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One of the pioneer Indian newspapers, Hindustan Times reported that efforts are being made to get Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa as chief guest for the closing ceremony of the nineteenth edition of the Games.

This would be a sign of the extended support by the Indian Government towards Sri Lanka who are in a bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games

And that is supposed to offer confidence and help :lol: :lol: :lol:

If I was anyone to do with the Hambantota bid I'd run a million miles from anything that smacks of the Delhi and Indian schemozzle.

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No offense but, if any small and unexperienced city are hoping that they are gonna get the 2018 games, after the flop that was Delhi, they must be more naive than they look.

what GOLD COAST Queensland IS SMALL???? but have to agree they are 'unexperienced'

sri lanka have a chance because she got some experienced true friends

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Gold Coast has a population of 400,000 and comes from the country that organized the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and the Games of the XXVII Olympiad of Sydney 2000.

Hambantota has a SimCity video on YouTube of its non-existent international airport.

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what GOLD COAST Queensland IS SMALL???? but have to agree they are 'unexperienced'

sri lanka have a chance because she got some experienced true friends

Inexperienced? How, the state of Queensland hosts many major sporting events each year, Gold Coast has it's fair share of major sporting events such as hosting 2 (soon to be 3) major football sporting teams (from the various codes). Hosting a yearly marathon. Hosting that Indy 500 race or whatever. Gold Coast is not inexperienced.

As for Hambantota, the only major event I can think of is being designated as a host city for the Cricket World Cup. Sure, they get their funding from China, but the CGF will look at more than the money being thrown at them and choose the Gold Coast, as it's the safer more logical bid.

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Real Politic, Sri Lanka and Commonwealth games
For two consecutive days earlier this month, News from India grabbed the front page space in Singapore newspaper, Strait Times. This by itself was rather unusual, since any news about India is usually found somewhere in the deep interior of this news paper, India being very low on newsworthiness of Singapore readers. On top of that, the news items included big photographs showing uncleaned toilets and betel juice stained bath rooms from Athlete’s village in New Delhi. Even to an uninformed Indian like me, presently staying in Singapore, the message was clear and loud. New Delhi games were doomed.
Bad news kept on coming, as number of days to opening ceremony reduced to a number that could be counted by fingers of just one hand. First , a pedestrian bridge collapsed at the games venue. Then false roofing in some corner of some stadium gave way, when an electrician tried to walk on it. Finally a snake was caught in the games village. Some one from media decided that it was a King cobra. Many athletes started giving second thought about their trip to New Delhi. Some actually canceled the trip. Even Indian media were super active in self bashing. It appeared that something was seriously wrong with the preparation for the games.
As we came to penultimate day, suddenly all problems and difficulties started to dissolve as if by magic. The athletes from Australia, New zealand and England changed their tune and said the facilities were actually very good. The inauguration ceremony was superb. And the games got on.

