Sunday, November 30, 2014
ඉතිහාසයෙන් පාඩම් ඉගෙන නොගන්නේ නම් – රංජිත් හේනායකආරච්චි
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රංජිත් හේනායකආරච්චි
අද වන විට ලංකා දේශපාලනය තුල සිදුවෙමින් පවතින කැළඹීල්ල ඇතිවීමේ, ඇති කිරීමේ පෙර ගමන්කරුවන් වූයේ විවිධ ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාධරයන්, බුද්ධිමතුන්, කළාකරුවන්, මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ආදී මෙකී නොකී විවිධ පුද්ගලයන් සහ සංවිධානයන් ආදියයි. එම තත්වය ඇති වන්නේ ඔවුන් කාලයක් තිස්සේ ගෙනගිය නොනවතින උද්ඝෝෂණ හේතුකරගෙනයි. මෙම තත්වය මෙවැනි තත්වයටකට ගෙන ඒමේදී දෙමළ ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික බලවේගයන් පශ්චාත් යුධ ලංකාවේ තම අයිතීන් වෙනුවෙන් නොනවත්වා කරගෙන ගිය සහ යන අරගලයද හේතු වේ. මෙසේ විවිධ කණ්ඩායම්, පුද්ගලයන් සහ දේශපාලන බලවේගයන් ගෙනගිය ඒ අඛණ්ඩ සටනේ ප්‍රතිඵලය ලෙස පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු පිළිබඳ උවමනාව ලංකා සමාජයට සමාජ ගත විය. එසේ පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු අවශ්‍යය යන්න සමාජගත වූවායින් පසුවද තවත් මාස 6 ක් පමණ එසේ පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ලෙස තෝරා ගනු ලබන්නේ කාවද යන්න පිළිබඳව මේ කණ්ඩායම් සහ පුද්ගලයින් අතර දීර්ඝව විවාදයට සහ සාකච්ඡාවන් වලට ගනු ලැබූ අතර අද වන විට එම වැඩපිළිවෙලේ ප්‍රතිඵලය ලෙස පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු තෝරාගෙන ඇත. වැරදි නොකළ දේශපාලඥයන් නොමැති ලංකාවේ අපට තෝරා ගැනීමට සිදුවන්නේ සාපේක්ෂකව අඩු වැරදි කළ අයෙකි. මා සිතන්නේ සෑම පැත්තකටම වාගේ අගය කළ හැකි පුද්ගලයෙකු ඒ අනුව අද වන විට තෝරාගෙන ඇති බවයි.
දැන් මම අපේම ඉතිහාසය නැවත මතක් කරන්නට කැමැත්තෙමි. විශේෂයෙන්ම මම මෙහිදී ආමන්ත්‍රණය කරන්නේ මේ පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකුගේ අවශ්‍යතාවය වෙනුවෙන් මතවාදය දියත් කරමින් කලක් තිස්සේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ දේශපාලන, සිවිල් ක්‍රියාධරයන් සහ බුද්ධිමතුන්ටයි. මෙවැනි අවදියක් 1994 වන විට තිබූ බව ඔබට මතක ඇත. විශාල මිනිස් ඝාතනයන් සිදුකර, රට අත්තනෝමතික පාලනයකට නතුකර, බුද්ධිමතුන් බලු කුක්කන් තත්වයට දමමින් පැවති දුර්ධාන්ත කාලයක් එම අවදියේ රට තුල පැවතුණි. මහාචාර්ය සරත්චන්ද්‍ර මහතාට ගනන්කාරයින් ලවා කානු දිගේ අදිමින් පහර දුන් අතර නඩු කාරයින්ට රස්තියාදුකාරයින් ලවා හූ කියවනු ලැබීය. රිචඩ් සොයිසලා වැනි නිදහස් මතධාරී මාධ්‍යවේදීන් ඝාතනය කරනු ලැබුණි. විවේචනාත්මක අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කළ අයමත මරණයේ සෙවණැල්ල වැටුණි. ගෝනවල සුනිල්ලා, සොත්ති උපාලිලා වැනි මැරයන් පොලිස් බලතල ඇතුව මැර කම් කරනු ලැබීය. මේ තත්වයට එරෙහිව සියළු බලවේග එදා එක්වුන අතර මේ අකාරයෙන්ම පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ලෙස එදින චන්ද්‍රිකා ගෙනඑනු ලැබුණි. බලය පෙරළීමේදී විශාල කාර්යක් ඉටුකළ මෙම ප්‍රගතිශීලී කණ්ඩායම චන්ද්‍රිකාට බලය ආවායින් පසු ඇය ප්‍රශ්න විසඳන තුරු බලා සිටියා මිස ක්‍රියාකාරීව එහි කොටස් කරුවන් නොවීමේ තත්වය පැවතුණි. ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නයට දේශපාල විසඳුම්දීම සහ විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසිකිරීම වැනි ප්‍රධාන කාරණාවන් ක්‍රමක්‍රමයෙන් පසුමුණට ඇදී ගිය අතර චන්ද්‍රිකා බලයට ගෙන ඒමට ප්‍රධාන කාර්ය භාරය ඉටුකළ ප්‍රගතිශීලී බලවේග සහ පුද්ගලයන් ඈතින් ඈතට තල්ලුවී ඒ වෙනුවට ජාතිවාදයෙන් උන්මත්තක පසුගාමී බලවේගයන් චන්ද්‍රිකා වටා රොද බඳිනු ලැබීය. බොහෝ විට අප පුරුදු වී ඇත්තේ එදා සිදුවූ වරදට චන්ද්‍රිකා දෙසට පමණක් ඇඟිල්ල දික් කිරීමටය. ඇත්ත නම් බලය මාරු කර ගැනීමට සංවිධානය වූ අය ඉන්පසු ලිහිල් අයුරකින් ඔහේ බලා සිටීම නිසා බොහෝ විට චන්ද්‍රිකාට එය වෙනස් කිරීමට උවමනාවක් තිබුනා වියහැකි වුවත් එය කර ගැනීම නොහැකිවීමට හේතු වූවා විය හැක. එදාද මේ බලවේග සංවිධානාත්මකව චන්ද්‍රිකාට ප්‍රශ්න විසඳීමට සහාය වෙමින් පසුගාමී බලවේගයන්ට ඇය වටා රොක්වීමට එරෙහිව අරගලයක යෙදුනානම් තත්වයන් සමහරවිට වෙනස් වන්නට ඉඩතිබුනි.
කෙසේ වුවද මම මේ කියමින් සිටින්නේ අද පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ලෙස මෛත්‍රී තෝරාගෙන යන ගමනේද ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන බලවේගයන් සංවිධානාත්මකව ඉදිමින් මෙයට සහයෝගය නොදේනම් පසුගාමී හා ජාතිවාදී බලවේග (දැනටමත් කොටසක් සිදුවී ඇති අයුරින්) මේ පෙරළිය තුල තම කරණම් පෙන්වා ජයග්‍රහණය ඔවුන්ගේ ග්‍රහණයට ගනු ලැබීම නොවැලැක්විය හැකිය. එසේ නම් ඉතිහාසය අපට කියාදී ඇති පාඩම් අමතක නොකර දැන් අප කළයුතුව ඇත්තේ ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන සංවිධාන, ක්‍රියාධරයන්, කලාකරුවන්, බුද්ධිමතුන් ආදී සෑම ෆැසිස්ට් විරෝධී ප්‍රගතිශීලී මත දරන්නන්ම එකට සංවිධානය වීමයි. එතුලින් පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා දිනවීමට ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම හා ඒ අතරම එම ජයග්‍රහණය සැබෑ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජයක් කර ගැනීමට නම් අද සිටම ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නයට දේශපාලන විසඳුමක්, විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කිරීම, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍ය නැවත ස්ථාපිත කිරීම, දූෂිතයන් නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනඒම මෙන්ම පක්ෂ මාරුකිරීමේදී මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ අසුන අහිමිවීම වැනි ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අවම ක්‍රියාවන්වත් ජයගැනීමට මග පාදා ගත යුතුය. බලය පෙරළීම මෙන්ම ඉන්පසුවද බලය අතඇති අය සමග හරි හරියට කේවල්කිරීමේ අයිතිය මෙන්ම සවියද සංවිධානාත්මකවම පවත්වාගත යුතුය. එසේ නොමැතිනම් අපට සිදුවන්නේ 1994 දී අපට සිදුවූ තත්වයට නැවත මුහුණ දීමටයි.
