{"id":33874,"date":"2014-10-05T16:57:22","date_gmt":"2014-10-05T20:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=33874"},"modified":"2014-10-05T18:37:02","modified_gmt":"2014-10-05T22:37:02","slug":"rosy-senanayake-beautifully-refuses-presidential-invitation-to-visit-vatican-and-meet-pope-francis-unlike-john-ameratunga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=33874","title":{"rendered":"Rosy Senanayake Beautifully Refuses Presidential Invitation to Visit Vatican and Meet Pope Francis Unlike John Ameratunga."},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Don Manu<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Rosy<\/a>

Rosy Senanayake-pic via: facebook.com\/rosy.senanayake.9<\/p><\/div>\n

If diamonds are a girl\u2019s best friend then free foreign travel trinkets come a close second to captivate a woman\u2019s diffident heart. Or so it seemed for Rosy Senanayake this week until a miraculous eleventh hour stroke of Providence changed her mind and saved her from public censure.<\/p>\n

Last week the President invited two UNP members to join his entourage to visit the Vatican and meet His Holiness the Pope. Even before a single hallelujah could be hailed, both had jumped at the offer and accepted the invite. One was UNP Chief Whip John Amaratunga who said that he has accepted and will be arranging his dates; and was no doubt busy packing his bags and practising his hosannas. The other lucky UNP MP was Rosy Senanayake who said she accepted the invite and added: \u201cI do not know why we were chosen. It may have been because we are Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was this, I wondered, the same Rosy Senanayake, the former Mrs. World and now UNP\u2019s First Lady of Glamour, who in the past has criticised government MPs for embarking on meaningless foreign trips and pontificated on the criminal squander of public money spent on such junkets which bring no tangible benefits to the country other than to themselves? Was this the same Rosy Senanayake, who now, when she happened to be the fortunate recipient of Government\u2019s largesse funded by the public coffers, saw nothing wrong in engaging in a bit of squander herself of the people\u2019s money?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My fears, which remained a whole week till Friday, proved to be unfounded. For before the rosy hue that lies permanently settled upon her powdered cheeks turned to soot and shadows fell upon her face to blight her fair complexion, she emerged from darkness to light with the realisation that maybe she has been singled out for this singular honour over and above the host of Government MPs who would have even gladly changed their religion to enjoy a free first class holiday abroad, not because of her religious faith but solely due to her professed political beliefs. Wisely, she declined the offer in the nick of time.<\/p>\n

She had finally realised that though green in politics, green in environment, and still, despite the passage of years, evergreen in appearance, she was not green in judgment and was not prepared to become the blue eyed belle of the presidential nade.<\/p>\n

Rosy has fathomed more than her elected colleagues, the importance of UNP members to be seen making personal sacrifices for the sake of the party. Just when the UNP is showing signs of reforming itself and presenting a new image as a solid, above board, principled opposition party beholden to none, a reputation that befits the upright image of a genuine opposition party requesting the people\u2019s mandate to form the next government, it would be irresponsible for any member to throw the spanner inthe works by accepting governmental freebies and casting the UNP as a party in league with the Government.<\/p>\n

And that is what the party\u2019s Chief Whip John Amaratunga is doing, and doing for the second time without any repentance. After praying on public money in a historic Jerusalem grotto when he joined the Presidential delegation as a political pilgrim in January, he accepted the offer to kiss the papal hand with open arms. He is old, he is incorrigible, once a sturdy UNP pillar now an unmourned ruin, a man beyond the pale; who, in his winter, has balanced his hat on the fence and gone over the abyss searching for another glass of summer sunshine. The less said of this dried up political prune, the better it is. The response of \u2018ever ready\u2019 John was only to be expected.<\/p>\n

But not so is the reaction of the UNP leadership which has sunk into silence so far. If it does not crack the whip against its own Chief Whip it will fail in its duty to ensure order and discipline in the party. Standing on the threshold of presidential and general elections which may turn the course of Lanka\u2019s history, the UNP leadership must view with concern and all seriousness this ready willingness of some of its party members to accept personal favors from the ruling party. Iron discipline must be instilled. Hard choices must be made. John Amaratunga must be asked to go, the moment he returns from his Vatican freebie.<\/p>\n

How can the Chief Whip of any party be able to maintain any discipline amongst the members if he is the chief transgressor? If the UNP does not instil discipline amongst its party members and insist that a rule applies to all equally and cannot be violated even on religious grounds, then it will be far easier for an elephant to go through the eye of a needle than for Ranil Wickremesinghe to be ensconced in the President\u2019s House as President.<\/p>\n

As for Rosy Senanayake, all credit to her for making the correct decision and for not placing the UNP in an embarrassing position which, given the wrong vibes it may otherwise have sent to the electorate, might have condemned the UNP to another six-year exile East of Eden.<\/p>\n

Had it not been for her last minute change of heart, the question whether the pole-vaulting event has already begun even before the election games have started would have been dancing on people\u2019s lips today to the heady beat of UPFA\u2019s belting drum.<\/p>\n

No doubt divine revelation made Rosy see the light on Thursday when she chanced to imagine herself at the Apostolic Palace, gazing at the highest section of the Sistine Chapel\u2019s ceiling and admiring Michelangelo\u2019s paintings from the Book of Genesis, when realisation dawned and she was struck by what every Christian knows: The world\u2019s suffering began and paradise turned sour when Eve gave into temptation and took a freebie bite off the forbidden fruit.
\n
\nCourtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Don Manu If diamonds are a girl\u2019s best friend then free foreign travel trinkets come a close second to captivate a woman\u2019s diffident heart. Or so it seemed for Rosy Senanayake this week until a miraculous eleventh hour stroke of Providence changed her mind and saved her from public censure. Last week the President …<\/p>\n

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