{"id":34261,"date":"2014-10-19T17:42:46","date_gmt":"2014-10-19T21:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=34261"},"modified":"2014-10-19T17:45:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-19T21:45:07","slug":"a-pure-tomorrow-movement-athureliye-rathana-theras-ultimatum-to-president-rajapaksa-is-backed-by-jathika-hela-urumaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=34261","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Pure Tomorrow Movement\u201d Athureliye Rathana Thera\u2019s \u201cUltimatum to President rajapaksa is Backed by Jathika Hela Urumaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JHU020713\"<\/a><\/p>\n


\nIt is less than a handful who could muster such a political event with the hierarchy of the Government and the main Opposition in attendance.If that was a feat last Tuesday, the blunt message delivered by the convener was unsurpassed. A touch of irony was that it came from a United People\u2019s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) partner, a live wire that espoused the cause of the majority Sinhala-Buddhist people in the ruling coalition.<\/strong>
\n
\n
\nVenerable Athureliye Rathana Thera,<\/strong> founder of Pivithuru Hetak (A Pure Tomorrow)<\/strong> issued an ultimatum<\/strong> to President Mahinda Rajapaksa <\/strong>that the upcoming presidential election should not be held without amendments to the Constitution first. Charging that the conduct of such election had neither been discussed with partners in the UPFA nor the Cabinet of Ministers, he demanded that, \u201cpolls should be according to the laws of the country and not according to an individual\u2019s astrological charts.\u201d He warned that \u201cWe will do everything possible, Sathyagrahas and protests included.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n


\nAdding weight to Ven. Rathana Thera\u2019s ultimatum is that he is a key player in the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and one of its MPs. His party is fully behind him. The JHU, whose annual convention takes place today, is set to endorse the new movement\u2019s plan of action. Thus it will become part of the JHU\u2019s own efforts too. Immediately thereafter a party delegation is set to meet President Rajapaksa next week to discuss the demands.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s events, however, make clear Rajapaksa has already set in motion the machinery rolling for a presidential poll in early January. Thus, he seems in no mood for immediate constitutional changes or to heed other demands. Just the day after Ven. Rathana Thera\u2019s declaration, Rajapaksa on Wednesday chaired a meeting of UPFA partner leaders. There, UPFA General Secretary and Minister Susil Premajayantha declared that plans were afoot to conduct a presidential poll in early January. However, he did not mention dates. Though most party leaders were present, the JHU was represented only by Western Province Minister Udaya Gammanpila. Socialist party leaders, it transpired, were averse to an early poll and said they feared the outcome might not be favourable.<\/p>\n

With the official word out in the UPFA that poll is now a certainty, a number of important political developments may follow in the coming weeks. Main among them is the future of the JHU in the ruling party. With the increasing prospects of its demands not being met, will it quit the UPFA? That would surely mean the JHU would not support President Rajapaksa\u2019s candidature. Another is the strong likelihood of the January 13-15 visit of Pope Francis being called off. Despite this very strong prospect of a cancellation, officially the trip is on schedule. A possible cancellation is on the basis that the revered prelate does not visit countries where elections are concluded without the lapse of a month. Political cross overs are yet another issue.<\/p>\n

The JHU factor assumes greater significance. Tuesday\u2019s gathering at the BMICH had representation from both the Government and the Opposition. Ministers present were Basil Rajapaksa, D.E.W. Gunasekera, Tissa Vitharana, Champika Ranawaka, and Rajitha Senaratne. Besides the UNP national leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, others included Karu Jayasuriya, Ravi Karunanayake and R. Yogarajan. Sunil Handunetti represented the JVP. Hence, representatives of political parties of all hues witnessed the issue of the Pivituru Hetak-Jathika Hela Urumaya ultimatum.<\/p>\n

Ven. Rathana Thera charged: \u201cThis is a Government that functions with one person, one family and a few influential officials.\u201d Noting that \u201cfuture generations will curse us if we do not point out wrong doings,\u201d he said his movement had spoken to all political parties. The Ven. Thera said the movement\u2019s demands were based on Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) policies. There was no difficulty in passing the constitutional amendments since all parties would lend their support, he added.<\/p>\n

