Why Rajapaksa is good for economy

[Saradiel]

Mahaweli is actually partially failed project. When Mahaweli was first initiated it was hoped to divert water to North of Sri Lanka and provide low cost electricity to Sri Lanka's growing economy for the coming 25 years. But the diversion of Mahaweli water to North failed due to the low capacity of the river and the power generation failed to hit it's 25 years mark when SL faced electricity shortages within 10 years. The only good AFAIK done by the Mahaweli project is the settlement of Sinhalese villages in the Eastern province. That created the effective buffer to hold LTTE advance.

Moreover Mahaweli project was funded by collaboration of western nations namely Canada, England, Germany and Sweden. For this those nations loaned money on huge interest rates. This was the first time we undertook such a massive amount of loans.

Mahaweli does have weaknesses and did not yield the expected amount of electricity. But still the hydro electricity generation was massively developed. With all weaknesses it gave us a lot of benefits. Same cant be said about Mattala, and even coal power plants built under MR.
There are a lot of new issues created apart from the power plants not functioning almost 365 days. An airport without planes and power pland broken down all year is hardly an achivement. I am not going to list the others.

In SundayTimes this weekend i saw Ceypetco fellows again signing a Hedging deal for fuel. These days it is predicted fuel prices to go down. So on what basis are they signing? who is signing for a stable price when fuel price is going down. Are we experiencing another hedging deal? Remember hedging deal under MR where idiot Asantha de Mel (shiranthi's cousin) caused SLG to pay millions of money but he was later awarded with more positions?

 

[HeinzG]

Mahaweli does have weaknesses and did not yield the expected amount of electricity. But still the hydro electricity generation was massively developed. With all weaknesses it gave us a lot of benefits. Same cant be said about Mattala, and even coal power plants built under MR.
There are a lot of new issues created apart from the power plants not functioning almost 365 days. An airport without planes and power pland broken down all year is hardly an achivement. I am not going to list the others.

In SundayTimes this weekend i saw Ceypetco fellows again signing a Hedging deal for fuel. These days it is predicted fuel prices to go down. So on what basis are they signing? who is signing for a stable price when fuel price is going down. Are we experiencing another hedging deal? Remember hedging deal under MR where idiot Asantha de Mel (shiranthi's cousin) caused SLG to pay millions of money but he was later awarded with more positions?

The issue of Noroccholai does not lie with the government. It is rest under the electrical engineer's mafia. Well Mattala is seems to be a failure but AFAIK it a strategic construction looking forward to the future. It will develop with the harbor.

Apart from that the other allegations are just common for every government. Nothing new.

 

[Saradiel]

The issue of Noroccholai does not lie with the government. It is rest under the electrical engineer's mafia. Well Mattala is seems to be a failure but AFAIK it a strategic construction looking forward to the future. It will develop with the harbor.

Apart from that the other allegations are just common for every government. Nothing new.

What is this electrical engineer mafia? Is a gover project where gover spent billions under massive rates can be subject to electrical engineer's mafia? what was the gover doing? and is it only one ? but two!

And Sri Lankan air is running at losses..is the gover learning any lessons from that? What changes did MR did to make the situation better? appointing that stooge Nishantha Ranathunga who dragged SLC to an abysimal poverty by his poor decisions.

SLn air runs at losses every year and its directors (Shiranthi R's sibling) raises their salaries annually....in which company does salaries are raised when company records losses for 8 consecutive years? Only in SL i guess!
If loss in SLn air is not enough, they start another loss venture Mihin air. Mihin air runs at loss and to make it looks good they transfer Mihin air losses to SLn air which kills the SLn air.

Are these things normal?

Mattala is a tragic failure and so is hambanthota. It is not me who said Hamba is a failure but Gota himself. Not even considering economic principles even according to common sense, mattala is a stupid loss making venture.

SL's ports are dependant on traffic from india. Had MR made developments in Colombo without hambanthota that would have been better. Instead we direct traffic in COlombo to Hamba to make Hamba occupied. Due to that SL spend more money for mere transportation of vehicles fom Hambanthota to Colombo. See the economic sense of this gover. MR thought just by building Hamba traffic will come looking for Hamba. what sort of foresight is that?
And about Colombo port, sethu samudram will affect it. What step has this stupid gover ever taken in that regard? As i always say SLG has no sense on strategic build up.
SL does not need two international air ports at the moment and even for 20 years in the future. Our important forestry and wild life was destroyed for MR's ego boosting exercise.

The only thing SLG and its stooges can say is mattala and hamba can be useful in the future. How? what are they going to do to make it happen?

