BREAKING NEWS: AMERICAN ECONOMY CRASHES

It has been just been reported that the United States of America is facing its biggest economic collapse in the entire history of its existence.

The American stock market has already totally collapsed. There is imminent danger of large Multi-National corporations and banks getting closed and hundreds of thousands of employees in those institutions losing their jobs.

The American government is helpless in the face of this disaster and it is learnt that President Obama has already submitted his resignation.

Economic experts in the world believe that the main cause of this disaster is the call made by Sri Lankan Minister, Weerawansa to boycott American services and goods.

With Mr. Weerawansa deciding to close his G-Mail account and stop using Google search engine, Google had closed down immediately and its President and Chief Executive have already committed suicide.

It is also learnt that American Vice President, Secretary of State and other senior members of the government have already left for Sri Lanka and the main objective of their visit is to meet the Honourable Minister Weerawansa, apologise to him and beg him to reverse the decision taken by him to boycott American services and goods.

(The photo above shows Mrs. Shashi Weerawansa, beloved wife of Minister Weerawansa enjoying an American fast food meal at KFC in Colombo.


Wimal Weerawansa urges boycott of US products
News | March 14, 2012 8:25 am SRI LANKA MIRROR 14.03.12
________________________________________ (Srilankamirror) – Minister Wimal Weerawansa has urged Sri Lankans to boycott American products because the US-sponsored resolution on the island at the UNHRC would encourage separatism.
He was speaking yesterday (Mar. 13) at a rally against the resolution tabled at the UNHRC session in Geneva.
Mr. Weerawansa said the resolution would be destructive to the postwar atmosphere.
“Instead of promoting ethnic reconciliation, it will hamper that process and would increase acrimony and rancor among the communities,” he said.
“If we submit to this resolution, Tiger terrorists will raise their head again.”
He called on people to boycott American brands such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, KFC, McDonalds and Google’s email service Gmail.
“We must show our protest even in a small manner to US for the ill-treatment they are throwing at us,” Mr. Weerawansa added.

4 Comments1.
Anil says:
March 14, 2012 at 9:45 am
Stop visiting Disney land with your family
2. F Jurangpathy says:
March 14, 2012 at 10:34 am
What a idiot idea, imagine to ban gmail and google that shows how educated this bastard is
3. Calistus Jayatilleke says:
March 14, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Another “gem” from the Joker of the Pack who is suffering from verbal diahorrea. He should himself set an example by removing all e-mail and internet connections from his home (if any) and from his Ministry because most of these are innovations, not only Google and Gmail, being maintained by the USA. Further, he should stop going to Disney Land with his wife and children as it is in the USA. Also, that Gel he is using on his hair, is also a product of either US or UK. How about that I-Phone, which is also a Product of the West. Finally, he should stop wearing trousers as it is a mode of dress of the West and he should set an example to the hoi-pollois here by wearing an “amude”. And then start a “farce” unto death and wait for someone to bring some “Thambili” water. One is constrained to wonder if the President of the country is also an idiot for keeping such jokers as Ministers in his cabinet. Or else the President might be trying to revive the ancient practice of Sinhala Kings to keep “palace jokers” to entertain the members of the Royal family. No wonder, with jokers like this Pacha Wansa and “Duraacharya” Maravin, the whole world is laughing at us. In the not too distant past, when this country was ruled by educated gentlemen, and not “village thugs” Sri Lanka had earned a respectable reputation as a country with intelligent people but, alas, it is no more, with these jokers, drug dealers, rapists, bribe-takers and murderers becoming Law Makers.


4. Calistus Jayatilleke says:
March 14, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Oh, another thing Mr. Weerawansa. Also, Boycott the American citizens who hold high positions in this government of which you are a part and tell them to go to Hell to prove your patriotism.

"GENEVA COUP" OF THE MAD HATTERS

Renowned Sri Lankan scientist, Doctor E. W. Adikaram, in one of his essays had mentioned that a “Racialist” can be classified as a mental patient, based on his theory that one who believes there is something when there is actually nothing, is in fact a mental patient. There is nothing called “race” and therefore, the person who acts based on the belief that there is actually something, is in fact a mental patient.

