Why Gota Went from Hero to Zero in Sri Lanka

"Didn't Gota do anything for Sri Lanka?" The answer is, Yes.

Tamils and Muslims rejected Gotabaya "Gota" Rajapaksa as their president in 2019, but the Sinhala people overwhelmingly voted for him. He's now their Zero.

(SALEM, Ore.) - It is an obvious fact that Tamils and Muslims rejected Gotabaya "Gota" Rajapaksa as their president in the 2019 Election. However, the Sinhala people overwhelmingly voted for him and Gota emerged as a Hero for them. Unfortunately he is now a Zero.

What is the reason? A Sinhala journalist* composed a list of his 'achievements' during the election in 2019. It therefore will not list what has taken place in the last 2+ years, but this recent history is valuable in understanding what is happening today, in real time.

Many people ask, "Didn't Gota do anything for Sri Lanka?"

The answer is, Yes. Following is a (partial) list of what Gota allegedly did "for the country":

1. Started the white van abduction culture and kidnapping; abducting and forced disappearing journalists, reporters and political dissidents.

2. Sent a SL airline to Switzerland to bring a puppy dog to his wife.

3. Killed two chopper pilots who brought the gold captured by Sarath Fonseka of LTTE through a helicopter crash.

4. Killed parliament MP Sripathi Suryarachchi through a fatal accident who proved with evidence that Rajapaksa gave extortion to LTTE.

5. Raised sharks at home and fed them with white van victims who were abducted.

6. Killed the mother elephant, illegally possessing the two baby elephants.

7. Killed beggars by hitting their heads with stones and decorating the towns.

8. Forcibly dumped the Colombo garbage into the Meethotamulla area which destroyed many lives and properties.

9. Forcibly removed poor households from Colombo by deploying the army. Kidnapped the people through white van who were protesting.

10. Bombed Sirasa, Siyatha and Udayan media institutions.

11. Set fire to Lanka e News office and its library.

12. Set fire to Colombo Kachcheri to destroy documents belonging to people with valuable properties in Colombo who had gone overseas.

13. Spent $90 million in public money to renovate his parent’s grave. Following a court verdict a part payment was made leaving the arrears unpaid.

14. Sold the army headquarters land located at Galle face for hotel Shangrila, taking $40 million commission through the deal.

15. Took Rs. 550 million bribe from Tata company of India.

16. Misused the “Api wenuwen api” war heroes fund.

17. Left Sri Lanka and went to the US during the intense war with LTTE claiming false psychiatric disorder.

18. Took American citizenship claiming to be a Sri Lankan patriot.

19. Made arbitrary agreement with the US government without informing the SL parliament.

20. Threatened monks alleging bombing Buddhist monasteries when the Mahanayakas came out to protest the imprisonment of General Fonseka.

21. Acquired and misused valuable lands belonging to the urban development ministry.

22. Threatened the senior police DIG’s who were enforcing the law during a protest opposite the UN headquarters lead by Weerawansa.

23. Misused US $8 million for the Mig aircraft deal claiming to be paid to a company named Belimmsa which was not in existence, in London.

24. Protected the Interpol red warranted Udayanga Weerathunga who is the main person accused for the Mig aircraft corruption.

25. Mysterious death of Noel Ranaweera who knew the secrets of the Mig aircraft deal. A postmortem of his corpse was not allowed when the body was brought to SL.

26. Acquired large scale commission from all Chinese projects in the country.

27. Acquired commissions from all purchases by taking the exclusive right to import weapons during wartime.

28. Abduction and assault of Journalists like Upali Tennakoon, Poddala Jayantha, Keith Noyar and Namal Perera.

29. Abduction, enforce disappear and killing of Tamil journalists.

30. Abduction and enforce disappearing of Lanka e news journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda who exposed the family tree of Rajapaksa.

