Open letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse.

Your Excellency,

 We convey our deepest sadness at our failure to have mustered enough votes to retain you as the President of Sri Lanka for another fruitful period of development.  We miss you very much Your Excellency, we know that today we  breath as a free people without fear or constrain because of the  determination you had to eliminate terrorism despite  great risk to yourself.

 We are  therefore ever grateful to you for having unified Sri Lanka, part of which had been given to be kept under terrorist control under a CFA signed with the terrorists  by a former Prime Minister  Ranil Wickramasinghe, and for providing security with the a heroic  Armed Forces  strategically stationed from North to South and East to West of  Sri Lanka for us  to live without fear of another  resurgence of terrorism.

Your unexpected  defeat at the Presidential election, Your Excellency,  is a great loss to Mother Lanka which was making remarkable progress in development, and  stabilising the place it had carved under your leadership with the developing Nations of Asia, Africa, Latin America and Middle East and close friendship it had built with China, Russia, Iran,  Vietnam.  But now we begin to doubt the  sincerity of the relation India had with Sri Lanka under your leadership.  India perhaps on the advice of USA  wants to distance from us due to our very close friendship with China.

Your Excellency now it is quite evident that there was an unseen hand behind  the move to get the Tamils of the North, the Muslims of the East, and the Catholics to vote en mass to the common candidate of the opposition against you to assure your defeat at the election.

Nevertheless, various reasons are being adduced  by your antagonists with a view to create displeasure amoung the people against you, thus assuring their victory at the General elections.  They besides levelling accusations of corruption,  put your defeat at the elections to your  failure to have paid more attention to bring down the cost of living and neglected the poor. Your Excellency, in Sri Lanka there had never been a death by starvation during the 30 years of terrorism or ten years after that.

But this argument Your Excellency does not hold water, it is the result of an unintelligent perception of the situation.  Sri Lanka under your leadership was a fast developing country.  The standard of living  of the people was  improving. The poor were able to have electricity, pipe water, education facilities to their children.  They could improve their houses  cementing the floors  instead of  applying  mud and cow dung. 

Development always brings with it financial constraints as some facilities have to be sacrificed  to enjoy others. Water, electricity, transport etc. have to be paid for  which reduce the monthly family budget, forcing  reduction in food bills, and other every day needs. 

Of course the critics  refuse to understand that Sri Lanka was a poor country suffering under 30 years of terrorism, but being taken fast forward by a visionary leader ambitious to take Sri Lanka  further on the path of  development.  Given one more term Your Excellency, we are sure  you would have been able to  considerably reduce poverty and given the people more facilities to  improve further their standard of living, while reduing the cost of living.

Alas that was not to be, today the people of Sri Lanka are orphaned, except of course the Tamil people of the North.  Sampanthan, Sumanthiran, the TamilNadu and the Tamil Diaspora are gleeful.  They are getting everything they want beginning  with  the full  implementation of the 13^th Amendment  as announced by the 100 day Prime Minister  Ranil Wickramasinghe,  while in the south there is still no Yahapalanay  but a  Vibhishanaya.

When you were there Your Excellency, every day we, the people get up to hear good news of  a new building or a School being opened ,  beginning the construction of high ways, opening a bridge  or a Mahindodaya building, or some such news of embellishment of Mother Lanka taking  her gradually to a future of hope and prosperity.

But today with the new Maitri Palanaya we open the news paper to see  some one of the previous government-that is your Government Your Excellency,  accused for some thing or another and  JVP marching up to the Bribery Commission  making allegations against  you Your Excellency, your children and now even  Ms. Rajapakse. 

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake , with a questionable back ground summoned to attend Courts for an alleged money laundering just on the day he is to present a Mini-budget to the Parliament, and  other questionable financial transactions, accused Gotabhaya Rajapakse for having kept  8 billion Rupee account in the BOC.  It was immediately proved wrong. But nevertheless he accuses him of irregularities.

