Yahapalanaya kalabala

Wednesday, 1 February 2017

Two years into Yahapalanaya, major cracks have emerged with
the partners of the historic nuptial that took place in January 2015
between the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the
United National Front for Good Governance (UNFGG).
The time has come for a decision to be made whether to continue
to live together, divorce and get into a new partnership or find
some same sex partners! The most vociferous ones are the
Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists who crossed over and joined
Maithripala Sirisena after the January 2016 presidential elections,
and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the crafty technocrat, is
showing immense patience with a few foul-mouthed Sirisena
loyalists of the UPFA.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Medamulana lion, is making waves and
is ready for a comeback to a downgraded role as the prime
minister by shifting heads in Parliament. His younger sibling
Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been chosen by the Chinese for training
in international diplomacy and statecraft in preparation for the
2020/21 presidential elections. The contest is on for seats in the
game of musical chairs. Will President Sirisena have an aappa
meal with the Prime Minister and throw his lot with the former

boss, thereby becoming the undisputed leader of the SLFP? A

timely reminder of the clich, there are no permanent friends or
enemies in politics, and in the Sri Lankan context, it is only selfinterest and dirty lucre.
No longer Mr. Clean?

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the twice-lucky Prime

Minister, has blundered big time by defending his buddy Arjun
Mahendran, Perpetual Holdings, and the bond scam. All is not well
even within his own United National Party (UNP) where many are
convinced that he is no more Mr. Clean.
Parliamentarians from President Sirisenas Sri Lanka Freedom
Party, the Joint Opposition, and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP) claim that they know a lot more about the bond scam than
the citizens of this country, citing the COPE (Committee on Public
Enterprises) report as testimony. The United National Party (UNP)
has hit back and threatens to reveal all Cabraal deals as part of
the investigations and insist that they will be expanded to cover
the last eight years of Rajapaksa rule a sure sign that the
Government has something to hide and is trying to take cover
under Rajapaksa lapses. Namal Rajapaksas closest buddy and
the suspected launderer of their ill-gotten wealth Arjuna Aloysius

has become the bond scams Cosa Nostra.

President Sirisena, who once claimed that he would not be among
the living if Mahinda Rajapaksa had won the presidential election
in January 2015, is now flirting with the idea of a united Sri Lanka
Freedom Party (SLFP). Majority UPFA Parliamentary members will
favour their own Government even if they have to work with
Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sri Lankas ever-present rumour machine has already spun saying
Mahinda has a deal with Maithri. They have started playing the
numbers game to topple the Yahapalanaya Government. The
Nugegoda rally on 27 January and the planetary changes that
took place have given hope to the Joint Opposition. The
unfortunate SLFP MPs who were left out of Government luxuries
after January 2015 cannot survive for too long in the Opposition
without the perks and privileges of office, so they are desperate
for change.
On the other hand, if the UNP backbenchers have their way, most
of the Mahinda Rajapaksa cohorts will be behind bars soon. There
is pressure mounting on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and
President Maithripala, who are suspected of shielding the
Rajapaksa clan, to prosecute and deliver on the Yahapalanaya
promise to bring the entire lot of Rajapaksas to justice. Every one
of them has a file and all it takes is for them to be opened.
There is no need of a FCID. They are accused of pilfering the
wealth of the nation, murder, violation of human rights, and
extreme corruption.
Numbers game
The current headcount in Parliament reads as: UNFGG-106, UPFA95, TNA-16, JVP-6, SLMC-1, and EPDP-1. Out of the 95 from the
UPFA, 43 ditched Mahinda Rajapaksa after the August 2015
General Elections and joined the Sirisena wing and were absorbed
into Government ranks to benefit from the perks of office. One of

them has now returned to the Joint Opposition. So, for any chance
of a Sirisena-Rajapaksa Government to succeed, 60 Members of
Parliament will have to scale the fence. Will 60 members trust
Sirisena who once betrayed Mahinda Rajapaksa if he makes the
move to betray Ranil Wickremesinghe?
Under this volatile political situation, will Mahindas Joint
Opposition and President Maithripala Sirisenas SLFP succeed in
uniting? Even if President Maithripala Sirisena takes his entire
group of SLFPers to the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp, will they have
the magic number of 113? How many of the UNPers will jump?
Will some of the suspected ill-gotten billions buy over the Rathu
Ali Patiyas and the TNA to form a new Ranil Wickremesinghe
Government? Or will the Rathu Ali Patiyas be a part of a coalition
where their arch rival, Wimal Weerawansa, would be playing a
lead role? Will the President make sure that Wimal Weerawansa
continues to be in his jumpers at Welikada to entice the JVP to join
him?
Will the Tamil National Alliance, whom President Sirisena has been
sending up the murunga tree in recent times, join Maithri and
betray the United National Party? Will the TNA breakup with either
the Sampanthan wing or Wigneswaran group, and join Sirisena?
Will India entertain this thought? Too many ifs and will theys?
for Sri Lanka to be comfortable.
Adding spice to all the political kalabala is Ven. Athuraliye
Rathana Theros announcement that he would sit independently
in Parliament. The Hela Urumaya is demanding his seat back
citing an agreement reached before he was appointed. Ven.
Rathana Thero knows too much of the inner dealings of the
Jathika Hela Urumaya to force anything on him. Will Champika
and his lot risk taking that chance with him?
Many are disgruntled with the Government

