Every time MP’s in Sri Lanka try to sort out the mess, people say it gets more complicated? We elected them to serve as our MP’s and then we complain to the whole world that the MP’s we elected haven’t got O’ Levels. Who elected them? Weren’t they elected by the local electorates?
by Victor Cherubim
( November 22, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) There has been so much written about Black Friday 26 October 2018, but more poignantly about the desecration of Parliament on another Black Friday 16 November in Sri Lanka, that it has divided instead united Sri Lankans the world over. We are no wiser today than before. where our future lies?
It is very clear that anger was vented and spilled over making the whole episode a comic tragedy. Anger was awash with strong felt of feelings. It seemed that nobody could contain. On hindsight, it is easy say that it shouldn’t have happened, but my guess is that a cosmic volatility reset button was turned on, and could not be re-set by anyone?
Why did the fracas happen?
Pent up feelings about Mahinda Rajapaksa have been simmering over a very long period of time. This should not have been allowed to get to the threshold of tolerance.
Words such as strongman, “cretin,” corrupt dictator, have been bantered around by Parliamentarians opposed to him for so long, that it was argued, that if they repeated the same long enough it would stick? But everyone, the world over knows that Mahinda is an enigma?
Many of the public of Sri Lanka, whether we like it or not, have a great regard for what he has done during his time as President, for the poor and the needy.
Nobody has ventured to challenge his authority of bringing back some semblance of order in Sri Lanka after the near 30 years of civil war. He has been castigated, but until proven guilty, is deemed to be innocent.
Would anyone have the guts to say that Mahinda Rajapaksa is unpatriotic?
Could anyone in their right thinking mind accuse Mahinda Rajapaksa of selling his birthright or the birthright of the people of Sri Lanka to anybody or any country?
With mounting debt in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka has a necessity to repay this burden, rather than leave it to generations of unborn, to be saddled with it?
President appointee Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister has said time and again and recently according to news reports that “he will gracefully step down without hesitation, if the NCM brought against him is passed legally. with a majority and most importantly follow proper procedure stipulated by law and Standing Orders.” There is
clarity in what he said at the Weeraketiya Temple just days ago. Nobody should doubt his authenticity, as perhaps, he is a “new incarnation” after learning the lessons of the past?
Ways to sort out the mess we are in?
Every time MP’s in Sri Lanka try to sort out the mess, people say it gets more complicated? We elected them to serve as our MP’s and then we complain to the whole world that the MP’s we elected haven’t got O’ Levels. Who elected them? Weren’t they elected by the local electorates? Further, we have the wrong way of always taking our complaints abroad, as if the world outside “really” cares about us or our politicians. We have got into the habit of “inferiority complex”? We behave like children, complaining when their patents discipline them? If the world “cares” about us why is it that they always “downgrade” us? We need to grow up and accept responsibility for our folly and move on.
Try and use the 80/20 rule in resolution of our internal problems?
In any layman’s language 80/20 rule suggests that 20% of what you do contributes to 80% of the result you get. Let us break the deadlock in Sri Lanka with this formula. Let us break each task into activities that either fall into the 20% or the 80% group.
The key is to experiment, discover or focus our time and of course our wasted energy over the past month, on the 20% activities that will yield the greatest result, instead of groping in the dark. This way we get more done by doing less and of course, in less time?
Time is precious for Sri Lanka?
We hesitate to get started and take action on ideas to put right our grievances, because of fear of failure, because of rejection and mostly self doubt.
Countless hours are spent meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena rather than meeting both Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremasinghe to come to some settlement.
I am sure both are mature politicians who have worked in the past together and have respected each other and defended each others’ views in the national interest.
What is Black Friday here in UK?
Brexit has also divided the people of UK. Murmurs of a second referendum or even a general election have in recent weeks become louder and with uncertainty around the Irish border, food supply chain and EU Citizens’ rights still dominating, there are continuing fears? MP’s in the House of Commons are not throwing chairs at each other. Women MP’s in the Commons unlike their counterparts in Sri Lanka,
Did by any chance the two effrort, enigmatic and effervescing SLPP Women MP’s assume they were bystanders watching the scene, perhaps, on candid camera, rather than use their dominant “female instinct” to calm the situation, to stop the rot and the riot?
More about the “real Black Friday”
Since the first big Black Friday in the UK when a retailer a few years ago, if I remember, a Department store, started discounting its sales goods on the last Friday in November, before the Boxing Day Sales on 26 December, this idea of Black Friday promotions were hardly known to us.
Black Friday started off as a day when consumers could enjoy making great purchasers, as much as 80% discount on retail goods.
Today, Black Friday November has become a day for deep discounting. This is seen by many as incredibly damaging to small businesses and the embattled High Street in towns and cities around the UK.
Collectively the High Street is bleeding, losing money. Research show, that 80% of Black Friday purchasers are “cannibalising” full price sales. To keep sales volumes and to contain this dilemma, individual High Street retailers have figured out ways to deliver Black Friday better than their Department Store rivals, or by Internet purchase with Amazon and on EBay, for example. Competitive and with leaner operating costs, smarter purchasing decisions, by attracting customers with products and shopping experiences they cannot get elsewhere, the High Street is fighting back. This is a win-win scenario and is giving a hard time in the opposite direction to the Big Stores.
Like the choice to consumers on Black Friday in UK, Sri Lanka too “can do” if there is the “will to do” make their peoples’ expectations, a bonus for the “freedom of choice,” which I reckon, will be a step forward.
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