Thursday, January 31, 2013

So what is in store at the next UNHRC sessions? Any guesses!!



Another chance squandered to restore the Country’s reputation within the International Community. No I don’t mean with the Western Nations only, but within all nations that have faith in the rule of law and more importantly international law to which we, Sri Lanka, is a signatory and has agreed to abide by.

It is therefore an absolute unadulterated disgrace when the Govt. is taking this Country down the sewer just to be bloody minded and assert a level of independence that is meaningless. It is important when we belong to International Organizations, and when we sign international treaties that they are done for the benefit of the Citizens of Sri Lanka, not some other tin pot western power.

Our leaders believe it is for outsiders, as they don’t even understand what is meant by the treaties in the first place. It is to govern how countries conduct themselves in the international arena. So the implementation of the LLRC recommendations, which were merely home grown solutions to our home grown conflict, seems to be ignored, there are consequences. The visiting US delegation of bureaucrats did their homework and went back to write the report which will be submitted by the US govt. at the UNHRC sessions, and we already know what the charges will be no matter what one would wish to say to defend the country.

It is therefore even more bizarre when it is announced that the Country is going to hire at huge expense, some PR agencies to bat for Sri Lanka, when the outcome of the UNHRC sessions is now a foregone conclusion, and there is nothing the PR agencies can do to alter the outcome. If only the people of Sri Lanka understood how profligate this Govt. is with their money, they would be appalled and will hold each and every member of this Govt. to task. However they are in the proverbial get away with murder scenario again.

All I ask the SL govt. is to keep this money, send a small delegation, and put a brave face on a challenge, without reacting with nasty threatening statements. The members of the UNHRC will cut more slack if this is done with modesty and not extravagant buffoonery which is what is planned. The results will also be more positive and lot more could be achieved with far less cost. Ambassador Ariyasinha knows how to tackle the issues at hand, and he will do a good job, but please let him use his discretion and do not try to smother his optimism, by getting foreign charlatans to try and put the wool over the eyes of the delegates. In fact I do not think a delegation should be sent either. One minister along with the Embassy staff in Geneva can handle the job perfectly and the country thankful for their services.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Vallible One directors should be sued for misrepresentation at the IPO



At the time of the multibillion rupee IPO for Vallible One, which was preceded by allotments of shares to high net worth individuals and corporates, an activity that is now illegal, there were representations made as to what the Company was planning on doing with the funds they raised.

Whilst the main assets of Vallible One were shares that had been transferred by Mr Dhammika Perera of well known Companies, there was a further promise of a huge investment of over US$50M in a 5 star hotel project in Negombo.

The IPO was completely based on the funds needed for this acquisition, and the numbers presented to prospective shareholders were based on the expected cash flows from this investment in the future.

What happened after the IPO? An investment of Rs3B was made in acquisition of Delmege where insiders of Vallible including Nimal Perera made an unconscionable insider dealing profit and was not queried anywhere. Now it is shown that the main asset of Delmege being property has not been collateralized sufficiently to release investment funds, and therefore that investment is actually losing money. Along with that cash drain, the whole Hotel Project has been temporarily shelved with no idea when it will commence.

Simply put, the shareholders of Vallible One, and I am really referring to minority shareholders, as the main shareholders are party to the conspiracy, have been duped of their investment. The SEC MUST make a stand on this and bring the Company to book to at least COMPENSATE small shareholders for the misrepresentation made at the time of the IPO.

It is preposterous that shareholders due to their exalted position are able to dupe innocent people of their savings by making false representations and being able to get away with it without any consequences. It is this sort of pillaging of other people’s savings that take place in a robber baron’s world of the past, which Sri Lanka still seems to be in. It is impossible to draw foreign investors in to Sri Lanka if this example is allowed to go unpunished and it is high time the authorities step in and act. If they do not this will further be an example of politicization of Commerce where there is NO LEVEL PLAYING FIELD from which these people can operate without being held accountable. Let it be an example that no one can get away with fraud, no matter what the position of the person is, if we are to get over this Banana Republic tag and move on to the next level.  

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Bribery Commissioner’s Officers are worse than Police Officers! - the case of Canagasabai Ranjan



It is well known that the Police Department in Sri Lanka extracts confessions using heavy handed techniques. It is usually the innocent parties that are accused who face the real wrath as they face considerably more harassment and abuse, and physical torture as it is assumed they are guilty before being innocent.

So it takes a lot of courage for an innocent person to get through torture and come out of a false charge, as he or she is traumatized from the episode. Some have been killed under torture and no charges have been brought against the offending law enforcement officers.

It appears that a worse case of this occurred with the bribery officers named in the article in the link who will most likely not face disciplinary procedures for their illegal behavior towards an innocently accused official of the Customs Department. The accused has said that the treatment meted out to him by the Bribery Commission was worse than one would expect from the Police, and the former are supposed to have some sense of propriety, even if the latter still suffer from their past practice.


The Tamil customs officer Canagasabai Ranjan with 30 years impeccable service in the department on the eve of a promotion to additional Director General of Customs was accused of soliciting a Rs1M bribe inside the Customs Department.

The very person who could not be bought off by a crook who imported spares by false declarations, was accused by the same crook and made to undergo inhuman threats from the same crooks cronies, and was held under interrogation until finally being released on bail pending the legal process which will take a long time to go through.

If he has good legal advice he will no doubt make an FR claim and include the fact that he was deprived of a promotion as a result too, as well as all the harassment he had to undergo, due to a corrupt customs service, where honest people find it hard to work in when big shots in the customs have habitually taken the biggest single bribes outside of politicians in Sri Lanka. 