Under Hedging deal signed by stupid petroleum minister and idiot asantha de mel we lost billions. A massive amount!
What did they do to Asantha de Mel?
He was given more portfolios....and with salary raises!
The poor people in this country paid billions for the mistake of an idiot of a political family.
Is this finished? No...Go and check they are doing it again!
How can a country survive let alone develop with these things?

Look at Ceypetco. IOC doubled their profit in 2013 in SL and Ceypetco running at losses...why? Arent this poor man's money?
Look at railway, losses!
Look at the enrgy crisis this country is facing..nearly in few decades it will impact us. It was the short sighted decisions to bring coal power plants to combat this crisis. But mismanagement made the issue worse. These matters are not solved by some politicians gover should have consulted people trained in that area and do the job. It is the lack of expertise and lack of planning that has created this situation.

Massive wastages in nelum pokuna and nekum kuluna. One could have expected at least after nelum pokuna, these fellows will use their head and not waste money. But what they did? Repeatition with nelum kuluna!

And what is that other useless but huge wastage (i cant remember the name) the annual exhibition thing? It spends huge amount of money but no gain?
As i always ask you show me a single factory this gover started! show me a single industry!

And the wastage in maintaining a huge cabinet! Look at what that

These are NOT normal things under any government.

SImply except war, MR has failed in everything.

This is just the economic part and i can say more.

The nonis affair, how kshenuka gave the order to renovate SL embassy to a company linked to LTTE are things how gover is destroying the rest. I can tell more..but this is not the platform.

Saying this is normal is an insult to people in SL and to your brain as well (if you have one)

The issue of Noroccholai does not lie with the government. It is rest under the electrical engineer's mafia. Well Mattala is seems to be a failure but AFAIK it a strategic construction looking forward to the future. It will develop with the harbor.

Apart from that the other allegations are just common for every government. Nothing new.

So have we been doing good for the post independance period? Dont you think it is high time we change track? DO you want SL to remain under developed forever?

The problem is not the corruption of MR and his robbery. MR is destroying economy. And of course our post war chances with his stupid policies.

 

[Azizam]

That is because the people in SL do not have political awareness or any awareness at all. So they will BEAR all the hardships thrown at them because they like the leader.
In a proper democracy gover should change every two terms. In SL this is not happening. JR did many cruel and anti democratic acts but the people in SL could not oust him. If not LTTE kill Premadasa, i am hundered percent sure he would have held power for 12 years.
The last time the executive president CBK was ousted, because she could not contest constitutionally and she did not enjoy support from other politicians in her party (MR) to do constitutional changes. Then CJ Sarath N Silva supported MR.

The biggest problem is our people lack political awareness and lack political activism. The media in this country does not do a proper job in safeguarding democratic means or even revealing the dangers SL face right now. SL media is extremely backward when compared with media in India and Pakistan.
We take pride in being the most literate country in the south asia, but among the literate ppl SL would rank low when it comes to political, technological or even economic awareness. Ind, Pak and BD are ahead of us in that regard. SL needs to get out of island mentality.

I think on average people in Sri Lanka don't have an analytical mind. They perceive things based on what was taught to them by their parents/community or what they see in popular media and often they look at things with a "black and white" perspective. This includes those who support MR and those who are against him. I for one never had any political affiliations but I've been called a MR supporter just because I was against Fonseka. I know many educated Sri Lanka who voted Fonseka because they saw MR as an authoritarian leader. It's the same educated class that is criticising every single thing done by MR which is extremely silly. For example, I see many people who mock highway projects. These type of people in my opinion won't succeed in creating a powerful opposition as they themselves are a group of clowns. Pro MR population on the other hand worships him as a group of sheep and as you said they are ready bear hardships while not criticising him for a second. As for them, I think their attitude stems from the traditional culture where it is considered taboo to criticize whoever above you, be it parents,teachers, leader etc. despite their actions.

It's true that Sri Lanka is an ultra-backward country even technologically. As you said, the country should aim to be futuristic instead of being stuck with some false sense of pride over the nation's history. Even today, most families consider having an internet connection as inviting devil whereas in developed countries, it is not optional but necessary to have an internet connection. There's only little to no effort by authorities or even people themselves to integrate technology into people's day-to-day lives. Education system is ultra primitive. Million things could be done in Sri Lanka at the moment instead of fighting over some silly issues like religion or ethnicity but unfortunately we see nothing.

 

[livingdead]

Its sad that functioning multiparty vibrant democracies have less economic growth than those ruled by strong men/women with centralized power/decision making. I wish it was other way around.

