SL School Children: 72% have Sex; 29% watch Blue Films and 18% Drug Addicts – Government

Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) makes interesting discoveries these days. This is the latest: 72% of Sri Lanka school children have engaged in various sexual activities, 29% of them watch blue films and 18% are drug addicts. So much for ‘Mathata Thitha’ of Mahinda Chinthana. One wonders why we continue to pay teachers and principals from public money. What they were doing till all this happened?

This comes from none other than a ministry study and published in the first page of state controlled Daily News on Feb 10, 2008. Yes, it is the same newspaper that once published stories like “100 terrorists killed; one soldier receives minor injuries” (They have stopped the number game for some time, guess it would be too difficult to keep count.) So believe this story too at your own risk.

On the other hand, it could also possible that the ‘New Sri Lanka’ (Aluth Sri Lankavak) promised by the present government is actually happening.

Death threat to a Sri Lankan blogger?

I knew this would happen sooner or later. In a forsaken land, where no dissenting views are tolerated, the bloggers are going to be the next target. Still I did not expect that to happen so soon. My understanding was what happens in blogsphere still has relatively less impact on society, when compared to mainstream media content. May be I was wrong.

The victim in this case is Shan of BumuturuNu fame, a Sinhala blogger who aligns himself with new left. Not that I agree with him, Trotskyites are anyway an engendered species and make little impact in society. (Once a lecturer of mine describing Dr. Wickramabahu Karunaratne said the only weakness this otherwise dynamic and intelligent leader is a vision not shared by the masses anymore) The question is not that. Does someone deserve a death threat (almost anonymous) for bluntly expressing his views in cyberspace?

The comment in Sinhala (reproduced above) expresses nothing but sheer hatred. The commenter, it seems, is not interested in the arguments. All he wants is to hang the blogger. The blogger is also given a ‘friendly’ advice that he should spend all ‘Dollars’ he earned quickly on food and drinks because ‘otherwise there will be no time for that’. (Talibans usually assumes that all NGOs pay their staff in Dollars – perhaps the only foreign currency they know) Interestingly, the comment is signed in Tamil. The misspelled Tamil word, as far as I know with my little Tamil, is a reference to female genitalia. (Please correct me if I am wrong)

Even sadder is someone abuses my name to put a similar comment. I invite all readers to have a look at comments. It gives an idea how pathetic our Taliban’s have gone down in their behavior in blogsphere.

This is not an isolated case. Apart from threats, filth has become common in Sri Lankan blogspehere. The targets invariably are those who question the politica views of Rajapaksa regime. I receive more than my fair share. Beyond Frame, a Sinhala Blogger, who often antagonizes the Talibans, says he receives the everyday. There are also bloggers who use filth in their posts. (Avoid naming them as I have no intentions provoking them.) Is filth a part and parcel of Mahinda Chinthana, that the good uncle’s supporters use them so generously?

Two weeks back, we could have ignored a comment like that without thinking twice. Can we do that anymore? A question for every blogger – more so if you challenge the political views of current regime.

මහින්ද මාමේ, දැන්වත් තමා, පවුල හා පක්ෂය ගැන නොව රට ගැන හිතන්න…

මහින්ද මාමේ, මේ ලියන්නේ ඉතාම වේදනාවෙනි. මගේ පුද්ගලික මිතුරෙකු හා පැරණි නීති සගයකු වන ලසන්ත වික්රමතුංගයන් ඉතාම ම්ලේච්ඡ ආකාරයට මරා දමන ලද්දේ අද උදෑසනය. මේ සිරස රූපවාහිනියට අයත් මැදිරිය ඉතාම කුරිරු ලෙස විනාස කොට දින දෙකක් වත් ගත නොවූ තැනය.

