How to beat dolour with single dollar
The government has declared that the Rajapaksas have stolen as much as USD 18 bn.--Poson and fish
June 19, 2016, 9:16 pm
The practice of running on one’s sword is as old as the hills. Brutus resorts to it in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. It was the Japanese who introduced hara-kiri, defined as cutting open one’s stomach with a sword to avoid losing honour. But, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, currently in the land of Samurai, has said he is ready to take his own life in a different manner. He has, in an interview with a Japanese newspaper, said he would slit his throat if it could be proved that he has stolen a single dollar.
The newspaper report tells us Rajapaksa has not ruled out running for Prime Minister again. Some people never say die! This must be a worrisome proposition for his political enemies who remain maniacally preoccupied with finding ways and means of neutralising him. We don’t think they want him to harm himself, but, politically speaking, they can spike his gun if they can prove the allegation that has helped himself to public funds.
The government has declared that the Rajapaksas have stolen as much as USD 18 bn. Now, the former prez has made its task even easier. It has to trace only a single dollar he is alleged to have stolen and he will be gone!
We reported the other day that the British government had offered to send a group of experts here to help the Financial Crimes Investigations Division (FCID) and the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). The government can also enlist the support of the US government to trace the ‘stolen funds’. With all the world powers on its side, the government should be able to prove the allegations of financial crimes against former President Rajapaksa without further delay in keeping with one of its main election pledges. If they can find that dollar their dolour will be a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, Rajapaksa has said in the aforesaid interview that politicians never retire. One cannot but agree with him on this score. They don’t retire; they are retired by the people!
Poson and fish
It was a supreme irony that the government happened to celebrate the lifting of a ban on Sri Lanka’s fish exports to Europe while it was conducting religious ceremonies to mark the Poson Poya Day, when Arahat Mahinda prevented King Devanampiyatissa from killing a deer before converting the latter to Buddhism, millennia ago. More fish will be killed hereafter to be sent to Europe!
Here is an instance where the hypocrisy of both Sri Lanka and Europe has come to light.
The main reason for the EU ban at issue was that Sri Lanka was not harvesting its fish in a proper manner. Can any method of killing fish be considered proper? Whether fishers use the so-called proper methods or not the poor fish gets killed. Does the EU think the means—the use of proper methods—justifies the end, which is the mass destruction of fish? If anyone has an iota of concern for the poor fish he or she must stop causing them to be killed and/or consuming them.
Sri Lanka, according to its Constitution, gives the foremost place to Buddhism, which was introduced by Arahat Mahinda, who, on Poson Poya day, convinced King Devanampiyatissa that it was against the tenets of Buddhism to harm sentient beings. The Thera told the king: ‘You are but the temporary custodian of the land and its creatures, not the owner!’ But, the modern-day rulers who pontificate on the virtues of compassion and wax eloquent on the need to practise the teaching of the Enlightened One are flaunting an opportunity they get to promote killing; they have no qualms about killing fish so that they can have Euros and pounds jingling in their pockets.