මේ පිළිබඳව අපට ලෝකයේ වෙනත් රටවලින්ද ඉතිහාසයේ පාඩම් කියාදී ඇත. 1979 ඉරාණගේ ෂාගේ බලය පෙරළා දැමීමට පෙරමුණ ගැසුණු තුඩෙයි පක්ෂය, වමේ පක්ෂ සහ සියලු ප්‍රගතිශීලී කණ්ඩායම් සහ බුද්ධිමතුන් මුසිලිම් කණ්ඩායම් සමග අත්වැල් බැඳගනු ලැබීය. වමේ සහ ප්‍රගතිශීලී බලවේග තමන් එක්ව සිටින දක්ෂිණාංශික බලවේගයන්හි භයානකකම හා සංවිධානාත්මකකම අවතක්සේරු කිරීමේ වරදට දස දහස් ගණනින් ජීවිතවලින් වන්දි ගෙවා අද වනතුරුත් වන්දි ගෙවමින් ඉරාණය මධ්‍යතන යුගයේ පසුගාමී රටක් බවට ඇද වැටීමට ඉඩහරිනු ලැබීය. අරාබි වසන්තයෙන් පසු ඊජිප්තුවට සිදුවූ දෙය මෙන්ම ටියුනීසියාව යන්තම් එම අගාධයට යාමෙන් ගොඩ ආ ආකාරය වැනි දේවලින් අපට පාඩම් ඉගන ගැනීමට තිබේ. මෙසේ ලොව පුරා විවිධ තැන්වල විවිධ ආකාරයෙන් සිදුවූ සිදුවීම් වලින් අපට ඉගන ගත හැක.
94 අපේම පාඩම් වුවද අපට ප්‍රමාණවත්ය. එනිසා දැන් අපි ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාධරයන්, කලාකරුවන්, බුද්ධිමතුන් ආදීන් පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා දිනවීම සඳහා වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් සකස් කර ගත යුතු අතරම තමනගේ ස්වාධීනත්වය පවත්වා ගනිමින් පොදු බලවේගයේ කොටසක් වීමට අප අපම සංවිධානය වීමට අමතක නොකළ යුතු වෙමු. පොදු බලවේගය තුල දක්ෂිණාංශික ජාතිවාදී කොටස්වලට බලවේගය මෙහෙයවීමට ඉඩ නොහැර මෙම පොදු බලවේගය තුලම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී බව ප්‍රගුණ කිරීමට බලකළ යුතුය. මෙය කළ හැකි වන්නේ පොදු බලවේගයට සහයෝගය දෙන අතර ප්‍රගතිශීලීන් වෙනම සංවිධානාත්මකව පැවතීමෙන් පමනි. මේ සඳහා වහාම සංවිධානය නොවන්නේ නම් ජයග්‍රහණයේදී පසුගාමී, ජාතිවාදී බලවේගයන් මේ ජයග්‍රහණය ඔවුනගේ ග්‍රහණයට ගැනීම අපට වලක්වා ගත නොහැකි වනු ඇත.
කෙසේ වුවද මම මේ කියමින් සිටින්නේ අද පොදු අපේක්ෂකයෙකු ලෙස මෛත්‍රී තෝරාගෙන යන ගමනේද ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන බලවේගයන් සංවිධානාත්මකව ඉදිමින් මෙයට සහයෝගය නොදේනම් පසුගාමී හා ජාතිවාදී බලවේග (දැනටමත් කොටසක් සිදුවී ඇති අයුරින්) මේ පෙරළිය තුල තම කරණම් පෙන්වා ජයග්‍රහණය ඔවුන්ගේ ග්‍රහණයට ගනු ලැබීම නොවැලැක්විය හැකිය. එසේ නම් ඉතිහාසය අපට කියාදී ඇති පාඩම් අමතක නොකර දැන් අප කළයුතුව ඇත්තේ ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන සංවිධාන, ක්‍රියාධරයන්, කලාකරුවන්, බුද්ධිමතුන් ආදී සෑම ෆැසිස්ට් විරෝධී ප්‍රගතිශීලී මත දරන්නන්ම එකට සංවිධානය වීමයි. එතුලින් පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා දිනවීමට ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම හා ඒ අතරම එම ජයග්‍රහණය සැබෑ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජයක් කර ගැනීමට නම් අද සිටම ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නයට දේශපාලන විසඳුමක්, විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කිරීම, නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍ය නැවත ස්ථාපිත කිරීම, දූෂිතයන් නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනඒම මෙන්ම පක්ෂ මාරුකිරීමේදී මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ අසුන අහිමිවීම වැනි ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අවම ක්‍රියාවන්වත් ජයගැනීමට මග පාදා ගත යුතුය. බලය පෙරළීම මෙන්ම ඉන්පසුවද බලය අතඇති අය සමග හරි හරියට කේවල්කිරීමේ අයිතිය මෙන්ම සවියද සංවිධානාත්මකවම පවත්වාගත යුතුය. එසේ නොමැතිනම් අපට සිදුවන්නේ 1994 දී අපට සිදුවූ තත්වයට නැවත මුහුණ දීමටයි.
මේ පිළිබඳව අපට ලෝකයේ වෙනත් රටවලින්ද ඉතිහාසයේ පාඩම් කියාදී ඇත. 1979 ඉරාණගේ ෂාගේ බලය පෙරළා දැමීමට පෙරමුණ ගැසුණු තුඩෙයි පක්ෂය, වමේ පක්ෂ සහ සියලු ප්‍රගතිශීලී කණ්ඩායම් සහ බුද්ධිමතුන් මුසිලිම් කණ්ඩායම් සමග අත්වැල් බැඳගනු ලැබීය. වමේ සහ ප්‍රගතිශීලී බලවේග තමන් එක්ව සිටින දක්ෂිණාංශික බලවේගයන්හි භයානකකම හා සංවිධානාත්මකකම අවතක්සේරු කිරීමේ වරදට දස දහස් ගණනින් ජීවිතවලින් වන්දි ගෙවා අද වනතුරුත් වන්දි ගෙවමින් ඉරාණය මධ්‍යතන යුගයේ පසුගාමී රටක් බවට ඇද වැටීමට ඉඩහරිනු ලැබීය. අරාබි වසන්තයෙන් පසු ඊජිප්තුවට සිදුවූ දෙය මෙන්ම ටියුනීසියාව යන්තම් එම අගාධයට යාමෙන් ගොඩ ආ ආකාරය වැනි දේවලින් අපට පාඩම් ඉගන ගැනීමට තිබේ. මෙසේ ලොව පුරා විවිධ තැන්වල විවිධ ආකාරයෙන් සිදුවූ සිදුවීම් වලින් අපට ඉගන ගත හැක.
