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An open letter to Ranil Wickremesinghe who was thrown out with hooting and a cesspit bath

(Lanka-e-News -14.Aug.2020, 3.00AM)

Dear Ranil Wickremesinghe,

In this article, I would like to draw your attention to the "socio-political devastation" inflicted on the UNP during last 5th Wednesday's general elections and the reasons for the request made by this letter.

When you entered politics in 1977, as a child, we saw you as an actor who entering politics.. You were able to become the political model of the youth for the country by starting the National Youth Services Council. At that time, our parents who saw the achievements of a 28 year old young man named Ranil in politics said that a future leader had emerged for the country. Since then, you have come a long way of 43 years in politics. From here today, looking back, it has given the country many creative new beginnings from the opportunities you had.

In the face of natures’ path, you have mastered various insults and praises inherent in Sri Lankan politics, as well as the patience of a mature politician.  Some have perceived your infinite silence as a sign and behavior of a wise man with great knowledge but I see your infinite silence as a "slip" in politics. It is the most destructive political idiocy in a country like ours.

Expectations..

It was in 2015 that you had the opportunity to lead the country and your party with a new vision from the Leadership of the opposition for a long time. It is a random opportunity for a politician or for a political party. The country suffered the greatest socio-political and economic devastation during the period 2005-2015. It is a great vision that you propose a system of good governance to save the country from the catastrophe. You are the best leader in the country who can build such a mindset. The people of the country accepted your vision and unanimously voted for the political project you led.

The worst damage at that time was the “extreme immoral socio-political system” introduced to the country by the Rajapaksas. In order to stay in power the Rajapaksas did all bestial acts on earth. I am afraid perhaps you understand although we as a nation can earn the national wealth the Rajapaksas plundered, but can we earn the socio - political damage the Rajapaksas did to this country? I do not know whether you were sensitive to change that political system? I do not know how much you wanted that. At that time, you and your party led the way by introducing good governance to end the Rajapaksa regime. I was on the view that the greater responsibility lied with the United National Party, which you led.

The concept of good governance was misused...

With a political history of 43 years, you may have many pro-anti political allies. In politics, there is a saying that there are no eternal friends or enemies. The idea is that, as I understand it, the first sacrifice in politics should be made not to a friend or to an enemy, but for the best interest of the people who voted for you and for the political role you are committed to. The people of our country do not know who your political friends or enemies are but the reason for electing the good governance was to expose the gang of thieves ad their large scale thefts exposed by the UNP led by you. It was you and your leading opposition, who exposed the destructive politics of the Rajapaksas and introduced the good governance to the country as a solution. Using good governance for a political campaign was a successful concept to end the gruesome Rajapaksa politics.

The majority of the country accepted the call of the people to make Maithripala Sirisena the President and to implement the concept of good governance in practice. Eight political parties and 48 civil society organizations participated. However even before the first two or three months, the most heinous sin committed by you and your MPs and ministers forgot the objective for what they got the mandate. Although you increased the public services wages by Rs. 10,000, people who voted for the good governance were dumbfounded when they saw the amount of luxury vehicles worth Rs. 30 – 40 million bought from public money. People who wanted the good governance were stunned to see the bond scam and your shameless offer to save your friend who caused it. These are just two small examples. President Sirisena who coincidentally became the President also overthrew the supremacy of the presidency, exposing to the world his political stupidity, forgetting how he got the mandate and why. Your government, told the country that it would establish good governance by punishing the "thieves", brutally broke the very first rule of good governance, the "rule of law". Weerawansa's passport incident and the manner in which Shiranthi Rajaoaksa was questioned at the speakers’ house are just a few examples.

Ignoring basic human needs and problem in lives..

I hope you have a deep understanding of the socio-economic system of our country. Good governance was able to control the cost of living up to some extent. However, the good governance did not have a vision of the basic needs that affect the day to day human existence. They ignored many of the basic needs of the country. There isn’t a mechanism to solve the problems which would have solved without huge money. You had no knowledge about the nature of governance. If you had you wouldn’t have combined the ministry of highways and higher education together. You wouldn’t form a finance minister without the central bank and commercial banks. You wouldn’t have allowed the finance minister to take the lottery’s board when he was appointed as the foreign minister. These were universal jokes. On the other hand the public service of the good governance was very weak. The public services, was not liberated from the Rajapaksa clutches. The concept of good governance was not practically incorporated into the state machinery. There was no plan to implement those. Even though a ministry was set up claiming that the public services would be digitized, an American investor I know had to return to Sri Lanka from the United States after months of trying to bring a file from the Anuradhapura Kachcheri to Colombo. Those were just a small example how the extent of the good governance in its public service.

