Will Gota come or Will he stop in Singapore?
⦁ once a powerful President today ‘Persona non grata’
⦁ Attracts protest everywhere he goes
⦁ Criminal, corruption, and nepotism a-few crimes he’s indicted.
He is not like the rest of the Sri Lankans. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been politically exposed in a variety of ways. The world is aware of all of his political and public crises. Why do we bring such a person to Singapore and provide him with lodging? What message does the presence of someone like Gotabaya Rajapaksa in this country send to the rest of the world and the international community?
Because this is such a serious issue, I decided to discuss it. Someone needs to discuss this right now. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is completely unneeded for us. Get him out of here as soon as possible. Why did the former President of Sri Lanka choose to resign in Singapore? This politician was met with fierce opposition not only in Sri Lanka, but also in many other countries around the world. When he escaped from Sri Lanka and arrived in the Maldives, protests erupted there as well.
We demand that the details of former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s bank accounts be made public to the people of Singapore. At the same time, make plans to get him out of this country as soon as possible.
Singaporean story
who is opining in this starnge manner? Also, who said these? This is a Singaporean story. That is, about the former President, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who recently fled from Sri Lanka to the Maldives and then to Singapore. He is in Singapore right now. The above statement was made by a young politician in Singapore at a recent public protest meeting.
Prabhu Ramachandran, a 34-year-old Singaporean of Dravidian origin, is an active member of the country’s ‘Voice of the People’ party. He was a young politician who ran in the Singapore general election in 2020. He made this statement a few days ago at Singapore’s ‘Speakers Corner,’ a public center for public protests and the expression of opinions.
This can be translated as the center of speakers in Sinhala. There is no provisions in Singapore to carry out struggles in public places like in Sri Lanka or many other countries around the world. It is because such activities completely illegal under the law. As a result, the Singapore government established “Speakers’ Corner” as a special place to present such objections. It was located in Singapore’s “Holim Park” in the year 2000.
Singapore protest!
In any case, in addition to this live protest, Prabhu Ramachandran has gathered signatures from the public by submitting a protest petition via Facebook. A member of the same party, 68-year-old Leong Soo Hian, has also joined the protest to back him up. However, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore, some parties planned to protest, but the Singapore government was quick to state that such protests could not take place in any other place other than the place assigned to such activities.
It was also stated from the start that anyone interested could go to the above-mentioned officially allocated location and carry out in such activities. These few information are provided for your understanding because Singapore has very strict law and order practices. Despite this, only a small number of people have joined the protest staged against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. The reason for this is that present day Singaporeans are a group of people who strive to manage their daily lives as intelligently as possible.
However with these type of minor protests ,some voices against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa started to be raised in Singapore which is a significant phenomina. Somehow, under such an environment, the country’s government has recently officially announced to Gotabaya Rajapaksa that they will not extend the 15-day period given to him to stay in Singapore.
Accordingly, the government of Sigapore has informde that he should leave the country either during that period or at the end of that period. This has been informeded to him by Kasiviswanathan Shammugam, one of the most powerful and senior ministers of the Singapore government. He is at present the current Minister of Justice since which he was appointed 2008 and has also held the position of Minister of Home Affairs since 2015. This is an indication that he is a stalwart of the government, holding two ministerial posts for a period of 21 years.
This minister, who is of Indian Tamil origin, but is a Singaporean, is also considered a strong supporter of the current Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hyson Loong. Accordingly, it is said that the above request has been submitted to Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by the minister through people holding higher positions. Meanwhile, according to the official statements of Singapore, since Gotabaya Rajapakse has resigned as the president of Sri Lanka he has foregone the presidential immunity with that.
Under such circumstances, the government of Singapore has stated that if any party takes legal action against the former president while he is in Singapore, it will also be a issue for the government of Singapore. Various human rights crimes and corruption and fraud charges have been leveled against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
what does the opinion polls say?
Singapore’s main English newspaper, The Straits Times, which sells over 10 lakh copies per day, conducted a oppenion poll to gather Singaporeans response to the crisis. This well-known newspaper has a 177-year history and is also published in the South Asian countries of Myanmar and Brunei. This newspaper published news about former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s arrival in Singapore on a regular basis. Going by the media’s mission, they conducted a opinion poll.