Even during the games, very innovative complaints kept coming and disappearing. Swimming pool water not fit for humans, buses running slow and security is too tight. Same people had expressed doubts earlier regarding safety of the athletes as the security was lax..
The final closing ceremony was again a grand and fitting occasion to declare that the games are finally over. As I watched the closing ceremony live on TV,(surprisingly, Singapore TV showed both opening and closing ceremonies live), I saw a person sitting in VIP enclave, whose photograph I have seen many times in the papers. He was the present President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa. What the heck, this guy is doing here? I wondered. He never made any speech. Just sat there. Later, I found out the he was invited as a special guest by the organizing committee and Government of India. I then became very curious. There was something going on here.
The present Government of India is supported by DMK, a Tamil party. There are 67 million Tamil people living in India and many more in south east Asia. No one has complained about Mahindra Rajapaksa being present at the Delhi games. Only the British Tamil Forum spokesperson, Suren Surendiran, said in a dissenting voice, “It is a shame. The Commonwealth is mainly composed of developing countries and needs to apply international law and humane standards. Leaders say one thing and deliver something else” However it was clear that the Tamil people of the world had no objection to Mr. Rajapaksa’s presence at the games.
A weird explanation was given by some commentators about his presence. They thought that it was a coup of sorts. India has for long been unhappy with its tiny neighbours’ alliance with China and has been hard put to foster a greater dependency on India instead. The Sri Lankan alliance with China has seen multi-million dollar projects being financed and awarded to Chinese contractors. Soon after Rajapaksa was appointed President in 2005, the Chinese were awarded the Hambantota Port project, the first Phase of which is due to be inaugurated on November 19th, soon after President Rajapaksa takes his oaths beginning his second term as President. A number of other projects were also awarded to the Chinese, including the building of highways around the country. I feel that this whole argument is very absurd.
If India is indeed unhappy as these commentators feel, she would take some remedial measures. Surely inviting the president for a closing function is not going to win him over. This is obviously not the reason for this special invitation. There was something more to it.
During the games, South African swimmer Roalnd Schoeman had found himself in hot water when he made a comment about the antics of some spectators at the pool. He had said that ”people are going on like monkeys”.Commonwealth Games Federation president Mike Fennell immediately labelled the comments unacceptable, and Schoeman apologised if he offended anyone. He said that “There has been a terrible mistake. I was really disappointed by the way the Australian media blew things up. If I knew it was a racial slur, I wouldn’t have used the word (monkey),” “In South Africa, we use it all the time when people misbehave. And I only meant one individual. For the first time in my life I had someone scream out as we were going to start the 50m freestyle,” he said. Actually he had earlier tweeted that “The spectators have been fantastic here.”
Roalnd Schoeman’s comment really led me to the role of Australian media. Why were they trying to prove even before the games started that the New Delhi games have flopped. I recollected then, that right from beginning, the entire Australian and English media onslaught was trying to prove that New Delhi was incapable of hosting common wealth games. They were incompetent and poorly equipped to do this task. I checked the photographs of stained bathrooms and toilets again. All media photographs and videos showed only one building(Building no. 12), which was surely not completed, when the photos were taken. Why only this building was shown and not other buildings which were ready? Obviously there were some vested interests which were trying to prove that the games are non starters and even with a fantastic start, these would eventually turn in complete disaster just because some swimmer made some comment somewhere. Or some bus ran slow.
Mr Barton, a former prominent Brisbane TV anchorman from Australia was covering the Games along with 2000 other broadcasters from around the world. He has come up with some comments which can be treated as hilarious at the best. He says that “there was no food for media and only two hot drink dispensers for tea and coffee in the International Broadcast Centre. Even though The Indian Government has spent billions trying to make it work” Even after the games were completed successfully, he had these comments to offer. “Delhi has been riven with critical problems that have caused India international embarrassment — shoddy workmanship, poor organisation, transport chaos, a host broadcast that hangs by a thread (we are struggling to stabilise power at each venue) — and a volunteer program that has seen thousands go without uniforms and proper food,”
When I checked some other comments made by Mr. Barton, the whole game plan of Australian media was clear like a book. It appears that for Common wealth games to be held in 2018, there are two main serious bidders. Gold coast county in Australia and Sri lanka. The Australian media onslaught right from beginning, was trying to prove that no developing nation, even if it has got money, can do it. Only developed nations have the capability and the capacity to host the games. Since New Delhi Games are anyway complete failure, how could possibly Sri Lanka do it? This is what Mr. Barton had to say to about Sri Lanka’s capability to host the games. He believes that Sri Lanka’s 2018 Games bid was just a ‘public relations exercise to drive tourism numbers’.”… the idea that Hambantota — hours away from the capital Colombo over a broken road — could possibly stage the Commonwealth Games is a fantasy,”he futher said that “Colombo, (which has) a population of 2.5 million and established venues, would struggle to put on the Games. I produced sports in Sri Lanka for three years. They are not ready.”
It becomes as clear as sunlight, that the entire bad publicity given to the New Delhi games was clearly the brain child of Australian media to help Gold Coast county to win 2018 games. The international mainstream media did join them initially but later changed their point of view as games became big success. The Indians must have been aware of this game plan to discredit India and effectively snatch the 2018 games from Sri lanka. You can see now see why Mr. Mahendra Rajapaksa was invited for the closing ceremony. It was a clear indication of India’s support to Sri Lanka’s bidding for the 2018 games.
I am not trying to justify some of the shoddy things that were seen or done before the games started. The organizers did lot of good work also. But this is real politic at it’s worst.
However I feel sorry for the Indian media. They fell into the trap and started bashing the facilities and the organizers without any real verification of the facts. In the end, India got a bad name and Indian media showed that they are very naive in handling International affairs, even when the stage was India itself.
17th October 2010

this explains some members

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Let's be realistic...Hambantota is purely mounting a bid because it is tied in with the increasingly autocratic and despotic regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa (who surprise surprise calls this back water port his hometown electoral base) and who has already been involved in scandals involving the syphoning of aid which was supposed to be investigated by Sri Lankan CID officers until it was brought to a halt by Rajapaksa's influence on the Sri Lankan judicial system. This so-called bid from Hambantota (which makes Abuja look like the blueprint for future FIFA, IOC, ICC, CGF and literally every other sporting body plans) has about as much integrity as a $3 note.

Throw in the obvious manipulation of the Commonwealth Games by Rajapaksa's plans to use Chinese aid as a counterbalance to Indian influence (by the way who will actually profit from this farcical bid...the Chinese companies who are dominating both the local workforce and development partners) and the utter disrespect already demonstrated by the bid committee's decision to not even front up during Delhi and give credible evidence as to the capabilities of this absurd bid then it is a no brainer for Fennell. Ignore this cynical, politically tainted and unsupportable attempt to hijack what was supposed to be a gathering of the Commonwealth's sportsmen and women, turning it into some kind of payback to all of Rakapaksa's stooges and cronies.

And if you want further proof of this guess who is the chairman of the bid...Namal Rajapaksa, son of the President. Yep, in the same spirit that saw the likes of Saddam Hussein give his son Uday control over the Iraqi NOC or Benito Mussolini give his son Vittorio control of the Italian film industry, the esteemed President of Sri Lanka (whose regime has seen Sri Lanka sit at 97th on a ranking of global corruption, behind such paragons of virtue as Liberia, Albania and Moldova) deems Hambantota's bid obviously as part of the family business.

For the sake of the CG's this discredited and unworthy bid should be given the heave ho.

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Let's be realistic...Hambantota is purely mounting a bid because it is tied in with the increasingly autocratic and despotic regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa (who surprise surprise calls this back water port his hometown electoral base) and who has already been involved in scandals involving the syphoning of aid which was supposed to be investigated by Sri Lankan CID officers until it was brought to a halt by Rajapaksa's influence on the Sri Lankan judicial system. This so-called bid from Hambantota (which makes Abuja look like the blueprint for future FIFA, IOC, ICC, CGF and literally every other sporting body plans) has about as much integrity as a $3 note.

:lol: :lol: are you working with sri lanka s opposition or LTTE sympathisers well any way you are doing thier job of spreading lies.

