BY S.V. Kirubaharan “Everything happens for a reason. But sometimes, the reason is that you’re stupid and you make bad decisions”. - Alyssa Rodriguez Ayubowan Gotabaya I am sure that some of my friends and colleagues will not be happy that I say ‘ayubowan’ to you. They may wonder why I cannot say either ‘vanakkam’ or ‘salaam alaikum’ or even ‘hi buddy’ because you were and are an American. When the whole world says that American Vice President Kamala Harris is the first female African American and Asian American Vice President, they all forget about you being unprecedented too. It is an undeniable fact that you are the first male American to be the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka! By the way, it is sad that your Cabinet of Ministers cannot work at your speed. Since you became the President, you have appointed many liars, dishonest men and hooligans to various Ministries. But today, many are grumbling that you are running their Ministries. It is strongly believed that this is one of the reasons for you sacking some Ministers. In Tamil, there is a proverb, “வளர்த்த கடா மார்பில் பாய்வதாக”. English translation - "Fostered rams are attacking the owner’s chest".  Now, your family is harvesting what you all have sown. We already knew that this would happen. However, now the whole world knows how you all were using some individuals, intellectuals, academics, politicians, and others for the glorification of your family. Ministers and ex-Ministers - Basil Rajapaksa, Keheliya Rambukwella, Wimal Weerawansa, Johnston Fernando, Sarath Weerasekera, Douglas Devananda and a few others should be offered Doctor of Philosophy Degrees in ‘telling lies’. Your relation Weerasekera, known as the former Minister of Public Security is doing well in ‘public savaging’. We were told that he was the only Minister who is in frequent contact with you. Is this because of your family relationship or because public savaging is done under your guidance? Weerasekera was a real fun factory. Rambukwella, who was recently offered a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Degree from your Gota university, regrets having been removed from the post of the Spokesman. But he does not show his dislike because he feels that you may sack him as well. Prof. Peiris The clown of your Cabinet is Foreign Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris. After his visit to Geneva, Switzerland, it seems that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s. His speech in the 49th Session was to please you, your family members and the people in the South, but no substantial information was given to the international community. His ridiculous remarks and attacks on the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet was counter-productive for Sri Lanka. In fact, he tried to show you that he can do a better job than former Foreign Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. It makes for good drama but earns insults for Sri Lanka. Internationally, he and the late Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera have lost their reputation and credibility. The international community is well aware of Peiris’s senseless statements during the peace talks in the 2000s, from Thailand to Japan, Norway and the United States of America. When he says in the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, that 31 States were in support of Sri Lanka, this proves that he is fooling himself. What a liar for the sake of survival! Does this mean that he does not know how to count? Even if we take it for granted that 31 States supported Sri Lanka - compared to 193 Member States, it is not even one fifth of the UN Member States. His lies will be proved in the forthcoming 51st Session in September. Let us wait and see! One country and Gota law Now let me deal with some important affairs. Does your slogan ‘one country, one law or Gota law’ make any logic to outsiders? Your advisors have forgotten that usually one country can have two or many laws. When it comes to the law, it is no surprise that presently there is only one law - ‘Gota’s dictatorial law’. Otherwise, how come all those murderers who face death sentences, life imprisonment and others, can be released by you? It proves that you were behind all those killings including the Easter Sunday bombings? Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith and others have realised this fact lately. Now, the way things are moving since you became the President proves that it was you who was behind the operation of the Bodu Bala Sena, the Sinhalese Buddhist extreme nationalist organisation which was established in 2012. Hello buddy, right or wrong, you were in America for many years. During that period, you learned neither politics nor diplomacy. I do not think that any sensible Tamil politician or political party will come for a talk with you without third party mediation. After all, you insist that Sri Lanka is a Sinhala Buddhist country, one country, one (Gota) law, etc. It is obvious that there are many ‘black sheep’ among the Tamil politicians, political parties and also among the diaspora. The Southern politicians and political parties are making use of them by blackmailing. The world will never forget how in the past you all cheated the people of the North and East! There is no point in talking to you or your gang of crooks about the history of the island. You proudly claim that you became the President with only the Sinhalese vote. Well and good. But, it is shameful that now the same people are demonstrating against you. You have plunged them into great, serious, economic crises and you are starving them. Are you a war hero? It is a shame that now Sri Lanka has moved towards a monarchy system like in Middle Eastern countries. The difference is that you had elections like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who was in power for 37 years. Only under the monarchy system can the whole family hold high profile positions and grab the wealth of the country. The worst family appointment was the Minister of Finance. This post was held in the past by the world’s top economist Dr. N.M. Perera. Unfortunately, this Ministerial position was recently in the hands of a person who had no proper education either in economics or via experience in the financial sector. Obviously the country will be in crisis. Do you think that the world cannot understand your motive in filling all top positions with military personnel? It is an obvious preparation for lifetime Rajapaksa monarchism. This is one of the reasons why even with the worst economic crisis, not a single country is ready to help your family’s regime. I feel sorry for those people who trusted your bogus claim that you were one of the ‘war heroes’ and voted for you. None of you, including Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka are ‘war heroes’. You all are really fooling the people in the South. You ask your brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, how many bogus promises he gave to the international community and India to win the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)? During the war, I personally witnessed in Geneva how Mohan Peiris was dealing with the North Korean Ambassador to get their help for the war effort against the LTTE. Since then, North Korea got involved in the war. Now, eventually, some realise about