The Mahinda Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka, put an enormous amount of resources and grossly abused state resources and committed a large number of election related violations, including the aggressive campaigning that took place in the last three days which was against the law.
Despite this huge outlay of resources and the threats that UNP candidates would go to the other side within hours of making such statements, none have done so far. I would recommend they take the Rs10M offered to shift and go and then after a period of a month they can return, just aggravating the payers of the bribes in Colombo. So against all the odds, Colombo was unshakably in the UNP camp despite some last minute tense moments before the result were announced. Furthermore, it was a humiliating reminder for Milinda Moragoda that his days in politics are history and he could better serve the country as an independent thinker providing unbiased information for public consumption and debate.
Whilst Mano Ganeshan's party got many votes from the Tamil community which resulted in 6 seats in the CMC, it is incumbent upon Ranil Wickremasinghe to play hardball, and not push the dues from the UNP mainly for the Tamil vote that Ganeshan received. If this tough talking is done, he will come into the UNP fold like a pussy and then a 30 seat team will be unassailable.
I am glad therefore that the voters would not buy the lies of the government and were more able to balance the situation and either not vote as the turnout was quite low in the end, or vote for the victor as their conscience so pleases.
It is now important therefore to build upon this victory as soon as possible so that the path for a return to Government of the UNP can return sooner rather than later. UNP has still not lost the monker of the largest single party in Sri Lanka and can therefore use that as a base to garner votes to the UNP in the future. In Sri Lanka the voter can be very fickle and it is incumbent upon the UNP leadership to get the maximum they can to contribute to the party's future growth from those in politics and thinkers who are outside.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Kolonnawa Thuggery - Courtecy of the UPFA administration
It is apparent that this country is ruled by gangs of thugs. Two Presidential Advisers, one of them a new MP who has already been given the task of shadowing the Defense Ministry, were involved in a Al Capone style shootout in broad daylight in front of Policemen on a busy road around 3.30pm on Polling day Saturday 8th of October, 2011 in the Kolonnawa area.
One of the protagonists now dead, Bharatha Lakshman was an MP and now residing in Kiolonnawa, and whose nominee one overwhelmingly in the Kolonnawa MC election. The other injured, is the SLFP organizer for the Kolonnawa electorate, Duminda Silva. The latter is a new MP to the Sri Lanka parliament who won with a huge number of votes, belying the fact that he is one the largest drug dealers in Sri Lanka, especially in Kolonnawa. It is rumoured that he has promised jobs for all young people in Kolonnawa. What it entails is selling his packeted Heroin!!!
There is no doubt now, and if ever there was any doubt before, let it be clarified, that both these individuals travel with their thugs who are armed to the teeth with illegal weapons such as T56 assault rifles, something that is not normally required in Sri Lanka if it is a peaceful county, which the Government claims it is.
I am not aware if there are any opposition politicians traelling around with armed gangs and illegal weapons. If any of you know of any please let me know by way of comment on this blog. What does that say? It clearly says that this Government actively encourages the politicians to go around in convoys, with private armies and weapons both of which are illegal. The fact that the people of this country condone this kind of activity is in itself disgraceful. Do they do this out of ignorance or knowledge? That is a question I would like to ask.
Don't forget the picture that Duminda managed to portray in his highly publicized and expensive campaign for Parliament. He was shown as doing an enormous amount of public service and posters were full of his gift giving to people of all walks of life. It is important therefore not to get fooled. A drug dealer by definition has access to millions of illegally gotten gains he can apply to electioneering, and so people in Sri Lanka while electing known names, can put in power the worst sort of thugs and underworld mafia.
Whilst this article is premised upon informing the public of the current situation of some of the governing coalition and the lack of the enforcement of the law, it is important that we also make suggestions towards improving the situation for the future.
In the interests therefore of future practice, we must immediately put a stop to the private armies, and if not make it an issue of national importance to be subjected to national debate that such practices have been going on for two long with government blessing and is illegal and should be stopped. The opposition has to take to the streets to first protest peacefully and get enough media coverage to exhort the public to agitate.
One of the protagonists now dead, Bharatha Lakshman was an MP and now residing in Kiolonnawa, and whose nominee one overwhelmingly in the Kolonnawa MC election. The other injured, is the SLFP organizer for the Kolonnawa electorate, Duminda Silva. The latter is a new MP to the Sri Lanka parliament who won with a huge number of votes, belying the fact that he is one the largest drug dealers in Sri Lanka, especially in Kolonnawa. It is rumoured that he has promised jobs for all young people in Kolonnawa. What it entails is selling his packeted Heroin!!!
There is no doubt now, and if ever there was any doubt before, let it be clarified, that both these individuals travel with their thugs who are armed to the teeth with illegal weapons such as T56 assault rifles, something that is not normally required in Sri Lanka if it is a peaceful county, which the Government claims it is.
