Upul Jayasuriya is the President of the Bar Association,
champion of a thing called ‘independence of the judiciary,’ strident voice
demanding ‘rule of law’ and unwavering defender of all kinds of freedom. He
also heads an outfit that is funded by an organization called United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) with a long and shady history of
subterfuge aimed at destabilizing governments Washington dislikes and propping despotic
regimes Washington adores. He was livid
when a minister by the name of Rishard Bathiudeen did his version of what J.R.
Jayewardene’s goons did to judges of the Supreme Court in the early eighties. The Bar Association went on strike because
Rishard threated a judge and instigated an attack on the Mannar Magistrate
Court.
Rishard Bathiudeen has ‘crossed’. He’s now in the Maithripala Sirisena camp.
When he crossed he was embraced.
Warmly. And this by a candidate
and campaign that is hot on good governance, a better political culture,
independence of the judiciary, the primacy of the law and so on. Upul Jayasuriya could be thinking. In a
parallel universe he WOULD think.
Something on the following lines, probably.
‘I hate elections.
Well, not all elections. I really
don’t mind minor elections, but important ones like the Presidential Election
really knock me out. Ok, I’ve had my
run-ins with Ranil Wickremesinghe. I
even said that he will charge-sheeted in a people’s court. I’ve wanted him ousted and when things calmed
down, I’ve patched up with him. My UNP
activism is no secret. However much I
try to portray the BASL as an apolitical outfit, no one really buys the claim.
‘That said, I must say that I do try to come off less as a
UNPer than as a regime-change agent. To
this end I’ve sided with other “regime-changers” whenever they latched on to
any issue that had the potential to strengthen local and foreign forces
determined to get Mahinda Rajapaksa out.
That’s safer than waving the green flag. Yes, I’ve grown smarter over
the years.
‘Still, I am pretty peeved about this presidential
election. Not that I’ve not sounded
jaded and off-key on account of my UNP connections; my party doesn’t have an
impeccable track record. The problem with
elections like this is that it’s all about coalitions. Well, it’s all about power, really, but in
order to secure power, candidates have to form broad coalitions; the broader
the coalition the better the chance of winning.
This is the political reality.
‘Now if I was not the President of the BASL and was just
another UNP activist it would have been easy.
I wouldn’t have had to worry about getting confused about my multiple
identities. Now my hands are tied. Worse, I am finding that I am often tongue-tied
too.
‘ There’s the case of Sarath N Silve for example. I’ve lambasted him when he was essentially
Chandrika’s boy and later Mahinda’s boy.
I had to shut up when he started opposing Mahinda. Now he’s with the Opposition. I am gutted because the UNP has found it
necessary to leave Sarath alone. It’s
the same with Chandrika. How we opposed
her! When I remember, I want to cry. And now, she’s on our side (or is it that we
are on her side?) and I don’t know with which sauce to eat my words.
‘And now there’s this issue of Rishard. I don’t have to hide the fact that I want
regime-change. I don’t have to hide the
fact that right now the best opportunity to do so would be to support
Maithripala Sirisena. As President of
the BASL I’ve always talked about “broader issues”. Like good governance, independence of the
judiciary, rule of law etc. etc. The
thrust of Maithree’s campaign is about such things. But he has embraced this guy who has thumbed
his nose at the entire judicial system of the country.
‘Deep inside me I know that for me political loyalty
overrides all these lovely concepts, but as BASL President I can’t really say
it. And since I’ve tossed those ideas
around as though I consider them articles of faith, it is tough for me to
openly support my party, the UNP. Well,
not my party really, because unfortunately it is not in a position to field a
candidate, but to support the man the party supports, the proxy that we think
will give our leader, Ranil, some kind of consolation prize.
‘So yes, I hate this election. Makes me want to resign as BASL President,
really!’
3 comments:
So Upul Jayasuriya has sinned becuase he heads an organization funded by USAID - great ! does Malinda know even late Mervyn de Silva received assistance from US charity organizations to publish left wing , anti American Sri Lanka Guardian , contributors to which included his Stalinist son Dayan ?
yes i do. you think uncle sam was bothered about 'leftists' in SL? look what they did/do. a lot of people think 'left' means 'right' (as in 'good'). laughable. in this instance, usaid funds 'mark' the BASL and trips the moral high-horse. that's all. nothing more.
https://www.facebook.com/kalum.priyankara.10/videos/861022370626169/?pnref=story
http://www.usaid.gov/sri-lanka/press-releases/us-government-support-bar-association-sri-lanka
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