Dr. Sudath Gunasekara Mahanuwara

The above Sinhala Adage came to my mind as I was watching what is going on in the political field around us. What this famous saying connotes is once you have given your coconut estate on an outright lease there is no point in looking for a coconut from that place because you have disowned all your rights to have any claims on any fruits there. This is exactly what has already happened to Mahinda Rajapaksa and what will happen to President Sirisena as well very soon, though he boasts just now that he will not allow anyone to topple ‘His Government” till 2020.

Episode 1

Main Actor Mahinda Rajapaksa

Now let us first see as to who paved the way for the present political instability and confusion that prevails in this country at the moment. It was none other than Mahinda Rajapaksa (probably who was in the same frame of mind as MS is just now) who started it, knowingly or unknowingly, I do not know, when he first decided to have early Presidential Elections. I wrote to the Secretary to the President on 1.12.2014 and my first advice was not to have early Presidential elections. I strongly argued against it firstly as there were two more years in hand and as the ‘bird in hand is worth more than ten in the bush.’ Secondly there is no guarantee that it could be easily won as MR and his advisors think, as there is growing displeasure and opposition right round the country. I said the Government is heading for serious trouble unless it takes immediate remedial measures to arrest this situation. I also sent him a memorandum consisting 100 suggestions called Siya Panatha prepared by ‘Mahanuwara Jesta Puravesi Sanvidhanaya’ for him to implement, at least what was highlighted, before the next election. I suggested a series of corrective measures among which I list few important ones below.

Reduce the mega Cabinet to at least 25

If he cannot remove, at least distance all the bad eggs

Abolish the 13^th A and the Provincial Councils system and re-establish the Ruhunu, Pihiti and Maya Tun Rata so that not only the government can cut public expenditure and the number of politicians by 2/3 (from nearly 873 to 320 approx)

Abolish the Proportional Representation system and ensure a Mp for Every electorate System

Restore an independent Judiciary and Public service and meritocracy to be the hallmark of public service

Restore Law and order and Rule of Law

Abolish duty free Vehicle system for politician. Public servant and a selected few

Ban all ethnic & religious political parties

Ban religious dignitaries entering politics

Removal of Pensions for politicians and enormous privileges given to them and convert it to a service to people

Restore death penalty

Enactment of a strict code of ethics and discipline for politicians and state officers Going back to Traditional Village council system

Setting up a Senate of about 35Abolition of International Schools

Banning establishment of mono-ethnic settlement a n destabilizing mixed settlements under new schemes

Resettlement of all Sinahla and Muslim s displace by the LTTE  banning sending women slaves to Middle east and other countries and generating jobs within the country to save our women and the civilization

Implement the Recommendations of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission of 1951 by setting up the Special Development Authority recommended therein to ameliorate the problems of Kandyan Peasants. No one should forget that Kandyan areas have 1/3 the total voter strength of the country

Tax concession to development sector such as Agriculture, Industry, fisheries and tourism etc

Take corrective measures to build up a new image and people’s confidence before you go for the next election.

Take measures to reduce cost of living and measures for the people to feel this is a peoples Government and not a government of politicians and high officials.

But unfortunately I did not get even a reply

What you think would have happened if at least few of these major issues had been attended to?

This letter was re-published in the Lankaweb of 1^st Sept 2015. Anyone interested in details could read it there please.

I really do not know whether this was brought to the notice of MR in time. Anyway nothing happened as requested.THE Government decided to go ahead with the Election

Mahinda went ahead with his own plan

MR living in his own dream land did not care a cent. Unfortunately he miserably failed to make a proper assessment of the Sirisena factor. He ignored it as a subject not worth discussing at all Perhaps thanks to his intelligence network he didn’t know that a master conspiracy lead by Chandrika was going on in the background at least from 2012 to depose him and oust his government. Perhaps he may not have heard the saying Achintitampi Bhavati-Chintitampi vinassati”, which I included in my E mail of 1^st Dec 2014 to Lalith as well.

So in this backdrop he allowed My3 to contest Presidential elections as the common candidate while remaining as the General Secretary of the SLFP? MR being a Sinhala village based politician devoted to the SLFP may have had confidence in the majority rural electorate and may have thought like in 2010, MS also want be a threat. But if I were MR I would have never taken a chance and sacked MS immediately from the post of General Secretary and appointed someone else faithful to me and the Party to that post, not heeding to   Sumanadasa or any other sycophant Andare or Advisor around me, firstly for leaving and betraying the Party to contest under another Party and thus violating the Party Constitution and secondly as I know it for certain that he cannot be trusted for a Dime after that. Thirdly for he will be a bigger threat in future if he wins the elections and join with those who are against the SLFP and the UPFA. MR should also have been mindful of the Chandrika factor backed by her Western friends and India. But he did not do that either probably he thought he is invincible or trusted Ms as he sat with him at a now ‘famous and historic Hopper dinner’ at the Temple Trees the previous night as well. What I can’t understand is as to what the hell Rajapaksa’s private intelligence unit had been doing as now it been revealed that this coup had being going on for two long years.