One only has to look at the wealth of customs officials when they join the service and the net worth when leaving to determine how fraudulent some of the officials are. It therefore is a travesty of justice that all honest officials have to work under trying conditions with these threats just because they are incorruptible.

I trust he will be able to obtain good legal advice and be able to clear his name without recourse to a lot of time and stress, and let us hope the real culprits will be apprehended and charged. 

Sunday, January 27, 2013

At least Ned Kelly was a scoundrel who helped the poor


– our highway robbers are Members of Parliament – they are not in jail or under indictment! Why?

The infamous outlaw of 19thC Australia, Ned Kelly and his Gang of highway robbers was a champion of the poor and a folklore celebrity, much like Saradial of Utumankande in the hills on the way to Kandy, due to his sharing of the spoils.

Today’s breed of outlaws do their deeds by proxy. They use their cronies to collect kappang (protection money) from all manner of transport that cross their area, much like highway robbers of the past. So all lorries that ply from Mahiyangana and Manampitiya with Mahaweli Sand, despite paying off local pols for permits and mining rights are asked for money when they pass the jurisdiction of local MPs. Then worse, the buses that ply almost all routes have to pay small amounts of protection money, to local warlords, all with various tags of elected representatives, even in the heart of Colombo. Ask a local bus owner how much has to be parted on each journey and when one multiplies this over all the buses and routes just in Colombo, it amounts to over Rs10M a day.

These costs in the end are borne by the hapless consumer, commuter who gets landed for all these add-ons, unknowingly of course, but indirectly by his foolishness in helping to elect the rascal he has given his vote for.

So it comes as no surprise when one rogue MP used his goons to beat up and break the hands of another rogue MP, both of whom are guilty of running protection rackets. The Case in point was a Badulla District MP, peeved that a Matale District MP was taking money when the sand lorries of the followers of the former were passing through the area of the latter, had assaulted and broken the MPs hand!

These two bit goons, make a pretense of being very honorable, one writing frequently to the papers extolling the virtues of this and that, whilst actually being nothing more or less than a common criminal. Worse, they are both UPFA MP’s in Parliament, confirming what is already known that behind any scheme of extortion is a sitting MP receiving protection because they claim some commonality with the ruling cabal.

Due to press censorship and threats to media, we only hear about isolated incident, when there is some publicity of an MP being hospitalized due to a fracas, but it is a daily event, with numerous two bit players engaging in turf wars and old fashioned gang warfare in a seemingly crime free country that has replaced terrorism with an even worse form of authorized daily community crime spree, under the radar.

Open tomorrows Newspaper to read the next installment, just be sure to read between the lines, as the Press Censorship forbids the naming and shaming of Celebs!

The Bodu Bala Sena – they have reached the limits of absurdity –

do we now ignore them or suppress them by accusing them of illegal activity?

The latest step of the daily litany of bizarre behavior by a militant band of self proclaimed Buddhists, is the storming of a hotel in the Southern Coastal Belt, because the word “Nirvana” was used in the description of a dinner a group of tourists were having at a hotel. If this is any indication of things to come, very soon there will be sufficient incidents to deter tourists from visiting Sri Lanka.

If we determine that certain words are offensive to people in Sri Lanka, then let us prepare a booklet for all including the tourists of the words that we are unable to use as it may offend sensitivities. One cannot keep adding to that saying they have forgotten!!!

When I use the word Nirvana, I do not necessarily associate it in the Buddhist context, but if it is hurtful to the religion, then it has to be included in the booklet if it is to be banned. We cannot pick on words as and when and create a scene!

All religions must be consulted and terms in each religion must be included. After all I believe Muslims do not like the word Mohammed referred to in a derogatory way, though I know enough derogatory people called Mohammed who are using the name of the prophet in vain, but that appears to be allowed. That is also a reflection of the schizophrenic nature of these religious extremists. They are inconsistent in their hatred in their extremism, and are merely opportunistic.

This latest act, and now I am not restricting it to this particular group as new groups appear to outdo the other in their religious intolerance, and lo and behold they seem to be tolerated by the Govt. effectively implying that they receive their blessings. Accordingly no matter any words to the contrary this govt. is fuelling religious intolerance by their inaction and lack of understanding of the seriousness of what is taking place. This inflammatory behavior is the beginning of a crisis in religious intolerance, and if it is not nipped now, the consequences are too awful to speculate on.

At the root of this issue is the clear distinction in the Constitution that this is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, and the non acceptance of this both by the Hela Urumaya and the fringe groups. Unless the Govt. takes a firm stand and asserts this fundamental clearly and precisely, we will have this continuing.

IF the Govt. does not wish to do so, then make the contrary statement as required by the extremists and live with the Consequences. Only then will people really understand how wrong they have been in following charlatans, and that their Govt. is also part of, where they by their actions have abused the religion they profess to preach and should be banned by their own religious leaders as unauthorized people spreading falsehood and hate, funded by an INGO to destroy the country. 

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Three US bureaucrats have just come to do their job – we are all at sea!!!



Three minor officials in the state and defense department of the US are in Sri Lanka to check the progress of our implementation of the LLRC recommendations before the next UNHRC meeting, so that they can report to their Govt. which will through their Ambassador in the UN deliver their judgment in sessions beginning at the end of February. The officials are equivalent to department heads in Sri Lanka of which there are hundreds, and our media have gone to town to call them top level officials who will meet with our leaders. How comic!

If any reader wishes to verify how lowly these three officials are, just go to the websites of the US State Department and you can get their background, experience, schooling etc. Its all there, no surprises. Further you can realize how low they are in the pecking order of the State Department (foreign office in the US)

Yes, we MUST understand that according to their standards, our senior ministers who they will meet are just tin pots in a Banana Republic, and thus deserve only to be met by a low level (not high level) delegation from the US. The irony is completely lost on our officialdom, that even Bob Blake the Undersecretary of State for South Asian Affairs, whose territory SL falls into, even does not wish to waste his time meeting with our leaders!!