If one is to adapt this theory of Doctor E.W. Adikaram to our present situation in the country, it would be like this. There is nothing to say that America and other European nations are trying to put Sri Lankan leaders on the electric chair. Those who behave as if there is something like that, are in fact mental patients.

Within that meaning, it is a tragedy that one has to categorize a considerable number of Sri Lankan citizens as mental patients. In actual fact there is no such plan by either the Americans or the Europeans to take Sri Lankan President, Defence Secretary or any other army officer to the electric chair or to the gallows. Therefore, to show that there is such a move through the kept media, and shouting, demonstrating and pounding their chests on the streets, is an act of mad hatters or mental patients.

But, this drama was scripted, produced, directed and staged by the government using their cohorts, all over the country last week. Those who gathered in about 150 towns or junctions, protested to the hilt by shouting slogans to the effect that they had gathered to save the country’s leader, defence secretary and armed forces from being taken to the electric chair by the evil United States and the Europeans. There had been orders from the top for the MPs and Ministers from the areas to also take part in these protests. Usually, most the participants in these protests are government servants who are given a packet of lunch, a few drams of liquor and half day off including free transport. In some cases, force had also been used to bring people for these protests.

The19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council is currently underway in Geneva, Switzerland. There is a proposal by the United States and other European countries to bring a resolution before this Council with regard to Sri Lanka. The gist of this Resolution is that these countries are prepared to extend their cooperation if the Sri Lankan government has a definite plan to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt Commission, within a specified period of time. The Lessons Learnt Commission is a commission appointed by the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse himself on 15 May 2000, to enquire into certain incidents which took place during the period of 21 February 2002 to 19 May 2009. It was headed by none other than a great pal of the President himself, the former Attorney General C.R. de Silva. The President appointed this commission in order to investigate within the country itself, and find answers to the accusations leveled by some countries at the Sri Lankan government during the period of war.

The LLRC Commission, after completing their investigations and carrying out evidence gathering, submitted their report to the President on 16 December 2011. The President, Mahinda Rajapakse, had publicly undertaken to implement the recommendations of this committee, more so because he had a moral obligation to do so being the appointing authority of the commission.

All what the Americans and the Europeans are going to propose to the Human Rights Council is to urge Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of the LLRC. What one cannot comprehend is what is actually wrong in asking for implementation of the recommendations of a commission appointed by the President himself and chaired by one of his close friends. Looking at it from the point of Human Rights, it is definitely a good move and there is nothing adverse in it to anyone.

Let us just look at some of the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt Commission.

First, the government should re-introduce legality in its administration rather than individuals governing the country. In other words, all activities in the country should be carried out in line with the law of the country and not according to the whims and fancies of some people.

Secondly, the safety of persons taken into custody should be assured by the government. At the same time, the government should acknowledge the rights of the next kith and kin to know the whereabouts of those who are taken into custody. The government should take steps to look into cases of disappearances and take all measures to trace them and hand over to their families. There should be a mechanism to investigate and punish those responsible for deaths and disappearances during the past period of war. It is also imperative to investigate cases of deaths and disappearances and issue death certificates where applicable.

The Commission has also recommended to the government that it should take steps to stop the activities of the para military outfits carrying arms and engaging in illegal activities in North and East of the country.

Further, the Commission has accepted the right of the people to information and has recommended that the government ensure that this right is implemented by framing suitable legislation. It is also important to put a stop to the attacks on free media and journalists.
It has also been recommended that the Police should function as an independent body and towards this, an Independent Police Commission should be established.

The Commission has further recommended the appointment of a commission of enquiry to go into various accusations leveled at the armed forces and also to take suitable steps to go into a form of power devolution to eliminate the grievances of the Tamil people.

Now the question that arises is, how could the implementation of these recommendations affect the human rights or sovereignty of a country. When one considers these recommendations individually, it is very clear that all those are for the benefit of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim people of the country. Therefore, how could the proposals emanating from various countries requesting for a timeframe for implementation of these recommendations and pledging their support towards that end can ever be classified as an “International Conspiracy”?.

