Publish And Be Damned
“You will never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart ” ~ George Michael
An important essence of being a leader is to listen to the collective voice of his/her people. People, as in the wider context and not those who are closest to you politically.
Access to persons who can express the mood of the public without expectation or fear of losing privilege is paramount. President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe seemingly do not have such people at hand. Or deliberately fails to listen if there are such people for reasons of their own.Trust placed upon this duo in 2015 has been betrayed. Never before has a government faltered in such disgraceful fashion to complete simple tasks entrusted to them.
No leader can survive by confronting issues at hand with weak knees. President Sirisena does not have the acumen. PM vacillates and is weak kneed. They appear to have personal reasons for not prosecuting the Rajapaksa clan, hold them in awe or are frightened of them. Maybe they are frightened for themselves should the former President or another corrupt or murderous member is shunted to political office. Read below a report carried by Al Jazeera on 06.04.2018.
“Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison by the Seoul Central District Court after she was found guilty of corruption, Al-Jazeera reported today.
The former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.
It was alleged in the trial that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.
She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.
Park was acquitted in at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing Hyundai automobile company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.
South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial.
She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.
In December 2016, South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park, but she refused to resign offering instead an apology while denying any legal wrongdoing.
Three months later, the eight-member Constitutional Court then voted unanimously to remove her from office.
She was charged and detained soon after her dismissal from office.
She is the daughter of another president, Park Chung-hee, who seized power in 1961 and was assassinated eight years later.”
Newspapers, wire services and electronic media have carried ad nauseum the crooked and murderous deeds of the former regime under Mahinda Rajapaksa. Three long years and a bit have elapsed of the Yahapalanaya rule but Rajapaksas roam free. Free to destabilise politically, economically and more. It does not matter to President Sirisena or Ranil. They are “I am alright Jacks” too.
