The resilience of the sophomoric in the UNP

The United National Party (UNP) is in crisis. It is so obvious that not even the need to show a bold front would make anyone disagree. Obviously this is rather disappointing to UNPers. There are also those who, in the spirit of the needs of a vibrant democracy, lament the party’s decline because it doesn’t make for a robust Opposition. Such sentiments are usually made by party apologists. People who would feel shy about saying but would prefer the UNP to other political options. 

When parties suffer an electoral defeat, even a slight one, there are whispers and even shouts such as ‘the party is over,’ ‘the party will not recover from this,’ and even ‘this is the end,’ and ‘let’s leave Sri Lanka!’ The truth is, there’s nothing to be too disappointed about. Sure, a resounding defeat in an election usually means a long sting in the Opposition. That can be disappointing for party activist, representative and loyalist. People want their people in power. That’s natural. 

Being in the Opposition is part of the story. It’s not the end of the world. The The UNP was in the Opposition for seven years (1970-1077). SLFP and various parties aligned with it were in the Opposition for 17 years thereafter. Since 1994, the UNP has been in power twice (2001-2004) and (2015-2019), although the UNP-led governments had to manage things first with a hostile president (Chandrika Kumaratunga) and later with a dubious ‘friend,’ Maithripal Sirisena. 

The thing is, parties don’t die easily. They are at death’s door but recover. They die but are re-born. Case in point: Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), now for all intents and purposes with a new name and address, ‘Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).’

In any event, the angst of a loyalist doesn’t really bother me. Political parties have collectively and individually messed things up big time. The rise and decline of such entities is not something to be sweat over. With respect to the UNP and it’s current dilemma, well, that’s something that could worry the UNP, UNPers, UNP voters and others whose lives and aspirations are associated with that party. Their business. How they handle it is up to them. What is pertinent is what they play indicates regarding impact on political equation. 

The UNP’s rank and file are clearly disappointed with party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. For almost three decades the party didn’t have absolute control of Government. It is easy to blame it all on the leader. Indeed, that may be an important and even key reason for the ‘crisis.’ Perhaps this is why there was some euphoria when Sajith Premadasa was announced as the party’s presidential candidate. The sobering fact, however, is that if you take out the numbers of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, Sajith only succeeded in getting the UNP’s bloc vote and little more if at all. 

Those subscribing to the notion ‘Anyone-but-Ranil,’ will nevertheless argue that Sajith didn’t really have absolute control of the party. Had he enjoyed such control would the result have been different? Would the margin of defeat have been less? We don’t know. What’s clear is that there’s a call for Ranil’s ouster. And the coronation of Sajith Premadasa as successor, we should add. Whether or not such an eventuality will bring about a change in the UNP’s political fortune only time will tell.  

Let’s look at what happened? It was obvious that the UNP candidate would lose. The coalition that helped Maithripala Sirisena defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa in January 2015 was in shambles. The government’s popularity was low, as indicated by the results of the local government elections on February 10, 2018. The principal opponent, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, had the advantage of a well-oiled party machinery, the popularity of his own brother even though defeated and all the negatives associated with the UNP. 

Knowing all this, Ranil acted ‘the democrat’ by nominating Sajith. He knew. Everyone but Sajith and a few others in the party as inept at reading the political, knew. Having lost, Sajith whined for the post of Leader of the Opposition. Ranil ‘conceded.’ Sajith, Leader of the Opposition. Sounds grand, but in a Parliament that’s almost done with its term and which rarely convenes, it’s a big-name-no-effect post.

Then, knowing parliamentary elections are going to be held very soon, Sajith and Co make a new push. Party Leader. Nothing less. They believed that had the numbers. They were probably correct. However, when the Working Committee met, Wickremesinghe left in a huff, along with his loyal General Secretary, Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. Those who remained grandiosely announced that Premadasa was elected leader. Wouldn’t hold in a court of law. A lot of noice. That’s about it.  

Wickremesinghe re-convened the Working Committee armed with his trump, ‘Leaving in a Huff.’ He must have calculated that Premadasa and his supporters, seriously peeved, would not attend. They didn’t. In their absence the ‘Working Committee’ decides to nominate Premadasa as the leader not of the UNP but the UNP-led coalition, the United National Front (UNF) and as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. 

Wickremesinghe knows that it would be a shocking result indeed if the SLPP were to lose the next parliamentary election. Defeat would make ‘prime ministerial candidate’ meaningless. Having suffered defeat at the presidential election and then ‘leading’ a party/coalition to another defeat, wouldn’t exactly give Premadasa’s profile any boost. ‘Another loser,’ is tag that probably ready for widespread use. 

What’s important here is that Premadasa and his backers are all at sea when it comes to even a simple matter of doing the arithmetic pertaining to the party. They haven’t read or haven’t understood the party constitution. What could be of general public concern is that the UNP has a leader who just doesn’t believe in democracy and is not averse to the most pernicious of machinations to remain as party leader. Secondly, the UNP has a leader-aspirant and a set of backers whose political acumen is sophomoric. 

Whichever way the UNP cookie crumbles, given these realities, it is optimistic to hope that the UNP could play the role of Opposition to any degree of satisfaction. There is a possibility of course that Sajith might do ‘A Mahinda’ (as in breakaway from the mau-pakshaya and drag the party’s rank and file with him), but Sajith is no Mahinda. Secondly, even if a Sajith-led faction best the UNP, pushing it to third place in a General Election, it won’t really cure him or would-be party of general political ignorance and immaturity. 

It is, however, an interesting drama. We could sit back and watch, but it is certainly not an unfolding that could make anyone happy. Sophomoric oppositions embolden regimes and pushes them away from the people-friendly plains of the political. Not something to celebrate.

This article was first published in the Sunday Morning [February 2, 2020]

malindasenevi@gmail.com

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Towards a Primer on the 19th for Confused UNPers

There’s dissension in the ranks, people. Not that it’s something new. We are talking about Sajith and Ranil. A few weeks from now we will all see who laughs last and then we will see the last-laugher laughing long.  That’s for later.  

For now, let’s focus on the 19th Amendment because there’s been words exchanged about the prime minister or rather the post of prime minister should Sajith ‘Baby’ Premadasa become President. 

Baby Premadasa says this is a presidential election and not an exercise to elect a prime minister. He’s correct. He has ‘appointed’ a National Security Minister however, even though this is not about electing one.  It brings us to the 19th Amendment.

