Congratulations Eran Wickramaratne and Dr. Harsha De Silva

It does not come as a surprise but the news of the appointment of Eran Wickremaratne and Dr. Harsha De Silva to parliament as national list MPs still makes me happy. Professionals becoming law makers is good for the country. It shows the UNP takes governance seriously than the government that appoints Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharans, as if it seriously lacks individuals with real caliber.

I wish the very best for Eran and Harsha. I am happy to be a companion in the political journey you have begun today.

Brief bios for those few who have not yet heard about them.

Eran Wickramaratne
Dr. Harsha De Silva

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරී පත්වූ පළමු සිංහල බ්ලොග් රචකයා සිය කෘතඥතාවය පළකරයි

මේ සටහන කෙටිය. මම නව දේශපාලන ගමනක් අරඹන්නට සූදානම්ව සිටිමි. මා වෙනුවෙන් ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කළ කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික් සහෘදයින්ගේ බලාපොරොත්තු මගේ ප්‍රමුඛතාව වනු ඇත්තේය.

බොහෝ දේශපාලඥයෝ වෙබ් අඩවි පවත්වාගෙන යාමට කැමැත්තක් දක්වති. වසර දෙක හමාරකට පමණ පෙර ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික පැවැත්මක් තෝරා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය වූ මොහොතෙහි පැරණි මිතුරකුගේ උපදෙස් මත මම බ්ලොග් එකක් පවත්වාගෙන යන්නට අදහස් කළෙමි. ඒ වන විට දේශපාලනයට නොපිවිසි නීතිඥයකු පමණක් වූ මට වෙබ් අඩවි පවත්වාගෙන යන්නට තරම් සම්පත් නොතිබිණි. මට අවශ්‍ය වූයේ සරල ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික ද්වාරයකි. බ්ලොග් එක ඒ අවශ්‍යතාව ඉටු කළේය.

මට ඉඩ කඩ ඇති ලෙසින් ඔබ හමුවට ආයෙමි. ඔබ මා ලියූ දේ ගැන අදහස් පළ කළේය. අපි දේශපාලනය ගැන පමණක් නොව තවත් බොහෝ දේ ගැන සාකච්ඡා කළෙමු;වාද කළෙමු. ඔබ ලබා දුන් ඒ සහාය මගේ ඉදිරි ගමනට රුකුලක්ම විය. මගේ කෘතඥතාවය ඔබ සැම වෙනුවෙන් පළ කරමි.

මගේ බ්ලොග් එක සින්ඩිකේට් කර වඩා විශාල පිරිසකට විවෘත කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් Kottu.org ට හා සිංහල බ්ලොග් කියවනයටද කෘතඥතාවය පළ කරමි. සිංහල බ්ලොග්කරුවන්ගේ සංසදයේ සමහර පක්ෂග්‍රාහී ක්‍රියා නොවේ නම් මා තවදුරටත් සිංහලෙන් ලියන්නට ඉඩ තිබුණේය. තවමත් මගේ අදහස ඔවුන්ගේ අසමතුලිත දැඩි නීතිරීති වලින් සිංහල බ්ලොග් රචකයින් විශාල පිරිසක් අධෛර්‍යයට පත්වන බවයි. මේ බව ඔවුන් අවබෝධ නොකැර ගැනීම අවාසනාවකි.

අවසාන වශයෙන් මහජන ඡන්දයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට තේරී පත්වූ පළමු සිංහල බ්ලොග් රචකයා වීම ගැන මම සතුටු වෙමි.

අජිත් පී. පෙරේරා,
පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී (තේරී පත් වූ)
කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කය

Thanks for sending a BLOGGER to the Parliament

This is a short note and you know why. As an elected Member of Parliament, I am about start a new journey. Responsibilities bestowed upon me by the people of Kalutara district are my prime concern now.

About two and half years ago, while analyzing different electronic options, a former classmate suggested a blog. This was a novel idea. Typically politicians like web sites. I was then only a lawyer, holding no political office and thus hardly known to anyone outside my clientele. I had to make my voice heard. I didn’t have money to run a web site. So I selected doing a blog. A low tech and risky approach. All my content was with WordPress. Had they collapsed in the world economic crisis, I would have been history. Fortunately, they didn’t.