94 අපේම පාඩම් වුවද අපට ප්‍රමාණවත්ය. එනිසා දැන් අපි ප්‍රගතිශීලී දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාධරයන්, කලාකරුවන්, බුද්ධිමතුන් ආදීන් පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා දිනවීම සඳහා වැඩ පිළිවෙලක් සකස් කර ගත යුතු අතරම තමනගේ ස්වාධීනත්වය පවත්වා ගනිමින් පොදු බලවේගයේ කොටසක් වීමට අප අපම සංවිධානය වීමට අමතක නොකළ යුතු වෙමු. පොදු බලවේගය තුල දක්ෂිණාංශික ජාතිවාදී කොටස්වලට බලවේගය මෙහෙයවීමට ඉඩ නොහැර මෙම පොදු බලවේගය තුලම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී බව ප්‍රගුණ කිරීමට බලකළ යුතුය. මෙය කළ හැකි වන්නේ පොදු බලවේගයට සහයෝගය දෙන අතර ප්‍රගතිශීලීන් වෙනම සංවිධානාත්මකව පැවතීමෙන් පමනි. මේ සඳහා වහාම සංවිධානය නොවන්නේ නම් ජයග්‍රහණයේදී පසුගාමී, ජාතිවාදී බලවේගයන් මේ ජයග්‍රහණය ඔවුනගේ ග්‍රහණයට ගැනීම අපට වලක්වා ගත නොහැකි වනු ඇත.
එනිසා අපේ සටන් පාඨය විය යුත්තේ ‘ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය දිනවීම සඳහා පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා දිනවමු’ යන්නයි.
මහින්ද ලෝක අණ්ඩපාලයෙක් / සුජීව කොකාවල
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මාතෘකාව අපෙන්
මෛත්‍රීපාල මහතා ගේ ආගමනය සමග මූලික ප්‍රශ්න රාශියක් මතු වූ නිසා ඒවා සාකච්චාවට ගත්තෙමු. දැන් ඒ සිද්ධි සතියක් පමණ අතීතයට තල්ලු වී ඇත. ගතවූ ඒ සතියේ මෛත්‍රී සමහර ප්‍රශ්න වලට සැහෙන සාධාරාන පිළිතුරු ලබා දී තිබේ. එනයින් මෛත්‍රී කැම්පේන් එකේ පළමු සතිය පවා මහින්දට එරෙහි ෆොන්සේකා කැම්පේන් එක මුළු කාලයේම ගත්තාට වඩා ඉහල මට්ටමක පවතියි. මෙය සුභදායක තත්වයකි.
මෛත්‍රී බලයට පැමිණ බලය රනිල් ට දෙනවා කියා කියූ නිසා අප බොහෝ දෙනෙකු ප්‍රශ්න කලේ මෛත්‍රී රනිල්ව හොරපාරෙන් බලයට ගෙනෙනවාද යන කාරණයයි. එහෙත් දැන් කියන භාරකාර රජය පිහිටුවීම සහ චන්දයක් පවත්වන තුරු කෙටි කාලයකට එහි අගමැතිකම රනිල්ට දීම නම් කිසිම වරදක් නැති කටයුත්තකි. ඉනික්බිති චන්දයෙන් රනිල් තනි බලයේ අගමැති වන්නේ නම් රනිල් ගේ පාලන ඒකාධිකාරයකට අප්‍රිය අප බොහෝ දෙනා එය බාරගත යුතුය. පරදින්නේ නම් හෝ හවුලකට යන්නේ නම් රනිල් ප්‍රේමින්ට එය විඳ ගැනීමට සිදුවේ. පුද්ගලිකව මා දකින්නට කැමති රනිල් ඇතැම් අංශ මෙහෙයවන එහෙත් ඔහුට පූර්ණ ලෙස රිසි දෙයක් කල නොහෙන හවුල් රජයකි. මෛත්‍රීට සහය දුන්නාට අපි කවදාවත් 2001-2004 රනිල් යුගයකට සහය නොදෙන බව නැවත කිවයුතුවේ. මේ කතාව පුරා අප රැඳෙන්නේ ඒ අනන්‍යතාවය සමගය.
ඊළඟ ප්‍රශ්නය වනුයේ හුදෙක් විධායක ජනපති ඉවත් කරන 2/3 බලය එන්නේ කොහෙන්ද කියන එකයි. බොහෝ දෙනා උපකල්පනය කරන්නේ පශ්වාත් මහින්ද යුගයක මුළු ශ්‍රීලනිපය ම මෛත්‍රී හා එකතු වන බවයි. ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනය හැරෙන ආකාරයන් දැක ඇති නිසා මේ ටොපිය එහෙම්ම ගන්නට මා නම් සූදානම් නැත. කෙසේ නමුත් 2/3 ලබාගැනීම ගැන ප්‍රශ්නය අනාගතයට ඉතිරි කරන්නට සිද්ධ වේ. එහෙත් ඔවුන් මුළුමනින්ම නව ව්‍ය්වස්තාවකටම යන්නේ නම් එය ඉතාම වටියි. විධායක බලය සමානුපාත ක්‍රමය යටතට දෙනවාට වඩා සිස්ටම් දෙකම එකවර වෙනස් කිරීම සුදුසුය. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් එතරම් නිරවුල් දෙයක් කියවී නැති මුත් මේ දක්වා මෛත්‍රී කල ප්‍රකාශ නිසා කිසියම් බලාපොරොත්තුවක් තැබිය හැකිය.
රනිල් හා චන්ද්‍රිකා නිසා මෛත්‍රී පරදී කියන බොහෝ දෙන නොදකින්නේ, උන් දෙන්න නැතිනම් මෙතන මොකුත් නැති බවයි. මෛත්‍රී සිරිමා+චන්ද්‍රිකා සමයේ ප්‍රාදේශීය නායකයෙකි. පසුව ඒකාධිකාරී රජයක ඇමතිකමක් දරු මෛත්‍රී පක්ෂයක ලේකම් කම නාමිකව දැරුවා විනා ලද ගැඹුරු දේශපාලන අත්දැකීමක් නැත. මේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්බන්ධ අසීරු අභියෝගයේ ඔහුට සිටින කෘතහස්ත මග පෙන්වන්නන් වනුයේ චන්ද්‍රිකා සහ රනිල් ය. පරස්පර දෙදෙනෙකු එසේ සිටීමද වටින්නේ එකෙක් පමණක් උන්නොත් වැඩේ ඒකාට ඕන දිහාවට දුවන බැවිනි. එහෙත් මේ චරිත දෙක සීමාකාරී ලෙස භාවිතා කරන වගකීම මෛත්‍රී සතුය.
පෙර කී ලෙස, එජාපයේ රනිල්, කිරි, රවී තිස්ස වැනි විකටයින්ගේ දේශපාලන කැම්පේන් මේතාක් කලේ විහිළු සැපයීම පමණි. හෝන් ගැහිලි වලන් පොළොවේ ගැහිලි ආදී මල සමයං විනා කරපු බක්කක් නැත. මෛත්‍රී සමග සිටින චන්ද්‍රිකා ඇතුළු බලවේගය ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුවක් මාරු කරන සක්‍රිය මෙහෙයුමක් කල පිරිසකි. මේ පිරිස හා මෛත්‍රී තම අනන්‍යතාවය මේ දක්වා නැතිකරගෙන නැත.
ආණ්ඩුවේ පාර්ශ්ච ඔහුට එකතු වන බවට සැහෙන සංඥා දී ඇත. මෙහිදී එකතුවන්නාට සීමා දමා ගැනීමේ වගකීමක් මෛත්‍රී සතුව පවතියි. සතියකට පෙර මේ ගැන කතා කර නිසා ආයිත් කියන්න දෙයක් නොමැත. හැබැයි කුඩු, එතනෝල්, කසිප්පු, තග ඇතුළු සියලු ජාවාරම්කාරයින් මේ පැත්තට ගොඩ ගහ ගැනීමෙන් සැහෙන පාවෙන චන්ද ප්‍රමාණයක් අහිමි වනු ඇත. ඔය එක ජාවාරම්කාරයේකුටවත් බේස් චන්ද නැත.