It is sad that our big-uns think so highly of themselves, when in the matters of world geopolitics, our leaders and their minions are nobodies, just cuckolds who need to be played with from time to time, so that the officials from the US can pad up their experience and resumes, that is about the whole point of the exercise.

Further in the classified documents the US Embassy in Colombo have been sending Washington DC, they have clearly stated, “there is no point in sending higher level US officials, as they will not be understood by this Govt. and they would be either deaf to the real concerns the US has or would more than likely contradict all points referred to them for action, as none of their business”.

So THIS IS THE RESULT OF THE CLASSIFIED MEMOS TO THE US DEPT OF STATE. Our slavish newspapers will give them coverage, something they will probably never have in any other country they visit due to the very low level nature of their work, but who can blame them for lapping VVIP status in Sri Lanka?

The SL Ambassador to the US just happens to be in Colombo, for the funeral of his mother, so he will stay on to play a part in the negotiations, but no amount of work on his part will be able to deter the officials from reporting back to head office, that SL’s answer to the promises amount to a “hill of beans”. There you are ambassador Wickremasuriya, you can promise your President everything but in the end you cannot achieve anything. There are rules and procedures that are followed by the US state department and there is nothing anyone can do about breaking them!!

Justice! – What Justice?


Fellow citizens no one is safe from injustice in Sri Lanka today. Even the most ardent supporters of the President today, may find themselves unable to seek justice tomorrow. So don’t feel secure by the thought that you because of your wealth or connections, you are immune from today’s system of justice. You simply are not safe. Many of those who understand that, have spirited the bulk of their wealth overseas, and those who are not wealthy have taken themselves out of Sri Lanka to live in places they believe still have some recourse to the law.

If you find your property in Colombo 7 worth Rs500M taken over by the state tomorrow there is nothing you can do. The UDA will show a law that says places of historical interest can be taken over and that yesterday your home was declared a place of historical interest and therefore you have to leave. You CANNOT appeal.  If or whether, you may get any compensation is not clear, and most likely you will not. Further you have no idea who will occupy your land. This is just an example of what can happen, but it goes for someone run over by a Govt. minister’s vehicle, or someone beaten up by Govt. goons or worse killed by anyone under direct orders or by someone close to even the first dog!

So this applies to all, be it a Buddhist priest or beggar on the road. Put simply, “NO ONE IS SAFE” You have NO rights anymore in Sri Lanka, and you live today purely because you are lucky NOT to have fallen foul of an imbecile in the regime. So any supporter of the Govt. who reads this will NOT be immune.

It is this injustice that we common powerless citizens of Sri Lanka MUST fight against. Until there is a RULE of LAW where we have recourse to fair treatment, if we are wronged there is NO JUSTICE. Is anyone doubting that this is the state of play in Sri Lanka? Even under autocratic kings of Sri Lanka there was a fairer system of justice than we have at present. Today all that has to happen is that we fall foul of a regimite, and we are as good as gone! That is plain wrong and not what we have cast ballots, fought for independence, or demonstrated against.

We are not people funded by foreign NGOs for their masters, we have not been paid or bribed or given bottles of arrack to demonstrate. We have NOTHING to gain but EVERYTHING to lose by standing up for what is right. At least we know what is right and wrong, whilst our leaders seem to be too inebriated with the power they have been given that they fail to discharge their duties as fit and proper servants of the people, who they are. They have lost all sense of right from wrong. Let us therefore begin with simply explaining this to two others, and ask them to repeat it to two others also.

Let this be a warning that no one is safe, with those feeling most safe the most at risk. If you want examples, Shirani Bandaranayake is the most recent casualty.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Ironies galore and this time on the day that the Bharatha Lakshman statue was unveiled



Yesterday, 23rd January a statue of Bharatha Lakshman was unveiled in Kolonnawa, his political power base, by the Speaker Chamal Rajapakse. On the same date it was announced in the newspapers that his driver who has directly implicated Duminda Silva and his goons of firing at him in the incident where he was shot to death and Duminda Silva was injured, had recanted his statement, saying it was made under duress.

What does that seemingly innocuous statement mean? It is important to know that in SL, often after a murder or such event when all the evidence appears fool proof, a while after the event through some fixing of the evidence or the witness the facts are changed and the guilty are freed. So as in this case, if the driver’s evidence is now worthless as it was made under duress, Duminda potentially could be cleared of all blame in the incident in which he was clearly, along with his goons, guilty as hell in the shooting incident. His cronies are behind bars in remand.

This is the kind of country we live in. So if you are Bharatha Lakshman’s wife or daughter how would you feel when the Govt. plays a double game, whilst on one side seemingly supporting the memory of your loved one and in the same breadth allowing his murderer to go scott free by fixing the evidence?

If I was the kith and kin of Bharatha Laxman, I would have the courage to lay bare this chicanery and explain to people in simple English or in this case Sinhala what state the nation has stooped to change fact into fiction and pave the way of the regime’s favorites to get off scott free. They unfortunately have been compromised

I remind people that this will be the same ruse to release the murderer of the British National over a year ago, namely the Chairman of a Pradeshiya Sabha in the President’s area and a supposed close confidant of his. These are but examples where justice is not done and with the Judiciary nobbled to an even more alarming degree, there is no relief in a court of law for those wronged by this regime or its goons.