Let bygones be bygones. Having failed to nip it in the bud he should have done it at least after elections to prevent the new President trying to take over the SLFP and the UPFA leadership as its leader and the SLFP Secretary. Then again when those acholites visited him at Medamulana after the elections and proposed that the leadership of the Party be given to Ms, he should have taken the stand that that can never be done and should not be done either as he has already ceased to be a SLFP or UPFA member the moment he left to be the common candidate. Further, he knows MS stands as the leader of a separate group. As such he has no claim at all under the SLFP Constitution to ask for it. Instead of that what did MR do? He went and handed over all that on a platter to the new President conferring him legitimacy to exercise full control over all matters under the Party Constitution. (This is like handing over the sword to the adversary in a battle whiles you hold on to the sheath).Had he not handed over the leadership of the Party President Sirisena would never have been able to touch anything within the SLFP or the UPFA.  Therefore things like appointing the two secretaries of UPFA and SLFP and taking control of their Central committees would have never happened. I am lost to understand as to in what part of their anatomy they have their brains, if they have one.

This in brief is how Mahinda Rajapaksa dug his own grave and paved the highway for the present disaster.

 They who persuaded MR to hand over the Leadership after the Election.

They were the next culprits who brought about this disaster.

Now not only MR but also all others who failed to see this danger in advance and advice MR in time or those who connived with that blunder, should take the whole responsibility for all what has happened to the Party since then and the damages and disasters that will befall this Nation in the near future. None will be excused and none will be spared. If they had an atom of brain they should have, using the majority in the CC, changed the Party Constitution and got MR appointed as the Leader of the Party and contested the elections under his Leadership. Had that been done they would have definitely got more than 115 or even more seats.

Looking at the whole episode enacted by this group    of politicians and advisers from the beginning up to now it remind me of the role                                                                                                     of Karataka and Damanaka who advised Pingalaka the Lion and Sanjeevala the righteous Bull, the two crafty foxes, in Mitrabhedaya coming in Pachatantaraya.

Then came the General election. Most SLFP and UPFA members again persuaded MR to contest for the Premiership, may be with good intensions, but for obvious reasons as well on their part.  Personally I do not see anything wrong in his decision to have agreed to their request particularly going by the massive crowds gathered at some of those meetings. But again he made a mistake by agreeing to contest under his arch rival and adversary. His love and devotion to the Party a may have convinced him to do so. But it was definitely the biggest blunder he made. As I remember there was only one solitary man. That is my good friend Prof Nalin Silva who said don’t do that. He also said never trust MS. Perhaps he knew better than the whole gang of SLFP and UPFA politicians some of whom included Professors as well.  Nalin has proved that he is a better intellectual and a genius when he refused to accept the slot offered to him in the UPFA National list.  Had MR contested from another Party the story of Government today would have been  entirely different.

Having watched the Speakers pronouncement last week on the Appointment of Sambandan that he is appointing Sambandan as the Leader of the Opposition as there is no request from the UPFA and Wimal Weerawansas grievance that 65 of them have requested the President in writing that they wanted Welgama to be appointed as Opposition leader one gets utterly confused. It also shows that there was a preplanned arrangement on the part of the anti-MR group, if you don’t call it a coup, firstly to settle a deal with the TNA for helping the President at the Presidential election by casting the entire North and East Tamil vote to him and secondly to stop any other person’s name been put forward as a division would have definitely prevented Sambandan getting elected. It looks a treacherous conspiracy than democracy to anyone having an atom of brain. I do not know as to why Weeravansa and group did not simultaneously hand over two more copies of the same letter given to the President to the Speaker and the Party secretary as well.’ Going even a little further they should have had a spare name in Anura Disanayaka or anyone else in their camp ready by mutual agreement submitted to all three persons. It is common sense that they should have known before hand what President is having in his mind and taken sufficient precautions to counter that mischief if they were smart.  In this context the President had out done all of them. What a shame?

To be continued: Episode 11; Why should we have a Constitution at all if that could be breached at will by one man with impunity, that is the head of the State?