I nearly got arrested yesterday…

Risk is a part and parcel of the life of a lawyer or a politician. One does not become either, if not ready to take risks. The difference is, as a lawyer, one knows when it comes, so can be sort of ready for it. As a politician, it comes anytime, unannounced at most unpredictable times. Yesterday was one such occasion.

My duty was to carry out the island wide protest UNP organized at Bandaragama.

I have been involved in few protests before that but it was the first time that police was so hostile. Unless otherwise they receive instructions from the top, Police generally do not hinder any protests. They too are human beings and know the difficulties in living with the rising Cost of Living. Yesterday it was different. That means someone up in the hierarchy is worried. They might have sensed where the wind blows.

At Bandaragama junction, everybody was supportive to us. Given the harassment, though temporary, we caused to day to day activities of public I expected some form of hostility. There was none. Looks like everybody wants fuel prices down. They do not want to fund the blind war effort of a corrupt government or fill the family coffers of a self-interested, visionless ruler.  

Then came the Police. They want us to stop. As a lawyer I have always been a law abiding citizen, but this is not an occasion I would oblige. Maintaing law and order is imperative, but not at the cost of the loss of civil rights of the people. In any democratic society we have the right to protest. It may affect the lives of public, but we compromising it by winning things far better for them.

When I did not oblige, the police started threatening. The gravity of threat was an indication of the level they have been instructed. There was a brief exchange of words. They raised the voices and threat to arrest me. I was politely explained if that is what they have been instructed, to do so. Visiting courts is nothing new to me. That is what I do everyday. Realised that I would not succumb to their threats they left. We continued our protests.

However, later I learnt that not all my colleagues were that lucky. A women MP has been verbally abused and her car has been attacked by Police at Bambalapitiya.

Overall, the protest was successful. We might not have got fuel prices down immediately, but we have recorded our voice. We have registered thst it would not be so easy to take the poor people of this country for a ride.

Two Bandaragama residents among yesterdays Dehiwala bomb blast victims

To me what differentiated yesterdays Dehiwala bomb blast from the ones happened in previous weeks was the sad news that two of the victims were from my own electorate, Bandaragama.

Mr. Menaka Vanniarachchi died yesterday while 25 year old Ms. Mekhala Niranjala of Ramukkana, Bandaragama succumbed to her injuries today (27) morning at the Intensive Care Unit of the Colombo South teaching hospital. According to what we hear, they were a couple and about to get married next month. As we all know, the merciless bombs do not take such details into account. That is the ugly face of the terrorism.

I also had to perform the extremely difficult task of informing the families of these two victims, after Dr. Ravindra Fernando passed me the sad news from the hospital. The girl was not dead then but her condition was critical and the doctors have already given up hopes. The family of her is personally known to me for a long time.

The other victims from Kalutara district were Ms. Rani Munasinghe of Kalutara North, Mr. Chitral of Panadura, Mr. Roshan Perera of Kalutara South and Ms. Kusum Ranjani Silva of Wadduwa.

I pass my heartiest condolences to the family members of all victims and wish speed recovery for the injured.

It is sad that innocent people continue to die as a result of a tug of war between two power hungry individuals who have no other concern than their own survival.

I am certain the politicians of war mongering political parties like SLFP, JHU and JVP would have badly felt guilty hearing about these unnecessary deaths. No matter how sad we feel, our only consolation is that United National Party does not support this ruthless war, which had claimed so many lives (not to mention the rising Cost of Living as a result of high war expenditure) ever since the Presidential Election of 2005.

What we suffer today is the outcome of the greed for power and money of one political family that has no concern for the country. Unfortunately this family will continue to ruin the country till someone stops it for the sake of the nation.

 

 

Election campaigning…….…in the land of rising sun

I am at Lahugala, in the Ampara district. Write this just after finishing another round of campaigning and conducting pocket meetings.

Entire Eastern province has caught the election fever.

Election campaigning is fun. What adds to our enthusiasm is the awareness of the impending danger.

Pillayan’s henchmen are waiting to kill us. He is a terrorist and should not be trusted. The only shield we have against his arms is the support of the people. Whatever the powers this terrorist has we do not think he can just shoot anyone and flee. But the danger is there, everywhere. We have got over with is now. Pillayan’s terrorism should not stop us in our fight for democracy.

Just a brief background of the work I do.

