Associated Press,  Wed Feb  8 09:32:14 EST 2006

    COLOMBO, Feb. 8 (Kyodo) _ Former Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Wednesday she was immediately returning to the state prime urban land granted to her free of charge by the government she headed. Kumaratunga's office said in a statement that she had by letter dated Tuesday informed the government that she had decided to return the land ''granted to her on a unanimous decision taken by the cabinet of ministers of the previous government.''

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- The Academic

Good work, not she must stop becoming a burden on the tax-payers by leaving the country, perhaps France. On her departure, she will be remembered as the leader under which the country’s forces lost most heavily, a drunkard who never arrived on time and the president who wasted 12 years in office.

it is a  wonderful idea in sending this female for Paris with the tax payers money as we can afford the best deal for her in Paris OTHER THAN the 200+ security contingent & 30+ super luxury vehicles etc.,

She have amased wealth for 7 generations of hers and this b*******t  land case is just another plot of fooling the masses.

Look, Bala the Sec, had 21 mansions in down under and imagine the big Madam's share in those deals? WOW.... mind bogging ! isnt it?


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Wannilage Gomarie
Dambana
Sri Lanka

Again she is late.
She is too late alwsys as a habit.
She should have regected this offer at least 2-3 months before.  If it happened in that way she should have protected the good name of Bandaranayeke familly.  At least earned by donating thousands of acres of lands to government in 1970s in during her mothers' regim.

She was not a corrupted leader at least compared to previous ones.  
But asked lot, but failed to get anything.  So it is a failure.


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"#¤¤&/()=?``=?[ }

I love the low class cheap shots being hurled at her now by some lowly people here.  Ok here are the facts, like all other Presidents, she too became arrogant and  thought the State owed her something.  She cannot take credit for land reform,  In that case all the wealthy landowning Sinhala upper class can claim property from the State.  The State compensated everyone who lost land, some more than others including JR JAyawardene.

And if she only wanted the land, then why did she also demand a house and an office at state expense?  

She failed and disappointed all her avid fans such as myself by her ineptitude and incompetent governance.  PErsonal attacks in these columns are unnecessary and mean spirited and show the inferiority complex of some Sinhalese and  Tamils who take glee in ridiculing her.  

She has no right to be virtuous about land reform policies.  It was an inevitable step given that there was an insurgency in 1971.  It was something they had to do given their socialist platform.  The deleterious effects of it are still visible with lack of productivity in the Janawasama Estates.    On the other hand, she must also realize the architect of LR Kobbekaduwa made sure She and her family were provided 50 acres each with the rule that all children over 18 will have 50 acres each.
As he said in his own words "Sirima will lose a lot so we must do something to help them".  He was extremely fond of Chandrika.  And Chandrika worked for him because she got a job at Land Reform Commission because of her mother. SHe was great at policy making at that time, but as usual habitually tardy.  

She like AB never held real managerial jobs or worked for a living outside their political realms. Zero expertize in anything and that showed during her highly incompetent regime of 11 years.  Mahinda might go the same way with his child like tantrums and managerial style.


Land Reform law was the most inequitous ridiculous law to help themselves and their children.  

Guess what? Even if you had 5 children if they were under 18, the whole family got only 50 acres TOTAL; yes not 50 each.   But Mrs B and her adult children got 200 acres and so did Kobbekaduwa!! So the sacrifice they talk about is all relative. Did it mean that those kids wont grow up to be adults and needed land?

Even big Sinhala landowners were wiped out leaving the Tamils to own property anywhere and do business anywhere  in Sri Lanka while a sinhalese cannot own property in Jaffna.  What it did was to destroy the wealth of the Sinhalese because businesses were run by Indian Tamils, SL tamils, and moors because the spirit of entrepreneurship was more prevalent in the minorities.  

She needs to go back an examine this before crying foul.  

Rest of you clowns who dont know what happened inside, please refrain from innuendo.  It is the Tamil Tiger terrorists who tried to kill her and that has had life long physical and psychological scars. She needs help and counselling.  If you profound genius care to learn about psychiatric conditions you will understand behavior changes such as t his.  And how many of you had your father and husband murdered?  Not one of you right? And how many of your children saw their father murdered by the JVP in front of your eyes?  How many of you survived a terrorist attack and went blind?  How many of you as a result of that can never drive a car again or walk up a steep flight of stairs without the risk of falling?

What did Jesus say about throwing stones Aramis? Aramis seems to suffer from that Sinhala syndrome of class envy.

 This is not the Tamil Eelam Gossip Column that attacks all Sinhala Leaders or this is not the National Enquirer which excoriates pop stars. TRy to use substance in your arguments.

As for compensation., are there any former landowners here who can attest to the value of the land acquired by the Land Reform Commission vs. the compensated amount and the speed and efficiency with which the compensation was provided to the erstwhile owners ?

RogerThis,
Dude, though I don't agree with some of your points (but not all) I really like the way you whipped the jokers here.

RogerThis wrote:

Even big Sinhala landowners were wiped out leaving the Tamils to own property anywhere and do business anywhere  in Sri Lanka while a sinhalese cannot own property in Jaffna.  What it did was to destroy the wealth of the Sinhalese because businesses were run by Indian Tamils, SL tamils, and moors because the spirit of entrepreneurship was more prevalent in the minorities.  

