Talk:Mahinda Rajapaksa

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[edit] Neutrality

This article is becoming against the pereson in question, see its recent history.--Happyhaydn 13:43, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

This article is being used a proproganda in support of Rajapaksa and is factually incorrect. The most apprent is the continued insistence of Rajapaksa's pro-peace stance and the removal of any critisism of Rajapaksa and his current governemt. Gtjlaw 05:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)Gtjlaw

[edit] Moving

I moved Mahinda Rajapakse to Mahinda Rajapaksa because that's how his official website refers to him. see http://www.primeminister.gov.lk/. Greenleaf 07:05, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

Has he changed his name or its transliteration? There is still 10 times more hits in google for Rajapakse than Rajapaksa... aegis maelstrom δ 00:21, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
No, his family uses Rajapaksa. There are Rajapakse's who are not connected to Rajapaksa's.

Kadirgamar WAS a Member of Parliament. 220.247.240.241 14:25, 28 October 2005 (UTC)

test jbhv 68.162.208.246 22:28, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Is he president AND prime minister at the moment? Adam 01:29, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Acting career?

It is surprising to see that nothing is available in the article about his acting career. I am just mentioning the fact and a ref in the article, with the hope that it would be expanded later. --Gurubrahma 17:20, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Added reference and removed POV tag

Shortened the paragraph about the alledged diverted fund, added a BBC link and thus removed the POV tag - should be more balanced now I believe. Ulflarsen 14:34, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Human Rights Abuse Section

Added section on human right abuses since the President Mahinda Rajapakse coming to power. US State Department, Human Rights Watch, The UN, Reporters without Borders, SLMM, Asian Human Rights Commission all have reported on the gross human rights violations by the new regime. Can't argue all of these organizations noted above have a biased point of view including the UN. I am sure not everyone is going to like this but, these are credible sources, with credible allegations including countries and organizations considered friends/strong allies of Lanka.

Trincomanb 02:40, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

I disagree. Please quote any thing that states Mahinda Rajapaksa or his government has abuses human rights from US State Department or UN. Supermod 22:17, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Human Rights abuses

The article should not start with this section. Even Hitler's article doesn't start with the Holocaust! Should start with a bio, history in government, etc., then these abuses. Starting with this is clearly biases the article.

I have moved the abuses section to the end as has been suggested.

Trincomanb 11:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

The most fo the humanright violations which wrere mentioned in the paragraph is done mostly by the LTTE or their separate party Karuna fraction. So it's unfair to accuse the goverment for other ogarnization's crimes.

[edit] SLMM Statement

Ulf Henricsson said the following in an interview to govt. owned Sunday Observer (May 7th 2006), quoted by Tamilnet [1]:

Speaking on the controversy surrounding SLMM's press release which "charged the SLA of extra-judicial killing," and later "toning down of the statement" after discussions with Colombo, the Retired General said, "we still feel that [security forces are involved with extra-judicial killing]." He then added that after talking to Colombo, "we hedged that avoiding going back on the issue."

"We never said it was security force as a whole, we think there are parts of it, small groups or individuals, we don't know. That is why we said individuals belonging to the security forces are involved. Involved, does not mean they have done it. But they have not done anything to prevent it. They have not seen anything. They have not heard anything that is a problem. If you can commit a murder one hundred meters from the check point and if they don't see anything, don't feel anything, that is a cause for concern. That is the problem," Henricsson explained.

Trincomanb 22:41, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] He is of Karave caste ?

User Supermod (1. He is from the GOVI caste. And caste is not important in this world, may be except for tamils. 2. Human rights? He has to defend the country as the president from the terrorists. Discuss on talk p) The above comment is propagandist very least and racist if not. Caste is of very important factor is Sri lankan politics. The Politics of New Sinhalese of South Indian origin versus traditional Sinhalese has been commented upon by sociologists who study Sri Lanka. Because his last name is that of Soldiers of ertswhile kingdoms shared by many coastal New Sinhalese from South India who are very active in Sinhala nationalistic politics as observed216.95.23.114 03:48, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

He is of the Karawe caste and should be proud of it. He is the saviour of low caste people. We want him for that. Mahinda Rajapakse is from the karave caste.

Who said so? He is from the southern part of Sri Lanka. His family has owned most of lands in the area. He is from the Govi caste.

[edit] Moving dubious content to talk page

The following section is dubious. I don't believe anyone notable has held President Rajapaksa responsible for any of the following.

  • Human Rights Watch has accused the Sri Lankan government headed by President Mahinda Rajapakse of complicity and failure to respond to widespread anti-Tamil violence (pogrom) in Trincomalee town [2].
  • The UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings noted circumstantial evidence of widespread government (headed by Mahinda Rajapakse) extrajuidicial killings of Tamil civilians [3].
  • SLMM Mission head, Ulf Henricsson has accused Sri Lankan government forces (could be rogue elements) of complicity in extrajudicial killings of civilian in Tamil Tiger strongholds in the island's North East [4]
  • US State Department Human Rights Report 2005 notes unlawful killings organized by government agents, forced disappearances, imprisonment and torture and discrimination based on race, sex, disability, language and social status particularly after the election of President Mahinda Rajapakse [5].
  • Reporters Without Borders report murder of Subramaniyam Sugirdharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli in the eastern city of Trincomalee shot dead for exposing murders and abuses committed by suspected government backed Tamil paramilitary groups [6].
  • Reporters Without Borders report raids on Tamil newspapers, Tamil journalist have been killed, received death threats, repeated physical and psychological threats, been arrested, detained and harassed by members of the state security forces [7].
  • Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Sri Lanka Free Media Movement (FMM) all voiced outrage over the lack of progress in the investigation into the murder Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam "Taraki" Sivaram, the editor of the Tamilnet news website and columnist for the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror newspaper on April 28th 2005 [8].

As per Wikipedia policy I'm moving them to the talk page until required sources are given. Do not reinstate them unless Reliable Sources are given. --snowolfD4( talk / @ ) 23:42, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Ok, I've gone through an quoted the relevant section on Rajapaksa for the 1st source at least. There may be claims but the sources have to accurately used. -- Ricky81682 (talk) 04:32, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
Ok, the Reporters Without Borders link (the last one) at least has a mention of Rajapaksa, even if it is peripheral. The rest are just general complaints against the government. -- Ricky81682 (talk) 04:54, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah Thanks Ricky81682, the sentence is a whole lot better now. No allegations without citations. Saying a "significant deterioration" is still pretty strong though, considering, only two incidents are cited, and one of them has, in your words, only a peripheral mention of Rajapaksa. But, like I said its a lot better. --snowolfD4( talk / @ ) 15:45, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] What about failures/scandals?

This is more like a propaganda poster, not an encyclopedia entry. No one mentions human rights violations under him, or the Negombo scandal that occured during the tsunami. Can someone please come up with some online news stories to back this up? The article should be objective. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.215.149.99 (talk) 17:10, 24 February 2007 (UTC).

Unfortunately, any edits that show the negatives of MR are soon whitewashed, even if the information is factual and accurate.. Check the page history to see what the changes are and who's doing them LKGeek (talk) 06:29, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Relations to Anura Bandaranaike and size of cabinet

In early 2007, Rajapaksa sacked 3 ministers who were allegedly conspiring to assassinate him, Anura Bandaranaike and 2 other ones, only to put them back into his cabinet 2 weeks later. One could maybe add this. Also the growth of the number of ministers under his rule to an unprecedented 102 ministers and subministers should be mentioned. 62.131.79.6 11:50, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 05:38, 10 November 2007 (UTC)