PEOPLE CANNOT EAT LIES

It was the 19th century British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disrael, who said “There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics”


Going by the way the masses in this country are being fooled and taken for a right royal ride, the government and its coterie of ministers in the Jumbo cabinet, seem to be doing a marvelous job in keeping the lie factory going. One only has to listen to daily disinformation being disseminated via the government controlled media – both electronic and print – to find out how effective they have been in keeping the profession of Goebbels alive in this country. Not bad – not bad at all – for a country which survives on borrowed money, and borrowed time depicting a picture of “ all is rosy in this miracle of Asia”

While the cost of living is going sky-high – even surpassing the recently launched Satellite which carried our flag – those who are elected to serve the poor masses are really serving themselves with the biggest spoons available, with not even the crumbs being spared to those who are euphemistically called the “sovereign” public.

With almost all the essential items such as fuel, electricity, water and foodstuffs going up through the rooftops, the government ministers are preaching patriotism to the hungry souls. This is typical of how Hitler, who won a big mandate and came to power, tamed the people with large doses of patriotism and preaching hate politics against the Jews – all aimed at consolidating his own powers and not with any love to his people. The pattern is, unfortunately, the same in this country now which is rather pathetic.

Most of us are aware how our poor people were taken for rides during the seventies and made to utter slogans such as “we will drink tea without sugar”, “ we will eat curries without chillies”, “ we will eat manioc and bathala” etc. just like wound robots. But that circus did not last long as had seen later on.

The trouble is the ordinary people had not learnt their lessons – most probably because they are being brain-washed day in and day out with the Big Brother beaming falsehoods and pseudo patriotism to their drawing rooms to lull them into a false sense of satisfaction.

“ A lie can travel half-way round the world while the truth is putting its shoes”: Mark Twain

THE CURSE OF POLITICAL PATRONAGE

The British Labour MP, Simon Danezuk, who visited Sri Lanka recently came up with a scathing indictment on Sri Lanka’s justice system which is now for all practical purposes controlled by the ruling politicians who have declared supremacy and sovereignty over anything and anyone under the Sun in this once resplendent island. He has also outlined his plans in further pursuing the matter of the brutal murder of his constituent in Tangalle by a local politician who is close to the highest in this land, and his marauding gang of thugs. These measures include taking up the issue with the Queen which may have repercussions on her attendance at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government to be held in Sri Lanka, and adverse reactions from those who wish to come as tourists from the UK.


No doubt, these concerns would be dismissed by the self-appointed patriots as rubbish as we are no longer under British Imperialism, the blah-blah of our 2500 years history as a civilized nation, with one even volunteering to teach human rights to the Europeans. But the fact remains that no man is an island and, in this 21st century, each and every country has to exist as a comity of civilized nations.

The government has no one to blame but itself. With this kind of gun-toting animalistic elements in its ranks, it does not need any other enemies. The crying need of the hour is strengthening of the judicial system and allowing it to function without political interference. It is useless trying to put the blame on so called “international conspiracies” when the conspirators are within the ranks of the government itself. It is high time that these beastly elements are tamed and controlled if Sri Lanka is to march forward as a civilized nation.

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

LEARN FROM HISTORY: End This Racial Tension

There is a saying that ‘Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”


It could very well be a good lesson for our current crop of politicians who want to live for the present and the future only, with all sorts of personal benefits at the expense of the common man.

An interesting anecdote comes to mind when we talk of the “achievements” of politicians:

“A doctor, an architect and a politician were arguing over the oldest profession in the world.

The doctor said it was his job because Eve was created from Adam's rib, a surgical procedure.

The architect said it was his job because before that there was chaos and the world was made from this chaos with an architect.

Then the politician said "And who do you think caused all this chaos?"