Many who are supporting Sajith these days cheered the 19th Amendment. Mind you, not too long ago, they were saying that the 225 MPs and the President ‘should go!’ They also said the main political parties should be dumped! They, in all probability and like most MPs, haven’t read the document: not the draft (as the Supreme Court did) nor the document finally presented to Parliament (as the Supreme Court did not). 

They claimed that the President’s executive powers had been clipped (yes, they were) and that the Prime Minister (that’s Ranil Wickremesinghe) now called the shots (not exactly true).  Well, not just them.  Leftists, liberals, Born Again Democrats, Funded Voices, Candlelight Ladies, Colombots and other Kolombians said it. Believed it.  

They all discovered a sudden love for Sajith Premadasa after he expressed presidential ambitions. Perhaps they thought ‘anyone is better than Ranil’.  They forgot that Baby Premadasa was part of the Yahapalana Regime, from President Sirisena’s nepotism immediately after being elected, through the Central Bank Bond Scam and even now when the country’s sovereignty is about to be squandered via the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact. Sajith uttered not a word of protest. 

ANYWAY.  Those who thought the PM called the shots (and who expressed disgust at the incumbent), all of a sudden saw ‘hope’ in Baby Premadasa.  He would set things right, they claimed and still claim. Well, Old Man Ranil is not buying any of that. ‘I will be Prime Minister when Sajith is President’ he said. Sajith for his part said ‘I haven’t made any statements regarding any posts except that of the Minister of National Security (Sarath Fonseka).’ Now, wasn’t it the PM who decides on cabinet portfolios as per the 19th? Funny isn’t it? But Baby Premadasa disagrees obviously. So hasn’t he read the 19th or is it that their noises about prime ministerial powers being greater than those of the president just one big fib?  

On the other hand, these very people claim that if Gotabhaya Rajapaksa wins, it will be Big Brother Mahinda who will call the shots. Why?  ‘The 19th, stupid!’ They claim.  

So it seems that the UNPers are confused. In one instance (if Baby Premadasa wins) the President is the boss, but in another (if Gotabaya wins) then the PM has sway. As per the very same piece of legislation, the 19th Amendment!    

And they are upset also about Ranil Wickremesinghe’s status should Baby Premadasa win. ‘Maybe Sajja Boy, contrary to rhetoric, agreed to let Ranil be PM,’ they worry. ‘In any case, Ranil can’t be removed until Parliament completes 4.5 years as per the 19th,’ they sigh. In this case, it’s not about Ranil’s power vs Sajith’s power but Ranil as a thorn.

Well, if they actually read the 19th, they would know that under certain circumstances the Prime Minister can be removed and that Parliament could also be dissolved. If they had even a basic understanding of the political culture in this country and the behavioral patters of politicians, they would know that dynamics can change very fast immediately after a major election (remember January 2015?). 

But no, they’ve not read the 19th. They are confused about the 19th. They are letting outcome preferences conjure all kinds of billas (no, not the kind that were used to pick out ‘insurgents’ who would be later be summarily executed outside of judicial process, often by being burnt alive, following torture of course during Papa Premadasa’s time, a time that Baby Premadasa vows to take the country back to!).  They are anxious about a Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa having sway over a President Gotabaya (as per the 19th) even as they claim that a President Baby Premadasa would have at his beck and call a Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

Maybe Baby Premadasa himself has no clue. He seems to be in a zone unto himself in Silliness Land and therefore could be as ignorant and/or confused as the UNP’s various mouthpieces in this electoral season.

The Yahapalana Regime was marked by incompetence. What Baby Premadasa is promising therefore is incompetence compounded by confusion. And he wants our vote. Really? Really, really?   

malindasenevi@gmail.com.  www.malindawords.blogspot.com

  

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‘Elpitiya’ as beginning and end

Elections to every single local government authority in the Galle District were held on February 10, 2018. Except Elpitiya. That was due to a petition by the United National Party (UNP) pleading relief over perceived error in their nomination list being rejected. Time passed. We had the parliamentary crisis at the end of that year. We had the Easter Sunday attacks a few months ago. Even people who were aware of that election or rather non-election forgot about Elpitiya. 

Not any longer. With the court directing the Elections Commission to hold elections for the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabhava immediately, we are seeing a rehearsal, a by-election of sorts and a referendum all rolled into one.  

Here’s what happened. The yahapalanaya regime went into strange contortions to postpone local government elections. Well, provincial councils too, but that’s another story. By the time elections were called, the yahapalana coalition had cracked. Corruption, nepotism and incompetence had become too apparent to hide. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) was the clear victor. President Sirisena’s true strength was revealed (the Sri Lanka Freedom Party [SLFP] got less than 15% of the vote and the UNP’s vote bank had dwindled to around 30%. 

The outlook for the yahapalana group is bleak. The SLFP or rather Maithripala Sirisena would be forced to take a stand, i.e. whether to enter into a coalition with the SLPP, tag itself to the UNP (or a faction of that party led by Sajith Premadasa, if the internal crisis is not resolved) or go it alone. Unenviable. The JVP was not officially a member of the yahapalana coalition, but stood with Sirisena and later the UNP against Mahinda Rajapaksa and later the SLFP-SLPP ‘arrangement’ during the parliamentary crisis a year ago. The JVP has decided to do their own thing this time around. The risk is their strength being revealed, but it’s a risk they’ve embraced, for better or worse.  

The UNP has spared no pains to paint President Sirisena as the villain of the piece called ‘Yahapalanaya.’ The UNP is still ‘government’. It is not opposition. It had mandate and responsibility. The UNP failed to deliver on all counts. The UNP is directly implicated in nepotism and corruption. The UNP marked itself as ‘incompetent.’ Ranil Wickremesinghe is the leader of this incompetent and corrupt UNP and Sajith Premadasa his lieutenant — no one can claim ‘I was a peon’ in the yahapalana regime.   

All these parties fared abysmally in February 2018. The SLPP secured 50.57% of the total vote in the Galle District, the UNP got 26.65%, the UPFA got 11.65% and the JVP 6.27%. 

The numbers may have changed. For the worse. Impatience with the regime may have enhanced rather than declined disenchantment for reasons of incompetence, incoherence and of course the scandalous failures on the security/intelligence front that led to the Easter Sunday attacks. There’s a strong likelihood that most of the 75,827 votes the UPFA received would slide towards the SLPP if the SLFP decides not to contest or have a pact with the UPFA. Even if the SLFP contests on its own, it is highly unlikely that it will retain the 11.65% share of February 2018. That could be halved or worse with ‘defection’ to the SLPP. 

