an alleged meeting in 2009 with Sri Lanka’s president Sirisena, who at the time was minister for Agriculture, Development and Agrarian Services.
SMEC’s manager wrote on June 3 that Sirisena, who was also “secretary of the ruling party – a powerful man in the present administration”, may request “something out of the way – funds for the party”.
SMEC needed Mr Sirisena to sign off on cabinet papers approving the award of the $1.82 million dam project. Two days later, SMEC’s manager wrote another email to his colleagues about his meeting with Mr Sirisena.
“He said there will be elections in the near future and he wants to know whether SMEC could make a donation for the elections. He [Mr Siresena] detailed me to discuss this with his Co-ordinating Secretary. Co-ordinating-Secretary said this is the way it goes prior to signing the cabinet papers. He wants us to propose an amount/percentage on the contract value. If you could advise me on an amount of percentage based on the financial figures I could inform the minister/ Co-ordinating Sec …”
Twelve days later, the manager wrote another email saying that unnamed “key people” had asked for approximately “1%… of the total contract.”
“The key people have now disclosed their cost as 2.5m LKR [Sri Lankan Rupees, a sum worth about $A27,000]”.
“Since the signing of the contract would depend on our agreement to honour the cost of 2.5 M LKR, we have to prioritise that.”
Company accounts reveal that $A27,000 – a large amount of money in Sri Lanka- was withdrawn in cash by the manager, who appeared to agree to pay kickbacks to an unnamed “party”.
“I think this is a good opportunity for us to build up relationship with this party since they directly approached… us,” he wrote.
“Once we win their confidence… we could work with their blessings in future opportunities.”
In a statement, SMEC said the company’s internal investigation this year found no “payment to any person in response to the request for a political donation” and that any payments made were not improper. SMEC has referred its internal inquiry to the AFP.
Mr Sirisena did not respond to detailed questions.
Full Report
http://www.theage.com.au/business/australian-companies-linked-to-bribe-scandals-in-sri-lanka-and-congo-20160823-gqyzlp.html
http://www.smh.com.au/business/australian-companies-linked-to-bribe-scandals-in-sri-lanka-and-congo-20160823-gqyzlp.html
December 5th, 2016 at 8:50 pm
While Tamil Nadu mourns her death, Sri Lanka must mourn the absence of a leader to shoulder the Sinhala nation single-minded.
We should aspire have one, not mourn the “not haves”. We cannot aspire because we mourn the “loss of power” of those who do nto single midedly shoulder the nation.
December 5th, 2016 at 9:01 pm
Jayalalitha, translated her fame as a dancer and film star into a political career with assistance from another film star M.G. Ramachandran or MGR, a Chief Minister of TN who preceded her.
World over, people seem to trust film stars like Jayalalitha, CBK’s husband, Ronald Reagan and even Arnold Schwartznegger with the reins of their country.
In Tamil Nadu, that love of film stars manifested itself in almost a godly cult with Ministers worshipping Jayalalitha the “Amma”.
Jayalalitha did a few good things like uplifting the role of women and creating a program to save and adopt unwanted female babies who would otherwise have been murdered.
On the flip side, she amassed great wealth while in office and was convicted and imprisoned for acquiring a massive hoard of wealth that could not be legitimately accounted for. In fact, in between the 4 periods she held office as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, she spent more time in both state and federal prisons, particularly on charges of theft and corruption, than she spent in office as Chief Minister.
What are we to make of this record? Was she an incorrigible Pal Hora who was nevertheless forgiven time-and-again by her people who could not shake her image as a film star? Who knows?
All I care about is that Jayalalitha used the Sri Lanka Tamils issue as a tool to gain and maintain popularity in Tamil Nadu. In doing so she was a Racist ucaring demagogue who jeopardized the safety of all Sri Lankans.
Because of that I am glad she is no more, and Sri Lanka has been spared her unremitting enmity for at least a few years, until someone equally inimical to Sri Lanka inevitably replaces her in the future and takes up the Sri Lankan Tamils issue as a club to try to beat Sri Lanka into submission.
December 6th, 2016 at 12:37 am
Surely she will be replaced by another Tamil nationalist/racist. It is the case in Sri Lanka as well. ACTC, ITAK, TULF, LTTE, TNA and any other splinter groups have replaced one Tamil racist with another. This is a perennial Tamil issue in both countries.