There is no doubt that many are disgruntled with the

Government. One Shot has given his deadly punch to mobilise
the entire local government network against the Government with
his hena gahanna curse on the Divulapitiya Divisional Secretary.
The first test of the future of the Government is going to be the
forthcoming Local Government Elections. Ranil Wickremesinghe
has to take the bull by its horns and settle this immediately, so
that the Local Government network does not work against his
Government.
The minority communities, especially the Muslims, feel that
Buddhist extremism and racism have re-emerged, and its much
worse than during the period of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Although
Gotabaya and Mahinda Rajapaksa allowed the extremists to cause
havoc with impunity, there was no official State patronage visible.
Today, at the behest of Justice and Buddha Sasana Minister
Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha, President Sirisena entertains the violent
extremist monks and accords them recognition as for the Most
Respected Mahanayakas and other religious leaders.
Relaunch of the
Rajapaksa campaign
The relaunch of the Rajapaksa campaign to destabilise the
Government was begun in Nugegoda. Mahinda Rajapaksa and the
Joint Opposition who have been bragging of major crossovers
from the Government, are now giving excuses, stating that they
dont want them to be identified just yet. Are they chickening out,
or were they just bluffing?
The failed May Day rally in Kirulapone put into cold storage their
early campaign to topple the Government, but with the present
undercurrents at the Presidential Secretariat, the Mahinda camp is
getting revitalised. With China willing to invest, they may make
some noise, but my bet is that the gas will fizzle out unless Gota
is announced as the presidential candidate for the 2020 or 2021

contest. However, President Sirisena is not ready for retirement

yet and will not entertain the idea of Gota in the fray.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is on a suicidal mission. He, along with
President Maithripala Sirisena, is preventing the arrest of the
Rajapaksas and bringing them to justice. The corrupt politicians of
the former regime are shouting hoarse to ensure that the
Government will think twice before arresting them. They could
always claim that they were arrested to prevent them being the
political opposition. The Government needs to call their bluff and
send them behind bars, because that is what the voters
mandated the Maithri-Ranil Government in January 2015.
The failure to bring justice to murdered Lasantha, Ekneligoda and
Thajudeen are a sad reflection on the Maithri-Ranil commitment
to Yahapalanaya. The three unfortunate murders have been used
as toilet paper, which needs to be flushed after use. In all three
cases, it is believed that there is ample evidence to send some
big names to Welikada. The much-hyped corruption charges and
promises to bring back the plundered loot of the Rajapaksas too
seem to be just a mirage.
Political criminals
and privileges
The Rajapaksa regime got the most decorated Sarath Fonseka to
wear the jumpers immediately after he lost the 2010 presidential
elections. Some still claim that his victory was stolen. As the most
decorated officer who held the highest office in the Sri Lankan
Army during the most important period of Sri Lankan war history,
his rights and privileges were totally violated. A man who survived
a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide attack and led
the forces to victory in the Eelam war was treated worse than a
common criminal. Pressure from the international community,
America and India had no impact on the Rajapaksa rule.

Today, minions like Wimal Weerawansa get privileges a hundred

times more than Sarath Fonseka. Former President Mahinda
Rajapaksa, members of the Joint Opposition, family members of
Weerawansa and party loyalists are allowed to visit him at
Welikada with food, phones and other luxuries, with media
cameras following them when he has been imprisoned for
financial irregularities during his tenure as a Minister. Are these
the privileges that our elected Members of Parliament should be
accorded for plundering State wealth? Speaker Karu Jayasuriya
needs to revisit the Parliamentary Privileges section and order
that political criminals should not enjoy such privileges.
President Maithripala Sirisena will do well to rewind to mid-2014
and remind himself of his political standing at the time. The
original Yahapalanaya team which consisted of Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Venerable Sobitha Thero, Ranil
Wickremesinghe, some members of the diplomatic corps and the
United National Party, must be wondering what happened to the
innocent Maithripala Sirisenas promise of abolishing the
Presidency.
Junius Richard Jayewardene who created the top seat of the
presidency had left enough glue on the seat so that anyone
sitting would not want to vacate it. President Sirisena has
mobilised his mouthpieces to demand that the executive
presidency is not abolished, so that he could serve a second term.
I am reminded of President Sirisenas promise on 14 July 2015,
stating when he assumed office as the President, he came with
both arms held high to erase the presidency and to reduce
presidential powers. He was, he is and he will be the same
tomorrow. That is his policy for freedom and democracy of the
common man of his country. Let us hope that good sense and
those noble ideals will prevail with President Maithripala Sirisena.
Posted by Thavam