Ranil attracts only five for lecture in the US:

Two major UNP events come a cropper

Two major events which the UNP organised last week to gain undue political mileage turned out to be utter failures. They failed to gain the intended political mileage from any of these events.

The first such event was last weekend’s second visit to Hambantota by a group of UNP parliamentarians to inspect Mattala airport (MRIA) and Magampura harbour.

When five UNP parliamentarians visited the same a few weeks, angry crowds reacted strongly against their unwarranted presence and the MPs who had hardly any big achievements to their credit, attempted to become instant heroes by claiming that they had been assaulted, to gain public sympathy.

Knowing their true nature well and the intentions, nobody took serious note of the UNP MPs who had thought that they could gain same political mileage from the second trip too. But the authorities too made sure that the visiting UNP MPs get full access and make their own observations, though the so-called inspection tour was politically minded.

The five MPs, who first went on their own without informing even their Hambantota District UNP leader and MP Sajith Premadasa, made sure that they went in full strength. Hence, they took acting UNP leader Karu Jayasuriya and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake along with them.

Though Sajith had differences with them for keeping him in dark on the previous tour, he had reluctantly agreed to join Karu as he had no excuse this time around. Unfortunately for the UNP, none of the governing party leaders in the district took notice of the touring UNP MPs who eventually returned to Colombo empty handed.

The second unsuccessful political action by the UNP last week their so-called protest march from Bibila to Kataragama, organised by the National Youth Front, the youth wing of the party led by Gampaha District parliamentarian Ruwan Wijewardene.

Only 14 people took part on the second day of the march along the Moneragala-Wellawaya road. They reached the Hulangdaawa junction and abandoned the protest march due to extremely poor crowd response. A few motorcycles and a couple of vehicles were seen making a big noise but even the die-hard UNPers had kept away from the event.

The organisers had made desperate attempts to woo public support but even the UNP regional leaders had not responded to the repeated calls by the National Youth Front.

But it became the happiest news to the UNP reformists supporting Sajith who is aspiring to become the next leader of the UNP, amidst claims that Ruwan is being groomed by his uncle to replace him at the right time.

UNP reformists’

survey on five ‘inspectors’

Although the UNP reformists took part in last week's inspection tour of Hambantota, they have done a secret survey on the eligibility of the five UNP MPs who first made such tour a couple of weeks ago.

The report, to be submitted to their leader of the reformist group, makes a stunning disclosure on the political bankruptcy of the five UNP parliamentarians who were rejected by the people in Hambantota. It has now been found that they have even been rejected by the people in their own electorates.

Eran Wickremaratne who made a song and dance is a person who has never won people's mandate. After he became the UNP organiser in Colombo East, the UNP could muster only 13,092 votes at the recent Western Provincial Council elections. But the UNP polled 18,922 votes from Colombo East at the 2009 PC elections. During Eran's period as the organiser, the UNP had lost 5,830 votes from his electorate.

Ajith Mannapperuma was lucky to enter the Parliament after the death of former UNP Minister Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena. The UNP lost the Gampaha electorate of which he is the chief organiser for the party, by 33,594 votes at the last Provincial Council elections.

Ajith Perera, who went to find shortcomings in Tissamaharama in which the UNP had increased its vote base by 12,061 votes, had lost his Bandaragama electorate by 37,932 votes at the last Provincial Council elections. Perera's Bandaragama is among the electorates in which the UNP had polled the lowest percentage of votes.

Nalin Bandara, another UNP MP who had been in the controversial group of five, could not secure a place from Kurunegala district at the 2010 general elections. But he was lucky to step into the Parliament after the UNP's most popular parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera, who represented Kurunegala district, resigned from the MP's post to contest North Western Provincial Council elections and become the Chief Minister with a record number of preferential votes. Bandara's Bingiriya electorate was won by the UPFA with a majority of 17,785 votes.

The other ‘inspector’ in the group was R. Yogarajan, who had entered from the UNP's national list without any representation from the masses.

The report by the UNP reformists prove that all these five MPs have no people’ representation or vote base in their respective electorates.

