Leaving Mrs Muzzamil out of an important election and a possible chance at an upset is one the perpetrators MUST answer to the People

     

The pressure that the old guard put on the UNP leader to leave Mrs Muzzamil who had done much to garner the female and Muslim vote to the UNP cause is unpardonable as it was done for merely selfish reasons of destitute politicians, and against the best interests of the UNP.

Included in this bunch of destitute sadly are the crop of MPs from the Colombo District such as Ravi K, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Rosy Senanayake and the others who would most likely suffer at the current polls, such as Mujibur Rahman and Fairoze. It must however be remembered that it was most likely that she could have ADDED 3 more members to the WPC from the Colombo District if she was allowed to contest.

While it is true that the Mayor has to play ball with the Defense Secretary to get UDA funding and approval for some of the ostentatious projects for Colombo. He has therefore had to compromise his principals of UNP for the sake of the residents of Colombo who is his primary responsibility to matter what his political allegiances are.

Further unlike the squeaky clean record of Mrs Muzzamil, the Mayor’s penchant for hitting the casinos and therefore the need to get funds to sustain that bad habit has meant that deal making has been a necessary evil that the Opp Leader has not approved of. The latter fact is NOT one that should disqualify Mrs Muzzamil as she was ready to atone for her husband’s way ward ways (WWWs) and get a good chunk of the Muslim vote in Colombo.

Let us NOT forget that the Muslim vote counts a lot for the UNP and without an attractive candidate who could have topped the UNP Colombo district the left overs will have to share the balance of the spoils, and risk the anger of the voter for not allowing a better candidate to be selected.

Of course time will prove the predictions I made, but it is not too late for the guilty to make a mea culpa and admit the error of their ways and try to woo Mrs Muzzamil in some other fashion to remain in the fold, which if it was only up to her, she would say why bother! Maybe she should be made the organizer of Central Colombo and be assured of the ticket at the General Election!     

If the Muzzamils are taken out of the UNP platform for ever it is again that the UNP is the loser, not the Govt. so heed the words of caution.  

The Concept of a Combined Opposition is NOT helpful to the UNP

While it is apparent that the UNP means well, to encompass all those who are working against the regime and its suspect policies, the way they go about organizing this is in fact to the detriment of the party itself. In theory this is in the best interests of the Country (good and noble) to harness all forces in opposition to get together. In practice every Tom Dick and Harry who is opposed to the regime will get equal prominence.

Further like what the Sarath Fonseka Democratic Party did, they at the last minute escaped out of a combined rally by holding their own, because they mistakenly thought they had the numbers to show a force of their own to the public!!

As clearly seen at the Hyde Park Rally on the 28^th of January, to essentially use the abolition of the executive presidency, fight against the casinos, and the drug and illegal ethanol import culture, sponsored by the Govt Politicians, the UNP supplied 95% of the bodies, SF was a no show taking his stragglers elsewhere, and the people did not appreciate the size of the UNP presence as the color Green was absent from most of the rally. The place was bedecked with multi colored flags and the stage was reminiscent of the JVP red squak box, where one could be forgiven for thinking it was a JVP platform that people were talking from!!!!

The NOBLE aspirations of inclusiveness are lost on the public and electorate.

The time has come to use the Elephant and the Green to unite the people against this Govt. behind this banner. I believe the opposition to the Govt. in the govt. circles are more likely to ally under the Green than an incoherent multi color.

The Leadership and the wanna be leaders of the UNP don’t understand what the public are looking for from the UNP. UNP needs to remake itself with youth, so they don’t have to carry the baggage of the greed of the old guard who will have to be put out to pasture, as they are a liability to the cause!!

It is time for the UNP to remake itself from those who put the party and country interest before theirs, and in this respect the hardened old campaigners have to be set aside and limited to a consultancy mode, using their considerable experience but have lost electability and credibility across the board. New blood, with vision, charisma, vibrancy, devoid of pettiness is the need of the hour.          

Ravi K is talking from his rear end in resigning from the Nominations Board

For one so steeped in Politics, and who works very hard to maintain his popularity, he is surely acting like a spoiled child who lost out on some cookies! The letter to the Leader of the Opposition, accusing him of using overriding powers is a little rich considering the opportunistic politics that RK follows and also bearing in mind that he is a sore loser. 

He resigned at the 11^th hr, only because he did not like the ruling. If he agreed with them he would not. So his principles come secondary to what he wants. He did not get the candidates he wanted, in the nomination, so he sulked. If one looks at the real reason for his bitterness, one would know it is NOT principles but self interest. 

    

http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/02/mp-ravi-karunanayake-resigns-unps-nomination-board/18610

He is trying to find justification, by including all Electoral Organizers in his case as being upset. In the best interests of the party, the Leader must give nominations to those who he believes have the best chance of defeating the incumbents, not out of loyalty to longstanding supporters who could NOT get a band of voters if they tried. The letter is mischievous in that it shows his true colors. He says that as his choices were not followed the fact that UNP would have won the Colombo District under the old rule, is now lost. The reality is that due to overriding RK’s choices, the gap of loss for the UNP is likely to be a little less. Huge loss nevertheless!

This cuts to the chase on his logic. He is just simply unpardonably duplicitous. This person’s given nomination, will potentially eat into his vote bank, and at a general election get more preferences than RK. That is why he does not want the nomination to be given to a winner! Simple as that. He wants to be top dog in tub!

In the insular politics of Sri Lanka, those in higher positions DO NOT WANT threats to their power base. It is NORMAL for Organizers to NOT WANT any candidates who could be better! than them in preferences. Now as we all know that is NOT good for the party, as the party is not concerned about the votes of the Organizers or existing MPs, just only about the total votes given to the elephant that determines how many get elected, and then hopefully be able to beat the incumbency! 

IT IS TIME FOR RK to put Party before self, and country first, and shut up about his ego being bruised in the best interests of the party and Country!         

Independence Day commemorations are a time for reflection and optimism

It is ironic that the President’s Independence day message was just another of the same old rhetoric that is constantly being written by wishful thinking speech writers, who must for this day, change it to reflect reality and NOT make believe.

It was insulting to say that we have put the sordid past behind us, and we look towards the future. It is so because we are constantly reminded of the past. In a country where we chose what events we decide to commemorate only on account of the Govt. in power, politicizes everything. It is of battles won and massacres!

Independence is a time to look forward as much as learn from the mistakes of the past. The negativism of memorials and remembrances of horrendous acts of the LTTE who after all were citizens of Sri Lanka and not like the case of Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan foreigners, we are talking about one set of Sri Lankans committing dastardly acts against another set of the same countrymen just because their idea of utopia is different to the other for the same land!

If we are to really bury the sordid past and start afresh, then all grandiose commemorations must stop. It just brings back awful memories of man’s inhumanity to man, which we are reminded of but which we don’t treat as a lesson never to be repeated! Instead of muscle flexing, commemorations must be solemn events as lives were lost. Interfaith prayers for dead on both sides could replace gory images of the Govt. can playing the war victory card, long past expiry date.

If we are to help the casualties, we must attend to the welfare of the injured soldiers, and also the welfare of the parents of soldiers who sacrificed their lives, so that we may live free of terror. Parading the injured soldiers is not the way, as they have to come long distances and undergo hardship to be in a tiring parade, just for the benefit of the politicians who intend to make political statements from the misery of others, and remind the public of the Govt seeking the credit.

We are NOT a mature nation, until we can sort out our past in a way that we unify the nation and not threaten to divide us as is the case today. All indications both internally and externally is of a divided and polarized mindset. We can only change it from internal means and not through external pressure of forced solutions.