True, there could be a danger too, as the countries led by the USA are proposing that the recommendations of the LLRC be implemented within a specific period of time. In case this does not take place, then there is a danger of some steps being taken against the country. But then again, the key for getting out of this issue is also with Sri Lanka. That is by way of implementation of the recommendations within a specific period of time. In this respect, of course, Sri Lanka’s record is dismal. The LLRC report was released in November 2011 but there have been no steps taken by Sri Lanka government for implementation of these

Although the President says that a programme for implementation of the recommendations of the LLRC was tabled in the Parliament on the same day the report was presented to the Parliament, nobody had seen or heard about such a programme. Also, although the President had announced to the media chiefs that they will call for an All Party Conference to solve the ethnic problem, nothing had happened in that respect too. But, the President had taken action on two issues, One: Appointing of members to the Police Commission. But this Commission is not an independent commission as recommended by the LLRC but a commission which includes rabid racists like Elle Gunawansa Thero, a Buddhist monk. There is nothing such a Commission can do to ensure independence of the Police.

Also, all of a sudden the Army Commander has appointed a military court comprising of army officers to investigate if there are any allegations against the army, which is actually like a case of appointing the thief’s mother to find evidence of robbery carried out by her own son.

What the government is doing is playing a cat and mouse game. Mahinda Rajapakse government has a well-known unpleasant history in this game: The murder of 5 students in Trincomalee, the killing of 17 relief workers in “Action Fame”, murder of MP Ravi Raj, etc. The Udalagama Commission appointed by the President to look into these killings, was cut short by the Rajapakse government itself before the commissioners could even complete their task. The report of commission headed by Supreme court judge Shirani Tilakawardene to go into alleged shady dealings in procuring arms and ammunitions during the war, is still lying in a locked cupboard at the Temple Trees. Also, the report of the Commission headed by Tissa Vitharane which was appointed by the President as soon as he became President to go into solutions for the ethnic problems, is also lying in some waste paper basket at the Temple Trees.

The report of the commission appointed to go into the murder of Roshan Shanaka at Katunayake Free Trade Zone is also not to be found anywhere.

Going by the past record of the government in disregarding reports of various commissions appointed by the government itself, it is no wonder that the international community has no faith in the promises made by the government asking for more time to implement the recommendations of the LLRC. On 27th of February, addressing the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Sri Lanka’s special envoy on Human Rights, mentioned that the government needs more time to implement the recommendations of the LLRC. But the international organizations dealing with human rights based in Geneva, look at these requests for more time, as merely time wasting strategies.

Amnesty International’s Yolande Foster says that these requests by the Sri Lanka government for more time are nothing new as all promises made by successive Sri Lankan governments have ended up merely as broken promises. She further says that the Sri Lankan government has not even implemented the interim recommendations of the LLRC which had been made over a year ago. There was a recommendation by that commission to issue a list of those kept under custody for information of their immediate family members, but so far no such list has been issued by the government.

Director of Human Rights Watch, Brad Adams, says if Sri Lanka has an honest intention to look into human rights violations, time is really not an obstacle for it. He further says “Sri Lankan government had promised, even before the war, that they would look into human rights violations. But, the international experts committee appointed to look into the Udalagama commission report, resigned en masse. It is hard to believe that the government which did not do anything even two and a half years after the war, is now saying that they will do something”

Therefore, what is wrong in asking for a proper time frame and road map to provide answers from a government which has a bad track record in postponing everything? How does that request become a conspiracy? Actually, the Sri Lankan citizens who are concerned about their human rights should, with one voice demand the implementation of the LLRC commissions. We should also ask the international community to put pressure on Sri Lanka government to implement these recommendations.

But instead of doing that, all what the slavish subjects of the country are doing is, to put their citizenship and humanity at the feet of war heros and get on to the streets to shout slogans against America.

The most unfortunate thing is that even the media in Sri Lanka are standing alongside these slogan shouting jokers – and sometimes the media is even standing behind these jokers. These mediamen are not interested in exposing the real side of this false façade. Anyone scrutinizing the headlines of Sinhala newspapers over the weekend and during week days would be clear on this unfortunate situation. These kept mediamen – both printed and electronic – depicted the recently held street protests by government supporters as Sri Lankans getting ready to declare war on aggressors. One could hear battle cries and patriotic songs over the radio and television as if the country is going to face a Third World War.