Throw in the obvious manipulation of the Commonwealth Games by Rajapaksa's plans to use Chinese aid as a counterbalance to Indian influence (by the way who will actually profit from this farcical bid...the Chinese companies who are dominating both the local workforce and development partners) and the utter disrespect already demonstrated by the bid committee's decision to not even front up during Delhi and give credible evidence as to the capabilities of this absurd bid then it is a no brainer for Fennell. Ignore this cynical, politically tainted and unsupportable attempt to hijack what was supposed to be a gathering of the Commonwealth's sportsmen and women, turning it into some kind of payback to all of Rakapaksa's stooges and cronies.

whats wrong with Chinese aid, well hes is surely balancing china and India. well why the bid committee did not show up is already explained.i dont want to answer imagination stuff.

And if you want further proof of this guess who is the chairman of the bid...Namal Rajapaksa, son of the President. Yep, in the same spirit that saw the likes of Saddam Hussein give his son Uday control over the Iraqi NOC or Benito Mussolini give his son Vittorio control of the Italian film industry, the esteemed President of Sri Lanka (whose regime has seen Sri Lanka sit at 97th on a ranking of global corruption, behind such paragons of virtue as Liberia, Albania and Moldova) deems Hambantota's bid obviously as part of the family business.

Namal rajapaksa secured the highest number of votes in the Hambantota District he is the president son he is young guy a sportsman himself who do you rather want supporting this bid.chairman of the bid whats the source. sri lanka is better place to live than any other pace in SA OR ASIA.

well this continues to prove what i said about you

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So, the stooge mouthpiece from the oligarchic regime of Rajapaksa and Family (also trading as Hambantota Fake Bids Incorporated) states:

Namal rajapaksa secured the highest number of votes in the Hambantota District he is the president son he is young guy a sportsman himself who do you rather want supporting this bid.chairman of the bid whats the source. sri lanka is better place to live than any other pace in SA OR ASIA.

Well in light of this horror story of Tamil refugees escaping Sri Lanka I'm wondering where all the Japanese, Filipino, Indian, Thai, Nepalese, Vietnamese etc etc refugees will begin to swamp Australia and other western countries? After all if these people want to escape the paradise that is Sri Lanka then there must be billions wanting to flee their hell-holes.

I do like seeing ignorant uninformed unintelligent noob posters with about as much credibility as Joe Goebbels posting their hilarious pro patria posts. The spirit of JimJones lives on :P

Oh and by the way Papa Rajapaksa could take a few cues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Yung Il...if you want to get the next generation in on the ground floor of an autocracy start off with a huge military parade. Don't piss around with a Commonwealth Games bid that will go nowhere :lol:

Asylum seekers tell of their journey of death

Cindy Wockner and Gita Anggun Athika in Merak, West Java

From: The Daily Telegraph

October 20, 2010 10:36PM

A GROUP OF 85 Sri Lankan asylum seekers has told of a horror 45-day journey at sea trying to reach Australia and during which their boat broke down, they ran out of food, water and fuel and three people died.

The group, all Tamils, believes they had almost reached Christmas Island – their destination – when the boat’s GPS system broke down, the engine failed and they ran out of fuel.

They then drifted aimlessly for what they say was a dreadful 30 days with no food and water only the rain water they caught from the boat when it rained and fish they managed to catch. They believe they drifted back into Indonesian waters, before running aground on Panaitan Island near Krakatau Volcano, from where they were eventually rescued.

Two young men died during this time – drowning as they tried to swim from their vessel to nearby fishing boat to get help. Another woman died when the boat ran aground and she was crushed on the rocks.

The group, which includes children aged two to 14 years, was rescued and brought ashore by Indonesian water police. News Ltd was allowed onto the water police vessel to interview the group before they were taken ashore at Merak, in West Java and then to a detention centre in Jakarta.

Wearing haunted looks, some of the children cried in pain and complained of sickness, others had no shoes and no possessions and had barely eaten. One woman showed a terribly scarred arm, she said, the result of a bomb attack in her native land and the reason she decided to flee with her husband and two children.

Another young boy told News Ltd he and his mother had come on the boat. His father was killed in bombings. Another man with a prosthetic leg said he too had been the victim of a bombing.

Banten water police chief Budi Hermawan said the police had already co-ordinated with Australian Federal Police based in Jakarta about the asylum seekers and the AFP would co-ordinate further when the group was taken to Jakarta.

He said when the group was found by his men they had been very weak.

The group, which includes 15 women and 18 children, were taken to an Indonesian Immigration detention centre. Evacuating them from the island, where they were first found on Saturday, had been hampered by bad weather conditions.

The boatload of Sri Lankans is the second boat in the past week to have been stopped by Indonesian authorities. Another, with Afghans, Iraqis and Iranians on board was stopped on the weekend after breaking down near Yogyakarta.

The Banten water police chief, Budi Hermawan, said initial investigations revealed that the group had left Sri Lanka on August 31.

He said they are believed to have paid $2000 US to a Sri Lankan people smuggler called Shiba and that the children’s passages had been free. It is not clear why.

But no-one in the group spoken to by News Ltd would confirm how much they had paid for their journey or how they had organised it. The boat left from Mannar in Sri Lanka and the crew was, according to them, asylum seekers themselves who knew about boats.

Rajavarman, a 29-year-old, who was driving the boat said they had been told the journey would take 15 days from Sri Lanka to Christmas Island and that for the first 15 days everything went smoothly.

He believes they were close to Christmas Island and Australian terrority when the GPS broke, the engine had trouble and eventually they ran out of fuel. The boat was then at the mercy of the wind, drifting aimlessly.

Eventually the food and water supplies also ran out and the group was desperate, everyone sick with vomiting and diarrhea.

The only water they then had was when it rained, which was not every day.

“The second day after we missed Christmas Island we ran out of diesel and we were just drifting,” Rajavarman said.

“For (the next) 30 days we didn’t know if we still had life. The worst thing is fear because we don’t know if we are going to live or die.”