She is racist in our view and so is Mahinda in their view. This is another irreconcilable fact. Patriotism (to their respective national causes only) and parental love (to their respective children only) are the same the world over.
The problem is Sinhalese not having a leader to single-mindedly champion our Sinhala interests as Jayalalitha did with her people. She had fewer minorities but commensurate lesser power.
December 6th, 2016 at 6:28 am
I would urge all patriotic Sri Lankan to be beware of treacherous elements namely Kumar David, Pakiasothy Sarvanamuththu, Weliamuna, Gamini Uyangoda, Ravaya Editor, Krishmal (forgot the surname), Jehan Perera, the ICES, the CPA etc. all of the above are CIA agents and their plan is to talk and write about all other subjects on planet earth except one which is the proposed federal constitution. This is how the above well known Sri Lanka haters and CIA agents plan to hoodwink the Sinhala people, distract their attention by they and their paid writers talking and writing about all other topics on planet earth except for one which is the proposed federal constitution. In this way, they plan to hoodwink the Sinhala people and get this treacherous federal constitution passed in parliament. Once passed, it cannot ever be reversed and this country will be partitioned as the US,UK,EU, Canada,Norway,Sweden, the TNA and all other separatists want.
The reality is that the US State Department has spent US$ 585 million during the fiscal year 2015/16 to bring about regime change in Sri Lanka, Burma, Nigeria and quite a number of other countries as even stated by them. At least US$ 58 million of this would have been provided to the above mentioned CIA agents i.e. Kumar David, Pakiasothy Sarvanamuththu etc. to launch their koota plan of distracting Sinhala people’s attention talking about all other topics except the most important i.e. the proposed federal constitution.
In this they are ably supported by the UNP/Sirisena SLFP/Ranil/CBK/Mangala/Pacha Ranawaka/Rathana/ Dath Dosthara Rajitha Senaratne/Wijedasa Rajapakshe/JVP/FLSP/TNA/ACTC/ITAK/TULF/SLMC/ACMC etc. who are also being paid by the US,UK,EU, Canada,Norway,Sweden, the TNA and all other separatists in order to pass this federal constitution.
Already parliamentary MPs have been bribed using 2 lakhs cash, pajeros, a seven lakhs cash loan, many other vehicles, refurbished offices etc. In fact their foreign advisors already told Ranil and the UNP at a conference ‘whatever you do, do not loose the two thirds majority in parliament!!!’. This is to pass this treacherous federal constitution. This is their cunning plan.
Not only that on the 27th of November Shivajilingam said on TV itself, we are so very near obtaining our Eelam!!! That says it all does it not?
In fact the US,EU,UK.Canada, Sweden, Norway, the TNA, all other separatists have spent so much money for over three decades in order to partition Sri Lanka. In fact considering that at least US$58 million was provided by the US State Department to NGOs during the year 2015/16 alone this adds up to at least US$ 1.8 billion over three decades by now indirectly supporting the terrorists the LTTE. They want their investment back now with interest. So they are definitely going to pass this proposed federal constitution by bribing parliamentary MPs as shown above.
Please patriotic Sri Lankans do not let this happen. Already we have provincial councils which is a reasonable solution as far as the requirements for decentralisation of power is concerned. There is no need whatsoever to go further than this if Sri Lanka is to remain a unitary state. Already Sri Lanka is quasi federal. If this treacherous federal constitution is passed tiny, little Sri Lanka will be in at least nine pieces or more and be partitioned forever into pieces. Not even India, Pakistan or South Africa, huge massive countries, have got rid of their concurrent lists. However tiny, little Sri Lanka is getting rid of its concurrent list. This is craziness taken to the extreme.
December 6th, 2016 at 6:45 am
Thank you, President Mahinda Rajapaksa for pointing out the danger to the nation in the new constitution brought by the traitors who want to sell the country to the Foreigners. As predicted by the dreams of King Kosala 2500 years ago today the jackals parading as the leaders are urinating in the golden chalices in the palace. It is said that even in Kali Yuga if one is mindful of one’s actions one can win through. Human beings have the ability to be conscious. We must overcome our greed for material gain by being aware of the transitoriness of this world. It is only then that we can act for the welfare of the suffering humanity. Unfortunately even the priests are silent and are not speaking out against this Machiavellian plan to divide the country.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:28 am
We are talking about Sri Lanka and the Sinhalese. Give them a mus kattak these deshapaluwan will do any thing.
