By Sena Thoradeniya

I am disappointed that an MP has made baseless allegations & spread outright lies in a book that should be labelled fiction”. For 75 years the US and SL have showed commitments to democracy, sovereignty and prosperity and future we continue to build together”, twittered American Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung soon after the launch of National Freedom Front leader MP Wimal Weerawansa’s book Nine; The Hidden Story”. Julie Chung should explain in detail the baseless allegations” and outright lies” that contain in Weerawansa’s book and clear her name as the Conductor of Galle Face Protest and Viceroy of Sri Lanka planted by the US. Her message reveals the poor knowledge she has regarding fiction. Weerawansa’s book discloses what type of a future” she wanted to build” for Sri Lanka.

 The roc wings fanwise

Soaring ninety thousand li 

And rousing a cyclone” (Two Birds: A Dialogue” by Mao Zedong -1965).

Current events show that within a few hours after the launching of the book Nine” in front of a packed audience at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute on April 25, has roused a cyclone as Mao put into poetry. According to Chinese mythology the bird called pengwhose wings were like clouds could rise ninety thousand li to the sky at one stretch creating a cyclone. Cyclone Nine” has hit not only Julie Chang. It has hit Fonseka and some other politicians, columnists, cartoonists, and satirists who make fun out of every serious political development in this country. Defense Ministry on behalf of Shavindra Silva has issued a statement that Silva was on an official visit to India in July 2022 to attend the meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave with the approval of the then President of Sri Lanka. In other words this shows that our security top brass was conferring in a foreign country when the country was burning and the life of the Head of State was at stake. 

The book has generated dissension in the ranks of JVP/ NPP, Tilvin Silva and Lalkantha making statements contradictory to each other, the latter accepting US hands at Galle Face. Those you were in the pay list of USAID, NED, IRI, NDI, IREX, MEND, ROAR Media all US front organisations and operational in Sri Lanka and media personnel trained by such organisations and those who attended Julie Chung’s garden parties may be mapping out their counter measures. (It is pity to state that Rev. Pallegama Hemaratna, Atamasthanadhipathi of Anuradhapura becoming Chung’s latest catch”).  

The speech made by an academic attached to Sripalee campus preceding Weerawansa’s fiery revelations paled into insignificance as it was a hotchpotch of sterile theory which has no practical value. The organisers could have selected a person for this task who was able to formulate a theory to Galle Face Protest as opposed to those who had theorised Galle Face Protest as a new type of mass uprising.

What is extraordinary in Nine”, a small book which contains only 135 pages? Most of the things discussed in this book were treated in different perspectives by writers who were critical about the Galle Face Protest, who understood the true nature of it, its handlers and US footprints from the very beginning of Galle Face Protest including this writer. Wimal Weerawansa was able to unfold many frightening happenings that previous writers were not informed of. Also, many incidents that are coming into light only now beg new and different interpretations.

The book contains two parts: part I or the major portion of the book (114 pages) is devoted to describe the hidden story” of the nines” in the cotemporary history of Sri Lanka.

The narrative begins with a brief discussion of the economic situation of the country that triggered protest movements. It says that the crisis was deepened as a result of intolerant, unresponsive, arrogant thinking and behaviours of GR, Basil and Jayasundera.  The author exposes how at these initial stages of the crisis Victoria Nuland and Julie Chung entered the arena. Nuland arrived in the Island on 23 March 2022, just a week before that fateful day, 31 March.  Nuland, apart from meeting GR and GL Peiris had met an unidentifiable cabal of civil society activists”. The griddle was heated; protesters wanted to bake a roti; but nobody knew what type of a roti they wanted to bake. It was known only to Julie Chang and few others.

Weerawansa correctly states that although the Galle Face Protest was labelled as peaceful” and non-violent”, the first wave of violence was unleashed on March 31 at Mirihana and  the second a few days later with the attacks to private residences of some Government MPs and not on May 9 in retaliation to destroying of Protesters’ urban ghetto as propagated by protesters, media and opposition politicians. On 31 March when GR’s life was in danger, as the Commander-in-Chief, he was unable to get additional troops mobilised. The author says that the Army Commander was attending a wedding at a star class hotel at the time. Nine observations made by the Karannagoda Commission in respect of the delay in mobilising troop are listed here. Soon, Chung begins her Twitter campaign” interfering in internal affairs of the country violating international covenants.  The author interprets her twitter messages as an open invitation demanding change.

The author draws parallels between Galle Face and Maidan Protest in Ukraine, the latter masterminded by Nuland.

