{"id":40559,"date":"2025-08-03T15:13:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T15:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40559\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T15:13:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T15:13:21","slug":"gunathilakas-cry-for-help-ex-mps-face-hardship-as-pension-cuts-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/40559\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunathilaka\u2019s Cry for Help: Ex-MPs Face Hardship as Pension Cuts Loom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-197491\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot_20250802_232614_Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"393\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Former JVP MP Nandana Gunathilaka has issued a powerful and emotional statement highlighting the severe financial hardships faced by former parliamentarians who dedicated their lives to politics and activism.<\/p>\n<p>Recounting his journey, Gunathilaka said he gave up his university education in the early 1990s to join the party\u2019s underground struggle full-time, taking up arms during a volatile political era. He said he spent years without a stable income, using personal assets\u2014including his family home\u2014to cover legal and medical expenses for fellow comrades.<\/p>\n<p>Now 63 years old, Gunathilaka says he survives solely on a Rs. 68,000 monthly pension. After paying rent, utility bills, and medical expenses, he is left with just Rs. 700\u2013800 per day for food and other costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are over 200 former MPs like me \u2014 from the JVP, SLFP, UNP, and TNA \u2014 suffering in silence,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks come at a time when the government is reportedly considering scrapping pensions for former parliamentarians, a move that has sparked concern among political veterans. (Newswire)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-197489\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot_20250802_232324_Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1073\" height=\"2872\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-197490\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot_20250802_232229_Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"1850\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former JVP MP Nandana Gunathilaka has issued a powerful and emotional statement highlighting the severe financial hardships faced&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-40559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}