When they eventually got to Panaitan Island the group searched the island for food, eating snails, coconuts, fruit and nuts. They were eventually found by forestory workers who alerted police.

The group says about 15 of them are still on the island and have yet to be found.

The group of minority Tamils says they wanted to escape persecution in their homeland and that they feared for their lives and that their children had no future unless they left. Australia, they said, offered all this to them.

Sridevi showed us her awfully scarred arm – a result of a bombing. She came with her husband, son and daughter on the boat. She has no idea what will happen to them now, but vows she will “never go back” to Sri Lanka.

Australia, she said, was the place that could offer them all a future.

Rathakeethan, a little boy with a big smile and very good English, told us: “We can’t live properly in Sri Lanka. We want to study, be peaceful, joyful and happiness with my mother and father. We want to go to Australia. In Sri Lanka they are putting bombs. My life was going to be in Australia, Australia.”

His mother Keetha insisted she had risked her son’s life on a boat journey for life and a future.

“For my life, we want life, my child’s life,”she said in response to questions about the reason for wanting to go to Australia.

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FIRST OF ALL FIND FROM WHERE ARE THIS bogus asylum seekersCOMING FROM AND READ THIS ALSO

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has urged the Australian government to get tough with asylum-seekers amid claims most illegal asylum-seekers return home within a year, The Australian said

The call by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa came as terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said 70 per cent of Tamils granted asylum in Australia and Canada had returned to Sri Lanka for a visit.

Mr Rajapaksa said the navy and police, now with the command of the seas around the island, had stopped the flow of boats from Sri Lanka's shores. "We have not recently had a single case of people going from here in boats to seek asylum," he said.

Now, instead, people travel to third countries by air and set off from there, he told The Australian.

Mr Rajapaksa, the brother of the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda, said that after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May last year after a 26-year insurgency there was no reason for Tamils to seek asylum overseas. "There is no reason why anybody should leave Sri Lanka out of any fear. They have the freedom to live anywhere," said the former lieutenant colonel, who narrowly escaped a suicide bombing attempt on his life four years ago. "When people come to know that countries are sympathetic and give them asylum, it is very difficult to stop.

"The Australian government has to be very strict on anybody to whom they are considering granting asylum. If they just stopped giving asylum, it would be much easier to stop this process."

The Singapore-based Professor Gunaratna described the Defence Secretary -- a 20-year army veteran, brought back by his brother from a successful information technology career in California to mastermind the defeat of the Tamil Tigers -- as "the second-most powerful man in Sri Lanka". "It doesn't really matter to Sri Lanka whether these people leave or not. But for Australia, it does. Seventy per cent of those who have been granted refugee status in Australia or Canada then return to visit Sri Lanka within one year," he said.

Mr Rajapaksa said that some Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres escaped the final collapse of their military campaign. "We know there are a few groups trying to continue the fight in a different form.

"Obviously there could be a re-grouping in other countries. So the Australian government has to be very careful in deploying its intelligence agencies on this issue."

He said Sri Lanka had been working "very closely" with Australia, "especially on human smuggling", with visits by Australian police and naval officials.

Mr Rajapaksa said that the Sri Lankan government had been unable to match the "heavy propaganda and lobbying"of the Tamil diaspora, influenced by the Tigers, in many Western countries including Australia.

The government has invited opinion leaders of that diaspora to visit Sri Lanka as it emerges from the war, and to visit centres of past conflict. Those who had gone, including some from Australia, had "returned pleased." (The Australian)

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A little more on the Sinhalese answer to Papa Doc Duvalier and co and the friendly Kim family from north of the 38th parallel:

Rise of Sri Lankan President’s son Namal Rajapaksa sparks concern

Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

Modesty is apparently not a strong point for Namal Rajapaksa, the 23-year-old son of the Sri Lankan President – and scion of Asia’s newest political dynasty.

His web site says: “A future leader with a friendly spirit and possessing good values is what comes to mind when meeting the dashing and smashing, young Namal Rajapaksa.”

No matter that the keen rugby player only achieved a third class law degree when he graduated from London’s City University in September.

Namal clearly plans to follow the footsteps of his father, Mahinda, who was an MP at 24, and defeated his former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, in a presidential election last month.

Last week -- following General Foneka’s arrest -- Namal was accepted by his father’s party as a candidate in parliamentary elections on April 8, joining dozens of other relatives in government and politics.

There are even rumours that he could take over the politically powerful position of Custodian of the Temple of the Tooth – Sri Lanka’s holiest Buddhist shrine.

Namal’s meteoric rise was hailed last week in a eulogy on the official government news portal, entitled “The Doctrine of Namal Rajapaksa – Activism and Positivism in Politics”.

For most Sri Lankans, it came as no surprise: Namal campaigned alongside his father and used an NGO he runs to fund a lavish television advertising campaign promoting the incumbent.

For many, however, his political debut -- and the personality cult surrounding it -- are worrying indications of the demise of South Asia’s oldest democracy.

Over the last fortnight, international concern has focused on the arrest of General Fonseka, who led the army to defeat the Tamil Tiger rebels last year, on charges of plotting a coup.

But equally troubling is the Rajapaksa clan’s ever-tightening grip on power -- especially if the ruling coalition wins a two-thirds majority in April, allowing it to change the constitution.

Alan Keenan, of the International Crisis Group, said Mahinda had reason to surround himself with family when he came to power in 2005 as he faced many political enemies and the threat of assassination by the Tigers.

"Up to a point, it was understandable. But now it does seem to have reached an extreme level - and with real dangers," he said.

"There's always been corruption, but businessmen in Colombo now complain it's got to the point where you have to know a Rajapaksa to get something done. That's unprecedented."

