Puppets in Action -Playing To The Gallery

By Darmitha-Kotte

Sri Lankans looking for entertainment have plenty of it in the political arena these days. On the one hand you see Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathie Sooriyarachi and on the other, you see Ranil Wickramasinghe-they all have one thing in common and that is, they " think" they are making hay while the sun shines! They little what ridiculous sights they are cutting for themselves in the eyes of the general public.

There is no doubt that both Mangala & Sripathie think that they are pinching The President and his brothers by hurling wild allegations against the government. With every ridiculous utterance they make, they are making fools of themselves-obviously their good and close friends are not telling them the truth but leading them on to provide more and more entertainment for the gallery. From the statements these two individuals have been making to the press, it is quite clear that there is a cheer squad behind them, a cheer squad that is not very sincere but using them for their own individual vested interests.

The latest allegation that Mangala has made is that Gotabhaya Rajapakse is planning to kill him! There is a saying in Sinhala "garandi marale pau ganne epa" -what is the earthly reason to want to kill a person who does not know where his loyalties are? Mangala Samaraweera has apparently filed a case in the Human Rights Commission against the government for having withdrawn his security guards- does he not know that when he has been stripped of his ministerial post, he is no longer entitled to enjoy such luxury.

He is just another MP and is treated like one now-ofcourse, he thinks he is far more important than the ordinary MP-tough luck! Does Mangala Samaraweera really think he is an LTTE target? I think the LTTE is far smarter than he is and is not in the least interested in wasting their time on a man like him-they certainly have bigger targets in mind- those who are currently in the way of the terrorists claiming their "mythical homeland." It would certainly be wise for Mangala Samaraweera, to come down from his high horse and place his feet firmly on Mother Earth and open his eyes to stark realities instead of day-dreaming. Now that he has no specific responsibilities, he has all the time on his hands to entertain the public.

Sripathie Sooriyarachi is ofcourse playing second fiddle to Mangala Samaraweera and he too is playing games catering to the gallery. Why is he wasting precious time without doing something constructive either for his constituents or the country? If as he states, the government of Mr. Rajapakse had a secret deal with the LTTE terrorists, why doesn't he spill it out without mumbling about it? Why didn't he talk about Chandrika Kumaratunga's secret pact with Prabhakaran to send his wife and children overseas or the other deals with Thamilselvam? What more treachery is needed than this or the fact that Chandrika Kumaratunga actually being an invitee at the 21st birthday party of Prabhakaran's daughter when she celebrated her birthday in UK?

For Ranil Wickramasinghe, right now he thinks that another election will be round the corner so that he could prove his failure for the 15th time in succession! How many secret deals has he had during these last 12 years and how many of them has he divulged to his then Cabinet of Ministers or to his party? Do the UNP members whether Buddhist or Christian, know that membership for Sri Lanka at the International Democratic Union (IDU) which is a far right Christian Organisation of foreign countries is registered as "UNP" for Sri Lanka? How many secret deals has he had with the IDU to undermine the party and the country? When he signed the CFA with the LTTE, did he even inform the then Executive President of Sri Lanka about it before signing it?

Unfortunately for Ranil Wickramasinghe, as Anura Bandaranaike mentioned recently, "old Royalists are not indecent" and therefore, Ranil Wickramasinghe has surrounded himself with such extremely "decent old Royalists" to the utter detriment of the UNP as a national party and paved the way for stalwarts to leave it in utter disgust-even for this action, without checking the root of the problem, Ranil Wickramasinghe and his "old Royalist buddies" have filed a case in Courts to dismiss those party members-and it seems his highly intelligent move has failed! " People in glass houses should not throw stones" is a common saying and it would be wise for Ranil Wickramasinghe to watch his step before making any more rash moves. Your downfall Mr Wickramasinghe, will be your buddies who hover around you!

The President of Sri Lanka is not necessarily answerable to any of the above 3 individuals if as Prime Minister during 2001-2004, Ranil Wickramasinghe did not consider himself answerable to the then Executive President of Sri Lanka-Chandrika Kumaratunga! It is time to stop playing childish games and to grow up.