Ceylon Today Editorial

WHEN THE VELVET GLOVE’S A FAILURE

15 March 2017

The filthy voice of aberrant politics which we highlighted in last Sunday's editorial continues to harangue the government and the public and now seems intent on triggering a government as well as a public backlash as tolerance levels spill over into impatience at this vulgar demonstration of suspended violence by Opposition political forces intent on egging on the riff-raff in our schools and universities to do their bidding.

It has now come down to these young hooligans dressing up in the image of Che Guevara. Of course they're quite stupid and hence do not realize that the only statement this makes is that their violence-prone failed revolutionaries of yesteryear and some later day imitators of Stalin and Lenin, are the movers and shakers of this ha-ho against SAITM.

Their argument, to say the least, is laughable. Nay! Hilarious! The argument now proffered is that SAITM must close down "to protect the right to free education: The first argument was that SAITM's standards of education in the medical stream were lacking in professionalism.

FUNNY THAT NEITHER OF THESE TWO ARGUMENTS EVER ENTERED THE MINDS OF THE GMOA AND THESE RECALCITRANT IUSF STUDENT MEMBERS WHILE SAITM Functioned UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF THEIR CHOICE, THE FORMER MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA GOVERNMENT. But then, the vicious political minds stirring them up and egging them on were the major driving force in that government and are now the stars of the Joint Opposition movement, hell bent on destabilization.

The ugly political scenario obtaining today was something about which we warned the government many months ago...and occasionally had need to repeat, including last Sunday.


The IUSF students seem to not know whether they are coming or going and don't even seem to have the ha-penny's worth of common sense needed to understand that they are losing hundreds of hours needed for their studies. That, of course, seems to not matter much, judging by the fact that there seems to be a never ending stream of successful graduates coming out of these universities. This makes us wonder whether it's the levels of education at SAITM that are low or whether the fact is that levels of education at our State Universities are LOWER!

Given the logic that the GMOA and these students don't have a sensible argument to back the demand for the closure of SAITM...and given the fact the intelligent Judges have given a learned Court decision certifying SAITM's qualification to award medical degrees, we are left with the solitary conclusion that this whole shoddy saga stinks of cheap, abusive and destabilizing oppositional politics. It's not unlike the story of the bastard being disowned by the rapist for the purpose of bringing to disrepute his rape victim simply because the baby and mother are doing well despite his filthiness.

But we must ask: How many more times is the government's lackadaisical response to this nonsense, this most annoying abuse of democratic values, rights and privileges, going to be allowed to get away with, with a dousing of water cannon and some tear gas cans?

Is the government bankrupt of ideas as to how this menace is to be solved just because of a fear of playing into the hands of a rabid Opposition? The government needs to begin facing facts and change gears and run off the road this behemoth of socio-political destabilization that's forcing its own vehicle of good governance off the precipice.

There's a time for containment and there's a time for defence. Surely the government knows that the best form of defence is attack: Works out to the simple dynamics of sparing the rod and spoiling the child.

While this is sustained on one flank, the Opposition also continues plugging the canard that the government is planning to 'punish the armed forces for winning the war'. Is that right or more than just a bit of mischief intended to continue suggesting to the more impressionable men in uniform that here's a government that's intent on sacrificing innocent men on the altar of self-preservation. But is that the truth? The whole truth and nothing but the truth? Or, could it possibly be that there's fear of an independent probe leading away from the soldiers to some Alpha Code, ending at the doorsteps of persons other than our soldiers?

That could have an immense impact on our political party system, to say the least, and on national politics in general. One hears that such an independent probe could be much, much more than simply devastating to several political careers and not necessarily of any damning threat to our Army. Meanwhile, TNA leader Sambandan seems to have opted for a larger dose of commonsense that has been usual. All to the good!