Hand the country over to me: MR
One can see how an individual, who at one time had absolute power and is now in the political wilderness, has no control over what he says when under the influence of undesirable power hungry individuals whose survival depends on this one individual. This appears to be happening to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Look at the people who have been around him when he said “Hand the Country over to me”. And for what reason... to rescue Sri Lanka from the current economic ‘crisis’ but refused to outline strategies to address the problem. What makes MR think the people of this country will give him another chance? MR’s desperate cry for another chance is not to rescue Sri Lanka from the current economic ‘crisis’ but to groom his son for the next Presidential election and give another chance for him, his family and his bag carriers to run riot feathering their own nests whilst increasing Sri Lanka’s debts to astronomical heights. These jokers still haven’t realised that we are today suffering because of their mismanagement of the country.
MR claims, as President he steered the country out of an economic crisis. If that was so would we be in this mess? Parliamentarians, who couldn’t afford even a push bicycle are travelling in luxury cars, built palatial houses, and filling their bellies with food served in star class luxury hotels. Anyone with a single blood-drop relationship is still living lavishly in 7-star comfort! The overall result is that the citizens of this country are paying for all this!!
Let’s put aside party affiliations and ask ourselves the pertinent question: If not Ranil who should it be? Can any single person in the Joker’s Pack stand up at any forum and cut an impressive figure about our country, in a dignified manner?
One of the biggest problems our country is facing is that our quality of Parliamentarians leaves much to be desired.
In the past it was quite an experience to witness from the visitor’s gallery how business was conducted in Parliament. Today, the behaviour of Parliamentarians is atrocious and this is the last place that any decent human being must visit.
If the country is to go forward we must have the educated from decent family backgrounds who can serve a meaningful purpose in occupying those seats, enjoying the benefits they are entitled to. If as in the private sector (1) Education (2) Family Background (3) Financial Stability and (4) Acceptance in the Community are all taken into account Parliament can worthily serve the purpose for which it stands committed. It is not too late to adhere to this system and create a Parliament which can serve a useful purpose the country can be proud of. This is a must.
There is also a request from Gota for added security. There is a limit to which a government can go. If he is a citizen of America why must we be bothered to give him these luxuries at the tax payers’ cost? People in this country do not have to protect another country’s individual. It’s about time the country did the right thing by its people.
Whatever, government is in power must ban priests of any religion from getting involved in politics and taking part in street demonstrations.
It is so ugly to see individuals in religious attire behaving like hooligans and using force to bring down barricades and promoting mob violence.
Take the example of the controversial Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera who has been notorious for fear-mongering and hate speech against minority communities, taking the law unto himself. Democracy is one thing but violence must be arrested and severely dealt with. It is a fact that minority religious communities have been at the receiving end of violence from Buddhists actively encouraged by the Buddhist clergy and yet in many instances the perpetrators have not been brought to book.
Think about the vast number of MR’s supporters who have robbed this country left, right and centre and cannot be even proved guilty. The fact that the present government has not been able to put these rogues behind bars is most unfortunate.
The inactive judiciary must be activated and told to speed up cases which are going on for years as a result of which even the litigants have died and the cases are in limbo. Imagine the amount of money spent on a case in one year.
Two Ministers who have to be congratulated for their stance in exposing the truth, are Ranjan Ramanayake and Sarath Fonseka. We salute such people who can act fast and not mince their words. Citizens of this country must have the freedom to criticize wherever there are lapses.... and none must be found guilty for voicing their opinions.
D.P. de Silva
*****
80th anniversary of the Munich agreement
In re, Russia’s recent statement making the 80th anniversary of the Munich agreement of 30.9.1938 that saw both, the French and British governments giving in to the Nazi dictator Hitler’s demand that the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia that was a German majority province be transferred to Germany and the accusation that this was a ploy by the two western powers to ‘redirect’ German aggression east. (Sunday Observer September 30, 2018)
If indeed France and Great Britain wanted to ‘redirect German aggression east’ why did they both promptly declare war on Nazi Germany when it invaded Poland on September 1,1939 ? (resulting in a disastrous calamity for France)
While the Munich agreement may be regarded as an appeasement of Hitler it did buy the U.K. valuable time to rearm and prepare for the epochal ‘Battle of Britain’ that was to come with the Royal Air Force’s Fighter Command, in particular, benefiting from the new Spitfire & Hurricane squadrons it was able to deploy to its battle order.
While the Munich Agreement was nothing for the French and the British leaders to be proud about, it is nowhere near as shameful and despicable as the vile and secret ‘Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 (‘German-Soviet Non Aggression Pact’) by which the two megalomaniac mass murderers Hitler and Stalin agreed to carve up poor Poland.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland first on September1,1939 and the brutal Soviet Red Army in tow with the vicious Soviet Secret Police invaded and occupied eastern Poland on September 17,1939. (ironically the western Allies only declared war on one invader!)...
One of the first acts of the Soviet invaders was the terrible massacre of the Katyn Forest in which up to 22,000 Polish army officers, policemen, landowners and businessmen, Christian priests and intelligentsia were methodically murdered and secretly buried by the NKVD (as the KGB was then known).
It was only in 1989 that the now happily vanished Soviet Union’s last ruler acknowledged this terrible atrocity and asked for the Polish people’s forgiveness.
In the 1920s the Soviet Red Army systematically invaded all of the Central Asian former colonies of Imperial Tsarist Russia (they had declared their independence when the Tsar was deposed) and imposed totalitarian Communist rule on them.
In the 1930s and 1940s the former Tsarist protectorates, the Baltic States of Latvia, Estonia and Moldova, and brave Finland also suffered Soviet invasion and occupation (not before the courageous Finns gave the Red Army a bloody nose in the ‘Winter War Of 1940).
Ironically, the German excuse for the invasion of both Czechoslovakia and Poland was the protection of the German ethnic minorities there, which is similar to modern Russia’s justification that the safety of Russians in the Crimea was the reason for its unilateral annexation of Ukraine.
Russia’s war with Georgia and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine stem from the same reason.
I hope and pray, modern democratic Russia will mark the 80th Anniversary of the Molotav-Ribbentrop Pact in 2019 with an honest reappraisal of its dark and brutal Soviet past.
A student of History.
Colombo.
*****
Disunity and indiscipline should be nipped in the bud
Today, many communities in Sri Lanka live in peace and harmony, a democratic system of government prevails and the sovereign will of the people reigns supreme. There was a time when the country was looked down upon by most other nations due to the then Government turning a deaf-ear to the human-rights laws of the UN. Thanks to the President and the Government, today we are able to negotiate with all member countries of the UN.
As the spirit of democracy has taken deep roots in our soil since the arrival of Arahant Mahinda, we have reason to feel proud of our democratic tradition. Sri Lanka was under colonial rule for more than a century. We gained independence in 1948, and since then political freedom has imposed many responsibilities on us. The first task is to strive for ‘Economic Freedom’ without which all other freedom would be empty slogans. Economic freedom can be achieved through agricultural and industrial productions. Economic development coupled with spiritual and moral values will make any nation strong.
To achieve freedom in all aspects, unity and discipline are essential. The trends of disunity and indiscipline should be nipped in the bud whenever they raise their heads. It is not the responsibility of the government alone to maintain unity and discipline.
Today, the ethics of politics preserved by our ancestors have been lost. The sympathisers of the ‘Pohottuwa’ have launched a movement to villify the image of the Government.
A campaign of distortion and exaggeration of facts has been in progress by the power hungry. At the time the Government is at the peak of its invaluable service to the nation, none should disturb to curtail the progress, as we are yet a developing nation.
Dharma Kaviraj