And so we have ‘Elpitiya’. Is Elpitiya a microcosm of Sri Lanka? No. The Tamil and Muslim communities are negligible in Elpitiya. They won’t be in the Northern and Eastern Provinces and in certain other parts of the country.  A UNP presidential candidate might be routed in Elpitiya (or in the Southern Province as a whole) but might win in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, although with a smaller margin than in 2015. 

Elpitiya is rural. Whereas the SLPP handsomely won all the pradesheeya sabhas in the Galle District, the UNP secured the Galle Municipal Council. In fact the UNP did better in the urban and municipal council elections than in the pradesheeya sabha elections in all parts of the country. 

This dissimilarity between the perceived urban and perceived rural gets smudged in important elections. For example, the tendency across the board was against the UNP in 1994 and clearly against Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. In 2019, we might once again see a ‘unity’ of sorts between the urban and rural in terms of a common need to show the yahapalanists the political door.  

Regardless of these realities, the result will most certainly reflect voter sentiment. It will be read by the victor as a reflection of national sentiments, especially if the SLPP wins as expected. The losers would be forced to come up with elaborate statistical analyses to demonstrate that things could be different in a presidential race. Nevertheless, a rout in Elpitiya would severely demoralize, say, the UNP loyalist in Elpitiya-like electorates throughout the country and even in less Elpitiya-like places. The ‘urban’ areas, for example. It would cost the UNP candidate, whoever it may be.  Elpitiya, in short, would not only be read as ‘reflection’ of general sentiment, but would be a momentum giver and wrecker, to winner and loser(s) respectively. 

The SLPP is ready, obviously. The JVP always has its ‘people’ on the ground. The loyalists will vote as they always do, never mind that they have struggled to win over people outside the party. The SLFP’s identity crisis (migrate to the SLPP, play bystander, contest?) will be resolved, one way or the other, but the outcome is unlikely to propel the party into believing that fielding its own candidate makes any sense. The UNP will have to contest.

The UNP will have to decide on who will lead the party’s efforts in Elpitiya. Will Sajith be asked to ‘put out or shut up’? Will the party have resolved the candidate-issue by then? It is not an election that the UNP wants to contest, but it is an election the party cannot avoid. If the UNP loses by a small margin there will be positives to carry to the presidential election. Ranil (or Sajith or both) could spur the loyalists to work harder. If they lose by a margin similar to that of February 2018 and the party can obtain the consolation argument, ‘we have not lost ground.’ However, if the margin of defeat is greater than those related to the other pradesheeya sabha elections in the Galle District, the UNP will have to stomach ‘done and dusted’.  

Obviously, the SLPP cannot sit on February 2018 laurels either. If there’s gain, that locks up the presidential prize and if there’s the slightest decline, then it means the fat lady is yet to sing.  

Either way, Elpitiya could very well be the place where the presidential election begins and ends. For all these parties. 

malindasenevi@gmail.com. www.malindawords.blogspot.com   

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From DS to RW: The Decline of the United National Party

It goes without saying that a good leader does not necessarily mean that a party is essentially a one-man show. Parties have members and loyalists. Their work and contributions also count. Praise and blame get distributed among leaders and followers. 

In short, it is unfair to blame the woes of the United National Party (UNP) on the various flaws of Ranil Wickremesinghe, even if one were to take into account the fact that Wickremesinghe’s tinkering with the party constitution which effectively made him unassailable and put the party at the mercy of his whims and fancies. It needs to be noted that even though his leadership was challenged on occasion, none of the would-be successors have talked about the anti-democratic nature of the constitution he authored and which the party endorsed in an unreflecting moment. 

The UNP is 71 years old. It has had seven leaders. Three of them stand out in terms of vision, capacity and execution: D.S. Senanayake, J.R. Jayewardene and R Premadasa. All of them were doers. They looked to the future. They could and did mobilize the people. This has to be recognized even if one did not agree with their respective visions or the way they did things, even if one is appalled by the outcomes they produced.  They were leaders and demonstrated a kind of leadership that the party has lacked since May 1, 1993.  

It is fashionable for the UNP’s detractors to mention the number of elections that the UNP lost since Wickremesinghe took over as party leader. These include the provincial council elections that were held in a staggered manner to favor the ruling party. That’s unfair. Since 1994, the UNP has tasted victory only twice, in 2001 following a sudden exodus of MPs from the People’s Alliance and in 2015, riding the momentum of the Maithripala Sirisena victory at the presidential election.  Both these ‘victories’ came courtesy a breaking of ranks by the principal adversary, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).  

Where does the party stand now? Well, we could talk ideology, program, vision and track-record over the past three years and it’s not pretty and the fact that other parties (SLFP and SLPP) are as or more ugly is irrelevant.  What counts right now are issues of legality and legitimacy. 

What are the numbers in terms of popularity? The last time popularity was tested (Local Government Elections, February 10, 2018) the UNP mustered just 32.63% of the vote. At the time, Mangala Samaraweera said that the majority (55.3%) voted against ‘a return of the Rajapaksas’.  He didn’t apply the same logic to voter-dissatisfaction regarding the UNP (67.37%!). He just added up the votes obtained by the UNP, the SLFP and parties other than the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). If her were to subtract the SLFP votes and add them to the Rajapaksa camp (as per latest political developments) then he would discover that there can be a massive gap between legality and legitimacy. The legal claims of the UNP are at best vague, the legitimacy-claims are worse. 

All that will be resolved soon, and hopefully elections, preferably parliamentary and if not at least provincial councils elections, would give us a clearer picture on these matters. 

What of the party at this historic juncture though? Things move fast in times like this. This morning’s chest-beating affirmer of support is in another camp come nightfall, beating chest and affirming loyalty to someone else. All this is part of an unsavory political culture produced over several decades and the production of which owes a lot to the UNP. What’s important, given the February 10 result is that parliamentary composition is at odds with popular sentiment. This legitimacy-deficit, sadly, is the only straw that is available to the UNP.

Speaking to NDTV, Wickremesinghe has claimed ‘I am the Prime Minister,’ and insisted that ‘according to the constitution, the person who commands the confidence of parliament is the Prime Minister.’  He wants, therefore, ‘a floor test’.  He insists that no one knows what the legal situation is.

