A Fragmented Nation Has Decided
By Hilmy Ahamed -January 10, 2015
Hilmy Ahamed
Sri Lanka has decided on its future with its bets placed heavily on PresidentMaithripala Sirisena to embark on compassionate governance to unite the fragmented communities and build a truly reconciled nation.
The voting pattern in the just concluded presidential election is probably the saddest indictment of a divided society. The majority of the Buddhist community voted in favor of a hardline president who believed that he did not need the vote of the minority communities to be re-elected to the august position of the President of our nation. His reliance on just the majoritySinhala Buddhist vote not only deprived him of his third term, but also created a very divided nation. His last minute attempt to woo minority votes fell on deaf ears.
The voting patterns of the people of a once peaceful nation who co-existed as different communities are a cause for concern. The Sinhala Buddhist majority voted for a Presidency where the racial divide will be entrenched in its future governance, while the minorities trusted in a change, for a better and peaceful nation under a compassionate leader that they could trust.
*Maithri takes oaths- Photo courtesy Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Sri Lanka Facebook page
It would have been difficult for Maithripala Sirisena to win if the minority communities had divided their loyalties between the two main contending Presidential candidates or abstained from exercising their franchise.
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Rajapaksa Henchmen Rajpal And Dinesh Missing
January 10, 2015
Rajapaksa henchmen Rajpal Abeynayake – Editor of Daily News and Dinesh Weerawansa – Editor of Sunday Observer have vansihed into thin air since the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday, Colombo Telegraph reliably learns.
Rajpal
The two Editors who were staunch supporters ofMahinda Rajapaksa had not reported to work today and have been uncontactable since yesterday. In his editorial on Friday (9) Rajpal had written that the Opposition victory is ‘a figment of the imagination of various interested parties’. Rajpal’s Twitter account has also been inactive since January 8.
Similar situations have emerged in other state media including the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and the ITN where most of the top ranking officials have left their positions.
Chairman of SLBC Hudson Samarasinghe and Deputy General Manager of ITN Sudharman Radaliyagoda, who has two oustansind warrants in his name have also reportedly fled the country.
