A Case has been filed against TNA- Additional information.

After the article  “ A Case has been filed against the TNA” was published in the Lanka web and copied to an email Forum with Google, a question was raised as to the transparency of accounting for the contributions sent to the Account of the  Sinhala Jathika Peramuna on behalf of its secretary Jayantha Liyanage. 

Some of the forum  members expressed their willingness to contribute provided an assurance could be given as to how far Jayantha Liyanage could assure  transparency of contributions received on account of the case against the TNA.

I have been working solely in the interest of the Lankaweb to keep its readers informed of  what is happening vis à vis  the legal action against TNA to proscribe it as it openly contravenes the Constitution of  Sri Lanka.  The contributors and commentators in the LankaWeb had  taken a long time interest in denouncing the activities of the separatist TNA and it is  therefore why I took it on myself to keep  them informed.

I met Jayantha Liyanage personally and  keep in contact with him through emails to get the latest information about the case against the TNA and also to be careful not to publish any thing Jayantha  may consider detrimental to the on going case.

With regard to the transparency of the accounting procedure of the contributions made to the account of the Sinhala Jathika Peramuna of which Jayantha Liyanage is the Secretary, to be used for the case against the TNA,  Jayantha Liyanage  writes as follows;

“  Please forward this to all those who have doubts about our transparency.

Ours is a political party and we have to maintain proper accounts and auditing has to be done from time to time and we have to send all those details as well as details of our office bearers  personal wealth to the election commissioner. Otherwise we cannot function as a political party. The law is tough for political parties.

According to our constitution, the Treasurer and the General Secretary have to sign when money is withdrawn and accounts have  to be approved by the central committee members ( office bearers) during the meetings. 

I will send receipts to every one who contributes as  and when  we receive the contributions and in due course. 

Best Regards!
Jayantha Liyanage.”

FUTA President Nirmal Devasiri is mislead and suffers from a complex

Lanka Truth of the JVP reported on 28 July,2012, “  The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) today said it is not prepared to accept the invitation of Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake, to report to work from July 30” . Nirmal Devasiri says, “ the strike action will not end until their demands are met.”

This man Devasiri who is thinking of bring the Minister and the government to their knees is being manipulated  by the  anti- government forces such as  the JVP and Dambara Amala. 

Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri, is holding the University students as a “shield” in his personal vendetta against the Defence Secretary and the government,  which the JVP is trying to use to regain if possible its dwindling popularity.

A few days ago the former  General Secretary of FUTA Dr. Rohan Fernando  had said that they would be ready to teach a double batch if the government admitted all those students to Universities.  But Dewasiri instead holds the students to ransom and delays the admission of the new batch of students  in his stubborn, and in a way a violent demand to implement a salary increase and the request for the allocation of the  6 percent of the GDP to Education. The latter demand  which is a camouflage to  cover his egoist call for a salary increase.  In his own admission a Senior University Professor already gets a salary of one Lakh seventeen thousand per month and others  Rs.84,000,00 per month.

They are also under the influence of the JVP activist the Dambara Amala. These are the antigovernment political hands behind the FUTA  Strikes. They have less concern for the students and their parents. 

I know family in a village in  Kandy District whose child is in a Colombo University. As boarding houses are in itself a money making racket in Colombo, her parents pay  Rs.3500, 00 to a makeshift room in a corridor without windows where the child is forbidden to use a fan or use the power plug to  heat water.  The “room” is infested with rodents and cockroaches and a noisy neighbour.

During their forced “vacation”  due to their  “erstwhile professors” being on strike claiming still higher salaries.  This  girl from a Colombo University  has come back to her parents in Kandy.   The family is not rich and with the meagre income, they have  now to feed their daughter and a young son and pay the rent for the makeshift room in Colombo.  

In the mean time the parents have found a better room closer to the University to share with another for Rs.4500, 00 . They  have to pay for it in advance in order to keep it reserved until the beginning of the University  which they do not know when as  Devasiri of FUTA wants to continue the strike until the government gives the salary increase under demand.  On top of this is the fact that the children have to buy food from outside.  And they are unable even to make a cup of tea in the room as they are prohibited the use of plug points to heat water. These Parents have to pay the child her travel expenses to and fro Colombo , when ever there is a strike of the academic or no-academic staff.

This is only one case how many more poor parents ‘who cannot dream of a Rs. 84 000,00 salary per month), suffer this way. Do Devasiri, and  the thousands of  the supposed to be the top intelligentsia of Sri Lanka who follow this man Devasiri like  “cattle without using their “golden brains”, think of these poor parents who suffer financially and get into debt because of them, apart from the inconvenience and loss of study time by the students ?

I met a Professor from the Peradeniya University who said that he has ample leisure at the moment because of the “strike”, but he regretted that they have inconvenienced the students  who have nothing to do with the cause FUTA claims to fight. But he  said he cannot opt out as his colleagues have joined the Strike, after all a salary increase is a very tempting “carrot” held before them by FUTA. 