The secret of surviving on-line, I was advised, was to update, update and update. A blog has to be a hearth; always warm. Though I do not claim having done a perfect job, I was able to maintain a constant pace. I was slow during elections, perhaps when one may think it was needed most. It was a compromise. Overall, I am happy about what I did. On the last count there was over 343,000 page loads. For twenty seven months that was not small.

To all my readers: You came, you read and you commented. We have come a long way together. I am grateful for you all. I am also grateful to the syndicators Kottu.org and Sinhala Blog Reader too. A special thank for Indi, for comments/suggestions online and offline, and giving me a larger audience through Sunday Leader.

Finally, I am happy to the first Sri Lankan blogger to make to the Parliament.

Ajith P. Perera,
Member of Parliament (elected),
Kalutara District

ELECTION VIOLENCE: Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka’s supporter killed

 

A group of supporters of Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka were shot at while they were traveling in a bus at Tangalle this afternoon killing one and injuring at least 10 others, the media unit of General Fonseka told Daily Mirror online.

When contacted the police said the gunmen who opened fire on the bus were traveling on a motorbike. The police also said they could not confirm the motive behind the shooting.

The lady who was killed was identified as Kusumawathi Kurrupuarachi (58), a mother of 5 and a resident of Bimbaduyaya, Vutharandeniya. They were on their way to a political rally organised by UNP MP Sajith Premadasa when the incident took place.

www.dailymirror.lk

විශ්වාසනීය වෙනසක් – සේනාධිනායක සරත් ෆොන්සේකාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය මෙතැනින් බාගත (ඩවුන්ලෝඩ්) කර ගන්න

සිංහල ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශනය මෙතැනින් බාගත (ඩවුන්ලෝඩ්) කර ගන්න.

Visvaasaneeya Venasak – Download GEN. SARATH FONSEKA’s Election Manifesto

Download the English version from here.

Mayantha Dissanayake extends support to General Fonseka – Daily Mirror

SLFP Ampara District Organizer Mayantha Dissanayake the son of late Gamini Dissanayake, extended his support to Opposition Common candidate General Sarath Fonseka during a rally in Ampara a short while ago.

There is speculation that Navin Dissanayake will also extend support General Sarath Fonseka.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=72695

BREAKING NEWS: Thugs attack a peaceful demonstration at Bandaragama

A tensed situation developed in Bandaragama this afternoon after an armed group attacked a peaceful demonstration organised by the JVP over the arrest of the Venerable Dambara Amila thero on fake complaints,

The clash occurred when the JVP staged a protest against the arrest of the monk while Peoples’ Alliance supporters had attacked them. Daily Mirror quoted police spokesman SSP I.M Karunaratne confirming the incident, but he has not named the party that attacked.

According to eye witnesses, the attack was led by the Peoples’ Alliance Provincial Council supporters Tudor Dayaratne, Nimal Chandraratne and Chairmal of the Bandaragama Pradesheeya Sabha Manoj Sanjaya Hettige.

The injured were admitted to the Panadura base hospital.

Please note there is a difference in the version by the Police reproduced in the Daily Mirror online and the reality.

ලැජ්ජයි මහරජෝ! සංවේදී නායකයාගේ සන්නද්ධ මැරයෝ බණ්ඩාරගමදී නිරායුධ විරෝධතාවයකට පහර දෙති!

නියත පරාජය හමුවේ වියරු වැටී ඇති රාජපක්ෂ හෙන්චයියන්ගේ මැරවර ක්‍රියා මේ වන විට අතිශය පහත් මට්ටමකට පැමිණ ඇති අතර, එහි තවත් පරිච්ඡෙදයක් අද බණ්ඩාරගමදී නිරාවරණය විය.

