Thursday, July 14, 2016

I am a tri national and they all face the same crises!


Having an intimate love affair with Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom and the United States, having lived in all three for a substantial period of my life, schooled,  studied and worked (and paid tax and took NO welfare)  and kept house and home, car and travel, holiday and relaxation. I even bought a new Jaguar in 1995 in Santa Barbara, California and drove across the US and took it across the pond to the UK, and drove around Europe, before taking it back across the pond to the US and drove it finally to Las Vegas!

I note as follows:

The United Kingdom

Theresa May, starts her first full day in office at Number 10 this morning, in a Country that is divided between young and old, city and country, between rich and less well-off, Brexit and Remain!

I was there at the time the UK joined the EU and believed it was the natural progression of nationhood, dropping nationalistic shackles and entering the NEW WORLD ORDER, so I was disappointed that the people followed a narrow, Nationalist Path of self destruction, with the Tories at the bottom of it.

It is now repair and remove time from Europe, and till 2020, till the next elections, the new Prime Minister will have her work cut out, and I wish her the very best.

The United States of America

The new President of the US will be installed in 6 months from now after the November 9th Presidential Election. Hilary came through a bruising battle to receive the Democratic Party’s nomination, while Donald Trump has against all logic received the nomination of the Republican Party and in the middle of gun violence in Dallas of the killing of 5 policemen and the violence in Orlando, Florida, I trust that the divisive issue will be on the Second Amendment rights, that will definitely divide the nation between Red Necks and the rest. Again a nation clearly divided with NO common ground.

I hear today, that Trump is only 3 points behind Clinton, and anything can happen, especially how Brexit showed us what Nationalism can do, and Trump is playing the same divisive game aimed at the ignorant.
Sri Lanka

We have a joint opposition that is trying again and again to raise their Nationalist credentials, which are the populist ones, which especially due to a lackluster leader of the ruling National Government is turning people irrationally to a bankrupt cause of a bunch of people who bled this Country. Those who replaced them, have not been able to get traction to show how this bleeding occurred, and the steps being taken to stop the bleeding, which are definitely UNPOPULAR as it is an unfair distribution of the pain, skewed to the poorest sections of society, with the Ruling Elite, ensconced in their Luxuries, and tax free cars and lives, at the EXPENSE of the working poor, who pay the bulk of taxes.

I am therefore on a crusade to point out how high these taxes are as a percentage of a poor man’s US$250 a month average wage, which goes for the basic food he buys, the basic phone and internet charges he incurs, and the basic costs of living with VAT on everything else he purchases too. Who is kidding whom when the Govt. says that Sugar is an essential and is not Vatable, while Rs 30 is creamed off each kg of sugar as taxes to the Government? That is an unkind blow in lying.

The population is fast dividing between haves and have nots. There is NO middle ground, with the shrinking middle class. The race card is being played to the maximum by the members of the Joint Opposition which will stoke racial clashes, instilled purely for POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY.

There are impending crises galore, which the people do not trust the existing leadership to solve painlessly! We need strong leadership, and I know the US and UK will finally have women heading their respective Executives. They will buckle down to business, but in Sri Lanka we have a rudderless leadership of impotent old timers, with NO ONE with a vision or exciting persona to be handed over the reins, where the people have confidence in their ability to produce the goods.


It is therefore the duty of the existing leaders to UNIFY this highly fragmented and divided Country into a one ‘Nationhood’ concept, where the people believe that it is the only way forward to ensure peace. I just hope the Diaspora in the guise of the UNHRC pressure, will finally desist and go back to their lives, leaving Sri Lanka to peacefully transition to a Country where ALL people are treated equally with NO ONE seeking any preferential treatment. Preferential Treatment is the root of most of the evil in Government and the sooner we learn this lesson after 70years of struggle, the better. So I hate to see progress on these issues made in the UK and US while we seriously lag behind.  

No comments: