The Defense Secretary insinuates – two people were abducted by the State

For whatever reason, paranoia or need to check on those who are not on the current flagged list, two individuals were abducted by the State apparatus a few days ago, and thanks to the “hue and cry” by the Australian High Commissioner, the matters came to a close this morning with one of them, an Australian citizen under a passport name of Mudalige, was deported for overstaying his visa, and the other lady was released by the abductors, and she gave a press conference about her ordeal. At the same time the media spokesman for the security forces, one Wijesuriya vehemently denied that the forces were behind it. However he does not always know which arm did it as it is only Ghotabaya who will reveal or not as it is his wont. So it had to be the State and the Australians have verified it already.

I thought it was a bit rich for Ghotabaya to make insinuations that the LTTE were at work, by these people who go overseas change their names and return. This is not an LTTE thing at all. It is people who have had a past in this country who have run away for whatever reason, some for breaking the law, and then change their names in host countries and return to commit the same of more heinous crimes. So just as there are many JVPers in Japan who have not been able to get Japanese passports and so are just lying there suffering, those who go to Canada and Australia or USA or UK for that matter can return under different names. That is what frightens the shit out of the introverted Sri Lankan state.

Now tell me why they return? It is simply because the Govt. has set up a state apparatus, that allows these people to come to Sri Lanka to cause trouble. If we had justice, democracy, rule of law and enforcement of the law fairly there will be no need to for trouble makers to come, as there is no trouble to make!!! It is that simple fact that operators of Dictatorships just never understand, as they use this threat which is created by their very behavior to bamboozle the masses into justifying the police state.

Mark you, we will hear for a long time from the likes of Ghotabaya, that the LTTE threat is real. We have to keep armed forces in the North to counter this threat and therefore justify their white van abduction and lawless rule. That is what creates this need for people to go overseas and return to change the system, as we inside are just too frightened and powerless to affect the desperate change that we need to regain the freedoms lost to the state of anarchy now in the country.

People may ask what anarchy? It is only felt by those who are against the state. Those fawning over every word a Rajapakse utters will not see a state of anarchy. 

The moment when they are mistaken for LTTEer posing as someone else, in this case of the new party, it is then that the Govt. goes into action stations to abduct, interrogate and kill, and thanks to the intervention of the Australian Govt. were able to have these two freed, as the Aussies knew he was being held. The state always checks out these people in fringe parties, as they have a huge apparatus that keeps tabs on suspect groups to which this breakaway group also belongs.

Where do we go from here? GR the Defense Secretary, is now trumping the name change example of infiltration by the LTTE, and we do not know how many thousand LLTEers are in our presence. What is new? We know many hardcore LTTE went to foreign parts, and have assumed names different to what we knew them to be. So it is quite possible that they are still around. However it is unlikely that they will be a threat to the nation now, as they are surviving in other countries and slowly realizing that their dream of Eelam is dead and buried no matter what they do. Govt. however is keeping this dream alive while the Diaspora are only hallucinating. They are keeping this dream alive by frightening the electorate about this, which while being politically expedient is bad long term practice to provide true unity for this country as long as they harbor this feeling of them and us.

It is not in doubt that there is no inclusivity in this Govt. for all the peoples of Sri Lanka and that the Govt. only really looks after one main political grouping they have created out of the fear mongering, namely that of the Sinhala Buddhist, who if he was true to his religion would not tolerate any of the nonsense that is being labeled. It must be remembered that much of the scare mongering is done by the Buddhist Clergy who view this as a threat to their existence, which is a very un Buddhist thing to do. They should have no fear if they are really teaching what Lord Buddha preached. Instead many of them are preaching to preserve their position and little of the true religion. In that scenario, they get confused with what the religion really is, an inclusive all race philosophy of trying to get to a state of extinguishing all worldly desires to one that just practices desires.

I therefore fault not the true Buddhist but those who preach the faith in the name of the Lord Buddha and shame him by so doing to capitalize on position and power.

I digress, but I want to give some background to the thinking of isolation that many in Sri Lanka have to justifying some of the irrational punitive actions that are done in the name of religion, by zealots who are concerned more about preserving their position within it. The REAL threat is the current STATE in Sri Lanka, and let us hope that soon the people will realize this and do away with the culprits and establish a true democratic state with justice and fair play for all who live in it.

We are expecting a surprise on April 19th at Siri Kotha – Just you wait!!

The leader of the Opposition has called a meeting of all the Active members of the UNP along with their elected members in Provincial Councils, and Pradeshiya Sabhas. It will be interesting to see who do not turn up, and what will happen to those who do not. We are in for a surprise and the bookies are to open a book on the likely event that calls for such secrecy. It is definitely not about RW resigning.

So the favorite at the moment is the announcing of the sacking of a whole lot of party members and the question is if Sajith Premadasa is also on this list for sacking. He has consistently refused to take orders from the leader, and just done as he pleases with no love for the party, just for himself. It is unlikely that his coterie of followers will go with an isolated man, and he will just have to go somewhere and eat humble pie. For how long?

Just look at the Sasunata Aruna plan, it is all about promoting himself, not even mud sticking to the party apparatus.

Then he is likely to announce a tough regime of no nonsense discipline, checking on everyone personally up till the end of the year, when he expects major changes to take place once the people of the country have had time to digest the direction that Rajapakse’s are taking them. It will be apparent that it is not sustainable, and letting so many thousands in Sri Lank be fooled by the regime into really believing that they have an answer to all the problems. The UNP will have a tough task explaining the way forward, as the usual suspects at homes are unable to really think and come up, having become far too timid in accepting the Govt propaganda at face value.

This battle can be won or lost at the heart of the nation if there is an inkling that the current rulers have lost it (their minds that is) completely taking over almost all items of value, starting with money. The latest vestige being the Ceylon Shipping Corporation was about to buy a ship for US$200M giving the fixer a commission but in reality a bribe of 20% or amounting to US$40M. If this is authorized then let the heavens make them pay for a travesty of ethics, flying in the face of all common decency. The whole deal as always will be financed by borrowings, and the ship will be mortgaged to the bank, reducing the bank’s exposure. It permits multiple instances in which a transaction can feed the gravy train of party supporters.

Let us hope the people will wake up now, before we have to suffer future indignities on account of the repeating behavior of the rulers of our people.

So what else is in store for that day? Has he checked the stars? Is he going to make a historic statement. Whatever he does he has to finally nail all dissidents to the cross and take the party forward in a unified manner if they have any hope of moving this behemoth of crafty devils, and their evil ways. It takes a person of vision to actually see where this country is headed towards if the current players are permitted any more space. The rate of rape of every asset of this nation has never known such magnitude.

With the forthcoming Provincial Council Elections poised for around September, where the regime hopes to taste its popularity, the resources to fight this campaign is what the opposition lacks. It has justice and truth and right on their side, but with people drunk with power, and favors perks and in the final analysis the last sheet they received for their roofs to remember by, it is going to be a hard task unless strategic alliances are entered into to shake the this juggernaut. It is not impossible, but it requires incredible fortitude, a cunning plan that must be executed with utmost secrecy and speed. I understand that the North Central and Eastern and perhaps Sabaragamuwa are open to elections first, before the others follow.

It is also reported that the grace and favors of duty free vehicles for these politicians before the Councils are dispersed is another example of ensuring the jobs for the boys, and ensure loyalty to the fight.

If magnanimity is expected of the meeting then we will be sadly be mistaken. He is not in a mood for this after a year of onslaught with no let up on his leadership and credentials, forever denting his proven leadership in the eyes of the gullible public who will not give him a chance, due to their being successfully duped into believing in his unsuitability and lack of vision, both of which are completely false.

I put my bets on a overwhelming vote to demote Sajith Premadasa from the leadership stakes once and forever, with a litany of evidence of his unsuitability, and devious behavior that only furthered his cause and not that of the party, which is the one and only cardinal sin you can eject his credentials on as he is permitted a degree of flaws in normal human characteristics.

I am optimistic that this instead of being the dreaded sword that comes to haunt the party it will be the light that finally shines brightly at the end of the tunnel to galvanize the party faithful to rally round the leader and ensure a victory first at all three provincial council elections by empowering all within the party that the time has come to reassert their natural strengths to take the party from a period in the wilderness to one of POWER.

