Bizarre 1

Shashindra Rajapaksa

By Emil van der Poorten -September 14, 2014

Emil van der Poorten

Given the realities of Sri Lanka, I am certain that I will need to use this title in the future as well because there isn’t a word that more accurately describes the goings on in the Debacle of Asia, hence the “1” that follows the single-word title.

A word of caution would certainly be indicated at the inception – those responsible for the bizarre goings-on in this country who would certainly fit into the category of boors, buffoons and the uneducated might not represent the peak of human development but they can and have given evidence of their ability to inflict violent physical, mental and psychological cruelty on those they’ve decided to be “the enemies of the state” (a term interchangeable with their last name) and who are perceived as placing obstacles in the path of their pursuit of unimagined power and pelf.

With the Uva Provincial Council election campaign in full  swing we have a never-ending litany of violence being visited upon those standing in the way of the Rajapaksa hegemony which has a very personal complexion here with the son of the eldest of the siblings standing for election to the Chief Minister’s post, one he came by with the President, his uncle, exercising his dictatorial power and removing the legal prohibition to his incumbency of the head position at the Kataragama shrine while running for, leave alone occupying, political office. While hardly surprising, there was barely a whimper of protest from “the Official Opposition” or from Sri Lanka’s mainline media which had already begun its descent into abject servility when this occurred.  So we now have the spectacle of a man running for re-election to a position that he should not have held in the first place!

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