He knows ‘floor tests’. He knows how they can be orchestrated. The election of UNP Party Leader is a process that can be cited as a classic in constitutional tinkering to benefit the incumbent. He knows also about undated letters of resignation obtained by one of his predecessors and his uncle, J.R.Jayewardene. He knows how foreign countries backed with millions of dollars the campaign to oust Mahinda Rajapaksa. He claims that bucks are being offered and he is probably correct, but the claim has to stop at ‘observation’; it cannot proceed to ‘complaint’ for there’s a moral deficit that is prohibitive. 

The diehards will of course be upset. They might go along with ‘I am still the Prime Minister, the law says so’.  The loyalty of some may be inspired by nostalgia for the ancient (‘old’ is ‘too young’) UNP, the party of (some) gentlemen and ladies (who, others may claim, were ideologically and programmatically ‘off the mark’). 

There may even be a few who honestly believe that the UNP stands for decency, democracy, good governance and the Rule of Law. ‘No white vans now!’ they say (hopefully). True. No white vans. Did someone say ‘not yet’?  Probably, because history shows the circumstances in which white vans materialize. It happens when a strong regime gets weak, leaders lose legitimacy and most things go down the tube. It happened to Mahinda Rajapaksa and it happened to J.R. Jayewardene, but Mahinda’s ‘white-vans’ are playthings compared to the UNP’s Ukussas, Kalu Balallu, Kaha Balallu, PRRA and Kola Koti.

All these are technicalities that don’t count, in the end. What matters is political relevance. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s UNP is not a democratic party in the first place (Karu Jayasuriya and Sajith Premadasa know this). Wickremesinghe’s UNP is not averse to hanky-panky (Arjuna Mahendran knows this). Wickremesinghe is not clean and he’s not clever either. He is faulted for being out of touch with the local, but it’s clear that he’s out of touch with the global too. He’s the darling of the USA, UK and the EU for reasons that need not be elaborated. The UNP, as a party, out of helplessness, naïvety or for the benefits, went along with Wickremesinghe.  The Party, then, is as culpable. When you know the leader is wrong, when you know the leader has tinkered with the constitution to prevent correction and/or replacement of leader, the decent thing to do is retire from party politics or start one on your own. Go along and you are complicit.  

Wickremesinghe held a media conference immediately after President Sirisena appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister in a move that is par for the course for politicians in the SLFP and the UNP (let’s not assume there are any innocents here), a move that was distasteful and which every citizen has a right to condemn. His political near and dear were in attendance. After he spoke, he suggested that the loyalists also speak. There were seniors there. Eventually, they all got Patali Champika Ranawaka to address the media. Others chipped in of course, but if the UNP cannot find anyone in the party to step up in a crisis, it says a lot about the party.  

The party is not over. Well, the yahapalana party might be, but political entities such as the UNP have not been around for decades for reasons of frivolity. Even 30% is a solid base. The JVP, for example, with less than 5% is a presence, undoubtedly. It’s not the end of the UNP. It could (and some might say ‘should’) be the end of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s political journey or at least his aspirations to be the undisputed leader of the country. The party constitution is a sturdy prop of course, but nothing is permanent and this too the UNP should know: JR scripted the Second Republican Constitution in a way that it seemed the UNP will always be in power and for 17 years it appeared that JR was correct, but he was not, we know now.

Today it’s just another party of rogues, hooligans, rabble-rousers and political clowns.  An analogy oft used is apt here: The Republican Party of the USA went from Abraham Lincoln to Donald Trump; the UNP went from D.S. Senanayake to Ranil Wickremesinghe. In that sense, the party is over, certainly.

malindasenevi@gmail.com

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The cockeyed and absurd claims about Ranil’s economic expertise

Shyamon Jayasinghe, in an article published in the Colombo Telegraph (‘The political tug-o-war in Sri Lanka is cockeyed and absurd: only Ranil talks of economic goals’) dwells on the ‘dooshanaya-discourse’ or the ‘discussion on corruption.’  Shyamon makes an interesting observation:

“One never observes any printed or online media that tries to balance the imbalance and put things in perspective. They take some side or the other in the dooshanaya vs dooshanaya battle.”

He rightfully berates Maithripala Sirisena for talking as though corruption was something that the President discovered just the other day.  He then ridicules, quite rightly, ‘the Rajapaksa clan’ for attacking the ruling party of the dooshanaya disease.  The Rajapaksas, he claims, are the main proponents of dooshanaya.

That’s it.  Nothing of the United National Party. Nothing of Ranil Wickremesinghe. it is as though he would have us believe that there has been no dooshanaya whatsoever post January 8, 2015.  Instead, he claims he is bored by dooshanaya talk.  Interestingly, after these charges and silences, Shyamon laments that he never observes ‘any printed or online media [trying] to balance the imbalance and put things in perspective.’

The reason is not hard to understand, for he then proceeds to sing the praises of Ranil Wickremesinghe.  Objective much, one must say (tongue in cheek of course!).  

Let’s fill in some blanks here.  The biggest heist ever that has been associated with the Central Bank happened under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s watch. The man at the centre of the scam is not only a personal friend, but one who has at best an iffy track record when one considers his stint as BoI Chairman when Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister (2001-2004).  He was and is Ranil’s man.  Wickremesinghe defended Arjuna Mahendran even after it became apparent that there had been hanky-panky involving Arjuna Mahendra and his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius.  When the COPE report on the Central Bank bond issue was about to be published, Ranil, through his new found friend Sirisena, got Parliament dissolved. 

Ranil went further.  He took control of the Finance Minister and continued to defend Mahendran.  The UNP’s Deputy Leader, Ravi Karunanayake was implicated, later.  Both disgraced men were rewarded and ‘looked after’ by Wickremesinghe by way of appointments conferred subsequent to them being moved out of their jobs. The fall guy, as they say, is taken care of by the real crook.  

Anyway, Shyamon is bored of dhooshanaya talk.  After leaving out an important part of the dhooshanaya story, he wants us to believe that Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ranil Wickremesinghe alone thinks of ‘The Economy.’  He takes care not to talk about the one tangible economic goal that was secured: the mega bucks his friends made over the last three years. Sri Lanka has slipped in the Corruption Index under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s watch and you can’t just point fingers at Maithripala because they are a thick-as-thieves in this, literally and metaphorically .

