Stale toddy in a new pot
28 December 2016
Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga was cock-a-hoop the
other day about the completion of his artificial Christmas tree on the
Galle Face Green. He fought quite a battle to neutralise his critics.
The record-breaking project, however, does not seem to have found
favour with some prelates; Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal
Ranjith, delivering his sermon on Christmas Day, looked askance at the
waste of resources on decorations and ‘trees’ in the name of
celebrating the birth of Jesus.
The giant Christmas tree,
however, will figure in Minister Ranatunga’s election posters in the
Gampaha District, which has a sizeable Christian community. It is hoped
that neither Ranatunga nor any other minister will undertake to put up
the tallest Vesak thorana or pandal next May.
Many Sri
Lankans hit the sack on empty stomachs and children die in their
thousands a month for want of life-saving medical and surgical care.
The country is in dire financial straits. Therefore, the government
ought to set an example to others by curtailing its wasteful
expenditure and pressuring its big guns to desist from extravagance,
profligacy and dissipation.
Minister Ranatunga has
apparently missed the port for the Tree, so to speak. A terminal of the
Colombo Port will be handed over to a neighbouring country, we are
told. There is no reason why the veracity of this claim made by a
proponent of yahapalanaya and ardent supporter of the present regime
should be doubted. The stage is now set to hand over the Hambantota
Port to the Chinese. The deal was struck without Ranatunga’s knowledge.
Vast
extents of land are being leased out to foreigners for 99 years. At
the rate state ventures under the purview of various ministries are
being sold or leased out to foreigners the day may not be far off when
there are many ministers without portfolios; Ranatunga is very likely
to be among them.
Roman rulers, unable to live up to public
expectations, with their empire disintegrating, used bread and circuses
(panem et circenses) to prevent popular uprisings against them. The
present-day Sri Lankan rulers are using circuses sans bread for that
purpose. Marie Antoinette got into trouble by asking the protesting
masses to eat cake if bread was not available. The present-day Sri
Lankan leaders are lucky that they are not troubled by popular
uprisings though their economic mismanagement has caused the bread and
rice prices to go into the stratosphere. A wag says those who converge
on the Galle Face Green and keep looking up have to check for the
safety of their wallets. For, the nearby Finance Ministry is full of
nimble-fingered politicians and mandarins!
Meanwhile, the
grand opening of the Galle Face Christmas tree was marred by the
presence of an erstwhile pet of the Rajapaksas. He and others of his ilk
who went places by licking the then rulers’ sandals were also
responsible for their masters’ pratfall. This politician was a law unto
himself in the Galle District during the previous regime. Regrettably,
he continues to enjoy legal immunity having switched his allegiance to
the present government. The mere sight of him made one’s gorge rise.
There were many others like him including the notorious thug who
crowned himself as the king of Kelaniya and flouted the law with
impunity because he was close to the Rajapaksas. The previous government
also shielded a sex maniac in the garb of a local government
politician who, according to the late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera,
used to throw parties after raping women. He was one of the organisers
of the SLFP’s May Day rally in Galle this year! Their association with
the current administration makes one wonder whether yahapalanaya is the
Rajapaksas’ stale toddy in Sirisena’s new pot.
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