Based on the findings, they sought the advice of a well-known senior criminal law lawyer in Singapore who did not wish to be identified. Those queries are as given below:
When I first heard that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa is to be to be grant asylum by the Singapore government, I was very surprised and saddened. He is responsible for Sri Lanka’s current economic and financial devastation. He is a leader who led Sri Lanka in to a disaster. Having destroyed the country like that, he is now running away from the country.
Why would Singapore grant asylum to such a person? His separatist policy is very dangerous. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has always said that Sri Lanka is a good example of how we should not treat minorities. Is it not humiliating to allow Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa to enter the country with such a reputation? At the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009, when he was the defense secretary, he is responsible for killing thousands of Tamils…’ this legal expert has stated.
Meanwhile, many other civilians interviewed by the ‘Straight Times’ newspaper have stated that allowing former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to stay in Singapore is a move against Singapore’s strong stance against corruption and racism. Another group has stated that there was nothing wrong with Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa entering Singapore when he was in the presidency. It has also been stated that he has not requested any political protection.
Although some expressed their views on independence, the majority expressed strong opposition to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s immigration to Singapore. Meanwhile, another special news is that Raymond Nag, a businessman connected to the internet financial network called ‘Block Chain’ in Singapore, has filed a complaint against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa with the country’s police fraud investigation unit. In other words, while filing the complaint related to money laundering, he said that he did so because of his devotion to Singapore.
However, over 2,000 people are said to have signed the online petition so far. It is said that these people are Sri Lankans in Singapore. Meanwhile, many people have given their responses to the official Twitter account of the Singapore government.
“Lion City”
This shows how singapore was disturbed by the arrival of Gotabaya Rajapaksa who escaped from Sri Lanka. Anyway,Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife are in Singapore, and no proper information about their where abouts in the media reports. It is said that the Rajapaksa couple and two security officers live in a house owned by a friendly businessman. Some media reports have also mentioned that the protection of the Singapore government is not come forth to them.
Singapore is a very small country in the world and its area is 733 square kilometers. The population is close to 55 lakhs. Tthe length of the long arm in Singapore about 50 km and width is 27km. Although such a small country, Singapore is currently one of the richest and most developed countries in the world. The per capita income of Singapore is 79,576 US dollars.
This is the 7th highest per capita income in the world, surpassing the per capita income of some of the richest countries in Europe. Also, official data shows that Singapore’s gross domestic product has exceeded 425 billion US dollars by 2022.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa currently lives in the 7th richest country in the world. However, it was initially stated that he and his wife were traveling from Singapore to a Middle Eastern country, but there is currently no specific information about that destination. Despite the situation, former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had close relations with Singapore.
He had made some visis to Singapore previousely for medical needs. It was reported that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa underwent a coronary artery heart surgery in Singapore in May 2019 which is the highligt of the all visits he had made.
Bypass surgery is a very common and performed very successfuly in Sri Lanka today, however, Gotabaya Rajapaksa chose Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore. Mount Elizabeth Hospital is the most expensive super hospital in Singapore and ranks among the most expensive hospitals in the world.
When Gotabaya Rajapaksa underwent this surgery in July 2019, a large sum amonting 76,000 Singapore dollars (1,86,20,000 in Sri Lankan currency) was spent for the surgery in Singapore. This information gathered after checking the internet data about hospital charges in Singapore for 2019. Accordingly, the amount is completely true.
Anyway, 15 lakhs may have gone for the Rajapaksa couple as travel expenses and accommodation expenses The surgery which was done exactly 04 months before the 2019 presidential election. From this point of view, he has spent an excessive amount of 02 crore rupees (20 million) for the bypass surgery which can be done in Sri Lanka with a sum of 20 lakh rupees.
It is not clear to whom this money belongs to. In any case, Gotabaya Rajapakse’s relationship with Singapore getting further stabilized by such events. Is he coming back to Sri Lanka from Singapore?
Priyantha Hettige