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Message: <blockquote data-quote="70kg" data-source="post: 20865632" data-attributes="member: 560241">Unfortunately some of these 'civil society leaders', not one of those who can muster over 100 people for demonstration, have an inflated sense of their contribution to the 8 January 2015 presidential election victory. How many people do they believe they influenced, apart from those who were already against Mahinda Rajapaksa? And most of the critics from the 'civil society' of Maithripala Sirisena are not accountable to anyone but themselves, I mean for example, who are Dr. Sarath Wijesuriya or Gamini Viyangoda responsible for? They are not responsible for an organization or its members.And if you look at civil society organizations who supported Maithripala Sirisena openly or passively and have a significant membership, for example the environmental groups who signed a MoU with Sirisena or National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), they are quiet about the President's speeches on the commissions or national security. What they have been angry is that neither the President nor the government has taken a single step to carry out the social and economic rights agenda which was promised. And I personally believe that the ordinary man, from southern garment sector workers to northern fishermen, care much much more about social and economic rights that civil and political rights that elites and the liberals and rich kids, pretending to be social justice warriors, care so much about. And which by the way the President has not infringed upon.And don't take my word for it. This is what Ahilan Kadirgamar, one of the best public intellectuals we have, has to say about the concerns of the 'Northern silent majority,' "in Districts like Killinochi and Mannar, farmers and fisher folk, having given up on the Tamil nationalist politicians seek to engage the Central Government directly on issues of land alienation, access to coastal areas for fishing and the banning of illegal fishing practices. These war-torn people are far from the 'victims' who are waiting either to be saved by the Tamil nationalists or the international community. They are demonstrating enormous resilience and resolve every day of their lives."As I have repeatedly said, the vote against Mahinda Rajapaksa was not a vote against Sinhala nationalism. Rajapaksa lost because he did nothing substantial to the Sinhalese, socially or economically, and by 2015, many understood that his 'Sinhala first' bluster was hollow.However, some government leaders mistook the forces that brought them into power as pro-federal and anti-Sinhala nationalism. A look back at recent history should tell us, that acting under such assumptions is politically catastrophic and only strengthens extremist forces. Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe or Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera or former President Chandrika Bandaranaike of course don't get this but the President, his SLFP members and some of the civil society leaders have been aware of this from day one. They just didn't want to piss off their pro-UNP MY3 fan boys and girls, because the Sirisena camp also overestimated the power of this group.Winston Churchill once said 'people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.' The elites in Colombo could hold on to their liberal pretensions because soldiers, often from rural areas, with a splattering of officers from Sinhala nationalist schools like Ananda College, were defending the liberties we take for granted, with guns.Although the LTTE has been defeated militarily Sri Lanka does face a number of security challenges, from violent crime to radicalization. Thus, while there is no doubt that we need to carry out necessary military and Police reforms to suit the changing political and security landscape, weakening the military or the Police and undermining national security is not an option. Such reforms should be carried out by experts, who can draw from international experience, while not ignoring the unique local context and not by a few 'civil society leaders' and journalists who have an inflated sense of their own importance.</blockquote>

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