Sri Lanka: Pres. Rajapaksa to resign after palace stormed
27 Jul 2022, 6:28 am
BBC News: Gotabaya Rajapaksa expected to return to country, official says
Singapore says the ousted president did not ask for political asylum when he arrived.
Mr Rajapaksa had been initially granted a 14-day visa for his stay in Singapore. But that has now been extended another 14 days, Singapore local media reported on Wednesday.
]
Wait, so is he returned to Sri Lanka or hiding out in Singapore?
He's been in Singapore for a couple of weeks or so, and will apparently be staying there a couple of weeks more.
If the MP quoted in the report is correct, Rajapaksa will probably return to Sri Lanka after that. What kind of reception he could get from Sri Lankans is anyone's guess.
_________________
It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air –
There's the rub, the task.
– Virgil, The Aeneid (Book VI)
11 Aug 2022, 10:52 pm
More updates ...
1. Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has now moved to Thailand on a temporary visit. Apparently the new president has advised Rajapaksa not to return to Sri Lanka just yet:
(Al Jazeera) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/1 ... n-thailand
2. Meanwhile current president Ramil Wickremesinghe has been cracking down on protestors and has extended the country's state of emergency for another month:
(The Guardian:) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... st-leaders
_________________
It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air –
There's the rub, the task.
– Virgil, The Aeneid (Book VI)
11 Aug 2022, 11:30 pm
1. Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has now moved to Thailand on a temporary visit. Apparently the new president has advised Rajapaksa not to return to Sri Lanka just yet:
(Al Jazeera) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/1 ... n-thailand
I suspect Gotabaya wan't to keep his head and not return to Sri Lanka just yet.
BTW are are you sinhalese?
12 Aug 2022, 2:17 am
^ Me? No, I'm Māori. I just thought the topic deserved at least some discussion on this forum, even if it is quite US-centric here a lot of the time.
It does make me wonder how many other countries will end up in a similar predicament, since the world seems to be heading towards an economic slowdown.
_________________
It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air –
There's the rub, the task.
– Virgil, The Aeneid (Book VI)
12 Aug 2022, 5:44 am
It does make me wonder how many other countries will end up in a similar predicament, since the world seems to be heading towards an economic slowdown.
Sorry it's just that Muruku is a sinhalese snack which sounded like your name
02 Sep 2022, 5:26 am
Here comes fun ...
Bloomberg.com: Ex-President Rajapaksa Set to Return to Sri Lanka on Friday
His return signals new President Ranil Wickremesinghe is confident of maintaining order after cracking down on the protest movement that has blamed Rajapaksa for policy missteps that set off Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence.
The former leader is expected to stay in a house provided by the government in Colombo, the people said, asking not to be named because the information isn’t public yet. Local media, including the Sinhalese-language newspaper Mawbima, first reported on his expected return on Friday.
Officials from Wickremesinghe’s office declined to comment.
Rajapaksa, who was seen as a strongman leader, fled to Singapore in July via Maldives shortly after angry demonstrators stormed his official residence in Colombo. It was the culmination of months long protests as Sri Lanka buckled under dwindling foreign exchange reserves, crippling shortages of essential items and Asia’s fastest inflation.
He formally resigned as president on July 14 after arriving at Singapore and then moved to Thailand in August. Sri Lankan media had been speculating for weeks on his intended return and government officials have said in the past that Rajapaksa wanted to come back and serve the country while being accorded the security and perks due to a former president.
“Gotabaya’s imminent return shows that the presidency and Rajapaksas are confident the ground situation has changed,” said Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo-based Center For Policy Alternatives.
“But protesters were on the ground calling primarily for the resignation of Gotabaya, which was achieved, but also for a system change. So while there may not be the scale of protest, the demands for change continue, and that includes for accountability,” she added.
Wickremesinghe, elected as the new president by the country’s parliament in July, is seen as a Rajapaksa ally. He won the election with the support of lawmakers from Rajapaksa’s party and a little over a month later these politicians requested Wickremesinghe to ensure the safe return of their former leader in a meeting on Aug. 18, local media reported.
“As a citizen of Sri Lanka, Gotabaya has all the right to come back,” Sagara Kariyawasam, general secretary of Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, said at a briefing on Friday. “As a party we respect that and we stand for his right to return to Sri Lanka.”
Since taking office, Wickremesinghe has focused on securing a loan from the International Monetary Fund to shore up the country’s finances. On Thursday, Sri Lanka reached a staff-level agreement with the multilateral lender for a $2.9 billion loan.
The loan disbursement is subject to creditors approving a debt restructuring strategy. Ahead of the IMF pact, Sri Lanka raised value-added tax and unveiled plans to boost revenue, reduce debt-to-GDP ratio and cool inflation that’s accelerated above 60%.
_________________
It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air –
There's the rub, the task.
– Virgil, The Aeneid (Book VI)
03 Sep 2022, 6:48 am
Perhaps Rajapaksa thinks his successor can prevent further protests. The new government managed to disperse the previous protests and has cracked down on their leaders. We'll see what happens now that Rajapaksa has arrived back in Sri Lanka.
Reuters: Sri Lanka's ousted President Rajapaksa gets govt residence, security on return - officials
So far there's no indication that any more large-scale protests are planned.
_________________
It is easy to go down into Hell;
Night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide;
But to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air –
There's the rub, the task.
– Virgil, The Aeneid (Book VI)
03 Sep 2022, 9:04 pm
I've been watching the Sri Lankan English language social media for some years and there are some intriguing responses to both the pre-civil war politics, civil war and the post-civil war society in Sri Lanka.
It would be fair to say that Sri Lanka was in the driver's seat following independence and this opportunity for economic development was badly squandered when local Sinhalese politicians attempted to use communal differences (largely simmering beneath the surface) and the apparent success of the Tamil community as a way of drawing support for their leadership. This formula also works in other countries where minorities are blamed for social unrest.
The civil war in Sri Lanka was a direct result of horrible discrimination perpetrated by the Sinhalese community and the eventual defeat of Tamil separatists propped up the Rajapakse family as the dominant political force from 2009. All of this is well known.
What interests me is that on social media the Rajapakse family were heralded by the Sinhalese as heroes and patriots in 2009 (despite allegations of war crimes). In the coming years their overt corruption and stealing from the SInhalese people was tolerated and on social media when these issues were raised the Sinhalese expatriate community (who themselves funded the genocide of the Tamil people),
When the country started having economic problems and red flags were set off, the Sinahlese community bizzarely blamed the now long dead Tamil separatist movement the LTTE for having been the reason the Rajapakse family were put into leadership. In a popular conspiracy ex-members of the LTTE allegedly made a pact with the Rajapakse family to put them in control of the country,
In reality the Sinhalese people themselves put the Rajapakse family (who were notoriously anti-Tamil) into power, Now they have allowed their country to completely collapse I hope the Sinhalese people can look at themselves in the mirror and admit to themselves that getting intoxicated in chauvinistic communal politics against Tamils, muslims and christians has taught them a lesson in karma. No doubt Buddha would be severely disappointed with both Sri Lanka and Burma in allowing themselves to not follow the pillars of Buddhism and instead allow their deep passions around ethnonationalism to overtake their compassion as buddhists.
As for Rajapakse, I suspect karma is also coming for him as well.
