But the attack on Poddala was orchestrated by himself, just like Lasantha shot himself to death and Sirasa TV set itself on fire. The innocent government should not be held responsible for these acts of self destruction by desparate individuals. They are misfits and failures in our Land Like No Other and are thus looking for a way out.

Long live the King! Down with Poddalas of this land.

The jounalists in Sri Lanka lack the proper academic qualifications that are required to become journalists in developed countries. This could be one reason for their apparent inability in finding the professional touch in the job they do. Most of them can be bought for a meal or a bottle of Scotch, or somthing more expensive. They are in fact paid by various political parties-as Fredrica Janz told the courts that the UNP paid money to her newspaper to support Sarath Fonseka- in order for them to dance to their tune and distort the facts.

Yet, it is no justification on government sponsored attacks on journalists. If the government is using the 5th estata-the underground- it is doubly wrong. This could only happen when the exercising of the law of the country is stiffled by political interference, which shows the pathetic depths the democracy has plunged.

The ‘Criminal Defamation’ act is not the solution. It’s a disgrace to the freedom of expression. It should be a process of continuous litigation against the journalists who publish fabricated lies. On the other hand whatever Lasantha W’tunga said in his ragsheet would have become irrelevant garbage when the conclusion of the war proved he was wrong. Nobody would have to kill him ; he would have become the laughing stock if he lived.How many people are bothered about hundred and one conspiracy theories and incredible stories published by the Western tabloid press?

By trying to shut the journalists up, the government has started on a path of self-delution which will bring about their own downfall, by leading themselves into brlieving that “everything on fine with the people” and “they believe our lies”!

A similar award was given to Mr. Mano Ganeshan by US ambassador to Sri Lanka. Ganeshan was a front line speaker at the LTTE rallies, a group classified as one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world by FBI along with HAMAS Hezbollah and al Qaeda. What kind of an award will USA send to a speaker in rallies of the latter three groups? Supposedly nothing short of a visit by a predator drone. Such is the hypocrisy of such international awards.

Poddala had an ideology and he used his journalistic privileges to steer governments towards his ideology.

A letter he co-authored titled “Mahinda” published during the 2005 election is a good example, it is everything that Mahinda Rajapaksha is not, it defines Rajapaksha as a liberal progressive and attempts to steer Rajapaksha towards that viewpoint.

When he failed he used his journalistic privileges to the political disadvantage of Mahinda Rajapaksha administration.

All governments are corrupt, and its the same government officials who continue even when the ruling political party changes.

How many exposes has he done on the previous governments, which aligned with is ideological view point?

Why did his exposes on government corruption rapidly increase with surge of war and when the LTTE seems to be vulnerable?

Is it heresy to ask those questions?

It is clear that Poddala used his journalism for his ideological interests but not for the benefit of the people.

It becomes glaringly clear by him aligning with Lankanewsweb.com, a political hack job run with complete secrecy of the owners, believed to be assisted by an opposition politician in Sri Lanka. Lankanewsweb is famous for its utterly false, wild accusations of Gotabaya Rajapaksha buying Apollo Hospital and Basil Rajapaksha buying Swarnawahini TV station, and carried out vile attacks with false accusations against journalists like Manoj Abedeera of Divaina news paper and Iqbal Athas of Sunday Times.

What is the integrity of a man , who writes to a political hack job of a web site, run by a group in secrecy, supposedly controlled by an opposition party politician, openly supports the United National Party, publishes utter lies about government officials and carries out vile attacks against fellow journalists?

Poddala was an office barer of the Sri Lanka Working Journalists association, and NGO funded by other NGOs and foreign governments NGOs. SLWJA does not want to reveal their donor to the SL public instead want to keep it in secrecy.

SLWJA is in the cabal of Sri Lankan NGOs who try to steer Sri Lanka towards a liberal ideology. A small group of people control all these NGOs, many are officials of many NGOs, and draw salaries from them.

NGOs are the most corrupt institutes in Sri Lanka, C.A. Chandraprema of the Island exposed how money is being used for personal benefit of NGO officials in transparency international Sri Lanka, the watch dog agency that is supposed to watch over corruption in Sri Lanka. The Editor of Ravaya Victor Ivan exposed how this tightly bound group of NGO officials misuse their funds and prevelages as NGO officials to achive their personal goals.

The head of Transparency International Sri Lanka J.C. Weliamuna is not a neutral man, he is the attorney for the Editor of Lanka Irida Chandana Sirimalwatta, the unofficial newspaper of Marxist political party JVP.

And what is the response by the amnesty international head office on those allegations? They promote Mr. Weliamuna. Reminiscent of Mr. J.R Jayawardana promoting IP Udugampola after the Gatambe Temple Fiasco.

Such is the hypocrisy in NGOs and INGOs

It is natural for Poddala’s friends in Transparency International Sri Lanka to nominate him to this award, so he can write a favorable review on them, or help them with their “liberal cause”, or with their personal ambitions.

Poddala’s integrity is not towards truth, but towards his ideology, he has proven that however vile the path that he would have to take to achieve his ideological ambitions he will take it.

And the NGOs and INGOs operating in Sri Lanka and their funding governments have repeatedly shown that however naked and ugly the path they would have to take to steer Sri Lanka to a liberal , pro separatist government, they would take it.

The Island newspaper reported that US government attempted to evacuate Prabakaran during the final phases of the war, they didn’t get to him, but they got to Poddala.

My memory is that Lasantha’s motto was “unbowed and unafraid” not “unbound and unafraid.” [Edited out] people like you who justify assassinations as a means to silence journalists are the curse of Sri Lanka.

This is because the existing Sri Lankan penal code does not incorporate “defamation as a criminal offence”. When these mercenaries openly declare themselves to be “unbound and unafraid” the message given to the outside world is that they are beyond the (restrictions of) law and simply do not care about who gets hurt as long as they execute the contracts of their paymasters.
Paradoxically there is the 5th estate (the underground mafia) also prevalent in Sri Lanka (just like in other countries) which believes in the motto of “unbound and unafraid”. They are also beyond the law and do not care about their victims as long as they bare paid handsomely for their contracts.
What has happened ever since the laws of defamation were deleted from the Sri Lankan penal code, the 4th estate went into overdrive and began open defamation of the Good as well as the Bad and Ugly. The result has been a war of attrition between between the 4th and the 5th estate who are both hired mercenaries. Unfortunately the 4th estate heaps accusations of direct or indirect involvement of the ruling government when they (and everybody else) well know that it is not true. In Sri Lankan society of recent times, everybody knows that money guides everything and therefore if one seeks justice it is best to talk to the nearest trishaw stand people than seeking help from the MP or the official judiciary.

Lasantha Wickramathunge may well be living today if the reins of “criminal defamation” held him “bound by a code of ethics and afraid of the criminal law”. Those who repealed the law of criminal defamation by journalists must be held answerable to the loss of his life and the demise of the mercenary journalists who had to flee the country. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is a well worn statement. In the case of the Sri Lankan 4th estate “power sans accountability” leading to an absolute psychopathic belief of “unbound and unafraid” has created its own nemesis in a similar reaction of the 5th estate. That classic western film “Magnificent Seven” depicts this stark reality.
Such is the philosophy of Yin-Yang of natural justice anywhere in the world historically or futuristically.