To put things in perspective and as a hint regarding what probably happened, the party that couldn’t pay the electricity bill of Sirikotha in 2014 ran a massively expensive election campaign in August 2015 and is currently doling out billions for the local government election.  Talk about having an eye on economic goals, eh?

Instead he talks of positives as per his obviously blind faith in neoliberal economic policies: 

Foreign direct investment is impressive debt management and fiscal management is improving and the economy is slowly looking up. PM goes all over the world on economic missions with little gratitude from even the President who now says he will take over the running of the economy!

Let’s not talk about google balloons, Volkswagen factories and free wifi.  Let’s talk facts.

Waruna Singappuli, in an article published in the Daily FT on February 7 titled ‘Economic policy: are we down the wrong lane?’ gives the data that Shyamon doesn’t seem to be aware of or else ignores altogether in the brain-freeze that seems to creep in when talking about the United National Party and Ranil Wickremesinghe. 

The Central Bank figures indicate, as Singappuli points out, that GDP growth has been ‘anaemic,’ being less than 5% over the past two years.  It is predicted that the 2017 figures would probably be lower than 4%, ‘the lowest growth since the war ended in 2009.’  Per Capita GDP is stagnant, the numbers show.  

How about the ‘impressive debt management’ that Shyamon talks of? Well, Singappuli, quoting Central Bank figures, demonstrates that ‘in absolute terms the total Government debt has increased by 39% from Rs 7,391 Bn at the end of 2014 to Rs 10,269 Bn by September 2017.  The Debt to GDP ratio, he points out, has gone up from 71% at end 2014 to 79% in September 2017. Singappuli puts it down to poor economic growth.  The policy of boosting government revenue by increasing taxes hasn’t worked, he says.  While acknowledging that tax hikes are not necessarily the only reason for weak growth, it is a key factor, Singappuli adds. 

He goes on to offer options.  I shall not repeat his cogent arguments.  The article can be found here.  

FDIs (calculated with borrowings) stood at US $ 1,685 Mn in 2014, came down to US $ 1,160 Mn in 2015, dropped further to US $ 1,079 Mn in 2016 and went up to US $1,630 Mn (projected) in 2017 thanks of course to China.   The 'sharp rise' in 2017 is from Chinese investment which accounted for 35% of FDIs to Sri Lanka in 2017 (until September) according to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade. The Chinese ‘slice’ for 2017 is predicted to be in the region of  US $ 1.36 billion.  So much for the 'efforts' of Wickremesinghe and the UNP!

Yes, China.  Since Shyamon talks of the globe-trotting genius prime minister that we have, let’s elaborate.  This genius and his party lambasted China for years during the previous regime. It gambled on the West, convinced that the US and Europe would help out.  They had forgotten that China and Japan own North American and European debt.  The wide-eyed wonder of wonders who in Shyamon’s eyes can do no wrong suddenly woke up when Brexit happened.  Out of the blue, the man says, ‘we are planning to look East’.  What’s this ‘East’?  China!  So much for ‘going all over the world on economic missions’!  And we are supposed to say ‘thank you Ranil’?  

The economy is not looking up. It can’t when the handlers are navel-gazing and seem to believe that they were mandated to do nothing else than blame the previous regime for present ills. That and lining the pockets of the near and dear.

‘Cockeyed and absurd claims,’ yes.  And there’s nothing more cockeyed and absurd than claiming that Ranil knows a helluva lot about the economy.  Note: talking of economic goals is one thing, delivering is something totally different.  

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එජාපයේ හදවත, හිත සහ වෙනත් අවයව

පුංචි ඡන්දේට එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය තොර ගත්ත සටන් පාඨය 'ගම හදන ආණ්ඩුව'.  මේකෙන් මුලින් ම කියවෙන්නේ ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන වත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය වත් 'යහපාලන' ආණ්ඩුවේ පාර්ශවකරුවන් නොවන බවයි.  ඒක වෙන කතාවක්.  කියන දේ වගේම නොකියන දෙයකුත් තියෙනවා.  සමහර අවස්ථා වලදී හංගන්න හදන දේ ඉස්මතු වෙනවා.  කට බොරු කිව්වත් දිව බොරු කියන්නේ නැහැ කියනවා වගේ.

කට එජාපයේ. දිව රෝසි ගේ.  එජාපයේ බොරුවේ තරමයි හැඩයයි රෝසිගේ ප්‍රකාශ වලින් පැහැදිලි වෙනවා. 

මුලින් කිව්වේ දුක්ගැනවිල්ලක්. පස්සේ කිව්වේ ආඩම්බරකාර කතාවක්.  දෙකම විමසමු.

'පහුගිය ආණ්ඩුව කාලේ හම්බන්තොට ට කිරි, කොළඹට කැකිරි,' රෝසි කිව්වේ දුකෙන් වගේ.  රෝසි නොකියා කියන්නේ මේකයි: හම්බන්තොට නෙවෙයි කොළඹ හැරුනම වෙන කොහේ වුනත් මිනිස්සු හැමදාම කැකිරි කෑවට කමක් නැහැ. එයාලට කිරි නැති වුනාටත් කමක් නෑ.  කොළඹට කිරි තියෙනවනම් ඇති.'

ඒත් ඇත්තටම කොළඹට පහුගිය ආණ්ඩුව දුන්නේ කැකිරි ද?  මට නම් පේන විදිහට කොළඹට හැමදාම කිරි ලැබුන.  කොළඹට ලැබෙන කිරි සප්ලයි එක ටිකක් එහා මෙහා වුනා නම් ඒ ප්‍රභාකරන් ට පින්සිද්ධ වෙන්නයි.  කොහොම වුනත් 2009 මැයි මාසෙන් පස්සේ නම් කොළඹට සුපිරි කාලයක් උදා වුනා.  කිරි ඕන තරම්...කැකිරි නැත්තට ම නැති තරම්! 2015 න් පස්සේ නම් ටිකක් අවුල් වුනා තමයි.  කිරි වගේම කැකිරිත් කොළඹට ලැබුනා.  ඒත් ඒවා රෝසිලාට පෙනුනේ නැහැ.     