I am in charge of six villages in Lahugala. They are Panama North, Shastrawela, Panama West, Lahugala, Pansalgoda and Hulanuge. My job is to campaign but I take pleasure in educating them on the danger of electing an armed terrorist – or more precisely letting his get elected through inaction. (That is what Pillayan tries to do. Massive pool riggings are expected on May 10th. That is why I said this is a fight for democracy. If Pillayan wins the losers will only be the people of this country.)

The areas I cover are predominantly Sinhala. Lets say 80%. But there are Tamils and Muslims as well. Travel few kms away the composition changes. For example the nearby Pottuvil area is predominantly Muslim (more than 90%)

JHU tries to do some campaigning here, with the backing of Pillayan’s gunmen, but without much success.  JHU MP Akmeemana Dayaratne thero is using 16 government vehicles. (This is illegal but there is little we can do. Baduth hamuduruvange, naduth hamuduruvange!) We see these government vehicles run everywhere with Pillayan’s henchmen in black sit in the front seats. They do not show arms openly but surely they are under the clothes.

People themselves have started responding to JHU campaign negatively. Villagers ask where were all JHU supported when they were in trouble. JHU had to give up their initial idea of having a political meeting at the Lahugala temple, because villagers vehemently opposed it.

There is no sign of JVP – either faction.

I am still not sure exactly what sort of tricks Pillayan will pay in pool rigging, but even with that I am sure we would win Ampara with a significant margin. That is the level of support we receive at ground level from poor people who no more want to live under the twin tragedies of war and rising cost of living. People are determined to end the suffering and I do not think even the guns of Pillayan can stop that kind of determination.

Finally, this is a beautiful area. I wish I am on vacation. (More about the area on my next posts)

නැණස පෑදේවා! පිල්ලිය දුරින් දුරු වේවා!

The choice in Eastern province is not between a Muslim Chief Minister and a Tamil one. It is also not between Rauf Hakeem and Pillayan. It is between DEMOCRACY and TERRORISM.

Violence has been common in ever election in Sri Lanka, but the level of violence used in Eastern province provincial council is unprecedented.

This is the first time in Sri Lanka history an armed group fights and election battle.

This is the first time one party visits house to house with guns in their hands and threaten voters. Even in 1989 Provincial council elections, which JVP (then and armed group) boycotted this level of violence was not seen.

Poll rigging will be unprecedented. What happened in North Central (Wayamba) provincial council elections in 1998 will be nothing compared what will happen in East in the next week.

The good news however is, even with that Pillayan the shortie terrorist will not be able to prevent the victory of DEMOCRACY in East.

 

Muhamalai defeat - afterthoughts

Rajapakse regime faced its worst military blow in the post-2005 Rajapakse-Prabha war at Muhamali last week. Enemy caught the forces unawares and launched a massive attack that caused serious damages, to both in terms of casualties and morale.

Rajapakse government also took a pitiable attempt to conceal the damage. What they did not realize was the difficulty in concealing facts in this Internet age. The true figures are out now. Casualties from the Rajapakse side estimated to be in the range of 200.

The morale of security forces are all time low now. Just few months ago they were told it is only a matter of days they would capture Prabhakaran. They were given inaccurate information about the size and strength of the enemy. Now badly hit, they might be feeling cheated – by the very regime they fight selflessly to protect.
Political masters of Rajapakse regime should take the full responsibility of this downfall. It is more than pathetic that so many brave soldiers had to give their lives in an unsuccessful attempt in providing ‘political saline’ much required survival of already dying patient – the present government.

One can feel only sympathy for the government. Looks like its bad times (APALA KAALAYA) has just begun. Just look at some of the events in the last one month. Nothing seems to work for Rajapakse government.

Thanks to Jayasundera and Cabraal duo the economy is in shambles. Inflation is at all time high of 28%. If that is no enough, government has no plans of bringing that down. They are just clueless.

The Jeyaraj, one of the most powerful figures of the government becomes a victim of the war he himself was responsible for promoting. This brought government I par with tigers. Whatever little political advantage gained by killing Thamilselvan was set off by the loss of Jeyaraj.

As that was not enough, then we hear the JVP split. For Rajapakse government it is one of the worst things ever happened because now they completely lost the support of red brothers who brought them to power in the first place. They know they can never think of a national level election victory without the backing of JVP.

