Rajapakse clan faces no dearth of errand boys, but hardly anybody could beat the zeal of H .L. D. Mahindapala seeya. He is the dream servant boy or ‘Appu’ at ‘Rajapaksa Walawwa’. (As we know, according to Ceylonese aristocratic traditions, even an 80 year old ‘seeya’ will still remains a ‘boy’) Mahindapala seeya – the perfect Appu - does everything that his masters demand: He runs errands to the market; polishes masters’ shoes; white washes their dirty underclothes; keeps the toilets clean and once in a while offers a foot massage to the master. As a return he gets the leftovers from the kitchen of ‘walawwa’ which he would devour like Divya Bojana - the food of the gods, sitting on a low bench, only after completing all household chores.
H. L. D. Mahindapala seeya has a personal grudge against the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe. He is not alone in that. For example, former Presidential Secretary K. H. J. Wijedasa too demonstrates similar feelings. The rationale is clear. Many Premadasa loyalists have not been taken seriously by the subsequent Wijetunge-Wickremasinghe government. H. L. D. Mahindapala seeya, who was imported from Australia to run ‘The Observer’ during Premadasa regime (unlike today it had a sizable loyal readership then) was overnight deported after President Wijetunge assumed duties. Not that I justify the act, but that is how politics work. Not everybody is comfortable in maintaining the same relationships with the pets of one’s predecessor’s.
Image: Mahindapala seeya with then Minister Sirisena Cooray in good ole days when he was more UNP than many of us.
When subjected to such humiliation, two options are left to anyone. A wiser man would have opted to bite his lip and return to whatever the work he left in his motherland. (Mahindapala seeya is an Australian citizen) However being the petty minded individual he always has been, our ‘Appu’ chose the other way. He becomes anti-UNP overnight. President Wijetunge went to political oblivion after 1994, so his bitterness was focused singularly on Wickremasinghe. Afterwards he wholeheartedly supported any anti-Wickremasinghe camp, and finally ended up doing errands at Rajapakse walawwa.
Of course, there are other theories of Mahindapala seeya’s pathetic behavior, but I do not buy them. Some of who get married to Tamils often find the need to exhibit more ‘patriotism’ than the rest of us, perhaps for the ‘guilty feeling’ or for their own recognition within the community. Within the clearly segregated Sinhala and Tamil communities in Australia this need becomes more prominent. Still this is a theory yet to be proven. Sometimes Mahindapala aachchi might enlighten us.
H. L. D. Mahindapala seeya’s latest barrage is against Major General Janaka Perera. Just yesterday Janaka Perera was a hero to him. (for war mongers like Mahindapala seeya one just need to be a mere gramarakshaka to be called a hero) Today he was a turncoat and a ‘traitor’ to the nation. All because he joined UNP. Mahindapala seeya swallows all his former words and falls to the low level of calling Major General Janaka Perera a ‘Tamil Killer’. In his article to Daily News last Saturday Mahindapala seeya writes:
Nevertheless, he has no reason to grumble because, unlike the poor soldiers who sacrificed their legs, arms and even their lives to make him a great soldier that he claims to be and got a pittance in return, he was given two comfortable postings abroad.
Sri Lanka is awash with scores of so-called diplomats who defend the regime of the day - not so much the nation - when they live in the lap of luxury in diplomatic missions abroad and goes into hibernation or total opposition when they retire from the foreign service. There is nothing like a diplomatic appointment to turn a villain at home into a patriot abroad.
This is more a strip dance. Unfortunately an old stripper throwing off his ‘amude’ does not bring any applause. If he expects any, Mahindapala seeya will be greatly disappointed. Even his masters at Rajapakse Wallawa will not be happy to see such a third class performance.
It is hilarious how somebody who have never seen the battlefront even through a telescope questions the patriotism of Major General Janaka Perera. Does this man, who has done nothing better than playing the shoe shine boy’s role for key politician has any right to question somebody who had taken incredible risks at the battle field for the nation?
Perhaps it is time for H. L. D. Mahindapala seeya to realize that errand boys of walawwas never make into annals of history. Their job is just to shine the shoes of masters for the pennies offered in return. They are worth only when they can white wash saatakayas. Once their time is over nobody would ever remember them. So the best thing left for H. L. D. Mahindapala seeya to do now is to amass some mertis for the otherworld he would be visiting sooner than later. Otherwise it would be too late.
But Major General Janaka Perera is somebody who is destined to make history. He has already done it more than once. A repeat performance awaits in the cards in two months time. We would be eagerly waiting what Mahindapala seeya would say then.
