Shyamon Jayasinghe, on 27 April, accuses this writer of cherry picking his article, ‘Why can’t Dayan see that Executive Presidency is dead and awaiting burial?’ to substantiate the writer’s view point, which he perceives as supportive of Executive Presidency (EP). Thus, he claims, justice is not done to his article. The reader may ascertain the truth by visiting https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/why-dayan-cant-see-that-the-presidential-executive-is-dead-awaiting-burial/

In his haste to ‘pulverize’ the writer (as privately threatened), he had failed to properly read the article, ‘Executive Presidency: boon or bane?’. The writer, he accuses:
– has omitted his list of “concrete achievements under the pre-existing Westminster system we had until 1977”. This appears in paragraph nine.
– mentions the 1971 JVP riots without reference to the 1989 insurgency. Paragraph 12 proves otherwise.
– has not mentioned the Indian occupation. The fourth paragraph before the last notes that India forced the 13th Amendment on us, assuming the reader would know the circumstances.

The article supports neither the Parliamentary System (PS) nor EP. Under both, we experienced insurgencies, wastage, corruption, nepotism, developments and victories. More than the system, we are currently subject to our administrators’ efficiency (or not).

The issues Jayasinghe raises however merits a response.

1. Virtually endless list of concrete achievements under PS

The ’70s is mostly remembered for the hard life with long queues for food rations and cloth pieces. Support given to agriculture is negated when people did not have enough food to eat. The Hartal 1953 too arose because of the increased rice prices and subsidiary cut. People were too poor to absorb when a measure of rice rose from Rs. 0.25 to 0.70 and sugar from Rs. 0.36 to 0.60.

2. PS immediately crushed two military coups and the 1971 JVP insurgency; it took EP 26 years to stifle the LTTE

The two coups did not leave the drawing board due to last minute betrayals and not because of the then governments’ (Bandaranaika’s in 1962 and Dudley Senanayake’s in 1966) efficiency or preparedness. In the first coup, it was Felix Dias Bandaranaika and not PM or the cabinet that took timely and decisive action. (Lessons from the Past, 15 August, 2016)

In quick succession, under two very different governments, the same threat from the same source for similar reasons emerged. Yet, the two governments reacted very differently. Bandaranaika became deeply suspicious of the military and drastically cut off their funding, purposely eroding their strength, affecting the National defenses. Senanayake created the Special Branch of the Ceylon Police Force charged with National Security. When Bandaranaika reassumed power, she disbanded it.

Dr. Rohan Gunaratne writes in ‘Sri Lanka A Lost Revolution? – the inside story of the JVP’, that despite the information police received of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s activities, they were unable to prevent the insurgency. Though Bandaranaika read the official death figure as 1300 in parliament, Dr. Nihal Jayawickrema remembers Bandaranaika suspecting the actual number to be greater. (Failed Lessons from 1971, 22 August 2016)

There was tremendous international support, especially from India, Pakistan and Britain to suppress the JVP. The then Opposition, the United National Party too was supportive. JVP, an isolated group with scant outside links, quickly capitulated.

The first attempt on Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duruaippah was in 1971. Since 1972, the Federal Party heavyweights began publicly instigating the youth to give Duruaippah an ‘appropriate answer’. Yet, when he was assassinated in 1975, all suspected political rivalry, but not terrorism. (Tracing the Origins of Terrorism, 21 November 2016)

Unlike the JVP, the Tamil terrorists found powerful patronage in Indira Gandhi. Tamil terrorists was her cunning way of pushing off a domestic problem to Sri Lanka. She needed South Indian votes, without giving into their separatism demands. Thus, she armed, trained and protected them, thereby distracting the Tamil Nadu separatists. Jayalalitha died licking her chops for Tamil Eelam.

If not for Rajiv Gandhi, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would have been annihilated in 1987. Yet, despite creating and sustaining Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, India remained self-serving to the very end.