Then comes the rice crisis and the government acts in the most stupid manner of imposing price controls. Even JVP, a political party hardly known for its economic sense criticises the use of price control mechanisms. It is not fair to blame the Rajapakse regime fully for the rice crisis but no denial that how they reacted made the matters worse. We are gradually back to 70-77 days of ‘halpolu’ and ‘mirispolu’.

On top of all these Rajapakse regime strongly wants at least a temporary victory in North.

What is gets in reality?

A pitiable defeat at Muhamalai. It will long for Rajapakse regime to overcome such a blow - if they ever do.

No, I am not critising the security forces here. They can do nothing. They were forced to fight an unwinnable war. They were forced to fight for the survival of a failing government in its last days. This kind of political wars does not bring anything to the country.

With the sure win for UNP in the Eastern provincial council elections, we hope Rajapakse regime will get the message. But that does not mean that the dame will be over. That reminds me a Sinhalese saying:

“YANA YAKA KORAHATH BINGADENA YANAVALU”

Peoples Alliance starts election campaign in Eastern province!

Dudley Shelton Senanayake (1911 — 1973) - 35th Death Anniversary

Hon. Dudley Shelton Senanayake (June 19, 1911 — April 13, 1973) became the second Prime Minister of Ceylon and went on to become prime minister on three more times during the 1950s and 1960s. He is considered as a gentlemen politician by all who had a genuine concern about the nation. He is also known for not misusing position to build dynasties to treat close relatives – something we do not normally see today.

Dudley was the born June 19, 1911 as the eldest son to Molly Dunuwila and Don Stephen Senanayake, who would become the first Prime Minister of Ceylon and found the United National Party which is still one of the main political parties in Sri Lanka and of which Dudley would become a life-long member. Dudley received his secondary education at St Thomas’ College, where he excelled in his studies and sports. He become the Head Prefect, captained the college team at cricket at the Royal-Thomian and gained colours in Hockey, Boxing and Athletics. Senanayake then went on to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge to read for a degree in Natural Science Tripos and was admitted to Middle Temple as a Barrister.

After returning to Ceylon, Dudley was elected a member of the State Council while his father was Minister of Agriculture and served as a back-bencher for 10 years. He succeeding his father as Minister of Agriculture in 1946 and held the post after Independence. He was still serving as agriculture minister when his father died unexpectedly. Four days later, on March 26, 1952, to the surprise of many, Dudley was chosen as prime minister by the Governor-General Lord Soulbury over his cousin Sir John Kotelawala. He called a general election, which the UNP won. The government became unpopular a year later, in 1953, when the price of rice was raised and subsidies were cut. Though the UNP remained in power, Senanayake resigned as prime minister and left politics after the Hartal 1953.

He returned to politics in 1957 when the UNP lost elections. In March 1960, the UNP managed to form a government after elections and Senanayake became prime minister again, but the coalition fragmented and Dudley resigned as prime minister after only four months in office after new elections were held in which the UNP won less seats. He became the leader of the opposition and help force early elections in 1965 by persuading 14 supporters of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike to defect.

Senanayake served his longest term as prime minister from March 1965 to May 1970. His government originally consisted of six other parties and included both Tamil and Sinhalese nationalists. His government has been credited with restoring the Sri Lankan economy. He and his allies were defeated in the 1970 elections. He remained active in politics until his death, which occurred after a long illness on April 13, 1973.

Source: www.wikipedia.org

How to cook athirasa and mun-kevum using H2O

For every Sinhalese New Year in her life his poor grandmother used coconut oil to make oil cakes (kevum) and other sweets like kokis, athirasa and aasmi.

Unfortunately she cannot do it this time because the coconut oil prices have skyrocketed. So she is asking the leaders of this government to teach us how to cook kevum using water.

Jana bala sena’ protest organized by the United National Party took to the streets at 120 electorates today. They protested the skyrocketing cost of living especially paralysing the populace from celebrating the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Photo from www.lankaenews.com

  

ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමාගේ අභාවය ලෝකයට පිරිමැසිය නොහැකි පාඩුවක් - රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ Opposition leader appreciates the role played by Sir Arthur Clarke

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සිය වාසභූමිය කර ගනිමින් මෙරටට මහත් ගෞරවයක් හිමිකර දුන් කීර්තිමත් ජාත්‍යන්තර විද්‍යා ලේඛක ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමාගේ අභාවය පිළිබඳ පුවත අසා මම අතිශයින්ම සංවේගයට පත් වීමි.
 