Likewise, who created the ethnic tensions and language issues : the answer is very simple, greedy politicians who wanted to grab power by whatever means with magical solutions such as “Sinhala Only – in 24 hours”. It is rather unfortunate that even foreign educated men from good families resorted to this sort of cheap ruses to grab power. From then onwards, it had been a very rough ride for the country which is still struggling to get out of the mess. Even though we were triumphant in war, we have miserably failed to usher in peace to the country.
As if to add insult to injury, we now have a thoroughly racist and fanatic organization called Bodu Bala Sena, styled along the lines of India’s Shiv Sena which had created a lot of trouble for those who are not followers of Hinduism.

If these fanatics are allowed to proceed with their agenda of subjugating everyone who are not Sinhala Buddhists, without doubt, the country will once again be plunged into another unwinnable war.

And, the politicians would thrive on the resultant chaos.

“From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step” – Denis Diderot

SOUR GRAPES

When the Central Bank made the announcement that they have dropped plans to obtain further financial assistance from the IMF, there were many who refused to take matters at face value as there had been many discussions at the behest of the Treasury to obtain budget support from the IMF due to dire economic situation in the country which is not a secret any more. So, then it dawned on everybody that the proverbial fox is at play again with his sour grape theory.


One is also amused at the thought of IMF refusing further assistance when one recalls that some time ago one vociferous, influential Minister who jumped to the government side from the “revolutionary Marxist party, JVP” who advocated “unplugging” from the IMF and the World Bank if Sri Lanka is to prosper! This very same Minister, whose antecedents and educational qualifications are no secret, also advocated severing all relationships with the USA – including patronizing fast food outlets, Google search engines and emails etc. – although it is suspected that his family members are very fond of American fast food. Such is the stupid mentality of these politicians.

We have also had the humorous situation where when the EU withdrew GSP facility, our highly educated Rhodes Scholar, Foreign Minister Pieris announced to the country that he will take legal action against the EU – but nothing was heard thereafter. Most probably, because he felt that he had been taken for a ride by the less-educated socialist elements of the government. The end result, as we all are well aware, is the closure of many garment factories thus throwing thousands on to the streets. What a price to pay for stupid arrogance?

We have just heard that the government has decided to hand over the Norochcholai power plant to the Chinese company who lent us the money, due to the its inability to repay the loan. Sadly, this represents the shape of misfortunes which will hit the country in the not too distant future due to arrogance and mismanagement of the current set of rulers who seem to be blinded by a false sense of comfort blinded by unbridled power and a brand of fake patriotism.

Today, it may be sour grapes but tomorrow it would be a case of going Bananas.

DIPLO-MUTTS

They say that a Diplomat is a person who can tell you to go to hell in such a way that you actually look forward to the trip. Without doubt, none of our current crop of Diplo-mutts qualify in this context.


Gone are the days when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was really recognized and respected for the calibre of our crop of greatl Diplomats like Dr. Gamani Corea, who headed the UNCTAD (they say that one wag from Korea once asked where this Corea is!); Dr. Neville Canekaratne ; Dr. Jayantha Dhanapala etc. who headed various UN bodies and shone in their fields.

With the gradual politicization of this field, where career diplomats were confined to the Foreign Office desks, a crop of political affiliates took over and diplomatic postings for plum destinations became political rewards for services rendered to the ruling government. Due to this policy, we have ex-IGPs, ex-Election Commissioners, ex-Judges, ex-Army men etc. sitting as diplo-mutts in various world capitals, thus providing inducements to the current public servants too to toe the line of the government if they too want to end up having a cosy life as a diplo-mutt in some world capital, with all the benefits which come with such a posting. We have also seen offsprings and siblings of senior public servants such as judges, etc. being posted to these embassies in various capacities – again to buy their loyalties in executing the demands of the ruling government.

So, it is no wonder that our foreign service has come a real cropper with the country facing stinging indictments from world bodies for many violations and strictures being issued against the country which ultimately affect its citizens.