The United Nations Human Rights Council sits twice a year, in March and in September. If a resolution is passed during March sessions asking the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations of the LLRC, and if the government fails to do so, then it is possible that the council may go another step forward in its next sessions in September. But, the resolution to be moved by America and other members during the current sessions is not at all adverse to either Sri Lanka or its people.

If the Sri Lankan government goes ahead in implementing the recommendations of the LLRC according to a proper plan and timeframe, then only the government would be able to escape sanctions at the next session in September. Therefore, if there is an iota of intelligence in those who run the government, the best thing to do would be to make use of the opportunity and implement the recommendations in an open and honest manner. But, without doing that, if the government opts to listen to card-board heroes like Wimal Weerawansa, who is well known as not-farsighted but only short-sighted, and follow the advice of other racist jokers in jumping on to the streets along with paid supporters to conduct protests against the perceived “imperialists”, then it is asking for dangerous trouble voluntarily.

We have all heard of the story of the King who kept a monkey to look after him and how the stupid monkey in trying to shoo away a fly who was disturbing the king in his sleep, in the process managed to kill the king with his own sword.

Unfortunately for us and our country, our so called King too has a lot of such monkeys kept in his Palace as advisers.

BORN SUCKERS

When it comes to political promises, Sri Lankans are born suckers.
From S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s ‘Sinhala Only’ Utopia to his wife
Sirimavo’s ‘Rice from the Moon’ to J.R. Jayewardene’s ‘Dharmishta
Society’ to Chandrika Kumaratunga’s ‘Eradication of Dooshanaya and
Beeshanaya’ to maestro Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ‘Miracle of Asia,’ Sri
Lankans from all walks of life – rich and the poor, educated and the
uneducated - have all fallen for what has almost always been, crap.

To expect this situation to change in the short to mid term would be
akin to expecting the sun to rise from the West in the same period.
Which is why Maestro Mahinda is at it again. Hardly had the volume of
the call for the Rs. 2500 salary increment promise to be granted
dropped a notch or two, he sent his mouthpiece Minister John
Seneviratne to ‘announce’ that the President never made any such
promise. And this in a day and age when every word that is said by the
President is recorded and reported in some form or the other.

And it gets better. On Saturday, January 8, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa addressing a meeting at Temple Trees is reported to have
said, “this government does not have any faith in privatisation and it
would not sell state property.”
The audience no doubt in typical Sri Lankan fashion lapped it up and
probably gave a thundering round of applause to the Presidential
pronouncement. It is highly unlikely that the President was unaware
that his Treasury Secretary, P.B. Jayasundera was at that very moment
making arrangements to list some high profile government owned
establishments in the Colombo Stock Exchange. If that is not
privatisation then heaven help our Finance Minister.

How does one get away, and even get a round of applause, after
resorting to such blatant, in your-face deception? Only two
requirements – the speaker obviously needs to be an absolute maestro
at his game and of course the audience, a bunch of suckers.

Privatisation is now taking an ugly, hitherto unseen face. It has been
the practice that when foreign investors seek state land, be it in
Colombo or anywhere else in the island for that matter, such land is
given to the investor on a maximum 99 year lease. State land has never
been sold outright to foreign investors.

This policy for some reason is no longer practiced. It was announced
recently that Shangri-la had been ‘sold’ 12 acres of land at Army
Headquarters opposite Galle Face. Days later, last Thursday it was
announced that Cabinet had approved the sale of another huge block of
land, again at Galle Face to China National Aero Technology Import and
Export Corporation to build a multifunctional complex comprising of a
five star hotel and a shopping mall.

It is an open secret that the days when powerful countries fought wars
to conquer other less powerful countries are long gone. Now the same
goals are achieved through the use of economic firepower. The Chinese
have already got a firm foothold in Hambantota through the port it is
now building there. From this vantage point they can easily monitor
the shipping traffic in the Indian Ocean – the veritable jewel in the
Chinese’ ‘String of Pearls.’ What the Chinese lacked was a firm
foothold in the commercial capital and now it seems the Government of
Sri Lanka has given it too, on a platter.