That’s why traitor chief die hard catholic token Buddhist Batalande Wadakaya pol pot r@anil wickramaSinhalakiller gave them 100,000
monthly increase. That’s the first mas katta. Promise another mas kattak these greedy, selfish, UNPatriotic bath
balayin will sell their mothers. That’s how pathetic those low lives are. Traitor chief knows it, traitor tamils, mussies,
catholics and the catholic west know it.
Just look at the mas katu lovers: arjunaya durjanaya, para jithaya, karume j, l kirixxxxa, sxxxxli banda, siri pala barrela, cham paxxya, susila preme, minister of erection (permanent) john baas, etc. etc. list is too long. None of
these traitor low lives going to oppose the new constitution. Traitor chief die hard catholic token Buddhist Batalande
Wadakaya pol pot r@nil wickramaSinhalakiller will achieve his life time ambition of partitioning Sri Lanka to please
his ardent supporters traitor tamils, mussies, catholics and catholic west. That’s is certain. Sinhala modayas won’t
understand it until the day they have to jump into the sea. We are called modayas for a reason!
Good example of this is, before MR came to power catholic tigers of tamil drealam used to send lorry loads of
army, police, etc. coffins to the south on daily basis. MR came. Blood bath stopped. Soldiers, police lives saved.
Elections came. Some army, police families voted for the catholic run UNPatriotics. Those modayas didn’t understand if the war had gone on, they would have had lost their family members. That’s how stupid we are!
Need more proof. Need to say any more! The UNPatriotic deshapaluwan will get the job done. They only need a mas kattak. They will partition Sri Lanka.
If any body think puppet maru (hora) sira can do any thing to stop it, they live in dreamland. Only thing he can do
is looking on! Helplessly. It is all too powerful traitor chief die hard catholic token Buddhist Batalande Wadakaya pol
pot r@nil wickramaSinhalakiller is the artchitect of this. Only person he listen to is MR (not that MR we all think, it is
malcolm ranjith, the most powerful man in Sri Lanka).
December 6th, 2016 at 2:16 pm
නැවතත් ඉන්දියානු අදිරදය සින්හල යටත් විජිතයට නව පාලන රටාවක් පැටවීමට යයි.
සින්හලයන් ඉන්දියානු අදිරදයෙන් මිදෙන තුරු සින්හලයින්ට යන කලක් නැත.
Indian Empire is imposing another constitution on its Sinhala colony.
Until we free ourselves from the Indian Empire there is no life for the Sinhalese.
December 6th, 2016 at 3:25 pm
“While Tamil Nadu mourns her death, Sri Lanka must mourn the absence of a leader to shoulder the Sinhala nation single-minded.”
What Dilrook said above is the absolute truth.
From what MR does, the search for a leader who will single mindedly take the nation forward become ever more difficult. His actions will divide the nation and keep the deshadrohiyo in perpetual control of Sinhale. There is a mad scramble to take over our land by big powers. They will promise to give this and that and also promise to train our men and women on unheard of things. Ultimately we are going to lose the only place we can call home and it will be under new colonial powers for another 500 years if our people do not rise up now.
MR, please let a true leader (one who will not think about himself and his kith and kin) come forward. It does not matter even if he is from your new party.
December 6th, 2016 at 3:30 pm
AS aka Plumblossom,
The problem is BIGGER than MR or My3 or CBK or Run-nil.
Can we look at it as a NATIONAL SECURITY PROBLEM than through political party glasses?
UriNePee is a TAMIL CATHOLIC party. But how about SLFP? That is another TAMIL ANGLICAN party! It was formed by the GREAT SWORD-B who was an ALGICAN and whose ancestors were TAMILS by the name NEELAM PERUMAL. His wife SIRIMA RATWATTE comes from a MALABAR family. Look at her ancestor’s signature in Tamil.
So your choice is between the UNP of THAMBI MUTHTHIYANSE (JR) ancestors and the SLFP of NEELAM PERUMAL ancestors. Which is better?