 

[Saradiel]

I think on average people in Sri Lanka don't have an analytical mind. They perceive things based on what was taught to them by their parents/community or what they see in popular media and often they look at things with a "black and white" perspective. This includes those who support MR and those who are against him. I for one never had any political affiliations but I've been called a MR supporter just because I was against Fonseka. I know many educated Sri Lanka who voted Fonseka because they saw MR as an authoritarian leader. It's the same educated class that is criticising every single thing done by MR which is extremely silly. For example, I see many people who mock highway projects. These type of people in my opinion won't succeed in creating a powerful opposition as they themselves are a group of clowns. Pro MR population on the other hand worships him as a group of sheep and as you said they are ready bear hardships while not criticising him for a second. As for them, I think their attitude stems from the traditional culture where it is considered taboo to criticize whoever above you, be it parents,teachers, leader etc. despite their actions.

It's true that Sri Lanka is an ultra-backward country even technologically. As you said, the country should aim to be futuristic instead of being stuck with some false sense of pride over the nation's history. Even today, most families consider having an internet connection as inviting devil whereas in developed countries, it is not optional but necessary to have an internet connection. There's only little to no effort by authorities or even people themselves to integrate technology into people's day-to-day lives. Education system is ultra primitive. Million things could be done in Sri Lanka at the moment instead of fighting over some silly issues like religion or ethnicity but unfortunately we see nothing.

yep..
I think what SL needs most is a citizen movement where we begin to educate our ppl. Our people do not have any idea on how our economy is run and no idea on the policies of our government. Hence they do not understand the stupidities and dangerous things teh ruling fellows do.
I agree on with you when u say "As for them, I think their attitude stems from the traditional culture where it is considered taboo to criticize whoever above you, be it parents,teachers, leader etc. despite their actions."
Once i went to a traditional medicine practitioner in a remote area in Kaluthara. everyone had numbers and were waiting for their turn. Suddenly a judge came with police security. everyone there was like 'Let him go, let him go!'. They did not understand that even if he is a judge he should wait in the queue. All the patients including the veda mahattaya was scared of the authority of judge..This is how our society operates. When their rights are denied they dont have the back bone to question that. They fear authority.

Another thing most of ppl who understand the situation are extremely selfish. Our SL fellows are selfish. They will support any corrupt politician and their corruption if the said politician has done a small help for them. So it creates an environment where politicians and their corruption is not questioned.

We cant expect ppl in villages to stand against corruption and wastage, but ppl who understand things with ability to read and understand english do not do their duty. For example take subramanium swamy in india. He single handedly uncover two mega corruption deals in TN, went to court and got verdicts in favor of the ppl. we lack such ppl. Even if such ppl emerge our society will not support him and politicians will kill them.

I do not deny this gover has done good. But the bad decisions of this gove has always overshadows the good. Just think how can SL sustain when all govers corps are running at losses, we have taken loans at massive rates and invested them in projects where yield is nil? The problem is how can we sustain? SL is not a simply poor country , our separatist issue still persists. And they are acting strategically..

what is your opinion on Chris Nonis affair and Thamara K's allgation regarding Kshenuka S. ?

Did u see the news that S;pore airport has been named the best for 18 (not sure) consecutive years. Imagine had SLG invested money on Katunayaka instead of Mattala, we could have bring Katunayaka on par with or even better than SG. Had SL reached such a rank imagine the brand value SL can build up.

 

[NGV-H]

I agree with the article. South Korea and Singapore were built by a strong leader. Yes, the men may have been corrupt. Yes, they had limited freedom. But what they needed wasn't a weak benign democratic leader. There is time for that later when the hard work is done.

The time for that is when there is a country worth being free inside.
What use is freedom without quality of life?

Working forever in poverty, to me, is a different kind of lack of freedom.

Those shackles of subsistence need to be broken by wealth, before you can enjoy the freedom and liberty we see in the first world.

 

[Gibbs]

@NGV-H .. Sorry i missed to tag you in the thread mate

One thing we can agree on is the unprecedented corruption, nepotism and politicization of every sphere of the society under this regime.. No govt have have averse to this but it had not been this bad ever

@Saradiel .. Very credible points.. Many of them actually.. I will respond in time machun

@Azizam and @HeinzG .. You guys still have doubts on who is behind the BBS ?? The cat is out of the bag.. But most of us already knew they were under direct orders of Gota