State land does not belong to the Government of Mahinda Rajapaksa to
dispose as they please. State lands belong to the people of Sri Lanka
and it is held in trust on their behalf, by the government of the day.
How does selling, for example, say the Timber Corporation differ from
selling a part of Galle Face to the Chinese? How does this government
define the word ‘privatisation’? When one of the most prime assets of
the country such as a part of Galle Face or Army Headquarters is sold
to a foreign government is that not privatisation of a key state
asset?

One can just imagine the wailing cardboard ‘patriots’ such as the JHU
and its Champika Ranawaka, Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva and such others
would have resorted to had Ranil Wickremesinghe and his UNP decided to
sell Army Headquarters to a foreign company to build a five star
hotel. They would be screaming from the rooftops of a ‘threat to
national security,’ ‘sovereignty has been surrendered for a few
million dollars,’ ‘traitors of the nation’ etc. Today, their silence
is deafening. So it was when the Casino Bill was introduced.

It will be intriguing should some selective activists like Vasudeva
Nanayakkara, like he did in the case of the Insurance Corporation,
initiate public interest litigation at least for the purpose of
defining whether the two Galle Face deals are indeed instances of
privatisation. Part two can then begin where part one ends.

It is also interesting that former President Chandrika Kumaratunga in
an interview last week had said that 40% of every government deal was
shrouded in corruption. When asked as to how she came about this
figure she had replied it was through experience she had gathered as
head of state for two consecutive terms. What it means in terms of the
colossal projects undertaken by this regime, which incidentally
consists of the very same ministers that served under her watch, we
leave it to the imagination of readers.

It will be recalled that until last year the Galle Face area in its
entirety was closed to the public of Sri Lanka for ‘security reasons.’
Should there be a security issue in the future will the seven star
Shangri-la and the other Chinese five star hotel be told to pack up
and leave due to security reasons? After all that was what the
citizens of this country were told until a few months ago when they
were denied access to even park a motorcycle in this area.

It won’t be long when some Indian company also demands a piece of
Galle Face if one is to go by recent events. When that happens Sri
Lankans who come from such far away places as Mahiyanganaya and even
the city folk who have enjoyed this open space for centuries, will
have no option but to jump right into the Indian Ocean while the high
and mighty can wine and dine in Shangri-la style at Galle Face. To
hell with national security etc. etc.

The bottom-line is this. A key part of Sri Lanka’s capital city has
been sold outright to China – for USD 250 million – by a government
that claims to be against privatisation. And the people of Sri Lanka?
Well, they are cheering! What then, is the word that describes such a
people?

Born Suckers................................

I know one cannot do much about the situation in sri lanka, but for
the love of our motherland please try to circulate this article to every Sri Lankan.

What Abraham Lincoln said was "ask not what the country has done for
you but what you have done for your country"

Guess what we have done for the country.... Yeh, voted idiots into
power and let them plunder our country & we will continue to do so.

They say that a sucker is born every minute in the world, but in the case of Sri Lanka it seems the rate is one every second.

God Bless Sri Lankans.

PLAYING TO THE GALLERY

These days there are massive protests going on not only by the government but also by the opposition with regard to the appointment of a UN panel. The government members are threatening that leave alone the United Nations, no country in the world will be allowed to poke their fingers into internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

The opposition is also crying that the UN does not have powers to appoint such a panel.

The Foreign Minister and other influential ministers of the government are threatening that none of the members of this UN panel will be allowed to set foot on Sri Lanka.

And so, those sitting in the public Gallery are shouting Hoorahs and singing Hosannas, and clapping at this display of bravado by our politicians.

So, now everybody is happy. That’s the end of the matter. Or. at least that’s what they all think.

But nobody bothers to look into the origins of this problem. Nobody wants to study how past instances of a similar nature had been handled by those in charge. And nobody even thinks of learning any lessons from the past.

There is one thing that everybody should pay attention to in this instance. That is the fact that nobody could initiate legal action against Sri Lanka in any International War Tribunal. If such a thing is to be feasible, Sri Lanka should have entered into and signed a convention to accept its contents. Although such a Convention had been presented to Sri Lanka in the year 2003, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe who was the Prime Minister at that time had wisely refused to sign it.