The point is SL and Singhalese have a NATAIONAL SECURITY PROBLEM not a UriNePee-SLF***P problem.
This DEMOCRAZY system has NEVER protected SL. Otherwise Dutugemunui would have been a democrat not a military leader.
December 6th, 2016 at 3:48 pm
Although I AGREE UNP is the WORST of the 2, there is something PATRIOTIC about the UNP that SLFP does NOT have. MILITARY MEN.
UNP had these top military leaders whose MILITARY SERVICE cannot be questioned.
1. General Janaka Perera
2. General Lucky Alkama
3. General Munsinghe (few months in the SLFP then crossed to UNP)
4. General Ranjan Wijeratna
5. General Sarath Fonseka
6. General Gajanayaka
7. Sir John Kotalawala
8. General (can’t remember his name)
Look at the SLFP.
1. General Ratwatte
2. Sarath Weerasekera
Even GR could NOT get into SLFP when MR was in power. He tried to come from KURUNEGALA in 2010 but his family stopped him. In 2013 he tried to contest the WPC election from Colombo but his family stopped him.
SLFP should increase military representation in its ranks.
December 6th, 2016 at 4:00 pm
All of them, when reach top, belong to one party, KBJP ( Kala Bila Jolikarapalla Party).
December 6th, 2016 at 4:44 pm
Aloy,
Don’t you understand the problem ?
MR can TRUST RW only. He does’t trust Sira. His priorities are as follows.
1. Gurantee no prosecution for ANY crime commited by me and my clan
2. No touching of billions my clan earned by LOVING THE COUNTRY DEARLY
3. Gurantee sucession to murderous idiot Namal. ( as a 2nd step)
If he has ANY love left for the country, he should be prepared to drop demand No. 3 and sign a pact with Sira and support him fully and also convert him to love the nation. Muderer can be deported to USA to go and try his killing there.
December 6th, 2016 at 6:32 pm
MGR an Indian colonial parasite from Kandy became the CM of Tamil Nadu and Jaya was one of his…. MGR was directly behind the Indian terrorists arms in the island who murdered Sinhalese.
PIP.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:14 pm
Dilrook says
As Tamil Nadu mourns death of Amma, not a single firecracker went off in Sri Lanka reported.
This itself is good enough for Tamils to reconcile with Sinhalese.
Just imagine what would happen if Rajapakse( Appachchi) died. There will be millions in Tamil nadu cellibrating !
When Premadasa died I witnessed people celibrating ( as I remember in Mt. Lavinia juction – predominantly Sinhala area). Although not common in Sinhala Buddhist culture to celebrate death with fire crackers, it does sometimes occur. Prabahkaran’s death was a special day.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:15 pm
SOrry please disregard “Dilrook says”. I strated trying to quote what he said about death celebrations.
December 7th, 2016 at 3:50 am
a single firecracker went off in Sri Lanka reported.- you know why CM Jeyalalitha flahed out VP & co from TN .
her policy was Separate TE & get Kachchatheevu back to TN.
December 7th, 2016 at 5:56 am
Thadjudeen and Lasantha are well beaten hides. That and accusations against MR his family and supporters, help keep Yahahapalanaya propped up in its sinking popularity amoung the people. Listening to the Finance Minister, and other UNP Ministers in TV debates and watching the behaviour of Prime Minister in the Parliament do not give any one the assurance everything is going well in Sri Lanka.
The President is there only to assure UNP get two third majority on the proposals UNP presents in the Parliament, with the SLFP votes under his command. The passing of the Constitution will be the end of Sri Lanka we knew. How much we miss the former President Mahinda Rajapakse- of course the Tamils and Muslims will never regret it as we continue to witness….
Jayalalitha was a great politician of Tamil Nadu she kept her people together. She was playing her role well as a South Indian politician. It was the fault of the Sri Lanka Tamils to hail her as their leader denying that leadership to their own compatriots. Sri Lanka Tamils should accept the Sinhala as their people as much as the Sinhala accept the Sri Lanka Tamils as their people. That is how we could end our problems without relying on artificial reconciliations.
,
It is encouraging to see that we have reliable patriots amoung us to keep up our moral, the will to speak and write about detrimental things happening in our country that worry us, and at least hope together that Sri Lanka as it was before the advent of Yahapalanaya, will not be lost to us.