With that they could buy cars build houses perhaps with swimming pools, while the poor parents some times skips meal and feeds the other children less to ease the financial burden forced on them  in sending a child for a University education.

Why want Devasiri the FUTA president does not want to give in for the request of the Ministers to return to work, for the sake of the children who have gone without an education for 24 days and delay the admission of new student ?  

FUTA can continue the dialogue with the government after returning to work. They  will surely not die of starvation if they do not get the salary increase they claim. The 6 percent GDP to education is outside a trade union demand, as such allocations are made from the Government Budget and by the Treasury, which have been explained by the Secretary of the Ministry of Higher education.

Now Devasiri is making a big issue of the 6% GDP for Education to fool the public and the students to portray that they are not really after a salary increase,  but help the University Education by getting a bigger allocation in relation to  GDP. 

This is a matter that had already been explained by the Secretary of the Education Ministry and it is a matter that has to be discussed with the government without making it an issue for a strike.  A 24 or more days strike by the intelligentsia of the Nation is not understandable as their primary duty is to look after the welfare and the education of the graduate student, and enhance the quality and the standard of the University Education in Sri Lanka.

But the fact seems to be  that Devasiri does not want to go back empty handed and wants some thing in return  as  he  has got his feathers ruffled by an unwanted strike followed by a greedy set of University Professors who try to benefit from a further increase of a salary by joining  Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri’s  personal strike, backed by JVP. 

 

That is where Devasiri is wrong  and shows his mental suffering  from a complex of  having to give in to the Minister’s demand and return to work. He may  on the other hand perhaps be applauded for at least now realising the folly of following the brain child of the JVP and Dambara Amala and give up the strike and return to work.

If he can see reason and less greedy for money he would call off the strike for the sake of the students who have already lost more than two months of proper studies and my also delay unnecessarily  the admission of new entrants;  other than the inconveniences and financial loss the parents of the students have been put into.

Will FUTA compensate the Parents for the financial loss and mental suffering they were put into ?

Devasiri and FUTA can easily put off their demand for a salary increase as they are not that badly off now, and ask the ministry to make them a party to the disbursement of Funds from the budget for education.  That is a matter they can easily demand the Ministry to accept without having to go on a futile long drawn strike .

A Case has been filed against the TNA

 

One man stood up against all odds to challenge the legal right of the TNA to claim to represent the Tamil people with an Agenda to set up a separate Eelam state despite its sham call for a Separate State within a united Sri Lanka. 

There was another –Stanley Perera who did not want to go about it alone, but wanted some sort of assent of the Government  before filing a FR case.  But the supposed to be the best Lawyers he contacted in Sri Lanka, discouraged him  giving various excuses with regard to the out come of the case.

Nevertheless his efforts to contact some one close to the President to take their views ended in disappointment. One Minister formerly of the JVP, did not have the courtesy to offer him a seat when he went to see him, and dismissed him with a vague excuse of having to attend a meeting. 

Stanley Perera disappointed with all this went back to where he came from, realising that there is some where within the government  a  notion that it is better leave TNA go on playing with its pet idea of an Eelam, rather than get them to respect the constitution and remain Parliamentarians or leave the Parliament to carry on with their monkey tricks outside.

It is soon after that Mr.Jayantha  Liyanage came forward representing the Sinhala Jathika Premuna to take the challenge to take to courts the TNA which stands against unity between the communities and against  all attempts to unite the Communities, and goes round poisoning the minds of the Tamil people in the North and East of Sri Lanka taking instructions from the pro-terrorist Tamil Expatriates abroad.

Mr. Jayantha Liyanage too as I understand has had his share of difficulties.  Nevertheless,  as a true patriot desirous of settling scores with an enemy of his motherland, decided to fight it out alone. Therefore, with the consent of the Sinhala Jatika Peramuna,  Jayantha Liyanage  despite all the risks involved has come forward to appear before the Supreme Court presenting his case against the TNA, as he says “…  we did not see any other way to bring the separatist issue into an open discussion”

Jayantha Liyanage had some one pretending to be able to finance a case, who finally let him down  trying to collect donations for an FR case he himself wanted to file.  Now Jayantha Liyanage is on his own, he has not appealed for contributions  but  has managed with available means.

He is determined to go ahead with the case.  He is not sure what the reaction of the government would be, but that is not his concern for the moment as he thinks that it is very important  to rid the country of a stumbling block to unity of all  Communities and above all to  stop the separatist TNA  from all its effort to divide Sri Lanka to set up a separate Eelam State.

Few others who wanted to file cases similar to that of Jayantha Liyanage  has found difficulties finding lawyers to come forward on a voluntary basis.  Unfortunately there are

various organisations who want to  fight against the separatism of the TNA, but are apparently not  willing  to unite behind Jayantha and the Sinhala Jathika Peramuna, and organise their own conferences without even informing the Sinhala Jathika Urumaya, which unfortunately would testify to a division amoung the Sinhala patriots, and  play into the hands of the separatists.