මේ වූකලි කිසිදු රටක සිදුවිය නොයුතු ආකාරයේ තුච්ඡ නින්දිත ක්රියාවන් දෙකකි. මෙබඳු ක්රියා නිතර සිදුවන රටක් හැටියට අප දැන සිටියේ සිම්බාබ්වේය. එහිදී එවන් ක්රියා කරන ලද්දේ තමා හැර අන් කිසිදු නායකයකු නොසිටිය යුතු යැයි අන්ධව අදහන, ජාතිවාදයෙන් හිස් කුහර පුරවාගත් මෝඩ සපෝටර්ලා පිරිසකගේ අනුග්රහය ලබන ඇඩොල්ෆ් හිට්ලර් ආකාරයේ ව්යාජ ජාතිකවාදී බැටළු හම් පොරවාගත් කුරිරු පාලකයෙකු වන රොබට් මුගාබේය. ඔහු ඔබගේ මිතුරෙකුද යන්න මම නොදනිමි. මට කියන්නට ඇත්තේ ශිෂ්ට ලෝකයා මෙබඳු කාලකන්නි වැඩ අනුමත නොකරන බව පමණකි. සපෝටර්ලා එබඳු ක්රියා අනුමත කළ පමණින් සමස්ත ශිෂ්ට ජනතාව එසේ කළ යුතු යැයි උපකල්පනය කළ යුතු නොවේ.

මහින්ද මාමේ, මේ අසික්කිත වැඩ  කරන්නේ කවුද යන්න මම නොදනිමි. එහෙත් රටේ පාලකයා හැටියට ඒ නතර කිරීමට ඔබට යම් පමණක හෝ හැකියාවක් ඇතයි මම සිතමි. කාලයකට ඉහත කවුදෝ නොදන්නා පිරිසක් රූපවාහිනි සේවක සේවිකාවන්ට දැළිපිහි සංග්රහයක් එල්ල කළේය. එය නතර කරන්නට සියළු දෙනා උත්සාහ කළ මුත් අවසානයේ එය නැවතුනේ ඔබ ඊට මැදිහත් වූ පසුය. ඒ නිසා ඔබට මෙවන් ප්රශ්න විසඳීමට යම් මැජික් බලයක් ඇති බව පුහුදුන් අපට වැටහීම සාධාරණය. අනෙක් අතට කිලිනොච්චිය අල්ලා ගැනීමට තරම් බලයක් ඇති ඔබට කොළඹ නගර මැද සිදුවන මැර ක්රියාවන් නතර කිරීම්ට බැරියයි සිතන්නේ කවර නම් මෝඩයකුද?

මහින්ද මාමේ, මට ඔබට සේ දේශපාලන අත්දැකීම් නැත. එහෙත් මට වැටහෙන්නේ මේ සියල්ල කාගේ හෝ මෝඩයකුගේ පුද්ගලික න්යාය පත්රයක් ක්රියාත්මක කිරීමට ගොස් ඇති වූ අතුරු ඵල ලෙසිනි.

මහින්ද මාමේ, මේ රට තනි පවුලකට නොව කෝටි දෙකක් මහ ජනතාවට අයිති බව ඔබද පිළිගනු ඇතැයි මම සිතමි. මහින්ද මාමේ, අප තනි පුද්ගලයෙකුට හෝ තනි පවුලකට ඕනැ ලෙස නටමින් අපේ රට තවත් සිම්බාබ්වේවක් බවට පත් කරමුද?

මහින්ද මාමේ, තමා හෝ තම පවුල හෝ පක්ෂය ගැන හිතනවාට වඩා මේ තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවේ රට ගැන සිතීම වැදගත් බව ඔබට සිතෙන්නේම නැත්ද?

මහින්ද මාමේ, මීට වසර තුනකට පෙර ඔබට චන්දය දුන් ජනතාව බලාපොරොත්තුවූයේ මෙවන් යක්ෂයාගේ දේශයක්ද? මහින්ද චින්තන හරහා ඔබ පොරොන්දු වූයේ මෙවන් අවාසනාවන්ත තත්වයක් ඇතිවීම වැලැක්වීම නොවේද?

ඉන්ෂුවරන්ස් ගන්නට සිරස තමන්ටම ගිනි තියා ගත්තැයි කියන ලසන්ත තමාටම වෙඩි තියා ගත්තැයි කියන කොන්ඩේ බැඳපු චීනුන්ට අපි රැවටෙමුද?

මහින්ද මාමේ, දැන්වත් රට ගැන කල්පනා කිරීමට ඔබට හැකිවේවායි ඉත සිතින් පතමි. ඔබ තවම ප්රමාද නැත.

