(A Paper Published by the Sri Lanka Geo- Political Study Circle)

/contd from Part 1

Reading the draft MCC Agreement, America’s plan for Sri Lanka is clearly evident; their plan is to take-over Sri Lanka’s Land and subjugate the Island Nation to the US by replacing, Sri Lanka’s Parliament, Sri Lanka’s Administration and Sri Lanka’s Judiciary (in all matters and in all geographical locations connected with the American project) with a MCC-Parliament, a MCC-Judiciary and a MCC-Administration. (See Annex 1, page 34 of the draft MCC Agreement).

 The initial American Landgrab of Sri Lanka’s territory begins with the 2-Million Acre Corridor from TCO to CBO, the two Ports in TCO and CBO and all land covered by the proposed Japanese Monorail transport system, the latter under the MCC transport component.

 The TCO-CBO Corridor coveted by the Americans is replete with minerals and other resources. Furthermore, the area is a treasure trove of Sri Lanka’s rich cultural heritage.

 The draft MCC Agreement has not included a Cultural map of the land, in the US desired Corridor, that would reflect the precious history and heritage of our country which would be lost forever if the Agreement is signed.

 Not included either in the draft MCC Agreement is a detailed economic map of the US ‘focus-of-interest’ Corridor, indicating the values, the quantities, the qualities, the depths and extents of the diverse resources and minerals found therein.

 And gallingly, there is no environmental report on, how these minerals and resources should be extracted, what impact the extraction of such minerals and resources would have on the environment .

 Is there a business plan on how the wealth from the minerals and other resources would be shared?   

 If the draft MCC Agreement is signed, brought before Parliament and, in Parliament, a 2/3 majority obtained in favour of the draft Agreement, the Government would invoke Article 157 of the Constitution. From that point on, the MCC Agreement cannot be retracted.

 Article 157 lurks insignificantly, but menacingly, in the Constitution. It permits the conditions laid out in an Agreement – such as the draft MCC Agreement – to have the full force of the law once a resolution is appropriately passed in Parliament.

 Article 157 of the Constitution arguably allows the Constitution to be changed without getting the people’s mandate at a referendum.

 Gotabaya’s waffly conduct continues to worry about the people of Sri Lanka. Is this one of the prime reasons why Gotabaya is asking for a 2/3rd majority in Parliament so that he can obviate the need to go before the people and get their mandate if the Agreement is signed?

 The Americans appear to be jubilant at the way the Country is slithering forward.

 In the run-up to the Presidential Election, Gotabaya posed off as the champion of the anti-MCC Movement. But his subsequent conduct, after being elected, suggests that he had deliberately hoodwinked the 5.9 Million people who voted for him.

 Gotabaya appears to be suffering from a, ‘To-Hell-with-The-People’ syndrome, a common post-election condition that affects politicians across the board; his mind is now fogged. He does not know whether the MCC is inimical to the interest of the Country or not.

 In a sneaky move, Gotabaya has attempted to shy away from his responsibility by setting up, on 20 Dec 19, a committee of four to decide on the merits and demerits of the draft MCC Agreement.

 The Committee is headed by Gunaruwan from the pen of Western Economics; he is no stranger to the Pathfinder Foundation.

 Gotabaya should have known better; he cannot delegate responsibility. Indeed, when he went to battle on 16 Nov 19 and championed the anti-MCC cause on behalf of the Sri Lankan people, the people justifiably imagined that he had studied the battlefield thoroughly.

 Gunaruwan and his committee will be submitting their report only after the General Elections,

 But, by reading just annex 1 (page 34) of the draft MCC Agreement, not to speak of the other sections of the Agreement laden with more sell-out clauses, it is glaringly obvious to even the ‘not-so-erudite’ that the draft MCC Agreement is a total sell-out of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty to the Americans.

 It does not take 10 minutes to read, understand and digest annex 1 (Page 34) of the draft MCC Agreement to perceive the danger to the Country.

 This Study Circle exhorts the Committee to issue an interim report immediately, to warn the Government against signing the draft MCC Agreement and, to make the contents of that interim report available to the People. The main report can follow, as was previously instructed.

 It needs no emphasis that the Committee functions with the largesse of the people’s money and it is their country that is under attack, due to a secret deal made by the politicians and the Americans.

 This is the opportunity for the Committee to take their stand and save our Motherland; the people stand solidly behind you just as much as they would with the Survey Department which has been tasked unfairly by the Americans to accelerate the survey of the TCO-CBO Corridor in order to accelerate the issue of a million Land Grants.

 Without appropriate survey maps, the million Land Grants cannot be issued and without Land Grants, the MCC is stymied.

 This is the opportunity for the committee of four to underline their integrity and have their names written in Gold in the pages of Sri Lanka’s history for saving Sri Lanka. They and their families will be revered by all Sri Lankans and the unborn generations to come.

 The cost of conducting a Presidential Election is heavy and this burden is borne by the people of this country.

 If the presumption given afore, about Gotabaya posing off as a Champion in the anti MCC campaign and his subsequent selective amnesia is accurate, Gotabaya has deliberately misled the people; his (and his team’s) dishonesty about a crucial issue affecting the future of the Country has made the Election meaningless and he has thereby subverted democracy.

 Going on the same presumption re Gotabaya’s conduct, as far as the people are concerned, the money expended on the Election has been spent on a meaningless exercise, made meaningless by Gotabaya and his teams’ seemingly dishonest disposition.

 The people opine that Gotabaya and his team in such a scenario should account to the people for this colossal waste of their money.

 We, in this study circle, hope and pray that our presumptions are inaccurate

 Some people are posing the question today. Is Gotabaya a Crypto-American?

 Gotabaya, albeit a good Administrator, is politically naïve; his naivete has been frequently exposed when making Reagan-like public utterances. 

 A classic gaffe is about Sri Lanka being a Neutral country when the Country’s committed policy, as a founding member of the Movement, is one of Non-Alignment.

 ‘Neutrality’ may be his personal opinion perhaps; but the people do not give a toss for his personal opinion. He is the people’s representative and he must be mindful of the people’s opinion. He has not been empowered by the people to change a Country’s Foreign Policy according to his whims and fancies.

 Or was that remark made on the advice of his mercenary American-advisors whom Gotabaya has surrounded himself with? It appears that the ‘Pathfinder’ Foundation is  

Provided by Daily News (via HT Media Ltd.) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa receives the ‘Study on Managing Foreign Policy and Relations with the UN System’ from Pathfinder Foundation Chairman Bernard Goonetilleke.

educating Gotabaya on the rudiments of Foreign Policy

 As a politician, Gotabaya does not have a vote base to speak of; he came to power on the shoulders of Mahinda Rajapakse, a charismatic personality who has a genuine feel for his Motherland.

 People recall with pride how Mahinda handled Miliband, Kouchner and Blake during the critical stages of the terrorist war. 

 Mahinda is a hero in the eyes of the Sri Lankan people; a part of that shine rubbed off on Gotabaya, because of his good Administration, during the war against Eelam terrorism. The Rajapakse name is consequently etched in the hearts of Sri Lanka’s rural families.

 But from hero to zero is but a step away. One act of treachery, like Gotabaya signing the draft MCC Agreement and surrendering the Country to the Americans, would tar all Rajapakses with the same brush; it would drag the Rajapakse name from its revered pedestal into the dust bin of Sri Lanka’s history.

/to be continued