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The JRJ Cabinet and Finance Minister Ronnie de Mel

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It would be fair to say that JRJ had the most competent Cabinet of Ministers of modern times. As usual the new Prime Minster (he was elected PM in 1977 before he became president via a constitutional amendment a year later: ed) had been very thorough in his decision making. He first accommodated all the seniors who were Cabinet ministers in previous UNP governments. Premadasa, M.D.H. Jayawardene, Montague Jayawickreme, E.L. Senanayake, Mohamed and Hurulle were all thus accommodated.

He also brought in party seniors who had helped him like Mathew, Hameed, Festus Perera, Jayasuriya and Wijetunga. Having secured that flank he chose two technocrats Ronnie de Mel and Nissanka Wijeratne, both ex-CCS, to man key ministries – Finance for de Mel and Education for Wijeyaratne. Last, he inducted two young stars of the party, Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali. They too were given plum portfolios. Everybody could see the logic of the leader’s decisions and there was little of the heartburn that usually follows the selection of cabinet ministers.

Another key factor was that JRJ was clearly ‘Primus inter pares’. While he acknowledged that the victory was a combined effort, ministers knew that he was supreme, having brought the UNP to a historic and unprecedented win which would have been unthinkable under the Senanayakes. He also made it known that he would not brook any underhand maneuvering which had been a regular feature of Sri Lankan party politics.

Later on, we will see that there was some dissatisfaction among his senior colleagues – M.D.H. Jayawardana, Gamini Jayasuriya and E.L. Senanayake. JRJ showed no mercy to them in asking for their resignation from their ministerial positions when disagreements came to the surface. But both sides stuck to the rules and the transitions took place in a civilized manner with JRJ writing to them to thank them for services rendered.

While the cabinet ministers were able and willing, several of them were highly ambitious and had no doubts about their fitness to succeed the Old Man who in his own words had “climbed to the top of the greasy pole” at the ripe age of 72. He was fighting fit and unfailingly followed every morning, a rigorous exercise regime tailored for the Canadian Air Force, but that did not prevent several of his Ministers nursing ambitions of succeeding him one day.

Their hopes were raised even before the 1977 election when JRJ, with no warning, held a straw poll to form a 10-man committee to manage the election campaign. Premadasa came first by a small margin. The surprise was Gamini Dissanayake’s performance coming a strong second, thus fueling his already vaulting ambition. Ronnie de Mel and Lalith Athulathmudali also made it to the group. It sent a clear signal to Premadasa and the party seniors that they would not have a cakewalk to the top. It also created a sense of competition among the front runners which simmered right through JRJ’s two terms and blew the party apart after Premadasa donned the mantle.

While this competition helped in running an efficient administration it must be recognized that it exacerbated tensions among the front runners. JRJ gave ear to them all and while not discouraging them did not overtly back any one of them either. He was a master at giving each of them hope, while not showing his hand in any way. To complicate matters there were two others outside this ring who believed that they had JRJ’s blessings to go to the top.

One was Anandatissa de Alwis, a party grandee who managed both the political and personal entanglements of Sir John Kotelawala. He was the kingpin of the UNP youth league in the early days and had been recruited by JRJ as his Permanent Secretary in the 1965 Dudley-led administration. They were close friends and the leader’s unilateral decision to make him Speaker of the House did not please Ananda who wanted to be a Minister, preferably in charge of the old ministry of JRJ’s (State) he was Permanent Secretary. The other was Upali Wijewardene, JRJ’s cousin who had emerged as a clever and ambitious business magnate.

He wrapped himself in the mantle of a hero of the south because his mother and the source of his wealth came from a prominent family in the southern heartland. ‘This was a direct affront to Ronnie de Mel, who also was burnishing his southern credentials as the representative for Devinuwara, the abode of Vishnu – the guardian god of the South. Vishnu is believed to be the only god who did not run away when the Buddha was threatened by Mara.

Ronnie de Mel

The JRJ administration of 1977 was chiefly marked by its radical change of the country’s economic policies. By 1977 the previous administration led by Mrs. B was hated by the general public.It was an era of shortages and stagnation. The inward looking policies of the PM and her Finance Minister N.M. Perera, had failed and had created immense difficulties for the public in its wake.