I am not aware if there are any opposition politicians traelling around with armed gangs and illegal weapons. If any of you know of any please let me know by way of comment on this blog. What does that say? It clearly says that this Government actively encourages the politicians to go around in convoys, with private armies and weapons both of which are illegal. The fact that the people of this country condone this kind of activity is in itself disgraceful. Do they do this out of ignorance or knowledge? That is a question I would like to ask.
Don't forget the picture that Duminda managed to portray in his highly publicized and expensive campaign for Parliament. He was shown as doing an enormous amount of public service and posters were full of his gift giving to people of all walks of life. It is important therefore not to get fooled. A drug dealer by definition has access to millions of illegally gotten gains he can apply to electioneering, and so people in Sri Lanka while electing known names, can put in power the worst sort of thugs and underworld mafia.
Whilst this article is premised upon informing the public of the current situation of some of the governing coalition and the lack of the enforcement of the law, it is important that we also make suggestions towards improving the situation for the future.
In the interests therefore of future practice, we must immediately put a stop to the private armies, and if not make it an issue of national importance to be subjected to national debate that such practices have been going on for two long with government blessing and is illegal and should be stopped. The opposition has to take to the streets to first protest peacefully and get enough media coverage to exhort the public to agitate.
Friday, October 7, 2011
The fear of the young candidates for the 23 Local Council Elections in Sri Lanka - October 2011
It is not a hidden fact that all the young candidates seeking election to the local bodies, mainly Municipal Council worry that their preference votes will be stolen by the senior candidates. Apparently the senior candidates are well versed in the art of stealing preference votes. Due to the fact that only the candidates themselves can be present at the time the preferences are tallied, it is difficult for one person to be in at all the counting rooms where the preferences for a particular area are counted.
This requires experience and the new candidates are all novices at this game. It is also a fact that senior candidates use the Independent candidate route, to have their people at the counting centers when the preferences are counted. This is the tried and tested method of the old timers. It is a shame that unscrupulous candidates use this method as if it was completely legitimate to deny the inexperienced who are physically unable to protect their preferences from the old guard and their unscrupulous tactics.
In a long line of examples of why the preference system is bad for politics, this is just another added reason why the current style of preference voting can be detrimental in the long term. So if we cannot get candidates to be morally scrupulous, we just have to do away with the preference system and just have a one person one vote situation for a particular individual.
This requires experience and the new candidates are all novices at this game. It is also a fact that senior candidates use the Independent candidate route, to have their people at the counting centers when the preferences are counted. This is the tried and tested method of the old timers. It is a shame that unscrupulous candidates use this method as if it was completely legitimate to deny the inexperienced who are physically unable to protect their preferences from the old guard and their unscrupulous tactics.
In a long line of examples of why the preference system is bad for politics, this is just another added reason why the current style of preference voting can be detrimental in the long term. So if we cannot get candidates to be morally scrupulous, we just have to do away with the preference system and just have a one person one vote situation for a particular individual.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
STEVEN PAUL JOBS - BUSINESSMAN - BORN 24 FEBRUARY 1955 DIED 5 OCTOBER 2011
I have never bought an Apple product, but I have owned many an Apple product. I will one day soon buy an Apple product, when I can afford it.
I have admired the products Apple have come out with for both its ease of use and style as well as the usefulness for the work it was intended. The products became more stylish and more in tune and in keeping with the digital revolution we continue to enjoy. It has made many people happy with the products they have offered and continue to offer including the launch of the I phone 4s which was only launched a day before the death of Steve Jobs from a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
I thank God for giving the world a man of this vision, which enabled him to get his workforce to produce truly revolutionary products in keeping with the age, and even defining the age we live in as the i phone and i pad world or age. Apple was synonymous with Steve Jobs and his death yesterday brings to an end a truly incredible a journey that has given so many people so much pleasure in truly enjoying the use of his products.
I understand he believed in the Buddhist philosophy and therefore I wish for him that he attains a higher form of life from that which he left, as I am in no position to say if he has attained his ultimate heights of NIRVANA.
I have admired the products Apple have come out with for both its ease of use and style as well as the usefulness for the work it was intended. The products became more stylish and more in tune and in keeping with the digital revolution we continue to enjoy. It has made many people happy with the products they have offered and continue to offer including the launch of the I phone 4s which was only launched a day before the death of Steve Jobs from a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
I thank God for giving the world a man of this vision, which enabled him to get his workforce to produce truly revolutionary products in keeping with the age, and even defining the age we live in as the i phone and i pad world or age. Apple was synonymous with Steve Jobs and his death yesterday brings to an end a truly incredible a journey that has given so many people so much pleasure in truly enjoying the use of his products.