Ranil’s lecture turns to a discussion

While Ruwan attracted 14 participants for his protest march, his political guru and relative Ranil fared even worse in attracting only five participants for his lecture in the United States.

Though the UNP earlier claimed that its leader is having a month-long stint at the University of Massachusetts on study cum lecture assignment, it has now been disclosed that Ranil’s tour had nothing to do with the university directly. It has been arranged by a separate entity located within the same premises – The Centre for International Studies (CIS).

Ranil who is in the US on a scholarship offered by the Robert E. Wilhelm Foundation, was invited to deliver a lecture on the same day Ruwan Wijewardene had conducted his unsuccessful protest march in Bibile.

The organisers of the lecture at Massachusetts put notices about Ranil, with a brief background as two-time Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and the present Leader of the Opposition. They even reserved a large auditorium, assuming that Ranil would be a crowd puller. However, prior to the lecture, the undergraduates at Massachusetts were smart enough to browse the web to find whether it is worth attending.

It was then that they found the true track record of Ranil as an Opposition leader whose party had suffered 29 election defeats under his shaky leadership.

That prompted Massachusetts’ undergraduate students to keep away from the much publicised lecture. Finding just five students present, the organisers hurriedly turned into a panel discussion, much to the disappointment of Ranil who had boasted about his so-called lectures at Massachusetts University.

Karu protests in Hambantota

Acting UNP leader Karu Jayasuriya who took part in a protest in Hambantota last week said that the recent incident was not just an attack on a group of UNP MPs but was a serious blow to democracy.

But he was careful enough to hide the fact that the organizers had not even informed the UNP district leader of Hambantota, Sajith Premadasa. Among the notable absentees from the first tour was UNP’s so-called economic guru Dr. Harsha de Silva.

The group of UNP parliamentarians who visited Hambantota airport and the harbour on a fact-finding mission on April 17 handed over an interim report to the party Leadership Council last week.

They have come out with several concocted stories to undermine the two projects which would have never become a reality had the UNP been in power. Hence, the UNP parliamentarians had charged that both mega projects were carried out in haste and were unprofitable.

UNP Parliamentarian Eran Wickremeratne had even gone to the extent of claiming that a more suitable location for a second international airport was in Hingurakgoda with basic infrastructure facilities which could be used in case of an emergency, instead of Mattala which was also in the same weather zone as the Colombo airport. Does that show Eran’s knowledge and limitations as a banker?

President’s Q and A session on Twitter

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Q and A session on Twitter last week was a huge success with people across the globe seeking answers to questions on a wide range of topics. It was the second such Q and A session undertaken by the President on Twitter.

Asked whether there was any plan to block social media networks such as Facebook or Twitter, the President said there were no such plans. He said the opposition to such moves would begin from his home itself as his sons would revolt if he did so.

“I have a large following on social media (Twitter and Facebook) and if I were to block these sites I would have to face a revolution at home,” he replied. “I have more than 300k likes on Facebook and more than 25K on Twitter. How can I and why should I block them. If I block these, I will have a revolution at home by my sons,” he said responding to a question raised during a Twitter interaction yesterday.

Answering a question as to whether youth in the North enjoy life, President Rajapaksa said they enjoy equal rights and are not discriminated against. “They are provided with all facilities just like youth in the South. Terrorism took away all the rights of these young people. We are restoring them,” the President said.

The President went on to say that he would not allow any form of disharmony among religions in the island and observed that only a few incidents had been reported. “We have never had religious-based violence, maybe a few incidents,” he said.

Asked what steps has the Government taken to get youth involved in the decision making process, President Rajapaksa said his Government has a large number of young MPs, adding that there are many others young politicians in Local Government and Provincial bodies.

When questioned how the President and his colleagues will ensure that the Western part of the world will engage and commit in future discussions on youth, the President said: “We are open to anyone. The World Youth Conference is the best evidence!”

Freedom to protest

It has also been pointed out that if there are various types of protest marches and rallies on a regular basis in the country, democracy obviously has to be very much alive and kicking. The string of protest marches recently and so called opposition events on a raft of issues proves that people are free to speak, free to protest, and free to oppose, which are the vital signs of a vibrant democracy.

