Pumping up Petromax
It takes a thief to catch a thief. Sri Lankans seem to go by this saying. When they helped engineer the 2015 regime change by voting against the then UPFA government, the people thought all thieves in the previous administration would be brought to justice and their ill-gotten wealth confiscated. After all, that was the main campaign slogan of the yahapalana camp. Disillusioned, they voted for the SLPP, five years later, in the hope that the rogues in the yahapalana administration would be arrested and prosecuted for their crimes, only to be disappointed, again. Rogues of all hues continue to go places.
What is currently unfolding on the political front reminds us of a satirical Sinhala song about a drama. A group of village youth and some adults enact the Dutugemunu-Elara story with the help of a Petromax lamp for want of an electric lighting system. Just as the duel between the two kings begins, air pressure drops in the lamp, plunging the stage into darkness. A few minutes pass, and an inquisitive villager in the audience goes behind the stage. What he sees has him in stitches; ‘Dutugemunu’ and ‘Elara’, in full regalia, are taking turns to pump up the lamp so that the show can go on!
What we witnessed before last year’s presidential election and the subsequent change of government was a political war of epic proportions between the UNP-led UNF government and the SLFP dissidents. The SLPP promised to jump-start the legal process which had stalled, anent the bond scams, and see to it that the scammers would pay for their crime without further delay. It promised to bring former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran here to stand trial for his role in the bond rackets. But when it captured power and the court ordered the culprits to be arrested, they were allowed to go into hiding, and the CID acted like a headless chicken thereafter. It was obvious that the police were steering clear of the bond racketeers due to political interference. The suspects would not have been able to avoid arrest without government help. Machiavelli has famously said, a promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
The SLPP made a solemn pledge to make essential commodities available at affordable prices while it was in the opposition. Its leaders vowed to crush the Millers’ Mafia responsible for hoarding paddy and keeping the prices of rice extortionately high. People voted for them in the hope that the SLPP leaders, who take pride in having neutralised the LTTE’s military muscle, would tame the big-time millers in next to no time, only to realise they had been taken for a ride. Last week, the government allowed the Millers’ Mafia to increase the prices of rice. The head of the Consumer Affairs Authority, which had conducted raids and made the millers agree to sell rice at lower prices, was left with egg on his face.
The last government was involved in a mega racket, where substandard milch cows were imported from Australia and sold to local dairy farmers. Some of those cows were sick and farmers who bought them testified before a presidential commission that probed corrupt deals under the yahapalana administration. They revealed how they had been duped. The SLPP, in its opposition days, condemned their rivals for lining their pockets at the expense of the local dairy farmers, but it has reportedly decided to resume the controversial scheme and import cows from Australia! Now, it is clear that the corrupt elements responsible for the controversial cow deal will never be brought to justice. The present-day leaders seem to have taken the masses for asses.
There is nothing stupider than to expect politicians to go all out to put one another behind bars. They are aware that such action is tantamount to mutually assured destruction. We see the warring political bigwigs of both the government and the Opposition taking turns to pump up the Petromax lamp, so to speak. Their show will recommence when the apex court sorts out the general election issue.
It takes a thief to catch a thief. Sri Lankans seem to go by this saying. When they helped engineer the 2015 regime change by voting against the then UPFA government, the people thought all thieves in the previous administration would be brought to justice and their ill-gotten wealth confiscated. After all, that was the main campaign slogan of the yahapalana camp. Disillusioned, they voted for the SLPP, five years later, in the hope that the rogues in the yahapalana administration would be arrested and prosecuted for their crimes, only to be disappointed, again. Rogues of all hues continue to go places.
What is currently unfolding on the political front reminds us of a satirical Sinhala song about a drama. A group of village youth and some adults enact the Dutugemunu-Elara story with the help of a Petromax lamp for want of an electric lighting system. Just as the duel between the two kings begins, air pressure drops in the lamp, plunging the stage into darkness. A few minutes pass, and an inquisitive villager in the audience goes behind the stage. What he sees has him in stitches; ‘Dutugemunu’ and ‘Elara’, in full regalia, are taking turns to pump up the lamp so that the show can go on!
What we witnessed before last year’s presidential election and the subsequent change of government was a political war of epic proportions between the UNP-led UNF government and the SLFP dissidents. The SLPP promised to jump-start the legal process which had stalled, anent the bond scams, and see to it that the scammers would pay for their crime without further delay. It promised to bring former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran here to stand trial for his role in the bond rackets. But when it captured power and the court ordered the culprits to be arrested, they were allowed to go into hiding, and the CID acted like a headless chicken thereafter. It was obvious that the police were steering clear of the bond racketeers due to political interference. The suspects would not have been able to avoid arrest without government help. Machiavelli has famously said, a promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present.
The SLPP made a solemn pledge to make essential commodities available at affordable prices while it was in the opposition. Its leaders vowed to crush the Millers’ Mafia responsible for hoarding paddy and keeping the prices of rice extortionately high. People voted for them in the hope that the SLPP leaders, who take pride in having neutralised the LTTE’s military muscle, would tame the big-time millers in next to no time, only to realise they had been taken for a ride. Last week, the government allowed the Millers’ Mafia to increase the prices of rice. The head of the Consumer Affairs Authority, which had conducted raids and made the millers agree to sell rice at lower prices, was left with egg on his face.
The last government was involved in a mega racket, where substandard milch cows were imported from Australia and sold to local dairy farmers. Some of those cows were sick and farmers who bought them testified before a presidential commission that probed corrupt deals under the yahapalana administration. They revealed how they had been duped. The SLPP, in its opposition days, condemned their rivals for lining their pockets at the expense of the local dairy farmers, but it has reportedly decided to resume the controversial scheme and import cows from Australia! Now, it is clear that the corrupt elements responsible for the controversial cow deal will never be brought to justice. The present-day leaders seem to have taken the masses for asses.
There is nothing stupider than to expect politicians to go all out to put one another behind bars. They are aware that such action is tantamount to mutually assured destruction. We see the warring political bigwigs of both the government and the Opposition taking turns to pump up the Petromax lamp, so to speak. Their show will recommence when the apex court sorts out the general election issue.
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