.

So did they allow Tamils to own more than 50 acres?  Grow up man.   Sinhalese can buy property in Jaffna if they want .  There is no law against it.  Sinhalese won't put up with the lack of good water and other facilities in Jaffna.  Colombo is the capital city.  So it attracts people and they buy properties there.  Of course they can also lose them in a flash.   The properties owned by Tamils in the Sinhalese areas have no protection.  Anytime those properties and lives can be destroyed with impunity.  Don't blame the minorities for their hard work and entreprenuership.

Congratulations Victor Ivan.  If not for you CBK would not have returned the land.

We need more Victor Ivans.
Now CBK must answer to all the corrupt deals she engineered during her eleven years in power - this is quite in order, as having lost her 'immunity' she can be sued for these now.
We all remember the Airbus Deal, Tawakkal Deal, Channel Nine Deal, Air Lanka Deal, French Locomotives Deal, P & O deal, French Horses Deal, Golf Course Deal, Evans Deal, Credit Card Deal, Cricketgate Deal, Galle Port Deal, Luxury Swimming Pool at Temple Trees, Lockheed C-130 Aircraft purchase from UK (which was grounded as unfit to fly) Deal, and Purchase of 48 Bullet Proof Cars for Rs 2.4 Billion from a Middleman.
She also made headlines with the Spy Video Camera in her Handbag which she took to cabinet meetings.
If she is not made to answer to these in courts, then there will be no justice in the land.

Subramaniam,
"Sinhalese can buy property in Jaffna if they want .  There is no law against it."

Haven't you heard of the Thesavalami law, it does prevent Sinhalese from buying land from Tamil populated areas.

Janaka wrote "...........She was not a corrupted leader at least compared to previous ones"

I dont agree with above statement.

Just two months ago it became clear that she showed interest in purchasing a royal mansion in London worth Rs 2 billion although the tabloid news paper later confirmed that she did not purchase it. Just a year ago when she was in power it was exposed that her Secretary/Advisor purchased (in his son's name) 5 properties in Melbourne worth around Rs 400 million.

Congratulations to Victor Ivon. He should be given a "Deshamanya" or some title for the real brave good work done to the country, or atleast be appointed as national list MP by one of the patriotic parties.

Unidentified_Gunman wrote:

Subramaniam,
"Sinhalese can buy property in Jaffna if they want .  There is no law against it."

Haven't you heard of the Thesavalami law, it does prevent Sinhalese from buying land from Tamil populated areas.

Tamil, will definitely, Thesawalamei is not a problem and you can buy land any where in the North.

But, will they allow us to be there without making CHOPS out of us and buried in the same land probably.

I am waiting to see the EQUAL Sri Lanka that we also can live any where in the Osland not only in the SOuth.

Janaka wrote:

She was not a corrupted leader at least compared to previous ones.  But asked lot, but failed to get anything.  

Being Not Corrupt was not one of Chandrika's virtues. She had many weaknesses. And was probably the most corrupt president we had of all time. She was not very honest either. And some of you have mentioned her drinking problems.

But she did have some sterling qualities of which the one I admired most was that she could ask people to go and stuff themselves, and she did it on a few occasions... a quality that is sadly lacking in MR, who is poised to overtake chandrika in some of the vices above. Returning the unlawful "gift" (which the cabinet had no right to "give" as it was not "theirs" to begin with) is a good sign for her and for the country.

Hats off to victor ivan for having the courage to take this to courts...  and getting a few judges to resign in the process... I hope he perseveres and gets Sanath Nanda to condemn the cabinet decision as unlawful.

Chandrika did not lose her husband for the sake of the country as some are trying to make out now. He was killed by the JVP, a party which later helped propel her party to win the elections recently. She was also compensated (more equally -alleged) for the 1000s of acres of land that apparently belonged to her (or her family was).

I don't think Chandrikas contribution (or lack of it) compares even closely to that of any soldier who was killed in the war with the LTTE (a war that made zillions for her and her cronies). Having (mis)ruled for 11 years, and having a cabinet of mostly lawyers, why did they not understand that it was illegal/immoral to steal peoples' property this way? I think all these thieves should be locked up alongside SB.

By the way, I still think she is sweet

Janaka wrote:

Again she is late.
She is too late alwsys as a habit.
She should have regected this offer at least 2-3 months before.  If it happened in that way she should have protected the good name of Bandaranayeke familly.  At least earned by donating thousands of acres of lands to government in 1970s in during her mothers' regim.

She was not a corrupted leader at least compared to previous ones.  
But asked lot, but failed to get anything.  So it is a failure.

Dear Janka,

You are correct when you say she is always late.  This a classic example of protest by media about this particular deals.. She might have thought like the cabinet that approves it, others might ignore it.  But sadly enough, it was not the case.  She returned it indicating that the endorsement by the cabinet was wrong.  So what this pupates who approve it going to say now?
'Naduth Hamuduruwange, baduth hamudururuwange"

Please also do not forget that she went all the way to pace at the very end.  More importantly she sacrificed one of eyes.  It is sad..