SA Kumar, Plumblossom,Ananda-USA, Dilrook, Ancient Sihala, Fran, Sarath, Christie, Kumari, Cerberus and host of others , thank you you all are there with us……
December 7th, 2016 at 8:20 am
Charles
Why thanks to me machan(g) ?
I am Pro TElamist ( since Elra (Eela Raja ) to VP we are trying but We did not get not even a hair (majir) from you sinhalese that is different matter).
Naalai pirakkum TE (tomorrow TE will born) -Not Today, will repeat again tomorrow !!!!
December 7th, 2016 at 8:33 am
Important Message on Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna’s Facebook Page (Basil Rajapakshe’s Party):
සිංහල-මුස්ලිම් ගැටුමක් අවුළුවාලීමට කැසකවන දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාවේ අරමුණ හමුවේ ඔබගේ වගකීම !
නග්න බෙදුම්වාදී අගපසග ඒකීය සළුපිලි වලින් සගවා , මුළුමහත් ලංකේය ජාතියම රවටා, දෙමල ජාතිවාදී බෙදුම්වාදී නියායපත්රයට අනුව සකසන ලද බෙදුම්වාදී ෆෙඩරල් ව්යවස්ථාව කඩිමුඩියේ සමමත කර ගැනීම 2017 වසරේ පළමු කරිතුවේදී සිදුකිරීමට නියමිතව ඇත .
නව ව්යවස්ථාව සම්මත කරගැනීම සදහා දෙමල ජාතිවාදී බෙදුම්වාදයට ලබාගැනීමට ඉතිරිව ඇත්තේ තවත් කඩුලු දෙකකක් පමණි. එනම් :
1- පාර්ලිමන්තුවේ 3/2 ක බහුතරය එනම් පක්ෂව චන්ද 150 ලබා ගැනීම
2- ජනමත විචාරණයකින් නව ව්යවස්ථාවට පක්ෂව සරල බහුතරයක් ලබා ජයගැනීමයි .
මෙම අවසාන කඩුළු දෙකින් පළමු කඩුල්ල ඔවුන් ඉතාමත් පහසුවෙන් ජයගනු ඇත .
ඔබට යම් සැකයක් ඇත්නම් මෙවර අය-වැය චන්ද ප්රතිඑලය නිරීක්ෂණය කරන්න – පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ බේදයකින් තොරව මෙරට සියලු සකලවිද ජනතාව , ජනතා විරෝදී මුග්ද අයවැයක් ලෙස අවිවාදයෙන් පිළිගන්නා මෙවර අයවැයට පක්ෂව චන්ද 162ක් ලැබුණි !
තමන්ට නැවත ගමට යාමට නොහැකි බව ඉතා හොදින් පසක් කරගෙන සිටින ආණ්ඩුවට හේත්තුවී සිටින ශ්රීලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මන්ත්රීවරු , හැකි උපරිම මුදලක් උපයා තම දේශපාලන ගමන කෙළවර කරගැනීමට මේවනවිත් තීරණය කර හමාරය. ඔවුන්ට් අවශ්ය ලන්සුව ලබාදීමට, සුව පහසු විශ්රාම දිවියක් ලබාදීමට ඩොලර් විසිකිරීමට දෙමල බෙදුම්වාදී ජාතිවාදී ඩයස්පෝරාව සැදී පැහැදී සිටී !
මේ සන්දර්භය තුල ,බෙදුම්වාදී නව ෆෙඩරල් ව්යවස්ථාව සම්මත කරගැනීමට ඔවුනට ඇත්තේ අවසාන කඩුල්ල ලබාගැනීමේ අභියෝගය පමණි , ඔබගේ දායකත්වය දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී බෙදුම්වාදී ඩයස්පෝරාවට ලබාදීම හෝ නොදීම ඇත්තේ ඔබගේ අතේය. ඔබ අපගේ පොදු හතුරාගේ උපක්රමය තෙරුන්ගතහොත් මේ අවස්ථාවේ අප මවුබිම කැබලිවලට කැඩී වෙන්වී යාම වලක්වා ගැනීමට හැකිවනු ඇත!
