What a country!

by Kumara Kaluarachchi

(August 09, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The country is being ruled by a corrupted bunch of self seeking politicians with the assistance of the government funded journalists. Media are owned or controlled by the powerful politicians. In turn the journalists make the political futures of their bosses and break the political dreams of the opponents of their pay masters.

The electoral system and the constitution do not allow formation of strong governments. Few years back, the show was run by the fascistic elements. Today, the underworld is more powerful than the government itself. Most of the government tenders and other money making ventures are being shared by the underworld thugs and the corrupted politicians. Leader of the opposition is a serial looser. Since he can’t tackle the present regime heads on, an actor turned comedian has come forward to challenge the government.

Thousands of politicians, government officials and businessmen were and are being investigated for the scandals and corruption. The right wing ruler himself was accused of serious corruption and managed to get away with the prosecution after coming in to the power!

Recent statistics show that the country is the one before the last in the region for the percapita income. Yet Priests have mega power. They control the day to day life of the people. The general public is obsessed with a 2000 odd year old book with an obscure authorship and questionable facts.

Cities smell of garbage Mountains, which nobody bothered to clear up. Apparently the underworld is controlling the “garbage” industry so that no outsider is allowed to clean the mess up.

Flocks of likeminded chaps have carved out a separate state of their own within the country. The government has no jurisdiction or any administrative powers over that “separate state”. No joke! They have their own defense forces and run their own affairs. Rumors say that they even issue their own stamps! Their tiny “state” is richer and their annual budget is much more than the country itself. Surprisingly, the international community is in love with that little state. World leaders virtually kneel down in front of the leader of that state. Did I mention the fact that the leadership of that “state” is for life?

Had enough? Are we Sri Lankans cursed or what?

Wait a minute folks,

The right wing leader who was accused of mega corruption is NOT Mahinda Rajapakse! The serial looser opposition leader is NOT Ranil Wickramasinghe. The Actor turned politician is NOT Ranjan Ramanayakaka. The two thousand odd year old book people obsessed with is NOT Mahawamsa. Powerful priests are NOT Buddhist. The group who carved out a separate land for themselves is NOT LTTE.

Yes, the government is weak, statistically speaking, 62 governments in 63 years! The underworld is Mafia itself. We are talking of the birthplace of Mafia. The Garbage Mountains are in Naples. The book is Holy Bible. The priests are Roman Catholic. The tiny independent state within the country is Vatican. The region is Western Europe and the percapita income is just above that of Portugal. Fascists who ruled the country were the original type, lead by Mussolini himself. The leader of the opposition is Walter Veltroni. The actor/comedian who challenge the government is Beppe Grillo. The right wing leader and the prime minister of the country is Silvio Berlusconi.

Yes, folks, we are not talking of Sri Lanka but of ITALY!
(The Writer, editor of Lanka Journal web site)
- Sri Lanka Guardian