5th Column

Aiyo Sirisena and my dear Green Man,

I thought I must write to both of you because, whether we like it or not, the two of you are responsible for charting the destiny of our country, at least for the next few months. It will be a crucial few months that could change the course of the next few decades, after what happened on Easter Sunday.

Aiyo Sirisena, I am not sure whether you realise this, but you are still the most powerful person in this country. You certainly have more powers than a Grama Sevaka, even though you may not be able to dismiss your Police Chief, after publicly announcing that you will do so within 24 hours.

Aiyo Sirisena, just in case you forgot, you are also the country’s Defence Minister. When there is a crisis involving the nation’s security and safety of its people, you are responsible. It is just not good enough to say that no one told you anything, and therefore you did not know about the bomb threats.

We know you are paranoid about the Green Man and worried that he will take your job. However, that doesn’t give you the right to compromise the security of the country by not appointing someone to act as Defence Minister when you travel overseas, which has been quite often, lately.

Did you also give instructions not to invite the Green Man to the Security Council, Aiyo Sirisena? Since October, when you tried to oust him from his job, but couldn’t do so, he had been prevented from attending the Council. Is it because your survival is more important to you than our safety?

As the country’s leader we expected you to cut short your holiday and rush back from Singapore when you heard of the bomb blasts. Instead, you just issued a statement and arrived at midnight. By then, Mahinda maama had visited the churches and done what you should have done!

Since then, you have had numerous requests to appoint the Field Marshall to oversee Law and Order. Even Mahinda maama, who we all know is not a great friend of the Field Marshall, agreed that he was the only person in the government who knew what to do in situations like this.

Last week, the Greens handed over a request to you asking you to appoint the Field Marshall as the Law and Order Minister. Will you do so, Aiyo Sirisena, or will you not appoint him because you don’t like his style and what he has said about you, placing your pride before the welfare of the nation?

Green Man, your performance since Easter Sunday has also left many people wondering why you are so keen to stay in your job, when all you do is make statements before the cameras which come back to hurt you. However, you did have the courage to apologise for your lapses and we appreciate that.

You are telling us now, Green Man, that you were not invited for Security Council meetings for many months. Worse still, after the blasts occurred you tried to convene a meeting of the Council and was told that they were too “busy” to meet with you. You were kept waiting while they met.

Green Man, we recall the time when your uncle was the boss and your present deputy’s father was the second in command, holding the job you now have. He said he had only a peon’s job. Your job seems to be worse now, because even peons are allowed to enter a room where a meeting is taking place!

Green Man, it is becoming clear that some of those who you have in your Cabinet have knowingly or unknowingly had links with those responsible for the Easter attacks. How can they continue to be ministers? Or, are you taking up ‘Ravi’s defence’- that nothing has been proved in a court yet?

Green Man, the conduct of some of your other ministers is also appalling. One says parents shouldn’t worry about sending their children to school because they are insured, if some harm happens to them. Another’s staff is caught distributing defamatory letters. With such friends, who needs enemies?

Aiyo Sirisena and Green Man, the fact is that both of you were busy with undermining each other, hoping that you and each of your political parties could stay in power for a little bit longer. In doing so, you didn’t realise that the threats from elsewhere were growing and neglected to counteract them.

Given what has happened since Easter Sunday, with all sides trying to blame someone else instead of uniting to fight the common enemy, is it a wonder, Aiyo Sirisena and Green Man, that most people are disappointed – and that they have almost given up hope that this nation will be a Paradise once more?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: It appears as if some of your decisions regarding the country are still being made with the next elections in mind. With the country at a virtual standstill and everyone living in fear, I think both of you can stop worrying about winning the next election, Aiyo Sirisena and Green Man, because the chances of that happening are as good as that chap Zahran observing pansil or reciting the Bible!