Arjuna Ranatunge was a “king” in the cricket field. He not only contributed heavily to the less experienced Sri Lankan cricket team to win mathes, but also brought great glory to the whole country by winning the Cricket World Cup. Those great victories on cricket field were a real consolation to the war weary public in Sri Lanka at that time. That Arjuna, who was a great pride to all of us, then fell to a trap laid by the then President, Chandrika Bandaranaike, and entered politics. After 6 years of doing politics, it is a pity to look at the sorry status he is currently in today.
He is now merely a candidate seeking re-election from a group belonging to the JVP.
There is no guarantee that he will win in the forthcoming election. So this is how a great hero in the cricket field ended up: as a political refugee.
Now it is Sanath Jayasuriya’s turn. And Susanthika Jayasinghe’s turn. Commonly known as SJ & SJ. It is their turn now to suffer the same humiliation as Arjuna did.
It is their turn to be the laughing stock of the public who had been keeping them on a high pedestal.
What an ordinary person cannot understand is, why a person of the calibre of Sanath Jayasuriya who had earned kudos internationally and in the process earned substantial amounts of money, should get into the murky field of politics. Is it to earn more money as the other politicians usually do. Or is it to become the President of the country one day?
Let us then analyse independently the reasons for such personalities to get into politics.
This type of “stars” always think of what is going to happen to them when they retire from their fields. They have already become VIPs in the country, so in a way they cannot go and mingle with the ordinary folk on road sides or go about buying their grocery. Because they are special people. In countries like USA, such retired sportsmen go and play Golf with their contemporaries or take up jobs as commentators on TV and Radio. Or else, start a sports academy with their own money to coach poor students. Or write a book.
But, our guys are incapable of doing any of these. So, the best thing they could do is to get into Politics: especially in a country like Sri Lanka, politics is the only “profession” (if one could call it that) where no basic qualification or experience in any field is required. One only needs to look at all sorts of actors and actresses choosing to enter politics when they are at the tail-end of their careers.
They feel that they cannot behave like ordinary citizens because they are “stars” It is the ordinary sports lovers and spectators who made them in to “stars”. They, therefore, feel that they should not be second to the youngsters who enter their particular fields as new comers. That’s exactly why cricketers like Sanath Jayasuriya still try to hang on in the team – if not through the selection board, then through presidential directives!.
Generally, parents and elders say that youngsters should take over from them when they become old. But, in the case of these stars like Sanath and Susanthika, they never think like that and dread even to think along those lines, and still try to hang on to their particular positions in their chosen fields. According to their theories, even though the flesh is weak, the mind is willing !
It is this mentality of the “stars” that crooked politicians like Chandrika and Mahinda take advantage of. The reason being that with such a mentality, they easilly fall prey to the machinations of corrupt politicians. These politicians also know that if such “stars” win elections and go to the parliament, it is a very easy thing to control them as they do not know any “poli-tricks” and also they have no strong base in their political parties.
It is really funny that members of parliament are known as “law makers” . One wonders what legislative knowledge such uneducated “stars” have to function as law makers. Having a bunch of such jokers in the parliament is a great boon to the experienced politicians to take everybody for a right royal ride, while at the same time enjoying all the luxuries and making loads of money. While this goes on, all what the ordinary man and woman who voted them into power can do is to gaze at the sky to see the “stars”
One could only think of Sanath and Susanthika as those who betrayed the adulation of the general public for their own personal benefit.
And with such shameless acts, they even betrayed the souls of those who adulated them as “stars”.