Then there was another  accusation  against him for  running a floating armoury.  Then they raided Rakna Lanka Armoury at BMICH to pin it as well on your brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse .  The Maitri Palanaya is making  desperate attempts to find some fraud or criminal activity to  accuse Gotabhaya Rajapakse.  But to their chagrin they have found none.  Gotabhay Rajapakse Your Excellency is an excellent military officer, a man who selected Sarath Fonceka as the Army Commander when he organised the Armed Forces to begin their war against terrorism.  He would not have stooped to theft and misappropriation or engage in any activity that would  bring disrepute to himself and the Armed Forces. This some of these persons with tainted  hands would not understand.

The Maitri Palanaya has not given up, they  are still going on with an imagined  allegation that you were planning a military take over  of the government  to deny Maitripala Sirisena his presidency in a plan for you to stay in power.   They are involving every one including the Chief Justice, and G.L.Peiris as plotters of a military coup.   Unfortunately they have no proof, but that does not deter them.   All they want is News paper headlines and a media circus to bring disrepute to you, without allowing  you  media time to defend yourself or others around you.  Where is democracy ? Where is Yahapalanaya ?

They are doing that as it is the only way they can think of to make you unpopular amoung the people  and get them to vote against you,  and for  Ranil Wickramasinghe and the crowd at the coming general election. 

But none of these allegations have been proved, the UNP is only capable of this type of  mudslinging and character assassination.  In a resent interview the Sunday Leader (27.1.2015) had with M. Ganesh R.Dharmawardhane,  the Director General of the  Commission to Investigate  Bribery or Corruption, he was asked Why our country witness so much of corruption and bribery ? Mr. Dharmawardhane  had said “ I cannot provide an answer to that issue. According to international reports  in this field  Sri Lanka is better than others” 

In reality this temporary government of 100 day Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has done nothing for the benefit of the people and the country since its inception  on the 9^th January, other than raking garbage in search of material to accuse some one or other of the previous government.

Your Excellency, we have nothing against the President Maitripala Sirisena, even though we do not appreciate how he worked his way to become the President of Sri Lanka.  Nevertheless, he was elected by a majority of the people and we salute that decision. 

However ,  the people of Sri Lanka the patriots  who sacrificed their children to save the country from being mutilated by a ruthless group of Tamil terrorists, are saddened that it was the vote of the Tamils  that tipped the scale in favour of   the President Maitripala Sirisena. It was the pre-arranged contribution of the Tamil National Alliance  for  the victory of the common candidate of the opposition. 

The  anti Rajapakse  Western hand that had been at work  is clearly seen now that a “regime  change” has taken place.  UE that imposed sanctions on grant of quotas for the apparel industry  is  now removing those  sanctions in favour of the changed pro western regime.

To-day the Tamil National Alliance which is the off shoot of Prabhakaran’s  terrorism  plays the tune  to which the temporary  Government of 100 day Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has begun to dance.  Though the President Maitripala Sirisena was sworn as the President  his voice has been muted by his Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe and his Cabinet of Ministers-Mangala Samaraweera, Rajitha Senaratne.

Though much publicity is being given to Yahapalanaya and Maitri Palanaya, this  temporary100 day government has a super government  a Politburo called the NEC above it with a  “Gestapo” style investigating branch led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP.

The Gestapo of Hitler’s Germany most often acted on information from “denouncers” to round up Jews and investigate their activities. Once the Gestapos get you they will go all out to condemn  you to Concentration camps , no amount of  evidence in your favour will be taken into consideration.  Anural Kumara Dissanayake’s JVP is not different-but he is a Gestapo who  alsoacts   like a bull in a China Shop. 

No wonder Anura Kumara Dissanayake of JVP is like that because cruelty is in his blood since  his JVP beginning they killed people in cold blood. They cut off heads  of  innocent people and stuck them on poles and planted them in front of the homes of the victims.  They  killed  any one without questioning .  Only crime  their victims had  committed more often was to have belonged either to the UNP or the SLFP.

Can we now expect any thing better from this uncouth individuals. JVP is now  going after the family members of the President  Mahinda Rajapakse.  Has JVP under the cover of Yahapalanaya  started their bloody revolution ?   It is strange that it is people with an unclean past that seek to accuse others

Some thought better of Champika Ranawaka but he  seems to be of the same mould as JVP Gestapo. Atureliye Ratana has gone a step forward.  He now says Your Excellency, that the credit for the elimination of terrorism does  not go to you alone , but to him as well.