ජාතික හෙළ උරුමය සමග එකතු වීම සැහෙන හොඳ ප්‍රවණතාවයකි. ඔවුන්ගේ ඇතැම් ඉල්ලීම් ගැන පුද්ගලිකව මා එකඟ නොවන මුත් බැලන්ස් කිරීම උදෙසා ඔවුන්ගේ දායකත්වය වටියි. මේ දක්වා අදහසක් කෙලින් නොකී ජවිපෙට උගුරට හොරා බෙහෙත් කෑමට ඇති කාලය සීමා සහිතය. කොන්දේසි සහිතව හෝ මෛත්‍රීට සහය වීම ජවිපට කර ඇරිය නොහැකි තත්වයකි. එසේ වීමෙන් මෛත්‍රී ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම් පාලනය වී සැහෙන ජන විශ්වාසයක් දිනා ගනු ඇත.
කොහොමත් අප බහුතරයකට ඇත්තේ ඔප්ෂන් දෙකකි. එක්කෝ මෛත්‍රී ය. නැතිනම් පැත්තක් නොගෙන සිටීමයි. මහින්ද තවදුරටත් ගොඩ ගත හැකි යයි නොසිතමි. එහෙත් පක්ෂය තුල ඇවලාන්ච් එකක් වෙන බවක් දුටුවොත් හිටිගමන් යහපාලනය මහින්දගේ සාක්කුවෙන් එලියට පනින්නට ඉඩ තිබේ. එසේ වුවහොත් ඊට නොරැවටෙන්න. ඒ චන්දය දිනන තෙක් පමණි. අවතක්සේරු නොකළ යුතුම එකක් වනුයේ මහින්ද ලෝක අන්ඩපාලයෙක් බවයි.
ආපු ගමන් කී කතාවල ඇද පරස් මෛත්‍රී හැරගෙන ඇත. සෝ ෆා සෝ ගුඩ් ය. ඔහොම යමු මෛත්‍රී.
Sri Lanka listed on ten coolest places to visit in 2015 - Forbes Magazine
From Forbes Magazine
Sri Lanka for WildlifeNow that the country is at peace, Sri Lanka offers tremendous value but is still often overlooked. The Aman Resorts here are as pampering as those elsewhere, but for a fraction of the cost.Absolute also arranges insider experiences such as a tour of the secret gardens of Galle Fort with author Juliet Coombe. But the main draw, Gaddis says, is the wildlife: Elusive leopards, wild elephants, boar, sloth bears and dazzling bird life from peacocks to hornbills roam this surprisingly diverse island. “We can’t think of another country that has the variety of experiences that Sri Lanka does,” he adds. Yala National Park has been the longtime go-to, but he’s excited about the reopened Wilpattu National Park,which had been closed for years due to the civil war, and where, he says, many guests are able to enjoy their safari in private.
Full Article:-
http://www.forbes.com/sites/annabel/2014/11/25/the-10-coolest-places-to-visit-in-2015/
Janaka Tennakoon Bursts Into Tears While Speaking Of "Fate" Of The SLFP - Video
Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, addressing a public meeting in Dambulla today, burst into tears when he spoke about the present state of affairs in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
He paused his speech has cried for nearly two minutes showing his disappointment over the recent developments in the ruling party.
“I am a pure SLFPer and I am committed to my party to the core. I’ve already informed the President about the injustices that have been done to me. When ‘Namal putha’ met me, I made him aware of this too.. But no one took my grievance into serious consideration,” Minister Tennakoon said in his speech. See Video from Youtube below:-
The party was built up by the likes of my father. We strengthened the party. When I predicted what’s going to happen to the SLFP, they didn’t believe my words,” the Minister said.
“I am a policeman. And I am a politician. So I have both sides. The SLFP should not be subservient to any person. We should protect our party,” he added. He asserted that he would never leave the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and betray its supporters.
On the day former General Secretary of the SLFP Maithripala Sirisena announced that he would be the common candidate of the opposition, Tennakooon made a controversial speech in Parliament saying the party had been taken hostage by drug-dealers and those who import ‘ethanol’. He said the traditional SLFP old guard has become helpless.
His name was also mentioned in certain media reports as a ruling party member who might cross over to the opposition ahead of the presidential election.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Minister Navin Dissanayake tenders his resignation
UPFA Parliamentarian, Minister Navin Dissanayake, in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has tendered his resignation from the post of Minister of Public Management Reforms.
JHU to sign MoU with Maithripala
From The Daily Mirror
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) today announced it is due to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Common candidate Maithripala Sirisena within the next few days, after which they would be actively involved in his campaign.
JHU member Venerable Athuraliye Rathana thera speaking to Daily Mirror said Mr. Sirisena has given a positive response concerning the proposals they made in order to create a transformation and ensure good governance in Sri Lanka and therefore his party decided to pledge their support to the Common Opposition movement.
“We will be signing an MoU within the next couple of days, after which the JHU will be actively campaigning for Mr. Sirisena,” Rathana thera added.
Before quitting the coalition government, the JHU present the same proposals to the President to which they did not receive a positive response. It was one of the main grounds on which the party decided to part ways with the UPFA.
During a media briefing held a few days ago to announce on which candidate they would be supporting, JHU frontliner Patali Champika Ranawaka said the government has run of chances to work together with his party and said ‘the doors of the JHU are closed to the government’. (Lakna Paranamanna)
Friday, November 28, 2014
Navin To Announce "Big Decision" On Monday
From Asian Mirror
Nuwaraeliya District UPFA MP and Minister Navin Dissanayake will announce his decision to extend his support to the common opposition on Monday, November 01.
Dissanayake is expected to hold a special press conference in this regard. The press conference will be attended by several stalwarts of the common opposition.
He will support common candidate Maithripala Sirisena at the forthcoming presdiential election
Son of the late Gamini Dissanayake, Navin Dissanayake is married to UNP Leadership Council Chairman Karu Jayasuriya’s daughter.
When contacted by us, Minister Dissanayake said he was in Nuwaraeliya and has not yet joined the United National Party.
However, multiple sources from the opposition confirmed that Dissanayake's crossover was certain and he would extend his support to the common opposition.
This development came just a day after Asian Mirror reported that a cabinet minister representing the hill country has joined 'crossover queue' secretly.
Rajitha Senaratne Press Conference - Unedited
Listen by using link below:-
https://soundcloud.com/lanka-e-news-com/l51rwng5hsyf
https://soundcloud.com/lanka-e-news-com/l51rwng5hsyf
Mahinda In Dire-Straits
by Rajasingham Jayadevan - From Sri Lanka Guardian
President Mahinda Rajapakse has taken a calculated gamble when odds were seriously against him to call the Presidential election on 8 January 2015. Intoxicated with power, greed and destined by his fate, the President could not imagine or visualise the predicament he could face at the forthcoming presidential election.
President Mahinda Rajapakse has taken a calculated gamble when odds were seriously against him to call the Presidential election on 8 January 2015. Intoxicated with power, greed and destined by his fate, the President could not imagine or visualise the predicament he could face at the forthcoming presidential election.