It is time that all patriots support the Sinhala Jathika Urumaya, to rid Sri Lanka of the last remnant of terrorism the TNA. If there is no such unity there cannot be a “Savi Dana Ekamuthuwa” 

Jayantha Liyanage cordially invites, the Savi Dana Ekamuthuwa,  and such other Associations to join hands  with him to make a success of the fight against TNA, and create a public opinion against Separatism and the efforts of the TNA to set up a separate Tamil State.

Jayantha Liyanage says, “ …. we the SJP,  are doing what ever little we can afford ….”  He informs that the case has been filed with the Supreme Court and it is to be heard on the 14^th September,2012.

Jayantha says further  that , “   we of the SJP can do things relative to the resources we have. Our main disability is that we do not have a  good vehicles to go about and organize conferences. If we have that and sufficient finances , we  will be in a better  position to give publicity to our “effort” and create a public opinion against TNA.  Until then we simply have to wait for some one………to  turn  attention towards us and the effort we are making for the cause of our motherland,”

I make this article an appeal to the patriots to come forward to help the cause Jayantha has undertaken against the TNA, burying any  political or Communal differences.  If these various Sinhala movements have political ambitions, and do not want to jeopardise that by supporting  Sinhala Jathika Peramuna  it  would be a conflict of priorities not   understand what is important at the moment.

It is not political ambition that is at stake, it is the unity of a people and the attempt of the terrorist rump represented by TNA attempting to divide Sri Lanka to set up a separate Eelam State. 

Once we eliminate that remaining terrorist canker the TNA, we can go our different ways to fulfil our separate political ambitions.  But until then we should all stand together against the TNA.  All patriots of whatever political parties they belong to, have a right and a patriotic obligation to come forward to help the man  Jayantha Liyanage, who has at last challenged the right of the TNA to exist as a Political Party.

The website of the Sinhala Jathika Urumaya is : www.sinhala-nation.org  and any contribution should be addressed to:  Sinhala Jathika Peramuna,
Account No.1001 6013 1772 with the SAMPATH BANK;Bank Code: 7278 –Swift Code: BSAMLKLX

Money Greedy Professors and unsophisticated poor Sinhala Buddhist Villagers.

 

I was in a Buddhist Meditation Centre – Pallekelle Devenapetis Samatha Vipassana Meditation Centre, in Kundasale, not far away from Kandy. Peradeniya University  and the Polgolla Open University are not far away from it.  Some times students from these Universities meditate at the Centre.

This Meditation Centre is a unique place founded by  late  Venerable Amatha Gavesi.  He was a retired Director of the Police Training School.  He was well versed in the teachings of the  Buddha, and  well known for his knowledge of the Sutta Pitaka- the Canonical writings on the discourses of the Buddha.

After his retirfement, he became an instructor of meditation at the Kanduboda Meditation Centre , but left it as he did not agree with the object of meditation used by the Centre.  There after he was ordained and donned the yellow robes of a Buddhist Monk, and  set up his own  Meditation Centre in Krunegala. Subsequently when he was offered a building by President R.Premadasa at the Gamudawa in Pallekelle, he founded the present Devenapetis Samata Vipassana Meditation Centre.

He raised the social status of the women who donned yellow robes to keep the ten precepts as Dasa Sil Mathavo,  popularly called Manio.  He trained  a group of them to become instructors in Meditation, now there are nearly 35 of them in Pallekelle and in its Branch Centre in Kurunegala. Today the Centre after the death of the Venerable Amathya Gavesi is Administered  by the Manio and they  continue the work of their  teacher the  late   Amata Gavesi by conducting  14 day meditation retreats giving instructions to meditators.

The Centre provides free accommodation to those who follow the meditation retreats. The daily morning breakfast and the lunch are also provided free for the meditators .  These two meals –the breakfast and lunch and the morning rice broth are offered mostly by the

Villagers from distant  and some timese quite remote villages in Sri Lanka.

They come to offer  these meals the_Dana  to around  50 to 60 Manios,  and lay meditators every day.  When one group has offered the Dana they go away in the evening after  offering  the evening cup of plain tea.  And soon after arrives another busload or lorry load of villagers from else where for the next days Dana.  That continues without a break.  If  a group of people fails to come for some reason the Centre  provides the meals from contributions made in advance by well wishes for such an eventuality.

During my stay the meals were provided by villagers coming from  Walapone, Mahakanda, Alawatugoda, Dehiovita, Inginiyagala, Anuradhapura, Wetakeiya; Medamahanuwara, Wilenegama, Maiyangana , Hasalaka and so on..  Some of these are distant villages. 

I spoke to many of them and broached the question of “high cost of living” which the anti government forces keep on harping and for which the already very highly paid University professors have gone out on strike.  But they who do not earn as much are satisfied and with what they earn and  spend generously for alms giving, and  thus to help the dissemination of the teachings of the Buddha.