As the government represents people from all social and ethical backgrounds, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the ‘genuine’ common candidate of the nation, General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organization Ven. Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero said.
The observation was made during a press conference held in Colombo, this morning.
While refusing that he would become the common candidate for the upcoming Presidential election, Gnanasara Thero said “By any mean, it is not our duty to contest for the elections. Even in the history, it was monks who guided their successors to the throne. Likewise, we do the same,”
The BBS will decide on who to support in the forthcoming elections, once we get to know the opposition candidate. “It is confirmed that President Rajapaksa to contest from the ruling party. But the others, they just play hide and seek games. The time has come people to know who the common candidate is,” Thero added.
Gnanasara Thero went on saying some groups try to indicate that the Government lost Muslims’ votes in the Uva Provincial Council elections owing to activities of the BBS. “There is no other country that treats the Muslims so good like in Sri Lanka. If so, I ask the Muslims what reasons led not to vote for the government,”
He pointed out that even top governmental bodies including Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce are led by Muslim politicians. “This would never happen in other countries. Sri Lanka is the country in which the Muslims are treated well,” said Gnanasara Thero.
He also said that the government should consider the constellational amendments introduced by the Jathika Hela Urumaya.

 

[NGV-H]

yep..
I think what SL needs most is a citizen movement where we begin to educate our ppl. Our people do not have any idea on how our economy is run and no idea on the policies of our government. Hence they do not understand the stupidities and dangerous things teh ruling fellows do.
I agree on with you when u say "As for them, I think their attitude stems from the traditional culture where it is considered taboo to criticize whoever above you, be it parents,teachers, leader etc. despite their actions."
Once i went to a traditional medicine practitioner in a remote area in Kaluthara. everyone had numbers and were waiting for their turn. Suddenly a judge came with police security. everyone there was like 'Let him go, let him go!'. They did not understand that even if he is a judge he should wait in the queue. All the patients including the veda mahattaya was scared of the authority of judge..This is how our society operates. When their rights are denied they dont have the back bone to question that. They fear authority.

Another thing most of ppl who understand the situation are extremely selfish. Our SL fellows are selfish. They will support any corrupt politician and their corruption if the said politician has done a small help for them. So it creates an environment where politicians and their corruption is not questioned.

We cant expect ppl in villages to stand against corruption and wastage, but ppl who understand things with ability to read and understand english do not do their duty. For example take subramanium swamy in india. He single handedly uncover two mega corruption deals in TN, went to court and got verdicts in favor of the ppl. we lack such ppl. Even if such ppl emerge our society will not support him and politicians will kill them.

I do not deny this gover has done good. But the bad decisions of this gove has always overshadows the good. Just think how can SL sustain when all govers corps are running at losses, we have taken loans at massive rates and invested them in projects where yield is nil? The problem is how can we sustain? SL is not a simply poor country , our separatist issue still persists. And they are acting strategically..

what is your opinion on Chris Nonis affair and Thamara K's allgation regarding Kshenuka S. ?

Did u see the news that S;pore airport has been named the best for 18 (not sure) consecutive years. Imagine had SLG invested money on Katunayaka instead of Mattala, we could have bring Katunayaka on par with or even better than SG. Had SL reached such a rank imagine the brand value SL can build up.

I agree with you, this would be the best way.
But unfortunately this is not an option we have at the moment. There's no movement like this, no one we can vote for who is completely like this.

I just think MR is the best option we have. We won't get all the benefits from a citizens movement, but historically we know wealth can bring these things.

As countries grow richer per capita they become more liberalised as citizens start demanding more and more rights. This is because they don't have to spend all their time working in the fields to barely feed their family. They have free time to devote to culture and movements. There are many examples of this.

I think achieving this through wealth generated by a development-oriented regime is the *most possible and easily doable* path to a liberal society.

 

[HeinzG]

What is this electrical engineer mafia? Is a gover project where gover spent billions under massive rates can be subject to electrical engineer's mafia? what was the gover doing? and is it only one ? but two!

This is a huge topic to discuss on but I will summarize it as the monopoly created and sustained by the electrical engineers of CECB on electricity generation to distribution. Gov. cannot interfere due to the threat of power failures through out the country by the mafia. This mafia also runs the most of the diesel power plants which provides electricity to the national grid.

Noroccholai received the maximum attention of the mafia due to the fact this plant would have rendered the diesel power plants redundant. The same fate is shared by the Kukuleganga power plant.

And Sri Lankan air is running at losses..is the gover learning any lessons from that? What changes did MR did to make the situation better? appointing that stooge Nishantha Ranathunga who dragged SLC to an abysimal poverty by his poor decisions.

SLn air runs at losses every year and its directors (Shiranthi R's sibling) raises their salaries annually....in which company does salaries are raised when company records losses for 8 consecutive years? Only in SL i guess!
If loss in SLn air is not enough, they start another loss venture Mihin air. Mihin air runs at loss and to make it looks good they transfer Mihin air losses to SLn air which kills the SLn air.

Are these things normal?