I understand he believed in the Buddhist philosophy and therefore I wish for him that he attains a higher form of life from that which he left, as I am in no position to say if he has attained his ultimate heights of NIRVANA.
the purchase of candidates of opposition parties for money
A significant element of the latest election campaign for the remaining local bodies in Sri Lanka, namely 23 councils scattered throughout the island is marred by the attempt of the Government to purchase candidates for money.
In Sajith Premadasa's district of Hambantota, one of his closest aides, Chrishantha Gajaweera (NO 6) Date of Birth being December 17th 1982, and contesting for the Hambantota Municipal Council was bought out for Rs3M. He was someone that Mr Premadasa depended on, admired and who was of great help over a period of years.
One contesting in Kotte for the Municipal Council Sandun Dilruk Gunesekera, of Nugegoda, sold his candidacy to the Government for Rs2million plus two Fish retail outlets at the Peliyagoda Fish Wholesale Market.
There are now rumors that three candidates from the CMC UNP list are about to turn, for Rs5M each. If you put yourself in the shoes of the candidate, then if he is in debt, not helped by the party, and sees a great windfall he will sell his grandmother for money, so selling his party for that seems to be chicken feed.
The point in this note is to look into not why it occurs as people can be bought for money, an age old international act, for what ever crime to be committed or not to commit. So how does one avoid this happening. I believe the law should be changed to prevent such happenings. After that is done, the party must do the necessary background checks and get commitments from the candidates a blue print of how they expect to carry out their candidature and that they would never forfeit their candidature. This is so as there are others who would have wanted to contest but could not owing to the limit for a party to be given nominations.
So let us hope that there is some dignity in politics, where in future such dirty lowdown behavior does not occur and we can return to clean politics once the scum of the current government are weeded out and extinguished.
In Sajith Premadasa's district of Hambantota, one of his closest aides, Chrishantha Gajaweera (NO 6) Date of Birth being December 17th 1982, and contesting for the Hambantota Municipal Council was bought out for Rs3M. He was someone that Mr Premadasa depended on, admired and who was of great help over a period of years.
One contesting in Kotte for the Municipal Council Sandun Dilruk Gunesekera, of Nugegoda, sold his candidacy to the Government for Rs2million plus two Fish retail outlets at the Peliyagoda Fish Wholesale Market.
There are now rumors that three candidates from the CMC UNP list are about to turn, for Rs5M each. If you put yourself in the shoes of the candidate, then if he is in debt, not helped by the party, and sees a great windfall he will sell his grandmother for money, so selling his party for that seems to be chicken feed.
The point in this note is to look into not why it occurs as people can be bought for money, an age old international act, for what ever crime to be committed or not to commit. So how does one avoid this happening. I believe the law should be changed to prevent such happenings. After that is done, the party must do the necessary background checks and get commitments from the candidates a blue print of how they expect to carry out their candidature and that they would never forfeit their candidature. This is so as there are others who would have wanted to contest but could not owing to the limit for a party to be given nominations.
So let us hope that there is some dignity in politics, where in future such dirty lowdown behavior does not occur and we can return to clean politics once the scum of the current government are weeded out and extinguished.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Another one bites the dust - a death while in Police Custody
Today's papers had another case of a suspect in the killing of a police constable, by hacking with a knife, jumping into a river and drowning. This is actually no different to the earlier killing in Dompe,. We are not talking about the rights and wrongs of the suspect. We are purely talking about proper judicial procedures being adopted in a civilized country to deal with these crimes.
We just cannot have the police act as judge and jury in these cases, especially as there is no trial if the suspect is killed, as if for example he was innocent, we have a policeman's murderer on the loose and there is nothing being done about him being captured. This is a severe flaw in our judicial processes as we can easily convict a man, merely by the fact that he was killed, and then assume he was the guilty party without doing any more investigation, and as far as the police is concerned the crime has been investigated and the perpetrator had died and the matter is now closed.
It is most important that this is not allowed to happen. The significant differences of the two is that in the Dompe case the man was killed in police custody for the suspected theft of a water pump, and therefore caught the public's ire and created a tense situation with the local people storming and sacking the police station, where as in the case of the killing of an unarmed police constable, the villagers are even refusing to permit the body of the killer to be taken to his home for final rites, as they are threatening to agitate if such a situation arose.
In either case the rule of law and the police brutality in custody must stop. While it is common practice in Sri Lanka to extract a confession by beating a suspect, Often the innocent person confesses, due to them being frightened of being tortured. This provides the police with a confession which makes them look good and an innocent person is liable to be convicted and the whole system of law and order breaks down as a consequence.