the North Korean involvement in the war. Hello buddy, do you know that this was the only war on earth, where all enemy countries united and got involved. The United States does not agree with North Korea and China. India does not agree with Pakistan and China. During the Eelam war, all these countries were involved and fought the battle against the LTTE. We knew very well that there were hundreds of Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives to win the battle in Madhu in Mannar. This was possible because the Indian Congress and Sonia Gandhi wanted to take revenge on Eelam Tamils. Sonia Gandhi and the LTTE In fact, the Government of Sri Lanka is smart enough in cheating Gandhi and their family members. In July, 1987, a Sri Lanka Navy soldier tried to kill Rajiv Gandhi in Colombo, in the presence of Sonia Gandhi and many other Indian diplomats. Also, Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene was a witness at the scene. The Navy Sailor, who made the attempt to kill Rajiv Gandhi, said in interviews that he attacked Rajiv Gandhi to kill him. This Navy soldier is still living peacefully in Colombo, whereas the LTTE was wiped out by Sonia Gandhi and her Government because of alleged accusations. I mean without any irrefutable evidence. If the international community had not come to rescue you all, today Tamils would have been celebrating their 12th anniversary of Independence. If so, today your economic crisis would have been sorted out by your good neighbours, the people of Tamil Eelam. Hello buddy, I presume that presently you are enjoying Executive powers with a two thirds majority in the Parliament. If you are a real Buddhist and honest to your heart, you should have come forward to settle the ethnic conflict and respect the aspirations of the Tamils in the North and the East. Also, before you carry on with forceful and uncivilised Sinhala settlements in the North and East, you should resettle the Tamils who lived for hundreds of years in many parts in the South, including in Kataragama and its surroundings. Hope you will never forget that Kataragama and its surroundings were developed by the Tamils when it was a thick forest area. Below I quote a paragraph from my article, ‘Kataragama To Kankesanthurai’ (South To North) published on 24 October, 2010. “Since winning the war, the Rajapaksas and their people say we are all Sri Lankan and that there is no place for a specific community or ethnic group. Everyone has the right to settle anywhere of their choice. If this is genuine, why cannot the Tamils be resettled back in Kataragama, upcountry, Anuradhapura, Trincomalee, Ampara, Batticaloa and elsewhere where the Tamils were living years back?” Good luck……. In 1956, when then Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike introduced the Sinhala Only Act, he never thought that there would be 30 years of armed struggle in the North and the East. When Jayewardene sent Brigadier T.I. Weeratunga in 1979 to Jaffna to suppress the then militancy, he never thought that Tamils would have a de-facto Government covering 70-80% of the North and the East. If your thinking also goes in the same manner as these short sighted leaders, I wish you good luck in your endeavours…..! Have you ever heard of the Iranian revolution that took place in 1978 and 1979? I personally witnessed this revolution. The guns, artillery and tanks were nothing in front of the people’s will and power. However, my best advice to the Rajapaksa family is to keep a jumbo jet on standby at the Airport for your family members to escape before the masses capture the Government. If you and your gang strongly think that the Tamils from the North and the East are from India and that they should get back to India, I am sure that they will be happy to do so, on a condition that they will go with the land where they have lived for thousands of years. In other words, they will be happy to become another State of India. Very recently, ex-Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Vigneswaran asked a reasonable question from you and others from the South - that if LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran was a terrorist, what about Keppetipola Disawe who fought against the British? The same question we ask you, what is the difference between the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) members who fought violently to capture the whole of Sri Lanka and the LTTE cadres who have been in jail for years? Jaffna public library! The JVP killed many Sinhala political leaders, intellectuals, academics, professionals, security personnel and many others in 1988 and 1989. In such a scenario, how can any politician in the South say that JVP members have clean hands? If you wish to know the real history of the island, please do turn the pages of what your ancestors have studied in their history books. Now you all are teaching manipulated history to the people in the South. In other words, you are feeding venom to the Sinhala people. Is this what Buddha’s preaching has taught you all? To know the real history, do ask your advisors to read about “Lemuria, Kumari Kandam”, etc. Do you or any others have any reasonable explanation for why the Jaffna public library was burnt into ashes by Sri Lankan Security Forces while supervised by two important Ministers at the time? Many are not aware that the Jaffna public library had housed all the historical documents to prove that the Tamils were the original inhabitants of this island long before Buddhism or the Sinhala language found a place in the island. This was the reason why the Jaffna library was burnt down by the then Government of Sri Lanka. Parliamentary ‘dress code’ Hello buddy, presently, the country is in a real economic crisis. If you are a real patriot, this is the best time for you to encourage your family members to bring the stolen wealth and assets of Sri Lanka into the country. According to a friend of mine who is an economist, your family wealth and assets in foreign countries are more than enough for the survival of Sri Lanka for at least two to three months. By the way, if there is a ‘dress code’ for the Sri Lankan Parliament, I believe that it is seriously violated by the Rajapaksa family wearing a red shawl in the Parliament. If that can be accepted by the Speaker of the Parliament and the Parliament, then I recommend Tamil Parliamentarians to wear black shawls and suit during the Parliament sessions or at least during important events like the remembrance of Mullivaikkal, etc. This can be done even by the Opposition Members of Parliament too. I was told by a Sinhalese journalist that the Rajapaksa family strongly believes in, and practices the caste system. People like Fonseka, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and many others are victims of caste discrimination by the Rajapaksa family. What a shame, especially in the 21st Century. There are academics in Sri Lanka who naively encouraged you and your family’s atrocities in the past and were late in understanding the true image of you all. People like Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha and a few others have never had any long term vision of Sri Lanka. We feel sorry for them. (The writer is a human rights activist, freelance research analyst and an author) ………………………………………………….. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.