As well as being President, Mahinda heads four ministries. Gotabaya, his younger brother, is Defence Secretary. Basil, another younger brother, is an MP and presidential advisor. Chamal, the oldest brother, heads two ministries.

With dozens more relatives in prominent positions, the net result is that the Rajapaksas control an estimated 70 percent of the national budget.

Now Namal is being touted as a potential successor to his father, whose second and final term will end in 2016.

Supporters say this is no different from the Gandhis in India, the Bhuttos in Pakistan, or the Kennedys and the Bushes in the U.S.

They point out that Solomon Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister, was succeeded by his wife, who was then followed by their daughter.

T.C.Rajaratnam, who wrote last week’s official eulogy, suggested Namal would rejuvenate the cabinet much as the Miliband brothers had in Britain.

“I submit that he deserves much more than the post of a Cabinet Minister for he is the only man who has gone through the miles in Sri Lanka,” he wrote.

“His style is unique and incomparable. If Sri Lanka has to develop at a rapid pace then Namal Rajapaksa should have the controlling authority.”

Critics, however, say such eulogies smack of the kind of personality cult surrounding Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader.

They are equally uncomfortable with efforts to portray Mahinda as Dutugemunu, a legendary Sinhalese king.

They are also troubled by the rumours about Namal becoming custodian of the Temple of the Tooth even though the incumbent is only two years into a 10-year term.

“The plan of the Rajapaksa regime is to perpetuate a dynasty,” said one expert on Sri Lankan Buddhism who declined to be identified.

“The custodian is the closest thing Sri Lanka has to a king, so this is an ideal way to cultivate an image of royalty.”

Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty

  • Mahinda President, Minister of Finance, Media, Religious Affairs & Moral Upliftment, Highways and Road Development
  • Gotabaya (younger brother) Secretary of ministries of Defence, Public Security, and Law and Order
  • Basil (older brother) MP and senior presidential adviser on economic and international affairs
  • Chamal (older brother) Minister of Ports and Aviation and Minister of Irrigation and Water Management
  • Shashindra (Chamal’s son) MP and Chief Minister of Uva province
  • Jaliya Wickramasuriya (Mahinda’s first cousin) Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States
  • Udayanga Weeratunga (Mahinda’s first cousin) Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia
  • Kapila Dissanayake (Mahinda’s cousin) councillor of Southern Province and President’s co-ordinating secretary in Hambantota

Ever get the feeling dealing with Hambantota's CG Bid will be like a Sri Lankan episode of 'The Sorpanos'?

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Oh and just in case anyone except for semi-literate indoctrinated family members or cronies of the Rajapaksa Clan still think that Hambantota reflects the best values of the CGs here is a link and a couple of key paragraphs from the Sri Lanka Guardian (which goes to show that even in the decline of personal freedoms some media organs are willing to remind people in power that they are accountable for their crimes):

A War Criminal concluding the CWG is the best it could go!

by Avinash Pandey Samar

(October 17, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka was the guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010, New Delhi. He presided over the extravagant ceremony that would declare the arrival of India on the big stage, conclusively.

Presiding over something is nothing new for the President. He has presided over the last leg of the decades long civil war leading to the final victory of the Sri Lankan state over the rebels. In doing that, he has presided over countless cases of extrajudicial killings, of torture, of illegal abductions and of course disappearances. It goes without saying that the victims were almost all civilians, trying to run away from equally barbarous rebels - the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Organising Committee (OC) of the Commonwealth Games 2010(CWG), duly supported by the provincial and central levels, has presided over a similar exercise in quality even if not in degree. Forced to work and live under the most inhuman conditions, more than 60 workers have died at CWG worksites, a number not really incomparable to the Sri Lankan war if one looks at the numbers involved.

The war in Sri Lanka was fought on enormous costs, all of that unaudited, unaccounted. There have been reports that part of the money to wage the war came from the humanitarian relief the Sri Lankan government received from international agencies and governments....

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the article dates February 22, 2010 any way you are going to a such a low level and off the topic. the very reason im and everyone here is to talk about games bid . why dont you find some political forum to waste your time :)

:D :D Well considering the brave and dashing son of Rajapaksa is at the core of the bid, and he couldn't get off his no doubt well tailored arse to present a full report on why a backwater port smaller than every other previous or future CG host city with no infrastructure and with no quantifiable or qualifiable sporting value is worthy of the CGF's vote during the Delhi farce, and this same glorified township is to the Sri Lankan ruling family like Agrigento or Syracuse are to the Mafia, then everything about this bid is political. Nothing about it has any merits in terms of benefiting sport, the athletes, the Commonwealth Games movement and the dispossessed of a third world country. This is a joke bid, a dud bid, the bid you have when you don't have a bid, a bid with about as much credibility as a FIFA exec saying "Of course I can't be bought."

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So, what odds now that the familes and cronies of Rajapaksa (or as they are known to fans of the work of the Commonwealth Games Federation and Mario Puzo, the Hambantota crew) are looking for a way to get at the dope testers now that the sole Sri Lankan gold medallist at the Delhi farce turned out out be a cheat:

Sri Lankan positive test could give Wales third Commonwealth gold medal

24 October 2010

October 24 - Sri Lanka's only gold medalist at this month's Commonwealth Games, boxer Manju Wanniarachchi, has failed a drugs test and could be stripped of his medal and it awarded to WelshmanSean McGoldrick instead , it was revealed today.

New Delhi Commonwealth Games organisers informed Sri Lanka on Saturday that Wanniarachchi, 30, had tested positive for the performance-enhancing steroid nandrolone, an official in Sri Lanka told news agency AFP.

"We were told at the weekend and are hoping to inform the Sports Ministry on Monday and then make a formal announcement," the official said.