We cannot agree with the way the author analysing the Rambukkana incident. Had the Rambukkana protesters succeeded in setting fire to the petrol bowser stationed at a level crossing for hours, the whole town would have engulfed in flames and the disaster was unimaginable. The author makes the fallen protester a hero dedicating the book also to the wife and children of the dead person. The author fails to see that the protesters countrywide were looking for blood, a dead body and how this death caused to stage funeral processions, dirges and wailing at the Galle Face Protest site. It is only now the black coated junior partners of the BASL, a beneficiary of USAID grants had washed their hands from this whole case. It should be reminded that some protesters wanted to make the President of BASL the President of Sri Lanka!

Next, the author draws attention of the readers to the convoy of army trucks parked near Galle Face Green. At this instance Julie Chung had persuaded GR and another Minister (name not given) to remove those trucks, otherwise the IMF bailout would not take place. In face of her threat” GR had ordered the removal of trucks from Galle Face vicinity. We ordinary people knew army trucks coming and going. But only now we realise what had happened exactly. Bringing trucks to the Galle Face vicinity cannot be a show of strength. The author says that Chung wanted to push the Galle Face Protest further until its fruition as envisaged by the script writers.

Meanwhile the US Ambassador continued meeting top level personnel of the security establishment including the IGP, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and chief of intelligence services, all these officers had met the Ambassador without obtaining permission from the President, book says. This is tantamount to influencing them psychologically inducing them not to react against the protesters for the realisation of her ultimate objective in the midst of creating anarchy in the country. During this period the Ambassador had met CBK and Sirisena. The author states that she received many other MPs and politicians, government officials and civil society” activists without mentioning their names. We can add that one such person was Dayasiri Jayasekera, General Secretary of SLFP, a distinguished invitee at the launch of Nine”! In our previous articles we have mentioned the names of those politicians, MPs, media personnel and NGO aristocrats who were received by Julie Chung during this turbulent period. The author reveals that Chung was aware of the final outcome of the protest what the protesters themselves were not aware.

The author describes the events that took place on May 9, that unmasked the true face of the protesters. Senior DIG in charge of Colombo was instructed not to stop the goons that were advancing towards Galle Face Green as against the orders given by the Commander-in-chief, the author states. The book gives much space to discuss how the so-called protest of love” metamorphosised into unleashing murder, arson, destruction of property and overall mayhem and how certain groups of actors and actresses, singers, writers, poets, media men, U tubers, civil society” activists and university academics joined the social media campaign fanning the flames of violence, destruction and death. The author fails to name these persons, may be because they were small fry as compared to Ambassadors and other top rung officials. The author says that love” was only a veil hiding violence and destruction. Thus, violence was justified naming it as counter-attacks.

But in retrospect we can add that most of the protesters were activists or sympathisers of JVP/NPP or FSP and those singers, actors, lyricists, music directors were the very same persons who feasted on the cadaver of Mother Lanka paying homage to Rajapaksas during their glorious days. We can vouch that one such person had solemnised the wedding of his daughter at the Temple Trees with the full blessings and patronage of Rajapaksas. It was an historical irony that Ranil Wickremasinghe quoting a song of this person at the Independence Day Celebrations and a Face Book account of the person who initiated hanging lingerie at Galle Face and Polduwa Junction in one of his Parliament speeches respectively.

Many groups including the FSP were mesmerised by these attacks and unleashing of violence. They saw in it a semblance of Russian Revolution and called for the formation of regional insurgent groups. The biggest slipup of the author at this instance is not highlighting the fundamentals of the Bolshevik Revolution and how the Bolsheviks captured power against tremendous odds. Nobody should be allowed to revise what had happened in the history to suit their narrow political games and paint marauders and banditry as revolutionaries and revolutionary moments respectively.

Next the author focusses his attention to the conclusions of the Karannagoada Committee. The author surmises that the protesters were able to unleash violence all over the Island as a result of security forces were made to witness all as silent observers. The author gives reasons for such negative action which are irrefutable.  At the end all what matters is not the country or the state but personal affinities and familial ties.  

Under the sub-heading Throne to Ranil” (p.57) Weerawansa does not fail to bring forward Ranil’s funny statements regarding the Galle Face Protest when he was made the Prime Minister by GR. Instead of dissuading the protest it was encouraged. The author does not mention the names of UNPers who made Galle Face Green their home and spearheaded a vigorous social media campaign in support of Galle Face. These were the people who got plum appointments when RW became the President.

