- Using the allegory of Two Donkeys, our Consulting Editor Victor Karunairajan warns of the “Diasporic” Fifth Columnists who want to have a say of their own in the affairs of the politically and otherwise much harried and hassled people of Sri Lanka in a manner that is not at all acceptable. Already they are victims of many kinds of cancerous corruption; even funds raised in the name of the people affected by the tsunami have not been accounted to a very large extent. Running into millions, there are people who seem unbothered, unfeeling and insensitive about accountability obligations and demands and this includes the head of a rebel church in the East and North. His current whereabouts are unknown. The Diaspora should be a constructive force to help redeem Sri Lanka from the horrible muddle and morass the country has been consigned to especially by vile and evil political baseness and decadence. They should not be another force seeking an opportunity for themselves to dominate their people with their directions that will be counterproductive to their interests.______________________
by Victor Karunairajan Consulting Editor for Sri Lanka Guardian
(May 24, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Two donkeys by the riverside were having their normal “brayful” chat after their owners had removed the heavy burden of soiled clothes of the village folks and got themselves busy beating the hell out of them on the washing stones. Some were certainly beyond cleaning and a few torn in the process. This is what the donkeys see all morning virtually every day.
Concerned with the political crisis in the country as well as in other areas, one donkey asked the other whether racism and bigotry are an endemic curse having come to know that racists and religious fanatics get appointed to high positions even as ministers, ambassadors and what not. It felt sad that no solution seems to be forthcoming from the so-called guardians of Sri Lanka.
After thinking for a while, the other donkey brayed back loudly in typical Texan “Yankeeish”, SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fouled UP).
SNAFU, my hind legs! How about the Fifth Columnists in the country and even overseas from Singapore to Sydney, Paris to Port Swettenham and London to Los Angeles who are in fact almost everywhere undermining the good work of some honourable people in Sri Lanka just because they want some importance for themselves?
“This is not the Spanish War; this is Sri Lanka and how come there are Fifth Columnists? What is the Fourth Estate doing about these Fifth Columnists and ego-maniacs?”
“Fourth Estate in Sri Lanka,” brayed the other donkey in retort, “is being effectively silenced by corrupt elements that have come to reign supreme in the country and the Fifth Columnists are effectively at work geared to action by certain overseas forces but largely guided by dim-witted deductions, fallacious fantasies, haywire presumptions and false premises. They think they have the divine right to call the tune.”
While keeping his eyes on their masters washing dirty linen he continued: “The Fifth Columnists want to run Sri Lanka through their local proxies who are being flushed with Euros, guilders and dollars that they have amassed and don’t know how to spend them usefully wherever they are or wherever they seek the limelight for themselves. They even send their paleface friends to garner support and or wield influence surreptitiously”
“Oh! Yes, I have heard it all,” said the first one. “Palefaces, did you say? I thought we sent the Dutch packing 200 years ago, the English fifty years ago and the Portuguese have left behind some wild ponies on the island of Delft!"
“Some do come back and try to cause havoc in our affairs. They have nothing to do in their countries and are literally nobody there and an occasional one or two do get travel privileges probably in “fiduciary” dollars to undermine the good work done in our part of the world,” said the other. “Call it paleface plague!”
There are also the Diaspora people bored in their new homelands and where they cannot be what they yearn to be despite their almost empty mansions and three or even four too many automobiles, so they want to meddle in the affairs of their kith and kin, the unfortunate victims of the political chaos in Sri Lanka. They exploit our miseries and call it service to humanity.”
“So the Fifth Columnists don’t like the Fourth Estate! No wonder they cry foul of them and even charge them as defamatory and untruthful about their writings. These are our brave and proactive journalists and writers who stand up for the rights of the people affected by racism, bigotry, corruption and Fifth Columnist interference even in matters of faith and religion.”
“You said it right,” said the other. “They even call them horrible ignoring the enormous service these folks of the Fourth Estate are doing at tremendous risks to their lives and limbs. Seated in their comfortable overseas couches, these Fifth Columnists are a persistent pain in the neck.”
“That’s unfortunate,” observed the first one. “They could be supportive, creative and positive and what fabulous opportunities they have to serve their folks from the privileged positions they are in wherever they have made their new homes. But that is not what they want. They want to bully, dictate and dominate and for this, have their own hit men whom they nurture in the country to cater to their egos.”
“The common good is furthest from their minds,” agreed the other. “They think all these poor humans they want to control and bully belong to our species and treat them the way our masters force us to carry so much burden day in and day out. All that they do is to wash the dirty linen of their masters, the customary inhuman hierarchical practice of the community.”
He added: “Social changes are anathema to these Fifth Columnists and that is why they interact with the locals who fear such changes will threaten their dominance in the community.”
“If the Fifth Columnists have their way,” observed the first donkey, “the humans of Sri Lanka will become donkeys too, the difference being they will be two-footed and may have to bear their burdens on their heads unless they sycophant and crawl to them on their fours.”
“How about their masters, the Fifth Columnists and their proxies?” asked the other?
“They will eventually be driven crazy of course, SNAFU,” brayed the other in utter finality.
