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Ranil-Karu tête-à-tête to reunite UNP
View(s):In continuing moves to thaw the frozen relations between the Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the party’s erstwhile deputies, Mr. Wickremesinghe and Karu Jayasuriya conferred privately on Friday at the Nalandaraamaya Temple in Nugegoda on the way forward for the party.
The private tete-a-tete was brokered by former party chairman Malik Samarawickrama. Mr. Wickremesinghe had a scheduled meeting at the temple to discuss the 10 point common programme of action with other opposition party representatives, including sections of the Buddhist clergy. Mr. Jayasuriya was comfortable with meeting Mr. Wickremesinghe in a temple environment.
The meeting took place in the background of both Mr. Jayasuriya and another former deputy leader Sajith Premadasa being part of the UNP’s election campaign for the forthcoming provincial council elections. Mr. Jayasuriya, on his own request, has now been assigned parts of the Kandy district in the Central Province. Mr. Premadasa in the meantime will concentrate on the North Western Province, largely based on a request by party chairman Gamini Jayawickrama-Perera. A popular platform speaker, Mr. Premadasa will also campaign in the Matale and Kandy districts for the UNP.
During the Wickremesinghe-Jayasuriya meeting, the latter had again reiterated his stand that the party leadership must bring all members together, including those who have been recently sacked for breaking party discipline. Party secretary Tissa Attanayake also joined the discussion.Mr. Jayasuriya has also been detailed to co-ordinate the Good Governance sections of the party’s proposed new Constitution for the country.
Mr. Jayasuriya told his fortnightly news conference that the UNP was fighting to create a democratic society in Sri Lanka. Before that, he said, those in the party should be united. “I make a fervent appeal to our party leader to bring about this unity. It is only then that we can create a righteous society,” he said. Mr. Jayasuriya added: “I do not need positions. My request is to stop all disciplinary inquiries in the party; if necessary declare a common amnesty and go forward uniting all. We must defeat the attempt by the Government to destroy the UNP. If we can unite as a party, then we can unite the opposition. We united as a party and had a “Jana Bala” walk.. If we can do it today, we will be doing a great service and justice to the country and the people. The UNP is not a party owned by Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Hon. Sajith Premadasa or myself. There is no need for me to impose conditions.”
The party’s election campaign teams for the forthcoming provincial polls will meet tomorrow to map out the strategy, including a common message for the campaign.
CSE seeks new boss through Wall Street Journal
The state-run Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), which is casting its net far and wide in its search for a new chief executive officer (CEO), has placed a highly expensive advertisement in the world’s largest circulated financial newspaper, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which has a circulation of more than 1.7 million daily.
But the unanswered question is whether the CSE is looking for a Sri Lankan expatriate or a foreigner to be the next CEO by the end of October, when the job falls vacant, according to the ad which appeared in the WSJ last week.
The ad does not specify a salary but speaks of an “attractive compensation package.” The cost of the ad alone could run into several thousand dollars because the WSJ charges $2,300 per column inch.
And unlike American corporations, all applicants called for an interview in Colombo will have to pay for their own plane tickets.
The more intriguing question is: why is the CSE looking for a talented professional (Bachelor of Arts mandatory and Master’s Degree in Business Administration “an added advantage”) when most appointments have been heavily political. A trader familiar with the CSE says one of its previous CEOs was constantly harassed and quit in disgust. Among the accusations made about the CSE is that “insider trading is the order of the day”. However, those responsible continue to deny such allegations, laughing all the way to the banks and their newly purchased hotels.
Info boss must train his officials on how to evade questions
The Government Information Department is conducting a series of seminars for provincial journalists. The idea, according to it, is to enhance their capacity to report.
Of course, it goes without saying that it wants the correspondents of different media outlets to devote more attention to covering development activities of the Government.
One such seminar was under way in Dambulla yesterday. One of the correspondents asked Prof. Ariyaratna Ethugala, Director General of Government Information, what he had to say about Army personnel allegedly attacking journalists who covered the Rathupaswela (Weliveriya) public protests. The cameras of photographers too were allegedly damaged by them.
The media were covering the mass protest from villagers over contaminated water in their wells. It was reportedly the result of a factory dumping its chemical effluents on the ground.
The learned professor’s reply: Media organisations should take the responsibility for it.
Talk of evading the question. The Department must next have a seminar for Government officials on the subject; ‘How to evade nosey questions from the media’.
MR’s balcony quip at breakfast meeting
It is not only public relations that are a better known facet of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Added to that is his pithy wit.
At his regular breakfast meeting with national newspaper editors and heads of electronic media, he was asked whether he met a British Parliamentary delegation that visited Sri Lanka last month.