So much so that a wing of the SLFP led by Felix and Anura Bandaranaike, began to publicly criticize NMs socialist policies. They drew attention to the epochal changes that were shaking up western economies and driving hard bitten communist regimes in the USSR and Eastern Europe to extinction. The new free market economy which spelt doom for socialist economies was led by President Reagan in the US and Prime Minister Thatcher in the UK. Their USSR counterpart Gorbachev was also taking the first steps ‘along the capitalist road’ as the Chinese leaders described it.The world was entering a new economic cycle of free markets and globalisation. Who would be best to help JRJ to transform the moribund economy? The President unhesitatingly chose Ronnie de Mel. “Cometh the hour; cometh the man”.

Though the JRJ Cabinet had many clever Ministers, the crucial post of Minister of Finance was given to the best qualified person- Ronnie de Mel. In a sense this appointment was waiting for him since he entered politics late in life. The SLFP which was his first party of choice had many envious seniors who prevailed on Mrs. B not to offer him a portfolio. The SLFP was a one man or one woman show and it placed greater store on loyalty than on talent.

Ronnie was a brilliant scholar who had refused the offer of a research assignment in Cambridge or Oxford as a historian based on his examination performance. He chose the CCS and was ear-marked from the start as an outstanding public servant. He had socialist leanings and was a favourite official of Philip Gunawardena when he was Minister of Agriculture in 1956. As with many CCS colleagues of his time he married into a wealthy family. Like JRJ he was without money worries but did not show off like the new rich who were now coming into politics under the SLFP. His wife Mallika was a dynamic and capable lady who undertook the responsibility of nursing her husband’s electorate as he was not a “hail fellow well met” type of politician.

In that he shared many personality traits with JRJ who looked upon him as a very valuable colleague. Both had an abiding interest in looking after the poor and underprivileged though they did not resort to popular gimmicks. Both JRJ and Ronnie came from a strong Anglican background and had an intellectual approach to Buddhism which did not view popular Buddhism and ritual with favour. Even when Ronnie was a fierce critic of the UNP, JRJ decided to woo Ronnie and playing on Mrs. B’s inability to accommodate him, slowly won him over to his side.

Ronnie was so important to the President that when he lost the Devinuwara seat in 1983 when JR sought re-election and the Referendum that followed, he was brought in on the national list of the UNP. Ronnie was so well accommodated in the UNP that he also brought along his friend and CCS colleague Nissanka Wijeryaatne, who was smarting under Mrs. B’s rejection of him for daring to contest her uncle Paranagama for the post of Diyawadana Nilame and beating him. Nissanka contested the Dedigama seat and became the Minister of Education. The luring of this duo of talented SLFPers was a feather in JRJ’s cap and presaged the trouble that was in store for Mrs. B in the 1977 election.

The opening of the economy in 1977, under the directions of JRJ, was implemented by Ronnie. It was a ‘tour de force’ which showed great skill and intelligence. De Silva and Wriggins in their biography of JRJ summarize the reforms envisaged in Ronnie’s first budget of 1977. “He asserted that the principal objective of the Budget was the establishment of a free economy after more than 20 years of controls and restrictions which had hampered economic growth….The budget marked a fundamental shift in Sri Lanka’s monetary and fiscal perspectives, through liberalized economic policies which emphasized great reliance on the market mechanism, liberalization of trade and payments and a large increase in external finance.

Most direct controls on prices, imports and external payments were dismantled, government operations in processing and distribution of basic commodities were reduced if not removed, and attractive incentives were provided to producers. There was also the unification of the exchange rate at a depreciated level and the introduction of a flexible exchange rate policy.” [P335] The rupee exchange rate was brought to its market value. All governments before that had artificially kept the rupee below its real value thereby distorting the country’s economy. It led to a black economy and the energies of the Government was diverted to catching currency racketeers as in Felix’s time. The next step was to deal with subsidies, particularly the rice subsidy – a major factor in electoral politics. Under the JRJ regime the subsidy for rice was restricted to those who earned under 300 rupees a month.