They told me thanks to the Government of  the President Rajapakse and the peace that he has brought to the country they have enough to eat and live  well enough  and educate their children.  They say above all what they are mostly  grateful   to the President Rajapakse is that  he ended the terrorism and allowed them to live without fear of death.

Some of them who are living in boarder villagers to the land held by the terrorist have many of their kith and kin massacred and knows what it was under terrorism.  Listening to them it was obvious they will not let the President Rajapakse off the high pedestal of respect and affection on which they have placed him for quite some time.

It is only in the towns and among the highly paid university dons and JVP sponsored trade unions  one finds the critics of the Government and the President,  making him responsible for the high cost of living, which had been a source of complaints from the very beginning of our independence.

I asked the villagers what they think of the UNP whether they would vote for UNP to come back to power.  They said UNP did lot of damage and when they could have defeated the tigers they did not do so .  Under UNP they were not better off and there is no reason why they should vote for UNP to come back.  They are happy with the present Government of  the President Mahinda Rajapakse.

About Sarath Fonseka , an old man said that he spoilt every thing because of his bad mouth  He is a military man and will never be a good President even if he is elected he said  and the others laughed in agreement.

Frederica Jansz not far from the truth of what she “ Claims ” the Defence Secretary said over the phone.

 

Frederica Jansz is well known for her telephone call to the  former Commander of the Army. She has done enough damage to Sri Lanka with those calls and subsequent inter views with Sarath Fonseka.  That alone should have been enough to withdraw her licence as a Journalist.

She is now out to make herself a name with the International Community, who are there to help dissidents and writers and journalists writing against the governments who have gained the displeasure of the West.  The International Federation of Press Freedom and the Reporters without Boarders are out crying for the blood of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.  There is nothing new in that .  These  Federations of Journalist   are the tools of the expatriate pro-terrorist Tamils like the UK Channel 4. Of course there are other anti Sri Lanka websites such as  Ground View and the blog of DBSJeyaraj to support her cause.

Every thing against the government of Sri Lanka and specially against “Rajapakse’s “ is an occasion for them to come out in numbers.  Frederca Jansz just an editor of a tabloid which is not at all a popular news paper in Sri Lanka plays into the hands of the anti Sri Lanka elements as she is not any sort of a patriot with any love for the country and its people.

As the late  editor of the Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickramatunga, Jansz may also be a Member of an American  Christian Sect, hence she has all the reason to do every thing possible to bring discredit to  the Defence Secretary; who is a respected national leader loved and cherished by the popular mass of the people of Sri Lanka.

She is  not even known to the ordinary people of Sri Lanka other than for what hey may have read in papers about her bringing  discredit to Sri Lanka with false reports.  She had already been discredited for  her baseless reporting of an interview with Sarath Fonseka.

We saw how dissident writers in the former USSR were chosen  for Noble Prices, because they wrote against USSR.  We saw how the pro LTTE elements like Mano Ganeshan won an American Medal for fighting for liberty, Sonali Samarasinghe, became a UNESCO award winning investigative Journalist  now living in clover in the west having bashed Sri Lanka its government and its President, Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu  and Jehan Perera were perhaps ear marked  for American State Department Medals  as they were the “tale bearers” for the American Assistant Secretary of State the Sri Lanka terrorist sympathiser Robert Blake for Medals.

In view of all that Frederica Jansz is also trying her best to get into the position of  earning an American or UNESCO award of some sort and run to the West like Sonali Samarasinghe did on the pretext the government is after her life.  Therefore, her attacking persons in the right place like the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse.

The Government of Sri Lanka, least of all the Defence Secretary have no fear of  a scandal mongering “liar” like Frederica Jansz, but it smart when  a puny nobody like Frederica Jansz  try to belittle a great national hero like Gotabhaya Rajapakse; without him we would still be under the dark shroud  of terrorism. 

Of course Frederica Janz cannot see in the Defence Secretary any one other, “ a passport to the West( with a resident visa) ”, and  some one to be scandalised through her rag tabloid to earn the praise of the International Community.  In order to give her ulterior motives a chance to bloom, she has the International Federation of Journalists and the Reporters  

without Boarders  who are another branch of the  pro-terrorist  anti-Sri Lanka countries of the west to  come out in defence of  a her,  who is a most unethical journalist in  Sri Lanka, and a disgrace to the Country into which she was born.

Have any one heard of the International Federation of  Journalists or the  Reporters without Boarders come out against any country of the west to defend media freedom or harassment of journalists in those countries ?  No they only come out to defend the so called media freedom and harassment of  journalists in developing countries. 

We saw recently in news papers the arrest of the journalist Ms. Kristyns Wantz-Graff while covering an occupying Wall Street Protest movement last November  in New York,  and there was also the case of Ms.Laura Poitras a Freelance Journalists who was continually harassed by the American  Department of Internal Security. Where were these great defenders of the press freedom  the International Federation of Journalists or the Reporters without Boarders ?  If they are true defenders of  media freedom why are they selective in their protest movements ?