It is both funny and tragic that the Rajapakse Brothers’ government has to utilize “diplo-mutt suicide bombers” and 8th grade pass drummer-boys such as Wimal Weerawansa to advise the President on foreign policy issues. He had also become the butt of jokes of many foreign embassies here and even at the United Nations for the infamous “farce unto death” he performed opposite the UN Office in Colombo some time back. It is rather tragic that this government cannot even understand that a country cannot conduct its foreign affairs in such a haphazard manner like street-corner circuses using monkeys to entertain the bystanders.

“Diplomacy is more than saying or doing the right things at the right time; it is avoiding saying or doing the wrong things at any time” – Bo Bennett

INDEPENDENCE DAY

On the day Sri Lanka celebrated its 65th anniversary of Independence, all that we are reminded of is the loss of liberties of the people in the country. On the economic front, the people are struggling to provide a decent meal to their families. On the political front, the people are victims of a system in which they are powerless to influence. On the legal front, they are without any protection of the law.


Freedom of speech, which is a sine qua non to sustain an independent nation, is today considered to be the privilege of so called patriots. We have seen many instances of those who tried to exercise their right to freedom of speech having paid a heavy price for it – some with their lives and others having to go into voluntary exile – or simply go missing without a trace.

Meanwhile, those who rule us engage in endless rhetoric of the “motherland” and the virtue of patriotism. What this means is there must be voluntary silencing of oneself about what whatever evil one sees happening around the country. It was William Randolph Hearst who once said “ a politician will do anything to keep his job – even become a patriot”

Even under colonial times, the citizens enjoyed the right to a legal remedy against wrongs. But, today, no one can reasonably expect redress for the wrongs he or she suffers.

Besides the security apparatus, which has become essential for the survival of the current system of government, there is the propaganda apparatus, i.e. the state media which has been given an open licence to operate outside the law, without any kind of ethical behavior or morality. Again, the law and the courts can do nothing to regulate or to control the operation of the government machinery obviously for fear of repercussions and strong-arm tactics of the Executive.

What is required at this juncture is a firm will to demand the kind of political system that matches the aspirations of the people as a whole and the rejection of a system that exists only for the benefit of a handful of people. Whether that can be achieved in this lifetime of the current generation, remains a big question mark and a distant dream.



“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government : Edward Abbey.

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

William Wordsworth, in his famous poem “The Rainbow” used the expression “Child is the father of man”, which means that all positive and negative traits are established when we are young. In Sri Lanka we are familiar with the saying “Like Father, Like Son” and there is also a colloquial Sinhala saying which says “If one is not his father’s son, then he should be “Nottige Putha”! (No one knows who or what Notti means but some have interpreted it as a corrupted word which originally meant “Not Ugay Putha”)


In our political scene, we have seen many offsprings of powerful politicians behaving as if they came down from heaven – in certain cases, even outsmarting their own fathers in their antics. We have just heard of a son of an infamous minister assaulting an army Major but getting away due to the influence of his father thus making it a “Minor” issue. Then we have a case of a son of another Minister getting away after creating trouble in his college whilst the other children who were with him getting punished b y the Principal, but sparing this particular young man due to threats from his influential father, who even went to the extent of getting his minions to buy out all newspapers and sent out coupons to make his son a School Boy Cricketer of the year!.

Some Ministers have even sent away their sons out of the country in order to keep them subdued as they had become uncontrollable. The funny thing is that most of these offsprings assume the powers and influence wielded by their fathers to engage in many nefarious activities in the firm belief that their fathers will rescue them from whatever chaos they create.

These politician fathers are in fact giving a bad example by “rescuing” their offsprings using their influence and powers without realizing that in doing so they unwittingly put their children into more jeopardy making them thoroughly undisciplined and a burden on the society.

Perhaps, they believe that such buffoonery on the part of their children qualify them to become future politicians – Like father, like son.

DEATH OF DEMOCRACY

Old timers in Sri Lanka would recall an Obituary notice which appeared in one of the dailies one morning in the late sixties which ran something like this : “ The death is announced of Mr. D.E.M. O’Cracy, beloved husband of T. Ruth and father of Justitia who died under tragic circumstances. Cortege leaving Villa Anduruwela” for internment”


Perhaps, it is now time to rewrite this Obituary once again with a suitable epitaph on a tombstone for posterity so that the future generations would come to know how Sri Lanka destroyed its democratic values and came under a jackboot.