Instead of focusing on solving the problems of everyday life, the state spent time and attention on things that were not relevant for day to day existence of the people. Time was spent on internal problems and to resolve the crisis of the government, the large cabinet of ministers was no avail, the abuse of the presidency, falling into the traps of the opposition, and so on. In the face of all that, the good governance became disgusted by the people day by day. You could not sense the "future" political change that could take place in the country. The way the people of Maharagama voted in the Municipal Council election revealed a degree of disgust towards you but unfortunately you could not read it.

Seeing the destruction and ignoring it..

The future, which did not see the good governance then, has come today. There is no place for good governance today. There must be at least a drop of ash to rise above the ashes. Not even that is available now. As the leader of the United National Party, you are well aware of its history. The UNP is built on the shoulders of the rural masses that have been around since the 1950s. Its purpose was human development. DS Senanayake understood that a country ruled by the whites needed sovereignty and inherent freedom. He walked from village to village, gathering the masses and building the foundation of the United National Party. He gave priority to strengthening local agriculture. The leaders of the UNP before you understood this reality to some extent. Your party MPs and ministers did not understand the vision of the party and why it exists. If there was, the Ministry of Agriculture would not have been handed over to a cardinal thief and he would not have created a shortage of fertilizer by squandering billions of rupees on fertilizer in a verge of an election. He would not rent out a building from public money claiming for the Ministry of agriculture, close the building and make an actress a millionaire.

The insensitivity of leadership..

After 43 years of hanging on to practical politics, you had no leadership qualities. There was no team spirit, no ability to solve practical problems. You stood as a leader not because the party members promoted you but because you were protected by a few close friends which have been proven today. 99% of the party members have left you. You did nothing to protect the leadership team and the party. You would have thought that it would happen automatically. Your behavior has made the country prone to extreme insensitivity, neglect and inability. Your leadership did not have the ability to control, change and create.

You could not give leadership to the mp’s of your party. You did not have the ability to control a political idiot such as Sirisena. You were able to free all your political friends from allegations of corruption and if necessary you could have established good governance in the country.   But you did not have that much knowledge. After 2015, the country needed a strong, intelligent national leadership. You had the opportunity to use the political power as an opportunity to build a "national leadership". You never thought to see such a distance.  You did not go beyond the behavior of a traditional politician.

As a citizen, I do not know you personally, but as a citizen, what I saw and understood from your political practice was that you were overestimating yourself, thinking that you knew everything. You do not seem to have listened to anyone. Sometimes you behaved like a "political-idiot". In many cases, you showed the country that you are very insensitive. Your comments were very irresponsible in the face of the problems that have risen in the country at various times. While watching the socio-political-economic declining taking place in the country, you did nothing to control it.

The inability of the good governance was demonstrated to the country in the wake of the controversy over the terrorist attack on Easter Sunday. It was a time when the country needed a very strong leadership. The good governance did not take that responsibility. It destroyed the credibility of the good governance, allowing to emerge racism. You became a nincompoop saying that you were not invited to the Security Council. You became a useless scapegoat premier who did not receive any sensitive security information about the country. In fact, such a Prime Minister is of no use to a country. You ignored the central bank fraud scam. You never faced the bond scam positively and did nothing to alleviate the crisis. If you have instructed your bosom pal central bank governor to resign on the first scam and cancel the bond and start a fresh one, you and your party wouldn’t have affected by such a mountain of allegations. In both cases it was clear that you and your government were coward and irresponsible. The end result is that the people, who brought good governance to the country was deeply deceived, frustrated and the election result you are experiencing today.

Ignoring the future..

In our political culture we are not taught to see or plan the future. Therefore, the future will not be used as a benchmark for our development investment projects. Your government imagined that all the problems of the country could be resolved by naming the government with the label of good governance and the people would be satisfied with it. You’re MPs and ministers did nothing for the people who voted for them in their villages.

With the formation of the good governance, the country where the Rajapaksas had held a carnival came to an abrupt halt. The reason was not explained to the people. The good governance did not approach the people of the country. Good governance is a collective effort, and your government did not have the criteria of "participation" as its core component. You kept quiet and used the slip technique when giving leadership to important events. You spoke a lot about democracy and according to the criteria of the good governance you should be accountable for the people. You or your MPs and ministers did not follow or adhere to such a policy. What they did was to increase the frustration of the people and wasting time talking nonsense in Parliament and on various TV channels. None of the ministries appointed by your government solved any problem in the country. Good governance is the only government in the political history of this country that has brutally destroyed governance and state “time”.

Forgetting the distressed journalists..

