Opinion

Raja Wasala Balaya in a reeling Democracy

Published

5 years ago

2020/10/24

We are now in the post-20 era of Non-democracy. Our elected parliament has given a huge approval for curtailing or even abolishing the principles and values of parliamentary democracy. It has voted for a presidential despotism, where the power of a widely expanding family will hugely burden the people and the country.

It is the Raja Wasala at power play, with the speedy rise of the Basil-Balaya.

Where else in the world has the need to give ruling power to a single citizen, who is determined to remain a US citizen with a motherland duality, led to such constitutional changes that threaten the very core of democracy? We don’t work in keeping with the norms and traditions of democracy any more. The democratic process built over 70 plus years, is now slammed for the benefit of the Raja Wasala – the Mansion of Family Power.

The 20A was largely seen as the revival of the JR Jayewardene era of autocracy. But this is certainly beyond the JRJ dominance that came in 1978, with a five-sixth majority in parliament. JRJ, wherever his aatma is today, must be reeling in shame at how the Rajapaksas have gone far beyond his own era of supremacy. We are now in the Gota-Basil era, with the loud cheers for the passage of the 20A, which was assured by its so-called critics, who pretended to be against dual citizenship.

Let’s look at the key mockers of democracy. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, Vidura Wickremanayake, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. They were all against the move to restore the right for dual citizens to be elected to Parliament and move to the Cabinet, the office of Prime Minister and the Executive President. They all voted for the 19A, which removed this provision from the constitution. They were carrying on an empty show of protests with loud voices, but fell in line with the Gota Goal when the reality had to be revealed.

What is their escape? It was ridiculing themselves!

President Gota has given an assurance that once 20A is passed the dual citizenry move will be removed in the ‘new Constitution’ to come very soon. G.L. Peiris says it will be seen in six months – which itself is a farce.

The reality is that from today onwards, Basil R will have the right to be a nominated Member of Parliament. What is needed is the resignation of just one MP from the government, or even the Opposition, with loads of benefits in cash and kind no doubt; and for the Basil name to be gazetted as a Member of Parliament. The new Constitution, if and when it comes, may remove the dual facility, but one who is already appointed will not be removed.

We have other mockeries of the parliamentary process, too. The UNP has still not appointed the sole member it can to parliament. One more plus vote for the Gota team. While increasing voices of protest against the 20A were heard from the Maha Sangha, the only seat to which a member of the Sangha can be appointed remains vacant – another plus for the Raja Wasala.

The 20A was passed in a House that had one member – Rishad Bathiudeen, who is now in remand prison, come there clad in PPE – Personal Protective Equipment to save himself and all others in the House from Covid-19. What will be needed very soon is for all MPs who have the courage to oppose Gota Rajya and the Raja Wasala, to wear Politically Protective Equipment, if they are to carry on some fight for the restoration of Democracy in Sri Lanka.

The sudden release of Bathiudeen’s brother from official custody, and the four-day search for Rishad himself by six police teams, did raise considerable anti-Muslim feeling among the public, which was not curbed or put down by the authorities who prefer such divisions in society.

The final vote on 20A saw a huge Muslim vote for it. These votes helped raise the pro-Gota count to 156 – beyond the 150 needed for a two-thirds in the House. The votes came from Bathiudeen’s All Ceylon Makkal Congress and the Rauff Hakeem-led All Ceylon Muslim Congress. The two party leaders did vote against 20A. Will we soon see a complete change in the Muslim-related politics in this country?

Will the Pohottu players, led by Gotabaya and Mahinda start a new Allahu Akbar – God is Great – strategy in their politics, recognising that special Muslim support for the 20A? These are the twists and turns that will be seen in our politics, where the power of a divinity will be seen as more important than the rational thinking of Buddhist and Christian monks and priests today. 20A Akbar – The Greatness of a Family Dictatorship.

One person has to be remembered by his absence at the voting in parliament on Thursday. It was former President Maithripala Sirisena. At least, he had the courage to keep away from opposing the 19A,- with the ban on dual citizen role in elections – which was brought to parliament by his own government. He has certainly done better by his absence than all those Vasudeva, Wimal, Udaya, Wijeyadasa, Viduras who all raised their hands for the 19A.

The Raja Wasala Balaya has now moved to the new, highly dangerous terrain in a reeling democracy.

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Opinion

Education needed about people not feeding wildlife

Published

23 hours ago

2026/02/15

Thilina Walpola

Being wildlife enthusiasts and bird watchers we took a river “safari” during a recent family trip to Bentota. We were dismayed to see that it seems to be the standard practice to feed the monkeys, I think they were the purple faced langurs, that were encountered on the river banks. Each boat that passed by stopped with boxed fruit, coconut and other odds and ends to feed them.

We managed to stop our guy from doing so but faced derision and laughter that we shouldn’t be afraid of monkeys. We tried to explain to him that this is a plague affecting Sri Lanka; elephants being fed on road sides and even in national parks, monkeys being fed from hotel balconies and apparently during river boat rides, birds being fed on hotel terraces etc.