When famous author Ian Fleming created the character of James Bond, he assigned him the code “007 – Licensed to Kill” – since his hero required it during the period of the cold war to eliminate the enemies.

It is rather funny that our own local Jamis Bandas too are playing with such numbers as 018 and now more dangerous 019 – all referring to Constitutional amendments but aimed at destroying the independence and freedom of their perceived enemies inside the country itself. Whilst the 18th amendment provided for the incumbent executive to have a free run and to perpetuate his rule with unbridled power, sans the independent commissions – thanks to the so called two thirds majority which had been achieved through dubious means; the currently proposed 19th amendment which aims at destroying what is still left of an independent judiciary, would drive the final nail on the coffin of Democracy.

It was just the other day we witnessed a politically appointed Chief Justice entering the Court Complex with a heavy contingent of security guards – perhaps another world’s first and in all likelihood the same Chief Justice is going to have a “ceremonial sitting” without the presence of members of the Bar Association but with political hangers-on for company.

It was Aristotle who once said: “Every fool in this world thinks that he is born to rule the others”

How appropriate it sounds in the current context relating to this once beautiful and free country.

THE CANDLE BURNT OUT......

The candle burnt out long before, the legend ever will’

WEDNESDAY, 09 JANUARY 2013 04:03 DAILY MIRROR

The 4th death anniversary of slain journalist Lasantha Wickremathunga was commemorated on Tuesday by members of his family, colleagues and the journalistic community at large. A simple candle lighting ceremony was held in front of the Viharamahadevi park in memoriam of Lasantha. Pix by pradeep k pathirana.

Comments



-21+1 # Ryan 2013-01-09 10:20

It is not good to insult dead persons

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-3+18 # Coconut Donkey 2013-01-09 10:28

An immeasurable loss to the Country in every sense of the word!!! A void that simply cannot and will not be allowed to be filled. RIP

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-5+41 # Adam 2013-01-09 10:53

A man of honor. While many live by the sword and die by it, this man lived by the PEN and died died with it. An irreplaceable asset of our country

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-30+7 # Ryan 2013-01-09 12:35

Bambuwa

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-2+8 # Coconut Donkey 2013-01-09 13:01

Going by his investigative pieces and countless expose's, he is a class apart and leaves a massive void to date!

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-3+2 # Achari 2013-01-09 13:12

This gut seems to be Mervin's step brother.

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-1+12 # Mikee 2013-01-09 11:11

Those who committed the dastardly sin will pay for it if there is one above.

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-17+5 # mohandev 2013-01-09 11:49

I dont know about any legends, he was man with an axe to grind with political motives not genuine free media man that how he met his fate. Look what has happened to his rag sheet now. Almost Govt owned! irony of being a political stooge for material gains.

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-1+10 # Jayantha 2013-01-09 13:09

What is the more severe crime? Is it writing artciles against politicians or killing the person who wrote it?

According to your argument, it is OK to kill someone who critisize the other. If it is so, oneday you will also have to face the same fate from somebody else you criticizes.

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-0+15 # Real Peace 2013-01-09 11:56

One can murder a top editor in a broad day light in a busy road in Colombo and get away with ease.....!! Where are the killers??

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-0+8 # Gamarala 2013-01-09 11:57

What has our local sleuths done about it? Have they just archived this investigation or is the investigation ongoing ?

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-0+10 # haris 2013-01-09 12:08

Alas! Why everyone has forgotten Richard De Zoysa? He was a great journalist & a New reader too.

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-1+1 # Dinali 2013-01-09 12:31

Shouldn't it be, "the legend Never will"? Just wondering.