දෙමල බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට ඇති ප්රදාන අභියෝගය මුස්ලිම් ජනතාවගේ චන්දය ව්යවස්ථාවට පක්ෂව ලබාගැනීමයි . සහෝදර මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව සැමදාම බෙදුම්වාදී ජාතිවාදී ත්රස්තවාදයට විරුද්ද මතයක සිට සිංහල ජනතාව සමග සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කලේය . විශේෂයෙන් නැගෙනහිර බහුතර මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව LTTE -TNA ජාතිවාදී පාලනයක් යටතේ ජීවත්වීමට කිසිසේත් කැමති නැත !
මේ අභියෝගය ජය ගැනීමටනම් කෙසේ හෝ බෙදුම්වදින්ට අවශ්ය වන්නේ මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව සහ සිංහල ජනතාව කෙටවීම . එසේ කොටවා ,ප්රබාකරන් ගේ ජාතිවාදයත්, කාත්තන්කුඩි සංහාරය පිලිබඳ මතකයත් අතීතයට තල්ලුකරීමට සමත් , භුමියේ ක්රියාත්මක TNA ජාතිවාදය කෙටිකාලීනව හෝ අමතක කරවීමට සමත් බැලු බැල්මට මුස්ලිම් විරෝදී ක්ෂණික ජාතිවාදී ගැටුමක් සඳහා සිංහල ජනතාව පොළබවා ගැනීමය!
මේසදහා ඩයස්පෝරාව සහ විදේශීය ඔත්තුසේවා යොදනා උපක්රමය වන්නේ අවස්ථාවාදී මුග්ද සිංහල ජාතිවාදී රංගනය යෙදෙන කොටස් වලටත් , මුස්ලිම් සමාජයේ කිසිදු පිළිගැනීමක් නැති , සෞදියේ අනුග්රහයෙන් කෘතිමව පිහිටවූ ගෝත්රික නුගත් කණ්ඩායම් වලටත් එකවර මුදල් සහ මාද්ය සහය ලබාදී ඔවුන්ගේ ප්රකාශ සහ ක්රියාකාරකම් හරහා මහා සමාජය තුල ජාතිවාදී ගැටුමක් ඇතිකරවිමය !
මෙහිදී මුලින් උපක්රමිකව මුස්ලිම් ජාතිවාදී සුළු පිරිසක් ලවා සිංහල ජනතාව කුපිත කරවීමත් , එයට ප්රතිවිරුද්දව පැනනගින කස්වභාවික ප්රතික්රියාවක ස්වරුපයෙන් , කලින් අටවන ලද චරිත , චීවර ධාරීන් ,සිංහල ජනතාවගේ අසහාය විමුක්තිකාමීන් ලෙස ප්රාතිර්බුතවීමත් , දෙමල බෙදුම්වාදීන් කලින් සකස් කරණලද නියාය පත්රයට අනුව ජුගුප්සාජනක අශ්ලීල රංගනයක යෙදීමය. මෙහි Trailers, මේ වනවිටත් Thowheed Jamath , DAN , මංගලාරාමය, බොදුබලසේනා – කුරගල හරහා කරලියට පැමිණ තිබේ !
බෙදුම්වාදී ජාතිවාදී ඩයස්පෝරාව, රනිල් -මංගල -චන්දිකා ගේ අනුග්රහයෙන් , සිරිසේනගේ නොසන්ඩාල කුහකත්වය භාවිතකොට පාර්ලිමන්තුව ජයගනු ඇත . ඔවුනට අවශ්ය අවසාන කඩුල්ල ඇත්තේ ඔබගේ අතේය !
ඔබගේ චන්දය නව ව්යවස්ථාවට විරුද්දව ලබදිමන් පමණක් ඔබට මේ අවසාන කඩුල්ල ආරක්ෂා කර ගත නොහැක . ඔබගේ හැසිරීමද (විශේෂයෙන් Facebook ), දැනුවත් සමාජ භාවිතාවද යන කරනා මේ තීරණාත්මක අවසන් කඩුල්ල කරගැනීමේදී ඉතා විශාල බලපෑමක් කරනු ලබයි !