When he said “no,” he was asked if there was a request for such a meeting. “I will not be able to meet all the MPs who visit the country. So many of them come and go. Some of them meet me, but they do not get reported in newspapers,” President Rajapaksa replied.
He then added “See our MPs. When they go overseas, nobody knows. Not unless someone jumps from the balcony, do they get publicity.” There was laughter all round.
Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella who was present was among those laughing away. He fell off a hotel balcony in Melbourne and had to undergo treatment for months for broken legs.
Kotelawala Academy slanders Sir John
The late Sir John Kotelawala, one time Prime Minister of Ceylon as Sri Lanka was then known, was a man of many parts.
He loved the company of women as much as he loved his drinks. Even more, he loved his country and never went back on his word. He was almost dying when the late President J.R. Jayewardene visited him at his famous Kandawela estate at Ratmalana and whispered in the old soldier’s ears, “Sir John; You are now a General.” So he had the honours of a General’s funeral with State courtesies.
He bequeathed his Kandawela Estate to be converted into a Military Academy. His dream came through. Then Army Commander Denis Perera was largely instrumental in getting the deeds transferred according to Sir John’s wishes. The Academy is now growing from strength to strength under the meticulous eye of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
There is one thing the Defence Secretary will surely be horrified to know. The Academy’s official website runs a slanderous story about the life of the Academy’s benefactor, the late Sir John himself. A historian or otherwise, the compiler has thought it fit to give parts of late Sir John’s personal life, his wife and daughter and are unworthy of repetition. Just one printable example goes as follows (extracts);
“Sir John Kotelawala had been aware of a previous liaison of his wife …….., but he had never suspected her as she had been living with him for two years. He immediately returned to Sri Lanka with his daughter, in the event of his wife’s debauchery.”
“Suspecting his behaviour, his mother questioned him and he revealed all of his misfortunes to her. She advised him that if he didn’t want his wife, he could send her back to her parents. So listening to his mother, he called over the in-laws and sent his wife away……”
Some of the other ‘stuff’ in the website is too smutty to recount. From where the writer researched this “information” is not divulged, but even otherwise, this is certainly not the type of comment one would expect in the official website of an Academy that bears the name of the former Prime Minister — and benefactor of the Academy.
Had Sir John been alive, the legendary treatment the knight of slander would have received from the knight of the British Empire would only be too well known to those who knew the generous man. As far as it is known, Sir John was never married. O Tempora O Mores!
Indian HC snubs Thondaman
Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) leader Arumugam Thondaman was an angry man last week.
He was miffed that a smaller rival to his party, a delegation from the Up Country People’s Front was able to meet the new Indian High Commissioner S. Kumar Sinha. The UPF is led by Shanthini Devi Chandrasekeran whilst its Parliamentary group leader is V. Radhakrishnan.
Mr. Thondaman protested saying his CWC was the largest party in the plantation sector. “We decide who we wish to meet,” was the reply given to him by a top Indian High Commission official.
So he switched gear and invited the HC for a visit to the hills. The visit will come but not before the Central PC polls are over. They do not want photo ops to be part of polls propaganda, said a source.
PM and son set good example
As is the practice, all candidates were not allowed into nomination centres for polls to the Northern, North Central and Central Provincial Councils. This is because of the space problems.
It is only the group leader among the candidates and recognised political party officials who are permitted.
This is the reason why Anuradha Jayaratne, son of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne stood outside the Kandy Kachcheri when nomination papers were being scrutinised by officials of the Department of Elections.
Premier Jayaratne drove in to the area. His son asked “Appachchi athulata yanawada (Father, are you going inside)”. The Premier replied “Mata yanna puluwanda kiyala policiyen ahala kiyanna (Check with the Police and let me know whether I can go in).”
The son asked the Police and they replied that the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka could enter a nomination centre. Then Premier Jayaratne asked his son what he was going to do. “Mang mehema paarey innam (I will wait on the roadside),” he replied.
A good example when others claiming relationship to top politicos would have found their way in.
Dayasiri’s parting tackle
A question listed in the name of former UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera on the Order Paper of Parliament of July 24 related to the Carlton Rugby Tournament 2012.
Mr. Jayasekera was not in the Chamber when his name was called. Chief Opposition Whip John Amaratunga asked the question and the answer was tabled.It was revealed that many of the foreign players were paid as much as US$ 57,000 (around Rs. 7.5 million) while the maximum amount paid to local players was a little more than one million rupees.
It was only after the answer was tabled that Jayasekera walked into the Chamber and announced his decision to cross over to Government ranks.
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