At that time, those advocates of human rights who were in the opposition saw this act as a violation of human rights and isolation of the country from the international community. But Mr. Wickremasinghe did not budge an inch and refused to sign that convention. Therefore, no one has a right to file legal action against Sri Lanka in a War Tribunal now.

But since, the USA has signed this convention, it is possible for American citizens to be brought before such a tribunal. The government says Sarath Fonseka is an American citizen. The opposition says Gotabhaya Rajapakse is an American citizen. If these claims are true, then these are the people who should be afraid of going before a War Tribunal.

Therefore, it is clear that this talk of someone summoning Sri Lankans to go before a War Tribunal is pure imagination in the minds of the government, just to draw a red herring and to earn kudos from the public. So these protests about the UN Panel are also just a magic show aimed at satisfying the Gallery.

During the latter part of the eighties, the United Nations was initiating an investigation into human rights in Sri Lanka in response to a petition filed by the then opposition member Mahinda Rajapakse. At that time, what President Premadasa did was to send Ranil Wikremasinghe to USA as his personal emissary. Whilst in USA, Mr. Wickremasinghe invited the members of Human Rights organizations and the American Congress to visit Sri Lanka to see for themselves the actual situation. Also, the government at that time facilitated such visits by extending all due courtesies to them.

After visiting the country and getting a first hand knowledge of the situation, these members reported back to the United Nations that the actual situation in Sri Lanka was not so bad as Mahinda Rajapakse had complained and therefore, there was no need to appoint any investigative commissions.

It is indeed poetic justice that Mahinda Rajapakse who at that time went after the UN begging for investigative commisisons to be appointed to look into human rights violations in Sri Lanka; has to now shy away from facing such commissions himself.

If Mahinda Rajapakse wants to avoid facing such commissions, all he has to do is to do what President Premadasa wisely did at that time.

Otherwise, issuing threats to the UN and declaring that members of the panel will not be allowed to set foot in Sri Lanka is not going to take us anywhere and will only result in getting the country into a worse situation as far as the world body is concerned.

Because, although those members may not be allowed to come to Sri Lanka, the government might not be able to stop people who want to give evidence from going out of the country to other venues in order to do so.

So, at least now, what the government should do is not to play to the Gallery with its foolish acts but to act intelligently and diplomatically following the precedents.

What the Government has forgotten or deliberately ignored is that not everybody likes to sit in the Gallery and enjoy cheap shows and there are other people too who sit in Balconies and other classes, and observe such foolish acts with much disdain.

MONKEY TRICKS

In Sinhala literature of yore, there is a very interesting story of a monkey.
This particular monkey was very loyal to his King and was even prepared to sacrifice his life for the King.

But, alas, he was only a Monkey!

One day as the King was sleeping soundly, a fly who came from nowhere started to disturb the king’s slumber. The monkey, due to his sheer dedication to the King, thought that the fly was going to disturb the king’s royal sleep, took the King’s sword, and stuck. The fly, of course, flew away. But, the King died instantly due to injuries from the sword.
Unfortunately, thanks to the monkey brain, the King went into eternal slumber.

This story is well known to politicians of Sri Lanka.
But, what is unfortunate is that these politicians still depend on monkeys. And continue to take advice from monkeys and get cheated by monkeys. And finally, destroy their whole political careers by following advice from monkeys.

Chandrika Bandaranaike came into political field when no one expected it. Within a matter of a few months, she succeeded in becoming a Chief Minister, Prime Minister and finally the President, due to “Chandrika Attraction” which was spreading all over the country.

But, after a short period of 7-8 years, she started to lose that charisma. Currently, she has just become a non-entity as far as Sri Lankans are concerned, just being a name only and not as a character who rode the highest echelons of the country.
This happened to her because she took advice from the monkeys who were surrounding her. Finally, the monkeys prospered whilst Chandrika’s political life ended with the monkey’s sword.

These are very good lessons for everybody.

Today, what is happening to the government as well as the opposition is the same. The main opposition is in disarray with members washing their dirty linen in public even going to the extent of ignoring Lord Buddha’s wise words of not to take house fires out of one’s own house.