In order to cushion this poor segment from rising food prices it was decided to give a cash allowance in lieu of the rice ration. We in the Ministry of Information under Anandatissa put our heads together to fashion an Information strategy to popularize the cash grant. Together with Irvin Weerakkody of Phoenix Advertising we created a ‘Salli Potha’ or cash book as an alternative to the ‘Ration book’. The poor citizen could use the cash coupon to buy commodities of his choice subject to the ceiling imposed on the grant. This became so popular that the opposition which was still licking its wounds could not respond. Later they printed fake rice ration books to show that they too provided relief in their time. This was clearly illegal and the “fake ration book” trial dragged on in the courts for a long time.

By that time Ossie Abeygunasekere, the main accused in the case, had crossed over to the Premadasa camp and the matter was hushed up. Another prong of the Government strategy was to create a welcoming approach to foreign investment. The Board of Investment (originally called the ‘Greater Colombo Economic Commission’) was set up under Upali Wijewardene and a special investment zone was established in Katunayake.

At the same time the modernization of the Colombo Port with Japanese aid and the Mahaweli scheme with multiple foreign assistance was launched. With so many of the projects off the ground it was Ronnie who kept a tight leash on the funding with JRJ’s support. This financial control was not to the liking particularly of the PM Premadasa and Lalith Athulathmudali but they had no option but to accept the overseeing functions of the Finance Ministry.

There were also turf wars regarding funding for the accelerated Mahaweli project. But JRJ backed Gamin Dissanayake’s efforts to seek funding and he and Ronnie worked together fairly cordially. Ronnie established the “Aid Sri Lanka Club” of donors under the umbrella of the World Bank. This donors’ meeting was held annually in the World Bank and OECD Office in Paris. A well prepared ‘laundry list’ of projects approved by the Finance Ministry were discussed with high level representatives of the donor countries as well as representatives of multilateral institutions.

Once agreement was reached on funding it was included in the national budget for the following year which was presented to Parliament. This meeting also reviewed progress of the foreign funded projects then underway. All in all, these arrangements which were coordinated by Ronnie smoothed the way for a rapid take off and was later copied by many developing countries at the urging of the World Bank.

Ronnie depended very much on his civil service colleagues like Chandi Chanmugam, J.V. Fonseka, Chandra Fonseka, Gaya Kumaratunga and Akiel Mohammed who formed the bedrock of the divisions of the Finance Ministry. He also reached out to the Central Bank and co-opted officials from there – which had become the practice by that time. Illangaratne as acting Finance Minister of the 1970 cabinet had earlier inducted the `Kandyan twins’ – Kelegama and Karandawela, from the Central Bank and the practice has persisted with all subsequent Finance Ministers.

In addition the President used the services of Raju Coomaraswamy who had retired from the UN and returned to Sri Lanka, as his special envoy. When relations with the World Bank deteriorated to such an extent that JRJ wanted to close down its Colombo Office it was Raju who urged caution and got the Bank to support the Mahaweli project. JR had a special affection for Raju as he was part of his team when he was Minister of Finance in the DS Cabinet. He was thinking of fielding Raju as a candidate for a seat in the North and a Cabinet assignment, when the latter died of a sudden heart attack.

Raju’s son – the popular and capable Indrajit was seconded from the Central Bank to be Ronnie’s assistant and dogsbody. It must be mentioned here that subsequent Ministers of Finance, particularly CBK did not handle the ‘Aid Club’ very well. Her trips to Paris were not so productive. In fact she took a number of her ministers along with her. They were clueless about the purpose of the meeting and concentrated on the social events including a farewell party at the Crillon.I can reveal that it was a misunderstanding between CBK and S.B. Dissanayake whom she had taken along to Paris, that began the rupture that led to SB’s defection and the fall of her Cabinet in 2001.