This was met with further mockery and amused dismissal. An effort to make them understand that this was their livelihood that they were destroying it in this manner sailed over their heads. They even have a picture of a baby crocodile on the shoulders of a tourist on their billboard.

We need to consider the following:

Educate such tour operators about the importance of not interfering with the environment and the behaviour of wild animals.

Include education and training in the hotel school, and in schools in tourist resort towns about their duty and responsibility to the environment and the ecosystem on which we all depend.

If it is not already the case such operators should have licenses that should be revoked and fined if found to be engaging in such destructive acts.

Tamara Nanayakkara

Opinion

Capt. Dinham Suhood flies West

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/13

Thilina Walpola

A few days ago, we heard the sad news of the passing on of Capt. Dinham Suhood. Born in 1929, he was the last surviving Air Ceylon Captain from the ‘old guard’.

He studied at St Joseph’s College, Colombo 10. He had his flying training in 1949 in Sydney, Australia and then joined Air Ceylon in late 1957. There he flew the DC3 (Dakota), HS748 (Avro), Nord 262 and the HS 121 (Trident).

I remember how he lent his large collection of ‘Airfix’ plastic aircraft models built to scale at S. Thomas’ College, exhibitions. That really inspired us schoolboys.

In 1971 he flew for a Singaporean Millionaire, a BAC One-Eleven and then later joined Air Siam where he flew Boeing B707 and the B747 before retiring and migrating to Australia in 1975.

Some of my captains had flown with him as First Officers. He was reputed to have been a true professional and always helpful to his colleagues.

He was an accomplished pianist and good dancer.

He passed on a few days short of his 97th birthday, after a brief illness.

May his soul rest in peace!

To fly west my friend is a test we must all take for a final check

Capt. Gihan A Fernando

RCyAF/ SLAF, Air Ceylon, Air Lanka, Singapore Airlines, SriLankan Airlines

Opinion

Global warming here to stay

Published

3 days ago

2026/02/13

Thilina Walpola

The cause of global warming, they claim, is due to ever increasing levels of CO2. This is a by-product of burning fossil fuels like oil and gas, and of course coal. Environmentalists and other ‘green’ activists are worried about rising world atmospheric levels of CO2. Now they want to stop the whole world from burning fossil fuels, especially people who use cars powered by petrol and diesel oil, because burning petrol and oil are a major source of CO2 pollution. They are bringing forward the fateful day when oil and gas are scarce and can no longer be found and we have no choice but to travel by electricity-driven cars – or go by foot. They say we must save energy now, by walking and save the planet’s atmosphere.

THE DEMON COAL

But it is coal, above all, that is hated most by the ‘green’ lobby. It is coal that is first on their list for targeting above all the other fossil fuels. The eminently logical reason is that coal is the dirtiest polluter of all. In addition to adding CO2 to the atmosphere, it pollutes the air we breathe with fine particles of ash and poisonous chemicals which also make us ill. And some claim that coal-fired power stations produce more harmful radiation than an atomic reactor.

STOP THE COAL!

Halting the use of coal for generating electricity is a priority for them. It is an action high on the Green party list.

However, no-one talks of what we can use to fill the energy gap left by coal. Some experts publicly claim that unfortunately, energy from wind or solar panels, will not be enough and cannot satisfy our demand for instant power at all times of the day or night at a reasonable price.

THE ALTERNATIVES

It seems to be a taboo to talk about energy from nuclear power, but this is misguided. Going nuclear offers tried and tested alternatives to coal. The West has got generating energy from uranium down to a fine art, but it does involve some potentially dangerous problems, which are overcome by powerful engineering designs which then must be operated safely. But an additional factor when using URANIUM is that it produces long term radioactive waste. Relocating and storage of this waste is expensive and is a big problem.

Russia in November 2020, very kindly offered to help us with this continuous generating problem by offering standard Uranium modules for generating power. They offered to handle all aspects of the fuel cycle and its disposal. In hindsight this would have been an unbelievable bargain. It can be assumed that we could have also used Russian expertise in solving the power distribution flows throughout the grid.

THORIUM

But thankfully we are blessed with a second nuclear choice – that of the mildly radioactive THORIUM, a much cheaper and safer solution to our energy needs.

News last month (January 2026) told us of how China has built a container ship that can run on Thorium for ten years without refuelling. They must have solved the corrosion problem of the main fluoride mixing container walls. China has rare earths and can use AI computers to solve their metallurgical problems – fast!

Nevertheless, Russia can equally offer Sri Lanka Thorium- powered generating stations. Here the benefits are even more obviously evident. Thorium can be a quite cheap source of energy using locally mined material plus, so importantly, the radioactive waste remains dangerous for only a few hundred years, unlike uranium waste.

Because they are relatively small, only the size of a semi-detached house, such thorium generating stations can be located near the point of use, reducing the need for UNSIGHTLY towers and power grid distribution lines.

The design and supply of standard Thorium reactor machines may be more expensive but can be obtained from Russia itself, or China – our friends in our time of need.

Priyantha Hettige