The Predatory Them And The Puerile Us

| by Tisaranee Gunasekara-Thursday, January 23, 2014 King who feed on your people, since you rule nonentities Homer The !liad" #anuary $%, $&'(, )olombo, *ri +anka Guardian" *i, billion rupees of public funds will be spent on building a super-lu,ury condominium to house *ri +anka-s abstemious parliamentarians. The fully air-conditioned skyscraper will spread o/er two-and-a-half acres and consist of 0all modern facilities such as swimming pools, gyms, walking paths, restaurants and playgrounds . The self-denying parliamentarians will pay the princely sum of 1s ',&&& per month for their new rent-free abodes, as refundable deposit.

!n that same country, the free midday-meal for primary-school students has reportedly been reduced to a glass of milk, because the suppliers for last year-s meals are yet to be paid. 2 #apanese company, and not the ubi3uitous )hinese, will be tasked with building the condominium for parliamentarians. *o unlike the 42lways 5reakdown- 6orochcholai, the legislators will be blessed with well-built and properly-functioning li/ing spaces. )orruption in the word-s broadest possible sense" is a key control-tool of the 1a7apaksas. The *iblings use the state and its resources to punish opponents and to reward those who succumb. The gifts granted to Hirunika 8remachandra, who succumbed, is the corollary of the attempt to persecute 9angala *amaraweera, who refused to succumb, by using a :ictorian-law sourced in the homophobic ;ld Testament /alues< The pro7ect to pro/ide all parliamentarians with opulent abodes at national e,pense is part of a larger plan to transform corruption into a national template. =hen corruption is a common malaise rather than a familial>go/ernmental one, the moral-ethical distance between the 1ulers

and their opponents is automatically effaced. !n such a state, the electorate, instead of erupting in anger, will sink into disgusted apathy. 2pathy, as history pro/es, is an in/aluable friend of tyranny. Hegemonic rulers are those who succeed in inculcating the ruled with their own /alues. The 1a7apaksas ha/e made deadly ad/ances in this department. *inhala-5uddhist supremacism is kosher? familial politics is the norm? nepotism no longer disgusts? corruption and opportunism seem smart, winning-3ualities rather than e,ecrable /ices. !n a country where war is peace, sla/ery freedom and ignorance strength, cowardice becomes bra/ery, self-interest wisdom and hatred patriotism. The epidemic nature of the problem is indicated by 6amini =i7edasa-s e,pose of the familial nature of our foreign ser/ice . That the 1a7apaksas are using the @oreign *er/ice as salubrious pastures for their mostly mediocre kith and kin was no surprise? what was truly shocking was the number of e3ually unprepossessing non-1a7apaksa political offspring>siblings occupying second-le/el diplomatic positions across the globe . *o the ;pposition-s response to the housing-trap will be crucial. =ill the A68, the #:8 and the T62 stringently oppose this criminal waste of public funds and refuse to become its beneficiariesB ;r will they too apply for a house in the ultra-lu,ury condominiumB =hen the 1a7apaksas used the 55* to try to pre/ent the slightly-reformed A68 from reaching out to the persecuted Tamils, their plan was to get the Clephant and the +eadership )ouncil" to tar itself with the same racist-brush as themsel/es. !f there is no appreciable difference on any front between the 1a7apaksas and their opponents, apart from 9ahinda-s winning smile, 5asil-s oleaginous manner and Gotabhaya-s mailed-fist, the 1a7apaksas may not e/en need to use the '& new water-cannon trucks purchased from !ndia at 1s. D-Emillion each . !f the opposition succumbs, the conse3uent growth of public cynicism will undermine the possibility of a moderate and democratic alternati/e to the 1a7apaksas and open the door to e,tremist and anti-democratic options, of the ethno-religious and>or militarist /ariety a )olonels- or a *ergeants- coup". +ost in !llogic !t is not 7ust a moral compass the 1a7apaksas are de/oid of? they also lack a rational compass. Ander their rule the irrational has become as normal and unob7ectionable as the immoral and the unethical. This is most de/astatingly e/ident in the financial-economic sphere, where family-centric policies are pushing the country into a ruinous debt-trap. 2ccording to 8ricewaterhouse)oopers, in $&'&-'' 9ihin +anka 0incurred a net loss of 1s.F(&.(Fmillion.and the company-s current liabilities e,ceeded its current assets by 1s.',&G%,F$million, reflecting a 6egati/e 6etworth of 1s.%G'(.(Dmillion . The cost of reconstructing the #affna-:a/uniya road is said to be 1upees ''$.GG million per kilometre built by a )hinese contractor with a loan from a )hinese bank". 2ccording to the 2uditor General-s latest report, 0the )8) had entered into contracts with conditions unfa/ourable to it. The report refers to losses incurred by the import of substandard fuel, the fallout of the infamous hedging deal and the payment of bonus to staff when the corporation was running at a massi/e loss. The entry of +!;) was done in a 4haphaHard manner-? the 4absence of proper agreements- has allowed the +!;) to use )hina 5ay land sans rent. The signature 1a7apaksa pro7ect 6orochcholai was closed for I% full days and (% half days in $&'%. !n an ultimate irony, the 1a7apaksas are now turning to the !ndians to clear up the 6orochocholai mess, 9ade-in)hina<