The washer men on the river bank became curious at the constant but quite conversational-type braying of their donkeys and wondered what they were up to; may be they needed some viand. Although their work was bringing good income, they hated washing dirty linen when they would rather have their leaders, corrupt to the hilt washing their own dirty linen and become clean and honest.
But then, this is possible only if the Fourth Estate is recognized as the “more important of them all” in the words of the British Parliamentarian Edmund Burke, and the Fifth Columnists hounded away with the power of their pen.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
by Victor Karunairajan Consulting Editor for Sri Lanka Guardian
(May 24, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) Two donkeys by the riverside were having their normal “brayful” chat after their owners had removed the heavy burden of soiled clothes of the village folks and got themselves busy beating the hell out of them on the washing stones. Some were certainly beyond cleaning and a few torn in the process. This is what the donkeys see all morning virtually every day.
Concerned with the political crisis in the country as well as in other areas, one donkey asked the other whether racism and bigotry are an endemic curse having come to know that racists and religious fanatics get appointed to high positions even as ministers, ambassadors and what not. It felt sad that no solution seems to be forthcoming from the so-called guardians of Sri Lanka.
After thinking for a while, the other donkey brayed back loudly in typical Texan “Yankeeish”, SNAFU (Situation Normal All Fouled UP).
SNAFU, my hind legs! How about the Fifth Columnists in the country and even overseas from Singapore to Sydney, Paris to Port Swettenham and London to Los Angeles who are in fact almost everywhere undermining the good work of some honourable people in Sri Lanka just because they want some importance for themselves?
“This is not the Spanish War; this is Sri Lanka and how come there are Fifth Columnists? What is the Fourth Estate doing about these Fifth Columnists and ego-maniacs?”
“Fourth Estate in Sri Lanka,” brayed the other donkey in retort, “is being effectively silenced by corrupt elements that have come to reign supreme in the country and the Fifth Columnists are effectively at work geared to action by certain overseas forces but largely guided by dim-witted deductions, fallacious fantasies, haywire presumptions and false premises. They think they have the divine right to call the tune.”
While keeping his eyes on their masters washing dirty linen he continued: “The Fifth Columnists want to run Sri Lanka through their local proxies who are being flushed with Euros, guilders and dollars that they have amassed and don’t know how to spend them usefully wherever they are or wherever they seek the limelight for themselves. They even send their paleface friends to garner support and or wield influence surreptitiously”
“Oh! Yes, I have heard it all,” said the first one. “Palefaces, did you say? I thought we sent the Dutch packing 200 years ago, the English fifty years ago and the Portuguese have left behind some wild ponies on the island of Delft!"
“Some do come back and try to cause havoc in our affairs. They have nothing to do in their countries and are literally nobody there and an occasional one or two do get travel privileges probably in “fiduciary” dollars to undermine the good work done in our part of the world,” said the other. “Call it paleface plague!”
There are also the Diaspora people bored in their new homelands and where they cannot be what they yearn to be despite their almost empty mansions and three or even four too many automobiles, so they want to meddle in the affairs of their kith and kin, the unfortunate victims of the political chaos in Sri Lanka. They exploit our miseries and call it service to humanity.”
“So the Fifth Columnists don’t like the Fourth Estate! No wonder they cry foul of them and even charge them as defamatory and untruthful about their writings. These are our brave and proactive journalists and writers who stand up for the rights of the people affected by racism, bigotry, corruption and Fifth Columnist interference even in matters of faith and religion.”
“You said it right,” said the other. “They even call them horrible ignoring the enormous service these folks of the Fourth Estate are doing at tremendous risks to their lives and limbs. Seated in their comfortable overseas couches, these Fifth Columnists are a persistent pain in the neck.”
“That’s unfortunate,” observed the first one. “They could be supportive, creative and positive and what fabulous opportunities they have to serve their folks from the privileged positions they are in wherever they have made their new homes. But that is not what they want. They want to bully, dictate and dominate and for this, have their own hit men whom they nurture in the country to cater to their egos.”
“The common good is furthest from their minds,” agreed the other. “They think all these poor humans they want to control and bully belong to our species and treat them the way our masters force us to carry so much burden day in and day out. All that they do is to wash the dirty linen of their masters, the customary inhuman hierarchical practice of the community.”
He added: “Social changes are anathema to these Fifth Columnists and that is why they interact with the locals who fear such changes will threaten their dominance in the community.”
“If the Fifth Columnists have their way,” observed the first donkey, “the humans of Sri Lanka will become donkeys too, the difference being they will be two-footed and may have to bear their burdens on their heads unless they sycophant and crawl to them on their fours.”
“How about their masters, the Fifth Columnists and their proxies?” asked the other?
“They will eventually be driven crazy of course, SNAFU,” brayed the other in utter finality.
The washer men on the river bank became curious at the constant but quite conversational-type braying of their donkeys and wondered what they were up to; may be they needed some viand. Although their work was bringing good income, they hated washing dirty linen when they would rather have their leaders, corrupt to the hilt washing their own dirty linen and become clean and honest.
But then, this is possible only if the Fourth Estate is recognized as the “more important of them all” in the words of the British Parliamentarian Edmund Burke, and the Fifth Columnists hounded away with the power of their pen.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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