THE BURNING QUESTION when

1 We have talked about so many burning issues including the ones of UDAYANGA, MAHENDRAN and JALIYA, but we haven’t seen a single brought to conclusion. Either we await action from INTERPOL or our own sleuths. Going back on the local scenario, what happened with the findings on THAJUDEEN, LASANTHA, AVANT GARDE, ALOYSIUS, PALIASENA et al? We continuously seem to be waiting and waiting, not concluding anything. WHY SUCH INORDINATE DELAYS IN IMPLEMENTING THE LAW?

2 What is happening to the Cabinet is that its members are unable to find themselves or what they want. The postponements go on and on while pistol-wielding folks are being brought back to power. What a fantastic state of affairs the country is in! In the meantime, our President says Cabinet posts need international approval. Wonder which country in the world will give the nod to our Cabinet ‘Yakkos’! Hats off to Joseph Michael Perera, the only one who had the guts to resign opposing Ravi K’s appointment. They should have all resigned en masse. Has Ravi K not caused enough damage to the party? What are our so called “leaders” about? It seems like it does not matter at all to the rest of them! 

The postponements go on and on while pistol-wielding folks are being brought back to power

3 In the midst of all these chaos, we hear of electing new office bearers. A few days ago, I received a petition from a friend and it is apparently making its rounds in India. As I find it very applicable to our ministers, let me reproduce it below: 

4 Parliamentarians should NOT be entitled to pension as it is NOT employment but ELECTION under the PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATION ACT. It has no retirement and does not bar re-employment, so they can be re-elected to the same position (currently they receive pension after 5 years of service).  
The remuneration of Parliamentarians should be revised in line with the Central Pay Commission. They arbitrarily increase their salaries by voting for themselves. 

Parliamentarians should be deprived of their special healthcare system and should participate in the same system as the general public in Sri  Lanka. (Perhaps they will then really and truly realise what we go through) 

All concessions like free travel, rations, electricity, water and telephone bills should be abolished. (They not only get these concessions but also regularly increase them – boldly and shamelessly). 
Parliamentarians with tainted records, criminal charges and convictions (past or present) should be summarily banned from Parliament and contesting elections under any pretext. Financial losses incurred due to politicians in office must be recovered from their families and properties of their nominees. 

Parliamentarians should equally abide by all laws they impose on the general public. 

No surrender of subsidies including LPG by citizens unless all subsidies available to MPs are withdrawn including subsidized food in the Parliament canteen. 

Retirement age should be 60 for politicians too. “SERVING IN PARLIAMENT IS AN HONOUR, NOT A LUCRATIVE CAREER FOR LOOTING!”

5This is indeed a well thought out plan and should apply to our politicians too. After all, we are told that they are elected to Parliament to serve the people of the country. Have we ever seen any one of them going down on their knees to serve the people? Oh no, it is the reverse! It is the people who are going down on their knees to serve these crooks! WHAT A COMEDY OF ERRORS!

6 In the process of finishing this article, I am reminded that May 1 marked the 25th death anniversary of the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa. Now here was a man who walked the line unafraid. A man who truly served the poor and no matter what other political problems or extravaganzas he had, he was sincerely dedicated to the poor. When he promised to do something, it was a foregone conclusion that IT WOULD BE DONE AND GOD HELP ANY MAN WHO HAD BEEN ENTRUSTED WITH WHATEVER IT WAS AND FAILED. Anyone could meet him at any time; he always had time for the poor. Is there a single politician today whom we have access to? They are still struggling to get the Cabinet together, to hand out portfolios -- they don’t even know who is capable of doing what. As I said earlier, postponement seems to be the name of the game! 

7 While the political tug-of-war wages on, the country continues to degenerate in cleanliness, morals, principles et al. I recently met some of our fellow brethren, now settled abroad, who have travelled on SriLankan Airlines and while they commended the service, they said sanitary facilities were appalling! They were equally shocked to note how dirty the country is in general. Rubbish littered all over! The question therefore is, WHAT DO WE DO AND TO WHOM SHOULD WE TURN TO IF WE NEED TO RESOLVE THIS UNHOLY MESS? 

8 Politicians of the calibre of Premadasa, Athulathmudali and Dissanayake will never grace this country again. Our country is the poorer for having lost them. They used their God-given BRAINS AND TALENTS to serve their motherland; true they served themselves also in the process but let it never be said that they did nothing to this country! Issues, both political and general, were meticulously dealt with. They left nothing to chance. This is why I stress that our country was and is the poorer for having lost them. We cannot say the same of any one of them today, except perhaps one or two!