මහින්ද මාමේ, තව එකම ඉල්ලීමක්. මේ ලියන්නේ ලසන්තගේ පුද්ගලික මිතුරකු හා කණිෂ්ඨ නීතිවේදීන් හැටියට එකට වැඩ කළ කෙනකු වශයෙනි. ලසන්ත දැන් මළවුන් අතරය. ඔහුට නැඟෙන චෝදනා වලට පිළිතුරු බැඳීමට ඔහු අප අතර නැත. මේ නිසා මහින්ද අබේසුන්දර, බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර ඇතුළු ඔබගේ මාධ්ය මඩ හමුදාවන්ට තව දුරටත් ඔහුට පහර දෙමින් ඔහුගේ නම කැත කිරීමට ඉඩ නොදෙන සේ ඉල්ලා සිටිමි. එබඳු මෝඩ ක්රියාවක් ඔබ ඉතාම අමාරුවෙන් ගොඩ නඟා ගැනීමට උත්සාහ දරණ ප්රතිරූපයට හානියක් පමණකි.

ඔබට තෙරුවන් සරණයි.

(මේ මට පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට චන්දය දුන් සහෝදර නීති සගයකුගෙන් ලැබුණු ලිපියකි.)

Sirasa TV Depanama, Pannipitiya attack: Defence.lk still does not know!!

Today morning, we have heard the nastiest ever attack on the media freedom in Sri Lanka. This is an act no civilized human being will ever approve. The people’s right to know the truth, ironically guaranteed by ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ – the election manifesto of the present regime was seriously challenged by the gundas who took the law to their hands. The only true free electronic media station was attacked and vandalised.

The culprits were not identified. The motives were apparent. Somebody badly wants to silence Sirasa TV. It looks like more people than few frustrated bloggers like A Voice in Colombo, Jathika Chinthana Pravahaya, Namal Udalamatta and, Damith Prasanga would like to see Sirasa down. There are more enemies to media freedom.

Surprisingly, Defence.lk that ‘patriotic’ site runs on public money which gives us live commentaries on the capture of every tiny hamlet in North within no time, still have not heard of the incident, after more than six hours. Probably the web master of Defence.lk does not watch TV. Thoththa babas go to bed early.

Who benefits from burning down Sirasa studios at Depanama, Pannipitya? Who wants Sirasa silenced? I do not think I have to answer those questions.

Sirasa TV specially and Maharaja Group at large were certainly under threat for the last few days. It was just last Friday somebody threw a petrol bomb at the same station. So the Police had a definite responsibility to protect them. Unfortunately this is not an era we can expect politics-free government service.

By the way, someone please wake up those Defence.lk guys. They might be still sleeping.

Pooneryn captured 15 years ago too: Did it change anything?

As President Mahinda Rajapaksa celebrated his third year in office, 79 of his closest relatives hold top government positions, including as ministry secretaries, parliamentarians, presidential advisors, diplomats and chairmen of corporations, said leader of SLFP Mahajana Wing Mangala Samaraweera.

Mr. Samaraweera was speaking at a media briefing titled “Three years for Chinthana: Country is lost” in Colombo today (Nov. 20th).

He said, “Upon being elected President on November 19th, 2005 Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, on November 23rd, had got his salary increased four-fold, a proportion unseen from the time of President J.R. Jayawardene. This is mentioned on page 1,210 of the Hanzard.”

As President — J.R. Jayewardene, Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunga and Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga — all received Rs. 25,000 as their salary.”

Commenting on the capture of Pooneryn, Mr. Samaraweera said, “The government has been saying in the past couple of days that our security forces have captured Pooneryn area. On most occasions, it was painted as an achievement of the President himself. We must pay out tribute to the heroic soldiers who fought and laid down their lives to recapture Pooneryn area.”

“But, 15 years ago, we similarly celebrated the taking of Pooneryn. This is mentioned in Dinamina. It is an irony of fate that it was captured on 15th November 1993 when D.B. Wijetunga was president, with Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister.”

“That day too, we captured Pooneryn at the cost of a large number of lives in the security forces. Today as well, we have gained it by sacrificing members of the security forces of yet another generation. We may feel happy that Pooneryn has been captured from time to time, but we still cannot provide a solution to the national conflict.”