Last week’s debate in Parliament on the UN resolution – poles apart in thinking

While it is clear to a section of the global thinking people how absurd all the statements made on behalf of the Government, many contradicting one another were at this UNHRC meeting and prior ones, it seems to be completely lost on the cast of jokers who purport to represent the interests of the Government.

They have no clue what position they are trying to defend, as there is just no position to defend.  After all all the statement made at the UN contradict themselves or at least tell them what the Govt. will do with no intention on the Govt. part of carrying out the promises made. This make a mockery of the statements made by Govt. spokesman, lending credibility to the statement that no Sri Lankan politician can be trusted on anything they say. Just take it with a pinch of salt as they do not have honor.

This traitorous act on the Govt. part is completely absent from the mindset of many in Sri Lanka, including those in the Media, who really cannot understand how harmful the statements made by the Govt. spokesmen including the President are to the Country of Sri Lanka itself. We must point out to these individuals that what they are doing and saying is absolutely gibberish and nonsense and it would be better for them to desist from making any statements, lest they both make fools of themselves which I do not mind, but it reflects badly on the country and to that I take severe umbrage.

It was amazing how many in the Govt. benches did not even understand the statement made by the TNA leader, which was a gauntlet thrown down for all including the international community to listen, from the well of the house, no less, and not some place in some far off country.

The fact that the Govt. benches did not even understand what was said is telling of  the basic level of understanding of Govt. MPs to the issues that have lead to many of the current problems. They are easily dismissed as diatribes by the LTTE bloc, and so does not lend it any credibility and that stand is sufficient.

The Govt. will be foolish ignore such an important speech, as it is only them who will be answerable to the country on their deafness to the plea of the representatives of the Tamils of the North and East who were simply pointing out a few facts which one many disagree on some of the individual issues, as a matter of semantics and exaggeration but the overall gist was their position on the issues and that they will just not compromise. The Rajapakse Govt. will ignore this statement at their peril, and hold the citizens of Sri Lanka hostage for their personal glory.

We won a battle, and now we are losing the War!

We are fooling our voter base by distorting reality. We have a leader who goes about comparing the world polluters as the worlds worst human rights violators. Why does he choose only USA? After all the worst polluter in the world is China. Where is he calling them the worlds worst human rights violators.

That my friends is the irony or more correctly the idiocy of a leader who is still managing to convince his audience of his either being serious or a total buffoon. Which is it? If either then idiocy would be part of the disease he is afflicted by but no one dare denounce for the fear of the white van.

In order to please their voter base the Govt. has made a series of humongous tactical errors that is costing the country dear. This self belief in their actions and the rigidity with which this belief pervades those in power, have caused enough harm. The sooner they and those who claim to be their constituency realize this the better. It is that same constituency that is the current coalition’s voter base that will suffer in the future, no matter all the so called patriotic rhetoric. It is really up to a leader of that group to call a spade a spade, as no amount of shouting by the opposition will do the same.

The iron grip with which the Dictatorship holds all those especially their own people under their thumb prevents a natural leader from rising from this enslaved cacophony called ‘The ministers of the Sri Lankan Govt.’ I see no one within their ranks who has enough confidence, and a belief in the righteous to stand up to the cabal and throw down the gauntlet in the interests of self preservation.

It is a matter of time when it sinks into the masses that they have been fed straw instead of rice, as right now they believe the straw they are eating is rice. Unless the ruling coalition wants a complete annihilation, it is time that some of the old guard who do not agree with the current trend of policy, disassociate themselves from their superiors and put out an alternative agenda. Otherwise it will be their fault for not notifying the people, when it comes to the time to answer to their sins.

This Govt. thinks that using the Diaspora as the scapegoat and all who take that approach as being funded by the Diaspora is sufficient to get through their inadequate and by some counts, treacherous conduct. This has nothing to do with the Diaspora. They must be dreaming if they think the Diaspora say in the US can even dent the thinking of the US govt. They do not have enough money to buy influence as the money required is beyond belief. The PACS of the US which try to influence policy is not what determines US Govt. policy it is a far broader geopolitical game which none of our foreign policy advisers seem to understand.