එහෙනම් රෝසි මේ තටමන්නේ මොනවා කියන්නද?  මට හිතෙන්නේ මෙහෙම දෙයක් වෙන්න ඇති:

'කොළඹ කියන්නේ කොළඹම නෙවෙයි. කොළඹ කියල මම අදහස් කරන්නේ රටේ පාලන බලය.  ඒ බලය අහිමි වෙනකොට කොළඹක් නෑ වගේ. අපිත් නෑ වගේ.  එතකොට කොළඹ පෙන්නේ කැකිරි යායක් වගේ. කිරි බින්දුවක් වත් නැහැ වගේ.  අපට බැහැ හැමදාම කැකිරි-පක්ෂයක් වෙලා ඉන්න.  අපට ඕන ආයෙත් කිරි-පක්ෂයක් වෙන්න.  එතකොට කිරි ටික කොළඹ තියාගෙන කැකිරි වෙන පළාත්වලට බෙදන්න හෝ නොබෙදාම ඉන්න අපට තියෙන පූජනීය අයිතිය නැවතත් ලැබෙනවා.'   

එයාට තියෙන්නේ පැලැන්තියේ ප්‍රශ්නයක්.  පැලැන්තිය දේශපාලනය තුල කොන් වුන ප්‍රශ්නයක්.  මෙතැන තියෙන්නේ දුකක්. සාංකාවක්. ඒ හින්දමයි මේ වැලපිල්ල.  රෝසි ගේ දෙවෙනි ප්‍රකාශය මේ අදහස තහවුරු කරනවා.

රෝසි මෙහෙම කියල තියෙනවා: 'කොළඹ කියන්නේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ හෘදය වස්තුවයි.' මේක තමයි ආඩම්බරකාට කතාව.  මෙතන තමයි තියෙන්නේ රනිල් නොකියන, පක්ෂයක් හැටියට නොපිළිගන්න එනමුත් රනිල්ගෙත් පක්ෂයේත් ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය හරය. ඒක තමයි රෝසිගේ කියැවුණු ඇත්ත.

කොළඹ කියන්නේ එජාපයේ හෘදය වස්තුව නම් එජාපයේ බොක්ක බොක්කාවලද? එතකොට කිලිනොච්චිය කියන්නේ කිහිල්ල ද? මාපට ඇඟිල්ල මාපලගම ද? ආනමඩුව කියන්නේ ආමාශය ද? නිවිතිගල නියපොත්ත ද? නාඋල කියන්නේ නළල ද? බෙල්ලන්විල බෙල්ල ද? කොළඹ එජාපයේ හෘදයවස්තුව නම් අපේ ගම එජාපයේ මොකද්ද? විලුඹ ද, නාභිය ද, මවිල් ගසක් ද, ඉන්නෙක් ද?

ඔය වගේ ප්‍රශ්න ගණනාවක් අහන්න පුළුවන්.  ඒ හැම ප්‍රශ්නෙටම හිනා යන උත්තර ගොඩාක් තියෙන්නත් පුළුවන්.  ඒත් රෝසි කියනනේ හරිම සරල දෙයක්:

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂෙට වැදගත් වෙන්නේ කොළඹ විතරයි.  'ගම' කියන්නේ සටන් පාඨයකට එකතු කරන්න සිද්ධ වෙන දෙයක්, කාලෙන් කාලෙට.  ගම අවශේෂයි. ගම අවුල්. ගම අදාලම නැහැ.  කිරි-කැකිරි ගැන භූගෝලය ගැන වත් රට තුල පවතින විෂමතා ගැන වත් ශිෂ්‍යත්ව පන්තියේ ළමයෙක් තරම් වත් දැනුමක් නැති විදිහට රෝසි දොඩන්නේ මේ නිසා කියල අනුමාන කරන්න පුළුවන්. 

එහෙමයි එජාපය හිතන්නේ.  කොළොඹ තමයි එක.  ඒකෙ දෙකක් නැහැ එයාල ට. මෙතන කොළඹ කියන්නේ නගර සභාව ට අයිති භූමිය ම නෙවෙයි.  කොළඹ කියල එයාල දකින්නේ දේශපාලන බලයයි. වෙන මොකක්වත් නෙවෙයි.  තමන්ගේ පැලැන්තිය දිනවන, පැලැන්තියේ පැවැත්ම තහවුරු වන සමාජ දේශපාලන, ආර්ථික වටපිටාවට වෙන්න ඕන රෝසි 'කොළඹ' කියල කියන්නේ. 

ගම අදාල නැති පක්ෂයකට 'ගම හදන ආණ්ඩුව අපි ය' කියල කියන්න අයිතියක් නැහැ. කොළඹ නොවන සියලු පළාත් වල ට හදගැස්මක් තියෙනවා නම් ඒක රෝසි ට වත් රනිල් ට වත් ඇහෙන්න විදිහක් නැහැ.  එහෙම හෘදස්පන්දනයක් තියෙන්න නම් හදවතක් තියෙන්න ඕන. ඒත් හදවත තියෙන්නේ කොළඹ.  වෙන තැන් වල සෙසු අවශේෂ අවයව, එජාපයේ අවධානයට ලක් නොවන. නෝ හදවත් ඔන්ලි අනවශ්‍ය පාට්ස්.   

ඔන්න ඕක තමයි රනිල් නොකිව්වත්, පක්ෂය නොපිළිගත්තත් රෝසි හෙළිදරව් කරන එජාපයේ දේශපාලන දැක්මේ හරය සහ හෘදස්පන්දනය.

මේ බව කිසිම සැකයක් ඉතුරු නොවන විදිහට පහදලා දුන්නට රෝසි සේනානායක ට බොහොම පිං! 

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The UNP’s heart, mind and other body parts

There’s a pithy Sinhala saying that probably predates Sigmund Freud’s notion of the slip that reveals the deliberately concealed truth: කට බොරු කිව්වත් දිව බොරු කියන්නේ නෑ (even if the mouth lies, the tongue does not). So we are talking about mouths and tongues.  And we are talking about the United National Party (UNP).

The official campaign slogan of the UNP at the forthcoming local government elections is ‘ගම හදන ආණ්ඩුව’ (the government that develops the village). It implies of course that the UNP, for all of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s rhetoric to the contrary, has had enough of the Unity/Yahapalana arrangement with President Maithripala Sirisena and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). That however is incidental here.

What counts is what the mouth said and what the tongue betrayed. The tongue, in this case is the UNP’s mayoral candidate for Colombo, Rosy Senanayake.  

It is natural during election campaigns toss around promises and brag about services rendered to the particular electorate. I don’t have issue with that kind of thing. It is also natural to shoot one’s mouth and slip out something that says too much.  

