| by Pearl Thevanayagam
(January 09 2013, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Amoeba changes shapes since it is a unicellular organism and it had no precedents. As the lowliest form of living organism it can change its shape to suit the environment. Politicians are cases in point.
DJ is a far cry from one of the most intrepid and respected journalists Lasantha Wickrematunga who brooked no nonsense and who believed truth is the first step for honest journalism.. As we commemorate the brutal murder of Lasantha we cannot but feel sadness and pity for those who are profiting from his death.
Then we have Dr Dayan Jayatilleka not unlike amoeba who even as he is booted out of his ambassadorship in France stubbornly proclaims it is his own choice. Talk about falling flat on his face and proclaiming his beard did not touch the sand. Now that he has got his tails between the legs for uttering things he should not have uttered as an elected emissary on His President’s Service he is now harping back to the mistakes the government made in not listening to his pet favourite Ms Tamara Kunanayagam and impeaching the CJ but at the same time loading plaudits on the President for winning the war on terrorism.
Amoeba does not have vertebrae; ditto for Dayan.
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He dearly loved France but whether France loved him or French Tamils courted him is a moot point notwithstanding the fact he enjoyed handing out certificates to Tamil migrants in France, enjoying their hospitality and was seen photographed with Tamils so to speak.
All the while he heaps praise on the President for ending Tiger Terror and he spares no sympathy for the 40,000 innocent Tamils killed in Wanni on the direct orders of the President’s brother and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rapaksa.
As a former fully-fledged member of a Tamil militant group who railed against the injustices of the government, Dayan is now exposing his true colours in that his honeymoon and dilly-dallying with Marxist rebels as he thought the Tamil militants were and happened to be his flavour of the time are over and done with, he is now presenting his academic credentials to those who he needs sucking up to so that his future is secure.
Dayan evolves like amoeba and he changes colours more frequently than the chameleon. Let us give credit where credit is due. He is a survivor. A survivor with an attractive wife to lend him moral support. Photo-shoots with French VIPs and his frequent reminder of his credentials as political scientist, academic and emissary wear out even the most tolerant readers.
Unlike his father, the respected journalist Mervyn De Silva, Dayan loves the limelight. He will move heaven and earth to be the centre of attraction wherever he may be. He, as once quoted in Time magazine regarding presidential candidate Ross Perot, wants to be the bride at the wedding and a corpse at the funeral.
CJ Shirani Bandaranayake has been accused of propping up her husband to a top job in the government’s corporation but this only comes out after she was elected and served as CJ. The President too is party to this connivance. What irked the President was that Ms Bandaranayake’s husband was ready to blow the whistle on his family; particularly the Defence Secretary G.R.
DJ is a far cry from one of the most intrepid and respected journalists Lasantha Wickrematunga who brooked no nonsense and who believed truth is the first step for honest journalism.. As we commemorate the brutal murder of Lasantha we cannot but feel sadness and pity for those who are profiting from his death. Namely Sonali Samarasinghe who is now courting the international media as the bereaved wife and piling herself up with scholarships. Her journalism was but a few years old and she is still riding high in media circles and even CNN, Al Jazeera and BBC are flaunting her as Lasantha’s wife!
Yet Lasantha’s wife and the mother of his three children, Raine Wickrematunga remains silent although she is the one who stood by him through thick and thin and helped make Sunday Leader what it was.
Lasantha loved Raine best and it was for her safety he despatched her Down Under. Sonali grabbed her opportunity in inveigling a lonely man not caring a bit for his family.
I am straying here as per Lasantha’s Matilda column.
Charlatans we have many be they Gramsci quoting, globe-trotting academics and disinformation counsellors but democracy and justice could only survive where people are free to express their views. In Sri Lanka this freedom is dying a slow but painful death.
(The writer has been a journalist for 23 years and worked at Weekend, The Daily News, Sunday Leader and Weekend Express in Sri Lanka as sub-editor, news reporter and news editor. She was Colombo Correspondent for Times of India and has contributed to Wall Street Journal; Washington Bureau, where she was on work experience from The Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley, California. Currently residing in UK she is also co-founder of EJN (Exiled Journalists Network) UK in 2005 the membership of which is 200 from 40 countries. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)
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