No amount of shouting could change the result. We know from Government actions subsequent to the result that even now the approach is ill informed and counterproductive. This school-boy type of sulking must stop and statesmanship that has hitherto been absent is what is needed to diffuse the tension. Otherwise we will still be fighting this invisible war until we elect an administration, that can rise above pettiness and hollow patriotism, to one with true patriotism, which addresses the needs of the people of this country and not just of a chosen few.

What is it with the psyche of the people today to take this gibberish lying down?

How long can we suffer this dance of the sugar plum fairies?

It is just mindboggling how the politicians of the Government can with a straight face expound their dreamy thoughts as reality on the people of Sri Lanka and get away with it. There is NO step that this Govt. has taken that is actually correct. Yet people slavishly believe they can do no wrong. What Planet may I ask these people think they are living in?

It is only the policy of divide and rule used so successfully by the British that is keeping this Govt. in power, as they are behind all the backroom tactics to spread dissent in all the opposition parties. It is the power of money, stolen from the people that is actually trying to divide them. We just need a visionary leader (not Sarath Fonseka who is primarily and always only a super soldier) to guide us out of the mess this Govt. has created and now continues to make worse, instead of learn from their excesses and take a U-Turn from some of their very destructive policies.

Then a family cabal rules with an iron grip only held together by fear. Their own people especially the ministers are bought for a few rupees in petty cash, to extol their virtues and hide the truth. The mesmerizing hold of money amongst many people in authority, is one that stops from rocking the boat lest their comfortable positions are made less so.

It is important that the Govt. realizes that it is only foreign remittances that keep them afloat, and has helped greatly in lightening the personal problems of the people due to this inflow that helps keep poverty and starvation at bay. There is only a limit to which this method of survival can fool the people into a false sense of security, and not agitate and demonstrate for their basic needs. Once this time expires, it is time for a change, and now is a better time than any in the past to reason with the populace that the ride of ‘Tom Foolery’ as got to end.

Let us do what we can to reach the public, explain why we believe the charade has had no patriotic intent, but has been nothing but a treacherous exercise in cleaning out the coffers of Sri Lanka for personal gain, having achieved NOTHING of economic benefit to the people. All the outer guise of progress is not due to the Govt. but due to the massive amounts of remittances now amounting to about 15% of the GNP, which when the multiplier effect is taken account of due to the money reaching people at rural level, has a real benefit many times that amount.

If the Govt. was not corrupt and the funds used wisely we could have had a much higher rate of growth that would have flowed faster to all sections of the population, and it has NOT been so, due to the policies of the Govt.

The goal post changes yet again – a litany of the SL Govt.’s duplicity

Why are we so unfortunate to have to deal with a bunch of cretins, a lame excuse for a Government? They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams to get the Resolution, sponsored by 40+ nations to pass. They then dispute the result by saying it was close, a loss by one vote. Only in Sri Lanka does one count an abstention as a vote for the Resolution.

The latest is the Government maintains that the LLRC exceeded its mandate. God knows what they expected if they only kept to their interpretation of its mandate. 

Nevertheless what is at issue is the disingenuous way this government changes the goal posts and carries on as if nothing has happened. They then maintain that either they have implemented to recommendations, unable to implement them as it is contrary to the constitution or failing it the recommendation was not part of the mandate. This obvious misleading stance is meant to confuse and obfuscate their responsibilities.

The people playing this game think they are exceedingly clever in this process. However it is obvious to the people who matter that it is a clear case of refusal to heed any dictat from overseas, an overriding principle of the government which they strongly and firmly believe is one which will carry them through all landmines laid across their path by the Western Powers.

This overriding arrogance defines the foreign policy, which I know for a fact led to the US resolution in the first place. So the game of political poker is one that is to pump up personalities and show the country to be run by media hungry and media savvy clique and the people who put them there as impressionable imbeciles.

It is annoying that so much time is spent playing this game of hide & seek. It kills time, meant to take the eye off the ball of affairs of state which are becoming more critical and important. They are needlessly deflected by this charade that is played in full view of a bemused world, that says What’s next? How farfetched is the latest statement? What about the real acts and atrocities now being carried out meant to deny the previous acts, which are the one’s under the microscope?