In a situation where the goons rule, all the people live in fear of challenging the rule of the goons. It is these people who must realize that in order to prevent their rights being completely trampled over, that only by force of numbers can they assert their rights, as the Regime have the arms, and the forces. If confronted by all the people in the land, they are unlikely to take the Rulers side in favor of the people’s rights. Therefore, People of Sri Lanka stand up and face the challenge.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Speculation is rife about the chop – Sajith Premadasa – where to from now?



The failure of the UNP working committee meeting on Monday to re-appoint Sajith Premadasa as the party’s deputy leader has created a round of speculation as to the intentions of the Party Leader who now has sole powers in whom he wished to appoint. ONLY if there is a quorum of one third of the WC members who have an alternative choice can another name be entered for a vote by the WC on a position. This is unlikely to happen in SP case as the WC overwhelmingly do not want SP in this position.

If there is anyone in SL politics who has done so much to reduce his own chances of leadership, it must be SP himself. He started so well, but from that point it has been downhill all the way. From the jokers he chose to defend him or extol his virtues, to the silly focus on a personal Sasunata Aruna program of giving Rs50K to places of worship, has done SP no end of harm in his leadership stakes.

It is arguable that he would be the strongest contender for the position had he not gone to bed with the Maharaja Organization in their tragic personal campaign against RW, and thus viewed as the point man in the Maharaja personal campaign against the UNP party leader. Whatever personal reasons the Chairman of Maharajah’s had in this anti Ranil campaign, UNPers of any sort should NEVER have climbed in board, if they valued their party. Any senior party member will never let his party down, no matter what personal grievances he may have with members within his own party.

It is now clear that SP will NEVER be given this position solely, at best he may have to share it with others. This calls into serious doubt his ability to lead the party at any time in the future, as other leaders will emerge in between that will usurp his position and perhaps by then, show him to be a charlatan that makes claims that do not stand up to scrutiny, just like most of what this Government does. He therefore becomes no different from any of the jokers who are in Govt. today. SO what of his future?

In my opinion his future is ONLY with the UNP and he would be foolish to form a breakaway. Thus far he has had very bad advice from Mother and wife, who I hope will stop doing so, allowing him to make up his own mind as to what he must do. I believe he should do what he is best at to go to the hinterlands and hold pocket meetings, not at rallies, but at homes, so he makes it a goal to speak to at least 200 people a day in homes, to convince the people that this Govt. has done nothing for the people of the country and only the UNP can, and thus redeem himself.

The Irony of inept statements is lost on the Govt. – the recall of our envoy in KSA



Hot on the heels of the execution of the innocent Rizana Nafeek thanks to the ineptness of the Government of Sri Lanka, and its coterie of overmanned ministerial posts, the comedy of errors continues.

As if to proclaim their disgust of the action by the authorities in KSA (Saudi Arabia – the only country named after a family) the Government made a statement through one of the Ministers, I cannot remember whom and whether he was even entitled to make a statement to that effect, that they have recalled the Ambassador as a sign of protest.

If they have any idea as to the protocol of these things recalling is instant, effectively the next plane back to Sri Lanka. Many planes have flown to Sri Lanka since the statement, but the Ambassador remains in KSA!!!!

Yesterday following on a question asked in Parliament by a UNP MP, the Govt. through the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that he would be back in the Island before the end of the month. In the history of recalls this must be the slowest recall of an Ambassador. No wonder then that Rizana met this fate as it was sheer procrastination on the part of the Govt. that sealed her fate. After all the first thing they should have done was to prove her age beyond reasonable doubt, something they could easily have done without much cost and effort.

When there is a Govt. that cannot take account of the basics how on earth can they go on to more complicated matters?

To dwell on the recall of the Ambassador what appears to be the reality is that the Ambassador is completing his assignment and closing stay there and is returning not to go back. SO the whole farce is now in the open, and we are so incompetent we do not appear to have the ability to express our disgust in normal diplomatic actions, namely the recall of the Ambassador. That is a shameful example of the ineptness of the Foreign Office and of the capabilities and management of this administration.

When will the populace learn that we currently have a government that cannot do anything right, and blames all on something called protocol that is invented for the benefit of the West and that Sri Lanka acts according to their own protocol, which means that none of our citizens overseas that contribute so much can be safeguarded as we do not agree with the way these safeguards are established!!!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

We have had this Divi Neguma long enough not to import vegetables!!!



Why don’t people in the country find irony in statements by Govt. officials time and time again. This Divi Neguma scheme launched at least 3 years ago was a start. It was so that people with small home gardens could plant vegetables to feed themselves first, mainly with organic inputs, so that the diet would also remain healthy and any surplus was supposed to be sent to the local pola to be sold off.

In theory this will bring down the prices of vegetables, as more enters the market and the laws of supply and demand operate. What really happened then to face unheard of prices of vegetables, when the humble grow anywhere aubergine is now Rs250/kg wholesale price!! Will you buy at this price?

It is NO GOOD blaming this on the weather, as supplies cannot diminish to such a great extent to result in such a massive price hike. In simple English it is time for people to realize that the Govt. has fooled them yet again with an unsustainable bogus scheme that wastes money and creates nothing out of it. Yes we can always find the needles in the haystacks of people who have done well out of the “Home Garden.” However that did not require Divi Neguma, only a little incentive for the green fingers to get a push start. It is encouragement and the environment to perform your work with dignity and without interference which is at the heart of this and NOT a hair-brained waste of Money called Divi Neguma.

Now the impeachment crisis has been overshadowed much to the Govt.’s pleasure by the spiraling prices of vegetables and statements meant to put fear into traders that they will import vegetables are part of the ruse to frighten people into submission and the electorate into believing that they are intent on putting a cap on the price rise. All this cock and bull story still does not get away from the fact that our vegetables as compared with our GNP and purchasing prices is today the highest in the world under this Rajapakse Administration. There is no point in blaming the vegetable trader mafia for this, even though they would definitely have taken advantage and the lack of a cohesive govt. policy on this to profit from.

