Middle-East agitation is a precursor for Sri Lanka: Rajapakses have lost their plot

by Pearl Thevanayagam

(February 28, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) I used to rent a room in London in a house of two young Sri Lankan families when I arrived here in the UK 10 years ago. Since there were five kids ranging from a few months to five years of age i set down house rules among which is never to enter my room when I am not there.

One day as I returned from work I found my cotton buds on the floor and the radio channel changed from my usual Magic FM. When I asked Arib, the eldest of the children whether anyone came to my room he promptly said, “Aunty Pearl, Amar did not fiddle with your radio.”

The leader of the EU delegation for South Asia’s words that their visit is not linked with probing war crimes smacks of this blatant denial not unlike Arib’s. But then our politicians and diplomats who visit us from abroad have the gung-ho to bury a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice only because we are gullible as a nation and possibly through fear or insouciance we choose to buy their canards.

The late President Premadasa set up Janasaviya with the help of the then Janasaviya Commissioner Susil Siriwardena and we were made to believe there was money in the bank for the self employment scheme. Alas, it transpired there was no money but a bond issued to Janasaviya recipients they could borrow money off the fund!!! according to Charitha Ratwatte, another mastermind behind the scheme.

The LLRC (Lessons Learn and Reconciliation Commission) should be presenting their report at least in its draft format but like all commissions this will not see the light of day. Almost two years have passed since the end of the war but the victims of war are still awaiting redress.

The world media is focussed on Egypt, Libya, Sudan and the earthquake in New Zealand. Those who continued demonstrating outside parliament in the UK and other western countries during the last throes of war may be taking a short break. But the tolls of the war is not forgotten.

The government’s track record post war in the areas of human rights, governance and economy has been an abysmal failure and if the Egyptians’ agitation and the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak is anything to go by, then our President’s days are certainly numbered. The only hitch is whether Sri Lankans can forget their blind allegiance to Sinhala nationalism and instead see the true cause of discontent for the majority of us which is the skyrocketing cost of living and the impotency of an elected democratic government to feed its people.

The French Revolution eloquently replayed in Les Miserables, overthrow of General Franco, the defeat of the Labour Party in the UK in the last election and of course the awakening of the masses in the Middle East are reminders and a wake up call for our government right is pathetic wrongs.

Sri Lanka is a democracy or it should be and it cannot hark back on 2,500 year old Buddhist heritage if it wants to meet the needs of its populace in the 29th century. A hungry man will speak Swahili never mind Sinhala if he wants to satisfy his hunger and that is the bottom line.

The Sinhalese in the UK are not bothered about which dynasty rules or whether working in a Tamil shop is infra-dig. Survival is the name of the game for a migrant.

Likewise the average voter does not give a hoot whether Rajapkses rule for kingdom to come or Ranil takes over. All he wants right now is to bring down the cost of living. The repatriated Tamil want his home and land back so he can live with dignity and be free from want.

The honeymoon and jubilations of winning the war with the LTTE is long gone. The pseudo dynasty of the Rajapakses is but a chimera; the government has failed on all fronts. The people are discontented and soon the angry masses will pounce on the government and hold it to ransom. Should it wait until it happens or should it call it a day and hand over the mantle to a party which knows what good governance is?

The alternative is foreign intervention. Which is it going to be?