The article by Chandre Dharmawardhana titled “Looming Danger in the wake of Presidential Poll: Is Sri Lanka Ready? “, The Island, Tuesday 9-9-2024 seems to be an attempt to bring in fearmongering and provoke people to incite violence in an otherwise peaceful election.

This article paints an unnecessarily harsh and speculative picture, lacking credible evidence to support many of its claims. It introduces conspiracy theories and hypothetical scenarios without basis, contributing more to fearmongering than to a constructive political dialogue. Such claims are not only misleading but also dangerous, as they can incite public unrest and distrust in the democratic process.

The National People’s Power (NPP), led by Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD), is often misunderstood and wrongly labeled as a purely socialist entity. The NPP is not bound by rigid ideological labels; rather, it adopts practical policies, drawing on good ideas from both the left and right. AKD has consistently advocated for a development model similar to that of South Korea, which combines innovation, industrial growth, and a focus on national self-reliance. The party’s vision is rooted in pragmatism, not outdated political dogma.

Election propaganda activities this time are more peaceful than previous instances. The credit should go to better informed populace, political parties and the election commission. The Election Commission (EC) of Sri Lanka is well-prepared to handle the upcoming elections, regardless of whether the final result hinges on counted preferences. Speculation about potential unrest or civil disturbance only serves to stoke fear. In fact, these unfounded claims about electoral outcomes and conspiracy theories about election are themselves dangerous, as they could invite and incite violence. Sri Lanka’s democratic institutions, including the EC, have repeatedly demonstrated their capacity to manage elections efficiently and fairly.

The article’s suggestion that an NPP victory would result in a social upheaval is another baseless claim. AKD’s policies emphasise economic stability, growth, and innovation, not radical or destabilising reforms. Furthermore, Sri Lanka’s path to recovery and growth will involve attracting both local and foreign investments—something that the NPP, with its carefully formulated plans, is fully prepared to engage in. The author’s comments about Western and Indian interests in this year’s Sri Lanka election raise the question: on what evidence is he making these claims?

Conflating the peaceful, democratic rise of the NPP with violent conspiracy theories is irresponsible. Instead of focusing on hypothetical unrest or fearmongering, the country should focus on ensuring a peaceful and fair election where all candidates and their supporters respect the democratic process. Yes, Sri Lanka is ready, the Election Commission is ready, and the voters who are waiting to make a real change are more than ready.

Prof. Ajith DeSilva, University of West Georgia, USA
(ldesilva@westga.edu)

By an Old Connoisseur

The D-day is approaching rapidly. There is feverish activity on all fronts as a prelude to the 21^st of September 2024, the Presidential Election Day. Crowds are being recruited, palms are being oiled, jumpers are putting to shame even the crack Olympic Champions, the decibel levels of speakers at propaganda rallies are going up by the minute and accusations as well as counter-allegations are flying like pre-programmed arrows.

There seems to be so much at stake for the politicians but what about the ordinary citizens; the Pereras, Silvas and the Fernandos, not to mention the Senas, Palas and the Appuhamys, etc? These are the people who really matter in this equation, isn’t it? They form the denominator which should be the factor that should be used to assess all kinds of claims. This article is for the general populace of our land.

This country is for all Sri Lankans and certainly not only just for the miserable politicians. Some candidates bask in the glow of what they claim to have done and pulled the country out of the deepest possible mire while others put forward various plans and protocols to ensure that this thrice blessed and beautiful little Pearl of the Indian Ocean will have a future filled with milk and honey.

Some others pontificate that they will get hold of all the ill-gotten wealth from numerous “thakkadis” of our own Sri Lankan ilk, put the miscreants in jail and usher in a prosperous nation with that money. The entire country has become a crucible of varying contentions that would necessarily bring out the question as to whom could we believe.

Now then., that is where we need to look carefully at the past performances of all these worthies. The man at the helm now can claim some credit for the current economic performance of the country. We should give even the devil his dues. Yes, the man has managed to improve the social standards and eliminated shortages and queues. However, we are inclined to ask ‘At what cost?’ The cost of living has gone through the roof, and indirect and direct taxes have led to a situation where even the well-to-do have run into problems. Many people with fixed incomes have had to eternally worry about where the next meal for the family is coming from.

There is rampant malnutrition amongst not only the children but in the adults too. He says that he could not get the cooperation of the pohottuwa guys but all he had to do was to threaten them and say that he would dissolve the Parliament. He is rather autocratic, has some confirmed rotters in his entourage, and the man has even tried to cross swords with the judiciary, not once but quite a few times. Internationally, he wields quite a clout with most countries and for beggars like us, that is a plus point. Yet for all that he has quite a few skeletons in his cupboard a la Batalanda, etc. One does wonder as to what we would get by giving him another 5 years of the Executive Presidency. Your guess is as good as mine.