Records such as this tumble the reputation of the Rajapakse Administration of Sri Lanka, but somehow the mud does not stick on the man here. Why is that? They are able to successfully diffuse the blame on some unexpected event like the floods this time. It is time we realize that there is a limit to passing the buck at one’s failure. It is important that we move forward with the correct policies to give relief to the farmers as well as at the same time that ALL consumers pay a reasonable price for their vegetables. This Govt. just have NO clue how to go about it!!

Matale Mass Graves! – Why is the unholy MESS taking time to unravel



As usual with everything, our sordid past is coming home to haunt us. Just when we thought we could hide from the 1989 era of youth disappearances where over 50,000 youth, overwhelmingly Sinhala were murdered in cold blood by the Army, for the likelihood of them having SOME affiliation with the JVP, the evidence of what happened is slowly surfacing by a chance discovery!

As with the times, and with the policies then, the evidence was hidden. None of the thousands of STILL GRIEVING mothers KNOW what happened to their kids, the possibilities of what may have happened are now laid bare.

Why is the Govt. pussyfooting on this very important matter? It is time we knew from today’s dating techniques of when it occurred and then go the next step to dig out the truth of what happened. This was during the Premadasa Presidency, and the Govt. if they were intent on undoing the UNP would have been very happy to speed up the investigation and lay blame.

Is it because this was another chapter in the sordid past of the Sri Lanka defense forces that we are frightened of to sully them, or an even more sinister reason?

If the reader wishes to find any clues, just go and search and you shall find. The information is on the Net. The Commanding officer of the Camp that was situated at that spot. He is a BEEEG fish today. Why is he worried? 

One must understand that anyone who acquires US citizenship who makes false claims about his past, can have his citizenship revoked. This has happened to Nazi war criminals who have been repatriated to face trial even at ages over 90. In this case the criminal is still at large and has returned to the Country of his birth. Why should he be so worried! 

Just think about it, how many people still living today in Sri Lanka and other countries to which they have migrated, have killed in cold blood and are still free!!!!

The slight technical problem is the proof after all these years, which only a few people know, including of course the perpetrator himself. It is about following military orders, or acting on one’s own sadistic tendencies. Unfortunately one cannot prevent the truth emerging one day, to blow the cover over a person’s alleged character, and when that happens that person will be nothing more than a despicable common criminal who has killed his own kind, after pretending in the US to be the person of unquestioned Sri Lankan patriotism! It is so easy for towers built of matchsticks to crash to nothing! It is important that people realize that pretence is the worst form of egotistical behavior. Let us hope that for the sake of the Sri Lanka Youth who perished then, that the truth will not be long in surfacing despite the hellish efforts to keep it under wraps by the Govt.

I have said it before and will repeat that the word Patriot in Sri Lanka is very closely becoming associated with the word Traitor.

We live in a Country with too many unanswered questions that people dare not ask for fear of their lives, but we owe it to our future to accept the Mea Culpa to the past, so that we WILL NOT repeat the past. Otherwise we will never be able to let go, making and repeating the same mistake time and again, and the people who are afraid of coming clean, doing so to save their skin, but who have and will hold a nation to ransom until we are able to come to terms with the truth.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Absurdity of it all – The enablers have been the most educated!



We have since the Tsunami handed a country on a platter to a myth called Rajapakse, courtesy of many intellectuals, who in the Judiciary, Academia, Media and Clergy have misled the poor, the frightened, the docile and the impressionable populace into a frighteningly stark sink hole from which there is  apparently NO return.

Much water has flowed into the sink hole since that fateful day, beginning with the now factual helping myself instead of Hambantota folly, legally helped or at least given the seal of approval by the then Chief Justice Sarath Silva.

The initial one man’s victory parade has now become a family concern with an unparalleled coterie with the same last name, both accounting for most of the spoils and having the dubious distinction of sharing them too.

There is no point in rehashing what has taken place since, namely that the bit players who helped in the process, from the Mangala Samaraweera’s, Sreepathi Sooriyarachchi’s, Sarath Fonsekas, Shirani Bandaranayakes, a coterie of Supreme Court judges who rubber stamped the 18th and then some, and a parliament of 100+ Ministers and a few MP’s (except for a few notable underworld thugs) have now been spat out like bitter pills that are hard to swallow. Some have yet to realize their fate.

If you ask anyone of them now, they will agree they never realized what a Frankenstien’s monster they have created, and if they realized it then, they would have made different choices. Too late chum, you were the people entrusted by the lesser mortals with the fate of the Country, and you blew it. You got sucked in hook line and sinker in this craftily calculated deception, of selling the country off to China for a few billion in hard currency. The very people who daily pontificate about international NGO conspiracies and foreign interference in our internal affairs, by the likes of CHOGMs, Banki Moons, Navin Pillays and the UN mob have sold our souls to the ultimate foreign interferer who could counter India the only power the rulers are really fearful of. By the way if India decides to interfere not even the Chinese will come to our aid, but the Billions are all socked away in foreign parts, safe from prying eyes.

The Chinese being craftier than the inward looking cabal, have done a deal with the Indians to share the spoils without a fight, as neither is keen on a prosperous Sri Lanka, something which in hindsight we could already have been but for the Ruling Rajapakse family who have eaten that chance. I repeat, it is the very people who should know better who have sold their birthright to traitors and foreigners. 

