Open letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse.

H.E.President Mahinda Rajapakse,

Temple Trees, Colombo.

Your Excellency Mr. President

Some say they do not want you to present yourself for a Presidential election for the third time. Some  others say that you have no chance to win because the UNP Candidate Hiran Fernando getting  elected at the Badulla Provincial Council election, may be a sign the voters are coming back to UNP. Therefore it is likely that a UNP Presidential Candidate will win at the next election.  I do not see the logic in it but that is what they say. 

There are yet other political groups  looking for a  common candidate as they do not want an Executive President any more. But what do the common people care about an Executive President.  They want a President and they are quite satisfied with President Mahinda Rajapakse,  executive or not.  But your antagonists seem to be at a  lost unable to find one  who would be a challenge to your evident victory.

It was nevertheless  heartening that some at least say that you are the best out of the worst and therefore they may vote for you.  There is a cross section of these critics  of you Mr. President– mainly in the diaspora, and some amoung  the Colombian  intelligentsia, in websites.  Some of them are influenced by the UNP or are in fact from the UNP and may vote for any UNP Candidate.

They ( not all-thankfully) describe you in very uncomplimentary terms –one of them says

“ MR and his government have stalked and devoured everything decent, moral , principled, constitutional and legitimate in this country and provided the worst governance we have ever seen, and insulted the peoples intelligence, tested their capacity to bear the cost of living, corruption, nepotism, injustice, lawlessness , pompousness, arrogance, unaccountability and extremely bad governance. This government is cheating the people and how the poor and the powerless are being handled, while the maggots of society are being empowered and molly coddled.”

Mr. President, in Sanskrit poetry one reads that the Swan can separate the milk from the water  and drink the milk leaving out the water.  Similarly wise  or intelligent people aught to be able to separate evil from  good, appreciating the latter,  while condemning  former.  But not these pretentious political analysts who see only bad  and overlook the good as “absent”.  They are on a campaign to smear your good name.   Corruption Mr. President is a global phenomena.  We have confidence in you and believe you are not turning a blind eye to them, but abiding for the right moment to swoop to remove  corruption as you did with terrorism.

But these political maggots living on dirt, see only dirt and avoid looking at the  vast contribution you have made to Sri Lanka ever since you took office as the President of Sri Lanka.

I do not know where these  blind critics come from,  who see only the worst, and hear only evil.  Because Mr. President if people have eyes they will see what has taken place in Sri Lanka since 2005.  I have my doubts if any normal person in Sri Lanka will agree with these dark angels of doom, who unfortunately come from the so called educated class.  I heard some what similar statements made by Kiriella and Tissa Attanayake, and even Ranil Wickramasinghe to the shame of his Presidential ambitions. Some of these these inveterate critics may either be INGOs or in their payroll, like the man who wrote the Cage, or those from  the UK Channel 4.

Fortunately these critics are a separate category and do not fall amoung the majority of the people of Sri Lanka who accept you as a charismatic leader-one amoung them.  They do not doubt your patriotism, your devotion to Buddhism, your willingness to sacrifice your life for the welfare of them. You are not seeking popularity, because you are already a popular leader.  You are always there with the people in their suffering caused by  natural catastrophes, or  caused through human intolerance  or other exigencies, to pacify them and bring them peace and  comfort.

You can see some of your  critics,  like the devil quoting  the scriptures,  quote Buddhist terms to vilify you and bring  you shame  ignorant that when they look up and spit it falls on their own ugly faces.

JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake had said recently that  “the President  Mahinda Rajapakse’s  third term presidency will turn the country into a pool of blood.”  Anura Kumar is not new to   “ pools of blood”  They had made  enough of such blood pools during JVP’s dark days of evil which they cannot make the people forget.  A relative of mine had his head severed and stuck on a pole and planted in front of his house for  his wife and children to see the gory remains in the morning. Hence, it is not strange that he talks of blood pools now.

Mr. President JVP became civilised only after joining the UPFA and helped in the formation of the Governments of Chandrika Kumaratunga and later your own government. But having dreamt of popularity after  having gained  a substantial  number of votes under UPFA decided to go on  their own. Thus  slipped away their then popularity as a meaningful political party of promising young politicians. 