Right along Ronnie had a special concern for the underprivileged. He served for a long time as a senior official in Philip Gunawardena’s ministry and was held in high regard by Philip. Ronnie, then in the prime of his life, naturally harbored ambitions of advancement. Premadasa, Athulathmudali and Upali were suspicious of his motives as the latter two hankered to be Minister of Finance. This led to much tension in the Cabinet which sometimes flared out as criticisms of the Finance Ministry.

But JRJ, who had been a Finance Minister himself, backed Ronnie. Much later at the tail end of his career JRJ was disappointed when Ronnie offered him only lukewarm support for the Indo-Lanka agreement and remained in his Geekiyanakanda estate, not even returning the President’s telephone calls. I had a close relationship with Ronnie and facilitated his rapprochement with President Wijetunga in 1993.Later I played ‘broker’ in getting him into CBK’s Cabinet in 2000. CBK always had a good rapport with him and Ronnie returned as a senior Cabinet Minister for a short duration which I shall describe in volume three of my autobiography.



Features

Timely theatrical exploration of Middle East conflict

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A dramatization of the warring sides in the Mid-East. (Pictures by courtesy Stages Theatre Group)

In what amounted to a refreshing change for the politically-conscious of Sri Lanka and the world, the Longsuffering of the peoples of the Middle East was made to come alive on stage recently through two short plays. The venue for the engaging pieces of drama, staged on November 8th, was the ‘Kolombo Kamatha’ theatre at the BMICH and the organizer of the notable experience was the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS), Colombo.

The BCIS is in the process of celebrating the 50th anniversary of its establishment in 1974 through a series of events and projects of an educational and artistic nature throughout November and the plays were part of this wider commemorative enterprise. The relevant programs are being conducted by the BCIS staff under the guidance of the institution’s Executive Director Ms. Priyanthi Fernando.

Directed by Ruwanthi de Chikera and staged in association with the Stages Theatre Group, the plays of one hour’s duration each were titled, ‘Patterns of our Genocides’ and ‘Children of the Little Olive Park’.

The casts consisted of entirely young persons and this was an exceptional feature of the dramatizations. The latter play, which was staged first, cogently highlighted the inhumanity and brutality characteristic of the Middle East conflict. Although the victimization of the Palestinian people came to be highlighted in the main, this columnist believes that the point was driven home as well that political violence brutalizes both the victim and the aggressor in conflicts featuring contested land, nationhood and self- identity. Accordingly, the play’s thematic content is applicable to the majority of conflicts of the global South, including of course Sri Lanka.

A parable like quality which was notable in the ‘Children of the Little Olive Park’ enhanced its appeal. Although the presumed encroacher on land, in this case Israel, emerges dominant, the play stresses that the latter’s might would not be possible if not for the biased support lent to it throughout the decades by the major imperial powers, headed by the US.

The audience is left with the sense that it is the powerful and their wards who finally win and prevail in conflicts of the kind that are playing out in the Middle East.

If one were to paraphrase summarily the content of the ‘Children of the Little Olive Park’, it would go thus: ‘Once upon a time there was a little garden with an Olive tree that bore a lot of fruit. The garden was a playground for children in the village where the tree grew and they also freely tasted of its fruit.

‘But one day, two important persons from the big world outside brought a child from a nearby village and asked him to eat the Olives and play in the garden as well. But as time went by the boy from outside bullied the original children of the park, ate the fruit all by himself and brought his playmates from his villages to settle in the land as well. This resulted in quarrels and fights between the groups. However, the children who were bullied did not give in; they too armed themselves and fought back. In this way the stage was set for a long, unending fight.’

Thus, the play’s import and relevance is plain to see. However, the mode in which the play was presented made it memorable as well. It was stylized drama of a very fluid kind which was most economical in its use of the usual theatrical resources, such as props and stage sets. Thus, the audience was invited to intuitively and imaginatively connect with the play’s content. Besides, the actors engaged in spectacular movements which realistic drama would not have made possible.

‘Patterns of our Genocides’ continued with the same thematic concerns. However, the focus here shifts to the situation of the Rohingyas of Bangladesh. It is the now quite familiar story of how the Rohingyas came to be brutally victimized and driven out of their land by Bangladesh’s military rulers. Their only ‘flaw’, from the viewpoint of their oppressors, is their ethnic and religious identity. It is a case of the powerful of the land siding with the majority community and pandering to the latter’s power aspirations.