Frederica Jansz had said that “It is well within his( Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s) power to harm her”  How pretentious of  her to have said that ?   She only irritates like a “bed bug”, even though the desire to crush it may be there, why bother ?

The Reporters Without Boarders have said ,“We call on defence secretary Rajapaksa to stop threatening journalists who are doing their job,”.  But what job is she doing other than telephoning selected people of importance to irritate them  posing senseless questions on irrelevancies and unverified falsehood.  Frederika Jansz demands to be insulted so she could make a scandal out of it in her favour.

Lot of people have death wishes for others.  And that is no crime.  Even if some one were to  tell another, “ I  will kill you “, it is only a verbal threat and there is nothing criminal about it. An average person would have understood that he has made the other angry…… and left, “before being killed”.

As far as this Journalist is concerned it is not only Gotabhaya Rajapakse but a multitude of others who may want her stopped from making scandals around persons who are respected and  held in high esteem by the people of Sri Lanka.

Frederica Jansz ‘s problem comes from her mixed nationality .  She is neither a Sinhalese nor a British.  There was a time when the Burghers in Sri Lanka thought they were nearer to the whites and wanted to migrate to Australia.  They were accepted only if they could prove they had 50 percent of British blood.  Those who were unable to migrate  stayed behind but with an inferiority complex.  This may therefore be the way Frediraika Janz is fighting against her inferiority complex by trying to scandalise  and bring discredit to National leaders of Sri Lanka because she cannot call them “her people”.

In London when I was working for the London County Council I worked with an Indian woman Mrs.Thornton, who was a Euro-Asian.  Like Jansz in  Sri Lanka.  She told me that when she migrated to England, she would be accepted by the British as one of them and she would have a better future. 

But she was thoroughly disappointed because she said she was worst off than the coloured people in UK.  The British never accepted her as one of them either in the school, nor later when she started working by her British colleagues.  She was a socially handicapped person in UK for being what she was.

It would be the same with Frederica Jansz, the  whites of the International Media Federation or the  White Reporters without Boarders  who are now making  her a handle to  discredit, vilify and accuse the Government of Sri Lanka as a country that denies media freedom will not treat her as an equal amoung them if she migrates to UK or even Australia.  There she will always remain a second class citizen, hated for her antecedents.

Therefore it is better for her to accept Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans as her people and stop  seeking  foreign attention by  slinging mud at National Leaders of Sri Lanka who are loved by the  mass of people in Sri Lanka, if not by her and her “class”

What she claims the Defense Secretary said “ People will kill you!!! People hate you!!! They will kill you!!! ” , is not untrue.  Frederica Jansz is the most hated woman in Sri Lanka  and if  given the chance the people may not refrain from killing her “socially” and ostracise her for good.

Karu Jayasuriya calls for united opposition to "tyrannical presidential system’’

Karu Jayasuriya thinks that people in Sri Lanka forgets the past very quickly.  It is not so Mr.Jayasuriya the people remember how you and seventeen others crawled to the executive President Mahinda Rajapakse seeking as a gift for the betrayal of UNP a Ministerial post when you were kicked on your political backside by your now erstwhile leader Ranil Wickramasinghe .

 

If on principle Karu Jayasuriya was against the executive presidency he should not have joined the President Mahinda Rajapakse  and above all not accepted a Ministry in his cabinet.

But having sacrificed his principles there is no reason now for him to let that once accepted executive presidency, become a tyrannical presidential system in his boggled mind.  Karu Jayasuriya in fact had no principles, he is an unprincipled man.  He is running after what he thinks are opportunities that would take him to unreachable heights. When he joined the President  Mahinda Rajapakse, he may have thought that he would probably be made the Prime Minister.

 

When that seems an unlikely possibility he thought of changing camps again  by going back to the UNP rank hoping to become the Deputy leader and eventually the Leader of the UNP when the unpopular leader Ranil Wickramasinghe would step down.  Now he is like the cat that ”shitted” on the rock.  It is not likely that Ranil Wickramasinghe will step down and not likely that he would have a chance of being the deputy leader. Sajith Premadasa despite his lack of a firm back bone  is possibly more popular a candidate for the leadership of UNP than him, and all that remains for  him  to do is to scratch the rock and  cry “meow”

 

In his missing the chance of  being the leader of UNP, he thinks of other possibilities  of remaining in the fading lime light .  It is not said for fun that the empty mind is the devils workshop.  If there is no chance for him to be somebody in the UNP he could be somebody among the “all opposition political forces” in the country if he could muster them to form a united  front to oppose a “ tyrannical Presidential System .”

 

In his “disturbed” mind he fails to see the good an executive president could  do with  a small developing country in a “political shark infested” international waters around it. If it was he or his Leader Ranil W they would have both been devoured by now or tamed to drag the whole of Sri Lanka in to the deadly waters . 