"It is possible that the boxer did not know he had taken nandrolone.

"This is something we expect the Sports Ministry to investigate and as things stand, we are not going to challenge the findings of the Commonwealth Games organisers."

The Lakbima News newspaper said organisers had also informed the boxer of the result with his urine A-sample.

Wanniarachchi had beaten 18-year-old McGoldrick from Newport in the final of the bantamweight category to clinch the gold and give Sri Lanka its first boxing gold in 72 years.

The boxer can request a B-sample test. If the outcome remains unchanged, he risks being stripped of his gold medal and could face a two-year ban from all competition.

Wanniarachchi would be the fifth competitor to test positive at the Commonwealth Games and the second gold medallist, following Nigeria's Damola Osayemi, who had won the 100 metres but was stripped of the title.

Two other tests also involved Nigerian athletes and another saw an Indian disqualified.

McGoldrick would become Wales' third gold medallist of the Games, joining Dai Greene, who won the 400m hurdles, and Robert Weale, who won the men's singles in lawn bowls.

Guess that must give the families and friends of the Rajapaksa oligarchy pause for thought...unless they're too busy enjoying their receipt of free tickets to upcoming 2011 one day world cup games held at, yes you guessed it... The Mahinda Rajapaksa International Stadium of Hambantota.

Even Kalmadi didn't have the buffoonish ego to name a stadium after himself :lol: :lol:

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Amazing...here's another Sri Lankan who is able to wade through the fog of delusion (admittedly he got lost calling this dud bid the frontrunner) and see that for all the Rajapaksan patronage Hambantota is redundant in the 2018 race:

Lessons To Be Learnt For The Hambantota Games

The noveau riche (new rich) always try to keep up with the Joneses. We Sri Lankans are noveau riche now — at least we are told so. We are about to be placed in the ‘middle income’ group of countries. Ours is a Land of the Rising GDP.

The sun is shining through the monsoon clouds; stock market is ticking away like a tourist hotel taxi meter. Airports and harbours are being opened up like bus stands and public toilets, roads are being widened and improved to make them fit enough for Formula One racing and double the number of people killed earlier. Flyovers are flying over despite the caustic comments of Ravi Karunanayake. Everything is rosy in the garden of Mahinda Rajapaksa except of course that Rosy, the loyal UNPer, is still in Ranil’s garden.

Can’t say paang

And like the noveau riche we have to keep up with the Joneses next door — the Indians. They staged the 72 nation Commonwealth Games this month. Never mind it was a rotten show but it could well be our turn to host the next Commonwealth Games in 2018. Also forget the fact that they are a sub-continent with 1.2 billion people and with some of the richest in the world — the Tatas, Ambanis and Mittals — having had growth rates of around 8 per cent GDP for years. We are not a sub-continent but only a speck in the Indian Ocean but we are a mighty atom.

Our growth rate was only 4 per cent last year but our wizard in the Central Bank, Cabraal says next year we will be hovering around 7 per cent. Officially we don’t have billionaires but unofficially it is anybody’s guess. In this blooming and booming democratic (some say autocratic) capitalist nirvana everything appears to be heavenly save we have not had our favourite pol sambol and paang for months, with a coconut at Rs. 50 and a paang gedi also around Rs. 50. These are mere aberrations in an efficient capitalist economy moving smoothly, we are told.

If NZ can’t, yes we can

2018 may seem a long way off, but we are the front runners to host the next Commonwealth Games (CWG). A recent issue of the Sunday Star Times of Auckland (October 20) says that the New Zealand government had cried a halt to the country’s bid to host the Games in Auckland and thanks God for it. Auckland could have easily hosted the event with the ‘only likely rival being Hambantota in Sri Lanka’ and even though reasons for hosting the games were compelling on paper, the problem was that the government had estimated a net loss of $ 600 million, the paper says.

We are not aware of the cost of the Hambantota Games but perhaps New Zealand estimates could give us an approximate indication. But why should we follow these foreigners? We are a sovereign and independent nation. Never mind the billions of dollars.

(snip)

Reality and illusions

There are lessons to be learnt from sports jamborees as well as political jamborees. A basic lesson is that irrespective of the billions of dollars spent on attempts at showcasing, it can only result in the true mirror image being exposed.

Breaking down of huts of the poor, translocating beggars to places where they cannot be seen, covering up hideous sites with delightfully painted canvasses cannot hide the state of the country. Perhaps Minister A.H.M. Fowzie, one of the last survivors of the much drummed up non aligned conference (he was called Pelpath Kadapi) held in Colombo and can tell about it all to precocious young bucks like Namal Rajapaksa that transforming reality into fantasies — however much the amount of dollars spent — is an impossibility.

Before commitment to the tantalizing prospect of the Hambantota Games is made, it is essential to consider whether such games can be held in a rural backwater with a scant population despite recent constructions and all the family enthusiasm. Can Sri Lanka afford to spend millions or even billions of dollars for an event that will last only a few days and soon be forgotten? For whose benefit is all this? Do we have enough funds to go on such extravaganzas while around 45 per cent of the people are below the poverty line? Have we forgotten austerity in public life?

Hambantota 2018...the rural backwater in a poor third world country candidate...you know it makes (non)sense :D

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A little more on the Sinhalese answer to Papa Doc Duvalier and co and the friendly Kim family from north of the 38th parallel:

Ive been reading this thread but I decided to register since I felt that some of your comments were unacceptable. The fact that you are dragging a whole race (ie Sinhalese) into this discussion is wrong. I dont see the need for this discussion to go so off topic.

