Washington, Nov. 23 -- Clearly admitted by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his address to the nation following his assumption of Sri Lanka's presidency on November 18 following the nation-wide election two days before, that his victory was solely due to the Sinhalese vote, and admitted that he knew from the beginning he would win the presidency exclusively from the Sinhalese vote and, despite that belief, he appealed to the minorities - Tamil and Muslims - to support his candidacy but regretted that support did not come.

Eighteen months ago, when this writer's friend Las Vegas entrepreneur and jewelry designer Douglas Perera, who travelled on vacation to Sri Lanka, had the privilege to have an audience with the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa a...