I will therefore not blame this country's plight on its masses, who have sustained a qausi democratic veneer, due to the very foolish, shortsighted, egotistical behavior of the above mentioned, intellectuals, intelligentsia, and people of stature, to whom the electorate look for guidance, and who have failed them with disastrous consequences.

I know we will overcome this setback, once we able to with difficulty explain to the people that they have been conned and why, before the so called patriot's treachery is laid bare, and the true patriots, the hard working long suffering people of the Country take it back. It is not a cake walk, but it is inevitable! So don't despair Mother Lanka.

Friday, January 18, 2013

The Politics of the undisclosed file – to keep the chickens from escaping



It is not a secret that today’s political power is enforced by threat and not by loyalty or genuine altruism for one’s fellow citizens. Gone are the days that people went into politics to give back to a nation that has given them the privilege of living and loving in this paradise isle. On that basis, families were brought up to sacrifice at least one member for the service of the Country, whilst other family members agreed to support the politician with funds required to carry out a campaign and ensure that the basic requirements of the electors were met, as well as of the politician himself. The latter was not greedy, nor was he ostentatious in trappings of wealth and merely lived simply, with his home open to deserving people who really needed help, a roof for the night or comfort in bereavement.

Today’s politician is a completely different person, who has got there by foul means, using largesse from donors with an agenda, with the intention of amassing an even larger fortune. The electors are mesmerized by the trappings of wealth and expect some of that to rub off on them, and therefore are prepared to cast their vote for the seemingly wealthy person in a fleet of luxury jeeps!

In reality this person is in debt to IOU benefactors, a bunch of banks, never paid taxes on ill gotten gains, lives off of protection rackets and possibly moonshine, where to ensure survival gets into politics, so he can obtain some form of credibility and the law, such as the police force will look the other way, in case the OIC of the Police Station is transferred from his lucrative base skimming off the top of every illegal activity.

What happens then is if they get together and elect a Head of State to further their needs, the latter knowing he must hold on to his power with the help of the local politicians, and elected seniors, goes about digging all the dirt on each and every person. They all have skeletons in their cupboards. Someone like the President has access to tax and other data, as well as enough on people through their enemies. These accusations are cleverly documented and filed.

Some of the grievous infringements are then shown to the offender and told that if he or she so decides to defect they will be exposed mercilessly and therefore MUST tow the line. This also happened in reverse where a bunch of opposition stalwarts are shown their files and asked to defect, if they were not going to be exposed! Further they were offered ministerial posts and the carrots were enough to defect and give him the two thirds majority. He keeps them all in line by this threat and until these people are able to put country before self, and NOT hold onto the status quo.

They are so foolish not realizing that this file is not worth paper it is written on as in any case as the Country does not have an independent Judiciary all powers, file or not are with one man, and so murders can be committed at will with no recourse except in hell! or the after life!

It is time for those who are frightened to sheer out the fright, and join the fight for justice, as it is the only soul saving action available to them, where they can die today or  much later with dignity, and not be blackmailed, by a person with lower standards of conduct. There simply is no other way for them who believe in a day of reckoning for one's sins.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Mohan Peiris for CJ – Is he the only one willing to accept the position? Yep he is!



Only in Sri Lanka can a leader disregard any propriety of behavior by appointing a knowingly biased, Presidential Advisor (Legal Affairs) as the replacement for CJ Shirani Bandaranayake. No one, yes NO ONE in their right mind would do such thing. Yet we have a “devil may care” attitude or “You Dare Me to do otherwise” attitude on the part of the President in making such openly contentious appointment whilst sticking two fingers at impartiality in making such a decision.

I do not wish to comment on his tenure as an Attorney General, but once he was appointed a Presidential Advisor, all bets were off, on whether he is or not a good judge, impartial and has all the tact and finesse to gain the respect of the Court and the people at large.

In the end it is the people of the Country that matter. The President of Sri Lanka by his shameful attitude has told the people that he does not care two hoots for them, and that he will do ANYTHING to legitimize his stay even if he has to get people who are forced to possibly against their will, do as he orders, and not by conscience, knowledge and using basic principles of right and wrong that guide civilized society.

It therefore goes without saying that all who endorse this behavior are as guilty as the initiator in these sins of commission and omission against the state of Sri Lanka. It is this latter that we must try and get the population at large to insist on change, who through their current state of ignorance permits such outrageous acts of treachery to be committed in the name of “the Rule of Law”.

If all lawyers cannot down tools, (stop work) until this matter is resolved, then I am afraid they are as guilty of wrong doing and greed as purveyors of instant gratification instead of principle, and therefore do not deserve the respect of the Nation as a whole. It is only they who can bring the administration of Justice to its knees as other mortals do not have the capacity to do so. It is to them that we look for leadership, as in this case there is little that a very impotent opposition, starved of funds and ability to get their message across to the populace, can do.

So all those who read this blog, please ask yourselves, how can a person who has been advising the President of any country in the past three years or thereabouts in turn be appointed a Chief Justice, as by definition, his loyalties and objectivity is called into question, no matter how much standing he has in society. It is simply that Justice is NOT SEEN TO BE DONE and no more no less!

Friday, January 11, 2013

Rauf Hakeem’s press release subsequent to Rizana’s execution stinks of lies!



It is utterly preposterous for Rauf Hakeem to try and absolve himself in a Press Release issued yesterday, trying to excuse himself from blame along with his erstwhile master the President in not being able to save life of Rizana Nafeek, mercilessly executed by a regime, that has double standards over morals and people’s lives. They were simply incompetent, and wholly to blame.

It was clear now for some time that the onus was on the parents of the dead infant to grant clemency. No amount of appeals to the King was going to amount to anything. It is also clear that the Sri Lankan Govt. did not succeed in getting to those two people to present their case. I believe and this is NOT twenty twenty hindsight but common sense, that not enough was done to find a way into these people. It is a delicate process, but with a concerted effort on the Government’s part and a plan it could be done.