Now JVP has become a rebellious   political group misleading the young University students  with their  firebrand oratory taking them away from their lecture halls into streets making of them  worthless goons, and a problem for their parents , to the society and to the country.

It is also learnt Mr. President that the Leader of the JVP Anura K.Dissanayake is taking it on himself to interpret the Constitution to question your right to ask the opinion of the  SC whether you could present yourself as a Presidential candidate for a third term. It was a wise move Mr. President , but these goons blinded by power cannot understand the wisdom of it.

I think Dissanayake  is going a little too far in assuming that he is capable of challenging you, comparing  the votes JVP  received at Badulla and Moneragala PC elections; improving its  total votes to 4.67% from 2.36% in previous election  in Badulla and 6.61% from 2.82% in previous election in Moneragala. 

Mr. President, JHU is also a party that saw popularity being in the UPFA. Champika Ranawaka turned out to be an extremely good Minister making every Ministry he took over a success.  But now  he,  led by Venerable Athureliya Ratana thero has become a threat to your Government. Perhaps Venerable Ratana thero is taking  Venerable Madoluwawe Sobhita Thero for an example and become politically  ambitious dreaming of  becoming a possible Common Presidential candidate of the Opposition.

Minister Ranawake himself is taking up corruption as a serious  problem that has to be brought into the open before it  expands in to every aspect of government administration. He even published a book revealing some vital facts. It is by itself not a bad move , but we cannot understand why he waited until Minister Pavitra Wanniaaratchi pointed out a fraud of 150 million rupees in the CEB during his term of office as its Minister, to admit it. 

He admitted that  he was aware of the coal “traffic” but he had left it out from his book. He said  he  gave necessary instructions to stop it apparently without results.  He then stated that he has more information with regard to the “mafia” behind corruption with senior administrators in the CEB who continue to serve different governments  in the same places and thus continue their “ fraudulent “ activities unchallenged.  

He keeps saying that he will reveal the names but has not done so  yet.  But what is the use of complaining without making a clean breast of it and allow the government to put an end to the continuation of corruption ?

Neither the JVP nor the JHU is a threat to your re-election as the President for a third term.  All this commotion had been started by a retired Chief Justice and taken up by the JVP and  the UNP and your other antagonists, is merely to mislead and cast doubt to discourage you. 

But you are a statesman led by your own philosophy of development, and not moved to  deviate from the set path of taking the country to progress for the sake of popularity.  We see what has happened to USA President Barrack Obama, who having no “ Chintanaya” to follow felt the pulse of  the people to take action to please them which finally led him to be rejected by the very people who he tried to please.

Mr.President the controversy over your third term is to mislead the people.  It will not work.

You were even criticised for the impeachment of the  former Chief Justice Bandaranayaka.  But that impeachment was quite in terms of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, and no right thinking person could make even an indirect accusation of that impeachment being irregular and not in terms of the Constitution.

Please  let me give my opinion Mr. President about the Sri Lanka Constitution your antagonists hoist to claim that you have no right to present yourself for a third term Presidential election.  Mr. President,   the Sri Lanka Constitution which was promulgated in 1978 has been Amended 18 times.  Today the Constitution we have is completely different from what it was in 1978.  The present Constitution should be read with all its Amendments, and not at all along with the Acts which have been removed by the Amendments.  The Acts which have been  removed by Amendments are not valid any more.

Therefore Mr.President the Constitution today allows you to contest the Presidential election  for  a third term.  When you present your nominations for the Presidential elections you will be doing so as Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse  just another citizen.  The Constitution is not concerned with what you had been, therefore there is no rule that bars you from presenting yourself as a Presidential Candidate.  That is what it is Mr.President, and no Supreme Court could make  a different judgement. It may be pretentious on my part, but that seems to me the hard fact.

Then there are those who complain why when you  have a two third majority you do not want to remove the 13 Amendment. I also believe that 13Amendment has no place in the Constitution of Sri Lanka.  Further more it was introduced into the Constitution of Sri Lanka on a bilateral contract at the behest  of India in return for which India was to disarm the terrorists. 