“This is an endless war. Newspapers do not publish these things. You will not be allowed to publish these either. I know that by last Tuesday, 235 injured soldiers were brought to Colombo National Hospital. It was reported that 85 were brought to Kalubowila, 90 to Jayawardenepura and more than 300 to Military Hospital. Also, the bodies of more than 200 brave sons of this country were brought to Jayaratne Funeral Directors. This government is preparing to sacrifice any number of lives to hide all these and cover up its inabilities.”

The SLFP (M) leader also commented on the state of the economy.

“The IMF and the World Bank held a joint meeting in Washington on October 10th to discuss the collapse of the global economy. At that meeting, they released a report on 160 countries. Of those 160 countries, Sri Lanka is among the 28 weakest of economies. The other countries include Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tajikistan, Madagascar, Rwanda, Malawi and Haiti. Three years of Mahinda Chinthana, and our country has fallen to the level of these countries. I am not saying this. It is the World Bank report that says so.”

“We have not yet felt the effect of the global economic collapse. At present, we are feeling the economic crisis brought about by the waste, corruption and fraud of the Rajapaksas. It is only when we prepare to celebrate New Year in April that we will feel the burden of the world economic crisis. The Central Bank governor recently admitted that foreign reserves had declined by 30 per cent within three months. We will have to take money in suitcases to buy goods for Sinhala New Year. By that time, the value of the Rupee will be depreciated that much.”

www.lankadissent.com

Why ‘Machan’ isn’t banned?

Machan is a great movie. So great that one naturally wonders why it is not banned in Sri Lanka.

I am not joking. Machan has all the key ingredients to infuriate the local Taliban, who genuinely believe that every piece of art should by default promote their military agenda of creating a supreme Aryan Sinhalese Buddhist race.

Machan, unlike recent movies like Aba or Prabhakaran does not ride on the popular war mania. On the contrary, it retells the embarrassing true story of the disappearance of entire Sri Lanka’s ‘National’ handball team in Bavaria. Heavens forbid! What wretched details of the urban poverty it shows! No character seemed to have received the myriads of benefits offered under ‘Mahinda Chinthana’.

Doesn’t Uberto Pasolini watch Rupavahini and ITN news? Doesn’t he know anything about the thousands of on-going projects to eradicate poverty under the caring Sinhalese Buddhist leadership? Is he showing the poverty in some other country to disgrace Sri Lanka’s government?

That is not all. Nesa, a Tamil grave digger (played by Pitchchei Selvaraj) describes the horrid details of how his entire family was killed. (I am sure by LTTE – they are the only killers here) A senior officer in Police (Theertham Muthiah Ganeshan) instead of bringing the offenders to law, himself join them. (He is not a ranaviruva, so I think it is okay with Taliban) All this with the generous use of the scared lion flag. Heavens forbid again, in Bavaria the lion flag was carried by an Afgan farangi.

Never mind. Local Talibans are dumb. They understand the threat only when someone hammers their heads in Asoka Handagama style. They are not that intelligent to take subtle hints.

Add to that, Uberto Pasolini and the co-scriptwriter Ruwanthie De Chickera are smart. They, unlike the handball team in the movie, are experts in this game. No political remarks. No direct offence to Talibans. One protagonist of the three – the very Sinhalese Buddhist Manoj (Gihan De Chickera) in spite of plotting, changes his mind in the eleventh hour. Most ‘bad guys’ are Tamils, Muslims and Christians. (though it could hardly be the mix of original team that disappeared) So, like the German Visa officials in the movie, local Taliban nods okay. We watch it.

I suggest Uberto Pasolini and co-producer Prasanna Vithanage thank the Rajapakse government in the same manner Ruvan (Mahendra Perera) in the movie thank German immigration officers. That is the least they can do, as a return for not banning this movie in Sri Lanka.

Machan is not the perfect movie. It leaves many unanswered questions. How come Vijith (Namal Jayasinghe) is allowed entry on a Visa issued to another? Who sponsors the poorest in the team? Is it that easy to obtain fake Sri Lankan passports for foreign nationals? Come to think of it, what value is added by bringing in other South Asians to the picture? (The real team that vanished comprised only Sri Lankans) Is that an attempt to say the Sri Lankans are not alone in taking desperate measures to find greener pastures in Europe?