Ven.Athureliya Rathana Thera presenting his Pivithur Hetak movement\u2019s demand in the form of a proposed 19th Amendment to the Constitution to Minister Basil Rajapaksa, Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ven. Maduluwave Sobhitha Thera and former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva at a packed BMICH meeting on Tuesday. Pix by Indika Handuwela<\/p>\n

The Sunday Times asked Ven. Rathana Thera why the movement would oppose Rajapaksa at the presidential poll if its demands are not met. His reply: \u201cThe Government has two more years to conduct a presidential election. Constitutionally, the President has the right to call for an election after four years in office. However, now questions have arisen over his decision. On the basis of the 18th Amendment, it was not proper. With two more years left, it is easy for him to get the amendments we propose approved. The President in 2005 had promised to abolish the Executive Presidency. He had promised the same in 2010. Failing to keep to these promises and going for a third term raise the issue of morality.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nVen. Rathana Thera revealed that some Government ministers called him after his speech last Tuesday. \u201cMy stance is very clear. The constitutional amendments should be passed before the presidential election.\u201d
\nSome of the questions answered by him provide an insight into the thinking of Pivithuru Hetak and the JHU.<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: You have been citing instances of abuse. Can you explain?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: For instance, the President is also the Finance Minister. The entire Treasury is controlled by him. All major projects like roads, ports and airports too. This can give rise to corruption. At the same time mistakes can take place. There are no checks and balances. Even earlier, executive presidential powers were misused, but now it is very evident.<\/p>\n

Q: Why weren\u2019t these issues pointed out earlier?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: It was because these shortcomings were pointed out that the \u2018Mahinda Chinthanaya\u2019 was written. We are the ones who made certain proposals.<\/p>\n

Q: Do you have the blessings of your party?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Yes. The party convention is coming up on the 19th (today) and the members will endorse our plans.<\/p>\n

Q: What are the proposals regarding curbing mounting corruption and bribery?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: The institutions investigating these issues have been paralysed. The appointments are made by the President. There were shortcomings in the 17th Amendment. Persons with political connections are being appointed. We are proposing a Constitutional Council. There is a wide belief that there is corruption. But it cannot be investigated properly, until the present persons remain in power. Currently all these institutions come under the President. This is because of the existing Constitution.
\n
\nQ: In the event the Government does not accept these proposals, do you plan to carry out a political campaign on the changes you seek?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Yes, currently we have launched a political campaign. We will have to politically defeat him, if the changes are not done. We are thinking of speaking to some of the SLFP members. We could clearly say that we cannot support the re-election of the President without a Constitutional change.<\/p>\n

Q: Is there any response from any ministers as you have declared before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Not just few of them. There have been responses from several of them. If the presidential election is called, without these amendments we can see how many of them will support us.
\n
\nQ: Is there a time frame?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: Yes, first it was a conceptual paper. Now we have proposed the Constitutional changes. Former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva has helped to draft them. This is what has to be discussed now. We will complete the discussions in a week or so.
\n
\nQ: In the event the President disagrees, will you work with one political group to achieve this or will you form a different political front?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: We have not decided on that yet. Currently what we are doing is to bring pressure to pass these Constitutional amendments. We are not thinking as to who would be the common candidate or about the Presidential election. We are concentrating on passing these amendments. We will do everything possible. If we fail, we will move to the next step.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:Sunday Times<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is less than a handful who could muster such a political event with the hierarchy of the Government and the main Opposition in attendance.If that was a feat last Tuesday, the blunt message delivered by the convener was unsurpassed. A touch of irony was that it came from a United People\u2019s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘\u201cA Pure Tomorrow Movement\u201d Athureliye Rathana Thera\u2019s \u201cUltimatum to President rajapaksa is Backed by Jathika Hela Urumaya’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34269,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34261\/revisions\/34269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}