31. Killing of dissenters under the guise of showing weapons.

32. Killing of the chief editor of Sunday Leader Newspaper Lasantha Wickramathunga.

33. Abduction and killing of Ragama Sudu Seeya and Danduwam Mudalali of Tangalle.

34. Killing of Parliament MP Raviraj in broad day light in Colombo.

35. Killing of parliament MP Joseph Pararajasingham during the eve of Christmas.

36. Killing of parliament MP Maheshwaran in Colombo in broad day light.

37. Broke into the Colombo Museum and stealing valuable ancient swords and false accusing a person named Kangetta.

38. Attempted to steal the sword supposedly belong to Prince Sapumal and killed two chief monks of the Kotte temple.

39. Killed witness of the above temple by calling their names, and also killed 27 inmates of the Welikaada prison.

40. Killed three people of Rathupaswala who protested demanding pure water against polluted water discharged by a factory belonging to Dammika Perera.

41. Killing of rugby player Wasim Thajudeen who exposed a birth mark of the lover of one of Rajapaksa's sons.

42. Displaced documents belonging to the fake company of the Mig aircraft deal.

43. Misused public servants, military personal, intelligence officers for personal benefits and causing betrayal, enforce disappear and also killing them. (For example, Gopi)

44. The shooting and killing of fisherman Anthony of Chilaw who protested to reduce the oil price.

45. Formed paramilitary forces with EPDP and EPRLF; kidnapped children, demanding extortions; killed the children following the extortions.

46. Formed a paramilitary force with underworld gangsters and abducted people who are against.

47. Created paramilitary forces with members of renegade LTTE and misused them for personal revenge.

48. Shooting of Katunayake free trade zone worker Roshane Chanaka who protested against the arbitrary plundering of the provident fund on the pretext of pension. During the funeral: Imposing restrictions to the catholic church and deploying troops to the funeral.

49. Attempted to abduct “Wanathe Sunil Ayya” for showing his resentment directly to Gota's face for the dumping of the Meethotamulla garbage. He was released by the abductors due to the fear of peoples protest.

50. Attempted abduction of the chairman of the Kollonnawa urban council Ravindra Udayashantha by the white van. The abduction was foiled due to the intervention of the people of the area. The abductors were apprehended by the area people later they were released by Gota pressurizing the police.

51. Removed the ancient bell owned by the Sri Pada claiming "for repairs" but later it was disappeared.

52. Forced disappearance of two human rights defenders Lalith and Kugan on the International world human rights day.

53. Kidnapping of wealthy Tamil and Muslim businessmen, and demanding ransoms.

54. Influenced Duminda Silva to kill trade union leader Baratha Luxhman Premachandra when Baratha publicly accused Gota working with drug dealers. Later Gota helped Duminda to escape from prosecution.

55. Illegally owning Lanka Hospitals and misused the finances.

56. Aggressively controlled journalists and threatened them to stop drawing cartoons.

57. Threatened journalist Fredika Jansz and yelled at her in raw filth.

58. Bombing of Tiran Alles and Wijedasa Rajapaksa houses.

59. Bombing of the executive director of Transparency International and presidents counsel lawyer J.C. Weliamuna who exposed the corruptions of Rajapaksas.

60. Deploying of the troops and chasing the people living on Slave Island and selling those lands to foreign companies.

61. Forced disappearance of the former election commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and rigging the election results and forcibly taking over Fonseka’s victory. (It’s still a question that the disappeared elections commissioner is still alive.)

62. Creating “Grease Yaka” to fear and fool the people.

63. Disguise of giving security to international vessels against sea pirates, creating a floating armory in the south Indian ocean, selling weapons to international terror organizations.

64. Paying monthly wages to members of Thawhid Jamath including Zaharan and 26 others.

65. Giving land to extremist Thawhid Jamath at 241/1, Sri Saddarma Mawatha.

66. Created, promoted and nurtured religious extremist groups such as Thawhid Jamath, Shiva Sena and Bodu Bala Sena. Creating a rift between minority Muslims and majority Buddhists thus trying to create a Sinhala Buddhist country by acquiring 51% from the total Sinhala Buddhist vote bank.

67. Surpassed his brother Basil Rajapaksa by building palaces without an owner in Kataragama.

68. Hiding his dual citizenship and obtaining an illegal passport.

69. Allowed his wife and children to go to the US, while removing his US citizenship.

70. Contested the presidential election (to be held in 2020).

*The author of the list remains anonymous for fear of a 'white van' going looking for them.
Source: Tamil Centre for Human Rights