Nobel laureate, the Nigerian writer and dramatist Wole Soyinka in 1978 performed a set of comedies in streets, at market places and lorry parks. One such comedy was titled Home to Roost”. The people who got appointments from RW remind us some characters depicted in these short comedies and its title aptly fits these grandees.  

Still many blame Rajapaksas for the economic crisis. But the origin of the economic crisis goes to the days of yahapalana regime as explained in page 59 of the book.  Reasons for the debt trap and crisis in balance of payments are pointed out quoting a report of an expert committee.

Another intriguing episode of this drama disclosed by Weerawansa is Omalpe Sobitha, who acted as the joint godfather of Galle Face Protesters with Malcom Cardinal Ranjith. Sobitha had forced some Anunayakas (names or sects not given; but Maha Vihara refers either to Asgiriya or Malwatta)) to request MR to appoint Patali Champika Ranawaka as Prime Minister. By this time Julie Chung had already met Ranawaka and discussed how to work in collaboration sharing his (Ranawaka’s) vision to solve the present economic crisis”. Nobody has given Julie a mandate to solve the economic crisis of Sri Lanka. How many actors in this nexus? Countless.

Weerawansa devotes pages 65 to 80 to elaborate US Footprints at Galle Face Green; how the imperialists staged so called Colour Revolutions” in different countries; US organisations operating in Sri Lanka utilised by the US to serve its geopolitical interests; how these organisations work to corrupt the mindset of the people and how they control various political forces in the country. All those persons who had attended various programmes conducted by these organisations and the representatives shown posing for photographs with Chung including media personnel played a pivotal and a debilitating role at Galle Face. The author includes many photographs of these crusaders” proudly posing for cameras, Chung occupying the center stage.

We invite the attention of the readers to our article entitled US Footprints at the Galle Face Protest Site” posted on August 20, 2022 in LankaWeb, which gives a more detailed analysis providing concrete examples. Weerawansa in pages 81-89 elucidates how the Galle Face protest became an anti-Buddhist campaign funded by Tamil diaspora. For a detailed account of culture of the Galle Face protesters we again focus the attention of the readers to our article Culture of Galle Face Protesters” posted on September 3, 2022 in LankaWeb. In that we identified 21 aspects of this low and sordid culture.

The most despicable, appalling, horrendous acts unfolded are explained from page 90 to 102 of the book, July 9 and its aftermath. Many of these acts come to light for the first is the uniqueness of this book. Some of these were in the grapevine but they are being documented for the first time inviting further investigation.

The massive crowds that thronged to Colombo on May 9 had made the estimations of the Intelligence services a kid’s work. Army Commander was not in the Island. Weerawansa alleges that his trip to India was facilitated by Chung with the assistance of the Indians. Attitudes of some officers of the famous 53^rd Division was questionable says Weerawansa quoting an observation of the Karannagoda Committee. He alleges that army fortifications (defenses/barricades) towards the Presidential House were loose and vulnerable that could not withstand a mighty force. Masterminds of the Protesters had planned to storm the Presidential House around 2 o’clock in the afternoon. But the protesters were able to break the army barricades easily than they have expected and storm the Presidential House before noon owing to weak defenses. GR was briefed by his defense chiefs that everything was under control. But a chance activation of a television channel had showed him that the protesters were storming the Presidential House, the place where he was residing after the Mirahana outrage on 31 March 2022. The decision was taken immediately to vacate the Presidential House and the navy Commander’s plan was executed. Protesters were able to forcibly occupy the Presidential House rather easily and earlier than they had thought.

Weerawansa next unravels the most hideous part of this underhand plot. India which promised an airplane for GR to flee the country has not honoured that promise. Indians wanted GR to sack RW. This request was made through Mahinda Samarasinghe too, Sri Lankan Ambassador to Washington. Milinda Moragoda, Sri Lanka’s envoy to New Delhi also had pressurised GR demanding Ranil’s removal. This is only another case showing how our envoys working to safeguard the interests of other countries while Julie Chung and her ilk trying to destabilise our country.

Weerawansa claims that Gamini Senerath GR’s Secretary had prepared two letters and send them to Maldives for GR’s signature, one proclaiming GR’s resignation and the other sacking RW. But according to Weerawansa GR had not signed the second one. At this time plans were set to storm the Parliament and capture it; the next step was occupying the Supreme Courts premises. This would signify the fall of the national state, leading to anarchy, legislature, seat of the executive and judiciary falling into the hands of anarchists.