Mattala is a tragic failure and so is hambanthota. It is not me who said Hamba is a failure but Gota himself. Not even considering economic principles even according to common sense, mattala is a stupid loss making venture.

SL's ports are dependant on traffic from india. Had MR made developments in Colombo without hambanthota that would have been better. Instead we direct traffic in COlombo to Hamba to make Hamba occupied. Due to that SL spend more money for mere transportation of vehicles fom Hambanthota to Colombo. See the economic sense of this gover. MR thought just by building Hamba traffic will come looking for Hamba. what sort of foresight is that?
And about Colombo port, sethu samudram will affect it. What step has this stupid gover ever taken in that regard? As i always say SLG has no sense on strategic build up.
SL does not need two international air ports at the moment and even for 20 years in the future. Our important forestry and wild life was destroyed for MR's ego boosting exercise.

These are NOT normal things under any government.
Under Hedging deal signed by stupid petroleum minister and idiot asantha de mel we lost billions. A massive amount!
What did they do to Asantha de Mel?
He was given more portfolios....and with salary raises!
The poor people in this country paid billions for the mistake of an idiot of a political family.
Is this finished? No...Go and check they are doing it again!
How can a country survive let alone develop with these things?

Look at Ceypetco. IOC doubled their profit in 2013 in SL and Ceypetco running at losses...why? Arent this poor man's money?
Look at railway, losses!
Look at the enrgy crisis this country is facing..nearly in few decades it will impact us. It was the short sighted decisions to bring coal power plants to combat this crisis. But mismanagement made the issue worse. These matters are not solved by some politicians gover should have consulted people trained in that area and do the job. It is the lack of expertise and lack of planning that has created this situation.

Massive wastages in nelum pokuna and nekum kuluna. One could have expected at least after nelum pokuna, these fellows will use their head and not waste money. But what they did? Repeatition with nelum kuluna!

And what is that other useless but huge wastage (i cant remember the name) the annual exhibition thing? It spends huge amount of money but no gain?

And the wastage in maintaining a huge cabinet! Look at what that

Yes there are money wastages. It is natural to every government. But the issue is the amount of the wastage. I think that is the major flop of this government. Other than that MR government is far better than any other government we had. More over they have a actual vision to bring this country to some where. Do any of the other parties have such vision to begin with?

The only thing SLG and its stooges can say is mattala and hamba can be useful in the future. How? what are they going to do to make it happen?

When H'tota is fully operational and when ships comes to the port air port and industry will develop with it. But as always it is a gamble. We have to wait and see. (P.S. H'tota port was a 50 year or so old idea. Do you think it is just a waste of money?)

As i always ask you show me a single factory this gover started! show me a single industry!

Before building factory we need to create infrastructure that is why highways/expressways, ports and harbors are made. With these infrastructures factories won't survive for long.

SImply except war, MR has failed in everything.

That is because MR do not have direct control over the economic bodies just as he had control over the army. Giving order to the army and giving order to an government or private institution is just different.

So have we been doing good for the post independance period? Dont you think it is high time we change track? DO you want SL to remain under developed forever?

The problem is not the corruption of MR and his robbery. MR is destroying economy. And of course our post war chances with his stupid policies.

How can we change the track an to which direction? How do you propose to eliminate the corruption and pawul palanaya? Elaborate more.

 

[Azizam]

yep..
I think what SL needs most is a citizen movement where we begin to educate our ppl. Our people do not have any idea on how our economy is run and no idea on the policies of our government. Hence they do not understand the stupidities and dangerous things teh ruling fellows do.
I agree on with you when u say "As for them, I think their attitude stems from the traditional culture where it is considered taboo to criticize whoever above you, be it parents,teachers, leader etc. despite their actions."
Once i went to a traditional medicine practitioner in a remote area in Kaluthara. everyone had numbers and were waiting for their turn. Suddenly a judge came with police security. everyone there was like 'Let him go, let him go!'. They did not understand that even if he is a judge he should wait in the queue. All the patients including the veda mahattaya was scared of the authority of judge..This is how our society operates. When their rights are denied they dont have the back bone to question that. They fear authority.

Another thing most of ppl who understand the situation are extremely selfish. Our SL fellows are selfish. They will support any corrupt politician and their corruption if the said politician has done a small help for them. So it creates an environment where politicians and their corruption is not questioned.

We cant expect ppl in villages to stand against corruption and wastage, but ppl who understand things with ability to read and understand english do not do their duty. For example take subramanium swamy in india. He single handedly uncover two mega corruption deals in TN, went to court and got verdicts in favor of the ppl. we lack such ppl. Even if such ppl emerge our society will not support him and politicians will kill them.