Ruwanthie De Chickera’s otherwise powerful script does an injustice to few characters. We are never given a close look at three youngsters– known only as PK, VD and AJ. The handsome gigolo Piyal’s (Sujeewa Priyalal) two cousins too have always been in the background. Compare this with the selection of the cricket team in ‘Lagaan’. Every member of that team is unique and gets the attention he deserves. Only excuse: a cricket team is only eleven members but our ‘national’ handball team has 23 members – including the ‘managers’ and ‘coach’.

Overall, the acting is outstanding. Apart from those who are mentioned above, Dharmapriya Dias plays Stanley, Dharshan Dharmaraj is his brother in law Suresh, Mohamed Adamaly – the well known Sri Lankan lawyer is a Pakistani doctor, Pubudu Chathuranga, the young star of ‘Hiripoda Vessa’ is a spoilt pessimistic son and Dayadewa Edirisinghe is Nassem, a peon in a government office. The latter leaves for good deserting his young wife Jasmine (Jayani Senanayake).

Mahendra Perera plays a prominent role but Kumara Thirimadura and Saumya Liyanage are assigned minor characters. Cannot expect too much from them. This is in addition to a gamut of veteran actors and actresses (Malini Fonseka, Hemasiri Liyanage, Chathurika Pieris, Jayani Senanayake, Irangani Serasinghe and Damitha Abeyratne) playing cameo.

Camera (Stefano Falivene) and music (Lakshman Joseph De Saram and Stephen Warbeck) brilliantly supports the political narration I am more interested in.

This is the type of movie I would recommend without any reservations. Believe me, it is hundred times better than that cinematic failure Aba. (I like to take some of my pre-release comments on Aba. Apart from its industrial value, Aba is a useless movie)

Finally, I personally liked how Machan made local Talibans appeared as German authorities after the disappearance of the team.

Good show Uberto, Ruwanthie and the cast. You have given us a movie that Sri Lanka could be really proud of.

Mahinda maama to unveil the ‘WAR’ budget today

Sri Lanka will unveil its biggest ever war budget on Thursday as it intensifies a military campaign against Tamil separatists, officials said.

President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also the commander in chief and finance minister, is due to announce in parliament Thursday his proposals to raise government revenue, one fifth of which will go on defence. He plans to raise defence spending by seven percent to a record 1.6 billion dollars in 2009, according to provisional figures already presented to parliament.

“There is a definite military push in the budget,” Anushka Shah, economist at the Mumbai-based Citigroup told AFP. He said the war will dominate the economic agenda.

Businessmen fear the military drive will raise corporate taxes and crowd out private investments that have already been hurt by high interest rates and falling corporate profits. (AFP)

ICTA and President’s Office sponsor FREE PORN site!

Hard times make rulers divert our attention elsewhere so we no more discuss politically sensitive topics. Kurakkan unlce has decided to ban Internet porn at this critical juncture of North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Council elections – knowing well their chances of winning is low – so that public attention will not be on Cost of Living.

While so-called Sinhalese Buddhist puritans (aka known as SLFP supporters) can go on hailing their dearly beloved leader for this ‘wise step’ that would ‘protect many generations to come’ bloggers can continue hitting sixers. Either way Kurrakan uncle’s objective is achieved. Price of hal messas automatically becomes a non-issue – at least for a section of the voters.

Erotic art in ancient India

To say the least, this move is ridiculous. So many countries tried banning Internet porn unsuccessfully. Indonesia, one of the strict Muslim nations in Asia once put a fine of US Dollars 100,000 (that is more than ten million rupees) or a six years jail term for accessing a pornographic site – whether the users is a child or an adult. Still they could not prevent human nature.

So if he looks for some real success, Kurrakkan uncle should try something like banning people having sex altogether. Our innovative Minister of Environment Champika ‘tax’ Ranawaka can even think of an Environmental levy on sex. At least that is easier, than preventing Internet porn.

The idea is further preposterous because President’s Office itself adds to Internet porn on the net.

Don’t believe me? Please visit ‘Nalini Jatakaya’ in the online ‘Jataka Potha’ at www.jathakakatha.org. We are told this project is funded by ICTA (which comes directly under President’s Office) in fact under the guidance of none other than the same person who now acts as a great puritan who has never seen naked flesh.