For those who believe in astrological predictions, the major Saturn change on 2 November 2014 for his Aeris Raasi is definitely not helpful for him. According to general predictions- Overview:
‘Sani Bhagawan is moving from the 7th house to the 8th house. You are coming out of Kandaka Sani but entering onto the worst part of Asthama Sani. Right now things are bad, but going forward it will become worse and terrible. You may expect to have problems in each and every aspect of your life. The intensity of the problems will be extreme from Dec 2014 to July 2015. You will have good relief when Jupiter is moving onto your Poorva Punya Sthanam by July 2015. Overall, you cannot expect any good results from Saturn, but other transiting planets can help you. Avoid doing any kind of investments for the next 3 years. Even though Jupiter is in your favourable spot for one year, you need to take my predictions to make sure you are prepared for the worst and hope for the best. Otherwise you do not need to continue reading my predictions from this point ( KT Astrologer - Network Bandwidth Monitor).
Detailed predictions do not give any hope for Mahinda Rajapakse for next two and a half years.
He could have patiently carried on with his present Presidential term for a further two years, but the power hungry President, worried about his stakes in two years time, decided to manipulate his way through to out beat his astrological change, thinking his constitutional power of even ‘making a man a woman and woman a man’ will be in his favour to call the election.
Having gone to the extent of punishing the astrologers for making adverse predictions for him in the past, there is no one to teach the power intoxicated President some simple arithmetic, based on available statistics of presidential and legislature elections.
In 2005, Mahinda Rajapakse secured a little over 50% of the popular vote against the main opposition rival Ranil Wickramasinghe. Turnout was put at 74% in the south and west, but almost no Tamils voted in some minority Tamil areas due to Tigers preventing them from voting, allegedly due to them being bribed by Mahinda Rajapakse. He won his first presidential election in 2005 by just over a razor thin margin of 180,000 votes.
In 2010, Mahinda Rajapaksa secured re-election by a clear margin, winning around 58% of the vote; an estimated 74.5% of the electorate cast their ballots and the victory margin was over 1.8 million votes. The 2010 election was a significant one as the hyped up slogan of Mahinda was his drum beating claim of his decisive victory over the Tamil Tigers. As the constitutional Commander in Chief of the armed forces, he was challenged by his former Commander of the Army Gen Sarath Fonseka. Mahinda was able to gain the 8% vote from the opposition UNP vote bank in the election. His war victory did not give him the absolute margin of 75% - 90% despite the nationalist parties joining Mahinda to hard sell his war victory hysteria. Mahinda was only able to increase the overall voter turnout by 676,574 i.e., 0.77% (under 1%).
The 2015 Presidential election will be a testing time for Mahinda. There will be multi-pronged impacts on the vote pattern this time. Hypothetically, if UNP vote bank is the average of the last two Presidential elections of 44.9%, in the present declining political climate for Mahinda it is not difficult to predict the outcome at the election. Maithiripala Sirisena has to score a simple 5.1% to hit the 50% break-even point.
The established vote bank of the JHU was 550,000 in the 2005 parliamentary election. This will not be there for Mahinda this time. There is a possibility that JHU will increase their share of votes due to its wider focus on very serious national issues that made them to leave the government. The Chandrika Kumaratunga Bandaranayake factor is the lease of life for the opposition candidate. She too has a strong support base amongst the masses. Working on a minimum projection - it is not difficult for her to bring another 5% to her favourite opposition candidate. Popularity of Mahinda Rajapakse amongst the Tamil vote bank is almost near zero and he has to rely on the unpopular Tamil paramilitary forces for some votes. Having been denigrated by the Mahinda camp on the issues affecting the Tamil people, TNA’s will be anti-Mahinda in the election, thus increasing the voting of Tamils for Maithiripala Sirisena.
Muslim vote is also significant in the election. Having been battered and bruised by the Mahinda Rajapakse’s right wing anti-Muslim campaign, the Muslim masses are not in the pious mood to support him. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and its allies have become irrelevant for the Muslim masses. Even if Mahinda promises hope from hell for the Muslims, they are unlikely to vote for him. The lame duck SLMC has to respond to the mood of the Muslims and will join force with the opposition to earn some credibility from the Muslim people.
With the fever pitch campaign following filing of nominations, the political and astrological turf for Mahinda unfortunately will not be friendly. With the amazement of wealth and arrogation of unlimited power, anything could happen if the election fails for Mahinda. There is a strong possibility that Sri Lanka will experience its first ever coup that will undermine the democratic will of the people. Mahinda & Co have fully prepared the contingencies and 8 January 2015 will be crucial for Sri Lanka to either swim out of troubles or to sink in the slumber.
‘Progress Review Meeting’ schedule on December 1, 2014 at Temple Trees for University Academics.
Statement
by FUTA.
Federation of University
Teachers’ Associations has today called upon the academic community to take the
correct decision with regard to the President Rajapaksa‘s invitation to a so
called ‘Progress Review Meeting’ schedule on December 1, 2014.
Statement in full:-
“FUTA
has learned that the Ministry of Higher Education and the UGC have issued
invitations to all academics of state universities to attend a ‘Progress Review
Meeting’ at Temple Trees on the 1st of December 2014 at 3.30 pm. No details of
this ‘Progress Review Meeting’ have been provided.
We find the timing of such meetings
extremely questionable. Previously too, a meeting was held in 2010, just prior
to the Presidential Election. We consider such initiatives blatant attempts to
politicise the administration of the higher education sector. If the President
was serious about conducting a progress review of the higher education sector,
this is certainly not the way to set about it. In fact, FUTA has been agitating
since 2012 for the establishment of a Presidential Commission to review the existing
higher education sector and to propose higher education policy. We find it
extremely curious that such initiatives are ignored and instead, meetings of
this nature are hurriedly called only once an election has been announced.
Suspicions among the academic community that such meetings are simply part of
the President’s election propaganda are therefore justifiable.
Of course the President has the right to
engage in election propaganda and to campaign. Academics also have the right to
express their political views, to advocate on behalf of their political
ideologies and to even campaign on behalf of their political choices. However,
the use of public funds, and public office Election Commissioner to ensure that
election laws are upheld by all political parties and candidates.
We are confident that our academic
community which has been fighting to preserve university autonomy and against
politicisation of the higher education sector will take the correct decision
with regard to this invitation to a so called ‘Progress Review Meeting’. It has
been brought to our notice that certain Vice- Chancellors are exerting pressure
on academics to attend this meeting and we vehemently condemn such efforts. The
academic community must maintain academic freedom and university autonomy at
all times. The integrity of our profession and the higher education sector must
not be compromised.”
Mahinda Rajapaksa expected a coronation. Instead he faces a tricky election
 |
| From The Economist |
AN INVINCIBLE personality, a blessed man, he will win a big
victory.” In the opinion of Sumanadasa Abeygunawardena, issued from his swish
astrological headquarters in the southern port of Galle, the prospects for Sri
Lanka’s president are unambiguously bright. Percy Mahinda Rajapaksa has called
an election two years early, to seek an unprecedented third term. Why not?
Polling will happen on January 8th, and eight is a lucky number. For Mr
Rajapaksa, a Virgo, the stars are benign. Some see the president as the
fulfilment of an ancient prophecy, the reincarnation of a great southern king
(who also had combed-back hair and a lush moustache). He is destined to make
Sri Lanka prosper, says the astrologer, and will be the best friend of
Buddhism, its main religion: “There is no temple he has not visited.”
Adorned with gold rings and precious stones, Mr Abeygunawardena is in effect astrologer to the Rajapaksa court. “I very often
see the president,” he says, taking a call from the office of the First Lady
who wants an auspicious time for refitting a school. The Rajapaksas are
superstitious. Like four brothers, and his son—important politicians all—the
president, who has ruled for a decade, takes advice on such matters as when
best to step outside, or on which gems or jewellery ward off bad luck. Mr
Rajapaksa usually carries a cylindrical gold talisman, supposedly with powers
to enchant. The astrologer scoffs at this. But he says another piece of
bling—the golden amulet on a chain around the presidential neck—truly is
effective.