This belies the contention in some quarters that there is no tolerance of dissent or that there is restriction of democratic space, they said.

Though the Opposition paints a dismal picture to take petty mileage that there is no democracy, the type of freedom that the masses enjoy has been commended by several Colombo-based diplomats and the participants to the World Youth Forum.

Two Ambassadors stationed in Colombo have been amused by the number of protests that have taken place in recent times and said that those points outs the volume of freedom the people are enjoying. But foreign investors based in Colombo are of the view that the people should enjoy democracy and their freedom of expression without affecting the day-to-day lives of others and inconveniencing others.

The JVP-led Anthare made every effort to retain its fading colours by organising protests, perhaps targeting the World Youth Conference in Sri Lanka. It was a disgraceful effort at a time the country was hosting an important event of that magnitude.

The Galle Road leading to the Galle Face Roundabout was temporarily closed on Wednesday last week from Kollupitiya Junction due to such protest by university students. The undergraduates blocked the Galle Road by staging a sit-down protest opposite the Temple Trees but the police did not disrupt them.

Heavy traffic was reported in the Town Hall area in Colombo on Wednesday afternoon due to two protest marches by the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) and Undergraduates of the Allied Health Sciences (AHS) Degree programme students.

Common candidate

The Opposition has begun a huge dialogue on a so-called common candidate for the next Presidential election.

Though the election is officially due in November 2016, the Opposition has started talking on the subject to cover their recent election defeats.

Yes, there is a common candidate, and that common candidate is none other than President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said political commentators, particularly on social media.

They were commenting on the opposition parties and their search for a so-called common candidate suited for the next presidential election.

‘They are so involved in a search for a common candidate that I have kept my phone off,’ commented a wag recently on a broadcast program!

But, astute political observers say that the common candidate is obviously the President - as he is the representative of a rainbow coalition of political parties from all sides of the political divide, left, right, nationalist or moderate.

These analysts said that the coalition character of the governing combine is obvious from the fact that the opposition in the country too as the President said recently at the May Day rally, is within the government.

That being the situation and with all shades of opinion reflected within the government, the head of that coalition President Rajapaksa is the only common candidate, these commentators said.

LTTE ‘Operation Resurrect’ bared

The LTTE's terror resurgence has been traced by the intelligence community to around a thousand former cadres that escaped the rehabilitation process.

Intelligence has been able to crack open the network that under Nediyawanan and Fr. Emmanual operating from Europe, planned to infiltrate the North.

Part of the work undertaken in the infiltration effort was a poster campaign that sought to sensitize the Tamil civilians to a renewed Eelam campaign.

After the terror plot was bared with the interrogation of those who gave refuge to Gopi, military intelligence was led to the stash of inflammatory posters.

Most of the key players who were in the thick of the plot this time were of the propaganda wing that was being masterminded by Nediyawanan and Fr. Emmanuel -- a regular terrorist operating under cover of a Reverend's habit, as local intelligence described him.

Local intelligence has the facsimiles or originals of the LTTE recruitment form filled by all of the operatives that were recently banned by the Sri Lankan government.

This information has been provided already to foreign governments. The existence of such forms means of course that all of these people named -- blacklisted -- are card carrying LTTE operatives.

The Sri Lankan government's operation to crack open the resurgent network of course began with the initial foray into Malaysia, and the move to bring KP home.

Since then diligent intelligence work managed to crack open the desperate attempt to reorganize, and it became known that some of the financial masterminds behind the LTTE global operation were still operating in the same way they did before Prabhakaran was taken out by the banks of the Nandikadal.

Some of these same persons were able to fund the recent effort to infiltrate the North with the aid of the more than a thousand cadres who had escaped the rehabilitation process.

They were able to pump money into the operation to conduct the poster campaign that was launched, and one woman arrested showed intelligence officers a barrel in her compound in a residence in the North which was used as a weapons depository, albeit of a very rudimentary nature.