Rosy has said a lot and one can argue has done a lot too. For example, she played a major role in getting legislation through to improve women’s representation. That’s Rosy. What about Rosy as a UNP candidate and an articulator of UNP policy and thinking?

There are two things she said that reveal a lot. First, she claimed that under the previous regime Hambantota got kiri and Colombo got kekiri, a clear play on an old JVP slogan on regional disparity ( කොළඹට කිරි අපට  කැකිරි). Then she said that Colombo is the heart of the United National Party.  

Now when did Colombo get kekiri and when was it denied kiri? Also, is Rosy saying that Hambantota and all other places apart from Colombo should get kekiri and nothing else? Only someone who is utterly ignorant of development gaps between Colombo and the rest of the country could make such a claim. As for Colombo getting kekiri, only someone with a very short memory and suffers from myopia could say something like that. 

If Colombo is pretty now then it was made of squalor before 2009. If by January 2015 Colombo got kiri by way of the analogy, then post-2015 it’s well on the road towards becoming a kekirilanthaya. 

How then are we to read Rosy’s angst? It can’t be about physical realities such as infrastructure and essential amenities. It is probably about who ruled the country and the city. It is about a class that was denied political-kiri for a long time. Yes, they were a kekiri-party. This is what’s being extrapolated into a skewed description of geographies.  

The second statement is an elaboration of this mindset.  Let’s repeat. Rosy says ‘Colombo is the heart of the party.’  Now let’s ask some questions.

If Colombo is the heart of the UNP, is Jaffna its jaw? Is Bowatte its bowels? Is Nivithigala its knee? Is Tholangamuwa its toenail? Is Anamaduwa its armpit? Is Buttala its buttocks? Is Rikillagaskada its wrist? Is Penideniya its pancreas? Is Nochchiyagama its nose? What is the UNP’s appendix, what is its kidney, what is its hard palette, where are its incisors, eyelashes, eardrum, knuckles, heel and foot? You can think hard about your electorate, which to most would their political heart, and ask what body part the UNP sees it as. 

Rosy reveals and how! Essentially the UNP cares only about Colombo and ‘Colombo’ is not a geographical location but a social class which, Rosy feels clearly, got political kekiri for a while after swimming in kiri for decades. The UNP sees anything that’s not ‘Colombo’ as dispensable, negligible or made for neglect. 

Whatever it is, it is not ‘heart’.  It’s lesser. That’s what the UNP brain says. It’s an ‘Us-First and Last’ kind of thinking.  And the ගම (village) is at best an afterthought. Condescending and humiliating, really. That’s Rosy’s tongue speaking the truth that the UNP-mouth dares not utter. Her tongue is the UNP’s mind.  The other body parts, obviously lesser in their eyes, would do well to take note.

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A ‘cannot’ and ‘will not’ Government

When the Government’s staunchest apologists sound disappointment it is a sure sign that things are more than ‘pretty bad’.  According to one yahapalanist, Jehan Perera (see "Going back to an alliance that can win elections" published in 'The Island', February 14, 2017) the public perception is that the Government has not (cannot?) tackle corruption, has not (cannot?) deliver visible development and has not corrected war-related injustices. The last of these is of course of the easy-to-say kind, not because correction is hard but ‘injustice’ is poorly defined and in most cases slanted to the point of perversion.  

It’s a generous observation.  Someone raised a question about a high-ranking official on Facebook, clearly upset about the man’s performance.  The question was, ‘Is he a Mahinda loyalist?’  The issue was about a statement he had made.  But if incompetence, putting feet in the mouth, uttering anti-yahapalana statements, indulging in nepotism, being corrupt and unleashing thuggery makes people Mahinda-loyalists, then this is Mahinda’s government or rather an enhanced version considering the pledges made, the tears shed, the bleeding-heart rhetoric.  We have just passed the two-year mark; even the previous regime took longer to slip.  

There are two excuses offered.  The first is what we’ve heard more often: Mahinda left the economy is dire straights, put the country in a debt trap and as such we really can’t do any development.  Well, the grandmasters of economic management, celebrated and now even ‘doctored’, didn’t have the wits to read who has the bucks and who does not.  They believed the West would bail them out and indulged in quite a bit of China-bashing.  Someone is having the last laugh here and it is not anyone in this Government.  That’s regarding the economy.  

They talked of wastage.  They spoke of a burgeoning pubic service.  They talked of leakages.  What’s been done on these matters, though?  Well, more of the same; a ‘Mahindian’ approach if you will.  Mahinda-Enhanced, someone might add.  If debt was the issue, why add to the burden, someone might ask. If corruption and wastage was the problem, why not stop the leaks?  If nepotism was an issue, why is it still an issue in a Mahinda-less dispensation?  If thuggery was a problem, why do we still have it?

The second explanation is the less-mentioned (for fear of acknowledging cracks?) one about the glitches inherent in a coalition.  The truth is that we’ve had coalitions for the past 23 years.  If you can’t deal with the reality, then you are not suitable to govern, it’s as simple as that.  Sure, this is a coalition of the two major parties, but then why do people like Lakshman Kiriella say things like ‘ it was the government’s objective to bring forth the new constitution, followed by a referendum with the support of the SLFP’?  Is the SLFP not a part of the Government?  Is this not a coalition, then?  Are these people confused or simply stupid?  

If it’s about ‘cannot’ and not ‘will not’, we can sympathize.  If it is both ‘cannot’ and ‘will not’ (anyway), as a characterization less generous than that offered on occasion by yahapalana apologists would conclude, then it is serious.  

This brings us to the question ‘why?’  Why do we get a ‘will not’?  It implies that both system and personnel are flawed.  This calls for system-correction and that means constitutional and institutional reform, both of which requiring political will.  In other words we are talking about expecting flawed people to fix a flawed system or getting the ill-equipped to do what they would not dream of doing for the simple reason that it is against their self-interest.  

It is in this context that the Government needs to be applauded for having got the 19th Amendment through, flawed though it is.  The Government has to be applauded for getting the Right to Information Act through as well.  These are necessary but obviously insufficient conditions for a system re-haul.  

Interestingly, the apologists are already talking about alliances that can win elections, in particular a referendum on a new constitution.  The argument is that a referendum could force coalition-continuity.  That’s a pretty impoverished place to be politically, even if one were to stress the ‘reform project’ as the impetus for the wish.  