 

Being that dumb he makes his clarion call, “ As a member of the UNP, the country’s single largest political party, I believe that the time is right to call upon my fellow members of opposition to unite in shedding our differences, letting go of old wars and seemingly insurmountably diverse ideologies, in order to unite and emerge stronger than ever against a common enemy.’’

 

He is so daft that he cannot realise, that the common enemy of the “ opposition of radically diverse political views” the President Mahinda Rajapakse is the most popular political leader among the ordinary people of  Sri Lanka. But Jayasuriya says, “ The executive presidency is not just the enemy of the UNP or the JVP or the TNA or even the SLFP – in its all pervasive, destructive omnipresence it is the singular enemy of Sri Lanka…… and so our agenda, as a common opposition would be a worthy one and one that will win the support of all Sri Lankans.’’ This statement itself shows that Karu Jayasuriya is a stupid  day dreamer.

 

Jayasuriya says, "Through the years, the executive presidential system has taught us many bitter lessons. As political parties we are poorer because of it……”  Yes, the executive presidential system has taught us, that to fight an enemy of the nation such as terrorism, it had been  an excellent tool.  The President was free to exercise his powers to the benefit of the country without being hindered by the  Parliamentary and other weird political red tape.

Jayasuriya quotes  Lalith Athulathmudali and Gamini Dissanayake ,  "Too much power concentration in one person can only hinder and not advance democracy in a country. This is the reality we are all living today, whether politician, journalist or citizen. The only way to change that is to make it the one common stand of a united and strong opposition.’’

This is an utterly false evaluation  of the situation .  This would  be correct if the power is concentrated in the hands of a right wing Dictator, but not if such power is entrusted to a socialist political leader loved by the people and who in turn will not rob the affection of the people for his own benefit.  Our President Mahinda Rajapakse is the  most religious oriented political leader of recent time.  We the ordinary people know that he had not used his executive Presidential power for the detriment of his  people.

The British type of democracy does not help the developing countries.  Democracy has failed even in Great Britain –the mother of Democracy.   We saw in recent times the disastrous break down of discipline, reducing the British security forces to  a shameless spectator, and the government  of UK brought down to its knees by a handful of pro terrorist  expatriate Tamils carrying  the flag of the terrorists. 

The Government of UK despite the presence of a police force, on a great day such as the Jubilee of its Queen was unable to receive the invitees and allow at least one of them to address a meeting that had been arranged for him in advance. The UK government was harassed and shamelessly made powerless by a handful of pro-terrorist expatriate Tamils in UK .

There was lot of mayhem trying to ridicule the President Mahinda Rajapakse- a visiting head of state as having been refused to address a meeting that had been arranged for him, and it was the second time that the President of Sri Lanka was denied such honours.   That does not go against the President Mahinda Rajapakse at all, but against Britain and its failed democracy.  The President Mahinda Rajapakse defied the ridiculous UK Security provided to him, to walk up to the cheering  Sinhala crowds that welcomed him and took the opportunity to speak to them, while the pompous Great Britain was denuded by a handful of expatriate Tamil  terrorist rump and stood naked before the public on the great day it celebrated its Queen’s Jubilee.

UK which with the help of its allies and the NATO destroyed Libya and  Libyan leader, and arms the rebels and manipulates them to oust the President of Syria, was unable to control the pro terrorist Tamil expatriates who reduced to ridicule  their grandiose plans to celebrate their Queens Jubilee honourably and in peace.

Great Britain did not learn its lesson from the first occasion when the President of Sri Lanka was denied addressing the Oxford Union, and shamefully allowed the same thing to happen the second time.  One wonders who rules Great Britain, is it the Prime Minister Cameron’s  Government or the pro-LTTE Tamil expatriates who were more powerful to have  been able to force their will on the British Ruling Class.

In that sense the Executive Presidency of Sri Lanka is far better than the advanced democracy of great Britain.   What happened that day in UK would have never happened in Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapakse.  Therefore our system of executive presidency is best to be copied even by the UK Government, throwing over board the British democratic system that failed in its own soil.

 

The fault in Sri Lanka is not with the executive Presidency, but the opposition parties UNP, JVP,TNA etc  that have failed to unite to contribute to the vast development projects that are being carried out by the government of  an executive Presidential System.   If the Opposition is able to bury their hatchets against the executive presidential system and rally round it, our country would not have been allowed to slow down its progress by unnecessary and undemocratic interference by the International Community on a questionable Western ideology of “Human Rights” .

 

Karu Jayasuria should therefore unite the opposition forces in Sri Lanka not against the executive  presidency but against the interfering International Community to leave us alone to develop our country  bring together the Communities and bring peace and happiness  to our people.

 

The President Mahinda Rajapakse had not at any stage used the executive powers of his office  to thwart the freedom of the Opposition parties to criticise or manifest against the President or his Government.  In Sri Lanka the press, to say the least, is not very patriotic either. The President has not unnecessarily censured news or  gagged the  media despite its constant criticism of the government, twisting of news, and publishing articles  to bring disrepute to Sri Lanka abroad.