The president has led a charmed political life and is easily
the country’s most charismatic campaigner. Ordinary Sinhalese Buddhists (around
70% of the population) like his rural past and that he crushed Tamil
separatists in 2009, ending nearly three decades of war. Suggestions that tens
of thousands of Tamils were massacred in the process, and talk of war crimes,
are dismissed as intended only to denigrate the country. Few outside the
Tamil-dominated north and east hold the accusations against him. Drive along
miles of new tarmac around Mr Rajapaksa’s southern home, where a big new
airport and harbour have sprouted, and enthusiasm for him is obvious. Life-size
placards of his grinning figure adorn highways. In Medamulana, his ancestral
home, students tour a mausoleum to his family, with a waxworks and a hefty
gold-plated sculpture of his father’s head. Across the country there are
rebuilt railways, new houses and expanded cities.
The building splurge has piled up oodles of debt: opposition
MPs say $6 billion-8 billion are owed to China alone, though details are murky.
The government prefers perky economic statistics. Unemployment is low and GDP
is rising fast enough for Sri Lanka next year to rank as a mid-range
middle-income country with national income per person of around $4,000. Tourism
blossoms and inflation has been in single digits for 52 months, exults Basil
Rajapaksa, the presidential brother running the economy (doing himself down; it
is actually 69 months and counting). He is “very confident” about the future.
Parliament this week passed a budget crammed with goodies for voters. To the
suggestion that this was brazen populism, he chortles that “all our budgets are
pre-election ones”. The local World Bank office is perhaps even more gung-ho
about Sri Lanka’s starry economic future.
Nor is Mr Rajapaksa shy of using the benefits of incumbency,
deploying arms of government at will. A car-park in Hambantota, in the south,
is crammed with hundreds of red motorbikes, pre-election gifts for local
officials, a pattern repeated countrywide. In Tamil areas security men
intimidate politicians and activists. Even in Colombo, the biggest city,
opposition figures say they suspect spies jam their mobile phones. They are
denied public spaces for rallies. Most of the press fawns on Mr Rajapaksa;
television shows involving opposition figures go mysteriously off air. Both the
courts and electoral commission are widely seen as partisan.
All that had pointed to an easy victory for Mr Rajapaksa.
Yet those magic charms are suddenly malfunctioning. The various opposition
parties have, surprisingly, come up with a credible joint candidate.
Maithripala Sirisena, a minister until last week and leading light in the
ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), defected on November 21st with a few
supporters. Ordinary Sinhalese like him, because he seems more one of them than
does Mr Rajapaksa. His promise to abolish the over-strong presidency in 100
days appeals to those who fear decades of dynastic rule by the Rajapaksas.
(Older SLFP leaders have long groused about misrule by “one family”.) Mr
Sirisena can tap into public resentment of worsening corruption. Businesses
often complain that only insiders win official contracts. Sri Lanka fell 14
places this year in the World Bank’s ranking of the ease of doing business.
Third time less lucky
Moreover, the economy is not inevitably a vote-winner. Every
voter Banyan met in the south grumbled about living costs, notably about pricey
rice and milk. A former two-term president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, back in
Colombo to help Mr Sirisena, accuses Mr Rajapaksa of being a “racist”
Tamil-hater, and adds that those official inflation figures are “trumped-up”.
As for mid-income prosperity, an opposition MP says officials dare not publish
a figure from a new survey of household spending showing real incomes, after
inflation, up by only 3% since 2006.
Mr Rajapaksa’s popularity is slipping. The SLFP won
provincial elections in the southern province of Uva in September less
comfortably than expected. At the last presidential poll in 2010, soon after
the war, Mr Rajapaksa took 57% of the votes (less if you accept claims of
modest rigging), so not a landslide. Assume that Tamils, Muslims and
Christians, who are 30% of the electorate, mostly prefer Mr Sirisena, then even
a third of the Sinhalese vote could swing it in his favour. The stars still
probably favour the president, but horoscopes often disappoint.
Sri Lankan plantation workers denounce government over landslide tragedy
 |
| From World Socialist Web Site |
Thousands of plantation workers from several tea estates in Sri Lanka’s central highlands Nuwareliya district have held strikes and demonstrations over the landslide at Koslanda that killed about 200 workers and family members on October 29.
Demanding housing in secure locations, workers have rallied in a number of towns, including Bogawanthalawa, Maskeliya and Hatton. They raised slogans condemning President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government, plantation managements and trade unions for leaving them exposed to landslide disasters for years.
 |
| K.Sivapiragasam |
The landslide was the biggest disaster in Sri Lanka since the 2004 tsunami. It destroyed a kilometre-wide strip of land where about 150 plantation workers’ families lived in Meeriyabedda estate. Seven “lines”—long buildings divided into 20 small living quarters or “line rooms”—were flattened. A dozen bodies have been recovered, with many more still missing, buried under mud and earth.
It poured with rain in the area during the weeks before the landslide but the estate management and government authorities took no action to evacuate the people.
Much of the anger on the protests has been directed against Arumugam Thondaman, a minister in Rajapakse’s government and the leader of the main plantation trade union, the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). In a BBC interview, Thondaman claimed that he was not aware that families were living in the area despite warnings about landslides. In reality, the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) mapped and identified the Koslanda area as high-risk, and its experts have issued warnings since 2005.
In 2012, the NBRO identified 47 critical landslide areas and 30 landslide-prone schools that needed to be mitigated to reduce the risks to children, residents, infrastructure and plantations within the districts of Badulla, Nuwaraeliya, Kandy and Matale. Out of the 47 landslide sites, NBRO prioritised 16 sites that required urgent action. However, only a handful of mitigation projects were implemented.
Workers who participated in strikes and demonstrations spoke to World Socialist Web Site reporters, over the failure of the government, companies and unions to protect people known to be living in great danger.
V. Sagunthala, a female worker from the Glenugie tea estate in Up-Cot, commented: “If the government and plantation management had built proper housing in a safe place, the deaths would have been prevented. Nobody cares about our lives. The unions cover up our real conditions and work hand-in-hand with the plantation managements.
“In our estate, several houses were warned of landslide dangers. I also have no proper house to live in. My husband is dead and I am living with my children in a temporary hut. I have complained to the management and the CWC office several times about my housing problem, but none of them care about it.”
Kandasamy Sivapiragasam, a CWC member, explained: “The families of myself and my brother—altogether 9 people—live in one cramped house, located in a place where landslide warnings have been issued. There are no basic facilities in the kitchen. When we cook, the entire house is covered with smoke.
“The CWC union leader in our estate tries to stop us from speaking about our conditions in public or to the media, but I am ready to openly speak about our slave-like conditions. The unions are useless. I had to go to the management office more than 50 times to get one rubber sheet to cover our roof during the rainy season.”
Sivapiragasam concluded: “All the unions claim that they joined the government to help workers. Instead they have secured lucrative ministerial posts, over our dead bodies.”
 |
| WSWS correspondent speaking to protesting Glenuge estate workers |
A retired worker from Glenugie said: “Several workers in our estate are living in temporary huts. Some workers were given four perches (400 square metres) of land to build houses. All the plots were on sloped land, with no areas dividing one house from the other. So, if a landslide happens, all the houses will come down like building blocks.
“We are here to protest, not only to show our sympathy with our fellow workers who have perished or just survived a great tragedy in Koslanda, but also to insist that other workers facing similar dangers should be taken care of. The government is spending millions of rupees to build highways, while plantation workers have been condemned to live in unsafe line rooms for the past 150 years!”
Many workers said that although warnings to vacate the houses were reportedly issued as far back as 2005, the government and estate authorities did nothing to organise alternative housing. The families had nowhere to go, forcing them to continue to live in danger. They denounced the indifference and complacency of all those who were responsible for allowing the tragedy to occur.