The problem is that the government has, by the admission of its own apologists, lost political credibility.  Forget a referendum, they are struggling to get the document into Parliament!  The more they talk of unity, the more apparent it is that there’s ‘kachal in the mandale' (internal strife).  The alliance is made of political parties.  Political parties are made of politicians.  Politicians are about power.  They assess political equations, they make ‘informed’ decisions, and they look to the future — the short-term, that is.  

More than anything else, all this is evidenced by the scandalous aversion to holding local government elections.  Even the apologists are not buying the excuses trotted out by various factions in this Government.  What is clearly apparent is fear to face the people in an engagement where true strength will be revealed.  

In fact, the Government’s biggest promise-break is about election reform — something that even the disappointed apologists are not talking about.  It is almost 2 years since the 100 day dead line that the Yahapalana Government set itself for reform expired.  That’s a long time.  In two years, i.e. since President Maithripala Sirisena thundered from an SLFP political stage at Town Hall that he will deliver on the promise of electoral reform.  A long silence, that.  

Under these circumstances, constitutional reform along Eelamist lines will run into serious political problems.  There will be protests.  Politicians will try to disassociate themselves from Eelamist moves.  Babies will be thrown with the bathwater.  That would be a pity indeed.

The solution is to build on what’s been done, i,e. the 19th and the Right to Information Act.  These enabling mechanisms need to be used and used frequently so that both people and politicians are aware of what these safeguards mean and how they empower the former and restrain the latter.  

That will obviously take time.  And time is what this Government does not have, and not because of Mahinda-remnants or alliance-hiccups, but bold, italic and underlined ‘CANNOTS’ and ‘WILL NOTS’.  

Malinda Seneviratne is a freelance writer.  Email: malindasenevi@gmail.com.  Twitter: malindasene.  

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From Good-Governance to Dog-Governance

This is a selection from the 'News Next Desk' of Kekirilanthaya, Sri Lanka's friendly neighbor, whose concern for the well-being of Sri Lankans knows no bounds.  

Who was caught with elephant-tail hair?

It has been reported that a man has been arrested for possessing 50g of heroin and some elephant-tail hair. Although the suspect's age has been mentioned, there is considerable confusion over his true identity. Is is Champika Ranawaka, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sarath Fonseka or Maithripala Sirisena, the incredulous ask.

And if the 100-days program was launched on January 10, 2016...

If the 100 day program was launched on Jan 10, 2016, we are already into the 43nd day. What happened to electoral reform? What happened to the Right to Information Act? What about the Code of Conduct for Parliamentarians?

There is deafening silence from the Yahapalana Cheering Squad on these issues.  

Ranil re-defines 'Traitor'

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe claims that anyone opposed to a trade agreement with India is a traitor. He says that the agreement will provide 1 million jobs. No mention of 'the other side'. According to this logic, those who opposed the Indo-Lanka Accord were traitors and those opposed to the CFA with the LTTE were also traitors because of the (alleged) benefits, never mind the fall out!

'Neither has he mentioned the national identity of those who are to get these million jobs!' an alert back-bencher of the Sirisena camp quipped.

Lipton Circus rocked by dog demo

There's a severe traffic jam in Colombo 7, especially on roads leading to and from Lipton Circus, due to dogs from all parts of the country holding a massive demonstration.  Some of the dogs were sporting banners tied to their tails carrying legends such as 'Can dogs be anything but dogs?,' 'You must be kidding if you want us to be like humans!' 'If it's good governance, then just do good-governance, don't try dog-governance!' 'Let us enjoy our dog lives, our dog days'  'Being a dog is a fundamental dog right!'  'Dog-insulting Ranil must resign!'  'No more man's-best-friend, sorry!'

The protest was organised after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said "බල්ලන්නට බලු වැඩ කරන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න නැහැ" [We will not allow dogs to do dog thing!] in a return to his belligerent ways when talking about (perceived) detractors.  

Diplomatic community in Colombo braces for canine invasion

Diplomatic missions in Colombo are bracing themselves for what could be a dog-invasion beyond their wildest imagination. Such an invasion has been anticipated following the fatwa issued on all dogs by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who said 'I will not allow dogs to do dog-things (balu-veda)'. Alarmed dogs, realizing that not only their identities but their very existence have been thus threatened have no option but to seek political asylum from various diplomatic missions in Colombo.

Some missions have put up notices such as 'No Dogs Allowed'.

"They can stop us at the gates, but remember that we are talking of thousands of dogs storming each and every mission. We will piss and shit and raise such a big stink and put up our own signs outside saying "No Humans Allowed",' Sunakh Baluvardhana, the Spokesdog of the hurriedly formed 'National Dogs' Council' growled.

Sunakh's sentiments were endorsed by the Convener of the Centre for Dog Alternatives, Ringo Dadoriya, who added 'it is the season of our discontent -- we are ready to drown them in our incontinence!"

Fresh threat to Wilpattu

Title-less 'occupants' unceremoniously evicted by the newly christened balu-palanaya government have decided to relocate to the 'safe-haven' for encroachers, also known as 'Wilpattu'. They are to be given a grand welcome by Rishard Bathiudeen.

Why did Rupavahini drop the 'Asia Cup catch'? 

It is not yet clear whether officials of Rupavahini were looking the other way, sleeping or else thinking 'TNL belongs to the brother of the boss....best we keep our mouths shut', while the Dialog and TNL hatched a deal for the former to sell telecasting rights it had secured from the tournament organisers to the latter.  

'The Boss', here, is none other than the Prime Minister of the Balupalana ('dog-governance') Government, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

UNPers who wish to remain anonymous say 'If it's good for Maithri, it can't be bad for us!' referring of course to the President's routine acts of helping family, following his redefinition of 'nepotism' as 'a situation where a single family rules the country (never mind if some of them were elected!)'

Meanwhile, horrified Mahinda-loyalits ask 'what happened to those who howled when CSN was the recipient of such generosity by the rulers?'

There is no evidence of the PM interfering in this matter, but political analysts such as Pussadeva Uyangoda observe that similar to the period under Mahinda Rajapaksa most decisions (including the decision to look elsewhere) are guided by the thought 'this is what boss would like'.

Attempts to contact representatives of the Yahapalana Cheering Squad to obtain their comments on these developments have been futile.  

As of now there's no cheering squad for Balupalanaya.

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