a story that will not go away

I was very surprised when local villager, more in the socialist mould and likely to vote for SLFP told me that while the law is there it is only for the poor as rich are above the law. Nothing will make him change that opinion, which is deeply held in rural Sri Lanka.

I was surprised that he used the Mervyn Silva episodes as his reason for being utterly convinced it is so. Time and time again when he brakes the law in front of the country watching his antics, time for buffoonery is over. It is apparent to even this simple man that his protector sadly is none other than the President of this country. So the President though he does not know it has already met his Waterloo in the field of public opinion and not in battle which is a foregone conclusion where an army of 500,000 is bearing down on 5,000 holdouts who are cornered on all four sides with nowhere to turn.

It is very sad when examples come from the top of bad behavior encouraged by inaction on the part of the law enforcement authorities no doubt fearful of applying the law due to the bias of the commandeering chief. With such bad leadership, how can we expect better of the lower rungs of politicians, like cabinet ministers engaged in wholesale hostage taking of the nation and its assets for personal and no doubt short term gain.

This Sinhala speaking man used the term “buddhimathunta vitharai therenne ugathunta nevei” Only the intelligent understand the reality not the educated. He also further clarified that an educated man is not necessarily intelligent and vice versa. It is important therefore that the people are taught to think. Only then does the nation unshackle itself from this feudalism and get cheated out of false promises to make statements by way of the ballot box, which is the only way to upset the status quo in a democracy.

This discussion went on to state why we cannot exercise our free will through the ballot box because the only the rich can seek election as they have the funds to campaign and gain name recognition, and therefore perpetuate the status quo of one law for the rich and another for the poor. The left is too out of touch with reality to be rational, and the genuinely altruistic have no route to get recognized and exact leadership from the traditional mafia. Look at each party, there is no one of stature. We are governed by the people we deserve, and we deserve no better. We must change from the heart to want a better country free from this establishment.