Is President eagerly reading 'Nalini Jatakaya'?

Jataka Potha is not the only ancient literature with erotic content. Ancient texts of both ancient and western worlds have enough erotic references – not to mention books that talk only on the subject of ‘Kama Sutra’ nature. (eg Denuding Draupadi in Mahabharata, the same sex love affair of Achilles with his cousin Patroclus – whose killing by Hector actually led to the Trojan War, in Homer’s Iliad and poems like ‘Sisivana vuvana inga sunga gatha heki mitina’ in Selalihni Sandeshaya)

Interesting is how these sections were blocked from children. The religious readers and parents were the ‘content filters’. In Vishnu Sharma’s original Panchatnatra the monkey who removes the wedge (kunnaya) gets his testicles trapped (a more dramatic effect!) but in children’s version it is his tail. Jataka stories meant only for adults like ‘Nalini Jatakaya’ never made in to children’s texts. (Compare this with the lack of discretion shown in making it online)

I reproduce parts of Nalini Jatakaya below, but for those don’t and can’t read Sinhala here is a summary in English (only relevant parts):

In the days of King Brahmadutta there was a hermit living in Himalayas. A doe (female deer) eats the grass where he urinates and thus gets pregnant. The result was a boy who later grows into another young hermit name ‘Isisinga’. (Don’t ask how this can happen!) Since he was born in Himalaya Isisinga has never seen women and knows nothing about sex.

Then there is a long story we skip and let’s say there was a dire need to seduce this young hermit. King’s daughter Nalini undertakes this task.

So the princess Nalini goes to Himalayas, introduces herself as another hermit and befriends him. Then by trick she let her clothes move away so Isisinga can see her genitals. Having never seen anything like that before Isisinga assumes it to be a ‘wound’. Nalini tells the only way to ‘cure the wound’ is to insert his penis into it. To make a long story short, finally Isisinga loses his virginity. The author goes into minute details in describing their sexual intercourse.

If this story of a lustful nymph seduces an innocent naïve man is not porn, tell me what name we call it?

Is this what ICTA like our younger generation to read? I report, you decide!

තාපසයෝද එබස් අසා ඈද තාපසයෙක් යයි සිතා පිළිසඳර කථා කොට පන්සල තුළට පැමිණ වැඳ හිදුව, මුව සෝදා විඩා හැර මේ මිහිරි පල අනුභව කරවයි කීහ. කුමරියද යහපතැයි ඒ තුළට වැඳ කොළ ඇතිරියෙක්හි උන්නේය. එසේ උන්නාවූ කුමාරිකාවන්ගේ දුහුල් වස්ත්‍ර පහව ලැජ්ජා ස්ථානය පෙනෙන්ට විය.

තාපසයෝ ස්ත්‍රීන්ගේ යෝනි කිසිදිනෙක නුදුටු හෙයින් පහවූ වස්ත්‍රයෙන් ඒ අවයවය දැක ඒකාන්තයෙන්ම මේ තුවාලව වනයෙක්ම යයි සිතා විචාරන්නාහු. එම්බා තාපසයෙනි, තොපගේ මේ දෙකලව අතර කළු වූ පැහැ ඇති මනාකොට පිලියම් කරන ලද ස්ප්පි මුඛයක් බඳුදෙයක් පෙනෙන්නේය. ඒ කුමන තුවාලයක්ද තොපගේ උත්තමාඞගයයි කියන ලද නිමිත්තස්ථානය නොපෙණෙන්නේ මන්ද? එය ශරීරය තුළට වැද ගියේ දැයි විචාළහ. එවිට ඈ කියන්නී තාපසයෙනි, මෙතැන වනව ගොස් කණුඩුතිය ස්වාභාව කොට ඇති මම නිතර සැපයක් නොලබමි. පින්වත් ඔබට එය ගුණ කරන්නට හැකි නම් එසේකොට මගේ දුක දුරු කරවයි කීහ.

