FUTA:
Drunk And Disorderly
Something
has gone to Mahinda
Rajapaksa‘s head, and I’m guessing it’s power. Because that seems to
be the only thing that interests him these days – how to bolster his own
position and how to undermine everybody else’s.
Kath Noble
Something
has gone to Mahinda
Rajapaksa‘s head, and I’m guessing it’s power. Because that seems to
be the only thing that interests him these days – how to bolster his own
position and how to undermine everybody else’s.
Hence
his first priority after the end of the war was to get himself another term as
president. The presidential election was called early, and it was followed
within a couple of months by a parliamentary election, enabling him to
strengthen his grip on the legislature too. The Opposition was in disarray. But
that wasn’t enough. He wanted a two thirds majority, so a few more crossovers
had to be engineered. Neatly bringing us to priority number two – legislation to
reduce checks and balances on the executive, and to enable him to run again, as
many times as he finds convenient, by abolishing term limits. The Constitution
was changed. And it was ‘urgent’. Naturally, for what could be more important
than Mahinda Rajapaksa’s future? Not peace-building, certainly. That’s for
wimps. The third and final priority was to keep the Opposition cowed. Which is
why he has called one election after another, to keep them in campaign mode so
that they never get around to replacing their has-been leader.
The
actual running of the country has suffered. But that needn’t matter if people
learn to be satisfied with the mere appearance of achievement rather than the
real thing. What matters is announcing that resettlement is complete and Manik
Farm closed down, right? Not whether the IDPs are actually back home with roofs
over their heads. Get with the programme, folks.
The
Government isn’t bothered about ‘details’ like that. After all, it won the war –
nothing else matters.
It
certainly doesn’t matter that university teachers have been on strike for three
months. Never mind that such a massive and sustained trade union action by a
normally rather conservative group of people is unprecedented in Sri
Lanka.
What
matters is not giving in to terrorism.
Sorry,
did I say terrorism? I must be getting confused – the modern world is so
difficult for those of us with only limited intelligence. It’s academics Mahinda
Rajapaksa shouldn’t negotiate with, right?