But India left Sri Lanka without having disarmed the terrorists. Sri Lanka kept its part of the agreement to introduce the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution but India failed to keep its part of the agreement to disarm the terrorists.  Therefore the agreement between Sri Lanka and India became null and void the day the Indian Peace Keeping Force left Sri Lanka.  Hence there is no necessity for us to keep the 13^th Amendment any more in our Constitution.

But you may have your reasons for keeping the 13 Amendment, perhaps to remove it at the third term of your office. The PC System Mr.President has not given to Sri Lanka a national administrative system.  It should be substituted by a more effective village based system.  Such a system would also give us a greater independence as leaving the 13 Amendment in ourConstitution allows India to interfere in to  the internal affairs of Sri Lanka with its claim that  the 13 Amendment was introduced at their  demand.

Mr. President there is a lot of  activity not amoung the common people, but amoung  the Colombo professional crowd to see that you do not contest the Presidential elections for the third time as they know very well that no one has a chance against you if you present yourself for the Presidential elections.

The Foreign Embassies specially the UK and USA Embassies are already busy becoming very undiplomatic in their frenzy to change the regime.  British High Commissioner John Rankin visits even Veddhas and kicks protocol to dine with a UNP Provincial Councillor  completely over looking the Provincial Governor. 

In 1957 UNP election campaign was financed by the American Embassy in Sri Lanka.  This time too it would not be surprising if the CIA Agents are already in place and influencing possible traitors to the country against  the President to  realise their objective of regime change. 

It is in that light Mr. President it is  appropriate to ask what interest the BASL led by Upul Jayasuriya has in stopping you from presenting yourself for a third term.  The USA Embassy may perhaps be behind it  and  they may as well use the Opposition parties, the academics, and journalists against you.  It may perhaps be the reason why the British High Commissioner Ranking is even visiting the Veddhas perhaps to   enlist the villagers of Sri Lanka for the Western campaign of regime change.

The 18^th Amendment to the Constitution is a boon for the ordinary masses of Sri Lanka as it is they who want you  to continue to lead the nation for a few more terms until Sri Lanka is well on its way to become a developed country.

The countries as people may have some influence of the law of Kamma, it may be why Sri Lanka has been blessed by a leader like you Mr. President.  In 1948 when we became independent the leaders who took over the leadership of the country were still with their colonial mentality and nothing effectively changed.  But it was only  in 1958 when SWRD Bandaranaike broke away from the UNP to form the SLFP that  Independence became meaningful. Our language our religion, our culture,  and our dress as well took a National colouring, abandoning the Colonial values.

You Mr.President  has taken over from that National leader SWRD Bandaranaike and took Sri Lanka further on the path to give Sri Lanka a  uniquely Sri Lankan identity.  Chandrika Bandaranaike did not have that nationalist patriotism, and was a failure.  She cannot give any thing new to Sri Lanka even if she were to be elected to the high office once again.

We Buddhists believe Mr. President that the four Guardian Gods of our motherland  keep a protective eye on our country and its people. A great leader like you that arises  only at intervals when the country needs revitalisation and taken on the correct direction of progress and development, is proof of that blessing cast on  Sri Lanka by the four guarding Gods.

May they protect you and prevail on the people to make the correct choice when it comes to choose a leader of the Nation for the third time, for the protection of  the teachings of the Buddha, and take the country progressively forward as a true independent Sovereign State chasing away the Western enemies  with their heathen beliefs, and misguided culture.

Mr. President  we are grateful to you for  all you have done for Sri Lanka and its people.  If the Tamils were more understanding and ready to extend their hands of fraternity  to the Sinhala people  and accepted your charismatic, non-discriminatory leadership, the people would have been united and Sri Lanka  would have been a peaceful happy Nation keeping away the enemies of the West without allowing them  to undermine our hard won peace. 

We pray Mr. President  that  you continue to give Sri Lanka your able leadership for a third time and many more times to come.

Most respectfully, Mr. President

I remain hopeful of your return to give more  of your experience as a Asian Statesman for a further term,   to contribute more, with your brothers to help you,  to develop the country and unite the communities to make of them a great Nation of Sri Lankans.

Charles.S.Perera