Impeachment Of The CJ: Candid Request To President Rajapaksa By A Well-Wisher
Nagananda Kodituwakku
When President Rajapaksa campaigned for the second term in office most people, including me, did our part to make sure that he would return to office, hoping that he would put into practice what he preached to the people. In fact an article written by me and published in the Internet was published in the President’s official website. (visit here for the full article)
I honestly believe that no one can take away his boldness when he was brought under a tremendous pressure by the EU community to stop the onslaught launched against the LTTE and his courage and determination to bring the war to an end that resulted loosing of precious life of hundreds of thousands sons of mother Lanka belongs to both Tamil and Sinhalese communities. Yet, none of us thought that President Rajapakse would become so drunk with power and resort to engage in an undemocratic campaign to strengthen his powerbase by eliminating all institutions that he considered would be a threat to his survival.
It is very unfortunate that all his commandants seem to be dumfounded and fatally failed to advice the President when it matters most. Particularly when his actions are blatantly wrong and baseless. When a wrong is committed, whether it was committed by the President or any other person, right thinking people with insight should have the courage to tell the leader that he is in fact at fault. Otherwise at the end of the day nobody would bother pay a least respect towards him like the awful fate faced by CBK who got everything wrong and had what she rightly deserved at the end.
Dear President, before your own eyes you can simply see the plight of those who followed the Machiavelli’s political ideology and got burned to ashes. Best living example is the decomposed CBK, your predecessor; the one who shamelessly abused the great faith and confidence placed in her by the people of this country. Probably she is the one who was given an overwhelming mandate of over 60% to put things rights. Yet, peoples’ judgement on her was proved absolutely wrong. At the end she proved that she was a monumental failure and that she was nothing more than a common and unenlightened autocrat. Look back and see her sorry plight today.
Do you want to follow the same footstep and fall into the same trap if you want to be the “peoples leader ever”? The choice is yours and if you want to be just another Machiavellian like JRJ, RW, R Premadasa, and CBK and rule the nation by deception then you would suffer the same fate; just another addition to the so-called ‘democratically elected leaders’ who betrayed the nation with total impunity.
Remember, you still have the full potential to be a model leader like Mahathir Mohamed (Malaysia), or Lee Kwan You (Singapore). You have already proved some characteristics of a good leader. You stood firm against the Western pressure and refused to betray your people and won the hearts and minds of the people. If Ranil or CBK had been the President then there is no question that they would have kneeled down to the pressure from the West. Surely people loved your good qualities, you are known for your modesty and people naturally compare you with egotistic CBK. Yet, please be aware that the public are not delusional of your true character. Behind the scene there exists a darker individual and people do have serious concerns about your integrity and honesty. Yet, people are willing to pardon your obvious wrongdoings, after all we are humans and one must learn to forgive another if truly committed to rectify wrongdoings. You must shun all bad qualities and become a true leader with firm commitment to deliver.
There is so much to gain simply by being honest and committed. Just shun the rule by deception, which will only bring your downfall. Be brave enough to redesign your policies on strictly disciplined economic policy based on “dasaraja dharma” and zero tolerance of any form of wrongdoing. In the name of your motherland, give up all forms of misdeeds; reject all habit of pleasing cronies and other bad practices that only help ruining your chances to be the most successful democratically elected leader. Get rid of all criminal elements around you. Renounce all mannerisms of egoism and refrain from promoting and tolerating any individual that do. Be courageous to select and rely on a team of committed to serve the people [your cabinet] with proven character to deliver. Reject the ones whose prime concern is to embezzle public funds by improper means.
Please take your hand off the judiciary. Respect the rule of law and let it play its constitutional obligation as the ‘watchdog’ of the people. If any member of the judiciary is at fault follow a transparent process to deal with any such individual and afford them every opportunity to prove their innocence. Truly the process adopted to impeach the CJ Bandaranayake is grossly inappropriate in the eyes of right thinking people of this country who reject the undermining of the judiciary by improper means. Plainly, the process adopted for the removal of the CJ is just another demonstration of arrogance and abuse of office of the President. Follow the accepted norms and respect the rules of natural justice and afford the CJ a fair hearing before a duly constituted tribunal, this is what the people of this country yearning for and no way they demand that the CJ be off the hook if there is any credible evidence of misconduct of bringing the office of the CJ to disrepute.
People want you to displays that you are a worthy person with magnanimous qualities. One cannot deceive all the people all the time and if you want to win the hearts and minds of the people the time is right for you to prove your character. Show that you are not just another Machiavellian anymore or a ruler govern the nation by deception but a man with an integrity and commitment to fulfill all objectives set by the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.