This shameless series of deliberate rejections of the rights of the United Nations, calls into question our membership in the august institution. This has been done to deny that the leadership committed any wrongdoing, and to portray all those who accuse the leadership as being in the lap of a Diaspora led mafia, all of which are firmly fixated in the figment of imagination of the gullible public, thanks to what has been displayed above as tampering with what is right and wrong.

Treachery – The worst form is when cloaked in an aura of Patriotism

Lately this country has been subjected to a humiliating climb-down from a lofty pedestal of pontificating arrogance from its leaders all the way to Geneva. Leaders, have no concept of Geopolitics and International Diplomacy. A bunch of amateurs at enormous expense, a record delegation, was sent to further embarrass and shame this country, to such a degree, that an unprecedented claim by the UNHC for HR that they were intimidating people and organizations was made on the members of the contingent while they were in Geneva.

I maintained earlier that some humility and a sense of reality using the existing Diplomatic Cadre of the country could have achieved a win in the form of the withdrawal of the resolution on the promise of intent. Our country’s diplomats are perfectly capable of achieving it without interference from government. However they were aghast at the antics and poor advice given to the President in using the people he sent over.

It is a result of playing to the gallery in Sri Lanka for local political and populist gain that they sacrificed all common sense in this small event in Geneva. I do not want to go into all the missteps they have made since the end of hostilities to patch up relations with all its supporters, but in reality they have done everything to antagonize those countries who assisted us directly in winning the LTTE war and which form our main trading partners. Now even India is being targeted for abuse, something our jokers in power are going to regret before too long.

You just don’t mess with India. We need India for a lot of things. It has to be on the back of India that this country grows, not Europe or China. China has done no favors in lending us money at usurious interest rates, that will hold our country forever in debt to them. At least when India gives us a line of credit and assists us with projects, there is an element of grant, as they see Sri Lanka as a definite part of their strategic interest, something which we do not treasure nor do we appreciate. Though I grant it India does not like to see a very prosperous Lanka!

These double standards that the superpowers adopt, are not at all relevant in how we play the game of international Geopolitics. They are not new, they have been in operation from the beginning, and until we are also in the same league we will just have to play second fiddle. It has nothing to do with how loud we shout and what threats we make, as all of that is on deaf ears out of the country and only heard by the gallery to which we give too much credit. They foolishly believe that their leaders are truly patriotic, safeguarding the interests when the opposite is true.

Just consider all the aspects of the peace dividend. We have not received anything of the sort, except for a little bite from Japan. Humility could have allowed us to rebuild the North by now, and begun all the infrastructure for business establishment,  development and large scale agricultural projects, including the revival of the Elephant Pass and Paranthan Salterns. Go there and you see nothing happening, just the land being divided amongst government stooges so they can sell it at a profit to some unsuspecting buyer in the future.

If this is not treachery of the first order then what is? Who is responsible for this? It is none other than the President of the Country as he holds all the cards and seems to play them only at his pace and not that of the country.

The person who won the war for him is now in jail, only increasing his popularity. What should have been done was to allow him his freedom to be a parliamentarian so that his weaknesses as a human will become patently obvious to all. In time people will realize that his forte was in that particular time and place to win the war and that he should live in happy retirement following his favorite hobby! Instead he is being made larger than life, and therefore a potential threat to democracy and the blame again is squarely on the President as all the charges on which he is incarcerated are politically motivated and not justifiable in law.

In fact the political gamble the President has taken to keep him locked up will backfire on him and time prove this. History will judge him for this. The lost opportunities of his administration will be what it will all be about, not the pyrrhic victory of the war. Many sycophantic journalists who try to influence public opinion are merely falling into this trap, unable to think clearly years ahead to how their writings and the leadership will be judged due to this simplistic approach.

This administration has failed in every sphere of their development. They have not achieved any tangible results. The harbor they built is a white elephant, the airport is also one. The highway is not up to international standards, the new power stations are a national disgrace, the roads are crumbling as this has been the gravy train upon which their power is in place. They have made millionaires out of hundreds of people to ensure their financial support.

The balance of payments is in a no win situation as are the foreign reserves. The education system and people’s confidence therein is shattered. All new projects and complexes are handed out to friends and confidants and those who pay the highest bribes and the story just goes on. As for law and order or more to the point, a lack of it, that requires a further discussion. More later!