I do not deny this gover has done good. But the bad decisions of this gove has always overshadows the good. Just think how can SL sustain when all govers corps are running at losses, we have taken loans at massive rates and invested them in projects where yield is nil? The problem is how can we sustain? SL is not a simply poor country , our separatist issue still persists. And they are acting strategically..

what is your opinion on Chris Nonis affair and Thamara K's allgation regarding Kshenuka S. ?

Did u see the news that S;pore airport has been named the best for 18 (not sure) consecutive years. Imagine had SLG invested money on Katunayaka instead of Mattala, we could have bring Katunayaka on par with or even better than SG. Had SL reached such a rank imagine the brand value SL can build up.

Chris Nonis was actually one of the few remaining competent ambassadors so what happened to him was terrible.

Actually those type of people who protest against government are very incompetent. All they do is making conspiracy theories and making apocalyptic remarks while ignoring the obvious but again they themselves are benefited by the corruption. For example how many students of prominent state schools do you think who live within 1 mile from the relevant school? The problem is not MR or the party but the system itself. The system breeds corruption and it has made a situation in the country where it is impossible to exist in the middle class without taking advantage of the corruption. I think blaming MR purely is very wrong. Take a look at state schools. Nowadays every headteacher takes bribes to admit students into the school based on the prominence of the school. Teachers are ultra corrupted and they receive a level of respect that they don't deserve and they exploit it for their own benefits. I was in Sri Lanka for about 15 years and has been in a Sri Lankan school for 10 years so I notice the difference between a state school in Sri Lanka and in UK. I think unless you remove these elements from the soceity itself, these problems will remain regardless of what ruler or government comes. I think we should rather target the system.

 

[Saradiel]

I agree with the article. South Korea and Singapore were built by a strong leader. Yes, the men may have been corrupt. Yes, they had limited freedom. But what they needed wasn't a weak benign democratic leader. There is time for that later when the hard work is done.

The time for that is when there is a country worth being free inside.
What use is freedom without quality of life?

Working forever in poverty, to me, is a different kind of lack of freedom.

Those shackles of subsistence need to be broken by wealth, before you can enjoy the freedom and liberty we see in the first world.

I know many SLns want to practice a singapore model in SL. It has been failure since JR's time....

machan freedom is also a part of quality of life..I wont debate with u on that.

what you are saying is you have no problem with absolute power within a single person as long as he delivers economic prosperity...
The problem is machan MR does not deliver economic prosperity. His economics is very poor. Bad economic managemnt.

Give me a single example for good economic managemet by this government and specially rajapakse? I will give you 10 examples for bad economic management.
And i repeat MR is no Lee Kuan Yew...

This is ignoring the other problems SL face

 

[Saradiel]

I agree with you, this would be the best way.
But unfortunately this is not an option we have at the moment. There's no movement like this, no one we can vote for who is completely like this.

I just think MR is the best option we have. We won't get all the benefits from a citizens movement, but historically we know wealth can bring these things.

As countries grow richer per capita they become more liberalised as citizens start demanding more and more rights. This is because they don't have to spend all their time working in the fields to barely feed their family. They have free time to devote to culture and movements. There are many examples of this.

I think achieving this through wealth generated by a development-oriented regime is the *most possible and easily doable* path to a liberal society.

Again machan there is no wealth generation as you say. SL's main income is foreign remittances. That is our people specially young generation migrate to other countries and send the money back. Due to lack of industry and industry expansion the skilled labour and expertise migrate. They wont return to this country.

MR has damaged this country's economy in an unimaginable way. Starting infrastructure projects is not development.
SL's economic policies need radical changes. In an ideal situation we need to get rid of this government.

In SL's history 60s is termed as a relatively prosperous time, but what hit after 60s? 71, war and 88-89. The issues still persist. They are not answered by MR rather worsened by his actions.

Tell me a single industry MR has started in SL. He has ruled this country for 10 years now, 5 post war, a luxury no leader after sirimavo had. What new industry has MR started.
බලන්න ඉන්දියාවට ආයෝජන එන හැටි.

So machan my single question is what has MR done for wealth generation to create a new solid industry?

 

[Saradiel]

This is a huge topic to discuss on but I will summarize it as the monopoly created and sustained by the electrical engineers of CECB on electricity generation to distribution. Gov. cannot interfere due to the threat of power failures through out the country by the mafia. This mafia also runs the most of the diesel power plants which provides electricity to the national grid.

Government is the highest authority in this country and if such a mafia exists they have the power to act against them. There is no authority that yield so much power within SL except government. Gover has every right and authority to take action.

