Some time ago I wrote a column http://www.lbo.lk/insight_fullstory.php?newsID=1760049024&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=24. about changing the time standard: It was a fun piece because I thought the whole thing was a joke or a smokescreen (for something like:http://www.lbo.lk/fullstory.php?newsID=1502185485&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=4 ); and I couldn't care that much about which way the decision went.

But I am no longer amused. I am angry. Not because of the change, but because of the blatant lies and the contemptuous attitude behind it.

The Srilanka fit for a NAZI TERRORIST UNRULY FAILED STATE where only the SINHALA so called BUDDHISTS have all the rights by constitution and practically.

The International community, by turning blind eye to the continuing ETHNIC CLEANSING of TAMILS, MUSLIMS and CHRITIANS, indirectly ENCOURAGING the SRILANKA MODERN VERSION OF NAZI BARBARISM against Tamil Nation which was annexed with the Sinhala Nation by the UNDEMOCRATIC British Kingdom just 163 years ago without the consent of Tamils or Sinhalese or Muslims like they done recxently to HONGKONG people.

The only viable solution, to the Srilankan 58 year old BARBARIC ETHNIC CLEANSING of Minorities, is the separation of TWO DISTINCT NATIONS as existed for more than 3000 years or more before the UNDEMOCRATIC BRITISH INVASION.

YES SRILANKA IS A MAJORITY CONTROLLED DEMOCRACY USING THE SAME MAJORITY DEMOCRACY TO DENY THE DEMOCRACTIC AND HUMAN RIGHTS OF TAMILS WHO OVERWHELMINGLY VOTED TO PRESERVE THE RIGHTS TIME AND AGAIN BUT SRILANKA, FOR 58 YEARS, HAVE BEEN CONTINUING THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF TAMILS, MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS RATHER THAN RESPECT THE MINORITIES' DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS.

I agree that the LTTE prevented the Tamil voters in the North and East from participating in the 2005 election. But the fact remains that MR won it according to the Constitution.

We cannot change the past; we cannot change the LTTE's action. But we can hold our leaders here in the South accountable when they utter lies.

We need the help of the media to do this, for sure. Moves such as LBO opening up the site for comments enable us to act.

The next step is to get the conventional media to pick up the issues raised by readers in forums such as this.

Have you considered this? Don't forget that dear old Prabha boy elected our president by preventing the Tamil people from voting for the loser.

On one hand if he elected our president, he can hardly complain now.

On the other hand this may be exactly what the LTTE wanted.

Sections of the military running amok, killing civilians and children, no one brought to justice and so on.

In any case the Tamil people are getting increasingly alienated from the government in the South.

There is no hearts and mind campaign now. It is more like a heartless mindless campaign.

If you take a look at some of the other blogs on this site, relating to the conflict you see a deep polarization already evident.

There are moderates on both sides, but the vocal blog writers seem to extremist.

If there is moderate majority, they seem to be silent.

Prabhakaran lying has nothing to do with this ... He lies !!!!

The people voted the President & government in ...

The questions ..... Do we want our leaders to lie ???

Have we gone so low to think it is OK for our leaders to lie if the other side lies ???

Is Sri Lanka then a "Banana Republic" ???

I think Nalaka Gunawardene amply documents the efforts made by knowledgeable people to contribute to a discussion on the change to Indian Standard Time.

Other than a few snide comments in the Observer, there was no response; only a cabinet decision taken to implement the change.

The whole point of the column is that when lying becomes engrained in political practice, it affects everything, including the negotiations to end the conflict.

If there is no connection, I am wrong.

I hope I have made a persuasive case that there is one.

For democracy to work, people should organize themselves & campaign to bring their thoughts to action.

It’s the fault of the intellectuals of Sri Lanka that the country is in this state.

They have no love for the Mother Lanka.

They learn out of public money (free education) & then go abroad & live a luxury life.

They don’t care what happens to this country.

This kind of people gets elected because of their ignorance.

Since nobody listen to their voice, finally Buddhist Monks are actively promoting their views through a political party.

But what are so called intellectuals doing? What about their spine? Even though I also disagree with playing with the time zones & lying, it’s very inappropriate of you to drag the LTTE argument into this. What a Democratic Government executes is the majority view of the society (although this can be greatly influenced using public media). The thing is nobody actively & in an organized manner protested against this between the time period of announcing the plan & till it is actually put into action. Then whose false is it?

Ranil - have head, no spine
Mahinda - JHU, JVP head - no spine
Ratnasiri - no head, no spine,

If the government believes that Mr Prabhakaran is completely untrustworthy, there is obviously no point in negotiating.
But three different governments (CBK, RW and MR) have agreed to negotiate.
If you agree to negotiate, you must keep your word, especially if you are a government.
As someone said, one does not negotiate with friends, one negotiates with enemies.
With enemies, there is always the risk they will not keep their word.

In the midst of negotiations with the former Soviet Union President Reagan said what had to be done: "trust, but verify."

To negotiate effectively with the LTTE, it is necessary to verify; make sure that they keep their word. But lying to them is not going to make them behave any better.

In that case, better to stay out of negotiations altogether.