The presence of a /ery narrow stakeholder-base entails the adoption of an accordingly circumscribed go/ernance-perspecti/e. 8olicy decisions ha/e one o/erarching moti/e J the furtherance of the interests and the satisfaction of the whims of the ruling family. This may /ary from permitting the loss-making *ri +ankan headed by 8residential 5rother-in-law " to borrow more than 1s. $$.Ibillion to buy '& new aircrafts to permitting the importation of '&&&cc motorbikes for 4sports purposes- racing is reportedly an en7oyable pastime and a lucrati/e business for 8residential offspring". 2ll costs of @amilial misrule will ultimately fall on the people, including the 1a7apaksas*inhala-5uddhist base. 2ccording to 9inister *arath 2munugama, 0most low income groups are eking out an e,istence on 7ust one and a half dollars a day . 2s more indirect ta,es are imposed, to pay for corruption, waste, incompetence and e,tra/agance, the li/ing conditions of ordinary people will plummet at a greater rate. *till the 1a7apaksas will be safe, so long as the ma7ority *inhala-5uddhists allow themsel/es to be hoodwinked by patriotic slogans and terrified by Tiger>#ihad>)hurch>international conspiracy bogies. Kuring his epic-contestation with 2gamemnon, 2chilles of The !liad faults his leader for making personally-moti/ated and thus collecti/ely-counterproducti/e decisions, and implies that Greek compliance has enabled this ruinous path. The *iblings are able to ha/e their untrammelled way not only because the opposition is weak but also because the ma7ority community is fatally short-sighted, unintelligent and irrational. The *inhalese, with the 1a7apaksas, are tra/ersing a similar path as Tamils did with the Tigers. Kiscriminated against by )olombo, bereft of hope in democracy and rule of law, the Tamils yearned for a forceful leadership which could reply the *inhalese in their own language. The +TTC is the result of that yearning. )aught in an unending war, the *inhalese too yearned for a forceful leadership which could fight the Tigers, the Tiger way. The 1a7apaksas are the result of that yearning. Tamils, for reasons good and ill, ac3uiesced with the Tiger-s homicidal>suicidal way, and ended in 6andikadal, internment camp and de facto occupation. The near carte blanche accorded by *inhala-5uddhists to the 1a7apaksas is e3ually ill-fated. =hether *inhala-5uddhist submission to 1a7apaksa-s predatory misrule is moti/ated by understandable fear or culpable identification would be immaterial to that final disastrous dLnouement. 1eferences? httpM>>www.infolanka.com>news>!+>dmF%(.htm The original appeared in the Kaily 9irror J $'.'.$&'( Kaily 9irror J $$.'.$&'( httpM>>www.sundaytimes.lk>'(&''F>news>foreign-ser/ice-or-family-ser/ice-G&D&G.html 2n ine/itable outcome of staffing our embassies with well-connected nincompoops is that more national wealth has to be wasted in hiring foreign public relations firms to do the work of diplomats? for instance, the A68 recently re/ealed that the )entral 5ank has signed a 1s. '&&million deal with Thomson 2d/isory Group to woo 2merican congressmenMhttpM>>www.ft.lk>$&'(>&'>$$>unp-e,poses-rs-'&&-m-deal-to-woo-us-congressmen> httpM>>www.dailymirror.lk>news>('F'(-police-braces-to-face-protesters.html The *unday Times J '.'$.$&'% httpM>>www.island.lk>inde,.phpBpageNcatOarticle-detailsPpageOarticledetailsPcodeNtitleOFE%E% The *unday Times J 'D.'$.$&'%

httpM>>www.sundaytimes.lk>'(&''F>news>indians-7oin-norochcholai-coal-war-G&D%%.html The same gentlemen who publicly admitted to smuggling foreign currency into the country, and got away with it. httpM>>www.sundaytimes.lk>'(&''F>news>srilankan-seeks-massi/e-bond-issue-to-buy-aircraftG&DG(.html httpM>>www.sundaytimes.lk>'(&''F>news>go/t-to-seek-parliamentary-appro/al-to-importregister-'&&&cc-motorbikes-G&(G$.html httpM>>www.island.lk>inde,.phpBpageNcatOarticle-detailsPpageOarticledetailsPcodeNtitleOFDE%&