Then there is the Dasa character from the Dasa heritage. He seems to reign supreme in the SJB/SJS. Autocracy seems to be in his genes and he generally listens only to immediate family members., especially the one who has a ‘J’ in the name. He did run away when he was offered the headship of the country and he says that he could not have worked with the rogues of the flower bud lot. Once again, all he had to do was to threaten to dissolve Parliament and all of them would have toed the line and grovelled on the floor at his feet.

That is what Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore would have done. Yet for all that, the greatest problem is that this Dasa has now taken into his bosom all the rats that are abandoning another sinking ship. Like all rodents everywhere, these happen to be the absolute scum of the gutters. All kinds of miscreants have been given refuge in his perceived kingdom.

Many people are mad at him for that. The decibel level he uses when he pontificates at rallies is distinctly uncomfortable and even provokes the viewers to switch off their TVs. He has a reasonable set of acolytes around him but as to how much leeway he will be willing to give them, if and when he comes into a scenario of absolute power, is anybody’s guess.

There are the rathu sahodarayas led by AKD. They have loads of proposals to revive the country and admittedly, at least some of them, are quite reasonable and most attractive. However, they have several problems. One is that they seem to hate people with some money., even those who have made their money through honest means and hard work. However, their efforts to catch all the thieves and put them behind bars is most praiseworthy.

The populace will have no problems with that. But., and this is a BIG BUT., notions are flying around that if they come to power, private properties will be acquired, certain monetary investments beyond a certain value would be confiscated, some assets will be nationalised, etc.

This will be a worrying thing for people even contemplating giving their votes to AKD. There is also the story of the top man being used only as a front for the hard-core elements and trade union chaps to rule the roost. There is also their chequered past. This writer was a fledgling trainee public servant in 1971 and a high-ranking public servant in 1988 and 1989. He saw the atrocities committed by these sahodarayas. These were major mistakes they made in a quest for absolute power.

The young people and those who are entering the adult franchise for the first time are far too young to realise the gravity of these things., some of them not even being born during those troubled times. Many say that we should try the Sahodarayas out and give them a chance but then we need to look at countries like North Korea where people tried these socialist/communists out. In all these countries, where their people have employed the principle of “deela balamu” it has been an absolute disaster with no further proper elections and a complete destruction of democracy.

However, if these Sri Lankan brethren would be brave enough to come right out tomorrow and declare that they made terrible mistakes and blunders in the past and that those will not happen again and apologise to the populace, also say that the civil liberties of people will not be curtailed, and promise to put all the rogues in jail as well as look after the farmers, the workers, the down-trodden and the children, they will get my vote. For that matter, they will also get the votes of hundreds of thousands of others of Sri Lankan heritage.

That will be their trump card. THE SAHODARAYAS WILL THEN GET A LANDSLIDE VICTORY, even more than what GR managed to secure 5 long years ago. Of course, the people will hold the JVP totally responsible to honour their pledges. Over to you Harini A and Doctor Chappie in the JVP, you are probably the only two who will understand this…, and be able to convince the other Sahodarayas. So, over to you, to persuade them to play that trump card ASAP.

Readers will note that I have not mentioned anything about the other 36 contenders for the hallowed Executive Presidency of Sri Lanka. They, including the tycoon and the youngster from the flower bud party, will just only be ‘also-ran’ characters. There is no point in wasting time with them as none of them will even have a ghost of a chance.

It is not just the youngsters or those who have just got their franchise, who need to consider the content of this article. True, the younger generation has to opt for a system change. Even people of my vintage have an abiding duty to make an informed choice for the sake of our children and grandchildren. All of us need to think very deeply before we exercise our much-valued franchise.

Our decisions could be a harbinger of absolute disaster or a vista of an august future with visions of blissful opulence for this wonderful Motherland of ours. Five years ago, people voted for Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour, only to find that it was a monumental mistake. Let us contemplate ever so carefully and vote wisely for the sake of the country.

By Dr Upul Wijayawardhana

‘Time is a great healer, you will see’ were the words of wisdom of the Greek dramatist Sophocles (496-406BCE) but I have realised that it is not true, at least in the short term. It is almost a month since I lost my wife Primrose but the pain of loss seems to be increasing than decreasing. I am at the stage where I am still trying to get answers to the questions ‘Why did it happen?’, ‘What if this was done?’ etc. I know it does not help me at all but my mind is in turmoil with these questions. I thought my understanding of the Buddhist concept of impermanence would help me but it does not seem to help much either, perhaps, because I have not got rid of all attachments.