Your Excellency  we will always remember you as  a dedicated patriot strong and determined not only to fearlessly hold yourself  against  your  local opponents,  but also against the  powerful Foreign forces  to protect your  country and your people.

But to-day  every thing you did to Mother Lanka to save her from the terrorists and lift her onto a higher pedestal of respect and global importance, with a strong armed force, to protect the country is being reversed. 

The UNP Ministers of the 100 day Government  even take credit   to vast development that has taken place in Sri Lanka.  Harsha de Sila a Deputy Minister says that the infrastructure projects were identified for implementation by Ranil Wickramasinghe.  But identifying  and taking the bold step to construct are two different   things.  Therefore the credit goes to the one who takes the bold step to construct and not to the one who identifies.

Your Excellency, your brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse  will be remembered for generations to come, for after the  heroic defeat of the terrorists freeing the country  and its people, he  used the heroic  soldiers of  our Armed Forces to make of them  the builders of the Nation. They were in the process of  changing the  landscape of Sri Lanka completely different from what it had been  before, to give it a scenic beauty in the midst of  economically prosperous cities in which the people are  united as a Nation. 

To make safe the country for generations to come even the young generation was in the process of being  trained in leadership  providing them with the ability to take up the role of protectors of the country in case of  dangers that would come to her from within and outside. In the process professions that were considered low were  re- evaluated and Armed Forces  were trained to take up the profession of builders and cleaners giving labour a respect hitherto unfound.  .

Even this great concepts are now in the process of change under Maitri Palanaya.  There is still a fundamental question which has not been broached in the calamitous situation we are faced with today.  The question is whether the Government which has been set up temporarily to fill the gap between the election of a new President  and the Parliamentary elections has the legal authority to make dramatic changes in  the administration of the country ? 

For instance Ranil  Wickramasinghe who has been named the Prime Minister by the President is not a Prime Minister of the people. Therefore he has no authority to announce that all parties have agreed to implement the 13^th Amendement.  It is a very controversial issue and therefore the people have to be consulted  to have their consent.  It is true that you  Your Excellency had  announced once that you will implement  the 13^th Amendment plus.   But you had left it at that without taking a decision surely as it  needs reflection, as it is not an Amendment prepared by Sri Lankans, but one written and presented by India to be introduced into our Constitution  in exchange for disarming the terrorists.

Hence it is not some thing that should be implemented in a hurry by a temporary government set up in exigence. This government also proposes to reduce its economic relations with China.

The Maithri Planaya or Yahapalanaya which is highly publicised is a  Dictatorsip, where they accuse persons without allowing them to defend themselves.  This Maitri Palanaya Government controls the media and no body is able to make any view contrary to that of the Government.  They take every possible occasion to accuse and ridicule every one connected with the Previous government. 

They accuse Gotabhaya Rajapakse for various  imagined activities. They want  the Chief Justice to step down.  They demand  the resignation of  the Chairperson of the UGC Kshanika Hirimburegama.  They complain against the Top Management of Titro Gaz . They have complained  against Wimal Weerawansa and Mrs.Weerawansa.  They have even raided the house of  Jackson Anthony as they say that he was connected to RajapakseThey have complaints against Yourself Your Excellency and your children.  Where is this going to end ?  

The people are given only the Maithjri Palanaya  version of news and there is absolutely no way of hearing the other side .  Their  news are mostly based on  vendetta,  on jealousy, hatred , anger and revenge.

The policy of this 100 day Yahapalanaya is to stop  all media access to the former President , his family and any one connected to them.  They should not be seen in the television, not heard in the radio, or should not be allowed to be read in the press.  If this is not a Dictatorship what is ?

Your Excellency people have enough of the Maitri Palanaya, please come back Mother Lanka needs you.

May the blessings of the triple Gem be with you and your family,

Thank you, Your Excellency,

Charles.S.Perera