Sri Lanka may have defects as any so called democratic countries of the “white” world. But  under the President Mahinda Rajpakse we have seen an unprecedented development of our country that could not have been even dreamt of by the UNP Pandits or JVP talking machines. 

 

The ordinary people of Sri Lanka are happy with what had taken place since 2005, and though Karu Jayasuriya is planning to unite the opposition to oust the government and the executive presidency, the Ordinary people of the country are 100 per cent behind the executive President  and would like him to continue to be the executive  president for some more time, as they see no leader as capable as the President Mahinda Rajapakse amoung the political leaders of the opposition.

If there is a hindrance for the development of Sri Lanka it comes from the opposition parties. Karu Jayasuriya finds fault with executive presidency as it hinders the progress of democracy.  But who are really hindering the progress of democracy in Sri Lanka, and acting undemocratically ?

It is the UNP and the TNA which have refused to nominate a person for the Parliamentary Select Committee which is hindering democracy and acting undemocratically. 

It is perfectly alright to criticise the system, but as parliamentarians they should respect  democracy which seems sacrosanct for them, by  accepting  the 18^th Amendment  which  has been accepted by a majority vote, that is what democracy is all about. Karu Jayasuriya before pontificating on democracy and criticising the executive Presidency should understand and respect the basic principles of Democracy.

In a democracy the opposition parties have an important roll to play.  No doubt there should be criticism of the activities of the government , but not for the sake of criticism, but they should be constructive criticism hand in hand with toleration and compromise.  Does it exist in the Sri Lanka Opposition ? 

One can use words to demolish or criticise a government  such as , “, Sri Lanka is once more living the nightmarish reality of an all powerful president. The executive presidency has rendered parliament, the highest democratic institution in the land, redundant. Laws are now being made and imagined at will, there is state of terror that pervades all aspects of life in Sri Lanka.” This type of verbal diarrhea  perhaps soothes the distorted minds of the Opposition political parties of Sri Lanka, but for others they are irritant and  stinking.

Then Karu Jayasuriya puts up a list of actions by the executive  presidency in  contradictions with  the principles of democracy.  He paints in that the President Mahinda Rajapakse as an authoritative dictator, putting to shade the Dictators like Franco of Spain, Pinoche of  Chile , Mussolini of Italy or even JR Jayawardhane who is supposed to have said that he can do any thing except make a man a woman or a woman a man. 

 

But our poor peace loving simple President who even did not hesitate to wear his sarong to meet the Queen Elizabeth of UK, who bends down to the ground before a  Buddhist monk

 is neither a dictator nor an uncaring executive president.

 

Executive power under a man like Ranil Wickramasinghe would have been an absolute catastrophe. Even without such powers the way he signed the CFA turning his back to the elected President and the Parliament was very high handed, undemocratic, harmful and an unpardonable use of his power as the Prime Minister.  But the President Mahinda Rajapakse with his executive power abrogated the CFA and annihilated the terrorists, for the good of the country and its people.

The list of dictatorial actions of the president enumerated by Karu Jayasuriya are : ``The intimidation of the press, the harassment of political detractors and the impunity with which the regime conducts itself can all be traced directly back to the tragic flaws of our presidential system which affords absolute power. Every aspect of life, whether it is judicial independence, the rule of law, media freedom or the economy is shaped and determined by the will of one all powerful man. Until one individual can no longer lay claim to such absolute power, none of these issues can be put right and Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans will continue to suffer the insane policies derived by its all powerful rulers for their benefit and theirs alone.”

In the above list there was not enough intimidation of the press as in Sri Lanka the press is absolutely one sided taking side with political partie or anti-government factions.  There is no objective analysis of  news and the press and media do not hesitate to twist the news to the detriment of the Government.  But yet the press continues to diffuse  anti president and anti government information with impunity. 

The executive  presidency cannot be held responsible for the harassment of political detractors.  If it is so the TNA Parliamentarians would have disappeared from the political scene in Sri Lanka.  The government activities and presidential pronouncements had been open and they have been some times opposed by the opposition political parties and manifestations had been organised.

Karu Jayasuriya says “Every aspect of life, whether it is judicial independence, the rule of law, media freedom or the economy is shaped and determined by the will of one all powerful man.”

But if it is so it is also the fault of the opposition for not taking part collectively in the activities of the government, by respecting the 18^th Amendment and nominating members to the Parliamentary Select  Committee in time and have dialogues with the President and the Government when ever necessary without resorting to make  aggressive political statements at press conferences and out side parliament, and systematic non-cooperation with the government .

 

This proposed “collective opposition” seems to have been concocted not with the welfare of the people in view but to recover eroding political popularity and for political benefits that may come from it.  But my conclusion or rather my opinion for what it is worth is that this proposal of Karu Jayasuriya will only distance people further away from him and his  collective opposition to the President and the Government.