If they threaten with power failures there is an electrical engineering unit in armed forces which gover can use. I remember during the period of strikes of CECB in 90s CBK threatened to use electrical engineers in forces if not the workers start work and they finally backed down and start working.


Saying power plants are not working because of some electrical engineers is hard to believe. Please provide a source.

Is it because of the mafia that machinery in the two power plants are broken? Is that why gover sought Chinese assistance to fix the machines and now talks are underway to sell the power plant to Chinese company?


The point is for SL to develop we have to develop our manufacturing sector. The reason it is not developing is power is high price in SL. Apart from actual cost for power generation (which is naturally high), corruption, price of power is high which makes it difficult for manufacturing firms to operate in SL. When SLn firms are struggling to face the high price for power how can we expect foreign industries to invest in SL.


SL needs a proper energy management plant, but most of these are influenced by present gover’s stupid policies with other ambitions.

Noroccholai received the maximum attention of the mafia due to the fact this plant would have rendered the diesel power plants redundant. The same fate is shared by the Kukuleganga power plant.

I don’t think norochcholai will make Diesel power plant redundant. Please provide a source for what you say.


The matter here is this so called power plants do not work most of the time (the only ones done during MR’s time). And still it has not answered the energy problem in SL and energy is still high price. How can we develop an industrial base with this? Has this government invested enough in renewable energy production? Due to deforestation we are not yielding the maximum from our hydro power plants.


We need a thorough plan to utilize, our diesel, hydro in a good combination. There are problems in coal usage in SL. These things need to be done in a good, thought out energy plan. It is the lack of such a move by this government I am pointing at.


Ultimately this gover built two power plants and both are running with problems and price of energy is getting higher. And why does gover going ahead with Sampur if that is not lucrative according to JHU.

Yes there are money wastages. It is natural to every government. But the issue is the amount of the wastage. I think that is the major flop of this government. Other than that MR government is far better than any other government we had. More over they have a actual vision to bring this country to some where. Do any of the other parties have such vision to begin with?

At least now you accept MR does massive amount of wastages. Good on that! May be because JHU is starting to talk about it.


How is MR far better than any other government we had? (tell me in these sectors economy, national question, foreign relations, internal stability, law and order)?

What is their vision for this country? Answer these.


Past month we had two important events that relates to SL.


ඉන්දියාව initiated සේතු සමුද්‍රම්, what did your visionary leader do? We can lose a strategic benefit in our hands what did he or this gover do? Answer!


EU lift LTTE ban, the court was hearing it since 2010 what did your visionary leader do?

We were defeated in 3 resolutions at UN and SL is under massive anti SL propaganda.. what did your leader do?

When H'tota is fully operational and when ships comes to the port air port and industry will develop with it. But as always it is a gamble. We have to wait and see. (P.S. H'tota port was a 50 year or so old idea. Do you think it is just a waste of money?)

Yes hamba is a 50 years old idea, do you understand why it was not put into action? Because many analysers and feasibility studies said NO to it. MR did it considering pure electoral agenda and ego boosting.
when ships come industry will develop is the idiot's argument that many in SL unfortunately do but real world does n't work like that.

Ships are not waiting until Hambanthota is finished. It is decades ago that owning a port itself was revenue generation. Now ships go where they have businesses not only where they can refill their oil tanks. SL doesn’t export much. And for the amount of shipping we do Colombo itself is enough. Most of our shipping industry depends on ships from india and most are imports for SL. Other than that ships do not come to SL simply because there is no use in it. There is nothing to load from SL, no substantial export, that is why Hamba is idle. Without a strong manufacturing base Hamba is useless. And this gover do not do anything to initiate a required industrialization of SL and they don’t have expertise for that. It is the same reason Mattala too is useless.


It is not a gamble men. These decisions should have been taken after careful consideration and looking at its revenue generation. You don’t gamble with public money that too are billions of rupees we took for extremely high rates.


You are waiting until Hamba is finished and looking for ships when your visionary leader has not done anything to prevent the damages done by සේතු සමුද්‍රම් which can make us loose whatever we already have.

Before building factory we need to create infrastructure that is why highways/expressways, ports and harbors are made. With these infrastructures factories won't survive for long.

Yes. We need highways/ expressways. That is why I said that is the only good.

We have a port at Colombo and an airport in Colombo. For the current capacity and even if it doubles the requirement still these can be used. You don’t build a port and an airport and stay with open mouth until traffic come. For factories to come up, we need to make cost of production a lot less. To do that we need strategies and plans which this gover hasn’t. We need internal stability which MR has destroyed by allowing BBS.