This process involves a mixture of the payment of blood money, appeal to the conscience and religious dictats with regards to forgiveness. It should also have been in a way that they realized that they as much as Rizana were to blame for the child’s death. After all if people are human and live in SA! They are not permitted to employ a female in a house, without an accompanying male who is either the father or the brother of the worker. Clearly in Saudi society Sri Lankan maids are not human, and therefore Islamic laws do not apply to the sub-humans.

Ironically in this case the girl accused is also muslim and that did not amount to anything in this case. The fact that she was sub-human, and somehow to blame for a crime most likely not committed by her, and certainly not pre-meditated can be put squarely at the foot of Saudi society.

If we are to continue to permit people to go there as domestics, we must at the very least attempt to meet with all the major countries that supply workers to SA, and come to an agreement with the Govt. of SA as to minimum acceptable standards for guest workers, that give them basic rights, having regards to the religious practices and the Saudi interpretation of Sharia law, which for all intents and purposes is un Islamic and therefore heretical.

It is Hakeem’s duty to proclaim that the minor was killed not by Islamic Law, but by Saudi Law that bears NO relation to the religion he practices, as it prevents people being treated in the way this maid was in her whole accusation, trial, verdict, and incarceration and finally in death, a wholly barbaric sequence!

Rizana’s execution proves how hollow our politicians’ appeals really are



Rizana was executed despite an appeal from the President. I should really despite an appeal. If the President of Sri Lanka felt that appealing to his counterpart, the head of state of Saudi, to listen to him and take heed, it showed how sadly mistaken he is. Worse when he realizes that the Saudis have got him round their short and curlies with no room for maneuver, he must realize he is just a hostage to fortune.

This is another instance of political showmanship, that has gone disastrously wrong. We are so used to utterances, that we forget that all words out of our now infamous lot of politicians are mere hollow mutterings that have NO truth in fact, and exemplify the fiction and fictitious world they really live in. When we confer power over people who do not know how to exercise such power, eventually the whole power structure keeps crumbling down, as we see today.

People have been in awe of the Presidential Secretariat spending over Rs10B per annum in keeping their ship on track with the PR machine in top gear form foreign educated million rupee a month executives with eves dropping equipment and communications system that would be the envy of any campaign, including the now famous but considered disgusting habit of sending sms messages from the President to all subscribers wishing them for new year etc. Do they realize what a heartless act that is? No because they have polled the people and the results say that it is great for the masses that he remembered them!!

Hey you suckers of the mobile phone companies how low can you get for allowing the President to use your services FREE. Wouldn’t you dare to charge him the rate you would charge any other? That answers my question and shows what little backbone you have for your position, and the fear you have for the Autocrat.

This whole well planned house of cards is coming falling down, as it is hollow. There is NO backbone to your work. No structure no planning, no worth and value in anything you have done. You have not even been able to build a highway to nowhere with the correct widths for the road that are international standards. That says it all. No amount of PR is going to detract from what is true. Media tom foolery and PR do not get things constructed. Only real foundations that are solid will last forever. Nothing in this administration will be remembered in a few years despite all the planning and waste of money. It is the fact of the conceited premise in which it all has been constructed that has to give way and crumble into mush.
It is a sorry sight to see and sorry country to live in but an even sorrier people.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Divi Neguma Bill – 150 of the Government Side MPs did not know what they were voting for!!! Only 10 had some clue, including Basil Rajapakse



It is a disgrace in Sri Lanka that we have so many illiterate Parliamentarians who purport to represent the people, and who voted on a piece of landmark legislation, without knowing what it was they were voting for. As 150 of the MP’s had not even received the particulars of the Bill on which they were voting, or if they did had not bothered to read it. They, therefore did not know its contents, a typical practice amongst our legislators, and something our electors, or voters must be aware of, as they place responsibility on them to vote or make legislation on their/our behalf.

Don’t blame the Judiciary when in future due to some clerical error at the Legal Draughtsman’s Office, now directly under the President, (just like the AGs office) makes the new Divi Neguma Law unclear, or at worst be struck down due to it, and the Supreme Court asked to adjudicate on its interpretation. This is what happens when there are idiots in Parliament!!

In a country where a few people, now a family concern make all the decisions knowing full well that its sycophantic majority will not even read what is sent them in Parliament, even a piece of important legislation, makes it easy to govern in any way one likes. The sycophantic members are either too frightened or have been bought up, or who have a file of their indiscretions with the President, that they will do ANYTHING they are asked, without a murmur of complaint.

It is in this supposed democracy, that Parliament reigns ‘Supreme’, and the Learned Judges of the Appeals and Supreme Court with hundreds of years of legal service to the Nation are reduced to being harassed and even threatened in phone calls, that we must live in. It is time that the citizens realize how far they have been fooled by those they have elected, and take action as the ultimate arbiters of the Nation’s future to have them arrested and locked up pending trial, for dereliction of the duty assigned to them.

Who pray will take this just course of action on behalf of the public? There are no REAL Public Interest Litigators in the Country, who have the best interests of the Nation at heart. They have goals and aspirations of a personal nature, and put that ahead of the Country, which then prevents them giving their all to the righteous cause that is espoused, namely of retaking the Governance of Sri Lanka back to the people who live there.  