Maybe, reminiscing on a life well lived would help and my mind goes back to the late 1950s when I first met her, at the office of the Buddhist Students Federation (BSF), in Mrs. Pushpa Hewawitharana’s house in Maitland Crescent. I had just joined Ananada College, after attending Rahula College, Matara. I cannot recollect who persuaded me to take an active part in the BSF but will never forget the moment I went to the office when an informal discussion was on-going, not about the activities of the Federation, but about the nationalisation of bus services by the Bandaranaike government. I too joined in support, to be silenced by a defiant but sweet voice: “My father co-owned a bus company and they took it over with no compensation, leaving us with nothing. Is this justice?”. When I later inquired quietly, I learned that she was Primrose Jayasinghe from Devi Balika Vidyalaya and also that she was the Vice-president of BSF.

The next time I met her was during a debate between Ananda College and Devi Balika. Not once, but twice as both of us were in both Sinhala and English debating teams. We also met at Radio Ceylon occasionally, when we attended ‘Lama Pitiya’ children’s programmes. Months later, while waiting for the results of the medical entrance examination, I got a letter from Primrose, inquiring whether I would be interested in helping her with a musical programme she was tasked to do by Radio Ceylon.

Primrose started her singing career as a child but progressed very rapidly. In the 1950s, Radio Ceylon brought musicologist Prof, Rathnajankar from Bhatkhande to audition and grade artists, an event best known for the rift between Sunil Shantha and Radio Ceylon. As he already had a degree from Bhatkhande, Sunil Shantha rightly said there was no need for him to be auditioned but the authorities in Radio Ceylon were convinced otherwise, and that led to the rift. Primrose got the highest, A Grade, from Rathnajankar and was on par with all the big names in music, in spite of being an early teenager from Devi Balika. It was very much later that a Super Grade was introduced to include veterans like Amaradeva and Mohideen Baig.

In order to encourage original creations, Radio Ceylon introduced a series of programmes with the participation of A Grade artistes. It was called Nava Nishpadana. Primrose requested me to write a song for her production titled Mula Muhuda . It won critical acclaim and was no mean feat to be achieved by a schoolgirl. Whilst her contemporaries became popular by singing Sinhala songs composed to the tunes of popular Hindi songs, Primrose refused to copy. All her songs were original, music composed either by her or by her friends and colleagues. Though she did not achieve fame, she had the rare talent of being able to write the lyrics, compose the music and sing, a talent which she passed on to our son. I have written lyrics for a few songs but could never sing or play any musical instrument.

The other reason why she did not achieve fame in music was her love for medicine. Though she wanted to be a paediatrician initially, she had to give up government service to be with me after our marriage. She opted to be a university medical officer and was the Senior UMO in Sri Jayewardenepura University at the time we left Sri Lanka due to the second JVP insurrection. Whatever I have achieved in my professional career is in large part due to her support and I regret very much that I did not tell her often enough.

When we arrived in the UK hurriedly, our future was uncertain. She approached one of her former bosses, who very apologetically told her that the only job on offer was a senior house officer’s job which she accepted, in spite of having had the Membership of the Royal College of Physicians for a number of years. She did that for the sake of the family but was later able to get positions in keeping with her qualifications and experience and ended up being a consultant geriatrician. Even after retirement, she continued to do part time work because she simply enjoyed the time with patients but gave up work, about five years ago, because of the changing attitudes of the NHS, heavily burdened by over-management.

The last part of her life was dedicated to Buddhism. From the time she got up she would either read a Dhamma book or watch YouTube Dharma Deshana, of which there are many. She was very analytical and choosy, warning me about some of our Bhikkhus who distorted Buddhism. She had a very close relationship with Shanthi Vihara in Nottingham and took part in the monthly Ata-Sil programme without fail. Her frequent questioning was referred to by Venerable Teldeniyaye Amitha, Head of the Vihara during his short sermon following the seven-day dana arranged by two of her friends who observed Ata-Sil with her. She tailored long-sleeved shirts, the monks needed to keep warm in winter, and was in the process of making robes for them. In fact, a couple of hours before her unexpected death, Primrose had told our daughter that she must finish that task, to be told she could do so when she got home but, unfortunately, never did.

When a good friend of mine died suddenly I wrote a song, which she sang in one of her programmes over Radio Ceylon, which ended with the lines: Vedanaven devena hadawatha Daham gangulelle howa, sasara gamane newatha hamuwana dinaya thek innam bala. The first part is true; that I have to immerse my burning heart in the cooling waters of Dhamma but, I am not sure about the second part, that I am waiting for the day to meet again in Samsara. She was not afraid of death and, though she did not have any terminal illness, had discussed death freely with our daughter and son, leaving strict instructions to have a family only simple cremation using an inexpensive closed coffin with no rituals at all, as soon as possible. Venerable Amitha stated that this reflected her true understanding of Buddhist concepts. Further, she said that in case the cause of her death is uncertain to get a postmortem done, so that some others may benefit. Considering all that, it is quite possible that she may have overcome the cycle of Samsara. May Primrose attain the Supreme Bliss of Nibbana!