WSWS reporters also visited the Poonagala Tamil School, where 64 families displaced by the Koslanda landslide were housed, along with 157 families from the Diyagala estate who were threatened by landslides. About 30 people had to share one classroom of 40 square meters.
Marimuththu Rajareader, a former Meeriyabedda estate worker, said: “Older workers were completely abandoned by the government and the management. We all knew we were living in areas vulnerable to landslides. What to do? Where to go when no alternative places were offered? The government is doing nothing for us. Its only concern is about our votes.”
Rajareader added: “Neither Thondaman [the CWC leader] nor the government nor the estate management has given us any assurance of housing for us in a safer place. The estate superintendent and his deputy visited us here and requested that we report for work as they are facing a loss. Their sole concern is about money. Entire generations of our people have toiled to make profits for them. They offered us alternative housing, but in an area where a landslide occurred 60 years ago. They are going to push us into devastation again. We chased them away.”
In an attempt to downplay the scale of the disaster, the Rajapakse government has cut its estimate of the number of people killed in the Koslanda landslide to 34. The government’s Disaster Management Center (DMC), which earlier reported that 330 people lived in the affected area, reduced that number to 100. The DMC claimed that information had not yet been received about 78 of the 100 residents, but suggested that only 34 perished, with the remainder displaced somewhere.
Meeriyabedda workers housed at the Poonagala Tamil School condemned this attempt to revise the casualty figures. They said the government was simply trying to cut its expenses for affected people.
Election's Commissioner leaving of the island leaves Maithripala Sirisena in the Lurch!
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Appointed MP & Unofficial Town Crier A H M Azwer resigns as a MP! - Updated
All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC) Eastern Provincial Councillor Amir Ali to parliament through the national list to fill the vacancy created by A.H.M. Azwer’s resignation.
Tetley tea blender's tongue insured for £1m
From BBC
Tetley tea
blender, Sebastian Michaelis, will join a number of celebrities who have body
parts insured, with his employer set to have his tongue covered for £1m. He
tests over 1,000 cups of tea per week and can name the variety or blend of a
tea within 15 seconds.
Mr
Michaelis, who now belongs to an exclusive club of celebrities who have had
their assets insured, such as Jennifer Lopez's bottom and Keith Richards'
hands; also revealed that tea is brewed for six minutes for the tastings.
However, he
said that he is still allowed to eat hot foods, and doesn't have to be too
careful with what he consumes, unless it "is right before" he
conducts a tasting.
This clip is
originally from 5 live drive on Wednesday 26 November 2014.
Audio & News Clip BBC 5live Clip from BBC:-
AUDIO: Tea blender's tongue insured for £1m
Enemies Of The President’s Promise: Bash-Ful
By Rajiva Wijesinha
- From Colombo Telegraph
Undoubtedly
the most bizarre of the characters who influenced the President in the period
after the election of 2010 was Sajin Vas Gunawardena. He was not a relation,
and he did not have the professional or academic credentials of the other
characters discussed here. Indeed he had hardly any qualifications but, ever
since Mahinda Rajapaksa became President, he occupied positions of trust and
responsibility.
It was
claimed that the reason for the confidence the President reposed in him was
because, while a clerk in the Middle East, he had helped the President with the
technology during a presentation that might otherwise have been a disaster. But
it is also likely that, after they thus became acquainted, he was able to serve
the President in a variety of ways that commanded his affection and his
confidence.
The first
escapade in which he was involved under a Rajapaksa Presidency was the setting
up of a budget airline. Called Mihin Air, in honour of Mahinda, it rapidly lost
a lot of money, though Sajin himself became very wealthy during his tenure in
office. Before long Mihin Lanka was handed over to Sri Lankan Airlines to be
managed, and the losses of both together – the Board of the latter chaired by
the President’s brother-in-law Nishantha Wickremesinghe – continued a drain on
public funds for many years.
I first came
across Sajin when I was appointed to head the Peace Secretariat, and was told
that he was the point of liaison between the Secretariat and the President’s
Office. In fact he had no interest in or understanding of our work, and I
liaised mainly through the President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunge, though in
those days I generally had immediate access to the President if this was
needed.
I met Sajin
early on in my tenure of office, and then hardly ever again, though he came I
believe to the opening of the new office which had been built for us in the
premises of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall. When we
were deciding on the allocation of rooms in that office, my Director of
Administration suggested we keep a room there for the use of Sajin. This seemed
to me unnecessary, particularly as the room he suggested was the second best in
the building. I thought it should go to my Deputy, a retired Tamil ambassador
named Poolokasingham, whose stature I thought needed to be established. I told
the Director that, since Sajin had not come to the office for a long time, all
we needed to do if in fact he wanted a room was to set aside one of the smaller
rooms at the end of the main corridor. I heard nothing more after that about
that particular suggestion, and I think the Director was secretly relieved,
though he had thought it was his duty to keep Sajin happy and thus prevent any
recriminations against the Secretariat in general, and me in particular.
Whether this contributed to his later animosity against me I do not know, but
the experience of our High Commissioner in London, Chris Nonis, indicated that
Sajin wanted his importance to be recognized, and resented anyone else who had
a direct link to the President.
But way back
in 2007, Sajin was more interested in his own political career, and during the
next couple of years he was elected to the Southern Province Provincial
Council. Then, in 2010, he got nomination for the Galle district for the
Parliamentary election, and did reasonably well. In Parliament he was one of
the young MPs in the group around Namal Rajapaksa but initially he had no executive
responsibilities.
All that
changed with the realization that the Ministry of External Affairs was in a
mess, and he was appointed to be its Monitoring Member of Parliament. That was
the only serious Monitoring MP position, and one heard hardly anything of the
few others who had been appointed, until that is Duminda Silva, attached to the
Ministry of Defence, was involved in the death of Bharatha Premachandra,
another SLFP politician from the Colombo district.
Sajin’s
appointment to the Ministry of External Affairs raised eyebrows since it was
clear he had no understanding of foreign policy but, as the President once put
it when he was asked the purpose, at least now the Ministry sent answers to
letters it received. This was not in fact the case, given that the Ministry
failed to respond to the queries from holders of Special Mandates under the
Human Rights Council in Geneva. And more seriously, the Indian Ministry of
External Affairs noted that one contributory factor to the decision to vote against
Sri Lanka in Geneva in 2012 was the failure of Sri Lanka to respond to a letter
from the Indian Prime Minister about its plans re devolution. But presumably
Sajin was able to attend swiftly to many routine matters, that had suffered
since the first Secretary to the Ministry under GL had been dying of cancer and
unable to fulfil his duties.
Certainly
before long he was seen as the virtual decision maker at the Ministry, since GL
was not only a hopeless administrator, but was also quite ready to abdicate decision
making to someone he knew was very close to both the President and Namal. In
any case many appointments had become the prerogative of the President, a
practice begun by President Jayewardene who not only made political
appointments to ambassadorial posts, a practice that had occurred previously as
in many other countries, but also to junior positions in our missions abroad.
Under President Rajapaksa this became the norm, and all sorts of individuals
were appointed to a host of different positions all over the world. These
included relations to vital positions, in Washington and Moscow. The former
ambassador, a cousin, was a disaster, allowing relations with the United States
to deteriorate to appalling levels, whilst using expensive lobbyists with no
apparent understanding of the Sri Lankan situation or any perceptible influence
in Washington. As Head of the Peace Secretariat I met a couple of
representatives of different groups, all commanding excessive fees, but with no
positive impact. They were quite unlike a British firm that was later employed
through the influence of the Central Bank Governor, though against this
initiative there were public attacks and, after their advice had been ignored,
as with for instance the President’s absurd attempt to address the Oxford Union
in 2010, they were got rid of.
