21.11.2007
Highligting corruption and mismanagement as the main causes
for the JVP's decision to vote against the budget Somawansa
Amarasinghe, leader of the JVP, told the Asian Tribune that
the government can;t defeat the LTTE with rampant corruption.
He
told “As far as the budget is concerned the 'first
part of the drama is over.' These words are not mine.
These words belong to one of the pro-government national
newspaper.”
Somawansa
Amarasinghe warned “ The final moment of this drama
is yet to come. In the scenario that is yet to unfold
at the third reading of the budget if six to eight people
decide to change their votes then it would be a very sad
ending. “
Here
is the full text of the Somwamsa Amarasinghe's statement:
This
budget does not fulfill the requirements of the country.
There
is no solution to the corruption, wastage and there is
no program to minimize these viruses.
These
people are talking about security of the country. They
are also accusing the JVP as not being patirotic. But
we want to say one thing: without minimizing corruption
and wastage we are not going to defeat the LTTE. Anyone
can easily understand what I say now. As long as there
is corruption in the country, we are not going to defeat
the LTTE.
This
is the only budget that has been politicized. Who did
it? The Government and the UNP and not the JVP.
The
Government wanted us to vote for the budget to show the
people that we are a patriotic political party.
That
is not the purpose of the budget. The budget is about
the economy of the country and also about how we are going
to achieve reasonable growth.
What
they have been doing during the last few days was to throw
money and privileges to engineer and encourage defection
from the Government to the Opposition and from the Opposition
to the Government. It was like another election, but without
the participation of the voters.
Indeed
these types of politics are unacceptable and both sides
are involved in bringing down the representatives of the
parliament and the dignity of the elected peoples' representatives.
So this practice must be stopped forthwith. We w
As
I said in the beginning there is no vision in the budget
to achieve a reasonable economic growth and there exist
rampant corruption in the country and there was no program
to minimize waste and corruption, so we decided to vote
against it,
People
are supportive of our anti-corruption campaign, but the
leaders are least worried about what is happening in the
country.
We
are against the budget and our position of the third reading
of budget would remain the same unless the government
understands what we say and make relevant changes. The
whole approach to the Budget -2008 as well as the vision
has to be changed.
Can
the Government defeat terrorism, while promoting corruption
and while protecting those who are corrupt? There are
strong allegations against ministers and against former
ministers as well.
Sri
Lanka needs leaders like Sir Winston Churchill, Joseph
Stalin, and other leaders who defeated the ugly forces
of Nazism and Fascism during the Second World War.
Although
Sir Winston Churchill was against granting independence
to British Colonies, he sacrificed during the period of
the World War II on behalf of his people and set an example
to them. The people too were willing follow him because
he gave not only military but also moral leadership. The
leaders should sacrifice first and set an example in the
beginning. That is why they could mobilize the people
against Adolf Hitler and they won.
We
are looking for one leader in the whole of Sri Lanka,
who could mobilize the people of Sri Lanka against the
Neo- Nazis and the present day Hitler Prabakaran,
As
far as the budget is concerned the 'first part of the
drama is over.' These words are not mine. These words
belong to one of the pro-government national newspaper.
The
government and the UNP should not take this problem as
something needed for celebration.
The
final moment of this drama is yet to come. In the scenario
that is yet to unfold at the third reading of the budget
if six to eight people decide to change their votes then
it would be a very sad ending.
The
government says that those who voted for the budget –
2008 are patriots. But in the days ahead we do not know
how many patriots will be still there with the Government.
We
see the Government and the UNP as being in the same boat,
plaing the same games of corruption.
Courtesy - Asian
Tribune