Unlike in the case of the former play, ‘Patterns of our Genocides’ unfolds in the form of mainly a narration by an actor who represents the Rohingya community. He narrates the suffering and persecution of the community, which to a degree, is dramatized and rendered engrossing. Many Sri Lankans would not find it difficult to engage deeply with the unfolding narration, since the issues strike one as familiar and are common to some local communities.

During the Q&A which followed the staging of the plays a member of the audience referred to the need for the first play to incorporate the Israeli viewpoint as well. Ideally, this should have been the case but since the play was a short one it would have been impracticable to meet this need. May be the creators of the play could consider dramatizing a play of this scope in the future running into two hours or thereabouts.

However, the plays performed a vital role by raising awareness on the gut issues in the relevant conflicts in a most exhilarating and engrossing fashion. The choice of the artistic medium ought to be commended because it concretized, as few other art forms could, the issues at the heart of the conflicts, which are only read about by most Sri Lankans.

The Middle East conflict, along with scores of others raging in the South, are not likely to abate any time soon and the intractable nature of the issues involved account in good measure for this. Moreover, there needs to be also a total coming together of all local and international stakeholders in these conflicts, with peacemaking as their main aim, for the purpose of establishing even a degree of peace in these contemporary killing fields.

However, hopes cannot be entertained on the latter score as well. This is mainly on account of the fact that the major powers are usually at cross-purposes and unity of aim among these players is essential for the effective functioning of the UN system. Such effectiveness continues to determine to a great extent whether the world would have a measure of peace or otherwise.

Unfortunately, US President-elect Donald Trump is showing all signs already of being a negative factor on the international peacemaking front. For example, his choice of US Permanent Representative to the UN is said to be a ‘fierce critic’ of the system. It is plain to see that Trump is not acting in good faith on the question of making the world a less dangerous place to live in.

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New coffee-table book unveils rich, little-known heritage of Sri Lanka’s Moor Community

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Some illustrated pages of the book

Author Asiff Hussein , known for his extensive research on the culture and traditions of Sri Lanka’s Muslim communities, discusses his latest work.

The author of ‘A Ceylon Moor Pictorial with a Glimpse into the Moorish Life of Old,’ has set out to showcase the often-overlooked culture of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim community, the Moors.

Speaking to The Island, Hussein explained the inspiration and scope behind his coffee table book, which offers a visual journey into the unique customs, attire, and culinary heritage of this long-established community.

By Ifham Nizam

“Moors have a very rich culture, but it remains largely unknown outside the community,” Hussein said. “Beyond the familiar dishes like biriyani, wattalappam, and falooda, the Moorish culinary heritage includes diverse foods from India, Persia, and the Arab world. These foods reflect the centuries of cultural exchange that have shaped our community.” His new book aims to broaden public awareness, capturing the community’s traditions and customs in 360 images that span family portraits, wedding ceremonies, traditional dress, and heirloom artifacts.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: What inspired you to create a pictorial book about the Moor community of Sri Lanka?

A: That’s a good question. Little is it known that the Moors, who are the largest Muslim community of our island, have a very rich culture. However, it is not much known outside of the community, that is except in respect of food, which is shared with others, but even here only part of it is known, like biriyani, wattalappam and falooda, which need no introduction. There are, actually, many more rich rice dishes, desserts and beverages the Moors are heir to, and have originated from lands as far as India, Persia and the Arab World, showing the diverse cultural influences the community has been subject to over the course of a thousand years or so.

When I published my book Sarandib, an Ethnological study of the Muslims of Sri Lanka, now in its third edition, I included some photographs, but these were not many. Over time, during my excursions and sojourns in various parts of the island, where the Moors had established settlements long ago, I would at every given opportunity take photographs of various items, artefacts, dishes of various kinds of food and even old houses and flora and fauna believed to have been introduced here by the Arabian ancestors of the Moors long ago. Old Moor families shared their albums and heirlooms to take pictures of, and museum collections such as those housed in the Southeastern University were another important repository of our traditional culture which I took photographs of during my visits to the provinces. By the middle part of this year I had gathered a considerable collection.