තාපසයෝද ඈ කී බොරු බස් සැබෑවක් යයි සිතා ඉදින් ඔබට මාගෙන් සැපයක වී නම් එය කෙරෙමියි කියා ඇගේ සියුම් වස්ත්‍ර අස්කොට දෙකලව විවරකොට ලජ්ජා ස්ථානය හොඳින් බලා කියන්නාහු එම්බා තාපසයෙනි, තොපගේ මේ තුවාල වූ වනය ඉතා ගැඹුරුය. ලේ සහිත කුණෙන් ගැවසී ගත්තේය. මදක් දුර්ගන්ධයද ඇත්තේය. එබැවින් මේ වනයට මම කොළ සුඹුළු ආදිය ගෙන යොදා සුව කරන්නෙමියි කීහ. එබසට ඈ කියන්නී තාපසයෙනි, මන්ත්‍ර යෝගයක් වේවයි ඖෂධ යෝගයක් වේවයි මේ වනයට සුවයක් ගෙන නොදෙයි. එබැවින් තොපගේ අඞගජාතය මෙහි ඝෂ්ටනය කොට ඔබා මට සැපයක් ලැබෙන පරිදි කරවයි කීහ.

ඒ ඇසූ තාපසයෝද එයද වෙදකමෙකැයි සිතා මේථුන ධර්මයෙන් සිල් බිදීමක් වන්නේය, ධ්‍යාන පිරිහෙන්නේය, යනාදී ආදීනව නොදැන මෛථුන ධර්මයෙහි සිත් සේ යෙදුනාහ. එකෙණෙහි සීලයෙන් බිඳී ධ්‍යානයෙන් පිරිහුණාහ. මෙසේ දෙතුන් විටක්ම සංසර්ගයෙහි යෙදී දෙදෙනාම පන්සලින් පිටව ජලස්නානය කොට විඩා සංසිඳුවාගෙන නැවත පන්සලට වැද තාපසයෙකුයි යන ස්ථීර හැගීමෙන් යුතුව සිටින තැන් විචාළහ. ඈ කියන්නී තාපසයෙනි, මේ අසපුවට උතුරු දික් භාගයෙහි ඛේමා නම් වූ ගඞගා තීරයෙහි මිහිරි පලවැලවලින් පිරි උයන් පිරිවැරූ ගී ගයන කිදුරු ලියන්ගෙන් අවට ශොභාමත් වූ ආශ්‍රමයෙක් ඇත. මම එහි වාසය කරමි. කැමත්සේක් නම් තොපද එහි යාමට ආව මැනව, නොයනු කැමති සේක් නම් මම යෙමියි නලිනි කුමාරිකාව පිටත් වූවාය.

Lalkantha – the David to strike the Goliaths

I am no fan of Lalkantha. To give my personal opinion, taking all hats off, I am also not in favour of strikes of any kind – least the ones by professionals. Traditionally, it was the left that believed in trade union action, not the UNP. We have always believed in nation building by working more, not less.

Since independence, the damage blind trade union actions have done to the economy is only next to that caused by terrorism. Lee Kuan Yew was dead right in thanking the Ceylonese left leaders, who organized a string of strikes in 1960s which resulted diverting most Colombo port bound sea traffic to Singapore, making it the most favoured port between Europe and China. I would have some more respect for Dr. N. M. Perera, and old boy of my own alma mater, had he not been the one responsible for generating such unproductively.

Having said that, I do not deny my interest this time. It is more as an observer. What stimulates most of us is the contrast in confrontation. On one side we have the entire government mechanism using all its influences like a giant octopus. On the other side we have Lalkantha sahodaraya – who is next to nothing. He is an MP, but that is nothing when compared to the establishment he is fighting against. Lalkantha sahodaraya does not give a darn. His confidence impresses me. He is a David, brave enough to attack the Goliaths – with only a catapult in hand. I wish UNP too had more leaders of Lalkantha’s caliber.

Though I hesitate to endorse this kind of trade union action, I empathise with the public and private sector employees on a fixed monthly salary. With the sky rocketing commodity prices most of them find it hard to make ends meet.

Even the essential items now cost twice more when compared with pre-2004 prices. We hear about families that save milk only for the youngest children in the family – others have to be satisfied with plain tea. We see people buying 250 g of vegetables – they cannot afford more.

This is the ‘development’ brought by ‘Mahinda Chinthana’. Minister of Consumer Affairs is shameless in admitting he has no control over the COL. Poor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, the clueless Central Bank Governor, does not even know how much money his organization prints. The inflation level was 30% last month – the highest in South Asia. It would be a miracle if people do not protest.