අනාගත ලෝකය පිළිබඳ අපූර්ව ආකාරයේ ප්‍රබන්ධකරණ රැසක නියැලෙමින් ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමා මුල් වරට ලෝක ජනතාවගේ සුවිශේෂ අවධානයට පාත්‍ර වූයේ මීට දශක පහකට පමණ එපිට වකවානුවකදීය.

අපගේ වත්මන් ජීවිතයේ විවිධ පැතිකඩ හා බැඳී පවතින පෘථිවි චන්ද්‍රිකා තාක්‍ෂණය පිළිබඳව මෙන් ම තවත් බොහෝ නූතන තාක්‍ෂණික සංසිද්ධීන් පිළිබඳ ලෝක අවධානය යොමු කරමින් ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමන් විසින් පත් කළ විද්‍යාත්මක අනාවැකි ලෝකයේ ගමන් මග වෙනස් හා වේගවත් කිරීමට සෘජු ලෙස ම ඉවහල් විය.

තමන් ලෝක අවධානය දිනා ගත් සුවිශේෂී හා සම්බාවනීය පුද්ගලයෙකු බවට පත් වෙමින් සිටියදීම ඉන්දියන් සාගරයේ පිහිටි ස්වාභාවික සම්පතින් පිරි ලංකාව සිය වාසස්ථානය කර ගැනීමට හා අනතුරුව තමන්ට හිමිවන බොහෝ අවස්ථා උපයෝගී කර ගනිමින් මෙරට කෙරෙහි ලෝක වාසීන්ගේ අවධානය යොමු කිරීමට ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමා තුළ පැවති නැඹුරුව කෘතවේදීව සිහිපත් කරමි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යොවුන් පරපුර වෙත ලොව නවීනතම තාක්‍ෂණික ඥානය ලබා දිමට හා ඒ ඔස්සේ ඔවුන්ගේ අනාගතය දීප්තිමත් කරලීමට ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමා ඉටු කළ සුවිසල් මෙහෙය මෙරට යොවුන් පරපුර මහත් කෘතවේදීතවයෙන් යුතුව සිහිපත් කරනු නො අනුමාන ය.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික අප ඇතුළු සමස්ථ ලෝ වාසීන් වෙනුවෙන් සිය ජීවිත කාලය මුල්ල්ලේම ප්‍රශස්ත මෙහෙවරක් ඉටු කළ ශ්‍රීමත් ආතර් සී ක්ලාක් මැතිතුමාගේ අභාවය තත්කාලීන ලෝකයට පිරිමැසිය නොහැකි පාඩුවක් වනු නියතය

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ
විපක්‍ෂනායක

Country loses another gentleman politician

Former Jaffna security Forces Commander, military spokesman and Deputy Speaker Sarath Munasinghe died at a private hospital last morning at the age of 59.

By a strange coincidence the then Speaker and senior politician Anura Bandaranaike under whom Major General Munasinghe functioned as Deputy Speaker also died the day before at the age of 59.

Major General Munasinghe had enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army as a cadet on February 15, 1970 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Sri Lanka Artillery and rose to the rank of major General on February 23, 1998.

During an army career spanning twenty nine years he served as the Commanding Officer of the 6th Artillery Regiment; Commander 15 Brigade Group, Mannar; Commander 12 Brigade Group, Colombo; Coordinating Officer Welioya; coordinating chief Batticaloa, Ampara and Polonnaruwa Districts, General Officer commanding 51 Division and 54 Division.

Major General Munasinghe was also the Army Director Psy Ops and director Media Operations headquarters, Ministry of Defence and Director Media Army Headquarters whist being the Army spokesman.

He was elected to Parliament from the Kurunegala district on the PA ticket in 2000.

The Major General joined the UNP after parliament was dissolved in 2001 but was unable to secure his seat at the General Election that year. He was later appointed chairman of the Building Materials Corporation and the National Housing Development Authority.

At the time of his death, he was the UNP organizer for the Polgahawela electorate.

Major General Munasinghe was a contemporary of the present Army Chief Sarath Fonseka and former Army Chief Shantha Kottegoda.

A father of two, he was an old boy of Maliyadeva College, Kurunegala and the UNP was to meet last evening to discuss his funeral arrangements.

Source: www.dailymirror.lk