When such unfortunate things happen, the government controlled media is putting more fuel into the fire and make merry with headlines over headlines in their newspapers and increasing their profit margins.

Why did this happen to the Opposition. It can be summarised in just one sentence: due to taking advice from monkeys. Especially, the influential monkeys surrounding the leaders of the opposition parties.

But unfortunately, these leaders of the opposition are so naive that they cannot see the damages being inflicted by these monkeys to their reputations and their carreers due to their blind faith in monkeys.

Therefore, they carry on merrily until the monkeys kill them with a big blow from the sword.

Not only the opposition, the situation with the government is also the same.

President Mahinda Rajapakse had the golden opportunity, after the war victory, to unite the whole country and march towards real development coupled with a new political culture.
But the monkeys surrounding him did not allow him to do so.

What really happened is unfortunate in that there have been more and more internal and external divisons due to advice from monkeys.

Even the opportunity which presented itself at the first commemoration of war victory for reconciliation had been marred by the President’s speech which contained certain ideas engineered by these very same monkeys.

As pointed out by well wishers, if the President fails to look afresh at the problems facing the people and lead the country on a new path, it will be so unfortunate that neither the President nor the people would even be able to enjoy the fruits of the well-earned war victory.

It would definitely do well for the politicians on both sides of the divide to shun these monkeys and safeguard their political lives from their monkey tricks.

BUDGET BLUES

The people had high hopes for the 2010 Budget. It was during the last Presidential Elections that the President promised to increase the salaries of public servants.
It was also during the same Presidential elections that a slew of promises were given to take a number of steps to reduce the high cost of living.

When nothing happened even after the Presidential elections and when the people were eagerly waiting for fulfilment of those promises, the government yet again promised that all those relief measures would be announced in the forthcoming budget for 2010.

Even before the Budget, the prices of many essential items went skyrocketting. And there were hints in the government controlled media that relief is definitely on way for the consumers who are suffering due to high prices of food items.

But a few independent media were instrumental in letting the public know that whatever it says, the government will be forced to prepare the next Budget as per the dictates of the IMF. And obviously, the government controlled media never mentioned this fact.

The controlled media then started giving massive headlines in their newspapers saying that the Government was not prepared to “betray the country for a few more dollars by agreeing to the unjustified terms of the international community”.

Due to these headlines and the various speeches of the President and the cabinet, the unsuspecting people in Sri Lanka truly believed that the “proud father” i.e. the President would this time prepare a people-friendly budget for “his children” in the country.

Therefore, no one bothered to read through the IMF announcement of 21st May. Actually, the people thought why listen to “foreign uncles” when their own “Father” says things would be alright for them.

This is what the IMF said: The 2010 Budget of the government which aims at reducing the recurrent expenditure and considerably reducing the budget gap, would be presented to the Parliament soon.

Of couse, the government controlled media and other faithful followers in the media, and the general public did not even care to give any thought to that statement from the IMF – since when the “Father” promises something, why listen to “uncles”.

Then the IMF issued another statement on June 28th. It said: The strict implementatioin of this budget would result in revision of taxes and reduction in recurrent expenditure for the period under review, by giving careful consideration to the lapses which occurred in the past financial management.

The IMF statement obviously gave away the budget secrets in advance by clouding it in economic jargon that there will be no relief for the consumers in this budget and instead there will be more taxes and reduction in recurrent expenditure.

It did not stop at that. The IMF issued another statement concerning the Budget for the year 2011.

There will be amendments to tax concessions, increase in excise taxes, expansion of VAT and Income Taxes as part of the Budget for 2011.

In this background, the Minister of Finance (i.e. the President) did not even come to the Parliament to present the Budget speech.

Not only that, he was not even present in the country as he knew very well who the real architect of the Budget was.

But the sad thing is people like Wimal Weerawansa and Champika Ranawaka, who event went to the extent of demonstrating and protesting in front the IMF offices (remember the pledge to “unplug” ?), and those government controlled media, did not know who the real architect of the budget was – or pretended to be so.

So, no wonder the ordinary people were also in the dark as to the true origins of this Budget.

But, those in the know are aware that the real Father of this budget is a foreign Uncle !.

SJ & SJ (Shameless Jokers)

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”.