Although I had initially planned to publish some of these in subsequent editions of my book Sarandib, over time, I conceived the idea of producing a coffee table book with a lot of visual content including old and rare monochrome photographs, colour photographs of more recent times, vintage maps, paintings and sketches that captured the life and culture of those times, supplemented by extracts from journals and travelogues, and my own field work and research findings that went into both the main text and captions.

Q: Can you elaborate on the significance of the 360 images included in the book?

A: Well, I must say it’s quite a collection and includes old photographs that capture the traditional life of the community such as weddings and circumcision ceremonies and individual and group photos from family albums that clearly depict how the Moor gentlemen and ladies of old were attired, more recent colour photographs of various cultural items, including food items prepared by the traditional families, articles of dress and jewellery from museum and heirloom collections, some interesting artefacts from heritage mosques, including an old hatchet buried under the old mihrab of the Maradana Mosque which must have had some ritual significance, and a very old tile, that goes back to Kandyan times, I discovered at the Bakinigahawela Mosque in Uva Province, not to mention extracts of Old Dutch registers, known as Tombos, which show what Moor names were like more than three hundred years ago and vintage maps showing old Moor settlements, such as a very old Dutch map I came across in the Old Town Hall of Colombo.

Besides these, the book contains old sketches including Moormen in Surattu Toppi which was the traditional headgear of the Moor gentleman before the Fez cap took its place, and old paintings such as of the Maradana Mosque which is shown standing besides a graveyard with the gravestones clearly seen, proving that it served as a burial ground for the faithful of old.

Q: What cultural traditions and unique practices of the Moor community do you hope readers will appreciate the most?

A: There are many such traditions and practices covered, including some which have gone out of usage and others which are little understood outside of the community. An interesting item I came across in the Maradana Grand Mosque was an iron hatchet that had been under the older Mosque and which I feel had some ritual significance, such as to ward off the Jinn who Islamic lore holds are beings created out of smokeless fire. Even Satan, known in Arabic as Shaitan, is one such being. Such jinns are said to be afraid of iron and one finds a similar belief in Sinhala culture where the Yakku or demons are likewise supposed to be scared of iron. Such practices are, however, no longer followed when erecting mosques.

Others are little understood, but need to be told so that we have greater understanding between our communities. One such is female circumcision, which has been falsely compared to the African practice of FGM by interested NGOS whereas what we practice here is a harmless procedure which may actually be beneficial if performed in the religiously prescribed manner of removing the redundant skin surrounding the clitoris, both for hygiene’s sake and a better sex life later in life. We never had any problem with it in the past and there’s no reason why it should be an issue now. So there’s a lot others need to understand about us and this book brings that out vividly.

Q: Why do you believe this book is important for Moor households and the wider public in Sri Lanka?

A: The Moors, as I said earlier, have a very rich culture. Sadly it is not much known outside the community. Unlike in other communities, there have been very few writers who have written about it in languages other than in Tamil. This is despite the fact that a good number of Muslims, in the Sinhala-majority areas, are literate and conversant in both Sinhala and English. In fact many Moors today speak these languages as their ‘home language’ like my family, but sadly these have not as yet been fully established as full-fledged literary languages of the community.

Another reason is, of course, the fact that many Moors have been traditionally business people and since their interaction with others was limited, they may have not thought it necessary to share those features of their culture other than food, which was, of course, much appreciated by others. That said, the situation has changed somewhat over the years and even prominent business families now feel a need to share and showcase their culture. In fact the sponsors of this book are one such family, the Hashim family of Malship fame.

So I think it’s quite important that Moorish culture be publicised in its full scope and range from the seemingly trivial to the more salient aspects so that others know, understand and appreciate us better as a cultured community. Here’s what one Tour Guide said after seeing a post about the book “I was immediately captivated by the intriguing history and culture of the Ceylon Moors. After receiving my own copy, my admiration for the community deepened, sparking an even greater sense of pride in the country I call home. As a tour guide constantly learning and discovering new facets of Sri Lanka’s diverse heritage, this book is a valuable addition to my collection. I believe this work belongs in every Moorish household and in the homes of anyone who appreciates the rich cultural tapestry that defines Sri Lanka”.