දේශපාලන වාසි ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා දඹර අමිල හිමියන් බොරු චෝදනා මත රහස් පොලිසිය විසින් අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීම හේතු කොට ගෙන ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද සාමකාමී විරෝධතා ව්‍යාපාරයකට අද උදෑසන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ මැරවර කල්ලියක් විසින් පහර දෙන ලදී. මේ මැරවර කල්ලියට නායකත්වය සපයන ලද්දේ බස්නාහිර පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රීන් වන ටියුඩර් දයාරත්න, නිමල් චන්ද්‍රරත්න හා බණ්ඩාරගම ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සභාපති මනෝජ් සංජය හෙට්ටිගේ විසිනි.

මේ සිද්ධිය මෙසේ සිදුවෙද්දී පොලිස් නිලධරයන් කිසිම පියවරක් නොගෙන බලා සිටි අතර අහසට වෙඩි තබා පිරිස විසුරුවා හැරීමට තැත්කළ එක් පොලිස් නිලධරයකු ඉහළ නිලධරයකු විසින් වළක්වා ඇත.

සිද්ධියෙන් බරපතළ තුවාල ලද ජවිපෙ ආධාරකරුවන් පිරිසක් මේ වන විට පානදුර මූලික රෝහලට ඇතුළත් කර සිටිති.

TEN Reasons why Gen. Sarath Fonseka should be the Next President of Sri Lanka

1. HE IS CLEVER: Gen. Fonseka started at the lowest ranks of the army and rose to the very top. Then he ended a 30 year long ‘unending’ war. Need I say more?

Can you imagine even a distant relative of Rajapakse family living in a house like this?

2. HE IS HONEST: Having led the army when it did procurements of unprecedented levels, Gen. Fonseka could have made fortunes for seven more generations, even with 1% cuts. He did not. All he owned at retirement were a 15 perch land at Bokundara, Piliyandala with a house – that cost LKR 1.2 million for construction, a Mercedes Benz, and LKR 641,000 in bank. His wife has bank balances of LKR 23,307 and USD 2,952 and jewelry worth a little more than LKR 1.6 million. He is much poorer than Wimal Weerawansa, MP.

3. HE DOES NOT MAKE UNREALISTIC PROMISES: Voters, more than anything else, hate corrupt politicians who promise sun and moon but deliver stars. Gen. Fonseka is different. He is radically practical. Not the typical politician who robs the votes by exploiting the gullible.

4. HE INTENTIONS ARE NOT TO SERVE HIS FAMILY: Let us not kid ourselves. Why Rajapakse wants power? To make his family grew further – bigger and more powerful. Perhaps he wants to make his family the richest in South Asia. Aren’t we tired of this kind of petty politics? Isn’t this the time to give a chance for somebody who thinks about the country before himself?

5. HE KNOWS THE PULSE OF THE PEOPLE: Ever heard of a national level politician who could row a canoe? This is real Sarath Fonseka, without his uniform. The simple villager, not a “Walawve Hamu”. He knows the problems of the masses better than anyone else – as he is one of them.

The simple villager

6. HE REPRESENTS A NATION, NOT A SINGLE RACE: Can Rajapakse ever say he represents Tamils, or in that case even Muslims? Rajapakse’s JHU supported Peoples’ Alliance represents only the extreme Sinhala Buddhists – not even moderate Sinhalese. On the contrary, Gen. Fonseka’s United National Front, true to its name, represents all ethnic communities at the top level. He will be the only leader capable of uniting this divided land.

7. HE IS FOCUSSED: Winning a war is not an easy game. That needs focus. The Indian National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan to described Gen. Sarath Fonseka as the “Best Army Commander in the world”. Why not utilise that kind of focus to develop this country?

8. HE DOES NOT RUN AWAY FROM CHALLENGES: We all know who left forces, ran away and took USA citizenship in the middle of war. On the other hand, Gen. Fonseka, ignoring the retirement option, after his fatal injuries from an LTTE suicide attack returned, took the leadership and ended the war for the country. Shouldn’t that kind of leaders we need for this country?

9. HE IS ABOVE POLITICS: Unlike Rajapakse, who is still very much within the political game (and thus not approved by nearly half of the country) Gen. Fonseka is above politics. He is not a candidate of this part or that party. He will unite the entire nation under a single flag.

10. HE HAS DONE HIS PART FOR THE COUNTRY: No two words about it. He nearly paid the supreme price for serving his motherland. Isn’t this the opportunity to show our gratitude?