Then Weerawansa reveals a leader of a very influential religious denomination (non-Buddhist) visiting the Speaker at his official residence, having a discussion with him for about two hours and asking him to accept the Presidency after GR’s resignation. Although Weerawansa does not name this religious dignitary it is easy to guess who it was. He cannot be the Commander of the Salvation Army! Why does Weerawansa hide this after unravelling so many things which the reader did not have access? Is it another hidden story”?

Next appears the unanticipated visitor. Julie Chung was her name. She pressurises and commands the Speaker to accept the Presidency.  The Speaker had repeatedly told the Ambassador that it was against the Constitution.  Now the readers may recall that the JVP called for an Interim Government headed by the Speaker as the Acting President.  Julie Chung having received JVP leader AKD twittered, to me the JVP is a significant party. They have a growing presence. They resonate with the public during recent times. They are a growing political party and their ideas are accepted by the public”. Was the JVP used by Chung to carry out her plans? Wimal Weerawansa misses this important point. How Lalkantha had admitted US involvement in Galle Face protest? Did they participate in it clearly knowing its handlers and financiers?  

Weerawansa analyses the strength of the FSP which polled only 14522 votes from the whole Island (p. 77) and asks how did it use a colossal amount of money during the protest. It’s very simple to understand. The then JVP leader Somavansa Amarasinghe said that this philistine (FSP leader) broke the party as instructed by a foreign intelligence service!  

After Chung’s departure the Speaker goes to Security Forces Headquarters at Pelawatta and meets RW who was there. They view a telecast of RW’s private residence engulfed in flames. Weerawansa says that RW has not received a positive response from the security chiefs when they were asked to overpower the arsonists. RW leaves. At this juncture the Army Commander had asked the Speaker to request RW to step down. Army Commander had opined that bringing back normalcy was an uphill task to the security forces.

Weerawansa exposes that a person who commanded the Sri Lankan army at one time, now an MP, had continuously instructed the present Commander over the phone and the latter’s responses were extremely positive. At one instance this particular MP had rang the Commander 13 times. The author does not name who this person was.

Weerawansa concludes this part stating that the American Ambassador wanted to create another Libya in Sri Lanka. After killing Muhammar Gadhafi Americans installed an interim government in Libya headed by its Speaker with bits and pieces picked up from hear and there. Weerawansa does not forget to name who would sit in that government.

He further says that Julie Chung and Galle Face protesters failed to accomplish the Plan A”. Having failed to thwart RW’s ascent to presidency now the US is pursuing their Plan B”, working with RW to achieve their objectives. Weerawansa quotes many twitter messages that originated from Julie Chung’s desk to elucidate this. Weerawansa describes in pages 105-114 Nuland’s second visit to Sri Lanka in January 2023 and the Top Secret Mission” that took place a fortnight after, the visit of the top-level US delegation that included CIA Director William Joseph Burns and how RW had consented to three of the four US demands which are detrimental to the interests and aspirations of Sri Lanka. Weerawansa says that the release of the first tranche of IMF loan was tied to these conditions and the delay in releasing the first tranche was in anticipation of this consent. This shows us that opposition to IMF conditions” as perceived by trade unionists, academia and some politicians are imaginary and the real conditions” are shrouded in mystery known only to the Americans and their proteges in Sri Lanka.  

Are we going to simply dismiss the allegations made against certain people in this book as conspiracy theories?  People whose names mentioned in this book so far have not denied the allegations made against them. Weerawansa’s revelations should be investigated.  But we cannot expect such a probe under Ranil Wickremasinghe or responses from either Julie Chung or others mentioned in the book, except defamatory statements already made by Fonseka, Tilvin Silva et al. Ranil Wickremasinghe is not a Lula da Silva. In our piece titled From Presidential House in Colombo to Planalto Presidential Palace in Brasilia in Brazil and Andean Mountains in Peru” posted on February 5, 2023 we have described how the Brazilian authorities commenced a criminal probe into the insurrection. But at the same time, we have stated that it won’t happen in Sri Lanka as there were many intentional lapses in security that allowed the protesters in Sri Lanka to run berserk.

As the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress has appointed an Independent Commission to probe the causes leading to the state of anarchy in Sri Lanka” and called for evidence, the said Commission should accept MP Wimal Weerawansa’s book as written submissions and make a detailed study. Several members of this Commission were present at the book launch, got copies of this book and listened to Wimal Weerawansa’s speech (more or less his oral submissions).