Investors do not come to places where thug rule exists and there should be rule of law. We don’t have that in SL. Even Jayalalitha in TN had better rule of law. There should be a proper judiciary and investors should be able to be sure their companies won’t be subject to takeovers by this govers. Looking at what MR did with emirates and sugar palnts how can any investors be sure.


The other thing that is acting as a drawback in SL for investors is the amount of commissions asked by gover ministers. So they naturally reject SL.

That is because MR do not have direct control over the economic bodies just as he had control over the army. Giving order to the army and giving order to an government or private institution is just different.

So you accept that MR has been a failure except war? That is why you are giving excuses for that. War too was not under MR that is why it was a success. GR and SF in military field and BR in diplomatic front did the job, MR was the least useful. Do you find the president governing every institution in all countries that has achieved economic growth?

MR has no business sense together with almost everyone in this government. That is why he allows BBS to run havoc, he has incompetent men like his brother in law, nishantha and nishantha ranathunga at the top levels of govern institutions, that is why he hosted a commonwealth which was a PR disaster for SL and an ideal propaganda movement for LTTE lobbies (at our expense). That is why he allows rathupaswala like incidents when Pillay was about to come.

The ultimate point is MR is too stupid for the job.

He is stupider not to realize that when his cronies destroy the country’s economy he is getting into more trouble.

How can we change the track an to which direction? How do you propose to eliminate the corruption and pawul palanaya? Elaborate more.

Change the government.

If you cannot do that and want MR atleast stop when he does stupidities. That is the least expected from you.

Stand up and stop when gover does wastages, incidents like chris nonis affair and when Sajin Vaas and kshenuka destroy our foreign affairs and let the LTTE to win over us.


In the coming elections, TNA will probably go for a boycott, because they want MR in power. Because MR’s regime has been extremely advantageous to them inside the island and internationally.

@NGV-H, @Azizam

Give me single example for new industry started by MR or UPFA gover, good economic management by MR and (this is a challenge )

Past month we had two important events that relates to SL.


ඉන්දියාව initiated සේතු සමුද්‍රම්, what did MR do? We can lose a strategic benefit in our hands what did he or this gover do? Answer!


EU lift LTTE ban, the court was hearing it since 2010 what did MR do?

 

[Saradiel]

Chris Nonis was actually one of the few remaining competent ambassadors so what happened to him was terrible.


Actually those type of people who protest against government are very incompetent. All they do is making conspiracy theories and making apocalyptic remarks while ignoring the obvious but again they themselves are benefited by the corruption. For example how many students of prominent state schools do you think who live within 1 mile from the relevant school? The problem is not MR or the party but the system itself. The system breeds corruption and it has made a situation in the country where it is impossible to exist in the middle class without taking advantage of the corruption. I think blaming MR purely is very wrong. Take a look at state schools. Nowadays every headteacher takes bribes to admit students into the school based on the prominence of the school. Teachers are ultra corrupted and they receive a level of respect that they don't deserve and they exploit it for their own benefits. I was in Sri Lanka for about 15 years and has been in a Sri Lankan school for 10 years so I notice the difference between a state school in Sri Lanka and in UK. I think unless you remove these elements from the soceity itself, these problems will remain regardless of what ruler or government comes. I think we should rather target the system.

Of course no doubt we need to change the system. Also nobody is pointing at MR for corruption by teachers or manipulations done by parents of school students. People are pointing at MR for MR and his corruption not of anyone elses. So talking about what school teachers do is simply trying to justify corruptions that amount to millions...You say the system needs to be changed but how can you change the system when the head of the system indulge in corruption openly? Dont you see the irony of that? You point at system (rightly) but disagree with the criticism directed at the head of system when he indulge in corruption!



And I told you two points which you did not respond.

1. You were rightly angered when Iran executed a woman for killing her rapist because you have read things and you have a bad image on iran’s legal apparatus. That is the information you and I get in western media. Do you realize western media portrays SL in a worse fashion? SO my question is what has MR done to rectify the situation? Is nt MR actually making the anti SL propaganda look real?

2. About chris nonis, yes what happened to him was terrible no doubt of that. My point was how MR and this government acted on that? How do you see that?

SL has been losing every resolution in UN since 2012, GR has been chest thumping we wont have any intl investigation but we have one now, EU lifted LTTE ban….so don’t you see there is something fundamentally wrong on what this govern does?

And about criticism.

I don’t know which people you are pointing as incompetent criticizers of MR. Please elaborate on that.

I know there are people who criticize MR because they hate him. At the same time there are people who criticize MR for real reasons. That is because people see the danger this country is facing and how MR is destroying it. They are pointing at. Are you saying we need to ignore the second type of critics as well?