- Thousands want to see there is quick action to punish the corrupt
- This was an election promise that has to be kept at all costs, whatever the circumstances may be
It was a circus all right, acrobats, jugglers and jumpers galore, while mothers were afraid to send their children to school, workers stayed away from their workplaces, some offices closed early. The organisers of the protest were unconcerned about the loss to children of education, loss to the economy by offices being closed.
Their only focus was on themselves and getting back to the grandeur of power. Far from bringing the government down, many JO supporters were seen fallen in drunken stupors, lying on streets, some rescued by the ambulances introduced with the help of India by this government and hospitalized. One man died later of a heart attack. It was good to see few women among the supporters transported to Colombo who was gifted with packets of Chicken Biriyani, packets of cigarettes and arrack.
It showed that the female of the species is wiser and far harder to fool than the male!
Their promise to bring 200,000 supporters was just their usual boastful talk, they could only muster about 20,000 supporters.
Namal Rajapaksa and Dilan Perera have never been famed as mental heavyweights, so their ridiculous statements after the circus was over, far ahead of the break of dawn, should not be taken seriously. The tax authorities should question the sourcing of the funds used for this and where they came from.
One wonders why there were no verbal attacks on this charade of a protest and the inconvenience caused to the public, by those three prosperous, well-fed businessmen, robber barons as they were named in the media, who vented their wrath and fury against the Government, in no uncertain terms at a fireside chat recently.
Namal Rajapaksa and Dilan Perera have never been famed as mental heavyweights, so their ridiculous statements after the circus was over, far ahead of the break of dawn, should not be taken seriously. The tax authorities should question the sourcing of the funds used for this and where they came from
One of them openly called for a dictatorship. His benefits from dictators earlier on are no secret. Do they condone the white vans, abductions, murders and the rampant unprecedented level of corruption in the Rajapaksa regime?
Another bemoaned the fact that government servants were given an increase in salaries while businessmen were taxed to the hilt.
Still, another spoke about takeovers which had been done by the previous government but gave the impression that it was the fault of the present one.
Perhaps age has dimmed his brain. It seems a pity that their wisdom hasn’t increased along with their bank balances. There are none so blind that those who will not see! I must commend the comments by Dhammika Perera and Merrill J Fernando in this context. I would like to know from the first three I mentioned whether they would have dared to hurl these attacks at the time the Rajapaksa family were ruling the country. I dread to think of what their fate would have been.
They are going far beyond the peripheries of freedom, now in existence and abusing it like some in the media do too.
The previous government did not focus on education; perhaps as many of them are uneducated, they value brawn more than the development of the brain. This government has increased the Mahapola allowance to Rs 4,000/-, given laptops to schoolchildren, built new buildings for 9,000 schools all over the country, given insurance to schoolchildren.
So much investment has been to ensure an educated future generation which can take the country forward with the desired intellectual ability to do so. There have been over 137 housing projects launched under the leadership of Sajith Premadasa by this government.
The fact that the government allowed the protest is again, a tribute to the freedom and democracy that exists today. This in sharp contrast to the protest during the Rajapaksa regime at Rathupaswala, in which several protestors were killed.
The citizens of Colombo followed the lead of the government led by the President and the Prime Minister in ignoring the protest, no cheering squads form Colombo lined the roads.
Lands are continuing to be returned to rightful owners in the North and in the South too, this is being done to those who lost theirs through the injustice of one kind or another.
The fact that the government allowed the protest is again, a tribute to the freedom and democracy that exists today. This in sharp contrast to the protest during the Rajapaksa regime at Rathupaswala, in which several protestors were killed
There has been a vast creation of employment, prices of medicines reduced, salaries increased. The percentage of those affected by dengue in Colombo has dropped by 64% in comparison with 2017. There is no vulgar extravagance in public spending. No VIP of the government has used public funds for memorials for their families. VIP’s wives and sons do not fly to N’Eliya for baths or to ride their horses.
To my mind, what thousands of others including me want to see, is that there is quick action to punish the corrupt in the former regimeand in this too if they are guilty of corruption.
That is my grouse. Slow action in that respect. This was an election promise that has to be kept at all costs, whatever the circumstances may be.
We also have Nihal of CJC fame jumping in like a Bull in a China Shop to give his professorial bill a hand, in stating that there was no impediment in the pseudo-Emperor contesting the Presidency again.
The latter has unfortunately not changed his clothes, literally or metaphorically and Nihal may find that visions of CJC become more than a blast from the past in the minds of the people.
Political Leaders must act like Statesman with dignity and fortitude through all seasons, “..meet with both triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same.”
The Prime Minister has been the epitome of this throughout his political life, a worthy example to the second string of young leaders he has groomed in the UNP.