Whilst I agree that the Gold Coast in all likelihood will be the host of the 2018 Games (and will be a good host if awarded), you should at least give the Hambantota bid a chance. The fact that they didnt show up to the delegation meeting is a bit of a set back, but they pulled off a big coup by having the President at the Delhi closing ceremony. The fact that he was at the closing ceremony probably gave the Hambantota bid more publicity than if they addressed the delegates. Face it, no one cares that much about the Commonwealth Games bid process except for a few people like us.

Also no Chairman has been appointed for the 2018 Hambantota bid, AFAIK. The man who is heading the bid and made the excuse about not showing up in Delhi is Nalin Attygalle: http://insidethegames.biz/commonwealth-games/2018/10791-exclusive-hambantota-presentation-would-have-been-seen-as-qattack-on-close-friend-indiaq

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You know what Vader, I'm happy to concede the actual official designation of the son of the saviour of Sri Lanka as not being chairman, but having looked (dare I say in vain) for any organisational details on the Hambantota board/committee on the official web site (where Namal's fingerprints are all over the bid like a rash on a baby's arse) he is part and parcel of the bid. And considering that the Gold Coast has its bid board in place and is fully detailed (and guess what, none of them are related to the Governor General or PM of Australia) I know which bid has the more credible and organised structures.

As for calling Rajapaksa Sinhalese guess what...that is what he is. And his policies of silencing the opposition whilst conducting the rooting out and destruction of a racial opposition (who in themselves were committed to acts of similar barbarity) ranks him alongside the likes of 3rd world despots who want to put his familial grab for power above the needs of his people. Frankly he could be Tamil, Dravidian, Aryan, Sikh, Mongol, Caucasian whatever...his racial background is not a reflection of the worth of his ethic grouping. It is what he is trading on to pork barrel and promote his own autocratic ascension to power.

But of course let's make sure that the CGF accepts the bid from the backwater underdeveloped port of Hambantota...hell, even Harare can nominate. But don't expect to hide the bid behind inconvenient truths about the political background behind the bid.

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You know what Vader, I'm happy to concede the actual official designation of the son of the saviour of Sri Lanka as not being chairman, but having looked (dare I say in vain) for any organisational details on the Hambantota board/committee on the official web site (where Namal's fingerprints are all over the bid like a rash on a baby's arse) he is part and parcel of the bid.

Im not disputing whether Namal is part of the bid. I merely said that he wasnt Chairman.

As for calling Rajapaksa Sinhalese guess what...that is what he is.

It sounded like you used some stereotypes and articles from the media to say that all Sinhalese are bad. Hopefully you didnt mean that. :)

But of course let's make sure that the CGF accepts the bid from the backwater underdeveloped port of Hambantota...hell, even Harare can nominate. But don't expect to hide the bid behind inconvenient truths about the political background behind the bid.

Well a lot of Sri Lankans look at the current President as having defeated terrorism and having started development programs, something that no previous leader had the guts to do. Case in point- the new coal power plant. All the NIMBYs were up in arms over pollution, even though electricity prices doubled due to their stunts. The President overrode them and built the power plant anyway. As such electricity prices can be reduced. Compare his actions to the current lot in Sydney Australia. They dont have a backbone to do the same thing. Otherwise they couldve saved a billion dollars in constructing the Epping- Chatswood Railway (instead of pandering to the NIMBYs by building an additional tunnel).

As such most people in Sri Lanka are happy with the progress the country has taken so far, and people like gamesSL idolise him (or seem to at least).

BTW are you Sri Lankan? You seem to know a bit about the country and its recent history.

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It sounded like you used some stereotypes and articles from the media to say that all Sinhalese are bad. Hopefully you didnt mean that. :)

Well a lot of Sri Lankans look at the current President as having defeated terrorism and having started development programs, something that no previous leader had the guts to do. Case in point- the new coal power plant. All the NIMBYs were up in arms over pollution, even though electricity prices doubled due to their stunts. The President overrode them and built the power plant anyway. As such electricity prices can be reduced. Compare his actions to the current lot in Sydney Australia. They dont have a backbone to do the same thing. Otherwise they couldve saved a billion dollars in constructing the Epping- Chatswood Railway (instead of pandering to the NIMBYs by building an additional tunnel).

As such most people in Sri Lanka are happy with the progress the country has taken so far, and people like gamesSL idolise him (or seem to at least).

BTW are you Sri Lankan? You seem to know a bit about the country and its recent history.

Not Sri Lankan LV, just an Aussie who has read quite a bit and tries to do at least some research before posting (sometimes not 100% spot on but hey, this ain't a court of law :) )

As for the Sinhalese aspect, there is no way that I would associate that with negative values against those of its ethnicity (just as I wouldn't have a go at the Tamils based on their racial heritage). What I do find objectionable though is petty proto-dictators, despots, autocrats and political thugs who will play the race card as part of their own attempt to either attain or consolidate their grip on power. Rajapaksa and his family and cronies have exploited their brutally successful war against the LTTE to increase their own political and economic prestige, and this has without a doubt been irrevocably linked with their Sinhalese ethnicity. Throw in the absurd situation of a Commonwealth Games bid inspired by one part of the family in a small backwater port, where the proposed international sports centre is getting the same kind of self-referential naming as used by the likes of Chavez, Kim Il Sung, Saparmurat Niyazov, Ghaddafi etc to glorify the same President who has a growing list of humanitarian rights concerns and then you get an idea why I oppose this bid.

Having said that what should be the crunch factor and the CGF has already been down this path before with Delhi is that with the Sri Lankan poverty level of approximately $A28 a month for basic requirements, and with 45% of the population living on less than $2 a day it is simply immoral and economically criminal to have a third world country's oligarch's throw a billion dollar festival for the elite of local society. Hell, considering the economic woes of Queensland it seems fatuous and negligent for the Gold Coast 2018 bid to be mounted as well. However the vast majority of Australians would have no problems receiving social benefits and living without crushing poverty. For the Sri Lankans to court a CGs when billions is being pumped into their society by foreign aid agencies and whilst they have massive internal and external refugee dislocation seems at best wrong and at worst criminally extravagant.

