The Island Editorial

Yahapalana kick

14 September 2016

 

President Maithripala Sirisena has recently lamented an increase in the consumption of beer among women over the years. His disappointment is understandable. He has evinced a keen interest in creating a sober Sri Lanka and his unwavering commitment to that cause should be appreciated by one and all.

President Sirisena, as the Health Minister of the Rajapaksa government, took on the powerful tobacco and alcohol companies against numerous odds. Given the wealthy multinationals’ influence and determination to torpedo his efforts, with the help of some powerful politicians of the day, many thought he was trying to square a circle. But, he intrepidly squared up to the commercial giants. He can justifiably preen himself on pictorial warnings on cigarette packets.

That Sri Lankan males greedily chugalug all the alcohol in the world, as if there were no tomorrow, is only too well known. They claim to be too busy to do marketing for their wives, take their children to school or even do minor household chores. But, they don’t mind waiting in winding queues near wayside liquor outlets to quench their thirst. It is doubtful whether these alpha males have money, energy and time left to do anything else. They are beyond redemption. As regards the alleged increase in liquor consumption among women, the President must have based his assertion on statistics available to him. But, we wonder whether those statistics are reliable. For, it has been proved under the present government that a person does not have to consume alcohol, at all, to get intoxicated.

One may recall an accident at Rajagiriya, where an Opposition MP loyal to the government rammed his SUV into a wayside lamppost a few moons ago. All those who rushed to the scene confirmed that the parliamentarian was sozzled to the gills and could hardly stand erect. The police insisted that he was drunk and a medical officer certified that he smelt of liquor. If he had been an opponent of the government he would have been remanded and arraigned on a charge of destroying public property; courts would have been opened at midnight to ensure that he was sent to remand prison before daybreak. But, he got away with that serious offence and claimed that if there had been a smell of liquor lingering around him it may have been because he was embraced by a tippler in the aftermath of the mishap.

So, the drunkenness of women which has disturbed our good President may not necessarily be due to their consumption of beer or any other form of firewater. They may be getting drunk because their naughty husbands and boyfriends addicted to rotgut hug them frequently under the influence of liquor. Women are not to be blamed. It is those irresponsible males who should be faulted for that. They must be whipped with a stingray tail or maduwalige.

Meanwhile, we want to make a contribution to the government’s campaign to bring down liquor consumption. President Sirisena and others, pontificating on the virtues of temperance, can easily slash the national liquor consumption by about ninety percent overnight. It only has to popularise the so-called Rajagiriya Method. In other words, there is absolutely no need to serve liquor at weddings, business gatherings, funerals, shindigs etc. A single person can heat his liver and give a bear hug each to others who attend such events so that all of them can get drunk at no cost without running health risks. However, this method is not without some danger. Those who get intoxicated in that manner may drive their vehicles up wayside lampposts and trees. But, the fact remains that there is an element of risk in everything we do in life.

Cheers!