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

“Kiyanakota ohomai, Karanakota mehemai!” Mama boru karayek karanna epa



When the President says at a function yesterday, that the Supreme Court has no right to pronounce against the Legislature, he is again talking cock! Why isn’t he telling the audience the truth? He must explain that the Supreme Court merely interpreted the law, and taking their interpretation of the Constitution, that the standing orders are NOT law and merely procedures adopted, and in the case of hearing the case against the CJ, acted in a manner that the PSC was not set up properly to hear an impeachment case against the CJ. They left the supremacy of the Legislature intact, and permitted them to enact a law as it relates to the removal or dismissal of an Appeals or Supreme Court Judge. Once done, and its procedures are approved by the SC, the Legislature can go ahead and impeach in accordance with the Law.

The Legislature and Judiciary are therefore Independent of each other, and not one above the other, and clearly the Legislature, as it has overriding power to make law is the final voice in what is done. The judiciary only ensures that the proposed laws are in keeping with the Spirit of the Constitution, which the current PSC and its procedures clearly were not.

When the Legislature acts in contravention of the Spirit of the Constitution, it is the duty of the Supreme Court to take note and if necessary quash any unconstitutional act. Otherwise why is there a Court of Law? It is to prevent legalized murder surely!

It is therefore very important that we clear misconceptions, and people even Presidents do not mislead the populace by statements such as “the people are not for their representatives, but that the representatives are for the people.” That statement alone is worthy of a snigger, as right from the top, the people are treated as second class representatives, with the elected representatives not as servants but as masters requiring servility who can do NO WRONG in the eyes of the law, and who literally get away with murder.

It is time we let the cat out of the bag, and people realize what is said and what is done are different and unrelated. When we believe what is said by an elected representative, it is the believer who is lied to, as the legislator has no reason to live by his word, and makes the statement, so that it sounds perfect and believed by the masses as being true. When the day dawns that people begin to tell the truth, believe in what they do and say, and are able to carry out promises to the letter, is when we become unshackled.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Parliament is Supreme as a concept and must be affirmed – but not the Parliament of Thugs, Fools, and Derelicts, especially the 117 who signed a blank form on the impeachment resolution. (14 charges inserted later)


The dilemma that is Ranil! He is faced with a huge conflict, owing to the exercise of insane judgments in the past by the Judiciary, (schizophrenically run) which has been the single biggest reason for the demise of the UNP, and the blame solely falling on Ranil W, and the clamoring opposition against the Government being directed at defending this self same judiciary.

Ranil’s personal rationale of taking it out on legal eagles, and letting them stew in their own shit, is not sitting well with the populace, and his own MP’s. His assertion that Parliament is Supreme now sounds old fashioned, but if he DOES NOT stress that, the Sarath Silva judgment gets credibility.

Unfortunately an illiterate populace, and even more illiterate media, who will never understand such basics, are bent on splitting hairs about RW’s stance, and blame him for giving the President a free ride in the impeachment process, and many even have the affront to accuse him of conniving with the President in the current impasse, which he finds amusing.

It is a terrific story for a convoluted spy novel, but we are playing poker with the future of the Country at stake and only one individual understands what it should be for Sri Lanka to regain its rightful place at the top of the world.

No guesses therefore that RW is scheming for Mahinda to eat his own shit, and he is dumbfounded that his own party is obstructing him in doing so.

The game is very simple. Do not challenge the Supremacy of the People as represented by a theoretically democratically elected Parliament. The impeachment process will be handled in the way the Constitution permits, and will be passed by the Govt. with the majority and by Friday, the CJ would be fired. As per the current rules. Then all hell brakes loose!!!

Hey Presto! Who will look a fool dictator and a moron? MR only. That done, and the Judiciary well and truly compromised, all prior judgments of the SC will be challenged. SC will rule against the Govt. and we will discover that the Parliament is incorrectly constituted. All cross-overs will lose their representations and the 18th Amendment declared illegal, and therefore the 17th will automatically be enforceable, with MR effectively being time barred from challenging RW at the next Presidential.

TIME is of the essence, and TIMING is most critical. RW therefore does not want to raise any eyebrows, and let his detractors sling mud mercilessly decrying all his dictats as dictatorial. Trust me he is the only true democrat we have who wishes, to reintroduce democracy to the political fabric of Sri Lanka, no matter what allegations have been laid as to how he runs the party. Eventually when he is proved correct, the electorate first and then the Party will forgive him for being sly and not explaining his plan, lest the enemy will stifle him from achieving his goal.

For the moment let us say, that the conflicting points coming out his spokesman like Tissa Attanayake saying, Parliament is Supreme therefore do not challenge it, and get fooled into going through with SC rulings just yet, and then later forcing Latimer House Principles to dictate how a properly constituted court should act and then accepting the ruling of the Supreme Court when properly constituted, is lost on some biased journalists.

They should not question a system in Sri Lanka that is inherently flawed today, and try to find rationale in a statement made by Tissa Attanayake, but wait for reason to prevail, correct some of the flaws in the system, and then re affirm the true independence of the Legislature from the Judiciary and Executive, where Parliament reigns supreme as a true reflection of the will of the people, something which it is not today in practice, but in theory cannot be legally questioned.

We will then get back to the simple principle as in all democracies that Parliament can make laws, and the Supreme Court merely interpret the laws, with BOTH bodies independent of the other and not tainted as it now is.

Unfortunately until we have enough reasonable people to be able to explain simple concepts, we cannot show the general public what it is we wish to achieve. In truth, because they are unable to make that decision, that they elect representatives, and appoint judges through independent processes, both of which is currently non-existent. So give RW credit for attempting to bequeath a legacy of being a true liberal democrat in an increasingly mindless, violent, lawless state of ruffians, hooligans and murderers disguised as Chief Justices, President’s Counsel, Presidents, Ministers and Members of Parliament. He may be the only true patriot we have left, though I do not wish to use that term, as it now refers only to traitors in Sri Lanka.