The members of the community also look upon it as a valuable contribution to preserving our traditional way of life and have told me so. In fact at a MyBiz event after I had made a presentation about the book, there was this lady who had been gifted a copy by a friend and had gone through it cover to cover and got up to tell the audience how important it was to have the book in their households, not the least because their children would come to know what their culture was really like in the good old days.

So yes, we have come a long way, and ours is a story worth telling in pictures that speak a thousand words.

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Features

Big scene…here as well

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Glam Scene

Last week’s Presidential Election, in America, generated worldwide attention.

It was also the talk-of-the-town, in the scene here, and these are the views some of the known local personalities, based here and abroad, decided to share with readers of The Island:

*  Manilal Perera (Singer/Entertainer):

I have been a huge Trump supporter. Trump was the only American President to tame the North Korean dictator. He openly called him the “Rocket man” and said that America can wipe him and North Korea off this earth. Grande Trump. Bravo!

* Maneka Liyanage

(The Island Beauty Tips/Model):

Imagine a world where the threat of global conflict no longer looms over us. What if, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, we could see an end to the escalating tensions and conflicts that have plagued us for so long? Could this be the moment when diplomacy prevails over division, when dialogue replaces destruction, and when nations work together, not against each other? With a clear commitment to preventing World War III, Trump promises to bring stability, peace, and cooperation back to the world stage. Is it possible to secure a future where war is no longer an option? Let’s believe it’s possible—and take the steps together to make peace our priority.

* Sohan Weerasinghe (Singer/Entertainer):

Trump victory means oil prices will become stable as America will start drilling for oil and that means energy Independance. However, although he will be better at handling the economy and immigration, Kamala Harris would have been a more humane President and looked after the interest of the poor people. Whether America will become great again…we will have to wait and see!

* Rozanne Diasz (Catwalk Coach and Choreographer):

I am a Donald Trump fan…even when he lost, I rooted for him. I like his straight forwardness and strategy. I am also a big fan of Vivek Ramaswamy who backed him. They make a good team.

* Andrea Marr (Singer/Entertainer):

This is a time for people to come together, put aside political differences, and be kind to each other. There is a lot of pain and suffering in the world and that’s where our focus should be.

* Kay Jay (Singer/Entertainer/Beautician):

Hopefully, Donald Trump will do what’s right. It’s a bit hard to trust Politicians nowadays. So let’s Hope for the best. Fingers crossed.

* Angela Seneviratne

(Film/TV Stage Artiste/Former Model):

We, Sri Lankans, pulsating with the excitement of the recent Presidential elections, flowing into the General Elections, could learn a lesson that people’s power, no matter how large or small the country is, is the one strength we have to accept, and importantly, support for the betterment of the nation.

Raffealla Fernando (Photographer/Fashion Designer/Stylist):

My thoughts are quite turbulent about the American presidential election and Donald Trump’s victory. In 2020 he lost because it was disastrous management, the predatory instincts and compulsion to dominate, I don’t know if this behaviour, or way of ruling the nation, would continue. Let’s see if he will bring a different approach this time. A lot will change in America…greatest country in the world might not have the greatest leader for some time, I guess.

*  Shareefa Thahir

(TV Presenter/News Anchor/English Radio Announcer/News Reader/Emcee):

Given that the previous Trump administration maintained minimal interference in the affairs of other nations I feel his re-election may bring a continued focus on global stability, similar to his previous term.

*  Lankika Perera

(Singer)

“Let me congratulate America’s 47th President Donald Trump for his historic and magnificent victory. His victory speech was truly extraordinary and I was so impressed when he said, “We don’t worship Government, we worship God,” and his ambition is to spread Christian values. May God bless the USA and President Donald Trump, and protect him and give him strength, wisdom and good health, always.

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