The reform of the police practice must be taken immediately rather than permit this decades old practice to continue because that is the way things are done in Sri Lanka. There are such things as Human Rights violations that are taught to the police, due to Fundamental rights petitions taken against the police, but most people from villagers are not aware of these rights and are frightened to take the police to court, due to the fear of retribution, which is common in rural areas and the police rule in such places is all powerful.
let us seriously agitate for change and improvement so that the proper rule of law is carried out. Further I wish with the same voice proscribe the practice of people connected to the government being released on the say so of a government minister, even though they are implicated of a grave crimes, another commonplace act of latter day (2011) Sri Lanka.
Let us act without delay by starting immediately to hold impartial investigations into these unlawful killings while in police custody.
We just cannot have the police act as judge and jury in these cases, especially as there is no trial if the suspect is killed, as if for example he was innocent, we have a policeman's murderer on the loose and there is nothing being done about him being captured. This is a severe flaw in our judicial processes as we can easily convict a man, merely by the fact that he was killed, and then assume he was the guilty party without doing any more investigation, and as far as the police is concerned the crime has been investigated and the perpetrator had died and the matter is now closed.
It is most important that this is not allowed to happen. The significant differences of the two is that in the Dompe case the man was killed in police custody for the suspected theft of a water pump, and therefore caught the public's ire and created a tense situation with the local people storming and sacking the police station, where as in the case of the killing of an unarmed police constable, the villagers are even refusing to permit the body of the killer to be taken to his home for final rites, as they are threatening to agitate if such a situation arose.
In either case the rule of law and the police brutality in custody must stop. While it is common practice in Sri Lanka to extract a confession by beating a suspect, Often the innocent person confesses, due to them being frightened of being tortured. This provides the police with a confession which makes them look good and an innocent person is liable to be convicted and the whole system of law and order breaks down as a consequence.
The reform of the police practice must be taken immediately rather than permit this decades old practice to continue because that is the way things are done in Sri Lanka. There are such things as Human Rights violations that are taught to the police, due to Fundamental rights petitions taken against the police, but most people from villagers are not aware of these rights and are frightened to take the police to court, due to the fear of retribution, which is common in rural areas and the police rule in such places is all powerful.
let us seriously agitate for change and improvement so that the proper rule of law is carried out. Further I wish with the same voice proscribe the practice of people connected to the government being released on the say so of a government minister, even though they are implicated of a grave crimes, another commonplace act of latter day (2011) Sri Lanka.
Let us act without delay by starting immediately to hold impartial investigations into these unlawful killings while in police custody.
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Death of Dr Prasad Jayasinghe at Thalgahahandiya, in Karandeniya
A well respected doctor attached to the Boraketiya Government Hospital was gunned down as he was walking to his car, after seeing patients at his surgery. This act of cold blooded murder has angered the thousands of people who live in the area as he has been a social worker, and has helped numerous patients, treating many of them without charging. The allegation is that he was killed by a rival, namely one whose livelihood was threatened by the social service performed by him.
The reason I am writing about this is that if a social worker is now fair game to be murdered in this isle, then who is next. We engage in numerous social work which help people. It could be argued that by the social work we do other people who make money by charging people for the same service, whether it is to get a kid into a school for which we ask no favors, or if it is to intercede on behalf of someone, in a legal matter, then crooked bribe taking school masters, or lawyers who charge people can point a finger at us and literally get a gun pointed at us as they feel that some income owing to them is disappearing due to a person willing to perform the same service for less or free. This then becomes a huge point of debate.
Before we get too carried away, it is important that we realize that this is a crime first and foremost and it is imperative that the culprits both the murderers and the those who paid them, if it was a contract killing are caught immediately and charged for this heinous crime for which the punishment is a death sentence, which for practical purposes is life without parole. It is therefore important that all is done to apprehend the suspects without delay or interference, especially political, as such crimes may have political overtones when the act such as this is done so brazenly in broad daylight.
Let us hope the actions of the police are immediate and hope that the perpetrators are caught and punished, so that the possibility of such a crime in the future is avoided.
The reason I am writing about this is that if a social worker is now fair game to be murdered in this isle, then who is next. We engage in numerous social work which help people. It could be argued that by the social work we do other people who make money by charging people for the same service, whether it is to get a kid into a school for which we ask no favors, or if it is to intercede on behalf of someone, in a legal matter, then crooked bribe taking school masters, or lawyers who charge people can point a finger at us and literally get a gun pointed at us as they feel that some income owing to them is disappearing due to a person willing to perform the same service for less or free. This then becomes a huge point of debate.
Before we get too carried away, it is important that we realize that this is a crime first and foremost and it is imperative that the culprits both the murderers and the those who paid them, if it was a contract killing are caught immediately and charged for this heinous crime for which the punishment is a death sentence, which for practical purposes is life without parole. It is therefore important that all is done to apprehend the suspects without delay or interference, especially political, as such crimes may have political overtones when the act such as this is done so brazenly in broad daylight.
Let us hope the actions of the police are immediate and hope that the perpetrators are caught and punished, so that the possibility of such a crime in the future is avoided.
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