The first opposition to the former government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa came from the media. They paid a huge price for it. Its biggest compensation was the murder of the Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickramathunge. Among them were the murders of many Tamil journalists, the amputation of Poddala Jayantha's legs, the torture of Keith Noyar, the disappearance of other Tamil journalists including Prageeth Ekneligoda, and the burning of alternative media institutions including Lanka e News and Uthayan were among them. You and your ministers sold the tragedy happened to those slain journalists in all stages in order to form the good governance. People who brought the good governance were able to comprehend your perverted acts when your government banned Lanka e news and sealed the TNL broadcast. Your bestial outlook was further exposed how you responded to Ahimsa, the daughter of the Sunday Leader editor.

For those five years of good governance in power you and your cabinet did not pay a single penny to the journalists who were brutally attacked by the Rajapaksas, for those who suffered serious health injuries and to the burnt media institutions. However you and your herd of MP’s and ministers bought luxury vehicles worth 30 – 40 million and increased their wages. Seeing those it is not surprising that the people who brought the good governance became bitter about you.

Forgetting the people in the north..

Before the 2015 presidential election which led Sirisena to become the president you gave a promise to the northern people of the good governance that you would abolish the executive presidency, to form a new constitution, to change the electoral system leading the minorities to obtain their equal rights within 100 days. The independent commission became the third promise. It is through a new constitution a country could be changed. Despite staying in power for four and a half years you never fulfilled those promises. It was the minority parties who supported you got dejected. Finally all those left you due to your negligence.

You are not a political amateur unaware about a major task such as bringing a constitution should be done in the first year of a government in power, but you took a draft constitution and went around the country wasting time and money. It is for nothing but to deceive the people because you didn’t have a genuine intention to bring a new constitution. On two occasions when the country was ready to change the executive presidency, which was a great disaster for the country, you stood in between and made a history as a despicable traitorous politician. In the first opportunity following a one full year of discussion you finally opposed the new constitution brought by President Chandrika and burned it in the Parliament. It was the only historic occasion when the dictatorial executive itself proposed the abolition of the dictatorial executive. The second is the mandate given by the people in 2015 for the same. History will never forgive you for shamefully betraying both of those instances.

Consequences of not understanding the Rajapaksa political theory..

Citizens with indigenous tribal characteristics do not have a long-term political vision. Universal franchise alone was not sufficient to build democracy in our country. Our tribal community goals are based on very short-term needs. They understand their vote as a "deal." On top of that, there is a “dependence” on the regime that can easily deceive them impulsively. They can be provoked by stirring up traditional socio-cultural sentiments such as country, race and religion. Their votes can be plundered through short stimulus, with a more demonstrative political maneuver than practical politics. He sells his vote for something like getting a job, from a bottle of arrack to getting a license to sell environmental resources or for a sand mining license. When the country becomes extremely politicized, the people of the country see the politician as a creator who gives them everything. Today, many people in the country say, "The Rajapaksas stole and built roads" and "gave Rs. 5,000 during corona at least with the stolen money." Your good governance team was not been able to analyze such tribal discussions that have come down to the practical level in politics.

Although free education increased the literacy rate of the people in Sri Lanka, the knowledge based on human intelligence and rational thinking did not increase. Literacy-based education does not eliminate certain tribal practices and traditional beliefs. First and foremost, a country needs citizens who are knowledgeable and who can put their knowledge to practical use in life. What Rajapakse did in politics was to trap the people of the country in a socio-political maneuver based on these tribal characteristics by nurturing them more and more with alcohol. The socio-political vision of the people has been analyzed in a narrow mindset such as even when 'Mahinda nominates a coconut husk, the people will vote for it'. Your good governance has never addressed the people of the country and engaged in a dialogue with them. Many pioneering scholars have told you and your flock of MPs and ministers thousands of times that a process of addressing the people in the good governance was necessary as 'the White Lotus Movement' addressed in peace and 'Api Wenuwen Api' addressed during the war, all were ignored. Wasn't the result the country being pushed into the cunning politics of the Rajapaksas?

Mr. Wickremesinghe..,

Good governance was needed to liberate the people from this tribal mentality ..! Your good governance did not give the necessary leadership to liberate the people from this major political dependence..! The Good governance failed to recognize the grassroots political reality created by Rajapaksa politics. The good governance you initiated could not build and lead a socio-political ideology in a country with a population of less than 20 million. I think it was because of your incompetence and misunderstanding.

I hope you will acknowledge that our country has once again fallen victim to vulgar politics. You did not take the opportunity you received to change it. Both the voter who voted for you and you who received the franchise have fallen victim to this vulgar politics. Then you were brought back to the place was the same socio-political culture the Rajapaksas created then. It is the same political system that the Rajapaksas introduced to this country that dragged you to where you are today!

This is not how you should have left politics after a long and tiring journey. But your "unaltered socio-political system" itself marks the end of your journey. It has happened by hooting and with a cesspit bath.

Ranawaka

Translated by Robinhood

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by     (2020-08-13 22:03:21)

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