During the programme of Mahaththaya, Sepal quietly mentioned the caste system. This writer has no personal knowledge of Sepal or for that matter anyone in Sri Lanka apart from close family and afew friends, to psychologically analyse Sepal’s thinking.
by Helasingha Bandara
The name, Jathika Jana Balawegaya, hereinafter referred as JJB was deliberately chosen for this essay instead of JVP. If JJB is determined to gain power at a future election, it cannot achieve that without minimising the outward prominence of the JVP. JVP still engender emotions that have been diminished over the years, especially in thousands of people who were affected by both 1971 and 1989 rebellions. Additionally, a significant number of myths that were spread by the capitalist forces still reverberate. JVP whose history which is full of blemishes including the alleged high-profile murders of extremely popular personalities like Vijaya Kumaranathunga and Premakeerthi de Alwis still leaves room for the opponents to point fingers at them. In that context, promoting the name JJB in all their publicity and promotion activities, gradually and in quietly, is of paramount importance. It is too late to suggest a change of the name of the new force to avoid confusion between JJB and SJB although it is possible for both parties to lose some percentage of votes of the illiterate electorate unless JJB promotes its symbol as its logo regularly and in all marketing material and activities till the name normalises.
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| Lal Kantha |
This essay is composed in response to one of Sepal Amarasinghe’sYouTube programmes (Lal kanthalath Ape Athal kadaida?) in which he launched a scathing attack on Lal kantha and, targeting certain comments Lal kantha had made during a press conference and two article I had written: The Magnificent Seven and Sepal’s Interpretation vs Harsha’s Explanation published by Daily Financial Times and Sri Lanka Guardian respectively. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of the relevant people on the potential damage Sepal can cause to JJB advertently or inadvertently.Abisheka Fernando, one of my Magnificent Seven has already hinted in one of her programmes that the best way the opponents can stop JJB’s rising popularity is to stop its expansion (her word). She says the enemies of JJB will develop close ties with JJB and destroy it from within.It is unwise to speculate who she means. Handunneththi in his interview with Sepal said, “you do your job, and we will do ours” (his words).Although he meant generally everyone in his statement, the message is relevant to Sepal.
Lal Kantha’s comments did not imply that he was willing to consider any of the corrupt politicians of other parties to be allies. He categorically stated that his answers were based on his personal views and did not represent the party. In my view, his comments favoured generally accepted civilised behaviour. Sepal’s exaggerated opposition to Lalkantha’s interview means imposing a new normal to hate people for political differences and dissent. Such an attitude combined with an insistence of a black and white policy without any grey areas would, most likely, distance people from JJB. In members of our communities,however degenerated they may be, traces of civilised behaviour can still be detected. Sepal’s advice would open avenues for the myths that I meant in the first paragraph to re-emerge: they kill all monks and abolish religions, kill everyone over 60 years of age etc. Harsha de Silva is well-educated, has experience of holding credible positions with local and foreign organisations, and both Lal Kantha and Harsha have long years of experience of working with people.They can live without behaviour lessons by Sepal.
I have read some of the comments on Sepal’s programme. Sepal should have been more cautious in what he preached, if he has any concern for the development of JJB, being aware that in Sri Lanka, most followers blindly take what their master says at face value. Sepal’s programme has already instilled certain doubts about the JJB, especially about Lal Kantha in the minds of his followers although the number of his followers is comparatively insignificant. However, this row can lead to arift in the party. Lal Kantha has been a loyal party stalwart for many years and it would be a shame if Sepal’s work causes such damage. JJB must take Abhisheka’swarning seriously. I once wrote regarding the support of Gnanasara thero to Mahinda at 2015 election that it was a blessing in disguise for Sirisena. JJB must be warned that Sepal’s involvement, if not managed, can be a blessing in disguise for the opposition.
It is important for the JJB to identify who they should not work with rather than who they should work with. My article ‘The Dirty Dozen’ published by Sri Lanka Guardian gives some hints as to who should not be welcome. Although there is only a dozen, they are only the representatives of the groups that should be rejected. All others should be able to join hands with JJB for a victory. If the JJB is advised to reject everyone who has worked with the main parties before, that may include Sepal too. Consequently, JJB will be left with its hard-core supporters of about 4 lakhs. JJB should operate with an open-arms policy. Obviously, they should have checks and balances in place to stop corrupt elements getting in. If the party has strong policies to indicate that it does not endorse corrupt politics and introduces a volunteer job description that limits the responsibilities of the politician only to passing legislation barring the jobs turning to lucrative income earners, the corrupted lose interest.
