Sri Lanka – The Comedy Of Asia!
Sharmini Serasinghe
Once again, we see yet another version of a ‘Comedy of Errors’ unfolding on the political stage of Sri Lanka.
Over the years, this stage has seen many a comic performance, enacted by comedians of all hues, but the current scene takes the cake. Its title ‘Good Governance’ aka ‘Yahapalana’ is a joke in itself, and seemed fanciful, right from the start.
In a country where daylight robbers, drug lords, rapists, child molester, murders et al call the shots, and are seemingly above the law, with many masquerading as politicians, how on earth can there be Good Governance?
Civil society, the clergy, the media and a handful of honest citizens are shouting themselves hoarse, calling to rid the stage of these political dregs. This is indeed long overdue, but given the quality of politicians we are left to choose from, and with ‘Messrs. Honest/Clean Citizen’ in society refusing to get their hands dirty in the stinking mire of politics, what are we left with?
We have a former President; a onetime hero but today perceived as a villain by many, who cooked his goose on 8th January 2015, and now, hell bent on burning it to cinders, with a comeback on to the political stage. Honestly, has this man no self-respect?
And from what appears on the surface, the incumbent is spinning around at a dizzying speed, undecided if he’s to grant nominations to his bête noire Mahinda Rajapaksa or not.
If this alleged villain Mahinda Rajapaksa, is guilty of all what he has been accused of; corruption, abuse of power, attacks on the media, human rights violations, plunder and waste of public wealth, election malpractices etc., then why bring him back to the political stage? Is it in the best interest of the country, and good governance?