JR Jayewardena to counter India’s strength formed closer alliance with the USA. (Indo Sri Lanka Relations – a double edged sword, 05 December 2016). The USA, not wanting to upset the Indian markets, surreptitiously linked Sri Lanka with Israel, who helped us till the very end.

Jayasinghe claims that it was the favorable global conditions that resulted in the LTTE’s defeat. USA, under the Bush regime, helped Sri Lanka enormously from numerous fronts. However, India was more worried how the war affected their impending elections than the lives terrorized and destroyed. Europe remained hostile. In fact, UK and France foreign ministers Miliband and Kouchner came in person, demanding the war to be stopped. With Obama, we lost the U.S. support. Instead, Hillary hoped to spirit away the LTTE leadership elsewhere. It was against all these odds, we won the war.

Germany was the first country that tried to pass a Geneva Resolution against us. Yet, throughout these years, the West failed to take appropriate action to arrest funding the LTTE. They also have no issue with the LTTE theoreticians, ideologists, founders, financiers, propagators and terrorists living amongst them. Thus, the issue is not the system, but the powerful enemies we are up against.

The LTTE assassinated the best, most respected UNP leaders. Still, the UNP rejected the proposal to form a National government, ridiculed the military efforts and tried to defeat the budget.

3. Corruption increased after 1977, especially after the EP system came under family control over the last 10 years

These are not new charges.

Bandaranaika too was hauled over the same coals of nepotism. Her four brothers, Sevali, Clifford, Macki and Barnes Ratwatte were director export promotion, chairman state plantation corp, PM’s private secretary and Supreme Court judge respectively. Macki’s father-in-law, William Gopallawa was president, Sevali’s and Clifford’s mother-in-law’s brother, Hector Kobbekaduwa was agriculture minister, son-in-law Kumar Rupasinghe was working director national youth council, daughter Sunethra was her coordinating secretary, son Anura was advisor, planning, economic and student affairs, daughter Chandrika was director, land reform commission and husband’s cousin’s son Felix was finance minister.

Jayasinghe highlights that the Rajapaksa family have serious charges hanging over their heads. Bandaranaika too faced allegations on which JR revoked her civic rights. Even TB Ilangarathna – a man who rendered enormous services to the people – was slandered and nicknamed Karawala Kumaraya.

Unfortunately, discrediting political opponents is our way. Jayasinghe too commits the same sin when he, as a response to the economic data Dr. Nalaka Godahewa presents, casually asks, “isn’t the gentleman facing corruption charges?”.

The charges Jayasinghe alludes to is a Rs. 5m sponsorship approved by the entire SEC Board for the purpose of educating more than 20,000 school children on the stock market. His arrest comes shortly after his 45-minute easy-to-understand explanation on the 2015 February bond scam that went viral on the Internet. The AG’s department charged Dr. Godahewa under public property act, but has since changed the indictment three times during the last one year. In fact, the high court refused permission to proceed with the latest amendment.

Dr. Godahewa is hounded for a question of Rs. 5m, which was clearly not siphoned for personal gain. Conversely, Arjuna Mahendran, with clear evidence emerging from the presidential commission for engineering a scam that has costed the country directly and indirectly more than Rs. 145b remains a top advisor to PM.

4. Under MR, did we have an economic revolution?

We celebrated 57 years of independence in 2005, during which the economy had only grown to USD 20b. However, as Dr. Godahewa notes, by 2014, our economy had grown to USD 80b – i.e. the economy had grown by four times during 2005-2014. Can this be downplayed as “some GDP and per capita growth”?

If so, then this government too should be able to maintain those GDP growth rates, which were above 7pc. However, Dr. Godahewa observes, growth rates as per latest data, has fallen to a low 4.8pc, making us just ahead of Maldives and Afghanistan in the region. As for the share market, there was a 384pc growth during the last government – All share price index grew from 1506 points in 2004 to 7299 points in 2014. As at end March 2017, ASPI has fallen to 6200 points from 7299 points in 2014.

