By
Dharisha Bastians
Still, modern extensions notwithstanding, prettiest parts of the building are the oldest.
In 2009, some months after the war ended, media personnel were offered military tours of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s ‘luxury’ bunker and swimming pool deep inside his hideout in Mullaitivu by the defeated regime. Subsequently, the bunker was turned into a special exhibit on the ‘war tourism’ trail, for first time visitors from the island’s south to marvel at the slain Tiger Leader’s opulent lifestyle.
The ‘Rajapaksa wing’ at Temple Trees. Three new cabinet rooms, hall for 7000 & countless plush meeting rooms
Today the regime’s own extensions inside the premises – traditionally used as the Prime Minister’s official residence – are being opened up to curious journalists and visitors. Enthusiastic security personnel escort journalists to the former President’s private brick-lined, kidney-shaped pool completely obscured from view by 25 feet of tall aluminium fencing all around it. A small tiled sauna and massage room still smells of herbal oil and flowers.
pic via: twitter.com/tingilye
The ‘Rajapaksa Wing’ of the old colonial residence is several storeys high and has no windows. Built for a President who was paranoid about security, the dark and narrow corridors running through the building have gaps along the wall, covered with sliding metal gates, to ensure a quick exit for VIPs if the need arose.
A banquet hall has been constructed on the side of this building, to hold up to 7000 people, according to officials, five-foot long chandeliers, thick carpeting and regal doors. The wings of this banquet hall have walls lined in brocade and large winged arm chairs along a corridor that leads to elegant washrooms. Extensions to this section for the Commonwealth Summit include a new set of washrooms, many of which are no longer functional, according to signs hung askew on many of the doors.
The same bunker-style building has three spectacular cabinet rooms, each of them sporting wall-to-wall wood panelling, wooden floors and stunning wood and leather furnishings. Off to the side, even the bathroom walls are panelled in wood. Several other sophisticated meeting rooms also lie inside the building, with plush sofas, recliners and chairs, featuring a head table and pictures and wall-hangings. Dutugemunu at war and Adam’s Peak appear to have been firm favourites of the previous occupant of Temple Trees. The famous ‘Elections Ops Room’ also lies within this new wing, a long office room filled with computers in zones demarcated for each polling division in the country.
The lion that conquered the world. Meeting Room in Temple Trees new wing replete with Dutugemunu & lion iconography
Discarded larger-than-life cut-outs of President Mahinda Rajapaksa face away from the door, like a child sent to the corner for punishment. Outside this building is the permanent marquee the former regime erected to host their famous campaign meetings for officials, academics, trade unions and students. Countless offices for President Rajapaksa’s large staff and advisors, including a special office for former Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, with mirrors lining walls and ceilings, also occupy sections of the new wing.
pics via: twitter.com/tingilye
The skeleton of a new building specially for the ex-President’s security contingent is already under construction on the boundary of the compound. A posse of chefs and serving stewards have been dismissed by the new Prime Minister who does not reside on the premises.
Not much of the ‘Rajapaksa Wing’ could be called outrageously opulent, but the extension holds little rationale for so much public spending. President Rajapaksa occupied two official residences already, including the sprawling Presidential mansion or former Queen’s House in Fort.
Deep in the jungles of Mullativu, where he hid for decades, the sight of Prabhakaran’s extravagance – air conditioning and swimming pools – had a jarring effect because he had sent countless Tamil youngsters to die for him in a brutal war, while he and his family lived in relative safety and comfort.
The story of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s extravagance holds a strange resonance.
The previous regime’s opulent lifestyle, largely lived on the public dime, evokes an angry and emotional response from the ordinary citizen because the President of Sri Lanka and other elected rulers represent a vast majority of very poor people who are struggling to feed their children.
The rejection of Rajapaksa opulence by the voter on 8 January has kept the new regime in check, at least for appearances sake, about how it utilises state resources.
pic via: twitter.com/tingilye
For the moment, 47 days after the new Government took office, the extension remains unoccupied, eerily silent and plunged into semi darkness. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe occupies two rooms in the old colonial building and uses the old cabinet room for meetings with ministers and officials.
Both the President and the Prime Minister are mulling opening up the two residences to the public twice a week for guided tours. The massive banquet hall may be hired out for cultural performances at a nominal fee.
Of course, what to do with the Rajapaksa modifications to Temple Trees is the least of Ranil Wickremesinghe’s problems.
Courtesy: Daily FT