5th Column

My dear Mahinda maama,

I thought of writing to you, but will now have to send this to ‘Carlton’ instead of Wijerama Mawatha. A lot of fuss was made about the ‘leader who saved the nation being evicted from his home’ but you took the right decision in the end, even if it was done reluctantly, leaving when you did this week.

One can always argue that the amount of money saved by taking away the privileges granted to our former leaders won’t usher in prosperity to our country. Your followers also claim this is not the way to treat someone who ‘won the war’ and that we should not grudge you these little luxuries late in life.

Those arguments are not entirely untrue. Still, I think it was not the fact that our former leaders were being granted houses that was the problem. The issue was that those privileges were taken for granted and then abused. Houses soon became mansions, and then several mansions were combined into one.

Many say JR enacted these privileges before he retired so he could enjoy a life of luxury. The laws were introduced late in his second term but after he left, we hardly saw or heard of him. He didn’t intervene even when Preme was impeached. He was happy to mind his own business at Ward Place.

Dearly Beloved retired quietly to Pilimatalawa. We heard of him again only when he passed away. However, as time passed, the practice of making a graceful exit changed. Satellite wasn’t shy of using her privileges. Then, you and Maithri took these privileges to an entirely different extravagant level.

After seeing how you dilly-dallied with Satellite’s requests for a residence, maybe Maithri had similar fears. So, he took matters into his own hands, assigning himself a house for his retirement before he retired. That was one of his many decisions which were squashed by the highest court in the land.

Then, we were told the official residence allocated to you was 30,000 square feet in extent and that its renovations were at an exorbitant cost. To be fair, Gota maama, whatever his faults, opted to remain at his house in Mirihana. Uncle Ranil hasn’t left his 5th Lane home too, even after it was burnt down.

What is striking is that those who have been accused of abusing this privilege don’t really need to do so. You have homes in Tangalle and Medamulana. As someone once noted, your children are three very capable men: lawyer politician, ex-Navy officer and rocket scientist. They can provide for you.

The same is true for Satellite. She has ancestral property in Horagolla. Similarly, Dudley can fund not one but a few houses for Maithri if he wishes to, from the profits he is raking in from the rice trade. No one should also worry about Lady Hema because I am sure young Sajith will look after her well.

If anything, the worst off after the change in the law will be Anura sahodaraya who will have to fend for himself after his retirement. So, Mahinda maama, this is not about providing for our leaders. It is about our leaders abusing those privileges and earning the wrath of the public for those excesses.

As you left Wijerama, crowds gathered to wish you. We saw larger crowds at ‘Carlton’ to welcome you. At the same time, we also saw the ‘usual suspects’ surrounding you. You are smart enough to realise that crowds don’t necessarily mean votes and that sympathy doesn’t always mean approval.

That is why I was so disappointed to read your (or your ghost writer’s) comments on social media about your relocation. You called it the ‘political terrorism of personal revenge’. That makes it look like you still resent the new laws and are bitter about having to pack up and leave Wijerama Mawatha.

Mahinda maama, more importantly, it also means that you have missed the memo that voters sent you and your ‘pohottuwa’ party last year. They are fed up with the style of politics that gives privileges to a few at the expense of many. They wanted change. The ‘maalimaawa’ promised change. They won.

What the ‘maalimaawa’ is doing may seem ugly and ungrateful to some but we cannot deny it was in their manifesto which the masses approved. What led to that was the abuse of the privileges given to some of you. That is why you and Namal baby shouldn’t be going around shouting ‘political revenge’.

You speak so eagerly about returning to ‘where it all began’. I am sure you can again enjoy your ‘kurahan thalapa’ and ‘ambul thiyal’ which you love so much, but be careful about the ‘usual suspects’ around you. After all, the ‘Ice fields’ of Middeniya are only a few kilometres away!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Mahinda maama, your place in history is still assured – as the man who led the fight to defeat terrorism. You will only spoil that by trying to stay at Wijerama Mawatha. Sometimes, it is good to go when people ask you why you are going than waiting until they ask why you aren’t going!