 

Further more the aura of an socialist executive presidency is more attractive than that of a rightist democracy.

University teachers launch strike today

It was a foregone conclusion that Devasiri’s Strike will continue at any rate, even if their demands were to be granted as  Devasiri has a personal vendetta against the Government and the strike is an  excuse to embarrass the government .

It is regrettable that the intellectual academicians of the country allow themselves to be driven like cattle by a man like Nirmal Ranjit Devasiri, merely because he happens to be the  President of FUTA without using their brains, if they have any ,to question the  fairness of a strike in our country at this time.

Nirmal Ranjit Devasiri wants to be an important man in the country who plays the tune for the government to dance.  He is a second Lal Kantha , the JVP man who seeks popularity by calling strikes against the government.  

Devasiri has his own agenda and the so called intellectual University Teachers are giving in to fulfil  Devasiri’s  personal myopic desire to be an important man, or for the benefit of an international or local political group behind him.   If FUTA is  claiming a salary increase , Devasiri will  organise another strike in six months, and another after another six months and so on.  Should the government give in each time Devasiri calls a strike of the University teachers ?

From what I heard Devasiri said , in a TV discussion along with a JVP MP, is that the senior professors of the Universities already draw a monthly salary of Rs. 117,000.00 and a junior nearly  Rs.100,000. 00 . When are these demands for further increases going to stop.  If they continue , Sri Lanka will have to get special IMF loans to pay the University professors, who as it is contribute nothing progressive to the country but puts in peril the future of a generation of University Students.  While they fight to get increase of salaries which are already considerably high, the university Students and their parents go through immense financial difficulties.

Some of the students who are boarders in houses in Colombo which have no proper rooms with ventilation, and where they are not allowed to use fans or plug points to boil water, charge unfair monthly rentals .  As the Universities are closed for long periods because of the Devasiri’s  call for strike by FUTA, the University students have to come to their homes to be looked after by their parents , while the parents are in addition compelled to pay the rents for the boarding houses to keep the rooms vacant until the children return  after the end of the strikes of FUTA.

The government should make the members of FUTA who have gone on strike to pay compensation to University students who had suffered financial loss and psychological pain due to constant strikes called for by Devasiri the President of FUTA.

Devasiri of FUTA complains that money is wasted by the government  when the president visits other countries taking with him a number of  delegates.  That is no reason for FUTA to go on strike to claim more salaries.      The University Teachers have to work hard to contribute to give the students a good education and raise the standard of University Education in Sri Lanka. What have these members of FUTA contributed to enhance the prestige of Sri Lanka Universities for the large sums they earn as salaries plus allowances.   

FUTA has contributed nothing to the country  by way of  financing at least  a development project, but  brings only  shame to their profession as academicians, as no University Professors any where in the world go out on strike like bus drivers, claiming higher salaries.

Devasiri of FUTA had said that, “.. the Higher Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission had earlier promised to solve their salary problem in three stages but that promise too had not been honoured.”  It is evident from this statement that they are a set of egoists after their own welfare what ever happens to the country or the University Students.

The people as a whole are not in favour of this unjust and unfair strikes organised by FUTA which in guise of calling for a pay hike is in reality a political moment against the Government supported by the JVP and perhaps financed by “certain interested parties” who may have paid Devasiri, and the innocent University Professors are caught in the trap laid by him.

The LTTE rump is spreading its tentacles from abroad.  We saw what had happened in Vavunia. The ways of the LTTE rump abroad are multifarious.  They can strike from any where to destabilise the government with the loads of blood money in their possession .  Who knows whether Devasiri has become another pawn of theirs or not ?   The possibility cannot be  ruled out, and it is better FUTA is investigated to see whether they have dealings with any organisation abroad.

FUTA’s two  new demands, “…allocation of 6% of GDP for the education sector and engagement of university teachers in the process of making decisions on the higher education sector.” are an eye wash to justify the strike which they evidently know is unfair and unjust.

In the mean time Devasiri the President of FUTA had said,…. last night that an unidentified person had threatened him over the telephone to stop the FUTA strike or face the consequences.”

Fortunately , in this threat the person had not been identified, but if Devasiri is to continue  this unfair demand for pay hikes dragging the members of FUTA with him , it may be identifiable people who will attack him, as people are fed up with the strike of University teachers.

There is lot of suffering among the people of others sectors with loss of jobs. In the garment industry where the workers contribute to the enrichment of the Management, the workers have no welfare rights, no medical leave , right to strike or overtime, and lot of families with many children have no decent income even to feed their families while the Members of FUTA asking for pay hikes are  already getting  Lakhs of rupees as monthly salaries and  allowances.

It is time that the public is made aware of the injustice of the strikes conducted by Devasiri  and  FUTA  and  call  the public to come out to  manifest against these unjust and unfair strikes conducted by  Devasiri as the President of the FUTA.