In 2014
however it became obvious that it was the American lobbyists who should have
been the object of greater scrutiny, since it was reported that the ambassador
had himself made money on the deals. It was also reported that he had profited
from the protracted hospitalization of the Prime Minister in America. All this
came on top of the story that he had been paid a commission in buying a house
for the embassy in Washington, which had led to the Americans quietly but
firmly insisting that he be removed.
The answer
of the Ministry of External Affairs had been to transfer him to Canada. This
was doubly absurd, since the government had only just received agreement for a
new High Commissioner who was a professional and highly respected diplomat. But
it was not pointed out to the President how shameful such a move was, and the
Ministry, which he claimed was now administratively on an even keel, existed,
it seemed, only to satisfy personal predilections as well as building up
fortunes. And the double standards involved were quite apparent, in the manner
in which Dayan Jayatilleka had been persecuted, when he had been scrupulous in
following established procedures, and was never thought in anyone’s wildest
dreams to have been interested in, or capable of, making money for himself. But
given the domination of the Ministry by operators such as Sajin and Kshenuka
Senewiratne, who was able to get an audit query about her conduct suppressed,
it is not surprising that anyone who felt inclined thought they had carte blanche
to profit from government positions.
In any case
the idea of a coherent sustained foreign policy had died with Lakshman
Kadirgamar, whose assassination in 2005 was, along with that of President
Premadasa in 1993, perhaps the most destructive for Sri Lanka of the many acts
of terrorism the Tigers perpetrated. Chandrika Kumaratunga appointed her
brother as Foreign Minister for the few months that remained to her of office,
and then President Rajapaksa first appointed Mangala Samaraweera, who had been
one of his predecessor’s most loyal supporters, but had, unlike her, supported
him actively in the 2005 Presidential election. But they soon fell out, and
Rohitha Bogollagama was appointed instead, and in essence allowed foreign
policy to be decided in various quarters in various ways. The most coherent of
these was the work done by Dayan Jayatilleka in Geneva, reporting direct to the
President, but with his dismissal the hopes of a constructive engagement with
the world, based on the traditional policy of Non-Alignment that had stood the
country in good stead under Mrs Bandaranaike, vanished.
Sajin’s
advent then saw, not monitoring to ensure that the Ministry was well run, but
the entrenchment of decision making on the basis of personal predilection.
Kshenuka Senewiratne, whose ability to manipulate people was brilliant, twigged
early on to his importance and nailed her colours firmly to his mast. The two
of them proceeded to work together, and indeed to giggle together, a common
phenomenon in Geneva in March 2012 when the rivalry between GL Peiris and
Mahinda Samarasinghe became obvious.
They had
seemed there to be more supportive of the latter but, after the crushing defeat
in the Council, he was abandoned, and they worked together closely with GL.
When I wrote a piece to the papers about what I saw as her pernicious
influence, GL complained to the President, who called me up and said I should
not criticize public officials who were not able to respond. I told him that,
when they were behaving in a manner that could bring the country low, I could
not keep quiet. His answer was that I should rather write in confidence to the
Minister or the Secretary. I told him that there would certainly be no
response, at which point he started laughing. This was the type of attitude
which endeared him to many, and one could not get annoyed, but it was certainly
no way to run a country.
Predictably,
though I wrote at length, there was no answer. I asked the Secretary to the
Ministry about this but he told me that, since it was a contentious issue, he
had asked the Secretary to the President for advice. Predictably again Lalith
Weeratunge ignored the letter, and there was no investigation of the various
actions that I believed had contributed to the sad situation in which Sri Lanka
found itself in 2012.
Over the
next couple of years the incoherence at the Ministry of External Affairs became
worse. Our ambassador in Rome, Asitha Perera, was suddenly recalled, and there
were allegations in the papers that he had been involved in people smuggling.
This was preposterous, for in fact he had tried to stop it, and had worked well
together with the Italian Embassy in Colombo to put a halt to visas being given
to all and sundry on the request of various officials in the Foreign Ministry. Asitha
was deeply depressed, and died shortly after he returned to Sri Lanka.
Just after
he was dismissed, he called me from Rome and said I had predicted this. I had
forgotten the matter, but indeed soon after Tamara’s dismissal I had written an
article in which I predicted that four other very good ambassadors serving in
Europe would all suffer her fate.
This Man Maithripala
By Shyamon
Jayasinghe - Colombo Telegraph
Sri Lankans
are not an unfortunate people. We know that they are never vanquished by famine
and drought. The Tsunami came, but that was a rare regional geological oceanic
shift. A bit of flood comes now and then. The land is defined by scenic beauty;
it is fertile for any tropical cultivation. People are quick at learning,
imitating and creating. They are intelligent and free in spirit. The light of
the Dhamma came early in the island’s history and spread throughout the
villages and towns for many centuries. Through humanity’s historical
evolutionary process a diversity grew in a tolerant atmosphere-a diversity in
ethnicity and religion that was just thrown into a lovely curry pot. The island
quickly got over political ups and downs and found solutions to political
crises. The latest solution is now bigger than life before us: Ayubowan,
Maithripala Sirisena!
I was most
impressed listening and watching to the video going round of the speech that
Maithri delivered at the UNP Headquarters before a UNP audience of stalwarts
and rank and file. This is a genuine leader born of Lankan soil, I thought.
Maithri instantly grasped his audience’ aspirations and apprehensions-which is
the most important thing for a public speaker. He knew there were many doubts
and suspicions and misunderstandings among the men and women of the Grand Old
Party that have been long in the political drought. He effectively and dramatically
pressed the button on the real crisis issue that all Lankans regardless of
party affiliation do face today: In a third term, Mahinda Rajapaksa will leave
no party left in the country-only a solitary dictatorship! The island is
slipping fast toward the dictatorial paradigm, he warned.
Maithri
SMaithri beautifully reminded his audience of the great Gandhi who gave himself
up for a noble cause. He reminded the audience about Nelson Mandela who
languished in prison for 27 years; how he achieved his power- goal, completed
his mission for South Africa, never asked for another term and handed over to
another leader elected under democratic rule. The audience gave Maithri a
rapturous endorsement when he said: “I am no Gandhi. I am no Nelson Mandela. But
I regard the spirituality and philosophy of these personages in the highest
esteem.” Maithri gave just 100 days to demolish the Executive Presidential
system and restore parliamentary democracy in Sri Lanka under which every party
can live and compete peacefully for the popular vote.
I thought,
for an ordinary farmer’s son who grew in a colonization scheme built by DS
Senanayake (Maithri mentioned this) this was most amazing. I have listened to
Oxford-educated politicians of Sri Lanka but the latter were no par with the
understanding that Maithri exhibited. He showed considerable restraint, used
the right metaphors and demonstrated a clarity of thinking that converted me
into a fan. To a cognitively receptive and intelligent person political
experience is adequate to impart a sophisticated level of self-education, I
thought. Here is a leader with his feet firmly on the ground who does rise far
above ground.
Sri Lankans
must join hands to shed this path toward a dictatorial system that most
unfortunately its current President has set out to inflict on the people. Sri
Lankans, unlike citizens inhabiting the arenas of dictatorial establishments in
countries like Africa, are an intelligent, literate, educated,
freedom-loving people. Democracy has
been comfortably rooted in this beautiful island. Many a time have Sri Lankans
exercised their franchise to change governments. This very possibility of
change acted as a check and balance on a ruling elite. It was an open society
that the island possessed. Diversities had been respected and popular consent
constantly sought. Information was open. Why on earth has Mahinda Rajapakse
sought to lock the island in a dictatorial system? Mahinda does have a problem
with his close associates and sycophants who have contributed toward a delusional personality
disorder that he now suffers from. The end would be that the people will forget
even the good he had done.
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