Is there a solution?

Here is one: Minister Dullas Alahapperuma wants the poor people to reduce one curry from the plates – so that costs will be less.

Look who is talking. I would be very much interested in knowing whether the minister and his wife are ready to do the same. This couple, average sized human beings just one decade ago (before Dullas Alahapperuma got into politics) now look more like Mr and Mrs. Obelix. I am not kidding. They are two walking globes of fat. An observer is forgiven for wondering whether they are the singular reason for the food crisis in Sri Lanka. How come they have become so overgrown during this short period?

This is the pathetic reality in our society. Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and his wife Pradeepa Dharmadasa who once sang about Sarojaas now shamelessly maintain super-luxury lives on the money robbed from poor Sarojaas. They are light years ways from reality.

Given the enormous amount of food they may seem to consume it might not be too difficult for Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and his wife to cut down one curry from their plates. In fact it would be good for their health too. Both of them badly need reducing so many layers of fat. On the other hand, how many poor people will be able to do so?

Perhaps minister Dullas Alahapperuma might not be aware about the millions in this country who take rice only with one curry (most probably the simple pol-sambol) or those who eat rice only for one meal a day. Does the minister what them to also to reduce one curry from their plates? Does the minister Dullas Alahapperuma want children also to cut down on their food? Isn’t he aware that it might result in mass scale malnutrition? Does his wife, who was so emotional about poor Sarojaas now wants to see them malnourished?

That is why the people take trade union action. The strikes might be unproductive but maintain 109 fat ministers at the cost of poor, while they are starving is far more unproductive. Perhaps that is the point Lalkantha sahodaraya wants to make.

To kurakkan boy this action would bring some poetic justice. UNP’s stance has always been a lean government. Ranil Wickremasinghe government of 2001-4 has given special attention to developing private sector so that mass scale employment opportunities are created outside the government. It was the UPFA government that wanted to limitlessly expand public sector for its political gains. What it did not realize was the short of money to sustain such a huge work force. So it is fair that the same government that did that historical mistake now encounter this. Let us see what kurakkan boy has to say.

Defence.lk confirms: MARTIANS abduct and beat Keith Noyahr!

Defence.lk, which has won an international reputation for its unbiased and truthful reporting (“Heavy fighting in Muhamalai. 157 tigers killed and one Sri Lankan army soldier suffers minor injuries in his left thumb”) today confirmed the initial suspicion that MARTIANS have actually abducted and beaten Keith Noyahr, Deputy Editor of ‘The Nation’ newspaper. Defence.lk also expressed suspicions that the MARTIANS who did this beating were actually linked to LTTE and they have done this to discredit Rajapakse government, which was recently congratulated by Bishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter for its immaculate record in maintaining human rights.

ITN Sri Lanka web site too confirmed the news. “We are saddened by this incident of MARTIANS beating one of our key journalists” Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was reported saying at the weekly briefing of the cabinet decisions. “This is a planned move by the MARTIANS to discredit the government. We are fortunate that in spite of this move by MARTIANS we could win a seat at UNHCR as planned because of the dedication of our government to protect human rights”

Meanwhile Defence.lk today launched a new payment gateway for collecting money to pay the medical bill of the slain journalist Keith Noyahr. Speaking at this occasion Secretary to the Ministry of Defence noted the unparalleled work done by journalist Keith Noyahr by  unbiased reporting. “I remember well how impartially he interviewed me. I am saddened to hear that he was abducted and brutally beaten by MARTIANS. It is inhuman.” Defence Secretary also expressed confidence that his ‘podi aiya’ will find the culprit MARTIANS as soon as possible the same way he found the culprits of the killings of Red cross workers, 17 aid workers in East, Maheshwaran, Nadaraja Raviraj, Joseph Pararajasingham and more recently the two police officers in the Eastern province.

The government also announced that it plans to provide a duty free vehicle and a computer to Keith Noyahr, as promised by ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ during the Presidential election of 2005.

“We think of bringing his duty free vehicle immediately so that he can return from the hospital in it” said Media Minister Anura Priyadharashana Yapa today announcing cabinet decisions.