Sepal’s ridiculous differentiation between Mahaththaya and Mahathmaya, in another programme needsscrutiny. Contrary to his view, mahaththaya carries much less weight than mahathmaya. When he tellshis audience to address Mahinda as Mahinda mahathmaya instead of Mahinda mahaththaya he is willingly or otherwise asking people to pay more respect and distinguishMahinda instead of addressing him as just anotherordinary mahaththaya, in the same way peoplesay Iskole mahaththaya, Gramasevakamahaththaya, Liyana mahaththaya, kondostara mahaththaya, Mudalali mahaththaya, Govi mahaththaya etc.
During the programme of Mahaththaya, Sepal quietly mentioned the caste system. This writer has no personal knowledge of Sepal or for that matter anyone in Sri Lanka apart from close family and afew friends, to psychologically analyse Sepal’s thinking. In general, caste is a very sensitive subject that should be avoided,at all costs, in the political context because, the subject has a dangerous potential to divide people in societies in which arigid caste system had been in operation. At the first JVP rebellion in 1971 another myth that the entire leadership of JVP comprised low castle people was in circulation. If one who has proclaimed that he supports VP, starts attacking the people of a certain caste, looks like a higher caste in this instance,the myth of low caste dominance in the party can raise its head. If Sepal limits his work to what he is good at, damage can be minimised
The first of my articles in the programme in question was about seven people whose programmes I watched on YouTube as I have started paying attention to the Sri Lanka situation after being quiet for afew years. I found the seven people work towards the same noble goal of educating people on the corrupt political system that must be changed. Personally, I do not know any of the seven, nor do I need them for personal gain. I have the same objective in mind as them and thus we have something in common. I do not belong to any political party, nor have I ever voted for anyone.As I explained in my article, like any other expatriate I have a harmless dream to see Sri Lanka developing to be on par with the developed countries in the world. To develop an understanding of my neutral views and how I dismiss people and parties that exploit poor people, it is essential to read my writing during the past decades specially after 2010. By writing the said article I made a sincere effort to praise those who I believe to be doing a great job.
After my second article, Sepal expressed a view that I had regretted writing the first, without explaining how he came to that conclusion. On the contrary I am happy to have written that article which I believe was a compliment to them. I still haven’t withdrawn my generous praise for him and the rest for what they are doing.
Since I watched the youtube programme in which he talks about Lal Kantha and me, I feel that Sepal likes to go on ego trips. After my first article, a friend wrote and advised me not to trust Sepal. My reply to him was that trusting or distrusting Sepal is irrelevant to me as my concern is purely related to Sepal’s contribution towards the common goal that the majority is aspiring to achieve. After ‘The Dirty Dozen’ the same friend wrote: “your article was brilliantly written and devastatingly hilarious. The only weakness is that you did not include Sepal in the dozen”. I am certain now that Sepal is what I hypothesised him to be in my article about Sepaland Harsha
“If Sepal begins to feel that entire population should behave as he commands, being indebted to him for his service, he is not different to the Rajapaksha clan headed by Mahinda. They believe that the people owe them, the country is their personal property, and they have the divine right to rule it forever for Mahinda’s political leadership in eliminating the LTTE terror despite their subsequent nefarious practice”
When Sepal accused me of equating him to Mahinda, he mumbled the above quotation and deliberately avoided stressing the conditional ‘if’. The point to be stressed here is that Sepal believes that people should always sing hosanas to him for one good deed. A better anecdote to explain this can be brought from an interview that Sudaththa held with an actor namedkumara Siri. Kumara Siri said “a girl who was drowning in the Boxing Day Tsunami in Galle was rescued by a young man, but he later raped and robbed her off her jewellery. The guy expected people to praise his valour”. Being stung by the criticism Sepal may not have perused the article or he may not have comprehendedwhat it contained. It appears that he has hastily picked the points that wounded his ego and ignored the rest.
In the programme, he has purposefully distorted facts. He says that I chose different photos for my articles implying a change of attitude. We write articles and send to editors. Theirchoice to publish or not and to pick photos is beyond our control.Any media person must know this. Sepal cannot be an exception.
Finally, he implied that I have criticised his comments about Harsha’sgesture being jealous of him and my praise of him as part of an attempt to connect Harsha and the likes to JJB through Sepal. To highlight his point, he brought an anecdote in which a lessor woman seeing a very pretty woman says “oh! She thinks she is the only pretty one”. Sepal is a very pretty woman here.
First, If Harsha wants to join the JJB, he needs neither Sepal nor me. As I said earlier, I do not have political ties and I have nothing to gain from anyone in Sri Lanka.
I am a simple opinion writer but have seen and been with much prettier women than Sepal.
Sepal is not yet a kingmaker for others to be jealous of him. Even the so-called kingmakers in Sri Lanka are irrelevant and worth nothing to me.
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