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Another Term of This Madness
Another Term of This Madness
| by Tisaranee Gunasekara
Negligent, ambitious, and perverse Princes are the real causes of public misfortunes.
DHolbach (Good Sense Without God)
( November 13, 2013, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) This month, a female universityentrant fell off a seven-foot wall and suffered spinal injuries , while participating in the
Leadership Training Programme in an army camp.
The military spokesman says the wall was just six feet high. Lets believe him.
What sort of leadership training entails jumping from a six-foot wall? Armed
robbery? Kidnapping? Movie stunts?
What is the logic of herding students into army camps and forcing them to engage in
mindless and useless pursuits which have no place in a normal law-abiding civilian
existence?
The leadership training programme is a near perfect symbol of Rajapaksa thinking and
him, knowing what he will do and what he will allow his brothers, relatives and
acolytes to do.
Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot protect national sovereignty. He is in the process of
turning Sri Lanka into a Chinese protectorate. Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot build peace.
He has failed to reconcile the Tamils while antagonising the Muslims and the
Christians.
The only way Mahinda Rajapaksa can protect territorial integrity is by igniting another
unnecessary war with another minority and winning it after several more decades of
bloodshed and mayhem.
Mahinda Rajapaksas idea of development is to build expressways, airports and ports,
while ordinary people including, his own Sinhala-base, sink into greater want.
Do we want the Rajapaksas and that means all the Rajapaksas, not this or that
Rajapaksa, because theirs is a family business to rule this country for at least six
more years?
Do we want Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in parliament, poised to step into his brothers
presidential shoes, legally and constitutionally?
Do we want a totally degraded judiciary? Do we want judges who are manifestly the
pawns of the rulers?
Do we want the new Rajapaksa commonsense to become hegemonic? Do we want
impunity, abuse and corruption to become the only normal the next generation of
Lankans know?
Do we want the militarization of economy, civil society and our minds? Do we want a
morality which despises the weak and worships the strong and the powerful?
Do we want a country which cannot protect its most vulnerable (children and the
elderly) even as it spends most of the national wealth on defence?
Do we want an acolyte-capitalism and a serfocratic administration, a country where
Dhammika Pereras rule the economy and Sajin Vaas Gunawardanes thump Chris
Nonises?
Rajapaksas?
Do we want Sri Lanka to become a battleground of regional and global powers?
Do Sinhalese want a lasting peace or a new war with another minority?
Do Tamils want to live under de facto occupation, a life of worsening humiliation,
powerlessness and insecurity?
Do Muslims want to become the new Tamils?
Do Christians want to live like second class citizens?
Dislodging the Rajapaksas will not solve all Lankan problems. But the absolute
majority of Lankan problems cannot be solved without dislodging the Rajapaksas.
The Final Trapdoor
Defeating the Rajapaksas becomes an uphill task with each passing year. Not because
the Rajapaksas become more popular, but because the Rajapaksas make the politicoelectoral playing field more uneven, from within.
But economic discontent is growing, especially among the Sinhalese (as the CPA
survey reveals). That gives the opposition a trapdoor of opportunity, a decent chance of
pushing the election into a second round. For the opposition, an outright victory is not
necessary; preventing an outright victory by the Rajapaksas will suffice because it can
cause a political tsunami, including within the SLFP.
If the Rajapaksas win the presidency, they will move swiftly to neutralise the most
effective figures in the opposition. Once the opposition is reeling from attacks, arrests,
calumnies and internal squabbles, the parliamentary election can be held. When a
Rajapaksa occupies the PM post, the Achilles Heel of familial rule will be no more.
Life has not improved for Tamils and Muslims during the second Rajapaksa term. But
has life become better and happier for the Sinhala majority during the second
Rajapaksa term? The Sinhala-South might not be interested in the atrocities
committed during the war and in the aftermath. They might be indifferent to Tamil
and Muslim problems and fears. But has the condition of the Sinhala-South improved
during the second Rajapaksa term? Are Sinhalese better off socio-economically, more
secure and more hopeful about the future than they were in 2010? Are they happy
about the direction in which the Rajapaksas are taking the country? Are they willing to
sacrifice the basic rights they take so much for granted and the prospect of a more
peaceful and prosperous future, for the sake of a dead or an unseen enemy?
The Rajapaksas will try to muddy the waters of our thinking by screaming about Tigers
and Jihadists, traitors and conspirators, so that we forget the real issue.
Do we want a Rajapaksa future?
Posted by Thavam