මේ උහතොකොටික ගැටලුව අපට මෙසේ සරලව පසක්කරගත හැක, අප බොහොමයකගේ නිවෙස් වල ගෘහමූලිකයා තාත්තා වන අතර ගෙදර බුදුන් අම්මා වේ . එහෙත් මෙය අපගේ නිවෙස් වල කොහෙවත් ලියා නොමැත . මෙය අතිමහත් බහුතරයක් නිවෙස් තුල ක්රියාත්මක සත්යවේ . එහෙත් පවුල බිදවැටුණු තැන , මවටත් , පියාටත් හිමිතැන ඉබේම අවලංගුවේ , එය නැවත කොලේක ලියා හෝ ගලේ කොටා බලෙන් ස්ථාපිත කල නොහැක. එනම් පවුල යන පොදු සාධකයේ ස්ථාවර භාවය , නිවසේ බල තුලනය හා අනෝන්ය පැවැත්ම ට තීරණාත්මක බලපෑමක් සිදුකරන මහා පොදු සාධකය වේ!
මේ අයුරින්ම, මඩකලපුව තිබෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ මිස ලංකාව තියෙන්නේ මංගලාරාමයේ හෝ මඩකලපුවේ නොවන බවත් , කුරගලත් , මුහුදු මහා විහාරයත් තිබෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ මිස ලංකාව තිබෙන්නේ කුරගල හෝ මුහුදු මහා විහාරයේ නොවන බව තෙරුන් ගැනීම් අතවශ්යවේ . එමනිසා , මුලින් බේරාගත්යුත්තේ ලංකාව බව තෙරුන්ගැනීමට ඔබ විචාරශීලි විය යුතුය!!!
මේ වනවිට අප ලංකේය ශිෂ්ටාචාරය මුහුණපාමින් ඇති මේ තීරණාත්මක අභියෝගය ජය ගැනීමට නම්, ඔබ අපගේ පොදු හතුරාගේ උපක්රමයට හසුනොවිමට වග බලාගත යුතු අතර ඔබගේ අහිංසක මිතුරන් අවස්ථාවාදී පිල්ලි වල වසගකාරී උගුල්වලට හසුවිමන් වලක්වා ගැනීමටත් වගබලා ගත යුතුය .
මෙනිසා , බහුතර මුස්ලිම් සහෝදරත්වය බෙදුම්වාදී ජාතිවාදීන් ගේ ඔඩොක්කුවට තල්ලුකිරීමේ පාපකර්මයට ඔබගේ දායකත්වය ලබා නොදීමේ වගකීම ඔබ සතුව ඇත !
බෙදුම්වාදී ජාතිවාදී ඩයස්පෝරාවට අවශ්ය පරිදි 2015 ජනවාරියේ දී මෙන් මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව බුරුතු පිටින් නව ව්යවස්ථාවට පක්ෂව චන්දය ලබාදීමට අවශ්ය වටපිටාවක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමමේ පාපකර්මයට ඔබගේ දායකත්වය ලබා නොදීමේ වගකීම ඔබ සතුව ඇත.
ඔබFacebook හරහා share කරන post, video, Comments ගැන වෙනදාට වඩා විමසිලිමත් වන්න , විද්දේ පදුරට වැදුනේ හාවට යයි පසුව කීමෙන් පලක් නොවන බව මතක තබා ගන්න !
බෙදුම්වාදී , ෆෙඩරල් ව්යවස්ථාවට විරුද්දව වන්න – මේ තීරණාත්මක මොහොතේ අප ආදරණිය මාතෘභූමිය වෙනුවෙන් ඔබගේ යුතුකම නොපමාව ඉටුකරන්න !
මාතෘභූමියට ජය !
~තෙෂාර ජයසිංහ ~
December 8th, 2016 at 5:23 pm
SA Kumar, You are a good eelamist… you have the courage to come here and tell us that…you are not a hypocrite. That is why
December 8th, 2016 at 5:26 pm
SA kumar you come and speakout to say what you are ….that is appreciated, but it would be different if you would bring a Claymore bomb or a gun.
December 9th, 2016 at 3:37 am
Charles
We all are Mother Lankan , Both believe in Karma & Dharma & We all paid higher price for our madness .
Live & let’s live in Sinhala Island (Chignkala theevu) until Eelam war V ( We need to keep this jilmal otherwise you know you will start your Demila Baila Festival (1956 to 1983) .