Sad to say when you get certain folk in this forum like gamesSL who are patriotic to the point of jingoistic arrogance they think they are the victims of some nefarious western and white conspiracy to keep their developing country on the fringes of global significance. Some Indian posters were like that about Delhi 2010. Unfortunately they are so besotted with this faux anti-colonialism plus the need to swagger on the stage of world events through of all things a Commonwealth Games they forget that there is a significant portion of their own countrymen and women who either are crushed by poverty, social division, or feel obliged to flee to countries such as Australia.

Finally if you take a look at my other posts you'll see I have a somewhat dubious perspective on the Commonwealth Games anyway. It reeks of amateurism and past glories, with diminished relevance in the sporting calendar. For Sri Lankans to get so worked up and so committed economically and politically to something that is of specious value seems simply wrong.

As the Roman satirist Juvenal said of the late first century empire, the way to distract the masses is 'panem et circensis'...bread and circuses. Rajapksa's little mafia-like family is following this maxim to the letter.

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Not Sri Lankan LV, just an Aussie who has read quite a bit and tries to do at least some research before posting (sometimes not 100% spot on but hey, this ain't a court of law :) )

Haha nice! :)

As for the Sinhalese aspect, there is no way that I would associate that with negative values against those of its ethnicity (just as I wouldn't have a go at the Tamils based on their racial heritage).

No problems, alls good now.

Having said that what should be the crunch factor and the CGF has already been down this path before with Delhi is that with the Sri Lankan poverty level of approximately $A28 a month for basic requirements, and with 45% of the population living on less than $2 a day it is simply immoral and economically criminal to have a third world country's oligarch's throw a billion dollar festival for the elite of local society.

I honestly dont mind what happens. Whilst I like a Hambantota bid to go ahead, that $3 billion could be used to build some nice new railways and houses. Then again if Hambantota wins, they have the opportunity to carve out a world class sports village with Chinese assistance, which should be quite good. Remember by 2018, Hambantota Port and Airport will also be fully constructed so it should have some infrastructure. Also, the whole Hambantota district (ie population of 500000) is hosting the games, not just the city of 15000 people. But we have to wait and see what happens.

Some Indian posters were like that about Delhi 2010.

Haha there was one guy who denied that the buildings were of bad quality, and he was highly offended when I suggested so lol. That despite a footbridge collapsing and a roof falling. Anyway it went well for them in the end so no use whining.

Finally if you take a look at my other posts you'll see I have a somewhat dubious perspective on the Commonwealth Games anyway. It reeks of amateurism and past glories, with diminished relevance in the sporting calendar. For Sri Lankans to get so worked up and so committed economically and politically to something that is of specious value seems simply wrong.

Yes, I agree the CWG are almost a non event. That said there seems to be a lot of support for a bid from within Sri Lanka. Read their Facebook pages and compare the amount of fans to the Gold Coast one.

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@eusebius65:

If your interested it looks like a Hambantota bid committee has now been formed:

http://www.dailynews.lk/2010/10/29/news20.asp

Thanks LV...and nice to see that the Rajapaksa Damily Bandwagon just keeps a-rolling along. :lol:

One thing...where are all those superstar Sri Lankan athletes who are emigres right now? It sounds like the Rajapaksamafia want to gather up anyone from LTTE ex-operatives/refugees to secretive champion synchronised swimmers back to the Fatherland now that all is sunny and happy in Sri Lanka. Amazing what a little visit to the world of sports bidding does for migration patterns :P

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sri Lanka seeks advisor for Commonwealth Games bid

Nov 09, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka seeks to hire a consultancy firm to advise the government on its bid to stage the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the southern city of Hambantota, the central bank said.

Central bank governor Nivard Cabraal has been appointed to head an organizing committee which will handle the island's bid, it said in a statement.

The committee wants to hire a "reputed consultancy firm" to advise and assist it in the preparation of its bid document and manage other logistics in relation to the Commonwealth Games in 2018, it said.

It will receive and evaluate Expressions of Interest from suitably qualified and competent consultancy firms who have expertise and experience in the subject.

LBO.LK

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Sri Lanka seeks advisor for Commonwealth Games bid

Nov 09, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lanka seeks to hire a consultancy firm to advise the government on its bid to stage the Commonwealth Games in 2018 in the southern city of Hambantota, the central bank said.

Central bank governor Nivard Cabraal has been appointed to head an organizing committee which will handle the island's bid, it said in a statement.

The committee wants to hire a "reputed consultancy firm" to advise and assist it in the preparation of its bid document and manage other logistics in relation to the Commonwealth Games in 2018, it said.

It will receive and evaluate Expressions of Interest from suitably qualified and competent consultancy firms who have expertise and experience in the subject.

LBO.LK

Well now that that friend of President Rajapaksa Mr Kalmadi is looking for work perhaps he can be brought in to share some of Delhi's insights with the First Family of Hambantota to guide their path to CG glory :P

But then again, we can't have any distraction from how well organised and successful Kalmadi's Kapers in Delhi were can we...what if Hambantota actually kept defecating dogs out of their planned village for example.... :o

Furthermore, considering the involvement of Cabraal's family with the Sri Lankan Duce, and their ability to form scandalous pyramid schemes and get the investigations into such schemes dropped (as reported here) methinks the whole extended happy Hambantota family won't need outsiders after all. Why outsource when you can keep the dosh and the puffed egos at home...

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