From Euphoria To Hysteria And Everything In Between!
Emil van der Poorten
My wait for yet another filthy, abusive SMS, from a member of the ersatzRajapaksa diplomatic corps from “down under,” having proved futile, I am compelled to address what is our “rural reality” once more! Not as exciting, I have to admit, but one that certainly needs some attention!
The shouting of commands at the Independence Day celebrations in Kegalle, was a precursor to the incongruity of a President greeting a now-disgraced Prime Minister, both pretending that container loads of hard drugs only exist in the minds of “the enemies of the state.” then oodles of top-end luxury limos disgorging their contents were followed by outriders in pith hats reminiscent of the times of the British Raj.
The “keynote address” at the celebration, was the now-tiresome one reminding everyone watching or listening-in that there were only two kinds of Sri Lankans – those supporting the government and those opposing its behavior. With each passing year and each mouthing of this shibboleth, it attains an even more chilling tone, particularly given the recent fate of Mel Gunasekera, a business journalist, representing a foreign news agency whose bread and butter would, inevitably, have been journalism commonly described as “investigative.” It is interesting that Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema was also working on a business-related story at the time her home was invaded, Frederica Jansz had provoked the ire of our current rulers by headlining a tale of significant financial loss, resulting in her having to bolt to the US and her predecessor, Lal Wickremetunga, was best known for his exposes of financial malfeasance which could have contributed to his (still-unsolved) killing with weapons normally reserved for the abattoir.
The weight that pronouncement – “those who are not for us are against the nation” – carries increases with the use of violence to suppress dissent. This began with the killing at the Free Trade Zone demonstration against the attempt to hijack employees’ EPF contributions, through the killing of a fisherman protesting at the steep increase in the price of the fuel he needed to capture his quarry and the Weliweriya killing of unarmed (Sinhala) villagers asking for clean water and getting, instead, “hot lead.” Most recently in that procession of iniquity, there were the “Six-gun Sam” shootings at Matara by a Sri Lankan Wyatt Earp, closely connected to the highest echelons of the government.
On every one of these occasions, the result has been the confirmation that the current government will do anything and everything it has to show that nobody and nothing is going to stand in the way of it or its friends.
Chilling? Yes, but one needs to face facts. Read More
