A Loud CHOGM & A Fragile Opposition For Rajapaksa’s Arrogance
Kusal Perera
“Sri Lanka has a strong government and a fragile Opposition”, said Leader of the House, minister of Irrigation Nimal Siripala Silva, addressing the Commonwealth Business Forum on 13 November at Cinnamon Grand. He was for once, saying a truth. What is very naked in Sri Lankan mainstream politics is the fragility of the total Opposition in the Sinhala South. Neither the main Opposition UNP, nor the JVP now in the opposition has been able to hold the Rajapaksa government under check. Rajapaksa seems too tall for the opposition.
The conflict in the UNP too makes Rajapaksa strong and unbeatable. The utterly racist rebels in UNP who quarrel with no answers in how to challenge this R regime, helps the government to ridicule the UNP leadership that does not know what conflict management and resolving a conflict is. In short, neither the rebelling few nor the leading heads in the UNP have common sense to understand, conflicts in a political party are in-house businesses and not public fun. They simply do not know, letting out their grievances in public provides no answers. One of the feuding sides has to win the support of their rank and file with a clear programme that could challenge this regime to force the other to fall in line. To win the support of the rank and file is to democratise party structures and that remains one of the core issues in the UNP. It is a wholly undemocratic party, despite the holly scriptures on rights and accountability read out for media consumption. Read More
A Yellow Clad Monk Brays
By Basil Fernando -November 15, 2013 |
Basil Fernando
A yellow clad monk brays -
A hired hooligan -
What a disgrace!
Unleashing mobs
A ruler reins!
An august assembly of the Commonwealth
At its head a prince,
Is entertained
By mobs stopping trains.
Displays of disdain go as fun,
In every corner a hired clown.
For democracy,
The sun goes down.