The white elephants Jayasinghe refers to are actually national treasures, that were in the pipeline since the beginning of the last century. Though each administration, including the British, wanted to rebuild our Magampura Port, none could. When the Rajapaksa administration did, these infrastructures were mercilessly vilified by jealous opponents.

Our respected editors failing to understand the significance of these projects joined the fray. It was only when paddy was stored in the Matthala Airport and the Magampura Port is to be leased below value for 99 years, that many realized the falsehood and the slander’s malicious intent.

‘Leasing Hambantota Port to China – Selling Our Soul’, 19 December 2016 and ‘China and the Magampura Port’, 26 December 2016 extensively discusses this issue.

5. Under EP, we lost our freedoms of dissent and assembly

“The Hartal 1953 was the first mass political action in Ceylon and the first major social crisis after independence,” records Wikipedia. “The demonstrations lasted only a day with at least 10 people killed.”

Dawasa – a Sinhala daily newspaper that had a circulation of 83,285 in 1973, was very critical of the then government. Thus, its presses were sealed and it was closed down in 1974 using the Emergency (defense) Regulations.

6. “The Meethotamulla tragedy is eerily symbolic of this government’s policies and performances, which is a growing pile of dangerous neglect and toxicity, which will bury this country and its people under the collective and growing weight of its colossal callousness and incompetence,” – Dr. Jayatilleka.

Jayasinghe misses Dr. Jayatilleka’s point. Dr. Jayatilleka does not blame the government for the debacle.

The Meethotamulla garbage mountain was not created by this government. This site, set aside for flood control off the Kelani River basin, was where children played and community festivals were held. Since late ’80s, despite the residents’ protests, local authorities of Kolonnawa, Mulleriyawa and Kotikawatta began dumbing garbage. After the SC prohibited dumbing garbage at the Bloemendhal site in 2009, Meethotamulla got approximately 1,250 tons of garbage daily. According to Dr. Prasanna Cooray, the garbage heap “from about two acres in 2009, grew to almost 20 acres in extent and 300 meters in height by 2017.”

The toxicity, colossal callousness and incompetence Dr. Jayatilleka refers to is not garbage, but the attempts “led by PM Wickremesighe and supported by his Tamil National Alliances allies, propose to weaken the Sri Lankan State by abolition of the EP, quasi-federalization of center-periphery relations, and the massive sell-off of state assets.”

Shamindra Ferdinando’s ‘AI’s Longstanding ‘Alliance’ with the LTTE’ offers a good parallel to Dr. Jayatilleka’s analogy. ” AI launched a high profile campaign, using the slogan ‘Sri Lanka, play by the rules’ in March-April 2007, targeting Sri Lanka. The project got underway at the onset of Vanni offensive west of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 road. By then, the combined forces had been successful in seizing the upper hand in the Eastern theatre of operations. ‘Sri Lanka, play by the rules’ campaign coincided with the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup, the 9th edition of the tournament that took place in the West Indies from March 13 to April 28, 2007.

“The AI campaign was meant to pressure Sri Lanka to accept an international body to monitor abuses…AI planned to persuade celebrities, and members of the public, to sign foam cricket balls bearing the words: ‘Sri Lanka, play by the rules.'”

Since then, Amnesty International along with International Crisis Group (ICG) and the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has managed to push the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka.

Like the garbage mountain, this government inherited the Geneva Resolution. Instead of presenting evidence to counter the allegations, consigning the resolution will soon torpedo us. Already, those who had contributed directly towards defeating the LTTE are being investigated for various allegations. Whether evidence exists to stick the charges remains to be seen. Meanwhile, national security is crumbling. Extremist militant groups are rising. Various national assets are on ‘sale’.

Except for PM and Sagala Ratnayaka, none of the other noteworthy politicians or officials dared to visit the Meethotamulla site. If this government continues to proceed with callous disregard to the dangers ahead, anger triggered by the Meethotamulla tragedy might escalate uncontrollably.