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-1+7 # willows 2013-01-09 12:35

A big lost for journalism

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-3+15 # Calistus Jayatilleke 2013-01-09 12:46

Four years and how sad that the authorities have still not been able to punish the perpetrators, in spite of grand talk of ushering in a Miracle of Asia. At this time, it is apt to recall the great journalist's last editorial in which he quoted from Martin Niemöller, an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler.



"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-- Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak for me."

Food for thought for all those who keep silent in the face of the current turmoils in the country.

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-3+14 # Clifford 2013-01-09 12:49

Lasantha was indeed a fearless and brave journalist and there was no doubt that he stood for the justice. Our country need to have more journalist in the caliber of Lasantha. for Sure he will be remembered always and be in the hearts of many who uphold the truth and justice.

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THE LAST DAYS OF DEMOCRACY

Judging by the happenings within the past couple of days, in all likelihood the judiciary will soon be brought under the direct control of the Executive President, just like the other numerous institutions in the country, including the Attorney General’s Department. It is now clear that the government is going to defy the interpretation of law given by the Supreme Court last week and will proceed to impeach the Chief Justice based on the report of the PSC. Thereafter, they will remove the Chief Justice and appoint a new Chief Justice who is more amenable to the government.


With the appointment of the new Chief Justice (“God knows” who!) the two-centuries old tradition of the independence of the judiciary in this country will come to an end and in all probability the courts will be brought directly under the control of the executive president and any judge who acts independently will face the same consequences as the incumbent Chief Justice.

It was just the other day that a government minister responsible (?) for Public Relations castigated the judges and judicial system openly at a media briefing with foul remarks of the “unprintable” category and then another minister, Weerawansa, has today called for the lawyers to be brought before the privilege committee to be severely dealt with. It is rather funny that both these pronouncements have come from the least educated members of the government and one cannot comprehend as to how or why the President is tolerating this type of nonsense from irresponsible ministers.
There are countries in the Asian continent, such as Myanmar, Cambodia etc, where courts are mere administrative bodies whose obligations are to facilitate the government’s schemes regardless of whether those are in line with the rule of law and the rights of the individuals. It is only a matter of time before Sri Lanka too falls into that dubious category.

Whether that is the Miracle of Asia we have been promised, only “God knows”!

SAVING DEMOCRACY

By now, it is clear that neither the Speaker nor the members of the PSC (both government and UNP) would be appearing before the Court of Appeal as noticed, with only the lone members of the JVP and TNA confirming their attendance. It is rather surprising that the UNP members of the PSC – particularly the senior vice president of UNP, MP Kiriella – after making a big issue of the proceedings and behavior of some government ministers including ridiculing and insulting the Chief Justice, have now backed away from highlighting these shortcomings to the Court of Appeal. One wonders for what purpose a country should keep such an Opposition which on most controversial issues either runs away or supports the government covertly.


It is also very unlikely that the President who is foremost a political animal, would ever rise to the status of a statesman and diffuse the issue through a face-saving compromise – as proposed by some of his own constituent partners in the government and a very senior minister as well – and appoint an independent committee to go in to the charges against the Chief Justice.

Going by various utterances of the Ministers who were members of the PSC, it is obvious that they have already assumed the roles of supreme human beings in the mistaken belief that they are the sovereign powers whereas true sovereignty, as per the Constitution, lies with the people and no branch of governance has been given an overriding role through the Constitution, although as things stand, this so called sovereignty has already been hijacked by the Members of Parliament who are supposed to be the servants of the people but have assumed the roles of masters and therefore much despised by the people.

As things stand, the Speaker will refuse to entertain any decisions or recommendations of the Court of Appeal and the Parliament will go ahead with the debate and conclude to recommend to the President to impeach her which the President will gladly do unmindful of the repercussions of such hasty and illogical actions which will attract condemnation from the world community.

All what “remains” now is to redraft a suitable Obituary for the Demise of Democracy as we had hitherto experienced in this country. The main opposition too, in spite of its pious talk of freedom and democracy should take a major part of the blame for this disaster.